A day or two after our arrival we agreed upon a visit to Point Coupè, a flourishing French settlement on the Spanish shore of the Mississippi.
Early next morning we set off in a neat Cypress boat with three oars, proceeding up the river; and by night got to a large plantation near the White cliffs, now called Brown’s cliffs, in honour of the late governor of West Florida, now of the Bahama Islands, who is proprietor of a large district of country, lying on and adjacent to the Cliffs. At the time of my residence with Mr. Rumsey at Pearl island, governor Brown, then on his passage to his government of the Bahamas, paid Mr. Rumsey a visit, who politely introduced me to his excellency, acquainting him with my character and pursuits: he desired me to explore his territory, and give him my opinion of the quality of the White plains.
August 27th, 1777, having in readiness horses well equipt, early in the morning we set off for the plains. About a mile from the river we crossed a deep gully and small rivulet, then immediately entered the Cane forests, following a straight avenue cut through them, off from the river, which continued about eight miles, the ground gradually but imperceptibly rising before us: when at once opened to view expansive plains, which are a range of native grassy fields of many miles extent, lying parallel with the river, surrounded and intersected with Cane brakes and high forests of stately trees; the soil black, extremely rich and productive, but the virgin mould becomes thinner and less fertile as it verges on to the plains, which are so barren as scarcely to produce a bush or even grass, in the middle or highest parts. The upper stratum or surface of the earth is a whitish clay or chalk, with veins of sea shells, chiefly of those little clams called les coquilles, or interspersed with the white earth or clay, so tenacious and hard as to render it quite sterile, scarcely any vegetable growth to be seen, except short grass, crustaceous mosses, and some places quite bare, where it is on the surface, but where it lies from eighteen inches to two or three feet below, it has the virtue of fertilizing the virgin mould above, rendering it black, humid, soapy, and incredibly productive.
I observed two or three scrubby Pine trees or rather dwarf bushes, upon the highest ridge of these plains, which are viewed here as a curiosity, there being no Pine forests within several leagues distance from the banks of this great river, but, on the contrary, seemingly an endless wilderness of Canes, and the most magnificent forests of the trees already noted, but particularly Platanus occidentalis, Liriodendron, Magnolia grandiflora, Liquidambar styraciflua, Juglans nigra, Juglans exaltata, Telea, Morus rubra, Gleditsia triacanthus, Laurus Borbonia, and Laurus sassafras; this last grows here to a vast tree, forty or fifty feet straight trunk; its timber is found to be very useful, sawn into boards and scantling, or hewn into posts for building and fencing.
On the more fertile borders of the plains, adjoining the surrounding forests, are Sideroxylon, Pyrus coronaria, and Strawberry vines (Fragaria) but no fruit on them; the inhabitants assured me they bore fruit in their season, very large, of a fine red colour, delicious and fragrant.
Having made our tour and observations on the White plains, we returned to the river at the close of the day, and next morning sat off for Point Coupè: passed under the high painted cliffs, and then set our course across the Mississippi, which is here near two miles over: touched at a large island near the middle of the river, being led there, a little out of our way, in pursuit of a bear crossing from the main, but he out-swam us, reached the island and made a safe retreat in the forests entangled with vines; we however pursued him on shore, but to no purpose. After resting a while we re-embarked and continued our voyage, coasting the East shore of the island to the upper end; here we landed again, on an extended projecting point of clean sand and pebbles, where were to be seen pieces of coal sticking in the gravel and sand, together with other fragments of the fossil kingdom, brought down by inundations and lodged there. We observed a large kind of muscle in the sand; the shell of an oval form, having horns or protuberances near half an inch in length and as thick as a crow quill, which I suppose serve the purpose of grapnels to hold their ground against the violence of the current. Here were great numbers of wild fowl wading in the shoal water that covers the sandy points, to a vast distance from the shores: they were geese, brant, gannet, and the great and beautiful whooping crane (grus alber). Embarked again, doubled the point of the island and arrived at Point Coupè in the evening.
