SG8 THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. 



** The only veg( tation on these narrow humid 

 coasts is that of the wild sugarcane; trees cannot 

 as yet find any hold for their roots. The first tree 

 to be found is a poor stunted willow, which has 

 managed to drag out a miserable existence on the 

 first sufiiciently elevated mound of earth to be found — 

 namely, one situated about twenty-four miles from 

 the mouth of the river. A few hundred yards 

 farther up, a little group of two or three more 

 healthy-looking willows have managed to plant 

 themselves; still farther, the clusters of willows 

 become more frequent : at last they grow in con- 

 tinuous clumps, and, intermingling their foliage, 

 form a curtain of pale-green, which hides the sea 

 from the traveller, and gives a more continental 

 appearance to the country."* 



4. Rapid growth of the Deltas of the Po and of the Mississippi — 

 Delta of the Nile eulurged by Seven Miles duiing the Historic 

 Period— The Ehone. 



Dry land is being continuously extended seaward at 



mouths of rivers which have formed deltas. As 



the older channels get gradually choked up, a time 



comes when only one remains, which divides again 



into several branches nearer the sea. At the same 



 Extracted from " A Voyage to New Orleans," by M. Reclus. 



