Chapter XXVI: Section V (3)

These springs, which have been known for many years, are situated on a stream called Hot Spring creek, which falls into the Washita river eight miles below. They lie fifty miles south of the Arkansas river, and six miles west of the road from Cadron to Mount Prairie, on Red river.

The approach to the Springs lies up the valley of the creek, which is partly made up of its waters. On leaving the banks of the Washita, the face of the country almost imperceptibly changes from a rich soil, covered with a luxuriant growth of trees, to a sterile mineral tract. On the right hand rises the Hot Mountain, with the springs issuing at its foot; on the left, the Cold Mountain, which is little more than a confused and mighty pile of stones; and the view in front is terminated by a high point of land, which makes down gradually into the valley, and separates the creek into two forks, of nearly equal size.

The Hot Mountain is about three hundred feet high, rising quite steep, presenting occasionally ledges of rocks, and terminating at top in a confused mass of broken rocks, with here and there a pine or oak tree. Its sides, notwithstanding their sterility and the steepness of the ascent, are covered by a most luxuriant growth of vines, particularly muscadine, the fruit of which is delicious.

The Cold Mountain is separated from the Hot by a valley of about fifty yards wide, through which the creek flows; it is nearly as steep as the other, about of an equal height, and terminates in the same confused manner. Some pine trees are found on it, but its sides are destitute of vegetation.

The springs issue near the foot of the Hot Mountain, at an elevation of about ten feet above the level of the creek. They are very numerous all along the hill-side, and the water, which runs in copious streams, is quite hot. It will scald the hand, and boil an egg hard in ten minutes. Its temperature is considered that of boiling water; but Dr. Andrews, of Red river, tells me that it cannot be reckoned over 200 deg. of Fahrenheit. There is a solitary spring, situated seventy feet higher than the others, on the side of the mountain; but it is also of an equal temperature, and differs in no respect from those below. Evaporation produces a dense fog, which hangs over the springs, and upon the side of the hill, looking at a distance like a number of furnaces in blast. It is probably the condensation of this fog by the cold air at night, which produces such a rank growth of vines on the side of the mountain, where, otherwise, there would hardly exist a sign of vegetable life.

An idea of the beneficial effects of this water is generally prevalent throughout the Territory, and numbers annually resort to the springs. They are found serviceable in rheumatisms, paralysis, pains in the breast, and all chronic and nervous complaints. The method of using the water is various. Bathing and sweating are generally resorted to. It is also drunk as hot as can be borne, and is not, like ordinary warm water, productive of nausea in the stomach. Of the chemical or medicinal properties of the water, little is known, as no accurate analysis has been made. The water appears clear, pure, and beautiful; it deposits a sediment, which is sometimes red, and in other places green or yellow. Some of the springs have a petrifying quality. The warmth of the water, acting along the courses of the streams, has a stimulating effect on the vegetation.

There is abundance of a beautiful green moss growing in the springs, near their edges; and their devious courses to the creek below are only indicated by a more vigorous growth of grass and moss all along the borders, and a brighter green.

The mineralogical character of the country around the springs is highly interesting. Three miles above is a quarry of oil-stone, of a peculiar and valuable kind. It has a very compact texture, is heavy, translucent, and gives a fine edge to a razor. The rock formations here are limestone, slate, and quartz. Veins of white quartz, four or five feet in width, are found running through the slate rock. Fine crystals of limpid quartz are also abundant in the neighborhood. At the cove on Washita river, fifteen miles below the springs, there is a body of magnetic iron-ore; sulphates of copper and zinc, and sulphuret of iron, in cubical crystals, occur in the same locality.

These springs, geologically, exist in a primitive formation, which may be considered the southern termination of the Ozark chain. Ancient volcanic forces have raised the beds of slate, sienite, and greenstone, of the chain, to their present elevations. The waters owe their heat to these long-extinguished, but deep-slumbering fires, which may hereafter break out into new activity.

UNICA, OR WHITE RIVER

In order duly to estimate the magnitude, position, character, and importance of any of our great western rivers, it is necessary to consider the relation they bear to each other, and to the surrounding country. A mere topographical description of an isolated section of country--a mountain, a stream, or a mine--may possess its value; but without a survey, however cursory, of the contiguous regions, it must lose much of its interest to the general reader, and much of its utility to the geographical student. It will be necessary, therefore, to cast a glance at the extensive country in which this river lies, before its individual consideration can be profitably commenced.

