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2014L I E> R.ARY
OF THE

U N I VERS ITY
Of ILLINOIS

9»7.6
F31

v.a

FEATHERSTONHAUGH'S

perils of bupfalo hunting.	Seepage 129

VOL. II.

LONDON:

JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.

1844.EXCURSION

THROUGH

THE SLAVE STATES,

FROM

WASHINGTON ON THE POTOMAC TO THE FRONTIER OF MEXICO;

WITH SKETCHES OF POPULAR MANNERS AND
GEOLOGICAL NOTICES.

BY

G. W. FEATHERSTONHAUGH, F.R.S., F.G.S.

IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. II.

LONDON:

JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.

1844.

London: Printed by William Clowes and Sons, Stamford Street.9/ 7. (o
F3I

v< Z

CONTENTS OF VOLUME II.

CHAPTER XXIII.

PAGE

The " Military Road"—Eleven-Mile Point River—Obliging
conduct of Widow Newland—The advantages of " camp-
ing out"—Our front and hind Wheels quarrel; the hind
Wheels turn back—Mr. and Mrs.. Meriwether—Two sus-
picious Travellers—Murder of Mr. Childers—Extraordi-
nary Spectacle produced by wild Pigeons—Bury the re-
mains of Mr. Childers ...... 1

CHAPTER XXIV.

Description of White River—Judge Tucker's Cabin; his
account of the Murder of Childers—Account of the first
Judge Lynch, and the state of Legal Practice in his Court
—Av successful Speculation in Lead—Clock Pedlars in-
sinuating Persons—White River Mountain—A Ruffian of
the first order . . . . . . .14

CHAPTER XXV.

Little Red River—A distressed family of Emigrants—A
new kind of Grist-mill—Black Wolves—A wild Ameri-
can scene—Reach the Arkansas River—A Tavern at
Little Rock .....	32

CHAPTER XXVI.

State of Society at Little Rock—Don Jonathan—The Rev-
erend Mr. Stevenson—Newspapers versus the Bible—
Governor Pope and his Lady—The Laws of Honour at
Little Rock—A Duel in the Dark—A Bully killed—A

.JCONTENTS.

College of Faro and Rouge et Noir—Arkansas Legisla-
tors—The Speaker murders a Member in the body of the
House—His Trial ....... 42

CHAPTER XXVII.

Apology for the Manners of Arkansas—Manner of living
at Little Rock—Aversion to shutting the Doors—Ter-
tiary Deposit—Alluvial Bottoms, and the Species of
Plants growing there—Visit to the Mammelles—German
Emigrants—Geology of the Mammelle Mountain—Enter
an immense Swampy Plain—Danger of travelling with-
out a Guide—Some apprehension of being obliged to treat
the Wolves—Reach a House . . .	65

CHAPTER XXVIII.

A Concert of Wolves—Ancient bed of the Arkansas—
An Arkansas Honeymoon—Method of crossing a Bayou
—Depart from Little Rock for the Hot Springs of the
Washita—Explanation of a " Turn-out "—Stop at the
best Hotel on the Road—" Nisby" and her "Missus"
—Stump Handle and Company—A fastidious Judge—
Governor Shannon's Hotel—A Jury de circumstantibus 80

CHAPTER XXIX.

Arrive at Magnet Cove—An interesting Mineral Locality
—Strange effects of a Hurricane—Reach the Hot Springs
—Whittington without his Cat—Rare accommodations
—Description of the Springs—Fishes in Hot Water—
Temperature and Gaseous Contents of the Hot Springs—
The Travertine presents different Constituents below the
Surface . . . . . < . . 100

CHAPTER XXX.

Curious and beautiful Mineral Structure of the adjacent
Country—Locality whence the Indians procured the
Mineral for their Arrow Heads—An unsophisticated
"Bar-hunter"—Panthers fond of Buffalo Tongues—CONTENTS.	vii

PAGE

Strange single Combat betwixt a Hunter and a male
Buffalo—Reasoning Power of the Animal—State of the
Hunter's Nerves after the battle . . . .118

CHAPTER XXXI.

Leave the Hot Springs—Regain the " Military Road," and
cross the Washita—How to drink Coffee made of Acorns
—The Caddo River—Mrs. Barkman, her extraordinary
accomplishments—A Hunter's House and Family—Ter-
tiary Deposits—A Travelling Court-house—A Knot of
Gamblers—A Paddy going to Texas . . . .132

CHAPTER XXXII.

Bear-hunting—Approach a subcretaceous Country—Judge
Cross—Disputed Territory betwixt Mexico and the United
States-^-A Prairie Country and subcretaceous Fossils—
General Houston—Plot to wrest Texas from Mexico—
Beauty of the Country . . . . . .148

CHAPTER XXXIII.

Probable origin of Prairies—Land most attractive when to
be obtained without paying for—Mr. Prior—Great abuse
of the Government Land Sales—An Oasis in the Wilder-
ness—Contrast between the educated and uneducated
Classes—Two patriotic Members of the Sovereign People 164

CHAPTER XXXIV.

Mr. Williams; his adventures—Blunder of the Mexican
Government—Reach Red River—Cross into the Mexican
Province of Texas—Lost Prairie, a beautiful tract of
land—Surprising Crop of Cotton in a field of 300 acres
—The Abolition of Slavery a hopeless case—The future
—Wild Muscadel Grape . . . . . .181

CHAPTER XXXV.

Course and ancient Channels of Red River—The Great Raft
—Method adopted of cutting it out—Danger to which
New Orleans is exposed—Fight betwixt a Man and aVlll

CONTENTS.

Panther—Tragical Story of a Hunter—Comical relation
of a Solo played by a Negro to a Gang of Wolves—
Fossil Oysters in the Saline . . . . .194

CHAPTER XXXVI.

Reach Little Rock again—A pleasant Christmas Eve—
Embark in a Steamer for New Orleans—A painful Mo-
ment—Structure of the Banks of the Arkansas—Snags
and Sawyers explained—Frequent Change of the Channel
of the River—Cotton Plantations—Cause of the Varie-
gated Structure of the Banks explained . . . 207

CHAPTER XXXVII.

Approximative Method suggested of calculating the Age
of Fluviatile Deposits—Brutal Conduct of the Passengers
—The Quapaw Indians a Tribe of the Osages—Monsieur
Barraque, his Adventures—A Young Vagabond—Post
of Arkansas—Monsieur Notrebe—The River encroach-
ing upon the Country ...... 223

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

The Steamer boarded by Swindlers—Pandemonium afloat
—Day and Night Orgies—A Mysterious Lady—Printed
Rules to decoy Passengers—White River—Reach the
Mississippi—Arrive at Vicksburg—Mr. Vick and his
brother Gentlemen—Worse and worse—Compliments to
the Captain of a Steamer by the Gentry of Vicksburg
—A View of the Grand Gulf—Reach Natchez—A happy
Deliverance of the Swindlers—Judge Lynch in the State
of Mississippi—Arrive at New Orleans . . . 237

CHAPTER XXXIX.

The Delta of the Mississippi—Shiftings of the Channel of
the River—Formation of new land at its mouth—Visit
the Cemeteries—Mode of contriving dry Graves—Pira-CONTENTS.

IX

tical-looking Population—Green Peas out of doors,
Jan. 1—Literature and the Sciences—New Orleans
Americanised—Sunday Evening Meetings—Faro the
principal business transacted in New Orleans—The Le-
gislature in Session—Good Theatres .... 256

CHAPTER XL.

Quadroon young Ladies, their hard fate—Liaisons of a
Bal de Societe—An amiable Father of several Families—
Good Prospect for the Anglo-Episcopal Church—Spanish
Cathedral—Depart from New Orleans—A Railroad—
Embark in a Steamer for Mobile—A Storm—A Bishop
on board—Come to an anchor—The Bay and River of
Mobile—Tokens of Commercial Activity—Beauty and
Cleanliness of the town of Mobile—Spanish Creoles—
The Bolero . . . . . . . . 267

CHAPTER XLI.

Embark in a Steamer, and ascend the Mobile and Ala-
bama—Tertiary deposits at Fort Claiborne—Great fer-
tility of the State of Alabama—Aptitude of the Creek
Indians for labour—Reach Montgomery, in Alabama—
Filthiness of the "principal" Hotel—Engage a carriage
to cross the Indian Territory — Country Inundated—
Cross the Oakfuskee and enter the Creek Nation . .2*78

CHAPTER XLII.

Description of the Muskogee or Creek People—Their
Sachem, M'Gillivray—Their Treaties with the American
Government—The Chiefs corrupted by the Georgians—
Weatherford, the Sachem of the Lower Creeks, attacks
and massacres the Garrison of Fort Mimms—General
Jackson takes the Field—Fatal Battle of Tohopeka, or the
Horse Shoe—Weatherford's Heroic Conduct—M'Intosh
betrays his countrymen, and is Shot—The Creeks com-
pelled to cede all their Country—Apology for the
Whites........288X

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XLIII.

PAGE

The Ruins of a Nation—Kateebee Swamp—A Turkey
implumis—Emigrants with their Slaves—Phlebotomy—
Diamond Rattle Snakes—Reach Columbus, in Georgia—

Falls of the Chatahoochie—Leave Columbus—Observa-
tions upon the Family of Naiades—Arrive at Augusta—
Railroad to Charleston, in South Carolina—Reach Co-
lumbia, in South Carolina . . . . .311

CHAPTER XLIV.

The Gentlemen of America—The Tariff and Nullification
—Wise conduct of Mr. Clay and Mr. Calhoun—Warlike
Propensities of an Octogenarian Philosopher—A black
animal chained on the roof of a Stage-coach—The cha-
racter of the White Man elevated by the Slavery of the
Black one ........ 332

CHAPTER XLV.

Inside and Outside Passengers in chains—Bob Chatwood
and the Game of All Fours—A Social Bottle—An Over-
turn in the dark—Reach Charlotte, in North Carolina—
Description of the Gold Region in North Carolina and
Virginia—Richmond, in Virginia—The Chesterfield Coal-
Field—Speculations respecting it	. . . 345

Concluding Chapter ...... 373

LIST OF PLATES AND WOODCUTS.—VOL. II.
The Hot Springs of the Washita.

The Perils of Buffalo Hunting . . Title, Vignette.
The Mammelle Mountain . . . . Page 75

ERRATUM. Vol. II. p. 79.

For Tot inter valles mugientium, read Aut in reducta valle mugientium.TRAVELS IN THE SLAVE STATES

OP

NORTH AMERICA.

CHAPTER XXIII.

The " Military Road "—Eleven-Mile Point River—Obliging con-
duct of Widow Newland—The advantages of " camping out"
—Our front and hind Wheels quarrel; the hind Wheels turn
back—Mr. and Mrs. Meriwether—Two suspicious Travellers
—Murder of Mr. Childers—Extraordinary Spectacle produced
by wild Pigeons—Bury the remains of Mr. Childers.

From this place we were happy to learn that a road
had been cut out, through the territory of
Arkansas, by authority of the government of the
United States, called the " Military Road." Enter-
ing upon it, we found the trees had been razed close
to the ground, and that the road was distinguished
by blazes cut into some of the trees standing on the
road-side, so that it could not be mistaken; a great
comfort to travellers in such a wilderness. For a
few miles we pursued it through a fine bottom, then
got upon the horizontal limestone we had seen at
the Currant—which is probably the equivalent of
that at Herculaneum—and at length rose to the
level of our old friend the calcareo-siliceous rock,

vol. ii.	b2 -	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap, xxiii.

where many rocky knolls appeared, altogether
petro-siliceous. Fourteen miles from the Currant
we crossed " Fourche de Thomas," a deep fourche,
or creek in the forest, but passing here by the name
of "Fourche de Mas," according to the French
method of abbreviation. We passed it by an excel-
lent wooden bridge constructed in the best style, and
had a good view of the ledges of horizontal limestone
cropping out on the bank, which' a little farther on we
found was overlaid by the siliceous rocks, that soon
presented nothing but quartz, hornstone, chert, and
opaque and agatized flints. One or more settlers
here having quarrelled about the direction of
the Military Road, have taken the liberty to cut
roads resembling it, and blazed the trees, to their
own cabins; in consequence of this we got out of
our way, and after driving sixteen miles, reached
at a late hour a Mr. Russel's, who moved his family
in here about twenty-four years ago, amongst the
earliest Americans who came to the territory of
Arkansas. As we were approaching the place, we
saw two wild-looking urchins of boys trailing a
beeve's head through the woods to bait a wolf-trap;
that animal abounding about here, and being fre-
quently caught in that way.

Last night we had the pleasure of Mrs. Harris's
company in our bed-room, and this night, soon
after we had retired, old Mrs. Russel, a discreet
matron of at least seventy, accompanied by a sickly,
unhappy-looking girl, of, perhaps, eighteen, camechap, ran.] ELEVEN-MILE POINT RIVER.

3

into our room, where there were three beds, upon
one of which I was laid down, and my son upon
the other. Without uttering a word, these amiable
ladies very deliberately went through the ceremony
of unrobing and getting into the other bed. This
to be sure was an unexpected treat; I thought my
son would never have done laughing, and certainly
I never saw anything done with more nonchalance.

Pursuing our journey the next morning, we
found an undulating country, the horizontal non-
fossiliferous limestone always in the valleys, and
the siliceous rocks on the high lands. We found
no fossils here; it would almost seem as if the
waters which deposited all these beds had been too
hot to admit of animal life existing in the mineral
matter. At Eleven-mile Point River, another beau-
tifully pellucid stream about 130 yards broad,
running through a fertile bottom, we stopped to
breakfast upon our own provender, in a sorry hovel.
There was no man to attend the ferry, and we were
obliged to cross the stream in an awkward flat boat
conducted by a girl about 16 : the landing was an
exceedingly bad one, and in making it we barely
escaped ruining both horse and carriage. The
country from hence was rough and hilly for six
miles to Jackson, a wretched place which passes for
the county town, and which is situated—why I
know not—at the inconvenient distance of a mile
from a beautiful transparent stream called Spring
River. From hence we drove fourteen miles over a

b 24	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[CHAP, xjiii.

country somewhat less hilly, and part of it in open
woods, to a widow Newland's, where we were most
miserably provided for, and shown to a wretched
flock-bed, neither long enough nor wide enough for
two to lie down upon; which, perhaps, was the
reason why the good, considerate old lady did not
favour us with her company.

Early in the morning we gladly started again;
we had passed a bad night and got nothing to eat,
and it was clear we should have fared much better
if from the first we had relied entirely upon our-
selves, and had "camped out" at nights. We could
have purchased meal and chickens at some of the
farm-houses, and could have made a hearty repast
of them at the end of the day. " Camping out" to
be sure is not always as comfortable as sleeping
under a roof, having in the winter season many dis-
advantages ; still even then there is much to be said
in its favour, and at any rate you don't find old
widows every night in the woods : but it was im-
portant to consider our horse ; he wanted food and
a stable at night, and we were obliged to seek one
for him.

Jogging along we came to a rather deep and dry
bayou, with a very steep descent down into it, and
this part of the business we achieved exceedingly
well with both of us in the waggon; but Missouri
being rather too confident made a dash to get up
the opposite bank, and my son who had the reins
aiding him lustily with the whip to get out of theCHAP. XXIII.]

A DISASTER.

5

bayou, the horse, just at the edge of the bank, made a
desperate effort, and successfully carried my son, the
shafts, and the front wheels for some short distance
on our route; as to myself, 1 philosophically took
the part of the hind wheels, which, released from
all restraint, incontinently retreated back again with
me to the bottom of the bayou. It would have
amused a third person to have observed us when
we met again, looking at each other upon the occa-
sion of so melancholy a dismemberment of the
machine that we so much depended upon. But
our discomfiture was so palpable that no room was
left for doubt or hesitation, and we came instantly
to the conclusion that all other business must give
place to waggon-mending ; so setting resolutely to
work, we dragged the hind wheels up the bank,
cut some stout stuff to splice our shafts, that were
broken clean from the axle-tree, and making use of
the ropes that we had happily furnished ourselves
with, in about three hours we got under way,
though in such a crippled state, that we were now
obliged to walk, a punishment too light for having
been so inconsiderate as to sit in the waggon whilst
the horse was drawing it out of the bayou. Luckily
the fore and hind wheels kept upon tolerably good
terms during the rest of the day, except occasion-
ally when we were going down hill.

We were now on rather a flattish country with
open woods, and flocks of parroqueets screaming
around us. Being in advance about a mile, and6

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[CHAP, xxiii.

very near the bank of Strawberry River, I heard
the cry of a wild goose, and getting a glimpse of
him through the bushes, as he was trumpeting on
the other side of the stream, I took it for granted
he was calling us to breakfast, and firing at him
put a ball into his neck close to his head, a lucky
shot that I could not have made perhaps once in
twenty times. I immediately rushed through a
ripple of the river to secure my prize, and seeing a
cabin not far off went there to wait for my son and
inquire if they had any meal, but the people were
steeped in poverty and broken down by fever and
ague. We however made a breakfast of what we
had, and were too glad to procure a feed of corn for
our horse. Before leaving the place I went down to
the river again, and collected a great many unios
resembling those of the Cumberland, but with a
deeper flesh-coloured nacre inside. After break-
fast I drove the horse, my son preferring to walk,
and proceeding through a fertile flat country, a
very heavy rain set in; the old saying, that it never
rains difficulties but it pours, was now verified, for
in ascending a hill the coupling pin of the fore part
of the carriage came out, and the front and hinder
wheels again separated, and brought us to a stand.
This was a day of great trouble: we contrived, how-
ever, soaked through as we were, to drag our waggon
on with various luck, and in the evening took
shelter at a settler's called Meriwether, ten miles
from the Strawberry.chap, xxiii.] MR. AND MRS. MERIWETHER.	7

Mr. Meriwether's log-cabin was at the top of a
hill a short distance from the main-road; he seemed
to be a hearty good-fellow, for he assisted us with
great alacrity to get our things out of the rain, and
to take care of our poor horse, who was very much
jaded. On going into the house we were made
acquainted with a person he called Mrs. Meriwether,
but who from her great height, which was six feet
two inches, an extraordinary dark, bony, hairy face,
and trimmings to match, I should have taken for
some South American grenadier in women's clothes.
Here, seated before a rousing fire, we soon contrived
to dry ourselves, and with the aid of some of their
milk, corn meal, and fried pork, and our tea and
sugar, managed to make a hearty supper. Our
appearance was the greatest godsend imaginable to
these worthy people; they were two of the greatest
talkers I ever heard, had not seen any travellers
for a long time, and now a fine opportunity occurred
of delivering everything they had to say. The
only great difficulty they laboured under was, that
both wanted to talk at the same time. When Mr.
Meriwether had fairly entered upon one of his
yarns, she would cut in upon him with " Well,
but, John, I've heer'n that so often now;" upon
which he would say, " Jist give me a chance to git
through, and I swar you shall have a chance too;
ride and tie, you know, that's fair."

Our host said that he had been once a soldier,
and that he was a relative of Captain Meriwether8

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[CHAP, xxiii

Lewis, the associate of the venerable Captain
Clarke of St. Louis, in the exploration of the
country west of the Rocky Mountains, and that
he was with Captain Lewis when he destroyed him-
self in Tennessee. He told me that he had led an
adventurous and merry life, had not laid up a
dollar, and was one of the earliest settlers in Ar-
kansas, where he got along as well as he could by
hunting, and trading, and raising a patch of corn.
He said that the track by which we had come to
his cabin from the main-road, was part of the an-
cient Indian path or trail from Vincennes on the
Wabash to Nachitoches in Mexico, and had been
adopted as the general road by white people moving
in that direction. This was the reason why so
many desperate men from all quarters, Spaniards,
Frenchmen, Americans, and other outlaws, had
settled near it, and that the greater part of the
deserted cabins we had seen had been inhabited by
them. There, under the pretence of entertaining
travellers, they got them into their cabins, and
often murdered them if they had anything to be
plundered of.

Whilst he was thus entertaining us his dogs
began to bark, and going to the door he found a
tall, thin, pale young man, with a dirty blanket
coat on, and a rifle in his hand, who asked if he
could get any milk and bread. He was very re-
luctant to enter the house, but at length came in,
and certainly his appearance was very forlorn. His

\CHAP. XXIII.] TWO SUSPICIOUS TRAVELLERS.	9

story was, that himself and a companion, with the
intention of hunting a few hours, had separated
from the waggons, bound from Illinois to Texas, in
which their relatives were, and that they had never
been able to find them again. This happened three
weeks ago after leaving St. Louis. Herculaneum
was the only place he could name as one which they
had passed through, but of the names of the rivers
and creeks he did not remember one. Upon asking
where his companion was, he said he had left him
at the foot of the hill. Our host gave him a small
quantity of sweet potatoes; and upon his saying
that they had no money, I gave him half a dollar
to pay their ferry over White River, which was not
far off. When he was gone, old Meriwether and
his wife thought the story a very unsatisfactory one;
they could not conceive how they could have crossed
the St. Francis, the Currant, and Strawberry rivers,
without hearing their names, and therefore pro-
nounced them to be a couple of vagabonds, who
had seen us on the road, and were now dogging us
with evil intentions. I was not quite convinced of
this, but listened willingly to the advice of our host
to us to be vigilant. He said that although there
were a great many respectable settlers in the
country now, yet there was " a heap of villains " in
it; and mentioned a place on the Mississippi, called
Helena, which was in the territory of Arkansas,
where all sorts of " negur runners," " counter-
feiters," " horse-stealers," " murderers, and sich10	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap, xxiii.

like," took shelter " agin the law." Nothing was
easier, he said, than for two fellows that were good
marksmen to pick off, with their rifles, two tra-
vellers like us when we were not thinking of it.
These monitions he followed with a relation of the
story of a Mr. Childers, which was harrowing
enough.

This person, it appears, was an old bachelor, and
a man of some property; a few years ago, being on
a journey, he slept at a man's on the south side of
White River, whose name was Couch, and pursuing
his journey the next morning, was dogged to within
two miles of Meriwether's cabin, and murdered
when he was asleep at his bivouac; " and there the
old man's bones are to this day," said Meriwether.
I expressed here in strong terms my surprise to
him, that knowing these things he had not given
the remains a decent burial. He replied that he
had often thought of it, but had never done it.

The hour of rest being come, we were shown to
a part of the cabin which was quite out of repair,
and where the weather came in freely enough, for
it rained in torrents the whole night. We were,
however, alone, and did not neglect our host's ad-
vice to be vigilant. The appearance of Mr., and
especially of Mrs. Meriwether, would have done
credit to any melodrama; that of the pale-faced
young fellow was quite in keeping, and these stories
of outlaws, murders, and especially the admitted
fact that the remains of a murdered man were yetchap, xxni.] FLIGHTS OP WILD PIGEONS.	11

unburied in the neighbourhood, all made me
thoughtful and careful too. I had heard of Helena
when in Tennessee; it had been described to me
as a sink of crime and infamy, and we were now
not far from it. Placing, therefore, our trunks
against the door, we prepared ourselves as well as
we could for any emergency before we laid down to
sleep; but daylight broke with a clear sky, and on
going into the kitchen we found our two hosts just
as talkative and obliging as ever. I therefore
soon got over my suspicions; and finding that
Meriwether was not only able but willing to mend
our waggon, I restored him entirely to my good
opinion.

A new and very interesting spectacle now pre-
sented itself, in the incredible quantities of wild
pigeons that were abroad; flocks of them many
miles long came across the country, one flight suc-
ceeding to another, obscuring the daylight, and in
their swift motion creating a wind, and producing
a rushing and startling sound, that cataracts of the
first class might be proud of. These flights of wild
pigeons constitute one of the most remarkable
phenomena of the western country. I remember
once, when amongst the Indians, seeing the woods
loaded from top to bottom with their nests for a
great number of miles, the heaviest branches of the
trees broken and fallen to the ground, which was
strewed with young birds dead and alive, that
the Indians in great numbers were picking up to12

TRAVELS IN AMERICA,

[chap. xxiii.

carry away with their horses: many of their dogs
were said to be gone mad with feeding upon their
putrefied remains. A forest thus loaded and half-
destroyed with these birds, presents an extraordinary
spectacle which cannot be rivalled ; but when such
myriads of timid birds as the wild pigeon are on
the wing, often wheeling and performing evolutions
almost as complicated as pyrotechnic movements,
and creating whirlwinds as they move, they pre-
sent an image of the most fearful power. Our
horse, Missouri, at such times, has been so cowed
by them, that he would stand still and tremble in
his harness, whilst we ourselves were glad when
their flight was directed from us.

Whilst Meriwether was assisting my son to re-
pair our waggon, I went, under the guidance of a
little boy, the only one of their children who had
survived the effects of the malaria, and who was
recovering from a broken arm that had been badly
set, to look for the remains of Mr. Childers. We
found the place where he had been murdered, and
after a very long search amidst the dead leaves and
rubbish, which a little stream called the Curie had
carried there, and near to which we had bivouacked,
we at length found a sort of heap of what appeared
to be soil, and taking some of the earthy matter in
my hands, I perceived a rank smell of putrefaction.
Removing the heap with a spade I had brought, I
found what remained of the skeleton, two shoulder
blades, two thigh bones, two leg bones, and onechap, xxih.] MICACEOUS OXIDE OF IKON.	13

arm bone. The rest had probably been carried away
either by the wild beasts or by the stream at some
time of high flood. Having collected all the re-
mains I could find, I dug a grave on the spot where
he had been sleeping when he was slain, and there
deposited them in their proper order, thus rescuing
them, as far as I could, from further dishonour.
I then placed a stone over the grave, and having
charged my little assistant to take care of it, and
to put the other bones in it if he should find them,
I gave him a dollar to encourage him, and returned
to the cabin.

Mr. Meriwether informed me that in the hills
about this part of the country there is a surprising
quantity of micaceous oxide of iron—of which I had
shown him specimens; and I found, from his con-
versation, that the River St. Francis, which empties
into the Mississippi, and the Big Black, which
empties into White River, are very much choked
up with rafts, the which if they were cut out and
the country drained, several millions of acres of
rich bottom land would be reclaimed. There is
galena also in this part of the country; a mine of
which has been opened somewhere up the Straw-
berry River.14

travels in america.

[CHAJP. XXJV*

CHAPTER XXIV.

Description of White River—Judge Tucker's Cabin; his ac-
count of the Murder of Childers—Account of the first Judge
Lynch, and the state of Legal Practice in his Court—A suc-
cessful Speculation in Lead—Clock Pedlars insinuating Per-
sons—White River Mountain—A Ruffian of the first order.

Having repaired our waggon, we bade our enter-
tainers good bye, and proceeded through a pretty
undulating country to the settlement of a Mr. Tun-
stall, an enterprising person of this district, who
lives in a tolerable house, built on a well-chosen
and pleasant situation. Here I saw a fine field of
wheat. But Mr. Tunstall being from home, we
drove on towards White River, through a tolerable
road in sandy barrens, with trees far apart. A
great change in the climate was here obvious: the
trees, whose leaves were all dead and had fallen
when we left St. Louis, were here green, as well as
the shrubs; and various species of oak began to
appear that we had not seen before. As we pro-
ceeded through these barrens, I got a glimpse of the
man in the dirty blanket coat who had called at
Meriwether's last night; but as he disappeared
almost immediately, I thought it was possible thatCHAP. XXIV.] TWO SUSPICIOUS TRAVELLERS.	15

he and his companion might have dodged behind
some trees which appeared very thick some distance
before us. Although I did not fully partake of the
prejudices of Meriwether against these men, who
really might be honestly pursuing their way to
Texas, yet I thought it prudent that we should be
on our guard; for the place, being a wilderness,
without a human being to bear testimony to any
thing, or to receive assistance from, was very oppor-
tune to do us mischief. We accordingly concerted
our plan. My son was to remain in the waggon,
coming slowly along, and if he was attacked was to
abandon the waggon if necessary, and come to close
quarters with the axe; whilst I was to enter the
woods quietly in advance of my son, but always
sufficiently near to him, and, rifle in hand, was to
turn and discover their flank, and act accordingly,
if I saw symptoms of treachery.

The strange conduct of the man we had spoken
with, the unwillingness of the other to show himself,
the fact of their not having slept at a house Meri-
wether had directed them to (which we had ascer-
tained), Mr. Meriwether's raw-head and bloody-
bones stories, and the burying of the bones, had
rather disposed me to be wary and uneasy; but
after advancing a considerable distance with great
caution, and examining all the trees on both sides
of the road without seeing any one, I rejoined my
son. A couple of miles farther on we saw them
together; and hearing our wheels, the unknown16	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxiv.

fellow turned to look at us, and spoke to the other,
who did not turn round, which we construed unfa-
vourably, perhaps putting a wrong construction
upon every thing they did, as I observed at the
time. I now determined to get before these fellows,
and putting the horse on at his best pace, with our
rifles prepared, we came up to them and accosted
them. Each had a gun ready cocked. The unknown
fellow hung down his head; but putting a close
question to him, he raised it to answer me, and I
must say that a more hang-gallows-looking phiz I
never saw. We now pushed on, my son driving,
whilst I kept my face turned to the men, but they
made no movement of an extraordinary character ;
and soon afterwards, the sun being set, we entered
the ample alluvial bottom of the valley of White
River, and having traversed a canebrake, drove to
the ferry.

This stream, which is very little known beyond
the precincts of the territory of Arkansas, is one of
the most important and beautiful rivers of North
America.- It takes its rise in the western edge
of that elevated country which has obtained the
name of Ozark* Mountains, and receives several
important tributaries, some of which take their rise
north of 37° of N. lat., draining that charming
portion of the territory of Arkansas which is com-
prehended in the county of Washington; and pur-

* A corruption of aux Arcs, the French abbreviation of aux
Arkansas•chap, xxiv.]	WHITE RIVER.	17

suing a general easterly course to its principal tri-
butary, Big Black River, it leaves, near that stream,
the petro-siliceous highlands to the north, and then,
after a serpentine course of from seven to eight
hundred miles, deflects to the south in 34° N. lat.,
to increase the volume of the Mississippi. The latter
portion of its course lies through alluvial lands of
the most fertile quality, through which it is navi-
gable from its mouth up to Batesville, a distance of
350 miles from the Mississippi; and with little im-
provement could—it is said—be made so 200 miles
farther to the westward. The valley of White River,
where we crossed it, divides the petro-siliceous high-
lands into two portions; and the river, when full,
is about 200 yards wide. At this season the stream
was low, but exceedingly pellucid, and there was a
great margin of beach on each side.

At the ferry we were told we could obtain " first-
rate accommodation" at a Judge Tucker's, a ma-
gistrate who lived a mile farther on the road.

Comforting ourselves with this prospect, and for-
getting that " first-rate," in a ferryman's mouth,
might be a qualification only squaring with his own
taste, we hastened on, and, to our great mortifica-
tion, found the Judge living in one of the most
dirty and unprovided holes we had yet got into, in
addition to which his children and himself too
were just recovering from the malaria. I pitied
them, for, bred up in dirt, it was evident they knew
not what cleanliness meant; he himself seemed

VOL. II.	c18

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

[chap. xxiv.

poor and broken-spirited, but was civil and com-
municative. It turned out that he "was the magis-
trate who had to inquire into the murder of Childers,
the circumstances of which, as we learned them
from him, were as follows:—It was known that this
unfortunate man had lodged at Couch's, and that
Couch was under particular obligations to him.
Many weeks after his departure from this man's,
a boy going through a cane-brake in the neighbour-
hood of Couch's house, saw, as he thought, a bear
lying down in the brake, and fired at it: believ-
ing he had killed it, he walked up, and found upon
examination that it was a bundle of clothes tied up,
and apparently hid away. Upon opening it he
found a great-coat that he remembered Mr. Childers
to have worn, together with other things, and taking
the bundle to Squire Tucker—our host—he, with-
out loss of time, communicated the fact to some of
his friends. After some deliberation they came to
the unanimous opinion that Childers had been
murdered by Couch whilst sleeping in his house,
and that the bundle, which contained nothing but
what had belonged to the unfortunate man, had
been secreted by him.

Proceeding, therefore, to his residence, they in-
formed him of the bundle having been found, and
charged him with the murder of his guest. He
stoutly denied the charge, and professed his ignor-
ance of the manner in which the bundle had got to
the cane-brake, admitting at the same time that heCHAP. XXIV.]

JUDGE LYNCH.

19

remembered seeing the clothes in the possession of
Childers. As the man persisted with great energy
in this declaration, and they had no collateral
evidence of any kind to support their charge, except
the important circumstance that Childers had slept
in his house the last time he had been seen, they
thought it expedient to submit the case to the
highest legal authority then existing in that part of
Arkansas.

This was a very awful personage named Judge
Lynch, whose unrivalled ability in the science of
cross-questioning had often thrown light upon the
most obscure cases. This talent he had inherited
from a famous Virginian ancestor of his, who lived
when the back settlements of that colony were also
in that happy state of Cocagna which flourishes for
a while in every region that is invaded by the ad-
vancing population, and where every man, being
without restraint, does as he pleases, unless a stronger
man interferes. This ancestor, the first Judge Lynch,
was a miller and a justice of the peace in the back-
woods ; he had been there from his youth, before the
western counties of Virginia were organised, was a
man of experience and sagacity, and was acquainted
with everything that was passing around him.
When a " spree " of a desperate kind occurred, and
the atrocity that had been committed had made it
necessary for the many to combine against a sus-
pected individual, the first step was to apprehend
and take him before the Judge, where all the cir-

c 220

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxiv.

cumstances of the case, and the proofs to support
the charge, were entered into.

If his Honour saw that the evidence was not
strong enough to send him to the seat of govern-
ment with any hope of conviction, and that all the
trouble and expense would go for nothing, besides
giving a triumph to the accused party in treating
him to a sight of the great world, and letting him
come back whitewashed into the bargain,—he used
to say, " Gentlemen, I swar this won't work no
haw, fix it haw you will; and I reckon the shortest
way is to git it out of him with the kayw hide."
The party was now stripped to his skin, and tied
securely, with his face and breast close to a tree, so
as to exhibit the best possible view of his dorsal
proportions. Two stout fellows, armed with knotted
thongs made from a tough hide, were then ap-
pointed to keep the flies from his upper and lower
parts, and the Judge stood by to direct operations.
His invariable rule was to order the administration
of twenty smart strokes of the thongs before " axing
no questionsthis he said " somehaw stirred the
man up, and put up him upon thinking they were
in arnest." Now, although the Judge was regarded
as a consistent person, and always ordered neither
more nor less than twenty strokes to be given, yet
it somehow always struck the party most interested
in counting them that he got forty instead of twenty,
a discrimination which perhaps escaped the Judge,
who might have imagined—the practice being tochap, xxxv.]	LYNCH LAW.	21

apply twenty to the shoulders, and twenty somewhat
lower down—that the suffering component parts
would each keep the arithmetical account, and not the
entire man. It certainly had the effect of producing
a perfect conviction that they were " in arnest,"
accompanied with a corresponding strain of piteous
entreaty to stop. His Honour would then merci-
fully ask him " haw many more would you like to
have before you've made up your mind, for thar's a
heap a-coming, I tell you." But the more the poor
devil prayed them to believe he was innocent, and
to cease tormenting him, the more they seemed dis-
posed to believe him guilty, and to increase his
tortures: if the Judge benevolently ordered him ten
strokes, the recipient—such is the discrepancy be-
twixt theory and practice—knew very well that
they would come to twenty, and so in proportion at
every renewal of his flagellation.

Now, as it is of the very essence of crime to seek
a present apparent advantage at the risk of bringing
down a future terrible evil, so a deferred death loses
its terrors with individuals drawn from the lowest
classes, when compared with present sufferings that
appear interminable, and thus the unfortunate devils
under Lynch law sooner or later generally said,
in answer to the Judge's kind inquiry—which
interrogatory he called cross questioning—" haw
many more do you reckon you can stand now?"
" Why, Judge, sartin no man alive can stand this
long." "Then, gentlemen," the Judge would tenderly22	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxiv.

say, "jist give him three leetel wales to help it out
of the hopper," alluding to the grain that some-
times stuck fast in the hopper of his mill, which he
thus facetiously compared to the confession that
seemed to stick in the man's throat. A confession
was generally the result, and thus the sagacity and
summary process of Judge Lynch raised his name
to the pinnacle of-fame, and to this day makes Lynch
law the terror of those evil doers who, in those
countries where there is no other law, would be with-
out the fear of anything to control their actions.

In this manner the tavern-keeper Couch was tied
to a tree, and submitted to the searching cross-
questions of Judge Lynch ; but as my informant—•
who was present—told me, he did not stand it long,
confessing that a man of the name of Allen had met
with Childers at his house, and finding that he had
some money with him and two fine young horses,
had dogged him the next day. Two days after-
wards he said Allen came in the night to his house
on the horse Childers had rode, leading the other,
and bringing with him the plunder he had got; upon
which occasion he communicated to Couch that he
came upon Childers when he was asleep, and
knocked him on the head with a stake he had cut,
when Childers sprung on his legs and had a hard
struggle with him; but that having thrown him
down he at length despatched him, and stripping
the body and dragging it away some distance from
the bivouac, had brought the horses and thingschap, xxiv.] MURDER OF MR. CHILDERS.	23

away. This man, Allen, he said, left the country
before daylight for Texas with the horse Childers
had rode, leaving the other horse and the clothes
with Couch, who told his neighbours that he had
purchased the horse of Childers before he left his
house; and as to the clothes, he had hid them in
the cane-brake. Notwithstanding this story, and
his strong protestations that he had had no hand in
the murder, he was disbelieved, and having no pri-
son they put him in a cabin, fastened the door, and
agreed to watch him. In the morning the cabin
was found empty; he had purchased his liberty no
doubt of his guard with poor Childers's money, and
had made his way to that asylum of oppressed
Republican humanity, Texas; for some time after-
wards a person returning from that quarter related
that he had seen him there " doing uncommon
well." What increases the disgusting brutality of
this transaction is the fact that this magistrate, Squire
Tucker, or Judge as they call him, told me that he
and a coroner's jury went to Curie Creek, where
they found and identified the corpse of the mur-
dered man, and came away without burying it.

It was somewhat curious that whilst this story
was relating to me, the same tall, pale-faced young
fellow who had called at Meriwether's the preced-
ing evening, just when he was narrating the same
murder, put his head in at the door, and inquired
the road. Again he declined coming in when in-
vited, saying he had no time; his companion, as24	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxiv.

upon the previous occasion, never appeared; and
although Tucker told him that there was no other
place or house to get shelter at for the night, he
went away. We did not like this proceeding;
these fellows would now be ahead of us again, and
Tucker, on being told of the circumstances under
which we had seen him before, pronounced him a
bad fellow.

In the morning of November 12th we started
very early, and after some time passed the fire
where these fellows had stayed during the night,
and saw their lairs where they had laid down upon
the leaves. We were now entering a country full
of thickets, where an ambush might be laid at
every step. I adopted the plan of the preceding-
day, walking on before, believing it to be most pru-
dent not to expose both our persons at the same
point; it was probable that if they had bad inten-
tions they would be somewhat embarrassed at
seeing only one person in the carriage when they
expected to see two; at any rate I thought that
being in advance I should get the first intimation
of their intentions, and act more prudently than a
younger man would ; besides, I wished to give my
son the best chance possible. How it occurred I
know not, for we saw no bye-road by which they
could have turned down, but we never overtook
them, though a great part of the morning we came
to a more open part of the country, which enabled
us to push on our horse ahead of them again. Thechap, xxiv.] COMPACT BLTJE LIMESTONE.	25

movements of these men were certainly rather
mysterious, for whilst we were boiling our kettle
at a poor cabin on the road, the man who lived there
told us that one of these fellows had called to ask
if we had passed, whilst the other went into the
woods on approaching the cabin, and had taken a
circuitous course to avoid it.

For some time we had seen no rocks, but here
we came upon compact blue limestone, furrowed at
the edges like that we had seen in the neighbour-
hood of Sparta, in Tennessee, and on our journey
through Kentucky, running N.E. and S.W. on the
same strike with those more northerly beds. Soon
after this we reached a settler's of the name of
Morton, who had things rather more inviting about
him than we had seen for some time; so finding
that we could get good bread and milk, and fried
venison—which is tolerably fat at this season—we
stopped to feed our horse and boil our kettle again.
When we came to pay our bill the charge was a bit,
or the eighth of a dollar, a little more than sixpence
for both of us ; but we found a difficulty in paying
this, for the smallest coin we had was half a dollar,
and Mr. Morton had no coin whatever in the house.
He was very fair, however, and said he didn't mind,
but that he was out of lead, and if my son had a
mind to give him a small bar of lead he had taken
out of his pocket and placed on the table, he would
be glad to have it, as he thought it was worth a
bit. My son had purchased four of these small26	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxiv.

bars at Mine la Motte to cast balls for his rifle, and
not being able to do any better we gave him the
bar, with which he was heartily delighted, saying
it would be worth " a heap" of deer skins to him.
This was our trading debut, and upon the whole
was an affair that was creditable to us in a com-
mercial point of view, for my son had paid only a
bit for the whole four bars, so that here was a mag-
nificent return of 300 per cent, profit.

Being exceedingly tickled with having Jewed our
host so satisfactorily in this business transaction,
before we went away we generously made him a
present of another bar on the part of Missouri, and
thus became entitled to the respectable appellation
of traders, which had been deemed to belong to us
on various occasions; for the rear part of our vehicle
being occupied by a large basket containing our
cooking utensils and munitions de boucke, attracted
general attention when we passed the cabins, which
were all accustomed to be supplied by travelling
" marchants." Wherever we came the inquiry was
sure to be, " What goods have you got to sell ? "
and when we assured them that we had nothing at
all to sell, the disappointed women would cry out,
" Why what orader arth are you, if you ain't ped-
lars?" Upon one occasion a woman screamed out
most lustily to us from her door, and as we would
not stop she ran after us, and finding we obstinately
persisted in giving an unsatisfactory account of our
ourselves, she said, " Well, then, if you ha'ant gotCHAP. XXIY.]

CLOCK PEDLARS.

27

nothin to sell, I reckon you must be tailors, and
that you are going about tailoringand I fancy
we could have got a very good job if either of us
had been put in the way of cultivating the sartorial
bump.

These worthy people think, if you are not looking
for land to settle, that you must be pedlars: there
are no markets or shopkeepers in the country for
them to go to, and therefore the markets come to
them—pedlars to sell goods, and tailors to cut
out and make their new clothes. As to the Yankee
clock pedlars, they are everywhere, and have con-
trived, by an assurance and perseverance that have
been unrivalled from the Maccabees down, to stick
up a clock in every cabin in the western country.
Wherever we have been, in Kentucky, in Indiana,
in Illinois, in Missouri, and here in every dell of
Arkansas, and in cabins where there was not a chair
to sit on, there was sure to be a Connecticut clock.
The clock pedlar is an irresistible person; he enters
a log cabin, gets familiarly acquainted with its
inmates in the shortest imaginable time, and then
comes on business.

" I guess I shall have to sell you a clock before
I go."

" I expect a clock's of no use here; besides, I
ha'nt got no money to pay for one."

" Oh, a clock 's fine company here in the woods;
why you couldn't live without one after you'd had28	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxiv.

one awhile, and you can pay for it some other
time."

" I calculate you '11 find I ain't a going to take
one."

The wife must now be acted upon.

" Well, mistress, your husband won't take a clock,
it is most a surprising: he'd hadn't ought to let
you go without one. Why, every one of your neigh-
bours is a going to git one. I suppose, however,
you've no objection to my nailing one up here, till
I come back in a month or so. I am sure you'll
take care of it, and I shall charge you nothing for
the use of it at any rate."

No reasonable objection, of course, can be made
to this. It is nailed up; he instructs her how to
keep it in order, and takes leave. But what can
equal their delight, when, with a bright, clear sound,
it strikes the hours ! " Well," they exclaim, " if
that don't beat all! Sartin, it is most delightful,
curious company!" The wife now teaches her
husband to wind up the clock, and great care is
taken of it, as it is a deposit, and must be restored
in as good condition as it was received. Too soon,
Jonathan, the wily tempter, returns, talks of taking
the clock down: " it was the best clock he ever had,
they are such nice people he almost wishes it was
theirs." Such a friendly and disinterested proceed-
ing throws down all the icy barriers that prudence
had raised between them and the shrewd Yankee.chap, xxiv.] WHITE RIVER MOUNTAIN.	29

Before morning the wife gets the husband's consent,
and the clock becomes theirs for the mere formality
of his giving a note, payable in six months, for some
eighteen or twenty dollars, and then

" If the clock shouldn't go well he can change it
for another, to be sure he can; ha'ant he got to come
that way in the spring ?"

He comes sure enough to dun the poor creatures,
bringing one clock along with him; and as all the
clocks have stopped, as a matter of course, either be-
cause they were good for nothing, or because they
have wound them up too often, he changes the clock
at every place he stops, cobbling them up in suc-
cession as they come into his hands, and favouring
every one of his customers with the bad clock of
his neighbour. The denouement is not a very plea-
sant one ; long after the clocks have ceased to strike,
the constables come and wind up the whole concern,
and mistress pays too often with her cows for the
inconsiderate use of her conjugal influence.

Having made our successful trade with our host,
we pursued our journey, and soon began to ascend
what is called the White River Mountain, across
which a very extraordinary road has been made.
The person who laid out the Military Road, instead
of winding round this desperate ascent, has, follow-
ing the example of the ancient Roman roads in
England, taken the shortest line to get to the top,
and carried it up at about an angle of 60°. Our
horse, therefore, came to a dead standstill, and could30

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxiv.

scarcely drag the light waggon up, even after
we had taken everything out of it; a not very
pleasant operation, because we were obliged, with
great labour, to carry our luggage tip ourselves in
all the worst places. For the distance of about 1500
yards, the track, for it does not deserve the name
of a road, laid over immense blocks and fragments
of siliceous rock, and in the efforts the horse made
to drag the vehicle over them, we were in constant
expectation of seeing it come to pieces. At the top
we found the rocky strata thrown out of their beds
in immense masses, but looking around, I observed
some portions yet in a horizontal position. We
now had got upon a table-land of great elevation,
and went on for ten miles in a forest of oak trees,
amidst the profoundest solitude, not even a bird
being upon the wing. From this we descended to
a settler's named Caruthers, who has got into a
warm fertile bottom, near some of the head waters
of Little Red River. The leaves of his peach
trees were still green, and he spoke of his situation
as being very favourable to fruit. This man strongly
advised us to abandon the.Military Road, and to take
a new cut, where we should find a level road, good
lodgings at a Mr. Hornby's, and an excellent ford:
he said the Military Road was very hilly, and the
ford to which it led rather dangerous. We accord-
ingly followed his advice, and after a tedious drive,
passing a deep ravine where the horizontal sand-
stone was well exhibited, reached this Hornby'sCHAP. XXIV.]

A DEN.

31

after night. Here we found abundant reason to
regret having left the Military Road, and discovered
too late that Caruthers, having an understanding
with Hornby, had purposely misled us. Hornby
was a squalid, half-negro looking, piratical ruffian
from Louisiana, living in a wretched, filthy cabin,
with a wife to match, and a Caliban-looking negress
and her two children, who were his slaves. This fel-
low never opened his mouth without uttering execra-
tions of the worst kind. In this den, which had only
one beastly room, we were obliged to stay, and suffer
the low Conversation of this horrid fellow. Some bits
of filthy fried pork, and a detestable beverage they
were pleased to call coffee, were set on a broken
dirty table, at which, by the light of a nasty little tin
lamp, into which Madame Hornby, after helping
herself to the pork, poured some of its grease, we
all, tutti quanti, sat on two lame benches. We
passed a most disgusting night, the whole party
lying down on the floor; and, from the appearance
of every thing around me, I should certainly, if I
had been alone, have expected an attempt on my
life. A place better fitted for the nefarious prac-
tices of such a set of desperate-looking human be-
ings I never saw.32

travels in america.

[chap. xxv.

CHAPTER XXV.

Little Red River—A distressed family of Emigrants—A new
kind of Grist-mill—Black Wolves—A wild American scene—
Reach the Arkansas River—A Tavern at Little Rock.

Great was our satisfaction when day broke and
gave us light enough to harness our horse; hurry-
ing away as quick as we could, we drove through
a lofty cane-brake—that reminded me of the bundle
containing Childers's clothes—to Little Red River,
over which I had to wade to find out the ford.
The bed of the stream is broad, and if the waters
had been high we could never have got across;
as it was, our horse made many difficulties, but
my son finally coaxed him over. This was a
lesson to us never to deviate again from the Mili-
tary Koad, for there at least good bridges have
been established over the worst streams. I picked
up a few fine unios whilst wading across the river,
principally the same varieties which inhabit the
Cumberland. Soon after we had crossed the river
we came to a very bad bayou, with a large danger-
ous mud-hole on the track, and here we had to
stop and collect sufficient timber to fill it before we
durst venture to attempt it, which we did success-chap, xx*.]	DISTRESSED EMIGRANTS.

33

fully; and continuing on for eight miles, we came
to the cabin of a settler called Morse, where we
found his family, eight or ten in number, in a
very deplorable situation: they had emigrated from
Tennessee in the month of May last, and had been
ever since so completely prostrated by the malaria,
that at one time there was not, during two whole
days, a single individual of them able even to draw
water for the family. A more sickly, unhappy set
of creatures I never beheld; livid, emaciated, help-
less, and all of them suffering extreme pains and
nausea from an excessive use of calomel: on the
floor were laid the father and five of the children,
still confined to their beds; but the mother, a kind,
good-hearted woman, finding that we were travel-
lers, and were without any thing to eat, ordered
one of the boys, who was still excessively weak, to
show us where we could get some Indian corn, and
how we could pound it so as to make a hoe cake.
He accordingly took us to a patch of maize, which
was yet standing, and having provided ourselves
with a sufficient number of ears, we began the
operation of pounding it. They had no mill of
any sort to go to, but had scooped out a cavity in
the stump of a large tree, over which was a wooden
pestle, eight feet long, suspended from a curved
pole 16 feet in length, with a heavy weight at the
end of it. A cross stick was fixed in the pestle,
about two feet from its base; so putting the grains
of maize into the cavity, and laying hold of the

VOL. II.	D34

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxv.

cross stick, we pounded away with this primitive
contrivance until we thought our grist was fine
enough; when, taking it to kind Mrs. Morse, she
made it into a hoe cake, and baked it before the
fire. This, with the important aid of a pitcher of
good milk, and our own tea and sugar—for we
had nothing else left—enabled us to make an ex-
cellent breakfast.

These good people, who were half broken hearted,
and who sighed after their dear native Tennessee,
as the Jews are said to have done after Jerusalem,
would not receive any compensation until I forced
it upon them; but when I further divided iny re-
maining tea and sugar with her, believing that it
would refresh their prostrated stomachs, she said,
with tears in her eyes, " that if any thing would
set her old man up again, it would be that nice
teaand that she was at one time going to ask
me if they might take the leaves that we had left,
" but that she did not like to do it." So strange
are the vicissitudes of life! We had passed the
night with a family in whose favour I could
willingly have invoked all the blessings that the
stoutest hemp that was growing could confer, and
here, when we little dreamt of it, we had become
most feelingly interested for the welfare of their
nearest neighbours; such an impression does suf-
fering goodness make upon the heart.

From hence, passing a pretty stream, called
Browns Greek, we drove through a tolerably levelCHAV. XXY.J

WOLVES.

35

country, with a lofty sandstone ridge on our right,
to a settler's of the name of Stacey, about 14 miles
off: there was a fine bear's skin stretched out at
the door, and the skin of an extremely large black
wolf. He told us, that whilst he was out on horse-
back the other day, his dog, which had been
ranging after some game, suddenly came back, in
great haste, chased by seven wolves, four of them
black and the rest grey. The moment they saw
him they turned round to retreat, but the dog,
encouraged by the presence of his master, gave
chase to the wolves, who again turned round and
came within shot of Stacey's rifle, which brought
one of them down. The tail of this beast was ex-
tremely long and black.

We slept at Stacey's, and, starting early in the
morning, crossed a steep ridge to a bottom, where
we found a cabin belonging to one Covey. As we
Were passing it, I observed a black girl throw a
wild duck into the road, so I stopped and asked
the mistress of the house, who was standing at the
door, why this was done. She answered me that
they " never ate sich truck, because she allowed
they had a kind of smell." The truth is, that
these poor people kil-l wild fowl merely for their
feathers, and that neither wild ducks, nor any thing
else, please them as much as bad fried pork, the
coarse taste for which perhaps, when acquired,
makes every other kind of flesh appear insipid.
From hence we ascended a steep hill of ferruginous

d 236

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxv.

sandstone, after a heavy pull of half a mile: the
view from hence was extensive, the whole country
appearing to be formed into ridges running east
and west, as parallel to each other as those of the
Alleghanies. Along this table-land we found a
tolerable sandy road, through a pleasant open
wooded country, but very much burnt. We stopped
to breakfast at a Mr. Walker's, a man who was
pretty well to do in the world; he seemed to have
an industrious family, and we left the house very
well satisfied. The improvement in the climate
was constant as we advanced to the south ; to-day
Fahrenheit shewed 77° in the shade. From Walker's,
where we got good bread and milk, our horse had
a rather distressing road for 14 miles; for the
first three miles we had two hills to pass, almost
as bad as White River Mountain, and on reach-
ing the top of the second, had a very extensive
view of a desert wilderness below us, about 12
miles broad, perfectly flat, and bounded by a
lofty ridge running east and west. It was an
excessively hot day; in vain we looked for any
thing that indicated a settlement—we could see
nothing but a dense jungle, which, as we had been
told, contained no water, except a few stagnant
pools in the dry bayous. This was one of the most
striking pictures of wild American scenery I had
yet seen; there was nothing to break the com-
prehensive and uniform character of this woody
desert, save an immense conflagration that wasCHAP. XXV.]

WILD SCENERY.

31

raging in the distance, right in the line of our
march, covering an immense area of country, and
from which rose a tremendous dense column of
smoke. This desert, and the general aspect of the
land ridges, seemed to portend some change in the
geological character of the country.

Into this plain we descended, bent upon getting
through it as quickly as we could, for we knew
the danger of being enveloped in a conflagration
raging in a thick jungle where every thing was
dry, and the smoke of which sometimes destroys
even animals before they can save themselves. It
was painfully hot; we suffered exceedingly from
the want of water, and our horse was in such dis-
tress, that, seeing a little pool in a low bayou of
difficult access, we took him out of the shafts, and
cutting a passage, got him down with some diffi-
culty, where he drank, but not eagerly. Despairing
of finding any thing better, we determined to try
a little of it with some brandy, but the remains of
dead lizards, and other disgusting animals, in the
putrid mass, made it impossible, and we therefore
for the first time took each of us a mouthful of
brandy alone, which refreshed us very much. We
passed through a great number of laurel thickets
in this desert, the abode no doubt of many a stout
panther; but it being in the heat of the day, we
saw none. To emerge from this place we had to
ascend another of those sharp ridges, but were
amply repaid by the delicious pure air we found at38

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

[chap. xxv.

the top. The rocks were now becoming highly
inclined, the sandstone was intermixed with narrow
seams of quartz, and the quartz was not compact,
but consisted of bundles of imperfect crystals,
closely wedged in upon each other. After a most
fatiguing drive of seven hours, we reached a place
at night called Great Houses, completely knocked
up; here we got something to eat, but the wolves
came round the house in such numbers, and howled
in such an amusing manner, that we again turned
out in the hope we should get a shot at them, in
which we did not succeed. The road from Mem-
phis to the Indian Reservations, on the branches of
the Arkansas, comes in here.

Early in the morning we started again, having
eight miles before us to Finlay's. In this short
distance we crossed four severe ridges running east
and west; and here I found that the opinion I had
formed on seeing the contour of these hills at a
distance was correct, that we had got off the lime-
stone, and were upon a quartzose sandstone, super-
incumbent on slate, which appeared from many
circumstances to be the equivalent of old red sand-
stone. This is a poor country, badly watered, and
every body in it sick and miserable. At Finlay's,
where we got some breakfast, all were ill; they
had expended every thing they had in the world
to enable them to reach this barren region, and
were now pining to get out of it, without possessing
the means or the health to do so. The barrensCHAP. XXV.]

THE ARKANSAS.

39

that lie betwixt these ridges are settled by the
poorest classes of Tennessee emigrants; the trees
are stunted oaks, there is very little running water,
and consequently game, which is a great help to
the settler at first, is scarce. The next eight miles,
to Kellog's, differed little from the last; we had to
cross three ridges of ferruginous sandstone, with
seams of quartz growing into broad veins : the last
was a very tough pull for us. During the next
eight miles we found the country in a shattered
state; the tops of the ridges, as well as their flanks,
were covered with blocks and fragments of the
sandstone, which indeed were strewed along the
whole line of the road. The strata dipped to
the south-east, at an inclination of 45°, and quart-
zose ferruginous veins ran in the beds in a north-
east and south-west course.

Evening was drawing nigh, when we came to a
rich black alluvial bottom, upon which, the weather
having been dry for some time, we found a good
road. I was well aware what this bottom indi-
cated, and a little after sunset we came upon the
bank of the far-famed Arkansa. The river was a
delightful object to us; at length we saw the
waters gliding along, that rise amidst the glens
and valleys of the Rocky Mountains, and, to our
great satisfaction, also beheld the town of Little
Rock on the opposite side of the river, in which
we hoped to find some repose and amusement for
a few days, before advancing to the Mexican fron-40

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

[chap. xxv.

tier. The river was unusually low, and we had to
get down a very precipitous track to reach the
team-boat * that was to ferry us across. On board
of this we led our horse, and soon reached the
opposite bank, where the ascent was so very abrupt
that it was with the greatest difficulty we got Mis-
souri to the top.

We now drove to a tavern kept by Major Peay,
but the Major could not take us in, and from
thence we went to another kept by a person called
Colonel Leech: the Colonel made up his mind to
take us in, but stated that he could " not by no
manner of means " give us a bedroom to ourselves.
He could give us two beds in a room where two
other gentlemen slept, and that was all he could
do. Here then we determined to stay for at least
one night; and having taken a cup of tea with
—O prodigia luxuries rerum !—some heavy dough
cakes of wheaten flour, and looked in person after
the supper and lodgings of Missouri, we retired to
the room which we could not exactly call ours.
It was only half plastered, the door would not
shut, and the beds were dirty-looking enough ; so
we endeavoured to act upon our friend Nidelet's
rule, that " tout est bon quand il n'y a pas de
choix." Besides, we had every reason to be grate-
ful, and to be more than contented; we had already
accomplished a journey of at least 1800 miles in

* The paddles of these ferry-boats are put in motion by-
horses.•chap, xxv.] GAMBLERS AT LITTLE ROCK.

41

safety, and were in fine health and spirits to carry
us through what remained. Independent of this,
we had scarcely been housed before a cold steady
rain came on, and increased to a storm, a circum-
stance that would have embarrassed us very much,
and would have made it difficult for me to give
proper attention to a troublesome sore throat 1 had
taken in picking up unios, wading the streams,
and sleeping in wet clothes. About three a.m.
the two gentlemen who shared our apartment with
us came to bed. Supposing us to be asleep, they
continued talking in rather an under tone for half
an hour, but I had been awoke by their entrance,
and soon found that they had been gambling with
a party; and indeed it was evident from what they
said, that they were professional gamblers on a
visit to this place from New Orleans.42

travels in america.	[chap. xxvi.

CHAPTER XXVI.

State of Society at Little Rock—Don Jonathan—The Reverend
Mr. Stevenson—Newspapers versus the Bible—Governor Pope
and his Lady—The Laws of Honour at Little Rock—A Duel
in the Dark—A Bully killed—A College of Faro and Rouge
etNoir—Arkansas Legislators—The Speaker murders a Mem-
ber in the body of the House—His Trial.

I was so fortunate as to obtain my letters from the
post-office before breakfast, and as they all contained
agreeable information my satisfaction was complete,
and I went to the breakfast-table in high spirits.
This territory* of Arkansas was on the confines of
the United States and of Mexico, and, as I had
long known, was the occasional residence of many
timid and nervous persons, against whom the laws
of these respective countries had a grudge. Gentle-
men, who had taken the liberty to imitate the sig-
natures of other persons ; bankrupts, who were not
disposed to be plundered by their creditors; homi-

* A territory, in the United States, is an extensive district of
country, the population of which is not numerous enough to
justify its admission into the Union by Congress as a Sovereign
State. Until its admission, therefore, it remains under the pro-
tection and jurisdiction of the Federal Government, in a quasi
colonial state, the governor and judicial officers being appointed
by the President of the United States.CHAP. XXVI.]

SOCIETY AT LITTLE ROCK.

43

cides, horsestealers, and gamblers, all admired
Arkansas on account of the very gentle and tolerant
state of public opinion which prevailed there in
regard to such fundamental points as religion,
morals, and property. Here, flying from a stormy
world of chicane and trouble, they found repose
from the terrors it inspired, and looked back upon
it somewhat as Dante's storm-tossed mariner did
upon the devouring ocean :—

" E come quei, che con lena affannata,

Uscito fuor del pelago alia riva
Si volge a 1' acqua perigliosa, e guata."*

Inferno, Canto Primo.

Such a community I was anxious to see, as well as
to observe the form society had taken in it; more
especially as a very curious movement was now
going on from this very territory in relation to the
adjoining province of Texas in Mexico, which,
being somewhat in want of an enlightened govern-
ment, seemed preparing to receive one from those
persecuted individuals who had shown so much
aversion to become the victims of civilised society.

