LOUISIANA. 



521 



sis;5ipp , It rises near Santa Fe, in New Mexico, and runs southeasterly in a very meandering 

 course, through immense prairies, and further down through a fertile alluvial tract. It joins the 

 Mississippi 240 miles above New Orleans, after a course of about 1,800 miles. It is a nar- 

 row stream, considering its length, but its mass of water is very great. In some places it is 

 divided into 2 or 3 parallel channels, and passes through a series of bayous * and lakes. 

 About 100 miles above Natchitoches, there is a swampy tract upon its banks, 20 or 3G 

 miles in width. In this spot, the river formerly spread into a vast number of channels, and 

 great masses of timber and fallen trees, brought down by the stream, that had been collecting 

 for ages, formed an immense floor or raft upon the surface of the water, 160 miles in exient. 

 In some places, the river could be crossed on horseback, and boats passed down the stream 

 by the bayous and lakes along its border. Willow trees and shrubbery had overgrown the laft, 

 and flourished over the water. Above this raft, the river is broad, deep, and navigable for 

 steamboats, except in the driest seasons, for 700 miles. Below the raft, the river passes 

 through a vast number of channels, bayous, and lakes. The raft was a great impediment to 

 navigation, and has been removed at great expense and by persevering efibrts for several 

 years, at the charge of the general government, so that large steamboats now easily pass up 

 this place into and beyond Arkansas. 



The Washita rises in the Masserne mountains in Arkansas, and, flowing southerly, joins the 

 Red River near its mouth. The Bayou Lafourche is one of the outlets of the Mississippi, 

 forking off from the southwestern side of the river. The Atchafalaya is another on the same 

 side, and leaves the main stream at a higher point, just below the entrance of Red River. 

 This river receives large quantities of the drift wood brought down by the Mississippi, and its 

 surface is covered with a raft, 8 or 10 miles in extent, which is estimated to contain more than 

 2,000,000 cords of timber. This rises and falls with the stream, and is overgrown with 

 shrubs and flowering plants. A person might cross this raft, without knowing that a river was 

 rolling under his feet. The Sabine rises in Texas, and, flowing south into the Gulf of Mex- 

 ico, forms the greater part of the western limit of this State. 



3. Lakes. In the eastern part are lakes JVTaurepas and Pontchartrain, which are united by 

 a narrow strait, called Pass Manchac, and discharge their waters by the Rigolets and Chef 

 Menteur pass into Lake Borgne, a wide bay opening into the Gulf of Mexico. The largest 

 of these lakes is about 40 miles in length, and 30 in width. They are shallow, and in spots 

 where no land is in sight, the bottom may be sounded with an angling rod. There is a deeper 

 channel passing through their centre, which admits of a navigation for schooners. In high 

 winds, these lakes are subject to a very dangerous ground-swell. To the west of the Missis- 

 sippi, are a great number of small lakes. Some of them are many miles in extent, and others 

 are mere poncls. Most of them communicate with the Mississippi, and receive the overflow- 

 ings of the stream, which they send off" to the sea in a multitude of channels. Many contain 

 groves of cypress trees, growing in the water, among which boats pass, and fish may be taken 

 in the driest seasons. The borders of these lakes are commonly fertile, and the trees are 

 covered with a drapery of long moss. The Chitimachas or Grand Lake, Washita, JMer- 

 mentau, Colcasiii, and Sabine, in the south, and Catah Hoola, Bistineau, and Caddo in the 

 north, are the principal. 



4. Islands. The Chandeleur Islands lie on the eastern coast. They are little more than 

 heaps of sand covered with pine forests, yet some of them are cultivated. West of the Mis- 

 sissippi are many others scattered along the coast. Here is the Island of Barataria, former- 

 ly noted as a nest of pirates : it lies in a bay which receives the waters of a lake of the same 

 name. The soil of these islands is generally rich. Tliey are covered with thick groves of 

 the live oak and other trees, and harbor multitudes of deer, turkeys, and other wild game. 

 Most of them are low and level, but others rise from the flat surface around them, in abrupt 

 eminences of 100 feet in height. There are some very fertile islands in the Mississippi. 



5. Shores, Inlets, ^c. The shores of the Gulf of Mexico are generally low, and bordered 

 by wide marshes. The whole coast is intersected by a chain of bays and inlets, connected 

 with each other by a thousand tortuous channels, generally shallow, and of difficult navigation. 



"The word baijou seems to be peculiar to this State and 

 the immediate neighborhood. It is probably a corruption 

 of the French Jioj/aw, and is generally applied to the chan- 



41 



nels or natural canals which connect the rivers and lakes, 

 or pass off from the main stream of a river to the sea. 

 More rarely, a small stream or creek is called by this name 



