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History of Louisisana

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I shall now proceed to speak of the fowls which frequent the woods,
and shall begin with the Wild-Turky, which is very common all over the
colony. It is finer, larger, and better than that in France. The
feathers of the turky are of a duskish grey, edged with a streak of
gold colour, near half an inch broad. In the small feathers the
gold-coloured streak is not above one tenth of an inch broad. The
natives make fans of the tail, and of four tails joined together, the
French make an umbrella. The women among the natives weave the
feathers as our peruke-makers weave their hair, and fasten them to an
old covering of bark, which they likewise line with them, so that it
has down on both sides. Its flesh is more delicate, fatter, and more
juicy than that of ours. They go in flocks, and with a dog one may
kill a great many of them. I never could procure any of the turky's
eggs, to try to hatch them, and discover whether they were as
difficult to bring up in this country as in France, since the climate
of both countries is almost the same. My slave told me, that in his
nation they brought up the young turkies as easily as we do chickens.

The Pheasant is the most beautiful bird that can be painted, and in
every respect entirely like that of Europe. {265} Their rarity, in my
opinion, makes them more esteemed than they deserve. I would at any
time prefer a slice off the fillet of a buffalo to any pheasant.

[Illustration: TOP: _White Ibis_--MIDDLE: _Tobacco Worm_--BOTTOM: _Cock
Roach_]

The Partridges of Louisiana are not larger than a wood-pigeon. Their
plumage is exactly the same with that of our grey partridges; they
have also the horse-shoe upon the breast; they perch upon trees, and
are seldom seen in flocks. Their {266} cry consists only of two strong
notes, somewhat resembling the name given them by the natives, who
call them Ho-ouy. Their flesh is white and delicate, but, like all the
other game in this country, it has no _fumet_, and only excels in the
fine taste.

The Woodcock is very rare, because it is only to be met with in
inhabited countries. It is like that of France; its flesh is white,
but rather plumper and more delicate than that of ours, which is owing
to the plenty and goodness of its fruit.

The Snipe is much more common than the woodcock, and in this country
is far from being shy. Its flesh is white, and of a much better relish
than that of ours.

I am of opinion that the Quail is very rare in Louisiana; I have
sometimes heard it, but never saw it, nor know any Frenchman that ever
did.

Some of our colonists have thought proper to give the name of Ortolan
to a small bird which has the same plumage, but in every other respect
does not in the least resemble it.

The Corbijeau is as large as the woodcock, and very common. Its
plumage is varied with several shady colours, and is different from
that of the woodcock; its feet and beak are also longer, which last is
crooked and of a reddish yellow colour; its flesh is likewise firmer
and better tasted.

The Parroquet of Louisiana is not quite so large as those that are
usually brought to France. Its plumage is usually of a fine sea-green,
with a pale rose-coloured spot upon the crown, which brightens into
red towards the beak, and fades off into green towards the body. It is
with difficulty that it learns to speak, and even then it rarely
practices it, resembling in this the natives themselves, who speak
little. As a silent parrot would never make its fortune among our
French ladies, it is doubtless on this account that we see so few of
these in France.

The Turtle-Dove is the same with that of Europe, but few of them are
seen here.

The Wood-Pigeons are seen in such prodigious numbers, that I do not
fear to exaggerate, when I affirm that they sometimes {267} cloud the
sun. One day on the banks of the Missisippi I met with a flock of them
which was so large, that before they all passed, I had leisure to fire
with the same piece four times at them. But the rapidity of their
flight was so great, that though I do not fire ill, with my four shots
I brought down but two.

These birds come to Louisiana only in the winter, and remain in Canada
during the summer, where they devour the corn, as they eat the acorns
in Louisiana. The Canadians have used every art to hinder them from
doing so much mischief, but without success. But if the inhabitants of
those colonies were to go a fowling for those birds in the manner that
I have done, they would insensibly destroy them. When they walk among
the high forest trees, they ought to remark under the trees the
largest quantity of dung is to be seen. Those trees being once
discovered, the hunters ought to go out when it begins to grow dark,
and carry with them a quantity of brimstone which they must set fire
to in so many earthen plates placed at regular distances under the
trees. In a very short time they will hear a shower of wood-pigeons
falling to the ground, which, by the light of some dried canes, they
may gather into sacks, as soon as the brimstone is extinguished.

