within it; when a tree falls and hurts a limb, he attributes the act to the Evil Spirit; when crossing the river in his canoe, and upsets by the wind, he thinks the Evil Spirit agitates the air and raises the storm; when one of his tribe is deprived of reason by a shock of sickness, or dispensation of Heaven, he says the Evil Spirit torments him. Several nations call the Good Spirits, Michi Lichi; and the bad ones, Matchi Manitous. And one superior Good Spirit they call by way of distinction and eminence Kilchi Manitou, or Great Unknown Spirit; and one superior Bad Spirit is called Matchi Manitou, or Wicked Being. From a system like this the number of Good and Evil Spirits must be innumerable, and the objects of love and apprehension beyond all bounds.

The Choetaw Indians inhabit the Western, and the lower creeks the

Eastern part of this territory; and the Muscogees inhabit from the Chalahocha to the Alebama, and extend into West Florida. These tribes of Indians are more numerous than any other East of the Mississippi, and are remarkable for their aversion and contempt to the people of the United States, and the hostile disposition they manifest towards them on every occasion that presents.

I

would have visited these nations were it not for the advance of the season.-I therefore returned to this city, which I leave to-morrow by dawn.

The river here is about one mile and a quarter broad; and as the city is advantageously seated on a bank one hundred feet above low water mark, the view from it is delightful.

The

waters begin to rise in April, and subside in August, overflowing the grounds for many miles on each side; the Western side being the lowest, the

inundations there extend forty or fifty miles. There is a fort here as well as at the Walnut Hills, and one at Loftus's Heights, about seven miles above the boundary line, and another at Bond's Bluff and St. Stephen's; these two last are in the Mobile River.

LETTER XL.

Fort Adams ·General Wilkinson ·

Riviere

Rouge-Several settlements with their trade and produce-Chaffalis Bayeau-Tunica Bayeau and Villages-Point Coupice churcha rich settlement-Bayeau Sacra-Thomp son's Creek-Baton Rouge-Bayeau Man chee-Bayeau de la Fourchi-Alacapas and Opelousas settlements-fine breed of horses and cattle-healthy climate-sugar plantations-Bona Cara settlement-account of the river from New Orleans to the sea.

Bona Cara, Mississippi Bank,

November, 1806.

I HAD not left the Natchez many hours before I found a sensible improvement in the river: the current preserving the centre and the sides free of snags, sawyers, and rocks. This appearance was very pleasing, as it dispensed with labor and attention, and shewed it practicable to float all night: a thing entirely rash to attempt after leaving the Ohio.

The first object that attracts notice is the white cliffs on the East side, and which are thirty-nine miles from the Natchez; the second, the mouth of the Homochello River on the same side; and the third, Loftus's Heights and Fort Adams also on the East side. The fort is garrisoned. General Wilkinson is at present there, collecting troops to drive

the Spaniards beyond the Louisiana line, from limits of which the domains of the United States would extend to the Florida Gulph and the Isthmus of Dawen.

General Wilkinson is also a Governor of the Upper Louisiana, though contrary to a law of the State, which says "that functions civil and military are not to be vested in any one person, or in any one place."

The regular force under General Wilkinson does not exceed one thousand men. In case of necessity he has the militia of the Natchez, Orleans, Finassee, and Kentucky to call out. He proposes shortly to leave Fort Adams, and to stretch the American boundary to its utmost extent.

Five miles below Fort Adams is the Line of Demarkation, struck before the purchase between Spain and the United States. It is in latitude 31 north, and