At 3 o’clock, P. M. six or eight of the boarders with myself and the doctor took a walk about two miles from the city to view an Indian encampment of the Choctaw nation. We had a shade of full bearing orange trees, to the gate which we had to pass, near which marched a centinel to guard a fort a little below, detached from the palisadoes which surrounded the city. Outside of the gate we saw a large circular shade for drying and manufacturing bricks, under which were upwards of fifty Indians of both sexes, chiefly intoxicated, singing, drinking, rolling in the dirt, and upon the whole exhibiting a scene very disgustful. We soon came to another company of {336} ten men sitting in the middle of the road, all intoxicated, amongst them was one standing, with a bottle of rum in his hand, whose contents he alternately administered to the rest, first by shaking the bottle and then pouring part of its contents into their mouths. We proceeded, and in our way out, we met numbers of Indian women with large bundles of wood on their backs, first tied together and then held by a strap carried over their foreheads. Thus loaded, they proceed to the city, while their husbands, (if they may be allowed this appellation) are spending their time in indolence and intoxication. We saw numbers of other women sitting on the ground making baskets, mats, and sifters for Indian corn. The children were entirely naked. The chief part of the men and women that were engaged (for some of them were sober) were also naked, except a piece of cloth which the men wore for decency, and a remarkably short petticoat worn by the women; in every other respect they were entirely naked. They were thickly encamped in the fields, on the road, and in almost every direction, some in small cabins covered over with a shrub like a large fan, called latania, others seated on the ground and exposed to the heat of the sun. We walked about among them for an hour, and returned to the city, where we found upwards of one hundred negroes of both sexes assembled on the levee, fiddling, dancing, and singing.
Monday, March 4. Settled some private business, and some I could not get settled, for some men are not honest, and others disposed to equivocate, such I found Mons. G—n, who I should be glad to call by a better name than v——n or r——l. With whom, however I found Mr. Daniel Clark, merchant, very useful to me in getting my business settled. I wrote to Mr. Peacock of Philadelphia by captain Bradberry.
{337} Thinking about homeward, I visited the brig Guyoso, in which I intended to sail to Philadelphia. Captain Mason politely gave up his birth in the cabin to me. Mr. E—— and four of his men were to go in the same brig, having sold out his cargo to Mr. M——. Mr. E—— being a good provider, we engaged him to lay in stores for the cabin.
Having two hours to spare, it may not be amiss to make a few remarks as to the situation of New Orleans: It is situated in 29° 59′ north latitude, 14° 53′ longitude west from Philadelphia. The city is built in an oblong square, parallel with the river, which runs here nearly north and south. Its bed is remarkably deep, but owing to the astonishing quantity of water which it receives and conducts to the sea, this scooped cavity is filled and sometimes overflows its banks and inundates the country for miles, hence the city is low and flat, and the adjacent grounds damp, of which the following circumstance is an evidence. In digging the graves for the dead, before they are dug sufficiently deep, they are filled with water, and the coffins are generally held just below the surface until a quantity of sand and gravel is thrown on to sink them to the bottom. The city is surrounded by a deep ditch, and pallisadoed on its interior bank with picketed cypress. This barrier takes its route round those sides of the city exposed to the land, and joining the river above and below the town, and is guarded by three tolerably strong square forts. There are two gates leading to the interior of the country, guarded by mounts raised on each side, upon which, cannon are planted. There are also two other gates about one miles asunder, the one up, the other down the river, whose entrance is guarded by the most formidable cannon, with some of their mouths pointing to the river. Between these two gates are five row gallies, stationed opposite to the governour’s house, which are always kept in order and manned {338} ready for action. The streets are laid out in a straight line from the river to the ditch and palisadoes, and cross each other in parallel lines. The principal part of the original plot of the city is built upon, particularly that next the river. There is a space of 50 yards between the river and the front row of houses, which has a beautiful appearance. The houses in general are not more than one story high, some two, and a few three stories; the rooms are lofty, and the doors very wide, to admit a free circulation of air, which in this warm climate is very necessary.
The channel of the Mississippi, though very deep, and upwards of a mile wide, would not admit the astonishing body of water to which it serves as a conduit, had not nature and art combined to aid this element in its descent to the ocean: the first in having made a number of outlets, by which a considerable quantity of the overplus water is carried off into the swamps and low lands, thence in channels to the sea: the second in forming a number of mill races cut through the levee. On these races saw mills are erected for sawing plank, boards for building houses, and others for making sugar boxes, which are cut in proper lengths and exported to the Havannah, where they are bartered for excellent sugar. It is worthy of remark that the plantations along the banks of the Mississippi from Natchez to New Orleans and still lower down, were formerly appropriated to the culture of indigo and rice, but the demand for these articles, particularly the first, being on the decline, the attention of the planters is now turned to that of sugar and cotton, both of which articles bid for making excellent shipments, and consequently remittances for dry goods and other articles imported from Europe.
The houses are in general neat, and some elegant. There is an elegant Roman church, with a nunnery, in {339} which the females are instructed and prepared, some for active life, others for the veil, which is not unfrequent here.[225] I observed one day while standing in the street a little distance from me, a priest walking with hasty steps on the levee carrying the host, and three or four other persons carrying candles in lanthorns; these were followed by a file of musketeers with bayonets fixed. I was a little struck with surprise at this parade, and more so on seeing the inhabitants kneeling down as it approached. While I was satisfying my curiosity in observing these people at a distance, the remark of a certain poet struck me with peculiar force:
Eye nature’s walks, shoot folly as it flies,
And catch the manners, living as they rise.
Monday, March 11. Having got my box and trunk examined at the custom house, and my mattress and blankets on board the brig Guyoso, I took my station in the cabin, where I slept as well as the musquitoes would permit.
March 12. At 12, we set sail, receiving three cheers from a number of American merchants, supercargoes, and seamen, assembled on the shore, to whom we replied in the same manner. Half past three o’clock, we passed the English turn, five leagues below New Orleans. Wind rather ahead. At 4, we passed an old fort called St. Mary, on the right going down. At 7, dropped our anchor and went to rest.