Page:A Physical and Topographical Sketch of the Mississippi Territory, Lower Louisiana, and a Part of West Florida.djvu/16

 side of the river, projects in at the last named place, and has its shores for many miles laved by the impetuous current of the Mississippi. To a person defending that river, the majestick rudeness of these hills breaking suddenly on his light, after having been accustomed to see nothing but one uniform flat wilderness. grown over with cypress, and brakes of the arundo gigantea, is truly pleasing. Added to this, the depression to which he is subject from an apprehension that he is going to an unhealthy climate, his solitary mode of travelling, together with the gloom which the atmosphere of this valley naturally induces, prepare him well to relish the variety which it affords. Indeed, it might almost be said, that his feelings on this occasion, are not dissimilar to those that agitated the bread of the immortal Columbus, when he viewed a new world.

The elevated country on the east side of the river, at this place, is extremely poor, producing only a few plants and those of a very arid complexion, such as the quercus alba, sideroxylon, rhus, smilax, bryonia, rubus, &c. But on the west side, nothing can be more strikingly opposite than the character which the face of the country assumes. After palling the valley, we come into a moderately elevated country, well watered, of a rich black soil, abounding in a great variety of vegetables; such as the quercus rubra, quercus tinctoria, quercus alba, morus, ulmus, fraxinus, aristolochia frutescens, tilea, cornus florida, betula nigra, angelica lucida, juglans nigra, juglans alba,