CHAPTER XVI

Cadron settlement--Arrive at Arkansas--Continue

to the Mississippi--The wandering

fanatics--Pirates--Natchez--stratification of its site, and

remarks on its agricultural productions--The Choctaws--Fort

Adams--Point Coupé--Baton Rouge--Opulent Planters--New Orleans.

On the evening of the 18th of December, I again arrived at the

Cadron,[212] where four families now resided. A considerable

concourse of travellers and some emigrants begin to make their

appearance at this imaginary town. The only tavern, very ill

provided, was consequently crowded with all sorts of company. It

contained only two tenantable rooms, built of logs, with hundreds of

crevices still left open, notwithstanding the severity of the season.

Every reasonable and rational amusement appeared here to be swallowed

up in dram-drinking, jockeying, and gambling; even our landlord, in

defiance of the law, was often the ring-leader of what it was his

duty to suppress. Although I have been through life perfectly steeled

against games of hazard, neither wishing to rob nor be robbed, I

felt somewhat mortified {220} to be thus left alone, because of my

unconquerable aversion to enter this vortex of swindling and idleness.

From the 18th to the 27th we had frosty nights; and on the 28th a

fall of snow that continued throughout the day, and which still

(_January_ 3d) remained on all northern exposures; considerable

sheets of ice, near three quarters of an inch in thickness, now began

to invade the still water of the river, but were generally broken up

by evening.

In one of the beds of grauwacke slate, which form the picturesque

cliffs of the Cadron, I observed articulations of a species of

orthoceratite, apparently belonging to the genus Raphanister of

Montfort. Above this bed, and forming the summit of the hills, occurs

a massive laminated sandstone of a grey colour and inconsiderable dip.

On the 4th of January, 1820, after waiting about a month for an

opportunity of descending, I now embraced the favourable advantage of

proceeding in the boat of Mr. Barber, a merchant of New Orleans, to

whose friendship and civility I am indebted for many favours.

5th.] This morning we again passed the outlet of the river called La

Feve’s Fork, coming in on our right. It sources with the Pottoe, the

Kiamesha, Little river of Red river, and with the Petit John forms an

irregular and acute triangle, affording a large body of good land,

and, as well as the latter, is said to be navigable near 200 miles,

including its meanders. Its entrance is marked by a concomitant

chain of hills and cliffs, which border the Arkansa, and proceed

in a north-westerly direction. For about a mile and a half, these

hills, of grauwacke slate, present the appearance of an even wall

coming up to the margin of the river, and owe this singular aspect to

their almost vertical stratification. Their summits are tufted with

pine, and the opposite alluvial point, which was sandy, {221} and

to appearance scarcely elevated above inundation, possessed also a

forest of similar trees.

This evening we again arrived at Piat’s, and in view of the pyramidal

Mamelle; its extraordinary appearance, elevation, and isolation

arises from the almost vertical disposition of its strata, which are

probably of the same nature as those we passed to-day near the Petit

John. Not far above inundation, on the same side of the river, three

miles above Piat’s, these vertical rocks form a very curious and

crested parapet.

6th.] This evening we arrived at Mr. Daniel’s, an industrious farmer,

and provided with a rough-looking, but comfortable winter cabin.

About two miles from hence, Mr. D., who lives upon a confirmed

Spanish right, had erected a grist mill. Saw-mills were also about

to be built at the Cadron, and two or three other places. The

establishment of a town was now contemplated also at the Little

Rock, by colonel Hogan, and some others. They had not, however,

sufficient capital, and no doubt expected to derive some adventitious

wealth from those speculators who were viewing various parts of the

newly-formed territory.

7th.] We again arrived at the lower end of the Eagle’s-nest bend,

from whence commenced the uninhabited tract of 60 or 70 miles.

8th.] To-day we passed seven bends, making about 28 miles. The water

at this, its lowest stage, appears to be perfectly navigable for the

larger boats from the Little Rock to the Mississippi. By the cane

which occurs in all the bends, and indeed by the apparent elevation,

there are here great bodies of good land, free from inundation. The

soil in some of the banks consists of an uncommonly rich dark Spanish

brown loam.

9th.] This forenoon we passed the fourth Pine Bluff, at the base

of which we observed abundance of earthy iron ore, in flattened,

contorted, and cellular {222} masses, scattered about in profusion;

much of it appeared to be pyrites, other masses more or less

argillaceous and siliceous. Here, on the portions of the high bank

which had sunk down by the undermining of the current, we saw the

wax-myrtle of the Atlantic sea-coast.

10th.] This evening we arrived near to the termination of the second

Pine Bluffs, which continue along the river for nearly two miles. We

passed through seven bends of the river, and came about 27 miles. The

frost was now succeeded by mild and showery weather, and the bald

eagles (_Falco leucocephalus_) were already nestling, chusing the

loftiest poplars for their eyries.

11th.] Soon after breakfast we came again in sight of the houses of

the French hunters Cusot and Bartolemé, and found also two families

from Curran’s settlement encamped here, and about to settle. I here

obtained two fragments of fossil shells, apparently some species of

oyster, one of which was traversed with illinitions of crystallized

carbonate of lime, and contained specks of bovey coal, from which I

concluded them to have been washed out of the Bluffs above. Besides

these I was also shewn a small conch-shell, not apparently altered

from its natural state, and probably disinterred from some tumulus.

Some time after dark we arrived at Mr. Boun’s, a metif or half

Quapaw, and interpreter to the nation, who lived at the first of the

Pine Bluffs. Two or three other metif families resided also in the

neighbourhood.

On the 12th we arrived at Monsieur Dardennes’, and to-day experienced

a keen north-western wind. Water froze the instant it touched the

ground.

13th.] The weather still freezing. In the evening we passed Mr.

Harrington’s, a farmer in very comfortable circumstances. Betwixt

Morrison’s and this {223} place, the river makes two cuts, through

two bends of about eight miles each.

14th.] This evening we arrived at the residence of the late Mr.

Mosely, and about 20 miles below Harrington’s. His estates were said

to be worth not less than 20,000 dollars, which had all been acquired

during his residence in this territory. A proof that there is here

also scope for industry, and the acquisition of wealth.

About noon we landed at one of the Quapaw or Osark villages, but

found only three houses constructed of bark, and those unoccupied.

In the largest of them, apparently appropriated to amusement

and superstition, we found two gigantic painted wooden masks of

Indians,[213] and a considerable number of conic pelt caps, also

painted. These, as we learnt from an Indian who came up to us from

some houses below, were employed at festivals, and worn by the

dancers, a custom which was also probably practised by the Natchez,

in whose temple Charlevoix observed these marmosets. At the entrance

of the cabin, and suspended from the wall, there was a female figure,

with a rudely carved head of wood painted with vermillion. Being

hollow, and made of leather, we supposed it to be employed as a mask

for one of the musicians, having in one hand a pendant ferule, as

if for the purpose of beating a drum. In the spring and autumn the

Quapaws have a custom of making a contribution dance, in which they

visit also the whites, who live in their vicinity, and the chief alms

which they crave is salt or articles of diet.

On the 15th we again arrived at the post of Osark, or as it is now

not very intelligibly called, Arkansas, a name by far too easily

confounded with that of the river, while the name Osark, still

assumed by the {224} lower villagers of the Quapaws, and in memory

of whom this place was first so called, would have been perfectly

intelligible and original.

In the evening we had a storm of melting snow and hail, which, on the

following morning was succeeded by a north-west wind, accompanied

by a severe frost. The river was now, however, beginning to rise

and assume a muddy tinge from the influx of the lagoons, and lower

rivulets. A more extensive fresh cannot now be expected before the

commencement of milder weather, and the thawing of the river towards

its sources. The oldest settlers affirm, that the Arkansa had not,

during their knowledge of it, ever been so low as before the present

rise. The Ohio and Mississippi also continued too low for the

navigation of the steam-boats.

16th.] This morning we observed the newly appointed governor, general

Miller,[214] going up to the town from his boat, which appeared to be

very handsomely and conveniently fitted up, bearing for a name and

motto “I’ll try,” commemorative of an act of courage for which the

general had been distinguished by his country.

