第69章 Some Imported Articles(2)

It is a furious,rapid,desolating torrent,loaded with alluvial soil;and few of those who are received into its waters ever rise again,or can support themselves long upon its surface without assistance from some friendly log.It contains the coarsest and most uneatable of fish,such as the cat-fish and such genus,and as you descend,its banks are occupied with the fetid alligator,while the panther basks at its edge in the cane-brakes,almost impervious to man.

Pouring its impetuous waters through wild tracks covered with trees of little value except for firewood,it sweeps down whole forests in its course,which disappear in tumultuous confusion,whirled away by the stream now loaded with the masses of soil which nourished their roots,often blocking up and changing for a time the channel of the river,which,as if in anger at its being opposed,inundates and devastates the whole country round;and as soon as it forces its way through its former channel,plants in every direction the uprooted monarchs of the forest (upon whose branches the bird will never again perch,or the raccoon,the opossum,or the squirrel climb)as traps to the adventurous navigators of its waters by steam,who,borne down upon these concealed dangers which pierce through the planks,very often have not time to steer for and gain the shore before they sink to the bottom.

There are no pleasing associations connected with the great common sewer of the Western America,which pours out its mud into the Mexican Gulf,polluting the clear blue sea for many miles beyond its mouth.

It is a river of desolation;and instead of reminding you,like other beautiful rivers,of an angel which has descended for the benefit of man,you imagine it a devil,whose energies have been only overcome by the wonderful power of steam.'

It is pretty crude literature for a man accustomed to handling a pen;still,as a panorama of the emotions sent weltering through this noted visitor's breast by the aspect and traditions of the 'great common sewer,'it has a value.

A value,though marred in the matter of statistics by inaccuracies;for the catfish is a plenty good enough fish for anybody,and there are no panthers that are 'impervious to man.'

Later still comes Alexander Mackay,of the Middle Temple,Barrister at Law,with a better digestion,and no catfish dinner aboard,and feels as follows--'The Mississippi!It was with indescribable emotions that I first felt myself afloat upon its waters.How often in my schoolboy dreams,and in my waking visions afterwards,had my imagination pictured to itself the lordly stream,rolling with tumultuous current through the boundless region to which it has given its name,and gathering into itself,in its course to the ocean,the tributary waters of almost every latitude in the temperate zone!

Here it was then in its reality,and I,at length,steaming against its tide.

I looked upon it with that reverence with which everyone must regard a great feature of external nature.'

So much for the emotions.The tourists,one and all,remark upon the deep,brooding loneliness and desolation of the vast river.

Captain Basil Hall,who saw it at flood-stage,says--'Sometimes we passed along distances of twenty or thirty miles without seeing a single habitation.An artist,in search of hints for a painting of the deluge,would here have found them in abundance.'

The first shall be last,etc.just two hundred years ago,the old original first and gallantest of all the foreign tourists,pioneer,head of the procession,ended his weary and tedious discovery-voyage down the solemn stretches of the great river--La Salle,whose name will last as long as the river itself shall last.

We quote from Mr.Parkman-

'And now they neared their journey's end.On the sixth of April,the river divided itself into three broad channels.

La Salle followed that of the west,and D'Autray that of the east;while Tonty took the middle passage.

As he drifted down the turbid current,between the low and marshy shores,the brackish water changed to brine,and the breeze grew fresh with the salt breath of the sea.

Then the broad bosom of the great Gulf opened on his sight,tossing its restless billows,limitless,voiceless,lonely as when born of chaos,without a sail,without a sign of life.'

Then,on a spot of solid ground,La Salle reared a column 'bearing the arms of France;the Frenchmen were mustered under arms;and while the New England Indians and their squaws looked on in wondering silence,they chanted the TE DEUM,THE EXAUDIAT,and the DOMINE SALVUM FAC REGEM.'

Then,whilst the musketry volleyed and rejoicing shouts burst forth,the victorious discoverer planted the column,and made proclamation in a loud voice,taking formal possession of the river and the vast countries watered by it,in the name of the King.

The column bore this inion-LOUIS LE GRAND,ROY DE FRANCE ET DE NAVARRE,REGNE;LE NEUVIEME AVRIL,1682.

New Orleans intended to fittingly celebrate,this present year,the bicentennial anniversary of this illustrious event;but when the time came,all her energies and surplus money were required in other directions,for the flood was upon the land then,making havoc and devastation everywhere.