110 
VIEWS OF LOUISIANA. 
of them Perhaps the comparison to the smooth green sea, 
the best Elevated about one hundred feet above the plain, I had 
a view of an immense extent. Every sense was delighted, and 
every faculty awakened. After gazing for an hour 1 still con¬ 
tinued to experience an unsatiated delight, in contemplating the 
rich and magnificent scene. To the right, the Missouri is con¬ 
cealed by a wood of no great width, extending to the Missis¬ 
sippi; the distance of ten miles. Before me, I could mark the 
course of the latter river, its banks without even a fringe of wood; 
on the other side, the hills of the Illinois, faced with limestone, in 
Bold masses of various hues, and the summits crowned with trees; 
pursuing these hills to the north, we see, at the distance of twen¬ 
ty miles, where the Illinois separates thi m, in his course to the 
Mississippi. To the left, we behold the ocean of prairie, with 
islets at intervals. The whole extent perfectly level, cover¬ 
ed with long waving grass, and at every moment changing co¬ 
lor, from the shadows cast by the passing clouds. In some pla¬ 
ces there stands a solitary tree of cotton wood or walnut, of enor¬ 
mous size, but, from the distance, diminished to a shrub. Fifty 
thousand acres of the finest land, are under the eye at once, and 
yet on all this space, there is but one little cultivated spot to be 
seen! 
When the eyes are gratified, with the survey, of this 
beautiful scene, the mind naturally expatiates on the improve¬ 
ments of which it is susceptible, and creative fancy, adorns it, 
with happy dwellings and richly cultivated fields. The situation 
in the vicinity of these great rivers, the fertility of the soil, a gar¬ 
den spot, must one day yield nourishment to a multitude of be¬ 
ings. The bluffs are abundantly supplied with the purest water; 
those rivulets, and rills, which at present, are unable to reach 
the great father of waters, and lose themselves in lakes and mar¬ 
shes, will be guided by the hand of man into channels fitted for 
their reception, and for his pleasure and felicity. 
