DUPRATZ, Le Page, author, born in Holland about 1695 ; died in 1775. After entering the French army he saw service in Germany, and, having obtained an interest in the French western land company, sailed from La Rochelle in May 1718, to take possession of the territory ceded to the association near New Orleans. After several unsuccessful attempts at colonization, he ascended the Mississippi in 1720 and settled among the Natchez Indians, by whom he was at first well received, but with whom he subsequently became involved in difficulties. These being arranged, he pushed into the interior, visited the region watered by the Missouri and Arkansas, and, after eight years' labor as a pioricer, returned to New Orleans to become treasurer of the company, on the abolition of which office he sailed for France where he landed, 25 June 1734. His " History of Louisiana, or of the Western Parts of Virginia and Carolina" (Paris, 1758 ; London, 1763), is commended for its exactness, the author having paid especial attention to geology, mineralogy, trod other natural sciences.