[720 1816, was.. Income of the Quarter under the head of Consolidated Customs. by Act 56 Geo. III. cap. 29), are included Duties of Customs (being made perpetual inclusive, from which period the War to the Quarter ending the 5th July, 1816, are included under the head of War Taxes, to the Interest of Loans charged on them, Statement, and the War Taxes appropriated able in England, are excluded from this the interest on their respective Debts pay The Irish and Portuguese Payments for ter ended on the 4th The Income of the Quar Jan. 1817, is..... 11,118,618 18 34 1817, less than the Quarter ended Jan. 4, corresponding Quarter 1,403,824 604 Abstract of the net Produce of the Revenue, in the Years ending 5th January, 1816, and 5th January, 1917, distinguishing the Quarters. Also total Customs and Excise. CUSTOMS. 1 13,127,383 4 5 15,200,000 00 Charge upon it 13,127,385 4 54. 604,945 0 1 15,200,000 00 11,118,613 18 S 1,520,840 20 | Total.......... 11,118,618 18 4 Stamps for 1816......................................................... 5,865,415 for 1817 .................... Excess in 1817.......... 5,969,721 104,306 prosperity of the southern provinces, but whether without regret, may be doubted. To anticipate and prevent the complaints of future ages, against the pusillaniurity of their forefathers, the citizens of New York devised their grand canal. To shew that Louisiana is sus ceptible of incalculable prosperity, without the interference of any canal, other than nature has already provided, is one of the objects of this Map and Volume. As a Map, it certainly is the best extant of the Province; it appears to be a faithful delineation of what the author surveyed; and as he acted under the sanction of Government, there can be no doubt of his having enjoyed facilities superior to those obtainable by any person, whose protection was merely that of private authority. WE lately presented to our readers, at full length, the proposals of the city of New York to divert by labour and art, by means of a canal, of no trifling dimensions, what nature seemed to have determined to another-a southerly course. That plan was a counteraction to the articles before us. Some years have now elapsed since Spain relinquished Louisiana to France, and France sold the province to the United States. Not that the United States really wanted land, and was pressed for room, in the coun-sippi as the receptacle, for ages to come, tries American population then gecupied; but, because it was desirable to exclude French colonists from the neighbourhood; and because the Spanish settlers were less likely to be troublesome, to excite intrigues, or to support them. It was natural, that the United States should accurately survey the purchase made, and beside marking the boundaries with sufficient exactness should wish for a full acquaintance with the advantages derivable from all its parts. This would present a favourable side of the question; and this again would hold out a powerful temptation to settlers to direct their yet undetermined steps to a province of which so much good was report ed. The Mississippi is that to Louisiana which the Nile is to Egypt; and it was clear that if the trade furnished by its banks, and by those of the numerous rivers which from high northern latitudes, enlarge its waters by their tributary streams, were consigned to the ocean and to Europe, by means of this magnificent river, that the States to the east of its course would sigh in vain for participation; and would hear of the : this survey was undertaken. The auNearly eleven years have elapsed since thor considers the tide of population as rushing very fast to the banks of the Mississippi; and the valley of the Missis of emigrants from the eastern slope of sight can penetrate, the destiny of the tance to the province of Louisiana, that, This representation gives an imporwe confess, we had not attached to it. Hitherto it has been imperfectly explored, and our acquaintance with it has been imperfect, of course. We had considered it as being too much the receptacle of stagnant waters to be agreeable; and too much exposed to heat and its effects, to be salubrious. Mr. Darby assures us, that these are unfounded prejudices; and they may be so; but the sight of his map has not contributed to remove them. From that we learn that the Great River not only pursues a more tortuous course than we had conceived; but that it leaves behind it, in several places, ample proofs of having repeatedly changed its bed. Those proofs consist in lakes of water now stagnant; which, whether innocenter 1 noxious, can only be determined by the experience of the vicinity. A large portion of the Province is the gift of the Great River. That has brought down in its long course from the north, thousands and millions of particles, abraded from the higher grounds, which it has slowly deposited. These deposits, in the course of ages, have formed land; and the river has encroached on the sea, and, (apparently) still continues encroaching. There are a number of islets, waiting, as it were, to join the main land; and there is one of the two peninsulas which stretch into the sea, below New Orleans, that is very little raised above the level of the waves. Naturalists, and others, sometimes wish to behold the operations of nature on a great scale: they may be beheld in Louisiana; but their progress is so slow, that human life is wasted in contemplation of the scene, and the philosopher finds himself grown grey before their full developement meets his wishes. Nature continues acting after the pati. ence of man is tired, or his existence exhausted. The same causes continue to produce the same effects, if their powers continue the same, but, if they be diminished, the process is dimin to ished also; and this can only be known to succeeding generations, by their examination of the records consecrated science by their ingenuous predecessors, Hence the use of history, the value of the labours of the learned, the advan tages derived from observations made centuries ago. Hence the use of correct maps, shewing boundaries, land and water; and marking as bays or shalloirs those æstuaries, which future ages will find consolidated, and describe them accordingly. We cannot have a better opportunity of inserting observations on a subject so interesting. • Says our author: Lake Bistineau presents to the traveller a singular picture of recent change on the face of nature. The map will exhibit the position of this lake, its communication with Red river, and its relative extent: but no representation upon a map can convey an adequate idea of its peculiar physiognomy. The land along both banks of the lake Bistincau rise [s] into hills from one to two hundred feet of elevation, clothed with pine, oak, and various other trees, often affording most delightful prospects to the eye. The eastern range is higher, more broken