This hunting is neither expensive nor fatiguing: horses are had very

cheap in that country, and maintained almost for nothing. Each hunter

is mounted on horseback, and armed with a crescent somewhat open,

whose inside should be pretty sharp; the top of the outside to have a

socket, to put in a handle: then a number of people on horseback to go

in quest of a herd of buffaloes, and always attack them with the wind

in their backs. As soon as they smell a man, it is true, they run

away; but at the sight of the horses they will moderate their fears,

and thus not precipitate their flight; whereas the report of a gun

frightens them so as to make them run at full speed. In this chace,

the lightest would run fast enough; but the oldest, and even the young

of two or three years old, are so fat, that their weight would make

them soon be overtaken: then the armed hunter may strike the buffalo

with his crescent above each ham, and cut his tendons; after which he

is easily mastered. Such as never saw a buffalo, will hardly believe

the quantity of fat they yield: but it ought to be considered, that,

continuing day and night in plentiful pastures of the finest and most

delicious grass, they must soon fatten, and that from their youth. Of

this we have an instance in a bull at the Natchez, which was kept till

he was two years old, and grew so fat, that he could not leap on a

cow, from his great weight; so that we were obliged to kill him, and

got nigh an hundred and fifty pounds of tallow from him. His neck was

near as big as his body.

From what I have said, it may be judged what profit such hunters might

make of the skins and tallow of those buffaloes; {156} the hides would

be large, and their wool would be still an additional benefit. I may

add, that this hunting of them would not diminish the species, those

fat buffaloes being ordinarily the prey of wolves, as being too heavy

to be able to defend themselves.

Besides, the wolves would not find their account in attacking them in

herds. It is well known that the buffaloes range themselves in a ring,

the strongest without, and the weakest within. The strong standing

pretty close together, present their horns to the enemy, who dare not

attack them in this disposition. But wolves, like all other animals,

have their particular instinct, in order to procure their necessary

food. They come so near that the buffaloes smell them some way off,

which makes them run for it. The wolves then advance with a pretty

equal pace, till they observe the fattest out of breath. These they

attack before and behind; one of them seizes on the buffalo by the

hind-quarter, and overturns him, the others strangle him.

The wolves being many in a body, kill not what is sufficient for one

alone, but as many as they can, before they begin to eat. For this is

the manner of the wolf, to kill ten or twenty times more than he

needs, especially when he can do it with ease, and without

interruption.

Though the country I describe has very extensive plains, I pretend not

to say that there are no rising grounds or hills; but they are more

rare there than elsewhere, especially on the west side. In approaching

to New Mexico we observe great hills and mountains, some of which are

pretty high.

I ought not to omit mentioning here, that from the low lands of

Louisiana, the Missisippi has several shoal banks of sand in it, which

appear very dry upon the falling of the waters, after the inundations.

These banks extend more or less in length; some of them half a league,

and not without a considerable breadth. I have seen the Natchez, and

other Indians, sow a sort of grain, which they called Choupichoul, on

these dry sand-banks. This sand received no manner of culture; and the

women and children covered the grain any how with their feet, without

taking any great pains about it. After this sowing, {157} and manner

of culture, they waited till autumn, when they gathered a great

quantity of the grain. It was prepared like millet, and very good to

eat. This plant is what is called Belle Dame Sauvage, [Footnote: He

seems to mean Buck-wheat.] which thrives in all countries, but

requires a good soil: and whatever good quality the soil in Europe may

have, it shoots but a foot and a half high; and yet, on this sand of

the Missisippi, it rises, without any culture, three feet and a half,

and four feet high. Such is the virtue of this sand all up the

Missisippi; or, to speak more properly, for the whole length of its

course; if we except the accumulated earth of the Lower Louisiana,

across which it passes, and where it cannot leave any dry sand-banks;

because it is straitened within its banks, which the river itself

raises, and continually augments.

In all the groves and little forests I have mentioned, and which lie

to the north of the Arkansas, pheasants, partridges, snipes, and

woodcocks, are in such great numbers, that those who are most fond of

this game, might easily satisfy their longing, as also every other

species of game. Small birds are still vastly more numerous.

CHAPTER VII.

_The Lands of the River_ St. Francis. _Mine of_ Marameg, _and other

Mines. A Lead Mine. A soft Stone resembling Porphyry. Lands of the_

Missouri. _The Lands north of the _ Wabache. _The Lands of the

Illinois_. De la Mothe's _Mine, and other Mines._

Thirty leagues above the river of the Arkansas, to the north, and on

the same side of the Missisippi, we find the river St. Francis.

The lands adjoining to it are always covered with herds of buffaloes,

nothwithstanding they are hunted every winter in those parts: for it

is to this river, that is, in its neighbourhood, that the French and

Canadians go and make their salt provisions for the inhabitants of the

capital, and of the neighbouring {158} plantations, in which they are

assisted by the native Arkansas, whom they hire for that purpose. When

they are upon the spot, they chuse a tree fit to make a pettyaugre,

which serves for a salting or powdering-tub in the middle, and is

closed at the two ends, where only is left room for a man at each

extremity.

The trees they choose are ordinarily the poplar, which grow on the

banks of the water. It is a white wood, soft and binding. The

pettyaugres might be made of other wood, be cause such are to be had

pretty large; but either too heavy for pettyaugres, or too apt to

split.

The species of wood in this part of Louisiana is tall oak; the fields

abound with four sorts of walnut, especially the black kind; so

called, because it is of a dark brown colour, bordering on black; this

sort grows very large.

There are besides fruit trees in this country, and it is there we

begin to find commonly Papaws. We have also here other trees of every

species, more or less, according as the soil is favourable. These

lands in general are fit to produce every thing the low lands can

yield, except rice and indigo. But in return, wheat thrives there

extremely well: the vine is found every where; the mulberry-tree is in

plenty; tobacco grows fine, and of a good quality; as do cotton and

garden plants: so that by leading an easy and agreeable life in that

country, we may at the same time be sure of a good return to France.

The land which lies between the Missisippi and the river St. Francis,

is full of rising grounds, and mountains of a middling height, which,

according to the ordinary indications, contain several mines: some of

them have been assayed; among the rest, the mine of Marameg, on the

little river of that name; the other mines appear not to be so rich,

nor so easy to be worked. There are some lead mines, and others of

copper, as is pretended.

The mine of Marameg, which is silver, is pretty near the confluence of

the river which gives it name; which is a great advantage to those who

would work it, because they might {159} easily by that means have

their goods from Europe. It is situate about five hundred leagues from

the sea.

I shall continue on the west side of the Missisippi, and to the north

of the famous river of Missouri, which we are now to cross. This river

takes its rise at eight hundred leagues distance, as is alledged, from

the place where it discharges itself into the Missisippi. Its waters

are muddy, thick, and charged with nitre; and these are the waters

that make the Missisippi muddy down to the sea, its waters being

extremely clear above the confluence of the Missouri: the reason is,

that the former rolls its waters over a sand and pretty firm soil; the

latter, on the contrary, flows across rich and clayey lands, where

little stone is to be seen; for though the Missouri comes out of a

mountain, which lies to the north-west of New Mexico, we are told,

that all the lands it passes through are generally rich; that is, low

meadows, and lands without stone.

This great river, which seems ready to dispute the pre-eminence with

the Missisippi, receives in its long course many rivers and brooks,

which considerably augment its waters. But except those that have

received their names from some nation of Indians who inhabit their

banks, there are very few of their names we can be well assured of,

each traveller giving them different appellations. The French having

penetrated up the Missouri only for about three hundred leagues at

most, and the rivers which fall into its bed being only known by the

Indians, it is of little importance what names they may bear at

present, being besides in a country but little frequented. The river

which is the best known is that of the Osages, so called from a nation

of that name, dwelling on its banks. It falls into the Missouri,

pretty near its confluence.

The largest known river which falls into the Missouri, is that of the

Canzas; which runs for near two hundred leagues in a very fine

country. According to what I have been able to learn about the course

of this great river, from its source to the Canzas, it runs from west

to east; and from that nation it falls down to the southward, where it

receives the river of the Canzas, which comes from the west; there it

forms a great elbow, which terminates in the neighbourhood of the

Missouri; {160} then it resumes its course to the south-east, to lose

at last both its name and waters in the Missisippi, about f our

leagues lower down than the river of the Illinois.

There was a French Post for some time in an island a few leagues in

length, overagainst the Missouris; the French settled in this fort at

the east-point, and called it Fort Orleans. M. de Bourgmont commanded

there a sufficient time to gain the friendship of the Indians of the

countries adjoining to this great river. He brought about a peace

among all those nations, who before his arrival were all at war; the

nations to the north being more war-like than those to the south.

After the departure of that commandant, they murdered all the

garrison, not a single Frenchman having escaped to carry the news: nor

could it be ever known whether it happened through the fault of the

French, or through treachery.

As to the nature of that country, I refer to M. de Bourgmont's

Journal, an extract from which I have given above. That is an original

account, signed by all the officers, and several others of the

company, which I thought was too prolix to give at full length, and

for that reason I have only extracted from it what relates to the

people and the quality of the soil, and traced out the route to those

who have a mind to make that journey; and even this we found necessary

to abridge in this translation.

In this journey of M. de Bourgmont, mention is only made of what we

meet with from Fort Orleans, from which we set out, in order to go to

the Padoucas: wherefore I ought to speak of a thing curious enough to

be related, and which is found on the banks of the Missouri; and that

is, a pretty high cliff, upright from the edge of the water. From the

middle of this cliff juts out a mass of red stone with white spots,

like porphyry, with this difference, that what we are speaking of is

almost soft and tender, like sand-stone. It is covered with another

sort of stone of no value; the bottom is an earth, like that on other

rising grounds. This stone is easily worked, and bears the most

violent fire. The Indians of the country have contrived to strike off

pieces thereof with their arrows, {161} and after they fall in the

water plunge for them. When they can procure pieces thereof large

enough to make pipes, they fashion them with knives and awls. This

pipe has a socket two or three inches long, and on the opposite side

the figure of a hatchet; in the middle of all is the boot, or bowl of

the pipe, to put the tobacco in. These sort of pipes are highly

esteemed among them.

All to the north of the Missouri is entirely unknown, unless we give

credit to the relations of different travellers; but to which of them

shall we give the preference? In the first place, they almost all

contradict each other: and then, men of the most experience treat them

as impostors; and therefore I choose to pay no regard to any of them.

Let us therefore now repass the Missisippi, in order to resume the

description of the lands to the east, and which we quitted at the

river Wabache. This river is distant from the sea four hundred and

sixty (three hundred) leagues; it is reckoned to have four hundred

leagues in length, from its source to its confluence into the

Missisippi. It is called Wabache, though, according to the usual

method, it ought to be called the Ohio, or Beautiful River; seeing the

Ohio is known under that name in Canada, before its confluence was

known: and as the Ohio takes its rise at a greater distance off than

the three others, which mix together, before they empty themselves

into the Missisippi, this should make the others lose their names; but

custom has prevailed on the occasion. [Footnote: But not among the

English; we call it the Ohio.] The first river known to us, which

falls into the Ohio, is that of the Miamis, which takes its rise

towards lake Erié.

