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Show 88 NOTE. Contrary to geographical rules, as I as. cended the river, I called the right bank the norther~ one, and the left the southern. 1''HE confluence of Red r iver with the Missis. sippi is, by the course of the latter, esti~ated ab~ut 220 miles fron1 New Orleans. pes~endmg the Mississippi, after passing the. Spantsh hne at the 31st degree of north latitude, It makes a remarkable tu;n to the westward, or nearly north west, for so!'lle distance before you aniv~~ at the ~outh of Red :Iver, .as though, notwithstanding the Imtnense quantit~ of 1ts waters already, from its almost numberless tnbutary streams, it was still desirous ~f a farthe!· augme?ta. tion, by hastening its uni?n '~Ith. Red r~ver (wh1ch, perhaps, is seeond only In d1gntty to It) that they might, from thence, flow on and join the ocean togeth~r, which, for many leagues, is forced to giVe plac~ to.•ts mighty current. But there are r~ason.s for beh:vt~g the Red river did not always umte With the MISSlS· sippi, as it docs at present; an? that no v~ry. g.rea~ length of time has elaps~d s1nce the MisSISSippi left its ancient bed, some miles to the eastward? and took its course westwardly for the purpose of mte~marrying with Red river. T~e mouth of the Chaffeh, which is now, properly speakmg, on~ ?f the outle.ts of the river Mississippi to the ocean, IS JUSt belo~v,,m sight of the junction of Red river with ~he ~~s.sts· sippi; and from its resemblance to Red nver m slz.e, growth on its banks, appearance a~1d. te~tu_re .of sml, and differing from that of the MisSISSippi, mduces strongly the belief that the Chaffeli was once b~t the continuation of Red river to the ocean, and that It had, in its bed, no connection with the Mississippi. There is no doubt but the Mississippi has alternately oc~u· pied different places in the low grounds through wh~ch it meanders, almost from the high lands of one s1de 89 to those of the other, for the average space of ncar 30 miles. These two great rivers happening to flow , for a di:,tancc, throng-h the same n1ass of swamp, t hat annuully is ahnost all inunclatn1, it is not extraordinary that their channels should .lin.d t.hci~- way t~gether ; the rcm~lrbtblc bend of the M 1 ss J ~~ll p1, at this place, to the west'' ard, secn1s to have been for the express purpose of form ing this union; after which it returns to its former course. In the month of l\Ltrch, 1803, I ascended Red river, ll·om its n1outh to Natchitoches, in an open bo:,t, unless ,,:hen I chose to land at cl walk across a point, or by the beauty of the ri vcr bank, the plcas: mtness of its groves, or the variety of its shrubs and flowers, I was invited ashore to gTati(y or please 1ny curiosity. On entering the mouth of the river I found its waters tu rg-id, of a red colour, and of a bracki!:ih u ta~te; and as the l\1issi s~ i pp i was then fal ling, and Red river rising, found a current, fron1 its mouth np\\'ards, varyin'r considerably in places, but averag. ing about two miles an hour, for the first hundred miles, which, at that t in1c, I found to be about the same in the Mississippi; b ut, when that river is high, and Red river low, there is very little current in the latter, for sixty or seventy miles : the river, for that ~listance, is very crooked, increa!)ing the distance, by 1t, from a straight line, n1ore than two thirds ; tbe general course of it nearly west: that I was able to ascertain, from hearing the n1orning gun at F ort Adams, for three or four 1nornings after entering the river, which was not at the greatest height by about fourteen fec·t; and all the low ground , for ncar seventy ~ile.s, entirely overflowed like those of the MissisSlppt, which, in fact, is but a continuation of the same. Some places appeared, by the high water mark on the trees, to overflow not 1n ore than t\,vo or three feet, particularly the right bank, below the mouth of Black river, and the left bank above it; the gro·wth, on the lm;vcst places, willow and cotton wood, but on 12 / |