386 WILD SPORTS IX THE FAR WEST. 



his flock. Mr. Beattie gained liis cause at the half- 

 yearly sessions, but the parish appealed to the court of 

 the United States at New Orleans. The priest re- 

 paired thither, took a new advocate, and obtained the 

 following sentence : " That the citizens of Pointe 

 Coupee might dismiss their priest, if they were dis- 

 satisfied with him, and that neither bishop nor pope 

 could issue commands in the United States." 



It was about the end of June, when I made up my 

 mind to return to Germany. Kean had been for some 

 time in New Orleans, engaged in commission business, 

 and I began to feel lonely in l*ointe Coupee. I there- 

 fore arranged my affairs, and prevailed on a brother of 

 the proprietor, who had formerly been in partnership 

 with him, to undertake the management, now that all 

 was in good order ; then, taking a kind leave of all my 

 good friends, I left Pointe Coupee on the 5 th of July — 

 the same day that I had left Little Pock the year before. 



I embarked on board the Steamer " Eclipse " for New 

 Orleans, and dasheid down the swollen stream with the 

 speed of an arrow. The banks of the Mississippi, in 

 the lower part of Louisiana, offer a most beautiful 

 panorama of towns and plantations, to the eyes of the 

 passenger flying past in a steamer ; the country-seats 

 of the planters make a sj^lendid appearance through the 

 orange and pomegranate trees, with the rows of white 

 cottages for the slaves, like so many villages, besides 

 large cotton fields and sugar plantations, with gangs 

 of negroes at work, under the inspection of a white 

 on horseback ; troops of mustangs, or ponies, gallop- 

 ing with flowing manes and tails, small schooners, 

 and so-called chicken thieves dashing with swelling 



