158 
had represented. Pursuing his journey, 
however, he fell in with a river which for 
some time he supposed to be. the Red. 
“Near this he fortified himself and hoisted 
the flag of his nation. But he had not 
been many days in this encampment, 
before he was surprised at the sight of 
two hundred Spanish cavalry, from 
whose officers he first learned that he had 
penetrated far within the acknowledged 
territory of Spain, and was actually re- 
siding on the margin of the Bravo or 
Rio del Norte—a fiver, which from its 
source in the mountains, to its termina- 
tion in the Bay of Spirito Santo is sup- 
posed to run alength of twenty-five hun- 
dred miles. After a parley and explana- 
tion, Captain Pike ordered his colours to 
be struck, and consented to accompany 
the Spanish escort to Santa Fé, the seat 
of government for that province, Here 
the governor contended that Captain 
Pike was a spy; and that the clandes- 
tine manner in which he had entered his 
territory, and the furry clothing worn by 
himself and his men, were evident proofs 
of their sinister designs. To this the 
American ofiicer replied, that his errand 
was lawful, and authorized by his go- 
vernment; that his instructions were to 
explore Louisiana, a country ceded by 
treaty to the United States ; and that his 
sppearance in Mexico arose eitirely 
from travelling farther to the northward 
than the sources of the Red River, and 
mistaking the Bravo for it. ‘The matter 
being at length explained and accommo- 
dated, Captain Pike and his men were 
permitted to return homeward. Passing 
down the Bravo about six-hundred miles, 
they then traversed the Spanish territory 
in an easterly direction, ill they arrived 
at the post of Nachitoches on the Red 
River, in July 1807. The general idea 
given of these vast regions is that of the 
most dismal barrenness. Their aspect 
is inhospitable and uninviting in the ex- 
treme, For many successive days not a 
tree, and scarcely a shrub appeared to re- 
lieve the dreariness of thescene. Waste 
and sandy-deserts occupy the principal 
spaces between the great rivers; aid. 
these extensive and level regions are in 
many places so impregnated: with salt, 
that the streams are sometimes too briny 
to be drunk, and the water is even capa- 
ble of being evaporatéd forthe purpose of 
obtaining thatvarticle. Thus the wilder- 
ness of Louisiana bears a near resem- 
blance to the deserts of Arabia, the 
plains of Tartary and the African Zaara. 
From its wildness and extent, it will be 
Literary and Philosophical Intelligence. 
[Sept. 1, 
capable of forming a lasting barrier bee 
tween the United States and their neigh= 
bours to the west-and south, This nae 
kedness of the country does not appear 
to be the consequence of fires in. the 
woods, changing the forests to savannas ; 
but of the natural sterility of the soil, 
owibg, in many spots, to its impregnas 
tion with salt, producing only a coarse 
and scattered grass that serves to feed 
the herds of bisons roaming over these 
dreary tracts. From the scarcity of 
wood, it was sometimes necessary to 
collect the dung of those animals for fuel, 
Lieutenant Wilkinson found the distance 
of the place on the Arkansa, where he) 
separated from Captain Pike, to be 
about fifieen hundred imilés from” the 
point of junction with the Mississipi. « 
In 1806, B. Laron} a geographer and 
engineer at New Orleans, published a 
general chart of the Orleans territory, 
comprehending also West Florida and a 
part of the Mississipi territory. The exe 
planations are in the French Janguage, 
and the whole is executed fi he most 
recent observations. The author states 
that a considerable paren of his mate- 
rials are quite new, such, for example, 
as the courses of the Mississipi, the Alas 
bama, Mobile, Pascagoula, Tangipao, 
Mitalebani, Ticfoba, Amite, Washita, 
Yazoo, and their different ramifications 
with the Mississipi, as also the Pearl, 
Red, and Sabine rivers. This map ex- 
hibits all the country on, the gulf from 
Pensacola to the Sabine inclusive, which 
computing the longitude of the former 
to be 89° 45’, and the latter 96° 31/ 
west from the meridian of Paris, makes 
an extent of almost seven degrees of lon~ 
itude. It embraces the whole space 
rom the south point of the Mississipi in 
the latitude of 29° north to the parallel 
of 33°, which is considerably northward 
of Tombigbee fort, the Yazoo mouth,’ 
and the settlement of Nachitoches, ma® 
king four degrees of latitude. 
The year 1607 added another impor- 
tant map to American geography. By 
the labors of JonarHan Price and 
Joun Srroruer, a map of the State of 
North Carolina, the first, it is said, 
from actual survey, has been compiled. 
It contains the whole of the extensive 
coast of that province from the Virginian 
line, a little north of Currituck inlet, to 
the South Carolina boundary, at Little 
River inlet. The new discoveries pub- 
lished by a resolve of Congress in March 
1807, were too late to be comprehended. 
From its extreme, poiut of east longi- 
; tude. 
