The Climate of Louisiana.—The Yellow Fever.
That a country, the fourth part of which consists of marshes, stagnant waters, rivers, and lakes, and which is so near the torrid zone, cannot be altogether healthy, is not to be denied. Although Louisiana is not so salubrious a country as the creoles or settlers inured to the climate, would persuade us that it is; on the other hand it is not the seat of the plague, or of continued disease, as the North Americans or Europeans imagine. Louisiana is no doubt a most agreeable country during the winter and spring. The former commences in December, and continues through January. Rains andshowers will sometimes fall, during several successive weeks, snow very seldom. North and north-east winds prevail; a south wind will occasionally change the temperature, on a sudden, from a northern April day to the heat of summer. The coldest winter experienced for twenty years past, was that of the year 1821; the gutters were choked up with ice, and water exposed in buckets, froze to the thickness of an inch and a half. Fahrenheit’s thermometer fell to 20° below zero. In this year, the orange, lime, and even fig-trees were destroyed by the frost.
Towards the close of January the Mississippi rises, and the ice of the Ohio breaks up. This river, seldom, however, causes an inundation. This is generally reserved for the Missouri, the principal river that empties itself into the Mississippi. With the month of February the spring breaks forth in Louisiana. Frequent rains fall in this month, the vegetation advances astonishingly, and the trees receive their new foliage. On the 1st of March we had potatoes grown in the open fields, pease, beans, and artichokes. South winds prevail alternatelywith north-west winds. The month of March is undoubtedly the finest season in Louisiana; there are sometimes night frosts, though scarcely felt by any one except the creoles, and the equally tender orange flowers. The thermometer is in this month at 68°–70°. At this time prevails a disease, the influenza, which arises from the sudden alternations of cold and warm weather; it has carried off several persons. It is always necessary to wear cotton shirts, whether in cold or warm weather. Towards the close of March, the fruit-trees have done blooming, the forests are clad in their new verdure, and all nature bursts out in the most exuberant vegetation; every thing develops itself in the country with gigantic strides. Already the musquitoes are beginning to make their troublesome appearance, and musquito bars become necessary. Still the heat is moderate, being cooled by the north winds and the refreshing waters of the Mississippi. May brings with it the heat of a northern summer, moderated however, by cooling north and north-east breezes. The thermometer is at 78° to 80°. At this season, frequent showers and hurricanescoming from the south, rage with the utmost fury in those extensive plains. With the month of June the heats become oppressive; there is not a breath of air to be felt; the musquitos come in millions; one is incessantly pursued by those troublesome insects. The worst, however, is, that they will sometimes force their way through the musquito bars. Nothing is more disagreeable than this buzzing sound, and the pain occasioned by their sting; they keep you from sleeping the whole night. Still they are not so troublesome as the millepedes, an insect whose sting causes a most painful sensation. In the month of July the heat increases. August, September, and October, are dangerous months in New Orleans. A deep silence reigns during this time in the city, most of the stores and magazines are shut up. No one is to be seen in the streets in the day time except negroes and people of colour. No carriage except the funeral hearse. At the approach of evening the doors open, and the inhabitants pour forth, to enjoy the air, and to walk on the Levee above and below the city. The yellow fever has not made its appearance since 1822. It is not theextraordinary heat which causes this baneful disease, the temperature seldom exceeding 100°. In the year 1825, when the thermometer rose in New York and Boston above 108°, it was in New Orleans, no more than 97°. It is the pestilential miasmata which rise from the swamps and marshes, and infect the air to a degree which it is difficult to describe. These oppressive exhalations load the air, and it is almost impossible to draw breath. If a breeze comes at all, it is a south wind, which, from its baneful influence, exhausts the last remaining force after throwing you into a dreadful state of perspiration. The years 1811, 1814, and 1823, were the most terrible of any for New Orleans. From sixty to eighty persons were buried every day, and nothing was to be seen but coffins carried about on all sides. Whole streets in the upper suburb, (inhabited chiefly by Americans and Germans) were cleared of their inhabitants, and New Orleans was literally one vast cemetery. Among the inhabitants, the poorer classes were mostly exposed to the attacks of the unsparing and deadly disease, as their situation did not permit them to stay at home; thus women werefor this reason, less exposed to its effects; and least of all the wealthiest inhabitants, who were not compelled to quit their dwellings. The creoles and others who were seasoned to the climate, were little affected. The creole, mulatto, and negro women, are said to be the most skilful in the cure of the disease. In 1822, hundreds of patients died under the hands of the most experienced physicians, when these old women commonly succeeded in restoring their own patients. Their preservatives and medicines are as simple as they are efficacious, and every stranger who intends to stay the summer in New Orleans, should make himself acquainted with one of these women, in case a necessity should arise for requiring their attendance. They give such ample proofs of their superior skill, as to claim in this point a preference over the ablest physicians.
The inhabitants are in general forewarned of the approaching disease, by the swarms of musquitoes; although they come in sufficient quantity every summer, they make their appearance in infinitely greater numbers previously to a yellow fever.
This is said to have been the case on the three occasions already mentioned. At such a time all business is of course suspended. The port is empty, the stores are shut up. Those officers alone whose presence is indispensable, or who have overcome the yellow fever, will remain with a set of wretches, who, like beasts of prey feed upon the relics of the dead, speculating upon the misery of their fellow creatures so far, as not unfrequently to buy at auctions the very beds upon which they have been known to expire in a few days afterwards. The first rain, succeeded by a little frost, banishes the deadly guest, and every one returns to his former business.
