LOUISIANA, 



Under this name was formerly designated the immence tract of 

 country, first discovered and settled by France, afterwards ceded to 

 Spain, and again to France, and finally to the United States. The 

 exact boundaries to the westward, to the north and south, were never 

 properly defined. The French claimed all the country watered by the 

 Mississippi and its tributaries, and as far south as the Rio del Norte. 

 The extent to which the United States mean to claim in these differ- 

 ent quarters, has not been officially declared, but it is presumed that 

 it will be to the same as claimed by France when it was in her posses- 

 sion. According to these limits, Louisiana may be estimated to con- 

 tain a million square miles, nearly as great in extent as the rest of 

 the United States- To the eastward, the Mississippi is the boundary 

 as far south as the 31° of north latitude ; it then extends across to the 

 Rio Perdido, the ancient French boundary. The eastern part of this 

 tract is now included in the Mississippi territory. The political im- 

 portance of this immense country, bears no proportion to its geogra- 

 phical magnitude; the state of Louisiana, and the territory of Missouri, 

 comparatively inconsiderable portions, being the only parts which 

 can ever become of much moment in a national point of view. The 

 remainder, being a distant, interiour region, will afford few induce- 

 ments to the progress of settlements ; and the nature of the country 

 itself will present great obstacles ; being chiefly composed of open 

 plains, like the stepps of Tartary, and even like the Saharahs, of Africa, 

 without wood, and in the greater part badly watered, with a soil, 

 excepting in spots on the margin of rivers, totally unfit for cultiva- 

 tion. In addition may be mentioned the character of the wandering 

 tribes, who would so harass the detached groups of settlements 

 which might be attempted, as to render it almost impossible for them 

 to exist. Herds of buffaloe, in numbers almost incredible, roam these 

 plains. Elk, deer, and antelope, are found in great numbers. To- 

 wards the south, horses are seen in large herds, acknowledging no 

 master, and exceedingly wild. Wolves, foxes, badgers, porcupines, 

 hares, and argalia, a nondescript, are common to this district. The 

 grizzly bear, found to the westward below the spurs of the rocky moun- 

 tains, is described as the most ferocious of all the quadrupeds of this 

 continent. The prairie dog has been mentioned as a curious 

 animal, living in societies or towns, on the plains west of the Mis- 

 sissippi. Amongst the more remarkable curiosities, may be noted 

 the extraordinary salt prairies, some of which are thirty miles in cir- 

 cumference, and which are at times frosted with salt, while at the 

 bottom there is an accumulated mass of several inches in thickness, 

 pieces of which, cut out with a hatchet, have been brought in by 

 hunters. The superintendance of this country is assigned to the 

 governor of Louisiana, for that part which lies contiguous to that 

 state, and to the governor of the territory of Missouri, and to the 

 Indian agent, for that which lies west and north of the territory. 



