79
the land yields an abundance of all the necessaries of life, and almost spontaneously; very little labour being required in the cultivation of the earth. That part of Upper Louisiana, which borders on North Mexico, is one immense prairie; it produes nothing but grass; it is filled with buffaloe, deer, and other kinds of game; the land is represented as too rich for the growth of forest trees. It is pretended that upper Louisiana contains in its bowels many silver and copper mines, and various specimens of both are exhibited. Several trials have been made to ascertain the fact; but the want of skill in the artists has hitherto left the business undecided."[1]
The Mississippi, from the junction, of the Missouri, has a strong current, which cannot be stemmed by the force of wind on sails, without the aid of oars. The width of the river is about one mile and a half, and the water always thick and muddy. A depth of fifteen feet of water can be carried down, in low stages of the river; but immediately below the Ohio it deepens to twenty-five feet, and still increases to sixty feet. These waters are well replenished with fish of different kinds. The largest are the cat fish, the spatula fish, and sturgeon. The cat have been taken weighing more than one hundred pounds, and the spatula, of fifty pounds weight. The smaller fish are the pike, buffaloe, perch, trout,
- ↑ Appendix.—Ohio Navigator, page 138.
