66 66 4.711 66 4.356 Franklin, IMPERFECT STATE OF GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE- It appears unaccountable that the elevation of this region at the sources of the Hudson should have been, hitherto, so greatly underrated. Even Darby, in his admirable work on American geography, estimates the fall of the rivers which enter Lake Champlain from the west, as similar to those on the east, which he states to be from five hundred to one thousand feet.* The same writer also estimates the height of the table land from which the Hudson flows, at something more than one thousand feet!† The mountains of this region, appear to, have almost escaped the notice of geographical wters, and in one of our best Gazetteers, that of Darby and Dwight, published in 1833, the elevation of the mountains in Essex county, is stated at one thousand two hundred feet. In Macauley's History of New York, published in Albany in 1829, there is however, an attempt to describe the mountains of the northern district of the state, by dividing them into six distinct ranges. This description is necessarily imperfect, as regards the central portion of the group; but this author appears to have more nearly appreciated the elevation of these mountains than any former writer. He states the elevation of Whiteface at two thousand six hundred feet, and the highest part of the most westerly or Chateaugua range at three thousand feet. To the mountains near the highest source of the Hudson, including probably the High Peak, he has given the name of the Clinton range, and has estimated their elevation from six hundred, to two thousand feet! He also describes the West Branch of the Hudson which rises near the eastern border of Herkimer county, as being the principal stream. The Northwest Branch, which unites with the main North Branch, a few miles below Lake Sanford, he describes as rising on the borders of Franklin and Essex counties and as pursuing a more extended course than the North Branch. Perhaps this description may be found correct, although information received from other sources does not seem to confirm the position. It is understood that Prof. Emmons, in pursuing his geological explorations, has ascended another of the principal peaks situated easterly of the highest source of the Hudson, and made other observations which will be of value in settling the geography of this region. The professor finds the northern district of the state, to be one of great interest to the geologist, and although from the deficiencies of our * Darby's View of the U. S. p. 242. + Ib. p. 140. maps, he is constrained to the performance of duties which pertain to the geographical, rather than to the geological department of science, yet all that can be accomplished in either branch, with the means placed at his disposal, may be confidently expected from his discriminating zeal and untiring perseverance. Owing, perhaps, to the soda and lime which are constituents of the labradoritic rock, and its somewhat easy decomposition when exposed to the ac tion of the elements, the soil of this region is quite favorable to the growth of the forests as well as the purposes of agriculture. The beds of iron ore which are found on the waters of the Hudson, at McIntyre, probably surpass in richness and extent, any that have been discovered in other countries. In future prospect, this may be considered as the Wales of the American continent, and with its nat ural resources duly improved, it will, at no distant period, sustain a numerous and hardy population. New York, November 1, 1837. OUR NATIONAL FLAG. THE Hon. Joel B. Poinsett, late Secretary of War, of the United States, related the following incident at a publick meeting in Charleston during the nullification controversy some years since: "Wherever I have been, (says Mr Poinsett,) I have been proud of being a citizen of this great republick, and in the remotest corners of the earth have walked erect and secure under that banner which our opponents would tear down and trample under foot. I was in Mexico when that city was taken by assault. The house of the American ambassador was then, as it ought to be, the refuge of the distressed and persecuted; it was pointed out to the infuriated soldiery as a place filled with their enemies. They rushed to the attack. My only defence was the 'flag of my country, and it was flung out at the instant that hundreds of muskets were levelled at us. Mr. Mason, (a braver man never stood by his friend in the hour of danger,) and myself placed ourselves beneath its waving folds, We did not blench, and the attack was suspended. for we felt strong in the protecting arm of this mighty republick. We told them that the flag that waved over us was the banner of that nation whose example they owed their liberties, and whose protection they were indebted for their safety. The scene