The Wheeling repository — Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.], 1808-05-05 00:00:00, page 2

age and sex, rushing into the streets and
public roads. But .even there was no
safety ; the whole earth was in motion :
nor was the ocean less disturbed. The
•hips m the harbour wpre some of them
•wallowed up by the waves, some dash
ed on the rocks, many thrown several
miles up into the land. The whole city
Calloa, late so flourishing, filled with
naif the wealth of the Indies, disappear
being partly ingtilphed, partly carri
7# away by explosions of minerals burst
ing from the lentriuls of the earth.—
quantities of spoils of furniture
and precious goods, were afterwards
taken up floating some leagues off at
sea.
In the midst of this astonishing con
fusion, Mendoza was-perhaps the only
person unconcerned for himself. He
beheld the whole tremendous seenefroaa
the deck of his ship, which , was one of
the few that rode out the tempest,
only for the destruction fall
. . beloved Cornelia.. And he
her fate as unavoidable, little
fat his own safety, since life
ccome a burthen*.
ofran hmuv this
saace
vichshe clung, one in the dress
life.. He vm touched with
sra, and hasted, to her relief:
her. yfet breathing j and raising
Dw.\u»peatable was his *sto>
► when he beheld in his arms
fed, his lamented Cornelia!
ner of whose miraculous es
ua recorded::
Wreck of nature,, in- which, the
of earth and water changed
e.v filhes were borne up into
hd^ and *re0fcj.and houses and
the deep ; U happened that
she had
Cortez, loaded with the spoils of Mon- 1
tezuma, the treasures of a newly disco-^
vered world.
N.. B. The above story, however
marvellous, js grounded on fact. A par
rallel event happened at Port-Hoval, in
Jamaican the. person saved iiv-the same
miraculous manner lived afterwards ma
ny years in England.-Philosophical
Transactions, No. 209.
American Antiquities. _
Besides those ruins in the Illinois and
Wkbash countries which have often been
mentioned, there are others no less re
markable,, many hundred miles west,
particularly in the country about the
great falls of the Mississippi. ' As we
approach these falls, commonly called
St. Anthony’s, we frequendyjmeet with
pyramids of earth from 30 to 70, and e
ven 80 feet in height. These are, most
probably, the tombs of the ancient chief
tains of this part of America, though
there are others which I am inclined to
believe were erected iq consequence of
some signal victory, and possibly to co
ver the bones and carcases of the slain.
In. digging horizontally into several of
uicsc pyramids, a mue aoove tne oase,
we generally found a stratum of white
substance, something like moist lime,
and glutinous withal, extending in all
probability several yards, within, or per
haps nearly the whole length of the dia
metrical line*. There is.every reason to
believe this consolidated, chalky sub
stance to be the remains of skeletons bu
ried .there, and converted by time and
the operation of the elements into their
present state. _ Many tokens remain on
both sides, of. the Mississippi, of their
being in past ages as well cultivated
and as thickly inhabited as the country
on the Danube or the Rhine: which ful
ly proves that the literati have been too
hasty ip denominating America a new
world, or an original present to the Eq
ropeans from the hand of rude nature.
A copper mine was opened some
years since farther down the Mississic
Id, and to the great surprise of tfje
laborers, a large collection of the min-,
ing^tools were found several fathoms
below the surface of the earth. Ano
ther person, in digging for a well, dis
covered' a Surface of brick ifork f»¥e fa
below the present surface ; aVid
were found a quantity of
k~“',s, which for aught
died in
Not long since, at a spot on the Ohio,
where the bank had been washed by the*
undermining of the water, a stone drop
ped out, of the hardest kind of black
marble, about seven pounds in weight,
h ive twelve equal surfaces, each surface
being mathematically equilateral and
equiangular five sided figures} this
does not appear to be a lusus naturae,
but a work of exquisite art, the offspring
of human ingenuity. Near the falls of
the Mississippi there is a salt spring in
the becl of the river, which has been en
closed with stone work of unknown an
tiquity, to keep out the fresh water.—
In time of freshes, however, the river
overflows the stone work, and mixes
with the brine, so that it does not afford
salt to the savages thereabouts, until the
river is considerably fallen.
In several places circular fortifications
have been discovered in the same coun
try ; these are constantly inclosed U
deep ditches, and 4 fenced with breast
work. Several tribes on the westen
side of the great river above mentioned
date thejr existence for more than twen*,
ty thousand moons back ; and the In
dians in the western world go infinitely
farther into the depths of time, though
they relate many events of these distant
period*' that are evidently mixed with, j
fable. . "■ !
■■■. ■■ip. — p , „ P i immmmm—-BgSS
From the Baltimore Whig.
Impressments.
The subject of American seamen has,
for a long time, been in negociation be
tween our government and that of Great,
Britain, but no definitive agreement has
ever been made... Mr. King had, at w* ,
period,.when he was our minister at tb»
court of London, so far arranged mat
ters with the Britsh ministry, that oj
merchant vessels were to be protect*
from search for seamen, on the h*P
seas, and elsewhere, except in ports,#:
England,.or her dominious. . But who
the article was submitted to the cabindi
earl St. Vincent, who was at thattiflj*
first lord of the admiralty, insisted u»
Great Britain should retain her right01
search in the narrow seas, which
King very properly refused tQ.;acce*’
to, and left London without.making ft
arrangements This point, (with,P*l|
ther matters in controversy) was a^‘
committed' to Mr. Muiiroc and
Pinkney jointly. The British comn»
I si oners, lords Auckland and .
I who were appointed to negoc*at«*^
. A