TRAVELS IN 
430 
lies from eighteen inches to two or three feet be- 
low, it has the virtue of fertilizing the virgin 
mould above, rendering it black, humid, foapv, 
and incredibly productive. 
I obferved two or three fcrubby Pine trees or 
rather dwarf bulhes, upon the higheft ridge of 
thefe plains, which are viewed here as a curiofity, 
there being no Pine forefts within feveral leagues 
diftance from the banks of this great river, but, on 
the contrary, feemingly an endlefs wildernefs of 
Canes, and the moft magnificent foreits of the 
trees already noted, but particularly Platanus 
occidentalis, Liriodendron, Magnolia grandifiora, 
Liquidambar ftyracifl.ua, Juglans nigra, Juglans 
exaltata, Tilea, Morus rubra, Gleditfia triacan- 
thus, Laurus Borbonia, and Laurus faffafras ; this 
laft grows here to a vaft tree, forty or fifty feet 
ftraight trunk ; its timber is found to be ufeful, 
fawn into boards and fcantling, or hewn into 
pofts for building and fencing. 
On the more fertile borders of the plains, ad- 
joining the furrounding forefts, are Sideroxylon, 
Pyrus coronaria, and Strawberry vines (Fraga- 
ria) but no fruit on them ; the inhabitants allured 
me they bore fruit in their feafon, very large, 
of a fine red colour, delicious and fragrant. 
Having made our tour and obfervations on the 
White plains, we returned to the river at the clofe 
of the day, and next morning fat off for Point Cou- 
pe : paffed under the high painted cliffs, and then 
let our courfe acrofs the Miffiffippi, which is here 
near two miles over : touched at a large ifiand near 
the middle of the river, being led there, a little out 
