Groici/i of the Mississippi Delta. — Uphaiii. 107 
We came out by the mouth of the river, and entering into a large 
bay made by it, which was so extensive that we passed along it three 
days and three nights, with fair weather, in all the time not seeing 
land, so that it appeared to us we were at sea, although we found the 
water still so fresh that it could well be drunk, like that of the river. 
Some small islets were seen westward, to which we went : thencefor- 
ward we kept close along the coast, where we took shell-fish, and looked 
for other things to eat, until we entered the River of Panuco, where 
we came and were well received by the Christians. 
By comparing Biedma's report with the Portuguese Rela- 
tion, I am convinced that the brigantines did not pass down 
the Mississippi to its delta, but went out to the Gulf of Mexico 
by way of the Bayou iSIanchac, lakes Maurepas, Pontchartrain, 
and Borgne, and the Alississippi sound. In other words, ]\Ios- 
coso, with his squadron, took the same passage that Pineda 
had taken, in 15 19, for his entering the Mississippi. Several 
points in the narrations need now to be explained in detail, 
as to their harmony with this conclusion. 
First, the Indians had villages near the Bayou Manchac; 
but probably there were no inhabitants near the true mouth 
of the river, at the end of the delta. Second, under this view, 
we must regard the Portuguese statement of a division of 
the river, into two arms or branches, as referring to the large 
outflow, at a time of flood, to the Atchafalaya river. Instead 
of receiving an inflow at the junction of the Red river, tlie 
flooded ]\Iississippi there sent out a portion of its current, by 
the mouth of the Red river, to the Atchafalaya ; which also, 
when the Red river is at a higher stage than the Mississippi, 
takes a part of the current of the former,_ carrying it south by 
a much shorter course to the gulf. Third, another statement 
of the Portuguese Relation, noting the great depth of fortv fa- 
thoms where their branch of the river "enters the sea," must 
be then interpreted as found in the bend of the Mississippi 
from \vhich the Bayou Manchac flows away. In its condition 
of a high flood, the river there opens toward a vast expanse 
of water, called, by the narrator, "the sea," reaching east 
over lake Maurepas and onward to the gulf. It seems indeed 
not unlikely that the Mississippi at that place may have then 
had even so great depth ; for in a sharp curve at Xew Orleans 
it was found by the Mississippi River Commission to have a 
soundincf of 208 feet. 
