The confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi, is in latitude 37° 22′ 9″ north, according to the observations of Mr. Ellicott, and in longitude 88° 50′ 42″ west, from Greenwich.[057] The lands about the junction of these two great rivers are low, consisting of recent alluvion, and covered with dense forests. At the time of our journey, the spring floods having subsided in the Ohio, this quiet and gentle river {41} seemed to be at once swallowed up, and lost in the rapid and turbulent current of the Mississippi. Floods of the Mississippi, happening when the Ohio is low, occasion a reflux of the waters of the latter, perceptible at Fort Massac, more than thirty miles above. It is also asserted, that the floods in the Ohio occasion a retardation in the current of the Mississippi, as far up as the Little Chain, ten miles below Cape Girardeau.[058] The navigation of the Mississippi above the mouth of the Ohio, also that of the Ohio, is usually obstructed for a part of the winter by large masses of floating ice. The boatmen observe that soon after the ice from the Ohio enters the Mississippi, it becomes so much heavier by arresting the sands, always mixed with the waters of that river, that it soon sinks to the bottom. After ascending the Mississippi about two miles, we came to an anchor, and went on shore on the eastern side. The forests here are deep and gloomy, swarming with innumerable mosquitoes, and the ground overgrown with enormous nettles. There is no point near the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi, from which a distant prospect can be had. Standing in view of the junction of these magnificent rivers, meeting almost from opposite extremities of the continent, and each impressed with the peculiar character of the regions from which it descends, we seem to imagine ourselves capable of comprehending at one view all that vast region between the summits of the Alleghanies and of the Rocky Mountains, and feel a degree of impatience at finding all our prospects limited by an inconsiderable extent of low muddy bottom lands, and the unrelieved, unvaried, gloom of the forest. Finding it necessary to renew the packing of the piston in the steam-engine, which operation would require some time, most of the gentlemen of the {42} party were dispersed on shore in pursuit of their respective objects, or engaged in hunting. Deer, turkeys, and beaver are still found in plenty in the low grounds, along both sides of the Mississippi; but the annoyance of the mosquitoes and nettles preventing the necessary caution and silence in approaching the haunts of these animals, our hunting was without success. We were gratified to observe many interesting plants, and among them several of the beautiful family of the orchidæ,[059] particularly the orchis spectabile, so common in the mountainous parts of New England.