he bayous. The
country here also changes its appearance, becoming flat and swampy, and
in some parts attaining but a few feet above the flood of the river,
whereas in other parts, as we approach the Gulf, the country is even
lower than the river.

The miasmatic and poisonous water of the Yazoo next enters, about ten
miles above Vicksburg. This river is more deeply impregnated with a
certain kind of impurities than any other tributary of the Mississippi.
The waters are green and slimy, and almost sticky with vegetable and
animal decomposition. During the hot season the water is certain
disease, if taken into the stomach. The name is of Indian origin, and
signifies 'River of Death.' The Yazoo receives its supply from bayous
and swamps, though it has several considerable tributaries.

Below the Yazoo, on the west side, enters the Red. The name indicates
the peculiar caste of its water. This river carries with it the washings
of an extensive area of prairies and swamps, and is the last of the
great tributaries. Hence the tendency of streams is directly to the
Gulf, and that network of lateral branches, of which we will hereafter
speak, begins.

We have only considered the most prominent tributaries: the sediment
also brought down by the numerous smaller streams is very great, and
makes great additions to the immense buoyant matter of the Mississippi.

The river itself from its own banks scours the larger portion of the
sediment it contains; and in so gigantic a scale is this carried on,
that it can be seen without the exercise of any very remarkable powers
of sight. It is not by the imperceptible degrees usually at work in
other streams, but often involves in its execution many acres of
adjoining land. It will be interesting to consider this more fully.

By a curious freak of nature, the tendency of the channel of the
Mississippi is always toward one or the other of its banks, being
influenced by the direction of its bends. The principle is one of nicely
regulated refraction. If the river were perfectly straight, the gravity
and inertia of its waters would move in a right line, with a velocity
beyond all control. But we find the river very sinuous, and the momentum
of current consequently lessened. For example, striking in an arm of the
river, by the inertia of the moving volume, the water is thrown, and
with less velocity, upon the opposite bank, which it pursues until it
meets another repellent obstacle, from which i