69 
gradually to recover. The canal or bayou, which ran from his 
plantation to Lake Borgne, was shut up by order of General Jack* 
son after the retreat of the English, and there were not labourers 
sufficient left with General Villaret to reinstate it; it was of 
great importance to him for the conveyance of wood and other 
necessaries. 
We found at the generaPs, his sons, his son-in-law, Mr. La- 
voisne, and several gentlemen from the city, among them Go¬ 
vernor Johnson. We took some walks in the adjacent grounds. 
The house was not very large, and was not very much ornament¬ 
ed, for reasons already mentioned. Behind it was a brick sugar¬ 
boiling house, and another one for the sugar mill. Near that was 
a large yard, with stables and neat negro cabins for the house- 
servants. The huts of the field slaves were removed farther off. 
The whole is surrounded by cane fields, of which some were then 
brought in, and others all cut down. A field of this description 
must rest fallow for five years, and be manured, before being 
again set out in plants. For manure, a large species of bean is 
sown, which is left to rot in the field, and answers the purpose 
very well. The cane is commonly cut in December, and brought 
to’ the mill. These mills consists of three iron cylinders, which 
stand upright, the centre one of which is put in motion by a 
horse-mill underneath, so as to turn the other by crown-wheels. 
The cane is shoved in between these, and must pass twice through 
to be thoroughly squeezed out. The fresh juice thus pressed out, 
runs through a groove into a reservoir. From this it is drawn 
off into the kettles, in which it is boiled, to expel the watery 
part by evaporation. There are three of these kettles close to¬ 
gether, so as to pour the juice when it boils from one to the other, 
and thus facilitate the evaporation of the water. The boiling in 
these kettles lasts one hour; one set gives half a hogshead of 
brown sugar. In several of the plantations there is a steam-en¬ 
gine employed in place of the horse-power: the generaPs misfor¬ 
tunes have not yet permitted him to incur this expense. 
After dinner we walked in the yard, where we remarked se¬ 
veral Guinea fowls, which are common here, a pair of Mexican 
pheasants, and a tame fawn. Before the house stood a number 
of lofty nut-trees, called peccan trees. At the foot of one, Sir 
Edward PackenhanPs bowels are interred; his body was em¬ 
balmed and sent to England. In the fields there are numbers of 
English buried, and a place was shown to me where forty officers 
alone were laid. We took leave of our friendly host at sundown, 
and returned to the city. 
On Shrove Tuesday, all the ball-rooms in the city were open¬ 
ed. I went to the great masked ball in the French theatre. The 
price of admission was raised to two dollars for a gentleman, and 
