And the buffalo paths were-some of them, at any rate--roads
so wide that several wagons might have been driven abreast on them--as
wide as the double-track railroads. So the Indian farther west had his
highways prepared for him by the instincts of these primitive engineers
that knew nothing of trigonometry or the sextant or the places of the
stars. [Footnote: Hulbert, "Historic Highways," vol. I, pt. II.]
Nor did these first makers of roads howl or bellow their way over them. On
this same authority (Hulbert) I am able to assure you that the forest
paths were noiseless "traces," as they were originally called, in the
midst of silences disturbed only by the wind and the falling waters.
Wolves did sometimes howl in the forests or out upon the plains, but it
was only in hunger and in accentuation of the usual silence. Neither they
nor the bears growled or howled, except when they came into collision with
each other, or starvation.
And there were not even birds to give cheer to the gloom of these black
forests, whose tree tops were knitted together by vines, but had no
undergrowth, since the sun could not reach the ground.
Pages:
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269