MONSIEUR VIOLET (FISCLE PART-IV) by FREDERICK MARRYAT (leveled readers txt) π
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Fertility; And The Soil Of The Upland Is Equal, If Not Superior, To That
Of Any Other Upland Tract In the United states. The Region South Of The
Missouri River And West Of The Osage, Is Of The Same Description; The
Northern And Western Missouri Country Is Most Delightful, A Soil Of
Inexhaustible Fertility, And A Salubrious Climate, Rendering It A Most
Desirable And Pleasant Residence; But South-East Of The Latter River,
The State Is Traversed by Numerous Ridges Of The Ozark Mountains, And
The Surface Is Here Highly Broken And Rugged.
This Mountainous Tract Has A Breadth Of From One Hundred to One Hundred
And Fifty Miles; But Although It Often Shoots Up Into Precipitous Peaks,
It Is Believed that They Rarely Exceed two Thousand Feet In height; No
Accurate Measurements Of Their Elevation Have, However, Been Made, And
Little Is Known Of The Course And Mutual Relations Of The Chains. The
Timber Found Here Is Pitch-Pine, Shrub Oaks, Cedar, &C., Indicative Of
The Poverty Of The Soil; In the Uplands Of The Rest Of The State,
Hickory, Post-Oak, And White Oaks, &C., Are The Prevailing Growth; And
In River-Bottoms, The Cotton-Tree, Sycamore, Or Button-Wood, Maple, Ash,
Walnut, &C., Predominate. The South-Eastern Corner Of The State, Below
Cape Girardeau, And East Of The Black River, Is A Portion Of The Immense
Inundated region Which Borders The Arkansas. A Considerable Part Of This
Tract Is Indeed above The Reach Of The Floods, But These Patches Are
Isolated and Inaccessible, Except By Boats, During The Rise Of
The Waters.
My Friend, Mr. Courtenay, Penetrated these Swamps With Three Indians And
Two Negroes. His Companions Were Bogged and Lost; He Returned, Having
Killed seven Fine Elks, And Two Buffaloes. Some Of These Mighty Animals
Have Been Breeding There For A Long While, Undisturbed by Man.
The State Of Missouri Is Abundantly Supplied with Navigable Channels,
Affording Easy Access To All Parts. The Mississippi Washes The Eastern
Border, By The Windings Of The Stream, For A Distance Of About Four
Hundred and Seventy Miles. Above St. Genevieve, It Flows For The Most
Part Between High And Abrupt Cliffs Of Limestone, Rising To An Elevation
Of From One Hundred to Four Hundred feet Above The Surface Of The River;
Sometimes Separated from It By Bottoms Of Greater Or Less Width, And At
Others Springing Up Abruptly From The Water'S Edge. A Few Miles Below
Cape Girardeau, And About Thirty-Five Miles Above The Mouth Of The Ohio,
Are The Rocky Ledges, Called the Little And Grand Chain; And About
Half-Way Between That Point And St. Genevieve, Is The Grand Tower, One
Of The Wonders Of The Mississippi. It Is A Stupendous Pile Of Rocks, Of
A Conical Form, About One Hundred and Fifty Feet High, And One Hundred
Feet In circumference At Its Base, Rising Up Out Of The Bed of The
River. It Seems, In connection With The Rocky Shores On Both Sides, To
Have Been Opposed, At Some Former Period, As A Barrier To The Flow Of
The Mississippi, Which Must Here Have Had A Perpendicular Fall Of More
Than One Hundred feet.
The Principal Tributaries Of The Mississippi, With The Exception Of The
Missouri, Are The Desmoines, Wyacond, Fabius, Salt, And Copper Rivers,
Above That Great Stream, And The Merrimac, St. Francis And White River
Below; The Two Last Passing Into Arkansas. Desmoines, Which Is Only A
Boundary Stream, Is Navigable One Hundred and Seventy Miles, And Salt
River, Whose Northern Sources Are In iowa, And Southern In boone County,
And Which Takes Its Name From The Salt Licks Or Salines On Its Borders,
May Be Navigated by Steamboats Up To Florida (A Small Village); That Is
To Say, Ninety-Five Or A Hundred miles. The Riviere Au Cuivre, Or Copper
River, Is Also A Navigable Stream; But The Navigation Of All These
Rivers Is Interrupted by Ice In winter, And By Shoals And Bars In the
Dry Season.