I shall here give an instance that proves not only the prodigious number
of those birds, but also their singular instinct. In one of my journeys
at land, when I happened to be upon the bank of the river, I heard a
confused noise which seemed to come along the river from a considerable
distance below us. As the sound continued uniformly I embarked, as fast
as I could, on board the pettyaugre, with four other men, and steered
down the river, keeping in the middle, that I might go to any side that
best suited me. But how great was my surprise when I approached the
place from whence the noise came, and observed it to proceed from a
thick short pillar on the bank of the river. When I drew still nearer to
it, I perceived that it was formed by a legion of wood-pigeons, who kept
continually flying up and down successively among the branches of an
ever-green oak, in order to beat down the acorns with their wings. Every
now and then some alighted to eat the {268} acorns which they themselves
or the others had beat down; for they all acted in common, and eat in
common; no avarice nor private interest appearing among them, but each
labouring as much for the rest as for himself.

Crows are common in Louisiana, and as they eat no carrion their flesh
is better tasted than that of the crows of France. Whatever their
appetite may be, they dare not for the carrion crow approach any
carcass.

I never saw any Ravens in this country, and if there be any they must
be very rare.

The Owls are larger and whiter than in France, and their cry is much
more frightful. The Little Owl is the same with ours, but much more
rare. These two birds are more common in Lower Louisiana than in the
higher.

The Magpye resembles those of Europe in nothing but its cry; it is
more delicate, is quite black, has a different manner of flying, and
chiefly frequents the coasts.

The Blackbirds are black all over, not excepting their bills nor their
feet, and are almost as large again as ours. Their notes are
different, and their flesh is hard.

There are two sorts of Starlings in this country; one grey and
spotted, and the other black. In both the tip of the shoulder is of a
bright red. They are only to be seen in winter; and then they are so
numerous, that upwards of three hundred of them have been taken at
once in a net. A beaten path is made near a wood, and after it is
cleaned and smoothed, it is strewed with rice. On each side of this
path is stretched a long narrow silken net, with very small meshes,
and made to turn over at once by strings fastened to the stick that
stretches the end of it. The starlings no sooner alight to pick up the
grain, than the fowler, who lies concealed with the strings in his
hand, pulls the net over them.

The Wood-pecker is much the same as in France; but here there are two
kinds of them; one has grey feathers spotted with black; the other has
the head and the neck of a bright red, and the rest of the body as the
former. This bird lives upon the {269} worms which it finds in rotten
wood, and not upon ants, as a modern author would have us believe, for
want of having considered the nature of the things which he relates.
The bird, when looking for its food, examines the trunks of trees that
have lost their bark; it clasps by its feet with its belly close to
the tree, and hearkens if it can hear a worm eating the wood; in this
manner it leaps from place to place upon the trunk till it hears a
worm, then it pierces the wood in that part, pricks the worm with its
hard and pointed tongue, and draws it out. The arms which nature has
furnished it with are very proper for this kind of hunting; its claws
are hard and very sharp; its beak is formed like a little ax, and is
very hard; its neck is long and flexible, to give proper play to its
beak; and its hard tongue, which it can extend three or four inches,
has a most sharp point with several beards that help to hold the prey.

The Swallows of this country have that part yellow which ours have
white, and they, as well as the martins, live in the woods.

The Nightingale differs in nothing from ours in respect to its shape
or plumage, unless that it has the bill a little longer. But in this
it is particular that it is not shy, and sings through the whole year,
though rarely. It is very easy to entice them to your roof, where it
is impossible for the cats to reach them, by laying something for them
to eat upon a lath, with a piece of the shell of a gourd which serves
to hold their nest. You may in that case depend upon their not
changing their habitation.

The Pope is a bird that has a red and black plumage. It has got that
name perhaps because its colour makes it look somewhat old, and none
but old men are promoted to that dignity; or because its notes are
soft, feeble, and rare; or lastly, because they wanted a bird of that
name in the colony, having two other kinds named cardinals and
bishops.

