AND ITS DELTA. 175 



subsequent hot sun-shine, it frequently becomes so firm and un- 

 yielding, after the crop has been planted, that no mode 

 of cultivation can be conveniently applied, but barely scratch- 

 ing the surface with the hoe ; yet this became with the French 

 indigo planters a favourite soil; although less productive, it is 

 more easily kept clear of weeds, the compacted soil refusing 

 a passage to their tender fibrous roots, while the vigorous tap- 

 root of the indigo plant conquers the obstinacy of the subja- 

 cent stratum. From the river bank a natural glacis is formed, 

 whose declivity at New-Orleans may be at the rate of 6 or 8 

 inches in 100 feet, to the distance of 6 or 700 toises, diminish- 

 ing, after which the descent becomes almost imperceptible, and 

 is gradually lost in swamps, marshes and lakes, which finally 

 communicate with the sea. 



This peculiar structure of the lands formed by the operation 

 of the great river itself, has pointed out to the ingenuity of man, 

 a simple and natural mode of defending his plantation against 

 the encroachments of the inundation : he commences by form- 

 ing an embankment near the margin of the river, elevated 

 above the highest waters and of sufficient strength to resist their 

 pressure ; he is now protected from the direct influx of the Missis- 

 sippi, but the transudation from the river is so considerable, that 

 his plantation would be no better than a quag-mire; he is there- 

 fore under the necessity of establishing a regular system of ditches 

 crossing each other at right angles, by which the soil is com- 

 pletely drained and placed in the most favorable situation to dis- 

 play the wonders of its inexhaustible fertility. — Within the Mis- 

 sissippi territory a vast body of alluvial land exists, but the scheme 

 of draining by cross ditches would produce here no beneficial 

 effect, because the waters lind no means of escaping in the rear, 

 but being hemmed in by the high land, would at length ac- 

 cumulate so as to produce an immense bason, bordered by the 

 embankment on one hand, and by the high land on the other: 

 although no successful attempt is likely to be made in our day, 

 yet posterity will reclaim those lands: when the industry of a 

 full population, shall have stamped an intrinsic value upon the 

 soil of our country, the ingenuity of man will discover a reme- 

 dy; probably the steam engine so highly improved of late years 