On arriving in the town, we found the court engaged in deciding

upon the fate of a criminal, who had committed a rape upon the

unprotected, and almost infant person of a daughter of his late

wife.[215] The legal punishment, in this and the Missouri territory,

for this crime, castration! is no less singular and barbarous,

however just, than the heinous nature of the crime itself. The

penitentiary law of confinement, so successfully tried in the states

of Pennsylvania and New York, for every crime short of murder, is

an improvement in jurisprudence, which deserves to be adopted in

every part of the United States. It often reclaims the worst of the

human race, learns them habits of industry with which they had been

unacquainted, and corrects those vices which perhaps ignorance {225}

and parental indulgence had fostered. There is certainly a flagrant

want of humanity in the multiplicity of sanguinary and stigmatizing

punishments. To sacrifice all that portion of the community to

infamy, who _happen_ to fall beneath the lash of the law, is

incompatible with the true principles of justice. Maim a man, or turn

him out with the stigma of infamy into the bosom of society, and he

will inevitably become a still greater scourge to the world, in which

he now only lives to seek revenge by the commission of greater but

better concealed crimes.

Interest, curiosity, and speculation, had drawn the attention

of men of education and wealth toward this country, since its

separation into a territory; we now see an additional number of

lawyers, doctors, and mechanics. The retinue and friends of the

governor, together with the officers of justice, added also essential

importance to the territory, as well as to the growing town. The

herald of public information, and the bulwark of civil liberty, the

press, had also been introduced to the Post within the present year,

where a weekly newspaper was now issued.[216] Thus, in the interim of

my arrival in this country it had commenced the most auspicious epoch

of its political existence.

17th and 18th.] I again paid a visit to the prairie, which, as well

as the immediate neighbourhood of the town, is in winter extremely

wet, in consequence of the dead level, and argillaceous nature of

the soil. The interesting plants and flowers which I had seen last

year, at this time, were now so completely locked up in the bosom of

winter, as to be no longer discernible, and nearly disappointed me in

the hopes of collecting their roots, and transplanting them for the

gratification of the curious.

On the 19th, I bid farewell to Arkansas, and proceeded towards the

Mississippi, in the barge of Mons. Notrebé, a merchant of this place,

and the day following, without any material occurrence, arrived at

{226} the confluence of the Arkansa, a distance of about 60 miles.

The bayou, through which I came in the spring, now ran with as much

velocity towards White river, as it had done before into the Arkansa,

its current and course depending entirely upon the relative elevation

of the waters of the two rivers with which it communicates. The large

island, thus produced, possesses extensive tracts of cane land,

sufficiently elevated, as I am told, above inundation, as does also

the opposite bank of the Arkansa. About 12 miles above the mouth, the

site first chosen for the Spanish garrison, and which was evacuated

in consequence of inundation, was pointed out to me. A house now also

stands on the otherwise deserted spot, where once were garrisoned

the troops of France, at the terminating point of the river. We now

found ourselves again upon the bosom of one of the most magnificent

of rivers, which appeared in an unbroken and meandering sheet,

stretching over an extended view of more than 12 miles, and decorated

with a pervading forest, only terminated by the distant horizon.

21 st.] I now embarked for New Orleans in a flat boat, as the steam

boats, for want of water, were not yet in operation.

Not far from this place, a few days ago were encamped, the miserable

remnant of what are called the Pilgrims, a band of fanatics,

originally about 60 in number. They commenced their pilgrimage from

the borders of Canada, and wandered about with their wives and

children through the vast wilderness of the western states, like

vagabonds, without ever fixing upon any residence. They looked up

to accident and charity alone for support; imposed upon themselves

rigid fasts, never washed their skin, or cut or combed their hair,

and like the Dunkards wore their beards. Settling no where, they were

consequently deprived of every comfort which arises from {227} the

efforts of industry. Desertion, famine, and sickness, soon reduced

their numbers, and they were every where treated with harshness

and neglect, as the gypsies of civilized society. Passing through

Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, they at length found their way down the

Mississippi to the outlet of White river and the Arkansa. Thus ever

flying from society by whom they were despised, and by whom they had

been punished as vagabonds, blinded by fanatic zeal, they lingered

out their miserable lives in famine and wretchedness, and have now

nearly all perished or disappeared. Two days after my arrival in

the territory, one of them was found dead in the road which leads

from the Mississippi to Arkansas. If I am correctly informed, there

now exists of them only one man, three women, and two children. Two

other children were taken from them in compassion for their miserable

situation, and the man was but the other day seized by a boat’s crew

descending the river, and forcibly shaved, washed, and dressed.

Down to the year 1811, there existed on the banks of the Mississippi,

a very formidable gang of swindling robbers, usually stationed in two

parties at the mouth of the Arkansa, and at Stack island. They were

about 80 in number, and under the direction of two captains. Amongst

other predatory means of obtaining property, was that of purchasing

produce from boats descending the river, with counterfeit money.

Clary and his gang of the Arkansa, had, some time in the autumn of

1811, purchased in this way some property from a descending flat

boat. The owner, however, before leaving the shore, discovered the

fraud, and demanded restitution, but was denied with insolence; and

they proceeded, at length, so far as to fire upon his boat. These

circumstances being related to the companies of several other flats

who very opportunely came up at this time, and 12 of them being now

collected, they made up a party to {228} apprehend this nest of

pirates. It was nearly night when they landed, and were instantly

fired upon by the robbers. They at last arrived at the house which

they occupied, broke it open, and secured Clary and two others who

had attempted to hide themselves. A court martial was held over

them, which sentenced Clary to receive a number of lashes from the

crew of each boat, and the two other delinquents were condemned to

confinement, and to work the boat in the place of two of the boatmen

who were wounded. These men, on arriving at Natchez, were committed

to prison, but no one appearing against them, they were of course

acquitted. Clary confessed, that he and his crew had, within the week

previous to his apprehension, bought and transmitted up the Arkansa,

with counterfeit money, 1800 dollars worth of produce. It was also

known that he had been a murderer, and had fled to the banks of the

Mississippi from justice. The Stack island banditti have never been

routed, and some of their character were still found skulking around

Point Chicot and the neighbouring island, always well supplied with

counterfeit money.

22d.] This morning we were visited by three Choctaws in quest of

whiskey. Their complexions were much fairer than most of the Indians

we meet with on the Mississippi. Two of them were boys of about 18

or 19, and possessed the handsomest features I have ever seen among

the natives, though rather too effeminate. About 20 miles below

the Arkansa, in the Cypress bend, we saw the first appearance of

_Tillandsia_ or Long moss.

On the 24th, we arrived at Point Chicot,[217] which is included in

the Arkansa territory; the boundary being the Big Lake, about 20

miles below. From one of the settlers, living a few miles below Point

Chicot, I learn, that on the eastern side of the Mississippi, the

high lands are here from 15 to 20 miles distant. {229} The reaches

and bends, in this part of the river, are hardly less than six miles

in length. Toward the centre of the bends considerable bodies of

cane appear, indicative of an elevation above the usual inundations;

it is, however, probable that these tracts are narrow, and flanked

at no great distance by lagoons and cypress marshes subject to the

floods. Many bends indeed presented nothing but cypress and black ash.

From the Chicasaw Bluffs downward, along the banks of the

Mississippi, we perceive no more of the Tulip tree (_Liriodendron

tulipifera_), and but little of the _Platanus_, greatly reduced in

magnitude, compared with what it attains along the Ohio. The largest

tree of the forest here is that which is of the quickest growth, the

Cottonwood poplar (_Populus angulata_).

27th.] The whole country, generally speaking, along the river,

appears uninhabited, though vast tracts of cane land occur in the

bends. I am, however, informed that the cane will withstand a partial

inundation. Since we left Point Chicot the river presents us with

several magnificent views, some of 8, some of 12, and even 15 miles

extent; but the absence of variety, even amidst objects of the

utmost grandeur, soon becomes tiresome by familiarity. As above the

Arkansa, the river still continues meandering. The curves, at all

seasons washed by a rapid current, present crumbling banks of friable

soil more or less mixed with vegetable matter. By the continued

undermining and removal of the earth, the bends are at length worn

through, the former tongue of land then becomes transformed into an

island, and the stagnation and partial filling of the old channel,

now deserted, in time produces a lake. Some idea of the singular

caprice of the Mississippi current may be formed, by taking for a

moment into view the extraordinary extent of its alluvial valley,

which below {230} the Ohio is from 30 to 40 miles in width, through

all which space it has from time to time meandered, and over which

it will never cease to hold occasional possession. On the opposite

side of all the bends there are what are called bars, being platforms

of sand formed by the deposition of the siliceous matter washed out

of the opposite banks by the force of the current. These sand flats,

sometimes near a mile in width, are uniformly flanked by thick groves

of willows and poplars, the only kind of trees which survive the

effects of the inundation to which these bars are perpetually subject.

