Martinsburg gazette and public advertiser. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1826-1833, 1833-05-09
From StetGyrs "Taree years in North america -
NEW ORLEANS.

I Swamp GLOW Fever Markcts--Strccts
French Nalnes-Lotteries- Theatres-Aior-
als--Slaves, SC.
| New Orleans is situated on the east
ern bank of the Mississippi, about one
hundred miles from the mouth of the
river, on ground perfectly fiat; and as
there are few steeples, it makes no
striking appearance. The whole city
is built in the form of a parallelogram,
composed Of six complete squares cal
led fauxbourgs, which are rapidly in
creasing. The streets in the old city
4 are hardly 40 feet wide. The Cathe.
dral is at the head of a square; it is an
old building, with four towers and
massive walls ornamented with figures
of saints in the inches. 1t is the only
public building at all imposing. Pub
lie institutions, though numerous, are
built in an unpretending style. There
are very few churches in reference to
the population, which is now approach
ing to 10000 persons. The French
! Theatre is in the city, and the Ameri-
can one in the suburbs. The houses
are chiefly of brick, many of them stuc-
coed externally of white or yellow
colour. The doors of many ofthe hous-
es in the narrow streets open at once
into the street itself. The doors are
often left open during the day, and cur
tains substituted. The riverher which
is above half mile broad, is confined
by bank of earth or gravel called the
levee, which is very requisite, as the
streets of New Orleans are few feet
lower than the river, so that in walk
ing through them the hulls of large
vessels in the river appear to a passen-
ger (and really are) much higher than
the pavement on which he is walking.
The tide is hardly perceptible at New
Orleans. The water of the river is
very muddy, but when filtered is con-
sidered wholesome.
The situation of New Orleans is adj
mirable for a commercial city. A for
est of masts ia seen along the levee,
and the ships, the bank of the river
being steep, are easily approached, and
their cargoes delivered or put on board
by means of large wooden platforms.
There is no occasion for wharyes or
piersl The extent of boat navigation
from New Orleans into the interior, is
greater than that enjoyed by any 9TH
er city, exceeding 10000 miles in
length. The internal water communi-
cation is not only the Mississippi, and
the other great rivers to the north, but
to the east, as far as Florida, and to
the lower parts of Louisiana, by means
ofnumerous lakes and land locked seas.
There are sometimes 300 flat boats
lying at the sides of the levee at
time, and frequently, at the same mo-
ment, 5000 or 5000 boatmen. Steam
boats are arriving every hour. have
seen fifty steamboats, at one point. No
city contains greater variety of popu-
Observation-Disclosures from every State
in the Union, and from every country
in Europe, mixed with the craeles, and
all the shades of the coloied population
form an astonishing contrast OF man.
ners, languages and compilations. Cot
ton and sugar are the great articles of
expectation. The value of the exports
is said to be nearly 25 millions of dof-
lars. Mr.. Flint says, ga hundred miles
from the mouth Of the Mississippi, and
something more than thousand from
the mouth of the Ohio, just below a
sharp point of the river, is situated, on
it's east bank, the city of New Orleans,
the great commercial capital of the
Mississippi valley. The position for a
commercial city is unrivalled by any
one in the world.-At proper dis
lance from the Gulf of Mexieo-on the
banks of a stream which may be said
almost to water a worldAbut little
distance from Lake Ponchartrain, and
connected with it by navigable ca
nal-the Immense alhuvial contiguous
to it--pcnetrated in all directions either
by bayous (that is, sluggish creeks or
rivers formed by nature, or canals
costing little more trouble in the ma
king than bitches, steamboats, visiting
it from fifty different shores-posses-
sing the immediate agriculture of its
own state, the richest in America, and
as rich as any in the world, with the
continually increasing agriculture of
the upper country; its position far sur
passes that of New York itself. 1t has
one dreary draw back-the insalubri-
ty of its situation. the immense
swamps between it and the bluffs (the
nigh grounds) be drained, and the i'm
proyements commenced in the city be
completed--in short, could its atmos-
phere become a dry one--it would
soon leave the greatest cities Of the