476 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1317. 



in a stateof dissolution. During the 

 shock, the river had been much 

 agitated, and the men became 

 anxious to go ashore : my opinion 

 wag, that we were mucli more 

 safe on the river ; but finding that 

 they laid down their oars, and 

 seemed determined to quit the boat 

 for the present, we looked out for 

 :i part of the river where we 

 might moor it in security, and 

 ha\ing found one, we stopped 

 during the rem.ainder of the day. 



"At three o'clock, another canoe 

 ])assed us adrift on the river. 

 We did not experience any more 

 shocks until the morning of the 

 17th, wlien two occurred ; one 

 about five, and the other about 

 seven o'clock. We continued our 

 voyage, and about twelve this day 

 had a seveie shock, of very long 

 duration. About four o'clock came 

 in sight of a log-house, a little 

 above the Lower Chickasaw bluffs. 

 More than twenty people came out 

 as soon as they tliscovered us, and 

 when within hearing, earnestly 

 entreated us to come ashoi e. 1 

 1 found them almost distracted 

 with feiu , and that they were com- 

 posed of several fan)ilies, who had 

 collected in order that they might 

 jiray together. On entering the 

 liouse, i saw a bible lying open 

 on tl»e table. They informed me 

 that the gi-eatest part of tlie in- 

 habitants in the neighbourhood 

 had fled to the hills, on the oppo- 

 site side of tl\e river, for safety ; 

 and tliat during the sliock, alK)ut 

 s(m-rise on tlie 16th, a chasm iiad 

 opened on the sand l)ar o])])osite 

 the hi all's below, and on closing 

 again, had thrown the water to 

 the hciglit of a tall tree. Tliey 

 alsoallirmed that thecartli opened 

 in several places b(ick from the 



river. One of the men, who ap- 

 peared to be considered as possess- 

 ing more knowledge than the 

 rest, entered into an explanation 

 of the cause, and atiributed it to 

 the comet that had appeared a few 

 months before, which he described 

 as having two horns, over one of 

 which the earth had rolled, and 

 was- now lodged betwixt them : 

 that the shocks were occasioned 

 by the attempts made by the earth 

 to surmount the other horn. If 

 this should be accomplished, all 

 would be well, if otherwise, inevi- 

 table destruction to the world 

 would follow. Finding him con- 

 fident in Ills hypothesis, and my- 

 self imable to refute it, I did not 

 dispute the point, and we went on 

 about a mile further. Only one 

 shock occurred this night, at half 

 past seven o'clock. On the morn- 

 ing of the ISth, two shocks, one 

 betwixt three and four o'clock, 

 and the other at six. At noon, a 

 violent one, of very long duration, 

 which threw a great nmnber of 

 trees into the river within our 

 view. In the evening, two slight 

 shocks, one at six, the other at 

 nine o'clock. 



" 19th. We arrived at the mouth 

 of the river St. Franci-s, and had 

 only one shock, which happened at 

 eleven at niglit. 



" 20th. Detained by fog, and ex- 

 perienced only two shocks, one at 

 live, the other at seven in the 

 evening. . 



" '21st. Awakened by a shock at 

 half-past foul' o'clock : this was 

 the last, and not very violent, but 

 lasted for nearly a minute." 



Description of tlie ]\Iissor,ri 

 territory. — " It is necessary to ol)- 

 serve, that Ujjpcr Louisi;uia was 

 settled From Canada, not bv \vav 



of 



