4 Map of the State of Louisiana, with part of the Mississippi Territory, from actual survey. By W. Darby. Entered according to act of Congress, the 5th day of April, 1816....

A Geographical description of the State of Louisiana: &c.-being, an accompaniment to the Map of Louisiana. By William 'Darby, Svo. Philadelphia,

America, 1816.

WE lately presented to our readers, at full length, the proposals of the city of New York to divert by labour and art, by means of a canal, of no trifling dimensions, what nature seemed to have determined to another-a southerly course. That plan was a counteraction to the articles before us. Some years have now elapsed since Spain relinquish ed Louisiana to France, and France sold the province to the United States. Not that the United States really wanted land, and was pressed for room, in the countries American population then occupied; but, because it was desirable to exclude French colonists from the neighbourhood; and because the Spanish settlers were less likely to be troublesome, to excite intrigues, or to support them.

prosperity of the southern provinces,but whether, without regret, may be doubted. To anticipate and prevent the complaints of future ages, against the tizens of New York devised their grand pusillaniurity of their forefathers, the cicanal. To shew that Louisiana is susceptible of incalculable prosperity, withthan nature has already provided, is one out the interference of any canal, other of the objects of this Map and Volume. As a Map, it certainly is the best extant of the Province; it appears to be a faithful delineation of what the author surveyed; and as he acted under the sanction of Government, there can be no doubt of his having enjoyed facilities superior to those obtainable by any person, whose protection was merely that of private authority.

this survey was undertaken. The auNearly eleven years have elapsed since thor considers the tide of population as rushing very fast to the banks of the Mississippi ; and the valley of the Mississippi as the receptacle, for ages to come, of emigrants from the eastern slope of that chain of mountains, by which the American territories are divided. He conceives that the least discerning must be able to trace (in this valley) the future migrations of wealth and power, and determine, as far as human foresight can penetrate, the destiny of the United States,"

It was natural, that the United States should accurately survey the purchase made, and beside marking the boundaries with sufficient exactness should wish for a full acquaintance with the advantages derivable from all its parts. This would present a favourable side of the question; and this again would hold out a powerful temptation to settlers to direct their yet undetermined steps to a province of which so much good was reportable; and too much exposed to heat and

ed.

tance to the province of Louisiana, that, This representation gives an imporwe confess, we had not attached to it. Hitherto it has been imperfectly explored, and our acquaintance with it has been imperfect, of course. We had considered it as being too much the receptacle of stagnant waters to be agree

its effects, to be salubrious. Mr. Darby The Mississippi is that to Louisiana assures us, that these are unfounded which the Nile is to Egypt; and it was prejudices; and they may be so; but clear that if the trade furnished by its the sight of his map has not contributed banks, and by those of the numerous rivers which from high northern lati-that the Great River not only pursues a to remove them. From that we learn tudes, enlarge its waters by their tributary streams, were consigned to the ocean and to Europe, by means of this magnificent river, that the States to the east of its course would sigh in vain for participation; and would hear of the

more tortuous course than we had con-
ceived; but that it leaves behind it, in
several places, ample proofs of having
repeatedly changed its bed.
proofs consist in lakes of water now
stagnant; which, whether innocent-er

Those

noxious, can only be determined by the experience of the vicinity.

two hundred feet of elevation, clothed with
pine, oak, and various other trees, often
affording most delightful prospects to the
eye. The eastern range is higher, more
broken and abrupt than the western, and
as has been observed abound[s] with pe-
trifactions, which are met with much more
rarely on the western bank. Along the
margin of the water grows the white thorn,
hawthorn, and other dwarf trees, forming
an elegant natural border. Many small
prairies (meadows) of eight or ten acres in
extent, spread themselves over the pro-
cultivated, but romantic scene.
jecting banks, and diversify this wild un-

