MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



473 



other principal one, runs nearly pa- 

 rallel, within a mile of its opposite 

 side. It is a hard level plain, of 

 leddish coloured sand, and of an 

 irregular or mixed figure. Its 

 greatest length is from north-west 

 to south-east, and its circumfe- 

 rence full thirty miles. From the 

 appearance of drift-wood that is 

 scattered over, it would seem that 

 the whole plain is at times inun- 

 dated by the overflowing of the 

 streams that pass near it. This 

 plain is entirely covered in hot 

 dry weather, from two to six 

 inches deep, with a crust of beau- 

 tiful clean white salt, of a quality 

 rather superior to the impoited 

 blown salt : it bears a striking re- 

 semblance to a field of brilliant 

 snow after a rain, with a liglit 

 crust on its top. On a bright 

 sunny morning, the appearance of 

 this natural curiosity is highly pic- 

 turesque : it possesses the ([uality 

 of looming, or magnifying objects, 

 and this in a very stril^ing degree, 

 making the small billets of wood 

 appear as formidable as trees. 

 Numbers of buffaloes were on the 

 plain. The Saline is environed 

 by a stripe of marshy prairie, with 

 a few scattered trees, mostly of 

 cotton wood ; behind these is a 

 range of sand hills, some of which 

 are peifectly naked, others tliinly 

 clothed with verdure and dwarf 

 plum bushes, not more than thirty 

 inches in lieight, from which we 

 procured abundance of the most 

 delicious plums I ever tasted." 



Earthquakes. — " As it required 

 every effort of skill and exerliim 

 to pa-is through this channel in 

 safety, and as the s»u\ liad set, 1 

 resolved to wait mitil tlie morning, 

 and caused the boat to Ijo mooi ed 

 to a siuall iiiland, about 500 vards 



above the entrance into the chan- 

 nel. After supper, we went to 

 sleep as usual : about ten o'clock, 

 and in the night I was awakened 

 bv a most tremenduous noise, ac- 

 companied by an agitation of the 

 boat so violent, that it appeared in 

 daMger of upsetting. Before I 

 could quit the bed, or rather the 

 skin, iqjon which I lay, the four 

 men who slept in the other cabin 

 rushed in and cried out in the 

 greatest teri'or, ' men Dieu ! 

 Monsieur Bradbury, qu'est ce ? qu'il 

 y a ?' I passed them with some 

 difficulty, and ran to the door of 

 the cabin, where I could distinctly 

 see the river as if agitated by a 

 storm ; and although the noise 

 was inconceivably loud and ter- 

 rific, I could distinctly hear the 

 crash of falling trees, and the 

 scroaminic of the wild fowl on the 

 river, but fotnrd that the boat was 

 still safe at her moorings. I was 

 followed out by the men and the 

 patron, still in accents of tenor, 

 inquiiing what it was : I tried to 

 calm them by saying, ' Restiz 

 vous tranquil, c'est iin treniblemeut 

 de terre,' which they did not seem 

 to understand. 



" By the time we could get to our 

 nre, which was on a large flag, in 

 the stern of the boat, the shock 

 had ceased •, but immediately the 

 pei'pendicular banks, butli above 

 and below us, began to fall into 

 the river in such vast masses, as 

 nearly to sink our boat by the 

 swell thev occasioned : and our 

 patron, who seemed more terrified 

 even than the men, began to cry 

 out, ' mon Dieu ! nous pcrirons!' 

 I wi.shed to consult witli him as t'> 

 ^vhat we could do to prcsei'vc oui- 

 sclvcs and the boat, but could gel 

 jio answer except ' O mon Dicu ! 



nuua 



