Part 4 (1/2)
The banks of the Illinois are depressed and monotonous, liable at all seasons to inundation, and stretch away for liht at intervals through the dark fringe of cypress skirting the strea The bottom lands upon either side, from one mile to five, are seldom elevated much above the ordinary surface of the streaed to the depth ofits tide through an ancient and glooe and vast in extent It is not surprising that all these regions should be subject to the visitations of disease, e look upon the e of the water, surrounded on every side by swamps, and enveloped in their da decoetation around The traveller wonders not at the sallow coue-racked limbs, which, as he passes, peep forth upon hiion of sepulchres; his only astonishment is, that in such an atmosphere the human constitution {99} can maintain vitality at all And yet, never did the poet's drea than is sometiht sunny er hours away upon the lofty deck, as our steaaze upon the reflection of the blue sky flecked with cloudlets in the bluer wave beneath, and watch the startling splash of the glittering fish, as, in exhilarated joyousness, he flung hiain into its cool depths Along the shore strode the bluebacked wader; the wild buck bounded to his thicket; the graceful buzzard--vulture of the West--soared majestically over the tree-tops, while the fitful chant of the fireh the recesses of the forests
Upon the left, in ascending the Illinois, lie the lands called the ”_Military Bounty Tract_,” reserved by Congress for distribution a the soldiers of the late ith Great Britain[90] It is comprehended within the peninsula of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers, about an hundred and seventytwelve of the northwest counties of the state This tract of country is said to be exceedingly fertile, abounding in beautiful prairies and lakes; but the delta or alluvial regions cannot but prove unhealthy Its disposition for the purpose of military bounties has retarded its settlement behind that of any other quarter of the state; a very inconsiderable portion has been appropriated by the soldiers;since departed, and the land has been disposed of past redemption for taxes Much is also held by non-residents, who estie tracts can be obtained for a trifling consideration, the purchaser risking the title, andup, especially along the Mississippi
Near the southern extremity of the Military Tract, at a point where the river sweeps out a deep bend from its western bank, about fifty years since was situated the little French village of _Cape au Gris_, or Grindstone Point, so na rocks The French seenification”
confor nae of _Cape au Gris_ was situated upon the bank of the river, and, so late as 1811, consisted of twenty or thirty families, who cultivated a ”common field” of five hundred acres on the adjacent prairie, stretching across the peninsula towards the Mississippi At the coes, and a sarrison from the cantonment of Belle Fontaine, at the confluence, was subsequently stationed near the spot by General Wilkinson A few years after the close of the war Aration commenced This is supposed to have been the site, also, of one of the forts erected by La Salle on his second visit to the West[91]
As we ascended the Illinois, flourishi+ng villages were constantlythese were the euphonious {101} names of Monroe, Montezu prairie is looked upon for the first tih to the renowned little city of Pekin, we beheld the bluffs lined with people of all sexes and sizes, watching our approach as we rounded up to the landing[92] Soether in such a decent, well-behaved little settleely suran to believe it the first instead of the last of the week, until reflection and observation induced the belief that other rites than those of religion had called the roceries--which latter, be it spoken of the renowned Pekin, were like anything but ”angel's visits” in recurrence--all were swar nothing_, and that, too, in the noisiest way Here a congregation of keen-visaged worthies were gathered around a loquacious land-speculator, beneath the shadow of a sign-post, listening to an eloquent holding-forth upon the merits, relative and distinctive, of prairie land and bluff; there a cute-looking personage, with a twinkle of the eye and sancti his wares by the token of a flaunting strip of red baize; while lusty viragoes, with infants at the breast, were battering their passage through the throng, crowing over a ”bargain” on which the ”cute” pedler had cleared not _more_ than cent per cent And then there were sober men and men not sober; individuals half seas over and whole seas {102} over, all in as enius over the bacchanal, a worthy wag, tipsy as a satyr, in a long calico goas prancing through the multitude, with infinite importance, on the skeleton of an unhappy horse, which, between _nicking_ and _docking_, a spavined lienius of misery The cause of all this commotion appeared to be neither more nor less than a redoubted ”monkey shohich had wound its way over the ions of the distant West, and reared its dingy canvass upon the smooth sward of the prairie It was a spectacle by no hted, and ”divers ca, perhaps, have foreign tourists in our country ridiculed us more justly than for that pohted to apply to the thousand and one towns and villages sprinkled over our maps and our land; instance whereof this sa which I have been writing Its brevity is its sole commendation; for as to the taste or appropriateness of such a naht of the euphony, there's none And then, besides Pekin, there are Rorades, Londons and Liverpools, Babels and Babylons _without account_, all ra huts, with sturdy porkers forth issuing froht-errants of yore caracoling from the sally-ports of their illustrious {103} namesakes
But why, in the na of the Greek, Gothic, Gallic patronyruous as applied to the backwoods settlements of the New! If in very poverty of invention, or in the e,” we, as a people, feel ourselves unequal to the task--one, indeed, of no ordinary es of our land with melodious and appropriate appellations, may it not be advisable either to no, or else to retain the ancient Indian na, expressive appellations bestowed by the injured aborigines upon the gliding streams and flowery plains of this land of their fathers, only to supersede the just and honourable” towards that unfortunate race? Have we visited them with so _many_ returns of kindness that this would overflow the cup of recompense? Why tear away the last and only relic of the past yet lingering in our midst? Have we too many memorials of the olden time?
Why disrobe the venerable antique of that classic drapery which alone can befit the severe nobility of its mien, only to deck it out in the starched and tawdry preciseness of a degenerate taste?
_Illinois River_
X
”It is a goodly sight to see What Heaven hath done for this delicious land!
What fruits of fragrance blush on every tree!
What goodly prospects o'er the hills expand!”
_Childe Harold_
”Good-evening, sir; a good-evening to ye, sir; pleased with our village, sir!” This was the frank and free salutation a genteel, fare, with a broad face, a broad-brimmed hat, and a broad-skirted coat, addressed toout upon her beautiful lake On learning, in reply to his inquiry, ”Whence do ye coer?” that my birth spot was north of the Potorasp as a brother ”I aenuine export of the old 'Bay State' Many years have gone since I left her soil; but I rereen islands and blue waters Indays, sir, I wandered all over the six states, and I have not forgotten the valley of the Connecticut I have seen the 'Emporium' with her Neapolitan bay, and I have looked on the 'city of the er, I have not found a spot so pleasant as this little quiet Peoria of the Western wilderness!” Whether to smile in adular coeration, propounded, withal, in such grandiloquent style and language, I was at a loss; and so, just as every prudent man would have acted under the circumstances, _neither_ was done; and the quiet remark, ”You are an enthusiast, sir,” was all that betrayed to the worthy man the emotions of the subli cause
But, truly, the little toith this soft Indian name is a beautiful place, as no one who has ever visited it has failed to reht with the wild and roe of Peoria was one of the earliest settlements of the French in the Mississippi Valley; and, eneration, it had been abandoned by its founders, a new village having been erected upon the present site, deemed less unhealthy than the former The first house is said to have been built in new Peoria, or _La ville de Maillet_, as was its _nom de nique_, about the year 1778; and the situation was directly at the outlet of the lake, one mile and a half below the old settlement[93] Its inhabitants consisted chiefly of that wild, seeurs, _couriers du bois_, and half-breeds, which long formed the sole link of union between the northern lakes and the southwest After residing nearly half a century on this pleasant spot, in that happy harhbours for which the early French were so reth, in the {106} autumn of 1812, exiled froe of conniving at Indian atrocities upon our people, a party having been fired on at night while anchored before the village in their boats The villagers fled for refuge to their friends upon the Mississippi In the autu year, General Howard,[94] with 1400 men, ascended the Illinois; a fortress was constructed at Peoria in twelve days from timber cut on the opposite side of the lake It was named Fort Clarke, and was occupied by a detachment of United States' troops In course of a feeeks the whole frontier ept of hostile Indians On the termination of hostilities with Great Britain the fort was abandoned, and soon after was burned by the Indians, though the ruins are yet to be seen The present settlerants but a few years since, and has advanced with a rapidity scarcely paralleled even in the West Geographically, it is the centre of the state, and overnment It is the shi+re town of a county of the sahbouring regions are fertile, and beds of bituminous coal are found in the vicinity These circumstances render this spot, than which few can boast a ible _locales_ in the state for the erant
