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Show • • 6G EMIGRANT'S GUIDE. . It has been already .notired, tbat the extensive prairies of that country ;.,re, str ictly sp:·· king, all connected, and .that those. i~1. the interior are mere bays ol the vast open sea marsh. fhe subdJVJSJons have ::til, however, "received local names, under which we will delineate them in this place, following the same onler ·we have pursued with the river~ •'f . THE SAB£NE PRAIRIE occupies all the space between that river and Ocllcasiu. Near the sea-shore, this prairie is an extensive marsh; but on rece liu~ from the gulf, the c:;urface grauually rises; and before rer.ching the woods, much high land is found. The soil i~, like that of the adj<"~Ce nt pine woods, almosJ all sterile. Few settlements h;.we bePn ft>rmed in this quarter·; and from its position and the barrenness of the land, it is not very pJobable any considerable numl)er of pe(:)ple will be found upon it for many ye~rs to come. No suney~ have yet been made by the United States on. any water th~t enters. the Sabine river ; of course, ti1P few familif's that are ~l'ttled iwar that <::tream, are either on land granted by the French or Span sh governments, or are unauthorized intruders upon the public soil. Not more than two or three grants were ever made by the Spanish government of ]and on the waters of Sabine, and those were all :=~bove 31° N. lat. The French governn~ent, ""bile in the political possession of Louisiana, though always claiming right (')f territory to the Rio Grande del Norte, never made grants of land west of th~ waters of the Mermentau. The ~urveyors .under the government of the United States, in performing surveys in Louisiana, were limited ~outh of Red river to the meridian of Natchitoches. This arrangement left unsurveyeJ all the lands watered by the Sabine, and part of those of Red and .Calca-siu rivers. . CA~CASIU PRAIRIE. This prairie, including the marsh between tl!e Calcasiu and Mermentau Jake, is seventy miles long, and will ave-rage tw ~ nty wide, or 1400 square miles, equal to 896,000 acres. or this expanse about 640,000 acres is sufficiently elevated fo.r cultivation ; but the soil is poor and sterile. The pine woods border the prairie in every direction where timber is found. Copses of black jack oak, interspersed with pine, are founJ along the Nf·Zpique. The woods on Bayou ~acasine are of mixed growth, pine, oak, hick< ~ ry, and :1sh, on the high land, and in the swamps, cypress 2m.cJ maple. On the N. W. part of this pra1rie, in the vicinity of the little auJ upper lake of Calcasiu, is the best soil to be found in its whole extt:nt. The timb~r is here a mixture of pine, bla~k-oak, red· . · pak, hickory, ash, and other trees, that indicate a second rate soil. Sor~~ spots are, iuJee.d, naturally fertile ; but the g~neral surface is sten 1e. . The meridian of Natchitoches runs through the western part of the Calcasiu ~r :. irie, leaviu~ the upper lake out of the surveys made by }he authonty of the Un1teJ State governmP.ut.. Some partial grants wert> made by the S!Jauish government, to spots of land on the waters ~f Calcasiu, anll some ~etllemeuts have been formed upon this riv~r . . ~ * ~ee t~bl~ NQ. 11 4n the Append~ to this wQrk~ ' j • ' EMIGRANT'S GUIDE~ il without aHy grant ; but the gre a te~t part of the country remains in pristine state. The general surface of the country is certainly superior lu that w:1tered ·by the Sabine, though the deteriorllting influence of .the clay soil of the pine hills; is every where visible. Tht> eastem border of the Calcasiu Prairie on the waters of Mermentau river, is tolerably well peopled. Many of the largest stocks of ca!tle in. Opelmra are to b~ found in this ran~e. Good crops of com are made by the manure prqduced in the folds 1vhere cattle are collected. The pursuits of all the inhabitants are pastoral ; agriculture is only exercis;ed to obtain tbe common necessaries 'of life, bread, and garden vegetables. The houses and their appurtenances evince the sim!Jlicity of the moues of existence of their occupants. A journey from New Orleans to the mouth of the Sabine, exhibits mar' .in every stage of his progress, from the palace to the hut, and inverse ly. To an observing eye, the rapid transition from· the superb mansions of the wealthy citizens of New Orleans and its vicinity, to the rudely constructed Jog cabin, on the Sabine and Cakasiu, w iII suggest matter for the deepest reflection. In the short period of ten or tifleen Jays, can be viewed the moral revolutions of all ages. On a sp::.~.ce of three hundred miles can be found human beiugs from the most civili~ed to the most savage. In the city of New OrJeans .. four or five ot the most elegant of the living 1angu<~ges of the earth cHe now spoken in aJJ their purity ; and there is now enjoyed all that l11xury and learning can be!:ltow. Upon the banks of the 1\Iissi. sippi mr~ny of thP sugar and cotton planters Jive in edifices, where, within anJ with<Jut, are exhibited all thflt art, aided by wealth, can produce. In Atliicap as anJ Opelousas the glare of expensive lux- · ury vanishes, and is followed by substantia] independence. Often th.e loo.rr~ occupi~s one part of tbe common sitting room or ·parlour ·of farmii P-S th at are really we::~lthy. The farm houses are generalJy rough , but solid buildings, in which the inhabitant enjoys good, wb,, P-Some. anJ abundant food, -and excellent beds. ln the western parts of Opelousas are found those pastoral hunters, who recall to our imaginatiOn the primitive times of history. Their flock s a~d the . chase furui sh tlwm with subsistence and occupation. ~u d ged. 111 cabms rudely and· hastily constructed, and really enjoymg safety <mJ plent·y, it cannot be an illusion of fancy to conjder these people as in po~session of that objecl, ~apP'iness, that too often e~u~es.the pur~ uit of men more highly cultivated. This is not a tanCJE> d t•ctu re ; the writtt>r often bas, and particularly between the 3d and i 5th of J auuary, l813, passed hom the Sabine through .Opelousas to NP.w Orlt·ans, and beheld, in reality, all the various gradations, to the colltemplation of which he uow invites bjs reader. . In t~1e d~ep auJ solemn gloom of the Sabine wc1ods, and the more Jmpos m~ imrnen:;ity of its prairies, has he often reflected upon tbe slow, out certain advarwe of t!Je descend;mts of Europe jn America. He co~si cJt:> reJ himself a~ upon or near the line of contact, between tw~ ?f tho. e masses of civilized men, who have changed the politic11l, reltglous, and mural state o 1his continent. The few inhabitants to be seen upon this confine of two empires, seem to indicate ·the utmost vergt of iuhabited earth, and the earliest dawn of human improve"' |