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width, and fourteen or fifteen in length. Twenty-five miles further up is the confluence of Black river, which is large at its mouth, and coming from a northerly direction.
The first settlement on Red river, called Baker's station, at the commencement of Avoyelles is about seventy miles from its mouth, as the river runs, although not more than one third of the distance, on a straight course. Above this station is a prairie thirty or forty miles in circumference. It is entirely destitute of trees or shrubs, but produces an excellent grass for fattening cattle. The beef is said to be of an excellent quality, and hogs find ground nuts and other food, on which they thrive, and become good pork. The inhabitants are settled in the outer skirts, on the border of the woods. This prairie has the appearance of a good soil, but is found to be too cold for cotton and Indian corn, which thrive much better on land where there has been a growth of wood. Little or no wheat is raised, as they have no mills to grind it. The inhabitants are a mixture of Spaniard, French, Irish, and Americans, who are generally poor, and extremely ignorant.
A few miles above this prairie, the land begins to be moderately hilly. Near the river, the timber is oak, hickory, and some pine, but back from the river the growth is mostly pine for thirty or forty miles.
Holmes' station is about forty miles above Baker's, where there is a settlement. The land
