And the I'm going to be. Welcome to the newscast, the podcast designed to help you fall asleep.

On Snuscast, we read excerpts from Public Domain Works and occasionally original stories.

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Tonight I'll be reading from a book called The Oregon Trail

sketches of prairie and Rocky Mountain Life by Francis Parkman.

It was originally serialized in Nickerbockers magazine

and subsequently published as a book in 1849.

Parkman's excursion led him only along the first third,

the flat stretch of the 2100 mile trail.

He never saw the cruelest parts across the mountains and deserts. Let's get cozyness of your bed.

Now, take a few deep breaths.

Chapter 2, Breaking the Ice.

Both Shaw and myself were tolerably a nerd to the vicissitudes of traveling. We had experienced them under various forms and a birch

canoe was as familiar to us as a steamboat. The restlessness, the love of wilds and hatred of cities, natural perhaps in early years

to every unperverted son of Adam, was not our only motive for undertaking the present journey.

My companion hoped to shake off the effects of a disorder that had impaired a constitution

originally hardy and robust.

And I was anxious to pursue some inquiries relative to the character and usages of the remote

Indian nations, being already familiar with many of the border tribes.

Emerging from the mudhole where we last took leave of the reader. We pursued our way for some time

along the narrow track in the checkered sunshine in shadow of the woods till at length

...