A Tour on the Prairies (The Western Frontier Library)

From dust jacket notes: "In 1832, Washington Irving, recently returned from seventeen years' residence abroad and eager to explore his own country, embarked on an expedition to the country west of Arkansas set aside for emigrating Indians. A Tour on the Prairies is his absorbing account of that journey, which extended from Fort Gibson to the Cross Timbers in what is now Oklahoma. First published in 1835, it has remained a perennial favorite, retaining its original freshness, vigor, and vividness to this day. The keenness of Irving's observations and his sensitive skill as an artist are reflected in its pages: in the story of his experience at buffalo hunting; in the unusual pictures of the Indians as human individuals rather than stereotyped, wooden figures; in his account of the visit to a prairie dog town; and in the descriptions of the vastness and sense of loneliness of the prairie...."