In looking on the map of ancient Louisiana, the most striking physical trait presented is the Rocky mountains, extending from Mexico into the unexplored regions north and west of lake Superior, with the del Norte, Red river, Arkansas, Kanzas, La Platte, and Yellowstone, all issuing from its sides near the same point, and uniting (with the exception of the former) at different points in the vast basin below, with the Missouri, the Ohio, and the Mississippi, in whose congregated floods they roll on to the Mexican gulf. Other streams traverse the country; but these are the principal rivers of Louisiana, whose heads rest on the Rocky mountains. Immediately at the foot of these mountains commence the almost interminable plains of sand, or Kanzian desert, stretching from north to south for more than a thousand miles, and with an average breadth of six hundred. To this succeed the highlands and mountains of the present Territories of Missouri and Arkansas, which preserve a pretty exact parallelism, from north to south, with the Rocky mountain chain, and give rise to several rivers of secondary magnitude. This again is bounded by the alluvial tract of the Mississippi, being the third grand parallel division presented by the surface of the soil. Through these, the Red river and the Arkansas hold their unaltered course, and reach the Mississippi without a fall; while the Kanzas, the La Platte, and the Yellowstone, bending northward, reach the Missouri, without meeting any mountains to oppose their progress. The rivers of secondary magnitude, whose origin is east of the highlands bordering the western desert, are the Teche, Vermillion, Tensaw, Washita, Little Missouri, Courtableau, Boeuf, Little Red, Grand, White, Black, Osage, Maramec, Gasconade, and St. Francis rivers. Of these, White river, a stream hitherto almost wholly unknown, or only known to hunters, and which has not received its deserved rank on any existing map, is one of the most considerable. It was therefore with surprise that I found, on travelling into those remote regions, so considerable a stream unnoticed by geographers, or only noticed to attest their want of information respecting its size, length, tributaries, character, productions, and importance. I therefore concluded that a summary of these particulars, as observed by myself during a tour into that quarter, would be an acceptable piece of service, and, with this view, began these observations.

White river originates near the ninety-seventh degree of west longitude, and about the thirty-sixth of north latitude, and, after running in a very serpentine course for thirteen hundred miles, enters the Mississippi fifty miles above the mouth of the Arkansas, and seven hundred above New Orleans. Its waters, unlike most of the western rivers, are beautifully clear and transparent, being wholly made up of springs that gush from the diluvial hills which are found, for more than half its length, within a few miles of, and often immediately upon, its banks. So much of the country through which it runs, is, therefore, sterile and rough; but the immediate margin of the river uniformly presents a strip of the richest alluvial bottom-land, from a quarter of a mile to a mile and a half in width. On this, corn, wheat, rye, oats, flax, hemp, and potatoes, have a vigorous growth; the mildness of the climate, and the fertility of the soil, combining to render it one of the most favorable of all countries for the pursuits of agriculture. Cotton also succeeds on the banks of this river as high up as settlements have extended, and will hereafter be an important item among its agricultural productions. The district of tillable land on this river, like many others west of the Mississippi, is chiefly confined to its banks. Bordering this, is found a chain of hills on either side, which sometimes close in upon the river's banks in perpendicular cliffs; and the adjacent country may in general be considered as sterile. To this remark, all its tributaries are exceptions; for they invariably afford, however small, tracts of the most fertile land, covered with a heavy growth of forest trees and underbrush. The cane is also common to this stream in its whole course, and affords a nutritious food for cows, horses, and hogs, who are fond of it, and fatten upon it. This plant being an evergreen, cattle and horses may feed upon it all winter; and it is accordingly given to them, as a substitute for hay, by the Indians and hunters.

The only inhabitants on the upper part of White river, so far as inhabitants have penetrated, are hunters, who live in camps and log cabins, and support themselves by hunting the bear, deer, buffalo, elk, beaver, raccoon, and other animals, which are found in great plenty in that region. They also raise corn for bread, and for feeding their horses. They seldom, however, cultivate more than an acre or two, subsisting chiefly on animal food and wild honey, and pay no attention to the cultivation of garden vegetables, if I except some cabbages, noticed at a few habitations. When the season of hunting arrives, the ordinary labors of a man about the house and cornfield devolve upon the women, whose condition in such a state of society may readily be imagined. The inhabitants, in fact, pursue a similar course of life with the savages, having embraced their love of ease, and their contempt for agricultural pursuits, with their sagacity in the chase, their mode of dressing in skins, their manners, and their hospitality to strangers.

The furs and peltries which are collected during repeated excursions in the woods, are taken down the river at certain seasons in canoes, and disposed of to traders, who visit the lower parts of this river for that purpose. Here they receive, in exchange for their furs, woollen cloths, rifles, knives, hatchets, salt, powder, lead, iron for horse-shoes, blankets, iron pots, shoes, and other articles of primary importance in their way of life. Those living near the cultivated parts of Lawrence county, in Arkansas Territory, also bring down, in exchange for such articles, buffalo beef, pork, bears' meat, beeswax, and honey, which are again sold by the traders along the banks of the Mississippi, or at New Orleans. Very little money is paid, and that in hard cash only; no bank-bills of any kind being taken in that quarter. I happened to be present, on my return from the head-waters of White river, at one of these exchanges, where a further opportunity was offered of observing the manners and character of these people. Bears' meat was sold at $10 per cwt.; buffalo beef at $4; cows' beef at $3; pork, in the hog, at $3 50; venison hams at 25 cents each; wild turkeys, the same; wild honey at $1 per gallon; beaver fur, $2 per lb.; bearskins, $1 50 each; otter skins, $2; raccoon skins, 25 cents; deerskins, 25 cents per lb. These prices were considered high by the purchaser; but they were only nominally so, as he paid them off in articles at the most exorbitant rates. Common three-point or Mackinaw blankets were sold at $8 each; butcher-knives at $2; rifle-locks at $8; common coarse blue cloth at $6 per yard; coffee at 75 cents per lb.; salt at $5 per bushel; lead at 25 cents per lb.; gunpowder at $2 per lb.; axes at $6 each; horseshoe-nails at $3 per set, &c. The trade of this river is consequently attended with profits which amply repay the risks and fatigues incident to a voyage in that quarter. Vast quantities of furs and skins are annually brought down this river, with some beeswax, honey, beef, bacon, &c.; and whenever the hunter population yields to the farming and mechanical class, the list of its productions will be swelled by corn, rye, wheat, oats, flax, hemp, and cotton; a sufficiency of each of which has already been raised, to show that the climate and soil are well adapted to their culture. Its mineral products are also worthy of attention. Iron-ore, lead, zinc, and manganese, have already been discovered; and among its earthy minerals may be enumerated marble, agate, jasper, hornstone, and rock crystal; specimens of which, with some others, I picked up during my journey there. Caves with nitre are also common; and large forests of pine timber, which will be wanted in the progressing settlements on the Mississippi, are situated on its northern tributaries, and may be floated down at an inconsiderable expense.

