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Show 64 EMIGRANT'S GUIDE. ~bort time after the establishment of man and his domestic animait in its nt>ighbourhood OPELOUSAS PRAIRIE extends from the gulf of Mexico, nearly north eighty mil.es, and is· bounded on the ertst and north by the V e~·milion and Teche rivers, and on the west by the woods of Bayou ~ Mellet, Bayov· Cane, and by the Mermentau river. This sea of · grass is, on an average, twenty-five miles wide ; and extends over, including the sea marsh, ·upwarus of I ,200,000 acres. Some _of th_e most flourishing· settlements of Opelo~sas and Attacapa~ are lh thts prairie. It is naturaHy divided into _s~x distinct port~ons, the . sea marsh. the prairie between the VermiliOn and Queue. fortue, Prairie Bellevue, Queue Tortue Prairie, cove of Plaq~emme Brule, and Prairie M ellet. • The marsh between Vermilion bay and the lak~ of Mermentau, has nothing to distinguish it from the other marshes of t~e country, except its extent, which is about thirty miles ~quare. This great expanse, .though .generally covered w'ith gr_ass, is not entirely denuded of trees. N t!ar the sea coast, a singular appearance attracts the attention. These are ridges which ri se above the common level of the marsh, are dry and solid land, clothed with live oak trees . . The~e ridges appear to have been once the sea -shore, and to have been in succession abandoned by the surf, as others were formed by the same means ; they all run in 1ines parailel tq tbe shore, and are separated by lagoons, ponds, or the marsh. It is extremely difficult .~o react1 many of these islands; and as no adequate object presents ·Itself to reward the troubl~, they are visited but seluorn by man. They are the undisturbed retreats of wpd animals, deer, turki_es, grouse, and perhaps·the bear. · From an i·nspection of the structur_e of the sea .. coast of Attacapas and Opalousas, and in fact that of all Louisiana, we can haruly doubt that those parts, properly calleJ marsh, have been formed by the reflux of ·the sea, whilst much of the interior has been created by the alluvion of" the various rive,rs. This by pothesis is strengthened by th~ well known facts that in all Loui siana the quality of the soil of any place is precisely sirnilar to the g~neral character of the-lands of the particular river from which it is formed. The Ji,·e oak islands, betweeu Vermilion and Mermentau, have their correlatives along the coast of Loui ·iana, as visited by the author. The live oak tree entirely Cf~ ases with the .Mermentau; it is not found upon either the Sabine or Calcasiu rivers. · Fron:i the great sameness of the coast, . it is almost impossible, either by map or verbal J escription, to com·ey to any person a distinction between the entrances of Sabine, Calcasiu, or Mermentau. The live oak tree is the only unerring mark. The author left the mouth of Sabine, intending to pass Calcasiu ~nd enter Mermentau ; but found an inlet between Sabine and Calcasiu, which he mistook for the latter. Consequently, when he came to the real mouth of the Calcasiu. he entered it, unJer a supposition th<it it was the Mermentau. The mistake was not corrected, uutil ascending to the upper lake of Calcasiu, he learned the truth from the inhabitants. From its extreme inaccuracy, the only map he possessed gave him no in· EMIGHANT'S GUIDE. ..6..5. fm·mation ; the rivers and Jal,es were so very inaccurately laid down, that the map was, in fact, e11tirrly UM.: less. Having be'rore learned, from pNsons who h ~1J passed down the Niermentau to the guif, the abundance of live oak on th at slr.eam, it was ·with no little a_stun~ s l)ment he couiJ fiuJ ueithP.r th at 110r any ot her trt>e on Calca!- ill! nver or l_a~e, unti~ penetrating the c~J IJI1try upwards of forty miles, the robm1a punlJia'* first pre .. entcd 1tse lf at the head of the )arge lake. Any pe rson wi s hin.~ in f~turP._ to enter ~it h er of thosf' rivers. may l~e prevented from m1 :-~, t::\kmg Ins olljcct , hy 11 ;•ying- atte ntion to the. !•vc oak. If that tree is Wf'l nting on l111J riH:r, Le n1ay be sure of bcJ? g \•rest of . the Mermentau. ::~s it grows in lc-,se r or r; red ter qu an ti lies on. all rtn: ~s frorn th e_ Mermentau to the 1\1iss issippi , and is ll('Ver to be found entrrely warllmg, as has ueen ohSf!rved it is on au~ S;.dJine anJ Calcasiu. The live oak tree affi>rds a U«; lll arkation of clim .o•le · and proves, beyond dispute, th at the Cltrnosphf-! re of Loui. i:mel low~rs in ~e1~perature in advancing westward . On Mobile river thP live oak IS f01~nu almost f( 31° N. lat. Ret ween i\1 ohile <1 nd the Mi ~~ i ss ippi th~ lrve oak dis::!ppc<lrs <lbout 30° :-3 0', whilst on the lattPr st re:nn it f;;uls ten miles f:Hther ~outh . On Atch<i fabya it is 8een ahova CowJsland as. high as 30° 20' N. Int. In L\ttf'lcapas, by a 8ingular lo cal shelter, Jt grows upon tbe '1\:che at the junction of !hat riv er and BJyou Fusilier. That its c·x istence in the latter placfl arises from 1he shelter of the adjoining woods is evident, as only four miles t the west, where the trees are exposed to the sweepin()' winds of Prairie Bellevue, the Jive o;;1k is uraknown ; and what is mo~e n~mark a iJle is that abov~ the junction of Teche and Fusilier, on the north sid'e of i_he woods th::~t border these streams, ~md within less than one mile fro•.n where t~1e liv~ oak P xhibit~ trees three feet in diameter, it is cn~Ircly wantmg, wrthout any evJdenc~ remainin ~ of its ever having ~~rsted. At O~~lousas ch~rch, ten rmnutes north of the junction of 1 eche and FusllJer, the l1ve oak is an exotic preserved with diffi-culty. · O_n tn~ water~ of 1\Iertne~lfau river, the Jive oak appears first ncar the JUnctwn ofBayou Nezpique and Plaguemine Brule, and does not advance more than three miles north of that place. On Lacasine a few stems appear. . West o! the 1atter Bayou, as far as known to the au_thor, the tree entirely d_Isappears. \V'hilst sheltered by the thick fo1ests o~ the A_labama tern lory an~ ~ ta!e ~f Mississippi, and by the eq~ally 1mpervwus woods of the Missrss1ppr swamps, the live oak can ex_r~t _; but .. ~hen exp?st>.d to the chilling winds of the intermi·nable prames of l exas, this fine and valuable tree perishes. That its exJsteuce depends upon local position is demonstrated by the single cir- ·• Tlt!s speci~s of ~be robinin, is probably a non-descript The tre.e grows about tift_een teet hagb, dark sealy uark; the thorns ar·e very numerous and ~\harp l~.~ante~; tbe leaves are sm~ll , oval, and piru,ated, of a light green colour ; t le perac.;arp rs a. legume, shaped lake a common bean; the fruit oval fl atted and of a dusky ~r·een. The name of dwarf robinia, grven to this tree in' the te~t is ~ot. v~r-y appr:opriate, as .'~any other species of that family are equally hurnhle : lobanta aqu~tJ.ca , or _mar-rttm~, would be mol'e chru·acteristic. The author fir·s t. ~ahw the rob~nta purmla growrng at Mr. Bt·ingier's on the Acadien coast, wher tt ad been rntrodaeed by that gentleman as a proper 11omponont of h.ea~es, · 9 • . |
