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Show 92 the quantity of timbered land exceeds that of the prni. rie which 'is likL vvise pretty level, but scarcely a se~ond quality of soil. .La G lass' landing, as it is called, I found about a n11k and a half frotn the upper end of the prairie; the high lands bluff to the river. After leaving this P.b.cc found. the bauks ri<-c hio·her and higher on each s1dc, and fit lor settlements; onn the rirrht ~-ide: pine woods smneti1nes in sight. I left the b~at again abouL r!ght n1il~s from l~c Glass, lar ding, right side; ' ·~\\ked two an<.\ a half.mi~Cs cross a point to a 1\tlr. H.oonte's ; round the po111t ts called 16 mil~s. I foun~l the lands through which I passed hi P·h moderately hilly; the soil a good second quality, cl~y ; ti mbcr, large oak, hickory, some shor~ leaved pine; and several sn1all strcan1s of clear nmmng wa. ter. This description of land~ e xtended ba~k 5 or? miles, and bounded by open pme woods, wluch eontJ. nuc for 30 miles to O catahola. I found Mr. ' ' . I-loome~' house on a hio·h bluff very near the nver; ~ l his plantation the s~m1e description of land througu which I had passed, producing good corn, cotton and tobacco, and he told n 1C he had tried it in whc~ti, which succeeded well, but having no n1ills to manuf. 1cture it, had only 1nade the exper~mc~t. Mr. Hoomes' told me all the lands round h1 s, {or many miles, were vacant. On the south side there is a large bod)r of rl' rh low o-roun<.ls extcndin(l· to the borders <J ' b ' -' h of Appalousa, watered a1\d drained by Bayau Robert and Bayan Beauf, tv~·o h~nds01ne streams ?f clear water that rise in the hio·h lands between Rednverand b 1 . . e Sabine, and after n1eandering through t us umnens mass of low o-rounds of 30 or 40 miles sguare, fall into the ChJrdi, to the southward of Avoyall. I believe in 1)oint of soil <rrowth of tin1ber, goodness ' ' ~ . t of water, and convcnicncy to na\'igation, there.t~no a more valuable body of land in this part of Lomsw~a. Frmn Mr. Hoon1cs' to the 1nouth of Rapide Bayau IS, by the river, 35 n1ilcs. A few scattering settl~men~s on the right side, but none on the left; the nght 18 93 preferred to settle on, on account of their stocks being convenient to the high lands; but the settlers on the right side own the lands on the left side too; the lands on the Dayan Rapide are the same quality as those on Bayaus Robert and Beauf, and, in fact, arc a continuation of the same body of lands. Bayau Rapide is somewhat in the form of a half moon; the t\vo points, or horns, meeting the river about 20 miles fron1 each other: the length of the bayau is about 30 miles; on the back of it there is a large bayau falls in, on which there is a saw n1ill, very advantageously situated, in r~spect to a never failing supply of water; plenty of timber; and the plank can be taken from the mill t.< lil by water. 'I' his ba.v au is excellent water·' rises m th~ pine woods, and discharges itself each way into the nver, by both ends of Bayau Rapide. Boats c~nnot p~ss through the bayau, from the river to the nver a gam, on account of rafts of timber choakino- the upper end of it, but can enter the lower end and as~end it more than half through it. On the lower end of the bayau., ~n each side, is the principal Rapide settle- . mcnt, as It 1s called; no country whatever can exhibit ~1andsomer plantations, or better lands. 'fhe Rapide 1s a fall.' or shoal, occasioned by a soft roek in the bed of the nver, that extends frmn side to side, over which for about five mo~ths in the ~ear (viz.) fron1 July t~ Decen:ber, there 1s not sufficient water for boats to pass \Vlthout lightening, but at all other seasons it is the same as any other part of the river. This rock or hard clay, for it resembles the latter almost as mucl~ as the. former, is so soft it may be cut away with a p~n kmfe, or any sharp instrument, and scarcelv turn } e edge, and extends up and down the river ·but a ew y~rds_; and I have heard several intelligent persons giVe It as their opinion, that the extraordinary expen~e and trouble the inhabitants were at in one year · ' b ' m gettmg loaded boats over this shoal would be m. ore th an su ffi c1· ent to cut a passa(Te thro' ugh it· ut It happens at a season of the year ~hen the abl~ " I .. |