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New York ; a distance computed to be nearly 

 four thousand miles. Perhaps there is not to be 

 found an inland navigation of equal extent, in any 

 part of the world. Another large branch of the 

 Illinois rises near the river Saint Joseph, passing 

 south of Lake Michigan, where a portage may 

 be easily formed. It is called the Theakiki river. 



The banks of the Illinois are generally high. 

 The bed of the river being a white marble, or 

 clay, or sand, the waters are remarkably clear. It 

 abounds with beautiful islands, one of which is 

 ten miles long ; and adjoining or near to it, are 

 many coal mines, salt ponds, and small lakes. It 

 passes through one lake, two hundred and ten 

 miles from its mouth, which is twenty miles in 

 length, and three or four miles in breadth, called 

 Illinois lake* The river, and waters communi- 

 cating with it, are replenished with a variety of 

 excellent fish. The large tract of country through 

 which this river and its branches meander, is said 

 not to be exceeded in beauty, levelness, richness, 

 and fertility of soil, by any tract of land, of equal 

 extent, in the United States. From the Illinois 

 to the Wabash, excepting some little distance 

 from the rivers, is almost one continued prairie, 

 or natural meadow, intermixed with groves, or 

 copses of wood, and some swamps and small lakes. 

 These beautiful, and, to the eye of the beholder, 

 unlimited fields, are covered with a luxuriant 

 growth of grass, and other vegetable productions, 

 v/nich afford fattening and plentiful grazing for 