On entering the breakfast-room I found a very
motley set at table, and took my seat opposite to a
dignified looking person with a well-grown set of
mustachios, a round-about jacket, with other vest-
ments made in the Spanish fashion, and a profusion

* "With short and gasping breath the anxious wretch,
'Scap'd the devouring waves and gain'd the shore,

Turns to regard the turbulent abyss."44	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxvi.

of showy rings on his fingers. The gravity of his
deportment was quite Spanish, and being informed
that he was from New Spain, I promised myself a
good deal of pleasure in conversing with him in
his native tongue about his own country: but after
bolting what was before him with an enviable
rapidity—a talent I had never before observed in a
Spaniard—he left the room ere I had an opportu-
nity of speaking to him. During the day, however,
as I was strolling round the place, how great was
my surprise at seeing Don Bigotes seated on a shop-
board close to a window, and sewing away cross-
legged in the most approved sartorial fashion !
This led me to make some inquiries about him, and
then I learnt that he had arrived in Little Rock not
long before from Santa Fe in Mexico, on a fine barb
horse with a showy Spanish saddle and housings;
and finding that wages were very high in Little
Rock, he had declared himself to be a tailor by
trade, and had engaged for a month as a journey-
man. This certainly was an odd character to begin
with in Arkansas, but my amusement was infinitely
increased afterwards when my son informed me
that having had occasion to want the assistance of an
artist in that line, he had been to the shop where the
Don worked, had had some conversation with him,
and that notwithstanding his gravity, his mustachios,
and his rings, he was neither more nor less than a
Connecticut Yankee of the name of Patterson, who
having occasion to leave the land of steady habits,chap, xxvi.] SOCIETY AT LITTLE ROCK.	45

had straggled to New Mexico, where he had prac-
tised his art successfully, and having made a little
speculation in his barb—upon which he set an im-
mense price—had got so far on his way back again
to his native country. Such is the plastic nature of
Jonathan, his indomitable affection for the almighty
dollar, and his enterprise in the pursuit of it, that
it is far from being impossible that there are lots of
his brethren at this time in the interior of China,
with their heads shaved and long pig-tails behind
them, peddling cuckoo clocks and selling wooden
nutmegs.

Before I left the room one of the gentlemen who
had slept in our apartment came in, looking rather
frouzily ; there was a great attempt at finery about
his clothes, and a tremendous red beard under his
chin: it was impossible not to admire him, and
equally so not to see that in his haste to come down
before everything was devoured, he had forgotten
to wash himself and brush his hair. The voice of
this worthy was precisely like that of Colonel Smith
of the British army, whose adventures have been
narrated; and the exquisite manner in which he
drawled out his ungrammatical absurdities left no
room for conjecture as to his real character. When
I asked the landlord who he was, he told me he was
" a sportsman," a designation by which all the
bloods who live by faro and rouge et noir are
known in Arkansas.

I was obliged to remain two days in this house,46

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxvi.

all the others being full of adventurers, who were
constantly pouring into the place. Decent people
I was told got into private families, but although
we applied in several places we could find nobody
disposed to receive us: our landlord, Colonel Leech,
who perceived that we were only travelling for in-
formation, was very kind and obliging, but he could
not let us have a private room, and we were there-
fore very uncomfortable, walking about the town
and passing I dare say in the eyes of every body
for adventurers. At length we heard of a clergy-
man who lived on the skirts of the town, and some-
times " took in boarders," so we immediately hied
to the Rev. Mr. Stevenson's. It was a nice-looking
cottage enough, separated from the road by a pal-
ing, inside of which was standing a somewhat dried-
up looking individual, in a seedy-looking, light-
coloured jacket, an old hat with a broken rim on
his head, only one eye in that, and a rifle in his
hand. " Pray, Sir," said I, touching my hat, "can
you inform me if this is the Reverend Mr. Steven-
son's?" Upon which he immediately said "I expect
I am the Reverend Mr. Stevenson!" That being
his opinion, it would not have forwarded my pur-
pose at all to have commenced a dispute with him
about it, so we immediately entered upon business.
I told him who I was, what my pursuits were, that
we had got mixed up with very bad society, and
that I should be very happy to pay any thing for a
private room and board in his family. Mr. Steven-chap, xxvi.] THE REV. ME. STEVENSON.	47

son turned out to be a much better man than his
externals indicated : he entered into my situation,
presented us to Mrs. Stevenson—who had two re-
markably good eyes in her head—and who not only
assigned us a roomy bed-chamber, which we lost
no time in taking possession of, but during the
whole time we staid in her house was uniformly
obliging to us. Mr. Stevenson had been one of the
earliest settlers in Arkansas, had travelled in every
part of it, and had occasionally officiated in the re-
mote parts as a missionary : as he cultivated a piece
of land somewhere near the town, whenever he
visited it he was in the habit of taking his rifle with
him, and this accounted for my having seen him
armed.

At the supper-table we first met the rest of his
family, which consisted of several small children,
three other boarders, two of whom were tradesmen
of the place, and a very intelligent person from
Switzerland of the name of T-. This gen-
tleman's conversation interested me very much,
and when I had become sufficiently acquainted
with him to learn his history and adventures, I
could not help taking great interest in his welfare.
He was of a good family in Switzerland, had been
well educated, and had been officially employed in
one of the bureaux of the national government.
In the revolution that overthrew the aristocratic
families, he and others determined to abandon their
country and found a colony in America. Forming48

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxvi.

their plans upon little other evidence than what a
map furnished them, they came to the conclusion that
the most desirable situations were to be found betwixt
the 34th and 35th degrees of North latitude, and

Mr. T--— and a colleague were sent to explore

and report. They had arrived at New Orleans and
proceeded from thence immediately into the interior
of Arkansas, where they had resided for several
months; here their funds became exhausted, and
receiving no remittances nor communications of any
sort from their friends at home, they fell into a per-
fect state of destitution, and led a most miserable
life for a long time in the woods. At length they
separated, each to provide for himself, and Mr.

T--arriving pennyless at Little Rock, had

succeeded in getting some sort of employment in
the Land Office, where his talent as a draughtsman
made him very useful. When I met him he was
half broken-hearted, longing to return to his native
country, but with no prospect before him of ever
getting out of Little Rock, where the emoluments of
his daily labour barely sufficed to keep him alive.

Having thus cast anchor for a few days in a quiet
and safe harbour, I began to look about me and
collect information. The town of Little Rock re-
ceives its name from being built upon the first rock,
—a slate which underlies the sandstone and dips
S.E. at a great inclination—which juts out into the
Arkansa, in coming up the river from its mouth in
the Mississippi; it is tolerably well laid out, has achap, xxvi.]	TOWN OF LITTLE ROCK.	49

few brick houses, and a greater number of indiffer-
ently built wooden ones, generally in straggling
situations, which admit of their having a piece of
ground attached to them. The population was at
this time betwixt 500 and 600 inhabitants, a great
proportion of them mechanics; lawyers and doctors
without number, and abundance of tradesmen going
by the name of merchants. Americans of a certain
class, to whatever distant point they go, carry the
passion for newspaper reading with them, as if it
were the grand end of education. A town in England
with a population of 8000 souls will have a few
of the lower classes who do not know how to read
at all, but those who are not of the educated classes,
and who do read, generally apply that noble art,
when proper occasions present themselves, to reading
the Bible and religious and moral books.

Newspapers are too expensive for the poorer
classes in England, and therefore the minds of by
far the greater part of them are not distracted,
enfeebled, and corrupted by cheap newspapers; and
although the exceptions are painfully obvious, still
it is true that there is not a passion in England for
reading low newspapers as there is in America.
Now the only newspapers that deserve to be read in
England pay a great tax to the government, and are
only within the reach of the opulent classes, those who
are at ease in their circumstances, and men of busi-
ness ; but these being conducted by men of approved

VOL. II.	E50

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

[chap. xxyi.

talents and fair character, reflect to the public all the
intelligence that the inquiring spirit of a great
nation requires, and assist to keep down corruption
rather than to cherish it.* How could a town 8000
inhabitants in England support a newspaper printed
in the place ? Where would its useful or instructive
matter come from 1 Why, from those quarters
which have already supplied it to those alone who
want it. If such a town had a newspaper it could
not be supported, and therefore it remains without
one. But in Little Rock, with a population of 600
people, there are no less than three cheap news-
papers, which are not read but devoured by every-
body ; for what pleasure can be equal to that which,
—through the blessings of universal suffrage,—those
free and enlightened citizens called the " sovereign
people" are made partakers of once a day, or at least
three times a week, on finding that the political
party which has omitted to purchase their support
is composed of scoundrels and liars, and men who
"want to get into power for no other purpose but to
ruin their country ? It seems impossible that there
should be any time or inclination for Bible Teading
where this kind of cheap poison gets into the minds
of human beings ; you might as well expect to find
a confirmed Chinese opium smoker engaged in the
solution of the problems of Euclid. In this part of

* "The " National Intelligencer " of the City of Washington
well deserves the high character it has every where acquired.CHAP. XXVI.]

governor pope.

51

the country it has struck me as the worst of all
signs, that I have never seen a Bible in the hands
of any individual, even on a Sunday.

I have not, however, been in every body's house,
nor would I infer that every individual in Little
Rock is to be included in this irreligious category.
What I have said I would apply exclusively to what
are called the " sovereign people," that mass which
it is the business and interest of political demagogues
to mislead and debase, for the purpose of directing
it—as they have too successfully done in many
parts of the United States—against the virtuous and
praiseworthy efforts of good men and their families
in every part of this extensive government; men
who struggle to bring their country back to the
honourable principles that illustrated the period of
George Washington, but whose long struggle will
be made in vain until the evil consequences of uni-
versal suffrage present themselves in such an appal-
ling form, that the people, rendered wise by great
suffering and experience, will consent to surrender
to the guidance of men of character and property
that governing power which is now both cause and
effect of their blind passions.

It was my good fortune to become acquainted
with a few respectable and agreeable individuals
here. Governor Pope, the governor of the terri-
tory, is an unaffected, worthy person: he was
once a conspicuous politician in Kentucky, and by
some accident has lost one of his arms. This

e 252	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxvi.

gentleman has been of great service here in various
ways, especially in the judicious use he has made of
the funds entrusted to him by the general govern-
ment for the erection of a legislative hall, which is a
very handsome building, placed in an advantageous
situation, on the brink of the river, and one of the
neatest public buildings I have seen in North Ame-
rica. The Governor showed it to me with great
exultation, and I complimented him sincerely on
the taste he had shown.

He lives amongst the inhabitants in an unpre-
tending and plain manner, encouraging them to
use no ceremony in talking to him, and appearing
to me to carry his affability and familiarity with
them quite as far as it was expedient to do. Cere-
mony and circumlocution seem to have found no
resting-place amongst the inhabitants of Little
Rock; if they have anything to say to you, they
come to the point (pynt as they pronounce it) at
once, and are not very shy of their expletives. Soon
after my arrival I went to call upon his Excellency
the Governor, and being told that he lived in a
small house in a particular quarter of the town, I
went in that direction, and seeing a house which
I supposed might be the one I was in search of, I
knocked at the door, upon which an odd-looking
man enough came to me. Not knowing, after my
experience of the Reverend Mr. Stevenson, what
might be trumps here, I touched my hat and said,
" Will you be so obliging as tell me whether thechap, xxvi.] GOVERNOR POPE'S LADY.

53

Governor is in the house ?" I fancy this fellow had
never lived in Belgrave-square, for his answer was,

" No, I'm - if he is." He told me, however,

very obligingly, where the house was, and at last I
found it, and knocking with my knuckles against
the door, a dame came, who, as I found after-
wards, was the Governor's lady. She was a strange*
looking person for one of her rank, and I had been
so tickled with the last answer I got, that I could
not help cherishing the hope that she, too, would
say something very extraordinary. With the most
winning politeness, therefore, I inquired, " If his
Excellency the Governor was at home?" Upon
which, without mincing the matter, she very frankly
told me that " he was gone to the woods to hunt for
a sow and pigs belonging to her that were missing."
Now this might very reasonably happen to a terri-
torial governor in such a practical way of life as
he was, and still be, as it really was, creditable to
him. Sows and pigs will stroll into the woods,
and the wolves will pick them up if they meet with
them. Mrs. Pope had sent one of her " negurs "
to the woods upon a previous occasion, and the
fellow had neglected his duty and gone somewhere
else; this time, therefore, she sent the Governor,
who, being a man of sense, and knowing how little
dependence was to be placed upon his " negur,"
and perhaps wanting a walk, had undertaken the
task of driving piggies home.

Besides the Governor there were other agreeable54

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxvi.

persons with whom I became acquainted ; a Colonel
a clever good-tempered lawyer. Mr. Wood-
ruff, the editor of the principal Gazette of the place,
and postmaster, was always obliging, and is one of
the most indefatigably industrious men of the terri-
tory. At his store we used to call to hear the news
of the day, which were various and exciting enough;
for, with some honourable exceptions, perhaps there
never was such another population assembled—
broken tradesmen, refugees from justice, travelling
gamblers, and some young bucks and bloods, who,
never having had the advantage of good examples
for imitation, had set up a standard of manners con-
sisting of everything that was extravagantly and
outrageously bad. Quarrelling seemed to be their
principal occupation, and these puppies, without
family, education, or refinement of any kind, were
continually resorting to what they called the " Laws
of Honour," a part of the code of which, in Little
Rock, is to administer justice with your own hand
the first convenient opportunity. A common prac-
tice with these fellows was to fire at each other with
a rifle across the street, and then dodge behind a
door: every day groups were to be seen gathered
round these wordy bullies, who were holding knives
in their hands, and daring each other to strike, but
cherishing the secret hope that the spectators would
interfere. At one time they were so numerous and
overbearing that they would probably have over-
powered the town, but for the catastrophe whichchap, xxvi.]	ARMED POPULATION.

55

befel one of their leaders, and checked the rest for
awhile.

Mr. Woodruff, like most of the postmasters, kept
a store, and thither these desperadoes used to resoTt;
but it became so great a nuisance at last as to be
intolerable, and being a firm man he determined to
put a stop to it. The young fellow in question dared
him to interfere, threatened him more than once, and
coming to the store one evening provoked the post-
master so much by his insolent violence, that a
scuffle ensued, in which the bully got a mortal
wound. Mr. Woodruff described the scene to me,
and showed me the place where he fell, but said
that he had got his death by the awkward use of
his own weapon. The public opinion sided with
the postmaster, who was very popular at the period
of our visit.

One of the most respectable inhabitants told me,
that he did not suppose there were twelve inhabi-
tants of the place who ever went into the streets
without—from some motive or other—being armed
with pistols or large hunting-knives about a foot
long and an inch and a half broad, originally in-
tended to skin and cut up animals, but which are
now made and ornamented with great care, and
kept exceedingly sharp, for the purpose of slashing
and sticking human beings. These formidable in-
struments, with their sheaths mounted in silver, are
the pride of an Arkansas blood, and got their name56

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxvi.

of Bowie knives,* from a conspicuous person of this
fiery climate.

A large brick building was pointed out to me that
had been erected for stores and warehouses, but the

* Some of these bloods are fellows of great animal courage,
if we may judge from the following account of an affair of
honour which took place on this frontier, and which is taken
from a published account.

A specimen of the very first water came on horseback to a
tavern, and entered a room where some other persons were
assembled. Throwing his cloak on one side, the usual pistols
and Bowie knife appeared; and as nobody seemed particularly
overjoyed to see him, he soon broke silence by looking at them
scornfully and saying, " I don't know whether you are the very
beginning of men or not, but I've got 3000 acres of prime
land, two sugar plantations, 150 negurs, and I reckon I can
chaw up the best man in this room ! "

No one venturing to dispute any part of this statement, he
proceeded to open his mind a little further.

" I've killed eleven Indians, three white men, and seven
painters; and it's my candid opinion you are all a set of
cowards!"

Having thus unbosomed himself, he observed that one of the
company kept a steady eye upon him, and walking up to him
jostled him. This, as he found out afterwards, was carrying it a
leetle too far, for the person he was evidently seeking a quarrel
with was a doctor, who had gone through a variety of adven-
tures, and had been on the " pynt of bursting his byler" ever
since this worthy " began to carry on." The doctor immediately
rolled him off, when out came the Bowie knife, which, but for the
timely interference of the rest of the company, would have been
lodged in the doctor's heart. Now came mutual defiance, and
an instantaneous agreement to " fight it out." The terms pro-
posed by the intruding swaggerer were rather novel, even for
courts of honour in that country; but the doctor was not a
flinching man, his steam was up, and he told his second to agreeCHAP. XXVI.]

A DUEL IN THE DARK.

57

owner thinking he could do better by applying it
to the uses of a more steady line of business, rented
the large store on the ground floor as a drinking
shop, commonly called here " groggeryhere it

to anything that was fair for both. There was a room in the
house totally dark, into which not a cranny of light came, and
this was fixed upon for the scene of the mortal combat. The
parties were now each stripped to the skin, except their trowsers,
their arms and shoulders well greased with lard, and a brace
of loaded pistols and a Bowie knife given to each. Thus were
they put into the dark room, with the understanding that the
butchery was not to begin before a signal was made by the
seconds outside. For near a quarter of an hour after the signal
had been given, the seconds heard no noise whatever, and were
disposed to think the affair would end as it began, in words,
when suddenly a pistol went off, and then another. The sur-
vivor of this strange duel afterwards stated, that scarce a tread
or a breath could be heard in the room after they had cocked
their pistols: he saw, or thought he saw, for an instant, the cat-
eyes of his antagonist glistening, but they changed their place
so quickly that he was uncertain, and did not venture to fire.
At length, however, he fired, and received a shot instantly in
return, the ball of which lodged in his shoulder. Being in
great pain, and fearing he should faint, he fired a second pistol,
when instantly he received a second ball in the fleshy part of his
thigh. He soon became very faint from loss of blood, and after
trying in vain to support himself against the wall, fell on the
floor. Silently and slowly the other now approached his in-
tended victim, with the knife in his hand ready to dispatch him.
The prostrate man, perceiving the wary character of his ad-
versary, and aware of his extreme danger, had summoned all his
presence of mind; grasping his knife firmly, and raising himself
cautiously up a little, he listened, but could hear nothing ap-
proach. Moving his upraised arm around, he endeavoured to
pierce with his eyes into the darkness that enveloped him, when
suddenly he saw the same grey eyes glistening in front of him,
and striking with all his might he plunged his knife through his53	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[cHAr. xxvi.

was the custom of the bloods to convene and discuss
the last quarrel, and to tell how such a one " drew
his pistol," and then how such a one " whipped out
his knifeadjourning when they had drunk to
the warehouse up stairs, which they called " the
college," and which was converted into a gam-
bling-room for faro and rouge et noir. I had a
description given me of some of the scenes that
took place here by persons who were present, which
would appear incredible to even any gamblers who
were not familiar with this den of infamy. To
this place it was the practice to inveigle all the
young men they could, who had any property
or any credit, make them mad with drink (the
youth of these climes become frantic, not stupid,
with the fiery potations they use), and then ruin
them with the most atrocious foul play. Out of
this class they recruit their infamous gang, and
teach them how to decoy and ruin others. When
they have nobody to fleece, they play amongst
themselves—having no idea of any other mode of
occupying the time. Many stories were related to
me of a trader at the mouth of White River,
named Montgomery, a finished sportsman in every
sense, passionately fond of gambling, excessively
addicted to whiskey, and who always used to sit

incautious assailant's heart, who fell to the ground. The suc-
cessful duellist now called out to the seconds to open the door,
and entering they found the doctor weltering in his blood, but
still holding his knife up to the hilt in the dead man's body.chap, XXYI.] CONSEQUENCES OF GAMBLING.

59

down to the faro table with his Bowie knife un-
sheathed by his side, to insure fair play. This man,
with some others, succeeded in effecting the ruin
of a promising young officer in the United States

service, a Lieutenant -•, who was an acting

quarter-master. He had had the weakness to per-
mit himself to become acquainted with some of
these wretches, and although he was a married
man, and had his wife with him, became at length
their familiar companion. Having government
drafts in his possession, they contrived to defraud
him, when drunk, of them, to the amount of ten
thousand dollars. Such was the infatuation of this
young man, that finding he was ruined for ever in
his profession, he went off with Montgomery and a
party of the sharpers to New Orleans, to get the drafts
cashed that he had parted with, together with others
that he had still left. But it so happened that an
active officer, who was acting in the commissariat
service, heard of this movement, and pushing across
the country, reached the banks of the Mississippi,
far to the south of the Arkansa and White River,
where the gamblers were to embark. He had scarce
been there an hour when a steamer heaving in sight
he went on board, and to his great surprise found
his brother officer and the whole gang of villains
on the deck. They were thus frustrated in their
nefarious plans, for, on their arrival at New Orleans,
he immediately stopped the payment of the drafts,
and the party returned to White River, where the60

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxvi.

unhappy victim of these scoundrels afterwards died
of delirium tremens.

So general is the propensity to gambling in this
territory, that a very respectable person assured me
he had seen the judges of their highest court playing
publicly at faro, at some races. The senators and
members of the territorial legislature do the same
thing; in fact, the greater part of these men get
elected to the legislature, not to assist in transacting
public business, but to get the wages they are enti-
tled to per diem, and to gratify their passion for
gambling. A traveller, whom I met with at Little
Rock, told me that he was lodging at an indifferent
tavern there, and had been put into a room with
four beds in it. There he had slept quietly alone
two nights, when, on the third, the day before the
legislaetur convened, the house became suddenly
filled with senators and members, several of whom,
having come up into his room with their saddle-
bags, got out a table, ordered some whiskey, and
produced cards they had brought with them. The
most amusing part of the incident was, that they
asked him to lend them five dollars until they could
get some of their legislative " wages." Not liking
this proposition very much, he told them that he
was as hard up as themselves. They therefore pro-
ceeded to play on tick, sat up almost the whole
night smoking, spitting, drinking, swearing and
gambling; and at about five in the morning two of
them threw off their clothes, and came to bed to him.chap, xxvi.] ARKANSAS LEGISLATORS.

61

Note.—This specimen of the legislative qualifications peculiar
to such a state of society may appear strange to some persons.
Those philosophers, however, who see no mockery in giving to
wild colonial communities the forms of government which are
necessary only to old civilized countries, may learn from the
following narrative, which is strictly true, how the dignity of
representative government is exposed to be outraged and de-
graded by the animal man before religion and education have
made him a rational being.

In the month of December, 1837, during the session of the
Legislature of Arkansas at Little Rock, one John Wilson being
Speaker of the House of Representatives, a bill came to the
House from the Senate, called the Wolf Bill* The object of this
bill was to give a bounty for the destruction of wolves; and it
provided that when any citizen went before a justice of the
peace in a particular district with the scalp of a wolf, he was to
receive a certificate of the fact, which was to entitle him to a
pecuniary bounty from the funds of the territory. By many
persons this bill was considered to be a job, it being very well
known, from the experience of previous occasions, that when
wolves became scarce in the district intended to be protected,
parties would go out of the territory, even into Texas, to hunt
for them; and it was not an unusual thing, when wolves were
" uncommon scarce," for patriotic individuals to cut the scalp
of a wolf into a great many valuable slips, and, fastening a slip
to the scalp of a sheep, a little disguised, and holding the slip
between their fingers, to take a solemn oath before the magis-
trate that this was the scalp of a wolf, and that it was killed in
the district designated by law; an oath of convenient latitude,
for the slip held on by was part of the scalp of a wolf, and the
rest had belonged to a sheep killed in the district. If the justice
of the peace was an obliging person, and it was made worth his
while to continue so, the operation was a good one, and such a
bill as the Wolf Bill was sure therefore to have a great many
friends.

Having passed the Senate, the bill was sent to the House,
where a party, from various motives, being formed against it, it
was assailed by all sorts of ridicule. It had so happened that
another job-law had been passed, called the Real Estate Bank.62

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

[chap. xxvi.

This was a sort of bank the capital of which was to consist of
land, and enabled those enterprising persons who had interest
enough to become stockholders, to offer land, as a part of the
capital of the bank, that could not be sold for a penny an acre,
or even sold at all, with as much success as those that held lands
of a good quality, and that were convertible in the market,
always, however, provided the commissioners appointed to scru-
tinise into the title and quality of the real estate were good-
natured, The law, for this reason, became obnoxious to the
suspicion of being a job, concocted for the purpose of enabling
these ingenious individuals to convert their titles for land into
evidences of bank stock; the conversion of which into money,
even at only twenty-five per cent, of its nominal value, was what
is called " a splendid operation." Amongst the amendments
offered to embarrass the passage of the bill was one proposed by
a Major Anthony, that the " signature of the president of the
Real Estate Bank should be attached to the certificate of the
wolf scalp." At this, the Honourable Colonel John Wilson, the
Speaker, took fire; he was the head and life and soul of the
Real Estate Bank, and immediately called out to Anthony to ask
if he meant to be personal, who answered that he did not, and
going on to explain, was ordered to sit down. Anthony refused
to take his seat, saying that he had a right to the floor for the
purpose of explaining. But the Speaker, thrusting his hand into
his bosom, drew forth a huge Bowie knife, and brandishing it
aloft, called out, with a voice almost inarticulate with rage, " Sit
down, or I'll make you." Anthony, continuing to keep the
floor, now beheld the extraordinary spectacle of the officer ap-
pointed to keep order in the House, deliberately descending
from the Speaker's chair, his right hand wielding a glittering
blade, and keeping an eye of fire steadily fixed upon him. As
the Speaker advanced, with determination inflexibly imprinted
on every feature, Anthony put his own chair a little on one side,
stepped back a few paces, and drew his Bowie knife also.
Catching up the chair to serve as a shield to himself, the Speaker
rushed upon Anthony, and a fight now began betwixt them over
the chair, Wilson being stabbed in each arm by his adversary,
who in the scuffle lost his knife. Anthony now hastily snatched
up another chair to defend himself, but the Speaker, perceivingchap. xxvi.J SPEAKER MURDERS A MEMBER.

63

his advantage, pressed upon him, dashed the chair up with his
left hand, and, uncovering Anthony's breast, deliberately mur-
dered him, by thrusting his knife up to the hilt in his heart.
As he withdrew the knife, the unfortunate man, without uttering
a word, fell down dead on the floor, in the presence of his col-
leagues, not one of whom had interfered to stop this atrocious
carnage. The ruffian Wilson, having perpetrated this deed,
looked at his knife, and wiping the blood from it with his thumb
and finger, retired back to the Speaker's desk.

The proceedings subsequent to this murder in a House of Re-
presentatives were of a piece with the foul transaction. The
House adjourned, and three days elapsed before any of the con-
stituted authorities took any notice of it. A relative, however9
of the murderer having asked for a warrant for Wilson's appre-
hension, a legal inquiry was instituted, to which he came, at the
end of some days, with four horses harnessed to a sort of car-
riage, as suitable to the dignity of the Speaker, and accompanied
by numerous friends. All the circumstances of the murder
were distinctly proved, and although the public prosecutor pro-
posed to adduce a particular law showing that it was not a bail-
able offence, the Court refused to hear him, and admitted the
murderer to bail. Agreeably to his recognizance, he appeared
at the session appointed for his trial, when a motion was made
to remove the trial to another county, founded upon the affidavit
of Wilson himself and two of his friends, one of whom swore
that u from the repeated occurrence of similar acts within the
last four or five years in this county the people were disposed to
act rigidly," and that therefore it would be unsafe for Wilson to
be tried there. The Court, upon this, removed the cause to
another county, and ordered the murderer to be delivered to the
sheriff of that county; a mere formality, for no restraint what-
ever was laid upon him, and he went wherever he pleased,
treating people at the dram-shops to whatever they liked, and
entering into all their debaucheries and extravagance.

The time for his trial in Saline County being arrived, he lodged
at the same house, and ate three times a day at the same table,
with the judge appointed to try him; and, as if the law were to
be treated upon this occasion with yet unheard-of indignities,
when the prosecuting counsel, after witnesses had been heard,64

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

[chap. xxyi.

attempted to address the jury, a mob was collected at the door
of the court-house, where a pretended affray was got up, and
such a tumult raised that not a word could be heard. During
the whole of this proceeding the judge never interposed his
authority to preserve order, and, when the jury brought in their
verdict, ordered Wilson instantly to be discharged, who, in the
open court, told the sheriff " to take the jury to a dram-shop,
and that he would pay for all that was drank by them and every-
body else." Upon this a loud cry of exultation was raised, all
ran up and shook hands with the acquitted murderer, and, to
complete their outrageous conduct, many of them, accompanied
by a majority of the jury, when they had finished their orgies,
having collected horns, trumpets, and all sorts of noisy instru-
ments, paraded the streets till daylight, continually assembling
at the lodgings of the relatives of the murdered legislator to
shout and scream and yell, as in triumph over them and over
the law.

This account is taken from a narrative of the affair published
at Little Rock.chap, xxvii.] APOLOGY FOR ARKANSAS MANNERS.

65

CHAPTER XXVII.

Apology for the Manners of Arkansas—Manner of living at
Little Rock—Aversion to shutting the Doors—Tertiary De-
posit—Alluvial Bottoms, and the Species of Plants growing
there—Visit to the Mammelles—German Emigrants—Geo-
logy of the Mammelle Mountain—Enter an immense Swampy
Plain—Danger of travelling without a Guide—Some appre-
hension of being obliged to treat the Wolves—Reach a House.

Disgraceful as these manners and practices must
appear to Europeans, as well as to respectable Ame-
ricans in the older States, it is also true that although
the few individuals in Arkansas, with whom a
stranger is happy to associate, sometimes express
strongly their abhorrence of them, yet these things
at present are so much beyond their control, and
pass so constantly before their eyes, that although
they do not cease to be offensive, yet you perceive
that they lose with them that peculiar character of
enormity in which they appear to men trained in
well-ordered communities. They tell you, and not
without some reason, that the rigorous criticisms
which are fitted to older states of society are not
strictly applicable here ; that this is a frontier terri-
tory which, not long ago, was only inhabited by the
hunter, the man who had no dependence for his

vol. ii.

f66

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

[chap. xxvii.

existence but by killing wild animals; that the class
which succeeded to this was composed of outlaws,
who sought refuge here from the power of the laws
they had offended; that where an absolute majority
in a community consisted of criminals, gamblers,
speculators, and men of broken fortunes, with no
law to restrain them, no obligation to conceal their
vices, no motive to induce them to appear devout or
to act with sobriety, it was not surprising that such
men should indulge openly in their propensities, or
that public opinion—which, in fact, was constituted
by themselves—should be decidedly on their side,
and opposed to every thing that would seek to con-
trol them ; that their consolation, however, was, that
the worst of the black period had passed, that the
territory was now under the government of the
United States, and that a municipal magistracy was
established in the town.

Certainly, it is pleasing to hope that society, even
here, is in a favourable state of transition; yet,
although the benign influence of the general govern-
ment is strikingly manifested, Arkansas will have
longer to struggle with the disadvantages which
attend it than Ohio, Kentucky, and other frontier
States of the Union have had, the settlers of which
came from a respectable parentage, and with in-
dustrious views. These communities were never
corrupted by the manners of the Gulf of Mexico,
and their territories were never the refuge of out-
laws. Amendment, therefore, will develope itselfchap, xxvii.] manner of living at little rock. 67

slowly in Arkansas, and society there will, for a
long time, require a strong arm and a vigilant
eye, like the wayward and spoiled child, who is
compelled to conform to the hard conditions im-
posed upon him, until the natural love of order
and justice is awakened in his heart. As far as
public morals are concerned, things will probably
go on for a long time in their old course. Dema-
gogues are already as busy here as they are in other
parts of the United States: all the offices in the
territory, except the few which are in the gift of the
President of the United States, are elective; and
candidates, if they will not wink at the vicious habits
of the people, have little chance of success. At
present, therefore, a great deal must be tole-
rated by the magistrates, for the truth is, they
are only tolerated themselves upon that condition.
In time, it is to be hoped that the settlement of the
territory will bring accessions of population from a
healthier stock; that examples of religion, probity,
and sobriety of life, will increase in number; that
new generations will respect and copy them ; and
that, in the end, public opinion will effect a rege-
neration of habits.

As to the manner of living here, I must confess,
that although my stomach appeared to be broken
in to any sort of fare before my arrival, yet I had en-
couraged the hope that in the capital of the territory
I should find an agreeable change. What must
forcibly strike a stranger here, is the apparent total

f 268

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxvn.

indifference of everybody to what we call personal
comforts. No one seems to think that there is any
thing better in the world than little square bits of
pork fried in lard, bad coffee, and very indifferent
bread. To this, without almost any variety, they
go regularly three times a day to be fed, just as
horses are fed at livery. Venison, it is true, is abun-
dant, but it is no better than anything else. A man
goes into the woods, kills a deer twenty miles off,
skins it, cuts the haunches, or " hams " as they are
called, off, hangs one on each side of his saddle,
leaves the rest behind him for the turkey-buzzard
(Cathartes Aura, Cuv.), or wolf, and rides into
town. Those who buy the hams know but of one
mode of using them; they cut slices from them,
fry them in lard, and send them to table, hard
and tough, and swimming in grease. I once, and
only once, saw part of a saddle of venison brought
to table; it had been killed that day and was fat, but
the room was cold, the plates were cold, and the meat
was underdone and scarcely warm. Every body
knows that a worse state of things than this for
venison cannot be imagined. My hostess took it
very ill in me that I would not eat of it. She had
" telled the man to bring the saddle in for me, and
he had chopped part of it off with an axe, and
had left the thin part behind: she had put it in the
oven instead of frying it, and I wouldn't eat it so,
not no more than I would when it was fried—if I
didn't beat all!" As to the agremens of the table,CHAP. XXVII.] AVERSION TO SHUTTING DOORS.	69

there seemed to me to be only this difference betwixt
the woods and the town, that when you were eating
in this last you had bread and vegetables, and a roof
over your head. Those at table with me seemed,
however, to enjoy their repast as much as if it had
been prepared by an artist of the first talent. They ate
heartily, and appeared to be cheerful and contented;
so true is it that we are the creatures of education
and habit, and that the slovenliness and dirt, which
are so revolting to those who are not accustomed
to them, are not even seen by others. Another con-
firmed habit of the country is never to shut the
doors: during the long summer they have this
is unnecessary, and they never do anything that
they are not compelled to do; so that when the
winter season comes, the family huddles round the
fire with the door wide open, and generally five or
six panes of glass broken in the window, which no
one thinks of mending any more than of shutting
the door. In the interior, where you stop for the
night, they usually have nothing but shutters to
exclude the air, glazed windows being too expensive
and inconvenient. In stormy weather, therefore,
you are often obliged to eat your meals by the
light of a nasty candle of grease, and to get over
the day, if you are detained, as well as you can by
the light of the fire. But wherever you go, it is
in vain you tell the blacks to shut the doors after
them: they are eternally coming in and going
out, big and little; so that, at length, you give it70	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap, xxvii.

up, and try to get out of the draft of cold air as
much as you can.

The town of Little Rock is surrounded by ex-
tremely poor land, and from a variety of concurring
causes can never be very populous. The river upon
which it is situated is hardly navigable four months
in the year, and the sandbars upon it are annually
becoming more obstructive. As a place of deposit
for the immediate neighbourhood, and in virtue of
its being the seat of government, it may in time
become a respectable small town, have good semi-
naries of education for the youth of the territory,
and afford agreeable society; but in a commercial
point of view it can only have a limited share of
trade. White River will hereafter be made navi-
gable for steamers 200 miles above Big Black
River, and will be the avenue for trade to the
northern districts, whilst Red River will be the
same for the southern. The resources, too, of the
territory itself appear to me, from all I learn, to
have been very much exaggerated. Mountains and
soils of inferior quality form two-thirds of the whole
area, and the rich bottoms which communicate
with the Arkansas, the Mississippi, Big Black, White
River, and other streams, will in most places require
a great capital to be laid out in embankments, or
levees, as they are called, to secure the cotton crops
from inundation. Cotton will always be the staple
production of Arkansas, which is therefore destined
to the curse of being a slave-holding state.chap, xxvn.] TERTIARY DEPOSIT—ALLUVIAL BOTTOMS. 71

The town, as has been before stated, is built
upon a slate traversed by broad bands of quartz,
and no sandstone is superincumbent in the im-
mediate vicinity; but near the ferry I found a
partial bed of tertiary limestone, containing ostrea,
turritella, calyptrea, cerithium, and other marine
shells ; and about three miles from Little Rock the
same deposite reappears in considerable quantities,
and is quarried for the purpose of making lime.
About three miles and a half S.E. from Little Rock
there is an independent ridge of hard siliceous
matter which is ten miles long, and lies on the
south side of the bayou called Fourche, where are
some exceedingly rich alluvial bottoms filled with
trees of great magnitude, and which presented a
very curious appearance.

The periodical inundations of the Arkansas are
sometimes of a terrible character, rising to the
height of thirty and even forty feet. During one
of these, in June, 1833, the backwater of the river
rushed up the bayou, and very soon filled the ex-
tensive alluvial bottom: the river being highly
charged with red argillaceous matter collected in
its course from the Rocky Mountains, left, on its sub-
sidence, all the trees painted with a chocolate-red
colour at a great distance from the ground, so that
the height of the inundation could be accurately
measured. Many trees attain a surprising elevation
and girth in bottoms of this kind in these low lati-
tudes. Amongst them I observed Deciduous Cypress72	TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxvii.

(Cupressa disticha), Cotton-Wood-Poplar (Populus
angulata), Populus monilifera, Hackberry (Celtis
integrifolia), Over-Cup-White-Oak (Quercus ma-
crocarpd), Coffee-Bean Tree (Gymnocladus Cana-
densis), Sweet-Gum Tree (Liquidambar styraci-
flua), One-seeded Locust (Gleditsia monosperma),
Triple-thorned Acacia (Acacia triacanthos), Ogee-
chee Lime (Nyssa pubescens), and many others.
These bottoms are so grown up with vegetable
matter, and are in some parts so difficult to move
through, on account of those vegetable pests the
Saw Briar (Schrankia horridula), Green Briar
(Smila.r), and Supple Jacks (JEnoplia volubilis), all
of which, especially the Saw Briar, catch and tear
your clothes, that an individ .al not familiar with
these endless and gloomy swamps is not much
tempted to wander far into them. Any one who
should lose himself and be exposed to remaining
there all night, would have to climb a tree, for those
places are the favourite resort of numerous troops of
wolves at that period. Nothing can exceed the fer-
tility of these bottoms, but they will not be reclaimed
soon, for the embankments necessary to keep out
the inundations would require to be of the most
formidable and expensive character.

During our stay here we made various excursions
into the neighbourhood. I had heard of the Mam-
melles, and was desirous of seeing them and the
adjacent country, as they were only about twenty
miles off, up the Arkansas River; accordingly, onchap, xxvii.]	GERMAN EMIGRANTS.

73

(he 22nd of November, having procured an addi-
tional horse, we took to the woods again. We kept
the slate for a few miles, and then rose upon ridges
of sandstone of the same mineral character as those
we had travelled upon on the north side of the
valley, on our way to Little Rock, and which I have
supposed to be the equivalent of the old red sand-
stone of Europe. The veins of quartz were here
also of great breadth and still more frequent. We
saw numerous beautiful deer on the way, bounding
and skipping about with great agility, and then
showing us their snow-white tails and haunches;
but as we make war only on fossils, except when
we are obliged to supply ourselves with provisions,
we were content with admiring them. The ridges
here run nearly east and west for about twelve
miles from Little Rock, when the country becomes
more level, with small bottoms of land and narrow
streams running through them. Here we found
some German emigrants temporarily hutted, who
had gone through a variety of adventures since
they left their native faderland: they had been sick
with the malaria and were now recovering, but all
their enthusiasm for liberty and America had eva-
porated ; their resources, too, were nearly exhausted,
and, enfeebled and disheartened, they seemed not to
look forward with pleasure any more, but rather to
revert to what they had left behind. This is too fre-
quently the fate of emigrants who are discontented
with their native country; they render themselves74

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[CHAP, xxvii.

unhappy at home by believing that everything at a
distance from it is paradise; and when, after having
sacrificed all their means and encountered continual
privations and sickness, they have put an impassable
barrier betwixt themselves and the soil they still
love and the friends of their youth, they find they
have accomplished nothing but expatriation, that
they are in a foreign land of which they do not know
the language, where everything appears barbarous
to them, where no one takes the least interest in
them, and that the sunshine they once inconsider-
ately thought belonged to the future, now, when
they have paid the uttermost price for it, only beams
in their sorrowful imaginations upon the past.

These poor people were delighted to converse
with me, and to find that we took an interest in
them. I gave them a little money, of which they
stood in great need to purchase meal, and advised
them not to settle upon the bottom lands where the
malaria would constantly persecute them; but
rather to seek an undulating country where there
was abundance of limestone and deciduous timber,
and where the slopes of the hills would yield them
grain and pasturage, and good springs. Leaving
these worthy people, we now entered upon an ex-
tensive bottom with numerous streams running
through it, one of which, about fifteen miles from
Little Rock, is called Petite Mammelle; and here,
in the immediate vicinity of this stream, is that
magnificent rocky cone called the Mammelle Moun-chap, xxvii.] THE MAMMELLE MOUNTAIN.	75

tain, an outlier of the red sandstone, so often men-
tioned, of a very precipitous kind. Its south-west
aspect is extremely fine, and resembles a pyramid,
the height of which is about 700 feet from its base.

Having ridden our horses through the jrine-trees
which extend two-thirds of the way up the moun-
tain, and which was as far as we thought it expe-
dient to take them, we dismounted and secured
them in order to accomplish the rest of the ascent,
which is naked, steep, and rugged, on foot. On the
S.W. edge of the pyramid, the sandstone beds were
lying at an angle of 70° to 75°, and in some places
they were vertical, being completely set on end.
Many acres of the western face were covered with
huge blocks and fragments of the rock, without a
plant or a blade of grass to relieve the rugged and
desolate aspect it presented. After a fatiguing76	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap, xxvii.

ascent we gained the top, from whence we saw the
river Arkansas at a distance of about two miles, and
all the surrounding country at our feet. The rich
bottoms were plainly indicated by the deciduous trees
with which they were covered, and stood in strong
contrast to the pine timber growing on the ridges.
The horizon was bounded by ridges bearing S.W.
and W. from us, and we saw distinctly several high
cones to the N.W., which I took to be the eleva-
tions called Magazine and Mount Cerne. To the
N. was the interminable wilderness of gray leafless
forests we had so lately passed over, on our journey
to Little Rock. The waving line of the Arkansas,
and the extensive bottoms into which it rushes
when its channel is full, were all before us. I had
no conception before of the great extent of these
bottoms, which can never be made available for
human purposes until they are protected by levies
from the intrusion of the river. The view from this
mountain is extremely characteristic of the wilds of
America, and would make a fine panorama. But
we had scarcely made a sketch of it before it was
time to descend, for evening was approaching, and
we had yet to find our way to a person to whom
we had an introduction, and who had built a saw-
mill somewhere in the vicinity of the river for the
purpose of sawing the logs of the cypress trees.

Regaining our horses we pursued our journey,
and soon entered one of those vast dark bottoms,
filled with thick and lofty trees, all of which, to the
height of about fifteen feet, were painted a choco-CHAP. XXVII. 1

SWAMPY PLAIN.

77

late colour, as accurately as if it had been done by
hand, with the red mud of the Arkansas. In this
immense bed of silt, produced by the ancient over-
flowings of the river—which rose thirty feet in
June, 1833—we came to a serious obstacle in a
broad and deep bayou, called the Grande Mam-
melle. Its banks were exceedingly difficult both
of access and egress, and the mud appeared so deep
that we were not a little embarrassed what to do.
Happily a tree had fallen across, so getting upon it,
and sounding the bayou, we determined to try it.
My son entered the water first, mounted on our
friend Missouri, for we knew he was to be relied
upon at a pinch, and to be sure he swam over gal-
lantly to the other side; but there the bog was so
deep and plastic, that he stuck fast, and could not
extricate himself. My son was therefore obliged to
jump off into the bayou to relieve him of his weight,
and by the aid of some twigs got on the bank.
After a great many violent plunges the horse at
length got out covered from top to bottom with
mud. I now unsaddled my horse, and my son
crossing over to my side on the tree led him by the
bridle; but my horse in his turn got completely
bogged, and wanting the spirit of the other, he
seemed to give it up, and turned his eyes up to us
in such a comical and reproachful way, that we
simultaneously burst out a laughing. After awhile
collecting his energies he made a fortunate plunge,
and got to the bank also.

Having scraped our nags a little, we re-saddled78

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxvn.

and proceeded on amidst those never-ending painted
trees, that were continually reminding us of the
wild power of the Arkansas, to which, as when men
are walking upon the crater of an abated volcano,
we felt as if we were too near. We had no path to
guide us, no marked trees to assure us that we were
in the right track, and we were not much en-
couraged at discovering, as we advanced, an endless
succession of stagnant pools on our left, showing
that we were in the lowest part of the swamp.
Guided alone by the compass, we pursued our way,
hoping that this being the lowest part of the bottom
it might be connected with the stream upon which
the saw-mill was built. We had been told that
this mill was about three or four miles from the
mouth of the Grande Mammelle, but whereabouts
this mouth was it was impossible for us to sur-
mise; a very cold night was coming on, my son
was wet through, if we did not extricate ourselves
from this horrid place before it became dark, it
would be impossible to proceed. I became very
anxious, and regretted a thousand times that I had
not engaged a guide. What made my reflections
still more unpleasant was, that I had seen the ex-
tent of this frightful swamp from the top of the
mountain, and knew that it extended several miles
(I afterwards learnt that it contained from 30,000
to 40,000 acres); it was evident, therefore, that if
we were benighted, we might find it very difficult
to provide for our safety against the countless gangs
of savage wolves that range about by night. Leav-CHAP, xxyii.]	REACH A HOUSE.

79

ing the pools, we now inclined more to the right,
and the forest being somewhat more dry and open,
put on in the direction of the Arkansas, thinking
we should be more safe there than in the swamp.
Steadily following this course for some time, we
came at length upon a cowpath, and felt amazingly
cheered by it. I knew that it was the custom in
these wilds to turn the cows out during the day to
provide for themselves, and to shut the calves up to
entice their mothers back. Now the cow that made
that path must have some place to go to, and some-
thing in the shape of man would probably be there.
On we went, losing and finding the path twenty
times, and at length came to where the ground was
more beaten, and several other paths appeared. A
little embarrassed at this, we, in the end, preferred
the most beaten of them, and put our willing horses
—who seemed as much comforted as ourselves by
these signs-—upon it.

Night had fallen, when suddenly we heard the
comforting sound of the lowing of cattle. Never
did that sweet line—

Tot inter valles mugientium—

please me so much as those rural and friendly
sounds; guided by them we came to a small
house on the river, and were there directed to pro-
ceed half a mile to a settlement where the mill was,
and to the proprietor of which we had an intro-
duction.80

travels in america.

[CHA-P. XXVIII#

CHAPTER XXVIII.

A Concert of Wolves—Ancient bed of the Arkansas—An Ar-
kansas Honeymoon—Method of crossing a Bayou—Depart
from Little Rock for the Hot Springs of the Washita—
Explanation of a 66 Turn-out "—Stop at the best Hotel on the
Road—"Nisby" and her "Missus"—Stump Handle and
Company—A fastidious Judge—Governor Shannon's Hotel—
A Jury de circumstantibus.

The owner of the mill, Mr. Starbuck, was from
home with his wife, but his father-in-law, a Mr.
Elliot from Virginia, and his lady, were there,
and received us in a very friendly manner. Here
we supped and slept, if being awake almost the
whole night can be called sleeping, for which there
were various causes ; Fahrenheit's thermometer fell
before midnight to 24°, a point which is sensibly
felt in this latitude, and our room, although not
out of doors, felt very much like it. Then came
the yelling and howling of the wolves, who made
an incredible noise, especially towards morning,
some barking in one tone, some screaming and
howling in another, as if each one had his tail in
a pair of pincers; an uproar which appears in-
tended as a signal for stragglers to come into the
swamp, where they crouch during the day. Achap, xxviii.] A FOREST OF BARE POLES.

81

third cause of our wakefulness was some strong;

o

green tea that good Mrs. Elliot treated us to; an
excellent beverage, if it is wanted to dragoon
nature into sitting up all night, but which upon
this occasion did not fail to give me abundant
opportunities of thinking about a great many
things, and especially of the very pretty night we
should have had of it, what with the weather and
the wolves, if we had been obliged to stay in the
swamp.

In the morning I was glad to get out of doors at
break of day, in order to gratify myself by looking
round, and to restore the circulation by a good
long walk before breakfast. Mr. Starbuck is a man
of great resolution and enterprise, and has built a
grist and saw mill at the edge of this great swamp;
the pools we had seen formed a chain of small
lakes, which extended several miles, and the timber
on each side of them, and on their edges, being
almost all killed by the water, formed as perfect a
picture of desolation as a forest of innumerable
dead ragged bare poles can do. The cypress
(C. disticha), which is the timber they principally
saw, flourishes greatly in such situations, and at-
tains a prodigious size. As to the lakes, such im-
mense quantities of wild fowl resort there that
some of them were almost covered with wild geese
and ducks, and at certain seasons swans come
there also.

During the day I had an opportunity of more

VOL. II.	G82

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxviii.

minutely examining this curious locality, and saw
very clearly that the long chain of pools and lakes
was upon the line of an ancient channel of the
Arkansas, having traced it through the swamp to
the river again. A small circumstance will lead to
the deflection of one of these mighty streams, when
flowing through an alluvial country. The lodge-
ment of a tree in a low state of the water will,
when the stream becomes still lower, turn it from
its course, and produce also what is called a sand-
bar. The current having a new direction given to
it, wears its way in time through some low and
weak part of the opposite bank, makes a new and
circuitous channel, and forms an island, which in
this part of the country is usually called a " cut
off;" the old bed now becomes converted into a
chain of pools and lakes, and is gradually filled
up again by the silt deposited by the annual in-
undations. I have heard of the channel of the
Mississippi at the south being changed in this
way, a sandbar having first turned the current
through a new and weak part of the bank, and
the whole flood, in a period of inundation, coming
through in such force as to effect, in 24 hours, a
new channel fitted for a steamer to pass through.

In the course of the day a small skiff coming to
the mill from below for some grist, I prevailed upon
the boys who paddled it to put us over to the other
side of the river, where I had heard there were some
settlements. Having landed upon an immensechap, xxviii.] DIFFICULTIES OF FIRST SETTLERS.	83

sandbar,* we pursued it (occasionally diverging
into the interior) for several miles, observing the
workings of this powerful flood, and I became so
interested with what I saw, and received so much
information from this practical lesson, that I de-
termined to follow the river, on my return from
the Mexican frontier, to its junction with the Mis-
sissippi, a distance of about 300 miles.

From the river we went a short distance into the
interior to see a Mr. Piat, an old settler here, who
has raised a large family in Arkansas, most of
whom have established themselves elsewhere. He
seemed to have collected some comforts about him;
but a Mr. Graham, who lives in the neighbour-
hood, has built himself a commodious house, and
has a few small fields adjoining to it, with a patch
of very promising looking wheat. Many persons
in the territory, who have never been accustomed
to plant any thing but Indian corn, imagine that
wheat will not succeed, and upon no better evidence
than that they have never sown any; but the
appearance of Mr. Starbuck's grist mill,, the want
of which had perhaps kept the cultivation of wheat
back, is producing a salutary change.

* These sandbars, when the river is low, may be travelled over
for great distances, and are thus used where there are no roads.
Some conception may be formed of the difficulties which first
settlers have to contend with, by stating that a very respectable
person, who resides about 50 miles west of Little Rock, took
his bride on horseback, to visit some friends up the Arkansas,
for the distance of 200 miles, fording the river from bar to bar,
and sleeping every night upon one of them.

G 284

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [CHAP, xxviii.

We also visited a place we had heard a good
deal of wondrous matter about, called Crystal
Hill. It is distant from Little Rock about 14
miles, and abuts upon the river. It consisted of
red sandstone lying upon slaty shale, dipping to
the south-east. The shale runs about three-fourths
of the distance up the hill, and the sandstone caps
it there at an inclination of about 60°. At the
water's edge the shale contains bands and nodules
of ironstone, and occasionally pyrites or sulphuret
of iron, which many persons, ignorant of minerals,
who have landed here, have supposed connected
with the precious metals, and so have caused the
locality to be talked about. Indeed there is another
place a few miles lower down, called Mine Hill,
where some individuals, upon the strength of simi-
lar appearances, have actually dug for silver.

Night coming on, we engaged two men to row
us back in a skiff to a Mr. Henderson's, where we
had sent our horses in the morning, and here we
were very hospitably entertained. Our host had
formerly been a trader with the Indians, and knew
this part of America well. On the chimney-piece
of the room where we slept, I saw a singular orna-
ment, a compound mirror, composed of near a
hundred small ones, all with separate lackered
frames, and fancifully arranged into one general
frame. He said it was the only remnant of his
old stock in trade, and that he used to exchange
these trifles with the Indians for their peltry.chas. xxviii.] JOURNEY TO WASHITA HOT SPRINGS. 85

After breakfast he was kind enough to accompany
us for a few miles from his house, in order to see
us safe across the Grande Mammelle by another
ford, where there was less mud. On reaching the
ford, I was amused at the nonchalance with which
he commenced his operations; merely crossing his
own stirrups over the saddle, he led his horse to the
stream, and drove him in with a few strokes of the
whip, when the animal, partly swimming, and partly
walking, soon got over. Then taking the saddles from
our horses, and tying the bridles round their necks,
he drove our horses across in the same manner, which
immediately joined his nag that was cropping the
leaves of a cane-brake on the opposite side. With
our saddles on our shoulders, we now crossed the
bayou, over a tree which had been felled for the
purpose, and remounting, soon came on the eastern
and south fronts of the Mammelle Mountain, which
we found was connected with a low peaked chain
that extended to the river, and abutted upon it
opposite to the long sandbar. Having taken a
friendly leave of our guide, and received his direc-
tions for our course, we without difficulty got into
the old road and reached Little Rock again in the
afternoon.

On the 27th of November we again put our
little waggon in motion, and directed our course
towards the hot springs of Washita (pronounced
Washitaw)- For the first eight miles the road was
very bad, full of rocks, stumps, and deep mud86

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap, xxviii.

holes, and wound up one of those sandstone ridges
that are so common in this country. We fre-
quently came upon trees that had fallen across the
road, and had lain there many years, exhibiting an
indifference on the part of the settlers unknown in
the more industrious northern states. When a tree
falls on the narrow forest road, the first traveller
that passes is obliged to make a circuitous track
around it, and the rest follow him for the same
reason. I have observed this peculiarity both in
Missouri and Arkansas. If a tree is blown down
quite near to a settler's house, and obstructs the
road, he never cuts a log out of it to open a pas-
sage ; it is not in his way, and travellers can do as
they please, because nobody would prevent their
cutting it. But travellers feeling no inclination to
do what they think is not their business, never do
it. The settler in these wild countries plants to
live, and not to take to market; if he is on horse-
back he cares little about it, if he is in a light
waggon he can get round the tree in less time
than it would take to stop and " work for others."
Thus the old adage is verified, that " what is every
body's business is nobody's businessbut what
makes this unjustifiable indolence on the part of
the settler—when the obstruction is near his house
—sometimes very absurd, is, that often when a
track is established round the first fallen tree
another obstruction shuts up this track, and so in
a long period of time the established track getsCHAP. XXVIII.]

TURN-OUTS.

87

removed into the woods, far out of sight of the
settler's house. If you ask him why he does not
cut a log out of the first fallen tree, he will pro-
bably say that " it is not his business to wait upon
travellers," and indeed the distances from house to
house are sometimes so very great, that it would
be unreasonable to require of any particular settler
to remove all such obstructions. These circuitous
tracks are known by the name of turn-outs, and if
you are inquiring towards evening how many
miles it is to the next settlement, you perhaps will
be told, " 16 miles and a heap of turn-outs"
We once made a calculation that these turn-outs
had added at least five miles to our journey in
Missouri and Arkansas. Apropos of the pronunci-
ation of this word—which undoubtedly is a Gallo-
American corruption of an Indian name—the uni-
versally adopted one now is Arkunsaw, pronouncing
the first syllable as we do in the word arm, and
the last as we do saw—a carpenter's tool; the
middle syllable is short.

Having reached the top of the sandstone ridge,
we found a tolerably good table-land, watered by
numerous small transparent streams, some of which
run into the Arkansas, others into the Bayou Bar-
tholomew, a tributary of the Saline River, before it
joins the Washita. As we advanced, the vegetation
began to assume more and more a semi-tropical
character; several species of oaks which we had not
seen now appeared, especially the narrow-leavedTRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap, xxviii.

varieties; the willow oak (Quercus phellos) was
very abundant; and we found the first plant we
had seen of the bow wood (Maclura aurantiaca),
but without any fruit on it. In the evening we
came to a sort of tavern, 27 miles from Little Rock,
built on a rich bottom of land, at the north fork
of the Saline, a violent stream in the season of
freshets or floods, which then overflows its banks
20 feet. This place was kept by a sort of she
Caliban, and the tenement consisted of one room
with a mud floor, in the various corners of which
were four cranky bedsteads, upon which were
huddled what she chose to call bed clothes. But
what bed clothes ! Then there was a door that
would not shut, a window frame with every pane
broken, and some benches to sit on before a broken
table, to form the sum total of the furniture and
appliances of this hotel. She told us we might
choose our own bed, and after we had put our
horse up, she would give us some supper. As it
had already begun to rain, we were glad to be
housed for the night, and having put Missouri into
a hovel, consisting of open logs, with some boards
to cover him, and left him with plenty of Indian
corn leaves and some grain, we adjourned to the
fire-side. The rain now began to pour down in
torrents, and before our supper was ready four
more travellers joined us, ostensibly on their way
to a government sale of land at a distant county.
I was glad of this, because one of them was ColonelCHAP. XXVIII.]

NISBY.

89

A*****, of Little Rock, a very intelligent and
agreeable person, with whom I was acquainted.

This accession to her company put our hostess
into a great bustle ; she had to prepare supper for
six persons, several of whom were lawyers, and of
course the great men of Little Rock, and she set
about it accordingly. We now discovered that she
possessed resources we had not suspected the ex-
istence of; a kitchen—that corresponded with every
thing else—was attached to the hotel, and com-
municated with it by a small door, and in that
kitchen was her aide de cuisine and factotum, a
stunted, big-headed negro girl, that from her size
did not appear to be more than twelve, yet was
not destined to see her twentieth year again. The
grotesque rags this creature was dressed in, and the
broken-brimmed man's hat that was cocked on
one side of her head, gave such an effect to the
general attractions of Nisby—for that was her
name—that she put us all into the very best pos-
sible humour, and we could not but break out into
a chuckle of delight whenever she came into the
room. When we became better acquainted, we
found that Nisby was an abbreviation of Sophy-
nisby, as our hostess pronounced it, which put me
in mind of Thomson's line—

" Oh Sophonisba, Sophonisba, Oh!"

I know not when I have uttered so many
laughing Ohs! as during the early part of this
evening. The appearance of the girl indicated ex-90

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chat, xxviii.

treme stolidity, yet she did not want for spirit and
activity. Her " Missus," who seemed to have a
lurking idea that things might possibly be carried
on a " leetel" better than they were at her hotel,
always endeavoured to supply deficiencies by a
voluble and magniloquent description of the things
she " hadn't jist got at that timeand whenever she
was at a pinch, would draw upon Nisby to confirm
her assertions: this the girl was pretty well broken
into, but when the " Missus," in the warmth of her
generous intentions in our favour, would sometimes
call upon Nisby to execute instanter manifest im-
possibilities, then poor Nisby would be " non-
plushed," and, if hard pressed, would betray some-
thing that looked like impatience. We had an
amusing instance of this whilst the supper was
preparing. Upon the broken table around which
we were to sit, Nisby had placed certain plates and
coffee cups and saucers, most of which had gone
through a great many hardships; and having used
her talent for display to the best advantage, went
to the kitchen, where her Missus was occupied
baking some heavy dough cakes, and frying a
quantity of little bits of fat pork. By and by in
came Missus to take a survey before the first entree
came in, and affecting a most distressing surprise,
commenced the following dialogue with her aide
de cuisine at the top of their voices:

" Why, how this gal has laid the table! Nisby ?"

" What's awanting, Missus ?"chap, xvvin.]	NAMES OF FORKS.

91

"You ha-ant laid the table no hayw, you kreetur,
you!"

" I reckon I couldn't do it no better."

" Why, whar on arth is all the forks ?"

" Why, the forks is on the table thar."

" If you don't beat all—I mean the new forks."

" I niver seen no new forks, you know that,
Missus."

" Whar has the kreetur put the forks, I say ?"

No answer.

" Wahl! if you don't find the forks, I allow I '11
give it to you !"

Enter Nisby, agitata.

(Sotto voce e staccato.) " I ha-ant put no forks
nowhar. I niver seen no forks but them ar what's
on the table; thar's five on 'em, and thar's not no
more; thar's Stump Handle, Crooky Prongs, Horny,
Big Pewter, and Little Pickey, and that's jist
what thar is, and I expec they are all thar to speak
for themselves."

And Nisby was right. Stump Handle was there,
and was by far the most forkable-looking concern,
for it consisted of one prong of an old fork stuck
into a stumpy piece of wood. Crooky Prongs was
curled over on each side, adapting itself in an ad-
mirable manner to catch cod-fish, but rather foreign
to the purpose of sticking into anything. Horny
had apparently never been at Sheffield or Birming-
ham, as it was a sort of imitation of a fork made
out of a cow's horn. Big Pewter was made of92

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxvjii.

the handle of a spoon with the bowl broken off;
and Little Pickey was a dear interesting* looking
little thing, something like a cobbler's awl fastened
in a thick piece of wood.

As my son and myself had our own knives and
forks, we did not dispute the choice of the remark-
able ones on the table; and the guests, excessively
diverted with this dialogue, good naturedly adapted
themselves to the necessity of the case. We con-
trived to swallow some of the wretched coffee, by
putting a great deal of sugar into it; and we tasted
the heavy cakes, one-third of which seemed to be
mere dirt. Indeed every thing was so dirty, that
my stomach revolted at what was before us. The
old hag sat at the table to pour out the coffee, and
saw well enough that we were disgusted; but as
we said nothing, she made no remarks. One of
the guests, however, told a capital story, which was
a fair hit, and which she did not relish at all. It
was of one Judge Dooly, who was obliged to make
certain circuits in an unsettled part of the country,
and being rather fastidious, and did not always sub-
mit in silence to the inconvenience he was exposed
to by the dirt and slovenliness of others. It hap-
pened that the landlord of a tavern he was occa-
sionally obliged to stop at, had a dispute with
another tavern-keeper about the direction of a new
road that was going to be laid out, each of them
being very anxious to have it brought near to his
house : he took the liberty, therefore, of canvassingchap, xxviii.]	DIRTY TAVERNS.

