357 



vial district has been formed and extended, the quan- 

 tity of alluvial deposites ought to have been much 

 greater and extended much farther into the gulf than the 

 lands at the mouth of Lafourche ; because the former 

 is a much larger stream than the latter, and runs 

 through a greater extent of country ; but this is by no 

 means the case ; for the alluvial lands at the mouth 

 of the Atchafalaya, where it enters the bay of 'that 

 name, do not project so far into the bay of Mexico, by 

 about twenty-five miles, as the lands at the mouth of 

 Lafourche. 



To this we may add, that if the alluvial deposites, 

 by which these lands were formed, were acquired 

 from this source ; we might reasonably suppose that 

 Atchafalaya bay which is more than twenty miles in 

 length, from east to west, and about twelve miles in 

 bread 'h, and in many parts, fifty feet deep, ought to 

 have been filled up, and the river discharging itself 

 immediately into the gulf, as does the Lafourche, and 

 as did the Mississippi, at the head of the present 

 delta. 



From this view, the advocates for the formation of 

 this immense section of land, or segment of a circle, 

 which is equally as appropriate, by alluvial deposites 

 from the overflowing or inundations of the Mississippi 

 river, seem to derive but a very precarious support, at 

 best, from these sources. 



It may be further alleged, that the formation of the 

 lands that project into the gulf of Mexico, and through 

 which the Mississippi runs, has been owing in part 



