INDIAN NATIONS, &c.—BOOK I. 
69 
creel spot of: general rendezvous, that most ungovernable of sav¬ 
age propensities, revenge, is completely subdued. 
There is marble in the territory in various places; it resem¬ 
bles that which is commonly found in Kentucky: but none of a 
superior quality has yet been discovered On Bon Homme 
creek, about fifteen miles from St. Louis, a quarry of stone was 
opened some time ago, said to equal the French burr. The mill 
stones procured here are thought by good judges to be of a su¬ 
perior quality, and it only remains for experience to decide. 
Earths and clays of a rare and useful kind, have been found 
in different parts of the territory. Gypsum, may be had in any 
quantities, on the Maramek, Osage, Missouri, 8cc. ; on the Kan¬ 
sas, I have been informed by hunters there are whole bluffs com¬ 
posed of it. In the district of Cape Girardeau, there is a kind of 
clay, which in painting, answers*the purpose of Ochre. 
I shall here notice a phenomenon frequently observed; but 
without attempting a solution, which is left to the scientific. On 
the St. Francis and in the White river country, subterraneous 
explosions, have been heard, and their effects discerned. The 
sound is like that of cannon or distant thunder; and the earth, 
and rocks appear to have been convulsed as though by the force 
of gun powder. The rocks blown up, are glazed with a shining 
matter, of metallic appearance.* 
CHAPTER VI. 
A VIEW OF THE INDIAN NATIONS OF LOUISIANA—>OF THE 
INDIAN TRADE FOR FURS, &X. OF THE MISSOURI AND MIS° 
SISSIPPI. 
From the fatal ravages of the small pox, the present Indian 
nations of Louisiana, particularly on the Missouri, have not 
the tenth of the numbers which they had near thirty years ago. 
* I have since learned that the same phenomenon has been known 
on the Washita, and on the Sabine. 
