AND ITS DELTA. 173 



jecting more or less into the ocean; this last mentioned opera- 

 tion of nature points out the method of improving the naviga-» 

 tion of the entrance of the Mississippi, which may be effected 

 at no very considerable expense by carrying out a pier on 

 each side of the principal branch, composed of piies, so far as 

 may be found sufficient to procure the desired depth; the bar 

 will thereby be thrown into deeper water, and in process 

 of time will accumulate and ascend to its former height, 

 which will demand a new prolongation of the piers. Every 

 small rivulet passing through lower Louisiana is a miniature of 

 the Mississippi; what may be performed upon a small scale in 

 respect to the latter, will certainly succeed (by well directed 

 efforts) on the former. — The river St. John's, 60 to 80 feet 

 wide, entering lake Pontchartrain to the north of New-Orleans, 

 was found frequently so choaked up and impeded by a bar 

 across its mouth, that canoes could sometimes with difficulty 

 enter; sloops and batteaux' being obliged at such times to re- 

 main in the lake exposed to danger; the government directed 

 two very simple piers, each composed of a double row of round 

 rough piles, to be carried from the shore across the bar, and 

 although the piers were pervious to the water, yet so much 

 velocity was acquired, that the bar was very speedily swept off, 

 and the river has always since remained navigable for small 

 sloops and schooners, which proceed up to the city by the 

 river and canal of Carondelet. 



The depth of the river diminishes considerably as we advance 

 upwards ; probably owing to the increased tenacity of the mat- 

 ter forming its bed; at Natchez, when the waters are low, it 

 is about 12 fathoms, and there are situations below the Ohio, 

 where the ordinary boats have been embarrassed to find a pas- 

 sage both upwards and downwards; a moderate fresh never- 

 theless renders the Mississippi navigable up to the falls of St. 

 Anthony, about 2000 miles from its mouth. The breadth of 

 the river appears to be upon the increase upwards, in propor- 

 tion as we get above the alluvial country, as high as the Mis- 

 souri, notwithstanding the loss of a number of principal rivers 

 which flow in below; in latitude 42 u . it is said to be half a 