93

the Judge—who was one of the persons that was
to determine the course of the road—and endea-
voured to convince him that the road ought to
come to his house, frequently apologizing, however,
and saying that " the Judge knew best what suited
him, but he hoped there was no harm in giving a
friendly opinion." " Not at all," replied the Judge,
" and I will in return offer you some friendly ad-
vice, that may perhaps be useful to you in regard
to your table, if the road should happen to come
this way. You know best, but I should think it
would be better for you, when travellers come to
your house, to have the dirt put on one dish, and
the bar's (bear's) meat on another, for I swear I
like to mix such things for myself, and not to let
others do it for me."

When we had left the table and drew near to
the fire, a great many pleasant stories were told.
Colonel A # * # # *, who had for several years at-
tended the circuits to remote and barbarous parts
of the territory, said, that although professional
men had still many curious scenes to go through, yet
that they now fared much better, and found some
sort of accommodation more frequently than for-
merly. He stated that some years ago, after a hard
day's ride, there was only one cabin at which they
could stop, and that it was very important to reach
it in the winter season. This cabin belonged to an
old hunter, a pioneer in that part of the country,
to whom the lawyers—in virtue of the extensive94

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap, xxviii,

jurisdiction he had in the wilderness—had given
the title of Governor Shannon; it consisted of one
solitary room with a mud floor, and not a single
article of furniture except an old log that he had
hollowed out, and that he slept in at night, and
sat upon at other times. Upon this mud floor
travellers used to stretch themselves in their blanket-
coats, and there they pigged with the Governor,
an old negress, and a team of dogs he kept to
hunt the bars, which were numerous around him.
As there had never been a door—or any contriv-
ance approaching it—to the cabin, the dogs used
to come in and go out whenever they pleased: if
they were all asleep, the barking of a wolf would
rouse them, and out they would rush over the
recumbent travellers, without being at all particular
where they trod upon them. On their return, wet
and covered with dirt, they made no ceremony of
who they laid near, nor whom they laid upon, for
dogs like to lie warm, and this was the reason why
the Governor had made his bed in a log. It
happened upon one occasion that a judge, who
had never made this circuit before, favoured the
Governor with his company, and becoming at
length outrageously annoyed at the stench and
filth of the dogs, one of which had acted very
irreverently to his Honour, called out to the Gover-
nor, that if he did not take a dog away that was
upon him, he would kill him on the spot. Upon
which his Excellency replied, that he " would bechap, xxviii.] FIRST AMERICAN SETTLERS IN TEXAS. 95

- - if the bl—d judges and lawyers of

Arkansas hadn't slept with his dogs for seven years,
and that if any man touched one of 'em, he would
send him to sleep with the painters, in less than
no time." The Governor was well known to be a
resolute fellow, and as there was no other settler
nearer than 30 miles, and " a pretty considerable
sprinkling of bars and painters about," the Judge
thought it best to put up with this slight upon his
authority.

We had also another very characteristic story.
When the Americans first crossed over into Texas,
they, as usual, scattered themselves about the
country, each selecting a suitable situation in a
well-watered fertile part, not more distant than ten
or twenty miles from each other. This was very
convenient for the thieves and homicides, whose
practices sometimes made it necessary for them to
escape even from Little Rock, and to these settlers
they upon such occasions resorted. Ere long,
however, their evil doings made them as obnoxious
to these pioneers in Texas as they had been to
others, and the settlers combined to drive them
off. It happened that three fellows of the very
worst stamp, two of whom had committed murder,
and the other was a notorious horse thief, had
broken jail at Little Rock, and were pursued and
traced into Texas, where they had eluded their pur-
suers. At this time the Mexican laws nominally
prevailed in that part of the country, for the Ame-96

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxviii.

ricans professed to be Mexican citizens, and there
being no Mexican authorities to administer justice,
one of the American settlers, a man of some resolu-
tion, was appointed by his fellow countrymen to act
as a magistrate, and was called " Alcalde." There
being some reason to believe that the three vaga-
bonds were hid away in an extensive corn-brake, a
party was formed to hunt them up, and having
found and secured them, they were taken to the
Alcalde's house. A court was immediately held,
and a narrative entered into of the circumstances
under which they had been traced, and finally cap-
tured in the corn-brake. But as no evidence was
adduced to prove that these men had been guilty
of the crimes imputed to them, the Alcalde declared,
" I swar I'm nonplushed; these is the right fellows
—no doubt of that—but who's to prove it, and who
onder artb is to take 'em back to Little Rock I want
to know.'' The Alcalde's wife, coming into the
council just at this time, looked at the culprits, and
in one of them discovered a fellow who had stolen
some linen from her cabin when she lived in
Arkansas, and who was known to have killed a cow
belonging to her brother, for the sake of the skin.
" I tell you, old Caldy," said she, " if you don't hang
these fellows up right off, you '11 never have such
another chance, and mind what I tell you, I calcu-
late, if you don't, you ai'nt agoing to have a skin
left on a kayw's back, nor a shift to mine, to all
etarnity." This alarming prospect decided the fatechap, xxvm.] A JURY DE CIRCUMSTANTIBUS.	97

of the jail-breakers, and they were all hung up
within half an hour.

But the best story of the evening was related by
a lawyer who had been personally concerned in it.
Four other culprits had also broken jail at Little
Rock, where they had been put, preparatory to being
sent to a distant part of the country to be tried in
the district where they had committed their offences.
Three of them were charged with murder, and the
fourth with several cases of horse stealing, a crime
at the head of all offences there, since there is
nothing manly in it, and nothing more incon-
venient. Their counsel, for it was he who related
the story to us, said that they had good friends,
and that he was well paid for defending them.
As soon as he ascertained from his clients that they
were all guilty, he arranged his plan for their
defence. The place where they were to be tried
consisted of a single house in the wilderness, which
represented the future county town; the witnesses
were on the spot, and all the appliances to consti-
tute a Court. Twelve men had been with some
difficulty got to leave home, and come to this place
to perform the part of a jury. At the critical
moment, however, one of these men was not to be
found ; and as a panel could not be formed, the
judge stated the fact, and asked what step the
prosecuting attorney intended to take. The counsel
of the accused, after many protestations of their
innocence, and their strong desire to prove it with-

VOL. II.	H98	TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxviii.

out loss of time, now proposed to fill the panel de
circumstantibus. It so happened that the only cir-
cumstantes were the three murderers and the horse-
stealer, so they put one of the murderers into the
jury, and first tried the horse-stealer and acquitted
him, and then put the horse-stealer into the panel
and acquitted the murderer; and by this sort of
admirable contrivance the whole four were honour-
ably acquitted, and returned perfectly whitewashed
into the bosom of society ; the jury and the rest of
the court also, having got rid of a tedious and
unpleasant business, returned without delay to their
respective homes.

The hour at length came for us to retire to our
dingy-looking beds. On examining the extraordi-
nary bundle of rags of which mine seemed com-
posed, I found one coarse sheet beneath—they never
put more than one sheet to a bed—that had per-
haps been slept upon by a score of persons, and a
coarse blanket at the top of that: the pillow was
a good match to the rest; so getting into a large
flannel bag 1 had had made for the purpose, which
left my arms free, and tied close round my neck,
I covered the pillow with a silk handkerchief,
tumbled all the rags on the floor, wrapped myself
in a blanket-coat, and laid down, bidding defiance
to the myriads of bugs that were cdnfidently ex-
pecting their prey.

The rain was still pouring down when I awoke,
in the morning, but jumping instantly up, I un-cha.p. xxviii.]	FORD THE SALINE.

99

packed myself, and finding a pail of water and a
gourd to dip it out with, on a shelf near the door
—an excellent custom which obtains here—I
hastened to make my ablutions, and having dried
my towel at the fire, prepared to depart. But the
rain continuing to fall in torrents, we were all com-
pelled to sit down at the table once more with
Little Pickey and Company. The breakfast was
more disgusting than the supper, because the
friendly darkness had concealed much of the filth,
and of the sordid appearance of every thing around
us. At length, however, it cleared up, and we got
away from this den of rags and nastiness, just in
season to ford the Saline, which was beginning to
rise.

h 2100

travels in america.	[chav. XXIX.

CHAPTER XXIX.

Arrive at Magnet Cove—An interesting Mineral Locality—
Strange effects of a Hurricane—Reach the Hot Springs—
Whittington without his Cat—Rare accommodations—De-
scription of the Springs—Fishes in Hot Water—Temperature
and Gaseous Contents of the Hot Springs—The Travertine
presents different Constituents below the Surface.

Colonel Conway, the surveyor-general of the
territory of Arkansas, was at this time building a
cottage for his family to escape to, during the season
of malaria at his plantation on Red River; and had
been kind enough to give me a letter of introduc-
tion to his lady, desiring her to receive us hospitably
for the night, if we found it convenient to stay there.
This cottage, which was in a secluded place called
Magnet Cove, we determined to reach if we could.
Passing over the same kind of country we had seen
the day before, pine timber prevailing, and the
holly (Ilex opaca) beginning to be abundant, we at
length, after crossing some streams that were ex-
tremely swelled, reached Trammels, another miser-
able looking cabin, and here we left the road to
Texas and turned into an obscure track that led to
Magnet Cove and the Hot Springs. For the first
three miles the country rose, and the road becamechap, xxix.]	MAGNET COVE.	101

exceedingly rocky and difficult; added to which
the mountain streams were beginning to assume a
fierce character that rendered them dangerous, fre-
quently covering the track, so that we could not
see it, and concealing rocks which often were on
the point of overturning us.

At length the country became more open, and as
night was approaching we looked about with some
anxiety for Magnet Cove. What it was like no one
had told me; I had intended to have got more par-
ticular dirctions from Colonel Conway, but an en-
gagement prevented our meeting at my departure
from Little Rock, and he had sent the letter to my
lodgings. The nature of the country did not pro-
mise anything like a cove, but always hoping that
we should discover it, we. pushed on, and at length
descended from the table-land into a gloomy look-
ing lowland very densely timbered. Here we found
two or three tracks, and were doubtful which to
take. One of them probably led to the Hot Springs
and the other to the cottage : seeing some twigs
lately broken on the left-hand track we turned into
it, and soon after saw a still fresher track on our
left in the woods. Driving on as quick as we could
we came at length to where we perceived that the
lowland was encircled by lofty hills, and now it
occurred to me that this was one of those romantic
places such as we had seen in Virginia ^nd Ten-
nessee, and which are there also called coves, and
perceiving a clearing, and looking back through it102	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxix.

we saw a cottage to which the track we had last
passed evidently led ; so turning back we followed
this track, and at last came to the cottage. Mrs.
Conway received us very politely, and unprepared
for visitors as she was, with carpenters and labourers
to provide for, had some supper got for us. Seeing
that we were very much in the way, we retired to
rest in a room which was not yet enclosed, and was
still open to the weather on the side where the
chimney was hereafter to be built, an inconvenience
which was remedied as well as circumstances ad-
mitted of, by hanging up some counterpanes; but
everything was very clean and we rested well.

In the morning, at dawn of day, I sallied out to
view the place, and having walked through the
bottom, made my way up the lofty elevation with
which it was surrounded, and looked down into the
interior, which was in fact a deep basin containing
about 1200 acres of the richest land, and thickly
wooded. What struck me very much was, that the
whole area—which rather affects a spheroidal than
a circular form—comprehending this cove both out-
side and in, was covered with deciduous trees,
whilst without its limits the trees were all ever-
greens and pines. Upon examining the rocks upon
which these deciduous trees grew, I found they
were constituted of a decomposing and very ancient
greenstone, that had intruded itself into the general
strata of sandstone of the surrounding country,
whilst the evergreens grew only upon the sandstonechap, xxix.] INTERESTING MINERAL LOCALITY.	103

outside. Having returned to the house, and made
a very comfortable breakfast, I sallied out again to
look at some localities where Colonel Conway had
told me I should find some curious minerals.

He had informed me that on surveying the coun-
try the needle would not traverse on approaching
this locality, and the cause was here apparent from
a mound in the Cove, covered with pebbles of
magnetic micaceous oxide of iron from one ounce
to four pounds weight. These pebbles, like those
of the vein in Missouri which goes by the name of
Iron Mountain, overlie masses of the metal of
prodigious extent, which, from their great mag-
netic force, probably influence the country around
for a great distance. Some of the specimens which
I brought away—especially one which contained a
portion of a large crystal of iron—possess an in-
tensity of magnetic power which is truly surpris-
ing. In other parts of the bottom I found large
masses of decomposing felspar, studded with black
tourmalines, some of which were in long prisms,
whilst others were in stellated groups, with beauti-
fully delicate acicular rays. In some of these fel-
spathic rocks were amorphous pieces of white
sulphuret of iron, believed here to be silver. Occa-
sionally the rock in the bottom was a coarse-grained
kind of syenite, composed of red felspar, hornblende,
mica, and some quartz. In a small field, not far
from the house, which had been recently ploughed
—and where there was no timber growing when104

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxix.

Colonel Conway first took possession of this place—
I found a great many Indian arrow heads made of
a beautiful semi-transparent kind of novaculite; and
in one place an immense number of chips and broken
arrow heads, all of this stone, were lying together.
This had been evidently a favourite retreat of the
Indians, but I looked in vain for the rock from
which the novaculite had been taken.

Upon considering all the circumstances connected
with this cove, the intrusive character of its rocks,
their distinct origin and separation from the sand-
stone, its minerals, the quasi-crateri form of the
cove, and the immense deposit of magnetic iron, I
could not but be impressed with the opinion that
Magnet Cove owes its origin to an ancient volcanic
action, and that it is one of those extinct craters that
may have preceded that class where basalt and lava
are the principal products.

I left this rare place full of admiration; if it were
in social respects a desirable situation for a residence,
the proprietor would certainly possess one of the
most enviable estates in America.

We had proceeded over the sandstone about six
miles—always going parallel with the Washita,
which flowed about a mile from us—when we came
to a part of the country where all the forest trees—
without exception—were standing for at least a
thousand acres around, dead and bare, with the bark
peeled off them, but without any marks whatever of
fire having been in the country. This was a phe-chap, xxix.] EFFECTS OF A HURRICANE.	105

nomenon we were at a loss to account for, but at
the next settler's it was explained to us. About six
years ago a hurricane passed over the country in
the month of May, and desolated everything it came
near. The sky, when passing over this place, was
frightfully black, and dipping down, discharged
such fierce streams of hail against the northern side
of the forest trees, that all the bark was destroyed
down to the wood, and the circulation of the sap
being destroyed, every one of the trees died. The
house where we received this information—and
which had several sick persons in it at the time, for
the sake of being near the Hot Springs—was un-
roofed in an instant; all the poultry that were out
of doors were killed on the spot, the rooms were
filled with rain and hail as if a river had been pour-
ing into it, and when the hurricane passed away
there, the hail was two feet deep on the ground.
These hurricanes, like those in the West Indies,
sometimes assume a fearful character. I have never
been caught in one of the worst of them, but their
track in the forest, which I have sometimes fallen
in with, presents a singular picture of destruction.
I have come upon an avenue of trees 200 yards
wide, torn up by the roots, and going in a straight
line through the country for a short distance, with
the tops of the trees laid uniformly in one direction;
then a larger area would be seen with the trees
twisted in a strange manner, broken, and laid in
every direction, as if a whirlwind of immeasurable106

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

[chap. xxix.

force had been expending itself upon them, and had
clashed the trees against each other.

From this place we had nine miles to go to the
Hot Springs over the sandstone ; the road was bad,
and we had to cross some violent streams, especially
one called the Gulfer, which we achieved with some
difficulty; at length, coming near a ridge, we
turned into a narrow passage or vale between two
lofty hills, and saw from the appearance of things
that we had reached the Hot Springs of the Washita,
so much the object of curiosity to men of science,
and so little known to the world.*

Four wretched-looking log cabins, in one of which
was a small store, contained all the accommoda-
tions that these springs offered to travellers. We
had never seen anything worse or more unpromis-
ing than they were, but driving up to the store, a
Mr. Whittington, who purchases bear skins and
other skins of wild animals of the hunters, paying
for them in the commodities he gets from Little
Rock, and who did not seem in a very promising
way to the Lord Mayoralty of London, was obliging
enough to say we might take possession of one of
the log cabins. Having taken care of our horse
we accordingly moved into the first that we had
passed on our arrival. It had a roof to it as well
as a little portico, as a defence against the rays of
the sun, but this was literally all that it had, for not
an article of furniture was there either in the shape
* Vide Frontispiece.chap, xxix.]	WASHITA HOT SPRINGS.

107

of table or chair. The floor was formed of boards
roughly and unevenly hewn, and, unfortunately,
some of them were wanting. Being reckoned,
however, the best lodgings in the place, we made
the best of it, and through our new friend got skins,
blankets, and other appliances to serve as bedding.
We next laid in some firewood and constructed a
kind of table, so that when we had succeeded in
borrowing two old chairs, we looked with some
satisfaction upon our new attempt at housekeeping.
We were sure at any rate of being alone, and of
being out of the reach of filth of every kind ; in fact
it was almost as desirable as being in the woods, and
had the advantage of shelter. How invalids con-
trive to be comfortable, who come to this ragged
place, I cannot imagine, yet I understand that ten
or a dozen people are often crammed into this room,
which my son and myself found much too small for
two. Persons who resort to these springs in the
autumn might do very well if they brought with
them their own tents and a sack or two of flour, for
meat in the latter part of the year is abundant and
of good quality, which it is not at other times when
animals are breeding and suckling their young.

Being impatient to see the springs we sallied out,
and continued making our observations until night
fell. The narrow vale in which these huts are
built, and which does not exceed 50 yards in
breadth, extends about 800 yards nearly north and
south, and then turns to the west. On each side of108	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxix.

it is a lofty ridge of sandstone, and other ridges
close in the view to the north. At the base of the
ridge to the east is a bel of clay-slate, upon which
flows a pretty little murmuring stream, that takes its
rise in the hills to the N.E., and into which im-
mense sheets of travertine descend, indicating suffi-
ciently the near neighbourhood of the springs. The
ridge from its base to the top is very ferruginous, is
about 450 feet high, with a steep inclination, and
in the upper part has a good growth of pine and
oak timber. The greater number of the springs—
which are very numerous—rise in the side of the
ridge, at about one-third of the distance from its
base, and are found at various points below, and
even in the bed of the stream, "but there are some
near 300 feet above it. There is this peculiarity in
the situation of these Hot Springs, that if ever a
town should be built in the narrow vale—which is
only 100 feet below the most copious of them—the
hot water, which perhaps has a mean temperature
of 145° Fahr., could be conveyed in spouts sup-
ported by frames into all the houses below, to be
used either as baths or for domestic purposes. As
these hot waters flow down the side of the hill, they
deposit their calcareous matter, which can be traced
down to the edge of the rivulet. The vale has per-
haps been wider at some remote period, for the tra-
vertine extends back east from the stream about
150 yards before it leans upon the acclivity of the
hill, and is occasionally 100 feet high, continuingchap, xxxx.] WASHITA HOT SPKINGS.	109

along the east bank of the stream—with some inter-
ruption at intervals—a distance of 400 yards; some-
times presenting abrupt vertical faces of from 15 to 25
feet high, and at other times showing itself in cur-
tains with stalactitic rods, and presenting points and
coves advancing into and receding from the stream.

Having gratified myself with these preliminary
observations, we returned to Mr. Whittington's to
make the very important inquiry of how and where
we were to get something to eat, and here we learnt
that a Mr. Percival, who lived in another of the
log cabins, was the general entertainer of all visi-
tors to this place. He had been a hunter, and
having seen the place as early as 1807, had in
some year subsequent to that built a cabin in the
vale: this fact, as he conceived, gave him a pre-
emption claim of right as proprietor of the waters,
and finding some advantage in supplying the in-
valids who had now for some years resorted to
them, he had set up a monopoly as general pro-
vider to all strangers who had any money in their
pockets. To Mr. Percival's cabin therefore we
hied, and presenting ourselves at his supper-table,
found a quantity of little pieces of pork swimming
in hog's grease, some very badly made bread, and
much worse coffee, waiting for us. They knew
very well that we had no other place to go to, and
had prepared accordingly.

Nothing could be less tempting and more rude
than the fare we got; and if it had not been for the110

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxix.

supply of tea and sugar we had laid in at Little
Rock, our stomachs would have gone to bed very
discontentedly. Percival, however, was a good-
natured man, could talk about things that in-
terested us, and promised to look up some venison
for another time, so we adjourned to our cabin, got
up a good fire, and laid down. In the night we
were awoke by the weather, which had set in ex-
cessively stormy, and we found that our portico,
whatever its use might be in the summer, was not
upon duty at this season of the year, for the wind
came in with such force that we could scarce keep
any of the covering upon us, and I discovered that
the rain had been pouring upon me for some time
before I awoke. We were also mistaken in our cal-
culation of being alone, for it seems our cabin
being placed upon a loose wall raised about a foot
and a half from the ground, offered a good shelter
to the various hogs belonging to the place, all of
which had congregated immediately beneath us, and
there they were to be sure, grunting, and appearing
excessively distressed, as hogs always are in stormy
weather, and having every opportunity—if they
were so disposed—of seeing what we were doing
through the hiatus valde deflendus, which separated
every plank upon which we trod. This was our
first night at the Hot Springs of the Washita, but
happily we were not invalids.

In the morning the weather had cleared up, and
the sun broke out in great force, so having lightedchap, xxix.] WASHITA HOT SPRINGS.

Ill

our fire, and dried our effects, my son went to the
stream for a pail of water to make our ablutions.
We now found out that we were really at the Hot
Springs, for there was a very great difficulty in
procuring cold water, the springs occupying a
breadth equal to 400 yards of the base of the ridge,
and all of them—at least thirty-five in number—
falling into the brook, raised its temperature to that
of a warm-bath, especially in places where springs
of hot water came through the clay slate. Finding
this to be the case, I thought I might as well go to the
water as have the water brought to me ; so taking
my brushes and towels I sallied out, and was ex-
ceedingly pleased with the picturesque effect pro-
duced upon the slope of the ridge by the volumes
of vapour proceeding from so many fumeroles. A
gentle smoke seemed to emerge from an immense
thicket of arbusta and young plants, all of which,
in full leaf of a brilliant green, made a fine contrast
to the naked oaks already stripped of their leaves.
The water in the brook was pleasantly tepid, and
having no one to intrude upon my privacy, I made
a profuse use of it, and wading about found that the
hot water came through the slate in an immense
number of places; yet mingling with the water of
the brook it did not burn my feet, although on the
shore I found that if I insinuated my fingers a few
inches below the gravel, I was obliged to withdraw
them instantly. Fishes are never found in this
stream when the waters are low, but when it is112	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxix.

much raised by floods from the mountains, then
trout, perch, and other fish are taken in all parts of
it. One of the inhabitants told me that towards
the northern end of the travertine, where there was
a considerable pool, he had often seen the fish
gliding below, and that upon such occasions when
he would throw a few crumbs in, they would dart
upwards, and getting their noses into the stratum of
hot water at the top, would instantly wheel about
and disappear. Frogs and snakes, too, when they fall
into it inadvertently, stretch themselves out and die.

We were so charmed with the novelty of every
thing around us, that we got some corn bread and
a little milk from Mrs. Percival, and sitting down
by one of the springs—the temperature of which
was 148° Fahr.—we made our breakfast there, the
water being sufficiently hot for the purpose, and
enjoyed ourselves very much. In fact this day, De-
cember 30th, 1834, was a memorable one in our
journey, for attractive as were the terrestrial rarities
we were surrounded with, they were literally eclipsed
by a celestial phenomenon of the highest degree of
grandeur, an almost total solar eclipse diverting for
a while our attention from every thing else. The
eclipse here was not total, for at the period of the
greatest obscuration there was still the appearance
of a slight luminous streak of the sun's body, which
gave a pale light equal perhaps in amount to that
of two full moons; the shadow of the clouds waved
on the ground in a singular manner, and the ther-chap, xxix.] TEMPERATURE OF THE SPRINGS.	113

mometer fell 4° during the ten minutes preceding
the greatest obscuration : the planet Venus, too, was
visible for near an hour, although the occupation
took place in the middle of the day. Take it alto-
gether, it was a very solemn scene.

As soon as this had passed away, we continued
our observations upon every thing around us, and
were not a little amused with the uses the settlers
made of these waters: the facility of obtaining hot
water was fully appreciated by them, for they never
seemed to boil any water for any purpose, nor to
drink any cold water: a tree, smoothed off on the
upper side, was laid across the stream at a narrow
part, so that they could easily cross and supply
themselves for the purpose of washing their clothes,
and on a shelf, near the door of each cabin, was
always a pail of mineral water with a gourd to
drink it from. Some of the springs are quite tasteless,
others have a slight chalybeate flavour, but certainly
the first neither communicated a foreign taste to
tea or coffee. The highest temperature of these
springs at the time I was there, did not exceed
148°, but there had been a good deal of rain which
had no doubt lowered it. If there was no admix-
ture of atmospheric waters, it is probable they would
mark a few degrees more; indeed an individual
here with whom I became acquainted, showed me a
memorandum which a visitor had given him during
a period of long drought, where a particular spring
was noted at 156° Fahr.

VOL. IX.	I114

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxix.

Around the sources of these hot waters the con-
fervse flourish remarkably, but my attention was
particularly drawn to an enamelled lichen-looking
substance of a brilliant green colour which was
exceedingly mucilaginous ; it was not, however, a
lichen, for I observed that it began at first by a
filament, and that it went on spreading and thicken-
ing until it became half an inch thick. In some
places it was six inches broad. The settlers finding
that this substance keeps warm a long time, and
that it feels soft and comfortable like a new poultice,
apply it successfully to suppurate wounds. Where
the travertine forms so rapidly as to impede the
passage of the water, and compels it to take another
channel down the hill, which it frequently does,
this glairy-looking substance, abandoned by the hot
water, entirely loses its colour, and dries up into a
crisp, thin film, always, however, preserving the
appearance of lichen. I examined it in this state
with a strong glass, and found the centre of it to be
calcareous matter of a whitish grey colour, de-
posited around a slight filament of grass, or any other
accidental substance; the side next the atmosphere
being of a dark colour and in a state of decomposi-
tion, whilst the under side still preserved a deadish
green appearance.

I made some observations upon the gaseous con-
tents of these waters, and put some bottles of them
up, to have their solid contents ascertained by some
competent person in the Atlantic States, but thechap, xxix.] GASEOUS CONTENTS OF THE WATERS. 115

bottles got broke before they reached their destina-
tion.* I observed very little gas escape from these
waters and their solid contents were carbonate of
lime, sulphate of lime, and a very little iron in some
of the springs. There are, however, reasons for sup-
posing that in ancient times the mineral constituents
of these springs have not been exactly what they are
now. Being desirous of satisfying myself whether
the travertine was of an uniform quality, I com-
menced digging into it about 25 feet from the level
of the brook, and having got into it somewhat more
than a foot, I found a great increase of sulphate of
lime, and much lower down I came to a dark red
oxide of iron in nodular reniform masses, taking a
botryoidal form. The sulphate of lime was deposited
in layers from a line to two inches thick. Beneath
these were masses of ferruginous sandstone belong-
ing to the ridge, which seemed to have been at
some time loose, and were now re-cemented by the
mineral deposits from the water, which had filled
up all the interstices. I took out one of the largest
of these nodules, the circumferential crust of which
in some parts was two and a half inches thick, of

* Dr. Daubeny having in 1837 visited this place and examined
the gaseous contents of these waters on the spot, I quote from
him, as better authority than myself for an analysis■

Carbonic acid . . . . 4 •()

Nitrogen . . . . . 92*4
Oxygen . . . .	1•6

104

i 2116	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxix.

rich hematite ore, whilst its interior was almost
filled with gypsum. From all the circumstances
connected with these nodules, I was inclined to think
that they had been deposited in ancient times by
strong chalybeate waters, and that they had become
aggregated by molecular attraction. It was very
evident that where the greatest quantities of red
oxide were, a stream of water had passed for a long
period of time, holding iron and sulphate of lime in
solution, and anterior to the period of the present
waters, whose deposits of travertine now cover the
ferruginous deposits below. Nor is it improbable
that springs of a similar kind may yet exist, for in
a low cavity close to the brook I perceived a stream
of hot water with red oxide near it, and upon ex-
amining it minutely I found the same process going
on, iron depositing on the sides, and soft seams of
sulphate of lime already establishing themselves.
Whether this chalybeate* character in the hot
water of the cavity last spoken of be not acquired—
as thermal waters may acquire some of their pro-
perties, in transitu—is a fact I would not pretend
to speak positively upon; many springs that rise
through beds of decomposed shale and coal loaded
with sulphuret of iron, undoubtedly are often
affected as they pass through them, and become

* In the last moments of my stay at the Hot Springs I found
nodules of iron, similar to that spoken of, on the west side of the
hill where the springs are, and some conglomerate firmly held
together by ferruginous cement.chap, xxix.]	WASHITA HOT SPRINGS.	117

sulphuretted; but the carbonate of lime, and the
prodigious quantity of caloric which has for such
immense periods of time raised the temperature of
these springs, must have their origin in those depths
whence the intrusive rocks, the veins of micaceous
iron, and various other mineral phenomena in this
region, are derived.118

travels in america.	[chap. xxx.

CHAPTER XXX.

Curious and beautiful Mineral Structure of the adjacent Country
—Locality whence the Indians procured the Mineral for their
Arrow Heads—An unsophisticated " Bar-hunter"—Panthers
fond of Buffalo Tongues—Strange single Combat betwixt a
Hunter and a male Buffalo—Reasoning Power of the Animal
—State of the Hunter's Nerves after the battle.

Some person having shown me specimens of a kind of
novaculite which they used as hones for their razors,
I took a guide to the locality whence they were pro-
cured, and after clambering over a very rugged
country for three miles, we came to one of the
wildest regions imaginable and singularly curious.
It was altogether broken up into short ridges and
isolated cones, from 300 to 500 feet above the level
of the streams that meandered amongst their bases
in contracted gorges from 15 to 40 yards wide.
I had constantly observed in all the rocks west of
the Mississippi a strong tendency to a siliceous
character associated with iron. In Missouri the
substitution of siliceous for calcareous matter was
very striking, and it was not less so in the northern
parts of Arkansas. Ever since we left Little Red
River we had been upon a quartzose sandstone
reposing on a clayey slate, and from a pentramitechap, xxx.] MINERAL STRUCTURE OF THE COUNTRY. 119

which Mr. Henderson assured me he had taken
out of this sandstone near the Mammelles (the
only fossil I saw), and from other considerations,
I was disposed to consider this sandstone as the
equivalent of the old red sandstone of Europe. The
curious gradations of this siliceous matter, in the
forms of old red sandstone, flint, hornstone, and
quartzose rock, had interested me much; but my
admiration was unbounded when I discovered that
all the ridges and coves of the broken country I was
now wandering in, were composed of a beautiful
novaculite of a pearly semi-transparent nature, in-
deed quite opalescent in places, lying in vertical
lamina so brittle and so closely packed together, that
it was very difficult to detach a piece even six inches
long without the aid of proper tools; but when
detached, the rock presented singularly pure glossy
natural faces, and was occasionally tinged, in a very
pleasing manner, with metallic solutions. As far as
my own experience and information goes, the
mineral structure of this part of the country is as
curious and rare as anything that has yet been seen.

Ascending a very lofty hill composed entirely of
this mineral, we found several large pits, resembling
inverted cones, some of which were from 20 to 30
feet deep and as many in diameter, the insides and
bottoms of which were covered with chips of this
beautiful mineral, some white, some carmine, some
blue, and many quite opalescent. In and near these
pits round and long pieces of hard greenstone—120

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

[chap. xxx-

which I had seen in place about 18 miles distant—■
were scattered about, but none of them too large for
the hand. These were undoubtedly the quarries
from whence the Indians, when they possessed the
country, obtained the materials for making their
arrow heads and spears, for those which I had
found in the ploughed field in Magnet Cove were
made of this mineral. The pieces of hard green-
stone were the tools the Indians worked with, and
the rough mineral when procured was taken to their
villages to be manufactured: I had many opportu-
nities subsequently of feeling assured of this, upon
finding amidst the circular holes and mounds where
their now fallen lodges once stood, prodigious quan-
tities of these chips and arrow-heads that had been
broken in the act of making them.

From this place we scrambled to the top of the
loftiest cone we could see, and had a very fine view
of the country. From the summit of the elevation
where we stood, looking south, an extensive pine
plain appeared, perhaps eight miles wide, whilst on
our right to the S.S.W. about fifteen miles distant,
was a ridge where one of the branches of the
Washita rises, and which circled round to the E.S.E.
having the Washita on its north flank. Most of the
ridges seemed to curve, and after running a dis-
tance of from two to fifteen miles would terminate.
To the east we thought we recognised the highlands
about the Mammelle, which were near forty miles
in a straight line from us.chap, xxx.] UNSOPHISTICATED " BAR-HUNTER."	121

Having made our observations in this part of the
country, I endeavoured to procure a guide to cross
the country with us to cantonment Towson, a mili-
tary post of the United States on the Mexican
frontier, distant in a straight line about 120 miles.
All roads of every kind terminate at the Hot
Springs; beyond them there is nothing but the un-
broken wilderness, the trails and fords of which are
only known to a few hunters. We accordingly entered
into a negotiation with a backwoodsman, who was
highly recommended for his resolution and know-
ledge of the country; but he was far from being-
eager to engage in our service, objecting that this
was the season when bear-hunting commences; and
although he admitted that I offered him more
money than he could earn, yet, he said, if he was
to go, " he couldn't stand it, 'case the bars was so
fat this year." As I could not hope to compensate
this Nimrod of the woods for the enjoyment he
would have at his annual sport—a feeling I could
appreciate—I was obliged, though with great reluc-
tance, to change my plan, for I was exceedingly
anxious to continue the examination of these sili-
ceous ridges to the south-west. This man was a
very singular fellow, who shunned society, was
dressed altogether in the skins of animals he had
killed, and seemed never to have been washed, and
to have no beard. He lived in the woods many
miles from the Springs, and only visited them when
he had bear and deer skins to sell. He appeared,122	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxx.

however, to take an interest in us, and advised us
strongly not to attempt the excursion alone, for he
said that the ordinary fords could not be passed at
this season without swimming the now swollen
rivers, and that to get through the country we
should be obliged to go round the heads of the
streams, which would make the distance equal to
at least 200 miles. Adding to these circumstances
the coldness of the weather and the extreme diffi-
culty we should most probably find in subsisting
ourselves, we thought the attempt would not be
justifiable, and turned our attention to a more fre-
quented and practicable route. The account this
man gave me of the manner in which the bear is
pursued by some of the professed and more opulent
hunters was curious. He said that some of them,
who had great numbers of cattle roaming at large
in the forests around them, were so passionately
fond of the sport, that they maintained stout teams
of dogs until the hunting season commenced, by
slaying beeves for them.

In summer, when there is no mast, Bruin is thin
and hungry, and boldly intrudes upon the settle-
ments, where there are any, to devour the hogs.
If the settler catches him on his grounds he kills
him, but he is too meagre and his skin is too light
to tempt him far from home; he chooses another
season for that, when the bears are fat, can sur-
render a good skin and from twenty to twenty-five
gallons of oil, and have retired to the rich bottomsCHAP. XXX.]

BEAR-HUNTERS.

123

where the cane-brakes are. Then out he sallies,
prepared for an absence of several weeks, dressed in
a jacket and leggings of buckskin, for garments of
any other material would soon be torn from his
back by the briars. When he gets to the scene of
operations he kills two or three buffaloes, if he can,
for their skins, which he hangs up on poles in the
form of a tent, leaving one side open in front of his
fire, towards which his feet are placed when he
sleeps. This is also his storehouse: his skins, his
meat, his oil, are all deposited here, until their
accumulation induces him either to take them home
or send them by an assistant. As to what is called
bear's meat, it is literally nothing but the fat of the
omentum. The fleshy part is all given to the dogs.
Of this fat, which the hunters call the fleece, they
are ravenously fond, preferring it to everything
else on account of its sweet taste, and because they
can eat a great deal without incommoding them-
selves. Occasionally the hunter regales himself
with venison when he is in a country where the
deer abound, but pleasure with him is made subor-
dinate to business, and it will take him as much
time to kill and flay a deer of the value of one
dollar, as it will to secure a bear worth twenty.
But bears, deer, and buffalo do not comprehend all
the animals he has to deal with ; he has to protect
his stores during his absence from his skin-lodge in
the daytime from wolves and panthers, and is not
always able to do it even when he is there, as the124	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[ohap. xxx.

following anecdote, so illustrative of the hunter's
life, and which I had directly from the person it
relates to, will show :—

This man had amassed a great many spoils in
his tent, and had put about twenty buffalo tongues
in a trough which stood inside, but near to the en-
trance. One night returning exceedingly fatigued,
he slept very soundly, and on awakening discovered
that all his buffalo tongues were gone. He was
vexed at his negligence, and imputed the theft to
some wolves that he knew were prowling about.
Having taken something to eat, he went to a cane-
brake in the vicinity, and had not gone far when
he heard a low whining cry, and, looking in that
direction, he saw something through the thick canes
playing about like a cat's tail, and immediately
knew it was a panther. Stealing forward and care-
fully looking he distinguished a head and ears, and
concluded the animal was stretched upon a log, a
posture they are very fond of when they are not
hunting. Raising his gun, he fired, and the beast,
mortally wounded, made a prodigious jump and
attempted to run, but fell and died in a few
minutes. He immediately skinned it, and curious
to learn whether this panther had been the mid-
night depredator, he slit his paunch open, and there
found his buffalo tongues, but by no means in a
state to be sent to the London market. This man
told me that the panther when not hungry flies
from man, and takes to a tree if the smallest dogchap, xxx.]	BUFFALO-HUNTING.	125

pursues him, but when he is gaunt and voracious
he is dangerous, springing upon his prey from a log
or branch, and even darting through the fire of the
bivouac upon the hunter himself, who then takes to
his knife. He said it was a good plan to put the
entrails of a bear near the lodge at night to " com-
pliment " any panther that might be prowling nigh,
a piece of politeness that no doubt would appear
very refined to poor Bruin, if he could be made to
understand it.

But the most interesting hunter's story I have ever
heard was told me by our host, Mr. Percival, who
has followed the forest chase from his youth. In
1807 he was on a trapping expedition with two com-
panions on the Washita, when they left him to kill
buffalo, bear, and the larger game; and he remained
to trap the streams for beaver. He had not met
with very good success, and had been without meat
about twenty-four hours, when, turning a small
bend of the river, he espied a noble-looking old male
buffalo lying down on the beach. Having secured
his canoe, he crept softly through a corn-brake,
which lay between the animal and himself, and
fired. The shot was an indifferent one, and only
wounded the animal in the side, but it roused him,
and having crossed the river he soon laid down
again. This was about noon, when the animal,
having grazed, was resting himself in a cool place.
Percival now crossed the river also in his canoe, and
got into the woods, which were there very open,126

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxx.

and somewhat broken by little patches of prairie
land, a very frequent occurrence in these parts of
Arkansas, where forest and prairie often seem to be
contending for the mastery. But the bull being sus-
picious, rose before the hunter came near enough to
him, and took to the open woods. Percival was an
experienced hunter; he had killed several hundred
buffaloes, and knew their tempers in every sort
of situation. He knew that the animal, when
in large herds, was easily mastered, and was well
aware that when alone he was sometimes dogged
and even dangerous; he therefore followed his
prey cautiously for about a mile, knowing that
he would lie down again ere long. The buffalo
now stopped, and Percival got within fifty yards
of him, watching an opportunity to strike him
mortally; but the beast, seeing his enemy so near,
wheeled completely round, put his huge shaggy
head close to the ground before his fore feet, as is
their custom when they attack each other, and
rapidly advanced upon the hunter, who instantly
fired, and put his ball through the bull's nose;
but seeing the temper the beast was in, and
knowing what a serious antagonist he was when
on the offensive, he also immediately turned
and fled.

In running down a short hill some briars threw
him down, and he dropped his gun. There was a tree
not far from him of about eighteen inches diameter,
and every thing seemed to depend upon his reachingCHAP, XXX.]

BUFFALO-HUNTING.

127

it; but as he rose to make a push for it, the buffalo
struck him on the fleshy part of the hip with his
horn, and slightly wounded him. Before the beast,
however, could wheel round upon him again, he
gained the tree, upon which all the chance he had
of preserving his life rested. A very few feet from
this tree grew a sapling, about four or five inches in
diameter, a most fortunate circumstance for the
hunter, as it contributed materially to save his life.
The buffalo now doggedly followed up his purpose
of destroying his adversary, and a system of attack
and defence commenced that, perhaps, is without a
parallel. The buffalo went round and round the
tree pursuing the man, jumping at him in the pe-
culiar manner of that animal, every time he thought
there was a chance of hitting him ; whilst Percival,
grasping the tree with his arms, swung himself
round it with greater rapidity than the animal could
follow him. In this manner the buffalo harassed
him more than four hours, until his hands became
so sore with rubbing against the rough bark of the
oak tree, and his limbs so fatigued, that he began
to be disheartened.

In going round the tree, the buffalo would some-
times pass between it and the sapling; but the dis-
tance between them was so narrow, that it incon-
venienced him, especially when he wanted to make
his jumps : he therefore frequently went round the
sapling instead of going inside of it. The time thus
consumed was precious to Percival; it enabled him128	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chaivxxx.

to breathe, and to consider how he should defend
himself.

After so many hours' fruitless labour, the bull
seemed to have lost his pristine vigour, and became
slower in his motions: he would now make his short
start, preparatory to his jump, only at intervals; and
even then he jumped doubtingly, as if he saw that
Percival would avoid his blow by swinging to the
other side. It was evident he was baffled, and was
considering what he should do. Still continuing
in his course round the tree, but in this slow manner,
he at length made an extraordinary feint that does
honour to the reasoning powers of the buffalo family.
He made his little start as usual, and when Percival
swung himself round, the bull, instead of aiming his
blow in the direction he had been accustomed to do,
suddenly turned to that side of the tree where Per-
cival would be brought when he had swung himself
round, and struck with all his might. The feint
had almost succeeded : Percival only just saved his
head, and received a severe contusion on his arm,
which was paralyzed for an instant. He now began
to despair of saving his life, his limbs trembled
under him, he thought the buffalo would wear him
out, and it was so inexpressibly painful to him to
carry on this singular defence, that at one time he
entertained the idea of leaving the tree, and per-
mitting the animal to destroy him, as a mode of
saving himself from pain and anxiety that were in-
tolerable.chap, xxx.]	BUFFALO-HUNTING.	P29

But the buffalo, just at that time giving decided
symptoms of being as tired as himself, now stopped
for a few minutes, and Percival took courage. Re-
membering that he had his butcher's knife in his
breast he took it out, and began to contrive plans of
offence; and when the bull, having rested awhile,
recommenced his old rounds, Percival took advan-
tage of the slowness of his motions, and using a
great deal of address and management, contrived in
the course of half an hour to stab and cut him in a
dozen different places. The animal now became
weak from loss of blood, and although he continued
to walk round the tree made no more jumps, con-
tenting himself with keeping his head and neck close
to it. This closed the conflict, for it enabled Per-
cival to extend his right arm, and give him two
deadly stabs in the eyes. Nothing could exceed
the frantic rage of the unwieldy animal when he
had lost his sight; he bellowed, he groaned, he
pawed the ground, and gave out every sign of con-
scious ruin and immitigable fury; he leaned against
the sapling for support, and twice knocked himself
down by rushing with his head at the large tree.
The second fall terminated this strange tragic com-
bat, which had now lasted nearly six hours. The
buffalo had not strength to rise, and the con-
queror, stepping up to him, and lifting up his
nigh shoulder, cut all the flesh and ligaments loose,
and turned it over his back. He then, after rest-

VOL. II.	K130

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

[chap. xxx.

ing himself a few minutes, skinned the beast, took
a part of the meat to his canoe, made a fire, broiled
and ate it.

Of the intense anxiety of mind produced in the
hunter by this conflict, an idea may be formed from
the fact that when he joined his companions after a
separation of forty days, they asked why he looked
so pale and emaciated, and inquired " if he had
been down with the fever." He then related to
them his adventure with the buffalo, adding that
from that very evening when he prevailed over the
animal, he had never got any quiet rest; and so
severely had his nervous system been shaken, that as
soon as the occupations of the day were over and he
had lain down to rest, the image of the resolute and
powerful animal always came before him, putting his
life in jeopardy in a thousand ways, and creating in
him such a desperate agitation of mind, that he was
constantly jumping up from the ground to defend
himself; such was his state, that he who had tbeen
formerly proverbial for his daring and resolution,
now trembled with apprehension, even when a
covey of quails unexpectedly flushed before him.
Mr. Percival told me that three months had elapsed
after this adventure before his sleep became tran-
quil, and that, although twenty-seven years had
now passed away, every sudden noise would dis-
concert him, even if it were the crowing of a cock.
Ten years ago he had the curiosity to visit thechap, xxx.]	EFFECTS OF FRIGHT.

131

place where so memorable a passage in his life
occurred, and he found the bark of the tree suffi-
ciently torn and abraded to have identified it, even
if the bones of his ancient adversary had not been
there.

k 2132

travels in america.	[chap. xxxi.

CHAPTER XXXI.

Leave the Hot Springs—Regain the " Military Road," and
cross the Washita—How to drink Coffee made of Acorns—
The Caddo River—Mrs. Barkman, her extraordinary accom-
plishments—A Hunter's House and Family—Tertiary De-
posits—A Travelling Court-house—A Knot of Gamblers—A
Paddy going to Texas.

The preparations for our departure having been
made, we took leave of Mr. Percival and our ac-
quaintances here on the 6th of December. Humble
as the lodgings assigned to ourselves and the hogs
had been, and rude as was our fare, yet nothing
could be more obliging than the conduct of every
body to us. None of the cavalieros of Little Rock
were here, we led very quiet lives, and we left the
place with our sincere good wishes for the welfare
of its inhabitants. On reaching the Gulfer* we

* In June, 1833, when the great rise of the Arkansas took
place, the backwater of the Mississippi pressed upon Red River
and its tributaries so much, that the waters of the Washita
covered all the low country through which the Gulfer flows. I
was informed by some settlers in the neighbourhood that for
near three weeks they were completely isolated; the cows had
to swim backwards and forwards from the uplands where they
grazed to suckle their calves, the lower floors of the cabins
were in the water, and the settlers went to the woods in canoes.CHAP. XXX!.]	FORD THE GULFER.	133

found it very much swelled and too difficult to
cross at the usual ford. We therefore went a little
lower down and sounded with a long pole. The
bank was two feet from the water, and it was evi-
dent that we must either both of us sit in the
waggon and make Missouri drop into the flood,
which was roaring furiously, at the risk of all tum-
bling over together, or one of us must first get into
the river to encourage the horse. My son, there-
fore, went into the stream, and I drove up to the
edge of the bank. Our nag, though very docile,
had not nerve enough for the noise the water made,
and all we could prevail upon him to do was to
slide down with his fore-feet and lie down in the
shafts, leaving me in the waggon on the bank at
the mercy of any of his side-jerks, the least of which
would have overturned the waggon. As this would
most probably have been attended with the loss of
everything we had, 1 felt very anxious; but my son
coaxing him in front and the whip coaxing him
in the rear, he suddenly sprang up, dragged the
waggon into the river, and, taking care to keep
him on the stretch in the shallowest part of the
rapid, we happily succeeded in getting to the oppo-
site bank without breaking anything. Here we
stopped to change our clothes, and then pursued
our journey.

When we had proceeded eight miles from the
Hot Springs, I left the vehicle, and walked about a
mile to take a look at the Washita, which is here a134	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxxi.

broad muddy stream flowing over the slate through
a very picturesque country. Four miles farther on,
in attempting to cross another stream near one
Turner's, we fairly upset our concern amongst the
hidden rocks, but happily broke nothing, though it
took us some time to make a fire and put our per-
sons into a comfortable state again. The traveller
upon an excursion of this kind finds it the greatest
of all evils to be put hors de combat as to proceeding
on. As long as everything is new he is delighted;
but he has to endure so much privation when un-
expectedly detained—perhaps in a wilderness which
presents no novelty—that he is ready to bear any
inconvenience rather than remain stationary.

In the evening we took up our old quarters at
Mrs. Conway's, in Magnet Cove, who received us
in a very friendly manner. When we rose in the
morning we had the pleasure of meeting her hus-
band, who had arrived during the night, and of
breakfasting with him; after which, having re-
ceived his direction for a short cut to the Washita,
we made our bows, and, going about two miles
through the open pine-woods at the foot of the ex-
terior part of the cove, which was entirely covered
with deciduous trees, got into a track which led us
for eight miles through a wild romantic flinty
country, abounding in knobs and little vales admi-
rably watered. Out of this track we emerged upon
the Military Road, a mile and a half from the ferry
at the Washita. This fine river, at the point wherechap, xxxi.]	CORN-COFFEE.	135

we reached it, is about 200 yards broad, and the
view to the west is very beautiful, a graceful little
island presenting itself in the centre of the stream,
which terminates in a lofty hill of sandstone covered
with pines and oaks. Having crossed the river in a
ferry-boat, we found that the road for a considerable
distance ran parallel with it, and was exceedingly
wet and springy. At the end of four miles we left
this wet ground, and got again upon a sandstone
country with high knolls, and continued on it for
five miles, until we descended into a bottom through
which a stream called Prairie Bayou runs, and
here we stopped at a settler's called Mitchell.

This was one of the most wretched places we had
yet met with in our journey. The supper consisted
of some pieces of dirty-looking fried pork, corn-
bread eight days old, mixed up with lumps of dirt,
and coffee made of burnt acorns and maize; they
had neither milk, sugar, nor butter. Just as we
were sitting down to it two hours after dark, Colonel
Conway rode up: he laughed at our fastidiousness,
and advised us to drink some of the corn-coffee,
which he had often done with success when he
could get nothing else; and he showed us how to
get through the operation, by nipping his nose
with his fingers and swallowing it exactly as if it
had been castor-oil. He left us soon afterwards,
saying that he was obliged to ride the greatest part
of the night to the place where the sale of govern-
ment lands was taking place. We passed a wretched136	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxxi.

night on the hard boards of a sort of barrack, into
which the wind freely entered, and were glad when
morning dawned to creep to the fire.

We now discovered that our waggon was in want
of serious repairs, and that if we advanced any far-
ther with it we should probably break down where
we could obtain no assistance. This was, indeed,
a dilemma, as we had only one horse and no saddle;
upon consultation, however, with our host, he en-
gaged to let us have a horse and an old saddle, and
sent to his next neighbour to borrow another, upon
securing which we determined to leave the waggon
with our trunks as a deposit until we returned the
horse. Our breakfast was in keeping with every-
thing we had found here; so after putting a few
things up in a bag, we started for the Caddo River,
about seventeen miles off. For fourteen miles of
this distance our route lay amongst sandstone hills
and isolated knolls of petro-siliceous matter, many
of which approached in their structure to the nova-
culite of the Hot Springs. The streams were
numerous, and some of them very much swelled.
The Candleberry Myrtle (Myrica cerifera) was
exceedingly abundant on these knolls, amongst
which we had constantly some deer in sight, besides
numerous flocks of well-grown wild turkeys ; these
often came strutting across the road showing their
beautiful glossy plumage to the greatest advantage,
and on perceiving us would take flight with as
strong a wing as the wild-goose, wheeling aroundchap, xxxi.]	THE CADDO RIVER.	137

and then alighting upon the tallest pine trees. It
was altogether a fine wild romantic ride, changing
from broken hills to numerous streams—some of
which were very much swollen—that flowed through
limited bottoms of great fertility.

Three miles before we reached the Caddo, the
country began to descend, and a change soon took
place in the aspect of nature, and of everything
around us. Having crossed the ferry where the
river is about 100 yards wide, we entered upon an
extensive rich bottom of cane-brake, and not long
after came to a no less extraordinary thing than a
brick house, belonging to a person of the name of
Barkman. This man, whose father was a German,
came into the country many years ago in the cha-
racter of a pedlar, and having married the daughter
of one Davis, a famous hunter, settled here, became
a trader, and was now very well to do in the world.
In the mean time old Davis and his sons—all of
whom were brought up without any other school-
master than the rifle—continued their favourite
wandering vocation, looking up to the opulent
Barkman as the great man of the family. Mr.
Barkman we did not see, but I shall certainly not
forget his lady soon, as I have never seen any one,
as far as manners and exterior went, with less preten-
sions to be classed with the feminine gender. All
her accomplishments seemed to me to have a de-
cided leaning the other way. She chewed tobacco,
she smoked a pipe, she drank whiskey, and cursed138	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	|_chap. xxxi.

and swore as heartily as any backwoodsman, all at
the same time; doing quite as much vulgarity aa
four male blackguards could do, and with as much
ease as if she had been an automaton set to do it
with clockwork machinery. She must have been a
person of surprising powers in her youth, for I was
informed that she was now comparatively refined
to what she had been before her marriage; at that
period, so full of interest to a lover, she was com-
monly known by the name of old Davis's " She
Bar."

We had an opportunity of seeing one of her ex-
traordinary brothers, a genuine hunter, dressed in
leather prepared by himself from the skins of ani-
mals he had killed, as he was going with his rifle on
his shoulder, and his dogs, some twenty miles off to
hunt bears. This man, although between thirty and
forty years old, had never been out of this neigh-
bourhood, and had no idea of the world beyond his
own pursuits, and that which he saw going on
around him. His brother-in-law Barkman he con-
sidered to be the first man in the whole country;
people that came from Little Rock he had not a
strong predilection for, not because they were un-
worthy, but because so many lawyers lived there;
the government of the United States he looked upon
with horror, because they sold the lands and broke
up the cane-brakes: but Texas he approved of
highly, saying that he had " heern there was no
sich thing as a government there, and not one var-chap, xxxx.]	A HUNTER'S HOUSE.	139

mint of a lawyer in the hull place." As his house
was not very far from Barkman's, I accompanied this
worthy there to see it, and on our way had a good
deal of curious conversation with him, learning from
him amongst other things that he had " been raised
on fat bar's meat," as all his family had been, and
that he loved it better than anything. The cabin of
this fellow corresponded with his manners, and was
a sort of permanent camping out of doors; the logs
of which it was built were at least six inches apart,
the interstices, without any filling in, staring wide
open; one of the gable ends was entirely wanting,
the roof was only closed at one end, and at the other
some bed clothes were heaped together in a corner
upon a rough floor, and his family, consisting of a
wife and several young children, were warming
themselves at a fire—not in the house, but out of
doors. How they managed during long periods of
cold wet weather may be imagined, but they all
seemed contented, and even cheerful. As to him-
self, he seemed quite indifferent about this alfresco
style of living: his happiness was found only in the
cane-brake, " driving the bars about," as he said,
and sleeping near a good fire. Mrs. Barkman, not-
withstanding her habits, was not deficient in good
nature to us: they had killed a young steer the
day before our arrival, and a dish of fat boiled ribs
was set before us, with good bread, of which we
made an excellent meal, having been without food140	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxxt.

ever since we left Mrs. Conway's the morning
before.

This place is the site of an ancient village of the
Caddo Indians; a large mound with trees growing on
it, and other indications of their residence, still exist
there; and a sweet sequestered situation it must have
been to them, for the river contains good fish, the
country abounds in game, and the sandstone, with
its pines, is here exchanged for a loose soil of the
greatest fertility, and deciduous trees peculiar to
these latitudes. On sallying out, after our good
cheer, we were exceedingly pleased with the scene
around us; the sun was shining brilliantly, flocks
of parroquets were wheeling and screaming around,
and the trumpet tone of the ivory-billed woodpecker
was frequently heard.

On examining the bed of the Caddo, I found
it consisted of tertiary limestone, exactly the same
as that I had seen at Little Rock, and procured
some good specimens of turritella and other fossils.
The Caddo empties into the Washita, two miles
below Barkman's, and about four miles farther
down I was informed there were some salt wells
from which he annually makes a good deal of salt.
The wells are dug through a black soil, but whether
the brine comes through a lower rock, or they have
had to bore into one, no one could explain to me:
the process of making it, however, seems to be a
very rough one, and the salt produced is dirty andCHA-P. XXXI.]

CRITTENDEN.

141

imperfect. From the account they gave me, the
brine in the wells is so diluted with the water from
the Washita, that it takes 150 gallons of water to
make one bushel of bad salt. There is also said to
be gypsum about six miles off, near one Williams's,
in the " rotten limestone" which they said overlaid
the whole country.

From Barkman's we proceeded to the Tournois
Creek, said to be 15 miles off, always upon flat
good land, occasionally sandy, with heavy beds of
a bluish green calcareous clay in all the ravines;
and from the description I obtained of the country
farther to the south, I thought it probable we
should keep upon the tertiary beds all the way to
the Mexican frontier. We found no fossils nor
casts of shells in the blue clay, which strongly re-
sembles some of the beds extending from Richmond,
in Virginia, down to Shirley, on James River, where
the clay contains lumps of calcareous matter with
traces of sulphate of lime. We crossed several
large creeks during the afternoon, and at night put
up at a famous hunter's called Hignite, who lived
in a solitary log cabin that had once been the court-
house for the county of Clark. From the conspicu-'
ous manner in which the word " Crittenden " ap-
peared upon our maps as the principal county town,
I had formed some slight expectations of seeing
something a little out of the way, and of getting
some sort of lodgings for a day or two to look at the142

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxxi.

country: all this afternoon we had been expecting to
arrive at Crittenden in vain, and indeed thought of
inquiring at an old cabin we passed, how far it was
ahead of us, but not wishing to lose time, we drove
on until we came to Hignite's. Our first question
was, " How far is it to Crittenden ? " The answer
we received was, that the old cabin we had passed
five miles back was Crittenden, that it had been
once at his house, but that he believed it was going
to be at Greenville. Finding that Crittenden, like
the house of Loretto, was a non-resident, we deter-
mined to stop where we were, especially when we
found we were at a hunter's whose name had al-
ready reached us.

This bandying about of court-houses is insepa-
rable from such a state of the settlements in this
new country as requires some administration of
law. The counties are ten times as large as they
are eventually destined to be, and everything is a
matter of expediency until population fills up the
space a little. Before there are any county towns
or court-houses, the cabin of some settler is made
temporarily the court-house, which is changed from
place to place to accommodate those at a distance;
and as the population increases, new counties are
set off from the old one, into territories sufficiently
compact to constitute a county where every man
can live contentedly, bearing his share of the taxes
and the public duties.CHAP. XXXI.]

MR. TTJNSTALL.

143

On entering Hignite's we found several sports-
men there—not powder-and-shot sportsmen, but
knights of the faro and rouge et noir tables. The
principal person was the Mr. Tunstall whose house
we had passed a little south of White River. My
host, old Meriwether, had let us a little into his
character, which had been confirmed to me by
others. He was said to be a very enterprising man,
to possess some property, but to indulge excessively
in horse-racing and cards. We had heard also that
he generally travelled with some persons who passed
for travellers like himself, but who, in fact, were in
his pay, for the purpose of inciting others to play
and to procure him bets. The moment, therefore,
our host told me that " Tunstall was in his house,"
I was fully prepared for the scene that followed.

Whilst supper was preparing, Mr. Tunstall en-
tered into conversation with me, stating tha't he had
been at some races where the sale for government
lands on Red River was in progress, but that it
" was dull times," for people seemed to be thinking
of nothing but going to Texas. His conversation
was sensible and entertaining, and he evidently
wanted to inspire me with a favourable opinion of
himself: the other men in the house kept themselves
silent, and appeared to know as little about him
as they did about us. This was rather over-acting
their part, and I began to suspect their intentions.
As soon as we had supped, and drew near to the
fire, one of the company, who had all the marks of144	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxxi.

a broken-down swell about him, went to a box, and
taking out some cards, laid them very artistically
down on the table. Upon which, after awhile, two
others went to the table, one of them saying in a
drawling tone, "I reckon I'll take a hand." But
Mr. Tunstall seeing that we did not even look at the
party, remained with us at the fire, and it was
some time before he turned to me, and in a very
winning manner said, " Well, I don't care if I take
a hand, if you do." I told Mr. Tunstall that we
were both very much fatigued, and should go to
bed as soon as we knew where we were to sleep.
One of the fellows at the table now said, " Mister,
if you prefar roulette, I '11 take one out of the box
what I 've got here." Tunstall, perceiving that this
was letting the cat out of the bag too early, said no
more to me about playing, but sat down to faro
with the rest, and they all pretended to be playing
very earnestly. They had not played off, however,
their last coup upon me, and in about a quarter of
an hour Mr. Tunstall went to a box belonging to
himself, and took out a runlet containing brandy:
pouring some of it out, he very courteously offered
it to myself and my son. I made him my acknow-
ledgments, but said that we were not in the habit
of drinking brandy or any kind of spirituous liquors;
that we were always happy when we could get
milk, and never wanted anything else. After this
milksop declaration, Mr. Tunstall seemed to think
us worth no further attention; he poured the brandyCHAP, xxxi.]	LOW GAMBLERS.	145

back into the runlet, without offering any to the
other gentlemen travellers, and they put their cards
back again into the box, for it seemed somehow as
if the game could not proceed unless we joined
in it.

Such a coarse trap, and set in such a coarse man-
ner, was fitted for such low gamblers as these, who
have an idea—perhaps justified by their success—
that no man can resist cards and brandy. We
passed the night miserably, stretched on some
wretched boards in the same room with these fel-
lows, but taking especial care of our purses and bag.
The voice and language of one of these men who
was called Smith—perhaps an assumed name—
were those of a northern man; I was, therefore, dis-
posed to believe him when he said he was a New
Yorker : he had a haggard and very unhappy ap-
pearance, with a sinister expression, and seemed
altogether devoted to Mr. Tunstall, in whose base
service perhaps he had consciously reached the
lowest stage of human degradation.

