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History of Louisisana by Le Page Du Pratz

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This is one entire level champaign country; the part of which that
lies west of the Missisippi is 900 miles (of sixty to a degree) by
300, and contains 270,000 square miles, as much as both France and
Spain put together. This country lies in the latitude of those
fruitful regions of Barbary, Syria, Persia, India, and the middle of
China, and is alone sufficient to supply the world with all the
products of North America. It is very fertile in every thing, both in
lands and metals, by all the accounts we have of it; and is watered by
several large navigable rivers, that spread over the whole country
from the Missisippi to New Mexico; besides several smaller rivers on
the coast west of the Missisippi, that fall into the bay of Mexico; of
which we have no good accounts, if it be not that Mr. Coxe tells us of
one, the river of the Cenis, which, he says, "is broad, deep, and
navigable almost to its heads, which chiefly proceed from the ridge of
hills that separate this province from New Mexico," [Footnote:
Description of Carolina, p. 37] and runs through the rich and
fertile country on the coast above mentioned.

The western part of this country is more fertile, says our author,
than that on the east side of the Missisippi; in which part, however,
says he, the lands are very fertile, with a rich {vii} black mould
three feet deep in the hills, and much deeper in the bottoms, with a
strong clayey foundation. Reeds and canes even grow upon the hill
sides; which, with the oaks, walnuts, tulip-trees, &c. are a sure sign
of a good and rich soil. And all along the Missisippi on both sides,
Dumont tells, "The lands, which are all free from inundations, are
excellent for culture, particularly those about Baton Rouge,
Cut-Point, Arkansas, Natchez, and Yasous, which produce Indian corn,
tobacco, indigo, &c. and all kinds of provisions and esculent plants,
with little or no care or labour, and almost without culture; the soil
being in all those places a black mould of an excellent quality."
[Footnote: Memoires, I. 16.]

These accounts are confirmed by our own people, who were sent by the
government of Virginia in 1742, to view these the western parts of
that province; and although they only went down the Ohio and
Missisippi to New Orleans, they reported, that "they saw more good
land on the Missisippi, and its many large branches, than they judge
is in all the English colonies, as far as they are inhabited;" as
appears from the report of that government to the board of trade.

What makes this fertile country more eligible and valuable, is, that
it appears both from its situation, and from the experience the French
have had of it, [Footnote: See p. 120, 121.] to be by far the most
healthful of any in all these southern parts of North America; a thing
of the last consequence in settling colonies, especially in those
southern parts of America, which are in general very unhealthful. All
the sea coasts of our colonies, to the southward of Chesapeak bay, or
even of New-York, are low and flat, marshy and swampy, and very
unhealthful on that account and those on and about the bay of Mexico,
and in Florida, are withal excessively hot and intemperate, so that
white people are unfit for labour in them; by which all our southern
colonies, which alone promise to be of any great advantage to the
nation, are so thin of people, that we have but 25,000 white people in
all South Carolina. [Footnote: Description of South Carolina. by----,
p. 30.] But those lands on the Missisippi are, on {viii} the
contrary, high, dry, hilly, and in some places mountainous at no great
distance from the river, besides the ridges of the Apalachean
mountains above mentioned, that lie to the northward of them; which
must greatly refresh and cool the air all over the country, especially
in comparison of what it is on the low and flat, sandy and parched sea
coasts of our present colonies. These high lands begin immediately
above the Delta, or drowned lands, at the mouth of the Missisippi;
above which the banks of that river are from one hundred to two
hundred feet high, without any marshes about them; and continue such
for nine hundred miles to the river Ohio, especially on the east side
of the river. [Footnote: See p. 158]

Such a situation on rich and fertile lands in that climate, and on a
navigable river, must appear to be of the utmost consequence. It is only
from the rich lands on the river sides (which indeed are the only lands
that can generally be called rich in all countries, and especially in
North America), that this nation reaps any thing of value from all the
colonies it has in that part of the world. But "rich lands on river
sides in hot climates are extremely unhealthful," says a very good judge,
[Footnote: _Arbuthnot_ on Air. _App_.] and we have often found to our
cost. How ought we then to value such rich and healthful countries on
the Missisippi? As much surely as some would depreciate and vilify them.
It may be observed, that all the countries in America are only populous
in the inland parts, and generally at a distance from navigation; as the
sea coasts both of North and South America are generally low, damp,
excessively hot, and unhealthful; at least in all the southern parts,
from which alone we can expect any considerable returns. Instances of
this may be seen in the adjacent provinces of Mexico, New Mexico, Terra
Firma, Peru, Quito, etc. and far more in our southern colonies, which
never became populous, till the people removed to the inland parts, at a
distance from the sea. This we are in a manner prevented to do in our
colonies, by the mountains which surround us, and confine us to the
coast; whereas on the Missisippi the whole continent is open to them,
and they have, besides, this healthy {ix} situation on the lower parts
of that river, at a small distance from the sea.

