CHAP. XXVIII.] SITE OF NEW ORLEANS. 133 



Church, recently built for the Irish Catholics, the 

 dome of the St. Louis Hotel, and immediately below 

 us that fine bend of the Mississippi, where we had 

 just counted the steamers at the wharf. Here, in a 

 convex curve of the bank, there has been a constant 

 gain of land, so that in the last twenty-five years no 

 less than three streets have been erected, one beyond 

 the other, and all within the line of several large 

 posts of cedar, to which boats were formerly at 

 tached. New Orleans was called the Crescent City, 

 because the First Municipality was built along this 

 concave bend of the Mississippi. The river in this 

 part of its course varies in breadth from a mile to 

 three-quarters of a mile, and below the city sweeps 

 round a curve for eighteen miles, and then returns 

 again to a point within five or six miles of that from 

 which it had set out. Some engineers are of opinion 

 that as the isthmus thus formed is only occupied by 

 a low marsh, the current will in time cut through 

 it, in which case the First Municipality will be 

 deserted by the main channel. Even should this 

 happen, the prosperity of a city which extends con 

 tinuously for more than six miles along the river 

 would not be materially affected, for its site has been 

 admirably chosen, although originally determined in 

 some degree by chance. The French began their 

 settlements on Lake Pontchartrain because they 

 found there an easy communication with the Gulf 

 of Mexico. But they fixed the site of their town 

 on that part of the great river which was nearest to 

 the lagoon, so as to command, by this means, the 

 navigation of the interior country. 



