Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1819-08-09

short OF tie charming prairies OF :, n
and may venture to say, that tn, w., w.
est Imagination of the poet, nor Tho :.
glowing tints Of the painter, can do 4S
justice. A hahitation is only now & y
seen, on banks as level as your iio, ~
melled with wild flowers and ever "'
grass, rich beyond conception. The
can scarcely measure those beau,;fDI j., TX
which are only interrupted by gloves %s
rise like islands 10 cheer the navigate, ..I
give the eye repose. Near their dera.
tul shade, where the ivy winds rou,j ;,
The sugar maple, & the weeping elm ,;rI
to the breeze, extensive droyes ,f , .1
feed on pasture on which the foo, Of
has seldom trod. fever there vas,,
to despise the hustle of crowded city ~,
become enamouled of pastoral lie i :
in the midst Of scenes like these-vb.,
the silent and solitary cabin seems II n
vlte the traveller to the abode Of pe,,,
and primitive innocence.
We have some reason 10 believe H.,
these prairies were once only an arm q
Huron, and Huron itself an offspring Of h.
ocean. Its south shore from for, Grs,oit IA
lake Michigan has every mark of The C.,
shore of Lopg-lsland and New-Jer,
There was time, perhaps when the mich.
ty weight Of waters sunk this part of n.
continent below the horizon, and The fall,
OF Nlagara* were lost in the great level d
old ocean and The time may come when
those waters will leave their basins. and
find one uninterrupted channel TO their mn.
Their, the Atlantic. Then the future histo.
rian may stand on the Niagara streight and
point to that line on lake Erie which oCs
bounds two empires. and say" Yonde,
plain was once the great lake whert hos.
tile ships have fought. and the fate Vi ma.
ton been decided and here flows gen.
tie current, where once was mighty Gaia.
ract, the wonder of ages, and the admin.
ton of the world"
The outlet Of those waters is certainly
an extraordinary phenomenon. NotsA.
standing all the rains which fall in the up.
per valley Of the ST. Lawrence, and tho
melting of innumerable SHOWS and ices,
still the lower and even banks Of the St.
Clair and Niagara maintain their ascend.
ency, and their waters are kept, by some
invisible hand within their bounds. The
river St. Giant has no doubt, lost in eI'
tenlion and gained in depth; for the mouth
Of Huron once evidently extended far to
the east. on TIT Canada side; but the sand,
have been driven from the shores Of Ii.
lake, by the north wind, and now occupy
the shadows TO the south.
The changes which the features Of our
globe have undergone, constitute an int
resting subject of reflection. God in bis
wisdom. gives us the earth, rich in fores,
and filed with game and verdure /; man es
tiers the wilderness to destroy The one and
exhaust the other; until luxury enervaie',
and sterilhy drives him TO seek for new
forests, and richer valleys. In the mean
time an inscrutable Providence in the pro-
cess of unnumbersd ages, resuscitates what
man has laid waste, by raising islands 70
continents, and reducing continents toll
stands. When the cities of Asia and Ain.
ca rose in their splendor, the American
continent may have only been an island
Of the Andes, and the rocky mountains
When the fertile vallies of the Mississippi
are exhausted and made barren, the desert;
of Africa or Arabia may blossom like the
rose. Man has not been sensible Of these
alterations, for his life is as moment. lie
cannot trace the sands that are washed
from he mountain and gained on the sea-
shore But, adieu, you will say TO such
extravagant speculations-they make Us
too serious-we must rise in the morning
to view the blue waves of the Huron.
\ This is the idea of a late tourist.
I This river, at fort Gratoit, is said to he
60 fathoms deep, and not more than 4O
yards wide.
- Tn.,:. a.. IN