39 



check its current, but in a moderate degree. Hence it 

 is, that almost every thing that is suspended in its 

 waters, is hurried down its stream into the gulf of 

 Mexico. 



But although this river has extended its limits a con- 

 siderable way into the gulf of Mexico, yet 1 am not 

 inclined, by any means, to admit that it has been the 

 principal cause of the alluvial district from above, and 

 below New-Orleans, to its mouth. 



If the Mississippi river has been the cause of the 

 alluvial formation through which it runs, as is believ- 

 ed by some, to what source shall we look for the 

 cause of nearly the same extent of alluvial district, 

 between it and East Florida ? Or, between East Flo- 

 rida and Cape Hatteras ? Or in fact, that which lies 

 each side of the Chesapeake bay; every inch of which 

 is surrounded by an alluvial district? Not certainly, 

 to successive layers of alluvion, brought down by those 

 rivers, and deposited over its entire surface ; for it will 

 be admitted on all hands, that the alluvial district on 

 the Atlantic coast has not, in all probability, been 

 overflowed, either by the sea, or rivers, since the sub- 

 sidence of the general deluge.* 



* Baron de Tott in speaking of the Delta of the Nile, observes, 

 u It is proper to observe, that the Delta, more elevated than the 

 rest of Egypt, is bounded towards the sea by a forest of Palm trees, 

 called the forest of Beleros, the land of which is much higher than 

 the highest rising of the waters ; and this topographical remark is 

 sufficient to destroy the system of the formation of the Delta by a 

 sediment. A country, which is higher than the greatest inunda- 

 dations, can never owe to them its origin." Vol. II. part 2, p. 32. 



