LOUISIANA. 



CRiumefs. One fpecies of timber, which is common from 

 th? mouth of the Ohio down the Miflifippi fwamp, is cotton 

 wood, refembling the Lombard7 poplar in the quicknefs of 

 its growth, and the foftnefs of the timber. Here are nlfo' 

 the papav.' andblack afh, button vood or fycamore, hickory, 

 and cyprefs; wild cherry, faffafras, beech, chefniit, and Ber- 

 mudian mulberry trees. From the Walnut hills to Point 

 Coupee, and eafterly 15 or 20 miles, the whole country 

 ill its natural ftate is one continued cane-brake. Tlie cane 

 in general is 36 feet high, often 42 ; intenuingled vvitli a 

 fmaller fpecies, which continue thence on all the creeks to 

 the gulf of Mexico. 



Above the Nachitoches are the habitations of the Cadoda- 

 quiebos Indians ; near one of their villages is a rich filver 

 mine ; another lies further north. Lead ore is alfo found 

 in different places, and alfo iron ore, pit-coal, marble, (late, 

 and plafter of Paris. 



As to the climate of this coimtry, during the winter the 

 weather is very changeable, generally throughout Lower, 

 and the fonthern part of Upper Louifiana. In fummer it is 

 re<riilarly hat. In the latitude of the Natchez, Fahrenheit's 

 thermometer ranges from ij" to 96". The average degree 

 of heat is dated to be 14° greater than in Pennfylvania. 

 The chmate of Louiiiana varies in proportion as it ex- 

 tends northward. Its fouthern parts are not fubjcit to the 

 fame degree of heat as the fame latitudes in Africa, nor its 

 northern parts to the fame degree of cold as the corre- 

 fpondiuiT latitudes in Europe ; owing to the thick woods 

 which cover the country, and to the great number of rivers 

 which interfeft it. The prevailing difeafes on the lower part 

 of the Ohio, on the Miffifippi, and throu^Ji the Floridas, are 

 bihous fevers. In fome feafons tliey are mild, and are little 

 more than common intcrmittents ; in others they are very 

 malignant, and approach the genuine yellow fever of the Well 

 Indies. 



The total population of all the parts or diflrifts of Loui- 

 fiana, including whites, free people of colour, and flaves, is 

 42,375, of whom 12,920 are flaves But it is apprehended 

 that this number is too fmall. The Spanilh government is 

 fully perfuaded that the population at prefent confiderably 

 exeeeds 50,000 perfons The inhabitants of this country 

 are chiefly the defcendants of the French and Canadians. 