In the morning, these contemptible wretches sat
down at the same table with us to breakfast; their
conversation was infamous, and accorded well with
their degraded condition. They had evidently been
engaged in all sorts of frauds and villanies, and
seemed to glory in their infamy. A kind of wag-
gon, belonging to Tunstall, now came to the door,
with two negro boys belonging to him, who had
acted as jockeys at the races. Into this they all got,

VOL. II.	L146	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap, ^vt:

and Mr. Tunstall—who had pretended the preceding
evening that he was a stranger to the other men—
could not avoid seeing that I was aware he was
the head of a travelling gang of sharpers. A short
time before they drove from the door, a foolish Irish-
man, who was going to Texas, rode up on a neat
sprightly pony that had a great many good points.
Tunstall offered to swap a huge raw-boned animal,
which one of his negro boys rode, for this pony,
telling the Irishman " it was worth three times
as much, but he somehow liked the appearance
of the pony." Taking Paddy into the house, they
plied him with brandy until his discretion be-
came endangered by the dimensions of the horse:
it was evident when he came out, that to be
at the top of such "a baste" was running in his
head. Hignite endeavoured to make him prudent,
and told him if his pony was a good one, he had
better stick to him. The poor silly fellow hesitated
for a moment, and just when we were hoping he
would be wise, brandy and ambition got the better
of him, and he said "Well, I'll just take ye at
your word." No time was lost; saddles were ex-
changed, and the gamblers drove off with a horse
laugh. Within twenty minutes after their depar-
ture, the brandy having evaporated a little, Hignite
had perfectly persuaded Paddy that the " big baste"
was foundered all to nothing, and was not worth
more than six dollars. I should certainly have in-
terfered, and perhaps could have prevented thisCHAP. XXXI.]

A NO-GOYEBNMENT MAN.

147

piece of knavery, if I had not found out, by the
conversation of Paddy, that he was a " no-govern-
ment" man, and was sure to do something more
absurd if any body would take the trouble to make
him drunk again.148

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap, xxxir.

CHAPTER XXXII.

Bear-hunting—Approach a subcretaceous Country—Judge Cross
—Disputed Territory betwixt Mexico and the United States—
A Prairie Country and subcretaceous Fossils—General Houston
—Plot to wrest Texas from Mexico—Beauty of the Country.

This morning had been appointed by Hignite, our
host, to go on his great annual bear-hunt; he was a
well-known hunter, and we had found him an honest,
soberly-disposed person. We had witnessed his pre-
parations, and saw with admiration how perfectly
he was prepared to supply all his wants during his
absence, without assistance from any one. His dress
consisted of a hunting jacket and leggings, made
of skins tanned by himself, and secured by strings
formed either of the same materials or the integu-
ments of animals. He had a close cap on made of
skin, a girdle round his waist, in which were stuck
his hatchet and his butcher's knife, and a heavy
rifle weighing sixteen pounds on his shoulder. He
had two pack-horses to carry Indian corn for their
subsistence, some necessary articles for himself, and
to bring back the returns of his hunting. The most
important part of his retinue consisted of eight
dogs, which he valued very highly, especially theCHAP. XXXII.]

BEAE-HTJNTING.

149

old ones, on account of their great sagacity and pru-
dence. This kind of sport is so captivating that we
would willingly have accompanied him, if it would
not have occasioned such a deviation from our
plans, and have taken up so much time. As Hig-
nite was going part of our road, I was, therefore,
obliged to content myself with drawing from him
a detailed account of the nature of one of these ex-
peditions.

The Washita, in its course to the south-east to
join Red River, has in many places an immense
margin of cane-brakes, six or more miles broad on
each side, and which, before it reaches the point of
junction, are of much greater magnitude. These
rich bottoms, which are covered with stout-jointed
canes twenty feet high, as thick as they can stand,
can never be reclaimed until a system of levees or
embankments is established to keep them from being
inundated. Into these brakes the bears (Ursus
Americanus), being now excessively fat with the
mast they have been living upon the whole autumn,
retire in the month of December, making huge beds
for themselves of the cane, and lying there four or
five months. The hunters, however, assert that in
this climate that animal does not doze away the
whole of this long period, but that he walks out in
fine weather, although he does not eat. Some of
them had ceased to eat even when I was on the
Caddo, for Mrs. Barkman's brother told me that he
had killed a barren she-bear with clean intestines,150	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap, xxxii.

and that he knew thereby that the season had arrived
for their going into the cane-brakes.

When the hunter arrives near the scene of his
operations, and has fixed his camp, he generally first
tries the higher woodlands in the neighbourhood of
the brakes, not far from some place where a hurricane
has uprooted the trees, and where brambles, shrubs,
and other plants are growing amongst them, these
being situations which the bears love to resort to.
Having collected wood for fuel, he makes a lodge
with poles and bushes sufficient to keep the weather
out, hopples his horses to prevent their straying far,
and puts a bell round the neck of one of them.
Being perfectly prepared he enters upon his ground,
the breeze comes tainted with the scent, the dogs
holding up their heads snuff it in, and the old ones
warily take the lead. They find Master Bruin,
ponderous with acorns, more disposed to lie still
than to run; but the hunter, soon hearing by the
voices of his dogs that they are closely engaged,
hurries on. He finds the angry brute hastening
away from his assailants, after perhaps putting more
than one of the young ones hors de combat; but
the old dogs seize him by the haunch behind, and
leave and head him the moment he turns round to
avenge himself. His enemies now encircle him;
wherever his rear is, it is sure to be bit: he can no
longer fly, and furious with rage he dashes at the
most forward, seizes him, grasps him with his mus-
cular fore-paw, gives him the fraternal hug, andchap, xxxii.]	THE LITTLE MISSOURI.	151

finishes him sometimes by applying his powerful
tusks. The rest of the dogs now throw him down,
jump upon him, and the hunter, to save his dogs
from being killed, watches his moment, goes rapidly
behind the bear, grasps a handful of his fur with
his left hand to prevent his turning to bite him, and
" sarves him home" with his sharp butcher's knife.
After a short struggle, the beast dies.

At other times the hunter waits until the dogs
have got him into a good position, and lodges a
rifle-ball under his fore-arm. The bears are imme-
diately skinned, and the fleece, consisting of the
lard from which the oil is extracted, is secured.
The lean parts are kept for the dogs, and the hunter
himself if he likes them, every thing being se-
cured from the wolves by hoisting the meat into
some tree, if the animal has been killed too far from
camp to get it there by daylight. Such is the ac-
count I received from one of the most experienced
bear-hunters, who frequents the brakes of the
Washita.

From Hignite's we pursued our journey in a south-
west direction, over good bottom land, with a great
abundance of holly and laurel growing in every
direction, occasionally coming upon hills of mode-
rate elevation of sandstone, with pine trees, all the
streams being transparent, and having gravelly
bottoms. At the end of a ride of eighteen miles
the country descended again, and we perceived that
we were approaching the Little Missouri, a consi-152	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap, xxxii.

derable stream which rises to the N.W., empties into
the Washita, and has received its name from its
waters being of a dusky red muddy colour, like
those of the great Missouri.

We crossed the river in a ferry boat, the waters
being high, and then entered upon a close low
bottom, densely covered with cane, laurel, holly,
and swamp timber of every kind, which lasted for
three miles. It was intersected by numerous bayous,
over which, it being the military road, nine bridges
had been erected, five of which were impassable
owing to the greater part of the thick planks, which
formed their floors, not having been secured by
pegs or tree-nails, so that they had floated away the
very first inundation. It was evident that this had
been purposely neglected by the contractors who
built the bridges, that they might make a second
job out of it. In this, however, they appear to have
been disappointed, and the consequence has been,
that the persons who have emigrated to Texas by
this route have taken that part of the flooring off"
which remained, and put it in the shallowest part of
the bayous, to enable them to cross the bayous in
safety with their heavy waggons. Thus have the
provident cares of the United States government
been frustrated, travellers placed in great danger,
and a state of things produced which in a short
time will render this route impracticable; for al-
though this military road, opened at so great an
expense by the government, has been made thechap, xxxii.]	A FOUNDERED HORSE.	153

county road in the counties it passes through, the
overseers of the road pay no attention to it, and far
from repairing the floors of the bridges, will not
even cut a tree out when one falls across the road.
This low bottom lasted three miles, and on emerging
from it, the country began to rise a little again. As
we advanced, a new kind of soil appeared of a sin-
gularly waxy nature, and a dark black carbonaceous
colour, such as I had not seen before, except on the
surface of the travertin, at the hot springs, where
it abounds; and here the soil was like that, accom-
panied with a profusion of dead land shells.

Late in the afternoon we made the unpleasant
discovery that the horse we had obtained of our host,
Mitchell, was foundered, and that it would be im-
possible to proceed on with him. This was rather
a distressing affair, for he was a dead weight upon
our hands, and the farther we went with him, the
greater would be our difficulty in returning him to
his owner. His lameness, too, was evidently chronic;
so that, in fact, we had no security whatever for
our waggon and luggage, which was not a pleasant
reflection. After some deliberation, my son pro-
posed returning with him, and letting me pro-
ceed on, trusting to be able to make some other
arrangement to join me again. Mitchell, too,
having told him that he was going out on a
panther hunt to a place frequented by several of
these animals, he was not sorry to have an oppor-
tunity of accompanying him, as he had a strong154

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

[chap. xxxii.

desire to see a little of that kind of sport before we
left this part of the country; so after sharing each
other's privations and being most faithful and in-
separable companions to each other for four months,
we shook hands. My son, with his rifle on his
shoulder, and leading the lame horse, took one way,
and I the other.

After riding about seven miles through a pretty
good country, I turned off to the left to a gentle-
man's of the name of Judge Cross, to whom I had
a letter of introduction. He was a judge under the
United States government, and had federal jurisdic-
tion as far as the Mexican frontier. The house was
on a knoll about half a mile from the road, and I
reached it a little after dark.

Fastening my horse to a paling which surrounded
a neat-looking wooden house, built upon the double
cabin plan, I entered the courtyard, and then the
open space that separates the two cabins. There
was a cheerful light in the room to the right, and,
knocking at the door with a pilgrim's feeling, I
modestly entered a neat parlour, and saw a lady
and two gentlemen sitting near a blazing fire.
Pleasing as the aspect of all this was, that which
really astonished me was a piece of furniture my
wondering eyes could scarce give credit to—a real
carpet. I now felt doubly full of respect for every-
body and everything, and, without venturing to
intrude upon the carpet, I inquired if the Judge
was at home. Upon this a gentlemanly-lookingCHAP. XXXII.]

JUDGE CROSS.

155

person, about thirty-five years old, rose and said he
was Judge Cross. I now presented my letter, which
being read, the most unaffected kind reception was
given to me, and in five minutes I had the satisfac-
tion of knowing my good horse Missouri was taken
care of, and of forming one of the family circle.
Mrs. Cross was a lady-like and agreeable woman,
full of the most amiable attentions to me. The
supper was excellent, and the evening was con-
cluded by a very instructive conversation I had
with the Judge on the geography of the country,
its mineral resources, and the movements which for
some time I had not been able to shut my eyes
upon, in relation to the Mexican province of Texas.

The Judge informed me that his jurisdiction ex-
tended far to the west, near 200 miles, and even
across Red River; for although by a treaty between
Mexico and the United States the boundary betwixt
the two countries was settled to be by a north line
to Red River, from where the 32nd degree of N. lat.
intersects the Sabine River, yet, to the astonishment
of the Mexicans, a pretension was set up by the Ame-
rican speculators that the river—which from time
immemorial had been known as the Sabine, there
never having been any other stream which bore that
name—was not the Sabine, but that in fact another
stream lying farther to the west, and which was
known by the name of JVeches, was the true Sabine.
Unfortunately for this pretension, the 32nd degree
did not intersect this Neches ; but as the claim had156

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

[chap. xxxii*

been asserted, this was deemed of no consequence
by the speculators, so the territory involved in the
dispute fell under the jurisdiction of Judge Cross
until the dispute was adjusted ; for the land being
valuable, American settlers had flocked into it, and
there he was obliged to go to administer justice,
traversing the wilderness alone, swimming the
rivers upon his horse, and picking up his jurymen
here and there, as he went along, to try his causes.
I was glad of an opportunity of asking so intelligent
a person, and who was so well acquainted with
everything that was going on around him, how so
preposterous a claim as that of carrying American
jurisdiction into an acknowledged part of a neigh-
bouring republic could be supported; but I soon
found that he was too prudent to say anything to a
stranger about the merits of the case, and that he
rather seemed to consider the dispute decided by
the fact of American citizens having taken posses-
sion of the territory. I could perceive that this
gentleman, who appeared in everything else to be a
man of candour, entertained, in common with his
countrymen, the -opinion that the United States
were always in the right, and that all countries that
differed with them were necessarily in the wrong.

When the hour for retiring arrived, I was con-
ducted to a bed-room, where I found a good fire,
nicely plastered walls, and not a space in any part
of them through which you could put your head to
see what it was the hogs were making such a noiseCHAP. XXXII.]

GOOD QUARTERS.

157

about. The bed looked nice and clean, but there
was one thing I did not like about it, and that was
a pillow too much, for there were two on the bol-
ster. And there was something else in the room I
liked still less, in the form of a not very agreeable-
looking person, exceedingly out of health, who took
his seat near the fire after the Judge had retired,
and whose attitude created a strong suspicion and
misgiving in me that he had a deliberate intention
of laying his long thin head upon one of the pillows,
a privilege he was at least as much entitled as my-
self to exercise, being the Judge's brother. I was
contriving various plans how to avoid this unwel-
come association, when he suddenly relieved my
anxiety by bidding me good night and leaving the
room.

Of all the distressing situations in which I could
be placed, the keenest of all would be to be com-
pelled to pass the night on the same bed with
another man, and that man a stranger, a tobacco
eater, and perpetual expectorator. Much as I
dreaded my worthy friend whilst these fears were
operating upon me, I felt quite amiably disposed
towards him as soon as he had left the room, and
approached the bed and examined it. Certainly
never did man feel more delighted at drawing the
highest prize in the lottery than I did at beholding
two fine white linen sheets, it being the first time I
had seen such a phenomenon for several months.
Having satisfied myself that I was to have the un-158

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[CHAP, xxxii.

disputed possession of this luxury and performed
my rapid ablutions, I hastened to the perfect enjoy-
ment of all this comfort that the kind Mrs. Cross
had provided for me.

As soon as the dawn appeared—and the first ray
of light always awakens me as if some foreign body
impinged upon my eyes—I rose and dressed myself,
and, being perfectly refreshed with a sweet night's
rest, walked out to look at one of the most lovely
countries I had ever seen. Everything had become
changed since the preceding day, the sandstone and
its constant concomitants the pine-trees had been
left behind, and I had now got to a fine gentle un-
dulating country, usually called rolling here, which
appeared to consist of a chain of prairies running
westward and parallel with Red River for a great
distance, until the whole country becomes one vast
prairie, devoid of trees, except those which grow
immediately upon the water-courses. Some of these
prairies were mere bald spots of half an acre and
more, whilst others contained several hundred acres,
in every instance surrounded with a belt of timber
and plants peculiar to the country.

It seemed doubtful from the first superficial ex-
amination whether the trees were gradually gaining
upon the prairies or those upon the forest. The
woods and the copses where Judge Cross had
erected his neat cabin were very lovely, and there
were from thirty to fifty acres of land attached to
the house without being disfigured by the coarsechap; xxxii.] STJBCRETACEOTJS DEPOSITS.	159

stumps of American clearings. I was gratified to
find also that the whole soil consisted of the same
dark waxy substance I had passed the preceding
day; it was as black as charred wood, and had a
much more inky colour than the rich vegetable
mould usually found in low grounds, although it
was mild to the taste, and did not appear to owe its
colour to sulphate of iron, which is always more or
less astringent, especially in the black clayey earths
of New Jersey and other portions of the Atlantic
coast. On stooping down to examine the soil in a
small corn-field, I perceived it abounded with fine
specimens of helices, and whilst I was gathering
these I saw fragments of the large thick shells of
Gryphaea convexa; in the course of half an hour I
had collected besides these some perfect shells of
Exogyra costata, both valves adhering, and which
had never been disturbed. Returning to the house,
I procured a spade and a negro to assist me, and
digging in a low part where a stream had worn a
channel in the soil, I found reasons to believe that
this portion of the country which had the quasi
prairie character, was bottomed upon immense beds
of rotten limestone, probably derived from the testa-
ceous remains of the mollusca I have named, since
entire shells in a soft state are found embedded in
the limestone. These mollusca are the character-
istic fossils of the subcretaceous * deposits of Mon-

* The term " subcretaceous" is here used in reference to
the order of the geological strata in England, chalk, in place*160	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[CHAP, xxxii.

mouth in New Jersey, which are most probably
contemporaneous with these in the southern parts
of Arkansas.

At breakfast, having turned the conversation
upon the fossils which were in such abundance
here, the Judge informed me that his corn-field
whence I had taken the shells was part of a natural
prairie, one of an immense number that extended
to the west; and that he believed, from the personal
observations he had made, that the black land of
which all these prairies consisted, and which in a
rainy time was so waxy that it was difficult to walk
or stir in it, was about five miles in breadth, and
extended an immense distance. This exceedingly
increased my desire to see more of this southern
country in company with the Judge; so after break-
fast he very obligingly mounted his horse, and we
made an agreeable excursion in the neighbourhood,
calling for a short time at the little insignificant
wooden village of Washington, where the govern-
ment land-sales were holding.

not haying yet been seen in America. But as the Gryphaea
convexa and Exogyra costata are identically the same in Ar-
kansas as those found in the New Jersey deposits, and as these
conform as to succession to the order of deposit of the English
beds, and contain numerous molluscous and vertebrated fossils
bearing undoubted generic relations to the fossils of the subcre-
taceous beds in England, I conceive myself justified in applying
this term as an equivalent, especially as I am of opinion that
there is not a stratum of any kind in North America which does
not more or less add to the proofs of a co-existent order of
succession.CHAP. XXXlI.]

GENERAL HOUSTON.

m

I was not desirous of remaining long at this
place. General Houston was here, leading a mys-
terious sort of life, shut up in a small tavern, seeing
nobody by day and sitting up all night. The world
gave him credit for passing these his waking hours
in the study of trente et quarante and sept a lever ;
but I had been in communication with too many
persons of late, and had seen too much passing*
before my eyes, to be ignorant that this little place
was the rendezvous -where a much deeper game
than faro or rouge-et-noir was playiug. There were
many persons at this time in the village from the
States lying adjacent to the Mississippi, under the
pretence of purchasing government lands, but whose
real object was to encourage the settlers in Texas to
throw off their allegiance to the Mexican govern-
ment. Many of these individuals were personally
acquainted with me; they knew I was not with
them, and would naturally conclude I was against
them. Having nothing whatever in common with
their plans, and no inclination to forward or oppose
them, I perceived that the longer I staid the more
they would find reason to suppose I was a spy upon
their actions, and as soon as the Judge had spoken
to a few of his friends we came away.

On our way back, in crossing the zone of black
land, we invariably found grypheous valves, some-
times profusely scattered around with their opercula
separated from them, and at other times with their
valves closed and a small quantity of calcareous

VOL. II.	M162	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxxii.

matter lying upon the place of the muscular attach-
ment, which the Judge said his negroes called
" petrified oysters." Sometimes, in low situations,
the black earth gave place to a deep red marie of
great fertility, but in this marie I never perceived
any shells, and upon considering the situations in
which it lay, I saw that it must have been depo-
sited there by fresh water that had passed over
these low places posterior to the abandonment by
the sea of the subcretaceous beds. The shells inva-
riably seemed to be most perfect and abundant on
the highest part of the knolls on the prairie land,
probably from the land draining sooner there and
the shells being consequently kept drier. The fer-
tility of the soils in this part of the country renders
them eminently fitted for cotton, which, as I had
many opportunities of observing, succeeds extremely
well: the staple is fine, and the produce in good
seasons reaches from 1500 to 2000 lbs. of cotton in
the seed to the acre. Wheat has not yet been fairly
tried, but the few experimental essays which have
been made are encouraging. Indian corn yields
from 40 to 60 bushels to the acre. I was told,
however, that if these plants were cultivated where
the black earth had been very much washed from
the subjacent limestone, they pined in dry seasons,
the leaves drying up and the stalks gradually dying.
In moderately wet seasons this is not the case, the
maize then does very well, and cotton does not
require so much moisture.CHAP, xxxii.] crab-apple-bois d'arc.

163

Take it altogether, this is a very lovely and de-
sirable country; picturesque prairies, charming
woods, and lively streams abound everywhere.
Amongst other plants I remarked the Crab-Apple
(Malus eoronaria) and the Bois d'Arc (Madura
aurantiaca) : the former is in prodigious abundance,
and attains an orchard-like growth, some of the
trees being twenty feet high and ten inches in dia-
meter, and in the season of blossoms are said to
scent the whole country around. The Bois d'Arc,
or bow-wood, with its orange-like fruit and leaf,
also flourishes here, but is more rare; its wood is
of a beautiful yellow colour, something resembling
the sumac, and of it the Indians make their best
bows, from which it has its trivial name.

m 2164

travels in america, [chap, xxxiii.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

Probable origin of Prairies—Land most attractive when to be
obtained without paying for—Mr. Prior—Great abuse of the
Government Land Sales—An Oasis in the Wilderness—Con-
trast between the educated and uneducated Classes—Two
patriotic Members of the Sovereign People.

In regard to the origin of prairies, an opinion has
been expressed by Mr. Jefferson and others, that all
prairies have been produced by the Indian practice
of firing the herbage annually, and thus eventually
destroying the grown timber as well as inferior
plants. This cause would certainly seem to be a
sufficient one in those districts upon which no other
could apparently operate; but the geological phe-
nomena of this part of the country suggest, perhaps,
a more probable reason why such extensive areas of
country should be without trees. The surface pre-
sents broken-down marine shelly matter, accumu-
lated into local beds and extensive hill deposits, after
the manner in which we know the oyster and some
other testaceous families accumulate their shells in
recent times; and the general irregularity of the
surface is not dissimilar to that which is presented
by soundings made upon many marine coasts. Thesechap, xxxm.] PROBABLE ORIGIN OF PRAIRIES.	165

accumulations are more or less covered with a
vegeto-animal deposit, probably derived from fuci,
algae, molluscee, and other vegetable and animal
products of the ocean, that by the constantly acting
power of the elements has been partially removed,
and carried by rains towards the lowlands and
streams. Hence this covering, which originally
had been equally deposited, is now diminished in
some places and thickened in others.

These characteristics of the prairie country, as
far as this particular zone of prairies is concerned,
are common to a vast extent of country. East-
wards from hence, the zone extends from 33° 40'
to 32° 30' N. lat., in the State of Alabama, where
wells have been dug 500 feet deep through this
rotten limestone into slate with quartzose veins; and
throughout this extended line,—all of which I have
personally examined,—the characteristic shells of this
subcretaceous formation have been found. In my
cabinet I possess gryphaea, exogyra, and other fossils
from localities far up the False Washita,—one of
the most important forks of Red River,—from the
Kiamesha, 200 miles farther east; from the state of
Mississippi, from the Prairie Bluffs in the state of
Alabama, and from the state of New Jersey; all of
them identical with those found in this part of Ar-
kansas. We are warranted, therefore, in consider-
ing this zone of prairies as part of an ancient floor of
the ocean, and may reasonably expect, when further
investigations shall have been made, to trace the166	TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap. xxxm.

littoral bounds of the North American sea during
the subcretaceous and tertiary periods, parts of
which are now clearly marked by all the unequivo-
cal circumstances which I have described.

When the ocean abandoned these areas, they were
of course without plants. Now, by whatever method
plants begin first to take possession of the soil, whe-
ther by spontaneous growth or by the agency of
seeds transported thither, they are, where the vegeta-
ble matter is thin and the season unfavourable, liable
to perish; and even where they are not thus ex-
posed it is to be remembered that these prairies
were over-run, as the more distant western prairies
still are, with countless herds of roaming buffaloes,
which, by their periodical occupation of the country,
would assist in exterminating all young plants and
plants of a vigorless constitution. These may be
enumerated amongst the efficient causes of a prairie
or meadow state of extensive tracts of country, a
view of the subject which is somewhat strengthened
by the admitted fact of plants in modern times en-
croaching on the prairies; for it is observed, that
they now begin to flourish where vegetable matter
has accumulated, being secured from the devastat-
ing teeth and hoofs of the buffalo, all of which have
left this part of the country, for where man settles
that animal never remains long.

The singular contrast too betwixt so many prairie
tracts without plants, and those dense and intermin-
able forests which cover so large a portion of thechap, xxxiii.] PROBABLE ORIGIN OP PRAIRIES.	167

continent of North America, is to be accounted for
by geological causes. With the exception of the
tertiary and subcretaceous areas referred to, the
other mineral formations in North America appear
not to rise higher in the geological column than
the beds of the carboniferous series, the entire oolitic
series being deficient; and when we consider the
immense period of time that must have intervened
betwixt the deposit of the coal series and the sub-
cretaceous beds, we find no difficulty in supposing
that when the ocean retired from these last and
they became terra firma, the dry land which had
preceded them was in the forest state. Unless,
therefore, we call to our aid spontaneous growth, we
have only to choose betwixt prairies destined to
remain for ever without plants, or prairies slowly
filling up with plants derived from the seeds of those
forests which clothed the more ancient formations.
The borders of the prairies would be planted first,
and thus we can conceive of every new generation
of plants giving some of its seeds—their structure
being eminently fitted for so great a purpose—to the
winds and the waters, and gradually extending the
forests; as the present members of the human
family who now possess the land send forth their
generations to advance upon and settle the country
for the uses of posterity.

This seems a more natural and just method of
accounting for the immense prairies of the west, and
the pampas of the southern portion of the American168

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxxin.

continent, than conjectural opinions founded on a
convenient method adopted by the Indians to secure
their game ; a method which they have successfully
practised at all times, to burn the cane and high
grass in thfe upland forests, and which has some-
what thinned but has not destroyed them, as we see
from the state of the more open woods in Virginia,
Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Missouri, and Ar-
kansas; where, now that the Indians have aban-
doned the country, the undergrowth is rapidly occu-
pying the ground again. It therefore appears to
me that those prairies, instead of having been de-
nuded by fire, have never, since the ocean abandoned
them, been covered by any vegetables of greater im-
portance than the gramina.

Fertile and beautiful as the country is where
Judge Cross resides, it is singular, that although it
is one of the most salubrious parts of Arkansas, and
enjoys such a temperate climate, yet American citi-
zens from great distances are constantly traversing
it, amidst all sorts of privations and difficulties, to
seek a precarious existence in the unknown lands
of Texas. Hundreds of thousands of acres of the
very first quality, and which they could obtain at
the insignificant price established by law of a dollar
and a quarter an acre, are passed by as if they did
not deserve their attention. Put in motion by the
insidious arts of the unprincipled adventurers who
have for a long period contemplated this great rob-
bery of the Mexican government, and their cupiditychap, xxxm.] VILLAGE OF WASHINGTON.	169

awakened by the vision of magnificent farms to be
obtained for nothing, they hasten on to a country
possessing fewer advantages, little suspecting that
they are but tools employed by their tempters to de-
fend the plunder these have in contemplation. I
never meet with waggons filled with these Texas
emigrants, without looking upon the men as victims
and the women and children as widows and orphans.

Having taken leave of the respectable family by
whom I had been so agreeably entertained, I pur-
sued my road to Red River, and after proceeding
three miles came upon a barren sand which lasted
all the way to the village of Washington, a miserable
affair, built on a dry scorching sand-hill, and which
has no resource or attraction whatever. On my pre-
vious visit here I had been made acquainted with a
Mr. Prior, a Virginian, who had moved into the
neighbourhood of Red River about three years be-
fore, and had established a cotton plantation in
Texas; but as it was very unhealthy in the autumn
on account of malaria, he had built a cabin on the
uplands in Arkansas, as a place of refuge for his
family. I had the good fortune to meet Mr. Prior
again whilst my horse was feeding, and finding that
I was going in the direction of his cabin, he said
that, as he was returning home, he should be happy
to accompany me, and give me lodgings for the
night. Gladly accepting this offer, we left the
village together, and I soon discovered that my
companion was a gentlemanly and intelligent per-170	TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxxiii.

son, and wide awake to everything that was pass-
ing around him. During our ride, that absorbing
topic in this part of the world, the proceedings of
the land speculators, was of course adverted to.

The passion for speculation in almost every part
of this country is singularly absorbing, but is
intelligible enough. As there is no rank in the
United States except official rank, all those who
are excluded from it are theoretically upon an
equality; but this is a very different thing from
practical equality, which seems to be beyond the
powers of demonstration. The constitution of a
country may require all men to be equally stupid,
may forbid any man to be of a more lofty nature
than the rest, and may declare that the top and the
bottom are one and the same thing: all these
dogmas may be proclaimed on the 4th of July from
Dan to Beersheba, but will not deter men an in-
stant from endeavouring to surpass each other in
the possession of worldly advantages of every kind.
Whilst these theories are brought forward to flatter
the people, substantial inequality is what every man
in America is engaged in establishing, and this by
the agency of the almighty dollar, a superabundance
of which being a substitute for other virtues, stands
in the place of all distinction. Wealth, therefore,
since it implies virtue of every imaginable kind, must
be had at any cost; and good faith and fair dealing,
both public and private, are not to be permitted to
stand too inconveniently in the way of its acquisition.ch. xxxiii.] GOVERNMENT LAND-SALES.	171

In America, where so many have no objection to
obtain it at this price, there certainly can be no
avenue to its possession so tempting as speculating
in the public lands; for without denying that the
scheme under which thev are sold in detail to the

•J

public is simple, and ostensibly fair for bond fide
purchasers, yet nothing can be more admirably con-
trived to facilitate the proceedings of unprincipled
speculators.

The country which is to be sold is surveyed
into sections, land-offices are established, and a
period is appointed by the highest authority in the
country when a public sale is to be held, and the
sections or their sub-divisions * to be struck off to
the highest bidder: any of the sections, however,
which remain unsold after the sale for want of
bidders, being free to be entered at the minimum
price established by law, of one dollar and a quarter.
Nothing can appear more fair, more moderate, and
more encouraging to the increasing population of
the country than the scheme of this law, which was
enacted by the Congress, with the sanction of many
honourable and unsuspecting individuals. But
what is often the practice under it? The future
settler leaves his family, proceeds perhaps one thou-
sand miles, gets a description of the sections at the
land-office of the district, finds a section that suits
him, builds a cabin upon it, clears a field, plants
corn for the coming winter, and returns to conduct
* A section is one square mile, or 640 acres.J 72	TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxxur.

his family to his future home; there to await—with
the hard dollars prescribed by law for payment of
the land—the time to be appointed for the public
sale, when he hopes to obtain a Government title for
his land, at a price not exceeding one dollar and a
quarter per acre. In the mean time active specu-
lators—who find it convenient to be political par-
tisans—combine with larger views, and form plans
which often materially interfere with the industrious
and unsuspecting settler.

First contriving by a little political management
to place one of their number as principal person
in the land-office of the district to be operated in,
they next make themselves well acquainted with
the nature of the soil, and other natural advan-
tages appertaining to each of the most valuable
sections of land. If one of them lies near a public
road, if it has a navigable stream near it, if it is the
probable site of a future court-house, and is of the
first class for fertility, they send an agent to the
settler who is upon it, to tell him that they mean to
bid against him at the sale and to get a government
title to the land at any price whatever. The dis-
mayed settler consults his family, he knows what
they are capable of doing, and that if even the
section were knocked down to him at a speculating
price, he could not obtain the money to pay for it.
He has only to choose then between abandoning
the land where he has expended so much labour,
and to which he and his family have become at-chap, xxxm.] GOVERNMENT LAND-SALES.	173

tached, or to make a ruinous compromise. This is
sometimes effected by his consenting to let the
speculators purchase the land at the sale, and to
take a title from them instead of the government.
In many cases the poor settlers have agreed to pay
ten dollars an acre to these rapacious and unfeeling
wretches, delivering to them the ready money they
had prepared to pay to the government, and execut-
ing a mortgage to them for the remainder. Thus is
the once cheerful settler weighed down to the earth
with a heavy debt that presses upon him for the
remainder of his life, and converted into the slave
of a set of unprincipled harpies who make enormous
profits by their nefarious transactions, without ad-
vancing any capital whatever.

But this is not the most atrocious thing that
takes place. If the settler refuses to compromise,
the parties attend the sale; the speculators con-
stantly overbid the settler, even if they have to bid
four times more than the value of the land, and of
course it is struck down to them, and the settler has
lost his home. Now comes the operation of a regula-
tion of these land-offices, which is of this nature: if
the price at which a section, or a half or a quarter sec-
tion of land has been knocked down to any one, is not
all paid within a certain number of hours, the fact is
to be stated at the opening of the sale the next morn-
ing, and the sale declared void. The next morning,
the clerk of the land-office commences by reading
the numbers of the sections the price for which has174

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxxiii.

not been paid, and declares the sales of each of them
void. The settler, overjoyed to find that his own sec-
tion is amongst the number, goes to the clerk as soon
as he is told the register is open, and directs his name
to be put down as the purchaser at the minimum price
of one dollar and a quarter an acre. The clerk opens
the register and with affected surprise informs the
applicant that another person has just before entered
his name for that section. The deluded and unfor-
tunate man now sees that there is no remedy; that
the clerk is a confederate of these speculators, and
that the whole has been arranged in concert with
them to defraud him and give them—after the pre-
tended competition at the public sale—a govern-
ment title at the minimum price. These vile
transactions have been repeated too often, and in
some instances the names of individuals have been
coupled with them that ought to have been free
from every taint of suspicion: so true it is that
where money is the principal avenue to distinction
in a country, every honest principle is too often
trampled upon to obtain it.

Mr. Prior and myself continued on this sandy
pine land for some miles, and then entered upon a
dead level of fine black land, underlaid by rotten
testaceous matter. It continued for a great distance
entirely on the same level, so that the water laid
upon it as if it were a moss, and made it very un-
pleasant travelling, being black and exceedingly
muddy and plastic: this is so much the case, thatchap, xxxiii.] OASIS IN THE WILDERNESS.	175

in consequence of the pigs coming home with loads
of black matter behind them, it is now the custom
to cut off their tails. The land at length began to
rise, and we got upon a siliceo-calcareous ridge that
was a sort of water-shed, sending off streams to the
north and south. Here, from the great profusion of
those plants which only grow on the most fertile
soils, and which are an indication of good cotton
land, I perceived that we were entering into a pro-
ductive district. Notwithstanding the abundance
of trees we, however, as usual, saw very few birds
except the crow, a cosmopolite that is found every-
where, even in the deepest solitudes of Arkansas;
but his presence always gives me pleasure, for
the sound of his voice diminishes time arid dis-
tance, strikes upon the chords of early youth, and
carries me back to those careless days when the
crow was amongst the most familiar of my acquaint-
ances.

As we advanced, lofty pines mixed with oaks
covered the ridge, which presented an excellent
surface for agricultural purposes. Taking a short
cut, Mr. Prior led the way, and we threaded the
mazes of the pines that now assumed an astonish-
ing height and diameter, such as I had never be-
fore seen out of Canada. We seemed to be buried
in an interminable forest; night had fallen, and I
began to think we must necessarily have a still
fatiguing ride to perform ere we got out of the
woods to this cabin we were in search of; when176	TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxxiii.

turning to the left we suddenly came upon it, and I
confess I have seldom been more pleasingly sur-
prised. In the midst of a forest of pine trees, few
of them less than three feet in diameter, a clearing
of a few acres had been effected, an admirable fence
put round it, and the whole divided into regular
compartments. In one of these, consisting perhaps
of a couple of acres, were several detached buildings
made of hewn logs, but finished in a very neat
manner, except those which had been hastily thrown
up for the use of the negroes. On entering this
precinct, at a distance of perhaps a hundred yards
from the buildings, I hardly knew how to repress
my admiration. I had been forming to myself an
idea of a humble cabin hastily got together in the
woods, when a villa of very neat proportions ap-
peared before me, with a quadrangle bordered with
plants here and there, regularly laid out into broad
walks; whilst the squares between the walks, so far
from having been ploughed or dug up, were still
filled with the huge stumps of the pines that had
grown there only eighteen months before, when Mr.
Prior first commenced to cut the pine trees down.
Another compartment had been turned into an ex-
cellent vegetable garden, where all sorts of good
things were growing, and here the stumps had been

eradicated. This was trulv an oasis in the desert,

«/ 7

and I saw at once that Mr. and Mrs. Prior had been
accustomed to the refined comforts of life, and had
the sense to create them wherever they went. Thatchap, xxxni.] A PIANO IN THE WILDERNESS.	177

nothing might be wanting to complete the evidence
my eyes were collecting of this, just as we reached
the house I distinctly heard the tones of a piano—
a piano in the wilderness, within ten miles of a
Mexican province!

When so many pleasing things come unexpec-
tedly upon us, the imagination easily enters upon
the task of investing them with attractions yet un-
seen ; and as I had found order, neatness, and
music, in a forest, where a short time before I had,
at the best, anticipated a rude cabin to shelter me
during the night, I came at once to the comfortable
conclusion that such things as a good supper and a
bed might also be found here, nor was I disap-
pointed. Mrs. Prior received me very politely, and
there was no want of the most hospitable attentions
during my stay. Mr. Prior had resided a short
time on his cotton plantation, south of Red River,
but finding it insalubrious, and having an only
daughter, a nice little girl of ten years old, he
sought a healthy situation in the hills at a con-
venient distance, and selecting a spot where there
was an ample spring of fine pellucid water, he
commenced his improvements, carrying them on
with great spirit and taste. Without the fence
which enclosed his buildings, were huge piles of
logs from the pine trees which had been cut down,
and which had been rolled into large heaps to dry
before they could be burnt up. It would have
broken the heart of a regular timber-merchant

VOL. II.	N178

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxxiii.

to see hundreds upon hundreds of the finest logs—
without a single knot in them—deliberately put on
one side to be converted into smoke and ashes; a
proceeding that justifies the application of the old
saw, that " What is one man's food is another man's
poison," for there being no saw-mills at present in
the country to work up these beautiful trees, they
are glad to resort to the least incommodious way of
getting rid of them.

The example of this gentleman, in providing for
the health and comfort of his family, is about to be
followed, I understand, by other planters: they talk
already of building a church, and from what I hear,
they have a cheerful prospect before them of esta-
blishing a social and moral colony of educated
people in this part of Arkansas.

How great a contrast is shown in the results pro-
duced by settlers of the educated and uneducated
classes ! The individuals of this last, notwithstand-
ing the " sovereign" privileges with which they
are dignified, seem, wherever I have had an oppor-
tunity of observing them, to have but one object
in view, which is the immediate gratification of
animal wants. Order, cleanliness, propriety, seem
never to be thought of; they build a rude cabin,
they remain in it till it rots, they patch it up as
long as they can, and only when it has begun to
tumble down, build another as rude as the first.
They live twenty or thirty years in the same place
without discovering that they have a single moralCHAP. XXXIII.] ONE OF THE SOVEREIGN PEOPLE.	179

want. Religion is never spoken of, and the Sab-
bath day to them is nothing but a day when it is
a custom for the husband to shave himself, and the
wife to go out a visiting. If an individual comes
amongst them with higher views, they do not aspire
to his standard, but seek to drag him down to their
level, as being exactly the situation they would
choose if they were in his place, for nothing seems
to appear more natural to democracy than dirt.
An anecdote was once related to me which illus-
trates this well.

One of the sovereign people, who was returning
home from a political meeting in New York, where
he had been amazingly sublimated with magnificent
speeches about the exceeding virtuous infallibility
of the class he belonged to, and with just as much
whiskey as had materially deranged his centre of
gravity, went along, with uncertain steps, and
thinking aloud, when suddenly the street seemed to
be so unaccountably steep as to render it necessary
to lift his legs as much as if he was getting up
stairs. A little giddiness next seized him as if he
had been on the deck of a vessel in the Bay of Bis-
cay, and opening his eyes wide, he saw a large
brick house coming full split at him round the
corner; out of the way of this he had but just
happily got, when the ground flew up, struck him in
the forehead, and knocked him into the gutter.
Finding it a natural and easy position, he remained
contentedly there until the inclination to get to a

n 2180	TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxxiii.

drier place took him, when perceiving the approach
of another member of the republican royal family,
pretty much in the same happy state as he had
been in, he said, " Won't—you—be—so—'bliging
—as—lend—me a—hand—out—of—the gutter?"
" That's—jist—onpossible," courteously replied the
new comer, "but—if you—like—I'll come—and
—lie—down—by you."

The degraded state of things which prevails
amongst the lower classes cannot improve of itself,
but must grow worse from generation to generation,
without the aid of living moral examples; the
efforts, therefore, which Mr. Prior and his friends
are making to establish a rational mode of existence
in this part of the country, deserve every encourage-
ment and commendation.chap, xxxiv.] LEAVE WASHINGTON VILLAGE.

181

CHAPTER XXXIV.

Mr. Williams; his adventures—Blunder of the Mexican Govern-
ment—Reach Red River—Cross into the Mexican Province of
Texas—Lost Prairie, a beautiful tract of land—Surprising
Crop of Cotton in a field of 300 acres—The Abolition of
Slavery a hopeless case—The future—Wild Muscadel Grape.

After breakfast, having made my acknowledg-
ments for so much kindness, I took leave, and
accompanied by a Mr. Williams, who was a vi-
sitor there, pursued my way to Red River, distant
only ten miles, following the southern slope of the
pine hills, which show a great many beds of ferru-
ginous sandstone. At the foot of these hills the
rich and broad bottom land of Red River com-
mences, which is considered to be of the very first
class of cotton lands in this part of North America.
A portion of it had just been sold at the public
land-sale at Washington, and some of the sections
had brought as high a price as ten, and even thir-
teen dollars an acre. The bottom is about a mile
in width on the north side of the river, and is
densely covered with lowland timber, such as cotton
wood (Populus monilifera), the huge branches of
which are as white as snow, other trees of the syca-182

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxxiv.

more kind, deciduous cypress, and immense canes
20 to 30 feet high.

I found my companion, Mr. Williams, an in-
teresting person. He had passed a very adven-
turous life, was a short thin man, looking much older
than he was, from the effects of exposure and vari-
ous hardships, and as he told me, from the great
quantity of calomel he had been obliged to take
when attacked by fever and ague. He was a native
of Connecticut, and had entered into the Mexican
service previous to the elevation of Iturbide. At-
taching himself to an American named Long, a
partisan in that service, with the rank of Colonel
or General, and who was assassinated in the streets
of Mexico by daylight, on account, as it was thought,
of his too zealous Republicanism—he had been im-
prisoned with other Americans, obnoxious to Itur-
bide, and condemned to be shot. His life, however,
was spared, and having survived many turbulent
adventures, he had attached himself to another of
his countrymen, a Colonel Milam, who, for services
to the Mexican Government, had received a grant
of eleven leagues of land on Red River, and on this
grant Mr. Williams had resided many years alone,
in a small cabin, providing everything for himself,
and very seldom even seeing his friend Colonel
Milam, whose public duties and private affairs
seldom permitted him to visit his grant on Red
River. It is probable, too, that the Mexican Go-
vernment kept a jealous eye upon his movements,chap. xxxiy."| BLUNDER OF MEXICAN GOVERNMENT. 183

this grant being comprehended in the territorial
dispute which has been before mentioned, for it
is well known to them that persons occupying
land on the frontier consider themselves in the
United States or in Texas, just as it suits their
interests. They are Mexicans until they get a title
from the Mexican Government, but as the Ame-
ricans are the only settlers who give an intrinsic
value to the land by their labour, it becomes the
interest of every proprietor to encourage the annex-
ation of the country to the United States, a mea-
sure, any serious attempt to consummate which,
will be a severe trial to the Federal Union. Nor
can the Mexicans be blind to the movement that is
now going on in relation to the province of Texas,
or fail to have their doubts about the fidelity of in-
dividuals situated as Colonel Milam is. Indeed all
the persons who have possessions on the disputed
line, being native-born citizens of the United States,
may be considered as pioneers of the advancing
Anglo-American population, and to be only waiting
for favourable opportunities to indulge in their irre-
sistible propensity to spread themselves over con-
terminous territories, with or without any title to
them.

In this quarter no obstacle whatever appears to
present itself to their advance. The indiscreet legis-
lation of Mexico, by which American citizens have
been permitted to settle in Texas, upon condition of
conforming to its laws, of adopting the Roman184	TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxxiy.

Catholic religion, and abolishing slavery, has al-
ready put the country into their possession; the
conditions will none of them be observed, and when
it is too late, Mexico will find that it would have
been easier to have kept them out, than it will be to
turn them out. But as Mexico is essentially a re-
volutionary government, and as no party at the
capital will probably for a long time be strong
enough to do more than attend to its own interests,
it is almost self-evident that if ever she has the
inclination, she will never have the power to govern
—at a distance of 1800 miles—a race of active and
intrepid men, who are hostile to her laws, religion,
and manners. It would seem, therefore, that Mexico,
in relation to the settlement of Texas, has made an
irretrievable false step.

On reaching the banks of Red River, although
I was very much delighted at having successfully
penetrated to this extreme frontier of the broad
territory of the United States, yet I could not but
perceive that nothing could be less beautiful or pic-
turesque than the river and its shores. The stream
was here about 200 yards wide, sluggish, muddy,
and chocolate coloured; deriving its colour from
the deep red earth it has in ancient times deposited,
and through which it now flows; and exhibiting
on its banks an impenetrable wilderness of briars,
plants of various kinds, and lofty canes of from 20
to 30 feet high. The next thing was to cross the
river at what is called Dooley's Ferry, to the Texaschap, xxxiv.] TEXAS—LOST PRAIRIE.

185

side, where, on account of the present low stage of
the water, there was an extensive beach of 200 yards
or more. As soon as the ferryboat touched the
Mexican shore, I hastened to lead my horse over
the beach as rapidly as I could, for the ferryman
told me that it was very dangerous, would scarcely
bear the weight of a horse, and might suck him in,
if I loitered. I soon saw this was good advice, for
the bog shook in a treacherous manner, and Mis-
souri, who did not appear to like this unusual sur-
face, aiding with great agility, we soon reached the
hard land, and found ourselves in what the ferry-
man called " Spain."

We now were upon an exceedingly fertile bottom
between three and four miles wide, densely full of
plants and trees, amongst which I recognised for the
first time the Palmetto, with its graceful fanlike
shape. Having got through it, we came upon drier
and blacker land, and then to a locality called Lost
Prairie, which is a tract of about 2000 acres of incred-
ible beauty and fertility, bearing extraordinary crops
of cotton, and gracefully surrounded by picturesque
woods. I had never seen the cotton plant growing
in perfection before, for in the cotton districts I had
already passed through, the plant was a low dwarfed
bush not exceeding two feet high; but here the
whole country was filled with stately and umbra-
geous bushes five feet high, covered with innumer-
able pods resembling large white roses. Having
found out where the plantation of a Dr. Jones was,J 86	TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxxiv.

to whom I had a letter of introduction, I rode there,
and learned that he was from home, but his family
offering to receive me, I determined to remain at
their house for the night, that I might have an op-
portunity of looking at the immediate neighbour-
hood. It was a charming sunny day, the ther-
mometer (Dec. 11) stood at 74° out of doors, and
not a cloud in the sky.

It had occurred to me, before I crossed Red River,
that it would be prudent not to prolong my stay in
Texas at this time. All the persons whom I had
had any intercourse with, appeared to be of one
opinion as to the expediency and propriety of occu-
pying and detaching this province from the Mexican
Government, and it was easy to see that they
thought the moment for action was drawing nigh.
Upon several occasions, when this important subject
was earnestly discussed in my presence, I had re-
mained silent; and as this was unusual in a quarter
where all men had some plan or other to offer to
accelerate their design, I was by many regarded as
a spy upon them. If I had waited here until my
son joined me, and then advanced farther into the
country, some outbreak might take place, and we
might become involved in its consequences, or have
found it difficult to return. I determined, therefore,
as the most prudent course, to defer my examina-
tion of the interior of the province until I could do
it with the permission of the Mexican authorities,
or until the country had become quiet enough tochav. xxxiv.] EXTRAORDINARY COTTON CROPS.	187

admit of my moving about without observation.
In the mean time there was something to see here,
and I set about making the best use I could of the
time I intended to stay.

It is impossible to exaggerate the extraordinary
fertility of the soil of Lost Prairie. I had an oppor-
tunity of examining the nature of the deposit in a
well just dug to the depth of thirty feet from the
surface; the first three feet went through a rich
black vegetable mould, and the remaining twenty-
seven through a reddish-coloured argillaceo-calca-
reous earth, so that it would seem impossible to
exhaust a soil of this kind. In favourable seasons
they gather from 1500 to 2500 lbs. of cotton in the
seed to the acre, which, when the seed is taken out
by the cotton gin, leaves from twenty-five to thirty
per cent, in weight of marketable raw cotton. It is
considered a fair crop if it produces one bale of 450
lbs. of such cotton to the acre, and where for every
working negro on the plantation six or eight bales
can be turned out. I observed that it was not the
same species of plant I had seen growing in Ten-
nessee, and was told it was the Mexican white-
seeded cotton, which was preferred in this part of
the country, because it yields more to the acre and
is much easier gathered. Some of the plants were
near six feet high, and sent forth branches in great
profusion, covered with large white bolls resembling
the Guelder Rose when in full perfection. I counted
300 bolls on one stem, but Dr. Jones's overseer told188

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap, xxxiv.

me that he had counted as many as 360 on one
stem this season. The field these plants were in
contained 300 acres, and it was so dazzling white
to look upon as to create rather a painful sensation
in the eyes.

Although the climate in this latitude, 33° 40', is
well fitted for the cotton plant, yet I am informed
that farther to the south, in 31° 30', it flourishes
still more; for when the first set of blossoms of the
cotton plant is going to seed, the plant, in congenial
climes, puts out " new buds," which also come to
maturity; and where the climate is so propitious as
to give the plant all the advantages of a free growth,
unchecked by early or late frosts, it can be gathered
three times.

Notwithstanding it was so late in the year, only
one half of this field was gathered, and the proprie-
tor was now on a journey to purchase an additional
gang of slaves, intending to plant 400 acres the
next season.

However lightly these people may hold the Mex-
icans, whose superiors they undoubtedly are in
industry and enterprise, yet the Mexicans stand at
a proud moral distance from them in regard to
slavery, which is abolished in their republic. What
can be more abominable than the hypocritical cant
with which these people intrude into a country
which does not belong to them ? To believe them,
they have no motive but to establish " free institu-
tions, civil and religious." Yet in defiance ofchap, xxxiv.] ABOLITION OF SLAVERY HOPELESS. 189

human freedom, just laws, and true religion, they
proceed to consummate their real purpose, which is
to people the country with slaves in order to cover
it with cotton crops. The poor slaves I saw here
did not appear to me to stand any higher in the
scale of animal existence than the horse : the horse
does his daily task, eats his changeless provender,
and at night is driven to his stable to be shut in,
until he is again drawn forth at the earliest dawn
to go through the same unpitied routine until he
dies. This is the history of the slave in Texas, dif-
fering in nothing from that of the horse, except that
instead of maize and straw he is supplied with a
little salt pork to his maize, day after day, without
any change, until death relieves him from his weari-
some existence. The occupation of Texas by the
Americans, where there are so many millions of
acres of the most fertile cotton lands, will convert
the old slave-holding part of the United States into
a disgusting nursery for young slaves, because the
black crop will produce more money to the proprie-
tors than any other crop they can cultivate.

For this reason the insufficiency of the Mexican
Government for the protection of their own territory
appears to me to be one of the greatest misfortunes
that could have happened to the human family in
our times, when the minds of men, especially in
North America, were gradually inclining to the
universal abolition of slavery. In the States of
Maryland and Virginia slavery was no longer a190

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

[chap. xxxiv.

profitable state of things: tobacco had exhausted
the best soils, and the plantations, with very few
exceptions, no longer maintained even the slaves.
As the slaves became gradually a burden to their
masters, these last would have got into a calmer
state of mind in regard to slavery, and been more
disposed to concur in some humane legislation for
its abolition, by declaring all black children to be
free who were born after a prospective period; so
that the change from slavery to freedom being gra-
dual would scarcely have been felt, and, as had before
occurred in the State of New York by the enact-
ment of a statute which conferred immortal honour
upon the people of that State, the day of universal
emancipation would have arrived undreaded and
almost unperceived.

The examples of two such States as Virginia and
Maryland, both of which, and especially the first,
have produced such eminent men, would have had
great weight with the other slave-holding States,
and perhaps have led the way to an universal abo-
lition. But a boundless field is now opened for the
extension of slavery to a country that had been
happily freed from it; and it is much to be feared
that the evil, which almost seemed as if it were
about to cease from self-exhaustion, will at some
not very distant day present itself with such a
fearful aspect as to menace the suppression of all
rational civil government where slavery prevails.
In the recent history of the civil wars of the Southchap, xxxiv.] PROBABLE CONSEQUENCES OF SLAVERY. 191

American States we have seen what desperate uses
have been made of the negro race and the mixed
breeds called Sambos and by other names proceeding
from it; and as similar causes will produce like
effects at opportune seasons, we may well look with
apprehension to a future time, when the negro race
and its congeners, who already count by millions,
may strive, though it is to be hoped in vain, for the
mastery over our own descendants. These are opi-
nions that give mortal offence to the existing gene-
ration of slave-dealing Americans, but transactions
of this kind are pregnant with immense conse-
quences that must influence the future fate of their
country; nor can observers who believe in the re-
sponsibility of man for his actions be deterred from
thinking that their descendants will not be able to
escape that retribution which nations as well as
individuals owe to the violated laws of humanity
and justice. This is exactly a case to which the
awful words, " I will visit the sins of the fathers
upon the children unto the third and fourth gene-
rations," most manifestly apply.

On the edge of this prairie, and in various situa-
tions not far distant from the river, is a chain of
lakes like that near the Mammelle in Arkansas,
and which evidently are upon the line of an ancient
bed of the river. Five miles south of Lost Prairie
is Little Prairie, a small patch of fertile land of
about 150 acres; and five miles farther south of it
is Fisher's Prairie, consisting of 1500 acres of good192

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

[chap. xxxiv.

land. To the north-west of Lost Prairie are two
others of considerable extent, which go by the name
of Elam's Prairie and Hickman's Prairie. The
woodland around these would in any other country
be deemed to be land of the first quality; but the
people here are spoiled by the possession of land
that merely wants fencing and ploughing; any
land that requires to be cleared and drained, what-
ever its quality may be, they consider a " hard
bargain." I am not surprised at this: the land of
Lost Prairie would spoil any farmer; it not only is
surprisingly fertile, but lies so high and dry that
the black mould resembles heaps of ashes, and con-
sequently requires no draining. Last year the
summer was intensely hot, and one of the lakes,
which covered a great area of country, but was not
deep, suffered so much by evaporation, that it could
not preserve its fish, which all died, and were to be
seen floating on the water. The inhabitants, too,
sometimes pay dearly for the possession of this beau-
tiful place, and were exceedingly sickly last year.

On the sand-hills, about fourteen miles south-
west of this place, there is a kind of muscadel grape
growing, which is very rich and sweet; the plant
runs on the ground and bears an amber-coloured
fruit. The other wild grape-vines in the woodland
bottoms climb the loftiest trees, their stems hanging
from great heights like huge boas, and are frequently
nine inches in diameter. I made a collection of
such vines as I thought might be cultivated withCHAP. XXXIV.]

LEAVE TEXAS.

193

success, and put them up with some other things
in wet moss, and the last thing I did, after finishing
my examination of the neighbourhood, was to cut
a fine stick of the Bois d'Arc; then seating myself
upon, my faithful Missouri, amidst all sorts of
bundles and sticks, I turned my back upon the fair
and sunny fields of Texas, now doomed to the curse
of slave-labour, and on as serene, beautiful, and soft
a December morning as ever was graced by a
cloudless sky in Italy, I once more reached the
banks of Red River.

VOL. II.

o194

travels in america.	[chap. xxxv.

CHAPTER XXXV.

Course and ancient Channels of Red River—The Great Raft—
Method adopted of cutting it out—Danger to which New
Orleans is exposed—Fight betwixt a Man and a Panther—
Tragical Story of a Hunter—Comical relation of a Solo played
by a Negro to a Gang of Wolves—Fossil Oysters in the
Saline.

This important river, the Rio Roxo of the Spanish
discoverers, takes its rise in the Rocky Mountains,
and after flowing to the east through immense
plains is compelled, when it reaches the moun-
tainous country of Arkansas, to deflect a little to
the south. On reaching the point where I was now
about to cross it, it takes a course a little west of
south, as far as the 33rd degree of N. lat., when it
changes again, and takes up a channel to the E. of S.,
until it nearly strikes the 31st degree of N. lat.; here
it inclines to the north, receives the waters of Black
River, and with its increased volume forces its way
almost due south, and joins the Mississippi. In its
entire line it is remarkable for a tortuous and ser-
pentine course, and has frequently abandoned its
channel in particular localities, the ancient lines of
which can always be traced. From the point where itchap, xxxv.] ANCIENT CHANNELS OF RED RIVER. 195

turns to the east and north, a little north of the 31st
degree of N. lat., it appears to have once flowed south
down the line of the Atchafalaya River into the bay
bearing that name in the Gulf of Mexico, and not
to have joined the Mississippi. There is a chain of
lagoons on that line still choked up with rafts of
dead timber, which, when it had accumulated in
sufficient quantities, no doubt caused the current to
deflect to the east, and gave the river its present
direction into the Mississippi. These chains of
lagoons, which are invariably upon the line of an
ancient channel, abound both on the north and
south sides of Red River, and are amongst the
immediate causes of the insalubrity of the climate
during certain months of the year. It was one of
those extensive lagoons on the Mexican side of Red
River, upon the beautiful tract of land over which I
passed, which had lost its fish in consequence of
excessive evaporation, the water having become
glairy and incapable of sustaining them.

In those remote periods when the False Washita
and other tributaries of Red River were working out
their channels, the deposits of dead timber must
have been immense, not only filling the channel of
Red River in the first instance down the line of the
Atchafalaya, but subsequently blocking up extensive
portions of its existing course to the Mississippi;
and it has frequently happened that after those rafts
have compelled the river to change its course, the
same causes operating upon the new line, have

o 2196	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxxv.

turned the river back again into its old chiannel,
where it has forced its wa}r through the raft it had
formerly deposited. We have evidence of this not
far from the junction of Red River with the Mis-
sissippi, in the fragments of those rafts which are
still to be seen sticking out of the banks of the
stream, the main body having rotted away from the
point which terminates what is called the Great
Raft, and passed down with the current into the
Mississippi. Similar instances of this kind of ope-
ration, but of still greater antiquity, are to be seen
in the banks of the upper part of the Missouri,
where the river has cut through beds of lignite.

Of the extent of these deposits of dead timber
something like an adequate idea can be formed by
giving some details of the nature and extent of that
particular one called the Great Raft, and of those
means adopted to remove it, which do so much
honour to the Congress that authorised them, and
to Captain Shreve, the officer to whom the execu-
tion of the work was entrusted. When this intel-
ligent and energetic man came upon the ground in
the spring of 1833, he found that the'raft extended
up the bed of the river for one hundred and fifty
miles. Not that the whole channel of the river
was blocked up by it, but the dead timber occupy-
ing one-third of the breadth of the river, the whole
stream had consequently become unnavigable, nu-
merous mud islands having been formed every-
where, especially on the surface of the raft, andchap, xxxv.]	THE GREAT RAFT.	197

trees and bushes growing on them all. Not far
from the line of the river were numerous lagoons
and swamps—once its ancient bed—into which the
river passed by bayous and low places; these he
stopped up with timber taken from the raft, and
confining the stream to its bed, produced a current
of three miles an hour; whereas, before he began
his operations, he found the river quite dead, and
without current for forty miles below the southern
termination of the raft. As soon as a current was
established, he, by means of huge floating saw-mills,
worked by steam, cut portions of the raft out, and
let them float down the stream. At length the
current became sufficiently lively to wear away the
mud-banks and islands, and give an average depth
of twenty-five feet to the river. During the first
season of his operations he succeeded in removing
about seventy miles of the whole mass of the Great
Raft, and it is now confidently believed that a good
steamboat navigation will soon be opened to its
farthest extent; so that not only the salubrity of
the country will be much improved, but an immense
quantity of fertile lands will be drained and brought
to their value, to indemnify the government for the
expense.

The deflection from their courses of those noble
rivers that flow in the southern portions of the
United States, is a matter of the deepest importance
to the inhabitants of those countries; both as re-
spects their navigation, their health, the drainage198	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxxv.

of their lands, and the value of their landed property.
Any one who looks at the course of the river Mis-
sissippi on the map, will see that when it reaches
the 31st degree of N. lat., it deflects east of south,
and pursues a S.E. course to the Gulf of Mexico,
passing the city of New Orleans on its way. But
as nothing is more certain than that the Mississippi
once continued its course to the Gulf, from the 31st
degree by the line of the Atchafalaya, it is evident
that if ever the river, at the point of confluence with
the mouth of Red River, should be permitted to re-
gain its ancient channel, the city of New Orleans
will be in danger of being left high and dry, and
the present bed from the Balize upwards of becom-
ing a line of lagoons and swamps.

Having crossed the river, I again—after a long
ride of 36 miles—reached the hospitable mansion
of Judge Cross. In the morning I pursued my
journey, and coming to the Little Missouri found
the waters very much abated, and no ferryman
within sight. I remembered that the house was at
some distance from the river, and could not be
seen from it, so taking a horn which I found sus-
pended from a tree for the purpose, I blew in vain
for at least half an hour. Nobody coming to ferry
me across, I was reduced to the necessity of at-
tempting to ford the river, which was accomplished
with great inconvenience; for Missouri having a
great aversion to passing deep streams, and not
knowing the direction of the ford, which was in anchap, xxxv.] FORD THE LITTLE MISSOURI.	199

oblique line, I got completely wet. On reaching
the house I found two vulgar and very stupid white
women, and a negress ; being a little out of humour
I immediately began to reproach them with not
sending somebody down to point out the ford, when
the old negress said she had told Miss Brindley
(her mistress, about 54 years old) that it would be
best to let her go down and see who was blowing
the horn, but that she said, " She reckoned it was
no matter, she allowed they would find the way
across somehow or other." Upon this I said some
very severe things to the young lady, and begged
she would never be so inconsiderate again, as it
might be a child on horseback, or an invalid inca-
pable of assisting himself. She seemed sensible of
her fault, for she said if I would eat something I
should have nothing to pay for it.