28th.] This morning we passed the settlement called the Walnut

Hills,[218] a situation somewhat similar to that of Natchez,

consisting, however, of a cluster of hills of 150 or 200 feet

elevation, laid out in a chain of agreeable farms. The banks, along

the river, though not near so elevated as those of the Chicasaw

Bluffs, are still far enough above the reach of inundation, and

present a stratification and materials entirely similar: the same

friable ferruginous clays, and also one or two beds of lignite, the

lower about a foot in thickness, very distinct at this low stage

of the water, and about three feet from its margin. The declivity

for near half a mile back presents innumerable slips parallel with

the river, and in one of the ravines large masses of sandstone were

washed out towards the river.

In the evening we arrived at a small town called Warrington,[219]

containing two inns and as many stores. The land appeared low, but

was secured from inundation by a levee or embankment carried out

for two or three miles below the town. Out of its small quota of

population, 37 individuals last summer died of the yellow-fever,

said to have been introduced by the steam-boat Alabama. The gloomy

mantling of the forest communicated by the _Tillandsia usneoides_

or long moss, which every where prevails, is a never-failing {231}

proof of the presence of an unhealthy humidity in the atmosphere.

The stagnating lagoons and bodies of refluent water also largely

contribute to the unhealthiness of the climate. The vast extent and

depth of this inundation is sufficiently evident by the marks along

the banks of the river, which in places exhibited a rise of 50 feet

above the present level!

29th.] To-day we passed the grand Gulf or eddy, near to which enters

Big Black river.[220] Here again the friable hills of the high land

make their appearance on the borders of the river, on and around

which there are settlements. At the base of the hills loose heaps of

sandstone lie scattered. A thin stratified bed of the same was now

also visible. In high water a violent and dangerous eddy sweeps along

these rocks. On the declivity of this hill we see the first trees

of the _Magnolia grandiflora_. The small palmetto (_Sabal minor_)

commences about Warrington. The distance to high land on the opposite

or western side of the river is said to be little less than 30 miles.

30th.] This morning we came to what is called the Petit Gulf,[221]

where another cluster of hills appears scattered with settlements.

Here the banks present nothing but friable materials, still also

similar to the Chicasaw Bluffs. Beds of very white sand, intimately

mixed with argillaceous earth, appear in prominent cliffs. One of the

houses which we visited is apparently built upon an aboriginal mound,

and there are two others about a mile distant, in which have been

found bones and pot-sherds. Last evening we passed bayou Pierre,[222]

30 miles up which stream, and 15 by land, is situated the thriving

town of Gibsonport.[223]

31st.] To-day we arrived at the well known and opulent town of

Natchez,[224] situated on the summit of a hill which forms part of

the same range and primitive soil as the Petit Gulf. The port was

crowded with flat-boats, produce bearing a reduced {232} price in

consequence of the low rate of, and small demand for, cotton.

The cliffs of Natchez appear more elevated than those of the Petit

Gulf. The lands, of an inferior soil, are also remarkably broken

and deeply undulated. The crumbling precipice, of about 150 feet

elevation, is continually breaking, by the action of springs and

rain-water, into gullies and frightful ravines; the whole visible

matter which composes the hills consisting of clays, ferruginous

sand, and quartzy gravel. A few years ago, the undermining of the

current swept down a considerable part of the bank with several

houses upon it. From the irregularity in the thickness of this

ancient maritime alluvion, arises the great difference of depth at

which water is here obtained. In the same vicinity water has been

found at 35, and then again at 110 feet from the surface.

The day after my arrival I waited upon Saml. Postlethwaite, Esq.,

related by marriage to the late Mr. Dunbar. From Mr. P. and his

amiable lady, I met with every attention and kindness which

friendship, hospitality, and politeness could have possibly dictated.

To my enquiries concerning the horticulture and agriculture of

Natchez, Mr. P. informed me, that the peach and fig, as well as the

pear and the quince, succeed extremely well. The apple trees also,

introduced from Kentucky, afforded nearly equal success. The cherry,

the gooseberry, and the currant, though thriving, scarcely produce

at all. The pomegranate, and the myrtle, grow and fruit almost as in

their native climate. The orange and lemon require some shelter from

the prevailing winter. Grapes attain to tolerable perfection, but

the clusters are often blighted, apparently by the humidity of the

atmosphere. The kernels of dates which have been planted, germinate

and grow with considerable vigour. The olive, {233} which so many

years ago was introduced by the first French settlers, and said, by

Du Pratz, to have succeeded, is now entirely lost.

Cotton, which constitutes the staple commodity and wealth of this

country, has, like all other crops, a considerable tendency to

impoverish the soil; before the settlement became so much condensed,

and land so advanced in value, no method of improving the worn out

lands was ever thought of. Such fields were then left waste, and new

lands still continually cleared. Of late years some attention has

been paid towards renovating the soil, by plowing in the herb of the

cotton, after being thrashed to pieces as it stands in the field. A

much more convenient and expeditious method, however, is that which

Mr. P. has practised, who employs a loaded harrow or a roller armed

with knives, which divides the plant also into much smaller pieces.

The seed, which forms three-fourths of the crop in weight, being very

oleaginous, would likewise return to the soil a considerable share of

nourishment, as appears by the experiment of applying it to maize,

which, thus treated, grows as luxuriant as when manured with gypsum.

The seed of the cotton also, when scalded, and mixed with a little

salt, forms a nourishing and agreeable food for cattle.

Of late years, a prevailing disease has injured the crops of this

plant. From what I learn, it appears to be of the same nature as that

which destroys the grapes, and depends apparently upon the state of

the atmosphere, progressing with more or less rapidity in proportion

to its humidity. The disease in question attacks the extremity of the

peduncle, appearing, at first, like a moist or oily spot, which is

succeeded by a sphacelous state of the integuments, and an abortion

of the capsule.

Although we perceive but little attention paid to science or

literature in this territory, it does not by {234} any means appear

to be destitute of public patronage, as there is a very handsome

endowment in lands appropriated by the state for the building and

support of a college. Some difficulty, now nearly obviated, as I

understood, had been the means of retarding the progress of the

institution.[225] The inhabitants of Natchez, generally speaking, as

in most of the southern states, live in ease and affluence.

To my enquiries concerning the aboriginal Natchez, Mr. P. said, he

was inclined to believe them now extinct, as some years ago he had

heard that only two or three individuals of them then remained.

Their first flight, after the cruel defeat and massacre which took

place in their fort, was across the river, to what is now called

Sicily island, a body of land at this time settled, of about five

miles in width, partly insulated by the overflows of the Tensaw,

and rising into a hill considerably above the reach of inundation.

The unfortunate Natchez were not, however, suffered to remain in

peace, and being again routed by the French and their Indian allies,

were, on the verge of extermination, driven to seek refuge among

the neighbouring Indians.[226] From my friend, Mr. Ware, of the

Mississippi Territory, I learn, that there still exists a small

village of the Natchez on the banks of the Tallipoosee, in Alabama,

governed by a chief, named Coweta, who joined the United States

against the Lower Creeks in the late war.

Mr. P. informs me, that in digging, some time ago, into a

neighbouring mound, to the depth of a few feet, fragments of a

sword blade, and some other relics of European warfare, were found,

together with beads and remains which appeared to have accompanied

an aboriginal interment. From these circumstances, it would appear,

that some courageous opponent of the French had made a desperate

stand upon this sacred ground, in order to annoy his enemies, {235}

and to sell his life as dear as possible upon the tomb of his

ancestors. I am the more inclined to hazard this opinion, not only

from the circumstances related (of the broken fragments of European

weapons, and the decorations of a warrior), but likewise from the

assertion of the aged Illinois chief, made at Kaskaskia, who, on

being interrogated as to the use and origin of the lofty mounds in

that neighbourhood, answered, that his forefathers had employed them

as situations of defence against their enemies the Iroquois.

Mr. Ware informs me, that aboriginal remains abound in the vicinity

of Natchez. Twelve miles above the town there is a square fort of

three or four acres area, furnished with several gateways, and

erected on a commanding situation. About 12 miles below the town

there is likewise a group of mounds.

