many, and at the head of navigation in schooners. A considerable quantity of cotton is, therefore, annually shipped here. General Jackson's road, from

miles above New Orleans, on the left bank of the Mississippi, standing chiefly on a plain elevated about thirty feet above the water, except the business streets, which are on the low ground Lake Pontchartrain to Nashville, passes along the shore. through Covington. It is one of the faThe public buildings are the court-vorite places of resort from New Orleans house, state-penitentiary, United States in the sickly months, land-office, a college, an academy, three banks, and four churches. The population is about four thousand five hundred. The college was founded in 1823, and has four professors, one thousand volumes in its library, and about fifty students. Steamboats communicate daily with New Orleans, Vicksburg, &c., and stagecoaches run to New Orleans and St. Francisville.

DONALDSONVILLE, ninety miles above New Orleans, stands on the west side of the river, at the point where the La Fourche fork leaves the main stream.

GALVEZTOWN stands on Bayou Man chac, and is in the village of Iberville, at a short distance from the place where it enters Lake Pontchartrain. It is a small town, twenty miles north-northeast from Donaldsonville, and twenty-five southeast of Baton Rouge.

SPRINGFIELD is a post village in the southeast part of the parish of St. Helena, eleven miles southeast of St. Helena, and eighty miles northwest of New Orleans.

MADISONVILLE.-This village is also a seaport, and belongs to the parish of St. Tammany, at the mouth of Chifuncte river. It is about twenty-eight miles north of New Orleans, on the opposite side of Lake Pontchartrain, in latitude thirty degrees twenty minutes.

The situation is so healthful that the place has been much resorted to by citizens of New Orleans during the warm and sickly seasons, and it contains several houses designed for the accommodation of visiters. Some years ago the government attempted to establish a navyyard a few miles above, on the river's bank.

COVINGTON, seven miles above Madisonville, is a considerable village, and stands on a branch of the Chifuncte, called the Bogue Falaya. It is the seat of justice for the parish of St. Tam

OPELOUSAS, two hundred and seventy miles from New Orleans, is the seat of justice of the parish to which it belongs, had a rapid growth a few years since, and is surrounded by a flourishing region. It stands on Bayou Bourbee, the head branch of Vermilion river, and a branch of Teche river rises just in the rear of the village. Large heads of horses and cattle, abounding on the extensive plain in the neighborhood, with the abundant and varied productions of the earth, give an interesting aspect to this place. Before the addition of Texas to the United States, Opelousas was the most southwest village in the country.

New Iberia and St. Martinsville are two other villages on the banks of the Teche, both on the west side; the latter, being at the head of schooner navigation, and surrounded by a fertile country, promises much increase.

ALEXANDRIA, on Red river, seventy miles from the Mississippi, is situated half a mile below the falls, at the mouth of Bayou Rapide. It is in the centre of several extensive and fertile cotton districts, and is a seat of justice. The village is thickly shaded by groves of China-trees, in the midst of a beautiful plain. It is the scene of an active trade in cotton.

COUNTRY LIFE IN LOUISIANA.-We copy from a late writer the following description of the house of a Louisiana planter, which applies to those common on the banks of the Mississippi :

"The house was quadrangular, with a high stoop, a Dutch roof, immensely large, and two stories in height; the basement or lower story being constructed of brick, with a massive colonnade of the same material on all sides of the building. This basement was raised to a level with the summit of the Levée, and formed the groundwork or basis of the edifice, which was built of wood,

many of which are hardly to be known | especially when close together. Though apart, except by their position.

hollow, it possesses great strength; for The scene represented in the print is it is jointed, and the texture is compact, at one of the most considerable "bends" and the external part is formed of a on the lower part of the Mississippi. hard shelly substance containing silex. The land is low and flat, wearing that When green, it is also tough; and the appearance which has before been de- difficunty of penetrating a canebrake at scribed, rising but a few feet above the any season of the year is so great as to river's level at low-water-mark, and com- be but seidom attempted, except where posed of such loose materials as to be paths have been formed, by either cutin constant danger of removal by some ting away or trampling down the canes of the frequent changes of the currents. when young. Paths once opened, and The curve which the stream takes at frequently travelled, remain passable, this place, where it sweeps away to the except when overflown by the waterright, is so great, that, if the isthmus a state in which many of them often lie were cut through at its narrowest part, for a considerable part of the time. But the passage would be reduced a great when several paths cross each other, many miles. Preparations have been nothing is more easy than for a passenmade to diminish the distance consider-ger to lose his way; for the tops of the ably, by cutting down the trees near the left-hand side of the print, to permit the river to find an unobstructed passage across at the time of flood, by which means it may probably wear for itself a new channel.

The tall tree which forms the most conspicuous object in the foreground, is a cypress, of a species which, with the cotton-tree, forms the principal growth in the native forests on this part of the shores. It is much used in building, and often covered with the moss, which is here represented as forming a thick canopy on its upper branches.

This parasitical plant does not grow north of latitude thirty degrees, but is well known in the northern states as a very useful article, being purchased in great quantities for the stuffing of mattresses, cushions, &c., by upholsterers and coachmakers.

