adapted to carry from 200 to 400 barrels. Great numbers of cattle,
hogs, and horses are conveyed to market in them. Coals, too, are thus
brought down from the upper parts of the valley. Some of these barges
have apartments fitted up for the accommodation of a family, with a
stove, beds, tables, &c. You may sometimes see in them ladies,
servants, cows, horses, sheep, dogs, and poultry,--all floating on the
same bottom. It was precisely in this fashion that the Pennsylvanian
farmer and his wife had reached New Orleans. Indeed, most of our
fellow-passengers had come as captains or crews of flat boats. Of
course, no attempt is made to get these unwieldy boats back against the
current. It would be impracticable. The flat boat makes but one trip
during its individual existence. Arrived at New Orleans, it is sold for
"lumber," and taken to pieces. In short, by this arrangement timber and
produce are brought to market at the same time, the "stuff" of which
the float is composed being but little injured. One cannot look at
these temporary structures without being impressed with the vast
importance of those water-powers which the Americans, with a wonderful
tact, bring to bear in the way of saw-mills on the exhaustless
resources of the forest. The very first thing looked for in settling a
new district is water-power.

These flats, though destined for but a single voyage, sometimes do not
reach their port,--seldom without more or less of danger,--and never
without infinite toil' They usually carry but three or four hands.
Their form and gravity render them very unmanageable. Lying flat and
dead in the water, with square timbers below their bottom planks, they
often run on a sandbank with a strong head-way, and bury their timbers
in the soil. To get them afloat again is a great labour. Sometimes they
run upon a "snag," and are instantly swallowed up with all their crew
and all their cargo. Sometimes a steamer runs into one of them, and