White river runs through a section of country which, according to a recent political division, belongs chiefly to the Territory of Arkansas; but several of its tributaries originate in Missouri, the chief of which are James river, Great North Fork, or Pine river, and Black river, with its auxiliaries--Currents, Fourche a Thomas, Spring, Eleven-points, and Strawberry rivers.

About a hundred and fifty miles below the Pawnee mountains, the main south fork of White river is joined by the War Eagle and Osage forks; a region remarkable for the abundance of beaver found in its streams. In the course of the succeeding two hundred miles, it is joined by King's river and Tower creek on the south, and by Roaring fork and James river on the north; the latter being by far the largest stream it has thus far received, and contributing nearly as much water as all the others put together. From the mouth of James river to its junction with the Mississippi, it is successively joined by Long, Bull, Swan, Beaver, and Big creeks, by the Little and Great North Forks, Black and Cash rivers, on the north; and on the south by Bear and Crooked creeks, Buffalo Fork, and Little Red river; and it is finally connected with the Arkansas river by a natural canal called the _cut-off_, about thirty miles above its junction with the Mississippi, which affords a navigable water communication at all seasons. Many of the above tributaries are streams of no ordinary magnitude, and afford boat navigation for many hundred miles; they are all characterized by tracts of rich alluvial lands on their banks. James river, Buffalo Fork, Great North Fork, Black river, and Little Red river, merit individual attention.

James river originates in the Ozarks, a few miles south of the Gasconade, in Missouri Territory, and, after running in a south-west direction for two hundred miles, in the course of which it is swelled by Findley's river, and by other streams, forms a junction with White river a thousand miles above the mouth of the latter. Its waters are as pure as crystal; it lies under a climate the most mild, salubrious, and delightful; and on its banks are situated a body of the most fertile and beautiful lands which the whole valley of the Mississippi affords. The timber on its banks is abundant; a remark which cannot with justice be made of many parts of the adjacent country, and nothing can exceed the vigor and the verdure of vegetable nature on the borders of this beautiful stream. Prairies are also found within a mile of its western banks, and extend towards the Grand Osage, as far as the eye can reach, level as a graduated plain, and waving with tall grass, on which the elk, the buffalo, and the deer, feed in countless numbers.

Findley river forms a junction with this stream, near the centre of this choice body of land, and about one hundred miles above its mouth. Twenty miles above the junction of these streams, on the immediate banks of James river, are situated some valuable lead-mines, which have been known to the Osage Indians, and to a few White river hunters, for many years. The Indians have been in the habit of procuring lead for bullets at that place, by smelting the ore in a kind of furnace, made by digging a pit in the ground, and casing it with some flat stones, placed so as to resemble the roof of a house inverted; such is the richness of the ore, and the ease with which it smelts. The ore has not, however, been properly explored, and it is impossible to say how extensive the beds or veins may prove. Some zinc, in the state of a sulphuret, is found accompanying it. There is not one inhabitant on all this stream; my own cabin, erected for a temporary purpose at the mines in January last, being the only human habitation within two hundred miles of that place.

Buffalo Fork originates near the north banks of the Arkansas, and, after traversing a rocky country for about one hundred and eighty miles in a north-east course, joins White river at the Buffalo Shoals, about seven hundred miles above the Mississippi. It is a fine region for game, and affords some good lands.

The Great North Fork, or Pine river, is a stream of two hundred miles in length, and a hundred yards wide at its mouth. Its waters are clear, being entirely made up of springs, which are numerous all along its banks; but the navigation is interrupted by rapids. It originates with James river and the Gasconade, in a ridge of high land, which throws a part of its waters into the Missouri, and a part into the Mississippi, the streams running in opposite directions. In travelling into that country, I accidentally arrived at the extreme head of this river, where it consists only of some drizzling springs, and pursued it down, in all its windings, to its junction with White river, about twelve miles below the mouth of Buffalo Fork. It is bordered on both sides by limestone bluffs, covered generally with tall pines, and affording some detached strips of valuable land. On the whole, however, it must be considered a sterile region, which will never admit of a dense population. The bottoms are overrun by cane and brier, which render travelling extremely fatiguing.

This stream appears generally to have been considered by geographers as the head of White river, which is accordingly, on most maps, made to originate at this place. The error has been, in some degree, corrected in Robinson's new map of Louisiana, lately published at Natchez, which may be esteemed the best map extant respecting that section of country. He calls it Pine river.