Considerable numbers of Choctaws appeared at this season straggling

through the streets of Natchez, either begging or carrying on some

paltry traffic, but chiefly for the sake of liquor. I am informed

that civilization is making some advances among those who live in the

nation, and who have consequently abandoned their ancient wandering

habits. Those of them we see here are meanly dressed and of a swarthy

complexion. Their ancient mode of exposing the dead upon scaffolds,

and afterwards separating the flesh from the bones, is falling into

disuse, though still practised, as Mr. Ware informs me, by the six

towns of the Choctaws[227] on the Pascagoula. They still entertain

the same tradition of their origin which was current in the time of

Du Pratz, though he believes them to have emigrated into the country

which they now possess. The legend is, that they sprung out of a

hill, situated contiguous to Pearl river, which, Mr. Ware tells me,

they still visit and venerate. The Creeks entertain a tradition[228]

of coming from the west side of the Mississippi, and that too at

so recent a date, as to have heard of the landing of White people

{236} on the Atlantic coast soon after their arrival. The Seminoles,

Utchis, and Yamasees are a portion of those more ancient people

whom they found in possession of the country, and with whom they

carried on an exterminating warfare. Indeed, many of the people

of that country discovered by Soto, and some of them numerous and

powerful, are now no longer in existence. Those whom he calls the

Cutifa-chiqui, then governed by a female, held a court equally as

dignified as that of Powhatan in Virginia.

The Choctaws possess in an eminent degree that thirst for revenge,

which forms so prominent a trait in the disposition of the man

of America. By far too indiscriminate in its object, murder and

accidental death are alike fatal to the perpetrator, and scarcely any

lapse of time, or concession short of that of life, is taken. It is

but a few years ago, that two Choctaws in the town of Natchez, firing

at each other, in the same instant, fell both dead on the spot: one

of them, in defence of a life which he had forfeited; the other, in

quest of revenge for the death of a relative.

By a recent treaty,[229] effected through the influence of general

Jackson, the Choctaws are now about to relinquish the east side

of the Mississippi, and to exchange their lands for others in the

territory of Arkansa, situated betwixt Arkansa and Red rivers, and

extending from the Quapaw reservation to the Pottoe. In consequence

of this singular but impolitic measure of crowding the aborigines

together, so as to render them inevitably hostile to each other, and

to the frontier which they border, several counties of the Arkansa

territory will have to be evacuated by their white inhabitants, who

will thus be ruined in their circumstances, at the very period when

the general survey of the lands had inspired them with the confident

expectation of obtaining a permanent and legal settlement.

{237} _February_ 4th.] To-day we left Natchez, and in the distance of

15 miles passed Ellis’s Cliffs, another portion of re-entering high

land, broken into a very picturesque landscape, decorated with pines

and magnolias. These cliffs, no way essentially different from those

above, present here, immediately above the carbonaceous bed, a very

thick stratum of white sandy clay, so far indurated as to withstand

the washing which has carried away the superincumbent soil.

In the course of the night we arrived at Fort Adams,[230] another

spur of the high land; a term which can only be used in reference

to the alluvion, as the apparent undulation is here nothing more

than an adventitious subsidence or washing of the soil, the ravines

and gullies being occasioned by its friable nature. Rock, however,

appears at the base of the lofty hill, on which stands a block house

of the late garrison.[231] A tavern, a store, and two or three other

houses are here established for the convenience of the interior.

7th.] To-day we arrived at the settlement of bayou Sarah, a mile

up which stream is situated the town of St. Francisville,[232] and

passed a line of opulent plantations on the Louisiana bank of the

river called Point Coupée.[233] From hence we begin to perceive the

orange, though not very thriving. Sugar is also planted thus far,

and appears to succeed. Mons. Poydras,[234] a bachelor 80 years of

age, owns and employs in this settlement betwixt 4 and 500 negroes,

which, together with property in New Orleans, amounts to an estate

of several millions of dollars. His plantations at Point Coupée are

principally employed in the lucrative business of planting and

making sugar.

8th.] We again obtained sight of the high land in {238} the cliffs

near Thompson’s creek,[235] and, as usual, on the eastern side of the

river. About three feet above the present level, we also observed

the occurrence of the bovey-coal or lignite, overlaid by massive

beds of ferruginous clays and gravel. This high land, without again

approaching to the immediate margin of the river, continues at no

great distance from hence to Baton-Rouge.

9th.] Early this morning we passed the thriving town of

Baton-Rouge,[236] where a garrison has been established ever since

its cession. Not far from hence, the high lands or primitive soil

terminates, beyond which, to the sea, the whole country is alluvial

and marshy. Continued lines of settlements still present themselves

on either bank, and cotton and sugar are the great articles of their

agricultural opulence.

About 3 o’clock in the morning, we experienced a heavy squall

from the north-east, accompanied by torrents of rain, and were in

considerable danger of losing the flat, with all our property and

baggage. Ever since leaving Natchez, we have had weather like summer,

and vegetation already advances.

10th and 11th.] We have in view an almost uninterrupted line of

settlements on either hand which continue to New Orleans. These

planters are nearly all of French or Spanish extraction, and, as yet,

there are among them but few Americans. Their houses are generally

built of wood, with piazzas for shade in the summer. Notwithstanding

their comparative opulence, they differ little either in habits,

manners, or dress from the Canadians. Dancing and gambling appear

to be their favourite amusements. The men, as usual, are commonly

dressed in blanket coats, and the women wear handkerchiefs around

their heads in place of bonnets. The inhabitants do not appear to

be well supplied with merchandize, and the river is crowded with

the boats of French and Spanish {239} pedlars, not much larger than

perogues, but fitted up with a cabin, covered deck, and sails.

Another vast monopolizer of human liberty, along the coast (as the

borders of the Mississippi are termed by the French), is general Wade

Hampton,[237] who possesses upwards of 400 slaves, and has obtained

at one crop 500 hogsheads of sugar, and 1000 bales of cotton, then

collectively worth upwards of 150,000 dollars: in the United States

an immense fortune, without any additional property, and equal to

that of almost any English nobleman. But, with the means of being

so extensively useful, I do not learn that either this gentleman

or Mons. Poydras,[238] expend any adequate part of their immense

property to public advantage. And, more than that, these unfortunate

slaves, the engines of their wealth, are scarcely fed or clothed

in any way bordering on humanity. Their common allowance of food,

is said to be about one quart of corn per day! Thus miserably fed,

they are consequently driven to theft by the first law of nature,

and subject the country to perpetual depredation. How little wealth

has contributed towards human improvement, appears sufficiently

obvious throughout this adventitiously opulent section of the Union.

Time appears here only made to be lavished in amusement. Is the

uncertainty of human life so great in this climate, as to leave no

leisure for any thing beyond dissipation? The only serious pursuit,

appears to be the amassing and spending of that wealth which is wrung

from the luckless toil of so many unfortunate Africans, doomed to

an endless task, which is even entailed upon their posterity. “O

slavery, though thousands in all ages have drank of thee, still thou

art a bitter draught!”

An evil, however, which has been so long established, {240} cannot be

eradicated at a single blow. The abolition of domestic slavery must

be a work of time. Let an age be chosen at which it shall cease to

operate; say a limit of 28 or 30 years. Let the negroes be sent into

the civilized world with the rudiments of education, and the means of

obtaining a livelihood. After acquiring their freedom, it is highly

probable, that they would still continue to seek the employment

of their former masters, and the neighbourhood in which they were

born. The project of transporting the free negroes to the country in

which they originated appears extremely rational, and ought to be

promoted by every means in the power of the public. We are sensible

that the negroes who remain in the society of the whites, must ever

be subjected to the degradation of an inferior cast. They were not

formed to mingle indiscriminately amongst us; but though they may be

inferior to us in intellect and civilization, they were undoubtedly

born to the possession of rational liberty.

* * * * *

In the contiguous country of Opelousa,[239] so called from

the Indians who formerly lived in it, there are extensive

and fertile prairies, where great herds of cattle are raised

for the market of New Orleans. A year ago, about 12,000

head were sold on the banks of the Mississippi, at the rate

of from 30 to 35 dollars each.

From hence to New Orleans, now 86 miles distant, the whole coast is

defended from inundation by an embankment or trench of earth, thrown

up with about the same labour as that which is bestowed upon a common

ditched fence. In this simple way, millions of acres of the richest

land, inexhaustible by crops, is redeemed from waste, and we have

now the pleasure of viewing an almost uninterrupted line of opulent

settlements continued from Baton-Rouge, to more than 50 miles below

New Orleans.

{241} Among the more common reptiles of this country, already

beginning to appear abroad, I know of none more curious, than a kind

of Cameleon lizard, of frequent occurrence, and in some measure

related to that celebrated species, excepting that the colours which

it assumes are only those with which it is familiar in nature; such

as ash-colour in the vicinity of a pale object, dark brown upon the

ground, or on the trunks of trees, and a bright green amidst verdant

herbage.