changed as by enchantment, and those men who were on the point of attacking my house and massacring the inhabitants, cheered the flag of our country and placed sentinels to protect it from outrage. Fellow citizens, in such a moment that, would it have been any protection to me and mine to have proclaimed myself a Carolinian? Shoul I have been here to tell you this tale if I had hung out the Palmetto and the single star? Be assured that to be respected abroad, we must maintain out place in the Union." The human heart rises against oppression, and is soothed by gentleness, as the wave of the ocean Macauley's History of New York, Vol. I. p. 2 to 9 and 20, rises in proportion to the violence of the winds, and sinks with the breeze into mildness and serenity. 21, Albany, 1829 maps, he is constrained to the perime. which pertain to the geograph the geological department of scenerous can be accomplished in either trav means placed at his disposal, may be expected from his discrimia perseverance. INDIAN SUMMER-AMERICAN FORESTS, AND THE 531 with the frequent auroral ministers that attend his exit in this latitude, lead us to marvel, and reverence and worship the Power that spreads and gilds the bannery tent-displaying a handiwork man can only admire and enjoy, not imitate. THE beauty, blandness and mingled glories of a Western Indian Summer belong alike to earth and sky. In the valley of the great Lakes they are The theory of this writer accounts for the sucOwing, perhaps, to the soda a blent with a mellow richness and loveliness un-cessive flushes of golden and scarlet light so often constituents of the labradorite re known in other climes. The spirits of beauty can observed to rise and blend and deepen in the west what easy decomposition where worship in no temple more resplendent than the as the sun approaches the horizon, and sink below tion of the elements, the soil of the arched heavens lit up by an Autumn sunset, and it, by the supposition that each lake, one after the favorable to the growth of the less burnished with flashes and crimson colourings, deep- other, lends its reflecting light to the visible portion purposes of agriculture. The beened by the many-teinted foliage of the primeval of the atmosphere, and thus as one fades, another which are found on the waters of the Es woods, mirrored and reflected from waters broad flings its mass of radiance across the heavens, and McIntyre, probably surpass in richnes and bright as the Mediterraneans of the old world. acting on a medium prepared for its reception, proany that have been discovered in c The forest-pen nor pencil can do justice to the longs the splendid phenomena. He says:In future prospect, this may be con spectacle it presents, when the frost of a night has Wales of the American continct, and changed the lingering green of a summer. ural resources duly improved, it wil period, sustain a numerous and hardy po New York, November i, 1337. OUR NATIONAL FLAG THE Hon. Joel B. Poinsett, late War, of the United States, related cident at a publick meeting in Claris the nullification controversy some reas Wherever I have been, (sars have been proud of being a citizen of publick, and in the remotest corners erect and secure under an have walked ponents would be done a under foot. I was in Mexico when t under by assault. The "It is as if a myriad of rainbows were laced through the hour in their bravery." A writer in a late number of the "Oasis" advances the plausible theory that the chain of lakes lying in great circle from south of west to north, add much to the splendour of our Autumn sunsets. Rays of a "We have for years noticed these appearances, and marked the fact, that in the early part of September, the sunsets are of unusual brilliancy, and more prolonged, than at other times. They are at this season, immediately after the sun goes down, accompanied by pencils or streamers of the richest light, which, diverging from the position of the sun, appear above the horizon, and are sometimes so zenith. At other seasons of the year, clouds just below the horizon at sunset produce a somewhat similar result in the formation of brushes of light; and elevated ranges of mountains by intercepting and dividing the rays, whether direct or reflected, effect the same appearances; but in this case there no elevated mountains, and on the finest of these evenings the sky is perfectly cloudless. Tho uniformity of these pencils at the same season for great number of years, prove the permanency of their cause, and lead us to trace their origin to the of the country bordering on are bassador was then, as it ought to be, speak, in a corresponding angle of elevation or de- the great lakes. the distressed and persecuted; it was the infuriated soldiery as a place. enemies. They rushed to the stack defence was the flag of my county, flung out at the instant that hundred were