Black river is a large, deep, and gentle stream, composed of numerous auxiliaries, which draw their waters from the counties of Wayne, New Madrid, and Lawrence; the two former lying in Missouri Territory, and the latter in Arkansas. It is navigable with boats of the largest burden, at all seasons of the year, for more than one hundred miles. Little Black, Currents, Fourche a Thomas, Eleven-points, Spring, and Strawberry rivers, are all streams of considerable size, coming in on the west, and deserve particular notice on the future maps of that country. Their banks afford choice bodies of fertile lands, which are already the seat of many plantations and farms, where corn, rye, wheat, oats, flax, hemp, and cotton, are raised in the greatest perfection, and the settlements are rapidly increasing. Considerable quantities of beef and pork are also put up for the New Orleans market, every facility being afforded by the luxuriance of grass in the woods, and the abundance of acorns in the fall, for raising and fattening hogs and cattle. Lawrence county is generally considered among the first farming districts west of the Mississippi. Davidsonville, the seat of justice for this county, is situated on the west bank of Black river, at the junction of Spring river. The settlements on Strawberry river, on the Currents, Fourche a Thomas, Poke Bayou, and other places, are in a flourishing condition.

Little Red river issues near the sources of Buffalo Fork, and runs parallel with the Arkansas for a great distance, but inclines gradually to the north-east, and joins White river about two hundred miles above its mouth. It affords a considerable body of choice land, but is subject to very sudden rises, which overflow its banks, and have retarded, to some extent, the further settlement of its valley.

Such are the principal tributaries of White river; a stream which is navigable, with keel-boats of thirty tons burden, to the foot of Buffalo Shoals, a distance of seven hundred miles from its mouth, and may be ascended with light vessels five hundred miles higher. It draws its waters from a district of country about three hundred miles in width, by seven or eight hundred in length, having on its borders and tributaries large bodies of very rich lands, mixed with much that is poor and unfit for cultivation; but, taking into view its advantageous situation for commerce, its political relation to the two Territories, in a part of each of which it lies, and the extensive bodies of farming-lands on James river, Buffalo Fork, and Black river, we may anticipate the period when a large population shall find their support on its banks--when numerous villages and towns shall decorate its shores, and the productive labor of its inhabitants swell greatly the commerce of the western country, while they themselves command an important influence in its political transactions.

One of the most interesting events connected with the history of this river, is the visit paid to it by De Soto in 1542. The place of his crossing it is not certainly known.

STEAM NAVIGATION ON THE MISSISSIPPI.

Steamboats were first introduced on the Mississippi about 1812; and, within seven years of that time, not less than fifty boats, of all classes, had been built. The following list, which I made in 1819, embraces all the steam-vessels which are known to have been put upon that stream and its tributaries, prior to that era, and is believed to give with accuracy their names and tonnage.

Fulton's first successful experiment in the application of Savary's steam-engine, as improved by Watt and Bolton, to the propulsion of vessels, dates in 1807; so that but five years elapsed before the invention was introduced, and twelve years before it was spread, on the western waters. The impracticability of navigating those waters by the force of sails, caused the invention to be hailed there with acclamation; and this explains the cause of its rapid multiplication.

No. Names. Tons. No. Names. Tons.

1. Etna 200 27. St. Louis Packet 150
2. Vesuvius 280 28. Ramapo 100
3. Orleans 200 29. Rising States 150
4. Alabama 300 30. Maid of Orleans 100
5. Columbus 400 31. Hamlet 100
6. Tamerlane 200 32. Perseverance 50
7. James Ross 250 33. Johnson 75
8. United States 500 34. Eagle 100
9. Paragon 250 35. Vesta 110
10. Thomas Jefferson 200 36. Harriet 40
11. Ohio 300 37. Constitution 45
12. General Jackson 100 38. Louisiana 60
13. Maysville 152 39. Governor Shelby 60
14. Exchange 154 40. Franklin 80
15. Volcano 140 41. Rifleman 60
16. Madison 100 42. Newport 45
17. Kentucky 60 43. Expedition 150
18. Hecla 100 44. General Clark 150
19. Napoleon 200 45. Henderson 150
20. Washington 150 46. Tornado 250
21. Buffalo 100 47. Elizabeth 175
22. James Monroe 70 48. Missouri Packet 100
23. Cincinnati 85 49. Post-Boy (for
24. St. Louis 200 pas'gers only)
25. General Pike 75 50. Western Engineer 40
26. Independence 100 -----
Total 7,306

In addition to these, there are two new boats building at Pittsburgh, one at Wheeling, one at Steubenville, one at Marietta, two at Cincinnati, one at Frankfort, two at Shippingport, one at Madison, and two at New Albany, making a total number of sixty-three. There are also several more in contemplation, so that it is probable another year will considerably augment the number. The first steamboat on the western waters was built at Pittsburgh in 1811, eight years ago. Hence it appears there has been an average increase of eight boats per annum; but by far the greatest proportion have been built within the last three years.

7306 tons, at 4 cents per lb. freight up from New Orleans,
amounts to $584,480 00
7306 tons, at 1 cent per lb. freight down to New Orleans 146,120 00
10 passengers down in each boat, at $60 39,800 00
5 passengers up in each boat, at $100 31,500 00
-----------
$801,900 00

It is presumable that each boat will perform three trips to and from New Orleans per annum, which will make an aggregate amount of freight and passage money of $2,405,700 per annum. From this, some idea of the trade, population, and business of the vast valley of the Mississippi, may be formed. And let it be remembered, at the same time, that the transportation of merchandise is not wholly done by steamboats. The Ohio and Mississippi are still lined with keel-boats and barges; and much of the produce is still carried to market in flat-bottomed boats, of a temporary construction, which are not calculated to ascend the stream, and are therefore generally sold for a trifle, or abandoned.