The Cardinal owes its name to the bright red of the feathers, and to a
little cowl on the hind part of the head, which resembles that of the
bishop's ornament, called a camail. It is as large as a black-bird,
but not so long. Its bill and toes are {270} large, strong, and black.
Its notes are so strong and piercing that they are only agreeable in
the woods. It is remarkable for laying up its winter provision in the
summer, and near a Paris bushel of maiz has been found in its retreat,
artfully covered, first with leaves and then with small branches, with
only a little opening for the bird itself to enter.

The Bishop is a bird smaller than the linnet; its plumage is a
violet-coloured blue, and its wings, which serve it for a cope, are
entirely violet-colour. Its notes are so sweet, so variable, and
tender, that those who have once heard it, are apt to abate in their
praises of the nightingale. I had such great pleasure in hearing this
charming bird, that I left an oak standing very near my apartment,
upon which he used to come and perch, though I very well knew, that
the tree, which stood single, might be overturned by a blast of wind,
and fall upon my house to my great loss.

The Humming-Bird is not larger even with its feathers than a large
beetle. The colour of its feathers is variable, according to the light
they are exposed in; in the sun they appear like enamel upon a gold
ground, which delights the eyes. The longest feathers of the wings of
this bird are not much more than half an inch long; its bill is about
the same length, and pointed like an awl; and its tongue resembles a
sowing-needle; its feet are like those of a large fly. Notwithstanding
its little size, its flight is so rapid, that it is always heard
before it be seen. Although like the bee it sucks the flowers, it
never rests upon them, but supports itself upon its wings, and passes
from one flower to another with the rapidity of lightening. It is a
rare thing to catch a humming-bird alive; one of my friends however
had the happiness to catch one. He had observed it enter the flower of
a convolvulus, and as it had quite buried itself to get at the bottom,
he ran forwards, shut the flower, cut it from the stalk, and carried
off the bird a prisoner. He could not however prevail upon it to eat,
and it died four days after.

The Troniou is a small bird about the size of a sparrow; its plumage
is likewise the same; but its beak is slenderer. Its notes seem to
express its name.

{271} The French settlers raise in this province turkies of the same
kind with those of France, fowls, capons, &c. of an excellent taste.
The pigeons for their fine flavour and delicacy are preferred by
Europeans to those of any other country. The Guinea fowl is here
delicious.

In Louisiana we have two kinds of Silk-worms; one was brought from
France, the other is natural to the country. I shall enlarge upon them
under the article of agriculture.

The Tobacco-worm is a caterpillar of the size and figure of a
silk-worm. It is of a fine sea-green colour, with rings of a silver
colour; on its rump it has a sting near a quarter of an inch long.
These insects quickly do a great deal of mischief, therefore care is
taken every day, while the tobacco is rising, to pick them off and
kill them.

In summer Caterpillars are sometimes found upon the plants, but these
insects are very rare in the colony. Glow-worms are here the same as
in France.

Butterflies are not near so common as in France; the consequence of
there being fewer caterpillars; but they are of incomparable beauty,
and have the most brilliant colours. In the meadows are to be seen
black grasshoppers, which almost always walk, rarely leap, and still
seldomer fly. They are about the size of a finger or thum, and their
head is shaped somewhat like that of a horse. Their four small wings
are of a most beautiful purple. Cats are very fond of grasshoppers.

The Bees of Louisiana lodge in the earth, to secure their honey from
the ravages of the bears. Some few indeed build their combs in the
trunks of trees, as in Europe; but by far the greatest number in the
earth in the lofty forests, where the bears seldom go.

The Flies are of two kinds, one a yellowish brown, as in France, and
the other black.

The Wasps in this country take up their abode near the houses where
they smell victuals. Several French settlers endeavored to root them
out of their neighbourhood; but I acted otherwise; for reflecting,
that no flies are to be seen where the {272} wasps frequent, I invited
them by hanging up a piece of flesh in the air.

The quick-stinger is a long and yellowish fly, and it receives its
name from its stinging the moment it lights. The common flies of
France are very common also in Louisiana.

The Cantharides, or Spanish flies, are very numerous, and larger than
in Europe; they are of such an acid nature, that if they but slightly
touch the skin as they pass, a pretty large blister instantly rises.
These flies live upon the leaves of the oak.

