ALLIGATOKS OF LOUISIANA AND TEXAS. 269 



forest which it has torn up in its passage, and which 

 dance upon it as if they were so many straws. Some- 

 times these collect together in a bend of the river, 

 and becoming interlaced, pass by the name of rafts, 

 'others get fixed into the bottom and, under the 

 name of " snags," are among the most formidable 

 perils of river navigation in America. 



The extent of the Mississippi surpasses all belief. 

 It rises in the regions of sempiternal snow, and flows 

 into lands where the heat is almost unbearable. It 

 passes through every variety of climate, ajid receives 

 as mere tributaries those four great rivers — the Ar- 

 kansas, the Ked River, the Ohio and the Missouri, 

 the length of which, and of their numerous affluents, 

 amount altogether to more than three thousand 

 miles. All these mighty masses of water are re- 

 ceived into the Gulf of Mexico, through the dozen 

 outlets which form the mouths of the Mississippi, 

 three of which are deep enough to float ships of the 

 line. 



One morning I was travelling down the Missis- 

 sippi, from Natchez to Baton Rouge, on board one 

 of those floating mansions which they call steam- 

 boats, when, just as we were approaching the Red 

 River, my eyes fell upon the first alligator I had 

 ever seen in my life. Contrary to the habit of these 

 creatures, he looked very clean, and was running 

 along a sand-bank in the sun, as if to dry his scaly 

 hide. 



