scouring on prairies, in the scullery

"That night we scoured all the prairies of reading; dived into the bosoms of authors, and tore out their hearts; and that night White Jacket learned more than he has ever done in any single night since." 
White-Jacket (1850)

 "I 'scoured,' as was right, the three miles of open forest. We have to borrow this word from the scullery, while the French say, euphoneously, eclairer—and emerged upon prairies, when I soon reached a lofty hill-top."
"Scenes Beyond the Western Border," Southern Literary Messenger 18 (September 1852): 557 and
Scenes and Adventures in the Army

 "... engaged like a scullion in scouring"  "Benito Cereno" (1855)