THE INANIMATE ENEMIES OF THE FOREST. 69 



Lyell, in his " Principles of Geology," * on page 

 440, speaks thus of the rafts in the Mississippi : 



" One of the most interesting features in the great rivers of 

 this part of America is the frequent accumulation of what 

 are termed ' rafts/ or masses of floating trees, which have 

 been arrested in their progress by snags, islands, shoals, or 

 other obstructions, and made to accumulate, so as to form 

 natural bridges across the stream. One of the largest of these 

 was called the raft of the Atchafalaya, an arm of the Missis- 

 sippi, which branches off a short distance below its junction 

 with the Red Eiver. The Atchafalaya, being in a direct line 

 with the general direction of the Mississippi, catches a large 

 portion of the timber annually brought down from the north ; 

 and the drift trees collected in about thirty-eight years previ- 

 ous to 1816 formed a continuous raft, no less than ten miles in 

 length, two hundred and twenty yards wide, and eight feet 

 deep. The whole rose and fell with the water, yet was covered 

 with green bushes and trees, and its surface enlivened in the 

 autumn by a variety of beautiful flowers. It went on in- 

 creasing till about 1835, when some of the trees upon it had 

 grown to the height of about sixty feet. Steps were then taken 

 by the State of Louisiana to clear away the whole raft and 

 open the navigation, which was effected, not without great 

 labor, in the space of four years." 



Dana, in his " Manual of Geology," f on page 



* " Principles of Geology," by Charles Lyell. London : 

 Murray, 1872. Pp. 671. 

 f Reprinted, by permission, from a "Manual of Geology," 



