LEVEES.—BOOK II. ITT 
iune feet at the base, with sufficient width at the top for a foot 
path. A close stiff clay, common on the lower parts of the river, 
is preferred. Sods are placed on the sides and at the top, and 
cypress slabs are often put in the inside for the purpose of pre¬ 
venting the water, where there is any current, from eating away 
the fearth. There is a ditch for the purpose of draining off the 
water which oozes through. The road lies between the levee 
and the fences, and is crossed at intervals by drains, covered 
With plank* as the sewers of a city, for the purpose of carrying 
off the water to the swamps. An immense quantity of water 
finds its way through the embankment, mostly through holes 
made by crawfish, which sometimes increase so rapidly, as to 
effect a breach. Several years are necessary for the levee to be¬ 
come perfectly solid and firm, previous to this, it is liable to be 
injured by fains. .The levee pursues a zig-zag course, to suit 
the different curves and indentations of the river, as well as the 
sinuosities, for it being too slight a work to compel the river to 
hold its course, it must yield to its caprice. As the fiver en¬ 
croaches upon it, or recedes, another levee is constructed near¬ 
er the river, or behind the first; from which circumstances, 
there are in many places double levees. A person standing in¬ 
side of the levee in a very high flood, appears to stand below the 
surface of the Water; but there are in few places more than 
two or three feet against the levee, the ground between it and 
the river being mttch higher thah On the inside ; this may be ac¬ 
counted for, ffom the quantity of sediment deposited, and the 
Wearing down of the road. There are besides, other inodes of 
constructing the levee* and the expense and size depends upon 
the resistance necessary, which in some places, generally in 
bends, is much greater than in others. What is considered a 
good levee, may almost any where be made for four hundred 
dolls, per mile. Eyery individual is obliged to keep up the levee 
in front of his own land, and before the time of high waters it is 
inspected by commissioners appointed for the purpose in each 
parish, and if found insufficient, it is made at his expense. But 
this is by no means adequate to the purpose, for during the sea¬ 
son of great floods, the levees require constant attention, they 
must be continually watched, and all hands are sometimes drawn 
Y 
