USA > Louisiana > Sketches, historical and descriptive, of Louisiana > Part 13
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gratings about six inches asunder, with apertures about two inches square, where strangers may see and converse with the nuns and boarders on particular business. Near to the main building, and on the street, stands an old school house, where the female children of the citizens appear at certain fixed hours to be gratuitously instructed in writing, reading, and arithmetic. This religious institution is possessed of considerable funds. Each nun on taking the final vow, or black veil, deposits fifteen hundred dollars, if she be able, which becomes part of the common stock, and cannot be alienated. The church belonging to the convent is small,
: - and was the gift of a gentleman who died a few years ago at New Orleans. Ile was in early life a notary, and by various speculations amassed an immense property, and failed at last to leave an unspotted name behind him. IIe likewise built the cathedral church and charity hospital, and endeavoured by acts of beneficence near the end of his days, to atone for the errors of his youth.
The charity hospital stands on the westerly or back part of the city. Poor Spanish subjects, and sometimes strangers, (provided they paid half a dollar per day) were admitted into this asylum. Those entirely destitute were admitted gratis. They had medicine, sustenance, and other aid, afforded them.
The government house stands on the front street, and on the fifth square, reckoning from the upper side, and -one hundred feet from the river. It is an ancient build- ing, erected by the French, and two stories high, with galleries or arcades round the whole of it. The lower front was formerly occupied by the governmental. secre- tary, and the clerks of offices. This structure is indif- ferent, both as to architecture and convenience.
On the southwesterly part of the same square were the lodges and stables of the regular dragoons; which, with . the garden belonging to the government house, occupy about four fifths of the square.
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On the corners of the second and third squares, lower down, are the public stores, built of brick, extending about thirty five feet on front street, and about two hunt dred feet on a cross street. They are one story high, and were built by the French.
On the opposite, or southerly side of the stores, is the artillery yard, or ordnance depot.
Opposite to this, on the very bank of the river, is the market house, which is usually furnished with beef, pork, some mullard and veal; fish of several sorts in abun- dance, and cheap; wild ducks and other game in season ; tame turkies, fowls, ducks, and geese; and vegetables of all kinds during the whole year.
The Spaniards had the advantage of a free school, in which boys were instructed in the rudiments of their language. The two teachers attached to it were paid by the crown.
The grand powder magazine of the French and Spani- ards, is situated over against the government house, on the opposite side of the river, where a guard was always stationed, and generally relieved weekly.
During the administration of the baron Carondelet, be- tween 1.91, and 1796, a ditch was extended round the city, of about eighteen feet in width, with ramparts of earth, and palisades nearly six feet high along the interior or inner side of them. Five large bastions were erected at proper distances, and likewise five intervening re- doubts. The bastions were regularly constructed. Each of them was furnished with a banquette, rampart, para- pet, ditch, covered way, and glacis. The curtains were . whoily formed of palisades, planted at a small distance from each other, and therefore not capable of much de- fence even against musket balls; they had a banquette within, and a ditch and glacis without. A small redoubt or ravelin was placed in the center of each bastion; and all the latter were of sufficient size to admit of sixteen em-
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brasures, four in each face, three in each flank, and two in the gorge facing the city.
These works of defence were badly supplied with ord- nance. Few of the bastions were furnished with more than four or five pieces of cannon. That on the east or lower end of the city, had its full complement; and the covered way was likewise pretty well supplied. This ar- rangement or distribution of the ordnance was rather sin- gular ; it seemed to be mounted on those places the most invulnerable, and the least liable to be attacked. An as- sault by way of the sea was hardly to be expected, espe- cially as the river was well defended eighteen miles be- low, and as a fleet wholly unobstructed by land batteries, would find it extremely difficult to ascend against the ra- pidity of the current. The south west bastion, with a counterguard and traverses, and a small redoubt on the back of the river, constituted the whole defence on the up- per side of the city. The first was usually supplied with ten or twelve, and the second with five pieces of cannon. Not more than ten pieces, however, could be brought to bear on any body of men descending the river. As soon as an enemy landed on the open banks, which was by no means difficult, the bastions became totally useless. A skilful officer at the head of disciplined troops, in any de- gree acquainted with the country, would have experienc- ed no great trouble from these works, especially as they were mostly defended by raw militia, among whom re- gular duty was irksome, and considered as a grievance.
