the experiment, possessed an average degree less, the course of the river cannot be permaof turbidness. This may be sufficient if you are equally satisfied that the average quantity of water discharged may be measured by the month you assign for your experiment. "Perhaps you may fairly say, that in assigning two feet per second, we underrate the average velocity, which may more than counterbalance any excess, on the score of volume of water. "Next, as to one fifth of a mile for average depth of the filled-up space, if this be said by any to be a probable exaggeration, we may remark on the other side, how vast a discharge of mud we have lost by its being carried far beyond the delta into the gulf. The bulk of drift wood also ought, perhaps, to be considered." nently altered by these violent torrents, on account of the great depth of the main stream. Respecting the age of this vast formation, some curious points were stated. It appears that the Delta has not, in point of fact, advanced into the sea-notwithstanding all the assertions to the contrary-more than one mile in one hundred or one hundred and twenty years past; the sediment of the water is only 1 in 1,800 by weight, or 1 in 3,000 by volume. The time required for the accumulation of matter found in the Delta and Valley of the Mississippi, must have been 67,000 years; and another 33,000 years must have been required for bringing down to its present position the great deposit above. The larger fossil animals found in the soil of the Valley of the Mississippi are the mastodon, the me The late imposing assemblage of the British Scientific Association, over which Sir R. Mur-gatherium, an extinct elephant, an extinct spechison presides, and to which delegates were accredited from the Emperor of Russia, the Kings of Denmark, Sweden, and Prussia, etc., was the occasion of an address from Professor Lyell, on the Valley and Delta of the Mississippi: For nearly fifty miles of its extent, that of the Mississippi presents a vast river running nearly parallel with the sea, from which it is separated at particular places by an embankment only half a mile across. The valley is nearly level, there being only a rise of nine feet between the mouth of the river and NewOrleans, a distance of 150 miles; and the incli nation is equally trifling still further inland, being never more than six inches in a mile. This uniformity is explained by the fact, that the moment the river reaches its banks it overflows, and so the velocity, which is only four miles an hour, is instanlly checked. The debris carried along with the flood is deposited over the surrounding plains, the principal part being left near the bed of the river; the necessary result being, that the banks have been gradually raised to a higher level than the lands adjoining them. This slope, from the river to the interior, is as much as 18 feet in a distance of a few miles. The interior consists of vast swamps covered with trees, the tops alone are visible in the time of floods. Sometimes the inhabitants on the bank of the Ohio or Red River, after making a large raft, on which they prepare to bring all the produce of the year. for 1,800 or 2,000 miles, to the market of New-Orleans, find themselves, near the termination of a journey of some two months, entire weeks of which may have been passed by them aground, waiting for a flood to float them off again, suddenly hurried through one of the openings which the river makes in its banks, at the rate of 10 or 12 miles an hour, and left aground in the midst of a vast morass; where they are obliged to climb a tree for safety, and await the chance of a boat coming to their rescue. Neverthe cies of horse, some bovine animals, and a kind of tapir. Taking the period which he assigned for the formation of the Delta as a unit, it would be necessary to conceive as many of these units as the unit itself contained years, in order to arrive at the vast antiquity of even the comparatively modern formations beneath it." 300 Miles. to themselves and their horses during a winter of unusual severity, and fortified themselves against attack from the only quarter which threatened them, as well as the nature of their situation allowed. Well it was for them that they did so: for the Spaniard of that day, with all his chivalry and pride, was but a barbarian tribes, whom they had driven from their rude and his cruelty and injustice to the native but happy homes, soon provoked retaliatory Between confluents of Mobile and Tennessee rivers..... Between sources discharged into Mississippi and those of Mobile and Pearl rivers, to the mouth of Mississippi river, 400 Outlet of Atchafalaya...... 200 Entire outline of Mississippi Basin.....6,100 To estimate, to any very near approach to accuracy, the actual area comprised within this great perimeter, exceeding six thousand miles, is no easy task; but the following care. fully measured sections, geographically and by the river valleys, will exhibit the parts comparatively with each other: Table of the extent of the Mississippi Basin by lines of latitude. 