These people are Iberian in race, are small in stature, of dark
complexion, with black eyes, and lank black hair; their hands and feet
are small, and beautifully formed, and their features regular and
handsome; many of their females are extremely beautiful. These attain
maturity very early, and are frequently married at thirteen years of
age. In more than one instance, I have known a grandmother at thirty.
As in all warm countries, this precocious maturity is followed with
rapid decay. Here, persons at forty wear the appearance of those in
colder climates of sixty years. Notwithstanding this apparent early
loss of vigor, the instances of great longevity are perhaps more
frequent in Louisiana than in any other State of the Union. This,
however, can hardly be said of her native population: emigrants from
high latitudes, who come after maturity, once acclimated, seem to
endure the effects of climate here with more impunity than those native
to the soil.
The Bayou Plaquemine formerly discharged an immense amount of water
into the lakes intervening between the La Fourche and the Teche.
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