LARGE AND SMALL STEAMERS OF THE 

 MISSISSIPPI. 



The steamboats of the Mississippi are as remarkable for 

 size and form as the river itself. Gigantic specimens 

 of art that go bellowing over the swift and muddy cur- 

 rent, like restless monsters, breathing out the whisper- 

 ings of the hurricane, clanking and groaning as if an 

 earthquake was preparing to convulse the world, ob- 

 scuring in clouds of smoke the sun in the daytime, or 

 rolling over the darkness of night a flame as if the vol- 

 cano had burst from the bosom of the deep. 



Who, without wondering, sees them for the first time, 

 as they rush along, filled with an ever-busy throng of 

 travellers, and loaded with the boundless wealth, that 

 teems from the rich soil, as the reward of the labor of 

 the American husbandman ! 



The Mississippi is also very remarkable for little 

 steamboats, small specimens of water-craft, that are 



