20 



This part of Louisiana is considered the paradise of hunters, 

 deer abound here, and bears are very numerous in the marshes, and 

 have been killed within a mile of town. 



MANDEVILLE AND COVINGTON ST. TAMMANY. 



The Teche country, while unsurpassed in agricultural resources, 

 did not present, botanicaily, as much interest as I anticipated, and 

 as I was informed that the characteristics of soil and vegetation of 

 Ww Iberia parish and higher up the Teche, were similar to those of 

 St. Mary, I concluded to return to New Orleans, in order to branch 

 out in another direction. I took the Pontchartrain railroad cars to 

 Lakeport, and from there a steamboat conveyed me to Mandeville, 

 a town in St. Tammany parish on the northern shore of the lake. 

 Lake Pontchartrain, on a bright and sunny summer day, presents 

 the most beautiful sheet of water in the Southern States. Near the 

 mouth of the Tchefuncta river, the azure blue of the cloudless sky, 

 the unstained whiteness of the distant lighthouse, and the dark 

 green foliage of the forest trees on shore, effectually contrast the 

 ashy gray of the rippled waters, and the scenery is altogther pictur- 

 esque. Mandeville is reached in four hours' time. The soil around 

 the town belongs to the second series of the orange sand soil. The 

 banks of the lake are composed of pure sand, deposited upon a 

 grayish stiff clay, colored in streaks with red and yellow hydroxide of 

 iron. The back part of the town is located in a pine wood swamp, 

 and during rainy weather the streets, and even the sidewalks are 

 literally under water, and are almost impassable to foot passengers. 

 The swamp soil is covered by a thin crust of vegetable mold, which 

 renders the land productive for a few years of fair cotton, corn and 

 rice crops. But the highlands are composed of pure sand, with a 

 subsoil of clay, or the clay itself forms the surface soil. The water 

 oak and swamp chesnut oak, post oak and sweet gum grow here to a 

 great height, intermingled with short leafed pine, which forms, a 

 few miles from the lake shore, almost the exclusive growth of the 

 forest. The prevailing summer weed is the characteristic bitter 

 weed. Mandeville is a town of respectable dimensions. It is the 

 summer resort of New Orleans families, and is said to contain seve- 

 ral thousand inhabitants during the bathing season. The principal 

 street extends along the lake shore; and each residence, being gen- 



