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 wood, with piazzas for shade in the summer. Notwithstanding their comparative opulence, they differ little either in habits, manners, or dress from the Canadians. Dancing and gambling appear to be their favourite amusements. The men, as usual, are commonly dressed in blanket coats, and the women wear handkerchiefs around their heads in place of bonnets. The inhabitants do not appear to be well supplied with merchandize, and the river is crowded with the boats of French and Spanish {239} pedlars, not much larger than perogues, but fitted up with a cabin, covered deck, and sails.

Another vast monopolizer of human liberty, along the coast (as the borders of the Mississippi are termed by the French), is general Wade Hampton,[237] who possesses upwards of 400 slaves, and has obtained at one crop 500 hogsheads of sugar, and 1000 bales of cotton, then collectively worth upwards of 150,000 dollars: in the United States an immense fortune, without any additional property, and equal to that of almost any English nobleman. But, with the means of being so extensively useful, I do not learn that either this gentleman or Mons. Poydras,[238] expend any adequate part of their immense property to