took him for a deer. On the 12th of August they landed at Clarke's camp, and the way-worn travelers surrounded the camp-fires and told the story of their adventures. Turn we now to the history of Capt. Clarke's journey. On taking leave of Capt. Lewis, Capt. Clarke ascended the west bank of Clarke's river, through a long and beautiful valley, diversified by gentle eminences, undulatory plains and broad vistas, intersected by sparkling streams, and shut in by mountain barriers, wearing upon their brows a glittering coronet of snow. Crossing the stream they passed over to the east branch, which they pursued to the vicinity of its sources, and then diverged to the dividing chain between the waters of the Clarke and the Missouri, surrounded as far as the eye could penetrate by endless ranges of mountains piled in enormous masses, until their remotest pinnacles melted into the skies. Descending the eastern slope of this ridge, they struck a branch of Wisdom river, and followed it to the Jefferson, cutting their way through thickets and vines and matted shrubbery. Raising the hidden canoes, they descended the Jefferson some distance in them, and leaving Sergeant Ordway with some men to go on with the canoes, Capt. Clarke turned southward through a gap in the mountains, towards the Gallatin. Here a sudden hurricane arose, and the party were compelled to huddle and cling together to resist the fury of the storm. It was, indeed, as if the Master had raised his hands from the reins and left the wild elements to work their will for a time. As the tempest passed on, the roaring of distant winds-the moaning and creaking of swaying trees-the murmuring of rolling streams-the wild dashing of snow-white cascades-the heavy booming of something resembling distant ordnance, and the furious tumbling of detached rocks, madly leaping from the mountain's brow-impressed the mind with deep solemnity and awe. But the wild winds have swept away the last vestige of the dark pall of clouds, and a sound is heard which awakens delightful associations. It is the lowing of the stag and the buffalo to their companions. The long herds move out from beneath the shelving rocks. The moose deer, whose nice ear distinguishes the minutest variations of sound, gives warning of approaching danger-he has snuffed the tainted breeze-he has recognised the hunter foe-and, in an instant, he wildly leaps from ridge to ridge. Bands of mountain sheep are seen bounding over the sunny slopes-the solitary goat is poised upon the precipice, gazing at the scene beneath, and wondering at the sudden confusion-the delicious songs of a thousand birds enliven every thicket-and hark! the wild scream of the eagle as he launches from his eyrie in the clouds, strikes a sudden panic into the sweet choristers, and they are suddenly hushed until the sweeping sounds of the enemy's pinions have passed away, and they again renew their melody. From the valley of the Gallatin, Capt. Clarke pursued his course, winding through fertile vallies, passing over upland slopes, and around projecting spurs, until passing through another gap he issued into the valley of the Yellow Stone. The whole route is represented as sufficiently good to be passed with wagons, by a little improvement; and, it passes through numerous coves and vales eminently fertile and beautiful, and abounding in game and presenting scenes of amenity and loveliness which admirably contrast with the rugged, precipitous, and snowy heights by which they are circumvallated. Descending the Yellow Stone for some days' journey, canoes were constructed in which the party floated downward to its confluence with the Missouri. The valley of this stream was found to be spacious, fertile, and salubrious--the streams are fringed with trees, from whence the valley expands many miles to the mountains. The traveler can almost ima.gine himself upon the Danube, for the valley is sprinkled over at long intervals with cyclopean structures of granite, closely assimilated in appearance to the stern and solitary castles with which Europe was covered and guarded during the middle ages. But these structures exceed those of Europe in magnitude and grandeur, and the woods and waters are disposed with a taste and beauty which the highest art must ever toil after in vain. A rich girdle of heights and mountains encircle this charming valley, the bases and dark sides of which are shrouded in shrubs, and the summits tufted with noble forest trees. The party were so much annoyed by musquitos at the mouth of this river, where they had appointed to await Capt. Lewis, that leaving a note for him, they ascended some days to a more favorable camping ground, and here, as we have seen, the true-hearted friends were once more united. On the 13th of August the whole party commenced the descent of the river, accompanied by "Big White," a Mandan chief, who had agreed to go with them to see his great father, the President. In a few days one of the men, named Cotter, solicited permission to join some trappers, with whom they had met a week previous. As he had been a faithful hand, his suit was favorably answered. This is an instance out of thousands, illustrative of the facility with which civilized men slide into the habits of savage life, and contract a passionate love for a course of life, which of all others, would seem to offer the fewest