'The inhabitants and others passed in and out of the ci- ty by means of four gates. The two next the river were the most considerable, and they were situated sixteen hundred and twenty yards from each other. The two in the rear, or on the back part of the city, were of much less note ; one of them was placed on the road leading to Jake Pontchartraine : They were defended by a breast work of no great strength or utility. All the gates were
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of wood, formed of palisades ten or twelve feet long. They were shut every night at nine o'clock, and after that hour no one was permitted to walk the streets without leave from the governor; those who transgressed this re- gulation were seized by the guards, and detained till mor- ning. House servants, by particular indulgence, were sometimes allowed to pass the streets on business for their masters or mistresses till eleven o'clock.
Exclusive of the fire in 1794, already mentioned, New Orleans suffered by a prior one in 1788, when about nine hundred wooden buildings of all descriptions, mostly old, were reduced to ashes. Those built on their ruins have . contributed to the beauty of the city.
Such in some degree were the features of New Orleans at the time it fell into the hands of the United States. Since that period it has been greatly improved; populati- on has increased ; new springs are given to commerce, property immensely augmented in value; the works re- paired and strengthened, and much additional security af- forded to the capital of Louisiana.
The Delta comprehends all the low country between the sea and the elevated grounds. It extends on the east · side of the Mississippi. from the Balize to the neighbour- hood of Baton Rouge, and on the west side of that river from the gulf to the Chafalia, which is an outlet of the Mississippi just below the thirty first degree, and suppos- ed to be the old bed of Red river.
Nothing is more certain than that the Delta has gradu- ally risen out of the sea, or rather that it has been form- ed by alluvious substances, precipitated by the waters from the upper regions. It is calculated that, from 1720, to 1800, a period of eighty years, the land has advanced fifteen miles into the sea; and there are those who assert, that it has advanced three miles within the memory of middle aged men. The eastern part of New Spain along the gulf, exhibits abundant proofs of similar advances ;
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owing, perhaps, to the constant accumulation of sand by the trade winds, which is driven to the shore by the per- petual motion of the waves in that direction .-
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: It.is remarkable, that the banks of the river are much : more elevated than the circumjacent country. This is oc- casioned by a more copious deposition along the margins, than at a distance from them. These are thickly covered with grass, and a vast variety of ligneous plants, which serve to! filtrate the waters in their progress to the low grounds and swamps, and to retain the greatest proportion of the alluvious substances. . Hence the lands along the the banks to a certain depth, generally from four hundred to seven hundred yards are excellent for tillage; while the whole surface in the rear of them, extending to the -sea, is alternately covered by lakes and impassable swamps.
The waters precipitated over the banks never return in- to the same channel. Those from the west bank of the Mississippi find innumerable passages to the gulf; while those from the opposite bank fall into the lakes, which may be considered as arms of the sea, and bid fair to be reclaimed in time from the ocean.
'That the Delta has been thus reclaimed may be infer- red from a variety of circumstances, particularly from the existence of a vast number of logs and trees at une- qual depths under ground, multitudes of which are found below the level of the ocean. These are buried in a sub- stratum of black earth, and already begin to be decompo- sed, and converted into fossil fuel.
