NEW ORLEANS, capital city and port of entry of Louisiana, on the left bank of the Mississippi river, 100 m. from its mouth, lat. 29° 58' n., long. 90° west. The city is built on the alluvial banks of the river, on ground lower than the high-water level, protected from inundations by the lame or embankments, which extend for hundreds of miles on both banks of the river. The streets descend from the river bank to the swamps, and the drainage is by canals which open into lake Pontchartrain, which is on a level with the gulf of Mexico. The city is long and mbrrow, extending about 0 m, along the river. on an inner and outer curve, giving it the shape of the letter S. The older portion, extending around the outer curve, gave it the name of "the Cresent City." New Orleans is the great port. of transhipment for a large portion of the cotton crop of the southern American states, the sugar crop of LouiSiana, and the produce of the vast region drained by the Mississippi and its tributaries. It -coinmibpds,10,000 m. of steamboat navigation._ and is the natural eutrepot of one of the richeStregions of the world. In the fiscal Teat ended June 1874, the value of imports into New Orleans was 14,533,864 dollars; of exports, the value was 03,715,710 dollars. The sugar product in 1873 was 103,241,11:f lbs., value 8,122,575 dollars. The custom-house is one of the largest buildings in America. The hotels, theaters, and public buildings are on it magnificent scale. There are a branch mint, 55 infirmaries, and asylums, several colleges, Roman Catholic cathedral, 150 churches, 7 daily newspapers, extensive cotton-presses, cotton and sugar warehouses, several banks, and all the facilities for a vast commerce. Besides the great river, New
Orleans has railways connecting it with the north, east, and west. It is a beautiful, and, but for the very frequent visits of the yellow fever, a healthy city. The visitation of this dreaded epidemic in the lower Mississippi valley in 1878 was one of the most terrible on record. The soil is full of water, so that no excavations can be made. The largest buildings have no cellars below the surface; and in the cemeteries there arc no graves, but the dead are placed in tombs, or " ovens," above ground. New Orleans was settled by the French in 1718; with Louisiana, it was transferred to Spain in 176;;; soon after re-transferred to France, mind sold, with a vast territory drained by the Mississippi and Mis souri, by Napoleon I. to the United States in 1803. In 1815 it was successfully defended against it British army, under gen. Packenham, by gen., afterwards president, Jackson. In 1860. Louisiana having seceded from the union, New Orleans became an important center of commercial and military operations, and was closely blockaded by a federal fleet. An expedition of gunboats, under commander Farragut, forced the defenses near the mouth of the river, April 24,1862; the city was compelled to surrender, and occupied by nn. Butler as military governor. In 1803, on its cession to the union, the popula tion was about 8,000, mostly French and Spanish; in 1820 it had increased to 27,000; in 1860, to 168,823, and consisted of Americans, French cseolcs, Irish, etc.; in 1870 it was 191,4.18.