At length the first negro bell was heard from the opposite shore, for the negroes to turn out; soon afterwards a gleam was visible in the east. My tormentors now attacked me like mad, and it appeared as if all the mosquitoes in Louisiana had assembled with the intention of sucking me dry, so as to preserve me as a specimen: I jumped up, and ran about to baffle the attempt.
Day came at last, and with it some houses were opened; amongst others a German coffee-house. Leaving my baggage there I strolled about the place. After lounging about for an hour, I thought it was late enough to find out Kean, who was clerk in a merchant’s house; I soon found him, Bayou Sara not being very large, and met with a kind reception.
In the first place I had to change my costume; hunting-shirts and leggings are excellent things in the forest, but not so well adapted to a town, nor to the hot sun of Louisiana. Summer articles were not dear, a number of German Jews having settled in the place, underselling each other; for a few dollars I obtained a very respectable suit.
Most of the houses of Bayou Sara are built of wood, only three or four being of brick. It may contain about 800 inhabitants, among whom are several Germans, who are carpenters, tailors, shoemakers, sugar-bakers, coffee-house keepers, and a large number of German Jews, who by their low prices have managed to get the trade in ready-made clothes completely into their own hands. German shoemakers mustered very strong; and here I was again struck with a peculiarity which I have remarked among all the German shoemakers in America, namely the rage they have for selling gingerbread and sugar-plums, as well as boots and shoes.
In the United States as a matter of course, every person is free to buy and sell whatever he chooses. Therefore all sorts of wares are to be found at all the stores. In the smaller towns, apothecaries generally combine a trade in calicoes and hardware with that of drugs; and when a German shoemaker opens his shop, you are sure to see some glasses with parti-colored sugar-plums, and pieces of gingerbread in the little window, while boots and shoes are dangling on pack-thread above them. This was not only the case in Bayou Sara, and St. Francisville, a town of the same size on a hill about a quarter of a mile behind Bayou Sara, but in all the smaller towns in the United States which I had visited, and even in some parts of the large town of Cincinnati. It is at all events a strange medley.
I passed my time very agreeably in the society of Kean, whose employers were good kind people, until I obtained a remunerative occupation in Pointe Coupée, a large French settlement extending twenty miles along the opposite or western bank of the Mississippi; this office consisted in the management of the hotel formerly kept by Rutkin, and which he had sold before his departure; the purchaser, however, was weak and in bad health, and had been mostly confined to his bed, leaving the hotel to the management of another, who was driving every thing to wreck and ruin. The purchaser’s brother seeing that it would never do to leave it in such hands, placed me in the situation on Kean’s recommendation. Although my present sphere of action was very different from any thing to which I had hitherto been accustomed, I soon gained an insight into the business, and went on very well, as I was perfectly independent, acting on all occasions as I thought best: and I can fairly say that I soon brought things into better order.
Generally speaking, living in Pointe Coupée was much more agreeable than in Bayou Sara, as my principal dealings were with the opulent planters of the vicinity, amongst whom were some very pleasant people; there was also an Irish advocate living in the hotel, who had a very extensive practice, and we conceived a mutual friendship for each other: I shall always look back with hearty pleasure to my acquaintance with Mr. Beattie.
The little town of the settlement, lying rather higher up the stream on the opposite side to Bayou Sara, consists of the town-hall, the jail, the Roman Catholic church, the priest’s house, and the hotel.
As the land beyond the banks of the Mississippi, particularly in Louisiana, is lower than the river, when the latter is very full the settlers have been obliged to throw up a dam—levée, as it is called—which is generally from four to five feet high, but in some places from eighteen to twenty. It costs immense sums to keep this in repair, as the river constantly undermines it, and carries off large masses in its wild muddy waters; moreover, it is incumbent on those dwelling immediately on the banks to supply the means, while those living further from the river, whose property is more liable to damage, do not contribute any thing towards the dam; but last year there was a discussion on the subject, and it is probable that the system will be changed.
The principal productions of Pointe Coupée are cotton, Indian Corn, and sugar-cane. The gardens are filled with oranges, figs, peaches, and pomegranates, with quantities of all the most beautiful flowers. One great plague of the planters, in some parts of the settlement, for it does not extend everywhere, is the coco-grass, somewhat similar to our couch-grass. The roots extend from twelve to fifteen feet in the ground, as may be seen when the river tears away a part of the bank. Where it has once taken hold, it is very difficult to extirpate; it grows so fast that, when cut down at night, it is again about an inch high in the morning. It is not very good for cattle, though pigs are extremely fond of the pods, which have a strong smell and taste of camphor.