History of Louisisana | Page 7

is more fertile, says our author, than
that on the east side of the Missisippi; in which part, however, says he,
the lands are very fertile, with a rich {vii} black mould three feet deep
in the hills, and much deeper in the bottoms, with a strong clayey
foundation. Reeds and canes even grow upon the hill sides; which, with
the oaks, walnuts, tulip-trees, &c. are a sure sign of a good and rich soil.

And all along the Missisippi on both sides, Dumont tells, "The lands,
which are all free from inundations, are excellent for culture,
particularly those about Baton Rouge, Cut-Point, Arkansas, Natchez,
and Yasous, which produce Indian corn, tobacco, indigo, &c. and all
kinds of provisions and esculent plants, with little or no care or labour,
and almost without culture; the soil being in all those places a black
mould of an excellent quality." [Footnote: Memoires, I. 16.]
These accounts are confirmed by our own people, who were sent by the
government of Virginia in 1742, to view these the western parts of that
province; and although they only went down the Ohio and Missisippi to
New Orleans, they reported, that "they saw more good land on the
Missisippi, and its many large branches, than they judge is in all the
English colonies, as far as they are inhabited;" as appears from the
report of that government to the board of trade.
What makes this fertile country more eligible and valuable, is, that it
appears both from its situation, and from the experience the French
have had of it, [Footnote: See p. 120, 121.] to be by far the most
healthful of any in all these southern parts of North America; a thing of
the last consequence in settling colonies, especially in those southern
parts of America, which are in general very unhealthful. All the sea
coasts of our colonies, to the southward of Chesapeak bay, or even of
New-York, are low and flat, marshy and swampy, and very unhealthful
on that account and those on and about the bay of Mexico, and in
Florida, are withal excessively hot and intemperate, so that white
people are unfit for labour in them; by which all our southern colonies,
which alone promise to be of any great advantage to the nation, are so
thin of people, that we have but 25,000 white people in all South
Carolina. [Footnote: Description of South Carolina. by----, p. 30.] But
those lands on the Missisippi are, on {viii} the contrary, high, dry, hilly,
and in some places mountainous at no great distance from the river,
besides the ridges of the Apalachean mountains above mentioned, that
lie to the northward of them; which must greatly refresh and cool the
air all over the country, especially in comparison of what it is on the
low and flat, sandy and parched sea coasts of our present colonies.
These high lands begin immediately above the Delta, or drowned lands,
at the mouth of the Missisippi; above which the banks of that river are
from one hundred to two hundred feet high, without any marshes about

them; and continue such for nine hundred miles to the river Ohio,
especially on the east side of the river. [Footnote: See p. 158]
Such a situation on rich and fertile lands in that climate, and on a
navigable river, must appear to be of the utmost consequence. It is only
from the rich lands on the river sides (which indeed are the only lands
that can generally be called rich in all countries, and especially in North
America), that this nation reaps any thing of value from all the colonies
it has in that part of the world. But "rich lands on river sides in hot
climates are extremely unhealthful," says a very good judge, [Footnote:
Arbuthnot on Air. App.] and we have often found to our cost. How
ought we then to value such rich and healthful countries on the
Missisippi? As much surely as some would depreciate and vilify them.
It may be observed, that all the countries in America are only populous
in the inland parts, and generally at a distance from navigation; as the
sea coasts both of North and South America are generally low, damp,
excessively hot, and unhealthful; at least in all the southern parts, from
which alone we can expect any considerable returns. Instances of this
may be seen in the adjacent provinces of Mexico, New Mexico, Terra
Firma, Peru, Quito, etc. and far more in our southern colonies, which
never became populous, till the people removed to the inland parts, at a
distance from the sea. This we are in a manner prevented to do in our
colonies, by the mountains which surround us, and confine us to the
coast; whereas on the Missisippi the