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PREFACE

The History of Louisiana, which we here present to the public, was
wrote by a planter of sixteen years experience in that country, who
had likewise the advantage of being overseer or director of the public
plantations, both when they belonged to the company, and afterwards
when they fell to the crown; by which means he had the best
opportunities of knowing the nature of the soil and climate, and what
they produce, or what improvements they are likely to admit of; a
thing in which this nation is, without doubt, highly concerned and
interested. And when our author published this history in 1758, he had
likewise the advantage, not only of the accounts of F. Charlevoix, and
others, but of the Historical Memoirs of Louisiana, published at Paris
in 1753, by Mr. Dumont, an officer who resided two-and-twenty years in
the country, and was personally concerned and acquainted with many of
the transactions in it; from whom we have extracted some passages, to
render this account more complete.

But whatever opportunities our author had of gaining a knowledge of
his subject, it must be owned, that he made his accounts of it very
perplexed. By endeavoring to take in every thing, he descends to many
trifles; and by dwelling too long on a subject, he comes to render it
obscure, by being prolix in things which hardly relate to what he
treats of. He interrupts the thread of his discourse with private
anecdotes, long harangues, and tedious narrations, which have little
or no relation to the subject, and are of much less consequence to the
reader. The want of method and order throughout the whole work is