I at length returned towards the Missisippi, in order to meet again the pettyaugre. As in all this country, and in all the height of the colony we find numbers of buffaloes, elk, deer, and other game; so we find numbers of wolves, some tigers, Cat-a-mounts, (Pichous) and carrion-crows, all of them carnivorous animals, which I shall hereafter describe. When we came near the Missisippi we made the signal of recognition, which was answered, though at some distance. It was there my people killed some buffaloes, to be dressed and cured in their manner, for our journey. We embarked at length, and went down the Missisippi, till we came within a league of the common landing-place. The Indians hid the pettyaugre, and went to their village. As for myself, I got home towards dusk, where I found my neighbours and slaves surprised, and at the same time glad, at my unexpected return, as if it had been from a hunting-match in the neighbourhood.
I was really well pleased to have got home, to see my slaves in perfect health, and all my affairs in good order: But I was strongly impressed with the beauties of the countries I had seen. I could have wished to end my days in those charming solitudes, at a distance from the tumultuous hurry of the world, far from the pinching gripe of avarice and deceit. There it is, said I to myself, one relishes a thousand innocent delights, and which are repeated with a satisfaction ever new. It is there one lives exempt from the assaults of censure, detraction, and calumny. In those delightsome meadows, which often extend far out of sight, and where we see so many different species of animals, there it is we have occasion to admire the beneficence of the Creator. To conclude, there it is, that at the gentle purling of a pure and living water, and enchanted with the concerts of birds, which fill the neighbouring thickets, we may agreeably contemplate the wonders of nature, and examine them all at our leisure.
I had reasons for concealing my journey, and stronger reasons still to suppress what I had discovered, in order to avail myself thereof afterwards: but the crosses I underwent, and the misfortunes of my life, have, to this day, prevented me from profiting by these discoveries, in returning to that charming country, and even so much as to lay them before the public.
[CHAPTER III.]
Of the Nature of the Lands of Louisiana. The Lands on the Coast.
In order to describe the nature of this country with some method, I shall first speak of the place we land at, and shall therefore begin with the coast: I shall then go up the Missisippi; the reverse of what I did in the Geographical Description, in which I described that river from its source down to its mouth.
The coast, which was the first inhabited, extends from Rio Perdido to the lake of St. Louis: this ground is a very fine land, white as snow, and so dry, as not to be fit to produce any thing but pine, cedar, and some ever-green oaks.
The river Mobile is the most considerable of that coast to the east.[42] It rolls its waters over a pure sand, which cannot make it muddy. But if this water is clear, it partakes of the sterility of its bottom, so that it is far from abounding so much in fish as the Missisippi. Its banks and neighbourhood are not very fertile from its source down to the sea. The ground is stony, and scarce any thing but gravel, mixt with a little earth. Though these lands are not quite barren, there is a wide difference between their productions and those of the lands in the neighbourhood of the Missisippi. Mountains there are, but whether stone fit for building, I know not.
In the confines of the river of the Alibamous (Creeks) the lands are better: the river falls into the Mobile, above the bay of the same name. This bay may be about thirty leagues in length, after having received the Mobile, which runs from north to south for about one hundred and fifty leagues. On the banks of this river was the first settlement of the French in Louisiana, which stood till New Orleans was founded, which is at this day the capital of the colony.
The lands and water of the Mobile are not only unfruitful in all kinds of vegetables and fish, but the nature of the waters and the soil contributes also to prevent the multiplication of animals; even women have experienced this. I understood by Madam Hubert, whose husband was at my arrival Commissary Director of the colony, that in the time the French were in that post, there were seven or eight barren women, who all became fruitful, after settling with their husbands on the banks of the Missisippi, where the capital was built, and whither the settlement was removed.