Long practised in
the difficulties of that peculiar species of travelling in which he
was engaged, the squatter avoided the more impracticable obstacles of
their route by a sort of instinct, invariably inclining to the right
or left in season, as the formation of the land, the presence of
trees, or the signs of rivers forewarned him of the necessity of such
movements.
At length the hour arrived when charity to man and beast required a
temporary suspension of labour. Ishmael chose the required spot with
his customary sagacity. The regular formation of the country, such as
it has been described in the earlier pages of our book, had long been
interrupted by a more unequal and broken surface. There were, it is
true, in general, the same wide and empty wastes, the same rich and
extensive bottoms, and that wild and singular combination of swelling
fields and of nakedness. which gives that region the appearance of an
ancient country, incomprehensibly stripped of its people and their
dwellings. But these distinguishing features of the rolling prairies
had long been interrupted by irregular hillocks, occasional masses of
rock, and broad belts of forest.
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