ing people with the refreshment afforded by its accumulated fluid. "When the storm was over, I found I had sufficient to do without investigating meteorological appearances. My boat was water logged, and so sunk in the mud, that I despaired for a long time of ever righting her. I at length succeeded, but not without a labour which rendered us incapable to depart : independent of fatigue we had abundance to do to

dry and clean our clothes and provi sions, great part of which was entirely spoiled. Fortunately the gumtree and cotton-tree are inflammable, and soon made an excellent fire, notwithstanding the late drenching wet. I found the storm productive of one good consequence; it annihilated the musquitoes within its range, and allowed me to pass the remainder of the day in comfort and ease."

"F

ROM the situation in which I was last left, I made a run of one hundred miles without meeting any remarkable event. The whole course was destitute, nor had it on either side as much dry ground as was eligible for the safe and comfortable residence of a single individual. At the conclusion of this dismal range, I passed the mouth of the river St. Francis, and came to a beautiful prairie a little below it, on which I found one solitary dwelling, inhabited by a family who traded with the Indians up the river, and occasionally dealt with the boats which descended the Mississippi.

"The St. Francis enters on the right or Louisiana side; is about three hundred yards wide at its mouth, and is navigable two hundred miles upwards. Near its confluence with the Mississippi, it is subject to inundations, but towards the head of its navigation, it has high and fertile banks, which are thickly occupied by Indian nations, of whom nothing is known, as there are no white settlers among them, and as they have never been visited

by any person disposed to discover their character and history.

"I purchased some dried venison, and a few fowls, at half a dollar a piece, from the solitary settler at the prairie, four miles below St. Francis, and proceeded three days more without objects to amuse or interrupt, to the mouth of the White River, which is one hundred and twentytwo miles from that of the St. Francis. The whole of that run is also destitute of man, and exhibits nature in disorder, on a large and gloomy scale. It appears to be the favourite theatre for the exhibition of hurricanes and storms. The woods are perforated in a hundred places by their destructive career, and present avenues whose termination is far beyond the sight. The avenues made by such sweeping currents of air are so very direct, perfect, and narrow, that they ap pear the effect of art, and made as a road of communication from town to town, or state to state. Some are so narrow as twenty yards, and others as broad as two hundred. They are very magnificent, and pro

duce

duce sensations of astonishment and

terror.

"The long portion of water to which I allude, also exhibits certain characteristics which distinguish it from the river above the Chickassaw Bluffs, and particularly from the Ohio, and at its tributary streams. The trees, plants, and shrubs, are for the most part different, and consequently present a figure, foliage, and coup-d'ail which not merely strike the sense as a change of decoration and scene, but as another theatre and country. Cypress swamps of several miles extent, oak of great beauty and magnitude, cotton trees embellished with their rich produce festooned from bough to bough, floating in the air, or drooping to the ground; quinces, hazels, bending under a profusion of fruit, and catalpas, cedars, and magnolias, diffusing perfume over immense waters, are common to the Mississippi from below St. Francis; rare between that river and the Bluffs, and are seldom to be met with further north. The animal as well as the vegetable kingdom, in the same situation, experiences a change. This was announced to me in a very remarkable manner; I was steering down the river in a water extremely deep, and free of all impediment whatever, when all of a sudden the boat refused to obey the helin, heeled considerably, and turned her head to the right shore. At the same moment some ducks, which were confined in a coop, firmly attached to the outside head of the boat close to the water's edge, made an uncommon noise, and fluttered in the extreme of agitation. Though much alarmed and perplexed, I opposed the helm and one oar, to the resistance, whatever it might be, but all in vain; the boat wheeled entirely round, and stood down the current stern foremost. Hear

ing the ducks continue their clamour, I passed to the bow, and stooping suddenly over, nearly thrust my head into the mouth of a monster, who held on to the boat with one paw, while he was employed in rending off the coop with the other. I started back with precipitation, yet soon recovered, seized a boat hook, and followed up by my two men, attacked the monster before he carried off his prize. I struck him several times without making the smallest impression on his senses, or in any manner injuring his frame. The iron glanced from him as if resisted by polished steel, but on one of the men cleaving the claw with which he sustained himself, he made a dreadful flounce, uttered a tremendous cry, beat in the upper plank of the bost, knocked us all three from our situation, and carried off the coop as the reward of his victory. The whole of this was effected in a manner so instantaneous, that it renders it completely indescribable.

