Early in the morning of the 20th of March we approached the mouth of the Ohio, where it falls into the Mississippi, 959 miles from Pittsburg, and 129¾ miles from St. Louis. The tongue of land on the right, which separates the two rivers, was, like the whole of the country, covered with rich woods, which were partly cleared, and a few houses erected, with an inn and store, and the dwelling of a planter, where we took in wood. In this store we saw, among heaps of skins, that of a black bear, lately killed, of which one of the three cubs, a very comical little beast, had been kept alive. This young bear had on his breast a semicircle of white hair. The settlement, at which we now were, has no other name than Mouth of the Ohio.[113] We now entered the Mississippi, and ascended it, keeping to the left or eastern bank. This river is not broader here than the Ohio, and the water of both was of the same colour; the bank was steep, covered with broken stems of trees, and crowned on the summit with high slender poplars. The lower banks were clothed with lofty trees, and at their feet strips of poplar and willows bending over the water. On the right hand, in particular, were romantic forest scenes; a wilderness of fallen trees, which the floods and storms had thrown and piled upon each other, like an abatis. Parasite plants wound round the trees, and matted them together; while, further on, rose the picturesque terraces of the wood-covered bank. There being many snags (trunks lying in the water) in the river, we could only proceed by daylight. The islands, covered with high poplars, were generally bordered with thickets of willow, which had now no appearance whatever of green, but looked of a bright yellowish red, from the colour of their branches. Gleams of sunshine 97 sometimes cast over these willow thickets a fine red glow, and gave them a very original appearance. Large quantities of drifted wood were frequently seen on the points of the islands towards the current. The water being very low, we were obliged to take soundings, and yet our vessel proceeded five or eight hours against the stream. The O'Connell steam-boat had run aground in this place, and its people were employed in landing the cargo, consisting chiefly of lead.[114] In many places on the bank, slender poplars form thick groves, whose tall stems spread into branches at the summit. They are all of an equal height, and are one of the characteristic features in the landscape scenery of the Mississippi and Missouri. At twelve at noon, Reaumur's thermometer was at +14½°, with a high wind, which blew the sand of the sand banks into the air. We lay to, to take in fuel, which cost three dollars for two cords. Here was a high, steep, sandy bank, and a small, very wretched planter's log-house, exposed on all parts to the wind, the sides of which consisted only of boards set upright. A couple of bad beds took up almost the whole of the interior. The woman, with her pipe in her mouth, was occupied at the miserable fire-place; the man was just returned, with a boy, from the forest; the two other children looked unhealthy, weak and pale; one of these girls was employed in planting onions in a small patch of newly-prepared ground. A couple of oxen, five or six young hogs, and some Muscovy ducks, were feeding about the cottage. Immediately behind, and close to it, commenced the magnificent, dense, and lofty forest, which we resolved at once to explore, and there very sensibly felt the heat of the spring, because the wind could not penetrate. The underwood of the forest consisted of the spicewood (Laurus benzoin), which grows to the height of ten and fifteen feet; its bark is highly aromatic, and it was covered with small yellow blossoms, which appear before the leaves, and resemble those of our cornelian cherry. The abundance of these flowers gives to the underwood a lively tint, which strikes the eye at a distance. Large, lofty trees, overgrown with climbing plants, formed the forest on the Mississippi, and the ground was covered with a delicate yellow flowering plant (Corydalis flava, N.) In the front of the cottage, which was close to the bank, stood a tree, about which a beautiful Bignonia radicans entwined; and the turkey buzzards hovered high in the air above the forest.

As we proceeded on our voyage, the wind was so high, and it raised the waves and the sand so excessively, that we sought the protection of the opposite bank. We passed many islands, several of which give a great insight into the formation of the banks of the Mississippi. One of them, especially, showed, at a certain place, a bank which had sunk down, where we perceived layers of large trunks of trees, heaped one upon another, the tops of which were visible. On such foundations the river throws its sand, willows and poplars grow up, by the leaves of which good earth is formed, and, in the end, lofty forests of hard wood arise. Though the Paragon drew only five feet of water, we were often aground; the wind laid the vessel a little on the side, the crew shoved with poles, sounded, stopped the engine, then made the vessel go backwards 98 and then sidewards, and so got afloat again. Little villages were seldom seen on this part of the banks of the Mississippi; however, we came to the village of Commerce,[115] on a rocky hill, and it is here that rows of hills of a very interesting appearance commence on the left or Missouri bank. Fragments of rock lie about, and the cedar (Juniperus Virginiana) immediately appears again. The forest seems to decrease in height in these calcareous rocks, especially the planes, which are more colossal in Indiana; and on the eminences in the forests, isolated groups of rocks are often seen, frequently of singular forms, like pulpits. Night setting in, we retired to our cabin to avoid the cold evening air, and lay to under cover of the bank. At this spot there was a single planter's dwelling upon the steep bank, which was fifty or sixty feet high. A large fire was kindled at the top, which brilliantly illuminated the high trunks of the forest, and warmed our crew by its intense heat. In the cleanly cottage of the peasant, which was well closed on all sides, we conversed with his wife, who told us that their house had been burnt down a short time before, and rebuilt; she said also that wild animals abound in this part of the country; stags especially are numerous, but bears are rarely met with.