The following is extracted from a comparative statement of the increase of the principal articles of produce which arrived at the New Orleans market during a period of three years.

Productions. 1815. 1816. 1817.

Bacon and hams, cwt. 7,000 13,000 18,000
Butter, lbs. 500 1,800
Cotton, bales 60,000 65,000 65,000
Corn, bushels 120,000 130,000 140,000
Flour, barrels 75,000 98,000 190,000
Molasses, gallons 500,000 800,000 1,000,000
Pork, barrels 8,000 9,700 22,000
Sugar, hhds. 5,000 7,300 28,000
Taffia, gallons 150,000 300,000 400,000
Tobacco, hhds 5,000 7,300 28,000
Wheat, bushels 95,000
Whiskey, gallons 150,000 230,000 250,000

ANTIQUITIES AND INDIAN HISTORY.

SOME ARTICLES OF CURIOUS WORKMANSHIP FOUND IN AN ANCIENT BARROW.

An opinion is entertained by many well-informed persons in the United States, that the country has, at some remote period, been inhabited by a civilized people, prior to its settlement or subjugation by the savages. To the many evidences furnished to strengthen this opinion, by the remnants of fortifications, tumuli, &c., may be added the discovery of several articles of antiquarian value, and of singular workmanship, of glass, or antique enamel, lately made on the eastern shores of lake Erie.

I have had an opportunity of examining a specimen of these antique glasses, and, on the authority of my informant, am enabled to remark that they were taken up about two months ago, from an ancient barrow in the town of Hamburg, where they were found deposited in an earthen pot. Contiguous to this pot were also found a skull, and some other human remains, thought to be of an unusual size. This mound, or supposed repository of the dead, is situated in an uncultivated part of the town, and several trees were growing upon it at the time the excavation was made; some of which were judged to be upwards of two feet in diameter.

The glass relic which I had an opportunity to examine, (and I am told they are all alike,) is in the form of a large barrel-shaped bead, consisting of a tube of transparent green glass, covered with an opaque coarse red enamel. Its length is nine-tenths of an inch, its greatest width six and a half tenths of an inch, and the bore of the tube two-tenths of an inch. Near the circle of the bore of this tube, is an aperture of the size of a large needle, perforating the tube from one end to the other. The enamel which covers the tube of transparent glass appears to have been ornamented with painting, in figures resembling a spindle, or two inverted sections of a circle; but they are now hardly perceptible, as the bead appears to have been considerably worn.

But the circumstance most indicative of art in the making of this bead, is a species of enamelling which has been performed both on the external and internal surfaces of the tube, previous to its being covered by the coarse red enamel. This second enamel is white, and, as the external surface of the tube was not smooth, but in parallel _strie_ or veins, exhibits the appearance of a white vine between the green tube and the red enamel. This enamelling appears to have been done, not by melting on any vitreous composition, as is practised at the present day, but by the effect of calcination for some time in a low red heat. This, it is known, will deprive glass, especially green glass, of its transparency, and render the surface white to a certain depth.

The composition of the tube of glass, I have judged to be simply a silicious sand and an alkali, probably with a small addition of lime or vegetable ashes. It is hard, and will not receive scratches like the lead glasses; and I conclude from this circumstance that there is no lead in the composition. Its color seems also owing to the impurity of the materials employed, like the common window and bottle glass, and is probably caused by a minute portion of iron, in the state of an oxide, combined with the sand and alkali.

The red enamel covering the tube, and the pot in which these glasses were found, seem to have been constructed of similar materials, as they differ very little in color, texture, or other external character. Probably a very fusible brick-clay, highly impregnated with the oxide of iron, and pulverized fragments of green glass, are the principal ingredients of both. The earthen pot is manifestly constructed of different materials from those employed for brown pottery at the present period. It is a more imperishable substance, of a close texture, and vitreous appearance.

I shall not presume to speculate in opinions which discoveries of this interesting nature are calculated to create; it may, however, here be added, that the fabrication of these glasses would suppose a perfection in the arts, which none of the Indian tribes inhabiting this country at the period of its discovery, had arrived at. That if introduced by the French from Canada, in their earliest communications with the Indians inhabiting the western parts of the State of New York, a sufficient time would hardly have elapsed for the growth of trees of such size as were found upon the mound from which these relics were taken. And that, if not introduced by the French at the period alluded to, we must refer their manufacture back to a very remote date, and one on which Indian tradition is wholly silent.

Since visiting the western country, I have had occasion to notice a similar discovery on Big river, in the Territory of Missouri. On opening an Indian grave (or what was considered such) on the bank of this river, several beads of glass, of a similar character, were found. They were accompanied by many bones of the human frame, of extraordinary size, and which indicated, to common observation, a stature of seven or eight feet in height. The person appeared to have been deformed, either by birth or accident, as the right jaw-bone ran in a straight line from the mouth back, while the left preserved the usual curve. The excavation was made near the edge of the stream, where the soil is a rich alluvion, and covered by a heavy growth of forest trees, such as are peculiar to the richest Ohio and Mississippi bottom-lands. We may add, that it corresponds best with history and probability to attribute these relics to the early period of the fur-trade.

