----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Though not a Mississippian, I lived there for a year, and "the Delta" to a Mississippian is indeed that northwestern section of the state characterized by rich soil, large plantations, and flat topography. One of the best descriptions of the Delta comes from the Federal Writers' Project Guide for the state. "David Cohn has said that the Delta 'begins in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel at Memphis and ends on Catfish Row in Vicksburg,' and this is possibly more exact than to say it is a leaf-shaped plain lying in the northwestern part of the State, with its greatest length 200 miles and its greatest width 85 miles. For the native Mississippian long has accepted as fact that the Delta is more than a distinct geographical unit--it is also a way of life..." The Delta is largely rural, heavily black, with great wealth and grinding poverty. The new Secretary of Agriculture, Mike Espy, was Congressman from that District. --Alan Virta, Boise State University Library (Idaho) e-mail: [log in to unmask]