104 



cupied by the fort and barracks, and is elevated! 

 thirty feet above the river banks. Natchitoches! 

 is an ancient French settlement, which com-J 

 menced nearly a century ago, where a trading! 

 post was established, and an extensive traffic car-l 

 ried on with the Indians. This despicable village! 

 is not on the site where the ancient town stood I 

 the present inhabitants, having been almost en-» 

 tirely secluded from the civilized world, have 

 degenerated to a miserable, ignorant set of beings ; 

 but a small degree removed from the state of the 

 savages, with whom they have had their princi-. 

 pal intercourse. When a large trade was carried 

 on with the natives, many years ago, the town 

 was much larger than it is at present ; the peo-; 

 pie having left the town to settle on farms in thd 

 adjacent country, but principally on the long 

 round, near the river. Very little now remains' 

 to be seen of the old parts of the town, except 

 the form of their gardens, and a few ornamental! 

 trees. There is one great inconvenience in set- 

 tling near Red river ; the waters being neverj 

 clear, and always brackish. Wells, sunk near the: 

 river, have brackish and unpleasant water. There 

 are some tolerable springs, but the inhabitants 

 are obliged principally to depend on rain water. 



Near Natchitoches are two large lakes, one a 

 mile, and the other six miles distant. One of thei 

 lakes is* thirty, and the other fifty or sixty miles: 

 in circumference. These lakes are connected 

 with the river by bayaus. When the water rises: 



