This notebook contains Charles Lyell's notes from his travels on the Mississippi River, through Louisiana and New Orleans over a period of 6 days in March 1846. This notebook covers geology and ecology along the Mississippi River, Balize swamp and Pontchartrain estuary around New Orleans, Louisianna. Lyell also takes notes on Creole culture, race relations and politics in this region. Far few people are mentioned, and the notes are mostly observational, and with references to old sources. Notes are primarily in pencil and include daily journal entries. The index is located at the back of the notebook, is primarily in ink and is in the hand of Mary Horner Lyell.

Content warning: Lyell uses his Scientific Notebooks to gather evidence, based on both his own observation, by reviewing other people's works, by correspondence, asking questions and analyses. The language used in this index is historical, can be discriminatory and may cause offence.

Transcription note:
The following table of contents is copied from the "Index", found at the end of the notebook, which was written by Mary Horner Lyell. When known, Lyell's abbreviations and contractions have been expanded using brackets []. When writing is unclear, and transcription is not possible, this is denoted using [...]. Quotation marks are Lyell's own notation for ditto, as is the abbreviation "do". The inclusion of [sic] indicates the misspelling of a word is deliberate and taken from the notebook.

Index.
1846
Note Book 135. March 1 to 6.
p. 1 X From New Orleans to Balize- Fog. Elections illegal votes.
p. 1 X Judge Leonard impeached for false naturalizations
p. 3 X Colleges vetoed by democratic Miss[issippi]. Governor
p. 3 X Devils Swamp. Falconers Port Hudson
p. 5 X Three growths of willows on river bank
p. 5 X Birds & trees & drift wood on Mississippi
p. 5 X Forest disappears near Balize
p. 7 X Myrica cerifera. Deer island Fort Jackson
p. 7 X Birds, landcrabs, plants pumice.
p. 9 X Plants pumice, palmetto, fiddler crabs
p. 11 X No shells on shore of Mississippi
p. 11 X Backward Spring, no gnats, nut as at Fort Hudson
p. 11 X Spanish block house said by source ten miles from present Mouth
p. 13 X Currents twelve mile an hour opposite mouth
p. 13 X Pilot account of new cut
p. 13 X View of Mississippi & narrow bank covered with willows
p. 15 X Cranes like white sheep
p. 15 X Spanish map. 112 years old. Charlevoix
p. 17 Tendency of Mississippi to go eastward
p. 17 X Diminuation of drift wood in 30 years by Steam boats
March 1846
p. 17 X Rise of sea his feet in hurricane
p. 17 X Drift logs. blockhouse. magazine
p. 17 X 5 1/2 miles gained in 112 years
p. 19 X Bursting of wave steamer
p. 19 X South west pass. 10 feet water
p. 19 X Islands off mouth - population as Balize
p. 20 X Estimate of gain of Delta in 112 years –
p. 20 X No alligators, reeds at Balize
p. 22 X White heron & racoons path
p. 24 X Curlew, reeds, logs rotten. Nerita Barnacles on reeds
p. 24 X Distant view of south Point lighthouse
p. 24 X Stratification of mud, dearth of shells, otters
p. 26 X Wild cats, deer, near magazine
p. 26 X New islands and bricks brought to surface
p. 28 X View of Balize. Promenade. Venice of U.S.
p. 30 X Coldness of river water. tide salt springs. fog
p. 32 X Attempt to remove bars & cut channel
p. 34 X Bars in every bayou. same in Charlevoix’s map
p. 34 ? Gain of one mile in 21 years
p. 36 ? Distance from mouths to deep water 15 miles
p. 36 X Fog-temperature by thermometer
p. 36 X Distance from N. Orleans to Balize 80 miles by land
p. 36 Growth of trees is 30 years at Port St Philip [sic Fort St Philip]
March 1846
p. 38 X Calculation of time when the mouths were at N. Orleans
p. 40 The old E. pass is now the N. E.
p. 42 X 80 years ago Balize was principal mouth
p. 42 X Change & shifting of chief mouths
p. 42 Calculations of growth of delta
p. 42 ? Bed of buried trees nine feet thick. 90 ft from surface p. 44 on Red River
p. 46 X Filling up of Lake Ponchartrain [sic Pontchartrain]
p. 46 X Log cabin thatched with palmetto - lizard. bird.
p. 46 X Feeling of races. French & Anglo American
p. 48 X French losing ground. no progressive agriculture of
p. 50 X Evidence of pilot why exaggerating charge
p. 50 X Port Hudson fossil trees not cut by axe
p. 50 X Erratum in Carpenters paper. Cupressus
p. 50 X Proposed cut off to Lake Borgne
p. 52 X Creoles, character of social equality
p. 52 X Meaning of “highland” at the Balize. hurricane
p. 54 X Permanence of swamps - vines - age of cypress.
p. 54 X Creole not migrating - killing ducks
p. 56 X Flat boat turned adrift - cut offs on river
