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Show EMIGRANT'S GUIDE. I ment. It is but justice to tho~e men to say, that as far as the experience of the writer can en;j ble him to judge of their character, they do ample justice to the Jong received opi11io~ of the natural hospitality of man. He never once, in the courst• of many y'P.ars, was turned away. hungry from the door, or denied a 11ightly ~helter unoer the roof of one o!' thu~e <)pparently uncultivated sons of the fore st. Oftentimes has he experience(1 fn.m them, when Wf'ary and exhausted, a •vann aud generous reception, that many who repose on berls of down might blush to behold. From this bonou(able and true cha~ racter, the much and very unjustly abused inhaoitant of the Spanish ' Presidios is no exception. On an immense extent of territory these Jatter ·pursue exactly the same modes of life with the western people of Opelousas, and are distinguished by the same virtues. There is a co~mon and a vulgar observation very prevalent, in which tbe frontier inhabitants of Louisiana, the Spanish. internal provinces, and even those of the U niteu States, are as!:iimilated to the native savage tribes, who e former residence these frontier men now occupy. Disgusting expres. ions, such as " they are J·ust as bad l d . , as n Ians -" they are worse th<m savaaes"-'' I would rather Jive amongst Cht•ctaws or Shawnees," may bbe heard uaily ih some of the mo~t polished circl es, when speaking .of the men that compose that .haq:iy phalanx. whose generous bnlvery has oftentimes saved those declaimers from the tomahawk, scalping knife, or fire-brand of these same savages. It may be asserted, without danger of contradiction, that the frontier men of the U niteu States, the pastoral creole of Louisiana, and the h?rsemen of tb~ Spani~h internal provinces, are in a much gre?ter degree s~perwr tu the al'origi nal S?vages of America, in point • of Improvement, than t;,ey flre inferior in mental endowments to the most polished _society in Philadelphia, New- York, London, Paris, Rome, or Berlm Whatever may be the cause, it is a fact that the moral qualities of the American 5avages have been extolled 'far above thPir real merits, and thP character of the pioneers of wealth1 commerce, and education, d~preciated in about the 5ame ratio · and in both i~:tances, pretended philosophy has made inductions in dire.ct opposJtton to the facts upon which those inuuctions are supposed to be founded. · · · Mistaken zeal h~:; .exh~usted, in the last two centuries ., upon the obd. urate sav<lge of thts contmeut, means, that if applied to the use a.nd asstst<- lnc~ .of some of our own frontier vtiJages, would have rendered them se.ats uf m.Justry, ah!Jndance, and happiness. \Ve are every day entertamed wtth the accounts of n11ssionaries sent to convert to christi· anity, and iustruct in use ful knowledge, 'Indian tribes· but who has ~ver.heard of missi_ons; being sent to tbP banks of Merm~ntau; whilst ~t wtll har~lly adrntt a doubt, that more l~nowledge could be instilled mto the mmds of t~e two thousand peo>piP now on that river in twent~ year , than coulJ. be imparted in two &enturies to all the aavage t11bes from the l\1ex1can gulf-to Hudson's bay. PRAI RlE l\1 AMOU is euclosr.d between two brandies of the Mer .. ·'· m~nta~; the ~ezptf]Ue and P ~tguemine Brule: it is about forty mlle:s m length, by a medial breadth of five, or extenus over 200 EMIGRANT'S GUIDE. square miles, making 128,000 acres. The land and timber in the vicinity of this prairie are very various. All the timber trees ~mown in Opelousas, except liriudendron tulipifera, (poplar) are to be found on. the border of Prairie 1\1amou. Some spots of land are moderately fertile, but the ~omm~n quality of the land is sterile. There are only . a fe~. of the mhab~tants who are ~ot pastoral in their pursuits. Many famtltes .a~e establtshed l.•ere as lured stock-holders ; they are nearly all Amen cans, as the em• grants from the United States are denomina-ted in Louisiana. . . GRA~J? PRAIRIE is next east of Prairie 1\famou, and of very near a stmiiar extent. This latter prairie is partly on the waters of Mermentau, Courtableau, and Teche. The land in Grand Prairie is ~uch . su~erior to that of any of the preceding, though the soil and timber of , the southwestern part assimilate to those in Prairie 1\Iam? u. !he border of GranJ Prairie is thickly peopled ; many of its mhab1tants are wealthy farnters, and few persons are exclusively past~ ral in their ·pursuit£. The population here is a mixture of French and Americans· the form~r are the most numerous and wealthy. Great part of the' best lan~ m Grand Prai~ie was granted to individuals by the governments of F ranee and Spatp. But few spqts of any value remained vacant when the United States government obtained the country. Some of the most al?r~eable and healthy situations in Opelousas, are found iJl Grand Pratne. The well wat~r is excellent. There are many wet places, but none that can be caJied stagnant ; few marshes exist. The ~ommun crops are maize and cotton ; the latter is the staple for mar .. ket. The lan<:J is very welJ adapted to the culture of' cotton, particul~ rly the parts watered by Bayou Grand Louis. By a singular coin~ tdence, t~e land on the latter stream assimilates to that on the Te~ he .. . Bed, pork, ~ ?utter~ cheese, anll talJow, are also produced in. ~onstderable qu-antrttes. fhe settlemegt::; are iucreasint)' rather by na!ura1 means,. t~an ~y emigration from other places. 0 Though the pnce .of land IS less 1~ Grand Prairie than on the Teche, in a ratio of one to three, yet, !rorn its situation, and from the produotion of sugar, most of the e1mgrants who h!ive removed to Opelousas, in the fourteen years that have elapsed since ·the establishment of the United s.ta~es ,government, have tJnally l:iettled on the Teche, or in its vi-c;; mtty. · . The timber in the woods that border Grand Prairie on tbe \Tatens of Merm:-ntau,. consists of oak of several species, ash', hickory, dogwood, pme, lmden, laure~-magnolia, and some maple, and wild ~~erry. On the Teche JS fouud bJack-oak, whitP--oak, red-oak, Wlll~w-oak, sassafras, _poplar, linden, asb, hickory, dogwood, wild ~hetry, laurel-magnol~a, and a number. of other species of trees. The u~derwood, sp1ce ~,vood, Spamsh ·mulberry, muscadine, grape ~me, and other vlnes and shrubbt:·ry; indicative of a product1ve soil. When the settlements were fi1c-t formed, the woodlaRd was covered with large cane, ( arundo gig·a nlea ;) but the swme. cattle, and fire, have aJmost exttJrmin,jted this vt>~etabJe west of Bayou Crocodile. In seve1e wi11ters, thf! cane is a .~ .. )~t in~aluahle resource for cattle; .but it is a grass that always disappears in a |