ANCIENT INDIAN CEMETERY IN THE VALLEY OF THE MARAMEC RIVER.

In the autumn of 1818, the existence of a number of small tumuli, or antique Indian graves, was made known in the valley of the Maramec. This discovery was made about fifteen miles south of St. Louis. Curiosity led several persons to visit the spot and examine them, and my attention was thus called to the subject. It was conjectured that the bones found in these graves were the remains of a race of beings much smaller than those of the present day.

The essential facts connected with these discoveries, are these:--The tumuli, which are small, occupy a wood near the dwelling of a Mr. Long. The attention of this gentleman was arrested by this smallness of cemeterial dimensions, or place of burial. Drs. Walker and Grayson, of St. Louis, proceeded to the spot, opened several of the graves, and examined their contents. The length of the stature of the interred persons, measured by their stony casings, varied from twenty-three inches, to four feet two or three inches. But the skeletons, with the exception of the teeth, were reduced to a complete limy substance, and their forms destroyed. The graves had originally been cased with rude flat stones at the sides, and also at the head and feet. A flat stone had also, in some instances, been laid over the top, and earth piled on the grave, above the surface of the ground, to the general height of three feet. This was a characteristic feature, and seemed designed to mark the locality. In this stony coffin, all the softer and destructible parts of the body had submitted to decay, with the exception before mentioned--the teeth. The examination of these became, therefore, the principal source of interest. They found the enamel perfect, and were surprised to discover that they were the teeth of rather young persons, who had, however, passed the age of puberty. The molars and incisors were of the ordinary dimensions and character of second teeth. The jaw-bone of the first specimen examined, appeared to have its full complement, except the dentis sapienta, which physiologists do not generally recognize until after the ages of eighteen to twenty-three.

Many graves were examined, which differed more or less in length, between the extremes stated, but agreed in their general conformity of parts; from all which, these gentlemen came to the conclusion that the remains denoted a stature of inferior size, while appearances indicated a remote antiquity as the epoch of burial, which might as well be supposed to be five centuries as one. This antiquity was inferred, as well from the reduction of the bones to their elements, as from the growth of large trees upon the graves, the roots of which penetrated into their recesses.

Upon this exhibition of facts, a legal gentleman[21] of intelligence calls attention, with great pertinency, to the ancient manners and customs of the Indians, in the burial of their dead.

"As yet, I have seen no attempt to account for the size and appearance of these skeletons, upon any other supposition than that they are the remains of a people far less in size than any known at the present day. Unwilling to adopt a belief so contrary to the general order of nature, and to the history of the human species, so far as it has been transmitted to us, I shall hazard some conjectures upon the subject, which I think will, in some measure, tend to dissolve the mystery that hovers over these bones, and to reconcile their appearance with the general history of our race. To be sure, Nature, in her sport, has now and then produced monsters. A taste for the marvellous among travellers and historians, has occasionally conjured up a race of giants, or a nation of pigmies; but when the light of truth has reached us from the distant corners of the earth, where they were said to dwell, we have found them to assume the size, shape, and attitude of men, and nothing more. So far as observation or history extends, we find the species nearly the same in all ages and in all countries. Climate has had some effect upon the size, and upon the complexion. The excessive cold of the north has shortened an inch or two the necks of the Esquimaux, and the heat of the south has colored the African. But what, in this genial climate, should make dwarfs? It is here, if anywhere, that we should naturally expect to find giants! All the other productions of nature are here brought forth in the highest perfection. And shall _man_ here grow a pigmy? Unless we are ready to adopt the opinion of certain naturalists, that the human species are the legitimate descendants of the apes, and that they once wore tails, and were of their diminutive size--unless we are ready to believe the history of the Lilliputians, and of Tom Thumb--I think we shall discard the idea of a nation of dwarfs, as wholly preposterous. But how, on any other supposition, shall we account for the appearances upon the farm of Mr. Long?

"None of the graves found there exceed four feet in length, many of them fall short of three, and the teeth found in all of them show that they contain the remains of human beings who had arrived at years of maturity. The manners and customs of the Indians with respect to the treatment of their dead, will, I think, solve all difficulties, and satisfactorily account for these appearances, without doing violence to nature. According to the testimony of travellers and historians, it has been the custom among many tribes of Indians to hang their dead in baskets upon trees and scaffolds, until their flesh was consumed, and then to take them down, clean their bones, and bury them. There existed an order of men among them called _bone-pickers_, with long nails like claws, whose business and profession it was to clean the unconsumed flesh from the bones, previous to burial. This custom still exists among the Indians on the waters of the Missouri, and rationally accounts for the appearances upon the farm of Mr. Long. The bones of a skeleton of the ordinary size, when separated, would naturally occupy a grave of three or four feet in length. It appears that in all the graves which were opened, the bones, except the teeth, were reduced to a chalky substance, so that it would be impossible to know, with any certainty, in what state, condition, or form, they were deposited there. These skeletons are said to rest on their sides. Taking this fact to be true, it goes to strengthen my ideas on this subject. In burying a corpse, it is natural, and, so far as we are acquainted, universally the custom, to bury them with the face upwards. We can look upon our dead friends with a melancholy complacency--we cast a long and lingering look after them until they are completely shut from our view in the grave; and nothing is more hard and heart-rending than to tear our last looks from them. It is natural, then, that the body should be placed in such a position as most to favor this almost universal desire of the human heart. But, in burying a skeleton, it would be as natural to avert the horrid grin of a death's-head from us. To face the grinning skeleton of a friend, must fill us with horror and disgust. 'Turn away the horrid sight,' would be the language of nature. If we adopt my supposition as correct in this case, all the facts correspond with nature. But if we adopt the opinion of a recent writer, our conclusions will be at war with nature, reason, and universal observation."

