CHAP. XXX.] MUSQUITOS. 175 



deer have not acquired any hereditary immunity 

 from this torment, and, to escape it, are seen standing 

 in the lakes with their heads only above water.&quot; 

 Some passengers assured me, &quot; that when people have 

 recovered from the yellow fever, the skin, although 

 in other respects as sensitive as ever, is no longer 

 affected by a musquito bite, or, if at all, in a very 

 slight degree ;&quot; and they added, &quot; that last year, 

 1845, both the yellow fever and the musquitos were 

 in abeyance, although the heat of the season was 

 intense.&quot; 



After we had sailed up the river eighty miles, 1 

 was amused by the sight of the insignificant village 

 of Donaldsonville, the future glories of which I 

 had heard so eloquently depicted.* Its position, 

 however, is doubtless important ; for here the right 

 bank is intersected by that arm of the Mississippi, 

 called Bayou La Fourche. This arm has much the ap 

 pearance of a canal, and by it, I am told, our steamer, 

 although it draws no less than ten feet water, might sail 

 into the Gulf of Mexico, or- traverse a large part of that 

 wonderful inland navigation in the delta which contri 

 butes so largely to the wealth of Louisiana. A curious 

 description was given me, by one of my fellow tra 

 vellers, of that same low country, especially the region 

 called Attakapas. It contains, he said, wide se quaking 

 prairies,&quot; where cattle are pastured, and where you 

 may fancy yourself far inland. Yet, if you pierce 

 anywhere through the turf to the depth of two feet, 

 you find sea-fish swimming about, which make their 



* Ante, p. 123. 

 i 4 



