tight; this being cut, the horse, in a moment, got rid of his lameness.

As the governor and I parted, he gave me this parental advice:--

"My dear young man," said he, "I will give you a hint, which will enable
you to travel safely through the Arkansas. Beware of pretty girls, and
honest, clever people; never say you are travelling further than from
the last city to the nearest, as a long journey generally implies that
you have cash; and, if possible, never put your horse in a stable.
Farewell."

The soil in the Arkansas is rocky and mountainous as far as to the
western border of the state, when you enter upon the great American
desert, which continues to the other side of the Cimarron, nearly to the
foot of the Cordilleras. The eastern portion of Arkansas, which is
watered by the Mississippi, is an unknown swamp, for there the ground is
too soft even for the light-footed Indian; and, I may say, that the
whole territory contained between the Mississippi and the St. Francis
river is nothing but a continued river-bottom.

It is asserted, on the authority of intelligent residents, that the
river-bottoms of the St. Francis were not subject to be overflowed
previous to the earthquakes of 1811 and 1812, when an extensive tract in
the valley of that river sank to a considerable depth. According to
Stoddart, who knew nothing of the shocks of 1811, earthquakes have been
common here from the first settlement of the country; he himself
experienced several shocks at Kaskaskia, in 1804, by which the soldiers
stationed there were aroused from sleep, and the buildings were much
shaken and disjointed. Oscillations still occur with such frequency as
to be regarded with indifference by the inhabitants, who familiarly call
them _shakes_. But the earthquakes of 1811 and 1812, which were felt
from New England to New Orleans, are the only ones known to have left
permanent traces, although there is every probability that this part of
the valley of the Mississippi has been much convulsed at former periods.

In 1812 the earth opened in wide chasms, from which columns of water and
sand burst forth; hills disappeared, and their sites were occupied by
lakes; the beds of the lakes were raised, and their waters flowed off,
leaving them dry; the courses of the streams were changed by the
elevation of their beds and the falling of their banks; for one whole
hour the current of the Mississippi was turned backwards towards its
source, until its acc