156 A FLOOD. 



upwards of sixty feet above its lowest level. The river, at this point, has 

 already run a course of nearly seven hundred miles, from its origin at Pitts- 

 burg, in Pennsylvania, during which it has received the waters of its num- 

 berless tributaries, and overflowing all the bottom lands or valleys, has 

 swept along the fences and dwellings which have been vniable to resist its 

 violence. I could relate hundreds of incidents which might prove to you 

 the dreadful effects of such an inundation, and which have been witnessed 

 by thousands besides myself. I have known, for example, of a cow 

 swimming through a window, elevated at least seven feet from the 

 ground, and sixty-two feet above low-water mark. The house was then 

 surrounded by water from the Ohio, which runs in front of it, while the 

 neighbouring country was overflowed ; yet the family did not remove 

 from it, but reinained in its upper portion, having previously taken off 

 the sashes of the lower windows, and opened the doors. But let us re- 

 turn to the Mississippi. 



There the overflow is astonishing ; for no sooner has the water reach- 

 ed the upper part of the banks, than it rushes out and overspreads the 

 whole of the neighbouring swamps, presenting an ocean overgrown with 

 stupendous forest-trees. So sudden is the calamity, that every indivi- 

 dual, whether man or beast, has to exert his utmost ingenuity to enable 

 him to escape from the dreaded element. The Indian quickly removes 

 to the hills of the interior, the cattle and game swim to the different 

 stripes of land that remain uncovered in the midst of the flood, or at- 

 tempt to force their way through the waters until they perish from 

 fatigue. Along the banks of the river, the inhabitants have rafts ready 

 made, on which they remove themselves, their cattle and their provisions, 

 and which they then fasten with ropes or grape-vines to the larger trees, 

 while they contemplate the melancholy spectacle presented by the current, 

 as it carries off their houses and wood-yards piece by piece. Some who 

 have nothing to lose, and are usually known by the name of Squatters, 

 take this opportunity of traversing the woods in canoes, for the purpose 

 of procuring game, and particularly the skins of animals, such as the 

 deer and bear, which may be converted into money. They resort to the 

 low ridges surrounded by the waters, and destroy thousands of deer, 

 merely for their skins, leaving the flesh to putrefy. 



The river itself, rolling its swollen waters along, presents a spectacle 

 of the most imposing nature. Although no large vessel, unless propelled 

 by steam, can now make its way against the current, it is seen covered 



