14 ON THE GEOLOGY OF LOWER LOUISIANA 



PETITE ANSE. 



Petite Anse cannot readily be reached by a direct route from Weeks' Island, 

 there being almost impassable marshes, as well as cypress, live-oak, and palmetto 

 swamps betM^een. It is necessary to make a circuit northward through the prairie 

 bordering upon the Bayou Teche (Jeaneretts' Prairie). 



Dr. Goessmann has given an excellent description of the surface conformation, 

 and a map of Petite Anse, which would render a repetition on my part superfluous, 

 were Dr. Goessmann's report more generally accessible. I shall therefore briefly 

 recapitulate the main points, which will be better understood by referring to the 

 accompanying map. 



As seen from the prairie near New Iberia, Petite Anse appears as a short ridge, 

 rising rather abruptly from the marsh to the westward of it, and the Bayou Petite 

 Anse which bathes the western half, nearly, of the base. A causeway, about two 

 miles in length, across the marsh bordering the bayou, connects the island with the 

 mainland on the north side, while on the south, likewise, it is bordered by sea- 

 marsh ; on the east and southeast, by the Cyprus Mort woods, and cypress swamps. 



The island proper is nearly round, with a prominence towards the southeast, 

 where there is a large body of level land, cultivated in cotton and cane. Its area 

 is two thousand two hundred and forty acres. 



Near the northeast extremity of the island is Prospect Hill, the highest eleva- 

 tion, one hundred and eighty feet above tide-level. Southward of Prospect Hill, 

 and connected with it by an elevated ridge, is another high point ; on its eastern 

 slope, towards the Cypres Mort woods, there is a cypress pond, which, perhaps, 

 represents the "central crater of elevation" of Thomassy. This main ridge forms 

 the head of the valley which is underlaid by the rock-salt, and which drains south- 

 westward into the marsh. Judge Avery's residence stands on a high knoll at the 

 west end of the island, which is connected by a low ridge with Prospect Hill; 

 while another intervenes between it and the salt valley. Salt springs appear on 

 both sides of the last mentioned ridge, but rock-salt has not been found north of it. 



Up to the time of Dr. Goessmann's visit, all the borings and pits which had 

 reached the salt, had been sunk in detrital material washed down from the sur- 

 rounding hills, ajid frequently inclosing the vestiges of both animal and human 

 visits to the spot. Mastodon, buffalo, deer, and other bones; Indian hatchets, 

 arrow-heads, and rush baskets, but above all, an incredible quantity of pottery 

 fragments, have been extracted from the pits. The pottery fragments form at some 

 points veritable strata, three to six inches thick; this is especially the case where 

 Mr. Dudley M. Avery found Avhat appeared to have been a furnace for baking the 

 ware (a process very imperfectly performed), and near it three pots of successive sizes, 

 inside of each other. The pots must be presumed to have subserved tht purpose 

 of salt-boiling; for although human handiwork has been found so close to the sur- 

 face of the salt as to render it probable that its existence in mass was once known,^ 



' It is very positively stated, that Mastodon bones were found considerably above some of the 

 human relics. In a detrital mass, however, this cannot be considered a crucial test. 