On the 21st of March we reached Cape Girardeau, an ancient French settlement, now a large scattered village, which, as we were told, had of late much improved. Beds of limestone appeared on the bank, and heaps of it were piled up; it contains many shells. After passing Devil's Island, we found in the river a sunk steam-boat, which was now quite broken up; many of these vessels passed us. The spicewood was everywhere in flower in the forests on the bank, and it is said that its appearance indicates a fine soil. The pretty narrow-leaved willow, on the contrary, was still covered with its last year's dry leaves. We passed by the villages of Bainbridge and Harrisburg, and then came to that part of the river which is called Hanging-Dog-Bend, where the Mississippi is wide and beautiful. Various strata and ravines are observed in the wooded calcareous mountains; such a stratified rock, cleft perpendicularly, has the name of Devil's Tea-table; other rocks resembled round towers standing close to each other, all crowned with wood, where the turkey buzzard resorted.[116] The opposite or Illinois bank has very seldom any such rocks, and it is more cultivated close to the river. Flocks of ducks, probably Anas rufitorques, were swimming on the water. The calcareous rocks, grey, bright yellow, bright blue, or yellowish red, were frequently very singularly formed, especially a little further up, the interesting Grand Tower, an isolated, cylindrical rock, from sixty to eighty feet in height, which we reached when it was splendidly illumined by the setting sun.[117] To the right, on the Illinois bank, opposite the Tower Rock, at the point or corner of the mountain projecting towards the Mississippi, three or four very strangely formed rocks are standing, full of clefts and ravines, the foremost of which is called the Devil's Bake-oven, and is covered at the summit with pines. The Grand Tower[118] stands 99 quite isolated on the left bank; and its summit is crowned with red cedars. Behind it there is another large rock, split into several perpendicular divisions, like towers, and the whole group forms, as it were, a most original portico. Some habitations were picturesquely situated against these rocks. A little above that narrow rocky portico of the river, the Obrazo Creek, in the State of Missouri, appears, where we took in fuel. The ravine of the stream was covered with fine tall timber, to which the kingfisher resorted. A couple of cottages were inhabited by negroes, and in front of them lay a piece of fertile land, where rows of cotton trees were planted. The high old elms were now in flower by the side of the stream, and the large red cedars, around the dwellings, were still partly laden with their black berries. The Mnium ciliare (Grev.; Bryum) was abundant in this neighbourhood. Above Hat Island, we lay to for the night on the Missouri bank.

The morning of the 22nd of March was serene; the sight of the rising sun from the poop of the vessel was truly magnificent; as the flaming disk of the king of day rose above the woody banks of the Mississippi, the waves formed by the rapid course of the vessel glowed with the most resplendent colours; the wild geese and ducks, frightened by our Paragon, hastened away with rustling wings; the kingfisher was frequent on the shrubs. Near St. Mary River we ran aground, but were not long delayed by this accident. The cords of wood for the steam-boat were lying ready piled up on the bank, stating the price and the quantity. The village of Chester, in Illinois, where we took in wood, was quite a new settlement, consisting at present of but a few houses. Among the limestone and wood on the bank, we shot a beautiful lizard (Agama undulata, Daud.), which is said to attain a considerable size, especially on the river St. Peter. The buds of the red oak were very forward. At noon the weather was excessively warm, and on the river the thermometer was +11½° Reaumur. We saw the mouth of the Kaskaskia River, on the Illinois bank, six miles up which Kaskaskia is situated, one of the oldest French settlements on the Mississippi.[119] The tribe of Kaskaskian Indians dwelt in these parts, and some remains of them still live near the settlement. We were told that there was at present only one man among them of the pure race. A wooded chain of hills runs along the Kaskaskia, in which large columns of smoke were rising, doubtless occasioned by the woods being on fire. Numbers of tortoises were basking at noon on the trunks of trees and stones in the river. They have hard shells, and most of them are not large; though we often shot at them, we did not succeed in getting a single one. Wild geese were walking upon the sand-banks; we fired at them; the first shot did not in the smallest degree discompose them; at the second, when the ball whizzed close by them, they flew away, but only to a short distance. At St. Geneviève Island, the river divides, and we steered to the west of the island. It is covered with lofty trees; the banks are abruptly broken; large trunks 100 of trees were lying in the water. Before us we saw St. Geneviève,[120] where columns of smoke ascended in the distance; on the island was a small settlement, with a hut, worse than that of an Indian, and near, the canoe, turned bottom upwards. The inhabitants were sunburnt, badly clothed, of a savage aspect, like the Indians. A tall forest surrounded this characteristic scene. The Mississippi is here very broad, and is certainly a very noble stream. The prospect up the river is highly picturesque. Gentle eminences bound the horizon, and on account of a bend which the river makes to the right, it appears to come through a narrow opening. St. Geneviève, an old French settlement, now a large village, with 600 or 800 inhabitants, is about twenty minutes' walk from the landing-place, and appears to be in a state of decline; it was founded at the same time as Kaskaskia. The streets are at right angles, unpaved, and bordered with hedges. The houses, which are of one story, are separate from each other, and have, in general, a verandah in front. The church is built of red brick. French and English are spoken, and there are several German inhabitants. Caravans go every spring from hence to the interior of the western prairies, to Sante Fé and the Rocky Mountains; they consist of many armed men, with their horses and wagons. The well-known lead mines are further up the country.[121] Limestone everywhere stands out: the water is very bad, and not fit for drinking.

