THE MISSISSIPPI. 95 



flows, its vast extent, and tlic charm of mystery that 

 rests upon its waters. 



The Niagara Falls, with its fearful depths, its rocky 

 heights, its thunder, and " bows of promise," addresses 

 itself to the ear, and the eye ; and through these alone 

 impresses the beholder with the greatness of its eharac- 

 ter. The Mississippi, on the contrary, although it may 

 have few or no tangible demonstrations of power, al- 

 though it has no language with wliich it can startle the 

 senses, yet in a " still small voice " addresses the mind 

 with its terrible lessons of strength and sublimity, more 

 forcibly than any other object in nature. 



The name Mississippi, was derived from the abori- 

 gines of the country, and has been poetically rendered 

 the " Father of AVaters." There is little truth in this 

 translation, and it gives no idea, or scarcely none, of the 

 river itself. The literal meaning of the Indian com- 

 pound, Mississippi, as is the case with all Indian names 

 in this country, would have been much better, and every 

 way more characteristic. From the most numerous In 

 dian tribe in the southwest we derive the name ; and it 

 would seem that the same people who gave the name to 

 the Mississippi, at different times possessed nearly half 

 the continent ; judging from the fact that the Ohio in 

 the north, and many of the most southern points of the 

 peninsula of Florida, are named from the Choctaw lan- 

 guage. 



With tljat tribe tlie two simple adjectives, MisMih 