17th.] After another detention of two days by the prevalence of a

strong south-west wind, we continued our voyage, and early this

morning passed the great plantation of general Hampton, situated

about 70 miles from New Orleans, at Ouma point, the name of a nation

or tribe of Indians now nearly extinct, and who, with the remains of

the Chetimashas, once living nearly opposite to bayou la Fourche,

are at this time existing in a partly civilized state on the bayou

Plaquemine.[240] The learned Peter S. Duponceau,[241] Esq. informs

me, that the language of the Chetimashas, a people said, by Du Pratz,

to be a branch of the Natchez, appears to be radically distinct from

that of the other aborigines of the southern states. From hence

the banks of the river are lower, and the labour of keeping up the

levees greater, though the rise of the river is slower, its width and

uniformity of channel more considerable, and now almost destitute

of islands or bars. The river is very probably influenced in this

respect by the embankments, which are continued almost without

interruption from Fort Adams nearly to Fort Placquemine.[242] We

had now in view a perpetual succession of the habitations of the

richest planters, surrounded with groups of negro cabins. They are

almost exclusively engaged in the planting of sugar, and possess

establishments no way inferior to those of the West India Islands,

some of them being valued at as much as 100,000 dollars, every {242}

thing included. As the settlements are chiefly in single lines along

the bank of the river, the land is commonly sold by the measurement

in front, running back about 40 arpents,[243] and have been disposed

of at as much as 3000 dollars per arpent in front, or 75 dollars per

arpent actual measurement.

Notwithstanding the fearful tyranny exercised over the slaves

on these large plantations, the annals of this settlement are

not without the remembrance of serious symptoms of revolt. About

nine years ago, a party of negroes, equipped with arms, liberated

themselves, after destroying their master with two or three other

individuals who attempted to oppose them, and were not subdued until

totally destroyed by the neighbouring militia. There were of them

300, who were routed near to Red Church, about twenty-four miles

above New Orleans; so that, betwixt the fears of inundation, the

efforts of the enslaved Africans to emancipate themselves, and the

fatality of the climate, the opulent planters of Louisiana possess no

enviable advantage over the happy peasant, who dwells in the security

which honest industry and salutary frugality afford him.[244]

The excessive attachment to gambling which characterises the

inhabitants of Louisiana, and the love of speculation, exhibited in

the great and transitory influx of foreigners and citizens from the

northern states, is now ostensibly checked by a species of taxation

called license. Thus, every store-keeper pays an annual assessment of

110 dollars to the commonwealth. Every pedlar 12 dollars. Every Pharo

bank and Roulette table 500 dollars a year, and every Billiard table

50 dollars. In excuse for thus tolerating the Pharo bank and the

Roulette, the legislature affirm their inability to check the evil by

punishment.

{243} 18th.] This morning we arrived at New Orleans,[245] now said

to contain about 45,000 inhabitants, a great proportion of whom are

of French extraction and retain their mother tongue. The situation

of the town, which was begun in 1718, is rendered unhealthy by the

swamp which circumscribes its western suburb, and which continues at

all seasons totally impassable. A short canal crosses it, forming

a communication with the bayou St. John, and lake Ponchartrain,

by which means a commercial communication is opened to Mobile,

Pensacola, and the Alabama territory.

In the neighbourhood of the city, and along the coast, the beautiful

groves of orange trees, orchards of the fig, and other productions of

the mildest climates, sensibly indicate our approach to the tropical

regions, where the dreary reign of winter is for ever unknown. But

little pains as yet have been taken to introduce into this country,

though so thickly settled, the ornamental and useful plants which it

is calculated to sustain. We yet neither see the olive, the date, nor

the vineyard, notwithstanding the adaptation of the climate to their

culture. That the date itself would succeed, an accidental example in

the city renders probable. This palm, which grows in Orleans street,

has attained the height of more than 30 feet, with a trunk of near

18 inches in diameter, and has flowered annually for the space of

several years. The period of inflorescence appears to be about the

commencement of April, but being only a staminiferous plant, it has

not consequently produced any fruit.

That fatal epidemic, the yellow fever, was last summer unusually

prevalent, and carried off probably 5 or 6000 individuals, a great

part of whom were, as usual, emigrants from the northern states, and

different parts of Europe. By what I can learn, the hospital in this

place is very ill suited to the recovery of those patients who are

hurried to it during the rage {244} of this disease. They are crowded

almost to contact; so that the contagion acquires force and fatality

in the very institution formed for its recovery. Many, however, flock

to this last refuge for the indigent and miserable, in a state which

precludes all hopes of recovery.

The expense of medical assistance, the difficulty of obtaining

attendance, and the selfish and fearful supineness which seizes upon

all classes at this awful season, serves to increase the fatal gloom

which surrounds the unhappy stranger, thus often inhumanly abandoned

by all society, and left, before the approach of the fatal moment,

like a carcase to the vultures!

The scene of crowded graves which appals the eye in the general

burying-ground, marked by boards, or covered tombs, inscribed with

mournful remembrances; the hosts which are swept off, also, interred

in forgotten crowds, and consigned to relentless oblivion, appeared

thickly to chequer the whole surface of the earth, and warn the

stranger, in no ambiguous phrase, of the fatal climate in which he

sojourns. These crowds of sepulchres are not the slow accumulation

of an age, as a section of these remains is frequently dug up and

consumed, to give place to the renewed harvest of death.[246]

The prevailing religion is that of the Catholics; though there is

also a handsome church erected by the Presbyterians.[247]

Science and rational amusement is as yet but little cultivated in

New Orleans. There are only three or four booksellers to supply

this large city and populous neighbourhood. The French inhabitants,

intermingled with the African castes in every shade of colour,

scarcely exceed them, generally speaking, in mental acquirements.

Every thing like intellectual improvement appears to be vitiated in

its source, nothing exists to inspire emulation, and learning, as

in the West {245} Indies, has no existence beyond the mechanism of

reading and writing. Something like a museum was begun in the city

a few years ago, but by a protean evolution it has been transformed

into a coffee-house for gambling. In another part of the city,

an assemblage of specimens of the fine arts, busts, medallions,

mosaics, and paintings, is also associated with the dice and bottle.

The market, at this season, by no means dear, or bearing any thing

like a reasonable proportion with the extravagant charges of the

public entertainers, appeared to be tolerably well supplied, though

singularly managed, and that entirely by negro slaves, who spread

out the different articles in petty quantities, like the arrangement

of an apple stall, charging, however, at the rate of about 100 per

cent for the trouble. Superfine flour now sold at the low rate of

six dollars per barrel; bacon and cheese at 10 cents the pound, salt

butter at 25 cents; sugar at seven dollars per cwt.; coffee 25 to 30

dollars per cwt.; rice seven dollars per cwt. Fresh beef, however,

and that by no means good, sold at 25 cents per pound. As in the

West Indies, the principal market appears to be on Sunday in the

forenoon. In the afternoon the negroes assemble in the suburbs of the

city, and amuse themselves by dancing. When thus assembled by common

friendship, if they have any reflection, they must be convinced of

the efficient force which they possess to emancipate themselves; they

are, however, strictly watched by the police, and the sole object of

their meeting appears to be amusement.

Some idea of the extensive commerce carried on in the western states

and territories with New Orleans, may be formed from the number

of steam-boats alone, now 75 in number, besides other craft and

shipping, which navigate the Mississippi and its numerous tributary

streams. But in consequence of the general {246} and unfavourable

fluctuation in the commerce of the United States, the number of these

vessels is become greater than their actual employment will warrant.

A majority also of the steam-boats have this year lain unemployed for

more than six months, in consequence of the extraordinary lowness

of water; but the valuable staple produce of Louisiana, must always

insure to its inhabitants a preponderating balance of wealth.

FOOTNOTES:

[212] Or Quadrant, a name applied to the neighbouring creek by the

French hunters, probably in commemoration of some observation made

there by that instrument, to ascertain the latitude.--NUTTALL.

[213] The Tuscaroras also wear masks at set times, for the purpose,

as they pretend, of driving away evil spirits, and accompany these

ceremonies by the sacrifice of two white dogs.--NUTTALL.

[214] James Miller was born at Peterboro, New Hampshire, in 1776.