levelled at us. Mr. Mason, never stood by his friend in the bord myself placed ourselves beneath its v and the attack was suspended. Wedd mighty republick. We told them the waved over us was the banner of t whose example they owed their heri whose protection they were indebted i The scene changed as by enchantment men who were on the point and massacring the inhabitants, cheert our country and placed sentinels outrage. Fellow citizens, in such for we felt strong in the protect direction of the reflecting rays must be so also, and mountains in other circumstances in intercepting of artschr pression, whatever it may be. The writer consid- "At the time of the year these streamers are the that, would it have been any pre The reflective power of a surface of water is much occurs not far from the middle of September, when mine to have proclaimed myself a Cal I have been here to tell you this out the Palmetto and the single st that to be respected abroad, place in the Union." We s The human heart rises agai soothed by gentleness, as the ware rises in proportion to the violence of the sinks with the breeze into mildes greater than that of earth, which accounts for the the southern states. The views of this writer may be novel, yet his hints are worthy the attention of the curious. The succession of most resplendent sunsets for the past several weeks, when not destroyed by atmospherick derangement attending storms, the effulgence which continues to curtain the chambers of the day-king- "After the southern declination of the sun has become such that the Huron range of hills is to the northward of the range of light reflected to us, | below Satartia, in Yazoo county, the Sun Flowerthese pencils disappear from the heavens apparently, two hundred miles long, and navigable for steamand do not return until, with another season, and a boats-puts in from the right, or Washington county renewed atmosphere, the sun is found in the same side. Within fifteen miles of its mouth, it receives position. The reason of this is, the whole of the Deer creek from the right, and finally, after a course Michigan peninsula is so level that it does not of seven hundred miles, empties into the Mississippi, break the reflected light from that lake; and the twelve miles above the flourishing city of Vicks broader ones made by breaks in the chain of lakes burgh. From one point of the Yazoo, known as the from Erie to Huron, are not of a nature to be so Chickasaw bayou, it is only seven miles through distinctly marked as those produced by the inter- for skiffs, in high water, to Vicksburgh: while it is ception of rays by hills or clouds. thirty round. Steamboats have ascended the Yalobusha forty miles. "We have thrown out these hints-for we consider them nothing more-in the hope of directing the notice of other and more competent observers to The Yoccony Patawfa-two hundred miles long the facts stated, and if possible, thereby gaining a-is also a branch of the Tallahatchie. satisfactory explanation of the splendid phenomena connected with our autumnal sunsets, should the above not be considered as such." The favourable location of our city, overlooking as it does a broad expanse of waters on the north and west, often gives it the famed rose-coloured skies of impassioned Italy. At such an hour the divinity is stirred within us, and few can go out under the pavilion nature has spread over our forest, city, and Erie, without feeling that "God alone is to be seen in heaven." The breathings of the sweetest of American bards then come unbidden from the fount of memory : "Oh! what a glory doth this world put on [Cleveland Herald. RIVERS IN MISSISSIPPI. THE principal streams of the state of Mississippi are as follow:Pearl river, which heads near the Choctaw county line, and has a course of about seven hundred miles, till its waters mingle with those of the Gulf of Mexico. Steamboats can ascend it five hundred and eighty miles to Pensacola, on its west bank, in Leake county, four miles southwest of Carthage. The greatest impediments to its navigation are in the first hundred miles above its mouth. One point of it, in Madison county, is only thirteen miles from the Big Black, and about thirty-five from the Yazoo. Its principal tributaries are the Lobutcha, Yukainokhina and the Bogue Chitto from the west, and Strong river from the east. Yukainokhina has been ascended some miles by keels. Yazoo river may be considered as heading near Pontotock. The stream sweeps round, and receiving the Cold Water from the west, and the Tallatoba from the east, flows on under the name of Tallahatchie, till its junction with the Yalobusha from the left; when the united stream assumes the name of Yazoo. Near the Holmes county line, there are two channels at high water. That on the left, which is about seventy miles long, is known by the name of Little river; part of which