substance which floats on the surface, and is firmly connected with the banks, This river, on account of its communication with the Spanish settlements, attracted the attention of the French at an early period, and they erected a fort named St Jean Baptiste, on an island formed by this river, at the distance of seventy French leagues from its mouth, in the midst of the Natchitoches nation of Indians, then pretty numerous, which induced the Spaniards to erect a small fort at the Adages seven leagues to the south-west of the former. These are all the considerable streams that join the Mississippi on the east or west side, except the Ohio, which shall now be described.

The Ohio River.-The Monongahela and Alleghany rivers unite at Pittsburgh, and form this fine river, which runs a course of 1188 miles to join the Mississippi in latitude 37°. Fifteen large streams unite with the Ohio, all of which are navigable to a considerable distance. The Alleghany branch, which rises in the state of Pennsylvania, on the western side of the Alleghany Mountains, is navigable beyond Red Stone Creek, a distance of 200 miles; and by French Creek has a direct communication with the waters of Lake Erie. Its outlet is 400 yards in width. When the waters are high, it runs at the rate of four miles an hour; the mean velocity is a mile and a half. The Monongahela is navigable in all

seasons for boats to Morgantown, 100 miles from its embouchure; and during the swell of the waters in spring and autumn, ships of 400 tons burden may enter, and proceed to some distance from its mouth, which is 450 yards in width. The mean velocity of the current is two miles an hour, except during the period of the swell of the waters in spring and autumn, when it is from three to four miles. The Yohogany, a branch of the Monongahela, which enters 134 miles from Clarksburgh, is navigable to the distance of fifty or sixty miles. Its mouth is 150 yards in breadth. The Muskinghum, or Elk's Eye, of which the outlet is 250 yards in width, is navigable for small boats through its whole course to its head in a small lake, a distance of 150 miles; and large boats ascend to the Three Legs 110 miles from its mouth. Great Hockhocking, which unites with it 200 miles from Pittsburgh, is navigable to the distance of seventy miles. From its source to the Cayahoga river, which communicates with Lake Erie, there is but a mile of portage. The Great Kanhawa rises in North Carolina, in the easternmost ridge of the Alleghany Mountains, and joins the Ohio 283 miles below Pittsburgh. The navigation is good for the distance of ten miles; thence to the falls sixty miles the stream is rapid, and the passage of boats is interrupted by a cataract called the Great Falls, seventy miles distant from its mouth, which

is 500 yards in width. From the Great Kanhawa to James river, which enters into the Chesapeake Bay, the portage is but a few miles. The Little Kanhawa is a large stream which interlocks with the waters of the Monongahela. Great Handy, or Tottery river, is navigable to the Ouasioto Mountain. The Big Scioto, which falls in under the parallel of 38° 43', at the distance of 390 miles from Pittsburgh, is navigable nearly 200 miles, to a point from which the portage is but four miles to Sandusky river of Lake Erie. The Little Scioto, which enters 378 miles from Pittsburgh, is thirty yards in width. Salt river, which discharges itself on the south-east side, twenty miles from the rapids, by an outlet of 150 yards in width, is navigable thence to the distance of sixty miles. The Great Miami, or Rocky river, which enters 551 miles from Pittsburgh, is 200 yards wide at its mouth; and, at the distance of 120 miles, to which it is navigable for loaded canoes, it is contracted to thirty yards. The Little Miami, which enters 516 miles from Pittsburgh, is very shallow. Lick ing river, which enters 524 miles from Pittsburgh, is navigable to the distance of seventy miles from its mouth. Kentucky river, which enters 627 miles from Pittsburgh, is navigable in high water for loaded boats to the distance of 160 miles from its mouth. It is ninety yards wide to the distance of eighty miles. Buffalo river is navigable for

batteaux of seven tons 150 miles. The Wabash, which joins the Ohio 1028 miles below Fort Pitt, in latitude 37° 41', is navigable for small boats, drawing three feet water, to Ouitanon, a distance of 412 miles. It is 400 yards wide at its mouth. When the waters are high, the banks are overflowed to a considerable distance. The Cumberland, or Shawanee river, (called by the French Chouanons, the name of the Indians who formerly lived on its banks, and afterwards by the English Hugohegee,) which discharges its waters into the Ohio, 1118 miles from Pittsburgh, is 300 yards wide at its mouth, and, during high water, is navigable for ships of 300 and 400 tons 200 miles above Nashville. The Tennessee, or Cherokee river, the largest branch of the Ohio, of which the outlet is 1131 miles from Pittsburgh, rises in the Iron Mountains, on the borders of Carolina and Georgia, and passes across the Cumberland ridge, where its bed is confined within the width of seventy yards; though, above the mountains, it is 1200 yards, and at its mouth 500. Vessels of burden can ascend no higher than the Mussel Shoals, which extend twenty miles in length, and interrupt the navigation, except in high floods. From these shoals it is navigable for vessels of forty tons burden to the mouth of the Holstein river, and up that river to Long Island, 1000 miles from the mouth of the Tennessee.

The following statement of the area from which the Ohio derives its water, is given by Mr Bradbury, (p. 282.) Illinois territory,, 5200 miles; Indiana territory, (the whole,) 37,050; State of Ohio, 4, 35,088; Pennsylvania, 3, 16,493; New York, 1, 521; Maryland,, 140; Virginia, , 28,200; North Carolina,, 1100; South Carolina, 1, 152; Georgia, 2000; Kentucky, (the whole,) 40,110; Tennessee, 2, 32,400. In all, 198,464 square miles. The area of England and Wales is 49,450 square miles. It therefore appears that this river receives the water of a surface four times that extent. This surface is comprehended betwixt the parallels of 35 and 43 degrees of latitude,—a climate, perhaps, the best on the globe, in all that relates to the comforts of man.

Fishes found in the Waters of the Mississippi. -Sturgeon, (fresh water,) about two feet and a half or three feet long, but in circumference not proportionable. Carver * says, "that the flesh is "exceedingly delicate and finely flavoured, and "that he caught some in the head waters of the "river St Croix that far exceeded trout. They "will not take a bait, and must be struck with a spear." This author describes another species,

66

* Travels, 3d edition, London, p. 479.