The Life and Times of Col. Daniel Boone, Hunter, Soldier, and Pioneer: With Sketches of Simon Kenton, Lewis Wetzel, and Other Leaders in the Settlement of the WestEllis, Edward Sylvester
History
The Life and Times of Col. Daniel Boone, Hunter, Soldier, and Pioneer: With Sketches of Simon Kenton, Lewis Wetzel, and Other Leaders in the Settlement of the West
The panorama spread out before them was a most entrancing one, their
vision extending over hundreds of square miles, with the rich vales
watered by the beautiful streams, the forest alternating with broad
natural clearings, with vast stretches of level country upon which the
myriads of moving specks were recognized by the experienced eye as
bisons, and over which they knew the deer dashed and other wild animals
roamed with scarcely a fear of their natural enemy, man. There was many
a league in whose solemn depths a human foot had never yet penetrated,
and whose echoes had never been awakened by the shot of the rifle.
There they lay as silent as at "creation's morn," and the denizens of
the woods waxed strong and wandered at will, without fear of the deadly
bullet whistling from behind the tree or mossy rock.
True, among these cool woods and within many of the dark recesses
the red Indian ventured, and now and then the sharp whiz of his arrow
was heard, and the barbed weapon flashed among the green leaves as it
pierced the heart of the unsuspecting natives of the wood.
But where there were such multitudes of wild beasts these deaths
were scarcely noticeable, and the white hunters knew that it was a
sportsman's paradise that lay spread at their feet.
The picture of these six pioneers who paused on the crest of the
mountain as the sun was setting, and looked off over the Kentucky
wilderness, is that which has been selected by the artist, who has
immortalized the scene on canvas, and all will agree that he could not
have chosen a more inviting subject.
The surface upon which they looked down was rolling, level far beyond,
but quite hilly nearer the base of the mountain, while it all possessed
the indescribable charm of variety, and it could not have been more
enchanting to the wearied spectators.
Finley had been there before, and, though they may have thought that
some of the stories he told were overdrawn, they could well afford to
believe them now, when they came to gaze upon the attractive country.
Aye, they stood on the very borders of the land, and they determined
that they would venture within it on the morrow. Although they had
left home at the most delightful season of the year, yet the spring
proved to be a severe one, and their journey had been delayed by stormy
weather, so that the glowing panorama at their feet was robed in more
roseate colors from its very contrast to that through which they had
passed so recently.
Assuming positions of rest, the group feasted their eyes to the full,
and we can well imagine the expressions of delight which escaped them,
as they constantly caught sight of new and novel scenes and pointed
them out to each other.
There lay the region in which they would probably make their future
home, whither they would bring their families, and where they would
encounter the toil, privation and danger, which invariably attend the
pioneers of every country.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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