usually take place in the month of March, the southerly streams being open for navigation much earlier than those in the north. The prairies, or champaigns, east of the Mississippi, are mostly situated in this particular region, occupying at least three fourths of it. These are waving or flat tracts of country, of greater or less extent, separated from each other by narrow skirts of woodland situated upon the margins of rivers and creeks. They are generally possessed of a rich soil, yielding {204} a spontaneous growth of grass and herbage of a luxuriant appearance. They are well adapted to the cultivation of corn, wheat, rye, barley, oats, &c. of which they yield plentiful crops. The prevailing opinion in regard to this portion of the country, viz. that it is unhealthy, appears too well founded to admit of refutation. The causes that contribute to render it so are very obvious: a large proportion of the prairies are so flat that much of the water deposited upon them by showers remains stagnant upon the surface till it is carried off gradually by evaporation, which renders the atmosphere humid and unhealthy. The vegetable mould of which the immediate surface is composed, and the abundance of vegetables that spring and decay upon the ground, contribute largely to render these exhalations more deleterious. Although there are but few swamps or marshes, and very rarely pools of stagnant water, to be met with in this region, still the general water-table of the country is so little inclined, that the streams, having but a moderate descent, are uniformly sluggish, often exhibiting the appearance of a succession of stagnant pools. The consequence is, that the vegetable matter they contain, instead of being carried away by the strength of the current, is deposited upon the bottoms and sides of the channels, and, while in its putrescent state, serves to augment the quantity of noxious effluvia with which the atmosphere is charged. The population of this region, compared with its extent, is very limited; and with the exception of a few villages the settlements are very scattering. Large portions of it, embracing the northerly parts of Indiana and Illinois, are almost entirely destitute of inhabitants. Many parts of the country must remain uninhabited for many years to come, on account of the scarcity of timber and other deficiencies, such as the want of mill-seats, springs of water, &c. which are serious blemishes in the character of a large {205} proportion of the country. There are, however, numerous and extensive tracts within this region possessed of a rich soil, and in other respects well adapted for settlements, and presenting the strongest inducements for emigrants to occupy them.