66 From lat. 45 deg. to 49 deg. N., 40 deg. to 45 deg. N., 35 deg. to 40 deg. N., South of latitude 35, Entire surface, by rhombs of lat.,..1,250,000 Valley of Ohio.. ..500,000 ....330,000 .1,210,000 measures from the latter. The Indians at tacked their fortifications with such courage and success, that every habitation was burnt, about forty of the Spaniards and their horses killed, their arms and clothing consumed, and indeed almost everything essential to the comfort, subsistence and protection of adventurers, far from their native land, and in the midst of imSquare Miles. placable enemies, was destroyed. 150,000 The Spaniards were thus forced, tempo410,000 rarily, to adopt another position, which having 520,000 done, and having repaired their losses so far as 170,000 ingenuity and labor could accomplish it, they recommenced their march westwardly, and in a few days struck the eastern bank of the Mississippi river. Having here consumed a month in constructing boats, they finally succeeded in landing on the western bank of the river, at a point (as it is supposed) a short distance below Helena, Arkansas. They then penetrated Arkansas, in search of gold, as far as the Arkansas river; and at this point, De Soto, having lost about half of his gallant band, and their horses, and being without sufficient pro visions for the residue, despairing of the object which had hitherto animated his bosom→→ the discovery of gold-and dejected and dispirited by all these causes, resolved to return to the bank of the Mississippi river, and there establish a colony, until he could send to Cuba (then occupied by Spain) for ships and a reinforcement of men and arms, with which to take permanent and secure possession of his newlydiscovered country, doubtless with the view of founding a mighty and populous empire, with which his memory would for ever be associated. But alas, for ambition-that aspiring quality, "for man's illusion given !" No sooner had De The territory now embraced within the lim- Soto reached the Mississippi river, than he was its of the state of Mississippi was a “vast, un- seized with a fatal disorder, which terminated broken, untrodden, magnificent wilderness," his life. Before his death, he appointed Luis save the almost imperceptible traces by which de Muscoso his successor in command. To prethe untutored savages glided from one of their vent the Indians from mutilating his body, his hunting grounds to another, and the few sparse followers excavated a green oak, in which they villages which they inhabited, until the year laid his body. They then nailed a plank over 1540, (310 years ago,) when De Soto, with his it, and threw it into the river, where it sunk.* followers, numbering about 1,000 mounted men, This occurred in the year 1542. led on by thirst of conquest and gold, pene- It would be naturally supposed that the trated across the eastern boundary of the state, remnant of his band would now desire to reto that portion of it now called Yallobusha turn to Cuba; but, although dispirited, they county. They there took possession of several were undismayed, and, under the command of hundred wigwams, which the affrighted Indians abandoned at the approach of this warlike and formidable train. Here they found an abundance of corn, which afforded subsistence MISSISSIPPI.-EARLY HISTORY.-Of the early discovery of this country, there is no history which, in all its details, can be called authentic. Though not quite so apocryphal as that which narrates the adventures of Ja son in search of the golden fleece, or Hercules strangling lions and other monsters, with which Grecian and Roman traditions have entertained mankind, the story of the adventures of De Soto and his companions is, at best, believed only because no more probable or authentic account exists. expended 100,000 ducats in this expedition.-Holmes'a * De Soto was 42 years of age when he died, and had Annals of America, vol. 1, p. 74, Muscoso, they wandered for many months ( river. All doubt of the identity of this river among the western wilds, suffering all the with that descended by La Salle was dismisery which want, exposure and danger could persed by discovering, when they reached Ba inflict, till the year 1543, when the survivors you Goula, articles left there by the latter in returned again to the Mississippi river, and 1682, and also a letter left by De Tonti for prepared to leave the country, and by descend- La Salle, in 1685. Having visited the mouth ing the river to the sea, seek a more hospit- of Red river and Manchac, Iberville returned able land. Having, after several months, con- to Ship Island, and erected a fort at the bay structed a number of large open barks, the of Biloxi, about eighty miles east of New-Orsides of which were defended by hides against leans. He then embarked for France, leaving the Indian arrows, they embarked. the fort in command of his brother, Bienville. In December, 1699, Iberville returned from France, and built a fort soon afterwards on the banks of the Mississippi river. In 1700, De Tonti, having descended the Mississippi river, arrived at Iberville's fort with a party of Canadian French, from_the Illinois. Iberville availed himself of De Tonti's experience and knowledge of the