, 122 



that a German settlement had just been started in the parish which 

 promised good results for the future, and may form a nucleus to 

 make St. Landry the empire parish of the State. 



The road from Opelousas to Grand Coteau is rather hilly. The 

 uplands are of tillable quality, but not rich. Magnolia, sweet gum, 

 locust, swamp chesnut and hickory are common in the low grounds 

 and the high lands are supplied with the usual variety of oaks and 

 other trees belonging to the red loam soil forest of the bluff. Grand 

 Coteau is a village spread over a large area of ground, with it, 

 houses much scattered; but the most notable feature of the town is 

 the St. Charles College, a school under the control of the Jesuit 

 fathers, which presents with its extensive grounds quite a romantic 

 appearance. The prairie land plantations in the neighborhood on 

 the road leading to New Iberia are in a flourishing condition, and 

 may probably be considered as belonging to the finest planting dis- 

 trict of St. Landry. 



As the object of my excursion was to ascertain the botanical char- 

 acteristics of the Calcasieu prairies, I returned to Opelousas and 

 started from there, through one of the most extensive prairie coun- 

 tries in Louisiana, in the direction of Lake Charles, a distance of 

 ninety miles. During the spring season the prairies are beautiful ! 

 'beyond description, especially where the old withered grass has been ' 

 burnt and a uniform green carpet of vegetation decks the undulating 

 nrairie level, as far as the eye can reach, with the softest verdure, 

 variegated with the bright colors of the luxuriant prairie flowers. 

 Here the blue-eyed scullcap vies with the dark purpled clusters of 

 the psoralea, and the yellow and white-flowered false indigo inter- 

 mingles freely with the fringe-flowered blue spiderwort; the narrow- 

 leafed evening primrose every where gilds the grass with its golden 

 spangled flowers, contrasted by the rose blossoms of the wild onion, 

 whose range of growth is most extensive. 



The roads through the prairies are in most places not better 

 marked than a cow path; sometimes the continuity is entirely inter- 

 rupted by the luxuriant growth of grass, and the track is only found 

 again after traveling for a mile or so in a straightforward direction 

 by the aid of the compass. These interminable paths are continually 

 crossed and rccrossed, and form a kind of labyrinth to the traveler 

 who is unaccustomed to wander solitary and alone through a level 



