NORTH AMERICA,, 
4^3 
inhabitants negledt agriculture, and generally em- 
ploy themfelves in hunting and hilling: we however 
furnifhed ouifelves here with a fuffieiency of ex- 
cellent Batatas. I obferved no new vegetable pro- 
du&Ions, except a fpecies of Cleome (Cleome lu- 
pinifolia) ; this plant poffeffes a very ftrong fcent, 
fo me what like Gum Affafetida, notwithstanding 
which the inhabitants give it a place in foups and 
fauces. 
From Taenfapaoa, we ftill coafted Wiflward* 
three or four miles, to the ftraits that communicate 
with the lake Maurepas; entering which and continu- 
ing fix or eight miles, having low fwampy land on each 
fide, the channel divides, forming an bland in the 
middle of the pafs: we took the right hand channel, 
which continues three or four miles, when the chan- 
nels reunite in full view of the charming lake. We 
came to at an elevated point, or promontory, on the 
iiarboard main fhore, it being the North cape, from 
whence I enjoyed a very pleafing and complete view 
of the beautiful lake Maurepas ; entering which 
next morning, a fteady favourable- gale foon wafted 
m nine or ten miles over to the mouth of the river 
Amite j afcended between its low banks ; the land 
on each fide a level fwamp, about two feet above 
the furface of the water, fupporting a thick foreft 
of trees, confiding chiefly of Fraxinus, NylFa aqua- 
tica, Nyffa multiflora, CuprefTus difticha, Quercus 
phillos, Acer rubrum, Ac. negunjo, Acer glaucum, 
Sambucus,Laurus Borbonia, Carpinus,Ulmus, and 
others. The foil or earth humid, black and rich* 
There is fcarcely a perceptible current: the water 
dark, deep, turgid and ftagnate, being from fhore 
to fhore covered with a fcum or pellicle of a green 
and purplifh call, and perpetually throwing up 
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