VIEWS OF LOUISIANA., 
©b, 
orange, but more spherical, and covered with tubercles;* the gch 
lor, when at maturity, is a pale yellow. This fruit has been 
deemed poisonous, but perhaps without reason: in its green 
state, it gives forth when cut, a great quantity of milky fluid, 
which possesses a corrosive nature, blackening the knife, with 
which it is cut, like the pine apple. It would certainly be in gar¬ 
dens a highly ornamental tree; Mr. Chateau, of St. Louis, has 
planted one in his garden, which thrives well. The tree is found 
on the Osage, Arkansas, and other places west of the Missis¬ 
sippi;! it is said, in low, moist and swampy ground. The wood 
is remarkably heavy, scarcely yielding to lignum vitce, and of a 
' beautiful yellow. It might be of use in dyes, or for inlaying. The 
Indians use of it for war clubs, and for bows. 
There is a grape on the Missouri, found in the prairies, 
which ripens in the month of June, as far north as latitude 40®. 
It is very sweet and pleasant. A hundred writers, have spoken 
of the vines of the Illinois, with strange exaggeration. This 
forms a part of the pictures of the romancing writers, who first 
described Louisiana. Father Hennepin, describes the sugar 
cane , as growing spontaneously, on the banks of the Mississip¬ 
pi, and tells of purple clusters of grapes, imparting their rich 
hues to the gliding wave. Notwithstanding the figure the vines 
of this country have made in description, they are very little dif¬ 
ferent from those of the United States. Formerly a wretched 
sort of wine was made of the winter grape, but which is at pre¬ 
sent almost neglected. These vintages were never considered 
of much importance. The wine was made by bruising the 
grapes in a large tub; a heavy stone was then placed on them, 
to press out the juice, which flowed through an opening at the 
bottom into a vessel prepared for its reception.^ 
* See the voyage of Hunter and Dunbar up the Wabash. 
f I have seen one near Natchitoches, on the Red river. 
t Note by Mr. Bradbury. On the Ohio and on the Mississippi, there 
are two kinds of grapes, not found in the United States; vitis cestivalis 
and vitis vipyria ; the last is a very fine grape. There are also two spe¬ 
cies on the Missouri, the one described, and a white grape, said to be 
very fine. The change which all the American vines, undergo from cuL 
