14$ 



UNItED STATES 



partially kept opeti by the discharge of the (compa* 

 ratively) small rivers of Yazooz and Homochito; 

 the former of these, nevertheless, is not inferior ill 

 iTiagnitude to that great commercial river the 

 Thames. The Consequence of those disruptions, 

 is the formation of lakes, which, in process of time, 

 iiiay be far removed from the actual channel of the 

 river, and in effect are now found to be scattered iii 

 all situations over the immense valley of the Mis- 

 sissippi. 



VVhen those lakes are first approached, they pre- 

 sent so perfect a resemblance of the Mississippi, 

 with regard to breadth, the appearance of the banks, 

 Jmd the natural serpentine form of its course, that 

 many persons have been deceived thereby, and re- 

 cognized their error only by the discovery of the 

 stagnant state of the water, the appearance on its 

 borders of the nymx^hoea nelumbo, and other aquatic 

 plants. 



When the inundation is at its height, the whole 

 valley is replenished with Water, every where \ti 

 motion towards the ocean : so that the river may. 

 then be said to be 30 miles wide ; that is the breadth 

 of the valley at Natchez. The waters which pass 

 over the west bank of the main channel never re- 

 turn : on the east, a chain of high land compels its 

 waters to rejoin the primitive stream ; but from 

 teaton Rouge, the high land diverges to the south- 

 east : and all the waters escaping to the eastward, 

 between Baton Rouge and Manshoc (15 miles), are 

 collected by the Iberville, which passing through a 

 breach in the high land of about 80 yards wide, de- 

 livers its contents into the river Amit, which emp- 



