SAILING UF THE MISSISSIPPI. 3G7 



*'A light wind blew from the south, and our 

 japtain wished to profit by it and sail up the river. 

 Unhappily, the river winds in the most distressing 

 manner, and the sailors were obliged to tack about 

 continually, to furl and unfurl only to furl again. 

 They could scarcely use their hands for fatigue when 

 the ship considerately stuck in the soft mud of the 

 bank. Towards evening a tug came and pulled us 

 out of our ridiculous position. Thanks to this power- 

 ful aid, we arrived in less than an hour at the point 

 where the river divides into several distinct channelsL 

 In the last hundred miles of its course the Missis- 

 sippi seemed to me like a gigantic arm stretching 

 out into the sea, with its fingers spread out on the 

 surface of the water. To the west extends the Gulf 

 of Barataria ; to the east is another gulf, known as 

 Lake Borgue ; to the south, between each of its 

 channels, a little marine gulf also flows, so that the 

 whole land-surface consists of narrow strips of coast- 

 line, ceaselessly demolished by the waves, ceaselessly 

 renewed by deposition from the river. In some 

 places the bank is so little elevated above the sea- 

 level that the waves almost flow over into the Mis- 

 sissippi ; and if the roots of the rushes did not bind 

 the soil together with their tenacious hold, the beach 

 would soon break down, and a new channel be made 

 for the * Father of Yellow Waters.' 



