20 :^ARnATivE of a journey 



quently destroyed by these animals. This extensive extermina- 

 tion is carried on every year, and yet it is said that their numbers 

 do not appear to be much diminished. 



About mid-day, on the 7th, we passed through a small town 

 called Columbia, and stopped in the evening at Rocheport, a little 

 village on the Missouri river. We were anxious to find a steam- 

 boat bound for Independence, as we feared we might linger too 

 long uj)on the road to make the necessary preparations for our 

 contemplated journey. 



On the following day, we crossed the Missouri, opposite Roche- 

 port, in a small skiif. The road here, for several miles, winds 

 along the bank of the river, amid fine groves of sycamore and 

 Athenian poplars, then stretches off for about three miles, and does 

 not again approach it until you arrive at Boonville. It is by far 

 the most hilly road that we have seen, and I was frequently re- 

 minded, while travelling on it, of our Chester county. We entered 

 the town of Boonville early in the afternoon, and took lodgings in 

 a very clean, and respectably kept hotel. I was much pleased 

 with Boonville. It is the prettiest town I have seen in Missouri; 

 situated on the bank of the river, on an elevated and beautiful spot, 

 and overlooks a large extent of lovely country. The town 

 contains two good hotels, (but no grog shops, properly so called,) 

 several well-furnished stores, and five hundred inhabitants. It 

 was laid out thirty years ago by the celebrated western pioneer, 

 whose name it bears. 



We saw here vast numbers of the beautiful parrot of this 

 country, (the Psittacus carolinensis.) They flew around us in 

 flocks, keeping a constant and loud screaming, as though they 

 would chide us for invading their territory ; and the splendid green 

 and red of their plumage glancing in the sunshine, as they whirled 

 and circled within a few feet of us, had a most magnificent ap- 

 pearance. They seem entirely unsuspicious of danger, and after 

 being fired at, only huddle closer together, as if to obtain protec- 



