ertheless,
varied in their actual surface by occasional deviations and
sinuosities, arising as well from the unexplainable curvatures of its
original structure, as from the narrow, deep ravines, that had been
worn by the autumn floods and perennial streamlets from the adjacent
hills. In like manner the surface of the bed of the valley was subject
to frequent inequalities, produced, perhaps, by the nature of the soil
on which it rested. It was formed of a soft stone and a hard stone.
Where the latter prevailed, the surface was usually more elevated and
undulating than where the former was found; and of that description
was the spot appropriated to the prophets of Onondaga. It was situated
about half a day's journey up the valley from the lake, and was
sufficiently elevated above the circumjacent level to command a view
of the broad bosom of the Ontario over the tops of the forest. Along
its outer extremity glided the beautiful stream of the glen. Upon one
side of the plain, where it was united to the hills, were the cabins
of the prophets.

The whole range of the valley, including its bed, and steep lofty
sides, was overspread with a dark and umbrageous forest. With this
circumstance, the few scattered patches appropriated to the
cultivation of maize, and "the openings," as they are denominated in
the western world, present a problem of no very easy solution. They
are unique in the vegetable kingdom, being midway between the
nakedness of a prairie and the thick gloom of a wilderness. The few
scattered trees that grow upon them are uniformly oak. They are
separated from each other at unequal distances, but are rarely less
than sixty yards apart. They do not shoot up to a lofty height, and
destitute of branches like the tenants of the thick woods, but bow
their heads, and spread their arms, as if conscious of their
dependence upon the precarious charity of a long-cultivated country.
Beneath them grows a coarse thin grass; but they are never encumbered
with the shrubs and underwood that usually form very serious obstacles
in the way of the forest traveller. The Prophets' Plain was the only
exception. Along the junction of the plain with the western hill, its
margin was thickly set with stunted pines, hemlocks, cedars, and,
beneath, tangled briars. No one ventured to penetrate these sacred
recesses, for there were extended, near the inner border, the few
scattered wigwams of the prophets. Such was the character and
descrip