CHAP. XXX.] LANDSLIP. 141 



To prove that the present site of the buried forest before 

 alluded to, must be far from the point where Bartram or even 

 Carpenter saw it, an account was given me by the residents here, 

 of several recent landslips near Port Hudson ; one in particular, 

 a few years ago, when by the caving in of the bank, three acres 

 of ground, fifty or sixty feet high, composed of clay and sand, and 

 covered by a forest, sank down bodily in the river, and were then 

 gradually washed away. One of the eye-witnesses related to me 

 that the trees were at first seen to tremble, then large rents began 

 to open in the soil deeper and deeper, after which the movement 

 was such that the boughs of the trees lashed each other, and acorns 

 and beech nuts were showered down like hail. A herd of pigs 

 was so intent in devouring these, that they allowed themselves 

 to be carried down vertically fifty feet, the subsidence occupying 

 about five minutes. The outer edge of the bluff, with some of 

 the swine, fell into the river, but these swam to the sunk part 

 of the bluff, and joined their companions. The owners watched 

 them anxiously till dusk, unable to go to their rescue ; but at 

 length, to their surprise, they saw a leader, followed by all the 

 rest, wind his way along narrow ledges on the face of the precipice, 

 from which the fallen mass had been detached, and climb up to 

 the top. Next morning, to their no less astonishment, they found 

 the herd feeding again on the same perilous ground, and saw them 

 again return by the same path at night. 



I have dwelt at some length on the geological phenomena 

 disclosed in the interesting sections of these bluffs, because I agree 

 with Bartram and Carpenter, that they display a series of deposits 

 similar to the modern formations of the alluvial plain and delta 

 of the Mississippi. They lead us, therefore, to the important 

 conclusion, that there have been changes in the relative level of 

 land and sea since the establishment, in this part of the continent, 

 of a geographical state of things approximating to that now pre 

 vailing. Then, as now, there were swamps in which the decid 

 uous cypress and other trees grew, and became buried in mud, 

 without any intermixture of sand or pebbles. At that remote 

 period, also, drift wood was brought down from the upper country, 

 and inclosed in sandy strata. Although I could not ascertain 



