of these prairies, bordering on the Gulf of Mexico, is low and marshy, and subject to be wholly inundated in any extraordinary swell of the river. A considerable portion of them have a cold clayey soil, the surface of which, under the influence of a warm sun, hardens into a stiff crust. In other portions, the soil is of an inky blackness, and often, in the hot and dry season, cracks in long fissures some inches in width.

The bottoms are generally rich, but in very different degrees. Those of the Mississippi and Red Rivers, and the bayous connected with these streams, are more fertile than those on the western border of the State. The quality of the richer bottoms of the Mississippi, as well as those of the Red River, is sufficiently attested by the prodigious growth of timber in those parts, the luxuriance of the cane and the cotton, the tangles of vines and creepers, the astonishing size of the weeds—which, however, find it difficult to over-top the better products of the soil—and the universal strength of the vegetation.

The most productive district of this State, is a belt of land, called "the Coast," lying along the Mississippi, in the neighborhood of New Orleans. It consists of that part of the bottom, or alluvion, of the Great River, which commences with the first cultivation above the Balize, about forty miles below the capital, and extends about one hundred and fifty miles above it. This belt on each side of the river, is secured from an overflow by an embankment, called "the levee," from six to eight feet in height, and sufficiently broad, for the most part, to furnish an excellent highway. The river, in an ordinary rise, would cover the greater part of these beautiful bottoms, to a depth of from two to six feet, if they were not thus protected. This belt is from one to two miles in width; a richer tract of land, of the same extent, cannot probably be found on the face of the globe.

On the east side of the river the levee extends to Baton Rouge, where it meets the highlands; on the west side, it continues, with little interruption, to the Arkansas line. On the east, above the levee, are the parishes of Baton Rogue and West Feliciana. This latter received its appropriate and expressive name from its beautifully variegated surface of fertile hills and valleys, and its rare combination of all the qualities that are most to be desired in a planting country. It is a region of almost fairy beauty and wealth. The soil literally teems with the most luxuriant productions of this favored clime. The hills are covered with laurel, and forest trees of magnificent growth and foliage, indicating a soil of the richest and most productive character. Here are some of the wealthiest and most intelligent planters, and the finest plantations in the state, the region of princely taste and luxury, and more than patriarchal hospitality. The mouth of Bayou Sara, which is the point of shipment for this productive region, transmits immense quantities of cotton to New Orleans. Some of the plantations on this bayou have from five to eight hundred acres under cultivation.

On the western side of the Mississippi, are the Bayous Lafourche and Plaquemine, outlets, or arms of the Great River, and subject, of course, to all its fluctuations. The bottoms bordering on these bayous are of the same luxuriant soil, as those on the parent stream, and are guarded from inundation in the same manner, by levees. In this region, the sugar cane is exceedingly productive. It is estimated that, within a compass of seven miles from Thibadeauxville, in the vicinity of the Bayous Black and Terre Bonne, about one tenth of the sugar crop of Louisiana is produced.

A considerable part of Attakapas is also very productive, as well as portions of Opelousas. The latter, however, is better adapted to grazing. The Teche, which meanders through the former, and the eastern part of the latter, of these two parishes, never overflows its banks. The land rises from the river, in a regularly inclined plane towards the woods, affording free courses for the streams, which discharge themselves into the bayou. The soil, therefore, cannot be called alluvial, though in the most essential quality of productiveness, it is scarcely inferior to the best of them. It is a lovely region, the most beautiful, perhaps, in the whole Union, for agricultural purposes. But it has one great drawback, especially for the cultivation of sugar; there is a deficiency of ordinary fire-wood; though the live-oak abounds there to such an extent, that Judge Porter once remarked in Congress, that "there was enough of it in Attakapas, to supply the navies of the whole world with ship timber."

The lands on the Atchafalaya are of an excellent quality, and would afford a desirable opening for enterprising cultivators, if they were not liable to frequent inundations, an evil which will doubtless be remedied, as the population and wealth of that section advances. Those on the Courtableau, which runs through Opelousas, are equal in point of fertility, to any in that parish. From thence, proceeding northward, by Bayou Bœuf, we find, on that bayou, a soil which is regarded by many as the best in the State for the cultivation of cotton. There is also land of an excellent quality on Bayou Rouge, though it is, as yet, for the most part, in the state of nature. The banks of the Bayou Robert, still further north, are of extraordinary fertility, the cane brake, a sure evidence of a very rich soil, flourishing with astonishing luxuriance. Bayou Rapid, which gives its name to the parish through which it runs, intersects one of the most beautiful tracts in the state, which is laid out, on both sides of the bayou, through the whole length of its course, into the finest cotton plantations.

The bottoms of the Red River are well known for their fertility. Those which lie about its lower courses are justly esteemed the paradise of cotton planters. The soil is of a darkish red color, occasioned by the presence of the red oxide of iron. It is thought to derive its character of luxuriant productiveness from a portion of salt intimately blended with its constituents, which, from its tendency to effloresce in a warm sun, renders the compound peculiarly friable. This soil is deep, and has been accumulating for unknown ages, from the spoils of the Mexican mountains, (a species of natural annexation which the laws of nations have no power to regulate,) and the vast prairies which are washed by its upper courses.

The rich valley of the Red River is of a magnificent breadth, and for the most part, where it has not been cleared for cultivation, covered with a dense growth of forest trees. All the bayous of this river, which are very numerous, branching off in every direction, and intersecting every part of this luxuriant valley, partake of the fertilizing character of the main stream.[1]

There are few things among the works of nature, more remarkable than the floating prairies, which are found upon the lakes bordering upon the coast of the Gulf. They seem to have been formed by the natural aggregation of such vegetable matter as lay suspended upon the surface of the water, supplied with a light substratum of soil, partly by its own decay and disintegration, and partly by attracting around its roots and fibres the alluvial treasures with which all these waters abound. From this, various kinds of grass and weeds have sprung up, the roots of which have become firmly interwoven with the subjacent mass, matting it completely together,