Outing . snakes whenI got back. Anyway, Hen had a niggercart waiting and we lifted the Bantayaninto it, piled the camp stuff on, and setout. Mid-afternoon we came out of LaFourche woods into the narrow strip ofcultivable land fronting the bayou. Itwas green with young sugar cane. Downthe long rows a line of darkies, men andwomen and children, hoed the blackearth, while the mounted overseer rodebehind and jacked up the laggards. Hewas very courteous, but mystified at usappearing from the swamp, refused any slow-moving bayou came red-sailed lug-gars, the Italian crews poling themagainst the fail
Outing . snakes whenI got back. Anyway, Hen had a niggercart waiting and we lifted the Bantayaninto it, piled the camp stuff on, and setout. Mid-afternoon we came out of LaFourche woods into the narrow strip ofcultivable land fronting the bayou. Itwas green with young sugar cane. Downthe long rows a line of darkies, men andwomen and children, hoed the blackearth, while the mounted overseer rodebehind and jacked up the laggards. Hewas very courteous, but mystified at usappearing from the swamp, refused any slow-moving bayou came red-sailed lug-gars, the Italian crews poling themagainst the failing breeze. It was an in-teresting country. We made Lockportthe next morning, dined at the hotel, gotdirections as to how to reach BayouTerrebonne, and set off down a weedycanal southward. But it came on torain before the first mile and when wesaw a large, dirty tent on the bank by alumber pile we went ashore. Therewere two men inside, sitting by a smokystove, and at first glance we knew theywere WE STARTED ON A BIT OF BAD WEATHER FOR PICTURE TAKING They were from Kalamazoo, and theywere trying to reclaim three thousandacres of wet land along Field Lake. Asit blew and rained harder, we acceptedtheir invitation to make camp with helped us put up our little silktent, and we all dined on fried trout,tea, and macaroni. Our hosts were wetbut hopeful. They were waiting forthe cattle which they were going to runon their holdings to kill the piene grassfor a year or two, until they began culti-vation. Several other Northerners hadsettled about, and the company wasworking to drain the small lakes to makeavailable the land beyond the forty-arpent line, the historic demarkation be-yond which the Cajun farmers wouldnot venture. The Cajuns shook theirheads at al this foolishness. Their fa-thers and their fathers fathers had nevergone beyond the forty-arpent line ;why, therefore, should they? However, Yankee capital was doingwonders on the black, rich swamp gentl
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Keywords: ., acadiana, bookcentury1800, booksubject, booksubjecttravel, pirogue
