S22 



LOUISIANA. 



Barataria, Vermilion, Cote Blanche, and Atchajalaya Bays, are the largest, but are of little 

 service for siiipping. 



6. Climate. What we have said of Florida, and the southern parts of Mississippi and Ala- 

 bama, will apply in substance to this State. In the level and swampy districts, the summers 

 are unhealthy. The yellow fever is a frequent visiter of these parts, particularly in the neigh 

 borhood of New Orleans. 



7. Soil. A great part of the surface of this State is periodically overflowed by the waters 

 of the Mississippi. From a survey, made by order of the government of the United States, 

 in 1823, it was found that the river inundated an extent of above 5,000,000 acres, a great pro- 

 portion of which is rendered unfit for cultivation in its present state. This immense allu- 

 vial tract embraces soil of various descriptions, which may be arranged into four classes. The 

 first, which is thought to be equal to two thirds of the whole, is covered with heavy timber, and 

 an almost impenetrable undergrowth of cane and other shrubbery. This portion is quickly 

 drained, as the river retires into its natural channels, and has a soil of the greatest fertility. The 

 second class consists of cypress swamps. These are basins, or depressions of the surface, 

 from which there is no natural outlet, and being filled with water by the floods, remain covered 

 with it until the water is evaporated or absorbed by the earth. These, by draining, might 

 become excellent rice fields. The third class embraces the sea marsh, a belt of land partially 

 covered by common tides, but subject to inundation from the high waters of the gulf during 

 the equinoxial gales ; it is generally without timber. The soil in some parts is clayey, and in 

 others, as black as ink, and cracks by the heat of the sun into fissures wide enough to admit a 

 man's arm. The fourth class consists of small bodies of prairie lands, dispersed in different 

 parts of the alluvial territory. These spots are elevated, and without timber, but of great 

 fertility. 



The pine woods have generally a poor soil. The interval lands upon the rivers or bottoms, 

 as they are universally termed in the Western States, are almost always rich. On the Red 

 River, the soil contains a portion of salt, and is of a dark-red color, from the oxide of 'ron. 

 A great proportion of the prairies are second-rate land, and some of them are sterile. The 

 richest tract in the State, is a narrow belt called the coast, lying along the Mississippi on both 

 sides, and extending from 150 miles above New Orleans, to 40 miles below. It is from 1 to 

 2 miles wide, and lies below the level of the river in ordinary inundations. It is defended 

 from the river by a dike or levee, 6 or 8 feet in height, and sufficiently wide for a highway. 

 The whole of this tract is under cultivation, and produces the richest crops of sugar. 



8. Face of the Country. Three fourths of the State are an unvaried level. In the west- 

 ern part, are some ranges of low hills. The pine forests occupy an undulating surface, some 

 times with table eminenc 's and valleys, 30 or 40 feet deep. Swamps abound towards the sea. 

 On the whole, Louisiana presents the appearance of an immense plain, divided into pine 

 forests, prairies, alluvions, swamps, and hickory and oak lands. The prairies are the most re- 

 markable feature of the country, and occupy a great portion of its surface. The prairie of the 

 Attakapas, in the southern part, west of the Mississippi, contains 4,000 or 5,000 square miles. 

 It is an immense plain of grass, pasturing cattle and horses, and supporting a large population. 

 This plain is open to the gulf, and fanned by the refreshing breezes of the sea. Further west, 

 is the Opelousas prairie, containing about 8,000 square miles. It is divided by bayous, wood- 

 ed spots, and other natural boundaries, with a pine forest on the north, and the gulf on the 

 south. It contains cotton and indigo plantations, vast flocks of sheep, and herds of cattle. Still 

 further west, are the Sabine and Calcasiu prairies ; but these are only different names given to 

 the long extent of prairie which reaches to the Mexican frontier. They are generally, to appear- 

 ance, a fruitful level, yet have slight undulations, and an imperceptible slope towards the gulf. 

 On the shore they terminate in marshes, covered with tall cane-grass. In many parts of them, 

 are oases of timbered land, which exhibit clumps and towers of verdure, rising from the midst 

 of an ocean of grass. Wherever a stream crosses the prairie, it is marked with a fringe of 

 trees along its whele course 



