v20 Bringier on the Region of the Missiisippi, ^c. 



The following circumstance will show what influence 

 raits have on the alluvial soils of such rivers as this. 



Earthquakes and Eruptions. 



On the sixth day of January, 1812, during the earth- 

 quakes* which destroyed New-Madrid, and which were 

 felt two hundred miles around, I happened to be passing in 

 its neighbourhood, where the principal shock took place. 

 The violence of the earthquake having disturbed the earthy 

 strata impending over the subterraneous cavities, existing 

 probably in an extensive bed of wood, highly carbonized, 

 occasioned the whole superior mass to settle. This, press- 



I have seen the nil stone for hones and tools, mentionecl by Mr. B. as 

 found on Ih*^ Oiiichitn — it is no doubt better than those brought from Tur- 

 key. I have always hp;\rd the sanrie account of the Ouichita,' that he gives 

 jnreiardlo ils minerals. I never heard of the cinnabar or quicksilver ore, 

 of which he speaks ; hut there is no doubt at all, of the salt rock abounding 

 on the Arkansas ; and of the salt sterilizing the soil, and mixing its crystals 

 through large plains. The large piece of pure iron, weight near three thou- 

 sand, which he speaks of, was displayed in New-Orleans, and is now, as you 

 know-, in New-York; it was found as he describes. 1 have often heard of 

 the abundance of marble, which he mentions as being on the White river; 

 and 1 have heard that the same river ran over a bed of green marble foriifty 

 miles. 1 have no doubt of the granite or primitive mountains, on the Ar- 

 kansas, and neighborhood. 



tion, having surveyed the right bank of the river, on all the parts where the 

 vafts are lodged Men may pass iu many places, but in none without diffi- 

 culty and danger. The timber rises and falls with the water ; is continu- 

 ally shifting; lies in all directions, having large interstices open, and fre- 

 quently moves in a body, from the weight of the incumbent mass. It is 

 about twenty miles from the upper to the lower extiemity of the raft, ten 

 miles only of this is actually closed with timber," pp. 52. 



There are other rafts mentioned by Mr. Darby, but none so large. Mr. 

 Darby's book was published in 1818; and Mr. Bringier's visit to the 

 Achafalaya was in 1812. Whether the rafts had actually diminished since 

 this period, or in what way we are to reconcile the accounts, we cannot at 

 present discern; even Mr. Darby's account is however sufficiently won- 

 derful. — Editor. 



* Several authors have asserted that earthquakes proceed from volcanic 

 causes, but although this may be often true, the earthquake alluded to here, 

 must have had another cause. Time, perhaps, will give us some better 

 ideas as to the origin of the.se extraordinary phenomena. It is probable, 

 that they are produced, in ditferent instances, by different causes, and that 

 electricity is one of them ; the shocks of the earthquake of Louisiana, in 

 1812, produced emotions and sensations much resembling those of a strong 

 galvanic battery, it will, perhaps, be pertinent to observe, that this earth- 

 quake took place after a long succession of very heavy rains, such as had 

 never been seen before in that country. 



