ted a question which Congress
could only solve. I determined to visit Washington, and lay the subject
before the President. As soon as I had made this determination,
everything bowed to this idea. I made a rapid visit, on horseback, to
St. Louis, with my manuscript, to consult a friend, who entirely
concurred in this view. If the mines were ever to be put on a proper
basis, and the public to derive a benefit from them, the government
must do it.

As soon as I returned to Potosi, I packed my collection of mineralogy,
&c. I ordered the boxes by the lead teams to St. Genevieve. I went to
the same point myself, and, taking passage in the new steamer "St.
Louis," descended the Mississippi to New Orleans. The trip occupied some
days. I repassed the junction of the Ohio with deep interest. It is not
only the importance of geographical events that impresses us. The nature
of the phenomena is often of the highest moral moment.

An interesting incident occurred as soon as I got on board the steamer.
The captain handed me a letter. I opened it, and found it to contain
money from the secretary of a secret society. I was surprised at such an
occurrence, but I confess not displeased. I had kept my pecuniary
affairs to myself. My wardrobe and baggage were such as everywhere to
make a respectable appearance. If I economized in travel and outlay, I
possessed the dignity of keeping my own secret. One night, as I lay
sleepless in a dark but double-bedded room, an old gentleman--a
disbanded officer, I think, whose health disturbed his repose--began a
conversation of a peculiar kind, and asked me whether I was not a
Freemason. Darkness, and the distance I was from him, induced a
studiedly cautious reply. But a denouement the next day followed. This
incident was the only explanation the unwonted and wholly unexpected
remittance admitted. A stranger, traveling to a southern and sickly city
to embark for a distant State, perhaps never to return--the act appeared
to me one of pure benevolence, and it reveals a trait which should wipe
away many an error of judgment or feeling.

The voyage down this stream was an exciting one, and replete with novel
scenes and incidents. The portion of the river above the mouth of the
Ohio, which it had taken me twenty days to ascend in a barge, we were
not forty-eight hours in descending. Trees, points of land, islands,
every physical object on shore, we rushed by with a velocity that left
but vague and indis