That night I slept at Hignite's again, and start-
ing early on a fine cold moonlight morning, rode
on to Mrs. Barkman's, where I fed my horse. The
old lady, who was standing at the door with her
pipe in her left hand, and a comfortable chew of
tobacco in her cheek, shook hands heartily with me,
and asked me how I liked Texas, adding before I
could give her an answer, " that she could not see

what folks was sich-fools as to go there for."

Having forded the Caddo without difficulty, I
hastened on to Mitchell's, where I arrived at 4 p.m.,
and found my son, who had been endeavouring to
amuse himself with hunting, but was thoroughly200	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxxv.

tired of the wretched fare they had given him. Not
feeling disposed to see any more of it myself, and my
horse appearing fresh, we put him into the waggon
again after half an hour's rest, and shouldering
the rifle, I started again on foot for a settler's named
Dean, about seven miles off, leaving my son to come
on with the vehicle. It became very dark when I
got to the marshy springy ground, within four
miles of the Washita, and the track becoming at
length nothing but mud and water, I was com-
pelled to get into the woods, where the thickets and
fallen timber not only embarrassed me very much,
but now and then, on account of the darkness,
obliged me to regain the track, that I might be sure
I was in the right direction. Some stories that
Hignite had related to me about the panthers in
this swamp, intruded themselves also a little into
my imagination. He said—what I had before heard
—that this animal, when he has had poor hunting
during the day, watches at night on a log or on
the branch of a tree, and when he has an oppor-
tunity, will spring upon a man from behind, fasten
his horrid claws into his neck and back, and worry
him to death. One unfortunate man, who was
traversing the swamp during the last autumn at
night, had been attacked in this way; the panther
succeeded in fastening himself upon the man's
neck, who, being rendered desperate, at length,
after a hard struggle, got the beast's head under his
left arm, so that he could act upon the offensive,chap, xxxv.] CONFLICT WITH A PANTHER.	201

and thrust his right hand into its throat. During
the conflict, the panther, with his fangs, tore all the
veins in the man's face and neck open, and severely
lacerated his shoulders and back. He succeeded,
however, in choking the beast, and retained strength
enough to reach his home, where he died soon
after.

Now I was constantly running against branches
of trees and logs, and had discovered, when about
to enter the swamp, that my rifle was not loaded,
and that I had no ammunition with me: besides,
there was my son behind, slowly advancing with
a tired horse, and I had also to think of him,
so that this branch of zoology occupied a great
deal of my thoughts during this nocturnal walk.
I regretted now that I had not provided myself with
a Bowie knife. Much as the practice of carrying
such a murderous instrument is to be detested, still
it is the most effective weapon in a close contest
with one of these ferocious animals; for if, upon
such an occasion, a man has his presence of mind
about him, he finds an opportunity of mortally
wounding an adversary that exposes so large a frame
to his knife. After a most tedious tramp in the
dark, through this disagreeable place, I at length
saw a light, and walking up found it was Dean's. An
hour afterwards my son joined me, a circumstance
that rejoiced me exceedingly, and we proceeded to
partake of an indifferent supper. The people of
the house said the swamp was much infested with202	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxxv.

wolves, and related a singular story of a hunter who,
some time before, had perished through his own
cupidity. The wolves had killed so many calves
and pigs belonging to the settlers, that they at length
resolved to raise a sum of money by subscription,
and to give two dollars a head for every wolf scalp.
This man, who lived alone in the woods, and was
an experienced hunter, built a pen in the swamp of
open logs, ten feet high, without a roof; and having
killed a two-year old heifer, took the carcase there
as a bait. The neighbours knew what he was doing,
but as nobody had seen him for several days some
of them went one morning to see what success he
had had; having reached the place they found the
bones of the heifer outside, and thirty dead wolves
which he had shot lying near them. On looking
into the pen they saw one live wolf in it and the
man dead, with most of his flesh torn from him. It
appeared from the marks around, from the scratch-
ings upon the bark of the logs, and from the fact of
one of the top ones being thrown down, that he had
shot thirty from the pen whilst they were devouring
the meat, but that the troop had been so numerous
and ravenous that, smelling the man, they had
stormed the pen and devoured him. The one in the
pen was wounded and had not been able to escape.

Whilst upon wolf stories I must record a less
tragical one, that was related to me in a different
part of the country. There had been a merry-
making at new year amongst some of the settlers,chap, xxxv.] WOLVES CHASE A BLACK MAN.	203

and a black man, who had a wife and children
about three miles off, and who played on the fiddle,
had been sent for to play " Virginia reels" to the
young people. It was three in the morning when
he took his kit under his arm to return home, and
had been snowing for some time, with a high cold
wind raging that drifted the snow into heaps where-
ver he passed the clearings. He had got about
half the distance, exceedingly fatigued, and wishing
he was at home with his black pickanninies, when,
having just left an extensive swamp which ran far
into the country, he heard a strong pack of wolves
" sing out" as if they had scent of something. The
wolf, when in a famished state, has a very keen
scent, and can detect a change in the air at great
distances;

" Leva il muso, odorando il vento infido."

I promessi Sposi.

And, in this particular instance, it happened that
they scented Mr. Marcus Luffett, (Marquis La
Fayette)—for such was the name he was known by
—who had rather a strong hide. He had very soon
reason to believe that was the case; the wolves were
to leeward of him, and were evidently coming in his
direction : so, feeling assured of this, and despairing
of reaching his home in time, he employed all his
powers to reach a small abandoned cabin in a clear-
ing by the road-side, which was about a quarter of
a mile off; the roof of which was partly destroyed,
but the door of which was yet hung. On came the204	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xxxv.

ferocious animals, barking and shrieking; they
were upon his track, and great were his apprehen-
sions of falling into their power: but, on gaining
the clearing, he fortunately found the snow was
drifted away there, and did not impede him, so that
he was just able to rush in season into the cabin
and clamber up the logs inside to a rafter that ran
across. The door he did not attempt to shut, for the
wolves were within ten yards of him when he en-
tered, and he was afraid he could not keep it shut
against the pressure of a large body of desperate
animals. Great was the rage of the wolves when
they entered at being balked of their prey, and, as
Mr. Marcus Luffett observed, " Dey carried on jist
as if de old debbel himself was inside of ebery one
of dere cossed troats." The cabin was at one time
quite filled with them, and he said that they went
in and out and round the cabin, to see if there was
any place by which they could get at so savoury a
joint as that which was hanging up, but rather too
high in the larder. Finding that he was safe, he
began to acquire confidence, and watching his op-
portunity he scrambled along until he got over the
door; and there, with a little management, he con-
trived with his legs to shut a great number of them
in the cabin. Those outside appearing to have gone
away to look for other game, and those inside
remaining silent with their glaring eyes fixed in-
tently upon him, the Marquis, who had no small
idea of his skill, now thought he would treat themCHAP, xxxv.] A SOLO PLAYED BEFORE WOLVES.	205

to a " Virginia reel," and forthwith commenced with
his kit to astonish the lupine auditory with such a
solo as they had never heard before. At first they
howled, the performer not appearing to give uni-
versal satisfaction, but day beginning to dawn and
finding they could not get out, they crouched down
on the floor of the cabin all together, and remained
silent. As soon as he thought the morning was
sufficiently advanced to remove all apprehension
from those outside, he got through a hole in the
roof, and hastened to his family. Immediately col-
lecting a number of men armed with rifles and axes
he returned with them to the cabin, which they all
entered by the hole from whence he had escaped.
The wolves were crouched together as he had left
them, and showed now as sneaking a disposition as
it had before been furious. They shot no less than
thirty-seven; all the skins were given to Mr. Marcus
LufFett, and the neighbours subscribed twenty-five
dollars in cash, as some return for the important
service he had rendered them by the destruction of
so many depredators upon their calves and pigs.

Pursuing our journey very early in the morning,
we re-crossed the Washita, and leaving the road on
the left by which we had come from the Hot
Springs, we reached Trammel's and stopped awhile
to feed our horse. Here I saw a number of fine
young turkeys that had been hatched by a tame one,
from eggs which had been taken from a wild bird.
Some domestic turkeys were running with them, but206

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

[chap. xxxy.

those of the wild breed were easily distinguishable;
they were more dark and glossy in their plumage,
and had a very quick and bright eye: their move-
ments too were much more lively than those of the
tame ones. One of the women in the house told me
that they were not tender and difficult to raise like
the chicks of the domestic breed, but were as hardy
as young chickens. All the wild turkeys that I have
yet seen are of a dark glossy plumage, nor do I hear
of any person having seen a wild one which was
white or yellow.

We were now upon our old road again, and the
petro-siliceous hills and ferruginous conglomerates.
Towards evening we crossed the Saline, and whilst
my son took our vehicle to our old " Little Pickey"
quarters, I examined the beach of the Saline, which
had fallen very much, and found some fine valves
of fossil oysters in the rocky bed of the channel. It
appears that all the streams from Little Rock to
Red River, which run to the south, have tertiary
deposits in them, as well as those which run to the
east and empty into the Arkansas. These deposites
containing great quantities of marine shells, afford
conclusive proof that the ocean at one of the most
recent geological periods has flowed up to the base
of the highlands from Canada to Red River, tertiary
deposites existing on the line of the St. Lawrence, at
Martha's Vineyard, and at innumerable localities
from thence southward to Red River.chap, xxxvi.]	LITTLE ROCK AGAIN.

207

CHAPTER XXXVI.

Reach Little Rock again—A pleasant Christmas Eve—Embark
in a Steamer for New Orleans—A painful Moment—Struc-
ture of the Banks of the Arkansas—Snags and Sawyers
explained—Frequent Change of the Channel of the River—
Cotton Plantations—Cause of the V ariegated Structure of the
Banks explained.

Early in the morning, with a bright moonlight,
we pursued our journey by the old road to Little
Rock, and ere we had proceeded three miles the
largest and the finest flock of wild turkeys we had
yet seen crossed the road, issuing from the woods
one after the other, all full grown and fat, in their
richest black and brown plumage. Their extreme
beauty and the happiness they seemed to enjoy were
their protection; and after admiring them we drove
on and reached Little Rock about 4 p.m., after
exactly a month's absence. Here we found the
same people and the same unvarying occurrences;
we had seen everything in the neighbourhood, and
there was nothing now to tempt us to prolong our stay.
We therefore devoted our remaining time to packing
up our collections, bringing up journals, and pre-
paring for our departure; but we were still desirous208	TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, .xxxvi.

of seeing other portions of the southern country, and
it was a matter which engaged our earnest attention
how we could best accomplish this. The rainy
season was about to set in, the roads would be ex-
tremely bad, and as the streams would be swollen
so as to be impassable in many places for our vehicle,
we determined to leave it behind. As to our horse,
both my son and myself had become attached to
him; he was a beautiful animal, was docile, had
served us faithfully, and we were unwilling to part
with him. After much deliberation, therefore, it
was determined that my son should make Missouri
the partner of his fortunes, and should follow an
entirely new line of country until we met again in
the Atlantic states. As to myself, I determined to
carry out the plan I had formed of examining the
Arkansas river to its mouth, and proceeding thence
down the Mississippi to New Orleans, return by the
way of Mobile in Alabama, the territory of the
Creek Indians, the states of Georgia, South Caro-
lina, North Carolina, and Virginia. By taking
these two distinct lines of country we should have
an opportunity of examining 4000 miles more of
the surface and the strata south of the Potomac, an
amount of observation which, added to the 2000
miles at least which we had already made, would
furnish a great many data for forming an approxi-
mate view of the geology of the southern portions
of the United States.

The river Arkansas was at this time so low thatchap, xxxvi.] PREPARE TO LEAVE LITTLE ROCK.	209

the steamers, now on their way, were unable to
reach Little Rock, but the barometer had given
decided indications of a change in the weather, and
I was sure that rain would fall soon. We therefore
held ourselves ready to start as soon as this should
take place, for the steamers, especially if they are
bound down the river, sometimes only touch at
Little Rock for an hour or two, and if a boat is
missed at this time of the year a traveller, who has
no other means of getting away, may be detained
all the winter. As the period of our departure ap-
proached I perceived that the Swiss gentleman, Mr.
T*##*#*#*, wh0 has been named in this journal,
began to despond; we had seen a great deal of him;
he was a person of various information and consi-
derable talent, and appeared to feel as if he were
shipwrecked for life, and thrown upon a barren coast
without any rational hope of ever being restored to
society again, or of meeting a brother he had in the
United States, but whom he was without the means
of joining. I could not bear to see a gentlemanly
person of so much merit left in such a painful and
hopeless condition : if I had left Little Rock without
him, I should have felt as much remorse as if I had
abandoned one whom I was bound to protect; and
having got into that sort of kind feeling, I thought
it right to let in a ray of sunshine upon his exist-
ence, and proposed to him to accompany me. I
imagine Mr. T******** packed up his portman-
teau with as much pleasure as I had done my own,

VOL. II.	p210	TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxxvi.

and from that moment he became my companion
for the rest of my journey.

Whilst we were waiting for the river to rise great
preparations were making to celebrate Christmas
Eve by a ball at one of the taverns, and although I
am not a great frequenter of balls I was very
anxious to be present at this. Christmas Eve, even
in the older parts of the United States, is not, I
believe, distinguished by any kind of festivity
amongst Protestants, with the exception of the few
Episcopalian families who still adhere to the festal
customs of the mother country; for the Presby-
terians and other sectarians rather seem to prefer
to desecrate than to celebrate the great Christian
festivals, and as they form an overwhelming ma-
jority of the population, Christmas or Christmas
Eve are seldom mentioned. But a celebration of
Christmas Eve at Little Rock, of all the places in the
world, could not fail to be something very extraor-
dinary, and worth attending, since it was probable
that all the devotional piety of the territory of Ar-
kansas would break out upon the occasion. A faint
idea of the nature of the affair and of the style of
the ball had been already given to me by a person
who had attended one the preceding year. There
were about 100 men and 3 women. The men had
their hats on, and danced armed with pistols and
bowie knives, whilst the landlord, assisted by two of
his people, with his hat cocked on one side, took
pitchers of strong whiskey-punch round the room,chap, xxxvi.]	LEAVE LITTLE ROCK.

211

and clapping the gentlemen on the back, gave them
to drink. As this was the principal business of the
evening, and the pitchers unceasingly went round,
the whole party soon got amazingly drunk, but were
very good-natured, " for there were only a few shots
fired in fun."

Unluckily for our chance of seeing the ball, it
began to rain heavily in the night of the 22nd, and
continued the next morning, when news reached
Little Rock that a steamer from the Mississippi had
arrived within twenty miles of the town, and would
only remain for passengers until one o'clock p.m.
As soon as we heard the intelligence and had reason
to believe it was correct, we got everything into our
vehicle, and mounting a hired horse, I rode on be-
fore, to detain the steamer, leaving my son and Mr.

to follow in the waggon. Having crossed
the Arkansas in the ferry-boat I pursued the military
road to Memphis for near three miles, and theu
turned into an indifferent road running parallel to
the river. When I had got about fifteen miles I
learned at a cabin where I called for information,
that I had still ten miles to go at least, as there was
a chain of lagoons to head, which, they said, had
been an old bed of the river, but that for some dis-
tance before I should get to the place called Eagle
Bend, where the steamer was, there was no longer
a track of any kind for a waggon. This was dis-
couraging ; the rain was pouring down all the time,
the road was bad, and it was becoming problematical

p 2212

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

[chap, xxxyi.

whether we could effect our object at all, for the
steamer, not knowing we were on the road, would
have no motive for waiting beyond the appointed
hour. However, as everything might depend on
my pushing on, I took the best directions I could
get, and hastening forward, soon came to a deep and
bad bayou, which I got across with some difficulty,
quite despairing of their being able to get through
it with the waggon. I now came upon alternate
beds of sand and mud, which had been deposited
when the river overflowed its banks in June, 1833, a
period when many plantations were destroyed by
deep deposits of sand. To these succeeded thick
corn-brakes and a total termination to the track: it
seemed as if everything had combined to prevent
the possibility of a four-wheeled carriage reaching
the steamer. The afternoon was now wearing away,
so, dismounting and fastening my horse to a tree, I
walked through the brake to the bank of the Ar-
kansas, thinking there might be a chance, as the
land was not very low, of my seeing the steamer if
she had not yet got under way. Never was man
more startled or more pleased than I was at hearing
the steam blowing off from the boat, which was
lying moored to the bank, almost immediately below
me. This, in fact, was Eagle-bend, on the left bank
of the Arkansas, which jutted out into the river, and
was about twenty feet high. Hastening down the
bank I hailed the steamer, which was that instant
getting under way, and giving the necessary inform-chap, xxxvi.]	REACH THE ARKANSA.

213

ation to the captain, he agreed to leave his yawl
with one of his men, to take us off, while he dropped
down to a wood-yard on the other side of the river,
to take in fuel. Having come to a good under-
standing with the man in the yawl, I now remounted,
and hastening back came up with the waggon about
five miles back, which was much sooner than I ex-
pected, notwithstanding my knowledge of the reso-
lution of my son in cases of difficulty. In crossing
the bayou they had found it necessary to unload the
carriage, take the body and wheels off, and carry
the pieces up to the opposite bank, as they found it
to be quite impossible to draw it up with the horse.
We now all proceeded towards the yawl, when, in
crossing another bad place, the shafts of the waggon
got broken, and here they were obliged to stop whilst
I rode on and called the man in the yawl to our
assistance. Tying the horses up in the cane-brake
we gave the man one of the trunks—my son and
myself carried the other, and Mr.	ma-

naged to take the portfolio and some instruments
I had. Night was just setting in when we reached
the yawl, excessively fatigued, and succeeded in get-
ting our luggage into it. All this time the steamer
had been making signals for us to come off, but we
were too busy to mind them. The man was in my
interest now, and, as he sensibly observed, " If the
captain wanted him particular, he could jist as well
cross the river and lend us a hand."

The most painful part of the business was yet to214

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap, xxxvi.

be gone through. My son, who had been so long my
faithful companion in much difficulty and danger,
was now to part from me, and to be left behind in
a wilderness, without any one to assist him. I de-
sired him to ride his horse to a cabin a few miles
back, and send the people for the broken carriage
the next morning. I knew his address and ability,
and felt assured that he would do very well. But
the moment of parting was painful to both of us,
and as we rowed down the river and beheld him
standing on the desolate bank of the Arkansas,
watching our boat in the imperfect twilight, I was
very much affected, and thought it would have
been better to have spared us both such a moment.
Night had set in when we reached the steamer,
which seemed clean and nice. I got a very good
berth for myself, and should have been perfectly
comfortable if my mind had been at ease.

Our steamer got under weigh at break of day,
Dec. 24th, and we proceeded down the river, which
in this low state of the water is about 300 yards
wide. Nothing can be more monotonous than the
country through which this muddy stream holds its
course, the whole area being a fertile alluvial de-
posit of nearly the same level, in which the water
has worn a channel, leaving banks from 20 to 30
feet high, composed of fluviatile deposits of clay and
sand of different colours, of which a dull red pre-
ponderates. Sometimes the banks rise to forty feet,
in which situations the land is free from inunda-chap, xxxvi.] COURSE OF THE ARK ANSA.	215

tion. When we had made about 25 miles, we
passed some high banks called the Red Pine Bluffs,
from 100 to 130 feet high, which the river is rapidly
wearing down, undermining them beneath, and
causing huge masses to fall incessantly from the
top. This process is more interesting to the geolo-
gist than to the cotton planter, for the fresh fracture
enables him to trace for great distances the party-
coloured deposits which alternate with each other,
some being red, some white, some gray, and often-
times all of them intermixed together. The com-
parative height of these Red Pine Bluffs enables
them to assume an important appearance in a
country where the surrounding land is at a level of
about 25 feet above the water. Farther down about
20 miles, we came to similar bluffs of a lighter
colour, called the White Bluffs; and about 30
miles still lower down we reached the Red Pine
Bluffs, which are higher than any of the others.
As we had to stop occasionally to take in wood, I
availed myself always of the detention to examine
the banks where they were accessible. At the Red
Pine Bluffs there is a bed of limestone formed of
broken-down oyster-shells like those in the Saline,
which was the first calcareous deposit I met with in
the banks.

The whole course of this river is extremely ser-
pentine, the general direction to the Mississippi
being S.E.; but the channel every five or six miles
describes curves, sometimes going N.E., sometimes216	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap, xxxyi.

S.W. Upon such occasions the main channel is
alternately on the right and left bank of the river;
when on the right bank an extensive sandy beach
projects itself from the opposite shore, and some-
times encroaches so far into the channel as to
render it difficult to get the steamer through. We
often got aground in less than three feet water, but
the captain was a man of experience and resolution,
and always succeeded in backing the steamer or
forcing it through the mud, although it sometimes
caused a delay of several hours to get the boat off
again. These beaches sometimes contain more than
fifty acres, and are thrown up by the stream as it
abrades the banks at the foot of which it runs. In
the course of this voyage I received the most com-
plete practical lesson as to the manner in which these
streams get into a serpentine course, that had ever
been presented to me on so large a scale. Masses
covered with trees and canes were constantly falling
from the banks, and being carried to the bottom of
the channel with immense quantities of clay about
their roots, in some places almost filled the river
with what are called snags and sawyers. The first
are trees or stout branches firmly fixed in the mud,
sometimes appearing above, sometimes being under
the water, and these frequently impale the steamers
if a good look-out is not kept: the sawyers are flex-
ible and elastic branches, over a part of which the
current passes, and presses them into the water, from
which they rise by their elasticity, producing a saw-chap, xxxvi.] FORMATION OF REACHES OF LAND. 217

ing motion up and down. These not only embar-
rass the navigation excessively, but when they
extend densely from the bank they once grew upon,
offer a point of resistance to the current, which then
inclines to the other side, and finally wearing its
way to the opposite side of the river, begins to
abrade the bank there, and throw up another sand-
beach.

In consequence of this frequent deviation from a
straight course, many long but narrow reaches of
land, as they are called, are formed, sometimes not
more than fifty feet wide at their base; and through
these the stream frequently breaks with great impe-
tuosity, when the river is much swollen and the floods
come down from the upper country, forcing a new
channel through the reach, and leaving a consider-
able area of land isolated on the side of the bed it has
abandoned and left dry. During some of these irre-
sistible freshets, the maddened river has sometimes
even got under those extensive sand beaches, and
after lifting them up as high as 30 feet above the
general level of the land, has borne them along, and
finally deposited them at a distance from the channel
of the river. I have seen several of these arena-
ceous deposits four or five hundred yards from the
edge of the bank, covering the soil many feet deep,
and utterly ruining various plantations. In some
instances the flood has ploughed up the whole of
the soil with the cotton and maize growing upon it
to the extent of forty acres, and deposited it in a218	TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxxvi.

mass on a beach lower down. At a Monsieur
Barraqu&'s, an ancient French settler, who lives
about 140 miles from Little Rock, on the left bank of
the Arkansa, I saw a curious instance of this kind.

The few settlers on the bank of this river are all
cotton planters, and experience has taught them
now to get upon the highest banks beyond the
reach of inundation. Whenever we saw a number
of bales rolled down the bank we always stopped to
take them in as part of the steamer's freight to New
Orleans. Upon one occasion the number of bales
was so great that we were detained seven hours, and
hearing that there was an old bed in the vicinity
which the river had formerly abandoned I went to
examine it. It was an immense chasm in the land,
on the left bank, about 300 yards broad and about
90 feet deep, extended several miles, bearing the
appearance of a reddish sandy valley, containing
many accumulations of old sand-bars and snags,
and was divided from the present bed of the river
by a high ridge, where the young wood was be-
ginning to grow very thickly, on a surface from
whence all the timber had evidently been swept
away by the flood when the change in the channel
took place. In this chasm I saw no symptoms of
animal existence, except the track of a solitary deer,
nor could any thing be imagined more savage or
lonely. But what exceedingly interested me when
I got into it, were the curious party-coloured de-
posits of clay and sand, which had been left by thechap, xxxvi.] PARTY-COLOURED DEPOSITS.	219

various inundations of the river that had taken
place since this channel was abandoned. These in-
undations could almost be enumerated by the thin
strata they had produced. There would be a layer
of red clay, then one of white sand, then again a
mixture of both, and occasionally large blotches or
masses of whitish clay enclosed in a regular de-
posit of red argillaceous earth. The last deposit
consisted of about an inch of dull red argillaceous
matter, most probably, for reasons which will be
adduced, brought from the country through which
the river Canadian flows. Appearances of this kind
are often met with in the indurated rocks, where
they can only be accounted for conjecturally. On
this extensive continent, containing rivers whose
courses, and the incidents produced in them, can be
traced for near three thousand miles, there is some
encouragement to look for the causes of similar
phenomena; for every one on inspecting them must
feel desirous of satisfying himself why the same
river at one time deposits red clayey matter, at
another time white sand, and at another period
mixed earthy matter, repeating the order of these
deposits with something almost amounting to regu-
larity.

This is undoubtedly owing to the extraordinary
character of the River Arkansas, a mighty flood,
which, deriving its most remote sources from the
melted snows of peaks of the Rocky Mountains from
10,000 to 15,000 feet high, and holding its course220	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap, xxxvi.

amongst the mountain chains for at least 200 miles,
pursues its way near 2000 miles before it joins the
Mississippi. But the sources of this immense stream
are numerous, and some of them are six or seven
hundred miles apart from west to east. Its southern-
most branch, the south fork of the Canadian, receives
streams which rise near the 34th degree of N. lat.;
parallel to this are its other branches, the river
Canadian, the north fork of the Canadian, and the
Nesuketonga or Grand Saline. Its most northerly
source is from the Rocky Mountains between 39°
and 40° N. lat., whilst its most easterly sources,
comprehending the Verdegris, the Neosho, and the
Illinois, rise in the parallels of from 37° to 38° N.
lat., at least six hundred miles to the east of the
central and principal sources in the Rocky Moun-
tains. The waters, therefore, that take their rise at
points separated by so many degrees of longitude,
have to pass through all the zones of mineral matter
which they intersect through such a great extent of
surface on their way to the Mississippi. Nor do these
branches make slight impressions upon the surface,
the southern and western ones being all of them fine
rivers, that may fairly be classed with the most im-
portant European streams, and the eastern ones are
only a degree less important. I have been informed
by some persons who have passed across the heads of
the southern and western sources of this noble river,
that in some places it has varied its channel so
much as to have abraded the whole surface forchap, xxxvi.] RAVAGES OF THE FLOODS.	221

several miles in width, and that in one or two
situations the floods have torn up and desolated the
whole country for a space equal to ten miles wide.
The southernmost sources flow through an ancient
deposit of red argillaceous matter for several hun-
dred miles, which gives the red muddy character to
the Canadian and its branches. The western and
northern sources bring down mineral matter of
various kinds and colours ; but to the east some of
the branches take their rise in the petro-siliceous
country through which I had lately passed, and the
white arenaceous deposits are sufficiently indicative
of their eastern origin.

The branches which have been referred to being of
unequal length, and separated by great geographical
distances, and the melting of the snow and the rainy
seasons being governed by differences in latitude and
elevation, they are consequently subject to increase
their volume at distinct periods; so that the main
channel of the Arkansas is not only sometimes flooded
from one set of branches, sometimes from another,
but is occasionally swollen from a combination of
them all; the evidence of the particular state of the
river at any one period being to be found in the
sedimentary deposits left by the inundations, which
are to be considered as representing the mineral
character of the districts through which the waters
have passed. A close observation of the eccentric
movements of floods of this class throws a great deal
of light upon the circumstances which, whether222	TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxxvi.

arising from partial eddies produced by a change of
level effected in periods of inundation, or from
ordinary mechanical causes, have occasioned both
the regularity and irregularity of deposits; and
tends to explain how blotches of mineral matter,
both large and small, are found enclosed in masses
of a different character, as in the instances where
the whiter matter of the eastern branches is found
enclosed in the extensive layers deposited by the
waters of the Canadian.CHAP. XXXVII.]

FLUVIATILE DEPOSITS.

223

CHAPTER XXXVII.

Approximative Method suggested of calculating the Age of
Fluviatile Deposits—Brutal Conduct of the Passengers—The
Quapaw Indians a Tribe of the Osages—Monsieur Barraqu^,
his Adventures—A Young Vagabond—Post of Arkansas—
Monsieur Notrebe—The River encroaching upon the Country.

The manner in which fluviatile deposits are here
effected upon so immense a scale, may perhaps
suggest the origin of various mineral phenomena
observed in the older indurated rocks, especially of
those intermixtures of marine and fresh-water strata
which took place in remote periods, when parts of
the surface of the earth seem to have been exposed
to repeated subsidences and elevations. Although
we have no geographical data to form an opinion
of the causes which have deposited such fresh-water
strata, yet we see how in modern times they are
brought into place, and perhaps can avail ourselves
of what is passing before our eyes to form an approxi-
mate estimate of the period of time required for a
deposit of a particular thickness. The inundation of
June, 1833, alone deposited a layer of one inch of
red clay in the chasm alluded to, which can be224	TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxxvii.

traced of the same uniform character for several miles,
and every year brings at least one inundation; and
although a great portion of this extensive alluvial
country has been deposited under the sea, as we see
by the calcareous beds containing marine fossils, yet
the whole mineral matter appears to have been
brought down from the plains above, so that the
process has been going on for an immense period
before the historic period. The surface of the
country, too, in this vicinity is such as it has been
for a long time since it was left by the ocean; for
upon some of the edges of the ancient banks of the
river are Indian mounds, with trees growing on
them, perhaps five hundred years old, so that the
mounds are at least as ancient as the existing vege-
table bodies. Quantities of Indian arrow-heads,
too, are strewed around them, made of the siliceous
mineral of the Washita hills, and some have been
found by the settlers buried several feet beneath the
surface, facts which show that this alluvial country,
which was possessed by some bands of the Quapaws
when the whites first began to occupy it, has been
inhabited by the aborigines at a very distant period.

When the settlement of the country shall here-
after bring other data forward connected with these
considerations, perhaps it will not be found impos-
sible to assign reasonable limits to the period re-
quired for the structure of this part of the southern
country. It is true the deposits made by thechap, xxxvii.] FLTJVIATILE DEPOSITS.

225

annual inundations are naturally too irregular and
variable to afford systematic data for a chronolo-
gical computation of the origin of these fluviatile
beds; but whenever a careful inquiry of this kind
is made, it will be found important to note them
very accurately. Neither would it be impossible to
calculate approximatively the amount of sedimentary
matter brought down annually by the Arkansas, or
any of the turbid tributaries of the Mississippi; for
the principal floods of the Arkansas and Missouri,
caused by the melting of the snow in the Rocky
Mountains, although they are irregularly swollen
during the winter and spring months by rain,
usually take place in June. At all these times they
bear along their greatest quantity of solid matter
towards the Mississippi, the finest particles of which
they consign to the ocean, where, being met and
stopped, they are deposited and distributed into
levels which are continually extending themselves
seaward, to be laid dry perhaps at some future day,
as the alluvial plains which now form the surface of
the country have formerly been.

The lowest state of the Arkansas occurs from
July to November, inclusive; during a portion of
this time it is often too shallow to be navigable
from the Mississippi to Little Rock. In this state
of the River, the current being sluggish, the water
quasi stagnant, and the solid matter held in suspen-
sion very trifling, although the water is always
tinged a little with it, a set of experiments might

VOL. II.	Q226

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxxvii.

be conducted, showing the mean quantity of sedi-
mentary matter brought annually down during the
rises of the river, and during the low-water periods.
Furnished with the cubic quantity of solid matter
thus obtained in a given period, and applying it as
a divisor to the probable whole quantity of fluviatile
deposit in the entire alluvial area, a chronological
period might be approximatively assigned to the
origin of these rivers, the commencement of these
deposits, and the withdrawal of the ocean from this
part of the country. Perhaps also the period of
its fitness to receive terrestrial animals might thus
be found to accord with other indications of the
existence of an aboriginal race.

On reaching the steamer we found it very clean,
and but few passengers on board; I therefore flat-
tered myself with the enjoyment of many tranquil
moments, in which I could daily bring up my
journal, finish my sketches, and contrive a few
comforts for a voyage which would probably last
ten days; but I never was more egregiously dis-
appointed at any period of my life. The passengers
were some low persons on their way from Red
River to New Orleans on business, just recovering
from the effects of malaria and calomel, and who
gave themselves unrestrainedly up to such beastly
vulgar habits, even when at table, that it became
impossible to remain a spectator of their stercora-
rious proceedings. Although the weather was often
cold and rainy, Mr. T******** and myself werech. xxxyn.] DISGUSTING SCENES ON BOARD A STEAMER. 227

often driven on deck to eat our food, to avoid the
disgusting scenes that were going on around the
fireside in the cabin. The captain was a resolute,
vigilant man, but he cared nothing about what was
done there, leaving the passengers to regulate those
matters amongst themselves. The arrival of night
was a blessing to us; if we could not sleep, at least
our eyes and ears were not so much offended; for
the brutes, our fellow-passengers, gorged with the
coarse things they had eaten, could always sleep,
like hogs, the moment they laid themselves down.
We made various attempts to put matters upon a
better footing, but could not succeed, these animals
not having the slightest idea of there being such a
thing as indecency. In the morning I was careful
to be always up first, get a corner to myself on
deck to perform my ablutions in, and when it was
very cold I used to go to the engineer's room to
warm myself, who was a clever sort of man in
his way.

The first day we made about seventy-five miles,
and the next morning proceeded twenty miles to a
Mrs. Embree's, a widow, who cultivated a cotton
plantation; she appeared to be an active respectable
person, and lived with some order and comfort in
her double cabin. We took in her crop of cotton
for the New Orleans market, as well as that of her
son-in-law, Judge Roane, an intelligent person who
embarked with us to go a short distance down the

Q 2228

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxxyii.

river. Nearly opposite to the widow's is an old
village of the Quapaw Indians, which had been the
residence of a Mons. Vaugin, a Frenchman who
died lately. The name Quapaw, as it is commonly
called, is pronounced, as a half-breed informed me,
in a strong guttural manner, as if it were Gkwhaw-
paw. From a vocabulary which I obtained from
this person, the language they spoke appears to be
a dialect of the Whasshash, or Osages, from whom
they have probably separated, as these last have
their hunting-grounds only about 250 miles to the
north-west. From hence we proceeded about 20
miles, to the plantation of a Mons. Barraque, which
is very well chosen, being somewhat higher than
the line of inundation, and perfectly level for a
great distance. This is one of the best cotton
plantations on the river, to judge from the size and
luxuriance of the plants, which however were not
equal to those I had seen on the Mexican side of
Red River. If the company in the steamer had
been even tolerable, this little voyage would have
passed off agreeably, for these stoppages gave me
frequent opportunities of looking at the country,
and calling to see the different families, all of
tyhom, by their affability, showed how happy they
were to offer civilities to a stranger who visited
their country for the first time. The French fami-
lies were delighted, too, that I could converse with
them in their native language, and were in rapturesCHAP. XXXVII.]

M. BARRAQUE.

229

when they heard that I had even been in Paris.
This fact of itself procured me the most decided
attentions.

Mons. Barraqu6's family were all French, and
occupied a house containing two large and very
comfortable rooms, neatly and sufficiently furnished.
On entering I found Madame Barraque, four young
ladies, and some of their friends, all of whom
received me with a charming politeness peculiar to
the French, and engaged me in an interesting chat
with them for an hour. It was evident that they
had ideas and opinions a little above the ordinary
run of the old Creole French; and upon my
remarking this, Mons. Barraque informed me that
he had only emigrated from France upon the fell
of his master, Napoleon; after which event, being
uncertain of his advancement in the army upon the
restoration of the Bourbon family, he had embarked
for New Orleans, had wandered up the Arkansas,
and commenced a trade with some of the western
Indians: it was his bad fortune, however, to be
robbed and plundered of everything he possessed,
and in this state he made his way back to the
French settlements on the Arkansas, where " tout
le monde etoit enchant^ de le revoir." Frenchmen
make a point of never being unhappy long, so he
married the daughter of one of the old settlers at
whose house he staid; and after a while, with the
assistance of his father-in-law, built a house, and
gradually cleared a plantation. He is now a sue-230	TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxxvii.

cessful cotton planter, and being himself a native
of the lower Pyrenees, has given the name of " New
Gascony" to the district he resides in. To judge
from appearances, Madame has no small portion of
the Quapaw blood in her, which is not an uncom-
mon thing, as most of the Creole French who lived
out of New Orleans connected themselves with
Indian women: her mother no doubt was of that
stock, but she is a very good-looking woman not-
withstanding her Indian blood, has French manners,
and has produced a fine young family.

As soon as the signal was made for the departure
of the steamer, I went to the house to make my
bow, and to my surprise found Mons. Barraque
also ready in his travelling dress, intending to go
down the river as far as the post of Arkansas, The

affectionate manner in which he seemed to live

♦

with his family was very engaging; at the words
" Embrassez-moi, mes enfants," all ran to him, and
they took a gentle and tender leave of each other,
including Madame. On our way to the boat I
said to him, " Apres tous vos malheurs, Monsieur,
au moins vous avez trouve un endroit ou vous etes
heureux," when to my extreme surprise he an-
swered me in the very words of my old merry
travelling companion Mons. Nidelet, when I was
passing through Tennessee, " Monsieur, quand il
n'y a pas de choix, tout est bon!" a most com-
fortable maxim, if it can be cordially acted up to,
and in the practice of which we fastidious English-chap, xxxvu.l	A DRUNKEN PUPPY.

231

men are not a tenth part as wise as our lively
neighbours.

M. Barraque was a great acquisition to Mr.
T******** and myself on board; he was full of con-
versation, his adventures and opinions were amusing,
and we found him a very intelligent and agreeable
fellow-passenger. This was more than could be said
of the others, and especially of a young reprobate
of the name of Powers, apparently not more than
twenty-one years old. This youth was decently
dressed, and from his language was evidently from
New England, where the young men are generally
well brought up. But he was a scape-grace of the
worst kind, was in a constant state of intoxication
with some ardent spirits he had found on board of
the boat, and behaved in the most ungovernable
and ruffian-like manner. I had observed him upon
several occasions, and had cautiously abstained from
having anything to do with him. Knowing that
the steward of the boat had some claret on board
which he had purchased in New Orleans, I desired
him to bring me a bottle of it, that I might offer
some wine to M. Barraque. This drunken puppy,
finding that I did not offer it to him, broke out in
the most insolent manner to me, and jumping up
with a knife in his hand, told me, before all the
passengers, that he " had a good mind to cut my

-throat." I never was more tempted to knock

a fellow's brains out, but considering his extreme
youth, I dissembled my feelings, and merely told232

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxxvii.

him that if he made one step towards me I would,
after that speech, put him to death on the spot.
We had a set of excellent printed rules on board,
amongst which was one declaring that if any pas-
senger's conduct was offensive to the captain or to
the other passengers, he should be immediately put
on shore, and I determined to require of the captain
to enforce that rule in this case. The other pas-
sengers made no remark upon his conduct, except
M. Barraque, who went on deck and spoke to the
captain, and told him what he thought it was his
duty to do. Mr. T******** and myself were of opi-
nion that he would be more influenced by the inter-
ference of a planter upon whom he occasionally
depended for freight, than by my representations,
and I therefore said nothing, relying upon the cap-
tain's good sense, of whose vigilance in matters that
related to his duty we had had many proofs. In
the evening this young brute became so beastly
drunk, that he lay down in a berth belonging to
one of the other passengers and vomited upon his
clothes. The captain, on hearing of this, came
down into the cabin to speak to him, but he was
too drunk to understand what was said to him, and
the affair was left until morning. When morning
arrived I required of the captain an immediate
compliance with the rule, and this he frankly
admitted he was bound to do, but said there were
particular circumstances, known only to himself,
^hich prevented his doing it; he concluded bychap, xxxvii.] PRECARIOUS NAVIGATION.	233

saying that he would take such precautions as would
prevent my being exposed to his insolence again.
Thus situated, I had no alternative but to remain
on board and see if the captain would restrain him
by his authority, or go on shore myself and remain
in the wilderness perhaps two or three weeks before
another steamer should offer. This being the most
inconvenient of the two, I determined to wait
awhile; and in fact the fellow, in consequence of
the captain's orders to give him nothing to drink,
was quieter after this. It appeared from what the
engineer told me, that this youth was a relative of
one of the owners of the boat, and was going to the
gallows so fast, that he had put him under the
captain's care as a last effort to keep him from
immediate destruction, with injunctions not to let
him go ashore at all.

During this day we made about 30 miles, stop-
ping at two or three plantations to take in cotton,
and mooring the steamer as soon as night set in;
for the precarious nature of the navigation renders
it exceedingly dangerous and almost impossible to
descend the Arkansas when the river is as low as at
this time, except by day-light. Notwithstanding
the greatest attention on the part of the captain we
frequently grounded, and we often had to stop the
engine to permit the boat to glide gently over the
trees that lay beneath the water. On the 28th we
grounded in a place from which we were unable to
extricate the steamer until towards evening, and234

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxxvii.

only made twenty miles during the day. In the
morning, the steamer having to take in some cotton,
and finding we were only about three miles from the
ancient French settlement of " Poste d'Arkansas,"
jyjr	and myself landed and walked to it

through woods filled with lofty cotton-wood (Populus
monilifera) trees, with an undergrowth in many
places of white dog-wood (Cornus alba) and red bud
(Cercis Canadensis). This place, which is on the
left bank of the Arkansas, is situated on the edge of
an extensive prairie, and consists of a few straggling
houses, principally occupied by some descendants of
the ancient French settlers, who live in the comfort-
less way that the same class does at Carondelet.
The great man of the place is a Monsieur Notrebe,
a French emigrant, who is said to have accumulated
a considerable fortune here. His house appears to
be a comfortable one, and has a store attached to it,
where the principal business of this part of the
country is transacted. Notrebe preceded M. Bar-
raque in Arkansas, and also married a Creole with
Indian blood in her veins. Cultivating cotton him-
self, advancing money to other planters to carry on
their business with, upon condition of taking their
crops when gathered at a given price, and taking
skins and peltry of every kind in payment of goods
obtained at his store—of which whiskey forms no
small item—he has contrived to secure a monopoly
of almost all the business of the country, and after a
vigorous struggle has compelled all his competitorschap, xxxvii.] DESTRUCTION OF RIVER BANKS.	235

to withdraw from the trade. In addition to the
tenements inhabited by Frenchmen, there are two
miserable taverns kept by Americans, where every-
thing is upon the most sordid scale.

Nature assumes a somewhat different appear-
ance at this place, and we were pleased with it on
our arrival, being somewhat relieved from that
sense of weariness with which an unceasing con-
templation of endless forests and cane-brakes op-
presses the mind. The banks of the river, which
are about eighty feet high here, are crumbling down
with a rapidity that must, more or less, attract the
attention of the settlers and somewhat alarm them ;
the descending floods undermining them on one
hand, whilst the banks, saturated with the land-
springs and superficial waters tending to the river,
become at length too heavy, lose their adhesion, and
are precipitated in immense masses to the bottom.
The Arkansas forms a beautiful sweep for two or
three miles, where the settlement is, and exposes a
deep section of the party-coloured banks, in which
I observed a seam of calcareous matter towards the
bottom of the left bank, composed of broken-down
shells, but it was only about three inches thick. I
examined the neighbourhood for several miles, and
found the country a dead flat, with a few stunted
trees growing here and there, and the land so cut up
by broad channels or gullies made by the rain, that
even within 300 yards of the settlement they had
been obliged to construct bridges over some of them.236

TRAYELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxxvii.

There is a track on the bank of the river which I
followed some distance, until it stopped at a preci-
pice of near 100 feet high, with a wide chasm, on
my left, the solid contents of the whole having, as I
was informed, fallen into the water within the last
twelve months. All this might have been avoided
if they had, in the first instance, constructed proper
passages for the atmospheric waters to pass off.

We remained at this place the whole day, taking
in M. Notrebe's bales of cotton, many of which we
were obliged to leave behind, having no room for
them: indeed the bales were so piled up on the
decks and paddle-boxes of the steamer, that she
looked from the shore like an immense collection of
bales of cotton, amongst which some pieces of ma-
chinery had been stuck; but although, to my inex-
perienced eye, she was too deeply laden, I afterwards
found that she was in good trim, and in the open
stream made her eight and ten knots an hour. We
were detained until ten o'clock the next morning
(Dec. 30th), when we started for Montgomery's, the
noted gambler's, at the mouth of White River, dis-
tant from here about 45 miles.CHAP. XXXYIII,]

brutal annoyances.

237

CHAPTER XXXYIII.

The Steamer boarded by Swindlers—Pandemonium afloat—
Day and Night Orgies—A Mysterious Lady—Printed Rules
to decoy Passengers—White River—Reach the Mississippi—
Arrive at Vicksburg—Mr. Yick and his brother Gentlemen
—Worse and worse — Compliments to the Captain of a
Steamer by the Gentry of Vicksburg—A View of the Grand
Gulf—Reach Natchez—A happy Deliverance of the Swindlers
—Judge Lynch in the State of Mississippi—Arrive at New
Orleans.

Upon embarking on board of this steamer I was
certainly pleased with the prospect that presented
itself of enjoying some repose and comfort after
the privations and fatigues I had endured; but
never was traveller more mistaken in his anticipa-
tions ! The vexatious conduct of the drunken youth
had made a serious innovation upon the slight degree
of personal comfort to be obtained in such a place,
but I had not the slightest conception that that inci-
dent would be entirely thrown into the shade by
others a thousand times more offensive, and that,
from the moment of our departure from the post of
Arkansas until our arrival at New Orleans, I was
destined to a series of brutal annoyances that extin-
guished every hope of repose, or a chance of pre-
serving even the decencies of existence.238

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxxviii.

I had been told at the post of Arkansas that ten
passengers were waiting to come on board, and that
several of them were notorious swindlers and gam-
blers, who, whilst in Arkansas, lived by the most
desperate cheating and bullying, and who skulked
about alternately betwixt Little Rock, Natchez, and
New Orleans, in search of any plunder that violent
and base means could bring into their hands. Some
of their names were familiar to me, having heard
them frequently spoken of at Little Rock as scoun-
drels of the worst class. From the moment I heard
they were coming on board as passengers I predicted
to Mr. T******** that every hope of comfort was at
an end. But I had also been told that two American
officers, a Captain	and a Lieut. C******—•

the latter a gentleman entrusted with the construction
of the military road in Arkansas—were also coming
on board; and I counted upon them as persons who
would be, by the force of education and a conscious-
ness of what was due to their rank as officers, on
the side of 4ecency at least, if not of correct man-
ners ; and if those persons had passed through the
national military academy at West Point, or had
served under the respectable chief* of the Topo-
graphical Bureau at Washington, I should not have
been as grievously disappointed as it was my fate
to be. It was true I had heard that these officers
had been passing ten days with these scoundrels at
a low tavern at this place, in the unrestrained indul-
* Colonel Abert.chap, xxxvhi.] STEAMER BOARDED BY SWINDLERS. 239

gence of every vicious extravagance, night and day,
and that they were the familiar intimates of these
notorious swindlers. Nevertheless, believing that
there must be some exaggeration in this, I continued
to look forward with satisfaction to having them for
fellow passengers, confident that they would be our
allies against any gross encroachments of the others.

Very soon after I had retired to the steamer at
sun-set, the whole clique came on board, and the
effect produced on us was something like that which
would be made upon passengers in a peaceful vessel
forcibly boarded by pirates of the most desperate
character, whose manners seemed to be what they
aspired to imitate. Rushing into the cabin, all but
red-hot with whiskey, they crowded round the stove
and excluded all the old passengers from it as much
as if they had no right whatever to be in the cabin.
Putting on a determined bullying air of doing what
they pleased because they were the majority, and
armed with pistols and knives, expressly made for
cutting and stabbing, eight inches long.and an inch
and a half broad; noise, confusion, spitting, smok-
ing, cursing and swearing, drawn from the most
remorseless pages of blasphemy, commenced and
prevailed from the moment of this invasion. I was
satisfied at once that all resistance would be vain,
and that even remonstrance might lead to murder;
for a sickly old man in the cabin happening to say
to one of them that there was so much smoke he
could hardly breathe, the fellow immediately said,240

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxxyiii.

" If any man tells me he don't like my smoking I'll
put a knife into him."

As soon as supper was over they all went to gam-
bling, during which, at every turn of the cards, im-
precations and blasphemies of the most revolting
kind were loudly vociferated. Observing them from
a distance where Mr. T******** and myself were
seated, I perceived that one of them was the wretched
looking fellow I had seen at Hignite's, on my way to
Texas, who went by the name of Smith, and that
his keeper Mr. Tunstall was with him. The most
blasphemous fellows amongst them were two men
of the names of Rector and Wilson. This Rector at
that time held a commission under the national
government as Marshal for the territory of Ar-
kansas, was a man of mean stature, low and sottish
in his manners, and as corrupt and reckless as it was
possible for a human being to be. The man named
Wilson was a suttler from cantonment Gibson, a
military post about 250 miles up the Arkansas: he
had a remarkable depression at the bottom of his
forehead; and from this sinus his nose rising with
a sudden spring, gave a fural expression to his face
that exactly resembled the portrait of the wicked
apprentice in Hogarth. The rubric on his coun-
tenance too was a faithful register of the numerous
journeys the whiskey bottle had made to his pro-
boscis.

If the Marshal, Mr. Rector, was the most constant
blasphemer, the suttler was the most emphatic one.chap, xxxvm.] ORGIES IN A STEAMER.	241

It was Mr. Rector's invariable custom, when the
cards did not turn up to please him, to express a

fervent wish that " his soul might be sent to-

whilst Mr. Wilson never neglected a favourable
opportunity of hoping that his own might be kept
there to a thousand eternities. This was the lan-
guage we were compelled to listen to morning,
noon, and night, without remission, whenever we
were in the cabin. In the morning, as soon as
day broke, they began by drinking brandy and gin
with sugar in it, without any water, and after
breakfast they immediately went to gambling,
smoking, spitting, blaspheming, and drinking for
the rest of the day. Dinner interrupted their orgies
for a while, but only for a short time, and after
supper these wretches, maddened with the inflaming
and impure liquors they swallowed, filled the cabin
with an infernal vociferation of curses, and a per-
fect pestilence of smoking and spitting in every
direction. Lieut.	occasionally exchanged

a few words with me, and appeared to be restrained
by my presence; he never sat down to play, but
was upon the most intimate terms with the worst
of these blackguards, and drank very freely with
them. Capt.	with whom I never ex-

changed a word, was a gentlemanly-looking youth,
and was not vulgar and coarse like the others, but
I never saw a young man so infatuated with play,,
being always the first to go to the gambling table
and the last to quit it. Such was his passion for

VOL. II.	R242	TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxxvm.

gambling that it overcame everything like decent
respect for the feelings and comfort of the other
passengers; and one night, after the others had
become too drunk and tired to sit up, I was kept
awake by his sitting up with Rector and continuing
to play at high, low, jack, and the game, until a
very late hour in the morning. Perhaps, however,
the most remarkable character amongst them was
Smith, the New Englander, with his pale dough
face, every feature of which was a proclamation of
bully, sneak, and scoundrel. I never before saw in
the countenance of any man such incontrovertible
evidences of a fallen nature. It was this fellow
that had charge of the materials for gambling, and
who spread the faro table out the first evening of
their coming on board, in hopes to lure some of the
passengers; none of whom however approached the
table except the drunken youth who had behaved
so ill on a previous occasion, and they never asked
him to play, probably knowing that he had no
money.

Having found no birds to pluck on board, they
were compelled to play against each other, always
quarrelling in the most violent manner, and using
the most atrocious menaces: it was always known
when these quarrels were not made up, by the
parties appearing the next time at the gambling-
table with their Bowie-knives near them. In
various travels in almost every part of the world
I never saw such a collection of unblushing, low,chap, xxxviii.] A COLLECTION OF SCOUNDRELS.	243

degraded scoundrels, and I became at length so
unhappy as often to think of being set on shore
and taking a chance fate in the wild cane-brakes,
rather than have my senses continually polluted
with scenes that had every appearance of lasting
until the end of the voyage: but for the comfort I
derived from the society of Mr. X********, who
was as miserable as myself, and who relied alto-
gether upon me to set a good countenance upon
the whole matter, I certainly should have executed
my intention.

Above the cabin where these scenes were enacted,
was a smaller one called the Ladies' Cabin, and
when I found what sort of a set we had got, I ap-
plied to the steward to give Mr.	and
myself berths there; but he informed us this could
not be done, because Capt. D*****'s sister was
there, having come on board with him at the post.
She might be his sister for aught I ever learnt to
the contrary, but whatever she was she kept very
close, for she never appeared either below or upon
deck. My remonstrances with the captain produced
no effect whatever; when I talked to him about his
printed rules, he plainly told me that he did not
pretend to execute them ; that what I complained of
were the customs and manners of the country, and
that if he pretended to enforce the rules, he should
never get another passenger, adding, that one of the
rules left it to a majority of the passengers to form
their own by-laws for the government of the cabin.

r 2244	TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxxvm.

On recurring to them I found it was so, the
terms being that by-laws were to be so made,
"provided they were in conformity with the police
of the boat." As there was no police in the boat, it
was evident the printed rules were nothing but a
bait to catch passengers with, and I never spoke to
him on the subject again. I had heard many
stories of gangs of scoundrels who wandered about
from New Orleans to Natchez, Vicksburg, and
Little Rock, with no baggage but broad, sharp
butcher knives, loaded pistols, and gambling appa-
ratus, and I was now compelled to witness the pro-
ceedings of such ruffians. These would have been
less intolerable if the two U. S. officers had kept
aloof from these fellows and formed a little society
with us, as I reasonably expected they would do when
I first heard they were coming on board; but Capt.

never once offered either Mr. T******** or
myself the least civility, or exchanged a word with
us; and although that was not the case with Lieut.

yet an incident took place very early in the
voyage which convinced me we had nothing to ex-
pect from him. Wilson, the man with the nose,
was standing with his back to the stove before
breakfast, unrestrainedly indulging in incoherent
curses about some one he had quarrelled with,
when Mr.	in the most amiable manner

put his hand inside of the ruffian's waistcoat, drew
forth his stabbing knife, unsheathed it, felt the edge
as if with a connoisseur's finger and thumb, and waschap, xxxvin.] BEACH THE MISSISSIPPI,	245

lavish in its praise. Such were the unvarying
scenes which were re-enacted for the many days we
were shut up in the steamer with these villains, and
with this statement of them I return to the topo-
graphical details of the voyage.

We had a favourable run down the river the day
of our departure from the post of Arkansas, and in
the afternoon turned into what is called the Cut-
off, a natural passage or canal which connects the
Arkansas with the waters of JVhite River. It is
more convenient to take this Cut-off to reach the
Mississippi, as it is a clear canal-like navigation
about 250 feet broad, without any snags or sawyers.
To the right lies a considerable island cut off from
the main land, upon which we saw two miserable
cabins, on each side of which lofty canes about 25
feet high were growing. There was no current in
this Cut-off, the Arkansas rushing past it at the
south end, and White River at the north end, dam-
ming up its waters as if it were a millpond; we
therefore soon got into the current of White River
itself, which is here a powerful stream, and at night
to our great joy we reached the Mississippi River,
and brought up for a short time at Montgomery's,
a notorious place.

We were now at length on a great fluviatile
highway where other steamers were occasionally to
be met, and Mr. T*#**##** and myself comforted
ourselves with the belief that we should have many
opportunities of abandoning the wretches we were246	TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [cha*. xxxviii.

compelled to live with and exchange their detested
society for any other, since none could be more
irksome to us. The Mississippi at this point ap-
peared to be about three-quarters of a mile wide,
was a fine open stream without sandbars and snags,
along which we could freely proceed all night with-
out danger: disgusted as we were, we rejoiced at
our escape from the contracted banks and endless
forests of the Arkansas, the very air of which seemed
to breathe of corruption. I rose early in the morn-
ing and hastened on deck to look at the shores;
we had the State of Mississippi on our left, and the
territory of Arkansas on our right.

The water of the river was of a grey muddy
colour, not red like that of the Arkansas, but the
banks, like those of this last stream, were low, and
were constantly crumbling and wearing away,
carrying along with them trees and masses of cane-
brake. Everything which depended upon the action
of the river was the same as in the one we had just
left, although upon a larger scale; there was the
same serpentine course, the same reaches, but more
extensive, and the same sand-bars. In the course of
the day we passed Columbia, the county-town of
the county of Chicot in Arkansa, said to be the
most fertile part of the whole territory. After
passing a most horrible night, kept awake by the
tobacco and imprecations of the drunken gamblers,
we arrived early in the morning of January 1st at
Vicksburg, and greatly disappointed were we notchap, xxxviii.]	VICKSBURG.	247

to find any steamer there bound to New Orleans.
Here we remained several hours, and thought of
going to a tavern to wait for a steamer, for which
purpose we entered the town with the intention of
looking out for lodgings.

Vicksburg is a modern settlement situated on the
side of a hill very much abraded and cut up into
gullies by the rains. The land rises about 200 feet
above the Mississippi, but sinks again very soon to
the east, forming a ^ort of ridge which appears at
intervals as far as Baton Rouge. On returning to
the steamer we were informed that eight or ten
gentlemen, some of whom were planters of great
respectability, and amongst the rest, a Mr. Vick,
after whom the place was called, were coming on
board with the intention of going to New Orleans.
This determined us to continue on with the boat,
conceiving that we should be too many for the
ruffians in the cabin, and that the captain—who
was anxious to keep up a good understanding with
the planters—would now interfere to keep some
order there. But supper being over, and the faro-
table spread as usual, what was my horror and
astonishment at seeing these Mississippi gentlemen,
with the respectable Mr. Yick, sitting down to faro
with these swindlers, and in the course of a very
short time gambling, drinking, smoking, and blas-
pheming, just as desperately as the worst of them !
The cabin became so full of tobacco smoke that it
was impossible for me to remain in it, so wrapping248	TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxxviii.

myself up as warm as I could, I retreated to the
deck to pass the night, Mr. T******** soon follow-
ing me: there we met the captain, and told him
we could not endure this any longer, and were
desirous of being put on shore at the very first set-
tlement we should reach by daylight. He said it
would be best for us to go on shore at Natchez,
and that he really pitied us, but that he could not
disoblige these planters, for that if he was to inter-
fere with their amusements, they would never ship
any freight with him ; adding that the competition
amongst the steamers was so great, that every man
was obliged to look out for his own interests: as a
proof that it was necessary for him to act with some
policy, he told us that a captain of his acquaintance
having once put a disorderly fellow belonging to
Vicksburg on shore, had, when he stopped there on
his return, been boarded by fifteen persons, armed
with knives and pistols, who proceeded to spit in
his face, kick him, and treat him in the most savage
manner. Some of these fifteen persons, he said, he
thought were now on board. This I could readily
believe, for nothing could be more reckless or
brutal than their conduct and conversation. They
had escaped the restraints which society imposed in
the place they inhabited—if any such existed—and
seemed determined to exhaust all the extravagances
that brutality and profanity are capable of. I shall
never forget these specimens of gentlemen belong-
ing to the State of Mississippi.CHAP. XXXVIII.]

NATCHEZ.

249

During the day, we passed Rockport or the Grand
Gulf, where the Mississippi pursues a broad straight
channel for several miles, the river having lost its
serpentine character, and the shore assuming an
unusual height, with picturesque hills here and
there. Generally speaking there is an oppres-
sive monotony in the appearance of the shores of
this fine river to the south, but the view here was
sufficiently pleasing to induce me to sketch it. The
sand has indurated and formed a rock, which in this
universal alluvial country furnishes an excuse for
the name of the pretty little settlement of Rock-
port. Rodney, farther to the south, is built on a
similar ridge, but the inhabitants have abandoned
the upland for the low ground, finding this last less
unhealthy.

It was after midnight when we reached Natchez,
where we had determined to land, and where we
did not remain a long time, for we had but a short
time to make up our minds. The principal or upper
town, where the planters reside, is some distance
from the shore, and we could not reach it that night
without leaving our luggage at the low town by the
water's edge: but the engineer of the steamer, in
whom I placed some confidence, had assured me
that this low town was a notorious rendezvous for
the very worst desperadoes in the country, more in-
famous—if possible—even than the party we had on
board, and that if we left anything there we should
never see it again; whilst if we staid there all night250

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

[chap. xxxviii.

we should expose ourselves both to robbery and
murder, many persons having been traced to that
place, without ever having been further heard of.
Whilst I was pondering upon this obvious difficulty
I saw all the fellows we took in at the post of Arkan-
sas come upon deck as if they were about to leave
the steamer, and being informed by the steward that
the whole party, tutti quanti, officers, mysterious
lady and all, were going no farther, I determined
to remain. Here then we had the satisfaction to see
these degraded wretches leave the boat, and a short
time after to know that we were on the bosom of
the Mississippi without them.* The captain, too,

* A few months afterwards the outrageous conduct of this
gang of lawless men drew upon some of them a summary and
tragical fate; and the incident is so highly characteristic of the
manners of the part of the country it concerns, that it deserves
to be related.

Encouraged by the acquaintances they had formed on board
of the steamer, some of these wretches removed to Vicksburg and
established gambling tables at various low taverns, to which they
decoyed the young men of the place, and having plundered and
debauched them, they at length became as depraved as them-
selves, and their constant associates. Emboldened by thoir
numbers, and by the impunity which their desperate character
appeared to invest them with, they threw off all restraint, and
by their constant drunkenness, and their crimes, rendered them-
selves objects of terror to the rest of the inhabitants; occupying
the streets in the day-time, armed with deadly weapons, and in-
sulting every one that was obnoxious to them. This anarchy
becoming intolerable, the citizens were driven to combine against
them, and a crisis was soon reached upon the occasion of a public
dinner, at which one of these men having contrived to get ad-
mittance, interrupted the festivity, and struck an inhabitant who
endeavoured to keep him in order. Upon this an uproar tookchap, xxxvni.] EXECUTION OF GAMBLERS.