It is to be hoped, that this scourge of the land, if it should not be wholly extirpated, will at least become less prevalent for the future. The police regulations adopted during the last four years, have proved very effectual. Among these are a strict attention to cleanliness, watering the streets by means of the gutters, shutting up the grog-shops after nine o’clock; and removingfrom the city all the poor and houseless people, at the expense of the corporation, as soon as the least indication of approaching infection is perceived. These, and several other wise regulations will, it is hoped, contribute greatly to increase the population, and to give the new comers a firmer guarantee for their lives, than they have hitherto found. When the plans in contemplation shall have been carried into effect, and the swamps behind the city drained, a measure the more beneficial, as the soil of these swamps is beyond all imagination fertile; then the surrounding country, and the city itself, will become as healthy as any other part of the Union. With the increasing population, we have no doubt, that Louisiana will present the same features, as Egypt in former days, bearing, as it does, the most exact resemblance to that country. During six months, and already at the present time, it is a delightful place, successfully resorted to from the north, by persons in a weak state of health. The mildness of the climate, which even during the two winter months, is seldom interrupted by frost, the most luxuriant tropical fruits—bananas, pine-apples,oranges, lemons, figs, cocoa-nuts, &c., partly reared in the country, partly imported in ship loads from the Havannah, a distance of only a few hundred miles; excellent oysters, turtle of the best kind, arriving every hour; fish from the lake Pontchartrain; game, venison of all sorts; vegetables of the finest growth,—all these advantages give New Orleans a superiority over almost every other place. Sobriety, temperance, and moderation in the use of sensual enjoyments, and especially in the intercourse with the sex, with a strict attention to the state of health, and an instant resort to the necessary preservatives in case of derangement in the digestive system,—such are the precautions that will best enable a stranger to guard against the attacks of the disorders incident to this place.
Hints for Emigrants to Louisiana.—Planters, Farmers, Merchants, and Mechanics.
Whoever emigrates from a northern to a southern climate, experiences more or less a change in his constitution; his blood is thinned, and in a state of greater effervescence, and his frame weakened in consequence. The least derangement in the digestive system in this case, produces a bilious fever.
The new comers emigrating to Louisiana, are either planters, farmers, merchants, or mechanics. The former, being more or less wealthy, come for the purpose of establishing themselves, and usually buy sugar or cottonlands, on the banks of the Mississippi, or Red-river, which, though in general healthy, are, on the other hand, a sure grave to those who neglect taking the necessary precautions. Planters descend to Louisiana in the winter months; but as the heat increases every moment, and has a debilitating effect upon their bodies, accustomed to a cold climate, they attempt to counterbalance this weakness by an excessive use of spirituous liquors, to promote digestion. Notwithstanding bad omens, and in spite of the advice of their more experienced neighbours, their mania for making money keeps them there during the summer, and they fall victims to their avidity for gain.
Whoever intends to establish a plantation in Louisiana, has the free choice between the low lands on the Mississippi, or the Red-river. There are upwards of 200,000 acres of sugar lands still unoccupied. He may settle himself on the banks of the above-mentioned rivers, without the least fear, the yellow fever seldom or never penetrating to the plantations. Thousands of planters live andcontinue there without experiencing any attack of sickness. After having bought his lands, and obtained possession, he may stay till the month of May, taking the necessary measures for the improvement of the plantation, leave his directions with his overseer, and remove to the north. His house, if along the banks of the Mississippi, should be built not far from the river, in order that he may enjoy the cooling freshness of its waters. In the rear of his plantation, and about his house, he sows the seed of sun-flowers, to preserve his slaves from the morning and night exhalations of the swamps; a measure which, trifling as it may seem, will have an incredible effect in improving the air.
With a capital of 25,000 dollars, 5,500l.sterling, he may purchase at the present time, 2,000 acres of land, for a sum of from 3 to 4,000 dollars, and thirty stout slaves for 15,000 dollars; there will remain 7,000 for his first year’s expenses. The establishment of a sugar plantation amounts to not more than the above stated sum of 25,000 dollars. The produce of the third year, if the plantation be properly managed, amounts to 150,000 pounds of sugar, valued at 12,000 dollars, besides the molasses, the sale of which will cover the household expenses; each negro, therefore, yielding a clear annual income of 400 dollars.
Failures in sugar crops in plantations along the banks of the Mississippi, never occur, except beyond 30° 30′ of north latitude. The planter, however, cannot expect any thing in the first year from his sugar fields; the canes yielding produce only eighteen months after having been planted. The planting takes place from August until December, by means of eye-slips. The process at the sugar-houses is sufficiently known. These plantations, if well managed and well attended to, are, owing to the great and constant demand for sugar, the surest way of realising a capital, though the management requires considerable care and attention.
Cotton plantations are not to be judged according to the same estimate. A cotton plantation may now be established by means of a capital of 10,000 dollars. 3000 dollars for the purchaseof 1500 or 2000 acres of land, on the banks of the Mississippi, from Baton Rouge up to the Walnut-hills, on both sides of the river; or what is still preferable, on the banks of the Red-river. Ten slaves at 5000 dollars, leaves 2000 for the first year’s current expenses. The beginner will not find it difficult to clear fifty acres in the first twelve months; and to raise from twenty-five acres, thirty bales of cotton, the produce of which will, with the crop of corn from the remaining twenty-five acres, keep him for the first year, the cotton alone being worth 1500 dollars, independently of the corn. The following year he may raise sixty bales, giving an income of 3000 dollars, every slave thereby yielding about 300 dollars; proceeding thus in a manner which in a few years more will render his income equal to his original capital.
