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Show J 98 opposite Natchitoch, which is boatable the greater part ot 1he year. Near this lake are the salt \\·orks. from "hich all the ~ait that is used in the district, i,; 11 . ~1d<:; aud "hich i~; 1nade \\ ith so much ease, that two o.cl n1en, both of then1 cripples, with ten or twelve old pots and kettles, have, for several years past, mc1de an aLundant ~up}Jl) of salt for the whole district: · · · tL<. y iniorn1 me they make six bushds per day. I .. . hm-c not been at the place. but have a bottle of the water brought to me, '"hich I found nearly saturated. The salt is good. I never had better bacon than I make with it. I am inforn1ed, there are twelve saline springs now open; and by digging for them, for ought any one knows, twelve hundred might be opened. A few months ago, captain Burnet, of the Mississippi territory, coming to this place by Washita, came by the salt works, and purchased the right of. one of the old men he found there, and has lately sent up a boat, with some large kettles and some negroes, under the direction of his son; and expt:cts, when they get all in order, to be able to make thirty or forty bushels a day. Captain Burnet is of opinion, that he shall be able to sup~ ply the Mississippi territory, and the settletnents on Mississippi, from Point Coupee, upwards, lower than they can get it in New ·Orleans and bring it up. Cathartic salts, and magnesia, might likewise be made in large quantities, if they understood it. T'he country all round the Sabine and Black lake is vacant, and ft om thence to "'VVashita, a distance of about one hundred and twenty miles, which I am informed affords con· siderable quantities of well timbered good uplands, -and well watered. There is a small stream we cross' · on the Washita n;mtl, the Engli~h call it Little ri'Ver, ~ the French Dogdimona, affording a v. ide rich botton}: ~ this stream falls into the Acatahola lake; from thence tq_,Vashita, it is called Acatahola river; its course is ea~\\'ardly, and falls into \Vashita, near the mouth of ,.;_ Te11saw, where the road from Natchitoches toN at chez, - · .-...._~r~s'eS'>it ', fiom th!! ~nlluence of these three rives&, ~. ~ ~!(-I . ~ ~~ I J ... ...~.t· • ~ . H ... 99 donw~rds, i~ is cal~ed Black river, ":hich fulls into Re~ nver, sixty miles below. 'fherc is a good salt spnng near the Acatahola lake . .I Asce~ding ~ed river, above Natchitoches, in about three mil.es arnve at the upper mouth of the Rignla ~e Bon~Ie_u: there are settletnents all along; plantatiOns adJOI!1mg. From the upper mouth of the R" _ gula de Bondieu, the river i~ in one channel throug;1 !h~ settlement called Grand Ecorc, of about six miles ; rt 1S eall~d Grand Ecore, (or in English the Great Bluff) bemg such a one on the left hand side near one hundred f~et high. The Htce next the' river almost perpendicular~. of a soft, white rock; the top, ~ gravel loam, of considerable extent on which o-row large oaks, hick_ory, b_lack cherry, 'and grape vines. At the bottom of .one of these bluffs, tor there are two near each other, IS a .large quantity of stone-coal, and near them several spnngs of the best water in this part of the country; and a lake of clear water within two hundred yards, bounded by a gravelly margin. I pr~tend to have no. kno,~ledg.e of military tactics, but thmk, frmn the nver In this place being all in one channel, the good.ness of the water, a high, healthy ~ountry, an.d well t1n1be1:ed all ro~1nd it, no height near I~ so lugl~, tts commandmg the nver, and a very pub~ c ferry JUSt under it, and at a small expense, would e capable. of great defence w1th a small force. 'fhe road from 1t to the westward, better than from Natchi-toch,. and by land only about five 1niles above it, and ,i near~~ plenty of good building stone. These advan- ~ages It possesses beyond any other place within my l nowledge on the river, for a strong fort and safe Pac,e of d epos·i t. J ust about tht· s bluff the n!v er n1akes a 4irge bend to the right, and a long ~each nearly due e~t and west by it: the bluff overlooks, on the opposite ~1 e, several handsome plantations. I have been in-need, from the advantages this place appeared to me ~~ possess, t? pt~rchase it, with four or five small set .. ements adJOlning, includin~ both bluffs, the ferry, . r "' . I ' ~ .. • , .· .... . ' "' .... ~ . l . , • ~f ... .. .... ·. :'( ·.. .. . .. • ' . '> ' / / |