121 



a\ ACCOUNT OF ITI JOUBNEYINGS. 



Southioest lA>ui.<ia)ia. 



I left Baton Rouge on the Belma, an Opelousas packet, on the 

 twentieth of April. ,It was a beautiful sunny spring day, and the 

 tree- lorned with bright green foliage, which imparted youth- 



ful : b and rich luxuriance to the face of nature. The Mis- 



rywhere at the highest water mark, and reached 

 within a few inches of the top of the levees. This immense rise of 

 jsissippi waters tested the efficiency of the levee system to 

 the utmost, and with one or two exceptions the levees afforded suffi. 

 cicnt protection to stem the powerful current of "the father of 

 waters," and keep hhu within circumscribed boundaries. The sys- 

 is by no means perfect, and requires additional engineering 

 skill and labor to render it complete. The alluvial lands beyond 

 the levees seemed to be well cultivated, and the long corn, cotton 

 and cane rows had rather a neat coquettish appearance, while their 

 geometrical regularity suggested the fanciful idea that they must 

 have been dressed up for some festival occasion. The lowlands, 

 which were purposely excluded from the protective system of the 

 , were wholly or partially overilowed. In some localities patches 

 of the Senecia lobada showed their golden yellow heads above the 

 surface ot the shallow waters. Frequently a stray house or a freed- 

 man's hut formed, with its rising ground, a small island in this 

 wide expanse of the Mississippi, and these houses were often occu- 

 pied, men, women and children sitting on the gallery anxiously 

 looking for the abating of the waters; while cattle and horses, lean 

 and hungry, nipped the tree branches or stood patiently fixed to 

 one spot as if waiting for something to turn up. 



The Courtableau was sufficiently high to be navigable for large 

 boats, and we landed safely in Washington on Saturday at eleven 

 • /clock. I immediately proceeded in my carriage to Opelousas, and 

 round a variety of spring flowers on my way to that place. The 

 town was precisely in the same condition as I found it the previous 

 summer. No improvements of any kind were visible, and th< 

 inhabitants seem to be satisfied that they have done well for them- 

 tiid their country, and that they can safely repose upon the 

 laurels already won in the battle of life. I was, however, infoi 



