EPISODES 449 



and orchards, while crowded cities will rise at intervals 

 along its banks, and enlightened nations will rejoice in 

 the bounties of Providence. 



IMPROVEMENTS IN THE NAVIGATION OF 

 THE MISSISSIPPI 



I HAVE so frequently spoken of the Mississippi that an 

 account of the progress of navigation on that extraordinary- 

 stream may be interesting even to the student of nature. 

 I shall commence with the year 1808, at which time a 

 great portion of the western country, and the banks of 

 the Mississippi River, from above the city of Natchez 

 particularly, were little more than a waste, or to use words 

 better suited to my feelings, remained in their natural 

 state. To ascend the great stream against a powerful 

 current, rendered still stronger wherever islands occurred, 

 together with the thousands of sand-banks, as liable to 

 changes and shiftings as the alluvial shores themselves, 

 which at every deep curve or bend were seen giving way, 

 as if crushed down by the weight of the great forests that 

 everywhere reached to the very edge of the water, and 

 falling and sinking in the muddy stream by acres at a 

 time, was an adventure of no small difficulty and risk, and 

 which was rendered more so by the innumerable logs, 

 called sawyers and planters, that everywhere raised their 

 heads above the water, as if bidding defiance to all in- 

 truders. Few white inhabitants had yet marched towards 

 its shores, and these few were of a class little able to 

 assist the navigator. Here and there a solitary encamp- 

 ment of native Indians might be seen, but its inmates were 

 as likely to prove foes as friends, having from their birth 

 been made keenly sensible of the encroachments of the 

 white men upon their lands. 



VOL. II. — 29 



