549 



wards the west, between the Mounts Ozark 

 and the foot of the Andes of Upper Lou- 

 isiana (Rocfaj Mountains, lat. 35° — 38°), the 

 basin of the Mississipi is considerably raised 

 in the vast desart described by Mr. Nuttal. 

 It presents a series of small table-lands, suc- 

 ceeding each other by degrees, and of which 

 the most westerly (the nearest the Rocky 

 Mountains, between the Arkansas and the 

 Padouca), rises more than 450 toises. Major 

 Long measured a base to determine the po- 

 sition and the height of James Peak. In the 

 great basin of the Mississipi, the line that 

 separates the forests and the savannahs runs, 

 not, as may be supposed, in the manner of a 

 parallel, but like the Atlantic coast, and the 

 Alleghany mountains themselves, from N.E. 

 to S.W., from Pittsbourg towards Saint Louis, 

 and the Red River of Natchitotches, so that 

 the northern part only of the state of the Illi- 

 nois is covered with gramina *. This line 

 of demarcation is not only interesting for 



* Manuscript Observations of Mr. Gallatin. Beyond, 

 that is, on the west of the savannahs or fields of the Missouri, 

 we again find forests at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. Be- 

 tween this chain and that of the coast (the Maritime Alps of 

 New Albion), there are plains in which wood is scarce j but 

 in passing the Maritime Alps, the forests recommence, and 

 the country as far as the mouth of the Rio Columbia, pre- 

 sents all the advantages of Tennesse and Kentucky. 