is also called Chula The island formed is called Honey island, and is very fertile. Descending further, a few miles lake. From the confluence of the Cold Water to the mouth of the Yazoo and westward to the Mississip pi, the country is entirely alluvial, no part of it being more than thirteen feet above overflow. Here, doubtless, the ocean once dashed its wave, and held dominion till the Mississippi, slowly, but not less surely, compelled it to retire. The Yazoo Pass puts out from the Mississippi ten miles below Helena, and after twenty-five miles joins the Cold Water, or Oka Kapussa, and thus communicates with the Yazoo. By this route, which is longer than the main channel, you reach the Mississippi by a genuine current, in five hun dred miles, through which many boats have descended. Efforts are now making to clear the pass of obstructions to its navigation; but the appropriation of ten thousand dollars is inadequate. The summit level on both sides of the breadth of a thousand yards should be dyked for some miles. The Yazoo is from one hundred to two hundred yards broad. At and near its mouth, it is called Old river; because it was the bed of the Mississip pi one hundred and fifty years ago. It is there a mile in width or more. At Liverpool, twenty miles below Manchester, the Yazoo is within seven miles of the Big Black. Steamboats may ascend the Yazoo four hundred miles or more. Deer Creek is nowhere more than from fifteen to twenty miles from the Mississippi. It has been ascended in skiffs nearly to its source. It commu nicates with the Sun Flower, by the Rolling Forks, and it is usual to ascend the Sun Flower in order to reach the plantations on Deer Creek, or to pass over to the Mississippi. It receives not a few Big Black rises in Choctaw county, and after a course of five hundred miles, enters the Mississippi one mile and a half above the city of Grand Gull, in the county of Claiborne. single tributary of importance. Its width at low water exceeds one hundred yards in very places; but, during floods, it is a mile or more width. Steamboats may ascend it more than three hundred miles. As you ascend, after leaving the county of Claiborne, it intervenes between the counties of Hindes and Madison on the south, and those of Yazoo and Holmes on the north. About thirty thousand bales of cotton annually descend this river. The Tombigby is only partly-say two hundred and fifty miles-within the state of Mississippi. Between townships sixteen and seventeen north of the basis of townships of the Choctaw district of t E miles. The Yoccony Patawfo—two hundrda -is also a branch of the Tallahatchis From the confluence of the Cold Wa 1, doubtless, the ocean once dashed its wat The Yazoo Pass puts out from the The Yazoo is from one hundred Steamboats may ascend the Yazce is miles or more. Deer Creek is nowhere more than f twenty miles from the Mississippi ascended in skiffs nearly to its source nicates with the Sun Flower, by the Ra and it is usual to ascend the Sun Fl to reach the plantations on Deer Crea over to the Mississippi. 533 în latitude thirty-three degrees, fifteen minutes, it of romance of American writers, to the entire The Oktibbeha is a branch of the Bigby, as it is familiarly called, and enters it from the west, four miles above Columbus. It may be navigated twenty miles, to Mahew. Noxubee river, which gives its name to a county, is another branch, one hundred and thirty miles long, and rises in our state. Pascagoula river disembogues into the gulf of Mexico. It is formed by the union of the Chickasawhay from the north, and Leaf river from the northwest. NEW FISH. literature. We propose under this head to introduce whatever we find that will prove interesting to our readers, and commence with the following: THE ARCH ROCK AT MACKINAC. I WISH Some of our friends, those not irretrievably tied to the car of artificial life, refined, elegant recherche though it be, might now and then break away from the charmed circle, and visit the island of the North-the Great Turtle of the arctics. If there be any restorative to over-wrought morbid sensibility-to the lassitude which sometimes creeps over the most nervous minds, it is a few weeks of genuine rustication like this. Wander through pathless woods-lose yourselves amid tangled cedars, maples, and wildest evergreen-drag yourself up steep precipices by friendly briers and wild vines. Sweep around the island in a bark canoe, and paddle it yourself-look from the shaded side of the bark low, and see the glorious world there-take in on four fathoms water into the crystal depths bethe heavens and the rocks, the green trees, the grassy summits, the quiet glades, the cool springs bubbling from dark caverns-the white pebbles and the transparent waters, and thank for faculties to enjoy these sights; that dreamy your Maker abstractions have not refined you out of a