Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 4).djvu/374

 *cation. We saw numbers of other women sitting on the ground making baskets, mats, and sifters for Indian corn. The children were entirely naked. The chief part of the men and women that were engaged (for some of them were sober) were also naked, except a piece of cloth which the men wore for decency, and a remarkably short petticoat worn by the women; in every other respect they were entirely naked. They were thickly encamped in the fields, on the road, and in almost every direction, some in small cabins covered over with a shrub like a large fan, called latania, others seated on the ground and exposed to the heat of the sun. We walked about among them for an hour, and returned to the city, where we found upwards of one hundred negroes of both sexes assembled on the levee, fiddling, dancing, and singing.

Monday, March 4. Settled some private business, and some I could not get settled, for some men are not honest, and others disposed to equivocate, such I found Mons. G—n, who I should be glad to call by a better name than vn or rl. With whom, however I found Mr. Daniel Clark, merchant, very useful to me in getting my business settled. I wrote to Mr. Peacock of Philadelphia by captain Bradberry.

{337} Thinking about homeward, I visited the brig Guyoso, in which I intended to sail to Philadelphia. Captain Mason politely gave up his birth in the cabin to me. Mr. E and four of his men were to go in the same brig, having sold out his cargo to Mr. M. Mr. E being a good provider, we engaged him to lay in stores for the cabin.

Having two hours to spare, it may not be amiss to make a few remarks as to the situation of New Orleans: It is situated in 29° 59['] north latitude, 14° 53['] longitude west from Philadelphia. The city is built in an oblong square, parallel with the river, which runs here nearly north and south. Its