The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-04-05
BAYOU BY STEAMBOAT
n ToTA0E INTO AN UT-oF-THE-
WAY REGION or 10 UISIhNl.
enspss. or the south that People Read
About snd the Tourist Rarely sees
LeisureIY Travel with May STOPS
The Lameut OF the sugar Planters.

About ana the Tourist Rarely sees
Leisureiy Travel with May Stop--
The Laue-t OF the sugar Planters.
NEW ORLEANS, March 9O.-Northern people
come down TO New Orleans, look Mt the Mardi
Gras parades, go through the Mint, eat a hsh
dinner. and then return to their homes, saying
what has become Of the South as we used
10 read OF it7'
They seem, on the whole, rather disappointed
that tho Mardi Gras parades do not partake Of
the nature Of a minstrel show that the dollars
turned out at the Mint are Just like those made
in New York or Philadelphia, and that the fish
don't have woolly scales and dark compilations.
Sometimes tho tourist has n guide book and
has rend Gable. Even then he Is not satisfied.
lie wanders up and down tho streets OF
the Creole quarter and nine times out of ten he
brands IL all as n delusion and n snare.
The fact Is that most Northerners have their
minds made up for a glimpse of the South OF
Uncle Toms Cabin They keep humming
''suwaneo River and "ole Black joe all the
way down. They look with q cold eye on the
sleeping.c car porter. He Is about q hundred de.
rrees removed from the plantation darby. the
being whom the Northerners yearn to zee. The
tourist has passing CLEANS OF satisfaction when
tho ragged little darkies gather at the stations
and pile themselves in heaps over any mud
puddle into which the malicious passenger
losses a nickel or even q penny. But that isn't
enough. The traveller wants To see the places
where dc cotton an dc corn an taters grow
and in some way the Mint and the Mardi Gras
combined do not satisfy that longing.
The genuine old plantation darky Is fast
disappearing. The plantation life. as 1t was,
has gone, and with 1t the environment which
made the darby what he was. 1t Is as hard
to find a real old Niger Of befo' dc wah as
Il is to find an old fashioned mule-power sugar
house. And there is one thing sure. The
tourist may sit down in New Orleans and look
in vain for such elements OF the South. The
mountain will not come to Mahomet.
II Mahomet feels inclined to go and hunt up
the mountain. easily and nexpensively. he
cannot do better than take a bayou trip. In
DAYS of Did, when railroads were not 80 bold
and steamboats had a decided c!nch on the
southwestern part of Louisiana, the tourist
could HE him whittier he would upon the deck
of some floating palace" The floating pal
aces have retired from business now, and the
woTiS.pe o sts %aaess li trevf from H Witch SR' to choose
an excursion. The trip, TO Bayou Lafourche
Is the one he onght to take.
The steamboats, which now run 10 Bayou
Lafourche are comfortable and unhurried.
They stop at distances of a few hundred yards
along the bayou. so that, passengers have am
Die opportunities to observe, the landscape.
People who like, to move rapidly would better
take csnnon-ball ex presses aud Flying Dutch
man trains. but the man. who would like an
easy. interesting trip should take a bayou
boat; They are said s. Giv to be @s ready , to stop T fGs
amiability cannot fail to tranQuillize The most
The boats for Bayou La fourche leave the
wharf at New Orleans at 8 p. M~:-sometimes.
Paseen gers will do we'll to be on board at that
time. The boat may not leave for two or three
days, but then, again, 1t may leave at the stroke
of B. This depends on the negroes. There are
n ragged. picturesque, devilish, looking crowd!
Most OF them have worn the stripes, and all of
s shem ou 70 he 10 Esar the i"eb Boat ; at It Is zee cents an
hour. When 1t comes to engaging. for the
whole trip. however VENT, that tb Is a d hays' an6 % 4 the
darkies see that there is q lot of heavy freight
on board. so that there is a prospect OF their
After the boat is loaded they calmly sit down
on the boxes and bales on tho wharf and wait.
The mate goee out to the end OF the gangplank
and announces In an Indifferent way that he
is to occupy only three days. but the wages are
reckoned by the month. The mates announce
d %Sli IS fe The mate stands there a while.' and
then he offers $40 a month: Only an extremely
LIGHT cargo or unusually dull times VII make
mate stands there a long time; gost ips with
men who come and go;. the boat. loaded, per
a miscellaneous cargo, seems impatient to start;
any set of officers and passengers excep q south
calm Captain. the cordial planters, and the un-
rufhed feminine portion or the company take
it all as easily and peacefully as If 1t were just
The clerk asks the pilot to ring the the bell bell;
THIS TIL f S1i1ss io iSf of a o Sost. dHTF hose' a TnS sa oe
raises his BID to s45 9 month. TT Two y oo or three
the mate has shipped his necessary compile
blows. and the boat is of. Sometimes. how,
ever. he has 70 raise his bid to $50 or even $40
the boat has been known to lie at the wharf.
loaded and ready to start, for three days be-
As soon as the boat is fairly on her way up
the. river supper is announced. and then you
vii have a chance to have a good LEX At a. your
genial gentlemen. who will tell you more
girls who sit indolently in the cabin and eye
s Mish wIDasr of aP New 9n Orleans Sn1 % fos a trip iGa up the
bayou. They are going home after a visit or
70 out on deck even to see the moonlight.
The planter will, however, Not that he
cares so much for the he moonlight't put he wants
He points out the great sugar. plantations
along the river, dim wastes now IN the shad;
morning TO really see them. The planter al
ways tells you that he is not making any
which to back up his statement.
How much ,,o do you Sa think link nnS costs Snn to rr run a
WELL" he says, "a modern sugar house.
for grinding the cane and SO on, costs from
$50. 900 TO 5000. 900. On a large plantation
you will find from 10000 to 100000 worth of
mules. Engineers for the sugar houses earn
from $4,000 to 5000 a year. Overseers earn
about $l.5O0, a year. Skilled mechanics are
employed during the grinding season al 81 and
Is a day. IL costs money to run a sugar plan
tation ~ the planter concludes with a shake of
his head.
How many men on the bayou are the same
ones who owned the plantations before the
war;, asks the clerk, with a view evidently 70
showing the visitor tho reality OF the evils
limited at.
'NOnly two.'' says the planter. almost all
OF the plantations are In the hands OF North
eru men. There is one man who owns about
y dozen plantations on the bayou and along the
river. He began life as a peddler, going
through this country with u pack on his back"
II you hint to the planter that this doesn't
agree with his statement that the plantations
are not profitable he only shrugs his shoulder.
When you wake up in the morning and look
out of your window you will see a high yellow
levee, a small Imprinted cottage beyond II II, and
two or three or a dozen bare legged little mig,
gers scattered in punches through the fore