The following observations by the Rev. J. M. Peck, of St. Louis, may also here be added:

"One grave was opened which measured four feet in length; this was formed by laying a flat stone at the bottom, placing one on each side, one at each end, and covering the mouth with another. In the last circumstance, this grave differed from the others that were opened; the contents were a full-grown skeleton, with the head and teeth, part of the spine, the thigh and leg bones, in a tolerable state of preservation. The leg-bones were found parallel with the bones of the thighs, and every appearance indicated, either that the corpse had been entombed with the legs and thighs placed so as to meet, or that a skeleton had been deposited in this order. The first opinion seems the most probable, from the fact that a large stone pipe was found in the tomb, which I understand is now in the possession of Mr. Long."

Both implements of war, and of domestic use, are buried with the dead bodies of the Indians; but it admits of a query if they are ever deposited with the mere skeleton.

"It is a well-known fact," says Bishop Madison, while writing on the supposed fortifications of the western country,[22] "that, among many of the Indian tribes, the bones of the deceased are annually collected and deposited in one place, that the funeral rites are then solemnized with the warmest expressions of love and friendship, and that this untutored race, urged by the feelings of nature, consign to the bosom of the earth, along with the remains of their deceased relatives, food, weapons of war, and often those articles they possessed, and most highly valued, when alive."

This fact is substantiated from various respectable sources. The pious custom of collecting the relics of the dead, which accident, or the events of a battle, might have dispersed through the wilderness, easily accounts for the graves on the Maramec, as well as explains the origin of the artificial mounds in the vicinity. If these were opened, there would be found promiscuously deposited the bones of the aborigines, which pious veneration, from year to year and from century to century, industriously collected. The cemetery alluded to, on the plantation of Mr. Long, may be viewed as the public burial-place of some powerful nation of the same size, and similar customs, with other Indians.

FOOTNOTE:

[21] Rufus Pettibone, Esq., of St. Louis.

OSAGES.

This tribe claims, as original possessors, the territories of the Ozarks, over which my journeys have chiefly laid. They claim all the country north of the Arkansas, to the Maramec. The term Ozark appears to me to be compounded from Osage and Arkansas.

They are manly, good-looking, stout-limbed men, erratic in their mode of life, living a part of the year in fixed villages, and roving with their families through the forests, in search of game, the remainder. Their territories are immense.

The Osages, if we may judge from popular opinion, are very much in the condition of the sons of Ishmael--"Their hand is against every man, and every man's hand against them." It is remarkable that they possess so much skill as they do in public negotiations, which they manage with address, with a bold, direct air, employing enlarged thoughts and phrases, which are calculated to impress the hearer favorably as to their mental abilities.

But little opportunity has been had of personal observation on their manners and customs. Their mode of encampment has been seen, and is so arranged as to place the chiefs of the village, or camp, in the position of honor. It is stated that, at daybreak, a public crier makes proclamation of the expected events and duties of the day, which, to ears uninitiated, sounds like a call to prayer. I fancy the prayer of Indians, if they pray at all, is for deer and buffalo.

It appears from the manuscript records of General William Clark, at St. Louis, which I have been permitted to see, that they have a tale, or fiction, of their origin from a snail and beaver. If this is an allegory, we are to suppose that persons bearing these names were their progenitors. I avail myself of the public interpreter of the language to submit the following vocabulary of it.[23]

FOOTNOTES:

[22] See American Philosophical Transactions, Vol. VI.

[23] Omitted.

EXTRACTS FROM THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE.

Notice of "A View of the Lead-Mines of Missouri, including
some Observations on the Mineralogy, Geology, Geography,
Antiquities, Soil, Climate, Population, and Productions, of
Missouri and Arkansas, and other sections of the Western
Country; accompanied by three Engravings. By HENRY R.
SCHOOLCRAFT, Corresponding Member of the Lyceum of Natural
History of New York." 1821.

As this work has been more than a year before the American public, and is already well known, it may seem superfluous to make any remarks upon it at so late a period. It was our purpose to have given it an early notice, but circumstances which could not be controlled, prevented. Still, as it is devoted to subjects which form a prominent object in this Journal, and is, as far as we are informed, the only elaborate and detailed account of a mining district in the United States, we are not disposed to remain silent, especially as the discharge of the duty is not likely to be painful, either to ourselves or to the author. Reviews in form, although within the plan of this Journal, do not constitute one of its most leading objects, and we do not hold ourselves responsible for analyses or even for notices of new American books, unless they appear particularly interesting or important, or hold a very intimate connexion with the great design of our work.

