!826.y 



NEW E.\GJ.AND FAUMEll, 



307 



Jhe Pacific ocean. But the gre;it Author ol' 

 Nature, in his wisdom has prepared, and indi- 

 vidual enterprise discovered that so "broad and 

 easy is the way'' that ihousanils may travel it in 

 safety, tvitbout meeting with any obstruction 

 deserving the name of a mountain. 



The route proposed, after leaving St. Louis 

 and passing generally on the North side of the 

 Missouri River, strikes the river I'latte a short 

 distance above its junction with the Missouri, 

 then pursues the waters of the Platte to their 

 sources, and in continuation, crosses the head 

 waters of what Gen. Ashley believes to be the 

 Rio Colorado of the West, and strikes, for the 

 first time, a ridge or single connecting chain of 

 mountains, running from north to south. This, 

 however, presents no difficulty, as a wide gap 

 is found apparently prepared for the purpose of 

 a passage. After passing this gap, the route 

 proposed falls directly on a river, called by 

 Gen. Ashley, the Buenaventura, and runs with 

 that river to the Pacific Ocean. 



The face of the country^ in the general, is a 

 continuation of high, rugged, and barren moun- 

 tains ; the summits of which are either timber- 

 ed with pine, quaking asp, or cedar ; or, in fact, 

 almost entirely destitute of vegetation. Other 

 parts are hilly and undulating ; and the valleys 

 and table lands, (except on the border of water 

 courses, which are more or less timbered with 

 cotton- wood and willow,) are destitute of wooil ; 

 but this indispensable article is substituted by 

 an herb, called by the Hunters, wild sage, which 

 grows from one to five feet high, and is found 

 in great abundance in most parts of the country. 



Soil. — The sterility of the country, general- 

 ly, is almost incredible. That part of it, how- 

 ever, bounded by the three principal ranges of 

 mountains, and watered by the sources of tbe 

 supposed Buenaventura, is less sterile ; ye! Ihe 

 proportion of arable land, even within those 

 limits, is comparatively small ; and no district 

 of the country visited by General A«hley, or of 

 which he obtained satisfactory information, of- 

 fers inducements to civilized people, sufficient 

 to justify an expectation of permanent settle- 

 ments. 



Rivers. — The river visited by General Ash- 

 ley, and which he believes to be the Rio Colo- 

 rado of the West, is, at about fifly miles from 

 its most northern source, eighty yards wide. — 

 ,At this point. Gen. A. embarked and descended 

 the river, which gradually increased in width 

 to one hundred and eighty yards. In passing 

 through the mountains, the channel is contract- 

 ed to fifly or ."ixly yards, and so much obstruct- 

 ed by rocks as to make its descent extremely 

 dangerous, and its ascent impracticable. After 

 descending this river aboui 400 miles General 

 A. shaped his course northwardly and fell upon 

 what he supposed to be the sources of the Bu- 

 enaventura, and represents those branches as 

 bold streams, from twenty to fifty yards wide, 

 forming a junction a few miles below where he 

 crossed them, and then empties into a large 

 lake, (called Grand Lake,) represented by the 

 Indians as being 40 or 50 miles wide and 60 

 or 70 miles leng. This information is strength- 

 ened by that of the white hunters, who have 

 explored parts of the Lake. The Indians rep- 

 resent, that at the extreme west end of this 

 Lake, a large river flows out, and runs in a 

 westwardi) direction. 



Geaerai A. when on those waters, at first 



thought it probnble they Were the sourci'S of 

 the Multnomah ; bi:l the nccount given by the 

 Indians, supported by the opinion ofsiime men 

 belonging to the Hudson Bay Company, con- 

 firms him in the belief, that they art,- thn head 

 waters of the river represented as the Buena- 

 ventura. To the north and north-west from 

 Grand Lake, the couiiliy is represented as aboun- 

 ding in Salt. 



The Indians, west of the mountains, are re- 

 markably well disposed towards the citizens of 

 the United Stales ; the Eutavvs and Flat-heads 

 are particularly so, and express a great wish 

 that the Americans should visit them frequently. 



SALE OF WOOL. 



Rcpoitedfoi ilic Daily AniGrican Statesman. 



We are favoured by an intelligent snlscriber 

 with the following, for the use of the afflicted. 



Providence Journal. 



Care for the polyfms in theA'ose. — In conversa- 

 tion with a friend from the western country, 1 

 have been informed of a fact, too important, as 

 it appears to me, to be withheld from the pub- 

 lic. 



His daughter was troubled with a polypus in 

 the nose, which was extracted by a surgeon but 

 soon grew again to its former size. He heard 

 of the blood root as a cure and it was tried with 

 such efficacy, that the polypn.^ shrivelled away 

 in about ten days, and was soon entirely gone. 



Anotheryoung woman in the same neighbour- 

 hood had one so largo as to spread her nostiils 

 considerably, and to aflect her speech. After 

 using the blood root a short time the polypus 

 dropped out entire, and she was soon well. 



Receipt. — Take h an ounce of blood root (San- 

 guinaria Canadensis) finely pulverizs^J, and sift 

 it, and one dram of Calomel. Mix ihem together 

 for a sternutatory. A small pinch of this pow- 

 der is to be snorted up the nostril three times a 

 day ; and a syringe of the following wash is to 

 be thrown up the nostril twice a /lay. 



Dissolve I an ounce of powderetl Alum in a 

 gill of bramiy, shake the phial, uniil ii is dis- 

 solved. 



Besides the above, there was considerable more wool 

 sold, but in small lota, aalgi quantity witlidrawD. 



TEA DRINKING. 

 The Duke (Grafton) as was his custom, filled 

 his own tea pot full of the finest tea, and then 

 drop|ied water into it from the urn, and drank 

 the essence, professing that weak tea only was 

 prejudicial, and that he took it so strong tor the 

 benefit of his nerves. Lord Denbigh was imme- 

 diately about to remonstrate, but suddenly halt- 

 ed, recollecting, perhaps, that " touch me and 

 no minister so sore." Ilov^ever, I must freely 

 own, that I never could perceive that his Grace 

 ex[)erienced any ill eflects. Dr Johnson, whose 

 nerves were at least as siisct^plible, declared 

 himself to be "a hardened and shameless lea 

 drinker, whose kettle had scarcely tune to cool, 

 who with tea amused the evening, with tea 

 solaced the midnight, and with tea welcom- 

 ed the morning." The Doctor's tea certainly 

 looked as strong, but the quality, perhaps, migbl 

 not be equally good. Dr. Johnson, it is prelly 

 well known, never submitted qijielly to the most 

 gentle reproof; for when a lady, on his sending 

 bis cup to be filled again, only ventured to hint 

 that he hail taken six cups already, he hastily 

 replied, " then, Madam, I intend to drink six 

 more ;" and it was well if he did not inadver- 

 tently empty the contents at the fioitom of each 

 upon the ladies' carpet. — Cradock^s Memoirs. 



Efficacy of Vaccination. — Dr. Fansher, in a 

 communication published in the New Haven 

 Register, says : '-Having vaccinated upivarus of 

 85,000 persons within 24 years, and tested many 

 hundreds of them afterwards with small pos 

 matter and infection, 1 am happy to proclaim 

 to the world, that 1 have never known one of 

 them to have taken the small pox." 



SHEEP. 

 There are 3,496,529 sheep in the state of 

 N, York, and there are also nearly if not quite 

 as many in Pennsylvania. The whole number 

 l.a the U. States, is estimated at more than 15 

 QiiltioDS, and rapidly increasing. 