The Missouri River Flows Through The State For A Distance Of About Six
Hundred miles; But Although Steamboats Have Ascended it Two Thousand
Five Hundred miles From Its Mouth, Its Navigation Is Rendered difficult
And Dangerous By Sand-Bars, Falling Banks, Snags, And Shifting Channels.
The Bank Of The Mississippi River, On The Illinois Side, Is Not By Far
So Picturesque As The Country I Have Just Described, But Its Fertility
Is Astonishing. Consequently, The Farms And Villages Are Less Scattered,
And Cities, Built With Taste And A Great Display Of Wealth, Are Found At
A Short Distance One From The Other. Quincy I May Mention, Among Others,
As Being a Truly Beautiful Town, And Quite European In its Style Of
Structure And Neatness. Elegant Fountains Are Pouring Their Cool Waters
At The End Of Every Row Of Houses; Some Of The Squares Are Magnificent,
And, As The Town Is Situated upon A Hill Several Hundred feet Above The
River, The Prospect Is Truly Grand.
At Every Place Where I Stopped between St. Louis And Quincy, I Always
Heard The Mormons Abused and Spoken Of As A Set Of Scoundrels, But From
Quincy To Nauvoo The Reports Were Totally Different. The Higher Or More
Enlightened classes Of The People Have Overlooked the Petty Tricks Of
The Mormon Leaders, To Watch With More Accuracy The Advance And Designs
Of Mormonism. In joe Smith They Recognize A Great Man, A Man Of Will And
Energy, One Who Has The Power Of Carrying Everything Before Him, And
They Fear Him Accordingly.
On Leaving Quincy, I Travelled about Seventy Miles Through A Country
Entirely Flat, But Admirably Cultivated. I Passed through Several Little
Villages And At Noon Of The Second Day I Reached my Destination.
Chapter XLIINauvoo, The Holy City Of The Mormons, And Present Capital Of Their
Empire, Is Situated in the North-Western Part Of Illinois, On The East
Bank Of The Mississippi, In lat. 40 Deg. 35' N.; It Is Bounded on The North,
South, And West By The River, Which There Forms A Large Curve, And Is
Nearly Two Miles Wide. Eastward Of The City Is A Beautiful Undulating
Prairie; It Is Distant Ten Miles From Fort Madison, In iowa, And More
Than Two Hundred from St. Louis.
Before The Mormons Gathered there, The Place Was Named _Commerce_, As I
Have Already Said, And Was But A Small And Obscure Village Of Some
Twenty Houses; So Rapidly, However, Have They Accumulated, That There
Are Now, Within Four Years Of Their First Settlement, Upwards Of Fifteen
Thousand Inhabitants In the City, And As Many More In its
Immediate Vicinity.
The Surface Of The Ground Upon Which Nauvoo Is Built Is Very Uneven,
Though There Are No Great Elevations. A Few Feet Below The Soil Is A
Vast Bed of Limestone, From Which Excellent Building Material Can Be
Quarried, To Almost Any Extent. A Number Of _Tumuli_, Or Ancient Mounds,
Are Found Within The Limits Of The City, Proving It To Have Been A
Place Of Some Importance With The Former Inhabitants Of The Country.
The Space Comprised within The City Limits Is About Four Miles In its
Extreme Length, And Three In its Breadth; But Is Very Irregular In its
Outline, And Does Not Cover So Much Ground As The Above Measurement
Would Seem To Indicate.
The City Is Regularly Laid Out, The Streets Crossing Each Other At Right
Angles, And Generally Of Considerable Length, And Of Convenient Width.
The Majority Of The Houses Are Still Nothing More Than Log Cabins, But
Lately A Great Number Of Plank And Brick Houses Have Been Erected. The
Chief Edifices Of Nauvoo Are The Temple, And An Hotel, Called the Nauvoo
House, But Neither Of Them Is Yet Finished; The Latter Is Of Brick, Upon
A Stone Foundation, And Presents A Front Of One Hundred and Twenty Feet,
By Sixty Feet Deep, And Is To Be Three Stories High, Exclusive Of The
Basement. Although Intended chiefly For The Reception And Entertainment
Of Strangers And Travellers, It Contains, Or Rather Will Contain, A
Splendid Suite Of Apartments For The Particular Accommodation Of The
Prophet Joe Smith, And His Heirs And Descendants For Ever.
