De La Harpe: July 24, 1704 ~ 23 Parisian girls arrive on the Pelican.

The chief object of Crozat was trade, not with Louisiana, but rather with Mexico and the Spanish possessions. He therefore pro- posed the establishment of a warehouse for his merchandise on Dauphin Island and a line of trading brigantines to touch at all Spanish ports between Pensacola, Vera Cruz and the Campeche coast. His project seemed warranted by the approaching Peace of Utrecht, and success appeared more than plausible. But his plans miscarried. The same peace which guaranteed his ships liberated also the merchant marine of England and this powerful trading nation secured not only the closing of these same ports to French vessels, but also the monopoly of the slave trade. Crozat’s charter, before he could put it into execution, was in fact waste paper. Nevertheless, he was willing to risk the more or less illicit trade with the rich provinces of Hew Mexico and at the same time rely on the revenues accruing from Louisiana mines. At the end of three years, however, he met nothing but bitter disappointment. The Mississippi Valley yielded neither gold nor silver and when he attempted commercial relations with the Spaniards they persistently closed their ports to French ships and kept a strict guard over their Texas frontier.



 THE UNITED STATES; ITS POWER AND PROGRESS. BY GUILLAUME TELL POUSSIN, LATE MINISTER OF THE REPUBLIC OF FRANCE TO THE UNITED STATES.

 Dauphin Island, which, at an early period of the colonization of Louisiana, was the principal post, and, as it were, the capital of the colony, is now what it was then, a sterile sand bank, upon which grow a few pines, creeping vines, and stunted palm trees around the ponds. It is about seven miles in length (twelve thousand metres), and about one mile in width (fifteen hundred metres), containing a superficies of about nine hundred acres (eighteen hundred hectares). The harbor was at the east end, formed by a small sand islet, known as Spanish Islet. It was situated between this islet and Massacre Island. The depth of the water was from four to five fathoms, and afforded excellent anchorage. It could be entered from the westward, by keeping near the island. On approaching it, it was necessary to pass a bar, where, at the time of M. d'Iberville's visit, the water was from twenty to twenty-one feet in depth. But in 1706, it had fallen to fifteen or sixteen feet. This anchorage could also be reached by steering for Mobile Bay, and crossing the bar, where the depth of the water was but twelve feet ; a depth which has not since varied. In front of this port, vessels of a heavier draught could anchor in an open roadstead. The port of Dauphin was defended by a fort, under whose protection the government houses and those of the colonists had been erected. These frame buildings were ranged along the shore, built on the sand, and surrounded by small palisade pickets. Nothing could give a more unfavorable impression of this colony and its future prospects than the appearance of these wretched cabins, which were no better than the temporary huts put up by fisher men. Nevertheless, this island at one time contained over two hundred houses enclosed in an entrenched camp, surrounded by palisades where the garrison was quartered. The town was burnt down in the same year as old Biloxi. When I visited this island in 1817, it was a perfect desert. It had become what nature intended it to be, the rendezvous of sea birds, and the resort of crocodiles, so abundant on that coast. A single individual had built his hut among the ruins of the old fort. He was an old pilot, brave and intelligent, whose heart was the seat of those noble sentiments of French honor, which one is always happy to speak of wherever they are exhibited. In the year 1814, during the last war with England, Damour, the Mobile pilot, had been sought after by the commanding officer of the English squadron then on the coast. His reputation was well known from New Orleans to Pensacola. He alone was able to pilot the ships of this squadron through the wretched islands and difficult channels that abound along the coast of Louisiana. The party in pursuit of him searched the whole of Dauphin Island. They found his hut, turned his humble furniture upside down, and, after having despaired of securing their object, set fire to his property. In the mean time, Damour, his hatred of the English unmitigated, remained concealed in the foul water of one of the ponds on the island, in the midst of rushes and crocodiles, his head alone above its surface. In this position, he witnessed the destruction of his dwelling, debarred the means of vengeance.But the brave Frenchman was afterwards revenged, for, at the attack of Fort Boyer, on the very point of Mobile Bay, the Eng lish met with a shameful defeat before the feeble bastions of a sand redoubt, defended by a handful of brave Americans under their intrepid commander, Major Boyer.