After practicing law for several years, he entered the army as

major in 1808, became lieutenant-colonel in 1810, and colonel in

1812--the latter, in recognition of gallantry at Brownstown. The

incident alluded to in the text occurred at Lundy’s Lane, July 25,

1814. General Scott having asked Miller if he could take the British

battery, he replied “I’ll try, sir,” and led a successful charge. For

this deed he was given a gold medal and made a brigadier-general.

Upon the erection of Arkansas Territory in March, 1819, Miller was

appointed governor, but was never active in the affairs of the

Territory. He resigned in 1825, and became collector at the port of

Salem, dying in 1851.--ED.

[215] This is said to be the first case of record ever tried in an

Arkansas court. The name of the criminal was Thomas Dickinson, and

that of his victim Sally Hall. Under the sentence of the court,

Dickinson was to have received his punishment on February 15, but

Governor Miller pardoned him.--ED.

[216] The paper was called the _Arkansas Gazette_, and was the first

to be published in the Territory. The Primacy of the Post in the

matter of newspapers was short-lived, for the Gazette was taken to

Little Rock in 1820, and no other succeeded it until 1862.--ED.

[217] Point Chicot is opposite Greenville, Mississippi, forty-five

miles, by the river, above the Arkansas boundary.--ED.

[218] For a sketch of Walnut Hills (Vicksburg), see Cuming’s _Tour_,

our volume iv, note 197.--ED.

[219] Warrenton is the correct spelling. It was the seat of Warren

County until 1836, being then supplanted by Vicksburg. Its population

is still less than a hundred.--ED.

[220] Big Black River forms the boundary between Warren and Claiborne

counties, Mississippi. Grand Gulf is just below its mouth, where

now stands a village of the same name. General Phineas Lyman’s Tory

colony of 1775 was located on the Big Black. See our volume iv, note

198.--ED.

[221] Petit Gulf is fifteen miles below Grand Gulf, adjacent to

the village of Rodney, on the line between Claiborne and Jefferson

counties.--ED.

[222] Bayou Pierre is almost exactly midway between Grand Gulf and

Petit Gulf. There were one or two plantations upon its banks as early

as 1729, the year of the Natchez uprising against the French.--ED.

[223] Now called Port Gibson. It is the seat of Claiborne County,

and was founded (1803) on land granted by the Spanish authorities

to Samuel Gibson, who came to Mississippi (1772) from South

Carolina.--ED.

[224] For a sketch of Natchez, see Cuming’s _Tour_, volume iv of our

series, note 206.--ED.

[225] By act of February 20, 1819, Congress donated thirty-six

sections of public land to the legislature of Mississippi, in trust,

to endow a “seminary of learning.” The lands were sold at auction,

notes were taken in payment, half of them were never collected, and

the proceeds of those which were paid were lost by the failure of the

Planters’ Bank, in 1840.--ED.

[226] Early in 1731, Périer, governor of Louisiana, attacked a fort

which the Natchez had built near the confluence of Ouachita and Black

rivers. A number of warriors eluded the French and escaped; but the

remaining Indians, including the chief men of the tribe and several

hundred women and children, were captured and sold as slaves in San

Domingo. The remnant of the tribe retreated to the Chickasaw, who

continued the war. See _ante_, note 147.--ED.

[227] For a sketch of the Choctaw, see Cuming’s _Tour_, volume iv of

our series, note 187.--ED.

[228] For the migration legend of the Creek, see Brinton, “National

Legend of the Chahta-Muskotee Tribes,” in _Historical Magazine_,

February, 1870; also Gatschet, “A Migration Legend of the Creek

Indians,” in Brinton’s _Library of Aboriginal American Literature_

(Philadelphia, 1884), iv. See also _Transactions_ of the Academy of

Science at St. Louis, 1886–91, v. De Soto found the Creek in their

historic abode in Georgia and Alabama.--ED.

[229] This treaty was completed October 18, 1820. In exchange for the

Choctaw lands in Mississippi it reserved for them the territory lying

between Arkansas and Canadian rivers on the north, and Red River on

the south, with a western boundary running due south from the source

of the Canadian to the Red, and an eastern running from Point Remove

on the Arkansas to a point three miles below the mouth of Little

River. The portion of this tract lying within the limits of Arkansas

was ceded to the United States January 20, 1825.--ED.

[230] For a brief sketch of Fort Adams, see Cuming’s _Tour_, our

volume iv, note 211--ED.

[231] Some of this rock is an impure argillaceous limestone; but

the principal part consists of an indurated and parti-coloured

clay, subject to disintegration, in which state it resembles the

pink-coloured clay heretofore noticed.--NUTTALL.

[232] St. Francisville dates from the period of Spanish dominion

in Louisiana. When Feliciana Parish was divided in 1824, St.

Francisville was made seat of justice of West Feliciana. It has since

been practically absorbed by Bayou Sara, which was originally merely

the river landing of the older town.--ED.

[233] This point derived its name from the fact that Iberville, on

his ascent of the river in 1699, cut down a number of trees which

obstructed one of the channels, thus changing the course of the river

so as eventually to cut off the point. The name means cut-off point.

Pointe Coupée gives its name to one of the most fertile parishes

in Louisiana. The parish also has an interesting history. The mouth

of Red River, in the northern end of the parish, is the spot where De

Soto is thought to have died. Frenchmen from Canada, Illinois, and

Vincennes settled at Pointe Coupée prior to 1712--before the founding

of New Orleans. Slaves were introduced in 1719, and attempts made at

cotton culture as early as 1785. Efforts to introduce sugar cane began

in 1776, but for a number of years met with small success.--ED.

[234] Julien Poydras was Louisiana Territory’s delegate in Congress

(1809–10), president of the state constitutional convention (1812),

first president of the senate, and one of the first presidential

electors. One of the principal streets of New Orleans bears his name.

He was also known in the state as a philanthropist. See _post_, note

238.--ED.

[235] Thompson’s Creek forms the boundary between East and West

Feliciana parishes. It joins the Mississippi at Port Hudson, ten

miles below Bayou Sara.--ED.

[236] For a sketch of Baton Rouge, see Cuming’s _Tour_, our volume

iv, note 216.--ED.

[237] This famous South Carolinian was born in 1754. He served under

Marion and Sumter during the Revolution; was in Congress 1795–97,

1803–05; entered the army as colonel in 1808; was promoted to a

brigadier-generalship in 1809 and stationed at New Orleans, where

he was superseded by General James Wilkinson (1812); served on the

northern frontier in 1813, and resigned his commission in 1814. When

he died, in 1835, he was reckoned the wealthiest planter in the

South. Several of his descendants bore the same christian name.--ED.

[238] Mons. P. has, I understand, endowed a place in New Orleans for

the education of female orphans.--NUTTALL.

_Comment by Ed._ The institution was on Julia Street, west of

Carondelet, and was built in 1814. In addition to Poydras’s gift,

it received $4,000 from the state. This was not Poydras’s only

philanthropic deed. A college “for indigent females” was established at

Pointe Coupée in 1829, on an endowment of $20,000, bequeathed by him.

[239] West of the river, around the present parish of St. Landry.--ED.

[240] Point Houmas is just below Donaldsonville. The Houmas numbered

only about sixty souls at the beginning of the nineteenth century.

On the Chetimachas, see _ante_, note 147. Bayou La Fourche enters

the Mississippi at Donaldsonville, and must not be confounded with

another stream of the same name in La Fourche Parish. The mouth

of Bayou Plaquemine, is at the town of Plaquemine, in Iberville

Parish.--ED.

[241] Peter Stephen Duponceau was a Frenchman who served on Baron

Steuben’s staff during the Revolutionary War, and afterwards (1781),

became a citizen of the United States. He was well-known as an

author of legal essays and a student of Indian philology. He died in

Philadelphia in 1844.--ED.

[242] Thirty miles above the mouth of the river.--ED.

[243] The _arpent_ of Paris is less than the English and United

States statute acre, as 512 is to 605. The arpent is used in

Louisiana, and other places in America inhabited by the French, as a

measure of length; each arpent is equal to 29.1 Gunter’s chain, very

nearly; consequently, 40 arpents amounts to 1164 Gunter, or 2660.8

yards.--_Note by Mr. Darby._--NUTTALL.

[244] The outbreak occurred in January, 1811, in the parish of St.

John the Baptist. See account in Martin, _History of Louisiana_ (New

Orleans, 1827), ii, p. 300; also Gayarré, _History of Louisiana_ (New

Orleans, 1903), iv, p. 266. An earlier uprising took place in 1795

on the Poydras plantation (see _ante_, note 234), during the owner’s

absence in the United States. See Gayarré, iii, p. 354.--ED.

