360 THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. 



seem wearied, as of a long journey — then appear to 

 leave with regret the land which they have fertilised ; 

 they follow a thousand capricious courses, separating 

 only to come together again ; they heap up sand 

 and mud, as if to reproduce at the last moment the 

 mountains which they have destroyed in their force. 

 But, alas! they have no longer that power which 

 the suddenness of their descent had before conferred 

 on them, and they still labour to diminish it after 

 it has already become almost insensible. It is thus 

 also that the greatest efforts of man may only serve 

 to paralyse his powers, when he works without the 

 enlightenment of real knowledge ! 



3. Description of the Delta of the Mississippi — A Village at Anchoi 

 — Ships lost in the Sand and Mud of the Eiver. 



The Mississippi is elevated nearly twelve feet 

 above the plain about a mile and a half from its 

 banks. The main stream therefore has acquired a 

 tendency to send its ramifications right and left, 

 which soon become the subject of similar phenomena. 



The continual deposition of soil along the banks 

 of the river raises its bed above that of the neigh 

 bouring plains, and it therefore runs along the 

 summit of a low hill. If the waters overflow, they 

 spread on both sides of the hill, and are never able 