The Green-flies appear only every other year, and the natives
superstitiously look upon their appearance as a presage of a good
crop. It is a pity that the cattle are so greatly molested by them,
that they cannot remain in the fields; for they are extremely
beautiful and twice as large as bees.

Fire flies are very common; when the night is serene they are so very
numerous, that if the light they dart out were constant, one might see
as clearly as in fine moonshine.

The Fly-ants, which we see attach themselves to the flower of the
acacia, and which disappear when that flower is gone, do not proceed
from the common ants. The fly ants, though shaped like the other kind,
are however longer and larger. They have a square head; their colour
is a brownish red bordered with black; they have four red and grey
wings, and fly like common flies, which the other ants do not even
when they have wings.

The Dragon-flies are pretty numerous; they do not want to destroy them
because they feed upon moskitos, which is one of the most troublesome
kind of insects.


The Moskitos are famous all over America, for their multitude, the
troublesomeness of their buzzing and the venom of their stings, which
occasion an insupportable itching, and often form so many ulcers, if
the person stung does not immediately put some spittle on the wound.
In open places they are less tormenting; but still they are
troublesome; and the best way of driving them out of the houses is to
burn a little brimstone in {273} the mornings and evenings. The smoke
of this infallibly kills them, and the smell keeps others away for
several days. An hour after the brimstone has been burnt, the
apartments may be safely entered into by men.

By the same means we may rid ourselves of the flies and moskitos,
whose sting is so painful and so frequent during the short time they
fly about; for they do not rise till about sun-set, and they retire at
night. This is not the case with the Burning-fly. These, though not
much larger than the point of a pin, are insupportable to the people
who labour in the fields. They fly from sun-rising to sun-setting, and
the wounds they give burn like fire.

The Lavert is an insect about an inch and a quarter long, a little
more than a quarter broad, and a tenth part of an inch thick. It
enters the houses by the smallest crevices and in the night-time it
falls upon dishes that are covered even with a plate, which renders it
very troublesome to those whose houses are only built of wood. Bue
they are so relishing to the cats, that these last quit everything to
fall upon them wherever they perceive them. When a new settler has
once cleared the ground about his house, and is at some distance from
the woods, he is quickly freed from them.

In Louisiana there are white ants, which seem to love dead wood.
Persons who have been in the East-Indies have assured me, that they
are quite like those which in that country are called _cancarla_, and
that they would eat through glass, which I never had the experience
of. There are in Louisiana, as in France, red, black, and flying ants.

{274}




CHAPTER VIII.

_Of Fishes and Shell-Fish_.


Though there is an incredible quantity of fishes in this country, I
shall however be very concise in my account of them; because during my
abode in the country they were not sufficiently known; and the people
were not experienced enough in the art of catching them. The most of
the rivers being very deep, and the Missisippi, as I have mentioned,
being between thirty-eight and forty fathoms, from its mouth to the
fall of St. Anthony, it may be easily conceived that the instruments
used for fishing in France, cannot be of any use in Louisiana, because
they cannot go to the bottom of the rivers, or at least so deep as to
prevent the fish from escaping. The line therefore can be only used
and it is with it they catch all the fish that are eaten by the
settlers upon the river. I proceed to an account of those fish.

The Barbel is of two sorts, the large and the small. The first is
about four feet long, and the smallest of this sort that is ever seen
is two feet long, the young ones doubtless keeping at the bottom of
the water. This kind has a very large head, and a round body, which
gradually lessens toward the tail. The fish has no scales, nor any
bones, excepting that of the middle: its flesh is very good and
delicate, but in a small degree vary insipid, which is easily
remedied; in other respects it eats very like the fresh cod of the
country.

The small is from a foot to two in length. Its head is shaped like
that of the other kind; but its body is not so round, nor so pointed
at the tail.

The Carp of the river Missisippi is monstrous. None are seen under two
feet long; and many are met with three and four feet in length. The
carps are not so very good in the lower part of the river; but the
higher one goes the finer they are, on account of the plenty of sand
in those parts. A great number of carps are carried into the lakes
that are filled by the overflowing of the river, and in those lakes
they are found {275} of all sizes, in great abundance, and of a better
relish than those of the river.

