a township; and these townships being subdivided
into lots for farms. The maps describe every
stream and mountain, the quality of the land in
each division, and the timber upon it, in a very
neat and accurate stile. This surveyor, by living
so much in the woods, had acquired a good deal
of the Indian air in his dress, wearing leggins and
moccasons, as is the manner of the Indians, with
whose company he was sometimes obliged to be
contented.

This day I passed over a
large extent of country, of a very unusual appear-
ance in America. It consisted of what are called
prairies, or pastures. These are large tracts of
land, some miles over, where the trees have all
been leveled with the ground, by some violent
wind or hurricane; and which the Indians, by oc-
casionally setting fire to the dry grass, &c. have
kept clear for the greater convenience of hunting;
and also for planting and grazing. The large trees
thus blown down, drag up with their roots consi-
derable quantities of earth, which, as the tree de-
cays away leave a little mound, with a cavity on
that side of it where the earth was torn up. This
rugged appearance of the earth through the whole
extent of these prairies, is a convincing proof of
the manner in which the ground has been cleared.