"SNAGS." 545 



In former days, when the river was margined by 

 primeval forests, gigantic trees used frequently to become 

 undermined by the falling of the banks, and as these 

 fell into the river they became engulfed by the stream 

 by which in a short time they were completely stripped 

 of their leaves and branches, and often lay entirely 

 covered by water, with their heads pointing down 

 stream, like so many lances poised to impale unwary 

 steamboats. 



When a steamer ran against one of these snags 

 the point at once penetrated the lightly built wooden 

 hull, and the pressure of the swiftly on-rushing steamer 

 caused the snag to rise up as she came on to it, until 

 the whole fabric of the vessel was sometimes com- 

 pletely transfixed, as a lance will impale a man. The 

 ragged stem of a gigantic pine, forced through the 

 bottom of the vessel by the momentum of a powerful 

 steamboat, which often came crashing with deadly 

 force through state rooms and cabins, crowded with 

 passengers, as may be supposed proved a terribly 

 destructive agent, and immense numbers of Mississippi 

 steamboats have from time to time been destroyed by 

 such accidents. Heavily laden boats transfixed in this 

 way generally quickly sank, and great loss of life 

 from drowning was of frequent occurrence, in addition 

 to numerous and severe personal injuries to people on 

 board the unlucky boats. As the water is too thick 

 to be able to see anything submerged beneath it, it 

 was often very hard to detect the presence of a snag, 

 until the vessel actually struck upon it. The pilots 

 however, who are always perched high above the water 

 in pilot-houses erected for this special purpose, were 

 very quick and clever at detecting indications of danger. 



VOL. II. 35 



