Tikatok's village, which we passed on the 25th, is situated on the Illinois Bayou,[15] about seven miles above Point Pleasant. It consists of no more than {134} five or six cabins, but is the residence of the venerable Tikatok, who, since the death of Tallantusky in 1817, has been considered the principal chief of this portion of the Cherokee nation. He has been a distinguished benefactor to his people, and is familiarly known by the name of "The Beloved." The Cherokees who live at and about this village, and those settled at a distance from the Arkansa, generally are less subject to fevers than those who reside on the river bottoms. At a little distance above the village we left the Illinois, and proceeded across the wilderness towards Little Red river, on our route to Cape Girardeau. Two or three scattered plantations, occupied by Cherokees, occur in the country between Point Pleasant and Little Red river, where we arrived on the 28th. This river has a deep rocky channel, sixty or one hundred yards in width, at the point where we crossed it, which is distant about eighty miles from its confluence with White river. It had at this time scarcely a perceptible current, and in many places might be crossed on foot without wading. It is, however, like most of the rivers of this region, subject to great and sudden floods, which, in several instances, have drowned the cattle, and destroyed and swept away the crops of those who were settled along the banks. From the marks left by the last flood upon the banks, we perceived that the range, from high to low water, could not be less than sixty feet. From Stanley's settlement on Little Red river, it is about thirty-six miles north-east to Harding's ferry on White river. Here are numerous settlements of Whites; but notwithstanding the country is hilly and profusely irrigated with numerous rapid streams, the inhabitants have almost without exception a sickly appearance. Harding's ferry is about four hundred miles distant from the confluence of White river and the Mississippi.[16] White river is navigable for keel-boats at high water to this place, and during a considerable portion of the year, they {135} may ascend one hundred miles farther. It is here about three hundred yards wide. Its water is remarkably clear, and flows with a moderate current over a gravelly or stony-bed.