It is by this river of the Miamis that the Canadians come to

Louisiana. For this purpose they embark on the river St. Laurence, go

up this river, pass the cataracts quite to the bottom of Lake Erié,

where they find a small river, on which they also go up to a place

called the Carriage of the Miamis; because that people come and take

their effects, and carry them on their backs for two leagues from

thence to the banks of the river of their name, which I just said

empties itself into {162} the Ohio. From thence the Canadians go down

that river, enter the Wabache, and at last the Missisippi, which

brings them to New Orleans, the capital of Louisiana. They reckon

eighteen hundred leagues [Footnote: It is but nine hundred leagues.]

from the capital of Canada to that of Louisiana, on account of the

great turns and windings they are obliged to take.

The river of the Miamis is thus the first to the north, which falls

into the Ohio; then that of the Chaouanons to the south; and lastly,

that of the Cherakees; all which together empty themselves into the

Missisippi. This is what we call the Wabache, and what in Canada and

New England they call the Ohio. This river is beautiful, greatly

abounding in fish, and navigable almost up to its source.

To the north of this river lies Canada, which inclines more to the

east than the source of the Ohio, and extends to the country of the

Illinois. It is of little importance to dispute here about the limits

of these two neighbouring colonies, as they both appertain to France.

The lands of the Illinois are reputed to be a part of Louisiana; we

have there a post near a village of that nation, called Tamaroüas.

The country of the Illinois is extremely good, and abounds with

buffalo and other game. On the north of the Wabache we begin to see

the Orignaux; a species of animals which are said to partake of the

buffalo and the stag; they have, indeed, been described to me to be

much more clumsy than the stag. Their horns have something of the

stag, but are shorter and more massy; the meat of them, as they say,

is pretty good. Swans and other water-fowl are common in these

countries.

The French Post of the Illinois is, of all the colony, that in which

with the greatest ease they grow wheat, rye, and other like grain, for

the sowing of which you need only to turn the earth in the slightest

manner; that slight culture is sufficient to make the earth produce as

much as we can reasonably desire. I have been assured, that in the

last war, when the flour from France was scarce, the Illinois sent

down to New Orleans upwards of eight hundred thousand weight thereof

in {163} one winter. Tobacco also thrives there, but comes to maturity

with difficulty. All the plants transported thither from France

succeed well, as do also the fruits.

In those countries there is a river, which takes its name from the

Illinois. It was by this river that the first travellers came from

Canada into the Missisippi. Such as come from Canada, and have

business only on the Illinois, pass that way yet: but such as want to

go directly to the sea, go down the river of the Miamis into the

Wabache, or Ohio, and from thence into the Missisippi.

In this country there are mines, and one in particular, called De la

Mothe's mine, which is silver, the assay of which has been made; as

also of two lead-mines, so rich at first as to vegetate, or shoot a

foot and a half at least out of the earth.

The whole continent north of the river of the Illinois is not much

frequented, consequently little known. The great extent of Louisiana

makes us presume, that these parts will not soon come to our

knowledge, unless some curious person should go thither to open mines,

where they are said to be in great numbers, and very rich.

CHAPTER VIII.

_Of the Agriculture, or Manner of cultivating, ordering, and

manufacturing the Commodities that are proper Articles of Commerce. Of

the Culture of_ Maiz, Rice, _and other Fruits of the Country. Of the_

Silk-worm.

In order to give an account of the several sorts of plants cultivated

in Louisiana, I begin with Maiz, as being the most useful grain,

seeing it is the principal food of the people of America, and that the

French found it cultivated by the Indians.

Maiz, which in France we call Turkey corn, (and we Indian-corn) is a

grain of the size of a pea; there is of it as large as our sugar-pea:

it grows on a sort of husks, (Quenouille) in ascending rows: some of

these husks have to the {164} number of seven hundred grains upon

them, and I have counted even to a greater number. This husk may be

about two inches thick, by seven or eight inches and upwards in

length: it is wrapped up in several covers or thin leaves, which

screen it from the avidity of birds. Its foot or stalk is often of the

same size: it has leaves about two inches and upwards broad, by two

feet and a half long, which are chanelled, or formed like gutters, by

which they collect the dew which dissolves at sun-rising, and trickles

down to the stalk, sometimes in such plenty, as to wet the earth

around them for the breadth of six or seven inches. Its flower is on

the top of the stalk, which is sometimes eight feet high. We

ordinarily find five or six ears on each stalk, and in order to

procure a greater crop, the part of the stalk above the ears ought to

be cut away.

For sowing the Maiz in a field already cleared and prepared, holes are

made four feet asunder every way, observing to make the rows as

straight as may be, in order to weed them the easier: into every hole

five or six grains are put, which are previously to be steeped for

twenty-four hours at least, to make them rise or shoot the quicker,

and to prevent the fox and birds from eating such quantities of them:

by day there are people to guard them against birds; by night fires

are made at proper distances to frighten away the fox, who would

otherwise turn up the ground, and eat the corn of all the rows, one

after another, without omitting one, till he has his fill, and is

therefore the most pernicious animal to this corn. The corn, as soon

as shot out of the earth, is weeded: when it mounts up, and its stalks

are an inch big, it is hilled, to secure it against the wind. This

grain produces enough for two negroes to make fifty barrels, each

weighing an hundred and fifty pounds.

Such as begin a plantation in woods, thick set with cane, have an

advantage in the Maiz, that makes amends for the labour of clearing

the ground; a labour always more fatiguing than cultivating a spot

already cleared. The advantage is this: they begin with cutting down

the canes for a great extent of ground; the trees they peel two feet

high quite round: this operation is performed in the beginning of

March, as then the sap is in motion in that country: about fifteen

days after, the canes, {165} being dry, are set on fire: the sap of

the trees are thereby made to descend, and the branches are burnt,

which kills the trees.

On the following day they sow the corn in the manner I have just

shewn: the roots of the cane, which are not quite dead, shoot fresh

canes, which are very tender and brittle; and as no other weeds grow

in the field that year, it is easy to be weeded of these canes, and as

much corn again may be made, as in a field already cultivated.

This grain they eat in many different ways; the most common way is to

make it into Sagamity, which is a kind of gruel made with water, or

strong broth. They bake bread of it like cakes (by baking it over the

fire on an iron plate, or on a board before the fire,) which is much

better than what they bake in the oven, at least for present use; but

you must make it every day; and even then it is too heavy to soak in

soup of any kind. They likewise make Parched Meal [Footnote: See Book

III, Chap. I.] of it, which is a dish of the natives, as well as the

Cooedlou, or bread mixt with beans. The ears of corn roasted are

likewise a peculiar dish of theirs; and the small corn dressed in that

manner is as agreeable to us as to them. A light and black earth

agrees much better with the Maiz than a strong and rich one.

The Parched Meal is the best preparation of this corn; the French like

it extremely well, no less than the Indians themselves: I can affirm

that it is a very good food, and at the same time the best sort of

provision that can be carried on a journey, because it is refreshing

and extremely nourishing.

As for the small Indian corn, you may see an account of it in the

first chapter of the third Book; where you will likewise find an

account of the way of sowing wheat, which if you do not observe, you

may as well sow none.

Rice is sown in a soil well laboured, either by the plough or hoe, and

in winter, that it may be sowed before the time of the inundation. It

is sown in furrows of the breadth of a hoe: when shot, and three or

four inches high, they let water into the furrows, but in a small

quantity, in proportion as it grows, and then give water in greater

plenty.

{166} The ear of this grain nearly resembles that of oats; its grains

are fastened to a beard, and its chaff is very rough, and full of

those fine and hard beards: the bran adheres not to the grain, as that

of the corn of France; it consists of two lobes, which easily separate

and loosen, and are therefore readily cleaned and broke off.

They eat their rice as they do in France, but boiled much thicker, and

with much less cookery, although it is not inferior in goodness to

ours: they only wash it in warm water, taken out of the same pot you

are to boil it in, then throw it in all at once, and boil it till it

bursts, and so it is dressed without any further trouble. They make

bread of it that is very white and of a good relish; but they have

tried in vain to make any that will soak in soup.

The culture of the Water-melon is simple enough. They choose for the

purpose a light soil, as that of a rising ground, well exposed: they

make holes in the earth, from two and a half to three feet in

diameter, and distant from each other fifteen feet every way, in each

of which holes they put five or six seeds. When the seeds are come up,

and the young plants have struck out five or six leaves, the four most

thriving plants are pitched upon, and the others plucked up to prevent

their starving each other, when too numerous. It is only at that time

that they have the trouble of watering them, nature alone performing

the rest, and bringing them to maturity; which is known by the green

rind beginning to change colour. There is no occasion to cut or prune

them. The other species of melons are cultivated in the same manner,

only that between the holes the distance is but five or six feet.

All sorts of garden plants and greens thrive extremely well in

Louisiana, and grow in much greater abundance than in France: the

climate is warmer, and the soil much better. However, it is to be

observed, that onions and other bulbous plants answer not in the low

lands, without a great deal of pains and labour; whereas in the high

grounds they grow very large and of a fine flavour.

The inhabitants of Louisiana may very easily make Silk, having

mulberries ready at hand, which grow naturally in the {167} high

lands, and plantations of them may be easily made. The leaves of the

natural mulberries of Louisiana are what the silk-worms are very fond

of; I mean the more common mulberries with a large leaf, but tender,

and the fruit of the colour of Burgundy wine. The province produces

also the White Mulberry, which has the same quality with the red.

I shall next relate some experiments that have been made on this

subject, by people who were acquainted with it. Madam Hubert, a native

of Provence, where they make a great deal of silk, which she

understood the management of, was desirous of trying whether they

could raise silk-worms with the mulberry leaves of this province, and

what sort of silk they would afford. The first of her experiments was,

to give some large silk-worms a parcel of the leaves of the Red

Mulberry, and another parcel of the White Mulberry both upon the same

frame. She observed the worms went over the leaves of both sorts,

without shewing any greater liking to the one than to the other: then

she put to the other two sorts of leaves some of the leaves of the

White-sweet or Sugar-Mulberry, and she found that the worms left the

other sorts to go to these, and that they preferred them to the leaves

of the common Red and White Mulberry. [Footnote: See an account of

these different sorts of Mulberry, in the notes at the end of this

Volume.]

The second experiment of Madam Hubert was, to raise and feed some

silk-worms separately. To some she gave the leaves of the common White

Mulberry, and to others the leaves of the White Sugar-Mulberry; in

order to see the difference of the silk from the difference of their

food. Moreover, she raised and fed some of the native silk-worms of

the country, which were taken very young from the mulberry-trees; but

she observed that these last were very flighty, and did nothing but

run up and down, their nature being, without doubt, to live upon

trees: she then changed their place, that they might not mix with the

other worms that came from France, and gave them little branches with

the leaves on them, which made them a little more settled.

{168} This industrious lady waited till the cocoons were perfectly

made, in order to observe the difference between them in unwinding the

silk; the success of which, and of all her other experiments, she was

so good as to give me a particular account of. When the cocoons were

ready to be wound, she took care of them herself, and found that the

wild worms yielded less silk than those from France; for although they

were of a larger size, they were not so well furnished with silk,

which proceeded, no doubt, from their not being sufficiently

nourished, by their running incessantly up and down; and accordingly

she observed that they were but meagre; but notwithstanding, their

silk was strong and thick, though coarse.

