Liberty advocate. [volume] (Liberty, Miss.) 1835-1866, 1839-03-07
MISCELLAN EOUs.
THE MISSISSIPPI.
ny EpmuND rLAda.

Through banks whose beauty would endure iorevpH
Could man bu, leave thy bright creation So" ~
1t is surely no misnomer that this giant
stream has been styled the 'eterna riycr''-
ho "torrbc Mssissippi;" for we may find
none other, embodying so many elements of the
fearful and the sublime. In the wild ice.lakcs
Of the far frozen north, amid Il solitude broken
only by the shrll clang Of the myriad water
flows, is its home Gushing out from its loun.
tains, clear as the air-bell, it sparkles over the
white pebbly sand beds, and breaking over the
beautiful falls Of the "laughing waters III
takes up its majestic march to the distant
deep,--Roling onward through the shades of
forests, and hoary, castelated cliffs,
and beautiful meadows, lis volume is swollen as
il advances, until it receives to its bosom trib.
utary--a rival conquorer, which has roam
cd three thousand miles for the meeting; they
meet and its original features are lost forever.
It's beauty is merged in sublimity. Pouring a.
long in its deep bed the heaped-up waters Of.
streams, which drain the broadcast valley on the
globe--sweeping onward in q boiling mass, lu-.
rious, urbid, always dangcrous-t tearing away
from time TO time its deep banks, with their gi-
ant caonades Of living yerdurc, and then, with |
the stern dcspotism Of a conquerer, throwing
them aside again, governed BY no principle |
but its own lawlcss will--tho dark majesty of
its features summon up an emotion of the sub
lime, which deties contrast or parallel. And
then, when we think of its lar lonely COURSE
journeying onward in proud, dread, solitary
grandeur, through forest ddsk with the lapse Of
centuries pouring out the ice and snow Of arc
tic lands, through every temperature Of cline,
ill at last it heaYes free It's mighty bosom be-
meath the line-we are forced to yield up our
selves in uncontrolled admiration oft gloomy
magnifcencc. And its dark, mysterious hiso-
ry, too,-thoso fearful scenes Of which it has u
lone been the wincss-.the venerable tombs of |
4 race departed, which shadow its waters-thc d
savage tribes that yet roam it's loress--thei !,
germs orciyilzatioa uXuriating upon its Dor u
lers, and the deep soiitudcs, untroddcn By man, =
trough which it rolls, all conspirc 70 throng !
he fancy. Century on century, and cycle on II
ycle, have rolled away: wave after wave, has .,
Wept The broad fields Of the old worId-a hun, y
red generations have arisen from the cradle, :
nd lourishcd in their freshness, and wthercd g
! the tomb; and the Pharaohs, and the PtoIc- n
lies, the Caesars, and the Caiphs, have thun- u
cred over the nations and are passed away ~
I'd here, amid these terrible soliudes, in the u,
crn majesty Of loneliness, and power, and ~
ride, have rolled onward, these deep waters VI
their destiny! w
"Who gave you your lnvuineTabe life, -
Your strength your speed, your fury and your oy?y
ioD! let the torrents, like shout Of nations, |gr
Answer! Ink
There is, perhaps, no stream which presents 'cl
greater variety Of feature than the Mssissip. 3c
/, or phenomena Of deeper interest, whothcrISp
2 regard the soil, productions, and climate of
valley, its individual character, and that OF ed
tributaries or the outline Of its scenery and tel
ursc. The continents Of this vast stream are tin
merous and each one brings in tribute of in
Q soil throu. which it has roamed The if'
ssour pours out its waters heavily charged 1t
tn the mari Of the Rocky Mountains, The san
iFron sands Of the Yellow Stone, and the chalk tho
the White River; the Ohio holds in its floods the
Q vegetable mould o(tho AlIeghanies, and the "ty
kansas and Red Rivers bring in the decpdyed tur
uvian Of their banks Each tributary min tyl
es the spoils Of its native hills with the gene wa
flood. And yet after the contributions of so Of
any streams, the remarkable fact is observed, as
at its breadth and volume seem rather dimin les
led than increased Above the embouchurc gre
the Missouri, fifteen hundred miles from the II
cXican Gulf, it is broader than at New Or mi
ans, with scarce one-tcnth ofis water:and at In
c foot of St. Anlhony's Falls, its breadth is
i one-hird less. This forms striking char
teristic Of the western rivers owes, perhaps -
origin partially to the turbd character Of 10
cir waters as they approach their outlet they ne
gment in volume, and depth, and impeluos,y loy
current, bat contract their eXpanse None, ''i'
'wcyer, exhibit these features so striingly ho
the grand, central stream: and while for its SUI
dy OF water it is the narrowest stream known. =
is charged with the heavier solutions, and u
IS broader alluvions than any other The or
pth of the stream is constantly varying. Al
ew Orleans, il exceeds one hundred feet. Its =,
idth is from half Of one, to two miles The II
eadth OF its valley, is from six mile 10 six
. The rapldity OF its current, from two miles
four Its mean descent, six inches in mile
I'd its annual floods vary from IL feet 60, com. Tic
encing in March and ending in May, This r.,
UGH for statistics.
Below its confluence with its turbid tributa- q
Z, the Mississippi, as has been observed, is no o'
niger the clear, pure, limpid stream, gushing !"
nth from the wreahy SHOWS Of the North ~
est, but it whirls along against its rugged VI
INKS, a rcsistess volume Of heavy sweeping '"
'ods, and its aspect Of placid mugnlcence is ~ ~
held no more. The turbid torrent heayes on III
ard, wayorng from side TO side like living
eaturc, as if to oyorleap its bounds--roliing
ong deep cut race path through vast OK. "
nse of lowland and meadow, from the cx- "
ustless mould Of which are reared aof those VI
ormous shafts, shrouded in the fresh emerald.
ba IN ccnllp1 narngitpe for which tic alluyiol lO