CHAP. XXIX.] LIGHTHOUSE HOUSES ON PILES. 117 



telescopes. From this elevation we saw, far to the south, the 

 lighthouse, situated at what is now the principal entrance of the 

 river. The pilots told us, that the old lighthouse, of solid brick 

 work, eighty-seven feet high, erected on &quot;the south point,&quot; was 

 destroyed by a hurricane in the winter of 1839. The keeper 

 was saved, although he was in the building for forty-eight hours 

 before it fell, and, during the whole time, it vibrated frightfully 

 to and fro. Much of the low banks, then bounding the river, 

 were swept away, but have since been restored. 



To the eastward all was sea ; turning to the north, or toward 

 New Orleans and the delta, I could discover no more signs of 

 the existence of a continent than when looking southward or 

 toward the lighthouse. In the west, Bird Island, covered with 

 trees, was more conspicuous. An old pilot told us it was inhab 

 ited by large deer, and was &quot;very high land.&quot; &quot;How high 

 above the sea?&quot; said I. &quot;Three or four feet,&quot; he replied ; and 

 as if so startling an assertion required the confirmation of several 

 witnesses, he appealed to the bystanders, who assented, saying, 

 &quot;It is all that, for it was only just covered during the great hur 

 ricane.&quot; And well may such an elevation command respect in 

 a town where all the foundations of the houses are under water, 

 and where the value of each site is measured by the number of 

 inches or feet within which a shoal rises to the surface of the sea. 



It was a curious sight to behold seventy or more dwellings, 

 erected on piles, among reeds half as high as the houses, and 

 which often grew close to them, most of the buildings communi 

 cating with an outhouse by a wooden bridge thrown over a 

 swarnp or pool of water, sometimes fresh and sometimes brackish. 

 On one side of the main channel, which our steamer had entered, 

 was built a long wooden platform, made of planks, resting on 

 piles, which served for a promenade. There we saw the pilots 

 wives and daughters, and among them the belles of the place, 

 well dressed, and accompanied by their pet dogs, taking their 

 evening walk. 



March 1 . Having engaged a boat, Dr. Carpenter and I set 

 out on an excursion to examine the bayous or channels between 

 the mud banks. The first stroke of the oars carried us into the 



