ness, bending with a gentle curve; this bone is esteemed equal to ivory. The flesh of this creature is counted wholesome and pleasant food. The name given it by naturalists is Trichechus Manatus, but that by the Indians is one signifying the Big Beaver. There were three of them seen, at one time, in the spring, by a trader from Talahasochte; they live chiefly on aquatic grass and weeds. They are said to weigh from fifteen hundred to two thousand three hundred pounds.

The Lizards, some of which are of the most beautiful green, and from which they change their colour, may therefore be considered surprizing phenomena; they are perfectly harmless, and are protectors of the gardens against caterpillars and minor insects; they often become a prey to the chicken and more domestic snakes; the largest are about seven inches in length, with a large red gill. There is, also, the striped lizard or scorpion; some of a large size, and of a copper colour.

The Jigger, or Chique, is a kind of flesh worm, which can be resisted only by the most perfect cleanliness, and frequent use of salt water; it may therefore be presumed that they are a great annoyance to slaves.

WEST FLORIDA.

WEST FLORIDA is in lat. 29 42, and bounded, according to ancient limits, east, by Apalachicola River, south, by the Gulf of Mexico, west, by Lake Ponchartrain and the River Mississippi, and north, by the Mississippi Territory and Ten

nessee.

The question of boundary, so long and strenuously disputed, may now be considered as settled between the nations of Europe and the United States, the entire sovereignty of these territories being vested in the latter government by the cession. A regard to the rights of individuals is expected from our national legislature, and will doubtless be claimed by many persons whose pretensions are founded upon grants obtained previous to, and during the protracted negociations between our government and that of Spain.

The northern boundaries of West Florida, according to the commission given to Governor Johnstone, in 1764, on establishing the colony, were fixed and described to be from the junction of the river Yazoo, lying in 32 12 north lat. and from thence in a line due east, to the river Apalachicola; whereas, by the treaty between the United States and Great Britain, the boundary line runs along the middle of the Mississippi to the 31st degree of north lat. and from thence due east to the

Apalachicola ; as is more particularly mentioned in the 6th article of the Treaty of Fontainbleau, 3d November, 1762 :"With regard to the limits of the British and French territories on the continent of America, it is agreed, that for the future, the confines between the dominions of His Britannic Majesty and His Most Christain Majesty, in that part of the world, shall be irrevocably fixed by a line drawn along the middle of the river Mississippi from the source, as far as the river Iberville, and from thence by a line drawn along the middle of this river, and of the lakes Maurepas and Ponchartrain to the sea; and to this purpose the Most Christain King cedes in full right and guaranties to his British Majesty the river and port of Mobile, and every part that he possesses, or ought to have possessed, on the left side of the river Mississippi, except the town of New-Orleans, and the island on which it is situated, which shall remain to France. Provided, &c."

In the report of the commissioners on the part of the United States, Messrs. Madison, Gallatin and Lincoln, on the 10th February, 1803, it is stated, that "the territory of the United States south of the state of Tennessee extends in breadth 275 miles from the 31st to the 35th degree of north lat. From east to west, its greatest length from the river Chatahouchee to the Mississippi, measures three hundred and eighty miles along the northern boundary of West Florida. The length of its northern boundary, along the state of Tennessee, is not precisely ascertained; but it is believed that the average length of the whole may, without material error, be

L

estimated at three hundred miles; and the contents of the ter ritory at fifty-two millions of acres.

The only portions of that vast extent to which the Indian title has been extinguished are, a tract of about one million and a half of acres, extending along the Mississippi from the mouth of the river Yazoo, outwardly to the Spanish line, and another tract at least equal in extent, and extending between the rivers Pascagoula and Mobile, or Tombigbee, more than fifty miles north of that line.

The view taken of this part of Florida by the French Government, under the Emperor Napoleon, is thus laid down by M. Talleyrand, in his correspondence with President Monroe, then Minister Plenipotentiary to the Courts of France and Spain, who was authorized to treat for the Floridas.

"All the territories lying on the east of the Mississippi and the River Iberville, and south of the 32d degree of north lat. bears the name of Florida. It has been constantly designated in that way during the time that Spain held it. His Imperial Majesty has moreover authorized me to declare to you, that at the beginning of the year 11, General Bournonville was charged to open a new negotiation with Spain for the acquisition of the Floridas. This project, which has not been followed by any treaty, is proof that France had not acquired, by the treaty retroceding Louisiana, the country east of the Mississippi."

Pensacola, the capital of West Florida, is an old established town, situated on the west side, and in front of the bay of the same name, twenty-five miles long and eight

wide, and with Spiritu Santu, the most spacious and secure against every wind that is in the Gulf of Mexico; remarkable not for its capacity, but for its salubrious character.

It lies in lat. 30 28 N. and lon. 10 w. of Washington; or, according to the more recent observations of Mr. Ellicot, about 30 43 N. and, by his admeasurement from the Mississippi, and traverse of the Conieuch River, about 87° 14′ 15′′ west longitude from Greenwich.

This town is in the form of a parallelogram, or oblong square, having regular and wide streets of sand, with side pavements of brick. It is one mile long, and one quarter wide, at the foot of a hill extending to the rear. It is about thirty-two miles from the sea, having an elegant stone house for the governor, with a tower, and about two hundred private houses, which are in a ruinous condition, being built of wood. It is pleasantly situated, being flanked by two rivulets, which afford an abundant supply of most excellent water. In the centre of the town is a stockade fort, and in front is one of the several wharfs which have been erected; and nearly north, in the rear, are the ruins of an old fort, which, with a marsh interspersed with innumerable springs, separate the town from the highlands. On the skirts are, on the west, dry lands, with low brushwood, then high brushwood and swamp; on the N. E. a burying ground; and on the east, a wet, rushy swamp, bordering northerly with forest, having small underwood; then open pine woods. There were formerly some handsome barracks built by the British, but since burnt. The egress from the town is northerly by a causeway five feet high. There are