country, to ascend the river and explore its banks, form alliances, &c. He accordingly detailed a party, with De Tonti and Bienville, to ascend in barges and canoes. They ascended as high They now numbered about 350 men. They found their way beset by hostile Indians, who, in their light canoes, would pass or run around them, and discharge showers of arrows among them, during several days and nights. At length, weary of submission to this harassing species of warfare, about fifty of the Spaniards manned a pirogue, and boldly sallied out to attack the savages. But all were cut off not one returned. The remainder, at the end of twenty days, reached the sea, and shortly afterwards arrived at a Spanish town on the coast of Mexico, where they were kindly treat-up as the Natchez country, four hundred miles ed. But adventurers like these are always unfitted, by their peculiar habits of life, for any permanent occupation or home; and from this point they soon dispersed, and wandered whithersoever accident or fortune might lead them. Thus ended the romantic expedition of Fernando de Soto.t In 1682, (140 years after De Soto's invasion of American territory,) La Salle descended the Mississippi river to the point of its confluence with the Gulf of Mexico, and there took formal possession of the adjacent country, in the name of the King of France, and called it Louisiana. Ascending the river again, he tarried among the Natchez and Tensas tribes of Indians, and then went to Chickasaw Fort. A short time afterwards he went to France, and in 1684 returned with a colony, bound for the mouth of the Mississippi river; but unfortunately missing the longitude, he landed on the coast of Texas, where, for several years, the unhappy colonists, assailed by various hardships, wasted away, and La Salle himself, not long after wards, was murdered by some of the discontented and factious survivors. In 1698, M. d'Iberville was authorized by the French king again to colonize the regions bordering on the lower Mississippi. He landed at Ship Island, off the mouth of Pascagoula river, and erected huts for his colonists. Here he discovered the Biloxi tribe. From this point, setting out in two large barges, he ex plored the coast, and on the second day of March discovered the mouth of the Mississippi +In 1673, Father Marquette, and Joliet, a citizen of Quebec, employed by M. Talon for the Mississippi, entered that noble river on the 17th June, and after descending it until they came within three days' journey of the Gulf of Mexico, they returned towards Canada.-Holmes's Annals of America, vol. 1, p. 74. above the French fort. Here he selected a site for a fort, which, however, was not erected till sixteen years afterwards, and called it Rosalie. A settlement was also made in 1703 on the Yazoo river, which was called St. Peter's.* In 1704, Iberville died at Havana, leaving the colonists dependent for subsistence on hunting and fishing, and the precarious bounty of the Indians. They did not resort for some years to agriculture, and it may well be supposed how difficult it was to induce men accustomed to this idle but seductive life, to exchange it for agriculture or other regular labor. In 1713, they cultivated small gardens at Biloxi. In 1716, Bienville built a fort at Natchezthe site which Iberville had selected and called Rosalie, sixteen years before-and left in it a garrison of eighteen men, under M. Paillaux. The colonies, thus established, grew but slowly. New-Orleans having been soon afterwards founded, and the coast above that city being exceedingly fertile, numerous emigrants were attracted thither, and in 1728, rice, tobacco, and indigo had been produced and exported in considerable quantities. Unfortunately, at this time, reciprocal illwill had grown up between the frontier settlements and the neighboring Indians. The consequence was, a conspiracy of several tribes for the purpose of exterminating the whites. The Natchez dispatched runners to the various towns and settlements of the Indians, who distributed quivers full of reeds, each of which contained the same number. It was agreed, that after a certain moon, a reed should be drawn every day from each quiver, and that the day when the last reed was drawn should *The site of St. Peter's is now owned by J. U. Payne, Esq., of New-Orleans, being part of his plantation. be that of the intended massacre. It is said that an Indian girl, anxious to prevent the destruction of the whites, and especially to save the life of one of them, secretly drew several reeds from the quiver which the Natchez tribe possessed, with the view of thus defeating the union of the different tribes on the same day, without which, it was believed by her that no single tribe would make the attack. sippi. Not less than two hundred persons, who had encountered and survived all the perils and hardships of emigration and a sickly climate, perished in an hour beneath the scalping-knife of the savage.