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Show % j6 Early Western Travels [ VoL 26 tion of that immense lake which at a remote period held possession of the American Bottom; and at the base of the graceful [ 18] Mamelles these giant rivers merrily mingled their waters, and then rolled onward to the gulf. That ages have since elapsed, the amazing depth of the alluvial and vegetable mould, and the ancient monuments reposing upon some portions of the surface, leave no room for doubtm By heavy and continued deposites of alluvion, the vast peninsula gradually rose up from the waters; the Missouri was forced back to the Uuff La Charbonni& re, and the rival stream to the Piasa cliffs of Illinois. St. Charles, Mo. XXIV " Westward the star of empire holds its way." BSRKKLBT. " Travellers entering here behold around A large and spacious plain, on every side Strew'd with beauty, whose lair grassy ground* Mantled with green, and goodly beautified With all the ornaments of Flora's pride." " The flowers, the fair young flowers." " Ye are the stars of earth." TEN years ago, and the pleasant little village of St Charles was regarded as quite the frontier- post of civilized life; now Charles, and Marsis Temps- Clair ( Clear- weather swamp), just southwest of Portage des Sioux. The former is often mentioned for its beauty.- ED. m " I cultivated a small hum on that beautiful prairie below St. Charles calkd ' The Mamelle/ or ' Point prairie/ In my enclosure, and directly back of my house, were two conical mounds of considerable elevation. A hundred paces in front of them was a high bench, making the shore of the ' Marais Creche/ an extensive marsh, and evidently the former bed of die Missouri. In digging a ditch on the margin of this bench, at the depth of four feet, we discovered great quantities of broken pottery, belonging to vessels of all sises and characters. Some must have been of a size to contain four gallons. This must have been a very populous place. The soil is admirable, the prospect boundless; but, ( torn the scanty number of inhabitants in view, rather lonely. It will one day contain an immense population again."- Flint's RscoUections, p. 166.- FLAGO. |