Mayne Reid

The Boy Hunters Mayne Reid

Go with me to the great river Mississippi. It is the longest river in the world. A line that would measure it would just reach to the centre of the earth, -in other words, it is four thousand miles in length. Go with me to this majestic river. I do not wish you to travel to its source; only as far up as Point Coupée, about three hundred miles from its mouth. There we shall stop for a while-a very short while-for we have a long journey to make. Our route lies to the far west-over the great prairies of Texas; and from Point Coupée we shall take our departure. There is a village at Point Coupée-a quaint, old, French-looking village built of wood. In point of fact it is a French village; for it was one of the earliest settlements of that people, who, with the Spaniards, were the first colonists of Western America. Hence we find, to this day, French and Spanish people, with French and Spanish names and customs, all through the Mississippi valley and the regions that lie west of it.