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Show 188 RAFT OF 'l'IIE ATCHAFALAYA. about thirty-eight years, in an arm of the Mississippi called .the Atchafalaya, which is supposed to ha~e .been a.t some _Past time a ch anne l of tile Red River ' before 1t mter.m mgl.e d 1ts . waters with the main stream. This arm is in a direct hne w1~h the direction of the Mississippi, and it catches'I'ah large porl.onbof the drift wood annually brought down. e mass o. tim er · the raft is continually increasing, and the whole nses and mfa lls with the water. Although float·m g, 1· t 1· s covere d W·i t h green bushes, like a tract of solid land, and its s.urface is en- ]. ed in the autumn by a variety of beautiful flowers. lVen f b' ~ f , b Notwithstanding the astonishing number o cu 1~ 1eet o tim ?r 1lected here in so short a time, greater deposits have been m ;~ogress at the extremity of th~ delta in t?e. ~ay .o~ Mexico. " Unfortunately for the na vigatwn of the Mississippi, ~bserves Captain Hall, " some of the l~rgest trunks, after be1~g cast down from the position on whiCh they grew, get their roots entangled with the bottom of the river, where they remain anchored, as it were, in the mud. The force of the current naturally crives their tops a tendency downwards, and by its flowing p~st, soon strips them of their leaves and branches. These fixtures, called snags or planters, are extrem~ly d~ngerous to the steam-vessels proceeding up the stream, m wh~ch they lie like a lance in rest, concealed beneath the water, w1th their sharp ends pointed directly against ~he bow of vess~ls coming up. For the most part thes~ formidable snags remam so still, that they can be detected only by a slight ripple above them, not perceptible to inexperienced eyes. Sometn~es, hO\;ever they vibrate up and down, alternately showmg their heads above the surface and bathing them beneath it* ·1~ So imminent is the danger caused by these obstructions, that almost all the boats on the Mississippi are constructed on a particular plan, to guard against fatal accidents t · "' Travels in North America, vol. iii., P· 362. t "The boats are fitted," ·says Captain Hall, "with what is cal~ed a s~ag· chamber· a singular device, and highly characteristic of this pecuhar navJga· tion. A; the distance of from twelve or fourteen feet from the ~tem of ~he vessel a strong bulk-head is carried across the hold from side. to ~~de, as higl~ as th~ deck and reaching to the kelson. This partition, wh1ch 1s formed 0 t . stout plank;, is caulked, and made so effectually water-tight, that the fore~o~t end of the vessel is cut off as entirely from the rest of th~ hold a: an~ belonged to another boat. If the steam-vessel happen to run agamst a sn g, DRIFT WOOD OF 'filE MlSSlSSIPPI, 189 Th~ P.ro?ig~ous ~uant~ty of .wo~d annually drifted down by the MlsSISSippl and !ts tnb~taries, Is a subject of geological interest, not merely as Illustratmg the manner in which abundance ?f vegetabl.e matter ~ecomes, in the ordinat·y course of Nature, 1mbedded m submari.ne and e~tuary deposits, but as attesting the constant destructiOn of sml and transportation of matter to lower levels by the tendency of rivers to shift their courses. Each of these trees must have required many years some of them many centuries, to attain their full size ; the soil, therefore, whereon they grew, after remainincr undisturbed for loner periods, is ultimately torn up and swept away. Yet notwith~ standing this incessant destruction of land and up-rootincr of trees, ~he region which yields this never-failing supply of drift wood Is densely clothed with noble forests, and is almost unrivalled in its power of supporting animal and vegetable life. Innumerable herds of wild deer and bisons feed on the luxuriant pastures of the plains. The jaguar, the wolf, and the fox, are amongst the beasts of prey. 'l"'he waters teem with alligators and tortoises, and their surface is covered with millions of migratory water-fowl, which perform their annual voyage between the Canadian lakes and the shores of the Mexican g~lf. The power of man begins to be sensibly felt, and the w~l~erne~s to be replaced ?Y towns, orchards, and gardens. I he gil~ed steam-boat, hke a moving city, now stems the c~rrent w1th a steady pace-now shoots rapidly down the.d.escendmg stream through the solitudes of the forests and prames. Already does the flourishing population of the crreat valley excee~ t~at of the thirteen United States when first ~hey declared the1r mdependence, and after a sanguinary struggle wer~ severed from the parent country*. Such is the state of a contment where rocks and trees are hurried annually, by a thousand torrents, from the mountains to the plains, and where sand and finer matter are swept down by a vast cun-ent to the sea, t.ogether with the wreck of countless forests and the bones 0~ ammals which perish in the inundations. When these matel'Ials reach the Gulf, they do not render the waters unfit for thatt a hole is rna de m· h er bo w, under the surface, this chamber merely fills with w~ ehr! ffor the communication being cut ofF from the rest of the vess!!l, no further mJ•s c te. n,e ed ensue ·, T rave1 s 1.1 1 N ort b A men.c a, vol. m. ... , p. 363. Flint s Geography, vol. i. |