368 



MISSOURI. 



7. Face of the Country. The northwestern part of the State is a wide prairie. The 

 central and southwestern parts are hilly and broken ; the southeastern is low, swampy, full of 

 lakes, and subject to inundation from the waters of the Mississippi. The best portion of the 

 State and the most thickly peopled lies between the Missouri and the Mississippi ; it has an 

 undulating and variegated surface, and contains large tracts of alluvial and hilly prairies. 



8. Earthquakes. Earthquakes have been common here from the first settlement of the 

 country ; several shocks were felt at Kaskaskia, in 1804, by wh'ch the soldiers stationed there 

 were aroused from sleep, and the buildings were much shaken and disjointed ; and oscillations 

 still occur with such frequency as to be regarded with indifference by the inhabitants, who fa- 

 miliarly call them shakes. But the agitations of December, January, and February, 1811 and 

 1812, which were felt from New England to New Orleans, are the only ones known to have 

 left permanent traces on the face of the earth, although there is every probability that this 

 part of the valley of the Mississippi has been much convulsed at former periods. In 1812, the 

 earth here opened in wide chasms, from which columns of water and sand burst forth ; hills 

 disappeared, and their places were occupied by lakes ; the beds of lakes were raised, and 

 their waters flowed off, leaving them dry ; the courses of ihe streams were changed by the ele- 

 vation of their beds and the falling in of their banks ; for one whole hour the current of the 

 Mississippi was turned backwards towards its source, until its accumulated waters were able to 

 break through the barrier that had dammed them back ; boats were dashed on the banks, or 

 suddenly left high and dry in the deserted channel, or hurried backwards and forwards with 

 the eddying surges, while in the midst of these awful changes, electric fires, accompanied by 

 loud rumblings, flashed through the air, which was darkened by clouds of vapor. In some 

 places submerged forests and cane brakes are still visible at a great depth on the bottom of 

 lakes, which were then formed. That the cause of these convulsions was not local, as some 

 have imagined, is evident enough from the fact, that the Azores, the West India Islands, ana 

 the northern coast of South America, were unusually agitated at the same time, and the cities 

 of Caraccas, Laguayra, and others on the last were totally destroyed. 



POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



1. Divisions. Missouri is divided into 64 counties.* 



Population at several Periods. 



1810 

 1820 

 1830 

 ]83() 



Whites. 



17,227 

 55,988 

 114,795 

 202,757 



Slaves. 



3,01 1 

 10,322 

 25,091 

 40,540 



Free Colored. 



C07 

 376 

 509 

 911 



Total Pop. 



20,845 

 00,586 

 140,4,55 

 244,208 



2. Towns. St. Louis, once the capital, is the largest town in the State. It stands on the 

 western bank of the Mississippi, 18 miles below the mouth of the Missouri. The site of the 

 tov/n rises gently from the water, and is bounded on the west by an extensive plain. The 

 buildings mostly occupy several parallel streets extending along the river. Some of the houses 

 are of wood, whitewashed, but many of them are of stone and brick ; they are generally fur- 

 nished with gardens. Here are a Catholic college, and several other seminaries of learning. 



* Audrain 



Daviess 



Barry 



Franklin 



Rates 



Gasconade 



Benton 



Greene 



Boone 



Howard 



Caldwell 



Jackson 



Calln.way 



Jasper 



Cape Girardeau 



Jefferson 



Carroll 



Johnson 



Chariton 



Lafayette 



Clarke 



Lewis 



Clay 



Lincoln 



Clinton 



Linn 



Cole 



Livingston 



Cooper 



Macon 



Crawford 



Madison 



Marion 



Rives 



Miller 



St. Clair 



IVIonroe 



St. Charles 



Montgomery 



St. Francois 



Morgan 



St. Genevieve 



New Madrid 



St. Louis 



Orange 



Saline 



Perry 



Scott 



Pettis 



Shannon 



Pike 



Shelby 



Polk 



Stoddard 



Pulaski 



Taney 



Ralle 



Van IJuren 



Randolph 



. Warren 



Ray 



Washington 



Ripley 



Wnyne 