The Privilege Of This Accommodation He Pretends Was Granted to Him By
The Lord, In a Special Revelation, On Account Of His Services To The
Church. It Is Most Extraordinary That The Americans, Imbued with
Democratic Sentiments And With Such An Utter Aversion To Hereditary
Privileges Of Any Kind, Could For A Moment Be Blinded to The Selfishness
Of The Prophet, Who Thus Easily Provided for Himself And His Posterity A
Palace And A Maintenance.
The Mormon Temple Is A Splendid Structure Of Stone, Quarried within The
Bounds Of The City; Its Breadth Is Eighty Feet, And Its Length One
Hundred and Forty, Independent Of An Outer Court Of Thirty Feet, Making
The Length Of The Whole Structure One Hundred and Seventy Feet. In the
Basement Of The Temple Is The Baptismal Font, Constructed in imitation
Of The Famous Brazen Sea Of Solomon; It Is Supported by Twelve Oxen,
Well Modelled and Overlaid With Gold. Upon The Sides Of The Font, In
Panels, Are Represented various Scriptural Subjects, Well Painted. The
Upper Story Of The Temple Will, When Finished, Be Used as A Lodge-Room
For The Order Lodge And Other Secret Societies. In the Body Of The
Temple, Where It Is Intended that The Congregation Shall Assemble, Are
Two Sets Of Pulpits, One For The Priesthood, And The Other For The
Grandees Of The Church.
The Cost Of This Noble Edifice Had Been Defrayed by Tithing The Whole
Mormon Church. Those Who Reside At Nauvoo And Are Able To Labour, Have
Been Obliged to Work Every Tenth Day In quarrying Stone, Or Upon The
Building Of The Temple Itself. Besides The Temple, There Are In nauvoo
Two Steam Saw-Mills, A Steam Flour-Mill, A Tool-Factory On A Large
Scale, A Foundry, And A Company Of Considerable Wealth, From
Staffordshire, Have Also Established there A Manufacture Of
English China.
The Population Of The Holy City Itself Is Rather A Mixed kind. The
General Gathering Of The Saints Has, Of Course, Brought Together Men Of
All Classes And Characters. The Great Majority Of Them Are Uneducated
And Unpolished people, Who Are Undoubtedly Sincere Believers In the
Prophet And His Doctrines. A Great Proportion Of Them Consist Of
Converts From The English Manufacturing Districts, Who Were Easily
Persuaded by Smith'S Missionaries To Exchange Their Wretchedness At Home
For Ease And Plenty In the Promised land. These Men Are Devotedly
Attached to The Prophet'S Will, And Obey His Orders As They Would Those
Of God Himself.
These Aliens Can, By The Law Of Illinois, Vote After Six Months'
Residence In the State, And They Consequently Vote Blindly, Giving Their
Votes According To The Will Of Joe Smith. To Such An Extent Does His
Will Influence Them, That At The Election In nauvoo (1842) There Were
But Six Votes Against The Candidates He Supported. Of The Mormons, I
Believe The Majority To Be Ignorant, Deluded men, Really And Earnestly
Devoted to Their New Religion. But Their Leaders Are Men Of Intellect,
Who Profess Mormonism Because Of The Wealth, Titles[30], Rank, And Power
Which It Procures Them.
[Footnote 30: As I Have Mentioned the Word _Titles_, I Must Make Myself
Understood. There Are Certain Classes Of Individuals In the United
States Who, By Their Own Fortune, Education, And Social Position, Could
Not Be Easily Brought Over To Mormonism. Joe Smith, As A Founder Of A
Sect, Has Not Only Proved himself A Great Man, But That He Perfectly
Understands His Countrymen, And, Above All, Their Greediness For Any
Kind Of Distinction Which Can Nominally Raise Them Above The Common
Herd, For It Is A Fact That No People Hate The Word Equality More Than
The American. Joe Smith Has Instituted titles, Dignities, And Offices
Corresponding To Those Of The Governments In the Old World. He Has Not
Yet Dared to Make Himself A King, But He Has Created a Nobility That
Will Support Him When He Thinks Proper To Assume The Sovereign Title.
Thus He Has Selected individuals Expressly To Take Care Of The Church;
These Form The Order Of The Templars, With Their Grand Masters, &C., &C.
He Has Organised a Band Of Soldiers, Called _Danites_, A Sacred
Battalion--The _Celeres_ Of Romulus--These Are All
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