Page:A Topographical Description of the State of Ohio, Indiana Territory, and Louisiana.djvu/112

104 by the fort and barracks, and is elevated thirty feet above the river banks. Natchitoches is an ancient French settlement, which commenced nearly a century ago, where a trading post was established, and an extensive traffic carried on with the Indians. This despicable village is not on the site where the ancient town stood; the present inhabitants, having been almost entirely secluded from the civilized world, have degenerated to a miserable, ignorant set of beings; but a small degree removed from the state of the savages, with whom they have had their principal intercourse. When a large trade was carried on with the natives, many years ago, the town was much larger than it is at present; the people having left the town to settle on farms in the adjacent country, but principally on the long round, near the river. Very little now remains to be seen of the old parts of the town, except the form of their gardens, and a few ornamental trees. There is one great inconvenience in settling near Red river; the waters being never clear, and always brackish. Wells, sunk near the river, have brackish and unpleasant water. There are some tolerable springs, but the inhabitants are obliged principally to depend on rain water.

Near Natchitoches are two large lakes, one a mile, and the other six miles distant. One of the lakes is thirty, and the other fifty or sixty miles in circumference. These lakes are connected with the river by bayaus. When the water rises