23 



Iccads into a series of shallow bays iu the marsli east of Charlie's 

 Bay, where its identity becomes lost in a maze of small bayous 

 and lakes. The other branch continues in an easterly direction 

 to the southwest corner of Bay Des Mangles. In the lower 

 part of the Bayou the depth of the water is from twelve t.) 

 twent}' feet, but the channel is yenerally vrey narrow, the greater 

 part of the width of the bayou being taken up by nuid flats. 

 There are oyster reefs in the upper part of the prong going to 

 Pelican Lake, but all of the good oysters were found on one 

 reef at the junction with the main bayou. The bottom in this 

 part of the bayou is composed of firm, sticky m.ud, in the chan- 

 nel, and of very soft mud on the flats. Farther up in the 

 easterly branch of this bayou, there are considerable areas of 

 hard bottom, and several productive reefs Avhere some very 

 good oysters were found. The bottom was firmer than in the 

 lower part of the bayou and the mud flats were of comparatively 

 less extent. 



In all parts of the bayou the average salinity of the water 

 was 1.0154, and the salinity was very slightly influenced by the 

 freshets. The supply of food organisms in the water was always 

 large and well distributed. 



At the head of the northerly branch of the bayou there is 

 a good-sized bay (Bay Go to Hell ?). The water in this bay is 

 from three to five feet deep, except near the nimierous passes 

 or bayous on the north side, where a depth of from ten to 

 eighteen feet is found. 



The bottom is soft over the greater part of the bay, and n) 

 cyster reefs of any importance Avere found, although there were 

 many bunches of coon oysters scattered along in the shallow 

 water near the shore. To the north of the bay just mentioned, 

 the marsh is cut up by" a great many small bayous and lakes. 

 Most of the lakes are only shallow expanded portions of tlic 

 bayous and usually cover an area of only a few acres. All 

 of these lakes which we visited were from two to four feet deep, 

 and the bottoms were composed of very soft mud. The bayous, 

 or passes, were deep, Avith few exceptions, and the bottoms com- 

 paratively firm, being made up of sticky mud. Few oysters 

 were found in any of these bodies of water; but some of them 

 from tlio decjjer bayous were of good size and excellent condition. 



