, and wide
rivers. Five forts, or large batteries, had been erected for
their protection at Mobile, Biloxi, on the Mississippi, and at
Ship and Dauphine Islands.

"Lumber, hides, and peltries, constituted the objects of
exportation, which the colony presented to commerce. A number
of woodsmen, or _coureurs de bois,_ from Canada, had followed
the missionaries, who had been sent among the nations of
Indians, between that province and Louisiana. These men plied
within a circle, of a radius of several hundred miles, of which
the father's chapel was the centre, in search of furs,
peltries, and hides. When they deemed they had gathered a
sufficient quantity of these articles, they floated down the
Mississippi, and brought them to Mobile, where they exchanged
them for European goods, with which they returned. The natives
nearer to the fort, carried on the same trade. Lumber was
easily obtained around the settlement: of late, vessels, from
St. Domingo and Martinique, brought sugar, coffee, molasses,
and rum, to Louisiana, and took its peltries, hides, and
lumber, in exchange. The colonists procured some specie from
the garrison of Pensacola, whom they supplied with vegetables
and fowls. Those who followed this sort of trade, by furnishing
also the officers and troops, obtained flour and salt
provisions from the king's stores, which were abundantly
supplied from France and Vera Cruz. Trifling but successful
essays had shown, that indigo, tobacco, and cotton, could be
cultivated to great advantage: but hands were wanting.
Experience had shown, that the frequent and heavy mists and
fogs were unfavourable to the culture of wheat, by causing it
to rust."

What a change have a few years of good government and undisturbed
industry and enterprise made in this country; for up to the time of its
cession to the United States, its improvement was slow, uncertain, and
by no means remarkable! Who can now recognise in this rich and
prosperous state, the member of a great confederation, of a powerful
republic, known and respected by every nation of the earth, the desolate
wilds, the miserable and scattered habitations, "few and far between,"
with a population half savage and half civilized, of various bloods and
colours, and scarcely able to support a pinched and comfortless
existence, by excessiv