Those who were fed with the leaves of the Red Mulberry made cocoons

well furnished with silk; which was stronger and finer than that of

France. Those that were fed upon the leaves of the common White

Mulberry, had the same silk with those that were fed on the leaves of

the Red Mulberry. The fourth sort, again, that had been fed with the

leaves of the White Sugar-Mulberry, had but little silk; it was indeed

as fine as the preceding, but it was so weak and so brittle, that it

was with great difficulty they could wind it.

These are the experiments of this lady on silk-worms, which every one

may make his own uses of, in order to have the sorts of silk,

mulberries, or worms, that are most suitable to his purpose, and most

likely to turn to his account: which we are very glad of this

opportunity to inform them of, that they may see how much society owes

to those persons who take care to study nature, in order to promote

industry and public utility.

CHAPTER IX.

_Of_ Indigo, Tobacco, Cotton, Wax, Hops, _and_ Saffron.

The high lands of Louisiana produce a natural Indigo: what I saw in

two or three places where I have observed it, grew at the edges of the

thick woods, which shews it delights in a good, but light soil. One of

these stalks was but ten or twelve inches high, its wood at least

three lines in diameter, and of as {169} fine a green as its leaf; it

was as tender as the rib of a cabbage leaf; when its head was blown a

little, the two other stalks shot in a few days, the one seventeen,

the other nineteen inches high; the stem was six lines thick below,

and of a very lively green, and still very tender, the lower part only

began to turn brown a little; the tops of both were equally ill

furnished with leaves, and without branches; which makes it to be

presumed, that being so thriving and of so fine a growth, it would

have shot very high, and surpass in vigour and heighth the cultivated

Indigo. The stalk of the Indigo, cultivated by the French at the

Natchez, turned brown before it shot eleven or twelve inches; when in

seed it was five feet high and upwards, and surpassed in vigour what

was cultivated in the Lower Louisiana, that is, in the quarter about

New Orleans: but the natural, which I had an opportunity of seeing

only young and tender, promised to become much taller and stouter than

ours, and to yield more.

[Illustration: Indigo.]

The Indigo cultivated in Louisiana comes from the islands; its grain is

of the bigness of one line, and about a quarter longer, brown and hard,

flatted at the extremities, because it is compressed in its pod. This

grain is sown in a soil prepared like a garden, and the field where it

is cultivated is called the Indigo-garden. In order to sow it, holes are

made on a straight line with a small hoe, a foot asunder; in each hole

four or five {170} seeds are put, which are covered with earth; great

care is had not to suffer any strange plants to grow near it, which

would choak it; and it is sown a foot asunder, to the end it may draw

the fuller nourishment, and be weeded without grazing or ruffling the

leaf, which is that which gives the Indigo. When its leaf is quite come

to its shape, it resembles exactly that of the Acacia, so well known in

France, only that it is smaller.

It is cut with large pruning-knives, or a sort of sickles, with about

six or seven inches aperture, which should be pretty strong. It ought

to be cut before its wood hardens; and to be green as its leaf, which

ought, however, to have a bluish eye or cast. When cut it is conveyed

into the rotting-tub, as we shall presently explain. According as the

soil is better or worse, it shoots higher or lower; the tuft of the

first cutting, which grows round, does not exceed eight inches in

heighth and breadth: the second cutting rises sometimes to a foot. In

cutting the Indigo you are to set your foot upon the root, in order to

prevent the pulling it out of the earth; and to be upon your guard not

to cut yourself, as the tool is dangerous.

In order to make an Indigo-work, a shed is first of all to be built:

this building is at least twenty feet high, without walls or flooring,

but only covered. The whole is built upon posts, which may be closed

with mats, if you please: this building has twenty feet in breadth,

and at least thirty in length. In this shed three vats or large tubs

are set in such a manner, that the water may be easily drained off

from the first, which is the lowermost and smallest. The second rests

with the edge of its bottom on the upper edge of the first, so that

the water may easily run from it into the one below. This second vat

is not broader but deeper than the first, and is called the Battery;

for this reason it has its beaters, which are little buckets formed of

four ends of boards, about eight inches long, which together have the

figure of the hopper of a mill; a stick runs across them, which is put

into a wooden fork, in order to beat the Indigo: there are two of them

on each side, which in all make four.

The third vat is placed in the same manner over the second, and is as

big again, that it may hold the leaves; it is called the {171}

Rotting-tub, because the leaves which are put into it are deadened,

not corrupted or spoiled therein. The Indigo-operator, who conducts

the whole work, knows when it is time to let the water into the second

vat; then he lets go the cock; for if the leaves were left too long,

the Indigo would be too black; it must have no more time than what is

sufficient to discharge a kind of flower or froth that is found upon

the leaf.

The water, when it is all in the second vat, is beat till the

Indigo-operator gives orders to cease; which he does not before he has

several times taken up some of this water with a silver cup, by way of

assay, in order to know the exact time in which they ought to give

over beating the water: and this is a secret which practice alone can

teach with certainty.

When the Indigo-operator finds that the water is sufficiently beaten,

he lets it settle till he can draw off the water clear; which is done

by means of several cocks one above another, for fear of losing the

Indigo. For this purpose, if the water is clear, the highest cock is

opened, the second in like manner, till the water is observed to be

tinged; then they shut the cock: the same is done in all the cocks

till all the Indigo be in a pap at the bottom of the second vat. The

first, or small vat, serves only to purify the water which is found to

be tinged, and let run while clear.

When the Indigo is well settled, they put it in cloth bags a foot and

six inches wide, with a small circle at top, which helps to receive

the Indigo with ease; it is suffered to drain till it gives no more

water: however, it must be moist enough to spread it in the mould with

a wooden knife or spatula.

In order to have the seed, they suffer it to run up as many feet as

they foresee shall be necessary for seed; it shoots four or five feet

high, according to the quality of the soil. There are four cuttings of

it in the islands, where the climate is warmer; three good cuttings

are made in Louisiana, and of as good a quality at least as in the

islands.

Tobacco, which was found among the Indians of Louisiana, seems also to

be a native of the country, seeing their ancient tradition informs us,

that from time immemorial they {172} have, in their treaties of peace

and in their embassies, used the pipe, the principal use of which is

that the deputies shall all smoke therein. This native Tobacco is very

large; its stalk, when suffered to run to seed, shoots to five feet

and a half and six feet; the lower part of its stem is at least

eighteen lines in diameter, and its leaves often near two feet long,

which are thick and succulent, its juice is strong, but never

disorders the head. The Tobacco of Virginia has a broader but shorter

leaf; its stalk is smaller, and runs not up so high; its smell is not

disagreeable, but not so strong; it takes more plants to make a pound,

because its leaf is thinner, and not so full of sap as the native.

What is cultivated in the Lower Louisiana is smaller, and not so

strong; but that made in the islands is thinner than that of

Louisiana, but much stronger, and disorders the head.

In order to sow Tobacco, you make a bed on the best piece of ground

you are master of, and give it six inches in heighth; this earth you

beat and make level with the back of a spade; you afterwards sow the

seed, which is extremely fine, nearly resembling poppy seed. It must

be sown thin, and notwithstanding that attention, it often happens to

be too thick. When the seed is sown, the earth is no longer stirred,

but the seed is covered with ashes the thickness of a farthing, to

prevent the worms from eating the tobacco when it is just shooting out

of the earth.

As soon as the tobacco has four leaves, it is transplanted into a soil

prepared for it, put into holes a foot broad made in a line, and

distant three feet every way; a distance not too great, in order to

weed it with ease, without breaking the leaves.

The best time for transplanting it is after rain, otherwise you must

water it: in like manner, when the seed is in the earth, if it rains

not, you must gently sprinkle it towards evening, because it is

somewhat slow in rising, and when it is sprouted it requires a little

water. You must lightly cover the plant in the day time with some

leaves plucked the night before; a precaution on no account to be

dispensed with, till the young plant has fully struck root. You must

also daily visit the {173} tobacco, to clear it of caterpillars, which

fasten upon it, and would entirely eat it up, if they are not

destroyed. The tobacco-caterpillar is of the shape of a silk-worm, has

a prickle on its back towards its extremity; its colour is of the most

beautiful sea-green, striped with silver-streaks; in a word, it is as

beautiful to the eye as it is fatal to the plant it is fond of.

I gave great attention to keep my plantation clear of all weeds,

observing in weeding it with the hoe not to touch the stalks, about

which I caused to lay new earth, as well to secure them against gusts

of wind, as to enable them to draw from the earth a more abundant

nourishment. When the tobacco began to put forth suckers, I plucked

them off, because they would have shot into branches, which would

impoverish the leaves, and for the same reason stopped the tobacco

from shooting above the twelfth leaf, afterwards stripping off the

four lowermost, which never come to any thing. Hitherto I did nothing

but what was ordinarily done by those who cultivate tobacco with some

degree of care; but my method of proceeding afterwards was different.

I saw my neighbours strip the leaves of tobacco from the stalk, string

them, set them to dry, by hanging them out in the air, then put them

in heaps, to make them sweat. As for me, I carefully examined the

plant, and when I observed the stem begin to turn yellow here and

there, I caused the stalk to be cut with a pruning-knife, and left it

for some time on the earth to deaden. Afterwards it was carried off,

on handbarrows, because it is thus less exposed to be broken than on

the necks of negroes. When it was brought to the house, I caused it to

be hung up, with the big end of the stem turned upwards, the leaves of

each stalk slightly touching one another, being well assured they

would shrivel in drying, and no longer touch each other. It hereby

happened, that the juice contained in the pith (sometimes as big as

one's finger) of the stem of the plant, flowed into the leaves, and

augmenting their sap, made them much more mild and waxy. As fast as

these leaves assumed a bright chesnut colour, I stripped them from the

stalk, and made them directly into bundles, which I wrapped up in a

cloth, and bound it close with a cord for twenty four hours; {174}

then undoing the cloth, they were tied up closer still. This tobacco

turned black and so waxy, that it could not be rasped in less than a

year; but then it had a substance and flavour so much the more

agreeable, as it never affected the head; and so I sold it for double

the price of the common.

The cotton which is cultivated in Louisiana, is of the species of the

white Siam, [Footnote: This East-India annual cotton has been found to

be much better and whiter than what is cultivated in our colonies,

which is of the Turkey kind. Both of them keep their colour better in

washing, and are whiter than the perennial cotton that comes from the

islands, although this last is of a longer staple.] though not so

soft, nor so long as the silk-cotton; it is extremely white and very

fine, and a very good use may be made of it. This cotton is produced,

not from a tree, as in the East-Indies, but from a plant, and thrives

much better in light than in strong and fat lands, such as those of

the Lower Louisiana, where it is not so fine as on the high grounds.

This plant may be cultivated in lands newly cleared, and not yet

proper for tobacco, much less for indigo, which requires a ground well

worked like a garden. The seeds of cotton are planted three feet

asunder, more or less according to the quality of the soil: the field

is weeded at the proper season, in order to clear it of the noxious

weeds, and fresh earth laid to the root of the plant, to secure it

against the winds. The cotton requires weeding, neither so often, nor

so carefully as other plants; and the care of gathering is the

employment of young people, incapable of harder labour.

