Page:A Topographical Description of the State of Ohio, Indiana Territory, and Louisiana.djvu/98

90 five or six miles of the line of demarkation, just below which the great bend first commenced. The distance across the land is only five miles, called the Short Cut; but following the course of the river is fifty miles. Here the bend still continues, turning to the eastward and southward, until it comes within one mile and a half of the river in its course to the northward; nearly completing a circle of about thirty miles in circumference. The last of these bends is called Tunica Bend, at the extremity of which is Tunica village, a handsome settlement, extending about twelve miles along the east side of the river.

Point Coupee is about fifteen miles below Tunica village, on the western side, where there was formerly a bend, nearly resembling Tunica Bend, but of smaller size. Here the river, after making a circuit of about twenty miles, returned almost into its own stream. A channel, some years ago, was cut across, and by the washing of the current, the river is become as deep and broad as it is above and below, by which a saving is made of about twenty miles in the distance. The old bend is called Fausse Riviere.

Point Coupee is a rich and populous settlement, extending about twenty miles on the river. The land is laid out in beautiful cotton plantations, producing great crops. Here commences the embankment or Levee, on the western side of the river, which is continued to Orleans, a distance