in its play, a thoughtless pup approaches too near; and lastly, a sober owl appears, and if the sun be low, hops through the town, picking up the lizards and chameleons which every where abound.

At the first intimation of danger given by the sentinels, all the stragglers hasten to their holes, tumbling over owls and rattlesnakes, who hiss and rattle angrily at being disturbed. Every one scrambles off to his own domicil, and it in his hurry he should mistake his dwelling, he is quickly made sensible of his error, and without ceremony ejected. Then, every house occupied, commences such a volley of barking, and such a twinkling of little heads and tails, which alone appear above the holes, as to defy description. The lazy snakes, regardless of danger, remain coiled up, and only evince their consciousness by an occasional rattle; while the owls, in the hurry and confusion, betake themselves with sluggish wing, to wherever a bush of sage or greasewood affords them temporary concealment.

The prairie dog leads a life of constant alarm, and numerous enemies are ever on the watch to surprise him. The hawk and eagle, hovering high in air, watch their towns, and pounce suddenly upon them, never failing to carry off in their talous some unhappy member of the community. The coyote, too, a hereditary foe, lurks behind a hillock, watching patiently for hours until an unluckly straggler approaches within reach of his murderous spring. In the winter, when the prairie dog, snug in his subterranean abode, and with granaries well filled, never cares to expose his little nose to the icy blasts which sweep across the plains, but between eating and sleeping, passes merrily the long frozen winter, he is often roused from his warm bed, and almost congealed with terror while hearing the snorting yelp of the half-famished wolf, who, mad with hunger, assaults with tooth and claw the frostbound roof of his house, and with almost superlupine strength, hurls down the well cemented walls, tears up the passages, plunges his cold nose into the very chambers, snorts into them with ravenous anxiety, and drives the poor little trembling inmate into the most remote corners, too often to be dragged forth and unhesitatingly devoured. The rattlesnake too, I fear, is not the welcome guest he reports himself to be; for I have often slain the wily serpent with a belly too much protuberant to be either healthy or natural, and bearing in its outline a very strong resemblance to the figure of a prairie dog.

THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.

By the middle of the last century, the power of France had been extended over a great part of North America. The first efforts toward the settlement of the Mississippi Valley were made by that power at several of its remotest points on the great Lakes; on the

Wabash; at Kaskaskia, on the Mississippi; whence their settlements extended across the Mississippi to St. Genevieve and St. Louis; on the Mexican Gulf, at Biloxi and Mobile, and on the Lower Mississippi, at New Orleans.

In pursuance of their great plan of occupying the whole valley, and connecting their settlements from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico by a line of posts, with water communications, like the cord of an immense semicircle, stretching along the whole rear of the English settlements, they gradually extended their fortifications to the south side of Lake Erie; erecting one at Presque Isle, on the site of Erie, and another at Le Boeuf, on the French Creek between that point and the Ohio, and a third on Duquesne, at the junction of the Alleghany and Monongahela, on the site of Pittsburgh. The advantages of that admirable position did not escape the eyes of a people remarkably acute to discern the advantages of military posts. By it they proposed to command the trade, and awe the obedience of the Indians of the Ohio and the Lakes, and connect the southern Canadian posts by the long and unrivaled communication of the Ohio, with the settlements of the Wabash, Illinois, and lower Mississippi.

It was not to be supposed that the English could regard these proceedings of their rivals without alarm, or that they could see them monopolizing the vast and fertile country of Upper Louisiana without desiring to share its advantages, especially as they considered themselves possessing an equal claim to them. In consequence of the discovery of the Cabots, they asserted the right of extending their settlements as far as the Pacific. The French, on the other hand, maintained their claim to the valley of the Mississippi on the ground of having been the first to explore and colonize it, and insisted that the English should confine themselves to the country east of the Alleghany Mountains. Amid these conflicting pretensions, neither party seems to have imagined that there might be prior rights, which equally barred the claims of both. Indian chief remarked, on the occasion of this dispute, "The French claim all the country to the west, and the English all to the cast and west; where, then, is the country of the Indians?" This was an embarrassing question, and has never yet been satisfactorily answered.

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At this time, however, the Indians did not seem to think of asserting their own rights, but took part in the quarrels of the two nations which were both equally regardless of them: a very fortunate circumstance for the French, as Canada then contained only 45,000 inhabitants, and the whole of Louisiana no more than 7,000 whites, while the English colonies had a population of 1,051,000.

The rival nations now only waited an occasion of commencing the contest; and it soon arrived. Shortly after the conclusion of the last war, several individuals in Virginia and England associated together under the name of the Ohio Company, and obtained

a grant from the crown of six hundred thousand acres of land, lying in the country claimed by either nation. The objects of this company being commercial as well as territorial, measures were taken for securing all the advantages which could be derived from their charter, by establishing trading-houses and employing persons to survey the country.

The governor of Canada, on receiving information of what he considered an encroachment on the French dominions, wrote to the governors of New York and Pennsylvania, stating that the English traders had trespassed upon the French territory, and that, if they were not made to desist, he should be under the necessity of seizing them. Finding his threats disregarded, he proceeded to put them in execution; and arresting the company's servants, had them conveyed as prisoners to Presque Isle, on Lake Erie, where he was engaged in erecting a strong fort. About the same time, a communication was opened from Presque Isle, along French Creek and the Alleghany River, to the Ohio, called by the French, La Belle Riviere. This communication was kept up by detachments of troops posted at proper distances, in works capable of protecting them against an attack made with small arms alone.

