The Sun.
London, England, 1828-01-19 00:00:00

scarcely novel accounts ; which, nevertheless, go
Jar to verify Mr. Cooper's splendid fictions. On
quittingalone partly on foot, partly in his skiff,. through
immenseanthe
tsrtaecatm:).f boat, Mr. Beltrami proceeds
savage
country ; and after
encountering divers perils—being nearly eaten-
up by a white bear in one place—bitten by a.
rattle-snake in another--rand stung to death by
Mosquitoes in a third; he comes suddenly upon
which
dfar
he becyaionis d
the the
Sourcescivilize of
haunts
the
Aussissippi.a little lake near the mouth of " Bloody River,"
at
or man
,
This fills him with extacy ; he instantly bethinks
himself of Columbus, Captain Cooke, Franklin,
Parry, &c. and fires his imagination with the
thought of what his " dear Countess" will say
when she finds out that she is acquainted with
a man who has discovered the Sources of
so great a river. Of the exact truth of this
discovery--(of how much is correct—and how
much is due to fancy) we of course—
having never been: further North than Hamp-
stead—cannot pretend to judge. We may, how-
ever, state, that in more than one instance, we
have found Mr. Behramni incorrect ; for instance,
where he roundly asserts that Winnipeg, or the
Lake of the Woods, is only fifty miles round ;
whereas Franklin (a very scrupulous traveller)
makes it at least two hundred in circumference.
Taking this somewhat lax specimen of his
statements as a very fair sample of the rat, we
should be inclined to conclude: that Mr. Bel,
trami had no more discovered the sources of the
Mississippi than he had 'discovered the longi-
tude. In the absence, however, of more explicit
information, we will lean, like good Christians,
to the charitable side, and take for granted that he
has really been successful.
With respect to his book generally, it is a light
desultory series of sketches ; which just touch
on the surface of men and manners, but nevergo
deep in point either of remark or description.
His account of the wandering tribes of Indians,
though somewhat lengthy, is sadly destitute of
novelty ; so much so, that we have been puzzled
for even a tolerable extract. The following—with
which we conclude—is perhaps among the most
amusing in the book. It describes an old settler,
who, at a very advanced age, has lived to wit-
ness the complete success of the colony which
he hiniself was the first to plant :

" General Putnam is the patriarch of the colony of Ma-
rietta. He is a venerable old man, and has a claim to ho-
nourable mention in the interesting, and hitherto entirely
neglected history of these western parts of the United
States. An humble individual like myself can only pay
him the tribute of a few words, expressive of the respect
whir which he filled me. He has watched the growth of
this country from the time when no sounds were heard but
the roaring of wild beasts, the croaking of the raven, or the
death-song of the savages 4,ainst whom he fought. He
has seen the trees of these forests fall under the axe of the
cultivator, and their places supplied by the alternate suc-
cession of log-houses, then of cottages, and lastly of the
beautiful houses which now adorn the surrounding scenery.
He has beheld the whale country inundated by an extraor-
dinary rise of the 07.i0 and the Muskingum ; all the
cattle, and many men, drowned ; and watched the desola-
tion, disease, and death, consequent upon such an event.
He has witnessed all the honors of the vindictive incursions
of the savages, and seen the exhaustless fertility and na-
tural advantages of the soil triumph over the ravages of
fire and sword. In this place he witnessed the construc-
tion of the first steam-boat that traversed these vast regions,
and from this spot he himself has sent vessels to the Gub
of Mexico, a distance of more than 2,000 miles. He has
survived all the vicissitudes of an infant colony ; and in this
peaceful seclusion he awaits the termination of that mortal
career in which be has distinguished himself as one of the
great men of the revolution, and as the mot skilful and
enterprising of settlers. He is simple and unostentatious
in his manners; he has acted upon Cato's precept_- Helios
eat ease pant videri."