There are still unappropriated above two millions of acres of cotton lands, of the very first quality, in the state of Louisiana; and though it sometimes happens that the plants are killed by the frosts, as was the case in the spring of 1826, these accidents seldom affect the profits. The management of a cotton plantation is byno means difficult, as it differs but little from that bestowed upon Indian corn, and requires only a strict superintendence over the negroes.
The cultivation of indigo has latterly been neglected, though 200,000 acres of land in the state of Louisiana are well adapted for it. This neglect was occasioned by the injurious effects produced upon the labourer by the watering of the plants, and the exhalations from them.
The cultivation of rice is more extensive. There are 200,000 acres unoccupied. Planters generally combine the cultivation of this plant with that of cotton or sugar. Tobacco of a superior quality is reared about Natchitoches and Alexandria; the produce is little inferior to that of Cuba. The price of a stout male negro is 500 dollars; if a mechanic, from 6 to 900 dollars; females from 350 to 400 dollars; so that 5000 dollars will purchase five men, two of them mechanics, and five stout women, and enable their master at once to set about a plantation, which will, in the course of three years, double the capital of the owner, without his exposing himself to any risk.
The easy way in which the planters of Louisiana are found to accumulate wealth, excites in every one the desire of pursuing the same road, without having the necessary means at command. Hundreds of respectable farmers have paid with their lives for a neglect of this truth. Instigated by the anxiety to become rich, and unable withal to purchase slaves, they were under the necessity of labouring for themselves. The consequence was, they shortly fell victims to their mistaken notions. One can only be seasoned by degrees to the climate of Louisiana. To force the march of time and habit, is impossible. The more stout and healthy the person, the greater the risk. People who, allured by the prospect of wealth, would attempt to work in this climate as they were used to do in the north, would fall sick and die, without having provided for their children, who are then forced upon the charity of strangers. There are many tracts of second-rate land, equal to land of the best quality in the northern states, in the west and east of Louisiana, which are perfectly healthy, and where farmers of less property may buy lands, and establish labour and corn farms,or raise cattle in abundance. Those who have proceeded in this way, which is more proportioned to their means, have never failed to acquire in the course of time, a large fortune, as by the open water communication the produce can easily be conveyed to New Orleans, where, in the summer, they find a ready and advantageous market. These parts have hitherto been too much neglected, to which circumstance it is greatly owing that New Orleans, at certain seasons, is almost destitute of provisions, when the waters of the tributary rivers of the Mississippi, Ohio, &c., are low.
A third class of settlers in Louisiana are merchants. New Orleans has unfortunately the credit of being a place to which wealth flows in streams, and it is consequently the resort of all adventurers from Europe and America, who come hither in the expectation, that they have only to be on the spot to make money. Thousands of these ill-fated adventurers have lost their lives in consequence. It is true, that most of the wealthy merchants were needy adventurers, who began with scarcely a dollar in their pockets,as pedlars, who sold pins and glass beads to the Indians. But the surest way for the merchant who wishes to begin with a small capital, will always be to settle in one of the smaller towns, Francisville, Alexandria, Natchitoches, Baton Rouge, &c. Those who have followed this course grew wealthy in a short time. I admit there is an exception with respect to such as have a sufficient capital to begin business with in the city itself, or to embark in commercial relation with Great Britain, the north of the Union, or the continent of Europe.
The commission trade is advantageous in the extreme; and the clear income realised in commercial business by several merchants, amounts to 50,000 dollars a year. All the French, English, and Spaniards, who have established themselves in this place, have become rich, especially if the individuals of the latter nations were conversant with the French language.
For manufacturers, there is in New Orleans little prospect. In a slave state, where of course hard labour is performed only by slaves, whose food consists of Indian corn, and at the most,of salt meat, and their dress of cotton trowsers, or a blanket rudely adapted to their shapes, the mechanic cannot find sufficient customers. Half of the inhabitants have no need of his assistance; and as he cannot renounce his habits of living on wheat flour, fresh meat, &c., provisions which at certain seasons are very dear in New Orleans, his existence there must be very precarious. The charges are proportionably enormous. The price for the making of a great coat, is from fourteen to sixteen dollars; of a coat, from ten to twelve dollars. The greatest part of the inhabitants, therefore, buy their own dresses ready made in the north. The wealthy alone employ these mechanics.
There are yet several trades which would answer well in New Orleans, such as clever tailors, confectioners, &c. But as almost every article is brought into this country, the mechanics have rather a poor chance of succeeding, and if not provided with a sufficient capital, they are exposed to great penury until they can find customers. This class of people are very little respected, and hardly more so than the people of colour in Louisiana.
Geographical Features of the State of Louisiana.—Conclusion.
