Although no precise limits can be assigned as the western boundary of this section, yet the meridian above proposed may be regarded as a line of division between two regions differing in their general character and aspect. It is not pretended that the immediate course of the line is marked by any distinct features of the country, but that a gradual change is observable in the general aspect of the two regions, which takes place in the vicinity of the proposed line. The assumed meridian is in longitude ninety-six degrees west nearly, and crosses the Platte a few miles above its mouth, the Konzas near the junction of the principal forks, the Arkansa about one hundred miles above the Verdigrise, or seven hundred miles from its mouth, the Canadian about one hundred and fifty miles from its mouth, and the Red river about one hundred and fifty miles above the Kiamesha river. The section of country under consideration exhibits a great variety of aspect, the surface being diversified by mountains, hills, valleys, and occasional tracts of rolling country; within the section, is an extensive tract of bottom land deserving of a particular consideration. It is situated on the Mississippi, commencing a few miles below the Ohio, and extending downward to Red river, uninterrupted by hills or high lands, and subject in many places to inundation from the freshets of the Mississippi. The bottoms contain many large swamps, rendered almost {213} impenetrable by a dense growth of cypress and cypress-knees (the latter of which are conical excrescences springing from the roots of the cypress, and shooting up in profusion to the height of from one to eight or ten feet). The most extensive of these swamps commences near the head of the bottom, and passes south-westwardly back of New Madrid, the Little Prairie, St. Francisville, &c., and terminates near the village of the Port of Arkansa. The Great Swamp, the name by which this extensive morass is designated, is about two hundred miles in length, and is of a variable width, from five to twenty or thirty miles. The timber-growth of this and of the other swamps, which are of a similar character, but inferior in magnitude, consist principally of cypress of a superior quality. But the difficulty of removing it renders it of little value to the country. Within the bottom are also numerous lakes, lagoons, and marshes, once, no doubt, parts of the bed of the Mississippi, or of some of its tributaries that have their courses through the bottom. Notwithstanding the general depression of this bottom, it contains many insulated tracts of considerable extent, elevated above the range of the highest floods. The bottom, almost throughout its whole extent, supports a dense and heavy growth of timber, of an excellent quality, together with a luxuriant undergrowth of cane brake, vines, &c.