* The Indians, inflated with success, and glutted with spoil, abandoned themselves, over the collected bones of their victims, to the most intemperate orgies; but in the midst of their But her stratagem only precipitated the prolonged carousing, Lesueur, having obtained catastrophe. On the appointed day, the Nat the aid of six hundred Choctaw warriors, on chez, thinking that their allies had faltered, the Tombigbee, advanced suddenly upon them, resolved to execute alone the original design and took sixty scalps, and rescued fifty women contemplated by all. Accordingly, while the and children, and the carpenter and tailor bewhites (though forewarned) were in their houses fore mentioned, from captivity, besides one or fields, dispersed and engaged in their various hundred and six negro slaves. After this expursuits, the Indians entered the settlement, ploit, these Choctaw warriors dispersed withand, under the pretense of trading for pro-out further action. But, in the mean time, Louvisions and ammunition for a great hunt, ob- bois was advancing with a large force from tained access to their counting-houses and New-Orleans, and the Natchez Indians, learndwellings, and in an evil hour fell upon them, ing their approach, ceased from their carouand massacred them in detail. Every white sals, and fortified themselves for defense. man in the settlement was murdered, except After a skirmish of seven days, during which a carpenter and a tailor, both of whom were the Indians fought desperately, they sent a spared by the Indians, with the view, on their flag to Loubois, proposing to surrender the part, of building houses and making garments remaining French prisoners, numbering two for themselves; and also with the exception hundred souls, provided the French artillery of two soldiers, who, having been absent on should be removed, and the siege abandoned; that day hunting, were on their way back to but declaring that a refusal of these terms the fort, but perceiving the smoke and flames would be followed by the immediate destrucissuing from the houses, and hearing the yells tion of all the French prisoners by fire. In of the savages, instantly fled, and by various oder to preserve life, Loubois consented, and means found their way to New-Orleans, where negotiations commenced, for which purpose they announced the terrible calamity which hostilities had been previously suspended for had befallen the garrison at Fort Rosalie. ten days. At length it was agreed that the prisoners should, on the following day, be surrendered, opposite to the fort. But during the night, the Indians, justly suspecting treachery on the part of the French, retired from their stronghold with their women and chil dren, and personal effects, and crossed the river. On the next morning the French found the prisoners, but the Indians were beyond their pursuit. The women and slaves were preserved as prisoners. The governor, Chapart-who, though frequently admonished of his danger before this massacre, had turned a deaf ear to the advice of his counsellors, and, being of an audacious and reckless character, had even threatened every one with punishment who should communicate any similar intelligencewas the first to pay the forfeit of his temerity. At the same time, the little colony at St. Peter's, on the Yazoo river, and the one at Sicily Island, and a third, near the town of Monroe, shared the same disastrous fate.* For, although the neighboring tribes had been pre vented by the stratagem of the Natchez girl from uniting in the massacre at Fort Rosalie, they yet proceeded, on the day which, but for the precipitancy of the Natchez tribe, would have been the time for general cooperation, to massacre all the whites within their reach, Thus, in the year 1728, in one day, were swept away every vestige of civilization by the Indians, within the limits which now constitute the boundaries of the state of Missis. The immediate cause of this massacre was the wresting from the Indians, by the governor, of a fertile tract of land, about six miles below Natchez, for the purpose of bestowing it on Hutchins, whose venerable descendant now resides on it, and is nearly 80 years of age. "The Natchez, an Indian nation, formed a general conspiracy to massacre the French colonists of Louisiana." (Louisiana then comprehended Natchez.) "M. de Chepart, who commanded the post at Natchez, had been embroiled with the natives, but they so far dissembled as to excite the belief that the French had no allies more faithful than they. The plot having been deep ly laid, they appeared in great numbers about the French houses, on the 28th November, telling the people they were going to hunt. They sung, after the calumet, in honor of the French commandant and his company. Each having returned to his post, a signal was given, and instantly the general massacre began. Nearly two hundred persons were killed. Of all, not more than twenty French and five or six negroes escaped. One hundred and fifty children, eighty women, and almost as many negroes, were made prisoners." The authority quoted for this is Charlevoix, Nouv. France, ii. 466. Savages though they were, there is no not exceed one thousand men-commenced doubt that the Natchez tribe felt all the sor- his campaign. Leaving about 200 men to row of exiles, in being driven from their de- defend the colony at home, he embarked