If those things are duly considered, it will appear, that they who are
possessed of the Missisippi, will in time command that continent; and
that we shall be confined on the sea coasts of our colonies, to that
unhealthful situation, which many would persuade us is so much to be
dreaded on the Missisippi. It is by this means that we have so very few
people in all our southern colonies; and have not been able to get in
one hundred years above twenty-five thousand people in South Carolina;
when the French has not less than eighty or ninety thousand in Canada,
besides ten or twelve thousand on the Missisippi, to oppose to them. The
low and drowned lands, indeed, about the mouth of the Missisippi must no
doubt be more or less unhealthful; but they are far from being so very
pernicious as many represent them. The waters there are fresh, which we
know, by manifold experience in America, are much less prejudicial to
health than the offensive fetid marshes, that are to be found every
where else on the salt waters. Accordingly we are credibly informed,
that some of the inhabitants of New Orleans say, they never enjoyed
better health even in France; and for that reason they invite their
countrymen, in their letters to them, we are told, to come and partake
of the salutary benefits of that delightful country. The clearing,
draining, and cultivating of those low lands, must make a very great
change upon them, from the accounts we have had of them in their rude
and uncultivated state.

III. The Upper Louisiana we call that part of the continent, which
lies to the northward of the mountains above mentioned in latitude
35 deg.. This country is in many places hilly and mountainous for which
reason we cannot expect it to be so fertile as the plains below it.
But those hills on the west side of the Missisippi are generally
suspected to contain mines, as well as the mountains of New Mexico, of
which they are a continuation. But the fertile plains of Louisiana are
perhaps more valuable than all the mines of Mexico; which there would
be no doubt of, if they were duly cultivated. They will breed and
maintain ten times as many people, and supply them with {x} many more
necessaries, and articles of trade and navigation, than the richest
mines of Peru.

The most important place in this country, and perhaps in all North
America, is at the Forks of the Missisippi, where the Ohio falls into
that river; which, like another ocean, is the general receptacle of
all the rivers that water the interior parts of that vast continent.
Here those large and navigable rivers, the Ohio, river of the
Cherokees, Wabache, Illinois, Missouri, and Missisippi, besides many
others, which spread over that whole continent, from the Apalachean
mountains to the mountains of New Mexico, upwards of one thousand
miles, both north, south, east, and west, all meet together at this
spot; and that in the best climate, and one of the most fruitful
countries of any in all that part of the world, in the latitude 37 deg.,
the latitude of the Capes of Virginia, and of Santa Fe, the capital of
New Mexico. By that means there is a convenient navigation to this
place from our present settlements to New Mexico; and from all the
inland parts of North America, farther than we are acquainted with it:
and all the natives of that continent, those old friends and allies of
the French, have by that means a free and ready access to this place;
nigh to which the French formed a settlement, to secure their interest
on the frontiers of all our southern colonies. In short this place is
the centre of that vast continent, and of all the nations in it, and
seems to be intended by nature to command them both; for which reason
it ought no longer to be neglected by Britain. As soon as we pass the
Apalachean mountains, this seems to be the most proper place to settle
at; and was pitched upon for that purpose, by those who were the best
acquainted with those countries, and the proper places of making
settlements in them, of any we know. And if the settlements at this
place had been made, as they were proposed, about twenty years ago,
they might have prevented, or at least frustrated, the late attempts
to wrest that country, and the territories of the Ohio, out of the
hands of the English; and they may do the same again.

But many will tell us, that those inland parts of North America will
be of no use to Britain, on account of their distance {xi} from the
sea, and inconvenience to navigation. That indeed might be said of the
parts which lie immediately beyond the mountains, as the country of
the Cherokees, and Ohio Indians about Pitsburg, the only countries
thereabouts that we can extend our settlements to; which are so
inconvenient to navigation, that nothing can be brought from them
across the mountains, at least none of those gross commodities, which
are the staple of North America; and they are as inconvenient to have
any thing carried from them, nigh two thousand miles, down the river
Ohio, and then by the Missisippi. For that reason those countries,
which we look upon to be the most convenient, are the most
inconvenient to us of any, although they join upon our present
settlements. It is for these reasons, that the first settlements we
make beyond the mountains, that is, beyond those we are now possessed
of, should be upon the Missisippi, as we have said, convenient to the
navigation of that river; and in time those new settlements may come
to join to our present plantations; and we may by that means reap the
benefit of all those inland parts of North America, by means of the
navigation of the Missisippi, which will be secured by this post at
the Forks. If that is not done, we cannot see how any of those inland
parts of America, and the territories of the Ohio, which were the
great objects of the present war, can ever be of any use to Britain,
as the inhabitants of all those countries can otherwise have little or
no correspondence with it.

