ed them, and who have no other outlet than this river
and no other port than New Orleans."

The outward aspect of the city, however, was certainly not American.
From the masthead of his vessel Laussat might have seen over a thousand
dwellings of varied architecture: houses of adobe, houses of brick,
houses of stucco; some with bright colors, others with the harmonious
half tones produced by sun and rain. No American artisans constructed
the picturesque balconies, the verandas, and belvederes which suggested
the semitropical existence that Nature forced upon these city dwellers
for more than half the year. No American craftsmen wrought the artistic
ironwork of balconies, gateways, and window gratings. Here was an
atmosphere which suggested the Old World rather than the New. The
streets which ran at right angles were reminiscent of the old regime:
Conde, Conti, Dauphine, St. Louis, Chartres, Bourbon, Orleans--all
these names were to be found within the earthen rampart which formed the
defense of the city.

The inhabitants were a strange mixture: Spanish, French, American,
black, quadroon, and Creole. No adequate definition has ever been
formulated for "Creole," but no one familiar with the type could fail
to distinguish this caste from those descended from the first French
settlers or from the Acadians. A keen observer like Laussat discerned
speedily that the Creole had little place in the commercial life of
the city. He was your landed proprietor, who owned some of the choicest
parts of the city and its growing suburbs, and whose plantations lined
both banks of the Mississippi within easy reach from the city. At the
opposite end of the social scale were the quadroons--the demimonde of
this little capital--and the negro slaves. Between these extremes were
the French and, in ever-growing numbers, the Americans who plied
every trade, while the Spaniards constituted the governing class.
Deliberately, in the course of time, as befitted a Spanish gentleman and
officer, the Marquis de Casa Calvo, resplendent with regalia, arrived
from Havana to act with Governor Don Juan Manuel de Salcedo in
transferring the province. A season of gayety followed in which the
Spaniards did their best to conceal any chagrin they may have felt at
the relinquishment--happily, it might not be termed the surrender--of
Louisiana. And finally on the 30th of November, Governor Salcedo
delivered the keys of the city to Laussat, in the hall of the Cabild