[245] The headquarters of the French colony in Louisiana were first

established (1699) at Biloxi, now within the limits of the state of

Mississippi. In 1701 they were removed to Mobile, there remaining

until the site of New Orleans was chosen by Bienville, acting

governor under Law’s Mississippi Company.--ED.

[246] The recurrent yellow fever epidemics at New Orleans were due

in no small degree to the former unsanitary condition of the city.

Throughout the nineteenth century, her sewage was poured into open

gutters, and not until 1899 were active steps taken to construct

a sewerage system conforming to the principles of modern sanitary

science. The low level of the city made the drainage problem a

difficult one from the engineering point of view.--ED.

[247] The first Protestant congregation in New Orleans was the

Christ Protestant Episcopal Church. It was organized in the

autumn of 1805, but did not erect a building until 1816. No other

Protestant organization existed in the city until the efforts of

Rev. Elias Cornelius, of Connecticut, led to the formation (1818) of

a Presbyterian congregation under the pastorate of Rev. Sylvester

Larned, a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary. The building

referred to in the text was erected by his congregation and its

friends in 1819, on St. Charles Street, between Gravier and Union

streets. It was destroyed by fire in 1851.--ED.

{247} APPENDIX

SECTION I

AN ACCOUNT OF THE ANCIENT ABORIGINAL POPULATION OF THE BANKS OF THE

MISSISSIPPI, AND THE CONTIGUOUS COUNTRY.

This wilderness, which we now contemplate as a dreary desert,

was once thickly peopled by the natives, who, by some sudden

revolution, of which we appear to be ignorant, have sunk into the

deepest oblivion. In the abridged account of the great enterprise

of Ferdinand de Soto by Purchas, begun in the year 1539, we read

of numerous nations and tribes, then inhabiting the banks of the

Mississippi, of whom, except the Chicaças, the Cherokees (called more

properly Chelaques), and the small remnant of the Kaskaskias, and

Tonicas, not an individual remains to reveal the destinies of his

compatriots. Their extinction will ever remain in the utmost mystery.

The agency of this destruction is, however, fairly to be attributed

to the Europeans, and the present hostile Indians who possess the

country. It is from these exterminating and savage conquerors,

that we in vain inquire of the unhappy destiny of this great and

extinguished population, and who, like so many troops of assassins,

have concealed their outrages by an unlimited annihilation of their

victims.

{248} As this part of the American history is very obscure and

neglected, I shall probably be excused for introducing it at greater

length than would otherwise have been necessary.

De Soto, after encountering considerable difficulty and hardship, in

his progress through the interior of what then was called Florida,

arrived, at length, amongst the Chicaças, who occupied pretty near

the same country in which we find them at present. The principal

object of the commander, and those who had embarked with him from

the island of Cuba, of which he was governor, appears, as usual, to

have been a search for the precious metals; and the natives, ever

willing to rid themselves of those whom they feared and hated, kept

perpetually instigating the adventurers to distant pursuits. The

plain, on which we find them encamped, previous to their proceeding

across the Mississippi (which did not at that time bear this name),

and to which they had been conducted by their native guides, could

have been no other than one of the Chicasaw Bluffs, or ancient

crossing-places, and apparently the lowest. While busied here in

providing boats for crossing, they were visited by a party of the

natives who descended the river,[248] and declared to the governor

(Soto), that they were the subjects of a great lord (or chief), whose

name was _Aquixo_, who governed many towns, and a numerous people on

the west side of the Great River (or Mississippi), and they came to

inform him, that the chief with all his men would come to await his

commands. The following day, the cazique[249] arrived with 200 canoes

full of Indians, {249} armed with their bows and arrows, painted and

decorated with feathers of various colours, and defended with shields

made from the skins of the bison; the warriors were numerously

arranged from the head to the stern of the boats. The canoe of the

cazique was furnished with a tilt over the stern, beneath which he

sat, and gave his commands. The canoes of the lesser chieftains

were also equipped in the same manner. Approaching the bank, the

cazique addressed the governor, saying, he came to visit, to honour,

and obey him, inasmuch as he was the greatest lord upon earth, and

that he now waited his commands. The governor returned him thanks,

and desired him to come on shore to hold some further communication.

Without, however, attending to this request, the chief sent a

present to the governor of three canoes loaded with fish, and loaves

made of the pulp of persimmons.[250] Receiving this present, the

governor again invited him to the shore, but without success. The

cazique, baffled in his purpose of deceiving Soto, whom he found in

readiness, began now to row off, on which, the governor instantly

ordered the cross-bow-men to fire a volley at the natives, in which

five or six of them fell. Still they retired in good order, not a man

deserting his oar, though his fellow warrior dropped at his side.

They afterwards attempted several times to land, but as often fled

to their canoes on the approach of the Spaniards. The canoes were

very large and well made, being also decorated with tilts, plumes,

paveses, and flags.

The river (Mississippi) de Soto found to be almost a mile broad. A

man who stood still could scarcely be discerned from the opposite

shore. The current was strong and deep, with the water always muddy,

and continually charged with floating trees.

{250} Having passed the Rio Grande (as he calls it), and travelled

up the bank about three miles, he came to a great town of _Aquixo_,

from whence the inhabitants had fled. They discovered a party of

30 Indians coming over the adjoining plain to reconnoitre their

movements, but on perceiving the Spaniards they instantly fled. They

were, however, pursued by the cavalry, who killed 10 of them, and

took 15 prisoners. As the town to which Soto proceeded was situated

near to the bank of the river, he left a detachment to bring up the

boats, and proceeded with the rest of his armament by land, but

finding it difficult to keep along the bank, which was obstructed

by the entrance of creeks, left the boats exposed to the annoyance

of the natives, but understanding which, he instantly dispatched

a party of cross-bow-men to their defence. Here he broke up the

boats, but saved the iron for future contingencies. The following

day, he proceeded up the river in quest of the province called

Pacaha, which he was informed lay contiguous to Chisca, where the

Indians had told him of the existence of gold. On his way he passed

through great towns of Aquixo, from all of which the inhabitants

had fled at his approach. Here he was informed, by some of the

natives whom they had taken, that three days journey further up the

river there dwelt a great cazique named Casqui.[251] He crossed a

small river upon a bridge, {251} and the rest of the day, until

sun-set, they were continually wading in water either waist or

knee deep. At length, they gained the dry land, and congratulated

themselves, as they were under some apprehension of passing the night

in that dismal situation. At noon they arrived at the first town

of Casqui, and found the Indians unprepared for resistance. Here

the Spaniards took many of both sexes prisoners, and considerable

stores of garments[252] and skins, as well in the first town, as in

a second, which was surprised by the cavalry, and lay about half a

league distant. They found this country to be higher, drier, and

more champaign than any part which they had yet seen contiguous to

the river; from which we are fully satisfied, that the country thus

described, can be no other than the Little Prairie, and that chain of

high lands which continues to New Madrid, in the vicinity of which,

there are also many {252} aboriginal remains. The neighbouring fields

abounded with walnut trees, bearing round nuts with soft shells, and

with leaves which they considered to be smaller than usual;[253]

of these nuts the Indians had collected a store for use. Here they

also found mulberries, and red[254] and grey plumbs.[254A] The trees

appeared as fruitful as if they had been protected in orchards, and

the woods generally were very thin. De Soto continued travelling two

days through the country of Casqui before he arrived at the town

inhabited by the cazique; most part of the way was over champaign

country, _filled with great towns, always within view of each

other_. Soto sent an Indian to announce his arrival to the cazique,

desiring his friendship and fraternity. To which he answered, by

graciously bidding him welcome, and making an offer of his services

to accomplish all that he requested. The chief also met him with a

present of skins, garments, and fish. After which compliments de Soto

found all the inhabitants of the towns peaceable and friendly, and

their chiefs and elders coming out to congratulate him with presents.

The cazique, attended by a numerous train of his people, respectfully

awaited the approach of the governor, about half a league from the

town.

Friendly compliments were again exchanged, and the cazique made an

offer of his houses for de Soto to lodge in; he, however, excused

himself from accepting this civility on prudential motives, and

encamped in the adjoining fields.

The cazique went to the town, and afterwards returned again

accompanied by many Indians singing. As soon as {253} they arrived in

the presence of the governor, they all prostrated themselves upon the

ground. After which, the cazique besought him, as he was the son of

the Sun, and a great lord, to restore two blind men to their sight,

which he had brought along with him. The governor, however, excused

himself, and referred him to the Supreme Being and author of health,

and, on the occasion, had a cross set up for them to worship, in

remembrance of Jesus Christ, who died thereon.

