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Show 118 EMIGRANT'S GUIDE. olimate. The thermometer may mark with great precision the· absolute heat at the place where the inc;;trument is suspeuded, out can afford but little information respecting 1he temperature of the adja. cent country. The freezing of rivers atTords more correct facts con. cerning the relative degrees of cold, of any two or more places than docs the thermometer. Mr. Stodderd sta es, that for three successive lvinters, commeJ:lcing in 1802, the 1\lississif)pi was pa~sable on ice at St. Louis, and that the severe frost set before the ~Oth Dec.em· her of every year. The same author states also, th aI in J anu ·:ry, 1805, the ice was at St. Louis twenty-two incheg in thickness ; illnd farther, that the severity of the we<..tber at St. Luuis is about lbe same as in the north part of New-Jersey. Jt is a sillgular circum· stance that Mr. Stodderd joins these facts to his own opinion, thJt the heat of the climate is ~reater in the Mississippi valley than on the Atlantic coast. The author of this treatise was at Natchez during the winters of 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803, 1804·, and 1805; in each one of these years much cold weather was experienced, particularly in ] 800 and 1803. In the former year a most destructive sleet felJ in J anu· ary; in the latter, there wa! but little snow, but the winter season was attended with long and severe frost. In 1804 the blossoms of the cotton plant were destroyed by frost on the night of the 26th September. In 1805 the colJ weather set in about New-year, and was attended with snow and long intense frost. The winter of 1806 afforded an example of a departure from the ordinary routiae of the seasons in Louisiana. At New-year the flow· ers of the peach tree, the cotton, tobacco, and those of many other very tender plants, were in full bloom. The season was warm and e~en sultry, until the I Oth of February, when a ~torm set in that con· tmued three or four days~ and destroyed all vegetables perishable by frost. Indeed, durisg seventeen winters that occurred !Jurin~ the resi· dence of the author in Louisiana and the .Mi~sissippi territory, not one passed away without hard frost at Opdousas and even at New Orleans. The general aspect of the country near Natchez has, from Decem· ber to March, all the features of winter that are seen at pj Us burg, except continued snows. The trees are denuded of their leaves; the grass and other tender vegetables are killed. The inhabitants find tires almost as necessary at the former as at the latter place. The heats of summer differ but very IittJe from Lexington in Ken· tucky to the border of the gulf of Mexico. It has been supposed, by .many pers~ns, that the heats were even more oppressive at St. LoUJs a~1d_ Lexmgton than at Natchez, Opelousas, or New Orleans, The. opm10n. rests upo_n very uncertain data, to say the least. Ex· ~essJve heat JS oppr~ss1v~, and persons labouring under its force are ltable to exaggerate Its effects. The observation on tbe climate of all ~be country _we have been reviewing, may be concluJed Ly remarkmg, that on 1ts surface the ordin:.try course of nature is nut invertedq The same causes produce the same effects here as in other places, 'The greatest and most durable cold is found in parts highest ancl EMIGRANT'S GUIDE. 119 most exposed to the north ; the lon~est, and most intens~ hea*, in low laces, sheltered from the north and open to the south wmds. . p An assertion is ventun:J, that uo vc~eta ble t ha~ cannot h(· cul t1vated in any given place i_n the open () ir. on th~ Atlantic coas t, can b~ reared west of the Alegbany m,mutams, wtthout a remova~ to a more southern latitude, anJ the removal considerably greater Ill the latter thJn in the former place. . It would answer but few useful purposes to enter mto any lengthened detail respecting the health or di s ea~es of t~e co_untrY: u po_n and contiguous to the Mississippi. The general ;:nlv1ce _g1veu 111 th1s treatise, respecting the most su1table season to remuve _ntto th~ state. of Louisiana, applies with egu:.tl propriety t~ all the re<rJon _revrewed. Tho last chapter of this treatise will contam_ the res_ult of the personal observations of the author, during his restclence 111 the country; to this chapter the rcaJer is referred. . . . The follow incr I ist of roads will exhibit the relative d1stauce from Natchez and St~ Louis, the two principal towns of the state of ~ississippi and territory of Missouri, to the circur.njaCfmt places. ~orne new roads are no doubt omitted, but the ch1ef routes are marked, and some roads inserted that have never befvr<:- been published. It will be recollected, that a difference in climate was pointed out_ between the couutries north and south of the diviJing ridge that stnkes the Mis~i ssippi in the district of Cape G_irardeau. _A rnuch greater difference 111ight be pointed out r~pectmg travellm ~. Where~er much overflown lands occur, impediments are great and e:nbarra smg to the traveller. This i~ peculiarly the case for some dr stance west of the Mississippi, from the bluff of Cape Girardeau to the mouth of that river. Above Cape Girardeau the couQtry is more hjgh anJ dry, and easily passPd. The route No . 34, from St. Louis to Natchitoches has been frequently travelled. 1t is yet, however, o_nly a trace, pas~~n~ over a hilly, broken, anJ in many places mountamous country. llu:s trace, or within a short distance of it, must in a few years uecome a great thoroughfare. When tb€· banks of Red, Arkausaw, White, Osage, Kansas, Plate, and Miss0uri, become settled: this must be the return route from New Orleans to very extensive settlements. The relative position can be seen by inspection on any good map. In the prog:ess of population, the rc>ute from New Orleans by Opelousas to N~lr.bttoches anu from thence north anJ west, must become oce of tb - most public passes in the world. It will be uy land what the lVIi.ssissippi will be by water. . . I!:a~t of the Mississippi, travelling from New Orleans wtll be dtspersed over a number of difierent lanJ routes, at lea st. three; by Natchez, direct to N(lshville, and by the valley of MoLde: on the west side of the .M ississjppi, by far the greatest number of persons will be confined to one route, at least as far as Opelousas, ami e\'en to N atchitocbes On tbis latter route after the low lands of Atchafalaya are passed, !l~·ture opposes few obstacles to the formation of a good road in any |