inducements to a rational being. We shall have occasion to recur to the trials and sufferings of this man hereafter. Our party, on their return, found wars in existence between the Minnatarees and Shoshones--the former and the Arricarras--and a war threatened between the Mandans and Arricarras. The passion of these fractious bands for war is at all times easily kindled into a flame, and a twelvemonth without a war would be a period of as much stupidity with them as we imagine a like time without religious festivals would be with the Italians. Fort Mandan, which they had built on their outward trip, had been accidentally destroyed by fire. A day or two after, some traders were met with, ascending the river, by whom they were informed that seven hundred Sioux had passed the Arricarra villages on their way to attack the Mandans and Minnatarees, having their women and children encamped near the Big Bend. The Arricarras had determined, for a wonder, to remain neutral in this conflict. Reaching the Arricara villages, they saluted them with four guns, and were received with great honor by the Indians-the grand chief, "Grey Eyes," being at their head. A large party of Cheyewes were on a visit to these Indians, from the head of Platte. The party visited all the Arricarra villages, receiving hospitable treatment at each. Passing the Great Bend, the party moved quietly and leisurely down the stream, now landing to gather the rich harvest of plums, buffalo berries, gooseberries, and other fruits and then to capture a buffalo cow, the richest and most delicious of meats, until the 30th of August, when they met a party of Tetons inclined to be hostile, but Capt. Clarke, crossed the river to a sand-bar, near the shore on which the Indians were assembled, and held a brief and decisive conference with them. The boldness of the Captain evidently astonished them very much---and, when on his return to the boats, the whole party steered across close to the shore on which they were assembled the "party on the hill, seemed not a little agitated." One man came near the shore and invited them to land, which they promptly declined doing, upon which he returned to the hill, and struck the earth three times with his gun, a great oath among the Indians, who consider swearing by the earth as one of the most solemn forms of imprecation. Below the Great Bend, the Yankton Sioux were again met with-a war party out in search of scalps and plunder. Our travelers, however, were kindly and cordially received by these people, and they were the last party of Indians encountered in their descent. Those below were, probably, out upon hunting or war excursions. On the 3d of September, to their great joy, they met a Mr. Airy, a trader, who had crossed the country from Prairie du Chien, and through whom they gathered much news of great interest. In a few days after, a Capt. McClelland (formerly of the army) passed them on his way to the Pawnee villages on a trading excursion. The fact should be noted, that the ultimate design of this trader was to pass over to the vicinity of Santa Fe and trade for gold dust. Whether his purpose was ever carried out we cannot say, but it is the first attempt of the kind of which we are informed. From him, our travelers learned that they had not been heard of in the United States, after they left Fort Mandan, in 1805, and that the Government and the people had long since given them up for lost. Hasting on down the river, they met successively a number of trading parties, some of whom were destined to each of the tribes upon the Missouri, the Kansas, the Platte, and the Yellow Stone. Nearly all of these parties were ascending in pirogues and canoes loaded with goods, one of them however-a party of native Canadians, was in Batteaux constructed in true Canadian style. On the 20th of September the party had the gratification of landing and receiving the hospitalities of the people of the little village of La Charette, the last white friends with whom they had parted on their outward journey; and on the 23d they fired a salute and landed at the village of St. Louis, after an entire absence of two years, three months, and nine days, during which period they had passed over a distance of more than seven thousand five hundred miles, through wild and wholly unknown regions, inhabited by roving thousands of savages treacherous, cruel and vindictive, swarming with ferocious beasts, encountering an amount of danger, privation, anxiety, suffering, and vicissitude, which rarely has fallen to the lot of those who are the first to penetrate wilderness lands. We do not feel equal to the task of placing a proper estimate upon the labors of these enterprizing travelers; nor will our space allow us to make the attempt. The journal kept by Captain Lewis, was subsequently published under the supervision of Paul Allen, Esq., of Philadelphia in two volumes octavo. The style of this journal is plain, simple, and void of all attempt at embellishment; but in it as large an amount of really valuable matter respecting the geology, botany, geography and zoology of the great west and the numerous Indian tribes from the Mississippi to the Pacific may become, conveyed in, clear, perspicuous, and unpretending style, as can be found comprised in the same space in any other work of like character. ART. III.