LOUISIANA STATE. 



ami the territory of the Arkansas have already been 

 set oil, and are occupied with a thin, but active and 

 rapidly increasing population. The great mineral 

 and vegetable wealth of this vast region, and its 

 almost unparalleled facilities of communication, open 

 a wide prospect to the prosperous, free, and happy 

 communities that are springing up in its bosom. The 

 territory west of the Rocky mountains, which seems 

 to belong to the United States rather by priority of 

 discovery than as a part of the Louisiana purchase, 

 will be described under the head of Oregon. Beside 

 the works already mentioned, consult Charlevoix's 

 Description de la Nouvelle France; Jefferson's Ac- 

 count of Louisiana; Stoddard's Sketches of Louisiana; 

 and Flint's interesting work, Geography and History 

 of the Mississippi Galley (Cincinnati, 1828.) 



LOUISIANA ; one of the U. States of America, 

 formed in 1812. It is bounded north by Arkansas 

 territory, east by the state of Mississippi and the gulf 

 of Mexico. The eastern boundary line is formed by 

 the river Mississippi, from lat. 33 to 31 N.; thence, 

 by the parallel of 31, to Pearl river; thence by that 

 stream to its mouth. The gulf of Mexico forms the 

 southern boundary, and Sabine river the western, 

 from its mouth to lat. 32 N.; thence the boundary 

 line proceeds due north to lat. 33, thence due east 

 to the Mississippi; Ion. 89 to 94 5' W.; lat. 29 

 to 33 N.; 240 miles long, from north to south, and 

 210 broad; square miles, 48,220, or 31,463,000 acres: 

 population, in 1820, 153,407; slaves, 69,064: in 1830, 

 2l4,6i*3. The principal rivers are the Mississippi, 

 Red, Ouachitta, Black, Tensaw, Sabine, Calcasiu, 

 Mermentau, Vermilion, Atchafalaya, Teche, Pearl, 

 Amite, and Iberville. The largest lakes are Pont- 

 chartrain, Maurepas, Borgne, Chetimaches, Mer- 

 mentau, Calcasiu, Sabine, Bistineau, Bodcau, and 

 Ocatahoola. All the southern part of this state is a 

 vast alluvial tract of low champaign country, extend- 

 ing from lake Borgne to Sabine river, and from the 

 gulf of Mexico to Baton Rouge and Red river; about 

 250 miles long, and from 70 to 140 wide. This 

 extensive tract is intersected by numerous rivers, 

 bays, creeks, and lakes, dividing the country into a 

 great number of islands. The country about the 

 Balize is one continued swamp, destitute of trees, 

 and covered with a species of coarse reeds, from four 

 to five feet high. Nothing can be more dreary than 

 a prospect from a ship's mast, while passing this 

 immense waste. A large extent of country in this 

 state is annually overflowed by the Mississippi. Ac- 

 cording to Mr Darby, the average width of overflowed 

 lands above Red river, from lat. 31 to 33 N., may 

 be assumed at 20 miles, equal to 2770 square miles. 

 Below lat. 31 to the efflux of the Lafourche, about 

 80 miles in extent, the inundation is about 40 miles 

 in width, equal to 3200 square miles. All the coun- 

 try below the efflux of the Lafourche is liable to be 

 inundated, equal to 2370 square miles. From this 

 calculation, it appears that 8340 square miles are 

 liable to be inundated by the overflowing of the 

 Mississippi; and if to this be added 2550 square 

 miles for the inundated lands on Red river, the whole 

 surface of the state liable to inundation, will amount 

 to 10,890 square miles. Of this extent, not one half is 

 actually covered annually with water. The imme- 

 diate banks of all the streams are seldom, and many 

 of them never, inundated; and they afford strips of rich, 

 tillable land, from a mile to a mile and a half wide. 

 The country between the Mississippi, Iberville, and 

 Pearl rivers is an important part of the state. The 

 southern lialf is a level country, yet highly productive 

 in cotton, sugar, rice, corn, and indigo. The northern 

 part presents an undulating surface, covered with a 

 heavy growth of timber, consisting of white, red, and 

 yellow oak, hickory, black walnut, sassafras, mag- 



nolia, zind poplar. The district of New Feliciana has 

 been considered, by some, as the garden of Louisiana. 