 In New Orleans there is a confiderable number of Englifh 

 and Americans. The two German coalls are peopled by tlie 

 defcendants of fettlers from Germany, and by French mixed 

 with them. The three fucceeding fettlements np to Baton 

 Rouge contain moftly Acadians, bani(hed from Nova Scotia 

 by the Englifh, and their defcendants. The government 

 of Baton Rouge, efpecially on the E. lide, which includes 

 the whole country between the Ibbcrville and the American 

 line, is compofed partly of Acadians, a few French, and a 

 great majority of Americans. On the W. fide they are 

 mollly Acadians ; at Point Coupee and Fauffee river they 

 are French and Acadians ; of the population of the Ataca- 

 pas and Opeloufas, a confiderable part is Americans ; Nat- 

 chitoches, on the Red river, contains but a few Americans, 

 and the reft of the inhabitants are French ; but the former 

 are more numerous in the other fettlements on that river, 

 vis. Avoyelles, Rapide, and Ouacheta. At Arkanfas they 

 are moflly French ; and at New Madrid, Americans. At 

 leaft two-fifths, if noc a greater proportion of all the fettlers 

 on the opanifh fide of the Mifiifippi, in the Illinois country, 

 are likewife fuppofed to be Americans. Below New 

 Orleans the population is altogether French, and the de- 

 fcendants of Frenchmen. The natives of the fouthern 

 part of the MiiTifippi are fprightly ; they have a turn for 



mechanics, and the fine arts ; but their fyflem of education 

 is fo wretched, that little real fcience is obtained. Many of 

 the planters are opulent, indullrious, and hoipitable. There 

 is a militia in Louifiana, amounting, as it is faid, to about 

 10,340. The Indian nations within the limits of Louifiana, 

 are as follow, according to the flatement of the late 

 prefident of the United States, Mr. JefTerfon : on the 

 E. bank of the Mifiifippi, about 25 leagues above Orleans, 

 are the remains of the Houmasor Red men, amounting to 

 about 60 perfons ; on the W. fide of the fame river are the 

 nniainsof theTounicas, fettled near and above Point Coupee, 

 confiding of 50 or 60 perfons. In the Atacapas, on the 

 lower part of the Bayou Teche, about 11 or 12 leagues 

 from the fea, are two villages of Chitimachas, conGfling of 

 about 100 perfons ; the Atacapas, properly fo called, dif- 

 perfed throughout the di(lric!t, are about 100 ; and there 

 are about 50 wanderers of the tribes of Biloxis and 

 ChoiEfavv's on Bayou Crocodile, which empties into the 

 Teche. In the Opeloufas, N.W. of Atacapas, are two 

 villages of Alibamas in the centre of the di(lri<ft, con- 

 fifting of 100 perfons ; and the Conchates difperfed through 

 the country as jfer as the Sabinas and its neighbourhood, are 

 about 350. On the river Rouge, at Avoyelles, 19 Icaguesfrom 

 the Mifhfippi, is a village of the Biloni nation, aniianpther on 

 the lake of the Avoyelles, the whole including ahFiut 60 per- 

 fons. At the Rapide, 26 leagues frnm the Mifiifippi, is 3 

 village of ChoSaws, confiilingof 100 perfons, and another 

 of Biloxes, about two leagues from it, of about 100 

 more ; and at about eight or nine leagues higher np the ■ 

 Red river is a village including about 50 perfons. All il.efe' 

 are' occafionally employed by the fettlers as boatmen. About 

 cio-hly leagues above Natchitoches on the Red river is the 

 nation of the Cadoquies, or Cados, who can raife from 

 three to fo'jr hundred warriors, the friends of the whites, 

 and efteemcd the bravefl and moft generous of all the na- 

 tions in this vail country ; they arc rapidly declining by their 

 intemperance, and by the attacks of the Ofages and Choc- 

 taws. There are 500 families of the Choftaws, difperfed 

 on the W. fide of the M'fTifippi, on the Ouacheta and Red 

 rivers, as far W. as Natchitoches, On the river Arkanfas 

 is a nation of the fame name, confift.ng of about 260 war- 

 riors, brave, yet peaceable and wel,-difpofed, attached to 

 the French, and difpofed to engage in their wars with the 

 Chickafaws. They live in three villages at iS league- from 

 the MifTifippi on the Arkanfas river, and the others are at 

 three and fix leagues from the firft. A fcarcity of game 

 on the E. fide cf the Mifhfippi has induced a number of 

 Cherokeei, ChoCtavs, Chickafaws, &c. to frequent the 

 neigiibourhood of Arkanfas, where game is flill abundant, 

 where they have contraded marriages with the Arkanfas, 

 and incorporated themfelves with that nation. On the river 

 St. Francis, in the vicinity of New Madrid, S:c. are fettled 

 a number of vagabonds from the Delawares, Shawnefe, Mi- 

 amis, Chickafaws, Cherokees, Plorias, fuppolcd to confill 

 in all of 500 families. ' Tliey are piratical in their difpofitioi', 

 attaclit-d to liquor, unfettled and vagrant in their habits, fome 

 of them fpeak Enghfl?, all underliand it, and fome of them 

 can even read ancl write it. At St. Genevieve, about 30 

 Piorias, Kafl<al1iias and Illinois, are fettled among the whites/ 

 Thefe are the remains ef a nation, which 50 years ago 

 could bring into the field 1200 warriors. 



On the Miffouri and its waters, are many and numerous na- 

 tions, the bell known of which are ; the Ofages, fituated 

 on the river of the fame name on the right bank of the Mif- 

 fouri, at about 80 leagues from its confluence with it ; they 

 confill of 1000 warriors, who live in two fettlements at no 

 great diftance from each other. Thoy are of a gigantic Ita- 



tur'» 



