OCR Text |
Show .- 96 CUMBERLAND AND TENESSEE RIVER----MOUTH OF THE OHIO. and then Golconda in Illinois, a small town, with a few white buildings, in which they were erecting a court-house, and which is the seat of the tribunals of Pope County. Near Sister Islands we met the Brunswick steamer, which had in tow two large flat boats, full of horses, which were being conveyed from Mount Vernon to New Orleans. The owners of the horses have to pay above 500 dollars for the voyage. Opposite Cumberland Island is the mouth of the Cumberland River, which comes from Kentucky, and falls into the Ohio, at an acute angle. This river is not so large as the Wabash. A small village, called Smithland, is built at the mouth, which reminded me of a little Brazilian villa, the houses, mostly one story high, lying in a row by the water-side. At this place the Paragon took in wood and provisions. Not far from Smithland is the mouth of the Tenessee River, which is said to be more considerable than the Cumberland, and to have a course of 1,200 miles. The little village, Paduca, on the left bank of the Ohio, appeared to have much traffic, and a number of new shops had been built. The Western Pilot of the year 1829 does not mention this place-a proof of its recent origin. From hence we came to the spot where Fort Massac formerly stood, stones of which are still found. We lay to some hundred paces below to take in wood, of which our vessel consumed twelve cords daily. The grass on the banks was already of a bright green colour, and a race of large long-legged sheep were grazing on it. We lay to for the night. Early in the morning of the 20th of March we approached the mouth of the Ohio, where it falls into the Mississippi, 959 miles from Pittsburg, and 129 4 miles from St. Louis. The tongue of land on the right, which separates the two rivers, was, like the whole of the country, covered with rich woods, which were partly cleared, and a few houses erected, with an inn and store, and the dwelling of a planter, where we took in wood. In this store we saw, among heaps of skins, that of a black bear, lately killed, of which one of the three cubs, a very comical little beast, had been kept alive. This young bear had on his breast a semicircle of white hair. The settlement, at which we now were, has no other name than Mouth of the Ohio. We now entered the Mississippi, and ascended it, keeping to the left or eastern bank. This river is not broader here than the Ohio, and the water of both was of the same colour; the bank was steep, covered with broken stems of trees, and crowned on the summit with high slender poplars. The lower banks were clothed with lofty trees, and at their feet strips of poplar and willows bending over the water. On the right hand, in particular, were romantic forest scenes; a wilderness of fallen trees, which the floods and storms had thrown and piled upon each other, like an abatis. Parasite plants wound round the trees, and matted them together; while, further on, rose the picturesque terraces of the wood-covered bank. There being many snags (trunks lying in the water) in the river, we could only proceed by daylight. The islands, covered with high poplars, were generally bordered with thickets of willow, which had now no appearance whatever of green, but looked of a bright yellowish red, from the colour of their branches. Gleams of sunshine |