he dress of the women, in the elegance of their carriages, and in
their fine furniture."

Indeed, this display in dress and equipage astounded the French. The
sight of it in a city where Indians, negroes, and half-breeds mingled
freely with whites on street and in dive, where sanitary conditions were
beyond description, and where ignorance and slovenliness were too
apparent to be overlooked, seems to have rather nettled
Berquin-Duvallon, and he sometimes grew rather heated in his
descriptions of an unwarranted luxury and extravagance equal to that of
the capitals of Europe. But now, "the women of the city dress
tastefully, and their change of appearance in this respect in a very
short space of time is really surprising. Not three years ago, with
lengthened skirts, the upper part of their clothing being of one color,
and the lower of another, and all the rest of their dress in proportion;
they were brave with many ribbons and few jewels. Thus rigged out they
went everywhere, on their round of visits, to the ball, and to the
theatre. To-day, such a costume seems to them, and rightfully so, a
masquerade. The richest of embroidered muslins, cut in the latest
styles, and set off as transparencies over soft and brilliant taffetas,
with magnificent lace trimmings, and with embroidery and
gold-embroidered spangles, are to-day fitted to and beautify well
dressed women and girls; and this is accompanied by rich earrings,
necklaces, bracelets, rings, precious jewels, in fine with all that can
relate to dress--to that important occupation of the fair sex."

But beneath all this gaudy show of dress and wealth there was a
shameful ignorance that seems to have disgusted foreign visitors. There
was so little other pleasure in life for the women of this colony; their
education was so limited that they could not possibly have known the
variety of intellectual pastimes that made life so interesting for Eliza
Pinckney, Mrs. Adams, and Catherine Schuyler. With surprise
Berquin-Duvallon noted that "there is no other public institution fit
for the education of the youth of this country than a simple school
maintained by the government. It is composed of about fifty children,
nearly all from poor families. Reading, writing, and arithmetic are
taught there in two languages, French and Spanish. There is also the
house of the French nuns, who have some young girls as boarders, and who
have a class for day students. There is also a boarding schoo