relating to the Vale of the Mississippi. 51 



over the face of the country, the washing down of the land ceased 

 at the surface, and the heljoless snail escaped a premature interment. 

 It was then that the abrasions and excavations took place beneath the 

 surface. It was then that the rains bore off the earth and deposited 

 it in the great north and south ravines, and these were destined to 

 become, at a future day, the bed of a mighty river, which was to be 

 employed in transporting the earth to assist in expelling the sea, and 

 forming what we shall call the Orleans' basin. It was then that the 

 present dark and deep vegetable mould began to be deposited. The 

 cane roots formed a perfect mat and net-work over the face of the 

 earth, while their stalks held the leaves and decayed wood so firmly 

 that all remained and nothing was removed by rain. From century 

 to century the leaves, limbs and trunks of trees were tied down to the 

 very spot which they first occupied, and the rains could only sink the 

 decomposed mineral vegetable and animal matter, imparting by an 

 increase of iron, hme and alumina, firmness of texture to the stratum 

 below. 



From the depth of the stratum of vegetable earth, we may esti- 

 mate the time the cane has been on the surface. We have taken 

 the deposit of one year in leaves and dead wood on a given piece of 

 ground, and reduced it to ashes ; calculations on the result, allowing 

 for the destruction by fire, and the action of rain and air on this stra- 

 tum, will bring us to the probable conclusion, that the cane was set, 

 and the formation of this black mould actually began, twelve hundred 

 years previous to the time when it began to be disturbed by man. 

 As doubtful as this calculation may be, it affords us more information 

 than that derived from the trees. The forest, which witnessed the 

 arrival of the cane, has perished in days that have long gone by, and 

 probably several generations of trees besides. We find no trees of this 

 country, whose hfe exceeds the term of three hundred years. The 

 present forest, like the aged hemlock, is dead at the top, and we might 

 add, in the center too; as the trees are of the kind, which first decay 

 in the heart of the trunk. In short, we can safely assert, that had 

 not the white man appeared to molest this full grown garden of na- 

 ture, the present race of trees would have disappeared in forty years 

 more, and the country have been a prairie. 



PECULIARITY OF STRUCTURE. 



A remarkable circumstance in this district is the absence of the 

 superincumbent stratum of clay. In the neighborhood of Natchez 



