French Lines on Health : Jadis j'ai vu mes jours s'avancer vers leur fin. Suspendaient mes douleurs, dissipaient mes alarmes ; Je revis mes vergers, ces ruisseaux, ces forêts, Que j'avais craint long-tems de perdre pour jamais. DWIGHT'S AMERICAN MAGAZINE. Is published weekly, at the office of the New York Express, No. 112 Broadway, at 4 cents a number, or, to subscribers paying in advance, $2 a year. 7 sets for $10. Monthly, in covered pamphlets, at same price. Postmasters are authorized to remit money, and are requested to act as agents. Enclose a Two Dollar Bill, without payment of postage, and the work will be sent for the year. Vols. I. and II., half-bound, or in muslin, $2.50 each. This great river is remarkable for several features, one of which, the low and uniform nature of its banks, is exhibited in our print. Those of our readers who have travelled on it, especially on the lower parts of its course, will acknowledge the general correctness of this representation. To those who are less familiar with it some explanations may be necessary, to render the several objects before us intelligible. And first, the term Bend' is applied to the turns of the mighty stream, which are almost innumerable near its mouth. The country through which it flows, much of the distance from the boundary of Tennessee downward, being flat, low and of a loose texture, slight causes are sufficient to give the current new directions; and the channels, as well as the borders of the river are considerably changed in many places from year to year. Sometimes a grove or a tract of forests, which has stood for years, or perhaps for ages, safe from the encroachments of the river, is in a short time undermined by the shifting current, or a newly formed eddy; the soft and spongy ground, destitute of rocks and even of stones, and bound together only near the surface by the interlacing roots, feels the bank moving beneath, where the water is fast washing away the weak foundation; and soon the moment arrives when the thick, towering trees must fall in a mass together. Some are launched at once upon the bosom of the waters, and are soon carried out into the middle of the current; others are plunged downwards, and become fixed for a time to the bottom, by the fragments of the bank, or remain with the roots on the land and the head in the river; while others are pressed against the shore by the wind or some devious eddy, just formed, which may be succeeded by a new one to-mor row. These falling trees have always been some of the most formidable obstacles to the navigation of the Mississippi, and its lower branches. When they are numerous on the surface, vessels are in danger of becoming entangled among them, and they sometimes block up a passage, so entirely as to render it useless. Red River, notwithstanding its size, has not strength of current enough to keep its surface free from bridges of logs; and the government of the United States have employed the most scientific engineers and numerous laborers, at great expense, to remove the obstacles, but often in vain. The Such of the floating trees in the Mississippi as become firmly fixed, by one end in the bottom, take different positions, and are known by different names: as snags, planters and sawyers. These, when found in the channels by which boats pass, are often the dread and sometimes the ruin of the navigator. body of a tree, divested of its small branches, and pointing up the river, with its top a little below the surface, will sometimes force a large hole through the bottom of a large vessel the instant it strikes it; and sink it in a moment. A sawyer, or log of such a form and in such a position, as to be kept in motion by the flowing water, is sometimes almost as dangerous, to a vessel which comes in contact with it, as the rubbing together of the timber may soon produce a fatal injury. So unvarying is the appearance of the banks, in almost the whole lower part of the course of the Mississippi, that it is impossible to find landmarks to distinguish places, either in the form of the ground or the arrangement of the trees. It is only by careful attention to the bends of the river, the currents and eddies, that the pilots can know where they are, or which way to steer. There being no mountains, hills or even rocks to mark particular places, almost the only marks given on the charts, and used by the navigators, are the bends; and these are known chiefly by numbers. The Bend on which our view was taken is "Number One Hundred ;" and the general appearance of the land and the water is nearly that of most of the other Bends above and below it, look where we will, for hundreds of miles between New Orleans and the mouth of the Ohio, with but few exceptions, we shall see the same low and uniform banks, and the same flat surface of water. This renders the navigation of our great river one of the least attractive and least admired portions of the traveller's grand tour; and this is made an excuse, by too many of our countrymen, for spending the day, if not the night also, in gaming or drinking, while on their passage, in the finest of steamboats and on the noblest of our streams. No doubt such scenery as this must make strong, peculiar and some repulsive impressions on the mind: but it should excite many great, solemn