41 
illVERS Sc LAKES.—BOOK I. 
to converge, and from the appearance of huge fragments of rock, 
one is led to believe that here was formerly a cataract. The tow¬ 
er is one of these fragments, about sixty yards from the western 
bank, (which is a steep rock) and is about fifty feet in height; its 
form nearly circular, some handsome cedars growing on the top : 
on the opposite side of the river there is another huge detached 
rock, but round which the water does not flow except nvextraor¬ 
dinary floods ;* between this and the bluffs there are several 
other fragments of rock, possessing every appearance of once 
having formed a regular chain, through which the Mississippi, 
by the aid of time, or some convulsion of nature has made itself 
a channel. It is a dangerous place and difficult to ascend, as well 
as to descend in safety. Between this, and the mouth of the Ohio, 
there are to be seen in various places, detached rocks on the 
shore, and on the heads of islands, evidently rolled down by some 
mighty and unusual current. 
It is the opinion of many persons, that the Mississippi is a 
continuance of the Missouri; of this there can be little doubt. 
The Mississippi after its junction with that river assumes its ap¬ 
pearance and character in every particular except the general 
course ; the colour of their waters can be distinguished for six¬ 
ty miles; but in the alluvia, sand bar's, islands, rafts, current, 
and the timber on its borders, the Missouri is preserved. Per- 
haps it might have been more proper to have given a new name 
to the river which has been the result of this junction. 
Above the Missouri, the Mississippi is clear and limpid, like 
the Ohio, and bordered by a country extremely beautiful, with 
many fertile spots, but is not to be compared to that on the 
Ohio for settlements. The greater part consists of naked plains, 
which promise little to the husbandman. Excepting the cata¬ 
racts of St. Anthony; this river has but one or two serious in¬ 
terruptions in the navigation for at least sixteen hundred miles 
above St. Louis: but its channel generally abounds with shoals, 
and sand bars, the current, however, gentle. It is not an easy 
matter to point out exactly its source, several of the branches. 
* There is a remarkable cave in this rock, called by the Americans 
the Devil’s Oven; stories are related of persons having gone in and nev¬ 
er returning. 
F 