251

seemed to be glad to be rid of them, and to have an
opportunity of being civil to me, for he voluntarily

place, which ended by his being turned into the street. This
fellow, whose name was Cabler, now hastened to his confede-
rates, and arming himself, returned with some of them to the
public square, proclaiming aloud his intention to put to death
the individuals who had been most forward in expelling him.
At the square, however, he was met by the company he had in-
sulted, and a small corps of volunteers, who had been dining
with them—was seized, disarmed, and immediately taken to the
woods. Tying him to a tree, they first proceeded to Lynch him
in a severe manner, then tarred and feathered him, and peremp-
torily ordered him to leave the place.

The citizens being now roused, held a general meeting, and
there passed a resolution that all these gamblers should leave
the town in twenty-four hours, and had it placarded on the walls.
On the morning succeeding to the stipulated time, the inhabit-
ants in great numbers, accompanied by the volunteers, went to
the haunts of the gamblers, and deputed a part of their number
to seize all the faro and rouge et noir tables ; but on reaching a
house occupied by a very desperate fellow of the gang, named
North, they found it garrisoned by several of the most ob-
noxious of these scoundrels, all of them completely armed. The
posse having surrounded the house and broken open a back
door, a volley was fired from within, by which a Dr. Hugh
S. Bodley, one of the most respected inhabitants of the place,
was killed on the spot. The fire was instantly returned, and
one of the gang wounded; but the conflict was of short dura-
tion, for the assailants, enraged at the death of one whom they
valued so much, stormed the place, and captured all who had
not escaped: these were five in number, amongst whom was
Smith, the pale dough-faced New Englander, who has been
already alluded to as one of the gamblers on board the steamer.

Shriving time was not allowed to these miserable wretches;
a gallows was instantly erected, and the extraordinary spectacle
exhibited of the whole population of a town, headed by the lead-
ing inhabitants, many of whom were magistrates, conducting252

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxxyiii.

offered to give Mr.	and myself berths in

the ladies' cabin, now vacant, an offer we joyfully

five men to execution—one of whom was desperately wounded—
before any preliminary step whatever had been taken to bring
them to a trial by the laws of their country. Such are the
excesses to which the people of these climes abandon them-
selves when their passions are roused—never stopping to
consider consequences, but madly sacrificing human life, and
incurring the gravest responsibilities, upon the impulse of the
moment!

The person from whom I had these particulars—which were
to a great extent confirmed by the public journals at the time—
told me that the scene which preceded the death of these men
baffled all description. A tumultuous mob, showing a savage
impatience to hurry on the execution, filled the air with execra-
tions ; whilst the captured and crest-fallen gamblers, preceded
by a drunken black fiddler, were reluctantly dragged to the fatal
tree by the volunteers and citizens. The names of these doomed
wretches were North, Hallums, Smith, Dutch Bill, and M'Call;
some of whom were dogged and malignant to the last: Smith,
however, was thoroughly terror-stricken; he wept, he implored,
he cried aloud for mercy, and evinced the most abject despair:
vain were these appeals, for the instant the gallows was ready,
they were all launched into eternity, including the wounded
man. It was the next morning before their bodies were cut
down and buried together in a ditch.

This transaction passed over without any subsequent inquiry
by the constituted authorities. The murdered men were known
to be scoundrels of the worst kind, and received little or no
sympathy : out of the State of Mississippi the act was far from
being approved of, although it was hoped it might check the
profligate career of a set of individuals whose vicious lives were
a perpetual defiance to society. But in the State of Mississippi,
public opinion unanimously sustained the conduct of the citizens
of Vicksburg, who themselves seem—after the transaction, and
when their blood must have been cool—to have been quite un-
conscious of having done anything that was inconsistent eitherchap, xxxviii.]	FEROCIOUS SCENES.

253

embraced, and from that moment never entered the
lower cabin but to snatch a hasty meal. The Vicks-

with the dictates of humanity or of justice; for, in an elaborate
justification of their ferocious conduct, which was subsequently
drawn up in that town and published, there is the following
extraordinary passage, which not only invites the other towns of
the State to pursue the same barbarous system, but also admits
that the most respectable inhabitants of Yicksburg participated
in the proceedings of that memorable day, and were far from
being dissatisfied with what they had done:—

" Society may be compared to the elements, which, although
' order is their first law,' can sometimes be purified only by a
storm. Whatever, therefore, sickly sensibility or mawkish phi-
lanthropy may say against the course pursued by us, we hope that
our citizens will not relax the code of punishment which they
have enacted against this infamous, unprincipled, and baleful
class of society; and we invite Natchez, Jackson, Columbus
Warrenton, and all our sister towns throughout the State, in the
name of our insulted laws, of offended virtue, and of slaughtered
innocence, to aid us in exterminating this deep-rooted vice from
our land. The revolution has been conducted here by the most
respectable citizens, heads of families, members of all classes,
professions, and pursuits. None have been heard to utter a
syllable of censure against either the act or the manner in which
it was performed; and so far as we know, public opinion, both
in town and country, is decidedly in favour of the course pur-
sued. We have never known the public so unanimous on any
subject."

It-will scarcely be credited that on the morning preceding
this wholesale murder, a still more ferocious scene was enacting
about forty miles from the same place, of which the particulars
appeared in the newspapers of the day. Upon this occasion the
charge brought against those whose lives were sacrificed, was
a conspiracy to organize an insurrection of the slaves. The fol-
lowing extract is made from one of the newspapers:—

" Twenty miles from this place (Jackson in Madison county),
a company of white men and negroes were detected before they254

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

[chap. xxxviii.

burg gentlemen, seeing we avoided their society,
behaved as ill as they could when we were present,
trying to mock us when we were speaking French or
German, merely to provoke us into a quarrel; but
we had made up our minds to continue to bear
their vulgarity, and not to lose our tempers, unless
provoked by personal violence, in which case we
had concerted what to do, and told the captain of
our intentions. They, either because he spoke to
them, or that our coolness had its effect upon them,
never dared to go so far. At the best we passed
our time miserably, and were much detained by
fogs. We passed Baton Rouge in the night time,
and after daylight soon became fatigued with the
monotony of sugar plantations succeeding to each
other, the sight of which became as tedious as that
of the forests and cane-brakes had been. In fact
we were worn out with the horrid scenes we had

did any mischief. On Sunday last they hung two steam doctors,
one named Cotton and the other Saunders; also seven negroes,
without law or gospel, and from respectable authority we learn
that there were two preachers and ten negroes to be hanged
this day."

It was in this same State of Mississippi that the doctrine of
" Repudiation " first broke out, and was practised in the United
States: a mode of fiscal purification of their exchequer, almost as
serious in its effects to the many confiding creditors it has ruined,
as the storms with which they are accustomed to purify their
moral condition are to the objects of their vengeance. Indeed,
with slight alterations, the justificatory passage above quoted
would seem to be equally applicable to both kinds of purifi-
cation, whether applied to creditors or gamblers.chap, xxxviii.] ARRIVE AT NEW ORLEANS.	255

gone through, and were sighing for an end to this
painful voyage. At length, on Sunday morning
the 4th of January, we reached the long crescent of
shipping moored at the wharfs of New Orleans, in
one of the deep curvatures of the river; and going
ashore amidst a crowd of ill-looking people working
as steadily as if they had never heard of Sunday,
and cursing and swearing in French and English,
we proceeded to a Mons. Marty's, a countryman of
Mr. T* *******, and there took our lodgings.256

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. Tchap. xxxix.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

The Delta of the Mississippi—Shiftings of the Channel of the
River—Formation of new land at its mouth—Visit the Ceme-
teries—Mode of contriving dry Graves—Piratical-looking
Population—Green Peas out of doors, Jan. 1—Literature and
the Sciences—New Orleans Americanised—Sunday Evening
Meetings—Faro the principal business transacted in New
Orleans—The Legislature in Session—Good Theatres.

It is impossible for an observant traveller, accus-
tomed to trace the effects produced by the action of
such powerful streams as the Arkansas and Red
River, both in their abrasive power and in the re-
production of the sedimentary matter they bear
along, not to be struck with those geological modi-
fications established on the surface of the country
by the combined efforts of all the tributaries of the
Mississippi, as they are exhibited in the Delta of
that mighty river. This immense fluviatile deposit
may be described as an irregular triangle, formed
by the line of the Atchafalaya River from the point
where it leaves Red River to where it intersects
the 29th degree of N. lat., continuing thence along
that parallel until all the mouths of the Mississippi
are passed, and completing the triangle by a line
around Chandeleur in St. Bernard, and north ofCHAP. XXXIX.]

THE MISSISSIPPI.

257

Lake Pontchartrain to the 31st degree of N. lat.
—an area of low alluvial country, comprehending
not less than 14,000 square miles, or something
more than one quarter of the area of Great Britain.
West of the Atchafalaya it is bounded by prairies
and high pine lands, lying in Attacapas and Ope-
lousas, two fine districts in the State of Louisiana,
which are drained by streams that empty into the
Atchafalaya and the Gulf of Mexico. To the east
it is bounded by lands similarly elevated, so that
the whole area of 14,000 miles is to be considered
as an ancient gulf into which the sedimentary
matter brought down by the Mississippi and its
tributaries has been deposited ever since the ocean
abandoned that immense basin in the upper country
which is now drained by them, and which compre-
hends at least one million of square miles. Although
the breadth of the river, which is not often more
than 1000 to 1500 yards wide, does not appear to
correspond in the eyes of some persons with its
power, it nevertheless contains an immense volume;
for its depth from the junction of the Arkansa is
from 60 to 100 feet, until it approaches the isthmus
near the Gulf of Mexico, when it decreases very
much.

What has been already observed of the shifting
character of the channels of the Arkansas and Red
River applies equally to the Mississippi, traces of
its deviation occurring in many places in the
numerous lagoons and ancient beds, a principal one

VOL. II.	s258	TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxxix.

of which is perhaps on the line of the Amit6 River,
a stream which connects the western end of Lake
Pontchartrain with Iberville River and the present
channel of the Mississippi. When the Mississippi
was limited to the north by this line, perhaps little
or none of the area of land south of it appeared
above the water, and the manner in which it has
been gradually brought to the surface since the
river deviated from an east to a south-east course,
sufficiently appears from the narrow tongue-like
isthmus which terminates in the mouths of the
river a little north of the 29th degree; there the
stream, constantly carrying the finer silt, deposits
it as it meets resistance from the waters of the Gulf
of Mexico, and extends it annually into the gulf,
whilst the breadth is enlarged at every inundation
to await the growth of a future vegetation.

This extraordinary exhibition of the constant
formation of new land by a river bringing down
the ruins of other territories was so vividly im-
pressed upon my mind, that the very first thing I
did after securing lodgings was to go to one of the
public cemeteries, to see how they managed to inter
their dead in a country so low and flat that the
ground must be thoroughly saturated with water,
and where, even in digging the foundations for
houses, I was told it comes in invariably at a depth
of from two to three feet. I found several new
graves open ready to receive their tenants, all
destined to repose in shells of well-masoned dryCHAP. XXXIX.]

NEW ORLEANS.

259

brickwork with which the graves were lined. Here,
too, I collected some fresh-water shells that had
been ejected with the soil. Nothing can be more
fanciful than these cemeteries, which abound in
bizarre structures of painted brickwork placed over
the graves, except the strange sentimental inscrip-
tions upon them. Having gratified my curiosity,
I roamed until night through the old French part
of the city, a dirty confined town with narrow
unpaved streets, often impassable with mud, the
principal of which, Rue de Chartres, is only forty
feet wide.

The population partook strongly of the character
of the latitude it was in, a medley of Spaniards,
Brazilians, West Indians, French Creoles, and
breeds of all these mixed up with the negro stock.
I think I never met one person without a cigar in
his mouth, and certainly, taking it altogether, I
never saw such a piratical-looking population before.
Dark, swarthy, thin, whiskered, smoking, dirty,
reckless-looking men; and filthy, ragged, screaming
negroes and mulattoes, crowded even Rue de
Chartres, where our lodgings were, and made it a
very unpleasant quarter to be in. Notwithstanding
it was Sunday, the market was open, and there I
saw green peas (January 1st), salads, bouquets of
roses, bananas from Havanna, and various good
things that reminded me I was in the 30th degree
of N. lat.

In the American quarter the streets are wider,

s 2260	TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxxix.

the houses better built, and substantial improve-
ments are going on; all this, no doubt, is well
warranted by the commercial advantages which the
place affords, the position of the city having ren-
dered it the present emporium of this part of the
world; but it appeared evident to me that a man
who had no business to transact would find no
temptation to remain long, and would be entirely
out of place here, for the only object men can have
in coming to reside in a town so fatal to health and
life in the summer, and so uncomfortable in the
winter, must be the accumulation of money. That
I am sure is every man's object who comes to New
Orleans. Having stumbled upon a rather intelligent
Frenchman—a " Fran^ais de France," as they call
them here—who sold watch-keys and pamphlets,
and oddities of one kind or another, I asked him
if there was a museum in the town, or any place
which contained objects of natural history. His
answer was, " Monsieur, on n'est pas ici pour la
litterature et les sciences, mais pour accrocher
quelque chose, et puis filer le camp avant de
mourir."

The Levee is a wide sloping space between the
town and the river, appropriated to the shipping
business; and on approaching the city, certainly
the great number of ships and steamers ranged
along the crescent which constitutes the harbour,
produces a very striking spectacle. Perpendicular
from the river there is a wide street called CanalCHAP. XXXIX.]

NEW ORLEANS.

261

Street, which separates the quarter where the Ame-
ricans reside from the old French town of La Nou-
velle Orleans, now Anglicised into New Orleans, a
transition which is in rapid progress with every-
thing ; for in less than fifty years the influence of
all persons of the French race will be utterly extin-
guished in New Orleans and throughout Louisiana.
Already the French race is beginning to feel this,
and to witness with bitter dissatisfaction the supe-
riority of the Americans in everything that depends
upon activity and industry. Within that period
everything French here will be absorbed into the
other race.

The old city, which once was the centre of every
sort of gaiety and business, is already become gloomy
and partially deserted. Rue de Chartres is less so
because the shops are situated there, but in the other
streets you only meet with a few anxious Jewish-
looking faces going up and down the narrow streets
that run at right angles to the principal one, looking
at you inquiringly, as if they would willingly
transact some sort of business with you; but the
well-dressed, gallant, careless, and cheerful Creole
gentleman is no more seen. His day has already
passed by. Rue Rovale is the next best street run-
ning parallel with Rue de Chartres, and is less dis-
agreeable, because there are but few persons to be
seen in it. A walk of a few minutes from this
brings you to the skirts of the city, where the
cypress swamps, though filled with water, were262

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxxix.

more attractive to me than anything else, for the
graceful palmetto was there in great profusion.

One of the most agreeable things I found at New
Orleans was an excellent table d'hote at Mr.
Marty's, at which there was every day the greatest
abundance of good things; all the dishes were
admirably cooked, and a bottle of pretty fair claret
was placed by each guest; but in other respects the
house was badly kept, all their cares seeming to be
given to the table. There was no fireplace in the
bed-rooms, a very bad fire in the public room, and
I could obtain no place to write in. I received
particular annoyance, too, from the quick eaters,
who always began to smoke ere I had half finished
my repast. There was a much better American
hotel I was told, but as it was filled with com-
mercial persons I thought I should acquire more
information from the guests at Marty's, none of
whom were of the English race.

On the evening of our arrival Mr. T********
and myself walked to the Exchange to see the
newspapers, where we found a large but very dark
room, full of people talking French and Spanish as
fast as their cigars permitted. It reminded me of
some of the large coffee-houses on the Continent at
the period when the French first overran Italy,
where I then happened to be, and where all seemed
anxious by their conduct to show that the Lord's
day should receive no tribute of respect from them.
On our return to our lodgings we had more abun-chap, xxxix.] PUBLIC GAMBL1NG-ROOM.	263

dant proof that this was the order of the day at
New Orleans; for passing a house with a small
vestibule, a double door, and lights over the en-
trance, I took it for granted at first—seeing various
people slowly entering—that this was a place of
sectarian worship, and entered with the rest, taking
my hat off at the second door. A great many
devout people had already preceded me, but all
kept their hats on, the reason for which I perceived
as soon as I got in, for on looking around I saw it
was a public gambling-room, with tables laid out
for faro and other games. A crowd of the com-
monest class of ill-dressed men, consisting of boat
and raftsmen, were at a roulette table playing for
quarters of dollars. We entered two others, all
within fifty steps of the Exchange, and found the
same scenes going on. The men that kept the
tables were all Americans, of the same class with
those I had been so long on board the steamer
with. I was informed afterwards that a company
of persons, almost entirely Americans, had col-
lected a considerable fund for the purpose of carry-
ing on gambling, and that they had branches at
various places quite as systematically supported as
if they were so many branches of banks, especially
at such watering-places as the White Sulphur
Springs in Virginia, where they had an establish-
ment. If we had visited any of the numerous
gaming-tables where higher stakes are played for—
some of which we were not without invitations to264

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxxix.

visit—I dare say I should have recognised Colonel
Smith " of the British armybut satisfied with
what I had seen, and imagining the rest, I did not
avail myself of the opportunity of witnessing the
doings of " respectable people" at such places,
which I dare say would have been amusing enough.
I was told the houses were kept open day and
night, the " gentlemen" who manage the tables
being divided into " watches," those who are on
duty all night lying abed all day, and vice versa.
The houses here alluded to are frequented princi-
pally by Americans, but besides these there is an
immense number kept by Frenchmen, by Creoles,
and Spaniards. A gentleman who had been long
resident here told me that the gambling-houses had
increased in number with the commerce of the
place; and that although the commercial trans-
actions of New Orleans since the increased cultiva-
tion of cotton had risen to a great amount, yet he
believed that gambling was the principal branch of
business carried on, for that the greater part of the
persons who came here from the West Indies, from
South America, and from Mexico, came to indulge
in this their favourite propensity.

I was so fortunate on my arrival as to find the
legislature of Louisiana in session. The legislative
rooms were small, but sufficiently commodious for
the limited number of members who are convened.
Business is transacted in both the French and
English tongues. Monsieur Pitot, a clerk in oneCHAP. XXXIX.]

THEATRES.

265

of the houses, is said to be a person who has acquired
an extraordinary facility of translating the speeches
of members from one language to the other, being-
able to furnish immediately, for the use of those
who do not understand English, a version of an
American speech with such accuracy as to give
perfect satisfaction. I did not learn whether he is
obliged to do this upon every occasion, but I ima-
gine there must be a great many speeches delivered
hardly worth listening to a second time by those
who understand both languages. The members
appeared to be a very respectable class of men in
both houses, and were principally planters and
lawyers.

There are two theatres in the place, an American
and a French house, both of them exceedingly neat;
and I was very much struck with the unexpected
decorum prevailing in them. Each has its parquet,
so that you have a very comfortable stall during
the performance. The French theatre is in fact an
opera-house, and appeared to be very well con-
ducted : few ladies were there the evening I visited
it, and those I saw were not remarkable for their
ton or personal beauty, of which I had heard a great
deal, the Quadroon Creoles having been somewhat
extravagantly described to me as females beautiful
beyond all others, and very conspicuous for " une
belle taille, et une gorge magnifique." I had occa-
sion to see a good many of them during my stay, at
a ball or two I had access to; and certainly it must266	TRAVELS IN AMERICA. [chap, xxxix.

be allowed that they are " bien mises," and carry
their persons very well; but in the lips and mouth,
and in an unpleasing coarse texture of the skin, the
negro blood shows itself very distinctly.CHAP. XL.]

QUADROONS.

267

CHAPTER XL.

Quadroon young Ladies, their hard fate—Liaisons of a Bal de
Societe—An amiable Father of several Families—Good Pro-
spect for the Anglo-Episcopal Church—Spanish Cathedral—
Depart from New Orleans—A Railroad—Embark in a Steamer
for Mobile—A Storm—A Bishop on board—Come to an anchor
—The Bay and River of Mobile—Tokens of Commercial
Activity—Beauty and Cleanliness of the town of Mobile—
Spanish Creoles—The Bolero.

The position of' this unfortunate race of women is a
very anomalous one; for Quadroons, who are the
daughters of white men by half-blooded mothers,
whatever be their private worth or personal charms,
are forbidden by the laws to contract marriage with
white men. A woman may be as fair as any Eu-
ropean, and have no symptom of negro blood about
her; she may have received a virtuous education,
have been brought up with the greatest tenderness,
may possess various accomplishments, and may be
eminently calculated to act the part of a faithful
wife and tender mother; but if it can be proved
that she has one drop of negro blood in her veins,
the laws do not permit her to contract a marriage
with a white man; and as her children would be
illegitimate, the men do not contract marriages268

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

[chap. xl.

with them. Such a woman being- over-educated
for the males of her own caste, is therefore destined
from her birth to be a mistress, and great pains are
lavished upon her education, not to enable her to
aspire to be a wife, but to give her those attractions
which a keeper requires.

The Quadroon balls are places to which these
young creatures are taken as soon as they have
reached womanhood, and there they show their
accomplishments in dancing and conversation to
the white men, who alone frequent these places.
When one of them attracts the attention of an
admirer, and he is desirous of forming a liaison
with her, he makes a bargain with the mother,
agrees to pay her a sum of money, perhaps 2000
dollars, or some sum in proportion to her merits, as
a fund upon which she may retire when the liaison
terminates. She is now called " une placeethose
of her caste who are her intimate friends give her
fetes, and the lover prepares " un joli appartement
lneuble." With the sole exception of " going to
church," matters are conducted very much as if a
marriage had been celebrated ; the lady is removed
to her establishment, has her little coteries of female
friends, frequents their " Bals de Societe," and
brings up sons to be rejected by the society where
the father finds his equals, with daughters to be
educated for the Quadroon balls, and destined to
pursue the same career which the mother has done.
Of course it frequently happens that the men get tiredCHAP. XL.]

QUADROONS.

2 69

of them and form new liaisons; when this happens
they return to their mother or fall back upon the
fund provided for them in that case; and in some
instances I was informed that various families of
daughters by the same father appear at the Qua-
droon ball on the very evenings when their legiti-
mate brother is present for the purpose of following
the example of his worthy Papa.

A very amusing anecdote, illustrative of this
state of society, was related to me by a person who
had been a resident here a great many years. On
his first arrival in New Orleans, before it had be-
come such a bustling place as it is now, and when
the French population had rather the dessus, he
presented a letter of introduction to a " habitant"
of great respectability, by whom he was politely
received, and invited to dine en famille the same
day. Nobody was present at the dinner but the

wife of Monsieur C-, an agreeable and well

educated Creole lady, a native of the place, and

three of their children. He found Monsieur C-

a lively agreeable Frenchman, full of bonhommie,
and received a great deal of pleasant and useful
information from him. Happening amongst other
questions to ask him how many children he had,

Monsieur C--gave him the following account

of his domestic relations :—

" Combien d'enfants, Monsieur ? Ah ! voyons
un peu, si on pourrait vous dire cela! Nous avons
d'abord, oui, nous avons quatre n6s a la Rue270

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xl.

Royale, puis trois en haut la de la Rue de Chartres;
il y a encore les deux Montbrillons, mon fils qui est
au sucrier, et puis les trois petits que vous voyez.
Voila le bout du compte, a ce que je pense; n'est ce
pas, ma chere?" patting the head of one of the
children, and addressing himself in the most con-
fiding, affectionate way to Madame.

It is evident that the future population of New
Orleans is likely to afford a rare specimen of the
forms society can be made to take in a semi-tropical
climate, where the passions act unrestrainedly, and
where money is the established religion of the
country.

I was gratified however to find that the Anglo-
episcopal church was raising its head here; at pre-
sent there is but one episcopal congregation, but I
should imagine its members to be zealous and
spirited, for I was shown a very handsome design
of a church which they are about building; and a
Protestant clergyman informed me that a project is
on foot to put the States of Louisiana, Mississippi,
and Alabama under one Protestant episcopal dio-
cese. Men of liberal education and correct lives in
the United States seem naturally to fall into the
bosom of the episcopal church, for there they find
that attractive order of worship and steadiness of
purpose which so powerfully encourage them to
persevere in that purity of life which generally dis-
tinguishes individuals of their class.

The only curious specimen of architecture here,chap, xl.]	LEAVE NEW OKLEANS.	271

with the exception of the old-fashioned French one-
story houses with windows reaching to the ground,
is the old Spanish cathedral, in one of the public
squares in the old town, built somewhat in the
Morisco style.

Having gratified my curiosity until I had not the
slightest desire left to remain an hour longer, I
took leave of New Orleans—a city where all agree
in the worship of mammon, and where the under-
taker looks with as much periodical anxiety to the
season of his harvest as the speculator in cotton
does to his. Starting for Lake Pontchartrain the 7th
January, 1835, by a well-constructed railroad of five
miles which they have laid in the swamp, we made
the distance in about fifteen minutes, and embarked
on board the steamer Otto. Lake Pontchartrain is
a fine arm of the sea which communicates with
Lake Borgne, a bay of the Gulf of Mexico, by a
channel called Rigolet, which is about half a mile
wide, and distant twenty-seven miles from New
Orleans. We had scarce made five miles when the
wind blew a gale a-head, and the weather came on
very stormy, with heavy rains: this retarded our
voyage, and made us uncomfortable. Our fellow-
passengers however were of a much better kind
than those on board the Little Rock steamer, and
sick as I was I felt comparatively happy. From
the Rigolets we coasted along the low shores of the
States of Mississippi and Alabama, inside of a
number of small islands that separate St. Catha-272	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xi.

rine's Sound from the Gulf, the distance to the
entrance of the Bay of Mobile being about 115
miles.

The sea was very high in the Gulf of Mexico,
and as cross and troublesome as I have ever seen it
almost in the Gulf of Lyons: we shipped a great
deal of water, and some of the passengers began
to entertain apprehensions that the steamer would
founder ; in fact if she had been as flimsy as many
of those that ply upon the Mississippi, we should
have stood very little chance of being saved. If we
had had my old acquaintances the blaspheming
gamblers on board, I should have been disposed to
think that their imprecations had been heard, and
that the day of reckoning had arrived; but for-
tunately one of our passengers was the Bishop of
Connecticut, on a tour in the Southern States.
Although the presence of this gentleman was very
favourable to the preservation of decorum on board,
the captain did not seem to consider him as a suffi-
cient guarantee against the furious storm we had to
contend against, for in the night he bore up under
the lee of an island, and came to an anchor until
daybreak, to the great satisfaction of the timid and
the indisposed. As we approached the entrance of
Mobile Bay the wind lulled, the rain ceased, and a
fine sunny sky appeared, so that the steamer be-
coming quiet we were all enabled to put our persons
in some order, and take a look at each other as well
as the boat. What I saw of this last convinced meCHAP. XL.]

MOBILE.

273

that the captain had acted very prudently in coming
to an anchor, and that our danger had been greater
than I had apprehended. Generally speaking the
weather is so sunny and mild in this part of the
gulf, that almost any kind of boat is thought suffi-
cient for the voyage, but it requires one of the
staunchest vessels to keep out in such a storm as
we experienced; and if it had been so dark as to
prevent our reaching an anchorage, we should pro-
bably have been driven upon some shoal and all
perished.

We had a fine run of thirty miles up the bay to
Mobile, which is built at the mouth of the river
Mobile, a fine stream formed by the confluence of
the Tombeckbee, that receives the Black TVarrior
from the north-east, and the river Alabama, which
gives its name to the State. The Tombeckbee,
which is the north-west branch of the river Mobile,
takes its rise upwards of 300 miles from the city of
Mobile, and is navigable for the greater part of that
distance, a circumstance which gives a great in-
trinsic value to the fertile soil through which it
passes. The Alabama, the north-east branch of the
Mobile, takes its rise in the Cherokee country
towards the south-western termination of the
Alleghany belt, more than 400 miles from the city
of Mobile, and is formed by various tributaries,
such as the Cahawba, the Coosa, and the Talla-
poosa. The serpentine course which these streams

VOL. II.	t274

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xl.

have assumed nearly doubles the length of their
navigation.

As we entered the mouth of the Bay of Mobile
we saw between thirty and forty vessels riding at
anchor below: this they are obliged to do on
account of the extreme shallowness of water in
the bay, occasioned by the River Mobile constantly
depositing great quantities of silt, in the manner
that is done by the Mississippi. Many of these
vessels were three-masted, and their number beto-
kened great commercial activity at this point of
export for the productive cotton-lands of the States
of Mississippi and Alabama. On reaching the city
we also found the wharves crowded with steamers
and vessels of small burden. The lower part of
Mobile is built upon the shore on the right bank
of the river, and the streets near to the water are
dirty and narrow; but the land immediately begins
to rise by a gentle acclivity to a plateau about sixty
feet from the level of the stream. What I had
previously heard of Mobile was not very much
in its favour, and what I had seen of the other
towns in this climate had not raised my expec-
tations. On reaching this plateau therefore, and
observing its extent, I was surprised at the pecu-
liar beauty of the place, for it consisted of streets
well laid out at right angles, with excellent
side-walks, the streets between them being gra-
duated and macadamised with the sea-shells that
are found in the greatest abundance on the shoreschap, xl.]	beauty of mobile,	275

of Lake Ponchartrain and other places, and , in so
perfect a manner as to form the most solid and the
cleanest streets I ever have seen in any country.
One of these streets, where the market is, is 100
feet broad, and is finished in a very admirable style
for a distance of more than two miles from the
river. The buildings, too, are appropriate to the
beauty and width of the street, some of them
being stately structures of brick, denoting opulence
in the proprietors; and in the pretty but more
contracted streets that go off at right angles are
numerous houses built of wood, neatly painted
white, with large plots of land attached to them,
fenced in with painted palings.

At every step I took I was more and more struck
with the universal love of order, and the good
taste which seemed to prevail. The excellent ex-
ample which Mobile has set to the other towns in
these latitudes deserves more praise than it appears
to have received. I did not even suspect the ex-
istence anywhere of so many wise precautions to
disarm the Yellow River of its malignity, which,
though now much mitigated, has often been so
fatal to the citizens of the place. Beyond the
houses are extensive sandy plains covered with
pine-trees, and a thick underwood of evergreens,
consisting of Ilex cassine loaded with its bright
red berries, juniper, and other plants. Many of
the citizens have built little villas in these healthy
plains, to which they retire both to avoid the ex-

t 2276	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xl.

treme heat of the summer and the yellow fever.
The population at this time is said to be upwards of
6000, and from its great advantages as a commer-
cial position, its beauty, and comparative salubrity,
it is probable that it will increase rapidly. On the
score of health it is, as a residence, infinitely to be
preferred to New Orleans, for that city stands in
the midst of a swamp, which is a magazine of mal-
aria that explodes every autumn, whilst Mobile
has the sea-air in front, and a dry arenaceous back
country, where vegetable decomposition is compa-
ratively innoxious. But the good sense of the
citizens, which has secured and improved all its
natural advantages, must soon acquire for this
pretty town the excellent reputation which it de-
serves.

Whilst rambling about I was attracted by the
sound of a guitar coming from a very old-fashioned
looking house in one of the smaller streets, accom-
panied by some very fine voices, which seemed to
infuse life and spirits to many cheerful persons, some
of whom, I knew by the sound of their steps, and by
the time they kept, were dancing a bolero. Mobile
was first colonised by the Spaniards, and those indi-
viduals of that race who are still here now stand in
the same relation to the Americans that the French
in Louisiana do. Curious to see some of the Spanish
Creoles, I opened the door gently and entered. Two
Spaniards were dancing with much grace and na-
tional feeling, whilst about a dozen men and womenCHAr. XL,]

THE BOLERO.

277

were looking on and singing. I had scarce entered
when the master of the house came to me to inform
me, I suppose, that it was a private house; but I
anticipated him by telling him I was a stranger,
and passionately fond of the bolero. He smiled
and said I was welcome, so I remained near an
hour, highly delighted, for I had not witnessed
anything of the kind for a great many years.

On my return at night to the hotel where I had
taken my luggage, I learnt that a steamer, called
the Chippewa, would leave Mobile a little after
midnight for Wetumpka, about 350 miles up the
Alabama and Coosa. Finding nothing to induce
me to prolong my stay at Mobile until a steamer
should offer for the Appalachicola River, which I
was desirous of going up, I determined to go and
look at this steamer, and get some information of
the character of the passengers. There are no
towns of importance on either of those rivers to
attract travelling gamblers, but the Appalachicola
is perhaps the least frequented by them, which was
one of my reasons for preferring it. Finding the
steamer, however, a pretty fair one, and receiving
a satisfactory account as to the rest, I engaged pas-
sages for my companion and myself, and transferring
our luggage on board, the steamer now became our
hotel, and we took possession of our respective
berths, or state-rooms as they are called.278

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

[chap. xli.

CHAPTER XLI.

Embark in a Steamer, and ascend the Mobile and Alabama-
Tertiary deposits at Fort Claiborne—Great fertility of the
State of Alabama—Aptitude of the Creek Indians for labour
—Reach Montgomery, in Alabama—Filthiness of the " prin-
cipal " Hotel—Engage a carriage to cross the Indian Terri-
tory—Country Inundated—Cross the Oakfuskee and enter the
Creek Nation.

We got away some time after midnight, and going
upon deck at break of day, I found we were in the
Mobile River. It resembled the Arkansas in the
flatness of surface of the country, but with the mate-
rial exception that the river being unusually high,
we could see no banks whatever to it; the forest-
trees and the cane-brakes, which were very abundant
and thick, being, as far as we could see, about ten
feet under water from their roots upwards.

About forty miles from Mobile we passed the
junction of the Tombeckbee and Alabama, the
breadth of this last being here about 150 yards.
During the whole of this day the country was under
water, the vegetation standing in it in the greatest
profusion. I was therefore not surprised to learn that
the live oaks (Quercus sempervirens), and all the
other species of oaks found in these latitudes, whichCHAP. XI,r.] FORT CLAIBORNE—PRAIRIE BLUFFS. 279

are periodically subject to this kind of inundation,
are not considered sound timber. Towards evening
the land began to rise, and tired with the monotony
of the scene, we were heartily glad to see the
ground again. On reaching Fort Claiborne, dis-
tant from Mobile near 150 miles of serpentine navi-
gation, I found the bluffs were about 150 feet above
the level of the river, and a short detention enabled
me to take a look at the beds of tertiary shells
in the banks and make a collection of some of
them; but as the fossils found in these deposits
have been already collected, and probably will soon
be accurately described, by that very modest and
intelligent naturalist Mr. T. A. Conrad, who is
decidedly the first authority amongst the fossil con-
chologists of the United States, I omit any remarks
respecting them for the present. From hence to
Prairie Bluffs, the country rises to a still higher
level, and live oaks and laurels of every kind
abound, the trees being occasionally loaded with
curtains of forest-moss ( Tillandsia usnoides) hang-
ing to the ground, and. frequently bearing immense
bunches of mistletoe in their tops. At Prairie
Bluffs, where we arrived the next morning, I found
several subcretaceous shells, the same eocogyra which
is in such abundance at Judge Cross's, in Arkansas,
and some ammonites which I had not seen before.
The bluff here is only about half the height of that
at Fort Claiborne, and the tertiary beds have pro-
bably been washed away from the subcretaceous280	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xli.

ones. We now proceeded to Canton through a very
attractive country, which might be explored with a
great deal of satisfaction at a healthy season of the
year. I was informed that some wells had been
dug in these parts about 500 feet deep, through the
subcretaceous limestone beds, into a quartzose slate,
which, from the description I received of it, is pro-
bably a continuation of that which underlies the
great limestone valley of the Alleghanies. Cahawba
is a settlement on a high bluff of land at the mouth
of the Cahawba River, built upon a rotten limestone
which appears formed of broken-down testaceous
matter. From hence to Vernon the river averages
about eighty yards in breadth, and the high bluffs
are continuous, sometimes extending a mile or two
without any depression. From Vernon to Mont-
gomery the distance is estimated at fifty miles;
the banks, consisting of ferruginous earths and
sands with a good deal of gravel, being generally
about 100 feet in height.

After a tolerably interesting and peaceful voyage,
we reached Montgomery in the afternoon of the 12th
of January, and here the steamer was to stop some
time. The Coosa was still navigable forty miles to
Wetumpka, a place near the falls of the river, but the
captain intending to remain some time here before
he proceeded up, I determined to leave the boat.
It would have been agreeable to me to have visited
the falls, because, from the information I received,
the rocks there were gneiss, and this was one of theCHAP. XLI.]

COAL-FIELDS.

281

points of limitation of the sedimentary beds, from
which the ocean had last retired: besides, I heard
that bituminous coal, which is also found on the
Black Warrior and other parts of Alabama, existed
on a partial line not far from the Wetumpka falls,
which is exactly the manner in which the Chester-
field coal-field in Virginia is situated in relation to the
falls on James River at Richmond; and one of the
interesting questions suggested by the geology of
North America is as to whether there is a line of coal-
fields in the United States east of the Alleghany
mountains, running in detached basins from Virginia
to Alabama. If the foliage had been out, the coun-
try would have been beautiful; but considering the
softness of the climate here, and the great fertility of
the soil in Alabama, it is not surprising that people
should flock—as they do—to this favoured part of
the United States. Still, with all its advantages,
I must say that I would rather be a visitor than a
sojourner in the land: the persecuting malaria,
which never pardons the country a single season, is
of itself a great objection, and the universal and
extravagant use of tobacco by the people would be
to me another of equal magnitude ; so, what with
the effluvia of nature and man combined, this fine
country, with all its advantages, seems to fall very
far short of a terrestrial Paradise.

I was glad to leave the boat, which was a very
dirty concern, and nothing could be less tempting
than our fare; some of the passengers were kind282	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xli.

and communicative, but others were too fond of
gambling, and spitting, and smoking to permit the
enjoyment of much comfort. These were not Mobile
people, but individuals going to different planta-
tions, roads to which come out upon the river;
and at most of these communications we either
landed or took in persons on the way, but they
were all coarse in their manners, and in many
instances very disgusting. In an inordinate love of
tobacco they all agreed, and it appeared to me that
those whom the mania for this weed had seized in
the strongest degree were always the most careless
about their manners, as if it were out of character
for a tobacco-eater to be decent. A few of the men
employed on board the steamer were Muskogee, or
Creek Indians; this was the first time I had seen
aborigines employed as labourers, and from the
activity they showed when we stopped to take in
fuel, I could not but think that if a different policy
had been observed towards this unfortunate race,
good domestic servants and labourers might have
been furnished from them in time, more intelligent
than the negro, and fitted to the climate; but these
considerations come too late—the fate of the Indians
is sealed.

From the landing we had to walk a mile to
Montgomery, a small straggling town with a popu-
lation of from two to three thousand inhabitants,
built upon a deposit of sand and red bluish clay,
which, with occasional patches of rotten limestonechap, xm.]	A "PRINCIPAL" HOTEL.	283

in the local prairies of the neighbourhood, consti-
tute the general soil of this part of the country.

The two principal streets are very broad, in the
style common to all the southern towns, and from
the great number of stores in them, amounting at
least to one hundred, it would seem to be a place of
extensive inland business; but of all the horrid
filthy places into which I ever entered in any coun-
try, I think the principal hotel here, which was the
one to which we were directed by common consent
of all those we made inquiries of, bears the dirty
palm. Everything about it seemed to breathe of
whiskey and tobacco, and the walls of the bed-room
to which I was shown were so incommunicably
squirted over with a black-coloured tobacco-juice,
and with more disgusting things, that it was evident
the visitors to the place were, as to manners, but
little raised above the inferior animals. There was
an unfinished hotel then building opposite, but
what the other hotels were which were not " prin-
cipal," I had not time to ascertain. I regretted
much, however, that I had not gone to one of them,
upon the very chance that they could not be worse,
and might be better, following the principle that a
gentleman of my acquaintance once pursued in
writing from the country to his agent in New York:
" The servants you have sent me with good charac-
ters have all turned out so ill, that you will oblige
me by sending those I am in want of at present
with as little character as possible." And the plan284	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xli.

succeeded, for those with good characters thinking
they could always get other places, did just as they
pleased, whilst the others being anxious to keep their
places, were more circumspect in their conduct.

There was little temptation to remain here, and
I turned my attention to leaving the place as soon
as I found out how uncomfortable it was likely to
be. Upon inquiry I found that the roads through
the Indian territory of the Creek nation, through
which I had now to pass to get into the State of
Georgia, were excessively broken up, especially the
Indian bridges which cross the great swamps, and
that in consequence thereof the letters were for-
warded on horseback, the mail-stage being unable
to run; so that I had got into a cleft stick, and must
either remain here until the roads became passable
for the mail—which was not expected until spring,
—or must take a private conveyance and pay any
price they might think proper to exact of me. The
landlord was the person I had to deal with, and he
ended a monstrous account of the difficulties with
an equally monstrous price for conducting us in a
miserable vehicle and a pair of wretched horses to
Columbus, in Georgia, the distance being ninety
miles. After a good deal of chaffering, I finally
agreed to give him sixty-five dollars, which, with a
gratuity to the driver, amounted to about four
shillings a mile in English money.

Instead of getting off early the next morning as
had been agreed, everything had to be repaired;CHAP. XLI.]

BAD ROADS.

285

but at length, to our great satisfaction, we got out
of the filthy house into the pine woods, where a
gentle air was mournfully but pleasingly rustling
the branches. We found the road as we advanced
quite answering to the description they had given
us of it, being so frightfully cut up as to render
it impossible to sit in the vehicle: wherever it was
dry enough, therefore, we walked, expecting every
instant to see the carriage overturned; and indeed
the manner in which it survived the rolling from one
side to the other was quite surprising. The black
fellow, however, who drove us seemed to take it as
philosophically as if there was nothing uncommon
in this sort of motion; he always urged us in a very
anxious manner to get in whenever he came up
with us, and seemed to think we were not quite
right in our senses for preferring to walk when we
paid so much for riding. At length we came to a
low part of the country completely inundated, where
it was impossible to walk, the water being in many
places four feet deep. Here we were obliged to get
in, and the old vehicle took to rolling in such a dread-
ful manner that every instant we expected to be soused
into the water; and what rendered it really amusing
was, that we were constantly obliged to draw up our
limbs on the seat, for the water was at least eight
inches deep in the bottom of the carriage, and went
splashing about in the most extraordinary manner.
All this time our trunks, which were lashed on
behind, were being quietly dragged under the water.286	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xit.

Mine had got such a satisfactory ducking before I
had time to think of it, that I turned my attention
exclusively to my portfolio and instruments to pre-
vent them from getting wet, casting a look now and
then at my companion, who never having travelled
in that style in his native mountains, looked very
woe-begone, and was constantly exclaiming, " Mais
quel pays ! A-t-on jamais vu de pareils chemins ?"
Fatigued and wet, we reached at night an old set-
tler's of the name of M'Laughlin, a very respectable
sort of man, who lived upon some of the land which
the Creeks had been compelled to surrender. In
the course of the day we had only made fourteen
miles, and the whole performance had been of such
an anomalous character, that, persuaded it could not
have been got up for less than that money in any
other part of the world, I became quite reconciled to
the landlord and his four shillings a-mile.

Next morning we went five miles to Oakfuskee
Creek to breakfast, a pretty brawling stream, form-
ing the present boundary betwixt the Creeks and
the State of Alabama, which we crossed in a ferry-
boat. We were now upon Indian territory, still
possessed by the Indians, and where the laws, man-
ners, and customs of the whites did not yet pre-
vail. Captivated in my youth by what I had read
and heard of the aboriginal inhabitants of North
America, I had been led to visit that continent as
early as 1806, more for the purpose of seeing the
tribes of red men, and studying their languages,CHAP. XLI.]

CREEK INDIANS.

287

than with any other view, and in the succeeding
year had visited most of the tribes in Upper and
Lower Canada, with others dwelling within the limits
of the United States. The insight I had obtained
into the anomalous structure of the Indian dialects,
which is to the ear what the synthetic arrangement
of Chinese written characters is to the eye, had
induced me to seek for information respecting the
Cherokee and Muskogee, or Creek tongues; and
thus becoming familiar with the history of those
people, I could not but feel a deep interest in the
present state of the Creeks, to which they had been
brought by a series of events that made them
deserving of sympathy and admiration.288

travels in america.

[chap. xlii.

CHAPTER XLII.

Description of the Muskogee or Creek People—Their Sachem,
M'Gillivray—Their Treaties with the American Government
—The Chiefs corrupted by the Georgians—Weatherford, the
Sachem of the Lower Creeks, attacks and massacres the Garri-
son of Fort Mimms—General Jackson takes the Field—Fatal
Battle of Tohopeka, or the Horse Shoe—Weatherford's Heroic
Conduct—M'Intosh betrays his countrymen, and is Shot—The
Creeks compelled to cede all their Country—Apology for the
Whites.

The Muskogee, or Creek people, are not to be con-
sidered as a dull, imbecile race of aboriginal savages,
with not an idea beyond that of supplying tlieir
daily wants: they rather resemble the Suliots, or
some of those communities of Asiatic people, who,
passionately attached to their native country, have
contended with the most desperate valour to pre-
serve it from the invaders whom they hated. In-
habiting an ardent climate, and a fertile country
which supplied all their wants, war and the chase,
at the period when the whites first appeared amongst
them, were the pursuits they exclusively gave them-
selves up to. To powerful frames and forms of great
symmetry, they united activity of person and un-
daunted courage. Their copper-coloured complexions.chap, xlii.] M'GILLIVRAY, THE CREEK CHIEF.	289

long coarse black hair, and dark wild eyes, were the
beau ideal of Indian beauty ; and perhaps no human
being could be more remarkable than a young,
well-made Creek warrior on horseback, dressed in
a gaudy calico hunting-shirt, with a bright-coloured
silk handkerchief wound gracefully round his head
in the form of a turban.

Previous to the year 1790 the Muskogee popula-
tion was very great, and claimed dominion over and
possessed a territory, bounded on the east by the Sa-
vannah river, which comprehended perhaps twenty-
five millions of acres of fertile land, being more than
three-fourths of the whole area of England. But
about that period, the population of the State of
Georgia encroaching continually upon them, they
found it necessary to enter into negotiations with
the general government of the United States, then
administered by President Washington.

At this time Alexander M'Gillivray was, as he
had long been, the principal chief of the Creek
people. He was the son of an Englishman by a
Creek woman, had been well educated at Charleston
in South Carolina, and was fifty years old. At the
death of his mother, who was herself a half-breed,
he became first sachem by the usages of the nation;
but leaving it to the people whether that dignity
should be continued in his hands, they not only
insisted upon his retaining that rank, but afterwards
called him, as if by general consent, " king of kings
and, from all the accounts we have of him, he was

VOL. II.	u290

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[ohap. xlii.

universally beloved by the people, and deserved
their attachment. During the civil war between
Great Britain and her colonies, he adhered to the
mother country, and fought against the Americans;
but, after the peace, circumstances occurring which
made it doubtful whether a collision might not take
place between the Georgians and his people, he was
invited by the federal authorities to New York,
where the seat of government then was ; and going
there with other chiefs in 1790, was well received
by President Washington, with whose government
he concluded a treaty in the month of August of
that year. This treaty was the first of twelve that
have been made by the United States with the Mus-
kogee nation, and each of them has been a treaty of
cession except the last. In all the others the Creeks
have gradually been made to cede a portion of their
country adjoining to their neighbours the Georgians,
and to fall back upon the remainder; in each case
that remainder being solemnly guaranteed to them
by the United States. The tenth treaty left them a
very limited portion of their ancient country; but by
the eleventh they ceded every foot of land contained
in that limited portion. By the twelfth and last
treaty, the United States government stipulate to
give them certain lands west of the Mississippi for
their nation to inhabit for ever; that is to say, until
the white population shall reach them, when the
same game will have necessarily to be played over
again.chap, xlii.] SPOLIATION OF CREEK TERRITORY.	291

In the first treaty, made in the year 1790, are
the two following articles :

"Art. 5. The United States solemnly guarantee
to the Creek nation all their lands within the limits
of the United States, to the westward and south-
ward of the boundary described by the preceding
article.

" Art. 6. If any citizen of the United States, or
other person, not being an Indian, shall attempt to
settle on any of the Creek lands, such person shall
forfeit the protection of the United States ; and the
Creeks may punish him or not, as they please."

The manner in which the guarantee in the fifth
article has been observed, is sufficiently explained
by the fact that by the succeeding treaties the
Creeks have ceded every foot of land they possessed;
and as to the sixth article, which provides that the
Creeks may punish intruders upon their lands, it
was expressly because they endeavoured to enforce
this article, and prevent new intruders settling upon
their lands, that new quarrels arose betwixt them
and the Georgians, which always ended in a new
treaty and an important cession of the land intruded
upon, under the pretence, generally, that it was
within the " chartered rights of Georgia."

If the Creeks, however, had remained a united
people in their resistance to these encroachments,
the spoliation of their territory would not have
proceeded so rapidly. Unfortunately they became
divided amongst themselves by the arts of the

u 2292	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap, xm-

white men, and, as has often occurred in similar
cases, the party that maintained the independence
of the nation was opposed by a minority, jealous
of the ascendancy of some of the chiefs, and which
rashly sought to strengthen itself by the counsels
and aid of the white men, whose sole object was to
eject them all from the country.

As early as 1790 this became a source of weak-
ness to the nation. M'Gillivray, in his treaty of
that period, had made an important cession of terri-
tory to the United States, upon the ostensible con-
sideration of an annuity of 1500 dollars, and a
present of " certain valuable Indian goods." This
was represented as an act of treason to his nation;
it was said that he had been corrupted, had become
a pensioner of the United States, and had ceded a
part of their territory without the consent of a
general council of the people. The Sachem was
so much hurt by the opposition he met with on his
return, that he left his nation for awhile, and went
to the Spanish settlements, from whence, however,
he returned, and appeared for a time to have reco-
vered his popularity ; probably this was only in
appearance, for he again went to Florida, and died
at Pensacola in 1793.

By the treaty of November 14, 1805, another
very important cession of territory was made to the
United States, together with a right to a horse path
throughout the whole Creek territory, " in such
.direction as shall, by the President of the Unitedchap, xlii.] SPOLIATION OF CREEK TERRITORY.	293

States, be considered most convenient," with a right
to all Americans to pass peaceably thereon, the
Creek chiefs stipulating to keep ferry-boats at the
rivers for " the conveyance of men and horses." In
this treaty, which threw the whole Creek territory
open to the whites, nothing is said about the right
of the Creeks to punish intruders on their lands;
hut the United States agreed to give to the nation
12,000 dollars, in money or goods, for the term of
eight years, and 11,000 dollars, in money or goods,
for the term of the ten succeeding years, without
interest.

The work of plunder and corruption was now
rising to a great height; the increasing population
of Georgia was pressing upon the Indians, and the
legislature of that State—in which the speculators
upon Indian lands had a predominating influence-
carried its political weight to the Congress to effect
these treaties that were to aggrandize their own
State and satisfy the rapacity of their own citizens,
who were the speculators and politicians for whose
benefit these treaties were to be made. At all times
there have been honourable and just men in the
Congress, who saw into these machinations, and
opposed them, but always in vain; and the execu-
tive government, who perceived how irresistibly
events were tending to accomplish the absorption of
all the lands which had been so solemnly guaranteed
to the Indians, could do no more, even if it were
otherwise disposed, tjjan to modify the injustice294

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

[chap. xlii.

which was perpetrating, by executing the treaties
as impartially as circumstances admitted of. Every-
thing seemed to concur to nourish the increasing
passion of the Americans to appropriate all terri-
tories that were contiguous to them, and to create
an extravagant opinion in the minds of the rising
generations, that there was no moral impropriety in
any claim made by the United States, as they could
not by any possibility be in the wrong. The chiefs
of the Upper Creek nation, who immediately ad-
joined the Americans—the Judases who had be-
trayed their country—and through whose hands
these annuities passed, became now, many of them,
as eager to earn these pensions by the destruction
of their nation, as the Georgians were to encourage
them; they had their own friends to reward, and
the fruits of their treachery being soon dissipated in
whiskey and personal indulgences, their partisans
became clamorous for the means of gratifying their
propensities.

On the other hand the Lower Creeks, who had
not tasted so abundantly the sweets of these treaties
of peace and friendship, were becoming more and
more estranged from the upper nation; and when
the United States declared war against Great Britain
in 1812, they took up arms against the Americans,
and led by Weatherford—one of those half-breeds
that are sometimes gifted with such a surprising-
degree of eloquence, courage, and resources, as
raises them at once to be the leaders of their nationchap, xlii.] SURPRISAL OF FORT MIMMS.	295

—performed acts as conspicuous for their daring
as they were for savage ferocity. Amongst these
was the surprisal of Fort Mimms, a fort built by
the United States in the Creek territory. At the
head of 1500 warriors Weatherford boldly attacked
the fort at noonday. Major Beasley, the Com-
mandant, had a garrison in it of 275 persons, some
of whom were women and children. He had been
already apprised of the approach of Weatherford;
and if he had taken proper precautions, could, with
about 200 men that he had under his command,
have effectually resisted the attack. Despising his
enemy, he appears to have strangely neglected the
safety of the fort, which gave Weatherford an
opportunity of surprising it before they had time to
close the gates, at which point a most sanguinary
contest took place hand to hand. The Americans
fought bravely, and disputed the entrance with des-
perate valour: they were however unable to close
the gates, and a furious contest of swords, bayonets,
knives, and tomahawks, at length terminated in
favour of the Indians, the brave Major Beasley and
his gallant brother officers being every one slain on
the spot. Having massacred the garrison, the Indians
set fire to the block-houses where the women and
children had taken refuge, and, with the exception
of a few, burnt them all up. Of the whole number
of 275, only 17 survived, some of whom were
severely wounded.

The news of this disastrous affair caused a great296	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap, mi

excitement in the States that were conterminous
with the Indian territory. Amongst these was the
State of Tennessee, which bordered upon the Che-
rokee and Creek lands; and as this success was
considered to be of a very dangerous character,
since it might lead to a combination of all the
Indian tribes, most of whom would willingly have
entered into a general war, it was determined to
oppose to Weatherford a man whose reputation
for courage and determination was at that time well
established in his own State. This man was the
now celebrated General Jackson, who, being highly
popular in Tennessee, soon succeeded in raising
2000 fighting men, equipped for Indian warfare,
and burning to retaliate upon the Indians the
destruction of the garrison of Fort Mimms. General
Jackson took the field before a regular commissariat
could be established, crossed the Tennessee River,
and trusting often to casual supplies, plunged into
the wild country drained by the Black Warrior and
Coosa rivers. On his left were a party of the
upper Creeks, friendly to the United States, under
the command of another famous half-breed named
William M'Intosh, who, being bitterly opposed to
Weatherfbrd and the lower Creeks,, sought every
opportunity to damage them. Such was the fury
of this man against his own countrymen, that at
the battle of Autossee—a place on the south bank
of the Tallapoosa, about twenty miles north of east
from Montgomery—he assisted most ferociously in.gbaf. xin.] GEN. JACKSON DEFEATS THE CREEKS. 297

the massacre of 200 wretched Creeks, who were
surprised in their wigwams.

After a great many fights in which the Creeks
were uniformly defeated and sustained severe losses,
they were induced by their prophets to fortify them-
selves upon a neck of land formed by a great curve
in the Tallapoosa River, which the Creeks call
Tahopeka, or Horse-Shoe. In this desperate state
of their affairs the poor Indians clung with more
than their accustomed confidence to the conjurers
of their nation who pretended to divine the future,
and who had assumed the title of prophets. They
were assured that this was the place where they
were to conquer, and at any rate it was evident,
from what was observed after the battle, that the
last struggle was intended to be made here. They
had fortified themselves with great ingenuity, the
points of resistance afforded by the locality were
very favourable to them, and having about 1000
tried men, they were not afraid of being taken by
storm.

Here Jackson followed them. His army had
repeatedly mutinied for want of provisions, and he
only kept it together by sharing in an unostenta-
tious manner all the privations of his men; making
no regular repasts, but sustaining himself by the
grains of corn which he carried in his pocket, and
which he sometimes offered to his men when they
were sinking from weakness and fatigue. With
such an example in the chief, soldiers with any298

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

[chap. xlii.

generous feelings will follow wherever he leads
them. As soon as he reached the place where the
wretched Creeks — themselves undergoing every
sort of privation—were about to play their last
stake, he attacked the place with a settled purpose
to finish the war at this point. In his official letter
he says, " Determined to exterminate them, I de-
tached General Coffee with the mounted and nearly
the whole of the Indian force early in the morning
of yesterday (March 27th, 1814), to cross the river
about two miles below their encampment, and to
surround the bend in such a manner as that none
of them should escape by attempting to cross the
river." The place, after a severe contest of five
hours, was stormed, and the Americans entered it.
Five hundred and fifty-seven Indians were slain on
the bend, and many others who attempted to cross
the Tallapoosa were sabred by the horsemen : but
to pursue the official letter—" The fighting con-
tinued with some severity about five hours, but we
continued to destroy many of them who had con-
cealed themselves under the banks of the river until
we were prevented by night. This morning we
killed sixteen who had been concealed. We took
about 250 prisoners, all women and children, except
two or three. Our loss is 106 wounded and 25
killed. Major M'Intosh, the Cowetau, who joined
my army with a part of his tribe, greatly distin-
guished himself."

If it had been a den of rattlesnakes their destruc-chap, xlii.] WEATHERFORD, THE CREEK CHIEF.	299

tion could not have been accomplished or related in
a more energetic manner.

Some of the Creeks now fled to Florida, and
others into the Cherokee country, whilst Weather-
ford and the few Indians who adhered to him were
hunted into the swamps, and hemmed in in such
a manner as to be reduced to the last extremity,
feeding upon the roots and the barks of trees until
famine and disease rapidly diminished their num-
bers. In the meantime Jackson had required of
the Indians who adhered to the Americans to cause
that chief to be delivered bound to him to undergo
his fate. Weatherford soon received information of
this, and unable any longer to endure the misery of
his followers, and determined not to submit to the
indignity of being bound, he resolved upon a step
that marks the elevation of his character, and that
produced consequences which reflect great honour
even upon the successful American general.

It happened to me many years ago to hear the
relation of what took place from an eye-witness of
the first interview which Weatherford had with his
conqueror.

Jackson was one day in his tent with some of his
officers, when an Indian was seen on horseback
galloping into the encampment, and who did not
stop until he reached the General's tent. Throwing
himself from his horse, he entered the tent boldly,,
and in a moment stood before the commander-in-300

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

[chap. xl11.

chief. The Indian was tall and well-proportioned,
his countenance indicated great intelligence, and
was distinguished by that particular beauty which
is sometimes given by a thin aquiline nose. His
person was squalid and emaciated, his dress dirty
and ragged, but his brilliant and still fierce black
eyes showed at once that he was no common man.
Addressing himself to Jackson, he instantly began
to this effect:—

" I am Weatherford ; I fought you as long as I
could; I can fight no longer ; my people are dying
in the swamp. Do with me as you please; I give
myself up. I know you are a brave man; have,
pity on my people. Let them have something to
eat; send a good talk to them; they will do what
you wish. Here I am."

The inexorable temper of Jackson was softened
by the abject condition of the fallen chief, and his
generosity awakened by this heroic conduct: he
spoke kindly to Weatherford, and bade him be
comforted, declaring with warmth that no man
should hurt a hair of his head, and that if the In-
dians would submit, he would take care of them
and give them peace. Thus did this generous step,
which could only have been suggested by a lofty
mind, produce the happiest effects.

The Creeks had now received a fatal blow both
to their power and their pride. They were at the
mercy of their conquerors, and on the 9th of Au-chap, xlii.] CREEKS CEDE MORE TERRITORY.	301

gust, 1814, signed articles of "Agreement and
Capitulation" with the successful General at Fort
Jackson. These articles began as follows :—

"Whereas an unprovoked, inhuman, and san-
guinary war, waged by the hostile Creeks against
the United States, hath been repelled, prosecuted,
and determined successfully on the part of the said
States, in conformity with principles of national
justice and honourable warfare," &c.

By this treaty the Creeks ceded every part of the
territory that was required of them. All the upper
part of the Coosa country was surrendered, and that
river as far as Wetumpka became their boundary.
Within the space of twenty-four years the Creeks had
now surrendered—with a few local exceptions—all
that portion of their native country extending from
the Coosa eastward to the Savannah; compre-
hending about 250 miles in breadth of the finest
land in the United States. But a fine territory
was still left to them, and if there was any virtue in
words, the United States were bound by the follow-
ing article in the treaty to protect them in its
possession:—

" Art. 2. The United States will guarantee to
the Creek nation the integrity of all their territory
eastwardly and northwardly of the said line, to be
run and described as mentioned in the first article."

Further concessions, however, were made by the
treaty of January 22, 1818, in consideration of the
United States paying the sum of 120,000 dollars,302	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xlii.

in certain instalments; and on the 8th of January,
1821, a subsequent treaty of cession took place for
other valuable considerations.

William M'Intosh, the half breed, who had con-
tributed so effectually to the destruction of his coun-
trymen, the lower Creeks, was now the leading
Sachem, and was the chief under whose manage-
ment these treaties of cession were made. Em-
boldened by his success, and urged on by the specu-
lators who were still watching for opportunities to
despoil the nation of everything, he now ventured
upon a proceeding which roused the lower Creeks
from their apathy, and signed a convention,
February 12, 1825, with certain American com-
missioners who were Georgians, in which it was
provided that a further important cession should be
made to the United States, for which the parties
interested were to be compensated in the following
manner. They were to receive acre for acre upon
the Arkansas River, west of the Mississippi, upon
condition of their emigrating to that country, and
were besides to be paid a sum amounting to jour
hundred thousand dollars in money, to compensate
them for their losses in removing from their native
country and to enable them " to obtain supplies in
their new settlement."