We made our visit to a French gentleman, an ancient man and wealthy planter, who, according to the history he favoured us with of his own life and adventures, must have been very aged; his hair was of a silky white, yet his complexion was florid and constitution athletic. He said that soon after he came to America, with many families of his countrymen, they ascended the river to the Cliffs of the Natches, where they sat down, being entertained by the natives; and under cover of a strong fortress and garrison, established a settlement, and by cultivating the land and forming plantations, in league and friendship with the Indians, in a few years they became a populous, rich and growing colony; when through the imprudent and tyrannical conduct of the commandant towards the Natches, the ancients of the country, a very powerful and civilized nation of red men, who were sovereigns of the soil, and possessed the country round about them, they became tired of these comers, and exasperated at their cruelty and licentiousness, at length determined to revenge themselves of such inhumanity and ingratitude, secretly conspired their destruction, and their measures were so well concerted with other Indian tribes, that if it had not been for the treachery of one of their princesses, with whom the commander was in favour (for by her influence her nation attempted the destruction of the settlement, before their auxilaries joined them, which afforded an opportunity for some few of the settlers to escape), they would have fully accomplished their purpose. However the settlement was entirely broken up, most of the inhabitants being slaughtered in one night, and the few who escaped betook themselves to their canoes, descending the river until they arrived at this place, where they established themselves again; and this gentleman had only time and opportunity to take into his boat one heifer calf, which he assured us was the mother of the numerous herds he now possesses, consisting of many hundred head. Here is now a very respectable village, defended by a strong fortress and garrison of Spaniards, the commander being governor of the district.
The French here are able, ingenious and industrious planters: they live easy and plentifully, and are far more regular and commendable in the enjoyment of their earnings than their neighbours the English: their dress of their own manufactures, well wrought and neatly made up, yet not extravagant or foppish; manners and conversation easy, moral and entertaining.
Next morning we sat off again on our return home, and called by the way of the Cliffs, which is a perpendicular bank or bluff, rising up out of the river near one hundred feet above the present surface of the water, whose active current sweeps along by it. From eight or nine feet below the loamy vegetative mould at top, to within four or five feet of the water, these cliffs present to view strata of clay, marle and chalk, of all colours, as brown, red, yellow, white, blue and purple; there are separate strata of these various colours, as well as mixed or particoloured: the lowest stratum next the water is exactly of the same black mud or rich soil of the adjacent low Cypress swamps, above and below the bluff; and here in the cliffs we see vast stumps of Cypress and other trees, which at this day grow in these low, wet swamps, and which range on a level with them. These stumps are sound, stand upright, and seem to be rotted off about two or three feet above the spread of their roots; their trunks, limbs, &c. lie in all directions about them. But when these swampy forests were growing, and by what cause they were cut off and overwhelmed by the various strata of earth, which now rise near one hundred feet above, at the brink of the cliffs, and two or three times that height but a few hundred yards back, are enquiries perhaps not easily answered. The swelling heights rising gradually over and beyond this precipice are now adorned with high forests of stately Magnolia, Liquidambar, Fagus, Quercus, Laurus, Morus, Juglans, Telea, Halesia, Æsculus, Callicarpa, Liriodendron, &c. Arrived in the evening at the plantation below the Cliffs, and next day got safe back to my friend’s habitation.
Observed few vegetable productions different from what grow in Carolina and Georgia; perhaps in the spring and early summer season, here may be some new plants, particularly in the high forests and ridges, at some distance from the river: there is however growing in the rich high lands, near on the banks of the river, which I observed in the settlement of Baton Rouge, an arborescent aromatic vine, which mounts to the tops of the highest trees, by twisting or writhing spirally round them; some of these vines are as thick as a man’s leg, of a soft spungy texture, and flexible, covered with a Cinnamon coloured bark, which is highly aromatic or spicy. The large oblong leaves sit opposite on the branches, and are of a full deep green colour; but its season of flowering being past, and the seed was scattered, I am entirely ignorant to what genus it belongs; perhaps it is a non-descript or new genus. Here is likewise a new and beautiful species of Verbena, with decumbent branches and lacerated deep green leaves; the branches terminate with corymbi of violet blue flowers: this pretty plant grows in old fields where there is a good soil.