sense of their glorious freshness. MR. Strickland, of Yorkshire, has communicated to the British Association an account of the capture of a new species of fish, at Burlington Quay, on the eleventh of August, 1839. It was of the shark tribe, but it differed from those that are usually met with. It was seven feet and a half in length, and three feet three inches round the girth. The skin was smooth and shining, and on the upper part of the back it had sharp spiles, not large in size, and about one inch asunder. Its eyes were large, and hung over the mouth, and between the eyes were placed the nostrils. It was of a reddish slate color when You have been here, and know that many places taken, but assumed a redder cast before it died. on the Island are made interesting by history and The author then described the anatomy of the tradition. Among those, however, that owe less fish, the result of which convinced him that it was a species not hitherto taken on the British to associations than to extraordinary formation, shore. Mr. Yarrel thought it would be found to this is not altogether wanting in interest from may be mentioned the celebrated Arch Rock; yet resemble one brought from Africa by Dr. Smith, such sources. and to belong to the genus Saylbinum of Cuvier; lent among the eastern nations, the Iroquois and There was a tradition long prevabut Dr. Smith had found it necessary to subdivide Algonquins, that the sun passed through this that genus, and this animal might be referred to rock just before disappearing in the Western the group thus separated from the species origi-horizon. Those adventurous chiefs, who in after nally placed in the genus. Big Black rises in Choctaw coc course of five hundred miles, enters the s one mile and a half above the city of Ging in the county of Claiborne. It rec single tributary of importance. Its water exceeds one hundred yards in places; but, during floods, it is a width. Steamboats may ascend it hundred miles. As you ascend, ar county of Claiborne, it intervenes counties of Hindes and Madison on hose of Yazoo and Holmes on the ar hirty thousand bales of cotton an his river. The Tombigby is only partly-arma nd fifty miles-within the state a Between townships sixteen and sen of townships of the Chu AMERICAN SCENERY. PROBABLY no country in the world presents such a great variety of sublime and beautiful scenery as our own, and yet it is a strange fact that Americans go abroad to enjoy the beauties of the sunny vales of France and Italy, and to view the sublime scenery upon the banks of the Rhine, when vales as sunny, and Alps as grand are here within our own borders. And it is to be lamented that these foreign scenes are so often made the "wooff and filling" of the tales times visited the Island, for the purposes of trade or war, made earnest inquiries for the sacred rock which received the setting sun under its arch. There are few scenes more imposing than a view of the arch from the top, looking down on water, and away over the pure wave, and the distance, like some of Turner's glorious visions, blue Islands that lie soft and trembling in the married to wave, and heaven. But if the view from above impresses the mind with awe, I know not what language to use to describe the sensations awakened in contemplating the same from below. Off on the water at a sufficient distance, for the eye readily to coma scale, that it really appears light and airy as pass the whole, its structure is built upon so vast though mingling in the mist of a cloudy atmosphere, or the hazes of extreme distance. The banks all along the shore, and immediately in the vicinity are lofty and precipitous, and have already familiarized the mind with great elevation; and though 'he arch rises far above surrounding rocks, yet the tall trees that grow from its base, and spread their foliage against its precipitate and dark ledges, and the stinted cedars and other evergreens that shoot from crevices and over awful chasms, take away the nakedness from the vast columns and masses of limestone, which in every varied, fantastic and grand form, spring to incredible heights. form that gives beauty and consistency to the inner curvature, or great funnel, of which it forms a section; but while an apparent harmony is thus obtained, as it leaves the prodigious mass of over. hanging limestone less secure, startles the mind with awful apprehension. A grandeur, dizzy and frightful, invests these suspended masses of rock; and the mind, unable to sustain reflection, feels as though pressed down by some dreadful phantom. Alas! how futile, must be all efforts at pictorial representation from this position; and yet here are you the most im The whole range of rock, indeed, is much high-pressed with its sublime forms. er, and more vast than appears from the water. Bewildering sensations now succeed, difficult to Several circumstances