The Creeks had submitted with impatient reluc-
tance to the previous cessions made by M'Intosh,
but this, which expatriated a great portion of them
into the bargain, was intolerable. In vain had thechap, xlii.] M'INTOSH, THE CREEK CHIEF.	303

chiefs told the American commissioners, at a council
to which they were summoned, " We have no land
to sell. M'Intosh knows that no part of the land
can be sold without a full council, and with the
consent of all the nation ; and if a part of the nation
choose to leave the country, they cannot sell the
land they have, but it belongs to the nation." A
deaf ear was turned to this, and M'Intosh, tempted
by the personal advantages that were to be secured
to him, and believing that the United States go-
vernment would carry out the execution of the
treaty, signed the document, with a few of the
chiefs connected with him, whilst thirty-six of them,
present at the council, refused to put their marks to
it. Many of the chiefs now openly denounced him;
and letters which he had written to some of the
half-breeds, offering to bribe them with part of the
money he was to receive from the American com-
missioners, being produced at a subsequent council,
his treachery to the nation was apparent to every
one. Perceiving that a great majority of the Creeks
were inclined against him, M'Intosh repaired to the
State of Georgia, where his abettors were, and
claimed the protection of the governor. Having
been assured that he should receive it, he returned
to his house, on the Chatahoochie, where two of his
wives lived, and where some Americans and sub-
chiefs of his own party soon joined him. While
here, relying upon the powerful protection of
Governor Troup of Georgia, Menaw-way, a chief304

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xi.it.

of the lower country, accompanied by a very large
party of armed Oakfuskee warriors, suddenly sur-
rounded the house on Sunday morning the 1st of
May, about two hours before daylight. As soon as
day broke he sent an interpreter to inform the
white people in the house that they and the women
and children must instantly leave it ; that it was
not his intention to hurt them, but that General
M'Intosh having broken the law of the nation, they
intended to execute him immediately. All now left
the house but M'Intosh and one Tustenugge, who
was his principal confederate in executing the ob-
noxious treaties. Menaw-way, who seemed deter-
mined to hold no conversation with the delinquent
chiefs, now directed his warriors to set fire to the
house; and the inmates, making a desperate sally
from the door to escape being burnt alive, were both
shot dead.

The governor of Georgia, incensed at this execu-
tion of his prot£g6s, breathed nothing but vengeance
against their enemies, who, probably, but for the
wise and humane view which the federal govern-
ment (then administered by President Adams) took
of the causes which had led to this characteristic
and summary proceeding, would have had to under-
go new persecutions from their white neighbours.
The President not only used his authority upon this
occasion to protect the Indians from further injury,
but entered into a treaty with them on the 24th of
January, 1826, whereby the last convention signedCHAP. XLII.]

LAST TREATY OF CESSION.

305

by M'Intosh was declared null and void. This
treaty contained also a cession of some land, to
make it acceptable to the Georgians, for which the
sum of 217,600 dollars was to be paid to the chiefs
and warriors, as well as an additional perpetual
annuity of 20,000 dollars. The interests also of the
friends of M'Intosh were provided for; they were
to emigrate to the west side of the Mississippi—an
arrangement which met their approbation- and
were to be liberally provided for, and to be under
the protection of the United States. This treaty,
which was no doubt made in a spirit of fairness
to the Indians, also contained the usual guarantee
to all the lands " not herein ceded, to which they
have a just claim." A further treaty of cession,
however, was entered into on the 25th of November,
1827, for the purpose of quieting some titles in the
" chartered limits of Georgia," the sum of 42,000 dol-
lars being the consideration paid by the United States.

The last treaty of cession was made the 24th of
March, 1832, when the government of the United
States was administered by President Jackson, the
person who had given the Creeks such a fatal blow
in 1814. The treaty commenced in the following
significant words :

" Art. 1. The Creek tribe of Indians cede to the
United States all their land east of the Mississippi
river."

Thus was extinguished the title of the Muskogee
people to every foot of land comprehended in their

VOL. II.	x306

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xlii.

ancient territory, consisting of about twenty-five
millions of acres of fertile land, all of which had
been now ceded in a little more than forty years to
the white population of the adjacent States.

The speculators had now effected their great
object of despoiling the Creeks of their native coun-
try. Ostensibly, the treaty provided for the interests
of the Indians, but, substantially, it was a provision
for their plunderers. Ninety of the principal chiefs
were to have one section# of land each, as soon
as the survey of the land had been effected by
the United States; and every head of a Creek
family was also to have a half section. Those who
consented to emigrate and join their countrymen
west of the Mississippi were to be removed at the
expense of the American government, and to be
subsisted by it one year after their arrival there.
To the speculators the most interesting portion of
the treaty was contained in the following words :

" Art. 3. These tracts [those provided for the
chiefs and heads of families] may be conveyed by
the persons selecting the same to any other persons,
for a fair consideration, in such manner as the Pre-
sident may direct."

Now these chiefs and heads of families, thus to
be provided for, were illiterate, wretched beings,
broken down in spirit by the ruin of their nation,
and most of them addicted to excessive drunkenness.
There was not a part of the territory where white
* 640 acres.chap, xlii.] DEGRADED CONDITION OF THE CREEKS. 307

men were not to be found vending whiskey to the
poor Indians on credit; so that at the time this
treaty was made they were all deeply indebted; or
if any of them had had but slight dealings with
these men, being entirely illiterate, they neither
knew how to keep an account of their transactions,
nor what the nature of the paper was which they
had been induced to sign before witnesses on coming
to a settlement. So degraded and miserable was
their condition, that almost any of them could be
brought to sign any thing when sufficiently excited
by whiskey; and although the third article provided
that the conveyance of their lands to others should
be made under the direction of the President, yet he
could do no more than delegate agents to inquire
into the transactions of the Indians and their white
creditors, which agents were always presumed to be
favourable to these last, and to be easily satisfied
of the " fair consideration" that had been given
Substantially, therefore, this treaty was a liquida-
tion of accounts betwixt them and their creditors, and
transferred to these last the lands which it ostensibly
assigned to the Indians: indeed if any of them had
even succeeded in retaining possession of their sec-
tions, it was evident, that under such a state of
things it was impossible for isolated individuals to
live amongst the white men that were now about to
pour in amongst them : they could follow the chase
no longer, all their occupations were at an end,
and nothing would soon be left for them but acts

x 2308	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xlii.

of violence and drunkenness, until disease should
destroy them, or until they should be forcibly re-
moved from the country. Such was the situation,
and such the future prospects, of the remains of the
great Muskogee people at the ratification of this
treaty.

It is due, however, to truth to say that there had
never been wanting virtuous and excellent persons
in other parts of the United States to inveigh loudly
against the whole system of proceedings by which
such an atrocious spoliation was consummated.
Nearer to the scene of action a more moderate de-
gree of disapprobation was sometimes expressed,
and it was not unusual to hear a qualified apology
for these transactions from sensible and respectable
persons, who would shrink from committing acts
of injustice and inhumanity themselves; and who
observed that, however criminal such proceedings
might appear, the removal of Indians from their
lands did not attach as a crime to the nation that
removed them ; for where the white population in-
creased so rapidly, the necessity of their removal
became unavoidable; and the act, therefore, being
involuntary, could not be a crime.

If a contrast were to be drawn between the in-
trinsic importance to the world, of a nation of abo-
riginal savages and a community of civilised and
religious white people, all men would probably be
found to agree which of the two should be preserved,
even if it involved the destruction of the other. Inchap, telii.] INDIANS AND WHITES CONTRASTED. 309

the eyes of the educated white man, the life of the
Indian is divested of every rational comfort, that
could encourage him to hope he could ever be recon-
ciled to it. It is a mere animal life, without religion,
and without any law except the law of revenge.
Restrained neither by education nor example, pas-
sion alone rules, and war and the chase become his
sole occupations. His children pursue the savage
customs of their forefathers; and as they increase in
numbers, only extend the deadly spectacle of whole
nations living and dying without the desire of
knowledge.

With the well-trained white man, every thing is
in a state of religious and moral progression. Edu-
cation engrafts the desire of knowledge in his young
mind, and renders its acquisition certain. His
labour, successfully applied in one direction, opens
other avenues to him still more profitable, and leads
to the development of every resource of human
talent and ingenuity. He abounds in the substantial
comforts of life, and is the friend of peace and law,
knowing that they alone furnish a secure protection
to the future enjoyment by his generations of the
property he has acquired by his own honourable
labours. We may believe, therefore, that men who
thus, by their sobriety, industry, fidelity, and inte-
grity in social life, exemplify a consciousness of
their responsibility to their Creator, are, whilst ex-
tending their generations, worthily pursuing the
true purposes of their existence, and are qualifying310	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xlii.

themselves for a more perfect state of enjoyment
hereafter, such, perhaps, as we can hardly conceive
the mere animal Indian to be capable of aspiring to.
This contrast, however, if it is not altogether theore-
tical, is not by any means applicable to the people
of Georgia. They, at any rate, were not under the
necessity of expelling the Creeks to make room for
an increasing virtuous population: their proceed-
ings had been at all times marked by fraud and
violence, against which their victims had in vain
looked up for protection to the federal govern-
ment,—a protection it was bound upon every
consideration, divine and human, to have given
them, and which, perhaps, it was alone restrained
from doing by sordid political management. If
the federal government could not have done every
thing the Creeks could fairly claim under its
repeated solemn guarantees, there was still some-
thing left in its power. Having repeatedly treated
with them as an independent people under their
protection, it was bound to give them a domestic
government, to have provided for their conversion
to Christianity, and to have afforded them every
facility of becoming cultivators, and forming them-
selves into contented communities, as some of the
Choctaws and Cherokees are at this day.CHAP. XLIII.]

RUINS OF A NATION.

311

CHAPTER XLIII.

The Ruins of a Nation—Kateebee Swamp—A Turkey implumis
—Emigrants with their Slaves—Phlebotomy—Diamond Rattle
Snakes—Reach Columbus, in Georgia—Falls of the Chata-
hoochie—Leave Columbus—Observations upon the Family of
Naiades—Arrive at Augusta—Railroad to Charleston, in South
Carolina—Reach Columbia, in South Carolina.

With these events, as they are just sketched, upper-
most in my mind, I now entered the Creek territory.
The lands had been surveyed, the chiefs who had
deluded the nation into the treaty had been well
provided for, and the rest, with very few exceptions,
had transferred their rights to white men. I was
now to be a witness, not of the ruins of a Palmyra
or a Babylon, but of a nation of famous warriors
degraded to the lowest pitch of drunkenness and
despair, and surrounded in every direction by the
least industrious and most dissolute white men on
the continent of America.

Everything as we advanced was Indian, the road
was crooked, bad, and made without any system,
and by its side occasional ragged-looking pieces of
ground badly cleared up, on which were built
miserable-looking cabins without any fences near
them. We had not been half an hour in the terri-312

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[CHAP, xliii.

tory before we came to a filthy cabin where a vil-
lanous-looking white man sold tobacco and whiskey.
A stream was running close by, and at the door of
the cabin three other brutal-looking whites were
standing with this man, all engaged in making
game of a fine tall Indian, about forty-five years
old, who was remarkably well made. He was
excessively drunk, and was staggering about stark
naked and vociferating in an unintelligible manner,
whilst the foam from his mouth was falling on his
prominent breast. These fellows were promising
him another drink if he would jump into the stream,
but although they had persuaded him to strip, the
morning was so cold and the water—on account of
the late rains—so high, that he seemed to have
sense enough left not to go any farther. We left
the place thoroughly disgusted, but I have no doubt
they prevailed upon him at length, for the Indian,
when tipsy, is outrageous for more liquor until he
becomes dead drunk; and the men told us that he
had often done it before. Our road was inde-
scribably bad, going over beds of black waxy plastic
clay, of the consistency of that on the small prairies
in Arkansas, and entirely cut up by the immense
number of waggons containing families that were
emigrating from South Carolina to Alabama. Being
on foot, and always a-head of the carriage, I used to
enter the Indian cabins I came up with, and enter
into conversation with those of the people who
could speak a little English. Nothing could exceedchap, xliii.]	KATEEBEE SWAMP.	313

the dirt and stench in these places. In one of them
I stopped half an hour, and saw breakfast cooked
for some Indian women by a negress who was their
slave; it consisted of some rotten-looking meat, and
her manner of cooking it, in a dirty pan which
seemed never to have been cleaned, was something
quite shocking.

On reaching the Kateebee swamp we found the
bridge of logs, which extended about a mile, quite
dislocated with the incessant passage of waggons
and the rise of the waters. A file of them had
just passed it with great difficulty, and on taking a
look at the numerous holes made in it, some of
which were four feet deep, I despaired of getting
our vehicle over. A person on horseback, who was
accompanying one of the waggons, and with whom
I had entered into conversation, very kindly lent
me his horse to cross the swamp with, and gave me
directions how to proceed; by observing these I
succeeded, after a hard struggle; and on reaching
the other end, where were some more waggons, I
sent the horse back to him by a negro slave be-
longing to one of them.

Almost the whole of the bridge was under water,
and in one part of it the structure had been quite
broken up for a distance of at least 200 yards, the
horse treading fearfully amongst the logs, some of
which were floating and some sticking in the mud,
not a little puzzled how to get out of these chasms
after I had forced him into them.314	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap, xliii.

From hence I proceeded on foot to Walton's, a
house of entertainment, where the carriage finally
overtook me, to the great satisfaction of Mr.

who considered the log-bridge, when he
got upon it, as the ne plus ultra of his travels in
this direction; but the driver was accustomed to
scenes of this kind, and telling him to sit still, at
length extricated him. At this house I met two
ladies, both of them very genteel persons, on their
way from Charlestown, in South Carolina, to Mo-
bile : one of them was a Mrs. fj*****, and the other
was a Mrs. B****, her niece, an extremely beautiful
and interesting young person, who had lately been
left a widow. Having heard unpromising accounts
of the Kateebee Swamp, they had stopped here to
get information from some one who had crossed it.
We took a late repast together, and I do not know
that I ever felt more sympathy for any individuals
than for these amiable women, who were travelling
through such an inhospitable country at this unpro-
pitious season, with no attendants but a boy and a
negro who drove their carriage. On parting I gave
him instructions how to proceed, and was glad to
find he was an intelligent and careful man. As to
his fair charge, they were both resolutely bent upon
making the best of everything, and were prepared to
meet events in that admirable spirit which frequently
characterises the sex upon perilous occasions.

Everything as we advanced into the Creek
country announced the total dissolution of order.chap, xliii.] DESTITUTE CONDITION OF THE CREEKS. 315

Indians of all ages were wandering about listlessly,
the poorest of them having taken to begging, and
when we came in sight would come and importune
us for money. Some of them, imitating the whites,
were doing their best to prey upon each other, for
we frequently saw squaws belonging to some of
the chiefs seated by the roadside at a log or rude
table with a bottle of whiskey and a glass to supply
their unfortunate countrymen who had anything to
give in return, if it was only the skin of an animal.
These women seemed to laugh at the distresses of
the others, and gave us a great deal of their elo-
quence when we passed them, but fortunately we
did not understand what they said, though by their
lifting up the whiskey bottle it was evident they
wanted to make something out of us also. In other
places we met young men in the flower of their age,
dressed in ragged hunting-shirts and turbans, stag-
gering along, and often falling to the ground, with
empty bottles in their hands: in this wretched
state of things, with the game almost entirely
destroyed, it is evident that nothing will soon be
left to those who have beggared themselves but
to die of want, or to emigrate, a step they are so
very averse to take, that in their desperation they
have already committed some murders.

The jurisdiction of this part of the territory had
now passed over from the United States to the State
of Alabama, which not having yet commenced its
exercise, the Indians did just as they pleased. One316	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap, xliii.

of them lately shot a sort of itinerant preacher,
named Davis, with whom he had had some deal-
ings, and afterwards came to Walton's and said
he was very sorry, but he thought it was a wild
turkey he had fired at. This no doubt was a piece
of Indian wit, and meant not that he was sorry
for what he had done, but that he was sorry it
was not a wild turkey he had shot. The few
white families who have established themselves on
the road were beginning, and with reason, to be
alarmed at their situation, for it would require
very little combination on the part of the Indians to
massacre them all in one night.

At the Persimmon Creek and Swamp we met
with another broken-down log-bridge that was dan-
gerous in some places; but several Indians who
were here behaved very well, giving us most effec-
tual assistance in getting the carriage across, for
which we paid them liberally. From hence we
proceeded to one Macgirt's, a white man, living in
a filthy Indian-looking place, who pretended to give
us some breakfast, but it was so disgustingly bad
that we were unable to touch it. This man said he
expected to have his throat cut every night, which
induced me to tell him, that if it would be any
consolation, he might be quite sure they would not
touch his victuals. We now got upon an exces-
sively bad road, so cut up that the horses could
hardly drag the carriage through the deep ruts, and
the soil being of the red waxy kind, we found itchap, xliii.] EMIGRANTS WITH THEIR SLAVES.	317

almost as difficult to walk upon it. In the course
of the day we met a great many families of planters
emigrating to Alabama and Mississippi to take up
cotton plantations, their slaves tramping through
the waxy ground on foot, and the heavy waggons
containing the black women and children slowly
dragging on, and frequently breaking down. All
that were able were obliged to walk, and being wet
with fording the streams were shivering with cold.
The negroes suffer very much in these expeditions
conducted in the winter season, and upon this occa-
sion must have been constantly wet, for I am sure
we forded from forty to fifty streams this day,
which, although insignificant in dry weather, were
at this time very much swollen with rain. We
passed at least 1000 negro slaves, all trudging on
foot, and worn down with fatigue.

The Indian cabins, as we advanced, were somewhat
different from those we observed on entering the
territory, being merely circular spaces covered with
bark, and apparently exposed to all the rains: on
examining them, however, I found that a small
trench was dug round them which prevented the
superficial water getting in, and that the bark was
lapped over so well that it kept all the rain out.
But no language can describe the filth inside of
them, and the disgusting appearance of their tenants,
especially the old crones. The women seemed to be
fond of being bled, for in one of the largest cabins
a young man had been bleeding several of them318

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[CHAP, xliii.

with a rude lancet. Amongst the rest was an old
creature turned sixty, the most thoroughly hideous,
wrinkled, dark, and dirty hag I had ever seen
amongst them : she had the features and hair of an
Alecto, and was completely stark naked.

We made only twenty-five miles this day, and
arrived after dark excessively fatigued at one Cook's,
a cheerful, dissipated sort of fellow; whose wife,
however, being a very respectable woman, gave us
a tolerable clean supper and separate beds. In the
morning I found that Mr. Cook was a collector of
natural curiosities, the stuffed skins of three extra-
ordinarily thick Diamond rattlesnakes being hung
up in the porch of his little tavern, one of which
was seven feet ten inches long, and thirteen inches
and a quarter in circumference. He said that great
numbers of these enormous snakes, which I believe
have not yet been described, were found in the
pine lands in this part of the Creek nation. There
is also some limestone near his house, in which
I observed imperfect specimens of Gryphaea vesi-
culosa. From hence we got into a very pretty
sandy district, and found a tolerable good road
on the sand ridges. Streams, whose banks were
covered with laurels, live oaks, and other ever-
greens, were running pleasingly at the base of
graceful pine hills, which overlaid a rotten lime-
stone, and wild grass was growing every where in
great profusion. This day we met an almost unin-
terrupted line of emigrants, with innumerable heavyCHAP, xliii.] COLUMBUS, IN GEORGIA.	319

and light waggons. Some of them had got stuck
fast in the deep bottoms, and the men around them
were pulling, hauling, whipping, and cursing and
swearing to get them out; there were also some
lighter carriages, indicating a better class of emi-
grants. Amongst the rest was an old-fashioned gig,
with a lame horse guided by an aged grandmother,
with several white and black children stuck in it
around her. The whole scene would have reminded
me of the emigrations in patriarchal times, but for
the very decided style of the cursing and swearing.
As we advanced they all inquired if the road was
not better a-head ; and our answer generally was,
" Keep up your spirits and you '11 get through."
At one time of the day we certainly passed 1200
people, black and white, on foot. We found very
few Indians in this part of the territory—a circum-
stance I was glad of, as the spectacle they furnished
was always a distressing one; and occasionally
some of the young men, who were rather drunk,
had been very insolent to us.

About eight miles before we reached the Chata-
hoochie we met boulders of gneiss and quartz,
always an indication, in this part of North America,
of the limits of the subcretaceous and tertiary beds.
In the afternoon we reached the Chatahoochie, it
having taken us four days to travel a distance of
ninety miles. This fine stream is crossed by an
excellent bridge, and divides the State of Georgia
from the Creek territory now forming part of Ala-320	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap, xliii.

bama. On the opposite bank is the pretty town of
Columbus, in Georgia, where we stopped for the
night at a noisy tavern, which seemed to be a general
boarding-house for the town. My first care was to
secure places for the mail-stage in the morning; the
next, to hasten to the Falls of the Chatahoochie,
about a mile from Columbus, where I had the plea-
sure of meeting the gneiss rocks again in place, and
of seeing this fine river tumble over them just as it
does at Fredericsburgh and Richmond, in Virginia :
indeed, there is a strong scenic resemblance betwixt
the falls of all the rivers on the east side of the chain
which fronts the Atlantic. After gratifying my curi-
osity, I recrossed the bridge to the Indian side of the
Chatahoochie, where I saw a great many huts, and
some dwellings apparently belonging to white per-
sons. Here I found the lowest stage of drunkenness
and debauchery, prevailing to such an extent that
the settlement had acquired the nickname of Sodom ;
and on my return into Columbus the street was
swarming with drunken Indians, and young prosti-
tutes, both Indian and white, a sufficient indication
of the manners of the place.

Having reached the tavern again, we endea-
voured to get something to eat, and were told to
wait until the supper-bell rang; which having
done with great patience, we moved, as soon as
the tumultuous rush common upon such occasions
was effected, to the supper-table; but it was so full
that it was quite impossible to get a seat there,chap, sun.] ELLERSLIE—TALBOTTON.

321

neither was there another chair or bench in the room;
so, knowing it would serve no purpose to show any
impatience, we remained standing and looking on.
The art of bolting was practised here with as much
success as I had seen it done at any other place,
and in less than ten minutes every man without
exception had gone back again to the bar-room ;
a circumstance that would have given us unalloyed
pleasure, if they had not taken every scrap that had
been set on the table along with them. We now
made our wants known; and the mistress of the
house, learning that we were the two "men" that
had come from the " nation" in a carriage, very
obligingly ordered some food to be produced for us,
which, after a little more patience, we had the satis-
faction of eating alone.

We left Columbus, January 17, at 5J a.m., keeping
on the edge of the gneiss, which is covered with sand,
gravel, and clay, bearing oak, hickory (<Juglans),
and pine-trees. During the day we got upon the
red lands, formed apparently by the decomposition
of primary ferruginous slates, and proceeded on over
what is called a rolling and broken country. At the
end of fifteen miles we stopped at Ellerslie to break-
fast, and were heartily glad we should not have to
encounter any more of the distressing scenes we had
left behind, for we had now got into a white com-
munity, if a population can properly be called so
where nine out of ten are black. From thence we
proceeded seventeen miles to Talbotton, the soil

VOL. II.	Y322

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[CHAP, xliii.

being generally red and strewed with quartz
boulders. On our road from this place to Flint
River—a tributary of the Appalachicola, and a very
fine stream—the driver incautiously overturned the
mail-stage, without, however, doing us any great
harm. Having crossed the Flint, we proceeded
through a sandy country, with pine timber, seven
miles to Knoxville; and thence to Macon, a very
pretty town, with a population of from 3000 to
4000 inhabitants, and which, like all the towns in
this part of the United States, has a cheerful ap-
pearance, not being cramped up as they are in the
Northern States. The principal street in Macon is
so wide, that I took the trouble to measure it, and
found it 150 feet broad.

The Ocmulgee River, upon which Macon is si-
tuated, is a branch of the Alatamaha, the first river
which empties into the Atlantic Ocean north of the
peninsula of Florida, and the Flint, which we have
just left behind, being a branch of the Appalachi-
cola River, which empties into the Gulf of Mexico, I
determined to stay a short time here, for the purpose
of collecting some of the fresh-water shells called
Unios from the Ocmulgee, and comparing them
with those I had taken from the various waters
which flow into the Gulf of Mexico. The fact
had been for some time ascertained that, farther
to the north, the Unios, which are one of the divi-
sions of the family Naiades of Lamarck, consisted,
as to numbers, of comparatively few species, andCHAP. XLIII.J

unios.

323

these generally homely in their appearance, thin,
and unornamented, when contrasted with those
so unrivalled for their beauty, which inhabit the
waters flowing into the Gulf of Mexico; the At-
lantic shells being without that resplendent nacre,
that rare pearly and delicately-coloured interior,
that rich velvety tuberculated and plicated exterior,
and those curious alated forms, which distinguish
the Unios of the western waters.

An opportunity now occurred of observing whe-
ther so extraordinary a difference in the exterior
and interior structure of shells belonging to the
same genus was geographically true at this point,
where rivers emptying into the Atlantic and into
the Gulf of Mexico were flowing through the same
region, and only distant thirty miles from each
other.

Owing to the state of the waters, I was not for-
tunate in procuring many shells. The Unto pur-
pur eus, however, which I had not found in any of
the Gulf waters, and which is the characteristic
shell of the Atlantic rivers, I did find in the
Ocmulgee, without being accompanied by a single
specimen of any of the beautiful western species,
with most of which I had now become very con-
versant : nor could I find out from any of the
people at Macon, to whom I showed specimens of
the western shells, that such were found in the
Ocmulgee at any stage of its waters. This exami-
nation, therefore, tended to confirm the opinion that

y 2324

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. XUII.

an extraordinary diversity of character prevails in
the Unios inhabiting these two classes of rivers,
a diversity which appears to amount to a total
separation of kinds.

Nor does the fact militate against this opinion of
their general separation, that at various points lying
farther to the north, the inhabitants of these two
classes of rivers are, for a limited distance, found
partially intermixed in the sources of streams which
interlock each other, as well as in some of the
upper lakes, such as Lake Erie, Lake Huron, and
Lake Michigan; for the western Unios found at
those points do not appear to travel to great dis-
tances from their native waters, and never to
descend the Atlantic rivers to where the tide flows;
so that even the exception proves the fact of a real
geographical separation of these mollusca, leaving
the intermixture to be explained by the occasional
inundations that frequently connect the eastern and
western waters at points where the difference of
level is never more than twenty feet.

Mr. Conrad, the only American naturalist who
appears to have travelled for the purpose of studying
this interesting naiad family, has communicated to
me the specific names of more than one hundred
species (?) of the Unio inhabiting the waters flowing
into the Gulf of Mexico, of which not one of the
preponderating species has been found in the At-
lantic streams; and, as I have before observed, the
Unio purpureus, that is the characteristic shellCHAP. Mffl.] ORIGIN OF FRESH-WATER MOLLTJSCA. 325

of about twenty species inhabiting the Atlantic
streams, is not found to the west of Flint River.

The causes which have produced so striking a
difference in the shells of these mollusca, or have
led to this curious geographical distribution of
their different species well deserve the attention
of philosophic naturalists. If what have hitherto
been called species are, in most instances, only
varieties produced by expediency, then the mineral
character of the strata through which the rivers flow,
the degree of dynamic action of the streams, and the
peculiarity of food and climate, may be amongst
the efficient causes of geographical distribution and
general variety.

On the other hand, as there was undoubtedly a
time preceding the existence of all the rivers, viz.
when the whole continent of North America was
covered by the ocean, the origin of all fresh-water
mollusca must necessarily be assigned to a period
subsequent to the upraising of the dry land from
the bosom of the ocean, and the establishment of
rivers; a state of things which admits a conclusion
capable perhaps of reconciling the anomaly of the
case, since it would bring all these widely separated
mollusca into the general category of organised
beings, created with inherent faculties capable of
securing all the advantages of the varying regions
in which they were produced, and in which they
were fitted to live, without a chance of any material
deviation in their constitutional structure. The326

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[CHAP, xliii.

power of accommodating themselves to a partial
change of country has no doubt been accorded to
all beings, and, in the case of these mollusca, we see
how they are subject to admixture, and to a casual
separation from their original habitats.

The differences in the exterior of their shells,
even when they are so slight as to escape the notice
of other observers, have made them objects of the
most intense anxiety to many of those ardent con-
chologists who indulge in extensive generalization
over the fireside, and who rush into immortality
upon the strength of any difference, often unreal,
which appears to separate one shell from another,
and to justify them in adding to the list of species,
already cumbrous and perplexing, by the multipli-
cation of conflicting synonymes. The grand object
of some of these sedentary naturalists appears to be
to coin a new Latin name, and add the magical
word " nobis " to it. Accidental characters are just
as valuable to them as natural ones. If a shell in
a particular stream is soft and friable and easily
decorticated at the beaks, where it is most exposed
to disintegration, it is forthwith raised into a
species and becomes Unto cariosus, although prac-
tical naturalists know that the same shell in other
streams is never decorticated in the slightest degree.
Other shells, which have been named circulus,
orbiculatus, subrotundus, triangularis, and the
like, according to their approximation to a round
or angular shape, are often found with charactersCHAP. XLIII.]

XJNIOS.

327

totally opposite to those specifically assigned to them;
so that it is not uncommon to find Unios without
the specific characters upon which their rank de-
pends in the books, whilst they have got those of
almost every other shell. Unio cornutus, which in
some streams has peculiar protuberances on the ex-
terior of the shell, is found in others without even
the budding of horns; so that there are horned
shells without horns, and carious shells perfectly
sound. What would be said of the want of sense
of cattle-breeders, if they were to talk of long-horned
cattle that had got no horns, and Durham short-
horns with long horns ? These races, which exter-
nally differ from all other animals of the same
family, are artificial varieties produced by a de-
parture from their natural habits, and would, if
they were no longer influenced by art, go back to
another and very different state. It is not, therefore,
very surprising that the same Unio should differ
occasionally so much in the shape of its shell, or
that it should be carious in one stream and sound
in another, since the modification in the first case
may be produced by the circumstances it is exposed
to, aided by an inherent power of adaptation to
them, and in the second, perhaps, by the absence
or presence of parasites. As to the nature of that
inherent power, we know that the shells of these
mollusca are repaired again when they are injured;
and may, without assuming either intelligence or
volition for the animal in that act, infer that the328

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[CHAP, xliii.

same provident care which knits the broken limb
of the unconscious child, has not only been extended
to the mollusca, but modifies, when necessary, the
primary form of their shells. When, therefore, we
find them thus modified, it is but evidence of what
nature is ever vigilant to do for conservative pur-
poses. We cannot, therefore, but regard the labours
of those neologists who found their classification of
the mollusca upon the shells of the animals, as idle
and insecure. It is to be regretted, both for the sake
of zoology and conchology, that so many specie-
makers are pursuing the shadow and not the sub-
stance. When conchologists make the knowledge
of malacology the serious object of their labours,
when they study the animal more and the shells
less, every accession to our knowledge of this branch
of natural history can be profitably carried to the
general account of science, and will redound to the
permanent honour of the discoverer; whilst those
who encumber the path of science by their contests
for priority in inventing names for shells will ac-
quire no lasting reputation, even when they succeed
in establishing their claims.

From Macon to Milledgeville we had thirty
miles of bad road over a red clay exceedingly cut
up. This town is situated on a hill near the
Oconnee River, the east branch of the Alatamaha,
and is, like the rest, an open airy place, with fine
broad streets. We were now in a part of the old
colony of Georgia before it was enlarged by acqui-chap, xliii.] SPARTA-WARRENTON—AUGUSTA.	329

sitions from the Creeks. Timber was compara-
tively scarce, the soil a deep red earth, still good for
cotton, and the fields large and under good fence.
On descending a hill about ten miles from this
place, I found gneiss near a small stream, with veins
of porphyritic granite resembling that upon which
the Chesterfield coal-field, in Virginia, reposes,
which is of the same character as the granite of
Shapfell, in England. The weather was singularly
hot for January, Fahrenheit showing 74° upon the
scale at noon. From hence we made twenty-three
miles to Sparta, a pleasing rural-looking place,
built upon a hill and containing some neat houses,
with a very good sort of tavern. The roads were
very bad the next twenty-three miles to Warrenton ;
we crossed the Ogeechee River at about half the
distance, and proceeding all night through wretched
roads for forty-two miles, reached Augusta, on the
Savannah River, a muddy stream about 200 yards
wide, which is the boundary betwixt the States of
South Carolina and Georgia. This is a long strag-
gling town, containing perhaps 4000 inhabitants;
with a main street at least a mile long, and full of
small stores and low taverns. All these southern
towns are very much alike: there is always one
endless street filled with small linen-drapers' shops
or stores, the owners of which call themselves
merchants. In some of these stores ready-made
clothes are sold, in others boots and shoes; a few
of them contain the wares of ironmongers, and330	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[CHAP, xliix.

perhaps one or two of them are small book-stores.
These, with at least one hundred dram-shops and
dirty taverns, are what is to be seen in one of these
long streets, crowded with men all upon a level
in greediness and vulgarity; in short, there is
nothing to detain a traveller who is in search of
anything that is rare and interesting, but everything
conspires to make him anxious to take to the roads
again, be they ever so bad.

We crossed the Savannah over a bridge to a dirty
suburb called Hamburgh, the termination of a rail-
road 140 miles long, from Charleston, on the
Atlantic. A great part of this railway, which is a
single line, is raised, not on an embankment, but
on piles from six to twenty feet high from the
ground, standing upon stilts, as it were, and must
be singularly dangerous. At the end of the first
stage we passed a well-constructed inclined plane
about half a mile long. Almost the whole distance
of eighty miles from Augusta to Columbia is over
a pine and sand country of the poorest character,
the latter part of it being a dead flat. One mile
from Columbia we crossed a long wooden bridge,
thrown over the Congaree at the confluence of the
Saluda and Broad Rivers, both of which have their
sources in the mountains of North Carolina. Not
far from the bridge this river falls over gneiss rocks
penetrated by granitic veins, and a short railway is
laid from the bridge up a gentle acclivity to the
town, which contains about 4000 inhabitants. Thechap, xliii.]	COLUMBIA.	331

streets, like those of the other towns, are broad, and
planted with that gaudy tree, the Pride of China
(Melia Azaderach). Having travelled several
nights in that exposed and most comfortless and
lumbrous contrivance, an American stage-coach, I
determined to rest a day or two here and see a few
acquaintances I had in the neighbourhood; so
being fortunate enough to get a private room at the
tavern, I proceeded to spruce myself up a little, a
thing I had not done since I left New Orleans.332

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xliv.

CHAPTER XLIV.

The Gentlemen of America—The Tariff and Nullification—
Wise conduct of Mr. Clay and Mr. Calhoun—Warlike Pro-
pensities of an Octogenarian Philosopher—A black Animal
chained on the roof of a Stage-coach—The character of the
White Man elevated by the Slavery of the Black one.

Columbia, the capital of South Carolina, is plea-
santly situated, and in some of its airy streets
there are genteel-looking houses, which at once
indicate a respectable state of society; but I was
very much surprised to find the capital of the
State built on a piece of ground so barren, that
even grass will scarcely grow upon it. Having
walked through the streets to see what the town
looked like, I rambled in the afternoon about two
or three miles off to call upon Dr. Cooper, whom I
had met before in New York. This gentleman,
always conspicuous, had made himself particularly
so of late, in the agitation of the Nullification
question, which the Tariff law had given birth to,
and which had so nearly brought the State of
South Carolina into hostile collision with the power
of the federal government under the administration
of President Jackson. Although the excitement—chap, xltv.] THE GENTLEMEN OF AMERICA.	333

which at one time threatened such fatal conse-
quences—had been calmed by the judicious conduct
of Mr. Clay and Mr. Calhoun in agreeing to the
Compromise Act, yet the same question is of such
vital consequence to South Carolina, and so im-
portant to the Northern manufacturers, that it is
always liable to be agitated again. The leading
planters of South Carolina are generally men who,
having inherited large estates with numerous slaves
born upon them, and received liberal educations,
consider themselves, not without some reason, the
gentlemen of America; looking down upon the
trading communities in the Northern States, where
slavery does not exist, with that habitual sense of
superiority which men born to command—and
above all others slaveholders—always cherish when
they are placed in competition with men engaged
in mercantile pursuits, whom they consider to be,
by the nature of their avocations, incapable of rising
to their level: to this feeling, the seeds of which are
planted in infancy, is added a distrust sometimes
amounting to hatred.

The planter, although his crops of cotton and
rice often produce him an annual income far ex-
ceeding that of the cultivator of the North, and
tempt him to live in a style corresponding to the
rank he believes himself to hold in society, yet is
frequently less independent than the opulent mer-
chant or farmer he undervalues, his annual expen-
ditures being large and certain, whilst his returns
are somewhat precarious. He has perhaps to feed334

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

[chap. xliy.

and clothe several hundred slaves, and it is not
convenient for him to reduce his style of living ; so
that not unfrequently the merchant at the north,
who is his agent, and to whom he consigns his pro-
ductions for sale, sends him an account current,
where, instead of small charges being deducted from
large returns, he finds the advances made to him in
money, the bills for feeding and clothing his slaves,
his wines and luxuries, and other charges, swelled
to an amount far exceeding the sum-total that his
crops have sold for; perceiving himself therefore
the debtor and quasi slave of the man he despises,
his pride, his interest, and his passions, all combine
to rouse his indignation: at such moments the
agitated planter is easily led to follow in the wake
of any politicians who flatter him with a prospect
of redress.

When the politicians and manufacturers of the
Northern States combined to enact the tariff of
1828, "for the protection of home manufactures,"
alleging that the productions of the Southern States
were admitted without competition into the ports
of England, a general feeling of resistance arose in
the State of South Carolina: the duties now to be
levied upon those articles of British manufacture
which the planter was compelled to purchase for
the use of his slaves, must necessarily greatly aug-
ment his expenditures, and to this was added the
apprehension of another evil of still greater magni-
tude, viz. that Great Britain might lay retaliatory
duties upon his exports, and gradually look to otherCHAP. XLIV.] THE TARIFF AND NULLIFICATION.	335

countries to be supplied with them. Politics and
interests therefore combined in South Carolina to
rouse the people into a resistance to that law, and
the government of the State taking the lead, finished
by declaring that when the United States govern-
ment manifestly exceeded its powers—of which fact
they held that the suffering State must be the best
judge—every single State had a natural and con-
stitutional right to " nullify its acts."

Armies now were raised, and everything was pre-
pared for resistance, as much as if a foreign invader
was about to enter their territory. Such was the
indomitable spirit that appeared to prevail, and the
determination not to permit the revenue laws of the
United States to be executed in South Carolina,
that if President Jackson, as it was believed he was
disposed to do, had attempted to execute them by
force, there is no doubt that a furious civil war
would have raged in the State, of which the con-
sequences—let the questionable result have been
either one way or the other—must have been sig-
nally fatal; for no one can predict the ultimate
consequences of giving military habits to a numerous
slave population, which must upon so fatal a con-
tingency have unavoidably taken place. Happily
for the country, the wise compromise which took
place, the effect of which was to provide for the
gradual reduction of those oppressive tariff duties
to an amount limited by the wants of the public
revenue, and not by the demands for 'protection,
averted this great danger. Mr. Clay, whom the336

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

[chap. xliv.

protection-party claimed as their leader, and Mr.
Calhoun, the avowed leader of the Nullifying party,
patriotically concurred in making sacrifices in
favour of peace, by carrying the measure called the
Compromise Act through the national legislature.

No man had taken a more energetic and ani-
mated part in this dangerous agitation than the
veteran Dr. Cooper, now approaching his eightieth
year, and one of the most remarkable men that
have emigrated from England—his native country
—to the United States. Cooper was a philo-
sophical Sieve of the famous Dr. Priestley, and
finding that everything in England was too long
or too short for him, he passed over to the " asylum
of oppressed humanity," with the intention of
making it his home for life. He was a man of sin-
gular versatility of talent, of unceasing activity, and
great natural benevolence. His attainments were
various; there was nothing in law, physic, divinity,
chemistry, or general science that he had entirely
overlooked; and although some of his screws were
uncommonly loose, particularly his religious ones,
he was capable of being a very useful member of
society, and was always—as such a man with so
much experience must be—a most agreeable and
instructive companion. But that which above all
things made the Doctor happy, and which wher-
ever he went seemed to be his study to provide a
quantum sufficit of, was persecution, and this he
was fortunate enough to find even in America. On
his arrival his talents procured him an official ap-CHAP. XLIV.]

BR. COOPER.

337

pointment of some distinction in Pennsylvania, but
he soon contrived to be driven from it, and to be
fined heavily into the bargain. At length he took
refuge in South Carolina, was well received by the
leading planters there, and placed in the honourable
and lucrative situation of President of the College
in the town of Columbia.

Here the Doctor might have flourished in renown,
and have pursued a career of usefulness, but the
current was too gentle for him, and preferring
troubled waters, he began to insinuate that it was
unworthy of free men to be educated in religious
prejudices, and ended by openly denouncing the
Christian religion. If there were a few persons in
the State to whom this was agreeable, there were a
great many to whom it was very offensive. The
friends of the college had hoped that in placing an
amiable person with such various attainments at its
head, he would have possessed sufficient judgment
to have looked to the interests of the institution,
and would have endeavoured to support that which
supported him. The sons of persons entertaining
different opinions both in religion and politics were
to be educated here, and it was expected by all that
though theology was not to be a principal branch
of study, yet a reverence for religion would be
inculcated; it was soon made evident, however,
that anything but this was instilled into the young
minds entrusted to his care, and parents imme-
diately began to withdraw their children from an

VOL. II.	z338	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xliv.

institution where the Christian religion was openly
derided. The Doctor having succeeded in driving
away all those who were not disposed to imbibe his
irreligious opinions, proceeded to practise the same
tactics with those who would not agree with him
in defying the government of the country, as esta-
blished by law, in regard to Nullification; so that
his students became at length very few in numbers,
and not long before I reached Columbia, the friends
of the college, to save it from total ruin, caused the
Doctor to be removed from his situation. In doing
this they acted with great delicacy and generosity,
creating for him a sort of sinecure office, under
which, unless he again oscillates out of his orbit,
he may enjoy a very competent salary for the rest
of his life.

I found Dr. Cooper in a pleasant little villa,
which the ladies of his family had furnished with
a great many comforts. He received me very
cordially, and although about eighty years old,
began to talk with wonderful energy and vivacity
upon a variety of subjects. The Compromise Act,
however, was uppermost in the Doctor's mind,
and I soon saw that he did not like it at all, for
it had extinguished all the eloquence, patriotism,
and achievement which Nullification might have
brought forth at a future day. Upon my congra-
tulating him upon that measure, and the happy
consequences which would flow from it, he rose
from his easy chair, and although almost bentCHAP. XLIV.]

DR. COOPER.

339

double like a hook, he seized the hearth-brush, and
with his eyes full of fire, and wielding the brush as
if it were a broadsword, denounced the Compro-
mise Act as an ignoble measure which he never
could approve of; declared that the Nullifiers were
quite in the wrong to make peace with the Union
men (their opponents in South Carolina), and that
it would have been a much better course for them
to have taken the field against General Jackson,
and have fought all the power he could have
brought against them. "We have lost a fine op-
portunity, sir, of carrying this State to the highest
renown," said this little crooked octogenarian; and
then giving General Jackson a desperate cut with
the hearth-brush, he went back to his easy chair
again.

I was perfectly delighted with the vivacity of the
old gentleman, and never passed a pleasanter even-
ing. At tea we were joined by some very well-
bred neighbours, amongst whom were several ladies,
to whom the Doctor, constantly paddling about
amongst them, paid his lively compliments, and then
returned to his chair to laugh and dispute about
chemistry, geology, law, and, above all, religion
and politics. Whatever side of the question he
took he maintained it with wonderful energy, and
always with pertinacity when he could not do it
with reason, as if it was too late in life for him to be
convinced about such matters.

The next morning I visited the college, which

z 2340	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap, xliv

had the appearance of being very much neglected;
there was a collection of minerals, but it was in
wretched disorder; indeed everything seemed to be
out of place. On my return I learnt that some
gentlemen, with whom I had been previously ac-
quainted, had called upon me, and I willingly ac-
cepted an invitation to dine with one of them. Our
party consisted of some gentlemen of the place, Dr.
Cooper, and a few professors belonging to the col-
lege. Some of them were very intelligent men,
and hearty in their manners. What particularly
struck me at this dinner was the total want of
caution and reserve in the ultra opinions they
expressed about religion and politics; on these
topics their conversation was not at all addressed to
me, but seemed to be a resumption of the opinions
they were accustomed to express whenever they
met, and upon all occasions. A stranger dropped
in amongst them from the clouds would hardly have
supposed himself amongst Americans, the language
they used and the opinions they expressed were so
diametrically opposed to the self-laudatory strain
they too generally indulge in when speaking of
their country or themselves. It was quite new to
me to hear men of the better class express them-
selves openly against a republican government, and
to listen to discussions of great "ability, the object of
which was to show that there never can be a good
government if it is not administered by gentlemen.
Not having shared in the conversation, I venturedCHAP. HIT.] APPLICATION OF THE TEEM " YANKEE." 341

at one time to name Mr. Madison, at whose house
I was in the habit of making autumnal visits, as a
person that would have ranked as a gentleman in any
country ; but I was immediately stopped by a de-
claration that he was a false hypocritical dissembler,
that he was one of the favourites of the Sovereign
People, and one of the worst men the country had
produced. At a period of less excitement such a
sentiment would not have been tolerated, and I could
not but attribute their present pique against this
eminent statesman to the inflexible opposition he
had given to Nullification, which went to destroy
the efficacy of the constitution he had been one of
the principal framers of. A short time after, some-
thing very extravagant having been said, I could
not help asking, in a good-natured way, if they
called themselves Americans yet; the gentleman
who had interrupted me before, said, " If you ask
me if I am an American, my answer is, No, sir, I
am a South Carolinian." If the children of these
Nullifiers are brought up in the same opinions, which
they are very likely to be, here are fine elements for
future disunion; for, imbibing from their infancy
the notion that they are born to command, it will
be intolerable to them to submit to be, in their own
estimation, the drudges of the northern manufac-
turers, whom they despise as an inferior race of
men. Even now there is nothing that a southern
man resents so much as to be called a Yankee, a
term which in the Southern States is applied exclu-
sively to the New England people, and in quite as342	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xliv.

sarcastic a sense as it is sometimes applied in
Europe to all citizens of the United States.

Having secured seats in the mail for the north
on the 22nd of January, we were standing near the
stage-coach at the door of the tavern waiting the
arrival of the mail from Charleston, when it drove
up with a negro male slave, about thirty years old,
chained flat on the roof, the poor devil having been
overtaken by his master after an ineffectual attempt
to run away.

It happened, oddly enough, that a gentleman
whom I had met at dinner, and with whom I had
had more than once a good deal of conversation,
having called to bid me good bye, was at this very
moment talking rather earnestly with me on the
subject of slavery. Admiring his intelligence and
the liberality of his sentiments on other subjects,
I had ventured to observe—what I had cautiously
abstained from doing when in society—that it de-
tracted very much from the estimation in which
the gentlemen of South Carolina otherwise deserved
to be held, that no relaxation was to be found in
their opinions about slavery, and that it seemed to
me their state could never be as prosperous as the
northern states, as long as they held men in bond-
age, and relied entirely upon slave labour. The
line of argument he took up in answer to my ob-
servation was really very curious, and deserves to
be recorded.

He observed that the working of the institution
of slavery (so he dignified this bondage) was notCHAP. xLrv.] " INSTITUTION" OP SLAVERY.	343

understood out of the slave states ; that it elevated
the character of the master, by comparison, made
him jealous of his own, and the natural friend of
public liberty; that the dignity of character which
had belonged to southern gentlemen, from Wash-
ington down to the present times, was unknown to
the men of the northern states, and must always
be, since one effect of their laws and customs was
to cause a division of the estate of every head
of a family, on his decease, equally amongst his
children, and so compel every one of them to re-
construct a fortune as well as he could; that every
body knew this generated a rapacious spirit, and
made the accumulation of wealth the sole object of
every man's life. This was not the case in South
Carolina, where the planter, whatever might be his
transactions, was careful not to encroach upon the
character of the gentleman; and he adduced Mr.
Calhoun, the leader of the Nullifying party, as an
eminent instance of the justice of what he said.
This gentleman, he remarked, was a planter and a
slaveholder, who in private life never had been
known to be guilty of a mean action, and in public
life had never omitted an opportunity of vindicating
the constitution from the attempts of sordid persons
to pervert its intentions. For these reasons, he said,
Mr. Calhoun, independent of his great intellec-
tual powers, was universally honoured in his native
state, and was justly looked up to by all as the
vigilant guardian of its rights. All these great prin-
ciples of action, he added, were developed and344

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xliv.

strengthened by the institution of slavery; that
the slaves were not an unhappy race of men ; they
were well fed, well clothed ; and if there had been
a necessity for it in the late dispute with the United
States government, the slaves would have shown to
a man their well-known fidelity to their masters.

I was struck with this justification of slavery,
which, notwithstanding its excluding humanity,
benevolence, and justice from the list of our duties
to others, would seem to qualify white men in a
very high degree for the enjoyment of the com-
pulsory labour of men of a different colour. If it
means any thing, it must mean that every man
should be a slaveholder in order to the successful
development of his own inherent dignity.

Just at the moment my friend had finished, the
exception to this fidelity before noticed drove up to
where we were talking, chained at full length flat
upon the top of the stage. I had seen turtles, and
venison, and wild turkeys, and things of that sort,
fastened to the top of a stage-coach before, but this
was the first black man I ever saw arranged in that
manner. Catching a glimpse of him as the stage
drove up, I thought it was a bear, or some other
animal on its way to the larder; but in a few mi-
nutes they handed him down from the top, hold-
ing him by the end of his chain, exactly as if he
had been a baboon, and then proceeded to hoist him
to the top of the stage we were to travel in, and
fasten him down there just as he had been before.chap, xlv.]	PASSENGERS IN CHAINS.	345

CHAPTER XLV.

Inside and Outside Passengers in chains—Bob Chatwood and
the Game of All Fours—A Social Bottle—An Overturn in
the dark—Reach Charlotte, in North Carolina—Description
of the Gold Region in North Carolina and Virginia—Rich-
mond, in Virginia—The Chesterfield Coal-Field—Specula-
tions respecting it.

I now bade adieu to my friend, and pointing to the
poor fellow in bonds, told him that, since I was
going to travel with the institution of slavery, I
hoped I should turn out to be a perfect Hampden
before the day was over. He laughed and went
away, and Mr. T******** and myself took our seats
in the stage-coach, not in the least dreaming of
what was now going to occur. We were left alone
for a few minutes, and I was ruminating upon the
fine theory of the person who had just gone away,
and contrasting it with the practical consequences
attending the " institution," as exemplified over my
head, when a number of persons came out of the
kitchen door of the tavern, approached the stage,
opened the door with something of a bustle, and
handed a young white man into it, about twenty-five
years old, with his legs fettered and manacles on346	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xlv.

his hands. This agreeable object took the hind
seat exactly opposite to me, and after him entered
a deputy sheriff, in whose custody he was, and a
number of low vulgar fellows—all seeming very
much in want of shackles—until the stage was full.
I was so exceedingly struck with the novelty of my
situation, travelling in a stage-coach with a black
man in chains at the top, and a white man chained
in the inside, that I could not help calling the agent
of the stage to the window next to my seat, to
ask him if he could not get me a yellow man
from the mulattos in the street, to chain at the bot-
tom. The man laughed heartily, and gave me the
history of my opposite neighbour.

His name was Bob Chatwood, a desperate, gam-
bling, dissolute fellow, from his earliest years. One
of Bob's practices was to persuade negroes that he
was acquainted with to steal whatever they could
from their masters, convert it into money, and then
play with them at all fours, a game some of them
are very fond of. There was a black amateur, a
great adept at the game, quite equal to Bob at it;
and upon one occasion, when they were playing
together in a shed by the light of an old lamp, the
negro won every game. Bob lost his temper, and
after keeping the black man up almost all night,
refused in the end to pay his losses; but producing
two silver dollars, told him if he could win them he
would pay him. Luck still continued on Sambo's
side, who, having won the game, instantly snatchedCHAP. XLV.] BOB CHATWOOD—A SOCIAL BOTTLE. 347

up the money and ran off. Bob soon overtook him
and in the scuffle which ensued, finding the black
man too strong, he ran a knife into his throat and
mortally wounded the poor fellow, who had just
strength to get home, tell his story, and expire.

For this offence Bob was tried, and, being a white
man, great sympathy was manifested in his favour.
If it had been nothing but an angry scuffle between
them, he would probably have been acquitted, but
he had committed the unpardonable sin of playing
at cards with a slave for stolen property : this was
proved against him at Chesterville, a town through
which we were to pass, and he was found guilty of
murder. His friends, however, had influence to
procure a new trial before the superior court at
Columbia, where he had been removed; but the
example was too dangerous, and the first sentence
had just been confirmed, and Bob ordered to be
hung in April next.

The silence which prevailed in the stage-coach
for the first mile or two was broken by the deputy
taking a bottle of liquor from his pocket, putting it
to his mouth, and passing it round, when each one,
taking his quid of tobacco out for an instant, took a
swig. Bob took a very hearty one, and then kindly
passed the bottle to me; who having declined touch-
ing it, the deputy extended his arm, took it out of
Bob's manacled paw, corked it, and replaced it in
his pocket. They now began to talk politics; all
of them were Nullifiers except Bob, and Bob was348

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

[CHAlP. XLV.

for General Jackson, probably thinking that the
best chance he stood for his life depended upon a
successful invasion of the state, and a general clear-
ing out of the gaols. The bottle continued to cir-
culate from time to time ; but Bob, finding me so
unsocial, ceased offering it to me, whether from
policy or displeasure I could not tell. He looked
very thoughtful at times, as if his fate was upper-
most in his mind ; but he was always ready for the
bottle, and, after he had drunk, was sometimes
livelier than any of them, getting into long stories
about cock-fighting, and horse-racing, and card-
playing, that showed he was a perfect character in
his line. The deputy and the other fellows laughed
and joked and told their stories, treating Bob
exactly as if they were his equals. This agreeable
illusion seemed to cheer him a little, and to last
until the last swig at the bottle had ceased to warm
him, and until there was a momentary silence;
then I used to observe, especially towards the close
of the day, that a dreadful change would come
over his features, as if the unfortunate wretch was
picturing to himself his last moments, when the
gallows and the hemp were standing ready to
receive him. They had soon emptied the first
bottle, and had replenished it at some place where
we had changed horses ; but this too became nul-
lified, and then the whole party of blackguards
seemed disposed to sleep, and left me to such re-
flections as could not fail to occupy my mind, shutchap, xlv.] AN OVERTURN IN THE DARK.	349

up as I was in a vehicle conveying such a horrid
combination of beings.

We had made fifty-five miles, and were driving
on rather rapidly in the dark, having only five miles
more to Chesterville, when the stage, having got
into a deep rut, was suddenly upset on the side
where I was, and my head coming to the hard
ground with a violent blow, I received a severe
contusion. All had now to get out and assist to
replace the stage on its wheels. The black fellow
who was chained to the top was exceedingly amused
with the incident, and got into one of his negro fits
of laughter; he was tired of his recumbent position,
and had now, without any trouble or hurt, got into
a vertical one. We could scarce see each other, and
an opportunity might have occurred of Bob's hiding
himself away in the woods; but the deputy and the
other fellows immediately convinced him that he
was not quite one of themselves, by lashing him to
a tree, before they assisted the driver with the stage.
As for myself, I had such a violent headache with
the blow I had got, that it was impossible for me to
assist them or bear the motion of the stage. I de-
termined therefore to walk, dark as it was, slowly
on to Chesterville, where I arrived in about two
hours and a half, the stage coming up with me as
I was entering the place.

Our drive this day was over decomposed ferru-
ginous slates; and occasionally, as we drew north-
wards, gneiss and greenstone appeared in the ra-350	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[ CHAP. XLV.

vines, with a decomposing rock, which looked like
el van, frequent veins and beds of which are found
in the Gold Region of North Carolina, which we
were now approaching.

From Chesterville, where we left the motley
crew we had been travelling with, black and
white, we continued twenty-one miles to Yorkville,
a small village, and pursuing our journey thirty
miles to Charlotte, in North Carolina, crossed the
Catawba River, which lies half way betwixt these
two towns, into that state. It was night before
we reached Charlotte; and I went immediately to
bed, suffering severely from the contusion I had
received.

Feeling myself refreshed by my night's rest, and
my headache having very much abated, I descended
the next morning to a comfortable breakfast; and
afterwards sallied out to examine the neighbour-
hood, which has acquired a little celebrity by the
establishment of some mills here, for the purpose
of crushing the gold ore which abounds so much in
this part of the country.

What is called the Gold Region in the United
States, may be described as a metalliferous belt ex-
tending in a south-west direction from the Potomac
River to the heads of the Talapoosa, in the State
of Alabama, running in its course through the
States of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina,
and Georgia. The length of this belt is about 600
miles, and it has a mean breadth from its southernCHAP. XLV.]

GOLD REGION.

351

to its northern edge of about eighty. In every
part of this extensive line native gold is found
in alluvial deposits, and in various streams, whilst
the contiguous rocky strata abound in quartzose
veins more or less auriferous. From the nature
and position of the alluvial deposits, the manner in
which they are situated in relation to the stream,
and the general modification which the surface has
received from one end of the line to the other, it is
impossible to avoid the conclusion that there has
been, at some remote period, a great degradation of
the ancient surface, and that the metallic and stony
contents of the alluvial deposits are composed of the
ruins of the old rocks. Nothing is more common
in these deposits than to find masses of quartz with
small lumps of native gold imbedded in them, re-
sembling in every particular others which are taken
from veins now in place, the heaviest masses being
always found nearest to the auriferous strata, and
the particles of gold-dust at the greatest distance
from them.

The auriferous quartzose veins in the gold re-
gion are singularly abundant, and are either found
in a formation of which talcose slate is the character-
istic rock—as in Virginia—or are sheathed with
talcose slate, and hold an almost vertical position
in elvan beds and beds of ferruginous slates, as in
North Carolina; so that talcose rocks characterize
the entire Gold Region from one extreme to the
other. These talcose rocks are continued north from352

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xlv.

the Potomac, running in the same north-east di-
rection through the northern portion of the United
States to the River St. Lawrence, south of Quebec.
I have traced them through the whole of this ex-
tended line, and although gold is not found in every
part of it as on the south side of the Potomac, yet
it is eminently metalliferous in copper and lead,
and native gold has been found upon it in various
localities even as far as the extreme point to which
it has been traced. As a metalliferous deposit it is,
therefore, one of the most remarkable geological
features of the continent of North America, running
parallel to, and in some parts forming a portion of,
the great elevated Alleghany belt.

The gold region in Virginia is a singularly beau-
tiful country, especially in a western direction from
the town of Fredericsburg, on the Rapahannock
River. When the discovery of this metal there
began to be first talked of some years ago, I passed a
great deal of my time in those lovely woodland dis-
tricts, where the whole country is thrown into hills
gracefully rounded by the action of water, and
where the clear streams in the valleys run through
the alluvial deposits, consisting of the ruins of the
rocks which had once united the hills by a more
elevated surface. With a clean room to retire to at
a settler's residing far in the woods, and abundance
of milk and bread, and bacon, and tea and sugar
to comfort myself with when I returned at night
fatigued with my day's excursion, the time stole awayCHAP. XL V.J

GOLD REGION.

353

most agreeably and rapidly. Many a time, when
wandering by one of those murmuring brooks,
and listening to the rich and varied melody of the
mocking-bird, whose favourite breeding-place is in
these groves, have I dipped out the auriferous gra-
vel, washed it in a pan that I carried about with
me, and thus collected in the course of the day
native gold of the value of from five to ten shillings.
In a few of the streams the grains were very abun-
dant, and I have known some of those persons who
then began to follow gold-finding as an occupation,
collect as much as the value of a guinea or two in
the course of a day.

Upon one occasion I visited an extensive alluvial
deposit in the county of Louisa, where great success
had attended the operations, some persons having
unexpectedly come upon an extraordinary rich bed
of auriferous gravel, from which in six days they
extracted native gold, in grains, of the value of ten
thousand dollars. This treasure, when I saw it,
had a very odd appearance, for the proprietors had
put it into glass bottles; it was a large sum, and
people at a distance were not disposed to believe so
much gold had been found there ; but there it was,
I saw it weighed, and could entertain no doubt
upon the subject. Soon after this discovery, the vein
from whence it was derived was also found, con-
sisting of a pale porous quartz, thickly studded with
knobs and lamina of native gold, and upon com-
paring specimens of it—which I was permitted to

VOL. II.	2 A354	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xlv.

do—with the contents of the bottles, I found that
many of the pepitas, or knobs of gold, corresponded
in form, although the alluvial gold was rounded
and worn by the action of water.

I also visited another very interesting place.
Some children playing on the side of a hill, on
pulling up some bunches of grass, found numerous
particles of gold mixed up with the earth, which
inducing their father to dig into it, he came to a
very extensive pocket or cavity, at the bottom of
which was an immense quantity of yellow earthy
matter (decomposed felspar) with pepitas in it, some
of the finest specimens of which I purchased for my
cabinet. He now got two or three hired negroes to
assist him, and this stuff was wheeled to the brook
which ran at the foot of the hill and washed. Al-
though the operation was conducted in a very waste-
ful manner, he nevertheless sometimes obtained gold
to the amount of one thousand dollars in the course
of the day. The last time I visited his mine I was
sorry to find him under very changed circumstances,
for having extracted all the loose earth from the
pocket, he had made his assistants dig various adits at
random into the hill without propping the roofs up,
in consequence of which a ponderous mass of earth
gave way and killed one of his hired negroes, whose
full value he was obliged to pay to the proprietor.
This untoward event had created a prejudice against
his mine, and, as he told me, " had turned all the
luck against him." I found, however, that the trueCHAP. XLV. j

GOLD REGION.

355

cause of the reverses which overtook him was more
deeply seated than this, for in his confidence in the
resources of the mine, he had, a short time before,
purchased the fee-simple of the place of the owner,
had paid him on account almost all the cash he had
obtained for his gold, and had mortgaged the place
for the remainder. Having no ready money left,
and the mine requiring both skill and capital—
neither of which he possessed—to carry it on, the
mortgagee took advantage of his necessity and
proceeded to foreclose the mortgage; so that he
was in a likely way to lay down his character of
gold-miner and go back to his first occupation of
gold-finder by washing gravel at the brooks.

