C 304 ) 



able nor the fea any calmer till towards four o'clock 

 in the evening, when a fhower of rain cleared the 

 Iky, which was very foggy, and laid the fea : but 

 about an hour or two after, the fog returned and 

 became fo thick, that not being able to fee our 

 courfe, we thought it bed to come to anchor. 

 The next day, the mid ftill continuing, M. Pauger 

 and I failed in the fhallop to the road of the ifland 

 aux Faijfeux, and about five in the evening went 

 afhore at Biloxi. 



This whole coaft is extremely flat, the merchant 

 vefTels not being able to approach nearer than 

 four leagues, and the fmalleft brigahtines not near- 

 er than two. Thefe laft are even obliged to get 

 farther off, when the wind blows from the north 

 or north-weft, or elfe Jy dry, as happened that very 

 night I landed. The road lies all along the ifland 

 aux Vaijfeaux, which ftretches about a league from 

 cad to weft, but is very narrow. To the eaft of 

 this ifland lies the ifland Dauphine, formerly called 

 Ijle Majfacre, where there was a tolerably conve- 

 nient harbour, which a blaft of wind deftroyed 

 in the fpace of two hours, not much above a year 

 ago, by choaking up its entrance with fand. To 

 the weftward of the ifle aux Vaijfeaux are the ijle 

 des Chats, or of Bienville^ the ijle a Ccrne, and the 

 ifiands de la Chandeleur. 



Biloxi is the coaft of the main-land, lying" to the 

 northward of the road, which name it has from 

 an Indian nation fettled here formerly, who .have 

 fince retired towards the north-weft, on the banks 

 of a fmall river, called the river of pearls, on ac- 

 count of fome quantity of bad pearls having been 

 found in it. A worfe place than this could not 

 have been chofen for the general quarters of the 



colony* 



