48 
lish engineer, the captain there, and the present Lieutenant- 
General Heldring, of the Netherlands, discharged that duty. 
Colonel Walton, secretary of state of Florida, who had just 
returned in a vessel from Talahasse, told me so much of the beau¬ 
tiful situation, and delicious country about that town, only laid 
out within a year, as well as of the interior of Florida, with its 
rising and falling springs and lakes, the discharge of which no 
one was acquainted with, that I was sorry I could not visit that 
place, to which the fourth regiment had marked out a road. 
Thirty miles from Talahasse, Prince Achille Murat, in company 
with the former colonel, now Mr. Gadsden, purchased much land, 
on which he will cultivate maize, cotton and sugar. M. Murat 
must be a young man of great spirit. It is, however, charged 
against him, that he has addicted himself to a low familiar be¬ 
haviour, in which he appears to wish to excel; that he chews to¬ 
bacco constantly, &c. 
I paid a visit to the catholic clergyman of this place, Abbe 
Mainhout, a native of Waerschot, in East Flanders. The Abbe 
came in 1817, with the bishop of Louisiana, Mr. Dubourg, as a 
missionary to the United States. This excellent man does very 
little credit to the climate, he is now just recovering from a se¬ 
vere fit of sickness. He is universally esteemed and loved on 
account of his exemplary conduct and learning: and as he is 
the only clergyman in the place, the inhabitants of whatever per¬ 
suasion they may be, resort to his church. He was pleased with 
my visit, particularly, as I brought him news from his native 
land. 
Colonel Clinch sent us his carriage, to carry us to the quarters, 
where Colonel Wool was to hold his inspection. Since the Eng¬ 
lish barracks have been burnt, the troops have been stationed 
out of town in preference, from apprehension of the yellow 
fever. There is a large wooden barracks built in a healthy 
situation, on an eminence two miles from town on the road to the. 
Barrancas, for the troops. These barracks in the phrase of this 
service are called cantonments, this one, after the colonel, is 
named cantonment Clinch. It consists of ten log-houses built in 
a row, under one roof. Each house is for a company, and con¬ 
tains two rooms. Before this long range of barracks, is a large 
parade, with a flag staff. Opposite to this are the officers quar¬ 
ters. The officers of each company have a house, which stands 
opposite to the barrack of their own soldiers. Behind the long 
building for the men, is the range of kitchens; behind this is the 
guard house and prisoners room, and still farther back in the 
woods, the etcetera. On the right wing is the colonePs house, 
placed in a garden surrounded by a palisade. The house is built 
