Page:A Topographical Description of the State of Ohio, Indiana Territory, and Louisiana.djvu/91

83 on the state of vegetation. The sameness of view along the banks of the river, as far down as Pointe Coupee, a distance of nine hundred miles, is scarcely interrupted, excepting by a few settlements, and some high bluffs, on the eastern side. The land appears to be one continued level, clothed with large timber, and an under growth of cane brakes, and small shrubs.

Opposite the mouth of the Ohio is a small settlement consisting principally of men whose employment is hunting. Five miles below, on the east side, is fort Jefferson, which is evacuated. On the west side, sixty-five miles further down, is New Madrid. This settlement was made by Col. George Morgan, of New Jersey, about the year 1790. It is pleasantly situated, on a rich soil, and was intended for a large town. After building a small number of houses, the people became extremely sickly, and no further progress was made in the settlement. On the same side, thirty-three miles below, in a bend of the river, is a settlement, two miles long, called Little Prairie. This tract of land is exceedingly rich and productive.

The first high lands to be seen on the river are the Chickasaw bluffs, on the eastern side. These bluffs are four in number, the first of which are one hundred and seventy-six miles below the Ohio, and continue about a mile on the river. The second are eleven miles below the first; the third twenty-one miles below the second, and