324 Hiftorîaal Journal of 



LETTER XXX. 



Journey from the Natchez to New Orleans, Defer iption of 

 the Country i and of fe^jeral Villages of the Savages, and of the 

 Capital of Louisiana. 



Madam, New Orleans, January 10. 



I Am at length arrived in this famous City, which they have 

 called la nouvelle Orleans, Thofe who have given it this 

 Name, thought that Orleans was of the feminine Gender: But 

 what fignifies that ? Cuftom has eflablillied it, and that is above 

 *the Rules of Grammar. 



This City is the iirft, which one of the greatell Rivers in the 

 A'^^rld has feen raifed on its Banks. If the eight Hundred fine 

 Houfes, and the live Parifhes, which the News-Papers gave it 

 fome two Years ago, are reduced at prcfent to a hundred Bar- 

 racks, placed in no very great Order ; to a great Store-Houfe, 

 built of Wood ; to two or three Houfes, which would be no 

 Ornament to a Village of France ; and to the half of a forry 

 Store-Houfe, which they agreed to lend to the Lord of the 

 Place, and which he had no fooner taken PoilefTion of, but they 

 turned him out to dwell under a Tent ; what Pleafure, on the 

 other Side, to fee infenfibly encreafmg this future Capital of a 

 fine and vail Country, and to be able to fay, not with a Sigh, 

 like the Hero of Virgil, fpôaking of his dear native Place con- 

 fumed by the Flames, and the Fields where Troy Town had been 

 (a), but foil of a well grounded Hope, this wild and defart 

 Place, which the Reeds and Trees do yet almoil wholly cover, will 

 be one Day, and perhaps that Day is not far off, an opulent 

 City, and the Metropolis of a great and rich Colony. 



You will afic me. Madam, on v/hat I found this Hope ? I found 

 it on the Situation of this City, at thirty-three Leagues from 

 the Sea, and on the Side of a navigable River, that one may 

 come up to this Place in twenty-four Hours : On the Fruitfulnefs 

 of the Soil ; on the Mildnefs and Goodnefs of its Climate, in 

 30^ North Latitude; on the Induftry of itsr Inhabitants ; on the 

 Neighbourhood of Mexico, to which Vv'e may go in fifteen Days 

 by Sea ^ on that of the Havannah, which is ilill nearer ; and of 



(a ) Et CampoS; ubi Troja fuit 



thç 