Louisiana lies under the same degree of north latitude as Egypt, and bears a striking resemblance to that country. Their soil, their climate, and their very rivers, exhibit the same features, with the exception, that the Mississippi runs from north to south, whereas the Nile takes an opposite course. Close to the eastern bank of the former, we find a continued series of Cyprus, swamps, and lakes, sometimes intersected by a tributary stream of the Mississippi, with elevated banks or hills. Farther towards the east are large tracts of lands, with pinewoods stretching towards the river Mobile, which resemblesthe Mississippi in every thing, except in size. Further southward, between the Mississippi and Mobile, we find the rivers Amite, Tickfah, Tangipao, Pearl, Pascagola, emptying themselves into a chain of lakes and swamps, running in a south-east direction from the Mississippi to the mouth of the Mobile. Further to the westward is the Mississippi in its meandering course, its banks lined with plantations from Natchez to New Orleans, each plantation extending half a mile back to the swamps. South of New Orleans, is another chain of swamps, lakes, and bayons, terminating in the gulf of Mexico. West of the Mississippi, a multitude of rivers flow in a thousand windings, lined with impenetrable forests of cyprus, cotton trees, and cedars, intermixed with canebrack and the palmetta. In this labyrinth of rivers, the Red-river, the Arkansas, the White-river, and Tensaw rivers are seen meandering. Farther east are the immense prairies of Opelausas, and Attacapas, interspersed here and there with rising farms, forests along the banks of the Red-river, and more to the westward the great prairies, the resort of innumerable buffaloes andof every kind of game. The Red-river, like the Mississippi, forms an impenetrable series of swamps and lakes. Beyond this river are seen pinewoods, from which issues the Ouachitta, losing itself afterwards in the Delta of the Mississippi. Beyond these pine woods, in a north western direction, rise the Mazernes mountains, extending from the east to west 200 miles, and forming the boundary line between east and west Louisiana. To the north and west of the Red-river, the country is dry and healthy, but of inferior quality; to the east we find a chain of lakes; to the south another chain. In summer they dry up, thus affording fine pasturage to buffaloes. In autumn, with the rising of the rivers, they again fill with water. Southward is a continued lake, intermixed with swamps, which terminate at last in the gulph of Mexico.
Louisiana, though the smallest of the states and territories formed out of the ancient Louisiana, is by far the most important, and the central point of the western commonwealth. Its boundaries are, on the south, the Gulph of Mexico;on the west, the Mexican province of Tecas; on the north, the Arkansas territory, and the state of Mississippi; and on the east, the state of Mississippi, and Mexico. The number of inhabitants amounts to 190,000, 106,000 of whom are people of colour. The constitution of the state inclines to Federal. The governor, the senators, and the representatives, in order to be eligible, must be possessed of landed property—the former to the amount of at least 5000 dollars, the next 1000, and the latter 500. Every citizen of the state is qualified to vote. The government in this, as well as in every other state, is divided into three separate branches. The chief magistrate of the state is elected for the term of four years. Under him he has a secretary of state. The present governor is an Anglo-American; Mr. Johnson, the secretary, is a Creole.
The legislative branch is composed of the senators, and of the house of representatives. The former consists of sixteen members, elected for the term of four years. They choose from among themselves a president, who takes the place ofthe governor, in case of the demise of the latter.[K]The house of representatives consists of forty-four members, headed by a speaker; the court of justice of three judges of the district court, a supreme judge of the criminal court of New Orleans, and eight district judges, with an equal number of district attorneys. The sessions are held every Monday. The parish and county courts have twenty-eight county or parish judges, twenty-six sheriffs, and 159 lawyers, to assist them in their labours. In a political view, the acquisition of Louisiana is no doubt the most important occurrence in the United States since the revolution; and, considered altogether, it may be called a second revolution. Independently of the pacific acquisition of a country containing nearly a million and a half of square miles, with the longest river in the world flowing through a valley several thousand miles in length and breadth, their geographical position is nowsecured, and they form, since the further acquisition of Florida, a whole and compact body, with a coast extending upwards of 1000 miles along the gulph of Mexico, and 500 miles on the Pacific ocean. Whether the vast increase of wealth amassed by most of those who settled on the banks of the Mississippi will prove strong enough to retain this political link unbroken, is very much to be doubted. It is very clear that the inhabitants of the valley of the Mississippi, and especially of Louisiana, entertain a feeling of estrangement from their northern fellow citizens.