The Mississippi, near its confluence with the sea, is di- . vided into five branches, and of course has its embouchure in the gulf by means of five mouths. These are deno- minated the north east, the east, the south east, the south, and south west passes. 'They are from three to nine miles in length, and furnish a sufficient depth of water for the largest ships, except on their bars. The east pass
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called the Balize, has about seventeen feet of water on the bar, and is the one usually navigated. The south pass' was formerly of equal depth, but is now gradually filling up. The south west pass has from eleven to twelve feet of water. "The north east and south east passes are- traversed only by small craft. On the south side of the east pass, about three miles from the bar, is the pilot house, and a framed look-out house, about sixty feet - high, where several men reside. They make use of row boats, and seldom venture out to sea, except in good wea- : ther. All vessels, of whatever tonnage or size, paid a pilotage under the Spanish government of twenty dollars. "About thirty miles above the Balize, bounded on each side by a strip of low marsh, covered with. a species of reed of considerable height and strength, is the fort of Plaquemine, so called from a persimmon grove, which formerly covered the ground where the fort now stands. Under the Spanish government it was furnished with eighteen cannon, some of them of a large calibre, and garrisoned by fifty men. A redoubt was erected on the opposite side of the river, where ten men were stationed. Each of these. works had a galley attached to it.
For some distance from the sea, the country is a low marsh, and without trees. These begin to make their appearance some distance below the fort ; but no plan- tations of any consequence exists, till within twenty seven miles of New Orleans. Even at that distance be- low the capital, none of the land, except a strip of a- bout four hundred yards in breadth on the river, is_fit for cultivation. The plantations are usually about one mile and a half in length, and laid out at right angles with the course of the river ; so that at least five sixth parts of each plantation, extend into the cypress swamps. These swamps are about six miles in depth, and bound- ed in the rear by inundated salt marshes, extending to the lakes.
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Forty two miles above Plaquemine, is the first saw mill. Thirty six of these mills were formerly in opera- tion between this place, and sixty miles above New Orle- ans. They were put and kept in motion by the waters of the Mississippi, which served them from the first of Fe- bruary till about the last of July. 'They were mostly en- gaged in sawing boards for sugar cases, which were sent to the Havanna. Twelve of these mills ceased to work in 1798, when the manufacture of indigo in the Delta was almost wholly exchanged for that of sugar. The o- - ther mills continued to saw boards for home consumption, as likewise building timber of various dimensions. No other wood than white and yellow cypress, was sawed, and the last was deemed the best for most purposes.
About fifty one miles from Plaquemine begins the En- glish turn, or detour des Anglois. Here the course of the river varies from north to west, then to east, then to north again, and then to west by south, in a distance of little more than seven miles. This place is about eighteen miles below New Orleans.
' On the east side of the Mississippi, and about twelve miles below New Orleans, a dry strip of land extends from the river in a direction towards the lakes, where it terminates at the distance of about twenty miles. This tongue of land, called the Terre au Bœuf, is about a mile in width, and divided in the center by a creek or bayou ; and, like the Mississippi, is bounded on each side by cy- press swamps. This tract is mostly settled by Spaniards from the Canaries, who are poor, and generally cultivate the land themselves. They plant the sugar cane, which they sell, or grind on shares at the sugar mills of their more opulent neighbours; and at the same time raise a variety of articles for the market at New Orleans. The soil of this tract is excellent ; it affords plenty of timber, and contained at the time of the cession about eight hundred souls.
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Between this place and New Orleans, there are several fine sugar estates. The Delta in 1803, contained eighty one of them. - The houses of the planters are comforta- ble but not elegant. Their plantations front on the river, and are from three fourths of a mile to a mile and an half in depth. The : lands situated on the projections formed by the incurvations or inflections of the river, are deemed much the most valuable. Some of these planters. are affluent, and possess from thirty to sixty slaves.
But the most wealthy of this class are to be found a- bove the city, some of whom before the cession, made crops valued from ten to sixteen thousand dollars. Since that period the number of slaves has increased ; sugar estates are cultivated on a more extensive scale, and the number of them greatly multiplied; so that the annual crops of some are now worth from twenty five to thirty thousand dollars. As population and industry advance, . this article of luxury, wealth, and commerce, will be still more abundantly cultivated. 'The sugar cane is not raised above the island of Orleans, nor is it believed that the climate will admit of it. No sugar estates are found more than one hundred miles above the city; but cotton is cultivated in all parts of the country.
South west of the city is another elevated dry strip of land, which is deemed highly valuable.