When the root of the cotton is once covered with fresh earth, and the

weeds are removed, it is suffered to grow without further touching it,

till it arrives to maturity. Then its heads or pods open into five

parts, and expose their cotton to view. When the sun has dried the

cotton well, it is gathered in a proper manner, and conveyed into the

conservatory; after which comes on the greatest task, which is to

separate it from the grain or seed to which it closely adheres; and it

is this part of the work, which disgusts the inhabitants in the

cultivation {175} of it. I contrived a mill for the purpose, tried it,

and found it to succeed, so as to dispatch the work very much.

[Illustration: Top: Cotton on the stalk--Bottom: Rice on the stalk]

The culture of indigo, tobacco, and cotton, may be easily carried on

without any interruption to the making of silk, as any one of these is

no manner of hindrance to the other. In the first place, the work

about these three plants does not come on till after the worms have

spun their silk: in the second place, {176} the feeding and cleaning

the silk-worm requires no great degree of strength; and thus the care

employed about them interrupts no other sort of work, either as to

time, or as to the persons employed therein. It suffices for this

operation to have a person who knows how to feed and clean the worms;

young negroes of both sexes might assist this person, little skill

sufficing for this purpose: the oldest of the young negroes, when

taught, might shift the worms and lay the leaves; the other young

negroes gather and fetch them; and all this labour, which takes not up

the whole day, lasts only for about six weeks. It appears therefore,

that the profit made of the silk is an additional benefit, so much the

more profitable, as it diverts not the workmen from their ordinary

tasks. If it be objected, that buildings are requisite to make silk to

advantage; I answer, buildings for the purpose cost very little in a

country where wood may be had for taking; I add farther, that these

buildings may be made and daubed with mud by any persons about the

family; and besides, may serve for hanging tobacco in, two months

after the silk-worms are gone.

I own I have not seen the wax-tree cultivated in Louisiana; people

content themselves to take the berries of this tree, without being at

pains to rear it; but as I am persuaded it would be very advantageous

to make plantations of it, I shall give my sentiments on the culture

proper for this tree, after the experiments I made in regard to it.

I had some seeds of the wax-tree brought me to Fontenai le Comte, in

Poictou, some of which I gave to several of my friends, but not one of

them came up. I began to reflect, that Poictou not being by far so

warm as Louisiana, these seeds would have difficulty to shoot; I

therefore thought it was necessary to supply by art the defect of

nature; I procured horse, cow, sheep, and pigeon's dung in equal

quantity, all which I put in a vessel of proportionable size, and

poured on them water, almost boiling, in order to dissolve their

salts: this water I drew off, and steeped the grains in a sufficient

quantity thereof for forty-eight hours; after which I sowed them in a

box full of good earth; seven of them came up, and made shoots between

seven and eight inches high, but they were all {177} killed by the

frost for want of putting them into the greenhouse.

This seed having such difficulty to come up, I presume that the wax,

in which it is wrapped up, hinders the moisture from penetrating into,

and making its kernel shoot; and there fore I should think that those

who choose to sow it, would do well if they previously rolled it

lightly between two small boards just rough from the saw; this

friction would cause the pellicle of wax to scale off with so much the

greater facility, as it is naturally very dry; and then it might be

put to steep.

Hops grow naturally in Louisiana, yet such as have a desire to make

use of them for themselves, or sell them to brewers, cultivate this

plant. It is planted in alleys, distant asunder six feet, in holes two

feet and one foot deep, in which the root is lodged. When shot a good

deal, a pole of the size of one's arm, and between twelve and fifteen

feet long, is fixed in the hole; care is had to direct the shoots

towards it, which fail not to run up the pole. When the flower is ripe

and yellowish, the stem is cut quite close to the earth and the pole

pulled out, in order to pick the flowers, which are saved.

If we consider the climate of Louisiana, and the quality of the high

lands of that province, we might easily produce saffron there. The

culture of this plant would be so much the more advantageous to the

planters, as the neighbourhood of Mexico would procure a quick and

useful vent for it.

CHAPTER X.

_Of the Commerce that, and may be carried on in_ Louisiana. _Of the

Commodities which that Province may furnish in return for those of_

Europe. _Of the Commerce of_ Louisiana _with the Isles_.

I have often reflected on the happiness of France in the portion which

Providence has allotted her in America. She has found in her lands

neither the gold nor silver of Mexico and Peru, nor the precious

stones and rich stuffs of the East-Indies; but she will find therein,

when she pleases, mines of iron, lead, and copper. She is there

possessed of a fertile soil, {178} which only requires to be occupied

in order to produce not only all the fruits necessary and agreeable to

life, but also all the subjects on which human industry may exercise

itself in order to supply our wants. What I have already said of

Louisiana ought to make this very plain; but to bring the whole

together, in order, and under one point of view, I shall next relate

every thing that regards the commerce of this province.

_Commodities which_ Louisiana _may furnish in return for those

of_ Europe.

France might draw from this colony several sorts of furs, which would

not be without their value, though held cheap in France; and by their

variety, and the use that might be made of them, would yield

satisfaction. Some persons have dissuaded the traders from taking any

furs from the Indians, on a supposition that they would be moth-eaten

when carried to New-Orleans, on account of the heat of the climate:

but I am acquainted with people of the business, who know how to

preserve them from such an accident.

Dry buffalo hides are of sufficient value to encourage the Indians to

procure them, especially if they were told, that only their skins and

tallow were wanted; they would then kill the old bulls, which are so

fat as scarce to be able to go: each buffalo would yield at least a

hundred pounds of tallow; the value of which, with the skin, would

make it worth their while to kill them, and thus none of our money

would be sent to Ireland in order to have tallow from that country;

besides the species of buffaloes would not be diminished, because

these fat buffaloes are always the prey of wolves.

Deer-skins, which were bought of the Indians at first, did not please

the manufacturers of Niort, where they are dressed, because the

Indians altered the quality by their way of dressing them; but since

these skins have been called for without any preparation but taking

off the hair, they make more of them, and sell them cheaper than

before.

The wax-tree produces wax, which being much drier than bees-wax, may

bear mixture, which will not hinder its lasting longer than bees-wax.

Some of this wax was sent to Paris to {179} a factor of Louisiana, who

set so low a price upon it as to discourage the planters from sowing

any more. The sordid avarice of this factor has done a service to the

islands, where it gives a higher price than that of France.

The islands also draw timber for building from Louisiana, which might

in time prevent France from making her profits of the beauty,

goodness, and quantity of wood of this province. The quality of the

timber is a great inducement to build docks there for the construction

of ships: the wood might be had at a low price of the inhabitants,

because they would get it in winter, which is almost an idle time with

them. This labour would also clear the grounds, and so this timber

might be had almost for nothing. Masts might be also had in the

country, on account of the number of pines which the coast produces;

and for the same reason pitch and tar would be common. For the planks

of ships, there is no want of oak; but might not very good one be made

of cypress? this wood is, indeed, softer than oak, but endowed with

qualities surpassing this last: it is light, not apt to split or warp,

is supple and easily worked; in a word, it is incorruptible both in

air and water; and thus making the planks stouter than ordinary, there

would be no inconvenience from the use of cypress. I have observed,

that this wood is not injured by the worm, and ship-worms might

perhaps have the same aversion to it as other worms have.

Other wood fit for the building of ships is very common in this

country; such as elm, ash, alder, and others. There are likewise in

this country several species of wood, which might sell in France for

joiners work and fineering, as the cedar, the black walnut, and the

cotton-tree. Nothing more would therefore be wanting for compleating

ships but cordage and iron. As to hemp, it grows so strong as to be

much fitter for making cables than cloth. The iron might be brought

from France, as also sails; however, there needs only to open the iron

mine at the cliffs of the Chicasaws, called Prud'homme, to set up

forges, and iron will be readily had. The king, therefore, might cause

all sorts of shipping to be built there at so small a charge, that a

moderate expence would procure a numerous fleet. If the English build

ships in their colonies {180} from which they draw great advantages,

why might not we do the same in Louisiana?

France fetches a great deal of saltpetre from Holland and Italy; she

may draw from Louisiana more than she will have occasion for, if once

she sets about it. The great fertility of the country is an evident

proof thereof, confirmed by the avidity of cloven-footed animals to

lick the earth, in all places where the torrents have broke it up: it

is well known how fond these creatures are of salt. Saltpetre might be

made there with all the ease imaginable, on account of the plenty of

wood and water; it would besides be much more pure than what is

commonly had, the earth not being fouled with dunghills; and on the

other hand, it would not be dearer than what is now purchased by

France in other places.

What commerce might not be made with Silk? The silk-worms might be

reared with much greater success in this country than in France, as

appears from the trials that have been made, and which I have above

related.

The lands of Louisiana are very proper for the culture of Saffron, and

the climate would contribute to produce it in great abundance; and,

what would still be a considerable advantage, the Spaniards of Mexico,

who consume a great deal of it, would enhance its price.

I have spoken of Hemp, in respect to the building of ships: but such

as might be built there, would never be sufficient to employ all the

hemp which might be raised in that colony, did the inhabitants

cultivate as much of it as they well might. But you will say, Why do

they not? My answer is, the inhabitants of this colony only follow the

beaten track they have got into: but if they saw an intelligent person

sow hemp without any great expence or labour, as the soil is very fit

for it; if, I say, they saw that it thrives without weeding; that in

the winter evenings the negroes and their children can peel it; in a

word, if they saw that there is good profit to be had by the sale of

it; they then would all make hemp. They think and act in the same

manner as to all the other articles of culture in this country.

{181} Cotton is also a good commodity for commerce; and the culture of

it is attended with no difficulty. The only impediment to the culture

of it in a greater quantity, is the difficulty of separating it from

the seed. However, if they had mills, which would do this work with

greater dispatch, the profit would considerably increase.

The Indigo of Louisiana, according to intelligent merchants, is as

good as that of the islands; and has even more of the copper colour.

As it thrives extremely well, and yields more herb than in the

islands, as much Indigo may be made as there, though they have four

cuttings, and only three in Louisiana. The climate is warmer in the

islands, and therefore they make four gatherings; but the soil is

drier, and produces not so much as Louisiana: so that the three

cuttings of this last are as good as the four cuttings in the islands.

The Tobacco of this colony is so excellent, that if the commerce

thereof was free, it would sell for one hundred sols and six livres

the pound, so fine and delicate is its juice and flavour. Rice may

also form a fine branch of trade. We go to the East-Indies for the

rice we consume in France; and why should we draw from foreign

countries, what we may have of our own countrymen? We should have it

at less trouble, and with more security. Besides, as sometimes,

perhaps too often, years of scarcity happen, we might always depend

upon finding rice in Louisiana, because it is not subject to fail, an

advantage which few provinces enjoy.

We may add to this commerce some drugs, used in medicine and dying. As

to the first, Louisiana produces Sassafras, Sarsaparilla, Esquine, but

above all the excellent balm of Copalm (Sweet-gum) the virtues of

which, if well known, would save the life of many a person. This

colony also furnishes us with bears oil, which is excellent in all

rheumatic pains. For dying, I find only the wood Ayac, or Stinking

Wood, for yellow; and the Achetchi for red; of the beauty of which

colours we shall give an account in the third book.

Such are the commodities which may form a commerce of this colony with

France, which last may carry in exchange all {182} sorts of European

goods and merchandize; the vent whereof is certain, as every thing

answers there, where luxury reigns equally as in France. Flour, wines,

and strong liquors sell well; and though I have spoken of the manner

of growing wheat in this country, the inhabitants, towards the lower

part of the river especially, will never grow it, any more than they

will cultivate the vine, because in these sorts of work a negro will

not earn his master half as much as in cultivating Tobacco; which,

however, is less profitable than Indigo.

