This is said to have been the case on the three occasions already mentioned. At such a time all business is of course suspended. The port is empty, the stores are shut up. Those officers alone whose presence is indispensable, or who have overcome the yellow fever, will remain with a set of wretches, who, like beasts of prey feed upon the relics of the dead, speculating upon the misery of their fellow creatures so far, as not unfrequently to buy at auctions the very beds upon which they have been known to expire in a few days afterwards. The first rain, succeeded by a little frost, banishes the deadly guest, and every one returns to his former business.
It is to be hoped, that this scourge of the land, if it should not be wholly extirpated, will at least become less prevalent for the future. The police regulations adopted during the last four years, have proved very effectual. Among these are a strict attention to cleanliness, watering the streets by means of the gutters, shutting up the grog-shops after nine o’clock; and removing from the city all the poor and houseless people, at the expense of the corporation, as soon as the least indication of approaching infection is perceived. These, and several other wise regulations will, it is hoped, contribute greatly to increase the population, and to give the new comers a firmer guarantee for their lives, than they have hitherto found. When the plans in contemplation shall have been carried into effect, and the swamps behind the city drained, a measure the more beneficial, as the soil of these swamps is beyond all imagination fertile; then the surrounding country, and the city itself, will become as healthy as any other part of the Union. With the increasing population, we have no doubt, that Louisiana will present the same features, as Egypt in former days, bearing, as it does, the most exact resemblance to that country. During six months, and already at the present time, it is a delightful place, successfully resorted to from the north, by persons in a weak state of health. The mildness of the climate, which even during the two winter months, is seldom interrupted by frost, the most luxuriant tropical fruits—bananas, pine-apples, oranges, lemons, figs, cocoa-nuts, &c., partly reared in the country, partly imported in ship loads from the Havannah, a distance of only a few hundred miles; excellent oysters, turtle of the best kind, arriving every hour; fish from the lake Pontchartrain; game, venison of all sorts; vegetables of the finest growth,—all these advantages give New Orleans a superiority over almost every other place. Sobriety, temperance, and moderation in the use of sensual enjoyments, and especially in the intercourse with the sex, with a strict attention to the state of health, and an instant resort to the necessary preservatives in case of derangement in the digestive system,—such are the precautions that will best enable a stranger to guard against the attacks of the disorders incident to this place.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Hints for Emigrants to Louisiana.—Planters, Farmers, Merchants, and Mechanics.
Whoever emigrates from a northern to a southern climate, experiences more or less a change in his constitution; his blood is thinned, and in a state of greater effervescence, and his frame weakened in consequence. The least derangement in the digestive system in this case, produces a bilious fever.
The new comers emigrating to Louisiana, are either planters, farmers, merchants, or mechanics. The former, being more or less wealthy, come for the purpose of establishing themselves, and usually buy sugar or cotton lands, on the banks of the Mississippi, or Red-river, which, though in general healthy, are, on the other hand, a sure grave to those who neglect taking the necessary precautions. Planters descend to Louisiana in the winter months; but as the heat increases every moment, and has a debilitating effect upon their bodies, accustomed to a cold climate, they attempt to counterbalance this weakness by an excessive use of spirituous liquors, to promote digestion. Notwithstanding bad omens, and in spite of the advice of their more experienced neighbours, their mania for making money keeps them there during the summer, and they fall victims to their avidity for gain.
Whoever intends to establish a plantation in Louisiana, has the free choice between the low lands on the Mississippi, or the Red-river. There are upwards of 200,000 acres of sugar lands still unoccupied. He may settle himself on the banks of the above-mentioned rivers, without the least fear, the yellow fever seldom or never penetrating to the plantations. Thousands of planters live and continue there without experiencing any attack of sickness. After having bought his lands, and obtained possession, he may stay till the month of May, taking the necessary measures for the improvement of the plantation, leave his directions with his overseer, and remove to the north. His house, if along the banks of the Mississippi, should be built not far from the river, in order that he may enjoy the cooling freshness of its waters. In the rear of his plantation, and about his house, he sows the seed of sun-flowers, to preserve his slaves from the morning and night exhalations of the swamps; a measure which, trifling as it may seem, will have an incredible effect in improving the air.
With a capital of 25,000 dollars, 5,500l. sterling, he may purchase at the present time, 2,000 acres of land, for a sum of from 3 to 4,000 dollars, and thirty stout slaves for 15,000 dollars; there will remain 7,000 for his first year’s expenses. The establishment of a sugar plantation amounts to not more than the above stated sum of 25,000 dollars. The produce of the third year, if the plantation be properly managed, amounts to 150,000 pounds of sugar, valued at 12,000 dollars, besides the molasses, the sale of which will cover the household expenses; each negro, therefore, yielding a clear annual income of 400 dollars.
Failures in sugar crops in plantations along the banks of the Mississippi, never occur, except beyond 30° 30′ of north latitude. The planter, however, cannot expect any thing in the first year from his sugar fields; the canes yielding produce only eighteen months after having been planted. The planting takes place from August until December, by means of eye-slips. The process at the sugar-houses is sufficiently known. These plantations, if well managed and well attended to, are, owing to the great and constant demand for sugar, the surest way of realising a capital, though the management requires considerable care and attention.