FACE OF COUNTRY, See.—BOOK I. $7 
that a fort was built by La Salle, on the bay of St. Bernard; it 
is said that its remains are still visible. The United States have 
declared the Sabine to be the boundary of the State of Louisiana, 
but there is no declaration how much further our claim may be 
considered as extending. Should Mexico achieve her indepen¬ 
dence, the amicable disposition which will probably be felt will 
render this more easy of arrangement. It would not'be difficult 
to fix this boundary by taking either the Trinity, Brasses de Dios, 
or Guadaiotipe, of the bay of St. Bernard, following the course 
of one of these rivers to its source, from thence pursuing a N. 
W. direction to the Cordilleras, and following these so as to in¬ 
clude all the waters of the Mississippi and of the Missouri. Na¬ 
cogdoches, St. Antonio, Labourdi, and a few other inconsider¬ 
able settlements, would be the only ones included. Other ar¬ 
rangements might perhaps be made still more to the satisfaction 
of the parties. 
It is not more easy to assign the boundary to the N. W. and 
N. Perhaps the 50° of N. latitude would be the most certain an$ 
just. 
CHAPTER III. 
FACE OF THE COUNTRY-CHANGE WHICH A PART HAS PRGBA" 
ELY UNDERGONE-CLIMATE-EXTENT AND IMPORTANCE. 
This extensive portion of North America, has usually been 
described from a small part which is occupied by the ^settle¬ 
ments ; as though it were limited to the borders of the Mississip¬ 
pi, as Egypt is confined to the vicinity of the Nile. Some repre¬ 
sent it, in general description, as a low flat country, abounding 
in swamps and subject to inundation. Others speak of it as one 
vast wilderness; 
“Missouri marches through his world of woods.* 9 
But if Louisiana were to be described like other countries not 
from a particular spot, but from its general appearance, we 
should say that it is an extensive region of open plains and mea¬ 
dows, interspersed with bare untillable hills ? and having some 