and salutary reflections: for who could float through the long and watery desert, the magnificent highway of our country, and not contemplate, with strong emotions, the extent of territory which it connects the variety of climates and society it passes through, the valuable products it carries on its bosom, and the different modes in which it exhibits the beneficence and the greatness of its Maker? The Mississippi may well be regarded as the main artery of our country; and truly, with our solid mountains to form the frame-work, and the ramifying lines of commerce both natural and artificial which our maps display, a late western orator well remarked, since Morse has given us the nervous system, we ought to have a man complete.' Sometimes artificial measures are resorted to, to make a new channel in the Mississippi. Near the left of the print is seen an interval in the forest. The trees were there cut down a few years ago, to let the water flow across the narrow and low point which extends between two turns of the river, hoping that a new current would be spontaneously formed, during the floods, which would make a permanent channel. This cut would shorten the distance about four miles, and be an important saving to navigation. The solitary tree which stands in the fore ground, and makes so conspicuous a feature, is a cypress, which, with the Cotton-Wood, forms nearly the whole of the forests on the borders of the Mississippi in Louisiana. It is valuable for many purposes, and extensively used in building, being the oak of the south, in its application to some of the most important exigencies of civilized man. The boats seen floating on the water next claim a moment's attention. Be fore the introduction of steam, the navigation of the Mississippi was performed wholly by vessels of these two kinds and rafts. The raft is a mere platform of logs. The flat-boat, or ark, is a box, shaped by a few long timbers, but formed almost wholly of boards, held together chiefly by the pressure of the water. The Curassow. The curious bird called the Curassow is a native of the warmer portions of this continent. There are several species of the Curassow, and some of them are well worth attention. They have all hooked bills, and are generally about the size of a small turkey. There is one species which is distinguished by a crest of feathers, which curl at the ends. This crest can be raised or depressed, at the will of the bird. The species is called the crested curassow. The plumage of this bird is very beautiful. It is of a deep black, with a slight gloss of green on the head, crest, neck, back, wings, and upper part of the tail. Underneath, there is a stripe of white. There is another species which is called the Cashew curassow, or Cashew bird, from a large blue gibbosity, resembling a Cashew nut, and as large as a pear, which is situated at the base of the forehead. Nearly the whole bird is of a shining blueish color, reflecting purple glosses. In Mexico, Guiana, and Brazil, these birds are very numerous, both in a wild and tame state. The flesh is excellent. There is another species still, which is called the Razor-billed curassow. It is distinguished from the rest of the species of this bird by the form of its bill, which rises above the level of the head, is flattened on the sides, and runs into a sharp edge, spreading out at the baseSEL. FOOD OF THE MASTODON.-Prof. A. Gray, in the Boston Society of Natural History, stated that there had been recently placed in his hand specimens of earthy matter filled with finely broken fragments of branches of trees, which were said to have been found occupying the place of the stomach in the skeleton of the Mastodon exhumed on Schooley's Mountain, N. J., and lately exhibited in Boston. As similar operations are said to have been made in several instances, Professor Gray was induced to examine The the substances brought to him. wood evidently consisted of branchlets of one, two and three years old, broken, quite uniformly, into bits of half an inch or so in length, with only, now and then, traces of the bark remaining on the wood. The wood was not at all fossilized, and was but slightly decayed. From the appearance of the branchlets examined, Prof. Gray inferred that they belonged to some coniferous tree or shrub, and, probably, to a kind of spruce or fir, rather than to a true pine. This infe rence was borne out by the examination of thin slices of the wood by the microscope. The woody fibre was very beautifully and distinctly marked with the cir cular disks that are characteristic of all coniferous wood. The structure agreed quite perfectly with that in similar branchlets of the common hemlock spruce. LONG ISLAND-MOROCCO DRESSING.There was a time, and that not very long past, when French Morocco, so indispensible as well as becoming for ladies' shoes, could only be had by importation. Now, however, thanks to native enterprise-if not veritable French Morocco, that at least which is dressed after the same fashion, and with all the beauty and finish of the best foreign article, is furnished abundantly at our own door. An establishment of this kind, and the largest in our vicinity, if not in the country, is that of Messrs. Chambers and Burbank, at Gowanus, (Brooklyn.) The manufacture last year amounted to $60,000, and will be considerably increased the present. Forty-five hands are constantly employed in the various processes of preparing the skins, dressing, tanning, colouring, polishing, &c., all of which are done under one roof, or in buildings closely connected. It is from goat skins that the best Morocco is made, and such only are used in this establishment. These skins are all imported, as are also most of the articles employed in tanning and colouring. The native Sumach is used to some extent in tanning, but it is said to possess much less strength and efficacy than that which is obtained from abroad. It might doubtless, however, be improved in its quality by cultivation; and the inquiry is whether there are not other foreign materials used, which might not be superseded by our own.