IV. This famous river, the Missisippi, is navigable upwards of two
thousand miles, to the falls of St. Anthony in latitude 45 deg., the only
fall we know in it, which is 16 degrees of latitude above its mouth;
and even above that fall, our author tells us, there is thirty fathom
of water in the river, with a proportionate breadth. About one
thousand miles from its mouth it receives the river Ohio, which is
navigable one thousand miles farther, some say one thousand five
hundred, nigh to its source, not far from Lake Ontario in New York; in
all which space there is but one fall or rapide in the Ohio, and that
navigable both up and down, at least in canoes. This fall is three
hundred miles from the Missisippi, and one thousand three hundred from
the sea, with five fathom of water up to {xii} it. The other large
branches of the Ohio, the river of the Cherokees, and the Wabache,
afford a like navigation, from lake Erie in the north to the Cherokees
in the south, and from thence to the bay of Mexico, by the Missisippi:
not to mention the great river Missouri, which runs to the north-west
parts of New Mexico, much farther than we have any good accounts of
that continent. From this it appears, that the Missouri affords the
most extensive navigation of any river we know; so that it may justly
be compared to an inland sea, which spreads over nine tenths of all
the continent of North America; all which the French pretended to lay
claim to, for no other reason but because they were possessed of a
paltry settlement at the mouth of this river.

If those things are considered, the importance of the navigation of
the Missisippi, and of a port at the mouth of it, will abundantly
appear. Whatever that navigation is, good or bad, it is the only one
for all the interior parts of North America, which are as large as a
great part of Europe; no part of which can be of any service to
Britain, without the navigation of the Missisippi, and settlements
upon it. It is not without reason then, that we say, whoever are
possessed of this river, and of the vast tracts of fertile lands upon
it, must in time command that continent, and the trade of it, as well
as all the natives in it, by the supplies which this navigation will
enable them to furnish those people. By those means, if the French, or
any others, are left in possession of the Missisippi, while we neglect
it, they must command all that continent beyond the Apalachean
mountains, and disturb our settlements much more than ever they did,
or were able to do; the very thing they engaged in this war to
accomplish, and we to prevent.

The Missisippi indeed is rapid for twelve hundred miles, as far as to
the Missouri, which makes it difficult to go up the river by water.
For that reason the French have been used to quit the Missisippi at
the river St. Francis, from which they have a nigher way to the Forks
of the Missisippi by land. But however difficult it may be to ascend
the river, it is, notwithstanding often done; and its rapidity
facilitates a descent upon it, and a ready conveyance for those gross
commodities, which {xiii} are the chief staple of North America, from
the most remote places of the continent above mentioned: and as for
lighter European goods, they are more easily carried by land, as our
Indian traders do, over great part of the continent, on their horses,
of which this country abounds with great plenty.

The worst part of the navigation, as well as of the country, is
reckoned to be at the mouth of the river; which, however, our author
tells us, is from seventeen to eighteen feet deep, and will admit
ships of five hundred tons, the largest generally used in the
plantation trade. And even this navigation might be easily mended, not
only by clearing the river of a narrow bar in the passes, which our
author, Charlevoix, and others, think might be easily done; but
likewise by means of a bay described by Mr. Coxe, from the actual
survey of his people, lying to the westward of the south pass of the
river; which, he says, has from twenty-five to six fathom water in it,
close to the shore, and not above a mile from the Missisippi, above
all the shoals and difficult passes in it, and where the river has one
hundred feet of water. By cutting through that one mile then, it would
appear that a port might be made there for ships of any burden; the
importance of which is evident, from its commanding all the inland
parts of North America on one side, and the pass from Mexico on the
other; so as to be preferable in these respects even to the Havanna;
not to mention that it is fresh water, and free from worms, which
destroy all the ships in those parts.

And as for the navigation from the Missisippi to Europe, our author
shews that voyage may be performed in six weeks; which is as short a
time as our ships generally take to go to and from our colonies. They
go to the Missisippi with the trade winds, and return with the
currents.

