BIVERS. 



141 



rii batteaux, rowed by eighteen or twenty men, and 

 carrying ubout forty tons. From New Orleans to 

 the liiinois, the voyage is commonly performed in 

 eight or ten weeks, A prodigious number of islands, 

 some of which are of great extent, intersperse that 

 mighty river. 



Bebw New Orleans the land begins to be very^ 

 low on both sides of the river, across the country, 

 and gradually declines as it approaches nearer to 

 th-e sea. This point of land, which, in the treaty of 

 peace in 1762, is mistaken fcr an island, is, to all ap- 

 pearance, of no long date ; for in digging a little be- 

 low the surface we find water and great quantities of 

 trees. The many beaches and breakers, as well as 

 inlets, which arose out of the channel within the last 

 half century, at the several mouths of the river, are 

 convincing proofs that this peninsula was wholly- 

 formed in the same manner. And it is certain, that, 

 when La Salle sailed down the Mississippi to the sea, 

 the opening of that river was very different from 

 what it is at present* 



The nearer w€ approach to the sea, this truth be- 

 comes more-striking. The bars that cross most of 

 these small channels, opened by the current, have 

 been multiplied by means of the trees carried down 

 with the streams ; one of which stopped by its roots 

 or branches, in a shallow part, is sufficient to ob- 

 struct the passage of thousands more, and to fix them 

 at the same place. Such collections of trees are 

 daily seen between the Balize and the Missouri, 

 which, singly, would supply the largest city in Eu- 

 rope widi fuel for several years. No human force 

 Jseing sufficient for removing them, the mud carried 



