larger part of New Iberia and of
St. Mary, Terrebonne, larger part of Lafourche, Ascension, St. Charles,
St. John Baptiste, Jefferson, St. Bernard, part of Plaquemine, Morehouse,
Richland, Catahoula, Franklin, Caldwell, Ouachita, and St. Landry.

"Were it not for the levees, the whole of the lands west of the
Mississippi river, with a belt say of 35 miles from the Arkansas line to
Red River--those west of the Atchafalaya, with a breadth of 15 miles from
Red River to the Gulf--all from Red River to the Gulf west of the
Mississippi river and east of the Atchafalaya--and all east of the river
from Baton Rouge to the sea--these including a large part of the cotton
region and very nearly all of the section cultivated in rice and sugar,
and embracing the city of New Orleans, _would be annually submerged_,
being about one sixth of the area of the State, and the most fertile and
valuable part of it.

"In Mississippi the submerged district is about 2,500,000 acres, and with
the exception of a narrow depth of high land fronting the Mississippi
river has an average width of about 30 miles, and a length of 130 miles,
stretching from Alcorn's landing, in Coahuma county, to Vicksburg, being
in that county; in Bolivar, Sunflower, Washington, Isaquena and Warren
counties, and comprising what is known as the Yazoo and Mississippi Delta,
bounded on the east by the Yazoo river, and the highlands, about 15 miles
east of the Sunflower river, in the very heart of the richest cotton
region of that State.

"In Arkansas the overflow from opposite to Memphis to Helena (about 100
miles direct) has an average width of 40 miles, being all of the county of
Crittenden, part of St. Francis and of Phillipps; and from Helena to the
Louisiana line, has an average width of 30 miles, being part of Arkansas
and Desha Counties, and all of Chicot. To the interior, it covers part of
Ouachita, Calhoun, and Union Counties, bordering on the Ouachita river,
and has on either side of the White and Arkansas rivers a width of 20
miles. As nearly as I can estimate, the overflowed portion of Arkansas
would be about 2,000,000 acres."

W. J. McCULLOH.

In Louisiana 8,065,000
In Mississippi 2,500,000
In Arkansas 2,000,000
---------
12,565,060 acres.

The inundation, beginning two months ago, reached enormous and alarming
proportions by April 16th, continued spreading until May 15th, and only
began