[Illustration: Top: _Cat Fish_--Middle: _Gar Fish_--Bottom: _Spoonbill
Catfish_]

The Burgo-Breaker is an excellent fish; it is usually a foot and a
foot and a half long: it is round, with gold-coloured scales. In its
throat it has two bones with a surface like that of a file to break
the shell-fish named Burgo. Though delicate, it is nevertheless very
firm. It is best when not much boiled.

{276} The Ring-Skate is found in the river up as far as New Orleans,
but no higher. It is very good, and no way tough. In other respects it
is exactly like that of France.

The Spatula is so called, because from its snout a substance extends
about a foot in length, in the form of an apothecary's Spatula. This
fish, which is about two feet in length, is neither round or flat, but
square, having at its sides and in the under part bones that forman
angle like those of the back.

No Pikes are caught above a foot and a half long. As this is a
voracious fish, perhaps the Armed-fish pursues it, both from jealousy
and appetite. The pike, besides being small, is very rare.

The Choupic is a very beautiful fish; many people mistake it for the
trout, as it takes a fly in the same manner. But it is very different
from the trout, as it prefers muddy and dead water to a clear stream,
and its flesh is so soft that it is only good when fried.

The Sardine or small Pilchard of the river Missisippi, is about three
or four fingers in breadth, and between six and seven inches long; it
is good and delicate. One year I salted about the quantity of forty
pints of them, and all the French who eat of them acknowledged them to
be Sardines from their flesh, their bones, and their taste. They
appear only for a short season, and are caught by the natives, when
swimming against the strongest current, with nets made for that
purpose only.

The Patassa, so called by the natives for its flatness, is the roach
or fresh-water mullet of this country.

The Armed-Fish has its name from its arms, and its scaly mail. Its
arms are its very sharp teeth, about the tenth of an inch in diameter,
and as much distant from each other, and near half an inch long. The
interval of the larger teeth is filled with shorter teeth. These arms
are a proof of its voracity. Its mail is nothing but its scales, which
are white, as hard as ivory, and about the tenth of an inch in
thickness. They are near an inch long, about half as much in breadth,
end in a {277} point, and have two cutting sides. There are two ranges
of them down the back, shaped exactly like the head of a spontoon, and
opposite to the point of the scale has a little shank, about three
tenths of an inch long, which the natives insert into the end of their
arrows, making the scale serve for a head. The flesh of this fish is
hard and not relishing.

There are a great number of Eels in the river Missisippi, and very
large ones are found in all the rivers and creeks.

The whole lower part of the river abounds in Crayfish. Upon my first
arrival in the colony the ground was covered with little hillocks,
about six or seven inches high, which the crayfish had made for taking
the air out of the water; but since dikes have been raised for keeping
off the river from the low grounds, they no longer shew themselves.
Whenever they are wanted, they fish for them with the leg of a frog,
and in a few moments they will catch a large dish of them.

The Shrimps are diminutive crayfish; they are usually about three
inches long, and of the size of the little finger. Although in other
countries they are generally found in the sea only, yet in Louisiana
you will meet with great numbers of them more than an hundred leagues
up the river. In the lake St. Louis, about two leagues from New
Orleans, the waters of which, having a communication with the sea, are
somewhat brackish, are found several sorts both of sea fish, and fresh
water fish. As the bottom of the lake is very level, they fish in it
with large nets lately brought from France.

Near the lake, when we pass by the outlets to the sea, and continue
along the coasts, we meet with small oysters in great abundance, that
are very well tasted. On the other hand, when we quit the lake by
another lake that communicates with one of the mouths of the river, we
meet with oysters four or five inches broad, and six or seven long.
These large oysters eat best fried, having hardly any saltness, but in
other respects are large and delicate.

Having spoken of the oysters of Louisiana, I shall take some notice of
the oysters that are found on the trees at St. Domingo. When I arrived
at the harbour of Cape François in {278} my way to Louisiana, I was
much surprised to see oysters hanging to the branches of some shrubs;
but M. Chaineau, who was our second captain, explained the phaenomenon
to me. According to him, the twigs of the shrubs are bent down at high
water, to the very bottom of the shore, whenever the sea is any ways
agitated. The oysters in that place no sooner feel the twigs than they
lay hold of them, and when the sea retires they appear suspended upon
them.

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