HISTORICAL SKETCH. 49 



1823, Beltrami, ; 



BELTRAMl's OPINION OF THE ITASCAN SOURCE. 



Mr. Beltrami heard of the Itascan branch of the upper Mississippi, but he 

 regarded it as a subordinate tributary, and did not pursue it. Had he not 

 rested his claim to the discovery of the true source of the Mississippi, con- 

 fidently on the principle stated, he certainly would have penetrated to its 

 "western sources". He was a man of zeal, adventure, energy and ambition, 

 and never would have left the region without visiting what he styles Doe 

 Jake, had he supposed there was a possibility of doubting the actuality and 

 correctness of his discovery. This western branch he learned of under 

 the name of the River of lake Traverse, and says that above lake Traverse 

 (Pemidji), it issues from a lake "which receives no tributary stream, and 

 seems to draw its waters from the bosom of the earth. It is here, in my 

 opinion, that we shall fix the western sources of the Mississippi." 



Respecting the geology of the country, a single extract from Mr. Bel- 

 trami's pen will show at once the amount and character of the information 

 he gives us. The following is his comment on the valley of the Redwood 

 river, near its mouth, where the expedition passed. 



BELTRAMl AT THE MOUTH OF THE REDWOOD RIVER. 



We now reached a valley of the most lovely and interesting character. Never did a more 

 striking illusion transport my imagination back to the classic lands of Latium and Magna Graecia. 

 Rocks scattered, as if by art, over the plain, on plateau, and on hills, were, at a little distan3e, 

 perfect representations of every varied form of the ruins of antiquity. In one place you might 

 think you saw thermal substructures, or those of an amphitheatre, a circus, or a forum; in another 

 the remains of a temple, a cenotaph, a basilicon, or a triumphal arch. I took advantage of the 

 time which chance procured me, to survey this enchanted ground; but I went alone, that the deli- 

 cious reverie it threw me into might not be broken by cold heartedness or presumption. My eyes 

 continually met new images; at length they rested on a sort of tomb, which for some time held me 

 motionless. A thousand afflicting recollections rushed to my heart; I thought I beheld the tomb 

 of Virtue and of Friendship; I rested my head upon it, and tears filled my eyes. The spot was of 

 a kind to soften and embellish grief, and I should have long given myself up to its sweet influence 

 had I not been with people who had no idea of stopping for any thing but a broken saddle, or some 

 such important incident. 



The rocks are granitic, and of so beautiful and varied a quality, that the tricking dealers of 

 the Piazza Navona, at Rome, would sell them to the most enthusiastic, and, in their own 

 opinion, the most learned antiquarians, as oriental and Egyptian porphyry or basalt, which 

 are now generally admitted to be merely granite more elaborated by time and water. 



BELTRAMI AT THE FALLS OF ST. ANTHONY. 



What a new scene presents itself to my eyes, my dear Madam I How shall I bring it before 

 you without the aid of either painting or poetry? I will give you the best outline I can, and your 

 imagination must fill it up. Seated on the top of an elevated promontory, I see, at half a mile dis- 



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