one-third the volume of the Mississippi, and as they all run together at high-water stages, there is a fear that the whole Mississippi may at some time conclude to go into the Atchafalaya, thus leaving New Orleans on an arm of the sea. Extensive Government works are in progress to prevent this diversion and maintain the old conditions. Below Red River, the Mississippi is all in Louisiana, its width barely a half-mile, and its depth very great, in many places one to two hundred feet, necessary to carry the vast flow of water. The banks are throughout protected by levees, and on the last bluff rising alongside the river, on the eastern bank, is the Louisiana state capital, Baton Rouge, a quaint old city with ancient French and Spanish houses, spreading over the bluff fifty feet above the water. There is a population of about ten thousand, and overlooking the river are the State House and the buildings of the Louisiana State University. Below Baton Rouge, both banks of the Mississippi are bordered by attractive gardens and extensive plantations, with sections of forest, sombre moss-draped trees and rich vegetation, the whole of the "coast," as the lower river banks are familiarly called, being lavish in the display of semi-tropical luxuriance. The voyage down, skirting the low shores and levees for a hundred and twenty miles, is most picturesque, as the windings of the river make pleasant views. Finally, a grand sweeping bend is rounded, where the city of New Orleans is spread out upon both banks, the streets and buildings stretching far inland upon the lowlands behind the great protective embankments. THE CRESCENT CITY.