INVESTIGATIONS IN MISSISSIPPI, LOUISIANA, AND TEXAS. 201 



is, in some respects, a peculiar stream. It lias its sources in Avoyelles 

 and Pointe Coupee parishes, near where the Ked Kiver Joins the Missis- 

 sippi, ami is at all seasons more or less connected with both of those 

 rivers by a number of anastomosing channels and bayous. The Atcha- 

 falaya River is, in fact as well as historically, one of the mouths of the 

 Mississippi Kiver, and during the floods which come i^eriodically to 

 that region a vast amount of the surplus water of the Mississippi and 

 Ked rivers is carried to the Gulf by the Atchafalaya. 



The distance from the sources of the Atchafalaya River in a straight 

 lino to its mouth (about 90 miles southwest of New Orleans) is about 

 11*5 miles. The river is, however, very sinuous in its course, and its 

 actual length is therefore many miles greater. The general course is 

 a few degrees east of south, and forms a narrow angle with that of the 

 Mississippi. The country through which the river flows is very low 

 and level, often lower than the river itself, and made up for the most 

 part of cypress swamps. The highest land is in many places the imme- 

 diate banks of the river. These swamps are reticulated and intersected 

 by a very complex and intricate network of bayous and lakes, all com- 

 paratively shallow except during the time of floods, when they become 

 passable for the pirogue of the fisherman and the swamper, and the 

 tugboats of the fish companies at Morgan City and Melville. During 

 excessive floods, such as that of April and May, 1897, practically the 

 entire country north of Morgan City is inundated. To provide against 

 such conditions many of the natives live in house-boats. All of the 

 residences built upon the ground are two stories high, and the people 

 hold themselves in readiness to vacate the ground floor and betake 

 themselves and remove their household goods to the second story 

 whenever the flood comes. Every family possesses one or more boats, 

 which are an absolute essential in that country. Bee-culture is of some 

 importance in this part of Louisiana, and it was noticed that the bee- 

 hives in all the apiaries seen were placed upon scafiblding or posts 

 which raised them several feet above the surface of the ground. Such 

 live-stock as chickens, pigs, and goats are also i)rotected from the 

 flood by placing them upon similar platforms. Ducks and geese are 

 the only possessions which do not cause some trouble or anxiety during 

 the times of flood. 



The majority of the people of this region are either swampers or 

 fishermen, or both. The cutting of the cypress timber for commercial 

 puri)oses and getting the logs out into the river, so that they may be 

 gotten to the mills, is called "swamping," and those who engage in it 

 are termed "swampers." The cypress trees are cut into logs, which 

 are dragged over the ground or pulled through the water to the nearest 

 float road, by means of which it is easy to float them to the river, in 

 which they may be rafted or otherwise taken to the sawmills. A 

 "float road" is made by cutting away all the trees and bushes in 

 various places through the swamps where roads are desired, and when 

 the flood comes these become open waterways, through which the 



