VI^WS OF LOUISIANA. 
yernment, to both, and give that right to the Mississippi terri- 
tory sooner than could be well expected without. But the great 
objections, and indeed they seem almost insurmountable, arise 
from the difficulty of subjecting that territory to the civil law, 
after having been so long accustomed to a different system; and 
to introduce the common law into this state, at once, would be 
highly impolitic, if practicable. 
With respect to the surface of the state, it may be easily 
comprehended under three general descriptions: 
I. The tract of Upland— 
II. The Alluvia and Sunken lands— 
III. The Prairies or Savannas— 
I. The tract of upland constitutes three-fifths of the whole 
state; all that part of Florida above Iberville, which has been 
added to the state, is of this description. For fifteen or twenty 
miles from the Mississippi it is covered with heavy timber, prin¬ 
cipally oak, poplar, walnut, the magnolia grandiflora, and a 
great variety of other laurels. After this, we find with little va¬ 
riation, open pine woods, excepting on the banks of the streams* 
which are numerous and pleasant. On the other side of the 
Mississippi, west of the alluvia (which are generally bounded 
by the Bayou Masson, Bayou Boeuf, and the Teche) the upland 
commences, covered, with but little variation, by the long leaf¬ 
ed pine. It is divided to the S. W. by the avenue of Red 
river, beyond this, it resumes its original appearance, with 
little interruption, west to the Sabine: but in advancing to 
the gulph of Mexico, a change is gradually perceived. Within 
thirty miles of the Opelousas church, the pine woods imper¬ 
ceptibly give place to groves of dwarf oak and hickory, with 
spots of ground covered only with grass; these groves appear 
only on the water courses, and we enter the boundless prairies 
of Opelousas. 
II. The prairies or savannas, and alluvia, scarcely constitute 
the other two-fifths of the state. Besides those on the Washita* 
and a few of no great extent, west of Black river, there are 
none of any consequence, except those of the Opelousas and 
Attakapas. These constitute a tract of nearly eighty miles in 
length, from east to west, and fifty in breadth. The prairies of 
