Produced by Alison Hadwin and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) EIGHT DAYS IN NEW-ORLEANS IN FEBRUARY, 1847, BY ALBERT J. PICKETT, OF MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA. NOTE. The following Sketches of New-Orleans originally appeared in the Alabama Journal of Montgomery. For the purpose of presenting them to the perusal of his friends at a distance, the author has caused them to be embodied in the present form. These pages were written from the recollection of only a few days sojourn in the Crescent City. The period allowed the author of collecting information was very limited. It is also his first essay at descriptive and historic writing. The author fondly indulges the hope that these things will be taken into consideration by his charitable friends, and will cause them to cast the veil of compassion over imperfections. MAY 18TH, 1847. CHAPTER I. A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI.--DESOTO'S EXPEDITION,--HIS DEATH,--THE FATE OF HIS PARTY, ETC. On a recent excursion to the Crescent City, I collected some facts and statistics which are respectfully submitted to the public. In attempting a description of this magnificent emporium of commerce, as it exists at the present day, I will briefly allude to its early history, commencing with the great "drain" of the western world, which is destined to bear upon its turbid bosom half the commerce of the American Union.