_The Commerce of_ Louisiana _with the Islands._

From Louisiana to the Islands they carry cypress wood squared for

building, of different scantlings: sometimes they transport houses,

all framed and marked out, ready to set up, on landing at their place

of destination.

Bricks, which cost fourteen or fifteen livres the thousand, delivered

on board the ship.

Tiles for covering houses and sheds, of the same price.

Apalachean beans, (Garavanzas) worth ten livres the barrel, of two

hundred weight.

Maiz, or Indian corn.

Cypress plank of ten or twelve feet.

Red peas, which cost in the country twelve or thirteen livres the

barrel.

Cleaned rice, which costs twenty livres the barrel, of two hundred

weight.

There is a great profit to be made in the islands, by carrying thither

the goods I have just mentioned: this profit is generally _cent. per

cent._ in returns. The shipping which go from the colony bring back

sugar, coffee, rum, which the negroes consume in drink; besides other

goods for the use of the country.

The ships which come from France to Louisiana put all in at Cape

François. Sometimes there are ships, which not having a lading for

France, because they may have been paid in money or bills of exchange,

are obliged to return by Cape François, in order to take in their

cargo for France.

{183}

CHAPTER XI.

_Of the Commerce with the_ Spaniards. _The Commodities they bring to the

Colony, if there is a Demand for them. Of such as may be given in

return, and may suit them. Reflections on the Commerce of this

Province, and the great Advantage which the State and particular

Persons may derive therefrom._

_The Commerce with the_ Spaniards.

The commodities which suit the Spaniards are sufficiently known by

traders, and therefore it is not necessary to give an account of them:

I have likewise forebore to give the particulars of the commodities

which they carry to this colony, though I know them all: that is not

our present business. I shall only apprise such as shall settle in

Louisiana, in order to traffick with the Spaniards, that it is not

sufficient to be furnished with the principal commodities which suit

their commerce, but they should, besides, know how to make the proper

assortments; which are most advantageous to us, as well as to them,

when they carry them to Mexico.

_The Commodities which the_ Spaniards _bring to_ Louisiana, _if there is

a demand for them_.

Campeachy wood, which is generally worth from ten to fifteen livres

the hundred weight.

Brasil wood, which has a quality superior to that of Campeachy.

Very good Cacoa, which is to be met with in all the ports of Spain,

worth between eighteen and twenty livres the quintal, or hundred

weight.

Cochineal, which comes from Vera Cruz: there is no difficulty to have

as much of it as one can desire, because so near; it is worth fifteen

livres the pound: there is an inferior sort, called Sylvester.

Tortoise-shell, which is common in the Spanish islands, is worth seven

or eight livres the pound.

Tanned leather, of which they have great quantities; that marked or

stamped is worth four livres ten sols the levee.

{184} Marroquin, or Spanish leather, of which they have great

quantities, and cheap.

Turned calf, which is also cheap.

Indigo, which is manufactured at Guatimala, is worth three or four

livres the pound: there is of it of a perfect good quality, and

therefore sells at twelve livres the pound.

Sarsaparilla, which they have in very great quantities, and sell at

thirteen or fifteen sols.

Havanna snuff, which is of different prices and qualities: I have seen

it at three shillings the pound, which in our money make thirty-seven

sols six deniers.

Vanilla, which is of different prices. They have many other things

very cheap, on which great profits might be made, and for which an

easy vent may be found in Europe; especially for their drugs: but a

particular detail would carry me too far, and make me lose sight of

the object I had in view.

What I have just said of the commerce of Louisiana, may easily shew

that it will necessarily encrease in proportion as the country is

peopled; and industry also will be brought to perfection. For this

purpose nothing more is requisite than some inventive and industrious

geniuses, who coming from Europe, may discover such objects of

commerce as may turn to account. I imagine a good tanner might in this

colony tan the leather of the country, and cheaper than in France; I

even imagine that the leather might there be brought to its perfection

in less time; and what makes me think so, is, that I have heard it

averred, that the Spanish leather is extremely good, and is never

above three or four months in the tan-pit.

The same will hold of many other things, which would prevent money

going out of the kingdom to foreign countries. Would it not be more

suitable and more useful, to devise means of drawing the same

commodities from our own colonies? As these means are so easy, at

least money would not go out of our hands; France and her colonies

would be as two families who traffick together, and render each other

mutual service. Besides, there would not be occasion for so much money

to carry on a commerce to Louisiana, seeing the inhabitants have need

of European goods. It would therefore be a commerce {185} very

different from that which, without exporting the merchandise of the

kingdom, exports the money; a commerce still very different from that

which carries to France commodities highly prejudicial to our own

manufactures.

I may add to all that I have said on Louisiana, as one of the great

advantages of this country, that women are very fruitful in it, which

they attribute to the waters of the Missisippi. Had the intentions of

the Company been pursued, and their orders executed, there is no doubt

but this colony had at this day been very strong, and blessed with a

numerous young progeny, whom no other climate would allure to go and

settle in; but being retained by the beauty of their own, they would

improve its riches, and multiplied anew in a short time, could offer

their mother-country succours in men and ships, and in many other

things that are not to be contemned.

I cannot too much shew the importance of the succours in corn, which

this colony might furnish in a time of scarcity. In a bad year we are

obliged to carry our money to foreigners for corn, which has been

oftentimes purchased in France, because they have had the secret of

preserving their corn; but if the colony of Louisiana was once well

settled, what supplies of corn might not be received from that

fruitful country? I shall give two reasons which will confirm my

opinion.

The first is, That the inhabitants always grow more corn than is

necessary for the subsistence of themselves, their workmen, and

slaves. I own, that in the lower part of the colony only rice could be

had, but this is always a great supply. Now, were the colony gradually

settled to the Arkansas, they would grow wheat and rye in as great

quantities as one could well desire, which would be of great service

to France, when her crops happen to fail.

The second reason is, That in this colony a scarcity is never to be

apprehended. On my arrival in it, I informed myself of what had happened

therein from 1700, and I myself remained in it till 1734; and since my

return to France I have had accounts from it down to this present year

1757; and from these accounts I can aver, that no intemperature of

season has caused {186} any scarcity since the beginning of this

century. I was witness to one of the severest winters that had been

known in that country in the memory of the oldest people living; but

provisions were then not dearer than in other years. The soil of this

province being excellent, and the seasons always suitable, the

provisions and other commodities cultivated in it never fail to thrive

surprizingly.

One will, perhaps, be surprized to hear me promise such fine things of

a country which has been reckoned to be so much inferior to the

Spanish or Portuguese colonies in America; but such as will take the

trouble to reflect on that which constitutes the genuine strength of

states, and the real goodness of a country, will soon alter their

opinion, and agree with me, that a country fertile in men, in

productions of the earth, and in necessary metals, is infinitely

preferable to countries from which men draw gold, silver, and

diamonds: the first effect of which is to pamper luxury and render the

people indolent; and the second to stir up the avarice of neighbouring

nations. I therefore boldly aver, that Louisiana, well governed, would

not long fail to fulfil all I have advanced about it; for though there

are still some nations of Indians who might prove enemies to the

French, the settlers, by their martial character, and their zeal for

their king and country, aided by a few troops, commanded, above all,

by good officers, who at the same time know how to command the

colonists: the settlers, I say, will be always match enough for them,

and prevent any foreigners whatever from invading the country. What

would therefore be the consequence if, as I have projected, the first

nation that should become our enemy were attacked in the manner I have

laid down in my reflections on an Indian war? They would be directly

brought to such a pass as to make all other nations tremble at the

very name of the French, and to be ever cautious of making war upon

them. Not to mention the advantage there is in carrying on wars in

this manner; for as they cost little, as little do they hazard the

loss of lives.

In 1734, M. Perier, Governor of Louisiana, was relieved by M. de

Biainville, and the King's plantation put on a new footing, by an

arrangement suitable to the notions of the person {187} who advised

it. A sycophant, who wanted to make his court to Cardinal Fleury,

would persuade that minister, that the plantation cost his Majesty ten

thousand livres a year, and that this sum might be well saved; but

took care not to tell his Eminence, that for these ten thousand it

saved at least fifty thousand livres.

Upon this, my place of Director of the public plantations was

abolished, and I at length resolved to quit the colony and return to

France, nothwithstanding all the fair promises and warm solicitations

of my superiors to prevail upon me to stay. A King's ship, La Gironde,

being ready to sail, I went down the river in her to Balise, and from

thence we set sail, on the 10th of May, 1734. We had tolerable fine

weather to the mouth of the Bahama Streights; afterwards we had the

wind contrary, which retarded our voyage for a week about the banks of

Newfoundland, to which we were obliged to stretch for a wind to carry

us to France: from thence we made the passage without any cross

accident, and happily arrived in the road of Chaidbois before

Rochelle, on the 25th of June following, which made it a passage of

forty-five days from Louisiana to France.

* * * * *

_Some Abstracts from the Historical Memoirs of Louisiana, by_ M. Du

Mont.

I

_Of_ Tobacco, _with the way of cultivating and curing it._

The lands of Louisiana are as proper as could be desired, for the

culture of tobacco; and, without despising what is made in other

countries, we may affirm that the tobacco which grows in the country

of the Natchez, is even preferable to that of Virginia or St. Domingo;

I say, in the country of the Natchez, because the soil at that post

appears to be more suitable to this plant than any other: although it

must be owned, that there is but very little difference betwixt the

tobacco which grows there and in some other parts of the colony, as at

the Cut-point, at the Nachitoches, and even at New Orleans; but

whether it is owing to the exposure, or to the goodness of {188} the

soil, it is allowed that the tobacco of the Natchez and Yasous is

preferable to the rest.

The way of planting and curing tobacco in this country, is as follows:

they sow it on beds well worked with the hoe or spade in the months of

December, January, or February; and because the seed is very small,

they mix it with ashes, that it may be thinner sowed: then they rake

the beds, and trample them with their feet, or clap them with a plank,

that the seed may take sooner in the ground. The tobacco does not come

up till a month afterwards, or even for a longer time; and then they

ought to take great care to cover the beds with straw or cypress-bark,

to preserve the plants from the white frosts, that are very common in

that season. There are two sorts of tobacco; the one with a long and

sharp-pointed leaf, the other has a round and hairy leaf; which last

they reckon the best sort.

At the end of April, and about St. George's day, the plants have about

four leaves, and then they pull the best and strongest of them: these

they plant out on their tobacco-ground by a line stretched across it,

and at three feet distance one from another: this they do either with

a planting-stick, or with their finger, leaving a hole on one side of

the plant, to receive the water, with which they ought to water it.

The tobacco being thus planted, it should be looked over evening and

morning, in order to destroy a black worm, which eats the bud of the

plant, and afterwards buries itself in the ground. If any of the

plants are eat by this worm, you must set another one by it. You must

choose a rainy season to plant your tobacco, and you should water it

three times to make it take root. But they never work their ground in

this country to plant their tobacco; they reckon it sufficient to stir

it a little about four inches square round the plant.

