content themselves with raising fowls, corn, and garden stuff for the Market at New-Orleans. The lands cannot be cultivated to any great distance from the banks of the creek on account of the vicinity of the marsh behind them, but the place is susceptible of great improvement and of affording another communication to small craft of from 8 to 10 feet draught between the sea and the Mississippi. Settlements below the English Turn.— At the distance of 16 leagues below New-Orleans the settlements on both banks of the river are of but small account. Between these and the fort of Plaquemines the country is overflowed in the spring, and in many places is incapable of cultivation at any time, being a morass almost impassable by man or beast. This small tongue of land extends considerably into the sea, which is visible on both sides of the Mississippi from a ship's mast. Country from Plaquemines to the Sea, and Effect of the Hurricanes.- From Plaquemines to the sea is 12 or 13 leagues. The country is low, swampy, chiefly covered with reeds, having little or no timber and no settlement whatever. It may be necessary to mention here that the whole lower part of the country from the English Turn downward is subject to overflowing in hurricanes, either by the recoiling of the river or reflux from the sea on each side; and on more than one occasion it has been covered from the depth of 2 to 10 feet, according to the descent of the river, whereby many lives were lost, horses and cattle swept away, and a scene of destruction laid. The last calamity of this kind happened in 1794; but, fortunately, they are not frequent. In the preceding year the engineer who superintended the erection of the fort of Plaquemines was drowned in his house near the fort, and the workmen and garrison escaped only by taking refuge on an elevated spot in the fort, on which there were, notwithstanding, 2 or 3 feet of water. These hurricanes have generally been felt in the month of August. Their greatest fury lasts about 12 hours. They commence in the south-east, veer about to all points of the compass, are felt most severely below and seldom extend more than a few leagues above New-Orleans. In their whole course they are marked with ruin and desolation. Until that of 1793 there had been none felt from the year 1780. Passes, or Mouths of the Mississippi.—About 8 leagues below Plaquemines, the Mississippi divides itself into three channels, which are called the passes of the river; viz., the East, South, and South-west passes. Their course is from 5 to 6 leagues to the sea. The space between is a marsh with little or no timber on it; but from its situation it may hereafter be rendered of importance. The East pass, which is on the left hand going down the river, is divided into two branches about two leagues below, viz. the Pass à la Loutre, and that known to mariners by the name of the Balize, at which there is a small block house and some huts of the pilots, who reside only here. The first of these secondary channels contains at present but 8 feet water, the latter from 14 to 16 according to the seasons. The South pass, which is directly in front of the Mississippi, has always been considered as entirely choaked up, but has 10 feet water. The South-west pass, which is on the right, is the longest and narrowest of all the passes, and a few years ago had 18 feet water, and was that by which the large ships always entered and sailed from the Mississippi. It has now but 8 feet water, and will probably remain so for some time. In speaking of the quantity of water in the passes, it must be understood of what is on the bar of each pass; for immediately after passing the bar, which is very narrow, there are from 5 to 7 fathoms at all seasons. Country East of Lake Ponchartrain.-The country on the east side of Lake Ponchartrain to Mobille, and including the whole extent between the American line, the Mississippi above NewOrleans, and the lakes (with the exception of a tract of about 30 miles on the Mississippi, and as much square contiguous to the line, and comprehending the waters of Thompson's Creek, Bayou Sara, and the Amet) is a poor thin soil, overgrown with pine, and contains no good land whatever, unless on the banks of a few small rivers. It would, however, afford abundant supplies of pitch, tar and pine lumber, and would feed large herds of cattle. The Inhabitants and their Origin. The inhabitants of Louisiana are chiefly the descendants of the French and Canadians. There are a considerable number of English and Americans in New-Orleans. The two German coasts are peopled by the descendants of settlers from Germany, and a few French mixed with them. The three succeeding settlements up to Baton-Rouge contain mostly Acadians, banished from Nova Scotia by the English and their descendants. The government of Baton-Rouge, especially the east side, which includes all the country between the Iberville and the Amer ican line, is composed partly of Acadians, a very few French, and of a great majority of Americans. On the west side they are mostly Acadians: at Pointe Coupee and Faussee River they are French and Acadians. Of the population of the Atacapas and Opelousas, a considerable part is American. Natchitoches, on the Red River, contains but a few Americans, and the remainder of the inhabitants are French; but the former are more numerous in the other settlements on that river,- viz., Avoyelles, Rapide, and Ouacheta. At Arkansas they are, mostly French; and at New-Madrid, Americans. At least twofifths, if not a greater proportion of all the settlers on the Spanish side