It would lead us beyond the bounds of a preface, to shew the many
advantages of those lands on the Missisippi to Britain, or the
necessity of possessing them. That would require a treatise by itself,
of which we can only give a few abstracts in this place. For this
purpose we should compare those lands with our present colonies; and
should be well informed of the quantity and condition of the lands we
already possess, before {xiv} we can form any just judgement of what
may be farther proper or requisite.

Our present possessions in North America between the sea and the
mountains appear, from many surveys and actual mensurations, as well
as from all the maps and other accounts we have of them, to be at a
medium about three degrees of longitude, or one hundred and forty
miles broad, in a straight line; and they extend from Georgia, in
latitude 32 deg., to the bay of Fundi, in latitude 45 deg. (which is much
farther both north and south, than the lands appear to be of any great
value); which makes 13 degrees difference of latitude, or 780 miles:
this length multiplied by the breadth 140, makes 109,200 square
miles., This is not above as much land as is contained in Britain and
Ireland; which, by Templeman's Survey, make 105,634 square miles.
Instead of being as large as a great part of Europe then, as we are
commonly told, all the lands we possess in North America, between the
sea and mountains, do not amount to much more than these two islands.
This appears farther, from the particular surveys of each of our
colonies, as well as from this general estimate of the whole.

Of these lands which we thus possess, both the northern and southern
parts are very poor and barren, and produce little or nothing, at
least for Britain. It is only in our middle plantations, Virginia,
Maryland, and Carolina, that the lands produce any staple commodity
for Britain, or that appear to be fit for that purpose. In short, it
is only the more rich and fertile lands on and about Chesapeak bay,
with a few swamps in Carolina, like the lands on the Missisippi, that
turn to any great account to this nation in all North America, or that
are ever likely to do it. This makes the quantity of lands that
produce any staple commodity for Britain in North America incredibly
small, and vastly less than what is commonly imagined. It is reckoned,
that there are more such lands in Virginia, than in all the rest of
our colonies; and yet it appeared from the public records, about
twenty-five years ago, that there was not above as much land patented
in that colony, which is at the same time the oldest of any in all
North America, than is in the county of Yorkshire, in England, to-wit,
{xv} 4684 square miles; although the country was then settled to the
mountains.

If we examine all our other colonies, there will appear to be as great
a scarcity and want of good lands in them, at least to answer the
great end of colonies, the making of a staple commodity for Britain.
In short, our colonies are already settled to the mountains, and have
no lands, either to extend their settlements, as they increase and
multiply; to keep up their plantations of staple commodities for
Britain; or to enlarge the British dominions by the number of
foreigners that remove to them; till they pass those mountains, and
settle on the Missisippi.

This scarcity of land in our colonies proceeds from the mountains,
with which they are surrounded, and by which they are confined to this
narrow tract, and a low vale, along the sea side. The breadth of the
continent from the Atlantic ocean to the Missisippi, appears to be
about 600 miles (of 60 to a degree) of which there is about 140 at a
medium, or 150 at most, that lies between the sea and mountains: and
there is such another, and rather more fertile tract of level and
improveable lands, about the same breadth, between the western parts
of those mountains and the Missisippi: so that the mountainous country
which lies between these two, is equal to them both, and makes one
half of all the lands between the Missisippi and Atlantic ocean; if we
except a small tract of a level champaign country upon the heads of
the Ohio, which is possessed by the Six Nations, and their dependents.
These mountainous and barren desarts, which lie immediately beyond our
present settlements, are not only unfit for culture themselves, and so
inconvenient to navigation, whether to the ocean, or to the
Missisippi, that little or no use can be made of them; but they
likewise preclude us from any access to those more fertile lands that
lie beyond them, which would otherwise have been occupied long ago,
but never can be settled, so at least as to turn to any account to
Britain, without the possession and navigation of the Missisippi;
which is, as it were, the sea of all the inland parts of North America
beyond the Apalachean mountains, without which those inland parts of
that continent can never turn to any account to this nation.

{xvi} It is this our situation in North America, that renders all that
continent beyond our present settlements of little or no use, at least
to Britain; and makes the possession of the Missisippi absolutely
necessary to reap the benefit of it. We possess but a fourth part of
the continent between that river and the ocean; and but a tenth part
of what lies east of Mexico; and can never enjoy any great advantages
from any more of it, till we settle on the Missisippi.

