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Show EMIGRANT'S GUIDE.. cumstance, that it grows farther nor~h both east and west, thac on the 1\'Iissi~sippi. This is the case wt.th mar~y other vegetabJ,es, and it is obviously owing to the cooling of the atr by J?eans of that great. river, anu to the vent givf:-11 by its channel, to wmds of a tempera .. ture below that of the adjacent country. . . . That part of Opelousas Prairie lying between. VermiliOn .n.ver, and Bayou Q.ueue Tortue, rises abov.e.., the ~e a marsh, and ~~h•b•.t~ some spots fa,·ourable to agriculture. I he sotl on the Ve~mtlwnn IS much superior to that on Q.ueue 'I'ortue, tb~ugh less exte?s_1ve. r l be margin of the woods are !-ieltled 011 both stues of the pratne. Those per~ 011s who ~e s ide on Q.ueue Tortue are gei~erally pastoral ; those on Vermilion agricultural. . . . BELLEVUE PRAIRIE is upwanls of thtrty miles m length from north to south and at a medium, six miles wide from east to Wl~ st. Few phces !;ave ever receiveu a r.nore appropriate name ; the mos~ agreeable, prouuc.tiv e , an~ best cuJttvate?,rarts of _Opelousas and A~ tac:lpas are in tins beaut 1fui expanse. I he ch.u!ch of St. Landre tlil on an elevated spot ou tlw eastern borJer of Prame Bellevue; and ~he town and seat of ju~tice for the parish stands in a ba.y, th at passm.g thP church anJ town. extenJs to the southeast three rmles, aud teruu~ nate!-l at the woods of Bflyou Buurbee. 'rhe inhabitan~s of the coon~ try confine the name of Prairie Bellevue to that particular part which :.~tretches from the point of woods bPlow the church to Chretien's, about six miles, anJ give other local appellations to the several h<~ys th:1t indent the woods of the Vermilion to the south, anJ Bayou Grand Louis to the north of the church and town. The term Prairie Bellevue has been maue general in Darby's Louisiana, and used in this tre~tise ~o as to include the range of prairie lying betwt'en M. Fout.-.not's, in OiJe:ousas, to the lower extremity of the Penaulr settlement in .Attac<'~pas. There were in Opelousas upwards of fi\-·e thousand people in 18 l 0, more than one half of whom were ia thi~ prairie. A vf'ry marked difference exists in the soil in the various . parts of Bellevue; the eal'tern bnrder is variegated, much of the surface rolling, and the lanJ extremely fertile; the middle parts in th~ opelJ prfiirie fertile, some part;; Plevated, but mostly flat and wet, though not marshy, so that cat tie <~no horses pass it in all directions without danger or difficulty. The western part upon Bayou Queue Tortue# B<~you Plaquemine Brule, and Bayou Me ll et, varies with the general eff~ct of tlwse sPveral water-courses; upon Queue Tortue the soil is sh:: rile; upon Plaquemine Bru!e and Mel let, of secoud rate quality; the northern upon Bayou Grand Louis, partaking of the beauty and fertility of the land of Teche. . . Queue Tortue Prairie, the cove of Plaquemine Brule, and Prarrr.e Mt.llet, are n1ereJy bays extending from Praire Bellevue, in the dt· rectior1 of the several streams from which their distinctive appeJlations have ueen t~tken. The land in the. e three Jatter prairies is generally flat and wet, and extremely well adapted to prCt)duce the most abundant pasturage. Some parts, however, are sufficienll.f elevateu tor tlllflge, and though the soil is natu rally thin, yet Jt retains manure with great teuacity; a quality indeed common to all EMIGRANT'S GVIDE. 67 the prairie lands; of Opelousas and Attacapas, and which they derive from the almost total absence of sand in their composition. The timber in every part aro.und the Bellevue Prairie is excellf'nt, particularly the v:uious kinds of oak. A iiin~ular phenomenon often, marked by the author, is to be seen here; the liriodendron tulipifera~ (poplar) is abundant, and very large in. all the wooJs in .the vicinity of Opelousas; but in the woods to the westwfl rd of Prairie Belltvue, this tree has never been seen; the same remark m:ly, in a great mea~ sure, however, be made respectiu~ the black-walnut, which . though sometimes met with on the waters of the Mermentau. Calcasiu, and Sabine, is rare on tbose streams, and small in growth ; whilst, in th«~ woods of Teche. Bayou Bceuf, and other water-courses flowing into Atchafalaya, the black-walnut tree is abundant and lar<re. A_TTACAPAS PRAIRIE occupies the space betwe:rl the woods of Vermilion and Teche; it iR about forty mil es in length, but of very unequfll wiJth; lying in the form of a triangle, the t,ase of which rests ~pon the Teche river, witb the perpendicular running nearly west from New I be ria . Many ranges of woods cht-!I_! Ucr this prairie; the most remarkable of which, are Point Perdue, C:ulines Cote, the hills of Petite Anse, anu Grand Cote, the wood~ upon BrlJOU Tor! ue, and Isle Cypriere, (Cypress i lanJ.) This prairie, commencir-JO' m a point at the junction of Teche and I< u<:i I ier, gradually w idPn~ i~ advancing southward ; is ag~in contracted by the woods of' Bayou 'rortue to less than two miles; exp;md.:; hdow New Iberia to the so.uthwe~t <ind nor1h we~ t. The 30° N. lat. passes this prairie two m~les so~th of New Iberia; along which the prairie i~ twenty-rive miles wr.de. The pl ace included witb)n the Faus~e poi11t bt.:nd in Teche, IS an ernbnmchment of the Attacapas prairie. The distance over the prairie N. \iV from New Iberia to the Vermilion is al1out €ighte~n, and fr~m Ne~v Iberia SOl!th~~est to.the extremity of u'Je prairie, foJlc->wmg the 1 eche, up\vards ot th trly mdes. AIJ the land ~ of the Attacapas Pr;J~.irie sufficiently elevated, are ex. tremely fertile ; all the vegetaule products known in Louisiana, can he produce? up<~n the various parts of this fine prairie ; and it is prolJablc t~at rts sod would be cong<-!nial to rnauy plants not yet intr<~duced 1nto the country ; the olive in particular. B!. far the mo.st extensive and wealthy settlement yet made in Lou1s1ana west of the Atchafalaya, is upon the right bank of the Te- • iir It. is very difficul~ to determine, which is moc;t absma, the vulgat· or the o,otamcal. n.amo ?f tl11s tl'lll-y useful and elegant tree . When first introduced into Eut·ope, •t recetvcd the name of tu lipifem. Linnreus ehanged it to liriodenur? n; ~ot· "~bat reason, it would have been difficult for him to explaiu. Mr. ~tiler, In ht~ Gardener's Oic;tionar·y, restores the name tulipifera; and Michaux, Jn order to gtve each fair play, uses both . EVF~ry writet· who follows, must, to be .unu.erstood_~ use these te~t_ns, h_owever m:'cb he .may riespise this really decepttvr abu. e of words. l o netther the hly or tulip h11s th~ flowe•· of this tree ~veo a fan· resemblaneP, much less any botanical affi11ity. Wlrat is sin"'ulat ·, ts, that all this jumble of corrupt Greek und Latin, is u:wd to desigoat; a ~·ee, only one species of which is known to exist, and wluc!J is tJPeuliad · remarkable fot· possessing distinctive characters, that would ·eem to havf' de fied all the systern-~or.'ger in the world t(l. confound with ny othtr ohject i11 11a. ture. Its name ts Just about as appropnate as ursus leonis would be if applied to the hors~ . |