of the Mississippi, in the Illinois country, are likewise supposed to be Americans. Below New-Orleans the population is altogether French, and the descendants of Frenchmen. New Orleans. By recurring to the maps and examining the position of Louisiana, it will appear that the lower part projects considerably into the sea. It has in all probability been formed by the sediment brought down by the current and deposited on the flat coast. There is therefore on the east side but a very narrow slip along the bank of the river, from the sea to the Iberville. The land is not generally susceptible of cultivation more than a mile in depth from the river: the rest is low and swampy to the lakes and the sea, but in general abounds with cypress timber, which is sawed by mills, which are worked by artificial streams from the Mississippi in the time of freshes. They generally run five months in the year. What has been said of the east equally applies to the west side of the river. The soil and situation are nearly the same. After leaving the bank of the river, there is an immense swamp, intersected by creeks and lakes, extending to the high lands of Atacapas, and occupying a space of thirty or forty leagues. The city of New-Orleans, which is regularly laid out, on the east side of the Mississippi, in lat. 30, N., and long. 90, W., extends nearly a mile along the river, from the gate of France on the south to that of Chapitoulas above, and a little more than a third of a mile in breadth, from the river to the rampart; but it has an extensive suburb on the upper side. The houses in front of the town, and for a square or two backwards, are mostly of brick, covered with slate or tile, and many of two stories. The remainder are of wood. covered with shingles. The streets cross each other at right angles, and are 32 French feet wide. The squares between the intersections of the streets have a front of 300 French feet. There is in the middle of the front of the city a place d'armes, facing which the church and town house are built. There are from 12 to 1,400 houses in the city and suburbs. The population may be estimated at 10,000, including the seamen and garrison. It was fortified in 1793, but the works were originally defective, could not have been defended, and are now in ruins. The powder magazine is on the opposite bank of the river. The public buildings and other public property in NewOrleans are as follows: Two very extensive brick stores, from 160 to 180 feet in length and about 30 in breadth. They are one-story high, and covered with shingles. A government house, stables, and garden, occupying a front of about 220 feet on the river, in the middle of the town, and extending 336 feet back to the next street. A military hospital. An ill-built custom-house of wood, almost in ruins, in the upper part of the city, near the river. An extensive barrack in the lower part of the city, fronting on the river, and calculated to lodge 12 or 1,400 men. it. A large lot adjoining the king's stores, with a few sheds in It serves as a park for artillery. A prison, town house, market house, assembly room, some ground rents, and the common about the town. A public school for the rudiments of the Spanish language. A cathedral church unfinished, and some houses belonging to it. A charitable hospital, with some houses belonging to it, and a revenue of 1,500 dollars annually, endowed by an individual lately deceased. The canal de Carondelet has been already described. * Number of Inhabitants.— According to the annexed census, No. 2, of Louisiana, including Pensacola and the Natchez, as made in 1785, the whole number of inhabitants amounted to 32,062, of which 14,215 were free whites, 1,303 free people of colour, and 16,544 slaves. The statement, No. 3, from the latest documents, makes the whole number 42,375, the free whites, 21,244, the free people of colour. 1,768, and the slaves, 12,920. *Referring to appendix not here printed. A particular statement respecting the population, &c., of Upper Louisiana, and another containing the census of New Orleans, in this year, are numbered 4 and 5 in the appendix. These papers certainly exhibit a smaller number than the real population of the country. From an official document, made in July last, and received from Atacapas since the statement, No. 3, was formed, it appears that it contained 2,270 whites, 210 free people of colour, 1,266 slaves, in all 3,746 souls instead of 1,447, as therein stated. It is highly probable that the return for the neighbouring district of Opelousas is in the same proportion underrated. A conjectural estimation made by a gentleman of great respectability and correct information, residing at Natchez, raises the number of whites in the island of New Orleans, on the west side of the river, and some settlements on the east side, to 50, 150, and the number of blacks to 39,820. His statement is also subjoined, No. 6. It is at all times difficult to obtain the full census of a county, and the impediments are increased in this from its scattered population. The actual enumeration may therefore fall short of the true numbers. Militia.-There is a militia in Louisiana. The following is the return of it, made to the court of Spain, by the Baron of Carondelet. From Balize to the city volunteers of the Mississippi, City Battalion of the city, 5 companies, Artillery company, with supernumeraries, 2 companies of 70 each-incomplete, Mixed legion of the Mississippi, comprehending Galveztown, Baton-Rouge, Pointe Coupee, Atacapas, and Opelousas, viz. 2 companies of grenadiers, Militia. 400 500 120 100 300 |