The  last  drain  of  the  flood  was  now  stealing  along,
and  the  river  seemed  like  a  bowl  filled  up  to  the
brim.  The  banks  were  low  and  swampy,  without
trees  or  houses,  or  any  definite  land-mark,  by  which
our  precise  place  could  be  told.  Everything  look-
ed so  perfectly  placid,  that  I  dreamed  of  no  danger,'
after  having  ah'eady  navigated  by  the  chart,  for
thirty  or  forty  miles  through  a  succession  of  intri-
cate and  dangerous  shoals.  I  was  thus  lulled  into
an  undue  degi-ee  of  security,  and  permitted  the
tide  to  di-ift  the  brig  silently  and  imperceptibly
towards  the  Eastern  bank  of  this  immense  river.
