New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1844-11-12

CHARACTER OF TIE MIssIssIPPL-lt mas peen
the fashion with travellers to talk OF tho scenery
OF the Mississippi as wanting grandeur and beau
ty Nest certainly it has nsitneT. But there Is
no scenery on earth more strisIng ine dreary
and pestiiential soitudes, untrodden, save by Tue
foot o: the Indian; tie absence OF all LIVING 90
ieets, save the huge aligators which foat past
apparently asleep, and On occasional yuituie, at
tractsd by its impure prey or the surface Of me
waters; the trees, with 9 long and hideoua ORA,
perry OF pendant moss, auttering in the Tind; and
the giant river, rolling on the vast loIne oil i's
dark aud turuid wate. through the Wilderness
form TIE features OF one of the most dismal arc
impressive landscapes on which The eye oil man
ever ree;ed. Ifany one thinks pre- per 10 orneVc
that such objects are not IN themselves SUN le't,
reg tn say that l differ with nm IN point OF
taste. Rocks and mountains are fine things IN
doubtedIv. but they could add nothing of subllmi-
~ to the Mississippi Pelion might be piled on
| Ossa. Alps ON Andes, and still to the heart and
perceptions ofthe spectator, the Mississippi would
be alone. II can brook no nval and 1t finds none,
No ricer in the world drains so large portion OF
the vorld,e surface 1t is the traveller OF toe
| earth FIVE thousand miles, more than two tnl'os
the diameter of the globe. The Imagination
asks whence come lis waters, and whittier teno
| thew They come from The distant regions OF
VAT continent, whers the foot of civilized man
has never vet been planted. They flow into al
ocean vet vas,er, tie whole body Of which &c
knowledges their influence. Through what yarle-
| ties of climate have they passed. On what
scenes OF lonely and sublime magnihcence have
they gs-ei7 Have they penetrated
The hOary forests. sti ;be bi.Gn., ,ersen. IT.,
Where talked u s 3n Tssed v BIZ n @5ye S s
| Tho;istsnd, Of ysus before the silent air
| Was PIERCED by Wheeling ,hnfts of hunters keen
| IN sbort. when the traveller has asked and an
swered these questions, and thousand others, II
will he time enough 10 consider how far the
scenery of the Mississippi would be improved by
rocks and mountains. He may then be led to
doubt whether any great result can be produced
| by a combination of objects OF discordant cnaf'
acter, however grand in themselves Inc mag
nation is perhaps susceptible bat OF single Powi-
| erful impression at time. Sublimity is uniform
" connected with unity Of objects. Beauty may
be produced by the happy adaptation OF mui,-
! tude Of harmonious details; but the hignest sao-
Unity of effect can proceed but from one glorious
! and paramount object, which imPresses us own
| character ON everything around. Inc ptevailng
character Of the Mississippi is that OF solemn
gloom. have troddtn tho passes OF arp ana
Apsnnine, yet never felt now awful tmhs 10
Nature, unti was borne on liz waters 'hrough
regions desolate aud uninhabited. Day after
,ay, and night after night, we continued driving
| r;rht downward 10 the south ; our vessel, Ikc
some huge demon of the wilderness, bearing hire
in her bosom, canopying the eternal forest with
the SMOKE of her postrils. How looked the
hoary river god know not nor what thought
the alliratofs when awakened from their slumber
| by q vision so astounding. But the effect OF my
spirits was such as have never experienced be-
fore or since. Conversations become odious, and
passed my time in SORT of dreamy contempi,a-
ton. At night assembled to the highest deck,
and Law for hours gazing listlessly on the sky,
the forest, and the waters, amid silence only b'o-
Zen by the Changing of the engine. All this was
very pleasant (; YET, till had reached New Or-
! leans, could scarcely have smiled at the best
Joke in the wo,ld, and as for raising taught
would have been quite as easy TO quadFa'e the
circle. Hamilton, Men and Manners in America.
BLOODY ArrRAY.-At Shreveport, on the 23d
ult., rcnconter took place between VIM T.
White and Isaac Jones, both residents Of Caddo
parish, n which Jones was killed. 1t appears
that there had been some previous difficulty be-
tween them, and Jones had threatened to kill
White On the day mentioned the parties &C
cidentally met, when Jones accosted White IN
an abrupt and insulting manner, accusing him
of having made certain false charges against
him, at the same time striking him repeatedly
with stick while sitting upon which White
- c.o,,, HI. cont In tho midst of the blows,