536 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



precipice : it is then in vain for 

 the foremost to retreat or even to 

 stop ; they are pressed on by the 

 hindmost rank, who seeing no 

 danger but from the hunters, 

 goad on those before them till the 

 whole are precipitated and the 

 shore is strewed with their dead 

 bodies. Sometimes in this peri- 

 lous seduction the Indian is him- 

 self either trodden under foot by 

 the rapid movements of the buffa- 

 loe, or missing his footing in the 

 cliff is urged down the precipice 

 by the falling herd. 



THE MISSOURI. ^ 



(From the same.) 



We have noAV reached the ex- 

 treme navigable point of the Mis- 

 souri, which our observation 

 places in latitude 43° 30' 43" 

 north. It is difficult to comprise 

 in any general description the 

 characteristic's of a river so ex- 

 tensive, and fed by so many 

 streams which have their sources 

 in a great variety of soils and 

 climates. But the Missouri is 

 still sufficiently powerful to give 

 to all its waters something of a 

 common character, which is of 

 course decided by the nature of 

 the country through which it 

 passes. The bed of the river is 

 chiefly composed of a blue mud, 

 from which the water itself de- 

 rives a deep tinge. From its 

 junction here to the place near 

 which it leaves the mountains, its 

 course is embairassed by rapids 

 and rocks which the hills on each 

 side have thrown into its channel. 

 From that place, its current, with 

 the exception of the .EaUa, is not 



difficult of navigation nor is there 

 much variation in its appearance 

 till the mouth of the Platte. That 

 powerful river throws out vast 

 quantities of coarse sand which 

 contribute to give a ne\<^face to 

 the Missouri, which is now much 

 more impeded by islands. The 

 sand, as it is drifted down, ad- 

 heres in time to some of the pro- 

 jecting points from the shore, 

 and forms a barrier to the mud, 

 which at length fills to the same 

 height with the sandbar itself : 

 as soon as it has acquired a coa- 

 siitency, the willow grows there 

 the first year, and by its roots 

 assists the solidity of the whole : 

 as the mud and sand accumulate 

 the Cottonwood tree next appears ; 

 till the gradual excretion of soils 

 raises the surface of the point 

 above the highest freshets. Thus 

 stopped in its course the water 

 seeks a passage elsewhere, and 

 as the soil on each side is light 

 and yielding, what was only a 

 peninsula, becomes gradually an 

 island, and the river indemnifies 

 itself for the usurpation by en- 

 croaching on the adjacent shore. 

 In this way the Missouri like the 

 Mississippi is constantly cutting 

 off the projections of the shore, 

 and leaving its ancient channel, 

 which is then marked by the mud 

 it has deposited and a few stag- 

 nant ponds. 



Description of the objects of Na- 

 tural History observed in Lewis 

 and Clarke's Expedition. 



VEGETABLES. 



The vegetable productions of 

 the country, which furnish a 



large 