When the tobacco is about four or five inches high, they weed it, and

clean the ground all about it, and hill up every plant. They do the

same again, when it is about a foot and a half high. And when the

plant has, about eight or nine leaves, and is ready to put forth a

stalk, they nip off the top, which they call topping the tobacco: this

amputation makes the {189} leaves grow longer and thicker. After this,

you must look over every plant, and every leaf, in order to sucker it,

or to pull off the buds, which grow at the joints of the leaves; and

at the same time you must destroy the large green worms that are found

on the tobacco, which are often as large as a man's finger, and would

eat up the whole plant in a night's time.

After this, you must take care to have ready a hanger (or

tobacco-house,) which in Louisiana they make in the following manner:

they set several posts in the ground, at equal distances from one

another, and lay a beam or plate on the top of them, making thus the

form of a house of an oblong square. In the middle of this square they

set up two forks, about one third higher than the posts, and lay a pole

cross them, for the ridge-pole of the building; upon which they nail the

rafters, and cover them with cypress-bark, or palmetto-leaves. The first

settlers likewise build their dwelling-houses in this manner, which

answer the purpose very well, and as well as the houses which their

carpenters build for them, especially for the curing of tobacco; which

they hang in these houses upon sticks or canes, laid across the

building, and about four feet and a half asunder, one above another.

The tobacco-house being ready, you wait till your tobacco is ripe, and

fit to be cut; which you may know by the leaves being brittle, and

easily broke between the fingers, especially in the morning before

sun-rising; but those versed in it know when the tobacco is fit to cut

by the looks of it, and at first sight. You cut your tobacco with a

knife as nigh the ground as you can, after which you lay it upon the

ground for some time, that the leaves may fall, or grow tender, and

not break in carrying. When you carry your tobacco to the house, you

hang it first at the top by pairs, or two plants together, thus

continuing from story to story, taking care that the plants thus hung

are about two inches asunder, and that they do not touch one another,

lest they should rot. In this manner they fill their whole house with

tobacco, and leave it to sweat and dry.

After the tobacco is cut, they weed and clean the ground on which it

grew: each root then puts out several suckers, which are all pulled

off, and only one of the best is left to {190} grow, of which the same

care is taken as of the first crop. By this means a second crop is

made on the same ground, and sometimes a third. These seconds, indeed,

as they are called, do not usually grow so high as the first plant,

but notwithstanding they make very good tobacco. [Footnote: This is an

advantage that they have in Louisiana over our tobacco planters, who

are prohibited by law to cultivate these seconds; the summers are so

short, that they do not come to due maturity in our tobacco colonies;

whereas in Louisiana the summers are two or three months longer, by

which they make two or three crops of tobacco a year upon the same

ground, as early as we make one. Add to this, their fresh lands will

produce three times as much of that commodity, as our old plantations;

which are now worn out with culture, by supplying the whole world

almost with tobacco for a hundred and fifty years. Now if their

tobacco is worth five and six shillings a pound, as we are told above,

or even the tenth part of it, when ours is worth but two pence or

three pence, and they give a bounty upon ships going to the

Missisippi, when our tobacco is loaded with a duty equal to seven

times its prime cost; they may, with all these advantages, soon get

this trade from us, the, only one this nation has left entire to

itself. These advantages enable the planters to give a much better

price for servants and slaves, and thereby to engross the trade. It

was by these means, that the French got the sugar trade from us, after

the treaty of Utrecht, by being allowed to transport their people from

St. Christopher's to the rich and fresh lands of St. Domingo; and by

removing from Canada to Louisiana, they may in the like manner get not

only this, but every other branch of the trade of North America.]

If you have a mind to make your tobacco into rolls, there is no

occasion to wait till the leaves are perfectly dry; but as soon as

they have acquired a yellowish brown colour, although the stem is

green, you unhang your tobacco, and strip the leaves from the stalks,

lay them up in heaps, and cover them with woolen cloths, in order to

sweat them. After that you stem the tobacco, or pull out the middle

rib of the leaf, which you throw away with the stalks, as good for

nothing; laying by the longest and largest of the leaves, that are of

a good blackish brown colour, and keep them for a covering for your

rolls. After this you take a piece of coarse linen, at least eight

inches broad and a foot long, which you spread on the ground, and on

it lay the large leaves you have picked out, and the others over them

in handfuls, taking care always to have more in the middle than at the

ends: then you roll the {191} tobacco up in the cloth, tying it in the

middle and at each end. When you have made a sufficient number of

these bundles, the negroes roll them up as hard as they can with a

cord about as big as the little finger, which is commonly about

fifteen or sixteen fathom long: you tighten them three times, so as to

make them as hard as possible; and to keep them so, you might tie them

up with a string.

But since the time of the West India company, we have seldom cured our

tobacco in this manner, if it is not for our own use; we now cure it

in hands, or bundles of the leaves, which they pack in hogsheads, and

deliver it thus in France to the farmers general. In order to cure the

tobacco in this manner, they wait till the leaves of the stem are

perfectly dry, and in moist, giving weather, they strip the leaves

from the stalk, till they have a handful of them, called a hand, or

bundle of tobacco, which they tie up with another leaf. These bundles

they lay in heaps, in order to sweat them, for which purpose they

cover those heaps with blankets, and lay boards or planks over them.

But you should take care that the tobacco is not over-heated, and does

not take fire, which may easily happen; for which purpose you uncover

your heaps from time to time, and give the tobacco air, by spreading

it abroad. This you continue to do till you find no more heat in the

tobacco; then you pack it in hogsheads, and may transport it any

where, without danger either of its heating or rotting.

II.

_Of the way of making_ Indigo.

The blue stone, known by the name of Indigo, is the extract of a plant

which they who have a sufficient number of slaves to manage it, make

some quantities throughout all this colony. For this purpose they

first weed the ground, and make small holes in it with a hoe, about

five inches asunder, and on a straight line. In each of these holes

they put five or six seeds of the indigo, which are small, long, and

hard. When they come up, they put forth leaves somewhat like those of

box, but a little longer and broader, and not so thick and indented.

When the plant is five or six inches high, they take {192} care to

loosen the earth about the root, and at the same time to weed it. They

reckon it has acquired a proper maturity, when it is about three feet

and a half high: this you may likewise know, if the leaf cracks as you

squeeze the plant in your hand.

Before you cut it, you get ready a place that is covered in the same

manner with the one made for tobacco, about twenty-five feet high; in

which you put three vats, one above another, as it were in different

stories, so that the highest is the largest; that in the middle is

square, and the deepest; the third, at bottom, is the least.

After these operations, you cut the indigo, and when you have several

arms-full, or bundles of the plant, to the quantity judged necessary

for one working, you fill the vat at least three quarters full; after

which you pour water thereon up to the brim, and the plant is left to

steep, in order to rot it; which is the reason why this vat is called

the rotting-tub. For the three or four hours which the plant takes to

rot, the water is impregnated with its virtue; and, though the plant

is green, communicates thereto a blue colour.

At the bottom of the great vat, and where it bears on the one in the

middle (which, as was said, is square) is a pretty large hole, stopped

with a bung; which is opened when the plant is thought to be

sufficiently rotten, and all the water of this vat, mixed with the

mud, formed by the rotting of the plant, falls by this hole into the

second vat; on the edges of which are placed, at proper distances,

forks of iron or wood, on which large long poles are laid, which reach

from the two sides to the middle of the water in the vat; the end

plunged in the water is furnished with a bucket without a bottom. A

number of slaves lay hold on these poles, by the end which is out of

the water; and alternately pulling them down, and then letting the

buckets fall into the vat, they thus continue to beat the water; which

being thus agitated and churned, comes to be covered with a white and

thick scum; and in such quantity as that it would rise up and flow

over the brim of the vat, if the operator did not take care to throw

in, from time to time, some fish-oil, which he sprinkles with a

feather upon this scum. For these reasons this vat is called the

battery.

{193} They continue to beat the water for an hour and a half, or two

hours; after which they give over, and the water is left to settle.

However, they from time to time open three holes, which are placed at

proper distances from top to bottom in one of the sides of this second

vat in order to let the water run off clear. This is repeated for

three several times; but when at the third time the muddy water is

ready to come out at the lowermost hole, they stop it, and open

another pierced in the lower part of that side, which rests on the

third vat. Then all the muddy water falls through that hole of the

second vat, into the third, which is the least, and is called the

_deviling (diablotin.)_

They have sacks, a foot long, made of a pretty close cloth, which they

fill with this liquid thick matter, and hang them on nails round the

indigo-house. The water drains out gradually; and the matter which is

left behind, resembles a real mud, which they take out of these sacks,

and put in moulds, made like little drawers, two feet long by half a

foot broad, and with a border, or ledge, an inch and a half high. Then

they lay them out in the sun, which draws off all the moisture: and as

this mud comes to dry, care is taken to work it with a mason's trowel:

at length it forms a body, which holds together, and is cut in pieces,

while fresh, with wire. It is in this manner that they draw from a

green herb this fine blue colour, of which there are two sorts, one of

which is of a purple dove colour.

III.

_Of Tar; the way of making it; and of making it into Pitch_.

I have said, that they made a great deal of tar in this colony, from

pines and firs; which is done in the following manner. It is a common

mistake, that tar is nothing but the sap or gum of the pine, drawn

from the tree by incision; the largest trees would not yield two

pounds by this method; and if it were, to be made in that manner, you

must choose the most thriving and flourishing trees for the purpose;

whereas it is only made from the trees that are old, and are beginning

to decay, because the older they are, the greater quantities they

contain of that fat bituminous substance, which yields tar; it {194}

is even proper that the tree should be felled a long time, before they

use them for this purpose. It is usually towards the mouth of the

river, and along the sea-coasts, that they make tar; because it is in

those places that the pines chiefly grow.

When they have a sufficient number of these trees, that are fit for

the purpose, they saw them in cuts with a cross-cut saw, about two

feet in length; and while the slaves are employed in sawing them,

others split these cuts lengthwise into small pieces, the smaller the

better. They sometimes spend three or four months in cutting and

preparing the trees in this manner. In the mean time they make a

square hollow in the ground, four or five feet broad, and five or six

inches deep: from one side of which goes off a canal or gutter, which

discharges itself into a large and pretty deep pit, at the distance of

a few paces. From this pit proceeds another canal, which communicates

with a second pit; and even from the first square you make three or

four such trenches, which discharge themselves into as many pits,

according to the quantity of wood you have, or the quantity of tar you

imagine you may draw from it. Then you lay over the square hole four

or five pretty strong bars of iron, and upon these bars you arrange

crosswise the split pieces of pine, of which you should have a

quantity ready; laying them so, that there may be a little air between

them. In this manner you raise a large and high pyramid of the wood,

and when it is finished, you set fire to it at the top. As the wood

burns, the fire melts the resin in the pine, and this liquid tar

distills into the square hole, and from thence runs into the pits made

to receive it.

If you would make pitch of this tar, take two or three red-hot cannon

bullets, and throw them into the pits, full of the tar, which you

intend for this purpose: immediately upon which, the tar takes fire

with a terrible noise and a horrible thick smoke, by which the

moisture that may remain in the tar is consumed and dissipated, and

the mass diminishes in proportion; and when they think it is

sufficiently burnt, they extinguish the fire, not with water, but with

a hurdle covered with turf and earth. As it grows cold, it becomes

hard and shining, so that you cannot take it out of the pits, but by

cutting it with an axe.

