TOPOGRAPIIY. The highest ridges in the north east reach an altitude of about 1000 feet. Throughout. most of the State the elevations range from 500 to 600 feet down to 150 feet a few miles from the Gulf. A moderate uplift of the region has allowed the rivers to carry the work of dissection to maturity, all gradients now being low, nearly or quite at base level, the streams having their lower courses in valleys opened Wide. from a few hundred yards to several miles, and in sinuous courses upon silted bottoms. These river bottoms cover a total of 7560 square miles, or over of the entire State. Of this the Yazoo occupy the greater part. The flood plains of the Yazoo and Alississippi rivers are lined on the east by bluffs from 100 to 300 feet in height. caused by the lateral corrosion of the swinging meanders of the great river. These bluffs are Nipped throughout with a deposit of loess. Extending through the middle of the Yazoo bottoms is a flat ridge, standing above flood level, and this and the banks of the various streams are available for cultivation, being the best cotton lands in the world. The bottom is being steadily reclaimed for plantations. The swamp and marsh area is occupied by cypress trees very valuable as lumber, while the drier lands are covered with eane brakes and rich forests of many species of timber trees.
llvDnoon.kenv. The principal rivers of the State are the Mississippi, flowing the entire length of the western margin, the Tombigbee, Big Black, and Pearl. The Yazoo River is a dis tributary of the Mississippi, and the whole area of its bottoms is a mesh of interlacing streams, bayous. and oxbow lakes. About one-half the area of the State drains directly into the Mis sissippi River. The bottom lands of the Mis sissippi and other rivers are liable to overflow when the rivers are flooded. To guard against this, levees or artificial banks are built to re strain the rivers. Occasional breaks or 'crevasses' occur, causing much damage to the plantations, and in times of exceptional high water whole counties may be flooded. The injury, however, is alleviated by the fact that a layer of rich silt is left over all the bottom by the receding flood. The levees are built by the State partly from a fund derived from a special tax on the land, and partly with moneys derived from the sale of swamp lands set aside for the purpose by the General Government. See LEVEE, and MISSIS SIPPI RIVER.