123 



country without forests to serve as landmarks, houses being only 

 visible in the misty distance i)[' the blue horizon, and at intervals of 

 ten to fifteen miles. 



Prairie traveling has, however, that advantage that in dry weather 

 no difficulties present themselves in passing in any direction with 01 

 without a road, unless stopped by an impassable bayou. 



The pli »s cultivated in these prairies are generally small farms 

 owned by Creoles, who labor with their own hands, make a small 

 crop of corn, and perhaps a little cotton or sugar, but pay consider- 

 able attention to the rearing of live-stock. Like the stock raisers of 

 the pineflat their mode of living is extremely simple; the principal 

 luxury they indulge in is coffee, the flavor of which is the most deli- 

 cious, forming a beverage fit for the gods — such as a Frenchman 

 knows only how to brew. They are, however, contented with their 

 lot, and they are, probably, happier than the richest nabob who lives 

 in a palace and feasts on the richest viands money can procure. 



I crossed Bayou Cannes and Nez Pique, which are only a few 

 miles apart, in a ferry boat. The surface of Bayou Cannes is com- 

 pletely unrippled; it seems to have no current whatever. Its waters 

 look black and dirty, and if the original settlers who named the 

 stream had been possessed of any classical learning, it could not have 

 failed to suggest the name of Styx, the river of death, as the most 

 appropriate designation. The Nez Pique is a bayou of some pre- 

 tentions; it is broader than Bayou Cannes, but its waters are nearly 

 as dirty and stagnant. Everything looks solemn and gloomy, old, 

 worn and lifeless on these two water courses. The trees seem to be 

 in a state of mourning, their foliage is dark, their trunks are water- 

 washed and bare. The land is poor. The principal occupation of 

 the Creole settlers is the splitting of rails and posts which they sell 

 to the prairie farmers. The timber is of good size, composed of oak 

 cypress and hickory. Here the botanical features also change. The 

 Pinkrook, with its long, tubular, crimson flowers, and the Soap 

 berry or wild china tree, as it is sometimes called, grows in great 

 luxuriance. 



Beyond the immediate banks of the Nez Pique, at Miller's ferry, 

 the prairies are uninterrupted as far as Lake Charles, a distance of 

 forty-live miles, except by occasional strips of pine timber where the 

 land rises above the ordinary prairie level, and consists of pore 

 sand without any deposit of prairie soil on the surface. 



