27th. We had a heavy shower with thunder last night: in the morning the
wind was in the north-west, and cold. We left our camping ground early,
and made 26 miles. We passed one small village to-day--Bethany, similar
to the last, i.e. groceries. Have passed through a beautiful country
to-day, alternately timber and prairie, some of it has been settled
eleven years, but we cannot buy a loaf of bread, a dozen eggs, or any
hay or straw, or in fact anything to eat for man or beast, with the
exception of bacon, and that raised itself. We were lucky enough to lay
in supplies for both man and beast before we got into this region. It
is a great pity that Missouri is a slave state; were it a free state,
so that free northern men would settle in it, all this great region of
valuable land would be settled and improved, and there is no part of
the western country that can excel the northern part of Missouri in
beauty and fertility. It is better timbered, and watered than Illinois,
and is rather more uneven, but no more so than is necessary to make
good farming land.