164 DELTA OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 
of mud and sand into the Bay of Bengal in the flood 
season, that the sea only recovers its transparency 
at the distance of 60 miles from the coast. The 
water gradually deepens from four to sixty fathoms 
at the distance of 100 miles from the coast, so that 
the general slope of the new strata is very gradual. 
Opposite the mouth of the Hoogly river, four miles 
from the nearest land of the delta, a new island was 
formed about twenty years ago, called Edmonstone 
Island, on the centre of which a beacon was erected 
as a landmark in 1817. In 1818 the island had be- 
come two miles long and half a mile broad, and was 
covered with shrubs and vegetation, and houses 
were built upon it. At the present time, however, 
only a small sandbank remains, the rest having 
been washed away.* Major Colebrook states, that 
islands many miles in extent have been formed 
during a period far short of a man's life by the col- 
lection of sandbanks, and while the river is form- 
ing new islands in one part it is sweeping away old 
ones in others. Those newly formed are soon over- 
run with reeds, long grass, the tamarix Indica, and 
other shrubs, forming impenetrable thickets, where 
deer, tigers, buffaloes, and other wild animals take 
shelter. 
Delta of the Mississippi. — The delta of the Missis- 
sippi may be described as a long, narrow tongue of 
land, consisting mainly of the banks of the river. 
This portion of land has advanced many leagues 
since New-Orleans was built, and is still advancing 
with great rapidity, while the Gulf of Mexico is 
gradually but constantly growing shallower, so that 
it now rarely exceeds ten fathoms in depth in any 
part. In consequence of the numerous sandbars 
deposited at the mouth of the Mississippi, its en- 
trance is exceedingly difficult and dangerous. 
The reason why a delta is not formed at the mouth 
* Trans. Asiatic Soc, vol. vii., p. 14. 