The general direction of the auriferous veins of
quartz in this part of Virginia is north-east and
south-west—a fact which appears to identify their
origin with that of the great belt of the Alleghanies:
they are very numerous, and occur in some places
every two or three hundred yards, often branching
out into narrow ramifications, and uniting again
into one vein from four to six feet broad. The
veins go down almost vertically, and upon being
broken up are generally found loaded with ferru-
ginous matter, or crystals of sulphuret of iron con-
taining thin lamina of gold. Near the surface these
crystals are very much decomposed, and often pre-
sent particles of gold lying free amongst a quantity
of oxide of iron. In some instances the crystal-
line structure of the pyrites is beautifully exhibited,

2 A 2356

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

[chap. xly.

the incipient decomposition of the crystal showing
the complex laminated structure of the interior,
where bright lamina of native gold are seen leaning
against the parietes, with transparent crystals of
sulphur formed from the decomposition of the sul-
phuret. In some instances the veins of quartz con-
tain no sulphuret of iron, but present, on being
fractured, knobs and particles of native gold, which
form a brilliant contrast to the pure whiteness of
the quartz. In almost every case, however, where
shafts have been sunk upon a vein, the quartzose
matter decreases in quantity as the vein descends,
and at a mine in Orange County which I visited,
the contents of the vein became more and more
pyritical as it descended, until, at a depth of 120
feet, no more quartzose matter aopeared, and the
entire vein was composed of a finely granulated sul-
phuret of iron. Although there are a few known
localities in Virginia where the native gold is alloyed
with silver, and many where tellurium abounds in
the veins, yet the native gold is generally very little
alloyed, rising as high as twenty-three to twenty-
three and a half carats, which is gold nearly in its
pure state.

Through the kindness of Mr. Bissel, an intelli-
gent and experienced gold-miner, who has superin-
tended the operation of the gold-mills in the vicinity
of Charlotte, I had an opportunity of examining
the ores of this part of the State of North Carolina.
Those which are now broken at the Charlotte Millschap, xlt.] COPPER ORES IN NORTH CAROLINA.	357

are brought from a mine at some distance called
Capp's, which in company with Mr. Bissel I visited,
and went down the shaft that has been sunk to a
depth of 160 feet. The quartz vein here was
sheathed with a case of talcose slate, and the elvan
rocks through which it descended, although in some
places hard, were very prone to decomposition.
The gold was everywhere associated with iron, and
seldom visible. Near to this I saw an instance of a
flat vein or floor of auriferous quartz, which seemed
in its progress from below when in a semiliquid
state to have poured itself out right and left, and to
have completely covered the elvan to a considerable
distance. We visited also another vein which had
been opened, in one of which specks of gold ap-
peared, but which was very rich in sulphuret of
copper. From various copper ores which were
shown to me, I imagine that that metal will here-
after be found more productive in North Carolina
than gold. The ores are unusually rich, and I
think will repay those who at some future day may
cause them to be skilfully treated. At present there
seems to be no information of this kind in the State.
As to gold-mining, I do not learn that any person
has become enriched by it: it is a fascinating pur-
suit and has attracted many, but the average value
of the ore, as far as I can learn, does not exceed two
shillings and sixpence the bushel of 100 lbs.; and
whether such ore can be extracted from deep mines,
brought to the surface, broken, triturated, amalga-358

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

[chap. xlv.

mated, and its precious material finally melted into
bars of pure gold, at a profit, is very doubtful.
That some localities may yield a fair return for the
great capital which gold-mining involves is very
probable, and I have seen some ores that would
inspire me with confidence; but I should as soon
think of purchasing every ticket in a lottery for the
sake of securing the great prize, as of expending
capital in working some of the mines I have visited.

Having passed my first day here very agreeably
and instructively, I sallied out alone on the next,
and wandered around the neighbourhood, in many
parts of which are feldspathic rocks chequered with
a great number of auriferous quartz veins, whilst in
particular areas talcose and other slates are found
loaded with ferruginous matter. Wherever the fer-
ruginous slates occur the soil is red, and where the
elvan rocks prevail it is dry, sandyish, and has a
pale arenaceous colour; the colour and constitu-
tion of the soil conspicuously announcing the nature
of the subjacent rocks. But the most remarkable
mineral which I have seen in America, both on
account of its great beauty and its rarity, is a sin-
gular felspathic dyke of a pale colour, of the variety
which the Germans have named Weiss-stein, but
spotted with brown and brownish black cylindrical
or oblong infiltrations, often several inches in length,
and from the size of a pin's head to half an inch in
diameter. These, in transversal sections, appear
more or less in the form of orbicular spots in pro-chap, xlv.]	LEXINGTON.	359

portion as the slabs are cut parallelly to the hori-
zontal rifts in the rock, and somewhat resemble the
spots on a leopard's skin. They appear to owe their
origin to infiltrations of oxides of manganese and
iron in solution, and contain, as well as the mass
in which they are enclosed, minute double six-sided
pyramids of quartz, and small reddish particles,
probably of the garnet kind.* There is also another
variety in the same dyke, perhaps not less beautiful,
where the infiltrations have uniformly taken the
dendritic form. The dyke is very extensive, and
is a short half-hour's walk from the village of
Charlotte.

At midnight on the 26th, we got again into the
stage and drove to a small place called Lexington
to breakfast, passing through the town of Salisbury
and crossing the Yadkin River on our way. This
part of the United States, like many other mineral
regions, is not particularly fertile: some pretty
situations occur here and there, but the country is
often barren and has a homely appearance com-
pared with parts of the Gold Region in Virginia.
The settlers in this part of North Carolina seem to
be a quiet old-fashioned people, contented with
little, and not at all disposed to trouble themselves

* I brought a magnificent specimen of this rock to England
in 1839, weighing about 800 lbs; and my friend Dr. Buckland
pronouncing it an unique, I presented it to the British Museum,
where, under the direction of Mr. Konig, it has been made into
two very remarkable tablets.360	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xlv.

with the mania of internal improvements, or even
to practise any but the most primitive methods of
preparing their food. The richest lands in the
State lie more towards the Atlantic coast, and upon
the margins of some of the rivers; but I have
always heard that they are exceedingly unhealthy,
and should suppose so from the sallow, languid
appearance of the people I have occasionally seen
from that quarter.

At Lexington I heard of some bituminous coal
that lay to the south on Deep River, and should
have visited the locality if I could have procured a
conveyance there. I determined, however, to revisit
the coal-field of Chesterfield in Virginia, with which
it is not improbable it may have a geological con-
nection. From Lexington we went to Greens-
borough, and thence to Danville upon the River
Dan, one of the head branches of the Roanoke
River.

Here we crossed into the State of Virginia, but
being in the early part of the morning the circum-
stance was not adverted to, until, about daylight,
stopping at a tavern to change horses and breakfast,
and coming into the room from the well, I was so
exceedingly surprised at seeing on the table a great
variety of beautiful-looking bread, made both from
fine wheaten flour and Indian corn, that I exclaimed,
" Bless me, we must be in Virginia!" The mistress
of the house laughed when I explained to her that
I had not seen any good bread since I left Newchap, xlv.]	RICHMOND, IN VIRGINIA.	361

Orleans, and that I knew I must be in Virginia as
soon as I saw that upon her table. This is strictly
true of Virginia bread, which is made up into so
many forms, and is so white, and light, and excel-
lent, that it is impossible, with the aid of the good
milk to be found in almost every house, to make a
bad repast.

These parts of Virginia, like the corresponding
midland countries of North Carolina, are rather
barren, and consequently are poorly settled. We
passed no village of any consequence until we
reached Cartersville, on James River, a poor woe-
begone place named after one of the old distin-
guished families of Virginia. On our way here I
observed nothing in all the ravines we passed—for
there the strata are usually laid bare—but the usual
primary rocks that occupy the area lying between
the tide waters of the Atlantic and the mountains.
Gneiss, traversed by broad granitic veins, horn-
blende slates, sienitic rocks, in many beautiful
varieties, were constantly alternating with each
other.

At Cartersville I succeeded in making an arrange-
ment which enabled me to deviate from the mail-
stage route and get to Richmond, the capital of the
State of Virginia. The upper part of this town is
advantageously situated upon a hill which com-
mands a fine view of James River and the adjacent
country, a circumstance which forms some analogy
to the situation of Richmond-on-Thames in England,362	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xlv.

and has suggested the name it bears. A few pretty
situations, and cheerful villa-looking houses built in
this quarter, make at first a favourable impression
upon travellers; but the lower town, which swarms
with negro coal-heavers, is about one of the dirtiest
places in America. Being at the head of tide-water
navigation—which terminates here at the Falls,
where the stream creaks so beautifully over the
primary rocks—some fossiliferous deposits of con-
siderable extent are found on the banks of the
river. The hill upon which the court-house stands
seems to be formed of a congeries of minute fossils
and casts of mollusca; but of these, and the exten-
sive tertiary and subcretaceous beds farther down
James River, which were visited by me in 1832-
1833, I defer saying anything at present, being de-
sirous of confining my attention exclusively to the
coal-deposits that lie between the tide-water districts
and the Alleghanies, of which those in the Richmond
district have been regularly worked, and which dis-
close phenomena deserving the notice of geologists.*
I had already, when visiting my friends in the
year 1832, in this part of Virginia, traced the out-

* I would refer those who are desirous of seeing many in-
teresting details of this coal-field presented in a faithful and
instructive manner, to an able paper on the subject by Mr.
Richard C. Taylor, in " Transactions of the Geological Society of
Pennsylvania," vol. i. 1835. The great experience and mature
judgment of that gentleman, in matters relating to the struc-
ture of coal-fields, are highly appreciated both in Europe and
America.CHAP. XLV.]	COAL OUTCROPPINGS.

363

croppings of the coal veins in the Richmond district
at various points, lying from north-east to south-
west, a course which seems to be in harmony with
the magnetic direction of the principal mineral
phenomena on this continent. The Appomattox
River, which empties into James River a few miles
below Petersburg, appeared to be its limit to the
south ; and the outcrops had not been traced farther
to the north than the country betwixt the heads of
the Chickahominy and the Pamunkey rivers, giving
an apparent length to this coal-field of about thirty
miles. Of its breadth the indications were more
imperfect, and consisted principally in the difference
of character betwixt the sedimentary grits and shales
lying on the surface of the ground, and the soil de-
rived from the decomposed primary rocks of the
surrounding country : it probably, however, has a
maximum breadth of fifteen miles. As to the depth
of the basin, it of course varies with the conformation
of its granitic bottom and sides. In Mr. Heath's
Maidenhead mine, the coal is taken from a magni-
ficent seam near thirty feet thick, at a depth of about
400 feet; and in other places the workings are car-
ried on at a depth of even 600.feet. The shafts
which have been sunk are at some distance from
the outcrop, and are carried down upon calculations
proper to intersect the veins and cut them out
advantageously.

I believe I was the first to notice—in a commu-
nication to the Geological Society of London in364

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

[chap. xlv.

1828—that there was an apparent deficiency in
North America of twenty-one important strata of
European rocks, estimated to contain a geological
thickness of upwards of 5000 feet, comprehending all
the beds from the Exeter red conglomerate, to the
Weald clay, both inclusive, and that, consequently,
the coal measures came at once to the surface ; as in
the instances on the banks of the Potomac, above
Cumberland, where the broad seams of bituminous
coal lie exposed in the sides of the hills far above the
level of the river; on the Ohio, in the neighbour-
hood of Pittsburg; on the Mononghahela; on the
Kentucky River; and in many other situations. In
all these localities the coal-fields conform to their
place in the geological series of rocks belonging to
England, having sedimentary strata beneath them.
But in the Richmond district, where the country is
level, and the coal comes equally to the surface, the
mineral being found at great depths, with no sedi-
mentary beds beneath it, is consequently in an ex-
tensive basin or chasm of primary rocks. And such
is proved to be the case upon an examination of the
rocks through which the shafts are sunk, and those
upon which the whole contents of the basin repose.

By the kind attentions of Mr. Heath, I received
every facility for the examination of his coal-works,
and a list of all the beds overlying the coal. Spe-
cimens of these were also given me, consisting of
sandstones exceedingly micaceous, of sandy grits,
of carbonaceous and argillaceous shales of variousCHAP. XLV.] ORIGIN OF AMERICAN COAL-FIELDS. 365

colours more or less conglomerated, and of every
variety of sedimentary matter derived from the de-
struction of the older rocks, including fragments of
crystals of felspar. The coal itself lies upon a coarse
granite of the porphyritic kind, containing great
quantities of red crystals of felspar, resembling the
Shapfell granite in England. That the bottom of
this basin is of a rugged character, is evident from
the fact of huge knobs of the granite frequently pro-
truding themselves above the coal, which lies betwixt
these knobs in such thick masses as to induce an
opinion that at some time or other it has been in a
pasty or semi-fluid state, and has been compressed
into every cranny of the chasm by the pressure of
at least 400 feet of sedimentary matter. All the
coal seams in the basin which have hitherto been
worked, comprehending a thickness said to be of
from fifty to sixty feet, lie beneath this enormous
weight.

The extraordinary spectacle which this coal basin
presents suggests many reflections, both in regard
to the origin of that mineral, the ancient state of
the surface of the earth in this part of North Ame-
rica, and the period of time requisite to bring the
basin into its present condition. Some eminent
geologists have entertained the opinion that the
vegetable matter represented in coal seams did not
grow where it is found, but that it is a deposit de-
rived from forest trees and plants, deracinated by
violent inundations, and drifted into estuaries;366

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xly.

analogous to the case of the great deposit of lignite
at Bovey Heathfield, in Devonshire, which was pro-
bably removed from the neighbouring uplands of
Dartmoor, not earlier than the conclusion of the
tertiary period; or to the case of the great rafts on
Red River, which have been described in this tour.
That many deposits of coal may have had an origin
of this kind is probable; but I am now more
than ever inclined to the opinion I long ago ex-
pressed, that the American coal-fields are to be
accounted for in a very different manner, and which,
I think, is less obnoxious to the charge of being
hypothetical. The considerations upon which this
theory is founded may be thus stated.* From the

* My attention having been drawn away of late years from
geological pursuits, I may, for aught I know to the contrary, be
urging the refutation of the drifting theory, when it is no longer
maintained. That was not the case certainly when I first pub-
licly expressed my objections to it in 1829, 1830. In the year

1829,	when the science of geology was regarded with very little
favour in the United States, I delivered a course of geological
lectures in the city of New York, for the benefit of the Lyceum
of Natural History, an excellent society, in that city, conducted
by American gentlemen of great intelligence, which had struggled
with many difficulties in its attempt to support the cause of
natural science. The favourable reception they met with in-
duced me to repeat them in the city of Philadelphia in the year

1830.	The expensive canal system of Pennsylvania having been
undertaken for the purpose of bringing anthracite coal to that
city, I devoted one lecture upon this last occasion exclusively to
the subject, and took a general view of the coal strata of North
America, as far as I was then acquainted with them. These
lectures, being the first that ever were delivered in the United
States on the science of geology, were exceedingly popular:CHAP. XLV.] ORIGIN OF AMERICAN COAL-FIELDS.

367

State of Alabama to Pictou, in Nova Scotia, the
coal-beds, with some interruptions, can be followed,

they were published immediately after their delivery; and to
show that I have been consistent in my opinions, I venture to
make the following extracts from them :—

" The great carbonaceous deposits in all parts of the world
with which we are acquainted appear to be, as well in Europe as
in America, in the same part of the geological series (these
lectures were illustrated by Sir H. de la Beche's Synopsis of the
order of Rocks, which had only appeared the year before, and
which was exhibited upon these occasions on a very large scale),
and to repose either upon the conglomerate grits and shales, or
some limestones of the carboniferous series. From the difference
which exists betwixt the quality of the anthracite and bituminous
coals, and from the manner in which the first are found embedded
in the mountains, some persons in America have been led to
suppose that such coal was of mineral origin; but no one prac-
tically conversant with the structure of these coal basins, or who
has attended to the analysis of coal, has been known to express
an opinion different from that universally entertained by men
of science, that coal, whether bituminous or non-bituminous, is
of vegetable origin. The coal strata are in fact, whether in the
state of lignite, anthracite, or bituminous coal, the residua of
vegetable bodies in various stages of bituminisation, the non-
bituminous state of the anthracitic varieties being probably due
to accidental causes.

" The beginning and progress of vegetable creation has been
treated with great felicity and beauty of reasoning by some emi-
nent persons in Europe, amongst whom M. Adolphe Brogniart
deserves to be conspicuously mentioned: to them we owe the just
ideas which now prevail respecting vegetable life, from the first
dawnings of plants of the simplest structure, to the solid mo-
narchs of the forests of our own times. According to the natural
system of botany, plants are divided into acotyledons with lobe-
less seeds, monocotyledons with seeds having one lobe, and
dicotyledons with seeds of two lobes. The impressions of coal
plants found in the rocks up to the coal measures inclusive,
afford no evidence that any plants but those of the simplest368

TKAVELS IN AMERICA.

[chap. xly.

in a north-east direction, for about 1500 miles; and
from Richmond, in Virginia, to Rock River, in the
State of Illinois, they are continually crossed at right
angles for a distance of about 800 miles. The vast
geographical extent of these carboniferous strata
would seem of itself to exclude the drifting theory;
the objections to which are increased by the varying
nature of the mineral, and the manner in which it

structure existed at that time : all were of the first kind, or aco-
tyledonous; and the inference to be drawn from that fact is that
trees having seeds with lobes had not been produced up to that
period, and that their appearance was reserved for a time
approaching nearer to the present order of nature. We are
entitled, therefore, to draw the legitimate inference that the coal
beds of North America are derived not from such forest-trees as
grow in our own times, but from the tropical vegetation which
the high temperature of the globe produced at that period, and
from the Sphagna or Mosses which grew in the immense areas
of the low, swampy country which represented America when
this country first emerged from the ocean. We have already
seen how progressively 6 dry land' has been redeemed from the
ocean in every part of the world, and how, by causes of a pro-
vidential character inherent in our planet, it has been gradually
raised to a height above the water sufficient for the economical
uses of those destined to live upon it. Amongst the instances
of upheaval of the surface, may be conspicuously named the
elevation of mountain chains, bearing along with them the once
horizontal strata with their associate minerals, and especially the
system of the Great Belt of the Alleghanies, which has divided
the carboniferous area of the continent by coming up in the
centre of its axis, and leaving the upraised mineral deprived of
its bitumen by the influence of the cause which upheaved the
chain itself. That such was the modification of the surface at that
peculiar period we can appeal to the highly inclined state of the
formations subjacent to the coal strata everywhere, and to the
general horizontality of the succeeding deposits."chap, xlv.] COAL-FIELDS OF NORTH AMERICA.	369

is brought to the surface, as exhibited upon the
transverse line. At Richmond we find the coal
bituminous, and proceeding on that line in a direc-
tion west-north-west to Rock River, we cross the
great Alleghany belt, where the coal is of the
anthracite or non-bituminous variety, and conforms
to the rock strata in their flexures and tilted state ;
but having passed this belt, the strata become hori-
zontal, and the coal assumes the same level position.
Now these varieties of coal found upon this trans-
verse line appear to belong to the same part of the
geological series, for the mineral is always found
associated with the same conglomerate grit and
shale, except in a few instances where it lies upon
other beds of the carboniferous rocks, and except-
ing the granite basin in the Richmond district.
No argument, therefore, can be raised in favour
of the drifting theory, from the difference in any
of the circumstances which separate the anthra-
citic and bituminous beds, although a fair inference
may be raised that the anthracite coal was lifted out
of its horizontal position when the great Alleghany
belt was upheaved, and that its non-bituminous
quality is owing to the influence of the calorific
intensity which accompanied that upheaval.

The next link in this argument is the period at
which this great dynamic action took place. We
have before seen that the entire oolitic series is
wanting in North America, and that, with few ex-
ceptions, the coal formations are the latest deposits
vol. ii.	2 b370	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xlv.

there. Considering, therefore, the highly inclined
state of the subjacent formations, and the horizon-
tally of the succeeding deposits in every known
part of the world, we cannot but admit the accord-
ance of these disturbing operations of nature at the
same period in both hemispheres, and come to the
conclusion that these coal-fields were formed before
the period of the oolitic system, and, consequently,
before monocotyledonous plants or forest trees
existed. From these data, it would appear more
consistent with the progressive simplicity of the
providential plan for enlarging and preparing the
surface of this planet for the increasing wants of
man, to suppose that, immediately preceding the
elevation of the Alleghany belt, the American con-
tinent had barely emerged from the ocean, and was
in a general marecageous state. From the common
tropical character of coal plants, wherever found,
we infer a high degree of temperature for the globe
even in the northern latitudes, and may suppose an
extraordinary exuberance of growth in the vegetable
bodies of that period. The plants, therefore, whose im-
pressions we find in the coal shales, may have grown
on the driest parts of the nascent land; and where
great swampy basins or depressions existed, these,
as the land gradually rose, would become partially
drained, and be subsequently occupied with sphagna,
or mosses. The causes which were in action at that
geological period are far from being understood, but
we have abundant evidence, in numerous parts of thechap, xlv.] COAL-FIELDS OF NORTH AMERICA.	371

world, that portions of the surface were subject to fre-
quent submersion and re-appearance, becoming sub-
marine and terrestrial by turns, and receiving addi-
tional deposits every time they were depressed. In
this manner a bed of sphagnum, 100 feet deep, being
submerged, would receive a deposit of earthy matter
that would press it down; and upon coming to the
surface again its growth might be repeated, and the
area be again submitted to submersion and receive a
new sedimentary deposit. I have seen beds of sphag-
num in North America probed for sixty feet without
coming to the bottom, all of them connected with
lakes or ponds in a partial state of desiccation, and
which, if acted upon by similar causes, would end
in the production of similar phenomena. This
probably was the case with the coal basin in the
Richmond district, the seams there being separated
by earthy deposits, and the basin itself at length
filled up with near 100 different beds of sedimentary
matter. Everything concurs to prove that these
were not deposited simultaneously, but that their
deposition was effected at distinct intervals; for they
are not only frequently different in their nature and
quality, but in various seams of bituminous shale,
some of which are at least 100 feet above the coal,
fossil coal plants—of which I made an ample col-
lection—are found, of great beauty. The dynamic
periods, then, must have been succeeded by periods
of repose sufficiently long to have permitted the
growth of equiseta, calamites, and other plants,

2 b 2372	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.	[chap. xlv.

whose impressions are found there. These may have
grown in the shaly mud where their impressions
are now seen; but whether or not, it is impossible
to escape the conclusion that immense periods of
time are involved in the structure of this coal-field.

It is a matter of great utilitarian consideration
for the United States to have it ascertained whether
this coal-field forms part of a line connecting those
carboniferous localities lying farther to the south
in North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, which
run parallel with the coal strata to the west.
Those in Alabama are well known ; but of those in
Georgia only obscure indications have hitherto
existed. As far as I have been able to make myself
acquainted with them, all these coal strata trend in
the same magnetic direction of N.E. S.W.; and as
they are all on the east side of the Alleghany belt,
it may be that hereafter they may be found to be
upon the same magnetic line, and to be contem-
poraneous. If this should be the case, the coal-
fields of North America will exhibit the singularly
instructive geological phenomenon of a carboniferous
area, 1500 miles long and 800 miles broad, divided
into two bituminous districts by an elevated belt, in
which the central part of the coal has lost its bitumen
through the agency of the force which lifted it up.

Having finished my observations at this place, I
had the happiness of rejoining my family the even-
ing of the day of my departure from Richmond,
after accomplishing a tour of at least 3000 miles.concluding chapter.

373

CONCLUDING CHAPTER.

The manner in which Mr. Jefferson has been al-
luded to in the preceding pages, may, perhaps, be
deemed unjustifiable by those who, unacquainted
with the details of the life and character of that
celebrated person, have formed their opinions of
him either from those who have eulogised him for
the conspicuous part he took in encouraging his
fellow-countrymen to throw off their allegiance to
Great Britain, or from other writers, who, in their
admiration of the talents for which he was distin-
guished, have ranked him amongst the most con-
spicuous benefactors of human liberty. But, if
proofs can be adduced that no one, in or out of
America, has gone further to poison the ears of men
with principles utterly subversive of the well-being
of society, the claims which have been set up for
him to the gratitude of mankind will appear some-
what questionable.

United as the world is in an unqualified admira-
tion of the virtues of Washington, it is totally incon-
sistent with the respect due to the memory of that
great man to attempt to place Jefferson, as has
lately been done,* upon a parallel with him ; espe-

* Statesmen of the Time of George III. Third Series, p. 237.
London, 1843.374

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

cially when evidences have been for some time
before it, which sufficiently prove that the evils
which have interrupted the prosperity of the United
States are owing to a departure from the precepts
and the moral examples of the former, and that the
principles of Jefferson have been the direct cause of
that fatal deviation. Injurious as these principles
have been to America, the extent to which they have
been enabled to disturb mankind can never be ap-
preciated until they are stated in some detail; and
as—perhaps hastily—a passage has been printed
from the MS. journal whence this work has been
taken, which it is too late now to recall, the best
justification for the expression of an opinion so hostile
to the reputation of Mr. Jefferson will be afforded
by a sketch of his career, the facts of which will be
drawn from the pages of his very able biographer.*
To render the subject more clear to those of the
present generation who are but imperfectly ac-
quainted with the history of the old British colonies,
and the circumstances which led to the establishment
of their independence, the author of this work pro-
poses in the first instance to give a slight review of
their condition introductory to the period when
Mr. Jefferson bore so conspicuous a part in the af-
fairs of his country. A statement of the principal
causes which led to a relaxation of the connexion
of Great Britain with those colonies, and finally to

* Vide Professor Tucker's Life of Jefferson. London, 1837.CONCLUDING CHAPTER.

375

their separation, cannot but be instructive to the
lovers of our ancient monarchy, especially at this
time, when other dependencies of the crown are
rapidly growing up into importance, and will soon
become so vitally interwoven with her power and
the influence she exercises in preserving the peace
of the world, that the importance of attaching
them to her, as well by their sympathies as by their
interest, is one of the gravest questions for her states-
men. The descendants of our common forefathers
who colonised North America were at all times, as
they are now, proud of their origin; but the strength
the mother country derived from that pride, was
from the first more than counteracted by the seeds
of disaffection that were too rankly sown there, and
which, almost unheeded and unchecked, only waited
to be strong enough to overcome a feeling of attach-
ment that derived its support as much from that
pride as from affection.

The original British colonists of North America
may be divided into two classes,—those enterprising
and speculative adventurers who went to Virginia
in pursuit of wealth, and the Puritans, who left
their native country for the sake of enjoying free-
dom of opinion. The southern, or Virginian colony,
became in all material circumstances a copy of the
mother country. Religion was established " accord-
ing to the form and discipline of the Church of
Englandeach parish had its glebe and parsonage,
and primogeniture and entails were the law of the376

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

land. Indeed, the broadest foundations appeared
to have been laid for a loyal administration of the
province, if the government at home, attending care-
fully to the development of its prosperity, had given
to those individuals, distinguished for their intelli-
gence and the stake they held there, a just share
of the honours and advantages of their territorial
government.

This, however, was not done, and the distinctions
due to the colonial aristocracy being exclusively
lavished upon the needy hangers-on of the aristo-
cracy of the mother country, the seeds of disaffection
were sown, and appeared in their season. Although
dissatisfaction was evinced on this account in Vir-
ginia at an early period, yet the first germ of
American aversion to monarchical government is
to be traced to the Puritans who settled the northern
colony of Massachusetts. The sole object for which
the leaders of this class expatriated themselves was
to be out of the reach of what they deemed an into-
lerable spiritual tyranny; and as the church and
the temporal authority by which its power was
enforced were equally odious in their eyes, the love
of spiritual and political independence became rooted
in them. The consequent attachment to democratic
principles formed a permanent feature in their reli-
gious and civil government, and continued unabated,
but dormant, until 1775, at which period they first
assumed an attitude of rebellion to the monarchy
of England.CONCLUDING CHAPTER.

377

Passing over the colonisation of other parts of
North America, of the Carolinas and Georgia, of
Pennsylvania and New York, the Atlantic frontier of
North America became gradually occupied with an
enterprising people, rejoicing in an absolute freedom
from all restraint, enjoying all the privileges of the
representative form of government, and indulging
from time to time in the excitements peculiar to
colonial governments, derived from causes both real
and imaginary. Although the differences in reli-
gious opinion were seldom the subject of open and
active dissension amongst them, yet those also were
spreading at the same time, sectarianism and demo-
cracy going hand in hand and waiting their day.

Thus did these colonies grow in strength and
importance until the middle of the eighteenth cen-
tury, when a danger menaced them which united
the planters of the South, to the hardy farmers
and merchants of the North, in the defence of their
country.

France, at this period, had drawn a military
cordon from Quebec, by the way of the lakes and the
rivers Ohio and Mississippi, to New Orleans, and had
encouraged the tribes of savage nations under her in-
fluence, to fall upon the defenceless families that had
gradually advanced into the interior from the coast.
Her intention was to subdue the British colonies,
and her preparations were of the most formidable
kind. This peril was imminent, and the colonies
must inevitably have succumbed, but for the pro-378

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

tecting arm of the mother country. A bloody and
expensive war now began, in which some of the
colonists engaged with vigour, but the burden of
the contest fell upon the mother country, which
had to furnish troops, money, and arms. The defeat
of Braddock's army in 1755, a part of which was
saved by the firmness and judgment of Col. Wash-
ington, then a loyal provincial officer, increased
the general dismay.* But as has so frequently
occurred in our history, upon those great occasions
which have called forth the power of Great Bri-
tain, France was attacked when she least expected
it, at the very seat of her colonial strength, and
the immortal victory of the plains of Abraham, so
dearly purchased by the life of Wolfe, was followed
by the peace of 1763, and the abandonment by
France of all her possessions in North America.

This glorious termination of an, arduous struggle,
and the removal from the colonies of every appre-
hension from their powerful and dangerous neigh-
bour, was hailed at the time as an auspicious event
that would consolidate for ever their union with

* Nothing contributed more to embolden the colonists when
they subsequently considered the chances of being able to resist
the authority of the crown, than the circumstances attending this
disastrous defeat of a well-appointed army, by an ambush of
French and Indians not amounting to 450 men. Dr. Franklin,
alluding to it in his autobiography, says : " This whole transac-
tion gave us Americans the first suspicion that our exalted ideas
of the prowess of British regular troops had not been well
founded."—' Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin,' vol. i. p. 220.CONCLUDING CHAPTER.

379

the mother country. Hard terms had been im-
posed upon France at that peace, but the interest
and safety of the colonies appeared to require
them. Few, or none, at the moment of triumph
adverted to the fact that in morals, as well as in
physics, extremes are ever ready to meet, and that
like the pendulum, which, when it is hurrying
to one extreme point of its oscillation, is only pre-
paring to return to the other, the actions of men
often lead to results diametrically opposed to those
towards which they seemed to be advancing. A
striking proof of this was now about to be given,
and England was to receive an unexpected lesson as
to the policy of burdening herself with expensive
wars for the protection of colonies, the leading men
of which she had not propitiated ; and who, being
dissatisfied at heart with the neglect they had been
treated with, found, in their own resources, and in
their distance from the mother country, strong in-
ducements to oppose her authority.

If at the close of the seven years' war, and the
subversion of the French dominion in Canada, the
King's ministers had turned their attention to a re-
form in the proprietary governments suited to the
period, and had conferred distinctions upon the
leading men of the colonies, a strong party would
have existed there in favour of securing to England
some return for the important service she had ren-
dered them: even public opinion, which, in America,
as elsewhere, is generally little more than the influ-380

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

ence of eminent individuals operating upon the
masses, would probably have concurred in its pro-
priety. But this was neglected, and the Stamp Act,
a measure founded in justice when we consider the
immense and costly efforts England had made for
her transatlantic subjects, was vainly attempted to
be forced upon them.

The historians who have justified the resistance
of the colonies to the mother country, have not
treated this particular grievance in a very ingenuous
manner: they have omitted to explain that the
King's government had given to them the option of
contributing in any manner they pleased a part of
the expenditure incurred on their account, and that
to this they had given a most direct refusal: even
Dr. Franklin, who has been considered by the world
as the highest authority for the facts connected with
those negotiations, has not only stated that the
colonies were menaced with the Stamp Act, and
that Mr. Grenville refused to permit any contribu-
tion to come from their " good will," but in the
letter where he professes to give " the true history
of that transaction," has kept out of sight the equi-
table propositions made by Mr. Grenville before that
Act was imposed.* This is an important, point in the

* " But this gentleman (Mr. Grenville), instead of a decent
demand, sent them a menace that they should certainly be taxed,
and only left them the choice of the manner."

" But he (Mr. Grenville) chose compulsion rather than per-
suasion, and would not receive from their good will what heCONCLUDING CHAPTER.

381

history of the causes which have been alleged to
justify the colonies in taking up arms.

Mr. Burke, who was agent for New York, pub-
licly denied in the House of Commons that an option
had been given; but there is a paper, in the' Histori-
cal Collections of Massachusetts,' which fully proves
the fact. This paper was written by Mr. Israel
Mauduit, one of the agents for Massachusetts,
and at that time an intimate friend of Franklin's;
the original of it is now in the possession of the
Historical Society of that State, and is entitled
' An Account of a Conference between the late Mr.
Grenville and the several Colony Agents, in the
year 1764, previous to the passing the Stamp Act.'*

thought he could obtain without it."—Letter from Dr. Franklin
to Wm, Alexander, Esq.; Life of Franklin, vol. i. p. 324.
London, 1818.

* This paper appears to have been written in consequence of
Mr. Burke's speech, and the following is an extract from it

" I shall give a plain narration of facts, which fell within my
own knowledge, and which, therefore, I think it a debt, due
from me to Mr. Grenville's memory, to relate. In the beginning
of March, 1764, a number of resolutions, relative to the planta-
tion trade, were proposed by Mr. Grenville, and passed in the
House of Commons.

" The fifteenth of these was, ' That, towards the further de-
fraying the said expenses, it may be proper to charge certain
stamp duties in the said colonies and plantations.'

" The other resolutions were formed into the Plantation Act;
but the fifteenth was put off till the next session, Mr. Grenville
declaring that he was willing to give time to consider of it, and
to make their option of raising that, or some other tax. The
agents waited separately on Grenville upon this matter, and
wrote to their several colonies. At the end of the session we382

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

There is, therefore, no room left for a doubt that
the colonies had every opportunity afforded them

went to him, all of us together, to know if he still intended to
bring in such a bill. He answered, he did; and then repeated
to us in form, what I had before heard him say in private, and
in the House of Commons: ' that the late war had found us
seventy millions, and left us more than one hundred and forty
millions in debt. He knew that all men wished not to be
taxed; but that in these unhappy circumstances, it was his duty,
as a steward for the public, to make use of every just means of
improving the public revenue: that he never meant, however,
to charge the colonies with any part of the interest of the
national debt. But, besides that public debt, the nation had
incurred a great annual expense in the maintaining of the
several new conquests which we had made during the war, and
by which the colonies were so much benefited. That the Ameri-
can civil and military establishment, after the peace of Aix-la-
Chapelle, was only 70,000/. per annum. It was now increased
to 350,000/. This was a great additional expense upon an
American account; and he thought, therefore, that America
ought to contribute towards it. He did not expect that the
colonies should raise the whole, but some part of it he thought
they ought to raise, and this stamp duty was intended for that
purpose.

"' That he judged this method of raising the money the
easiest and most equitable; that it was a tax which would fall
only upon property, would be collected by the fewest officers,
and would be equally spread over America and the West Indies,
so that all would bear their share of the public burthen.' He
then went on: 41 am not, however, set upon this tax. If the
Americans dislike it, and prefer any other method of raising the
money themselves, I shall be content. Write therefore to your
several colonies, and if they choose any other mode, I shall be
satisfied, provided the money be but raisedUpon reading over
this narration with Mr. Montagu, who was then agent for
Virginia, and present at this conference with Mr. Grenville, I
have his authority to say that he entirely assents to every par-
ticular. All these particulars I had before heard from Mr.CONCLUDING CHAPTER.

383

of choosing their own manner of discharging a
debt, the justice of which could not be denied, and
which, if they had consented to its being the subject
of a negotiation, would most probably have been
reduced to an equitable amount, susceptible of a
very easy liquidation.

Grenville, in the House of Commons, and at his own house;
and had wrote to the Massachusetts Assembly accordingly.

" The following extracts contain their answer on this head:—
"'Sir,	Boston, June 14th, 1764.

"c The House of Representatives has received your several
letters.

"4 The actual laying the stamp duty, you say, is deferred till
next year, Mr. Grenville being willing to give the provinces
their option to raise that, or some equivalent tax, desirous, as he
was pleased to express himself, to consult the ease and quiet, and
the good will of the colonies.

6 If the ease, the quiet, and the good will of the colonies are
of any importance to Great Britain, no measures could be hit
upon that have a more natural and direct tendency to enervate
those principles than the resolutions you enclosed.

"' The kind offer of suspending the stamp duty in the man-
ner, and upon the condition, you mention, amounts to no more
than this, that if the colonies will not tax themselves as they
may be directed, the Parliament will tax them.

"6 You are to remonstrate against these measures, and, if pos-
sible, to obtain a repeal of the Sugar Act, and prevent the im-
position of any further duties or taxes on the colonies. Measures
will be taken that you may be joined by all the other agents.'

" One of these measures was the printing this letter, and
sending it to the other colony assemblies.

" After their own express acknowledgment, therefore, no one,
I suppose, will doubt but they had the offer of raising the
money themselves, and that they refused it, which is all that I
am concerned to prove."—Historical Collections of Massachu-
setts^ vol. ix. p. 268.384

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

The Stamp Act having no friends in America,
was the signal for insurrection secretly fomented
by those who had been neglected; and the spirit
of disaffection was fostered by the vacillatory policy
of the King's ministers. Relieved from their
apprehensions of French conquest, and conscious
of their strength, the colonists now formed plans for
turning against the mother country the energies
which had been awakened in them by their late
dangers; and from the passing of the Stamp Act
to the breaking out of the rebellion, the misunder-
standing increased. All the kind feelings which
the protection given to the colonies had produced
were effaced; every measure that appeared to pro-
mote British commercial interests was resisted,
and the whole energies of America becoming at
length directed against the Crown, France, which
had so many motives for crippling the power of
England, and which had never pardoned her the
hard terms she had received at the peace of 1763,
united her arms to those of America, and the inde-
pendence of the colonies was accomplished.

England retired from the scene of her disasters
with at least some consolation. She had laid the
broad foundation of a nation gifted with her own
courage, intelligence, and enterprise; and although
it was severed from her dominion, men of experi-
ence soon began to see that the future commercial
intercourse with the United States would be more
advantageous to the mother country than it couldCONCLUDING CHAPTER.

385

have been if they had remained in a colonial state.
But that which gave the greatest satisfaction to
all men of reflection subsequent to the establish-
ment of this new government amongst the nations
of the earth was, that the young republic was to
be organised under the influence of the man whose
conduct, during the struggle and after its termina-
tion, had raised him to the highest renown wherever
civilization existed; for never had there been an
instance in history where the private and public
virtues of a chief had seemed to give a more certain
guarantee to the world for the future character of
a people, in the first days of their national existence,
than those which had illustrated the career of
George Washington.

But whilst so glorious a future was open to the
United States under his guidance, and as if a good
and evil principle must be always conflicting, it was
their misfortune to possess another man eminent
for his qualifications, and for the influence they had
given him over a great portion of his countrymen;
one, however, who had cherished from his youth up-
wards, what are now called revolutionary views for
the establishment of liberty. Perhaps the most in-
teresting truth which history reveals to us, is that
that degree of national freedom which unites good
men in the preservation of life, property, and order,
is inherent to the calm and regular progress of so-
ciety, and cannot be forced onwards by theoretical
impulses. Mr. Jefferson thought otherwise; his

VOL. II.	2 c386

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

maxim was not to assist the natural growth, and
train and guide what he had found planted by the
wisdom of other times; but whilst he rooted up what
already existed, to bring forward new and experi-
mental varieties, suited to the tastes of theoretical
reformers and superficial philosophers.

Mr. Jefferson was born in Virginia in 1743, a
period at which the colonists there looked exclu-
sively to the mother country as their model. The
church of England in that province was not only
established by law, each parish having a clergyman
with a fixed salary, a glebe, and a parsonage-house,
but the eldest sons of the opulent planters were
usually sent to England to receive their education.
Their tastes were thus formed for English arts,
literature, and politics ; and as the right of primo-
geniture existed, they naturally became the patrons
of liberal pursuits on their return to their native coun-
try. Society in this colony was at that time upon an
excellent footing; theupper classes weredistinguished
from the others as much as they were in any other
country, and were respected by the people.

Mr. Jefferson, who did not belong to any of the
old Virginian families, commenced the study of the
law under one of the most violent opponents of the
measures of the crown, and at an early period took
an active and zealous part upon every occasion when
dissatisfaction was to be expressed with the British
government. In the measures of the colonial
burgesses and delegates that led to the finalCONCLUDING CHAPTER.

387

rupture with Lord Dunmore, in 1775, he took a
very prominent part; and in 1776 he retired from
the Congress to which he had been elected, in
order to become a member of the legislature of
his native State, where he could have a better
opportunity of carrying out his own revolutionary
innovations. His talents and influence were now
universally recognised, and enabled him to carry
his measures against the leading families in the pro-
vince, who feared the man, but had not the courage
to oppose him. Almost as soon as he had taken his
seat, he brought in a bill to convert estates in tail
into fee simple, avowing as his reason that he wished
" to make an opening for the aristocracy of virtue
and talent."* In the committee to which this
matter was referred, he met with some opposition,
which he answered by stating,

"That the eldest son could have no claim, in reason,
to twice as much as his brothers or sisters, unless Ae
could eat twice as much, or do double work." f

The next step which he took, and which very
naturally followed the abolition of entails, was to
procure the destruction of the church establishment,
and to place all religious sects on the same footing
of voluntary contribution. Various enactments were
made for the accomplishment of this measure, the
first of which suspended the laws which provided
salaries for the clergy: in 1779 these laws were all

* Tucker's Life of Jefferson, vol. i., p. 97. London, 1837.

•{■ Ibid., vol. i., p. 112.

2 c 2388

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

unconditionally repealed, and the final enactment
on church matters authorized the overseers of the
poor to sell the glebe lands, as they became vacant.

Having accomplished his favourite object of
bringing down to the general level all the established
families of his native state, as well as the Episcopal
church, Mr. Jefferson's field of action was again
transferred to the concerns of the nation, and in 1784
he joined his colleague, Dr. Franklin, at Paris, as
joint minister to France. After remaining there
some time, he paid a visit in 1786 to Mr. Adams,
the American minister in London, and was presented
at court, where, he says, he was " ungraciously
received." If we are to judge from the bitterness
of some of his expressions to his correspondents, it
is probable he made no secret of the dislike he che-
rished to England. Speaking of the country, in
one of these letters, he says:

" Her hatred is deep-rooted and cordial, and
nothing is wanting with her but the power to wipe
us and the land we live in out of existence." *

In one of his letters, written in 1786, is the fol-
lowing curious passage, a part of which is remark-
able for its prophetic character :

" American reputation in Europe is not such as
to be flattering to its citizens. Two circumstances
are particularly objected to us: the non-payment of
our debts, and the want of energy in our govern-
ment. They discourage a connexion with us. I
* Tucker's Life of Jefferson, vol. i., p. 218. London, 1837.CONCLUDING CHAPTER.

389

own it to be my opinion that good will arise from
the destruction of our credit." *

Upon another occasion he endeavours to stimu-
late that national vanity and self-sufficiency which
are often so conspicuous in young countries, and to
cherish in his fellow-citizens that inflated feeling of
superiority over other nations, which many of them
were even then beginning to attribute to their own,
saying:

" If all the sovereigns in Europe were to set
themselves to work to emancipate the minds of their
subjects from their present ignorance and prejudices,
a thousand years will not place them on that high
ground on which our common people are now set-
ting out. Ours could not have been so fairly placed
under the control of the common sense of the people,
had they not been separated from their parent stock,
and kept from contamination, either from them or
the other people of the old world, by the intervention
of so wide an ocean." "j"

During his residence in France, Mr. Jefferson was
intimately connected with the leaders that were pre-
paring the French revolution; and from the follow-
ing passage in a letter respecting some disturbances
in Massachusetts, which he wrote from Paris in 1787
to a friend, it would seem that all the steps necessary
to carry out the views of these men were already
familiar to his mind :

* Tucker's Life of Jefferson, vol. i, p. 231. London, 1837.
t Ibid., vol. i., p. 240.390

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

" What country before ever existed a century
and a half without a rebellion 1 And what country
can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned
from time to time that its people preserve the spirit
of resistance ? Let them take arms. The remedy
is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify
them. What signify a few lives lost in a century
or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed,
from time to time, with the blood of patriots and
tyrants. It is its natural manure."*

This sentiment has been lately attributed to an-
other quarter. Immediately on the Convention
having voted the death of Louis XVI. in 1792,
Barere, now justly esteemed the most infamous of
all the terrorists, rose and addressed the Assembly
in a speech containing the following passage:—

"The tree of liberty, as an ancient author remarks,
flourishes when it is watered with the blood of all
classes of tyrants."!

The able author of the article entitled ' Barere's
Memoirs,' in that number of the ' Edinburgh Re-
view ' from which this passage is taken, observes, in
quoting it, "We wish that a note had been added
to inform us from what ancient author Barere quoted.
In the course of our own small (!) reading among
the Greek and Latin writers, we have not happened
to fall in with trees of liberty and watering-pots foil
of blood; nor can we, such is our ignorance of

* Tucker's Life of Jefferson, vol. i., p. 282. London, 1837.
t Edinburgh Review, April, 1844, p. 297.CONCLUDING CHAPTER.

391

classical antiquity, even imagine an Attic or Roman
orator employing imagery of that sort. In plain
words, when Bar&re talked about an ancient author,
he was lying, as he generally was when he asserted
any fact, great or small. Why he lied on this occa-
sion we cannot guess, unless, indeed, it was to keep
his hand in."

It is, indeed, evident enough that we need not go
to antiquity for such a sentiment; jargon of that
kind about the tree of liberty could belong to no
author more ancient than Mr. Jefferson, who, it is
to be remarked, at the time he expressed himself
thus, was not a very young enthusiast, having
already reached the mature age of forty-four years.
Barere, no doubt, veiled his authority, because it
was not con venient to quote the American minister.

In 1789, when the Etats-G6neraux met, Mr. Jef-
ferson, who still represented the United States,
drew up a charter of rights for the French people,
but, although Lafayette and others gave it their
sanction, it was not adopted.

What chance the public creditor would have
under Mr. Jefferson's first principles of government
may be gathered from his opinions, as we find them
recorded by his biographer : *

" He (Mr. Jefferson) insists that the use of the
earth belongs to the living generation, and that the
dead have no more right than they have power over
it. In the application of this principle, he maintains
* Tucker's Life of Jefferson, vol. i., p. 324-5. London, 1837.392

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

that no generation can pledge or encumber the
lands of a country beyond the average term of its
own existence, which term, by a reference to the
annuity tables of Buffon, he estimates first at thirty-
four years, and afterwards reduces to nineteen years.
By reason of this restriction, founded in nature and
the first principles of justice, he maintains that
every law, and even constitution, naturally expires
at the expiration of this term ; and that no public
debt can be contracted which would be rightfully
binding on the nation after the same lapse of time."

This egregious argument—which was very ably
refuted by Mr. Madison, in a letter to Mr. Jefferson
—is the germ of that " first principle " called " re-
pudiation," which he bequeathed to his country ; a
principle which, if admitted into civilized life, would
strike at the root of that natural feeling inherent in
all rightly disposed communities, viz., to protect the
interests and welfare of that posterity of which their
own children form a part.

In the year 1794, Mr. Jefferson, at the age of 56,
left the Cabinet of President Washington, in which
his opinions found but little support, and retired to
his seat in the country, ostensibly to enjoy rural pur-
suits and domestic happiness. Professing to despise
distinctions and employments, he declared to a friend
that he was so weaned from public pursuits that he
should "never take another newspaper of any sort,"*
yet at this very time his house was not only the
* Tucker's Life of Jefferson, vol. i., p. 528. London, 1837.CONCLUDING CHAPTER.

393

general rendezvous of the most active opponents of
Washington's administration, and the point where
all their political measures were concerted, but
from thence Mr. Jefferson himself wrote the bitterest
attacks for the democratic journals, upon the admi-
nistration of the man to whom he continued to
profess in public the most devoted attachment. Of
the philosophic tone of his mind, and of the sincerity
of his abandonment to rural pursuits, the following
extract of a letter to a Mr. Tench Coxe, written
soon after he had reached his country seat, Monti-
cello, furnishes an admirable example :—

" Over the foreign powers, I am convinced they
(the French) will triumph completely, and I cannot
but hope that that triumph, and the consequent dis-
grace of the invading tyrants, is destined, in the
order of events, to kindle the wrath of the people of
Europe against those who have dared to embroil
them in such wickedness, and to bring, at length,
kings, nobles, and priests, to the scaffolds, which
they have been so long deluging with human
blood. I am still warm whenever I think of these
scoundrels"*

With this example and these precepts before us,
we need not be surprised that having succeeded in
weaning a majority of the people from their con-
fidence in Washington's principles of government,
he should at length have achieved his object of
being raised to the supreme power; and that his
* Tucker's Life of Jefferson, vol. i., p. 532.394	TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

opinions so largely sown in the minds of a great
portion of his countrymen, should have produced
in them a scornful contempt of all the regular
governments of Europe, the proscription of the most
respectable of their own countrymen, and. the ac-
complishment at length of those fatal acts which
are at this day so injurious to the honour and
character of Republican America.

FINIS.

London : Printed by William Clowes and Sons, Stamford Street.ALBEMARLE STREET,

April, 1844.

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and Palaces in Italy,

During the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries. Taken from the principal Works of the
greatest Painters, never before engraved, and containing a Store of Examples, Patterns, &c.,
fitted for the use and adoption of Architects, Decorators, Manufacturers, and Dilettanti in

Building.

With English Descriptions, by LOUIS GRUNER.

With Forty-five Plates. Folio.

xxi.

Scripture Geography, for the Use of Schools and
Young Persons.

By the Rev. EDWARD ROBINSON, D.D.,

Author of " Biblical Researches in Palestine and Mount Sinai," &c.

12mo.

xxii.

Handbook for Spain, Andalusia, Granada, Catalonia,

Madrid, &c.

Giving detailed and precise Information respecting Steamers, Passports, Monies, Guides,
Servants, &c., with Directions for Travellers and Hints for Tours, &c. With Maps

Post 8vo.

This volume will contain a detailed account of the different modes of travelling, both by
land and water, in the Peninsula, and the precautions necessary to be taken to ensure comfort
and security.

The Provinces will be described in order, with the principal lines of high-roads, cross
communications, and quality of accommodation, and the best seasons of the year for the
visit of each route suggested. Plans of tours, general and limited, will be drawn up. The
peculiarities of every district and town will be noticed; and a short insight given into the local
antiquities, religion, arts, scenery, and manners. The objects really worth seeing will be
named, and those sites which possess historical or natural interest pointed out, especially the
battle-fields of British victories. The sportsman and angler will find the best shooting and
fishing quarters enumerated. The object of the work, the fruit of many years' wandering in
every portion of the Peninsula, will be to furnish, in a small compass, useful and entertaining
information for the traveller, both abroad in Spain, and at home by the fireside.

xxiii.

An Essay on the Pronunciation of the Greek
Language.

By G. J. PENNINGTON, R.A., late Fellow of King's College, Cambridge.

xxiv.

A List of Works in General Literature,

Published by Mr. MURRAY, Classified and Arranged.
8vo. (Nearly ready.)ALBEMARLE STREET,

April, 1844.

MR. MURRAY'S PUBLICATIONS,

OF THE LAST THREE MONTHS.

THE ANATOMY AND PHILOSOPHY OF EXPRESSION

AS CONNECTED WITH THE FINE ARTS. By Sir Charles Bell. Third
Edition, enlarged, with numerous Engravings and Woodcuts. Imperial 8vo, 21s.

This Work was recomposed by the Author on his return from a visit to Italy, whither
he went to verify the principles of criticism in art by the study of the great masters of
painting and sculpture.

LETTERS FROM CANADA

Written during a Journey in North
2 vols, post 8vo, 16s.

" There is a good deal of observable
matter in these volumes, and the
writer's disposition to speak of the
country and the people in a kindly
manner, is not only well meant, but
calculated to produce beneficial effects
in both countries."—Literary Gazette.

& THE UNITED STATES,

America. By John Robert Godley, Esq.

** Mr. Godley has evidently proposed to himself
a high aim in his work, which, therefore, de-
serves adequate appreciation. For the impar-
tiality which he everywhere exhibits, he de-
serves all the credit that he claims. Here,
then, is at least one English book of which the
Americans cannot reasonably complain."-—Athe-
nceum.

FIFTY DAYS ON BOARD A SLAVE VESSEL,

IN THE MOZAMBIQUE CHANNEL. By the Rev. Pascoe Grenfell Hill,
M.A., Chaplain of H.M.S. Cleopatra. With a Map. Fcap. 8vo, 3s. 6d.

"We hope this little book will have	'* Mr. Hill is a pleasant, unaffected, and ele-

a wide circulation. We can conceive	gant writer, with a fund of good sense, and his

nothing so likely to do good to the	brief and popular work is well adapted for gene-

righteous cause it is intended to pro-	ral circulation."—Spectator.

mote."—Examiner.

SPAIN UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND;

Or Extracts from the Correspondence of the Hon. Alexander Stanhope, British
Minister at Madrid, 1690—17C0. Selected from the Originals at Chevening. By
Lord Mahon. Second Edition, enlarged. Post 8vo, 6s. 6rf.

" Instructive and amusing; throwing much light upon the affairs of Spain at the period
t	to which they refer."—Naval and Military Gazette.

MEMOIR OF WILLIAM TAYLOR, OF NORWICH,

Including his Correspondence with Robert Southey. By J. W. Robberds, Esq.
Portrait. 2 vols. 8vo, 30s. „

" The narrative is that of qn able man; and the correspondence interwoven is as
interesting as any likely to be revealed for many years."— Quarterly Review.6

MR. MURRAY'S NEW PUBLICATIONS.

SCENES AND TALES OF COUNTRY LIFE;

With Recollections of Natural History. By Edward Jesse, Esq., Surveyor
of Her Majesty's Parks and Palaces. Author of u Gleanings in Natural
History." With Woodcuts. Post 8vo, 12s. (Just published.)

INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN YUCATAN.

By John L. Stephens, Esq., Author of" Incidents of Travel in Central America," &c.
With 120 Engravings, 2 vols., 8vo, 42s.

MODERN EGYPT AND THEBES.

Being a Description of Egypt, including the Information required for Travellers in
that Country. By Sir Gardner Wilkinson, Author of " Manners and Customs of
the Ancient Egyptians." With Woodcuts and Map. 2 vols. 8vo, 42s.

This work contains not only a com-
plete Description of the Present State
of Egypt, and its Ancient Monuments;
of the Journey Overland through
Egypt to the Red Sea and India; the
Peninsula of Mount Sinai; the Oases,
&c.; but includes Minute Instructions

for Travellers about to "Visit Egypt or India; the
Preparations Necessary "before Setting-out; the
Journey thither from England, via Malta ; with
Chronological Tables of the Pharaohs, Ptole-
mies, and Modern Kings; a Vocabulary of Arabic
Terms, &c.; and an Introduction to the Study of
Hieroglyphics.

"An invaluable guide to all who visit the Valley of the Nile."—Atkenceum.

MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM SMITH, The Geologist,

Author of the (< Map of the Strata of England and Wales." By John Phillips,
F.R S , Author of " Illustrations of the Geology of Yorkshire." With Portrait.
7s. 6d.

" A grateful and gratifying recollection of the' Father of Geology.'Literary Gazette.

LIFE AND VOYAGES OF SIR FRANCIS DRAKE,

Compiled from Old Chronicles, and various Letters and Documents never before
published. By John Barrow, Esq. 8vo, 14s.

" A memoir which we hail as a welcome addition to our biographical literature."—
Morning Chronicle.

RESULTS OF READING.

By J. Stamford Caldwell, M.A., Barrister-at-Law. 8vo, 10s. 6d.
" The common-place book of an intelligent, well read man."—Examiner.

PARISH SERMONS

On the Lessons, Gospel, or Epistle, for every Sunday in the Year, and for
Week-day Festivals. By the late Bishop Heber. Fifth Edition. 2 vols,
post 8vo, 16s.

THE MASSACRE OF BENARES.

A Chapter from British Indian History. By John Francis Davis, Esq., Author
of " China and the Chinese." With Frontispiece. Fcap. 8vo, 3s. 6d.

" The whole of this spirit-stirring little volume is well entitled to perusal."—Naval and
Military Gazette.

BISHOP HEBER'S INDIAN JOURNAL.

Forming Nos. 3, 4, 5, and 6, of " Murray's Colonial and Home Library."
Price 2s. 6d. each.

" The most perfectly charming book of travels we ever read. We envy those who now
read it for the first time."—Examiner.MR. MURRAY'S NEW PUBLICATIONS.

7

PRACTICAL ESSAYS.

By the late Sir Charles Bell, K.H., Professor of Surgery in the University of
Edinburgh.

contents :

Powers of Life to sustain Surgical

Operations.

Different Effects of Bleeding from

the Artery, and from the Vein.

Squinting, and the Attempts to Red&dy
the Defect.

Two Parts, 8vo. 12#. 6rf.

Tic-Douloureux.

Nerves of Respiration.

Powers circulating the Blood.

Diseases of the Spine, as distinguished
from Distortion.

THE NESTORIANS, OR LOST TRIBES;

Their Manners, Customs, and Ceremonies, with Sketches of Travel, and Illustrations
of Scripture Prophecy. By Asahel Grant, M.D., Missionary to the American
Board of Foreign Missions. Third Edition. With a Map* Fcap. 8vo, 6#.
"Much curious and interesting information."—Athenaum.

LIFE OF SIR DAVID WILKIE;

With his Letters, Journals, and Critical Remarks on Works of Art during his
Tours in France, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Germany, Turkey, the Holy Land,
and Egypt. By Allan Cunningham, Esq. With a Portrait. 3 vols. 8vo. 42s.

PSALMS AND HYMNS FOR PUBLIC WORSHIP;

Selected and Arranged, and adapted to the various Solemnities of the Church. By
Rev. W, B. Holland, M.A., Perpetual Curate of Walmer. 24mo, Is, 6d.

AN ESSAY ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH,

AND ON THE SOURCES OF TAXATION. By the Rev. R. Jones, A.M.,

of Caius College, Cambridge. Second Edition. Post 8vo, 7s. 6d.

FARMING FOR LADIES;

Or, Instructions for rearing Domestic Poultry, with the best mode of managing
the Dairy and Piggery, and useful Hints on the Rural Economy of Small Families*
By the Author of " British Husbandry." With Woodcuts. Fcap. 8vo, 8s.

MY KNITTING-BOOK.

By Miss Lambert, Authoress of the " Handbook of Needlework." Third Edition,
Square 16mo, is. 6d.

GR.ECLE GRAMMA TIC JS RUDIMENTA,

In Usum Scholarum. Fifth Edition, Including the Syntax. l2mo. 5s.

LATINS GRAMMATICS RUDIMENTA;

Or, King Edward the Sixth's Latin Grammar, for the Use of Schools* •
Second Edition, revised. 12mo, 3s. 6c?.

BUTTMANN'S CATALOGUE OF THE IRREGULAR

GREEK VERBS; their Formation, Meaning, and Usages, accompanied by a Com-
plete Index. Translated by the Rev. J. R. Fishlake, A.M. Second Edition,
revised. 8vo, 7s. 6d.THE COLONIAL AND HOME LIBRARY.

Published Monthly.

#£eto antr Original OTorfes tit preparation.

A LIFE OF THE GREAT LORD CLIVE.

THE STORY OF THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO.
DRINKWATER'S HISTORY OF THE SIEGE OF GIBRALTAR.
THE MANUFACTURING DISTRICTS OF ENGLAND:

THEIR CANALS, RAILROADS, MINES, MILLS, &c.

alrea&B

Nos. 1 and 2, Price 5s.,

Sorrow's Bible in Spain,

" We are frequently reminded of Gil Bias in the narratives of this pious single-hearted man. As
a book of adventures, it seems to us about the most extraordinary one which has appeared in our own
or any other language for a long time past ."—Quarterly Review.

Nos 3 to 6, Price 10s.

Bishop Heber's Journal in India.

*** " A monument of talent, sufficient, singly and alone, to establish its author in a very high

rank of English literature. It is one of the most delightful books in the language."—-Qwarterty Review.

-♦-

No. 7> Price 2s. 6d.,

Irby and Mangles' Travels in the Holy Land.

including a journey round the dead sea and the country east of the jordan.

Never before published,

" I have obtained much important information from the * Travels of Captains Irby and Mangles.'"
—Keith's Evidences of Prophecy.

The Colonial Library is designed to furnish all classes of Readers in Great Britain
and her Colonies with the highest Literature of the day, consisting partly of original
Works, partly of new Editions of popular Publications, at the lowest possible price. It
is called for iti consequence of the Acts which have recently passed the British Parlia-
ment for the protection of the rights of British authors and publishers, by the rigid and
entire exclusion of foreign pirated editions. In order, therefore, that the highly intelli-
gent and educated population of our Colonies may not suffer from the withdrawal of
their accustomed supply of books, and with a view to obviate the complaint that a
check might in consequence be raised to their intellectual advancement, Mr. Murray
has determined to publish a series of attractive and useful works, by approved authors,
at a rate which shall place them within reach of the means not only of the Colonists,
but also of a large portion of the less wealthy classes at home, who will thus benefit
by the widening of the market for our literature : and the " Colonial Library " .will
consequently be so conducted that it may claim to be considered as a " Library for the
Empire."

LONDON : BRADBURY AND KVAVS, PRrNTKRS, WHfTRFRIARS.

■? f

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