NATCHEZ.

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On the evening of the following day after leaving NewOrleans, we reached Natchez, a distance of 284 miles bywater. This was accomplished in 24 hours, though anumber of stoppages were made either to take on board orto land goods and passengers. The driving-wheels were 44feet in diameter, and propelled by two high-pressure engines,reckoned at 850 horse-power each, by which a speed of 17miles an hour against the current was sometimes attained.

Above New Orleans I saw no wharves at any of thesmall towns on the river, as the soft mud-banks almost every-where afford facilities for passengers landing. The produceof the plantations on the river is therefore shipped from thelevees—a circumstance which is of great importance, as allland-carriage is saved. It was dark when we reached Natchez.A considerable quantity of rain having fallen, it rendered themud-banks so slippery, that it was with the utmost difficultyI scrambled up to the conveyance waiting to take passengersto the hotel.

I found the features of the country much changed atNatchez. At Baton Rouge, 129 miles above New Orleans,the east or left bank of the river is about 25 feet higher thanthe recent alluvial deposit, and belongs to a different geolo-gical formation. This formation consists of a compact sili-cious clay, containing fresh-water shells of the same as theexisting species. The raised land at Baton Rouge is thefirst appearance .on the Mississippi of the vast plain or table-land that stretches towards the Lakes, with an easy ascentof less on an average than one foot to a mile. At Natchezthis formation rises about 300 feet above the river, and forms,from being undermined by it, a precipitous bank of thatheight, whilst the west bank is so low, that the plantations

POST TERTIARV DEPOSIT

DELTA ALLUVIUM

SWAMP-

are protected by levees. The figure will show this formationmore clearly.

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