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Quinta Scott's Mississippi River Photographs

Louisiana Delta-Barataria Basin

“Between these lakes and the Mississippi, is earth accumulated on the sand, and formed by the ooze of that river, as I said; between these lakes there is nothing but sand, on which there is so little earth, that the sand bottom appears to view; to that we find there but little pasture, which some strayed buffaloes come to eat; and no trees, if we except the hill on the banks of one of these lakes, which is all covered with evergreen oaks, fit for ship-building. This spot may be a league in length by half a league in breadth; and was called Barataria, because enclosed by these lakes and their outlets, to form almost an island on dry land.”--Antoine Simon Le Page du Pratz, 1718-1734