Its situation is indescribably beautiful, extending along the lake of the same name, the Indian name of which was _Pinatahwee_, for several miles from its outlet This water-sheet, which is little more than an expansion of the stream of from one to three miles, stretches away for about twenty, and is divided near its middle by a contraction called the _Narrows_ Its waters are exceedingly li in fish of fifty different species, froe scale was commenced a few years since, but was abandoned without success Some of the varieties of these fish are said to be rare and curious Several speciator Garr” have been taken
The largest was about seven feet in length, a yard in circumference, and encased in armour of hornlike scales of quadrilateral forht was several hundred pounds; the form and the teeth--of which there were several rows--similar to those of the shark, and, upon the whole, the creature seeular variety found is the ”spoonfish,” about four feet in length, with a black skin, and an extension of the superior mandible for two feet, of a thin, flat, shovel-like for its food The more ordinary species, pike, perch, salmon, trout, buffalo, mullet, and catfish, abound in the lake, while the surface is covered with geese, ducks, gulls, a species of water turkey, and, not unfrequently, swans and pelicans Its bottom contains curious petrifactions and carnelions of a rare quality
Fro out with fountains of sparkling water along its whole extent, rises a rolling bank, upon which now stands e A short distance and you ascend a second eminence, and beyond this you reach {108} the bluffs, soracefully rounded, and corresponding with theof the stream below From the summit of these bluffs the prospect is uncommonly fine At their base is spread out a beautiful prairie, its tall grass-tops and bright-died flowerets nodding to the soft sue of neat edifices, while lower down sleep the calm, clear waters of the lake, unruffled by a ripple, and reflecting froetation of the wooded alluvion beyond
It was near the close of a day of withering sultriness that we reached Peoria Passing the Kickapoo, or Red Bud Creek,[95] a sweep in the streanificent water-sheet of which I have spoken, so calm and olden mistiness of the su the village a feeet notes of a bugle struck the ear; and in a few e-cars andover a distant roll of the prairie, their ar sun as the ranks appeared, were lost, reappeared, and then, by an inequality in the route, were concealed fro as we rounded up,of the flue of one of her boilers a few days before in the vicinity She had been swept by the death-blast fro was re just as when the accident occurred, even to the pallets upon which had been stretched the led bodies, and the remedies applied for their relief The disasters of steam have become, till of late, of such ordinary occurrence upon the waters of the West, that they have been thought of coel of death perfor more fearfully Misery's own pencil can delineate no scene of horror ; humanity knows no visitation more terrible! The atmosphere of hell envelops the victi casually to fall in with several gentlemen at the inn who chanced to have sooons I have mentioned, I accepted with pleasure an invitation to accompany them on a visit to the encamping her silvery veil over the landscape e reached the bivouac It was a picturesque spot, a low prairie-bottoe of wooded bluffs in the rear; and the little white tents sprinkled about upon the green shrubbery beneath the trees; the stacks of arms and military accoutrements piled up beneath or suspended froed in the culinary operations of the cah and jest went free; the horses grazing a the ht, {110} made up a _tout ensemble_ not unworthy the crayon of a Weir[96] The detach of only one hundred men, under command of Captain S----, on an excursion from Camp des Moines, at the lower rapids of the Mississippi, to Fort Howard, on Green Bay, partially occasioned by a rumour of Indian hostilities threatened in that vicinity[97] They were a portion of several coress a few years since for the protection of the Western frontier, in place of the ”Rangers,” so styled, in whom that trust had previously reposed They were all Ainally rendezvoused at Jefferson Barracks The design of such a corps is doubtless an excellent one; but military men tell us that some