Extraordinary Fresh of the Mississippi. 317 
priests were killed, and the bishop severely hurt. A rent 
remained in the cathedral of Onatavo, in Teneriffe, large 
enough for a man and horse to pass through.—A report is, 
that a volcano appeared at Hicra, one of the small islands. 
The shock was felt on the water, and in all theislands. At 
Ycod el Aleo, Teneriffe, the mast of a large vessel, with 
rigging attached to it, branded “ United states,” has been 
thrown up by the sea. 
A newspaper contains the following account of an extra- 
ordinary fresh, as it is termed in the transatlantic world, 
ef the river Mississippi last summer. 
New York, August 3. 
A letter from an officer of the United States army, dated 
at Natchez, the 28th of June 1813, states, that the 3d regt. 
had been ordered to ascend the Misssissippi, and join Gen. 
Harrison; and that the river had not been so high as it then 
was for 25 or 50 years.—He-then gives the following me- 
lancholy description of the effect of the rise of the river :— 
«¢ The water has broken over the levels and inundated the 
country on the west side, to the high ground, more than 
40 miles. The beautiful and bighly cultivated country 
contiguous to Red River is now an ocean.—The crops are 
destroyed, and there is great destruction by drowning of 
horses, cattle, sheep, hogs, and deer. Winthrop Sargent, 
Esq. (a gentleman whom you know) has lost 400 head of 
catile—others 2 or 300. The loss of neat cattle is esti- 
mated at 20,000 head. Every little spot of bare ground is 
crowded with animals of every description. It is common 
to find 15 or 20 deers intermixed with cattle ; and they have 
become ‘as domesticated as the cattle themselves. The 
water has been falling for several days, but has not yet low- 
ered more than two feet.—The waters of the Mississippi are 
already sensibly affected both in taste and smell, by the dead 
animals, and the putrefaction of vegetable substances. I 
hope it will not be the hard fate of our regiment to perform 
a ninety-day’s voyage in these waters ;.I should much prefer 
a march through the wilderness.” 
METALLIC OXIDES PRODUCED BY ELECTRICITY. 
The experiments of Van Marum and Cuthbertson have 
shown that very beautiful figures are produced on paper by 
the electrical oxidation of various metals when exploded in 
the state of wire. These figures cannot be well represented 
by engravings, and Mr. Singer has consequently proposed 
to illustrate a few copies of his * Elements of Electricity,” 
with real specimens of the oxides, struck by the aid. of his 
powerful 
