_ ( 344 ) 

 vants of Don Dioniz very obliging, made good 

 cheer all the reft of the night : next morning our 

 guides took their leave of us, according to their 

 orders. We had now no need of them, for be- 

 fides the impofilbility of lofing our way to St. 

 Jofeph, w^: met at the houfe of Don Dioniz, a 

 Frenchman who was a foldier in his company, and 

 formerly a deferter irom the Maubile, who was 

 grown weary of the Spamfh fervice, where he was 

 dying of hunger, as he f id, tho ? he had good 

 enough pay : we had no great difficulty to prevail 

 with him to accompany us to St. Jofeph, and from 

 thence to Louifiana, provided he were able to ob- 

 tain his dilcharge. 



We arrived at five in the evening at St. Jofeph, 

 were we were perfectly well received by the go- 

 vernor. Here we met with two large fhallopsfrom 

 Biloxi with four French officers, who had come to 

 claim fome deferters, but found them not. We 

 had feen them on the day of Pentecofte, in a fmall 

 vefTel which was under fail, and went clofe by us ? 

 They did not probably touch at St. Jofeph, and in 

 Order to conceal their being deferters, had given 

 out the news which had alarmed us fo much the 

 evening before. Two Francifcans who officiated 

 in the chapel of the fort, being informed of my 

 arrival, came to offer me a bed in their houfe, 

 which I thankfully accepted. 



Moreover, I do not believe there is a place in the 

 known world, where one would think there was 

 lefs likelihood of meeting with men, efpecially 

 Europeans, than at St. Jofeph. The fituation of 

 this bay, its mores, the foil, every thing near it, 

 and indeed every circumftance about it, render the 

 reafons of fuch a choice utterly incornprehenf}b!e, 



A 