and abrupt than the western, and as has been observed abound[s] with petrifactions, which are met with much more rarely on the western bank. Along the margin of the water grows the white thorn, hawthorn, and other dwarf trees, forming an elegant natural border. Many small prairies (meadows) of eight or ten acres in extent, spread themselves over the projecting banks, and diversify this wild uncultivated, but romantic scene. But what renders this lake an object of peculiar interest is, the proof it affords of the continual change effected in those at luviatic regions by the slow, but never The medium ceasing action of water. depth is from 15 to 20 feet, and at the lowest stage never less than ten or twelve along the principal body of the water, though the remains of cypress trees of all sizes now dead, and most of them with tops broken by the winds, yet remain standing in the deepest part of the lake, The quality of resisting the action of the air and water for which the cypress is so remarkable, has been the cause why so many ruins of that tree remain in Bistineau, to attest the ancient situation of the country. This lake has been formed by the agency of the waters of the Red River; and probably will become meadow land, in time, by the same agency, uninterruptedly continued. No tree will exist with its roots constantly under water: the cypress perishes when submersed throughout the year. All other species of timber decay, much more rapidly. The progress of desiccation seems to be marked by a superabundant popula tion of that troublesome, and even dangerous insect, the mosquito. By its numbers it forbids the approaches of man and quadrupeds, and maintains its dominions, in spite of human inventions and ingenuity. There is something very ingenions in our author's attempt to account for the prevalence of this insect in places not yet fit for human residence. We insert the passage at length. The musquito, that animal of which s much has been said, now presents in the swamps and woods adjacent to lakes or marshes, its millions. This troublesome little insect, is so constantly found most numerous near wet places, and where the now retiring floods have left the earth in a damp state, that we have often been tempted to believe it a vigilant sentinel placed by nature at the portals of disease, to warn man to beware. The musquito is certainly, of all the works of the creation, endowed with life and motion the most eternally active; its voracious appetite keeps it ever on the wing; every pond is its native bed; every leaf in the swamps its dwelling; and the blood of all animals through whose skin it can pierce its fine attenuated proboscis, its food. The neverceasing hum of these creatures, awakens in the mind of the person exposed to their bite, the most disagreeable sensations; they are the insect hydra; destroy them by hundreds, other hundreds succeed. Nothing but flight from their abodes, or a curtain that bars their attacks, will defend the traveller from their cruel ferocity. But, notwithstanding what is said of the musquito, it is much less injurious than has been represented, and certainly produces beneficial consequences, by obliging men to avoid low, damp, marshy land in summer. Early in the morning, and in the evening, the musquito is most active, times when the miasma of those places is most dangerous. It might be perhaps with propriety considered, a not defective method to estimate the general health of any given place, by the quantity of these musquitoes. Authors of credit have contended that the abundance of noxious insects, such as locusts and musquitoes, indicate a state of air injurious to the heath of warm blooded animals, particularly man, and quadrupeds. That this idea is not unfounded in fact, there are many reasons to conclude. The present year, 1811, is remarkable for the great numbers of musquito, for the prevalence, with an unusual degree of violence, of bilious complaints, and the existence of the yellow fever in New Orleans. When the months of June and July usher uncommon quantities of these creatures, it would be prudent to prepare for approaching danger in the three ensuing months. It is certainly one of Nature's hidden mysteries why locusts, flies, musquitoes, and other animals, of the insect tribes, should so immeasurably differ in quantity in succeeding seasons. No reason has yet been adduced to account for this fact, a fact far too Jittle attended to by naturalists. Experience has too clearly established the union between uncommon production of those animals, and a state of air productive of sickness and death to man, to permit scepticism to doubt the truth. After all our deep researches into the works of nature, how many of her most important secrets are yet concealed from our knowledge? Too often has learning and industry been exhausted on trifles, whilst subjects, upon which depend the welfare of millions have been neglected. The question is not unworthy the attention of naturalists; and the rather as it introduces an idea of providential benevolence, where previously it was not discerned. The same principle, no doubt, might be extended to thousands of other particulars in nature, could we but enlarge our views correctly to the benefit concealed beneath a deterring aspect. That the quantity of water which once flowed through this country was greater than what passes at present, Mr.. Darby has no doubt. "No reasonable.doubt, says he, can remain after a careful survey of the country, of the diminution the aquatic empire has experienced in Louisiana."-" Places that are now twenty to thirty feet above the highest water, were evidently once periodically submerged." The beds for the lakes by the sides of the rivers are altogether singular: they are much lower than the bottom of the channel of the river; From the appellation we would be led to believe them the constant repository of water, though in reality they are reservoirs emptied and filled annually by the and of nature. In the fall months, after the waters have been drained by the depression of the rivers, the beds of most of the lakes become dry, and exhibit a meadow of succulent herbage, with channels for the waters that continue meandering through them. In the channels of most, there is a flux and reflux as the water in the river and lake preponderate in height. The Spanish lake and Natchitoches lakes are examples. When the Red river commences its annual rise, the waters run with a strong current into the lake, which gradually filling, returns) the water into the river with equal velocity, when the de-. pression of the river, by the summer heats, begin[s] to take place. This flux and reflux is continual; the channel, that forms the communication between the lakes and river, are never dry. Most of the lakes have the pine woods on one side of them from which issue fine clear creeks of water, whose pellucid currents compensate |