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Show I 118 1 C t hool... At noon on the 23d, by a good hy t 1e a a ,.. · d t1 · 1 · d .d. l . ation they asccrt<nn. c 1c1r atltu e 111Cfl 1:111 O )SCI V ' 1' 1 b 1 1 36, 29, N and " ·ere then a 1tt e e ow t1e to be 1 3co.f tl · Ca;ah~ola Washita and Bayau Tenza, mout ~sod 1etcrs' ofwhi~h fonn the Black river. The the umte. w.a gentle the whole lengt1 1 0 f t 11 e Bl ac k r current IS very d · h h. 1 · n:lany I)laccs does not excec e1g ty river w lC 1 111 ' ' f h ' . 'dtl 'l"'he banks on the lower part o t e Yards 111 WI 1. • · d n.v cr present a on -reat lux~ uriance okf veghe tation an k ., . th red and black oa .. ' as ' paccawn, ran gt ass, Wl 1 , *· 'fhc soil is black marie, hickory' and some e tns. . . bl' . d . . th a moderate proportiOn of sand, resem mg mtxel \lVl '1 011 the Mississil)Pi banks; yet the forest muc1t1esm h · fth trees are not lofty' like those on t e mhargmho R ~ .· r but resembling the growt on t e e g.rcat nvle 1' t't de 31 o. 22'. 46". N. they observed nver. n a 1 u · h · } b k that canes grew on several parts of t e ng 1t an . ' a roof that the land is not deeply overflowed; perhaps fr.on1 one to three feet: the banks have the appcar~nce of stability. very little willow, or other p~oductJ.~S of a newl; fonned soil being . seen on either Sl e. On ad yancing up the river' the ~Imber becomes la:ge~~ . mne places rising to the height of forty feet, y ~;~esland is liable to be inundated,_ not ~rom th~ waters f th' s small river but from the tntruswn of tts m?re ~owe~ful n~ighbor' the Mississippi. The lands dechne • 1 :n of the river is the • Among the pla. nts grro w. mg on t 1e margi . lly used d the cantac occasiOna cheria root, used m mec lcmel an 1 b lb~us root ten umes by the hunters for food: the ast las ~ ~ th fi;st wash it the size of a man's fist. In preparmg It, ey r to the mass clean from earth, then pound it well, and ad~ wateter and fecula and stir it up ; after a mo~en.ts settlement t ~e .wa ields no more is poured off: this operation 1~ repeated ~nlll. It ~rown away as fecula, the fibrous part only bemg left, W~Ich ~~~ment which is useless : the water is then poured from. t 1e se I; is reduced into dried in the sun and will keep a long time. d kes whole· powder and mixed with Indian meal or ~our, ;n m; by the wo· some and agreeable food. The labor IS pder lor_m~usbands ar.e men whilst they are keeping the camp, an t lClr in the woods hunting. ·119 rapidly, as in all alluvial countries, frmn the margil.1 to the Cypress swamps, where more or less water stagnates all the year round. On the 21st they passed a small, but elevated island, said to be the only one in this river for more than one hundred leagues as. cending. On the left bank, ncar this island, a small settlement of a couple of acres has been beg-un by a man and his wife. ,..fhc banks are not less than forty feet above the present level of the water in the river, and are but rarely overflowed: on both s ides th ey are clothed with rich cane brake, pierced by creeks fit to carry boats during the inundation. They saw many cormorants, and the hooping crane; geese and ducks are not yet abundant, but are said to arrive in myriads, with the rains and winter's cold. They shot a fowl of the duck kind, whose foot was partially divided, and the body covered with a blujsh, or lead coloured plumage. On the morning of the twenty -second, they observed green matter floating on the river, supposed to come from the Catahoola and other lakes and bayaus of stagnant water, which, when raised a little by rain, flow into the Black river; and also many patches of an aquatic plant, resembling small islands, some floating on the surface of the river, and others adhering to, or resting on the shore and !o~s. On exan1ining this plant, it was found a hollow, J?mted stem, with roots ot the same form, extremely !1ght, with very narrow willow shaped leaves ptojectmg from the joint, embracing however, the whole of the tube, and extending to the next inferior joint or knot. The extremity of each branch is tern1inated by a spike of very slender, narrow sen1inal leaves from one to two inches in length, and one tenth, or less} in hrea~th, producing its seed on the underside of the leaf, m a double row aln1ost in contact: the grains al. ternately placed in perfect regularity: not being able to find the flower, its class and order could not be determined, although it is not probably new. To. 'Wards the upper part of the Black river, the shore |