We have already intimated that we regard Mr. Schoolcraft's work in this light. We take it for granted that the statements of facts made by this author, are both faithful and accurate; the information which we have incidentally derived from other sources, certainly countenances this impression, but the whole amount of it is small, compared with the details contained in the present volume.

Mr. Schoolcraft's opportunities for observation were extensive, particularly in relation to the mines of lead in the Missouri region. Among those mines he spent a year. "I have made (says he) a personal examination of every mine of consequence, with a view to ascertain its general character and value and its peculiarities. I have travelled on foot over the whole mine country, exploring its minerals, its geological structure, its geographical position, soil, climate, productions, towns, streams, settlements, and whatever else appeared to me to be necessary to describe, explain and illustrate the subject before me."

Mr. Schoolcraft appears to have made good use of the advantages which he enjoyed, and his countrymen are indebted to him for a great amount of valuable information. He appears also to have studied the observations of preceding writers, and, with their works before him, it was in his power to correct errors and to supply deficiencies.

He has prefixed an historical sketch which we presume will be acceptable to every reader. The French, as is well known, were the original discoverers and settlers of the Missouri, and Illinois regions, which were embraced in their vast scheme of forming a chain of posts and settlements from the mouth of the St. Lawrence, to that of the Mississippi. They did not occupy the country of the Missouri and Illinois till more than a century after the settlement of Quebec, and about a century before the present period. At that time, (1720,) the lead mines were discovered by Philip Francis Renault, and M. La Motte, and by them they were wrought, although they and the adventurers under them were disappointed in their expectations of finding gold and silver.

At the end of about half a century, the country passed into the hands of the Spaniards, and under their dominion, probably about forty years since, the principal mine was discovered by a man of the name of Burton, and from him it has derived the name of Mine a Burton.

It appears that the processes of mining under the Spaniards were very imperfect, as they obtained only fifty per cent. of lead from the ore, threw away the lead ashes, and did not attempt any manufactures of shot or any other articles. They employed only the open log furnace.

In 1797, Moses Austin, Esq., a native of Connecticut, who had been occupied with lead mines in Wythe county, in Virginia, obtained from the Spanish government, a grant of a league square in the mining district in consideration of his introducing a reverberatory furnace. He sunk the first regular shaft--the mining having, till that time, been prosecuted solely by open digging, in the manner of quarries. Mr. Austin also introduced the manufacture of shot, and that of sheet lead soon followed. About the same time several other American families collected at the mines, and infused new spirit and enterprise into the mining operations, so that they were carried on with considerable vigour at the time when (in 1803) the country was transferred to the United States. Mr. Schoolcraft, from whom these facts are taken, remarks, that since 1804, the number of mines has been astonishingly multiplied--population has flowed rapidly in--the processes on the ore have been much improved--better furnaces have been constructed, and "every season is adding to the number of the mines." "Every day is developing to us the vast resources of this country, particularly in lead," and the author expresses his opinion that "the mines of Missouri are paralleled by no other mineral district in the world."

From the specimens which we possess of this ore, and from the documents produced by the author respecting the produce of the mines, we believe his opinion is correct, especially if we consider the fact that "the earth has not yet been penetrated over eighty feet;" "we know not what may be found in the lower strata." "There is reason to believe that the main bodies of ore have not been hit upon, that they lie deeper, and that we have thus far been only engaged upon the spurs and detached masses."

Mr. Schoolcraft informs us that although the mining business is much improved, there is still a great deficiency both of capital and of skill--there is in the whole district but one regular hearth furnace for smelting, and that not the best;--among forty mines, there are only four or five regular shafts--there is among all the mines, no engine of any description for raising water, and some of the richest mines with the best prospects in view, have been in consequence abandoned. Yet, under all these disadvantages, the annual produce of the mines is estimated at three millions of pounds of lead.

The author suggests the expediency of establishing a school of mines and minerals in the midst of the mines themselves; this would, without doubt, be a very proper measure, but in the meantime, skilful practical miners, and captains of mines, such as are found in every mining district in Europe, would supply the immediate demands of the country.

The mining district, formerly called the lead mines of Louisiana, is situate between the 37th and the 38th degree of north latitude, and between the 89th and 92d degree of west longitude, covers three thousand one hundred and fifty square miles--it is from seventy to one hundred miles long by forty or forty-five, extending in width from the Mississippi south-west to the Fourche a Courtois, and in length from the head waters of St. Francis northerly to the Maramec.

Lead ore is found in almost every part of this district. Mr. Schoolcraft says, "the general aspect of the country is sterile, though not mountainous: the lands lie rolling, like a body of water in gentle agitation. In some places the hills rise into abrupt cliffs, where the great rock formations of the country may be seen; in others, they run into level plains--a kind of highland prairie."

"The soil is a reddish colored clay, stiff and hard, and full of fragments of flinty stones, quartz and gravel; this extends to the depth of from ten to twenty feet, and is bottomed on limestone rock. It is so compact in some places, as almost to resist the pick-axe; in others it seems to partake of marl, is less gravelly, and readily penetrated. The country is particularly characterized by quartz, which is strewed in detached pieces over the surface of the ground, and is also found imbedded in the soil at all depths. This is here called blossom of lead. Iron ores and pyrites are also scattered over the surface of the ground, and occasionally lead ore. Such is the general character of the mineral hills, which are invariably covered by a stinted growth of oaks."