-SEL. Plank Roads Among the great variety of improvements which have been produced within the last few years for the purpose of facilitating travel and transportation, plank roads seem to have been very successful whereever they have been tried; and will probably be extensively adopted, especially in the newer and more remote regions of country. The following interesting and valuable information in regard to the construction of these roads is derived from a letter written by George Geddes, a distinguished practical engineer of the State of New York, who had charge of the Salina and Central Railroad, of which he speaks; and who has carefully examined similar roads in Canada, constructed at the expense of the public authorities. The State of New York has provided, in her new Constitution, for a general law, incorporating Plank Road Companies. Speaking of the mode of constructing a Plank Road, the letter proceeds: 6 In case it is expected that a very great amount of travel' is to pass over the road, two tracks, each eight feet wide, will be required: but it is not probable that many roads will require more than one track, at any rate for more than a few miles out of some large town. It is difficult to persuade a man who has not seen the thing tried, that one track is sufficient, except in cases of 'extraordinary amount' of travel; but it is so; and the road out of Salina has but one track, except over places where proper earth could not be obtained with which to make a road alongside of the plank. Over the light sand plains, where in dry weather a wagon would cut into the sand, we laid two tracks, but over clay or common earth we laid but one; and during the very rainy autumn just past our road has constantly been in good order for teams to turn out. In case there is so much travel that common earth cannot be kept in good order for turning out, then the tolls paid by the travel will compensate for the cost of the second track; so that the interests of the public and the owners meet, and the thing will regulate itself. If the second track is required, then its cost will be a good investment. There is another particular in which the public interests, and the interests of the owners go together: the tolls. The charter of the Salina road allows the Directors to regulate the tolls within certain limits; in summer we exact three-fourths, and in winter one-half, the sum allowed us from vehicles drawn by two animals. It is our interest to encourage such an amount of travel as to insure the wearing out, rather than the rotting out of our timber; and, by taxing the travel lightly, we increase the amount. The track is laid on one side of the road, so that teams coming into town keep it, and teams going out yield it in passing. The tonnage being chiefly in one direction, it is generally the unloaded teams that have to do all the turning out. The planks are of hemlock, eight feet long and four inches thick, laid crosswise of the road, on sills four inches square. The earth is broken up and made fine; the sills are bedded into it, and the surface graded smooth; the plank are then laid on the sills, care being taken that the earth is laid up to and touching the plank at every point. This is important; for if any space be left for air under the plank, or alongside the sills, dry rot follows. I saw in Canada a road that had been worn out, and was re-building. The sills were good, and the plank were sound on the under side, save where air had supplied the place of earth, and there they were destroyed by rot. The plank having been laid, the next thing is to grade a road some ten or twelve feet wide on one side, and two or three on the other, by taking earth from the ditches on each side, and bringing it by a ditchscraper just up to and even with the upper side of the plank, so that, if a wheel runs off the track, it passes upon a smooth surface of earth. The ends of the plank should not be laid even, but a part should project from two to four inches by the general line, to prevent a rut being cut just along the ends of the plank. If the ends of the plank are even, and a smali rut is made, the wheel of a Joaded wagon will scrape along the ends for some distance before it rises up to the top of the plank, unless the wagon moves in a direction nearly across the road: but if the wheel cannot move two feet forward without coming square against the edge of a projecting plank, the difficulty of getting on the road is avoided. It is not necessary to pin or spike the plank to the sills. |