144 



UNITED STATES. 



At the landing of the Natchez (380 miles from 

 the mouth of the river) the perpendicular ascent of 

 the waters of the Mississippi, from the lowest ebb to 

 the highest inundation, may be estimated at 50 feet. 

 At Baton Rouge (200 miles distant) it was found to 

 be 30 feet. At New Orleans (80 miles above the 

 mouth) it is about 12 feet. And at the mouth of the 

 river, scarcely any perceptible change is observed, 

 excepting by a stronger current, charged with earthy 

 matter, rolling into the ocean, during the season of 

 inundation ; at which time all the lakes and com- 

 munications with the sea, are replenished with 

 water, and the ocean itself is often repelled to such 

 a degre-e, that fresh water has been drawn up, out 

 of sight of land. This great difference in the per- 

 pendicular rise of the waters of the inundation, is to 

 be accounted for, from the prodigious number of na- 

 tural canals issuing from the Mississippi, and those 

 immense sheets of water flowing over the banks, 

 and inundating vast tracts of country, which owe 

 their existence to the creative power of this grand 

 river, and which finally discharge themselves into 

 the Mexican gulf, by an infinite number of mouths, 

 many of which are, in apparent magnitude, equal to 

 the Mississippi itself; the space embraced by the 

 Delta of this river ob the sea- coast being, from in- 

 formation, not less than 3 deg. of long. 



