FLOODS AND EDDIES, 7* 
great difference in the time of ascending and 
descending these rivers. The floods in the 
Mississippi are occasioned by the dissolution of 
the immense bodies of snow and ice accumu¬ 
lated during winter in those northern regions 
through which the river passes; they are also 
very regular, beginning in the month of March 
and subsiding in July. Those in the Ohio 
take place between Christmas and May; but 
they are not regular and steady like those of 
the Mississippi for the water rises and falls 
many times in the course of the season. These 
floods are occasioned by heavy falls of rain in 
the beginning of winter, as well as by the 
thawing of the ice. 
The Mississippi has a very winding course,* 
and at every bend there is an eddy in the 
water. These eddies are always strongest 
during the inundations, consequently it is then 
a much less difficult task to ascend the river 
* In the year 1722, as a party of Canadians were going 
down the river, they found at one place such a bend in it, that 
although the distance across land, from one part of the -river 
to the other, was not more perhaps than two hundred yards, 
yet by w r ater it was no less than forty miles. The Canadians 
cut a trench across the land for curiosity. The soil bordering 
upon the Mississippi is remarkably rich and soft, and the cur¬ 
rent being strong, the river in a short time forced a new pass¬ 
age for itself, and the Canadians took their boat through it. 
This place is called Pointe Coupee. There are many'similar 
bends in the river at present, but none so great. 