{195}

IV.

_Of the Mines of_ Louisiana.

Before we quit this subject, I shall conclude this account by

answering a question, which has often been proposed to me. Are there

any Mines, say they, in this province? There are, without all dispute;

and that is so certain, and so well known, that they who have any

knowledge of this country never once called it in question. And it is

allowed by all, that there are to be found in this country quarries of

plaster of Paris, slate, and very fine veined marble; and I have

learned from one of my friends, who as well as myself had been a great

way on discoveries, that in travelling this province he had found a

place full of fine stones of rock-crystal. As for my share, I can

affirm, without endeavoring to impose on any one, that in one of my

excursions I found, upon the river of the Arkansas, a rivulet that

rolled down with its waters gold-dust; from which there is reason to

believe that there are mines of this metal in that country. And as for

silver-mines, there is no doubt but they might be found there, as well

as in New Mexico, on which this province borders. A Canadian

traveller, named Bon Homme, as he was hunting at some distance from

the Post of the Nachitoches, melted some parcels of a mine, that is

found in rocks at a very little distance from that Post, which

appeared to be very good silver, without any farther purification.

[Footnote: See a farther account and assay of this mine above.]

It will be objected to me, perhaps, that if there is any truth in what

I advance, I should have come from that country laden with silver and

gold; and that if these precious metals are to be found there, as I

have said, it is surprizing that the French have never thought of

discovering and digging them in thirty years, in which they have been

settled in Louisiana. To this I answer, that this objection is only

founded on the ignorance of those who make it; and that a traveller,

or an officer, ordered by his superiors to go to reconnoitre the

country, to draw plans, and give an account of what he has seen, in

nothing but immense woods and deserts, where they cannot so {196} much

as find a path, but what is made by the wild beasts; I say, that such

people have enough to do to take care of themselves and of their

present business, instead of gathering riches; and think it

sufficient, that they return in a whole skin.

With regard to the negligence that the French seem hitherto to have

shewn in searching for these mines, and in digging them, we ought to

take due notice, that in order to open a silver-mine, for example, you

must advance at least a hundred thousand crowns, before you can expect

to get a penny of profit from it, and that the people of the country

are not in a condition to be at any such charge. Add to this, that the

inhabitants are too ignorant of these mines; the Spaniards, their

neighbours, are too discreet to teach them; and the French in Europe

are too backward and timorous to engage in such an undertaking. But

notwithstanding, it is certain that the thing has been already done,

and that just reasons, without doubt, but different from an

impossibility, have caused it to be laid aside.

This author gives a like account of the culture of Rice in Louisiana,

and of all the other staple commodities of our colonies in North

America.

{197} _Extract from a late_ French _Writer, concerning the Importance

of_ Louisiana _to France_.

"One cannot help lamenting the lethargic state of that colony,

(Louisiana) which carries in its bosom the bed of the greatest riches;

and in order to produce them, asks only arms proper for tilling the

earth, which is wholly disposed to yield an hundred fold. Thanks to

the fertility of our islands, our Sugar plantations are infinitely

superior to those of the English, and we likewise excel them in our

productions of Indigo, Coffee, and Cotton.

"Tobacco is the only production of the earth which gives the English

an advantage over us. Providence, which reserved for us the discovery

of Louisiana, has given us the possession of it, that we may be their

rivals in this particular, or at least that we may be able to do

without their Tobacco. Ought we to continue tributaries to them in

this respect, when we can so easily do without them?

"I cannot help remarking here, that among several projects presented

of late years for giving new force to this colony, a company of

creditable merchants proposed to furnish negroes to the inhabitants,

and to be paid for them in Tobacco alone at a fixed valuation.

"The following advantages, they demonstrated, would attend their

scheme. I. It would increase a branch of commerce in France, which

affords subsistence to two of the English colonies in America, namely

Virginia and Maryland, the inhabitants of which consume annually a

very considerable quantity of English stuffs, and employ a great

number of ships in the transportation of their Tobacco. The

inhabitants of those two provinces are so greatly multiplied, in

consequence of the riches they have acquired by their commerce with

us, that they begin to spread themselves upon territories that belong

to us. II. The second advantage arising from the scheme would be, to

carry the cultivation of Tobacco to its greatest extent and

perfection. III. To diminish in proportion the cultivation of the

English plantations, as well as lessen their navigation in that part.

IV. To put an end entirely to the {198} importation of any Tobacco

from Great-Britain into France, in the space of twelve years. V. To

diminish annually, and in the same space of time finally put an end

to, the exportation of specie from France to Great-Britain, which

amounts annually to five millions of our money for the purchase of

Tobacco, and the freightage of English ships, which bring it into our

ports. VI. By diminishing the cause of the outgoing specie, to augment

the balance of commerce in favour of the nation. These are the

principal advantages which France would have reason to have expected

from the establishment of this company, if it had been effected."

_Essai sur les Interêts du Commerce Maritime, par_ M. du Haye. 1754.

The probability of succeeding in such a scheme will appear from the

foregoing accounts of Tobacco in Louisiana, pag. 172, 173, 181, 188,

&c. They only want hands to make any quantities of Tobacco in

Louisiana. The consequences of that will appear from the following

account.

{199} _An Account of the Quantity of Tobacco imported into_ Britain,

_and exported from it, in the four Years of Peace, after the late

Tobacco-Law took place, according to the Custom-House Accounts._

Imported Exported

Hhds. Hhds.

1752 - - - 55,997 - - 48,922

England, 1753 - - - 70,925 - - 57,353

1754 - - - 59,744 - - 50,476

1755 - - - 71,881 - - 54,384

--------- ---------

258,547 - - 211,135

--------- ---------

1752 - - - 22,322 - - 21,642

Scotland, 1753 - - - 26,210 - - 24,728

1754 - - - 22,334 - - 21,764

1755 - - - 20,698 - - 19,711

--------- ---------

91,564 - - 87,845

--------- ---------

Total - - - 350,111 - - 298,980

Average - - 87,528 - - 74,745

Imported yearly - - - hhds 87,528

Exported - - - - - - - - - 74,745

---------

Home consumption - - - - - 12,783

To 87,528 hogsheads, at 10£ per hogshead, £875,280

To duty on 12,783 hogsheads at 20£ - - - 255,660

---------

Annual income from Tobacco - - - - - 1,130,940

The number of seamen employed in the Tobacco trade is computed at

4500;--in the Sugar trade 3600;--and in the Fishery of Newfoundland

4000, from Britain.

{201}

THE HISTORY OF LOUISIANA

BOOK III.

_The Natural History of_ Louisiana.

CHAPTER I.

_Of Corn and Pulse_.

Having, in the former part of this work, given an account of the

nature of the soil of Louisiana, and observed that some places were

proper for one kind of plants, and some for another; and that almost

the whole country was capable of producing, and bringing to the utmost

maturity, all kinds of grain, I shall now present the industrious

planter with an account of the trees and plants which may be

cultivated to advantage in those lands with which he is now made

acquainted.

During my abode in that country, where I myself have a grant of lands,

and where I lived sixteen years, I have had leisure to study this

subject, and have made such progress in it, that I have sent to the

West-India Company in France no less than three hundred medicinal

plants, found in their possessions, and worthy of the attention of the

public. The reader may depend upon my being faithful and exact; he

must not however here expect a description of every thing that

Louisiana produces of the vegetable kind. Its prodigious fertility

makes it impracticable for me to undertake so extensive a work. I

shall chiefly describe those plants and fruits that are most useful to

the inhabitants, either in regard to their own subsistence or

preservation, or in regard to their foreign commerce; {202} and I

shall add the manner of cultivating and managing the plants that are

of greatest advantage to the colony.

Louisiana produces several kinds of Maiz, namely Flour-maiz, which is

white, with a flat and shrivelled surface, and is the softest of all

the kinds; Homony corn, which is round, hard, and shining; of this

there are four sorts, the white, the yellow, the red, and the blue;

the Maiz of these two last colours is more common in the high lands

than in the Lower Louisiana. We have besides small corn, or small

Maiz, so called because it is smaller than the other kinds. New

settlers sow this corn upon their first arrival, in order to have

whereon to subsist as soon as possible; for it rises very fast, and

ripens in so short a time, that from the same field they may have two

crops of it in one year. Besides this, it has the advantage of being

more agreeable to the taste than the large kind.

Maiz, which in France is called Turkey Corn, (and in England Indian

Corn) is the natural product of this country; for upon our arrival we

found it cultivated by the natives. It grows upon a stalk six, seven,

and eight feet high; the ear is large, and about two inches diameter,

containing sometimes seven hundred grains and upwards; and each stalk

bears sometimes six or seven ears, according to the goodness of the

ground. The black and light soil is that which agrees best with it;

but strong ground is not so favourable to it.

This corn, it is well known, is very wholesome both for man and other

animals, especially for poultry. The natives, that they may have

change of dishes, dress it in various ways. The best is to make it

into what is called Parched Meal, (Farine Froide.) As there is nobody

who does not eat of this with pleasure, even though not very hungry, I

will give the manner of preparing it, that our provinces of France,

which reap this grain, may draw the same advantage from it.

The corn is first parboiled in water; then drained and well dried.

When it is perfectly dry, it is then roasted in a plate made for that

purpose, ashes being mixed with it to hinder it from burning; and they

keep continually stirring it, that it may take only the red colour

which they want. When it has taken that colour, they remove the ashes,

rub it well, and then {203} put it in a mortar with the ashes of dried

stalks of kidney beans, and a little water; they then beat it gently,

which quickly breaks the husk, and turns the whole into meal. This

meal, after being pounded, is dried in the sun, and after this last

operation it may be carried any where, and will keep six months, if

care be taken from time to time to expose it to the sun. When they

want to eat of it, they mix in a vessel two thirds water with one

third meal, and in a few minutes the mixture swells greatly in bulk,

and is fit to eat. It is a very nourishing food, and is an excellent

provision for travellers, and those who go to any distance to trade.

This parched meal, mixed with milk and a little sugar, may be served

up at the best tables. When mixed with milk-chocolate it makes a very

lasting nourishment. From Maiz they make a strong and agreeable beer;

and they likewise distil brandy from it.

Wheat, rye, barley, and oats grow extremely well in Louisiana; but I

must add one precaution in regard to wheat; when it is sown by itself,

as in France, it grows at first wonderfully; but when it is in flower,

a great number of drops of red water may be observed at the bottom of

the stalk within six inches of the ground, which are collected there

during the night, and disappear at sun-rising. This water is of such

an acrid nature, that in a short time it consumes the stalk, and the

ear falls before the grain is formed. To prevent this misfortune,

which is owing to the too great richness of the soil, the method I

have taken, and which has succeeded extremely well, is to mix with the

wheat you intend to sow, some rye and dry mould, in such a proportion

that the mould shall be equal to the rye and wheat together. This

method I remember to have seen practised in France; and when I asked

the reason of it, the farmer told me that as the land was new, and had

lately been a wood, it contained an acid that was prejudicial to the

wheat; and that as the rye absorbed that acid without being hurt, it

thereby preserved the other grain. I have seen barley and oats in that

country three feet high.

