( a8i ) 



with refpecl to religion : fooa after they even re- 

 called the miflionary, but he in his turn has now 

 left them, on rinding they liftened to all he was 

 able to fay with an indolence which he was unable 

 to get the better of. 



From the bottom of the lake or bay of the To- 

 nkas, were we to ufe canoes of bark, by a carry- 

 ing place of two leagues, ten might be faved in 

 the navigation of the river. Two leagues lower 

 than the Tonicas, on the right-hand, is Red river, 

 or Rio Colorado, at the entrance of which the fa- 

 mous Ferdinand de Soto, the conqueror of Flori- 

 da, ended his exploits and life together. This ri~ 

 ver runs eaft and weft for fome time, and then 

 turns to the fouth. For the fpace of forty leagues 

 it is navigable for pirogues, beyond which are no- 

 thing but impaflible moraffes. Its mouth feems to 

 be about two hundred toifes in breadth ; ten 

 leagues above, it receives on the right-hand Black- 

 river, otherwife called the river of the Ouatchitas, 

 which runs from the north, and for feven months 

 in the year, has little or no water in it. 



Notwithftanding, fome grants have been obtain- 

 ed here, which, in all probability, never will be 

 good for any thing \ the motive for thefe fettle- 

 ments is the neighbourhood of the Spaniards, which 

 has ever been a fatal temptation to this colony, and 

 through the hopes of trading with them, the beft 

 lands in the world have been left uncultivated. The 

 Natchitoches are fettled on the banks of the Red- 

 river, and we have thought proper to build a fort 

 amongft them, in order to prevent the Spaniards 

 from fixing themfelves nearer us. We encamped 

 on the 29th, a little below the mouth of the Red- 

 river, in a very fine creek. 



On 