With the exception of a number of respectable Americans, Louisiana and the valley of the Mississippi have hitherto been the refuge of all classes of foreigners, good and bad, who sought here an asylum from oppression and poverty, or from the avenging arm of justice in their native countries. Many have not succeeded in their expectations—many have died—others returned, exasperated against a country which had disappointed their hopes, because they expected to find superior beings, and discovered that theywere men neither worse nor better than their habits, propensities, country, climate, and a thousand other circumstances had made them. The fault was theirs. Though there exists not, perhaps, a country in the world where a fortune can be made in an easier way, yet it cannot be made without industry, steadiness, and a small capital to begin with—things in which these people were mostly deficient. And there is another circumstance not to be lost sight of. Whoever changes his country should have before him a complete view and a clear idea of the state in which he intends to settle, as well as of the rest of the Union: he ought to depend upon his own means, on himself in short, and not upon others. Upon no other terms will prosperity and happiness attend the emigrant’s exertions in the United States. The foreign mechanic who, emigrating into the United States, selects the states of New York, Pennsylvania, or Ohio, will find sufficient occupation, his trade respected, and his industry rewarded by wealth and political consequence. The manufacturer with a moderate capital, will choose Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and the like places. The merchantwho is possessed of 2 or 3000 dollars, and settles in Ohio, in the north western part of Pennsylvania, or over in Illinois, will, if he be prudent and steady, have no reason to complain of the Yankees. The farmer, with a capital of from 3 to 4000 dollars, will fix upon the state of Ohio, in preference to any other, especially if he comes accompanied only by his own family, and is therefore obliged to rely on the friendly assistance of his neighbours. He will there prefer the lands adjacent to navigable rivers, or to the rise of the new canal. If he goes beyond Ohio, he will find eligible situations in Illinois, and in Missouri. Any one who can command a capital exceeding 10,000 dollars, who is not incumbered with a large family, and whose mind does not revolt at the idea of being the owner of slaves, will choose the state of Mississippi, or of Louisiana, and realize there in a short time a fortune beyond his most sanguine expectations. He has his choice there of the unsold lands along the Mississippi, and Red-river, in the parishes of Plaquemines or Bayon Bastier; in the interior, of La Fourche, Iberville, Attacapas, Opelousas,Rapides, Nachitoches, Concordia, New Feliciana, and all the way up the Mississippi, to Walnut-hills, four hundred miles above New Orleans. All that has been urged against the unhealthiness of the country may be answered in these few words. Louisiana, though not at every season of the year equally salubrious, is far healthier than Cuba, Jamaica, and the West Indies in general. Thousands of people live free from the attacks of any kind of fever. On the plantations there is not the least danger.—In New Orleans the yellow fever has not appeared these four years past, and the place is so far from being unhealthy now, that the mortality for the last three years was less in this place than in Boston, New York and Philadelphia. Cleanliness, sobriety, a strict attention to the digestive system, and the avoiding of strong liquors, and exposure to heat, or to the rising miasmata, will keep every one as healthy in Louisiana as any where else. The neglect of proper precautions will cause as serious inconvenience in Louisiana as in any other country. This is the real condition of the state, and those acquainted with it will readily bear testimony to the correctness ofmy opinion, that it holds out not only to British emigrants, but also to capitalists of that country, advantages far surpassing those of their own vast dominions in any quarter of the globe.
In Louisiana they should embark a part of their capital, not in land speculations, or in buying extensive tracts, which they have to sell in the course of time in small parcels, but in plantations. These are sources of wealth far superior to the gold mines of Mexico, and are guaranteed by a firm constitution, and by the character and the habits of a liberal people, taken in the whole, whatever John Bull may have to say against it. In this manner may the said John Bull still reap the reward of his having formed and maintained the first settlements in the United States, at a vast expense of blood and treasure.
This would be the means of drawing closer the now rather relaxed ties which formerly united him with his kinsman, for Brother Jonathan isneither so bad as John Bull supposes him to be, nor so faultless as he fancies himself.—Medium tenuere beati.
THE END.
Pittsburgh, county town ofAlleghanycounty.Alleghany(river),Monongehela(river).Oeconomy, Rapp’s Settlement in Beaver county.Zanesville, capital ofMuskiagumcounty.New Lancaster, capital ofFairfieldcounty.Columbus, capital of the State ofOhio.Chilicothe, capital of theSciotacounty.Franklintown, capital ofFranklincounty.Cincinnati, capital ofHamiltoncounty.Newport, capital ofCampbellcounty, inKentucky.Vevay, capital ofNew Switzerlandcounty, in the State ofIndiana.Madisonville, capital ofJeffersoncounty.Charlestown, capital ofClarkcounty.Jeffersonville, capital ofFloydcounty.ClarkesvilleandNew Albany, villages ofFloydcounty.Louisville, capital ofJeffersoncounty, inKentucky.ShippingportandPortland, villages.Troy, capital ofCrawfordcounty.Owensborough, capital ofHendersoncounty.Harmony, inIndiana, second settlement ofRapp, purchased 1823, byOwen, ofLanark.Shawneetown, in the State ofIllinois.Fort Massai, in the State ofIllinois.Golconda, capital ofPopecounty.Vienna, capital ofJohnsoncounty.America, capital ofAlexandercounty.Trinity, village ofAlexander.Kaskakia,Cahokia, towns ofIllinois.Vandalia, capital of the State ofIllinois.Hamburgh, village inIllinois.Cape Girardeau, capital of the county of the same name.St. GenevieveandHerculaneum, towns of the State ofMissouri.City of St. Louis, capital ofMissouri(the state).New Madrid, capital ofNew Madridcounty.Tennessee, State ofNashville,Knoxville, towns ofTennessee, andNew Ereesborough, capital of the State.Hopefield, capital ofHempsteadcounty.St. Helena, village ofArkansasterritory.Vixburgh, capital ofWarrencounty.Warrington, village ofWarrencounty.Palmyra Plantations,Bruinsburgh,Natchez(city of), in the State ofMississippi.Gibsonport, capital ofGibsoncounty.Baton Rouge,Plaquemines,Manchac,Bayon,Tourche, the former the capital of the county, and the latter bayons.New Orleans(city of), the capital ofLouisiana.
Pittsburgh, county town ofAlleghanycounty.
Alleghany(river),Monongehela(river).
Oeconomy, Rapp’s Settlement in Beaver county.
Zanesville, capital ofMuskiagumcounty.
New Lancaster, capital ofFairfieldcounty.
Columbus, capital of the State ofOhio.
Chilicothe, capital of theSciotacounty.
Franklintown, capital ofFranklincounty.
Cincinnati, capital ofHamiltoncounty.
Newport, capital ofCampbellcounty, inKentucky.
Vevay, capital ofNew Switzerlandcounty, in the State ofIndiana.
Madisonville, capital ofJeffersoncounty.
Charlestown, capital ofClarkcounty.
Jeffersonville, capital ofFloydcounty.
ClarkesvilleandNew Albany, villages ofFloydcounty.
