VIET^S OF LOUISIANA. 
M- 
\Vith hazels, and a few trifling thickets, of thorn, crab apple, or 
plum trees. At the first glance we are reminded of the environs 
of a great city ; but there are no country seats, or even plain 
farm houses: it is a vast waste, yet by no means a barren soil.—« 
Such is the appearance, until turning to the left, the eye again 
catches the Mississippi. A number of fine springs take their 
rise here, and contribute to the unaven appearance. The great¬ 
er part fall to the S. W. and aid in forming a beautiful rivulet, 
which a short distance below the town gives itself to the riv¬ 
er. I have been often delighted in my solitary walks, to trace 
this rivulet to its sources. Three miles from town, but within 
view, amongst a few tall oaks, it rises in four or five silver foun¬ 
tains, within short distances of each other : presenting a picture 
to the fancy of the poet, or the pencil of the painter. I have fan¬ 
cied myself for a moment on classic ground, and beheld the 
Naiads pouring the stream from their urns. 
Close to the town, there is a fine mill erected by Mr. Cho- 
teau, on this streamlet; the dam forms a beautiful sheet of water, 
and affords much amusement in fishing and fowling, to the peo¬ 
ple of the town. 
The common field of St. Louis v r as formerly enclosed on 
this bank, consisting of several thousand acres; at present there 
^ are not more than two hundred under cultivation ;* the rest of 
the ground looks like the worn common, in the neighbourhood 
of a large town; the grass kept down and short, and the loose 
soil in several places cut open into gaping ravines. 
St. Louis was first established in the spring of 1764. It w T as 
principally settled by the inhabitants who abandoned the village 
of Fort Chartres, on the east side of the Mississippi. The colo¬ 
ny flourished, and became the parent of a number of little vil¬ 
lages on the Mississippi and Missouri; Carondelet, St. Charles, 
Portage des Sioux, St Johns, Bon Homme, St Ferdinand, &c. 
From that abominable practice, of urging the northern Indi¬ 
ans against the settlers, this place suffered an attack which still 
excites bitter recollections. In 1779, a combination of the In¬ 
dian tribes, prompted by the English, attempted a general inva* 
* From the American mode of farming having been adopted. 
