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Show 1836- 1837J Flagg's Far West 261 And then comes the mighty " meeting of the waters/' to which no pen can hope to render justice. There is a singular circumstance related of the discovery of a large human tooth many years since at Belle Fontaine, in excavating a well, when at the depth of forty feet. This was the more extraordinary as the spot was not alluvion, and could have undergone no change from natural causes for centuries. Various strata of clay were passed through before the tooth was thrown up; and this circumstance, together with the situation of the place, would almost preclude the possibility of a vein of subterraneous water having conveyed it to the spot. This is mysterious enough, certainly; but the fact is authentic. Returning at an angle of forty- five degrees with the road by which he approaches, a ride of a dozen miles up the Missouri places the traveller upon a bold roll of the prairie, from which, in the beautiful [ 248] valley below, rising above the forest, appear the steep roofs and tall chimneys of the little hamlet of Florissant. 190 Its original name was St. Ferdinand, titular saint of its church; and though one of the most advanced in years, it is by no means the most antique- looking of those ancient villages planted by the early French. Its site is highly romantic,' upon the banks of a creek of the same name, and in the heart of one of the most fertile and luxuriant valleys ever subjected to cultivation.** 1 The village now embraces about thirty or forty irregular edifices, somewhat modernized in style and structure, surrounded by extensive corn- fields, wandering flocks of Indian ponies, and herds of cattle browsing in the plain. Here also is a Catholic Church, a neat building of brick, with belfry and bell; connected with which is a convent 109 For a note on Florissant, see Townsend's Narrative, in our volume xjrf. p. 125, note 4.- ED. « • This valley appears to have been the bed of an andent lake.- FLAOO. |
