Others terminate in
round grassy knobs, with oaks dispersed about the sides. The name is
supposed to have been taken from this feature.[44] Generally speaking,
the country has a bald and barren aspect. Not a tree has apparently been
cut upon its banks, and not a village is seen to relieve the tedium of
an unimproved wilderness. The huts of an Indian locality seem "at random
cast." I have already said these conical and angular hills present
masses of white sandstone, whereever they are precipitous. The river
itself is almost a moving mass of white and yellow sand, broad, clear,
shallow, and abounding in small woody islands, and willowy sandbars.
[Footnote 44: _Sin_, the terminal syllable, is clearly from the
Algonquin, _Os-sin_, a stone. The French added the letter _g_, which is
the regular _local_ form of the word, agreeably to the true Indian.]
While making these notes I have been compelled to hold my book, pencil
and umbrella, the latter being indispensable to keep off the almost
tropical fervor of the sun's rays.
Pages:
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507