A FLOOD AND ITS EFFECTS. 108 
is when in combination, when vast rivers are 
booming on in their united force, that they are 
seen in all their magnificence. The waters, hav- 
ing reached the upper part of the banks, then 
rush forth, overspreading the whole of the ad 
jacent swamps, till all appears one vast ocean, 
above which a few tall forest trees show thei 
tops, all else submerged beneath the waste, till © 
at length undermined, they are seen to give way 
and disappear; while stupendous eddies engulph 
whole tracts of the land. Foaming, seething, 
and boiling, the torrent rushes, one huge and 
overpowering mass, fraught with terror and de- 
struction, impetuously and irresistibly on,.swal- 
lowing for ever the horses, bears and deer, which 
attempt to cross its relentless surface. Hagles 
and vultures, the grim attendants of mortality 
- alone are seen, vamindful of the flood, and in- 
tent upon their prey. 
Meanvwnile, the inhabitants, terror-stricken at 
the sudden inundation, their ingenuity quickened 
by the terrible doom it threatens, exert their ut- 
most to escape the horrors of the raging element. 
The Indian hastens to the hills of the interior. 
Dwellers on the banks of the river may be seen 
removing ihemselves and their possessions on 
rafts, whick they fasten with ropes or grape 
vines to the larger trees, hurrying to unknown 
hemes, while witnessing the melancholy sight of 