A large portion of the Province is the gift of the Great River. That has brought down in its long course from the north, thousands and millions of particles, abraded from the higher grounds, which it has slowly deposited. These deposits, in the course of ages, have formed land; and the river has encroached on the sea, and, (apparently) still continues encroaching. There are a number of islets, waiting, as it were, to join the main land; and there is one of the two peninsulas which stretch into the sea, below New Orleans, that is very little raised above the level of the waves. Naturalists, and others, sometimes wish to behold the operations of nature on a great scale: they may be beheld in Louisiana; but their progress is so slow, that human life is wasted in contemplation of the scene, and the philosopher finds himself grown grey before their full developement meets his wishes: Nature continues acting after the patience of man is tired, or his existence exhausted. The same causes continue to produce the same effects, if their powers continue the same; but, if they be diminished, the process is dimin-agency of the waters of the Red River; ished also; and this can only be known to succeeding generations, by their examination of the records consecrated to science by their ingenuons predecessors, Hence the use of history, the value of the labours of the learned, the advan tages derived from observations made = centuries ago. Hence the use of cor

rect maps, shewing boundaries, land and water; and marking as bays or shallows those estuaries, which future ages will find consolidated, and describe them accordingly. We cannot have a better opportunity of inserting observations on a subject so interesting. Says our author:

Lake Bistineau presents to the traveller a singular picture of recent change on the face of nature. The map will exhibit the position of this lake, its communication with Red river, and its relative extent: but no representation upon a map can convey an adequate idea of its peculiar physiognomy.

The land along both banks of the lake Bistineau rise [s] into hills from one to

But what renders this lake an object of peculiar interest is, the proof it affords of the continual change effected in those alluviatic regions by the slow, but never The medium ceasing action of water. depth is from 15 to 20 feet, and at the lowest stage never less than ten or twelve along the principal body of the water, though the remains of cypress trees of all sizes now dead, and most of them with tops broken by the winds, yet remain standing in the deepest part of the lake, The quality of resisting the action of the air and water for which the cypress is so remarkable, has been the cause why so many ruins of that tree remain in Bistineau, to attest the ancient situation of the country.

This lake has been formed by the

and probably will become meadow land, in time, by the same agency, uninterruptedly continued. No tree will exist with its roots constantly under water: cypress perishes when submersed throughout the · All other species of timber decay, much more rapidly.

the

year.

The progress of desiccation seems be marked by a superabundant popula tion of that troublesome, and even dangerous insect, the mosquito. By its numbers it forbids, the approaches of man and quadrupeds, and maintains its dominions, in spite of human inventions and ingenuity. There is something very ingenious in our author's attempt to account for the prevalence of this insect in places not yet fit for human residence.

We insert the passage at length.

The musquito, that animal of which no much has been said, now presents in the swamps and woods adjacent to lakes or marshes, its millions. This troublesome little insect, is so constantly found most numerous near wet places, and where the

how many of her most important secrets are yet concealed from our knowledge? Too often has learning and industry been exhausted on trifles, whilst subjects, upon which depend the welfare of millions have been neglected.

The question is not unworthy the attention of naturalists; and the rather as it introduces an idea of providential benevolence, where previously it was not discerned. The same principle, no doubt, might be extended to thousands of other particulars in nature, could we but enlarge our views correctly to the benefit concealed beneath a deterring aspect.

That the quantity of water which once flowed through this country was greater than what passes at present, Mr.. Darby has no doubt. "No reasonable doubt, says he, can remain after a careful survey of the country, of the diminution the aquatic empire has experienced in Louisiana."-" Places that are now twenty to thirty feet above the highest water, were evidently once periodically submerged."

now retiring floods have left the earth in a damp state, that we have often been tempted to believe it a vigilant sentinel placed by nature at the portals of disease, to warn man to beware. The musquito is certainly, of all the works of the creation, endowed with life and motion the most eternally active; its voracious appetite keeps it ever on the wing; every pond is its native bed; every leaf in the swamps its dwelling; and the blood of all animals through whose skin it can pierce its fine attenuated proboscis, its food. The never ceasing hum of these creatures, awakens in the mind of the person exposed to their bite, the most disagreeable sensations; they are the insect hydra; destroy them by hundreds, other hundreds succeed. Nothing but flight from their abodes, or a curtain that bars their attacks, will defend the traveller from their cruel ferocity. But, notwithstanding what is said of the musquito, it is much less injurious than has been represented, and certainly produces beneficial consequences, by obliging men to avoid low, damp, marshy land in summer. Early in the morning, and in the evening, the musquito is most active, times when the miasma of those places is most dangerous. It might be perhaps with propriety considered, a not defective method to estimate the general health of any given place, by the quantity of these musquitoes. Authors of credit have contended that the abundance of noxious insects, such as locusts and musquitoes, indicate a state of air injurious to the health of warm blooded animals, particularly man, and quadrupeds. That this idea is not unfounded in fact, there are many reasons to conclude. The present year, 1811, is remarkable for the great numbers of musquito, for the prevalence, with an unusual degree of violence, of bilious complaints, and the existence of the yellow fever in New Orleans. When the months of June and July usher uncommon quantities of these creatures, it would be prudent to prepare for approach-is a flux and reflux as the water in the ing danger in the three ensuing months. river and lake preponderate in height. The Spanish lake and Natchitoches lakes It is certainly one of Nature's hidden myste- are examples. When the Red river comries why locusts, flies, musquitoes, and other mences its annual rise, the waters run animals, of the insect tribes, should so im-with a strong current into the lake, which measurably differ in quantity in succeed-gradually filling, return[s] the water into ing seasons. No reason has yet been adduced to account for this fact, a fact far too little attended to by naturalists. Experience has too clearly established the union between uncommon production of those animals, and a state of air productive of sickness and death to man, to permit scepticism to doubt the truth. After all our deep researches into the works of nature,

