144 



UNITED STATES. 



exceed 460 miles in a straight line, is about 856 by 

 water. It may be shortened, at least 250 miles, by 

 cutting across eight or ten necks of land, some of 

 which are not 30 yards wide. Charlevoix relates, 

 that in the year 1722, at point Coupee or Cut pointy 

 the river made a great turn, and some Canadians, by 

 deepening the channel of a small brook, diverted the 

 waters of the river into it. The impetuosity of the 

 Stream was so violent, and the soil of so rich and 

 loose a quality, that, in a short time, the point was 

 entirely cut through, and travellers saved fourteen 

 leagues of their voyage. The old bee} has no water 

 in it, the times of ihe periodical overflowings only 

 excepted. The new channel has been since sound- 

 ed with a line of thirty fathoms, without finding 

 bottom. 



In the Spring-floods the Mississippi is very high,, 

 and the current so strong that with difficulty it cant 

 be ascended ; but that disadvantage is compensated 

 by eddies or counter-currents, which always run m. 

 the bends, close to the banks of the river, with near^ 

 ly equal velocity against the stream, and assist the 

 ascending boats. The current, at this season, de-« 

 scends at the rate of about five miles an hour. In 

 Autumn, when the waters are low, it does not run 

 faster than two miles, but it is rapid in such parts 

 of the river which have clusters of islands, shoals, 

 and sand-banks. The circumference of many of 

 these shoals being several miles, the voyage is 

 longer, and, in some parts, more dangerous, than iu 

 the Spring. The merchandize, necessary for the 

 commerce of the upper settlements on, or near, th^ 

 Mississippi, is conveyed, in the Spring and Autumn^ 