Louisville, capital ofJeffersoncounty, inKentucky.
ShippingportandPortland, villages.
Troy, capital ofCrawfordcounty.
Owensborough, capital ofHendersoncounty.
Harmony, inIndiana, second settlement ofRapp, purchased 1823, byOwen, ofLanark.
Shawneetown, in the State ofIllinois.
Fort Massai, in the State ofIllinois.
Golconda, capital ofPopecounty.
Vienna, capital ofJohnsoncounty.
America, capital ofAlexandercounty.
Trinity, village ofAlexander.
Kaskakia,Cahokia, towns ofIllinois.
Vandalia, capital of the State ofIllinois.
Hamburgh, village inIllinois.
Cape Girardeau, capital of the county of the same name.
St. GenevieveandHerculaneum, towns of the State ofMissouri.
City of St. Louis, capital ofMissouri(the state).
New Madrid, capital ofNew Madridcounty.
Tennessee, State of
Nashville,Knoxville, towns ofTennessee, andNew Ereesborough, capital of the State.
Hopefield, capital ofHempsteadcounty.
St. Helena, village ofArkansasterritory.
Vixburgh, capital ofWarrencounty.
Warrington, village ofWarrencounty.
Palmyra Plantations,Bruinsburgh,Natchez(city of), in the State ofMississippi.
Gibsonport, capital ofGibsoncounty.
Baton Rouge,Plaquemines,Manchac,Bayon,Tourche, the former the capital of the county, and the latter bayons.
New Orleans(city of), the capital ofLouisiana.
In Chapter xix. the following Rivers occur.
Mobile—the riversAmite,Tickfah,Tangipao,Pearl,Pascaguala,Arkansas,WhiteandRed-River,Tensaw.Plaquemines,Interior of la Tourche,Iberville,Attacapas,Opelousas,Rapides,Natchitoches,Concordia,Avoyelles,New Feliciana,Parishes of Louisiana.
Mobile—the riversAmite,Tickfah,Tangipao,Pearl,Pascaguala,Arkansas,WhiteandRed-River,Tensaw.
Plaquemines,Interior of la Tourche,Iberville,Attacapas,Opelousas,Rapides,Natchitoches,Concordia,Avoyelles,New Feliciana,Parishes of Louisiana.
N.B. The Counties in the State of Louisiana, are called Parishes.
Printed by Bradbury & Dent, Bolt-court, Fleet-street.
Footnotes[A]Of course this billiard table is not mentioned as a matter of importance, but merely to give a characteristic idea of the state of society in these parts.[B]Eighteen miles from Pittsburgh on the road to Beaver, the new and third settlement of the Swabian separatists, called Economy, was established two years ago by Rapp, a man celebrated in the Union for his rustic sagacity. This man affords an instance of what persevering industry, united with sound sense, may effect.—When he arrived with his 400 followers from Germany, twenty years ago, their capital amounted to 35,000 dollars; and so poor were they at first, that their leader could not find credit for a barrel of salt. They are now worth at least a million of dollars. Their new settlement promises to thrive, and to become superior to those which they sold in Buttler County, Pennsylvania, and in Indiana on the Wabash. Nothing can exceed the authority exercised by this man over his flock. He unites both the spiritual and temporal power in his own person. He has with him a kind of Vice-Dictator in the person of his adopted son, (who is married to his daughter), and a council of twelve elders, who manage the domestic affairs of the community, now amounting to 1000 souls. When he was yet residing in Old Harmony, twenty-eight miles north of Pittsburgh, the bridge constructed over a creek which passes by the village, wanted repair. It was winter time; the ice seemed thick enough to allow of walking across. The creek, however, was deep, and 100 feet wide: Master Rapp, notwithstanding, ventured upon it, intending to come up to the pier. He was scarcely in the middle of the river, when the ice gave way. A number of his followers being assembled on the shores, were eager to assist him.—“Do you think,” hallooed Rapp, “that the Lord will withdraw his hands from his elect, and that I need your help?” The poor fellows immediately dropped the boards, but at the same time Master Rapp sunk deeper into the creek. The danger at last conquered his shame and his confidence in supernatural aid, and he called lustily for assistance. Notwithstanding the cries of the American by-standers, “You d—d fools, let the tyrant go down, you will have his money, you will be free,” they immediately threw boards on the ice, went up to him, and took him out of the water, amidst shouts of laughter from the unbelieving Americans. On the following Sunday he preached them a sermon, purporting that the Lord had visited their sins upon him, and that their disobedience to his commands was the cause of his sinking. The poor dupes literally believed all this, promised obedience, and both parties were satisfied. Several of his followers left him, being shocked at his law of celibacy, but such was his ascendancy over the female part of the community, that they chose rather to leave their husbands than their father Rapp, as they call him. Last year, however (1826), he abolished this kind of celibacy, hitherto so strictly observed, and on the 4th of July, eighteen couples were permitted to marry. This settlement is one of the finest villages in the west of Pennsylvania. A manufactory of steam engines, extensive parks of deer, two elks, and a magnificent palace for himself, splendidly furnished, show that he knows how to avail himself of his increasing wealth. The inhabitants of Pittsburgh make frequent excursions to this settlement, and though his manners savour of the Swabian peasant, yet his wealth and his hospitality have considerably diminished the contempt in which he was formerly held by the Anglo-Americans.[C]Sawyers are bodies of trees fixed in the river, which yield to the pressure of the current, disappearing and appearing by turns above water, like the rotatory motion of the saw-mill, from which they have derived their name. They sometimes point up the stream, sometimes in the contrary direction. A steam-boat running on a sawyer, cannot escape destruction.[D]Planters are large bodies of trees, firmly fixed by their roots to the bottom of the river, in a perpendicular manner, and rising no more than a foot above the surface at low water. They are so firmly rooted, as to be unmoved by the shock of steam-boats running upon them.[E]Bayons, outlets of the Mississippi, formed by nature. They are in great numbers, and carry its waters to the gulph of Mexico. Without these outlets, New Orleans would be destroyed by the spring floods in a few hours.[F]In New Orleans, water is found two feet below the surface. Those who cannot afford to procure a vault for their dead, are literally compelled to deposit them in the water.[G]The whole number of vessels then in port was 100 schooners, brigs, and ships.[H]Pensacola has been established as a port for the United States navy: 1825–1826.[I]The whole course of the Mississippi exceeds, the Missouri included, 4200 miles. This latter is its principal tributary stream, and superior in magnitude even to the Mississippi.[J]Below New Orleans there is no place well adapted for the site of a large city.[K]The governor of Louisiana has 5000 dollars a year: the governors of other states either 2 or 3000 dollars. According to the American money, four dollars forty-four cents make a pound: a dollar has 100 cents.
