On the evening of September 30th, we halted at a little rivulet called Bayou Curæ.[25] The dwelling of our landlord consisted, as is commonly the case in the new settlements, of a single room, with beds in {142} two or three of the corners. We were cordially invited to make use of the beds, though it would have been at the expence of rendering it necessary for our host, his wife, and daughters, to sleep upon the floor of the same room. We accordingly spread our blankets, and deposited ourselves around the hearth, while the family occupied their usual stations. On the first of October we arrived at the ford of Strawberry river, a tributary entering the Big Black, not far from the confluence of the latter with White river, and about fourteen miles beyond, at the ford of Spring river, a parallel stream. Both of these are rapid and beautiful rivers, possessing all the peculiarities, as to the abundance, transparency, and purity of their waters, usually observed in those rivers which traverse elevated and mountainous districts. The entire length of Spring river is said to be but about one hundred and forty miles; yet in the quantity of water which it discharges, it more than twice exceeds the Canadian, having a course of more than nine hundred miles. It is said to have its principal source in a spring of uncommon magnitude. Spring river unites with another, called Eleven Point, near the little town of Davidsonville, the seat of justice for Lawrence county, and flows thence nearly due east, two or three miles to its junction with Big Black. The country around Davidsonville is hilly, having a deep and fertile primary soil, and abounding in heavy forests. The sources of Eleven Point, we have been told, are in eleven large springs, and are near those of Spring river.[26] To those who have been long accustomed to the thirsty regions of the Missouri, the Platte, and the Upper Arkansa, it is somewhat surprising to meet in tracts, having nearly the same elevation, and resting to a great extent on rocks of a similar character, so great a number of large streams crowded into such narrow compass. {143} Is it not probable, that a large portion of the water falling in rains upon the extensive plains at the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains, may sink through the loose and porous soil, till at length, meeting with some compact stratum, it may be collected into rills, and even considerable streams, which, descending along the surface of this stratum in the direction of the general inclination of the country, at length meet with the nucleus of the Ozark mountains, traversing the secondary strata like a mineral dike, and are consequently made to appear in the form of large springs? Whether any course of this kind operates to supply the unusual profusion of water with which this hilly tract is irrigated, must be for others to decide. The fact is an established one.