on,
split fence-rails, now and then the carcase of some animal, with a
buzzard or black vulture (_Cathartes aura_ and _atratus_) perched upon
it, or hovering above.

I am within the geographical range of the alligator but here the great
Saurian is seldom seen. He prefers the more sluggish _bayous_, or the
streams whose shores are still wild. In the rapid current of the
Mississippi, and along its well-cultivated banks, he is but rarely
observed by the passing traveller.

Alternately the boat approaches both shores of the river ("coasts" they
are called). The land is an alluvion of no very ancient formation. It
is a mere strip of _terra firma_, varying in breadth from a few hundred
yards to several miles, and gradually declining from the banks, so that
the river is actually running along the top of a ridge! Beyond this
strip commences the "Swamp," a tract that is annually inundated, and
consists of a series of lagoons and marshes covered with coarse grass
and reeds. This extends in some places for a score of miles, or even
farther--a complete wilderness of morass. Some portions of this--where
the inundation is only annual--are covered with dark and almost
impenetrable forests. Between the cultivated strip on the immediate
bank of the river, and the "Swamp" in the rear, runs a belt of this
forest, which forms a kind of background to the picture, answering to
the mountain-ranges in other lands. It is a high, dark forest,
principally composed of cypress-trees (_Cupressus disticka_). But there
are other kinds peculiar to this soil, such as the sweet-gum
(_Liquidambar styraciflua_), the live-oak (_Quercus vivens_), the tupelo
(_Nyssa aquatica_), the water-locust (_Gleditschia aquatica_), the
cotton-wood (_Populus angulata_), with _carya, celtis_, and various
species of _acer, cornus, juglans, magnolia_, and oaks. Here an
underwood of palmettoes (_Sabal_ palms), _smilax, llianes_, and various
species of _vitis_; there thick brakes of cane (_Arundo gigantea_), grow
among the trees; while from their branches is suspended in long festoons
that singular parasite, the "Spanish moss" (_Tillandsia usneoides_),
imparting a sombre character to the forest.

Between this dank forest and the river-banks lie the cultivated fields.
The river current is often several feet above their level; but they are
protected by the "Levee," an artificial embankment which has been formed
on both sides of the river, to a distance of several h