the Natches, a considerable stream, which comes from the west. The Sabine river is said to be navigable 28 miles. In ordinary tides there is but four feet water on the bar at its outlet; and a few miles below the Indian villages, the navigation is interrupted by a mass of trees intermixed with earthy substances. Pearl river (which forms the eastern limit of the state from the thirty first parallel of latitude to its mouth) rises in the country of the Choctaw Indians, near the thirty-third degree of latitude, runs a south-western course for fifty or sixty miles, and then nearly south 150 miles, to its outlet in Lake Borgne. Several streams enter on the western side, the largest of which, the Bogue Chitto, is eighty miles in length, and falls in twenty miles from the Rigolets, or channels through which the Pearl empties its waters into Lake Borgne, a little to the east of Lake Ponchartrain. There is seven feet water at the entrance of Pearl river, and, though impeded by shallows and logs of timber, which encumber the channel near the lake, it might easily be rendered navigable for boats 150 miles, and for sloops seventy-five miles from its mouth. The eastern parts of the state, between the Pearl river and the Mississippi, are watered by the Chefuncti, Tangipao, Tickfah, Amite, and Ibberville, or Manchac. The Chefuncti runs by a southern course, of forty miles, into Lake Ponchartrain, and is boatable thirty miles. Six or seven miles above its en

* So called from a species of pearl found in the mussels which abound in its waters.

pas.

trance, there is a fine harbour and establishment called Madisonville, with sufficient depth of water for any vessel that can pass the Rigolets. The Tagipao runs south, nearly parallel with the former, into Lake Ponchartrain, which it joins ten miles north-east of the pass of Manchac. 3. The Tickfah runs in the same direction, from the northern boundary, to Lake MaureIt is thirty-five miles long. 4. The Amite rises in the state of Mississippi, above the thirty-first degree of latitude, and runs a course of fifty miles, nearly south, to its junction with the Ibberville; and thence forty miles east to Lake Maurepas, into which its waters are discharged. It has several considerable branches. Vessels drawing six feet water ascend to the junction of the Ibberville, and smaller craft to that of the Comite. 5. The Ibberville, or Manchac, is an outlet for the high waters of the Mississippi, and runs from this river, twenty miles below Baton Rouge, to the Amite river, a distance of fifteen miles, and thence into Lake Maurepas. During three months of the year it is navigable for vessels not drawing more than three feet water. The other nine months it loses its waters, from its junction with the Mississippi to the entrance of the Amite, a distance of twenty miles. Were it constantly navigable, it would afford a shorter communication with the eastern states than by New Orleans.* The Ibberville receives three streams near

* See Pittman, who has given a draught of this channel, (on the VOL. II. k k

ly opposite Pointe Coupée, Thompson's, Alexander's, and the Bayou Sara creeks.

Of the rivers which flow into the Gulf of Mexico, between the Mississippi and Sabine, the eastmost is Lafourche river, or bayou, which is fed from the Mississippi, and is merely a channel about 120 miles long, by which a part of the waters of that great stream escapes to the sea. Its efflux from the right bank of the Mississippi is in latitude 30° 7′, and longitude 91° from London, where it is about 80 yards wide, increasing to 100 as it approaches the gulf. There is nine feet water on the bar at its mouth, and for fifty miles above this its depth is greater. It receives no stream in all its course. 2. The Chaffalio, or Atchafalaya, another outlet of the Mississippi, runs from a remarkable bend of this river on the thirty-first degree of latitude, three miles below the mouth of Red river to the Atchafalaya bay in the Gulf of Mexico, a course of 193 miles following the stream, and 133 in a direct line. It is believed that this channel was formerly the continuation of Red river. It recedes from the Mississippi in the first fifty miles of its course, and afterwards approaches within seven miles of it; and at this point it is again connected with the river by a channel called the Bayou Plaquemines; and the island inclosed by these streams, which is about thirty miles broad, and sixty long, includes the two parishes of Point Coupée and West Baton Rouge. This island is intersected by several Bayous which are fed by the Mississippi. From

scale of a French league to an inch,) from the Mississippi to Lake Ponchartrain.

the point where the Atchafalaya receives the Bayou Plaquemine, it takes a southern course to Grand lake, and through this lake into Atchafalaya bay. Its width varies from 75 to 200 yards; its depth near the Mississippi is eighteen feet in low, and thirty-three in high water, the depth of Grand lake through which it passes forty feet, and that of the bay into which it falls fifty feet. But the bar at the mouth of this bay has but nine feet water. Its current is rapid, and in the first fifty miles of its course it overflows its banks during the swell of the Mississippi, six miles in breadth, and six feet in depth. About twenty-seven miles from its source or efflux, there is a large collection of timber, extending across the river from one bank to another, and covering the surface of the water for a distance of twenty miles, with some interruptions. This immense raft rises and falls with the waters, always preserving the same elevation above their surface, except in the time of inundation, when boats pass over it. The Atchafalaya receives the waters of the Courtableau and Plaquemines. The Courtableau, or western branch, is formed of two streams, the Bayou Bœuf and Bayou Crocodile, or Thompson's creek, whose branches extend in a north-western direction towards Red river. The Bayou Boeuf communicates by several channels with Red river, and is partly fed by its The Bayou Crocodile, at the 31st degree of latitude, passes through a lake of the same name; and their waters united join those of the Atchafalaya, fiftythree miles from its efflux. The depth of high water in these streams is from eighteen to twenty feet, and

waters.

even greater in some places. During the spring floods the waters of the Mississippi extend their influence to the junction of the two great branches; and there being no current towards the Opelousas, the banks, from the Bayou Derbane to its mouth, are annually overflowed to the distance of eight miles during several months. Near its efflux the Atchafalaya receives the Bayou de Glaise, which has a communication with some of the branches of Red river. The Bayou Fusillier issues from the Courtableau, and terminates in the Atchafalaya. It is sixty or seventy feet wide. The Plaquemines* (seven miles in length) receives the surplus waters of the Mississippi, which it discharges into the Atchafalaya. It is seventy yards wide, and navigable for boats. In autumn the tide reaches two miles up this channel, which is more than 200 miles above the mouth of the Mississippi. The Grosse Tete, a large bayou, runs from the southern parts of False river, (Fausse rivierè,) to the Plaquemines, a course of thirty miles. This False river is an ancient channel of the Mississippi, and is a sort of lake of an elliptical form, nearly thirty miles in length. The Bayou Teche joins the Atchafalaya on the west side near Grand lake, after a winding course of more than 100 miles; vessels from sixty to eighty tons ascend from the sea to New Iberia, and its channel, which is never overflowed, affords an easy communication with some of the settlements in the Atakapas country.

So called from the persimon trees which formerly covered its borders.