`The road leading from the back part of the city, forks two miles from the Mississippi. The one on the right runs north east on a tongue of land, about half a mile in width, generally known by the name of Chantilly, and terminates in marshes and swamps at the distance of about twenty miles. The one on the left extends about west, crosses St. John's creek over a drawbridge, and intersects the river road about fifteen miles above the city.
'This creek or bayou, heads in a cypress swamp south west of New Orleans ; and, after meandering about six miles, in a north by east direction, falls into lake Pont-
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chartraine. The depth of the water in it varies from three to nine feet, as it happens to be affected by the winds, and the rise and fall of the lake. From the bar to the canal of Carondelet, there is usually from nine to ten feet of water.
This canal rises in a basin directly behind the charity hospital, which is sufficiently capacious to accommodate , several small vessels. It extends in a direct line about two miles to St. John's creek, and is about twenty feet wide. This is of great advantage to the city, particularly as the products of the lake and back country, such as fish, lime, tar, pitch, and various other articles, find an easy water access to the inhabitants; whereby a difficult and expensive cartage of three miles from the bridge is avoid- ed. This canal was partly excavated by condemned cri- minals, and partly by laborers hired for the purpose, and paid out of a fund raised by subscription among the inha- bitants.
"' The lakes and fresh water streams supply the market with fine sea and other fish. Oysters and crabs are plen- . ty .. 'The Mississippi is not remarkable for good fish. 'This part of it, however, furnishes plenty of excellent eels, shrimps, and a species of small sturgeon; seldom more than three feet long, with a soft shell resembling the sea turtle. It produces a kind of fresh water sheep-head, and likewise the carp or buffaloe fish, both of which are indifferent. The poisson armé, a kind of gargraws, is an inhabitant of this part of the river; it is usually eight or nine feet long, and has tremendous teeth and scales ; the latter of which resist the sharpest hatchet, and have the appearance of a concretion of flinty substances. Cat fish a- bound in all parts of the Mississippi. Some of them weigh one hundred and seventy pounds ; though their weight ge- nerally varies from sixty to one hundred and twenty pounds. 'The old wife, or hickory shad, as they are called, appear in the river about the Delta. Alligators of various sizes are nu- merous in all the waters of the low country, particularly in the
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bavous and lakes. They are amphibious, and considered as harmless, except when attacked or wounded, though they sometimes destroy hogs and other small animals, found along the water courses. These, according to Buf- fon and other naturalists, are the crocodiles of Egypt, so terrible to the ancients, which animated the pens of his- torians and poets. Some of those in the Mississippi are fifteen feet long. They frequently ascend that river to the Arkansas. Great numbers of them are found on the lower part of Red river.
The people who live on the banks of the Mississippi, -prefer its water to any other. When filtrated, it is trans- parent, light, soft, pleasant, and wholesome. This great river not only fertilizes the country, but contributes to the health of the inhabitants in the warm regions. The salubrious quality of its water is attributed in part to the nitre and sulphur it contains, and in, part to its deep and rapid current; and, as it is precipitated from the cold re- gions, it tempers the fervid atmosphere on the lower Mis- sissippi, and renders it more healthful.
Such indeed is the depth of that river, and so bold its shores, that ships may discharge their cargoes on the banks at New Orleans, by means of a stage or bridge, supported by two forty feet spars. The depth of the wa- ter in the channel, at various places, is noticed in our ac- . count of that river. " The tides have little effect on the' water at New Orleans; they sometimes cause it to swell,. but never to slacken its current. Heavy winds roll in the water from the gulf, and cause sudden rises of the river, in some instances equal to a spring freshet. The differ- ence between the highest and lowest stages of water in the B.lize, is about three feet ; at the city about twelve feet; and this difference increases rapidly above the is- land of Orleans.
