THi; MI^^^^1^^U^I. 103 



never be coDtbuuded by a.*toni> imtiii, --i uAcited by ad- 

 miration. You may float uj mi its bosom, and be lost 

 amid its world of watery, and vet see nothing of its vast- 

 ness ; for the river has no striking beauty ; its waves 

 run scarce as high as a child can reach ; upon its banks 

 we find no towering precipices, no cloud-capped moun- 

 tains — all, all is dull, — a dreary waste. 



Let us float however, day after day, upon its appa- 

 rently sluggish surface, and by comparison once begin 

 to comprehend its magnitude, and the mind becomes 

 overwhelmed with fearful admiration. There seems to 

 rise up from its muddy waters a spirit robed in mystery, 

 that points back for its beginning to the deluge, and 

 whispers audibly, " I roll on, and on, and on, altering^ 

 but not altered^ while time exists ! ■' 



Here, too, we behold a power terrible in its loneli- 

 ness ; for on the Mississippi a sameness meets your eye 

 every where, with scarce a single change of scene. 



A river incomprehensible, illimitable, and mysterious, 

 flows ever onward, tossing to and fro under its depths, 

 in its own channel, as if fretting in its ordered limits ; 

 swallowing its banks here, and disgorging them else- 

 where, so suddenly that the attentive pilot, as he repeats 

 his frequent route, feels that he knows not where he is, 

 and often hesitates fearfully along in the mighty flood, 

 guided only by the certain lead ; and again and again is 

 he startled by the ominous cry, " Tifss f.itli(.in deep!'' 