He

"When recovered from our consternation and fall, I again took the helm, and ordered the men to back water with all their might, to afford me an opportunity of seeing the monster that occasioned us so much alarm and difficulties. soon rose about fifty yards from me, and made into shore with the coop across his mouth, and his head, of more than four feet in length, considerably out of the water. I steered as near as I could with safety after him, and fired several balls, which struck and glanced off his body and along the river. He landed, and to appearance, in one crush mashed the coop in pieces, and gob. bled up my favourite ducks, one after another, as fast as he could catch them; for on breaking the coop I could perceive that several

H 2

birds

birds escaped abroad, and even took to the water, out of which he soon drew them. During his repast, I had full leisure to examine him. He was a huge alligator, at least twenty feet long, of proportionate circumference, and with a head containing one-fourth of the length of the body!

"The White River, which also empties on the right or Louisiana side, is navigable two hundred miles up, and is said to wind through a fertile and delightful country. At its mouth there is an excellent landing, where boats may be moored in safety. It is but thirty-five miles from the mouth of the White River to the post of Ozark on the Orkansas River. The best and nearest route is to go up the White River about four miles, then across to the Orkansas through a navigable creek between the two rivers, and to keep up it about thirty miles, which brings to the village of Ozark. Be ing incumbered with two heavy a boat, I could not pursue this route, but dropped down twenty miles lower, and moored at the mouth of the Orkansas, whence I date this and a former letter. I here had the good fortune to get a passage in a rader's canoe to the village of Ozark, where I passed two days with much satisfaction and advantage. I shall give you the substance in a few

words.

"The Orkansas is on the same side with the St. Francis and the White River; that is, on the Louisiana, right, or western side. It is said to be navigable eight hundred iniles up, and to water a country of great fertility and beauty. These accounts must be received with much caution, and ought to be qualified by the facts of an unbiassed observer. For the truth is, that the immediate banks of the Louisianean

western rivers from half a mile to from two, three, and four miles back, are alone the parts which merit to be described as delightful and eligible for agricultural pursuits. All the vast remainder is nothing more than a swamp, subject to pe riodical inundation, which supply ponds and lakes, and send forth erhalations so malignant and active, that they contaminate the climate of the whole region, and shed over the most distant parts the seeds of disease and death. The reason that the banks alone are profitable and pleasing is, that the western waters flow in a ridge above the level of the country, and remain dry, when the general face of the adjoining land is flooded through the means of the bayeau and sluices, which are formed in the banks of all the rivers by the periodical excess of their water.

"I reached the village of the Ozark on the second day. I found the current of the river very gentle, and the banks clothed with a profu sion of the finest timber and shrubs, but so choked with cane that there was no possibility of ascending them, or of ascertaining their extent, except through buffalo-paths, and ave nues made by thunder gusts and partial currents of air, as before de scribed. Through these it was easy to discern that the river, like the Mississippi and others, flows through a ridge, and that the banks, for the most part, subside in a swamp on either side.

"The village consists of sixty houses inhabited by persons of seve ral nations, and who reside there for the purpose of conducting a very lucrative trade with the Indians, who resort to the village from the high country, and from the Mexi can plain, with furs, for which they take in return, arms, ammunition, spirits, blankets, and tools and

utensils

utensils of every kind, which the traders bring from New Orleans with great difficulty and expence, the distance being six hundred miles, and the current not allowing a boat to gain more than twelve or sixteen miles a-day, though worked with

sixteen oars.

They

I arrived at the village at a very fortunate period; at a time when it was filled with Indians, and surrounded with their camp. amounted to about nine hundred, and were composed of the remnants of various nations, differing in dress, habits, and manners so little from those I have already mentioned, that I have no occasion to go into any tedious detail, but confine myself to a subject of high interest, and in which they differed the Indians assembled at Ozark were worshippers of the sun. And the second day of my arrival being a grand festival among them, I had the most favourable opportunity of witnessing their adorations at the three remarkable stages of the sun's rise, meridian, and set. Take the proceedings as they occurred.