contribute to this decep- be described. From painful oppression the mind tion. Shrouded, as much of the lower part of the seeks relief by comparing the grandest human rocks are with evergreen, beauty is mingled with structures with what now seizes its attention; its grandeur, and consequently the simple sensa- and where nature has not far overshot the proud tion of the sublime is broken There is also a est monument of human art, a strange sort of de rugged acclivity or preparation, difficult of ascent, light is felt, and quiet and self-possession restored composed of broken fragments, and gradually But here, in vain does the mind seek such converted into a soil that sustains a growth of repose-comparisons are hardly dwelt on, though tangled underwood. The dark base of the rocks the struggle is made. A range of rock on rock, is thus softened. The eye running along this as- dreary chasms, perpendicular lines stretching cent, covered with dense foliage, takes the whole away into dizzy heights, and whitened cliff's pushas springing from the level, and is again deceived up into the regions of lightning and thunder, ed-for we compare heights unknown with what present a combination of sublime images that defy objects soever there may be around, whose uni- comparison-that defy all efforts to delineate or form magnitudes are familiar-such as figures of comprehend. The mind shrinks within itself, men, animals, and in their absence, trees. Again the deception is continued, for trees and shrubs that cling to the sides of the rocks, and shoot out from gloomy fissures in many places, keep up the appearance of verdure quite to the top. These, which in fact, are often a succession of tall trees, each length repeated, seen at a distance, seduce the eye, and give back the impression of the lofty trees that spring from the water's edge! True, the slightest observation corrects all this, yet the impression is left on the mind, and some pains must be taken to remove it by a detailed examination, ere you fully awaken to the stupendous structure before you. awed to solemn thought and appalled by what is above and around it. You unconsciously sink to the ground-you cover your face with your hands, and murmur-"Lord, what is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that thou shouldst regard him?" Correspondent of Detroit Advertiser. THE CUMBERLAND WATER-FALL. THIS Fall is situated on the top of the Cumberland mountains, East Tennessee. I had frequently heard it spoken of by travellers who had visited it; and their descriptions excited in me a very To realize this, let us paddle our bark ashore; great desire to see it, as I conceived it to be a let us approach the vestibule of one of Nature's beautiful miniature representation of the falls of temples.* * We have wended and fought Niagara. I have recently had an opportunity of our way through dense thickets, over irregular gratifying this desire; and I assure you that my fragments of rocks, up an ascent fearful enough, most exalted preconceptions were more than reand through a small archway, which in any other alized when I had the pleasure of viewing this place would be a wonder in itself. Now you most interesting scene, which is distinguished have reached the spot from which springs the alike for its beauty, and its wild and awful granlowest foot of the great arch. Here you are deur. This fall is within two hundred yards of under and surrounded by vast rocks and perpen- the stage road crossing the Cumberland mountdicular masses that rise for a great distance in irregular and broken forms above, and finally jut out beyond the plumb-line, and with the tangled briers that crown their summits, shut out the heavens from view! ain. The pathway which conducts to it passes over a gently inclined plane, on the lower margin of which meanders a small stream, which is here remarkable only for its beautifully transparent water which flows or smoothly and silently, to the The atmosphere is chilled by gloomy shades, very verge of the precipice over which it falls. and rocks, and dark caverns. The upper foot of Immediately beyond the little rivulet there rises the arch is yet at a great distance; you clamber an abruptly steep mountain, which is clothed with half way of this distance and pause to get breath; a luxuriant growth of ivy and laurel, the beauty you look up, and find yourself immediately under the apex of the great arch!-spanning a chasm of fifty feet. And here you discover a new element of the sublime-a feature which has not before been remarked. This immense arch bends outward toward the water, at least eight feet-a of which was greatly heightened when I saw it, by being covered with richly variegated bloom-and the noble yew trees, as if too proud to associate with the humble shrubbery beneath, send far their lofty shafts, which almost vie with the clouds in height. |