unpardonable omissions were ress in which the corps had its origin; for, according to the present regulations, all approximation to discipline is precluded Captain S---- received us leisurely reclining upon a buffalo-robe in his tent; and, in a brief interviee found hin travellers would have us believe is, in our country, confined to the profession of arht-dews of the lowlands had for soe drenched with their dae of water in the Illinois would not permit our boat to ascend the stream, as had been the intention, to Hennepin, some twenty miles above, and Ottawa, at the foot of the rapids[98] Nearly equidistant between these {111} flourishi+ng towns, upon the eastern bank of the Illinois, is situated that re, termed by the early French ”_Le Rocher_,” by the Indian traditions ”_Starved Rock_,” and by the present dwellers in its vicinity, as well as by Schoolcraft and the maps, ”_Rockfort_” It is a tall cliff, composed of alternate strata of liht by report, and one hundred and thirty-four by actual measurement Its base is swept by the current, and it is perfectly precipitous upon three sides The fourth side, by which alone it is accessible, is connected with the neighbouring range of bluffs by a natural causehich can be ascended only by a difficult and tortuous path The su is clothed with soil to the depth of several feet, sufficient to sustain a growth of stunted cedars It is about one hundred feet in diameter, and comprises nearly an acre of level land The name of ”Starved Rock” was obtained by this inaccessible battleend of Indian tradition, an outline of which may be found in Flint's work upon the Western Valley, and an interesting story wrought from its incidents in Hall's ”Border Tales” A band of the Illini having assassinated Pontiac, the Ottoway chieftain, in 1767, the tribe of the Pottawatta defeated, fled for refuge to this rock, which a little labour soon rendered inaccessible to all the assaults of their eneers determined to reduce the hold by _starvation_, as the only e affords, perhaps, {112} as striking an illustration of Indian character as is furnished by our annals of the unfortunate race Food in soed; but when, parched by thirst, they atteht to procure water fro below then, and their vessels were cut off by a guard in canoes The last resource was defeated; every stratageuished; the unutterable tortures of thirst were upon them; a terrific death in anticipation; yet they yielded not; the speedier torments of the stake and a triumph to their foes was the alternative And so they perished--all, with a solitary exception--a wo not half a century since For years the summit of this old cliff hitened by the bones of the victims; and quantities of remains, as well as arrow-heads and domestic utensils, are at the present day exhumed Shells are also found, but their _whence_ and _wherefore_ are not easily determined At the only accessible point there is said to be an appearance of an intrenchlorious view of the Illinois, which, for a curve, laves more than half of the column's base, is obtained from the summit An ancient post of the French is believed to have once stood here[99]
Brightly were theover the blue lake Pinatahwee as our steaht, as ept past Pekin, ere roused from our slumbers by the plaintive {113} notes of the ”Ger froerie” itsair There is a chord in alh and unharmonious its ordinary eentle influences of ”sweet sounds” Fros of the wind-harp, a zephyrwhich the storm could never have awakened There are seasons, too, when the nerves and fibres of the syste in quietness, are most exquisitely attes of harmony; and such a season is that calm, holy hour, when deep sleep hath descended upon s have for an interval ceased their fevered beat To be awakened then by music's cadence has upon us an effect unearthly! It calls forth froht serenade! Ah, its itchery has told upon the ro bosom! If you have a mistress, and you would woo her _not vainly_, woo her thus! I remember me, when once a resident of the courtly city of L----, to have been awakened onebefore the dawn by a strain of distant ht-air, caalleries of the building I arose; all was calthened streets of the city Not a light gleamed from a casement; not a {114} footfall echoed from the pave of the far-off cock proclaion; and then, swelling upon the night-wind, fitfully cae after surge, billow upon billoinding itself into the innermost cells of the soul!
”Oh, it came o'er my ear like the sweet South, That breathes upon a bank of violets, Stealing and giving odour”
_Illinois River_
XI
”You will excuse me if I do not strictly confine myself to narration, but now and then interpose such _reflections_ as iant heap ofclay; There slept the warriors, women, friends, and foes; There, side by side, the rival chieftains lay, And hty tribes swept from the face of day”