In ascending from New Orleans, the country rises gra- dually along the banks of the river, especially on the east
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side of it, though subject to inundation when not bank- ed out. "What is called the Levee, is a broad bank of , earth thrown up to confine the water of the Mississippi within its bed, and every man is obliged by law to make and keep that part of it in repair, which crosses the front of his lands. " These banks extend on both sides of the river from the lowest settlements to point Coupee on one side, and to the neighborhood of Baton Rouge on the other, except where the country remains unoccupied. Along these banks in high freshes the surface of the river is e- levated many feet above that of the adjacent lands, and exhibits a curious spectacle to the eye of the travel- ler. The great road, extending from the Mississippi territory to New Orleans, usually runs on the top of the Levee.
On the east side of the Mississippi, about one hundred and twenty miles above New Orleans, is the Ibberville, which is one of the outlets of that river during the fresh- es, and its waters flow into the lake Maurapas. In the season of low water its bed is always dry near the Mis- sissippi; but at some distance from that river, it has con- siderable water at all times. The river Amit, which heads in the Mississippi territory, joins the Ibberville, and near its junction stands the village of Galvez, con- taining thirty or forty houses.
On the west side of the Mississippi, from the sea to the mouth of Red river, a distance of about three hun- dred and fifty miles, the face of the country is similar to that just described on the opposite shore, though much more thinly inhabited. Not a gentle rise of ground, not even a hilloc, is presented to the eye, except a small ridge or clift, about one mile long, just below .the wealthy settlement of Point Coupee. All the land of a cultivable nature is contained in a narrow strip along the margins of the river, and its outlets; while the vast territory between this strip and the gulf to the south west, and west, about
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ninety miles in breadth, abounds in lakes and marshes, and is impassable by man, except along the water com- munications. That no more than one twenty seventh part . of the Delta is susceptible of cultivation, may be deduced from pretty accurate data.
This part of the Mississippi has three outlets from its right or west bank, which afford passages for part of its. superabundant waters, and two of them present a good boat navigation.
On ascending the river the first is called the La Fourche, about eighty one miles above New Orleans. The bed of this outlet is about ninety feet in width, and usually dry in the summer season for a few miles, when the wa- ter makes its appearance, probably collected from the swamps, and gradually deepens as it rolls towards the gulf.
The second is the Plaquemines, about thirty one miles still higher up the river. It so much resembles the La Fourche ' as to render a particular description of it in this place un- necessary. It unites with the Chafalia at some distance from the Mississippi, and contributes to improve the na- vigation from that union to the sea.
The third is the Chafalia, about one hundred and twen- ty eight miles above the Plaquemines, and three miles be- low the mouth of Red river. 'The upper end of this out- let is in a bend o: curve of the Mississippi, and in the sea- son of freshes the water rushes into it with great force, and is apt to carry boats and other craft along with it. This is supposed to be the old bed of Red river, particu- larly as the materials composing its banks exhibit the ( same color and features, which are entirely different from those exhibited by the banks of any other river in this quarter. No doubt the Mississippi once flowed more to the eastward. 'The remains or traces of an old bed on the east side of that river just below fort Adams, and the sudden change in the direction of the current from south
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to west, and even to north west, seem to favor the idea, that a junction was formed at some former period. The Mississippi is known to seek new channels; and there is good reason to believe, that it has from time to time va- ried its course from one extreme of its valley to the other. The channel of the Chafalia, a few miles only from the head of it, is completely obstructed by logs and other ma- terials. Were it not for these obstructions, the probabi- lity is, that the Mississippi would soon find a much near- er way to the gulf than at present; particularly as it ma- nifests a constant inclination to vary its course.
The distances of these outlets from each other, are es- timated by the course of the river, which is remarkably crooked. The Plaquemines and Chafalia gradually con- verge to each other, and finally unite about one hundred and fifty miles (following the course of the stream) from the upper end of the latter. This united stream finally empties itself, by a narrow mouth, into the gulf, about ninety miles to the westward of the Balize, and about the same distance on a straight line, from the upper end of the Chafalia, but about one hundred and eighty miles, following the serpentine progress of this outlet. It must be remembered, that we have no correct map of the country, and that the Spanish government was entirely unacquainted with its geography.
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