Page:A Topographical Description of the State of Ohio, Indiana Territory, and Louisiana.djvu/101

93 The bayau la Fourche, on the same side, is about thirty miles further down, following the meanders of the river, and eighty from the city of Orleans. From this bayau the course of the river is nearly south east, and much more direct to the city. Bayau la Fourche is a large outlet, forming a considerable river, which communicates with the sea to the west of the Balise. In old maps it is called La Riviere des Chetamaches. When the water is high it will admit of craft of sixty or seventy tons burden. On its banks are numerous settlements, one plantation deep. The land is rich and gradually descends from the banks to the swamps, which are generally covered with water, and incapable of cultivation. The culture is principally cotton.

From this outlet to the city, the land will admit of only one plantation deep, and is rarely capable of cultivation, more than one mile from the bank of the river. It then becomes low and swampy to the lakes and the sea. The swamps are immense, intersected by creeks and lakes, extending more than one hundred miles to the high lands of Atacapas. But the swamps generally abound with large cypress trees. Great quantities of this timber is sawed by mills, erected on streams formed by cutting sluices through the Levee. These mills are worked with great rapidity nearly half the year. What has been said of the situation, soil, and culture of the plantation below Iberville, on the eastern side of