The only child of a Pawnee and his wife died and was buried in a grave dug in the open prairie near a spot where a small band of Indians had temporarily erected their tents. In the grave with the child were placed all the things which had belonged to her, including her mocassin shoes, her plate and cup and her trinkets. Her father had in his possession a good set of sleigh bells, said to be worth seventeen dollars which he had intended to sell to one of the white men in the neighbourhood, but after the death of his daughter he said that he was happy because no one had yet bought his bells, for he was consequently able to give them to her, and they were put by the child’s side and buried. The father and mother then built round the grave a wooden fence to keep the wolves away, as the Pawnees were going to move their tents to a distant part of the country. This fence was shortly afterwards destroyed by a prairie fire, and the place of the grave is not now known. These fires are becoming less frequent and, when they occur, are attributable to carelessness. I happened to see one of them sweeping over the plains near the river Missouri, my position at the time being at right angles to the line of its direction. A high wind was blowing from the South-west and the tall grass was bent over in such a manner that the flames instead of going with the wind towards the North-east, caught the tops of the grass and consequently travelled steadily to windward in the teeth of the gale. The smoke rolled away to leeward in dense clouds and the flames leapt upwards on tongues of fire to heights of twenty or thirty feet. The movement forward was like that of the rapidly advancing crest of a breaking wave. I estimated the length of the front of the fire to be nearly two miles. [Illustration: PAWNEE WOMAN.] When wandering over the wide Iowa and Nebraska plains, many problems present themselves to the mind with regard to their formation and existing condition. Of these, none are so perplexing to the farmers as those which relate to the absence of trees. Several theories have been mooted and many conclusions have been adopted, and thought to be rational, but as a rule they cannot be accepted as being altogether satisfactory. One of the most general opinions, is that the treeless state of the land has been caused by the destructive effects of fire. Another opinion is that which attributes the greatest counteracting influence to the nature of the soil.