Bringier on the Region of the Mississippi, &c. 17 
the St. Francis, or 7 miles below, although the grand val- 
ley is intersected several times below the St. Francis, by 
Drift Wood. 
Before I speak of that immense valley, which covers an 
area of upwards of thirty-five thousand miles,* of which 
one-third belongs to the territory of Missouri, I must re- 
mark that, by what has been exposed of the Mississippi 
river, it is evident that whatever once escaped from. its 
banks, never returns to them again; hence, we could form 
an idea of the enormous beds of timber, leaves, and other 
substances, which are assembled below the surface of the 
valley mentioned above, provided we could know how long 
the Mississippi has been floating them into the lower coun- 
try. This inference we might (paisa upon the quantity that 
€ see going, without interruption, into the Achafalaya, 
where several hundred miles are converted into solid rafts 
_* The bed of the Mississippi occupied formerly, the actual bed of St. 
and the hills at the mouth of this river, then were at gett hed 
much water, as what empties itself out of the mouth of the river, This 
causes the mouth of this river to be so narrow in proportion to the extent 
_ ef its dimensions. rE 
Vor. HL....No. 1. 3 