at lightful home. No one can now ride among New-Orleans, and ascended to Black River, the romantic hills of Adams county, or the with an army numbering little over 700 men. beautiful valley opposite to Natchez, which On the 20th of January he came in sight of constituted the home and hunting ground of the stronghold of the enemy, where the "Suns" the Indians and which, in their day and had resolved on a desperate defense. On his generation, abounded with fish and game, as way to the fort, the French general had been well as the spontaneous growth of many reinforced by about 350 Indian allies, who articles essential to their comfort,-without proved to be of invaluable service in the batsympathizing with them in the sad destiny by tle which ensued. which they were driven from this fair inheritance. The besieged made valorous resistance for the space of three days, when, M. Perrier A few days after the expulsion of the having brought up his artillery, they hoisted Indians from Natchez, M. Loubois erected a a flag of truce. After fruitless negotiations, terraced fort, of which the high bluff easily which consumed many hours, the French comadmitted, on the banks of the Mississippi, and menced and kept up a furious cannonade on supplied it with cannon and other munitions the fort, until a sudden tempest interrupted of war, and a garrison of one hundred and their fire. The Natchez availed themselves twenty men. The remains of this fort are of the storm and darkness, to retreat into the still visible, though all traces of the race which founded it, as well as of their language, have been obliterated. But their habits are still exmplified in the lives of some of their descendants, improved by association and amalgamation with a more energetic race; and few towns or neighborhoods exhibit more evidences of the virtues of all races and nations, without the vices of either, than Natchez and the adjacent settlements. neighboring swamps, but the Indian allies were sent in pursuit of them, while the French stormed the intrenchments. The former succeeded in capturing 427 of the Natchez; and with these prisoners, the French general, having razed the outworks of the fort, and dismissed his allies, returned in triumph to NewOrleans. The prisoners, among whom were the "Great Sun," and other chiefs, were soon afterwards sent to St. Domingo, and sold as slaves. My next number will contain the history of the Natchez tribe, and their allies, after But this formidable tribe, though routed, the massacre at Fort Rosalie, and of the ter- were not yet conquered. One half of their oriritory now composing the state of Missis-ginal number yet remained free and dispersed sippi, up to the period when the American in various quarters. Two hundred of them, flag first floated over it, and converted it having united near Nachitoches, then comfrom a refuge of the European to the "landmanded by St. Denys, an officer of talent and of the free and the home of the brave." experience, resolved on attacking and exterWAR OF THE NATCHEZ-CHICKASAW WARS minating the whites at this post. But St. -DEFEAT OF BIENVILLE-EARLY HISTORY-- Denys adopted timely measures of defense, In the first number of this compendious histo- and having secured the aid of several friendly ry, we reached the period when Loubois, hav- tribes, succeeded, after a hard-fought battle, ing driven the Natchez tribe from the eastern in repulsing them. Following up this advanshores of the Mississippi river, and having also erected and garrisoned a new fort at Natchez, returned to New-Orleans with the rescued captives, to make fresh preparations for the pursuit and extermination of the fugitive savages. The further prosecution of the war was delayed till the arrival of reinforcements from France. In the mean time the French succeeded in forming alliances with several powerful tribes of Indians inhabiting the south, as well as the Illinois and Wabash regions. The Natchez, expecting an invasion, fortified themselves, with great skill, at a point on Black river, below the confluence of the Ouachita and Little rivers, near the spot where the town of Trinity now stands. M. Perrier, by whom the war was to be conducted, having organized all the effective force of the colony--which (inclusive of a reinforcement of 180 soldiers from France) did tage, he pursued them to a neighboring fort, to which they had retreated, and gallantly assaulted them, killed 92 braves, and routed and dispersed the remainder. This was the closing scene of the "Natchez War;" and the scattered remnant of this once powerful and warlike tribe incorporated themselves with the Chickasaw and other tribes hostile to the French. Into those tribes they infused their own ferocity and hatred, as will be perceived hereafter, and succeeded in rekindling the fires which the French vainly supposed had been quenched in the blood of the Natchez.* The colony of Louisiana, though victorious, was much enfeebled by the frequent drafts which the war had created on their wealth and population, and rejoiced in the return of Some of the Natchez were seen at the city of Natchez in 1782--fifty years after the Natchez massacre. |