CANEBRAKES form a prevailing feature in many of the marshy regions of Louisiana, as well as in other of the southern states. The peculiar nature of the plant which there occupies the soil, renders a canebrake different from every other kind of growth. It is well known, in its dry state, throughout most parts of our country, being extensively used for fishing-poles, and to some extent in manufactures.

The cane grows in one long, slender, upright stalk, from ten to twenty feet in height, giving out but a few thin leaves,

canes often bend over and meet above his head, so as to shut out a view even of the sky. Some idea may be formed of the peculiar appearance of a canebrake, by the sketch given in the vignette at the head of this description of the state.

THE VALUE OF COTTON, the staple production of this and the adjacent states, is shown in the following extract from a late English paper, giving a brief history of the progress of a pound of cotton :

"There was sent off for London, lately, from Glasgow, a small piece of muslin, about one pound in weight, the history of which is as follows: The cotton came from the United States to London; it was thence sent to Manchester and manufactured into yarn; thence it was sent to Paisley, where it was woven; thence to Ayrshire and there tamboured; thence conveyed to Dumbarton and handsewed, and returned to Paisley; thence to the county of Renfrew, bleached, and again returned to Paisley; thence sent to Glasgow, finished, and sent per coach to London. It is calculated that in two years from the time the muslin was first packed in America, its cloth arrived at the merchant's warehouse in London, having been conveyed 3,000 miles by sea, and 920 by land, and contributed to the support of at least 150 people, employed in its carriage and manufacture, by which the value has been advanced 2,000 per cent. Such is descriptive of a considerable part of the trade."

dollars in a stock bearing five per cent. interest, and redeemable at the end of fourteen years, the interest payable halfyearly at the treasury of the United States. Immediately after the president of the United States shall have been furnished with an authentic copy of the act of the general assembly of Texas, accepting these propositions, he shall cause the stock to be issued in favor of the state of Texas, as provided for in the fourth article of this agreement."

The gulf of Mexico forms a line of seacoast of about four hundred miles in extent, on the southeastern boundary of Texas.

The seacoast is very level, but free from marsh or swamp; the soil is a rich alluvion of great depth. This region extends into the interior seventy-five miles. Most southern staples can be produced in this section in the greatest abundance and of the finest quality. The only peculiar diseases are bilious distempers, and these by no means universal or extremely severe.

Above the level region commences the "rolling country.' The soil is of an excellent quality, a rich sandy loam. The water is pure and healthy, streams clear and rapid, and the atmosphere purer than in the low country. This region covers the greatest proportion of Texas above the level district, and northeast of the Brazos river. No local causes for disease exist; the facilities for farming are unrivalled; most kinds of grain and fruit grow luxuriantly; and it is unnecessary to exercise any further care over cattle and other stock than the herding and marking of the increase during the whole year.

It is a remarkable feature of Texas that the bulk of the timber is immediately on the water-courses. Nearly every stream is lined with an abundance of timber, while the intervals between the streams are mostly prairie land, with groves, having the appearance of a park.

The numerous rivers of Texas, running in a parallel course, indicate the general surface to be one inclined plane, with a slope to the southeast. None of the rivers are of much importance for navigation, being in the dry season extremely low, and during the floods impeded with floating timber.

The Rio Grande, or Rio del Norte, which forms the western boundary of Texas, is the largest river, having a course of from fifteen to eighteen hundred miles; it is much impeded by rapids, and can be forded in nearly, all parts of its course except for a distance of about two hundred miles from its mouth. The Sabine is three hundred and fifty miles, the Nueces three hundred, and the Trinity river four hundred miles in length; all navigable a part of the year. The Rio Brazos is considered the best navigable stream in Texas; vessels drawing six feet of water can ascend it to Brazoria; and steamboats of light draught to San Felipe de Austin, ninety miles higher. The Rio Colorado rises in the high prairies east of the Puereo river; and after a course of five hundred miles, falls into Matagorda bay. It is obstructed by a raft, of a mile in extent, about twelve miles above its mouth; beyond which light vessels may ascend two hundred miles. The city of Austin, the seat of government, is situated on its The northwestern and western por- left bank, near the foot of the mountains. tion is mountainous and broken, to La Baca and Navidad rivers are seconwithin one hundred and fifty or one hun- dary streams, flowing into the La Baca dred and seventy-five miles of the coast. bay. The Guadaloupe is a large stream The valleys are rich, and the mountains of pellucid water; two of its tributaries, abound in a variety of mineral produc- the San Marcos and the Coleto, have tions. Several valuable silver mines, once worked by the Spaniards, but abandoned on account of the hostile Indians, have been recently discovered; and some fine specimens of virgin gold. This region abounds with fine streams of crystal water.

their origin in fountains at the foot of the mountains. The San Antonio enters the Guadaloupe some distance above Espiritu Santo bay, and much resembles the Guadaloupe, though the forest on its banks is not so dense. It receives the Cibolo, the Medina, the Salado, Medio,