FLORIAN - The Most Traveled Man on Earth

Letter 17.
[Letter from Peter Le Det de Segrais in Bengal to his sister Marguerite Le Det de
Segrais, in New Orleans, Louisiana]
Calcutta, Sept. 18, 1816 (1810?) 100
My dear sister,
Here I am arrived in Bengal and established as if I had lived here all my life. Although I
have only been here for two weeks, I already have a furnished house, quite a lot of
business under way, and I am delighted to have made this decision. I have learned that a
ship is down the river and leaving for the US. I am hastening to write you these lines,
and to send your son-in-law 101 the current prices in the market. At least it seems to me
that we could succeed [here?], and I strongly desire to do so. But I must know first a
little bit about how business is in New Orleans, and I hope that your son-in-laws [?] will
have received news from Europe and written me.
I am writing to you in the greatest haste, but I hope that I will often have an occasion to
write to you and to your dear little stupid daughters, although I detest them. I would
certainly like to have Virginia to keep house, and I am sure that I would soon find her a
nabob for a husband. But I think that she does not lack for gallant propositions of
marriage in New Orleans. Anyway, if you can find one handy, I urge you to send me,
duly receipted, “marked and numbered as” per maigie, “well conditioned and in the good
ship _______, a young and pretty woman, warranted and insured.” [In English within the
quotes.] At my age I should not lack for Roufines!
For the rest, the sea is delightful here, and you haven’t lived if you haven’t lived in India
and especially Calcutta. I don’t have a large staff of servants (only 23), but I will soon be
better served. One of them puts my coat on, another scratches me, another fans me, so I
don’t even have the trouble of keeping well. This is only a little of the punishment one
must take here. All this rests me considerably. However, I daily regret losing the use of
my legs.
I came here on the first Dutch ship which appeared since the peace. I am awaiting daily
my first consignment by the first French ship which will come, and which left from
France. <strong>The</strong> first American ship to come here from France ________ and is coming up
the river at the present time.
I have written to Joseph and urged him strongly to come here and join me, as well as
Emmanuel. I should like them to agree to leave Mssers. Bowen & Forcoti [?] “to do
business with this place” [the latter in English].
100 Note that from context this letter appears to be from 1816, but the translator thought it was from 1810.
101 Marguerite does not have a son-in-law at this point, perhaps this is a mis-translation of “brother,” since
Emmanuel is her brother and is also in New Orleans?
126