THE b\VAMl>S OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 53 



The appearances, then, which the lowlands of the Mississippi present are 

 innumerable openings from the river, called Byous ; these sluggish waters, 

 it is said, often extend back in many places for upwards of a hundred miles, 

 and lie covered with a greenish shine until they are evaporated back to the 

 clouds by the heat of the sun. 



A description, of which I once took a note, conveys my idea most accu- , 

 rately of what they are ; and this description I will quote here, with some 

 little alteration, which I hope will not affect a picture that I consider has 

 been so faithfully expressed. 



" Nothing in reality or imagination," says the writer, " can exceed the 

 unusual scenes to which these dead waters open; a filthy stench arises 

 incessantly to fill the aii- with pestilence ; huge, uncouth alligators lazily 

 float upon the surface, or bask in the sun, above the mashed prairie cane, 

 reeds, and sword grass, which form innumerable small islands within these 

 lagoons ; unclean fish tamely lie in the depths, and enormous mud turtles 

 (Testudo Caretla) can be seen slowly disappearing amongst the I'&nk materielle ; 

 mottled snakes dart across the floating and vegetating green; mammoth bull 

 frogs utter their unearthly croakings from the fallen trees ; and, where the 

 soil rises with sufficient adhesion, the funereal cj'^press rears its death- 

 associating trunk, and hangs its bows with the sombre weeds of crapy moss ; 

 unknown vegetation starts up from mud and atmosphere, and increases to a 

 rankness which tells of death and dissolution. Approach the shore, and the 

 mocassin snake lies coiled at your feet ; clouds of mosquitoes blacken the 

 air and fix upon you ; sjiiders, with bodies as big as wallnuts, red, yellow, 

 and brown, draw their cords from tree to tree ; a death-like stillness reigns, 

 only to be broken by such noises as one hears with a distempered brain. 

 Here is also the retreat of the Turkey Buzzard, which comes to digest the 

 offal he has gathered from afar ; the screeching of the owl, as he sneaks from 

 his gloomy retreat, accompanied by the whirring and whizzing of myriads of 

 bugs and beetles, adds to the horrible eff'ect of this polluted region : the 

 scene might with truth be more highly coloured. Old Charon's craft was a 

 pleasure boat, and his passengers were favoured with excursions of cool 

 summer's sailing, in comparison with what is experienced here." There is 

 one thing I consider much out of place, and that is a large, delicate white 

 flower, like the water lilies of our ponds, but neai'ly the size of a hat crown ; 

 the stems grow from the bottom oftentimes ten or fifteen feet from the 

 surface, and spread their broad leaves and open their pure white petals upon 

 the water's surface. And the necessity of drinking such water as these 

 lagoons contain, in the absence of any of better quality, poisons the blood, 

 and prepares the system for the scourge of yellow fever, from which there is 

 so little chance of escape. If there are parts of the earth yet unfitted for 

 the residence of man, but undergoing a gradual transformation, this is cer- 

 tainly one of them. And few other situations, in my opinion, are better 