[A]Of course this billiard table is not mentioned as a matter of importance, but merely to give a characteristic idea of the state of society in these parts.[B]Eighteen miles from Pittsburgh on the road to Beaver, the new and third settlement of the Swabian separatists, called Economy, was established two years ago by Rapp, a man celebrated in the Union for his rustic sagacity. This man affords an instance of what persevering industry, united with sound sense, may effect.—When he arrived with his 400 followers from Germany, twenty years ago, their capital amounted to 35,000 dollars; and so poor were they at first, that their leader could not find credit for a barrel of salt. They are now worth at least a million of dollars. Their new settlement promises to thrive, and to become superior to those which they sold in Buttler County, Pennsylvania, and in Indiana on the Wabash. Nothing can exceed the authority exercised by this man over his flock. He unites both the spiritual and temporal power in his own person. He has with him a kind of Vice-Dictator in the person of his adopted son, (who is married to his daughter), and a council of twelve elders, who manage the domestic affairs of the community, now amounting to 1000 souls. When he was yet residing in Old Harmony, twenty-eight miles north of Pittsburgh, the bridge constructed over a creek which passes by the village, wanted repair. It was winter time; the ice seemed thick enough to allow of walking across. The creek, however, was deep, and 100 feet wide: Master Rapp, notwithstanding, ventured upon it, intending to come up to the pier. He was scarcely in the middle of the river, when the ice gave way. A number of his followers being assembled on the shores, were eager to assist him.—“Do you think,” hallooed Rapp, “that the Lord will withdraw his hands from his elect, and that I need your help?” The poor fellows immediately dropped the boards, but at the same time Master Rapp sunk deeper into the creek. The danger at last conquered his shame and his confidence in supernatural aid, and he called lustily for assistance. Notwithstanding the cries of the American by-standers, “You d—d fools, let the tyrant go down, you will have his money, you will be free,” they immediately threw boards on the ice, went up to him, and took him out of the water, amidst shouts of laughter from the unbelieving Americans. On the following Sunday he preached them a sermon, purporting that the Lord had visited their sins upon him, and that their disobedience to his commands was the cause of his sinking. The poor dupes literally believed all this, promised obedience, and both parties were satisfied. Several of his followers left him, being shocked at his law of celibacy, but such was his ascendancy over the female part of the community, that they chose rather to leave their husbands than their father Rapp, as they call him. Last year, however (1826), he abolished this kind of celibacy, hitherto so strictly observed, and on the 4th of July, eighteen couples were permitted to marry. This settlement is one of the finest villages in the west of Pennsylvania. A manufactory of steam engines, extensive parks of deer, two elks, and a magnificent palace for himself, splendidly furnished, show that he knows how to avail himself of his increasing wealth. The inhabitants of Pittsburgh make frequent excursions to this settlement, and though his manners savour of the Swabian peasant, yet his wealth and his hospitality have considerably diminished the contempt in which he was formerly held by the Anglo-Americans.[C]Sawyers are bodies of trees fixed in the river, which yield to the pressure of the current, disappearing and appearing by turns above water, like the rotatory motion of the saw-mill, from which they have derived their name. They sometimes point up the stream, sometimes in the contrary direction. A steam-boat running on a sawyer, cannot escape destruction.[D]Planters are large bodies of trees, firmly fixed by their roots to the bottom of the river, in a perpendicular manner, and rising no more than a foot above the surface at low water. They are so firmly rooted, as to be unmoved by the shock of steam-boats running upon them.[E]Bayons, outlets of the Mississippi, formed by nature. They are in great numbers, and carry its waters to the gulph of Mexico. Without these outlets, New Orleans would be destroyed by the spring floods in a few hours.[F]In New Orleans, water is found two feet below the surface. Those who cannot afford to procure a vault for their dead, are literally compelled to deposit them in the water.[G]The whole number of vessels then in port was 100 schooners, brigs, and ships.[H]Pensacola has been established as a port for the United States navy: 1825–1826.[I]The whole course of the Mississippi exceeds, the Missouri included, 4200 miles. This latter is its principal tributary stream, and superior in magnitude even to the Mississippi.[J]Below New Orleans there is no place well adapted for the site of a large city.[K]The governor of Louisiana has 5000 dollars a year: the governors of other states either 2 or 3000 dollars. According to the American money, four dollars forty-four cents make a pound: a dollar has 100 cents.
