The Arkansas advocate., 1831-03-16
Ss0. 5f.

IVetoctty, caused Dy the greater volume. oinpcn- lsatlng for the diminished surface.
 sThe Mississippiisa a mile and half widea l It's junction with the Missouri, the latter benr hait mile wide; yet the united waters have
 only, from their confluence to that of the Ohio,
 medial breadth of about three-quarters Of a
 miie. The junction of the Ohio seems also to produce no increase, but rather decrease of surface. The St. Francis. White, Arkansas.
 and Red rivers, are also absorbed b, the main stream, With scarcely any apparent increase in is width; and on arriving near the sea. 1t New Orleans, itis scarcely half amle mde.''
 Its depth there, however, is enormous. being mo less, at the highest water than one hundred and sixty eight feet. Those who have remark ed how widely streams spread themselves when they drift much traglnentars matter Of :. large size Qike the Var, the Durance, the Trehia. &c.) and, on the contrary, their habitual depth and narrowncss when flowing through sales formed of very fine alluvIum Gas the Garigliato. the Fiber, the Severn, &c.) will attribute the power possessed by the Mississippi. and most other rivers, of deepening their channel, and lessening their surface. for the greater subdivision of the matter through which they flow the nearer they approach to the sea.
 The basin of this mighty stream exhibits al- so, the cooperation of subterranean movements With the power oi water, in altering the surface of continents. So late as ISI2.thc whole val ley, from the mouth of the St. Francis. was convulscd to such degree, as to create new islands in the river, and new lakes in the aluvi- al plain, many Of which were twenty mler in extent. Yet however great the scale on which alterations are here daily going on before our eyes-howeyer enormous must be their combil,- ed result during series of ages--there is TO re- zion more richly endowed with the powers of supporting both animal and ycgitable life.
 slanumerabfe herds of wild deer and bisons iced on the luxuriatt pastures of the plains.--
 The Jaguar, the wolf and the fox, are amongst the beasts of prey. The waters teem with ;,Ili- gators and erteises, and their surface is cover ed with millions of migratory waterfowl, which perform their annual voyage between the Cana dian lakes and the shore of the Mexican gulE- The power of man begins to be sensibly felf. and the wilderness te he replaced hy te.s and gardens. The gildcd steam boat, like a moving city, now stems the current with steady pace--now shoots rapidly down the descending stream through the soIitudcs of the forests and pralres. Already does the nourshing popula- ton of the great valley exceed that of the thir- teen United States when first they declared their independence. Such is the state of q continent where rocks and trees are hurried afl- nually, by a thousand torrents, from the moull- fains to the plains, and where sand and finer matter are swept down by ys.ss GU ss, sea, together with the wreck of countless forests and the bones of animals which perish in the inundations. When these materials reach tht. Gulf, they do not render the wafer unfit for a. quatic animals; but, on the contrary, the ocean here swarms with life, as it generally does where the influx of a great river furnishes CO., pious supply of organic and mineral natter
 Yet. many geologists, when they behold the spells of the land heaped in successive strata. and blended confuscdy with the remains of fish. ess or interspersed with broken shells and corals. imagine that they are viewing the signs of turbulent instead of tranquil and settled state of the planet. They read in such phenomena the proofof chaotic disorder and reiterated ca- tastrophies, instead of indications of surface as hahitahle as the most delicious s,,. districts now tenanted by man. They are not content with disregarding the analogy of the present course of Nature, when they speculate on the revolutions of past times, but they often draw conclusions respecting the former state of things directly the reverse of those 10 which q fair induction from facts would infaIlibly lead them. D
 It is pot generally known, that the ashes of Columbus are eentombed at Havana. He died at Seville, and according to his request, his body was removed to the Island of St. Domingo Shortly after tine cession of the Spanish part of the Island to France, in l795, his remains were again taken up, and conveyed to Havana, where they were inferred with every demonstration of respect. This great man never forgot his igno- mllious treatmeit-the letters which had been thrown on him by orderof the ungreatful Fer dnand, were buried with him. If the ashes of Columbus arc again disturbed, they should be brought to repcsc at our national metropolis
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