The beds for the lakes by the sides of the rivers are altogether singular: they are much lower than the bottom of the channel of the river;→→→→→

From the appellation we would be lcd to believe them the constant repository of water, though in reality they are reser oirs emptied and filled annually by the nature.

and of

In the fall months. aiter the waters have been drained by the depression of the rivers, the beds of most of the lakes become dry, and exhibit a meadow of succulent herbage, with channels for the waters that continue meandering through them.

In the channels of most, there

the river with equal velocity, when the de-. pression of the river, by the summer heats, begin[s] to take place. This flux and reflux is continual; the channel, that forms the communication between the lakes and river, are never dry. Most of the lakes have the pine woods on one side of them from which issue fine clear creeks of water, whose pellucid currents compensate

to the inhabitants the unpalatable waters of Red river,

The Mississipi brings down with it vast trees and masses of timber, which like a rude neighbour it deposits on the premises of another. The Atchafalaya river opens into the Mississipi, which takes the opportunity of throwing in its timber, and forming what are called rafts,-of twenty miles in length!!

A general error has prevailed that the raft or body of timber that choaks this river, impedes the issue of water from Mississippi. A moment's examination of the map will serve to remove this impression. The distance from the Mississippi to the head of the raft is twenty-seven miles, and the current of the Atchafalaya extremely rapid. By the inclination of the plane, along which the Atchafalaya runs, and the irresistible impetus given to the stream by the peculiar assemblage of waters at its efflux; this river suffers no diminution by the raft; but the bank for some distance above, and contiguous to this enormous mass of timber, rendered much more liable to inundation. From the great importance of the Atchafalaya as a channel of communication with some of the most valuable parts of Louisiana, and the singularity of this place, the reader will indulge a discussion of some length on the subject.

tion, to which superadding its recent formation, render either the solidity of its structure, or the growth of large timber impossible. Some small willows and other aquatic bushes are frequently seen amongst the trees, but are too often destroyed by the shifting of the mass to acquire any consi derable size. In the fall season, when the waters are low, the surface of the raft is perfectly covered by the most beautiful Hora, whose varied dyes, and the hum of the honey bee, seen in thousands, compensate to the traveller for the deep silence and lonely appearance of nature at this remote spot. The smooth surface of that part of the river, unoccupied by the raft, many species of papilionaceous flowers, and the recent growth of willow and cotton trees, relieve the sameness of the picture; even the alligator, otherwise the most loathsome and disgusting of animated beings, serve to increase the impressive solemnity of the scene.

Another Flora of bolder hues,

And richer sweets, beyond our garden's pride
Along these lonely regions, where retir'd
From little scenes of art, great Nature dwells
In awful solitude.

ratum. The following estimate taken from admeasurement and observation on the spot, will give some idea of the quantity of timber, and the expense of its removal.

The rafts, as marked on the map, were their position in 1808; but no doubt will be found on any future examination, much changed. Whether the raft can be reI moved, and the expense of the undertak From the course of the bend of the Missising if practicable, has yet been a deside sippi, the incalculable quantity of trees that are annually brought down, are thrown mostly into the Atchafalaya, whose efflux lies most favourable to their reception. A small island which, at the outlet, points with some inclination into the Mississippi, aids the direction of the trees into the Atchafalaya, into which, when once engulphed, they are borne down with a rapidity that sets every obstacle at nought. It is now about thirty-eight years since the raft first stopped in the river, and has been encreasing ever since. The author of the sketch measured the banks of the river along the whole length of the raft, and some distance above and below, and who had the opportunity of examining its contents three successive years, can vouch for the following facts.