"The morning was propitious, the air serene, the horizon clear, the weather calm. The nations divided into classes; warriors, young men and women, and married women with their children. Each class stood in the form of a quadrant, that each individual might behold the rising luminary, and each class held up a particular offering to the sun the instant he rose in his glory. The warriors presented their arms, the young men and women offered ears of corn and branches of trees, and the married women held up to his light their infant children. These acts were performed in silence, till the object of adoration visibly rose, when, with one impulse, the nations burst into praise, and sung an hymn

in loud chorus. The lines which were sung with repetitions, and marked by pauses full of sublimity and judgment, have been construed by an excellent interpreter into these.

"Great Spirit! Master of our "lives!

"Great Spirit! Master of every thing visible and invisible, and "who daily makes them visible and "invisible !

"Great Spirit! Master of every "other spirit, good or bad, com→ "mand the good to be favourable "to us, and deter the bad from the "commission ef evil!

"Oh! Grand Spirit! preserve "the strength and courage of our "warriors, and augment their num"ber, that they may resist the op"pression of their Spanish enemies. "and recover the country and the "rights of their fathers!

"Oh! Grand Spirit! preserve the "lives of such of our old men as are inclined to give council and "example to the young!

"Preserve our children, multi"ply their number, and let them be "the comfort and support of de "clining age!

"Preserve our corn and our ani"mals, and let not famine desolate "the land!

"Protect our villages, guard our "lives! O Great Spirit! when you "hide your light behind the west"ern hills, protect us from the "Spaniards, who violate the night, "and do evil which they dare not "commit in the presence of thy "beams!

"Good Spirit! make known to "us your pleasure by sending to us "the Spirit of Dreams. Let the "Spirit of Dreams proclaim your "will in the night, and we will "perform it through the day! And "if it say the time of some be closed,

"send

"send them, Master of Life! to "the great country of souls, where "they may meet their fathers, mo-"thers, children, and wives, and "where you are pleased to shine "upon them with a bright, warm, "and perpetual blaze!

"Oh Grand, oh Great Spirit! "hearken to the voice of nations, "hearken to all thy children, and "remember us always, for we are "descended from thee!"

"Immediately after this address, the four quadrants formed one immense circle of several deep, and danced, and sang hymns descriptive of the powers of the sun, till near ten o'clock. They then amused and refreshed themselves in the village and camp, and assembled precisely at the hour of twelve by my chronometer, and formed a number of circles, commenced the adoration of the meridian sun. The following is the literal translation of the midday address.

Courage! Nations, courage! "the Great Spirit looks down upon us from his highest seat, and by "his lustre, appears content with "the children of his own power and "greatness.

Grand Spirit! how great are "his works, and how beautiful are >« they!

"He is good; is the Great Spi"rit! he rides high to behold us. ""Tis he who causes all things to augment and to act. He even "now stands for a moment to heark་ en to us.

"make them rejoice, and make "them put up their voice to him "while he rises and sets in their "land, or while his heat and his "light can thus gloriously shine " out."

"This was followed by dancing and hymns, which continued from two to three hours, at the conclusion of which, dinners were served and eaten with great demonstrations of mirth and hilarity. I dined in a circle of chiefs on a barbecued hog and venison, very well stewed, and was perfectly pleased and gratified with the rural repast. The dinner and repose after it continued till the sun was on the point of being set. On this being announced by several who had been on the watch, the nations assembled in haste, and formed themselves into segments of circles in the face of the sun, presenting their offerings during the time of his descent, and crying aloud,

"The nations must prosper; they "have been beheld by the Great Spirit. What more can they " want? Is not that happiness "enough? See how he retires,

Igreat and content, after having "visited his children with fight, "heat, and universal good!

"Oh! Grand Spirit! sleep not

long in the gloomy West, but re. "turn and call thy people once "again to light and life; to light "and life; to light and life!"

"This was also succeeded by dances and songs of praise, which lasted till eleven o'clock, at which hour they repaired to rest, some retired to the huts that formed their camp, and others to the vicinity of fires made in the woods and along the river's banks. I took up my abode with a French settler in the village. I could understand that the Indians have four similar festivals in the year; one for every sens

sun.