here, I think, Cairo is now located. Early the next morning the oarsmen
were paraded, like so many militia, on the slatted gunwales of the
barge, each armed with a long and stout setting pole, shod with iron.
Ensminger himself took the helm, and the toil and struggle of pushing
the barge up stream began. We were obliged to keep close to the shore,
in order to find bottom for the poles, and whenever that gave out, the
men instantly resorted to oars to gain some point on the opposite side,
where bottom could be reached. It was a struggle requiring the utmost
activity. The water was so turbid that we could not perceive objects an
inch below the surface. The current rushed with a velocity that
threatened to carry everything before it. The worst effect was its
perpetual tendency to undermine its banks. Often heavy portions of the
banks plunged into the river, endangering boats and men. The banks
consisted of dark alluvion ten to fifteen feet above the water, bearing
a dense growth of trees and shrubbery. The plunging of these banks into
the stream often sounded like thunder. With every exertion, we advanced
but five miles the first day, and it was a long July day. As evening
came on, the mosquitos were in hordes. It was impossible to perform the
offices of eating or drinking, without suffering the keenest torture
from their stings.

The second day we ascended six miles, the third day seven miles, the
fourth day six miles, and the fifth eight miles, which brought us to the
first settlement on the Missouri shore, called Tyawapaty Bottom. The
banks in this distance became more elevated, and we appeared to be
quitting the more nascent region. We noticed the wild turkey and gray
squirrel ashore. The following day we went but three miles, when the
severe labor caused some of the hands to give out. Ensminger was a man
not easily discouraged. He lay by during the day, and the next morning
found means to move ahead. At an early hour we reached the head of the
settlement, and came to at a spot called the Little Chain of Rocks. The
fast lands of the Missouri shore here jut into the river, and I
examined, at this point, a remarkable bed of white clay, which is
extensively employed by the local mechanics for chalk, but which is
wholly destitute of carbonic acid. We ascended, this day, ten miles; and
the next day five miles, which carried us to Cape Girardeau--a town
estimated to be fifty miles above the mouth of the Ohio. Here were about