that separate the great families of organized existence. Changing seasons here produce different phenomena. Spring, that at the source of Red river clothes the earth in green, at its mouth covers it with a flood of water. Even the birds that skim the air are different; for the falcon is exchanged the gray eagle, and for the hawk the millions of migratory water-fowl, that perform their annual voyage between the Canadian lakes, and the shores of the Mexican gulph.

The Mississippi, flowing from north to south, enters the sea nearly on the same line of latitude with the Nile, the Blue river, and the Euphrates; with the latter river, the Mississippi has many strong points of resemblance; though in many respects very different.

The Nile, flowing from a southern to a northern region, and passing through countries so very dissimilar, has but little similitude to the Mississippi, except the embranchments at the mouth, common to all rivers which derive their waters from a sandy or loose soil; and singular as it may be, the Nile, though so very unlike, is in conversation almost always brought in comparison with the Mississippi.

The Nile rises about lat. 12° north, and pursuing nearly a northern course, enters the Mediterranean sea above lat. 32°, winding through a comparative course of upwards of 1600 miles. Below Abyssinia, or about lat. 18° north, the Nile receives no tributary rivers of any consequence, and flowing in an uninterrupted stream through Nubia and Egypt, branches into a variety of outlets, and falls into the sea like the Mississippi at various points.

Along the west bank interminable wastes of sand extend themselves nearly the whole length of the Nile, 'and often within a very short distance of the river.

The Red Sea also stretches parallel to, and near the Nile, leaving an arid waste or strip between them. The isthmus of Suez, that bounds the delta of the Nile on the east, is a desert waste of sand.

The inland parts of Africa are but imperfectly known, but there is reason to believe that the Sahara, or desert, runs from the west of Egypt to the Atlantic ocean. The space between the mouth of the Nile and that of the Euphrates is generally a desert waste, and exhibits plains of sand.

To an unprejudiced observer, it will, from a geographical comparison appear, that near the Nile in every essential respect, the adjacent regions present a total contrast to those near the mouth of the Mississippi. What in Asia and Africa are unprolific wastes of sand, are in America plains covered with the most luxuriant herbage. The prairies of Opelousas and Attacapas, and the still more extensive savannahs to the west of the Mississippi, may be called the American Sahara. But how different the aspect of the American grassy plains, from the parched sands of Africa!

Could the extent between the mouth of the Ohio and that of the Mississippi, and about four hundred miles east and west of the latter river, be comprehended in one view, objects would present themselves in the following order. East of the river, and near its margin, would be seen a long strip of rich land, timbered with various species of oak, hickory, sweet gum, sassafras, poplar, and other trees indicative of a rich soil; the land would be seen broken into hills and dales, some of the vallies with clear excellent water during the whole of the year; others dry, except in time of rain. Along the margin of the river, between the bank and bluffs, a long line of small lakes would present them

selves, except where interrupted by the protrusion of a river or the impending bluffs. Advancing east of this rich tract, a line of pine woods of irregular breadth would be seen between the Mississippi and Mobile, gradually sinking into the low lands of that river. The Mobile presents, above the bay, a nearly similar appearance to the Mississippi. The banks of the Mobile bay are generally high land, not subject to inundation. Turning the eye more westerly, and in the intermediate space between the Mississippi and Mobile, the Amite, Tickfah, Tangipao, Pearl, and Pascagoula rivers, will be seen entering that chain of lakes that winds from the mouth of the Amite to the mouth of the Mobile. The swamps and high pine tracts are woven with inexplicable intricacy in this region, the view would be confused in the infinite interlocking lagoons that checker the mouths of every river; and the mind could not resist the conviction, that the lakes Maurepas, Pontchartrain, and the Rigolets, at the mouth of Pearl river, were once a prolongation of lake Borgne.

The next object to arrest the view would be the serpentine meanders of the Mississippi, whose banks, now variegated with farms, present the germ of what Louisiana is destined to become; and glancing more to the southwestward, another intermixture of bayous, lakes, woods, and morasses, would present their infinite variety, until the line of vision would be terminated by the gulph of Mexico. This extensive landscape would present every variety of soil, from the barren pine hills and flats, to the exuberantly rich alluvion of the numerous rivers that wind their streams over the im

mense canvass.

West of the Mississippi, and near the margin of that river, but little change would be seen; river uniting to

F

river in a thousand mazes; deep forests of cotton wood, willow, elm, maple, and other trees indigenous to a soil of first quality, and admixed with the great cane and palmetto. In this labyrinth, the Atchafalaya, Red river, and Tensaw, would be the most conspicuous objects in the limits of Lower Louisiana; beyond its limits the Arkansaw, St. Francis, and White rivers, would exhibit similar features. Continuing westward, a new and astonishing scene would open: the wide green plains of Attacapas and Opelousas, varied by the irregular chains of woods, narrow and indented, running along the rivers. Beyond those seas of grass, another forest would be seen commencing, which would at a great distance melt into the immense prairies towards the Panis villages.

The Red river, though on a small scale, would, like its great rival the Mississippi, present an inextricable network of lakes and bayous.

Beyond the Red river, another expanse of woods would be seen extending, leaving the river on the south, and widening northward, embracing all the intermediate space between Mississippi and Red river, and becoming imperceptibly less in quantity as the view would be swept to the north.

Out of this great forest the Ouachitta would be seen meandering until lost in the delta of the Mississippi. Beyond lat. 34° 30′ the earth would, for the first time in this vast range, be seen elevated into mountains. The Massernes, extending from west to east two hundred miles, may be considered the natural outline between Lower and Upper Louisiana. Beyond those rugged, though not very elevated mountains, those vast savannahs that occupy so much of our continent,

would be seen variegated and indented by the woods along the rivers; whilst the imagination would be lost in this extensive, and, as it were, shoreless ocean of grass.

This brief, but accurate survey, will show how little the country under review resembles that in the neighbourhood of the Nile. The air that breathes over a grassy plain must be charged with particles infinitely less destructive to animal life, than the scorching air of the African desert.

The extremely mild temperature of the climate of Lower Louisiana, and the cold which is much more severe than could be expected below lat. 33°, is a phenomenon that has not yet been satisfactorily accounted for. Vegetable productions are the only decisive marks of climate; these afford ample proof how much more temperate the climate of Lower Louisiana is, than that of similar latitudes on the eastern continent. The orange tree flourishes in Europe. above 38° N. lat.* the sugar cane about the same height; neither of those have been yet cultivated with success in America, as high as 32° N. The cotton and other tender plants have frequently been killed by the frost late in April, and again in the latter days of September. The interval between frosts may be called the months of May, June, July, August, and September, though instances have occurred in Opelousas, of frost in the latter month. The heat in Fahrenheit's thermometer seldom amounts to 90°, and the medium temperature of well water is 52° of the same instrument.

In the islands of Hicres, opposite Toulon, in lat. 43o, orange trees are cultivated in orchards for the blossoms, which are sold to the perfumers of Grasse.