THIS state is, in many respects, the most peculiar country on the globe. Its southern border rests upon the gulf of Mexico, a vast in land sea, in latitude below twentynine degrees north; its northern boundary reaches to thirty-three degrees; its eastern boundary is the Pearl river, which separates it from Alabama, to latitude thirtyone degrees, when the great Mississippi becomes the dividing line from the state that receives its name; while its western extremity is limited by the Sabine.

The whole southern portion of this state, over three hundred miles in length by an average width of nearly seventy-five miles, is exclusively an alluvial deposite. If to this be added similar deposites on the great river and its tributaries above, it presents a delta of comparatively recent formation, far surpassing any other, within the same compass, in any quarter of the world. Even those of the Nile, the Euphrates, and every other large river except the Ganges, are inconsiderable formations in comparison with this magnificent encroachment on the ocean bed. And still the struggle is onward and irresistible. The vast body of water which debouches into the gulf from several mouths, has its rise more than five thousand miles above, by the course of the stream; and from its remotest source, and by every one of its innumerable branches, it is bringing down the ancient elevations, and spreading them over the tidewaters, the future fruitful abode of civilized man.

Opposite the city of New Orleans, the trunk of the river has a breadth of two thousand five hundred feet, with an average depth of one hundred, through which