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 Ipla 



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Ch. XIX.] 



DELTA OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 



405 



its base, they are many of them of extinct species. 



ifrons, Bq 



Anion ef 

 a i%Zo- 



marine 



large carnivore of the size of the tiger), two species of deer 

 two of bear and other quadrupeds, some extinct and others 

 still living. 



Before we take leave of the great delta we may derive an 

 instructive lesson from the reflection that the new deposits 

 already formed, or now accumulating, whether 

 freshwater, greatly resemble in composition, and in the 

 general character of their organic remains, many ancient 

 strata which enter largely into the structure of the earth's 

 crust. Yet there is no sudden revolution in progress, whether 

 on the land or in the waters, whether in the animate or the 

 inanimate world. Notwithstanding the excessive destruction 

 of soil and uprooting of trees, the region, which yields a never- 

 failing supply of drift-wood, is densely clothed with noble 



forests, and is almost unrivalled in its power of supportin 

 animal and vegetable life. In spite of the undermining of 

 many a lofty bluff and the encroachments of the delta on 

 the sea — in spite of the earthquake, which rends and fissures 

 the soil, or causes areas more than sixty miles in length to 

 sink down several yards in a few months, the general features 

 of the district remain unaltered, or are merely undergoing a 



slow and insensible change. 



Herds of wild deer graze on 



the pastures, or browse upon the trees ; and if they diminish 

 in number, it is only where they give way to man and the 



domestic animals which follow in his train. The bear, the 

 wolf, the fox, the panther, and the wild-cat still maintain 

 themselves in the fastnesses of the forests of cypress and gum- 

 tree. The racoon and the opossum are everywhere abundant, 



still frequent the rivers 

 and lakes, and a few beavers and buffaloes have not yet been 

 driven from their ancient haunts. The waters 



tortoises, and fish, and their surface is covered 



musk 



k 



alligator 



teem 



with millions of migratory waterfowl, which perform their 

 annual voyage between the Canadian lakes and the shores of 



Mexica 



The power of man, it is true, begins 

 almost everywhere to be sensibly felt, and many parts of the 



VOL. I. 



H II 