 The south-western part of the state, comprising the 

 districts of ( )pelousas and Attakapas, consists mostly 

 of extensive prairies. Some of these prairies are 

 detached, but the lines of woods between them are 

 generally very narrow, and they may be considered 

 as forming one immense meadow. A large portion 

 of these tracts are barren, but some parts, particularly 

 that bordering on the Teche, are very fertile, and 

 contain flourishing settlements. It has been estimated 

 that the prairie lands in the state, including the 

 swamps along the gulf of Mexico, constitute one-fifth 

 of its whole surface. The country on both sides of 

 Red river, from its mouth to the limits of the state, 

 is intersected with lakes, which are more than forty 

 in number, and all communicate with the river. The 

 bottoms on the river are from one to ten miles wide, 

 and of a very fertile soil. The timber on the bottoms 

 is willow, cotton wood, honey-locust, pawpaw, and 

 buckeye; on the rich uplands, elm, cucumber, ash, 

 hickory, mulberry, black walnut, with abundance of 

 grape vines ; upon the second-rate, or sandy uplands, 

 white, pitch, and yellow pines, and various kinds of 

 oak. 



The climate of Louisiana is as cold as that of the 

 Atlantic states about two degrees further north. The 

 orange ceases at about 30, and the sugar-cane at 31. 

 Sugar and rice are the staples of the state in general 

 south of 30, and cotton north of that parallel ; the 

 latter, however, is extensively cultivated in every 

 part of the state. Among the fruits are the apple in 

 the northern parts, the peach, and several species of 

 fig, the orange, the pomegranate, and grape. The 

 olive-tree is found, and the Provengals, who were 

 settled in Louisiana, affirmed that the oil was as good 

 as that of their native country. Indigo was formerly 

 much cultivated, but has been, of late, in a great 

 measure abandoned. The rice is remarkably good, 

 and yields abundantly. Some attention has lately 

 been paid to the cultivation of the tea plant; and the 

 finest tobacco is raised, but is not so profitable as 

 sugar and cotton. The kinds of cotton cultivated 

 are Louisiana, green seed, or Tennessee, and, 

 recently, Mexican cotton. The amount of sugar 

 made in 1828 was 87,965 hhds.; of molasses, 39,874 

 hhds. : in 1829, the sugar made was 48,238 hhds. ; 

 and as there are 40 gallons of molasses to each hogs- 

 head of sugar, the hogsheads of molasses must have 

 been somewhat less than half as numerous. The 

 tobacco exported, from Oct. 1, 1827., to Oct. 1, 1830, 

 was, for the first 12 months, 35,111 hhds.; for the 

 second, 25,491; for the third, 28,028. The bales of 

 cotton which were exported in the same periods 

 were 304,848, 267,949, 851,890. The total exports in 

 1829, were 12,386,060 dollars, or nearly 3,000,000. 

 The value of imports, for the same time, was 6,857,209 

 dollars, or about half that sum ; amount of tonnage, 

 51,903, of which 17,000 was steam-boat tonnage. 

 The arrivals at the port of New Orleans, from Oct. 

 1, 1829, to Oct. 1, 1830, were 286 ships, 445 brigs, 

 166 schooners, 33 sloops, 778 steam-boats, total, 

 3898. The United States granted the state 46,080 

 acres of land for a college, and one thirty-sixth of 

 each township, or 873,000 acres, for schools. There 

 are colleges at New Orleans and Jackson. In 1827, 

 the legislature made a grant to each parish of 2 

 dollars 62^ cents to every voter, to be applied to the 

 education of the poor ; in consequence of which 

 nearly 40,000 dollars are annually applied for this 

 purpose. The Catholic is the predominant reli- 

 gion of Louisiana: there are a few Baptists and 

 Methodists. According to returns for 1828, the 

 militia amounted to 12,274 men. The principal 

 towns in the state are New Orleans, Donaldson or 



