PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 37 



*' The province of llic Illinois is, perhaps, the only spot 

 respecting which travellers have given no exaggerated ac- 

 count. It is superior to any description which has been 

 made, for local beauty, fertility, climate, and the means of 

 every kind which nature has lavished upon it for the facility 

 of commerce. 



" This country is a delightful valley where winds one of 

 the most majestic rivers on the globe, and which, after re- 

 ceiving the vast Missouri, is still augmented by an infinite 

 number of smaller rivers and creeks, all navigable and fitted 

 for the construction of mills and machinery of almost every 

 kind. 



" This valley is full of small lakes and villages, and inter- 

 spersed with woods and natural meadows, strewed with 

 medicinal and odoriferous plants. Across these meadows flow 

 numerous rivulets, sometimes murnnuing beneath the flow- 

 ers, and sometimes displaying their silver beds and their 

 transparent waters, pure as the air which is breathed amidst 

 those romantic spots. On each side of those vast meadows, 

 which are level as the surface of the calm ocean, rise lofty 

 and venerable forests, which serve as boundaries, while their 

 thick and mysterious shades fill the mind with reverential 

 awe and enthusiastic contemplation." 



In the foregoing description. Gen. CoUot has reference to 

 the river bottom only, on the Missisippi between the bluffs. 



" This valley," he says, " is bounded on the right and left 

 by two small chains of mountains running parallel with tlie 

 banks of the river, but never more distant than four or five 

 miles. 



" The chain on the east begins to be perceived from the 

 mouth of the river Kaskaskias, and runs in the same direc- 

 tion, as far as the Prairie Du Cliicn, situated 240 leagues 

 higher. 