The governor now inquired of the chief the distance to Pacaha, and

was told, that it was one day’s journey; that at the termination of

the country of Casqui, there was a lake like a brook, which ran into

the Mississippi (or Rio Grande), and that he would send men before

him to construct a bridge for his convenience in passing it. The same

day the governor took his departure, he lodged at a town belonging to

Casqui; the following, he passed some other towns, and came to the

lake, which was half a cross-bow shot over, deep, and running with a

considerable current. The bridge, constructed of logs, was completed

on his arrival. The cazique of Casqui attended upon the governor,

accompanied by his people.

The cazique of Pacaha, it appears, was at enmity with the Casqui, and

fled at the approach of Soto and his supposed allies, notwithstanding

his endeavours to pacify them. Some of them, whom he took prisoners

in an adjoining town, would have fallen victims to their natural

enemies but for his interposition. In the town which they sacked,

they found great store of woven garments, besides deer skins, lion

skins (panther skins, in all probability), as well as bear and cat

skins. They also found targets of bison hides.

{254} De Soto, at length, entered into Pacaha, and took up his

lodging in the town where the chief was accustomed to reside; which

is described as large, walled, and defended with towers, through

all which were cut loopholes for arms. The town was well supplied

with maize, besides a promising harvest then in the field. Within

from a mile and a half to three miles, were also other large towns,

surrounded with enclosures of pickets. That now occupied by de

Soto, was situated contiguous to a large lake, which filled a ditch

thrown up nearly round the town. By a weir thrown over the outlet of

the lake, abundance of fish were continually ready for the use and

amusement of the chief, and with the nets which the Spaniards found

in the town, they supplied themselves to their utmost satisfaction.

Amongst them we readily recognize the _Silurus_ or Cat-fish, which

the natives called Bagres; those of the lakes were about the bigness

of pikes, but in the river (Mississippi), they occasionally found

some which weighed upwards of 100lbs. There was another which

they called the Pelefish, destitute of scales, and with the upper

jaw extended in front a foot in length, in the form of a peel or

spatula.[255]

From this place, De Soto despatched a troop of 30 horse and 50

foot to the province of Caluça, to ascertain the practicability of

proceeding to Chisca, where the natives, it may be remembered, had

informed him of the existence of a mine of gold and of copper. The

country over which {255} they proceeded, for seven days, was an

uninhabited desert (probably in consequence of inundation), and they

returned almost exhausted with famine and fatigue, existing almost

entirely upon green plums, and stalks of maize, which they found in

a poor town of six or seven houses.[256] From thence, towards the

north, they learnt that the country was very cold and thinly settled,

and so overrun with herds of bison, that it was scarcely possible to

defend their maize from depredation; they also afforded the principal

article of provision on which the natives subsisted.

Perceiving no possibility of supplying his troops in marching over

this desert country, de Soto, from the information of the Indians,

determined to change his course and proceed towards the south, where

he had information of the existence of a great province called

Quigaute, affording abundance of provision. To this country the

governor now directed his march, and, at length, arrived in the town

usually occupied by the chief; by the way he received presents, of

numerous skins and woven garments, but the cazique, justly afraid to

meet the invaders of his country, absented himself from them. This

town is recorded by La Vega, to have been the largest which they had

yet seen in Florida.

According to their custom, the Spaniards took all the men and women

whom they could conveniently seize as their prisoners. This arbitrary

step produced the desired effect, and they now all came forward to

prove their obedience to the mandates of the general. The cazique

and his two wives were detained in the house of the governor, who

made inquiry of them concerning the neighbouring {256} country and

its inhabitants. They said, that towards the south, down the river,

there were large towns, and chiefs who governed extensive countries

and numerous people; and that, toward the north-west, there was a

province, contiguous to certain mountains, called Coligoa. To this

place the governor and all his officers resolved to go, supposing

that, as a mountainous country, it might, in all probability, afford

mines of the precious metals. The country, which they had yet seen

on the western borders of the Mississippi, was low and alluvial, and

promised nothing but agricultural wealth, which had never entered

into the sinister views of these El Dorado adventurers. The distance

from Pacaha to Quigaute they considered to be about 200 miles.

They now proceeded for seven days through desolate forests, abounding

in shoal lagoons, affording an abundance of fish. The Indians of

Coligoa had never before seen Europeans, and at their approach fled

up the river, near to whose banks their town was situated. The chief,

however, and a number of both sexes, were taken prisoners by the

orders of Soto. Presents of garments and deer skins were brought in

to the governor, and among them were two robes of the bison,[257]

which, within 10 or 12 miles of their town, were said to be abundant,

and that the country was cold and thinly inhabited.[258]

Here our adventurers were again informed of a fertile and well

inhabited country, called Cayas, still lying towards the south.

From Quigaute to Coligoa, they supposed the distance to be about 80

miles. The soil here {257} appeared to be extremely productive, and

was planted with maize, kidney beans, and pumpkins. The chief of

Coligoa provided them with a guide to Cayas, but did not accompany

them in person. After a journey of five days, they came to a province

called Palisema. The chief left his house for de Soto in a state of

preparation, but did not wait an interview. A party of horse and foot

were sent to detect him, but returned without success; they met with

many people, but, in consequence of the roughness of the country,

detained none of them as prisoners, except a few women and children.

The town was small and scattered, and but ill supplied with maize. He

afterwards proceeded to another town called Tatalicoya, and carried

with him the chief, who conducted him in four days to Cayas. De Soto

was disappointed by the scattered appearance of the population in

this province, and imagined he had been deceived, but was informed,

that the space inhabited was very considerable, and the land fertile.

The town which they arrived in was called Tanico,[259] and was

situated near to a river. The governor spent a month in the province

of Cayas, which abounded with maize and pasturage for their horses.

In the neighbourhood there was a lake of very hot and somewhat

brackish water. Here the party provided themselves with salt, which

they had long been in want of, and which they found the natives in

the practice of using and fabricating from this water.[260]

From Cayas, de Soto proceeded to Tulla, but here he found the town

abandoned at the news of his approach. The chief, however, came

accompanied by 80 Indians, {258} who brought with them a present of

bison robes, which, at this advanced season of the year, proved very

acceptable to the party. La Vega greatly admired the decorum and

propriety with which these natives behaved in their intercourse and

addresses to the governor. Towards the west, de Soto was informed of

a thinly inhabited country, but that towards the south-west, there

were great towns, especially in a province called Autiamque, ten

days’ journey from Tulla, or about 160 miles, and a country well

supplied with maize. To this place they proceeded, after dismissing

the two caziques of Cayas and Tulla, with an intention of spending

the winter which now approached, and which they expected would detain

them for the space of two or three months. They proceeded five

days over very rough mountains, and at length came to a town called

Quipana,[261] situated between hills. Here awaiting in ambush, they

succeeded in taking two Indians, who told them that Autiamque was six

days’ journey distant, and that there was another province towards

the south, eight days’ journey off, abounding in maize and well

peopled, which was called Guahate; but, as Autiamque was nearer, the

governor proceeded in that direction. After travelling three days,

they came to a town called Anoixi; previous to entering, he surprised

it by a troop of horse and foot, and took many men and women

prisoners. Within two days after, they entered another town called

Catamaya, and lodged in the adjoining fields. Two Indians came with

a pretended message from the chief, to learn the intention of the

Spaniards. Soto desired them to tell their lord, that he wanted to

hold a conference with him. But the Indians never returned, nor any

other message {259} from the cazique. The following day they entered

the town, which was deserted by its fearful inhabitants, and in it

they found as much maize as they wanted. That day they lodged in a

forest, and the following they arrived at Autiamque. Here they found

abundance of maize, French beans, walnuts, and prunes (or persimmons

dried); they also took some of the natives busied in carrying off

the provision which their wives had hidden. The surrounding country

was open and well inhabited. The governor lodged in the best part of

the town, and fortified his troops by a strong picket fence after

the manner of the natives. Near to the town, there was a river (the

Washita), which passed through the province of Cayas, and which was

every where well peopled. They spent three months in Autiamque, and

were well supplied with provision, amongst which La Vega enumerates

conies (or hares), some of which were larger than those of Spain;

these the natives caught by means of spring traps. The snow was here

so considerable, that for one month they never left the town, except

for firewood, and were obliged to follow the path which was beaten on

purpose by the horsemen.