p. 56 ? no boughs overhanging as on Warrior river
p. 58 ? The Atchafaylaya deposits mud in a lake.
p. 58 X Clouds caused by burning [‘on’ deleted] of [‘of’ interlined] prairie
p. 58 ? Raft cut away on Bayou Plaquemine
p. 60 X Increase of Steamers on Mississippi
March 1846
p. 60 ? Shrill note of frog. Habits of Hyla
p. 60 X Creoles, small influence of priests
p. 62 X Creoles non-progressive - sugar mills
p. 64 X Singularity of Creoles with Canadian habitants
p. 66 X Slow, progress of schools in first municipality
p. 66 X Cold weather. Cocoa grass
p. 66 X Sugar house below New Orleans
p. 68 X Future cut off at New Orleans. Change of mouths?
p. 68 X Natural importance of site of New Orleans.
p. 68 X Why no floods spreading out of water near mouths
p. 70 X Negroes of Creoles. rarely have medical attendance
p. 70 X no duck. No dinner
p. 72 X Creole not hospitable, no Creole medical college.
p. 74 X Card playing of creoles in steamer
p. 74 Sicily Island & Marsh island
p. 74 X Battleground & cut off below N. Orleans
p. 74 X Creole ore patient than Anglo Saxon
p. 76 Plans of sections of delta
p. 78 X Delays of steamer below N. Orleans
p. 78 X Creole non progressive
p. 80 X Battleground heard no boasting
p. 80 X Delta slow growth of Plaquemine County
p. 82 X Wealth only distinction in U.S.
March 1846
p. 82 X N. Orleans gaiety of processions.
p. 84 X The magazine near the Balize
p. 84 X Lake Pont Chartrain [sic Pontchartrain] filling up
p. 84 X Moving of the Balize not of the delta.
p. 86 ? Mastin on the Balize. M.S & La.
p. 86 X North[east crossed out] east Pass Lighthouse built 14 years
p. 86 X Gas works N. Orleans. layers of Cypress stumps.
p. 86 X Market Indians. Pine apples [sic Pineapples]. Negro talking French
p. 87 X Maize. Sir R. Peel & its being food for men
p. 87 Procession of Fire men
p. 88 Erratum in travels. Distance of Pitts burg [sic Pittsburgh] from N. Orleans
p. 88 – also Hennepin
p. 88 Bringier on depth of Miss[issippi]. R[iver]. opposite N. Orleans
p. 89 X – also on excavation of New Canal
p. 89 X Gas works N. Orleans trees. 1800 years old
p. 90 ? Bringier on deposit of mud
p. 90 ? Guathodon banks hive brought from Maine
p. 90 X Foreigners can buy land in L[ouisian]a. by civil law
p. 91 X Choctaw Indians
p. 91 X Gas work excavations cut out by axe
p. 91 X Breaking of crevasse
p. 92 X French colonies never swam off
p. 92 X New convention cashiered Judges
p. 92 X Musquitoes [sic Mosquitoes] day & night
March 1846
p. 93 ? Annexation of Texas. Texas compared to L[ouisian]a
p. 93 Dale Tree. N. Orleans
p. 93 X Living in public. Spoilt children
p. 94 Mint at Philadelphia. Dr. Riddell
p. 94 X Hole. 250 feet deep in bed of Mississippi
p. 96 & 94 X Guathodon beds. 20 feet high. Riddell
p. 95 X Creoles replied hospitable not money making
p. 95 ? Democratic system [deleted with] will last while new land is plentiful. – N. Wilde
p. 96 X Subsidence. query if caused by escape of gas near N. Orleans
p. 96 & I.L. Riddell Prof. of Chemistry.
p. 97 X Democracy experimental constitutions
p. 97 X N. Orleans flowers here. ice in the north yet season backward here.
p. 101 & 97 X Description of N. Orleans
p. 98 X Voting in U.S. with garret not with first floor
p. 98 X Litigation promoted by number of lawyers.
p. 98 X Lawyers why numerous.
p. 99 X No vested right in a public injury
p. 99 X Batture – date tree age of.
p. 99 Bringier on slow growth of delta.
p. 100 ? Inghil theatre on Sunday
p. 100 Lake. Bistineau a cypress swamp of Bodeau
March 1846
p. 100 X Ice at St Louis
. - p. 100 & 103 X Date. palm view of. Pere Antoine planted it
p. 103 X Negro cab man at New Orleans superseded by whites
p. 103 X Negroes kept down the Irish hate them
p. 104 X Americans thrive with democracy, therefore cheerful
P 104 ? Darby on velocity & volume of Mississippi
p. 105 X Slave witnesses free blacks
p. 105 X Free blacks cannot settle in La
p. 105 X Miss Martineaus’ story of Mad[ame] Lalaurie
p. 106 Letter bag pouring out contents. Charles Kean
p. 106 X Negroes a doomed race free or emancipated
p. 106 X Mrs Hale’s free at her death
p. 107 ? To live a lie.
p. 107 X Presidents for four years. office by ballot
p. 107 X Indians all intermediate shades to whites
p. 108 News of Tabernacle destroyed by fire
p. 110 New Madrid earthquake Bringier
p. 111 Popular election of Judges canvassing
p. 111 Democratic tendencies, rotation in office
p. 111 If elections numerous the best voters cannot vote
p. 112 Fifty voters out of 1500 in Georgia
p. 112 Decision by lot why preferable. Aristotle.
p. 112 Hereditary office like the ballot is by chance