This military line passing through the territory granted to the Ohio Company as a part of Virginia, the lieutenant-governor of that province laid the matter before the Assembly, and dispatched Washington, then a young officer only twenty-one years old, with a letter to Monsieur de St. Pierre, commander of the French forces on the Ohio, requiring him to withdraw from the dominions of his Britannic majesty. M. de St. Pierre replied with politeness, but in decided terms, that he had taken possession of the country by order of his superior officer, Governor Duquesne, to whom he would transmit the letter, but the summons to retire he could not comply with.

In 1754, preparations were immediately made in Virginia to assert the rights of the British crown, and a regiment was sent to the defense of the frontier. Advancing with a small detachment, Washington fell in with a party of French and Indians, who approached with every appearance of hostile intentions. A skirmish ensued in which the commander of the party, M. de Jumonville, and ten of his men were killed.

The object of the American officer had been to anticipate the French in occupying the post at the junction of the Alleghany and Monongahela, where a party of militia and a body of workmen had been sent by the Ohio Company; but finding they had already driven the latter away and erected a strong fort on the spot, and foreseeing that, on hearing of the affair of Jumonville, they would at once send a detachment against him, he hastily completed a small stockade he had commenced at a place called Great Meadows, near the site of Uniontown, Pa., and gave to it the name of Fort Necessity. Here he was soon attacked, and, after a gallant defense, capitulated on honorable terms.

This action being considered by the British government as the commencement of hostilities by the French, troops were immediately sent from England to prosecute the war. Among the different expeditions planned was one under Gen. Braddock against Fort. Duquesne, on the site of Pittsburgh.

The Battle of the Monongahela.-Major Gen. Edward Braddock arrived in this country early in the year 1755, with two regiments of veteran English troops. He was joined at Fort Cumberland by a large number of provincial troops to aid in the contemplated reduction of Fort Duquesne. Dividing his force, he pushed onward with about 1,200 chosen men through dark forests and over pathless mountains.

Col. George Washington, who was a volunteer aid of Braddock, but had been left behind on account of illness, overtook the general on the evening of the 8th of July, at the mouth of the Youghiogheny River, fifteen miles from Duquesne, the day before the

battle.

The officers and soldiers were now in the highest spirits, and firm in the conviction that they should within a few hours victoriously enter within the walls of Fort Duquesne. Early on the morning of the 9th, the army passed through the river a little below the mouth of the Youghiogheny, and proceeded in perfect order along the southern margin of the Monongahela. Washington was often heard to say, during his lifetime, that the most beautiful spectacle he had ever behield was the display of the British troops on this eventful morning. Every man was neatly dressed in full uniform, the soldiers were arranged in columns, and marched in exact order, the sun gleamed from their burnished arms, the river flowed tranquilly on their right, and the deep forest overshadowed them with solemn grandeur on their left. Officers and men were equally inspirited with cheering hopes and confident anticipations.

In this manner they marched forward until about noon, when they arrived at the second crossing-place, ten miles from Fort Duquesne. They halted but a little time, and then began to ford the river, and regain its northern bank. As soon as they had crossed they came upon a level plain, elevated only a few feet above the surface of the river, and extending northward nearly half a mile from its margin. They commenced a gradual ascent on an angle of about three degrees, which terminated in hills of a considerable height at no great distance beyond. The road, from the fordingplace to Fort Duquesne, led across the plain and up this ascent, and thence proceeded through an uneven country, at that time covered with wood.

By the order of march, three hundred men under Col. Gage made the advanced party, which was immediately followed by another of two hundred. Next came the general with the columns of artillery, the main body of the army and the baggage. About one o'clock the whole had crossed the river, and almost at this

moment, a sharp firing was heard upon the advanced parties, who were now ascending the hill, and had proceeded about one hundred yards from the termination of the plain. A heavy discharge of musketry was poured in upon their front, which was the first intelligence they had of an enemy; and this was suddenly followed by another upon their right flank. They were filled with the greatest consternation, as no enemy was in sight, and the firing seemed to come from an invisible foe. They fired in turn, however, but quite at random, and obviously without effect.

The general hastened forward to the relief of the advanced parties; but before he could reach the spot which they occupied, they gave way, and fell back upon the artillery and the other columns of the army, causing extreme confusion, and striking the whole mass with such a panic, that no order could afterward be restored. The general and the officers behaved with the utmost courage, and used every effort to rally the men, and bring them to order, but all in vain. In this state they continued nearly three hours, huddling together in confused bodies, firing irregularly, shooting down their own officers and men, and doing no perceptible harm to the enemy. The Virginia provincials were the only troops who seemed to retain their senses, and they behaved with a bravery and resolution worthy of a better fate. They adopted the Indian mode, and fought, each man for himself, behind a tree. This was prohibited by the general, who endeavored to form his men into platoons and columns, as if they had been maneuvering on the plains of Flanders. Meantime the French and Indians, concealed in the ravines and behind trees, kept up a deadly and unceasing discharge of rifles, singling out their objects, taking deliberate aim, and producing a carnage almost unparalleled in the annals of modern warfare. More than half the whole army which had crossed the river in so proud an array only three hours before, were either killed or wounded. The general himself received a mortal wound, and many of his best officers fell by his side.

During the whole of the action, Col. George Washington, then twenty-three years of age, behaved with the greatest courage and resolution. The other two aids-de-camp were wounded, and on him alone devolved the duty of distributing the orders of the general. He rode in every direction, and was a conspicuous object for the enemy's sharp-shooters. He had four bullets through his coat, and had two horses shot under him, and yet escaped unhurt. So bloody a contest has rarely been witnessed. Out of twelve hundred men, seven hundred and fourteen were either killed or wounded; of eighty-six officers, more than two-thirds were among the killed or wounded. Braddock was mortally wounded by a provincial named Fausett. The enemy lost only about forty men. They fought in deep ravines, and the balls of the English passed over their heads.

The remnant of Braddock's army, panic stricken, fled in great disorder to Fort Cumberland. The enemy did not pursue them.