ite VIEWS OF LOUISIANA. 
Vers, it flows with a slow and lazy current. The St. Francis 
communicates with a number of lakes which lie between it and 
the Mississippi, formed by the streams which flow from the up¬ 
land country, and lose themselves in the low grounds commenc¬ 
ing at Cape Girardeau. This river receives several considera¬ 
ble streams, which rise between it and the Mississippi; the Pe- 
misco has its source near the Big prairie, eight or ten miles 
N. W. of New Madrid; but generally, the St. Francis in high 
water overflows its banks on that side to a great distance. A per¬ 
son, at such times may easily lose the channel, unless well ac¬ 
quainted with its course. The western bank is generally high¬ 
er and much less subject to inundation. 
MARAMEK, 
Is forty miles below the mouth of the Missouri, and heads 
•with the Gasconade and the St. Francis. Passes generally 
through a broken country, the flats mostly narrow. It affords 
excellent navigation to its source, a distance of more than three 
hundred nfiles. The source of this river is considered a curios¬ 
ity ; it is a small lake formed from fountains issuing immediate¬ 
ly around the spot. Big river, which winds through the Mine 
country, is the principal branch. 
THE GASCONADE, 
Enters the Missouri about one hundred miles up, can he as¬ 
cended in small boats nearly one hundred miles, but the navi¬ 
gation is not good on account of shoals and rapids. It passes 
through a hilly country, in which there probably exist mines. 
OSAGE R. 
Navigation about five hundred miles, though considerably 
impeded in places by shoals. Enters the Missouri 133 miles 
up. Principal navigable branches are Nangiro, Grand river, 
the Fork, the Cooks river, Vermillion river. Country border¬ 
ing, generally high prairie, but the bottoms are fine and suffici¬ 
ently timbered for settlements. On the Nangira, about twenty 
miles from its mouth, there is a curious cascade of more than 
one hundred and fifty feet fall in the distance of four hundred 
yards; the water issues from a large spring and is precipitated 
