herds of cattle, dispersed among the cane-brakes, or feeding on the
grass, or ruminating in the shade. Their skins were of great utility, in
furnishing them with moccasins, and many necessary articles
indispensable to their comfortable subsistence at their station.

What struck them with unfailing pleasure was, to observe the soil, in
general, of a fertility without example on the other side of the
mountains. From an eminence in the vicinity of their station, they could
see, as far as vision could extend, the beautiful country of Kentucky.
They remarked with astonishment the tall, straight trees, shading the
exuberant soil, wholly clear from any other underbrush than the rich
cane-brakes, the image of verdure and luxuriance, or tall grass and
clover. Down the gentle slopes murmured clear limestone brooks. Finley,
who had some touch of scripture knowledge, exclaimed in view of this
wilderness-paradise, so abundant in game and wild fowls, "This
wilderness blossoms as the rose; and these desolate places are as the
garden of God."

"Ay," responded Boone; "and who would remain on the sterile pine hills
of North Carolina, to hear the screaming of the jay, and now and then
bring down a deer too lean to be eaten? This is the land of hunters,
where man and beast will grow to their full size."

They ranged through various forests, and crossed the numerous streams of
the vicinity. By following the paths of the buffaloes, bears, deer, and
other animals, they discovered the Salines or _Licks_, where salt is
made at the present day. The paths, in approaching the salines, were
trodden as hard and smooth, as in the vicinity of the farm-yards of the
old settlements. Boone, from the principle which places the best pilot
at the helm in a storm, was not slow to learn from innumerable