The rice which is cultivated in that country was brought from

Carolina. It succeeds surprizingly well, and experience {204} has

there proved, contrary to the common notion, that it does not want to

have its foot always in the water. It has been sown in the flat

country without being flooded, and the grain that was reaped was full

grown, and of a very delicate taste. The fine relish need not surprise

us; for it is so with all plants and fruits that grow without being

watered, and at a distance from watery places. Two crops may be reaped

from the same plant; but the second is poor if it be not flooded. I

know not whether they have attempted, since I left Louisiana, to sow

it upon the sides of hills.

The first settlers found in the country French-beans of various

colours, particularly red and black, and they have been called beans

of forty days, because they require no longer time to grow and to be

fit to eat green. The Apalachean beans are so called because we

received them from a nation of the natives of that name. They probably

had them from the English of Carolina, whither they had been brought

from Guinea. Their stalks spread upon the ground to the length of four

or five feet. They are like the other beans, but much smaller, and of

a brown colour, having a black ring round the eye, by which they are

joined to the shell. These beans boil tender, and have a tolerable

relish, but they are sweetish, and somewhat insipid.

The potatoes are roots more commonly long than thick; their form is

various, and their fine skin is like that of the Topinambous (Irish

potatoes.) In their substance and taste they very much resemble sweet

chesnuts. They are cultivated in the following manner; the earth is

raised in little hills or high furrows about a foot and a half broad,

that by draining the moisture, the roots may have a better relish. The

small potatoes being cut in little pieces with an eye in each, four or

five of those pieces are planted on the head of the hills. In a short

time they push out shoots, and these shoots being cut off about the

middle of August within seven or eight inches of the ground, are

planted double, cross-ways, in the crown of other hills. The roots of

these last are the most esteemed, not only on account of their fine

relish, but because they are easier kept during the winter. In order to

preserve them during {205} that season, they dry them in the sun as

soon as they are dug up, and then lay them up in a close and dry place,

covering them first with ashes, over which they lay dry mould. They

boil them, or bake them, or roast them on hot coals like chesnuts; but

they have the finest relish when baked or roasted. They are eat dry, or

cut into small slices in milk without sugar, for they are sweet of

themselves. Good sweetmeats are also {206} made of them, and some

Frenchmen have drawn brandy from them.

[Illustration: Top: _Appalachean Beans,_--Bottom: _Sweet Potatoes_

(on p. 205)]

The Cushaws are a kind of pompion. There are two sorts of them, the

one round, and the other in the shape of a hunting horn. These last

are the best, being of a more firm substance, which makes them keep

much better than the others; their sweetness is not so insipid, and

they have fewer seeds. They make sweetmeats of these last, and use

both kinds in soup; they make fritters of them, fry them, bake them,

and roast them on the coals, and in all ways of cooking they are good

and palatable.

All kinds of melons grow admirably well in Louisiana. Those of Spain,

of France, of England, which last are called white melons, are there

infinitely finer than in the countries from whence they have their

name; but the best of all are the water melons. As they are hardly

known in France, except in Provence, where a few of the small kind

grow, I fancy a description of them will not be disagreeable to the

reader.

The stalk of this melon spreads like ours upon the ground, and extends

to the length of ten feet. It is so tender, that when it is any way

bruised by treading upon it, the fruit dies; and if it is rubbed in

the least, it grows warm. The leaves are very much indented, as broad

as the hand when they are spread out, and are somewhat of a sea-green

colour. The fruit is either round like a pompion, or long. There are

some good melons of this last kind, but the first sort are most

esteemed, and deservedly so. The weight of the largest rarely exceeds

thirty pounds, but that of the smallest is always above ten pounds.

Their rind is of a pale green colour, interspersed with large white

spots. The substance that adheres to the rind is white, crude, and of

a disagreeable tartness, and is therefore never eaten. The space

within that is filled with a light and sparkling substance, that may

be called for its properties a rose-coloured snow. It melts in the

mouth as if it were actually snow, and leaves a relish like that of

the water prepared for sick people from gooseberry jelly. This fruit

cannot fail therefore of being very refreshing, and is so wholesome,

that persons in all kinds of distempers may satisfy their {207}

appetite with it, without any apprehension of being the worse for it.

The water-melons of Africa are not near so relishing as those of

Louisiana.

[Illustration: Watermelon]

The seeds of water-melons are placed like those of the French melons.

Their shape is oval and flat, being as thick at the ends as towards

the middle; their length is about six lines, and their breadth four.

Some are black and others red; but the black are the best, and it is

those you ought to choose {208} for sowing, if you would wish to have

good fruit; which you cannot fail of, if they are not planted in

strong ground, where they would degenerate and become red.

All kinds of greens and roots which have been brought from Europe into

that colony succeed better there than in France, provided they be

planted in a soil suited to them; for it is certainly absurd to think

that onions and other bulbous plants should thrive there in a soft and

watery soil, when every where else they require a light and dry earth.

CHAPTER II.

_Of the Fruit Trees of_ Louisiana.

I shall now proceed to give an account of the fruit trees of this

colony, and shall begin with the Vine, which is so common in

Louisiana, that whatever way you walk from the sea coast for five

hundred leagues northwards, you cannot proceed an hundred steps

without meeting with one; but unless the vine-shoots should happen to

grow in an exposed place, it cannot be expected that their fruit

should ever come to perfect maturity. The trees to which they twine

are so high, and so thick of leaves, and the intervals of underwood

are so filled with reeds, that the sun cannot warm the earth, or ripen

the fruit of this shrub. I will not undertake to describe all the

kinds of grapes which this country produces; it is even impossible to

know them all; I shall only speak of three or four.

The first sort that I shall mention does not perhaps deserve the name

of a grape, although its wood and its leaf greatly resemble the vine.

This shrub bears no bunches, and you hardly ever see upon it above two

grapes together. The grape in substance and colour is very like a

violet damask plum, and its stone, which is always single, greatly

resembles a nut. Though not very relishing, it has not however that

disagreeable sharpness of the grape that grows in the neighbourhood of

New Orleans.

On the edge of the savannahs or meadows we meet with a grape, the

shoots of which resemble those of the Burgundy {209} grape. They make

from this a tolerable good wine, if they take care to expose it to the

sun in summer, and to the cold in winter. I have made this experiment

myself, and must say that I never could turn it into vinegar.

There is another kind of grape which I make no difficulty of classing

with the grapes of Corinth, commonly called currants. It resembles

them in the wood, the leaf, the tree, the size, and the sweetness. Its

tartness is owing to its being prevented from ripening by the thick

shade of the large trees to which it twines. If it were planted and

cultivated in an open field, I make not the least doubt but it would

equal the grape of Corinth, with which I class it.

Muscadine grapes, of an amber colour, of a very good kind, and very

sweet, have been found upon declivities of a good exposure, even so

far north as the latitude of 31 degrees. There is the greatest

probability that they might make excellent wine of these, as it cannot

be doubted but the grapes might be brought to great perfection in this

country, since in the moist soil of New Orleans, the cuttings of the

grape which some of the inhabitants of that city brought from France,

have succeeded extremely well, and afforded good wine.

As a proof of the fertility of Louisiana, I cannot forbear mentioning

the following fact; an inhabitant of New Orleans having planted in his

garden a few twigs of this Muscadine vine, with a view of making an

arbour of them, one of his sons, with another negro boy, entered the

garden in the month of June, when the grapes are ripe, and broke off

all the bunches they could find. The father, after severely chiding

the two boys, pruned the twigs that had been broken and bruised; and

as several months of summer still remained, the vine pushed out new

shoots, and new bunches, which ripened and were as good as the former.

The Persimmon, which the French of the colony call Placminier, very

much resembles our medlar-tree in its leaf and wood: its flower, which

is about an inch and a half broad, is white, and is composed of five

petals; its fruit is about the size of a large hen's egg; it is shaped

like our medlar, but its substance is sweeter and more delicate. This

fruit is astringent; {210} when it is quite ripe the natives make

bread of it, which they keep from year to year; and the bread has this

remarkable property that it will stop the most violent looseness or

dysentery; therefore it ought to be used with caution, and only after

physic. The natives, in order to make this bread, squeeze the fruit

over fine sieves to separate the pulp from the skin and the kernels.

Of this pulp, which is like paste or thick pap, they make cakes about

a foot and a half long, a foot broad, and a finger's breadth in

thickness: these they dry in an oven, upon gridirons, or else in the

sun; which last method of drying gives a greater relish to the bread.

This is one of their articles of traffick with the French.

Their plum-trees are of two sorts: the best is that which bears

violet-coloured plums, quite like ours, which are not disagreeable,

and which certainly would be good if they did not grow in the middle

of woods. The other kind bears plums of the colour of an unripe

cherry, and these are so tart that no body can eat them; but I am of

opinion they might be preserved like gooseberries; especially if pains

were taken to cultivate them in open grounds. The small cherries,

called the Indian cherry, are frequent in this country. Their wood is

very beautiful, and their leaves differ in nothing from those of the

cherry tree.

The Papaws are only to be found far up in Higher Louisiana. These

trees, it would seem, do not love heat; they do not grow so tall as

the plum-trees; their wood is very hard and flexible; for the lower

branches are sometimes so loaded with fruit that they hang

perpendicularly downwards; and if you unload them of their fruit in

the evening, you will find them next morning in their natural erect

position. The fruit resembles a middle-sized cucumber; the pulp is

very agreeable and very wholesome; but the rind, which is easily

stripped off, leaves on the fingers so sharp an acid, that if you

touch your eye with them before you wash them, it will be immediately

inflamed, and itch most insupportably for twenty-four hours after.

The natives had doubtless got the peach-trees and fig-trees from the

English colony of Carolina, before the French {211} established

themselves in Louisiana. The peaches are of the kind which we call

Alberges; are of the size of the fist, adhere to the stone, and

contain so much water that they make a kind of wine of it. The figs

are either blue or white; are large and well enough tasted. Our

colonists plant the peach stones about the end of February, and suffer

the trees to grow exposed to all weathers. In the third year they will

gather from one tree at least two hundred peaches, and double that

number for six {212} or seven years more, when the tree dies

irrecoverably. As new trees are so easily produced, the loss of the

old ones is not in the least regretted.

[Illustration: Top: _Pawpaw_--Bottom: _Blue Whortle-berry_ (on p. 211)]

The orange-trees and citron-trees that were brought from Cape François

have succeeded extremely well; however I have seen so severe a winter

that those kinds of trees were entirely frozen to the very trunk. In

that case they cut the trees down to the ground, and the following

summer they produced shoots that were better than the former. If these

trees have succeeded in the flat and moist soil of New Orleans, what

may we not expect when they are planted in better soil, and upon

declivities of a good exposure? The oranges and citrons are as good as

those of other countries; but the rind of the orange in particular is

very thick, which makes it the better for a sweet-meat.

There is plenty of wild apples in Louisiana, like those in Europe; and

the inhabitants have got many kind of fruit trees from France, such as

apples, pears, plums, cherries, &c. which in the low grounds run more

into wood than fruit; the few I had at the Natches proved that high

ground is much more suited to them than the low.

The blue Whortle-berry is a shrub somewhat taller than our largest

gooseberry bushes, which are left to grow as they please. Its berries

are of the shape of a gooseberry, grow single, and are of a blue

colour: they taste like a sweetish gooseberry, and when infused in

brandy it makes a good dram. They attribute several virtues to it,

which, as I never experienced, I cannot answer for. It loves a poor

gravelly soil.