mJD OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 363 



are thus heaped up into islands or new shores ; or 

 perhaps, carried away by the current of Florida, are 

 deposited a thousand leagues farther off, on the 

 Banks of Newfoundland. 



" Towards daybreak the captain thought of a 

 means of getthig off the mud-bank, and sent one ot 

 our boats to the mouth of the river to find a pilot. 

 Some miles ahead a long thin black line seemed to 

 jut out into the sea, like an immense mole ; beyond 

 this dark line the river was distinguishable like a 

 broad silver ribbon; farther, another black line, 

 parallel to the first, was visible; and still beyond 

 this might be seen the blue sea-waters stretching to 

 the horizon. The Mississippi appeared to us like a 

 canal carried right out into the sea between two 

 long jetties, and the forty or fifty sail, just apparent 

 against the sky, rendered the resemblance still more 

 remarkable: such a spectacle will one day be pre- 

 sented, on a smaller scale, by the Suez Canal pro- 

 jecting into the waters of the Mediterranean. 



" When we approached the mouth of the river the 

 tug slackened speed, for caution was necessary in 

 entering the buoyed channels which lead to the 

 entrance of the river: these passes are very dan- 

 serous because the currents, both of river and tide, 

 cause the depth to vary. Ordinarily, the islands 

 formed by the subsidence of the suspended matter 



