370 



ARKANSAS. 



and pursuing a southeast course, joins the Mississippi 400 miles above the mouth of Red River. 

 Its whole length is more than 2,000 miles. It surpasses all the rivers of the West in the per- 

 fect regularity of its curves and bends, and in the beauty and uniformity of the young cotton- 

 wood groves, that spring up on the convex sand-bars. In the spring floods steamboats can 

 ascend it nearly to the mountains. White River has its sources in the ridge called the Black 

 Mountains, which divides its waters from those of the Arkansas. It flows east and receives 

 Black River in latitude 35° 15' N., after which, its course is southerly. Near its mouth it 

 divides into two branches ; the smaller branch joining the Arkansas, while the eastern enters 

 the Mississippi. The other rivers are the St. Francis^ Cache., Washita., Bartholomew., and 

 Red River. The Washita, a noble river, running through a fertile and beautiful region, flows 

 nearly parallel with the Arkansas and the Red River, and is navigable 350 miles from its 

 mouth. 



4. Climate. The climate is a compound of that of Missouri and Louisiana. Until we 

 advance 200 miles west of the Mississippi, in its humidity it more nearly resembles the latter. 

 The distribution of rain is very unequal. Drenching rains and thunder are experienced some- 

 times 36 days in succession. At other times the weather is remarkable for long droughts. 

 Planting of corn commences by the middle of March, and cotton by the first of April. The 

 shores of the Arkansas, as far up as Little Rock are extremely unhealthy. Great tracts on 

 all sides are covered with sleeping lakes and stagnant bayous. The country is a dead level ; 

 and the falling waters of the rains cannot be drained ofl^. On the vast prairie which commences 

 just above the Post, and extends 90 miles up the country, it is more healthy. This long sweep 

 of country is thoroughly ventilated. But the air, in the timbered bottoms, is close and unelas- 

 tic ; and the mosquitoes are excessively troublesome. Further up the country and on the 

 open prairies, it is as healthy as in any other country in the same latitude. 



5. Soil. The soil is of all qualities, from the best to the most sterile. Much of the coun- 

 try on the Washita, has a soil of great fertility and of the blackness of ink. On White River 

 are some of the best lands and the healthiest sites in the country. The soil on the St. Francis 

 is very fertile, and covered with a heavy growth of beech. On the whole, this State has a 

 sufficiency of excellent lands to sustain a rich and populous community. 



6. Geology. The mountains are composed chiefly of secondary rocks, limestones, clay 

 slates, and sandstones, traversed in many places by dikes of greenstone, granite, and sienite. 

 The rest of the State consists in part of the same secondary rocks, and in part of alluvial, and 

 tertiary beds. Vast masses of sea-shells are found dispersed over difl'erent tracts of this coun- 

 try. They are generally found in points remote from limestone ; and answer a valuable pur- 

 pose to the inhabitants, who collect and burn them for lime. 



7. Jfatural Productions. The whortleberry of the north is found in great perfection in the 

 southwest extremity of this State. The hifls in many places are covered with red cedars and 

 savines ; and muscadioe grapes are met with in abundance. 



8. Minerals. Limestone, gypsum, and stone-coal, abound on the banks of the White Riv- 

 er, and iron ore is plentiful in all parts. Salt occurs principally in the Salines, a tract about 

 100 miles wide, extending through the whole breadth of this State, from north to south, at the 

 distance of 700 miles from the Mississippi. Here is the salt prairie, which is covered for many 

 miles with pure, white, crystallized salt, from 4 to 6 inches deep. The Hot Springs, toward 

 the southwest part of this State, are among the most interesting curiosities of the country. 

 The waters are remarkably pure and limpid, and are efficacious in many disorders ; but they 

 exhibit no mineral properties beyond common spring-water. During the spring floods of the 

 Washita, a steamboat can approach within 30 miles of them. Two miles from the springs 

 is the famous quarry of stone called oil-stone. The mountains in the vicinity of these springs 

 are thought to be volcanic. 



9. Jlnimals. The country is still in many parts unsubdued, and wild animals abound. 

 Among them are the bear, the deer, the beaver, the badger, and the gopher. 



10. Face of the Country. For some distance up the waters of the Arkansas and White 

 Rivers, the country is an extensive, heavily-timbered, and deeply inundated swamp. Near the 

 St. Francis hills and at Point Chicot, the eastern front along the Mississippi is above the over- 

 flow. The remainder of the eastern line is a continuous and monotonous flooded forest. The 

 State has large and level prairie plains, and possesses a great extent of rocky and sterile ridges, 

 with a considerable surface covered with mountains. Near the southwest part of the State is a 

 singular, detached elevation, called Mount Prairie. 



