140 MOUTHS OF MISSISSIPPI. [CHAP. XXIX. 



CHAP. XXIX. 



Excursion from New Orleans to the Mouths of the River. 

 Steam-Boat Accidents. River Fogs. Successive Groivths 

 of Willow on River Bank. Pilot- Station of the Balize. 

 Lighthouse destroyed by Hurricane. Reeds, Shells, and Birds 

 on Mud-Banks. Drift- Wood. Difficulty of estimating the 

 annual Increase of Delta. Action of Tides and Currents. 

 Tendency in the old Soundings to be restored. Changes of 

 Mouths in a Century inconsiderable. Return to New Orleans. 

 Battle- Ground. Sugar-Mill. Contrast of French and 

 Anglo-American Races. Causes of Difference. State and 

 Progress of Negroes in Louisiana. 



Feb. 28. 1846. BEFORE my arrival at New Or 

 leans, I had resolved to visit the mouths of the Mis 

 sissippi, and see the banks of sand, mud, and drift 

 timber, recently formed there during the annual 

 inundations. Dr. William Carpenter, although in 

 full practice as a physician, kindly offered to accom 

 pany me, and his knowledge of botany and geology, 

 as well as his amiable manners, made him a most 

 useful and agreeable companion.* 



I had heard much of the dangers of the Missis 

 sippi, and even before I left New England, some of 

 my friends, partly in jest, and partly for the sake of 



* This excellent naturalist, I regret to say, died soon after 

 wards, in the prime of life, at New Orleans, in 1848. 



