This
apprehension was, however, soon dissipated by the report of the
carpenter, whose account of the damage was so far favourable, that after
extrication by backing the vessel, and a few temporary repairs, she was
again got under headway.
The pellucid waters of the Ohio, as they enter the turbid rushing
current of the Mississippi, which is swollen by the Illinois and other
tributaries, has a remarkable effect, the clear current of the former
river refusing, for a considerable distance, to mingle with the murky
stream of the latter, and forming a visible blue channel in its
centre--a phenomenon I thought allegorical of the slave-stained
condition of the one state, and the free soil of the other, for while
Ohio is free from the curse of slavery, the banks of the Mississippi
have for centuries been deep dyed in the life's blood of the oppressed
African.
Our vessel was borne on the rushing waters with great impetuosity, the
maddening current of the Mississippi seeming to carry everything before
it. As we proceeded we constantly saw trees topple over into the river,
the banks of which are continually widening, and which in many parts has
the appearance of a lake after a storm, impregnated with debris.
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