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Show "· I 1'1IE .Ji'.d_L 1.. j' . lXV 11 i lid ,~· /11. /ff,-/1 ) f) ,..,"' , .,.,,.,, u i l tJ ,.<, ~~ r ., ,i,., .1,. ••• ,., ,, la3,itdt' ,,/ ,1 , ;tl d 111. ,lf . .-,.,,u l l o flt.ll ,,/' "i 1;.,1 ,/~,·tt~tl 1/ npir/,.,.· t•t' 1/ lid d'~ rud Up t1re .Jllissom·i. 265 ment of four small islands close to the northern side. From the perpendicular ]>itch to these islancls, a distance of more than one hundred yards, the water glidrs down a sloping rock with a velocity almost equal to that of its fall. AhoYe this fall the river bends suddenly to the northward: while viewing this place captain Lewis heard a loud roar above him, and crossing the point of a hill for a few hundred yat·ds, he saw one of the most beal1tiful objects in nature: the whole Missouri is suddenly stopp<'d by one shelving rock, 'vhich without a single niche and with an erlgc as straight and regular as if formed by art, stretches itself from one side or the river to the other fot~ at least a qual·ter of a mile. Over this it pt·ecipitates itself in an even uninterrupted sheet to the per·pcndieular depth of fi fty feet, whence dashing against the rocky bottom it r ushes rapidly down, leaving behind it a SJ>ray of the 1mrcst foam across the river. 'rhe scene which it presented was indeed singularly beaut iful, since without any of the wild irregulat~ sublimity of the lower falls, it combined all the regular elegances which the fancy of a painter would select to form a beautiful waterfall. '.fhe eye had scarcely been regaled with tJ1is charming prospect, when at the distance of half a mile captain Lewis observed anothet• of a similar kind: to this he immediately hastened, and found a cascade stretching across the whole river for a quarter of a mile with a descent of fourteen feet, though the perpendicular pitch was only six feet. '!'his too in any other neighbourhood would have been an object of great magnificence, but after lV hat he had just seen it became of secondary interest: his curiasity being however awakened, he determined to go on even should night overtake him to the head of the falls. He therefore pursued the southwest course of the river, which was one constant succession of rapids and small cascades, at every one of which the bluffs grew lower, or the bed of the river became more on a level with the plains. At the distance of two and a half mile~ he arrived at another cata- |