3GG Tim BOTTOM OF THE SFA. 



another village founded by French colonists on the 

 shore of the south-east channel ; but since the south- 

 west channel has become the principal entiaiice to the 

 Mississippi, the pilots have at one and the same time 

 carried their industry and the name to this miserable 

 town. Certainly few places on the earth have a 

 more wretched appearance ; the narrow slip of earth 

 on which the houses stand is at once the shore of the 

 river and of the sea. The waves of the one and the 

 floods of the other cover it in turn, and mingle to- 

 gether in a labyrinth of slimy and offensive ditches : 

 wherever a little solid earth permits the plants to 

 take hold, there will be found an impenetrable 

 jungle of wild sugarcane and rushes. The wooden 

 cabins are constructed with extreme lightness, so 

 that they may not sink in the soft soil, and to keep 

 them as dry as possible they are perched on the top 

 of piles like stilts. Moreover, in heavy gales, when 

 the waves rush over the bank into the river one 

 after another, the houses of Balize might easily be 

 swept away if they were not anchored like ships ; 

 sometimes, indeed, the village does drag its anchor. 

 The miasma which encircles the town of Balize is 

 the everlasting source of fever and death, and yet 

 four hundred Americans courageously face these 

 dangers, and draw what profit they can from the 

 succour afforded to vessels in distress. 