The mass of timber rises and falls with the water in the river, and at all seasons maintains an equal elevation above the surface. The tales that have been narrated respecting this phenomenon, its having timber of large size, and in many places being compact enough for horses to pass, are entirely void of truth. The raft is in act subject to continual change of posi

Ten miles of raft, multiplied by the width of the river generally, about 10 chains or 220 yards, will give the following result; -35,848,000 superficial feet 286,748,000 solid feet 2,240,500 solid cords, allowing the timber eight feet depth. The distance between the extremities of the raft is upwards of twenty miles, but the whole distance not being filled up by timber, the aggregate of the raft in length is not far from ten miles, that distance was assumed as near the truth. The width of the river varies, but the medium width is about 220 yards.

This is one effectual impediment to the navigation of this river, the Atchafalaya. What a property, what a revenue, would it be thought in some parts of the world! Where it is, it is not only useless, but detrimental; and whether it will ever be worth the while of the United States to remove it, must remain a problem.

This

The Mississippi itself, as may easily be supposed, occupies a principal place in Mr. Darby's report. river is neither so wide, so deep, nor so rapid, as has usually been thought. From careful triangular measurement at Natchez, the medial width is found to be short of half a mile, er 880 yards.". The velocity of the stream has also been extremely exaggerated: Mr. Darby calculates it, in this part, at not more than one mile an hour. As to any hopes of restraining its waters within their banks, when at their height, our Author confesses that his are but weak. There is no convenient receptacle into which they may be drained; there is no outlet by which they could be carried off into the Sea, or otherwise definitively disposed of. If, by means of sluices, or other contrivances, this immense stream could be controuled, it would add much to the security and salubrity of the province. Mr. D. pro poses, nevertheless, to form a communication between this river and some others, and to discharge a part of its superfluous water into them. The bauks of the Mississippi are higher than the surrounding lands; and when they are broken, or overflown by the waters, the inundation spreads for many miles, without controul, or any possibility of checking it.

Mr. Darby says very little from which the state of society in Louisiana may be gathered. He fulfils his duty as a Geographer, well; and he turns aside a little to convey information as a Naturalist; but as an Inspector of Human Nature, he does not affect to rank high. In a thinly-peopled country he could meet with few opportunities of investigating the manners of the Indians, or of the back settlers. The country does not abound in woods.

houses are chiefly wood; but brick is becoming more common.

By the census of 1810, New Orleans and suburbs contained 17,242 persons. There has been a constant, and sometimes a rapid increase since the period of taking the census.

An annual increment of 1,000 may be safely added, giving for the pretual number exceeds, rather than falls sent population 23,242 persons. The acshort of this estimate. No city perhaps on the globe, in an equal number of human beings, presents a greater contrast of na tional manners, language, and complexion, than does New Orleans. The proportion between the whites and men of mixed cast or black, is nearly equal. As a nation, the French amongst the whites are yet most numerous and wealthy; next will be of the British Islands. There are but few the Anglo-American; thirdly, the natives Spaniards or Portuguese-some Italians; and scattering individuals of all the civi lized nations of Europe.

Much distortion of opinion has existed, and is not yet eradicated in the other parts of the United States, respecting public mo rals and manners in New Orleans. Divested of pre-conceived ideas on the subject, an observing man will find little to other commercial cities; and will find that condemn in New Orleans, more than in noble distinction of all active communities, acuteness of conception, urbanity of manners, and polished exterior. There are few places where human life can be en joyed with more pleasure, or employed to more pecuniary profit.

This was the least Mr. Darby could say, on the Metropolis of a province where he spent many years, and was well received. Our present number records a stronger proof, in the establishment of a Bible Society, which may, happily, be the forerunner of many other excellent things..

We have hinted our suspicion that the writer has treated his subject with extreme candour. He has brought up The only town worth describing is no evil report. He has taken occasion, the Metropolis, New Orleans, This when something unpleasant is to be stands on the left bank of the Missis- said, to quote the authority of other sippi, in N. lat. 29° 57' in long. W. writers. He has shewn the fair face of of Greenwich 909 8'. West of Wash-Louisiana. We are not aware that any ington city 13° 9' about one hundred of our emigrating countrymen will be and five miles above the bar at the tempted by his representation to select mouth of the river. It occupies 1,320 Louisiana (for the book is not to be ob yards along the river, and 700 in width, tained in England) and, therefore, here from the river towards the swamp. The we might close our report on this arti