On the morning of the 23rd of March, the sun shining very brightly, strange forms of rock, alternating with high forests, appeared on the banks of the river; on the left, or western bank especially, the walls of rock were cleft by rude valleys, from which a small stream generally issued. Single pines are scattered in the woods; on the right bank, on the skirts of the forest, is a row of poplars, of perfectly equal height, but the planes are not so high as those we have before seen. We passed the place where Fort Chârtres formerly stood.[122] The limestone rocks in these parts assume the most highly original shapes and formations, about which much might be said if our limits would permit. They have often natural caverns and excavations, like the niches cut for the images of saints, which we see in Europe.[123] Others have regular 101 projecting ledges and lofty cones; sometimes they are so rounded as to represent a row of perpendicular towers, &c. On many of the rocks shot towers have been erected, the whole country, as is well known, abounding in lead.

Formations of limestone rocks

We passed by the settlement of Selma, and the village of Herculaneum;[124] the latter consisting of about thirty houses, the immediate vicinity of which is remarkable for a perforated limestone rock. The distance from hence to Geneviève is twenty-one miles, and to St. Louis, thirty. After passing round the point of Little Rock, which is about forty feet high—beyond which the small Platteen Creek falls into the river—we soon reached the mouth of the Merrimack River, where we saw large flocks of ducks and sea-gulls.[125] About Robert's Island the country becomes flat and uninteresting. Towards evening we reached Jefferson barracks, on the left bank, where the 6th regiment of regular infantry was in garrison, and the flag of the United States was hoisted. These barracks were interesting at this time, because the celebrated Indian chief, Black Hawk, was imprisoned in them. Before night, we passed the French settlement of Vide-Poche, or Carondelet, founded about 100 years ago, a large scattered village, the inhabitants of which are reported to be not very industrious. The neighbouring hills are covered with low oak bushes. We passed the night nearly opposite Kahokia, and on the morning of the 24th of March, to our great joy, beheld the town of St. Louis.[126] Its first appearance is not prepossessing, as it has no high steeples. The mass of houses, however, unfolds itself as you approach; the environs are low and monotonous. We landed about nine o'clock in the morning, in a cold high wind. The people whom we first saw were mostly negroes, or labourers.

St. Louis is a rapidly increasing town, with 6,000 or 8,000 inhabitants, on the western bank of the Mississippi, about 1,200 miles from New Orleans, and 1,134 miles from Pittsburg. It is built on a rather bare, gently rising, and not very elevated part of the banks; forms two streets parallel to the river, besides many houses lying on the summit in the prairie, where building seemed to be proceeding rapidly. On this upper part there are churches and other considerable buildings, of which the town has many of different kinds; and the highly favourable situation, in the centre of the trade of the Mississippi, Ohio, and Missouri, will soon make it one of the most important places in the west. St. Louis was originally founded by the French; at first there was only a fort, and it was not till 1764 that the building of the town commenced, which in 1816 contained about 2,000 inhabitants. Persons were still living—for instance, M. Chouteau—who had the wood felled on the spot where the buildings of the town now stand.[127] The principal streets are full of handsome shops; numerous steam-boats come and go, daily, to and from New Orleans, Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Louisville, Prairie du Chien, &c.; and a very brisk trade employs the motley population of many nations. Most of the merchants have their warehouses, which are mostly built of solid stone, on the bank of the Mississippi. The greater part of the workmen in the port, and all the servants in St. Louis, are negroes, and their descendants, who, as in the State 102 of Missouri, are all slaves. They are very numerous here; and though modern travellers represent in very favourable colours the situation of this oppressed race, the negro slaves are no better off here than in other countries. Everywhere they are a demoralized race, little to be depended upon; and the manner in which they are treated is generally not so good as has been represented. We were witnesses of deplorable punishments of these people. One of our neighbours at St. Louis, for instance, flogged one of his slaves in the public streets, with untiring arm. Sometimes he stopped a moment to rest, and then began anew.