[A]Of course this billiard table is not mentioned as a matter of importance, but merely to give a characteristic idea of the state of society in these parts.
[B]Eighteen miles from Pittsburgh on the road to Beaver, the new and third settlement of the Swabian separatists, called Economy, was established two years ago by Rapp, a man celebrated in the Union for his rustic sagacity. This man affords an instance of what persevering industry, united with sound sense, may effect.—When he arrived with his 400 followers from Germany, twenty years ago, their capital amounted to 35,000 dollars; and so poor were they at first, that their leader could not find credit for a barrel of salt. They are now worth at least a million of dollars. Their new settlement promises to thrive, and to become superior to those which they sold in Buttler County, Pennsylvania, and in Indiana on the Wabash. Nothing can exceed the authority exercised by this man over his flock. He unites both the spiritual and temporal power in his own person. He has with him a kind of Vice-Dictator in the person of his adopted son, (who is married to his daughter), and a council of twelve elders, who manage the domestic affairs of the community, now amounting to 1000 souls. When he was yet residing in Old Harmony, twenty-eight miles north of Pittsburgh, the bridge constructed over a creek which passes by the village, wanted repair. It was winter time; the ice seemed thick enough to allow of walking across. The creek, however, was deep, and 100 feet wide: Master Rapp, notwithstanding, ventured upon it, intending to come up to the pier. He was scarcely in the middle of the river, when the ice gave way. A number of his followers being assembled on the shores, were eager to assist him.—“Do you think,” hallooed Rapp, “that the Lord will withdraw his hands from his elect, and that I need your help?” The poor fellows immediately dropped the boards, but at the same time Master Rapp sunk deeper into the creek. The danger at last conquered his shame and his confidence in supernatural aid, and he called lustily for assistance. Notwithstanding the cries of the American by-standers, “You d—d fools, let the tyrant go down, you will have his money, you will be free,” they immediately threw boards on the ice, went up to him, and took him out of the water, amidst shouts of laughter from the unbelieving Americans. On the following Sunday he preached them a sermon, purporting that the Lord had visited their sins upon him, and that their disobedience to his commands was the cause of his sinking. The poor dupes literally believed all this, promised obedience, and both parties were satisfied. Several of his followers left him, being shocked at his law of celibacy, but such was his ascendancy over the female part of the community, that they chose rather to leave their husbands than their father Rapp, as they call him. Last year, however (1826), he abolished this kind of celibacy, hitherto so strictly observed, and on the 4th of July, eighteen couples were permitted to marry. This settlement is one of the finest villages in the west of Pennsylvania. A manufactory of steam engines, extensive parks of deer, two elks, and a magnificent palace for himself, splendidly furnished, show that he knows how to avail himself of his increasing wealth. The inhabitants of Pittsburgh make frequent excursions to this settlement, and though his manners savour of the Swabian peasant, yet his wealth and his hospitality have considerably diminished the contempt in which he was formerly held by the Anglo-Americans.
[C]Sawyers are bodies of trees fixed in the river, which yield to the pressure of the current, disappearing and appearing by turns above water, like the rotatory motion of the saw-mill, from which they have derived their name. They sometimes point up the stream, sometimes in the contrary direction. A steam-boat running on a sawyer, cannot escape destruction.
[D]Planters are large bodies of trees, firmly fixed by their roots to the bottom of the river, in a perpendicular manner, and rising no more than a foot above the surface at low water. They are so firmly rooted, as to be unmoved by the shock of steam-boats running upon them.
[E]Bayons, outlets of the Mississippi, formed by nature. They are in great numbers, and carry its waters to the gulph of Mexico. Without these outlets, New Orleans would be destroyed by the spring floods in a few hours.
[F]In New Orleans, water is found two feet below the surface. Those who cannot afford to procure a vault for their dead, are literally compelled to deposit them in the water.
[G]The whole number of vessels then in port was 100 schooners, brigs, and ships.
[H]Pensacola has been established as a port for the United States navy: 1825–1826.
[I]The whole course of the Mississippi exceeds, the Missouri included, 4200 miles. This latter is its principal tributary stream, and superior in magnitude even to the Mississippi.
[J]Below New Orleans there is no place well adapted for the site of a large city.
[K]The governor of Louisiana has 5000 dollars a year: the governors of other states either 2 or 3000 dollars. According to the American money, four dollars forty-four cents make a pound: a dollar has 100 cents.
Transcriber’s NoteMinor errors in punctuation are corrected silently.In the final table of place names, ‘New Ereesborough’ is referred to as the state capital of Tennessee. This seems a corruption of ‘Murfreesborough’, which was the capital until 1826.The following issues, which were deemed printer’s errors, and their resolutions are described here:p. ii[t]hroughout]Added.p. 80approach[e]dAdded.p. 82Baton [D/R]ougeCorrected.p. 99hickor[i]yRemoved.p. 108backswood-man / backwoods-manCorrected.p. 206Fran[s]cisvilleRemoved.
Minor errors in punctuation are corrected silently.
In the final table of place names, ‘New Ereesborough’ is referred to as the state capital of Tennessee. This seems a corruption of ‘Murfreesborough’, which was the capital until 1826.
The following issues, which were deemed printer’s errors, and their resolutions are described here: