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Show I 132 beasts of prey, does not kill the animal l~c has seized upon before he eat.s it; but regardless of Its ~truggles, cries and lamentatJOns, fastens upon, and If the expres~ ion is allowable:, devours it alive. . The hunters count much on the1r profits from the oil. drawn from the bears fat, which, at New Orleans, Is ahrays of readv sale, and much estee1ncd for its wholesomeness 1• n cookino- beino- preferred to butter or hogs lard. ;:-,t b 1 . It is found to keep longer than anr .ot 1~r am mal. ml without becomi11g rancid; and boilmg It, f:om time to tin1e, upon sweet bay leav~s, restores Its sweetness, or facilitates its conservation. In the afternoon of the 17th they passed smne sand beaches, and over a few rapids. 'fhey had cane brakes on both sides of the river; the canes were s1null but demonstrate that the water doe~ not sur .. mom~t the bank more than a few feet. The river ben-ins to widen as they advance : the banks of the riv~r shew the hio-h land soil, with a stratum of three or iour feet of allL?vion deposited by the river upon it. ,.fhis superstratum i~ greyish, and very sandy, with a small admixture of loam, indicative of the poverty of the mountains and uplands where the river rises. Near this they passed through a new and ~ery narrow channel, in which all the water of the nver passes, except in time of fi·eshes, when the interval form~ an island. A J ittle apove this pa~s is a small cleanng, called "Cache la Tulipe" (Tulip's hiding place); this is the name of a French hunter who here concealed his property. It continues the p1~actic~ of both the white and red hunters to leave their ~kms, &c. often suspended to poles, or laid over a pole place.d upon two forked posts, in sight of the river, until their inclining upwards, containing more or less of musk, and wh~ch, by escaping over the opening, in proportion to the ~tcretiOn, causes the foot to leave a scent on the ground wherever Jt.passes. During the rutting season this musk is so abundant, part_1cularly in old males, as to be smelt by th~ hunters at a considerable distance. 133 return from hunting. These deposits are considered as sacred, and few ~xamples exist of their being plund~ re?. After passing the entrance of a bay, which Withm must forn1 a great lake during the inundation great nm~bers of t~e long leaf pine were observed; and the Increased Size of the canes along the river's bank, denoted a better and more elevated soil· on the left was a high hill (300 feet) coveted with lofty pine trees. The bank.s of the river present more the appearance ?fupland SOil, the und~r ~tra_tum being a pale yellow .. Ish clay, and tht> alluvial sod of a dirty white, surmounted by a thi~1 covcri1:g of a brown vegetable earth.. The tre.es 1mprov~ In appearance, growing to a considerable ~12~ and height, though yet inferior to thos~ on the alluvial banks of the Mississippi. After p~ssmg the "Baya u de Rachis," on the left, points of h1gh land, .not subject to be ~verflowed, frequently . touch the n ver, and the valley Is said to be more than a league in breadth on both sides. On the left are pine hills calJed ''Code de Champignole." The river Is not more than fifty or sixty yards wide. On the morning of the 20th they passed a number of sand beaches, and some rapids, but found good depth of water between them. A creek called " Chemin Couvert," "hich forms a deep ravine in the high lands, ~1ere en.ters the river; almost immediately above this JS a rap1d where the water in the river is confined to a channel of about forty yards in width; above it they had to quit the 1nain channel, on account of the shallowness and rapidity of the water, and pass along a na~row channel of only sixty feet wide: without a gtude a stranger might take this passage for a cr<"ek. Notwiths.tanding the lateness of the season, and the north~rn latitude they were in, they this day met with an alligator. 'The banks of the river are covered with c~ne, or thick under brush, frequently so interwoven With thorns and briars as to be impenetrable. Birch, maple, holly, and two kinds of wood to which names |