Rocky Mountains. 25 



it does not appear to have become entirely naturalized there, 

 as we are informed by president Smith that great numbers 

 were killed by the severe frost of the winters of 1810-11. 

 In America this tree is very widely distributed, and ex- 

 tends northward beyond the forty-fifth degree of north lati- 

 tude. In the fertile alluvial lands of Otter Creek, and other 

 rivers which discharge into Lake Champlain, this tree at- 

 tains more than one half the magnitude which it is seen to 

 reach in the most prolific portions of the Mississippi valley: 

 it appears, therefore, that some other cause than the frigi- 

 dity of the climate, must have occasioned the destruction of 

 the plane trees in England, since it is well known that the 

 winters of Vermont and Lower Canada, far surpass in severi- 

 ty those of the island of Great Britain. 



The fruit of the svcamore is the favourite food of the 

 paroquet, and large flocks of these gaily plumed birds con- 

 stantly enliven the gloomy forests of the Ohio. 



During the night of the 18th, the weather being clear, we 

 continued on our voyage, as is customary with most of the 

 steam boats navigating the Ohio. 



It was long since remarked by Mr. Schultz, and consid- 

 ered by him as an inexplicable circumstance, that the reflec- 

 tion, by night, of the image of the banks of the Ohio, does 

 not furnish an infallible guide to the middle of the bed of 

 the river. Nothing is more manifest than that the banks at 

 different places, having different degrees of elevation, and 

 being sometimes naked, and sometimes covered with very 

 tall trees, must, of necessity, cast shadows of different 

 lengths, upon the surface of the water, consequently that the 

 luminous stripe along the middle of the river, from the sur- 

 face of which the sky and the stars are reflected, must be 

 greatly subject to irregularities in position and direction. 

 This circumstance often proves very annoying to inexperi- 

 enced pilots, who attempt to navigate the Ohio, or any other 



VOL. l. 4 



