_The Voyage of the Author to_ Biloxi. _Description of that Place.
Settlement of Grants. The Author discovers two Coppermines. His Return
to the Natchez._
<b>The</b> second year after my settling among the Natchez, I went to
New Orleans, as I was desirous to sell my goods and commodities
myself, instead of selling them to the travelling pedlars, who often
require too great a profit for their pains. Another reason that made
me undertake this voyage, was to send my letters to France myself,
which I was certainly informed, were generally intercepted.
Before my departure, I went to the commandant of the fort, and asked
him whether he had any letters for the government. I was not on very
good terms of friendship with this commandant of the Natchez, who
endeavoured to pay his court {28} to the governor, at the expence of
others. I knew he had letters for M. de Biainville, although he told
me he had none, which made me get a certificate from the commissary
general of this refusal to my demand; and at the same time the
commissary begged me to carry down a servant of the company, and gave
me an order to pay for his maintenance. As I made no great haste, but
stopt to see my friends, in my going down the river, the commandant
had time to send his letters, and to write to the governor, that I
refused to take them. As soon as I arrived at Biloxi, this occasioned
M. de Biainville to tell me, with some coldness, that I refused to
charge myself with his letters. Upon this I shewed him the certificate
of the commissary general; to which he could give no other answer,
than by telling me, that at least I could not deny, that I had brought
away by stealth a servant of the company. Upon this I shewed him the
other certificate of the commissary general, by which he desired the
directors to reimburse me the charges of bringing down this servant,
who was of no use to him above; which put the governor in a very bad
humour.
Upon my arrival at New Orleans I was informed, that there were several
grantees arrived at New Biloxi. I thought fit then to go thither, both
to sell my goods, and to get sure conveyance for my letters to France.
Here I was invited to sup with M. d'Artaguette, king's lieutenant, who
usually invited all the grantees, as well as myself. I there found
several of the grantees, who were all my friends; and among us we made
out a sure conveyance for our letters to France, of which we
afterwards made use.
Biloxi is situate opposite to Ship-Island, and four leagues from it.
But I never could guess the reason, why the principal settlement was
made at this place, nor why the capital should be built at it; as
nothing could be more repugnant to good sense; vessels not being able
to come within four leagues of it; but what was worse, nothing could
be brought from them, but by changing the boats three different times,
from a smaller size to another still smaller; after which they had to
go upwards of an hundred paces with small carts through the water to
unload the least boats. But what ought still to have {29} been a
greater discouragement against making a settlement at Biloxi, was,
that the land is the most barren of any to be found thereabouts; being
nothing but a fine sand, as white and shining as snow, on which no
kind of greens can be raised; besides, the being extremely incommoded
with rats, which swarm there in the sand, and at that time ate even
the very stocks of the guns, the famine being there so very great,
that more than five hundred people died of hunger; bread being very
dear, and flesh-meat still more rare. There was nothing in plenty but
fish, with which this place abounds.
This scarcity proceeded from the arrival of several grantees all at
once; so as to have neither provisions, nor boats to transport them to
the places of their destination, as the company had obliged themselves
to do. The great plenty of oysters, found upon the coast, saved the
lives of some of them, although obliged to wade almost up to their
thighs for them, a gun-shot from the shore. If this food nourished
several of them, it threw numbers into sickness; which was still more
heightened by the long time they were obliged to be in the water.
The grants were those of M. Law, who was to have fifteen hundred men,
consisting of Germans, Provençals, &c. to form the settlement.
His land being marked out at the Arkansas, consisted of four leagues
square, and was erected into a duchy, with accoutrements for a company
of dragoons, and merchandize for more than a million of livres. M.
Levans, who was a trustee of it, had his chaise to visit the different
posts of the grant. But M. Law soon after becoming bankrupt, the
company seized on all the effects and merchandise; and but a few of
those who engaged in the service of that grant, remained at the
Arkansas; they were afterwards all dispersed and set at liberty. The
Germans almost to a man settled eight leagues above, and to the west
of the capital. This grant ruined near a thousand persons at L'Orient
before their embarkation, and above two hundred at Biloxi; not to
mention those who came out at the same time with me in 1718. All this
distress, of which I was a witness at Biloxi, determined me to make an
excursion a few leagues on the coast, in order to pass some days {30}
with a friend, who received me with pleasure. We mounted horse to
visit the interior part of the country a few leagues from the sea. I
found the fields pleasant enough, but less fertile than along the
Missisippi; as they have some resemblance of the neighbouring coast,
which has scarce any other plants but pines, that run a great way, and
some red and white cedars.
When we came to the plain, I carefully searched every spot that I
thought worth my attention. In consequence of the search I found two
mines of copper, whose metal plainly appeared above ground. They stood
about half a league asunder. We may justly conclude that they are very
rich, as they thus disclose themselves on the surface of the earth.
When I had made a sufficient excursion, and judged I could find
nothing further to satisfy my curiosity, I returned to Biloxi, where I
found two boats of the company, just preparing to depart for New
Orleans, and a large pettyaugre, which belonged to F. Charlevoix the
jesuit, whose name is well known in the republic of letters: with him
I returned to New Orleans.
Some time after my return from New Orleans to the Natchez, towards the
month of March 1722, a phaenomenon happened, which frightened the
whole province. Every morning, for eight days running, a hollow noise,
somewhat loud, was heard to reach from the sea to the Illinois; which
arose from the west. In the afternoon it was heard to descend from the
east, and that with an incredible quickness; and though the noise
seemed to bear on the water, yet without agitating it, or discovering
any more wind on the river than before. This frightful noise was only
the prelude of a most violent tempest. The hurricane, the most furious
ever felt in the province, lasted three days. As it arose from the
south-west and north-east, it reached all the settlements which were
along the Missisippi; and was felt for some leagues more or less
strong, in proportion to the greater or less distance: but in the
places, where the force or height of the hurricane passed, it
overturned every thing in its way, which was an extent of a large
quarter of a league broad; so that one would take it for {31} an
avenue made on purpose, the place where it passed being entirely laid
flat, whilst every thing stood upright on each side. The largest trees
were torn up by the roots, and their branches broken to pieces and
laid flat to the earth, as were also the reeds of the woods. In the
meadows, the grass itself, which was then but six inches high, and
which is very fine, could not escape, but was trampled, faded, and
laid quite flat to the earth.
[Illustration: Indian in winter time]
{32} The height of the hurricane passed at a league from my
habitation; and yet my hose, which was built on piles, would have been
overturned, had I not speedily propped it with a timber, with the
great end in the earth, and nailed to the house with an iron hook
seven or eight inches long. Several houses of our post were
overturned. But it was happy for us in this colony, that the height of
the hurricane passed not directly oer any post, but obliquely
traversed the Missisippi, over a country intirely uninhabited. As this
hurricane came from the south, it so swelled the sea, that the
Missisippi flowed back against its current, so as to rise upwards of
fifteen feet high.