45 O AUDUBON 



Such was then the nature of the Mississippi and its 

 shores. That river was navigated, principally in the di- 

 rection of the current, in small canoes, pirogues, keel- 

 boats, some flatboats, and a few barges. The canoes 

 and pirogues, being generally laden with furs from the 

 different heads of streams that feed the great river, were 

 of little worth after reaching the market of New Orleans, 

 and seldom reascended, the owners making their way 

 home through the woods, amidst innumerable difficulties. 

 The flatboats were demolished and used as fire-wood. 

 The keel-boats and barges were employed in conveying 

 produce of different kinds besides furs, such as lead, 

 flour, pork, and other articles. These returned laden with 

 sugar, coffee, and dry goods suited for the markets of 

 St. Genevieve and St. Louis on the upper Mississippi, or 

 branched off and ascended the Ohio to the foot of the 

 Falls near Louisville in Kentucky. But, reader, follow 

 their movements, and judge for yourself of the fatigues, 

 troubles, and risks of the men employed in that navigation. 

 A keel-boat was generally manned by ten hands, principally 

 Canadian French, and a patroon or master. These boats 

 seldom carried more than from twenty to thirty tons. 

 The barges frequently had forty or fifty men, with a pa- 

 troon, and carried fifty or sixty tons. Both these kinds of 

 vessels were provided with a mast, a square sail, and coils 

 of cordage known by the name of cordelles. Each boat 

 or barge carried its own provisions. We shall suppose 

 one of these boats under way, and, having passed Natchez, 

 entering upon what were the difficulties of their ascent. 

 Wherever a point projected, so as to render the course or 

 bend below it of some magnitude, there was an eddy, the 

 returning current of which was sometimes as strong as 

 that of the middle of the great stream. The bargemen 

 therefore rowed up pretty close under the bank, and had 

 merely to keep watch in the bow, lest the boat should run 

 against a planter or sawyer. But the boat has reached the 