How necessary such settlements on the Missisippi may be, will farther
appear from what we possess on this side of it. The lands in North
America are in general but very poor or barren; and if any of them are
more fertile, the soil is light and shallow, and soon worn out with
culture. It is only the virgin fertility of fresh lands, such as those
on the Missisippi, that makes the lands in North America appear to be
fruitful, or that renders them of any great value to this nation. But
such lands in our colonies, that have hitherto produced their staple
commodities for Britain, are now exhausted and worn out, and we meet
with none such on this side of the Missisippi. But when their lands
are worn out, neither the value of their commodities, nor the
circumstances of the planters, will admit of manuring them, at least
to any great advantage to this nation.

The staple commodities of North America are so gross and bulky, and of
so small value, that it generally takes one half of them to pay the
freight and other charges in sending them to Britain; so that unless
our planters have some advantage in making them, such as cheap, rich,
and fresh lands, they never can make any; their returns to Britain are
then neglected, and the trade is gained by others who have these
advantages; such as those who may be possessed of the Missisippi, or
by the Germans, Russians, Turks, &c. who have plenty of lands, and
labour cheap: by which means they make more of our staple of North
America, tobacco, than we do ourselves; while we cannot make their
staple of hemp, flax, iron, pot-ash, &c. By that means our people are
obliged to interfere with their mother country, for want of the use of
those lands of which there is such plenty in North America, to produce
these commodities that are so much wanted from thence.

{xvii} The consequences of this may be much more prejudicial to this
nation, than is commonly apprehended. This trade of North America,
whatever may be the income from it, consists in those gross and bulky
commodities that are the chief and principal sources of navigation;
which maintain whole countries to make them, whole fleets to transport
them, and numbers of people to manufacture them at home; on which
accounts this trade is more profitable to a nation, than the mines of
Mexico or Peru. If we compare this with other branches of trade, as
the sugar trade, or even the fishery, it will appear to be by far the
most profitable to the nation, whatever those others may be to a few
individuals. We set a great value on the fishery, in which we do not
employ a third part of the seamen that we do in the plantation trade
of North America; and the same may be said of the sugar trade. The
tobacco trade alone employs more seamen in Britain, than either the
fishery, or sugar trade; [Footnote: By the best accounts we have, there
were 4000 seamen employed in the tobacco trade, in the year 1733, when
the inspection on tobacco passed into a law; and we may perhaps reckon
them now 4500, although some reckon them less.

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Turkey is restoring the citizenship of its most famous 20th century poet Nazim Hikmet over 50 years after it branded him a traitor.

Hikmet, a communist who died in exile in Moscow in 1963, was imprisoned in Turkey for more than a decade. He was stripped of his Turkish nationality in 1951 because of his communist views, but despite a ban on his poetry which remained in place until 1965, has remained one of Turkey's best-loved poets. His work, much of which was written in prison, including his masterpiece Human Landscapes, has been translated into more than 50 languages.

"This is very good news," said Richard McKane, Hikmet's English translator. "The restoration of his Turkish citizenship is long overdue: the people of Turkey and his readers are owed that."

Immortalised by Pablo Neruda, with whom he shared the Soviet Union's International Peace Prize in 1950, with the lines "Thanks for what you were and for the fire / which your song left forever burning", Hikmet was also supported by Jean-Paul Sartre and Pablo Picasso. Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk, when given the editorship for a day of Turkish newspaper Radikal two years ago, used the example of Hikmet in his cover story to criticise the lack of freedom of expression in Turkey. In 2000, 500,000 Turks petitioned the government to restore Hikmet's citizenship rights and repatriate his remains.

Deputy prime minister Cemil Cicek told the Associated Press that it was time for the government to change its mind about Hikmet. "The crimes which forced the government to strip him of his citizenship at that time are no longer considered a crime," the BBC quoted him as saying.

Hikmet, whose remains are currently in Russia, had said that he wished to be buried in Turkey in his 1953 poem Testament, translated by Ruth Christie. "Friends if it's not my lot to see the day / of independence... / if I die before that day / - and it seems I will - / bury me in a village graveyard in Anatolia / and if it's fitting / and a plane tree grows at my head, / then there's no need for a gravestone or anything else."

Cicek said that Hikmet's family would now decide whether to ship his remains back to his homeland.

Hikmet introduced free verse to Turkey in the 1930s, with his themes ranging from war to love. Despite his imprisonment he retained a deep passion for Turkey. "I love my country", he wrote in one of his poems. "I swung in its lofty trees, I lay in its prisons. Nothing relieves my depression like the songs and tobacco of my country."

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