-MELSEN'S NEW METHOD OF EXTRACTING SUGAR FROM CANE AND BEETS. THE recent discoveries of M. Melson of Belgium, relating to the manufacture of sugar from sugar-cane and beets, may, in some respects, be regarded as among the most important events of the present century. Assuming that he has accomplished all that he claims, the inquiry naturally arises, what degree of merit shall be awarded to him. whose scientific labors have doubled the products of all the capital and labor employed in producing the sugar bearing plants throughout the earth? We are not clearly informed whether the cost of manufacturing is increased or diminished by this new method of extracting the juice from the plant; but we are led to infer that something is gained in this respect also. Should this newly discovered method of extracting sugar from beets be rendered sufficiently simple to enable every farmer to make sugar for his own consumption, or for market, without the use of expensive machinery, it will open to the agriculturists of the north western states a new branch of industry that will add greatly to the prosperity of the country. We have long looked to the region of the upper Mississippi as destined to become a sugar growing district; and, we conclude that these discoveries are calculated to hasten the introduction of the beet, as one of its agricultural staples. For the more the cost of production is reduced the larger will be the cost and charges of transportation from the south, in proportion to the value, and the greater the advantages in favor of the producer in the north. To what extent these discoveries may effect the value of sugar estates in the cane growing region is difficult to foresee; but if, as we incline to believe, the consumption should increase in a ratio equal to the production, and, consequent decline in price, sugar growing in the south may continue as profitable as heretofore. The chemical agents used by Professor Melsen have been known for some time, to the learned chemists of Europe, and we are not aware that any have doubted the success of his discoveries; and hence we regard it as an established fact that all the saccharine matter contained in cane or beets is susceptible of being converted into sugar and, consequently, all that is now wanting to crown his discoveries with complete success is a practical application of the chemical agents to the details of manufacturing. EDITORS. MELSEN'S SUGAR MANUFACTURE. NEW METHOD FOR THE EXTRACTION OF SUGAR FROM SUGAR-CANE AND BEETS, FRENCH BY THOMAS G. CLEMSON. The extraordinary circumstances in which I am placed make it my duty to extract from a larger work on which I am engaged the observations most proper to give an exact idea of the researches to which I have devoted myself. Whatever may be the success of my method for the treatment of saccharine substances, I am confident that all my observations will be found exact, and their knowledge may give rise to useful reflections on the part of those occupied in manufacturing sugar, and without doubt to new practical applications in its different branches. It is a well known fact that, in healthy sugar-cane and healthy beets, all the saccharine matter may be crystalized. It is also known, that this matter may be easily extracted by means of weak alcohol, which may be afterward driven off by evaporation, and leave the sugar in pure and colorless crystals. In bitter almonds there also exists a substance which may be crystalized by the same means, without losing its purity. But the effect is entirely different when water is used in place of alcohol. This substance found in bitter almonds (amygdaline) disappears or undergoes a metamorphosis, and, by the change, various new substances are formed entirely different from the original. That water should have this effect, it is necessary that it come in contact with the air and that it should encounter and dissolve certain fermenting substances which are found in the tissue of the bitter almonds with the amygdaline. In the sugar-cane and the beets there exist also these fermenting matters, capable of transforming sugar into other substances. In order to produce their action it is necessary that they should be placed in contact with the saccharine matter by means of water, and should themselves be exposed to the air. Every one knows with what rapidity the juice of sugar-cane changes character in the warm climates where it is made; and, although this alteration is less rapid in the juice of beets, it is sufficient to create difficulty, and every means has been tried to make the manufacture as rapid as possible in order to avoid this cause of trouble and loss. For the chemist who makes any analysis, the problem of the extraction of sugar is solved by the use of alcohol. He, by this agent separates the sacccharine matter from the fermenting substances, and destroys the latter without injuring the former; thus preserving the sugar from any destructive influence. But for a large operation it is necessary that the agent should be cheap and easily managed. Alcohol is dear; its use requires the greatest precaution, and is very dangerous. Setting aside then alcohol, is it impossible for chemistry to produce a liquid which has the properties essential for this case, and which, like alcohol, will prevent all fermentation, even when exposed to the air? I think not. I do not even pretend to say that the sys |