Southern shield., 1853-06-18
CoMMuNICATED. THE SUuK LANDS.

With your request, 1 now send you the
 result of my observations and inquiries
 during a recent trip to the "Sunk
 Lands" hoping that they may not be
 without interest to you and to your
 readers. On the 12th of May took
 passage on the "screaming Obion,"
 which reached Wittsburg, on the even ing of the 18th, village of some
 commercialimportance about 120 miles 9 from the mouth of the St. Francis.
 The shriH Sound of tho ruh;oslo onrcun ced our departure from this place, on
 the morning of the l4th. The morn-
 ing was bright, and all was joyous and
 gay. The company seemed to vie with
 one another, who should best please, and who should best entertain each other. The scenery was beautiful and ! picturesque. The smiling landscape
 fixed the attention of the idle traveller, upon its own beauties. In the distance a beautiful island ralses its green head from the smooth surface O. the water. The dense Collage of the oyerhanging trees, the frowning hills on the West, and the gentle winding in the river, all added to the beauty of the scene. We moved on smoothly, and soon reached the Bay which runs into the St. Francis about 3 miles above Wittsburg. It is said to be 10 miles in length, and is about half as wide as the river. Noth- ing of interest attracts the gaze of the traveller until he reaches Neely's place, about twenty miles above. This is al beautiful and rich farm. The shrill whistle startled the quite inhabitants from their silent repose, and called | them to the waters edge, to see the great steamer as she moved on E'like thing of life.' From this place for ten miles above, the banks are higher and less subject to caving than they are on the Mississippi. The soil is all al- luvial, and is unsurpassed for fertility. | The principal growth in the forest, so | far as could learn, was walnut, nick ory and cotton wood. This whole country will be entirely secure from overflow if the levees on the Mississippi are kept up. The appearance of the country continues the same until we reach the Tironga, which comes into Wittsburg. It is through this stream that the waters of the Mississippi find their way into the St. Francis. After we passed the mouth of the Tronga the water of the river was very clear; not being mixed with the muddy waters of the Mississippi. From this point to the mouth of Little river, about 40 miles, the banks are lower and the country seemed without inhab- itants. Little river rises in Missouri, and must receive it's name nj irony, for it is longer and larger stream than the St. Francis above their junction. From this point to the sunk lands is about five miles. The river is very narrow, the channel crooked, and the current rapid. We reached the "Sunk Lands'' on Saturday, and were agree ably disappointed by the strangeness and beauty of the scene. The lands, as you doubtless are aware, were sunk by the great earthquake in 1872; when the whole valley of the Mississippi from the village of New Madrid to the mouth of the Ohio. i'll one direction, and to the St. Francis in another, was con- vulsed to such a degree as to make lakes and islands. We are told that the surface of the ground undulated like a boiling liquid, and terrific sounds were heard underground. The water rose in great undulations; and when these reached certain fearful height the soil burst, and vast volumes of water, sand. and pit-coal were dis charged as high as the tops of the trees. At one period during this earthquake the ground not far below New Madrid swelled up so as to arrest the Missis- sippi in it's course, anG to cause a tenn porary rehux in its waves. Some say that the water ran up stream for twelve hours, with greater velocity than it does down stream now. The grave yard at New Madrid was precipitated into the Mississippi; and the ground on which the town was built and for fifteen miles above sank eight feet below its former level. The earth opened in chasms, and wind and water rushed out with the noise of distant thunder. These chasms seemed to have been| made in direction from $. W. to N. B.
 The lands on the St. Francis must have sunk from six to ten feet below their former level. They present, even at this date, singular scene of con- fusion; the trees standing inclined in every direction; all dead, and many having their branches and trunks bro- ken. The "sunk lands'' at first sight look like deserted plantation, grown up with weeds and bushes. This i'm pression vanishes as soon as the eye rests upen the clear waters of the lake. No description can give a just concep- tion of the scenery on the lake to those