442 AUDUBON 



upper parts of the bends. These are by the navigator 

 called short-cuts. Some of them have proved large enough 

 to produce a change in the navigation of the Mississippi. 

 If I mistake not, one of these, known by the name of the 

 Grand Cut-off, and only a few miles in length, has di- 

 verted the river from its natural course, and has shortened 

 it by fifty miles. The upper parts of the islands present 

 a bulwark consisting of an enormous mass of floated trees 

 of all kinds, which have lodged there. Large sand-banks 

 have been completely removed by the impetuous whirls 

 of the waters, and have been deposited in other places. 

 Some appear quite new to the eye of the navigator, who 

 has to mark their situation and bearings in his log-book. 

 The trees on the margins of the banks have in many parts 

 given way. They are seen bending over the stream, like 

 the grounded arms of an overwhelmed army of giants. 

 Everywhere are heard the lamentations of the farmer and 

 planter, whilst their servants and themselves are busily 

 employed in repairing the damages occasioned by the 

 floods. At one crevasse -an old ship or two, dismantled 

 for the purpose, are sunk, to obstruct the passage opened 

 by the still rushing waters, while new earth is brought 

 to fill up the chasms. The squatter is seen shouldering 

 his rifle, and making his way through the morass, in 

 search of his lost stock, to drive the survivors home, and 

 save the skins of the drowned. New fences have every- 

 where to be formed ; even new houses must be erected, to 

 save which from a like disaster, the settler places them 

 on an elevated platform supported by pillars made by the 

 trunks of trees. The land must be ploughed anew, and 

 if the season is not too far advanced, a crop of corn and 

 potatoes may yet be raised. But the rich prospects of 

 the planter are blasted. The traveller is impeded in his 

 journey, the creeks and smaller streams having broken up 

 their banks in a degree proportionate to their size. A 

 bank of sand, which seems firm and secure, suddenly 



