Part 18 (1/2)
We found none but the women at home The missionaries have established a school, which is frequented by thirty children They have three Indian girls, boarders, ere extremely modest The mission is situated in a handsome plantation, on which I saw tame deer The deer here are evidently smaller than those in Europe
Sunday, the 1st of January, 1826, ere awakened by the dru Hail Columbia and Yankee Doodle With the break of day, between seven and eight o'clock, we left Fort Mitchel, and rode twenty-five miles to a plantation called Lewis's, which is located on the spot, upon which, in the last war, Fort Bainbridge stood The road ran through a very hilly country At first the soil was sandy and poor, it bore nothing but pine trees After we had passed over half the distance, the soil improved, it looked reddish-yellow, and the apparently everlasting pines gave place to handsoe road becae fell slowly towardsfrom the box on which I sat, and fell upon hth time I had been overturned, and never did I escape so cheap as on this occasion As none of the other gentleh at our accident The carriage was soed, and since ere only four miles distant fro day, with clear dark-blue sky, ent the rest of the way on foot
We passed several ams and tes, and lay around the fire with them A hut of this description is open in front, behind it is closed with pieces of wood and bark The residents live on roasted venison and Indian corn The hides of the deer, and even of cattle, they stretch out to dry in the sun, and then sell them At one hut, covered with cane leaves, there was venison roasting, and bacon s The venison is cut in pieces, and spitted on a cane stalk, many such stalks lie upon two blocks near each other Under these the fire is kindled, and the stalk continually turned round, till the flesh is dried through Upon this is laid a hurdle made of cane which rests on four posts To this are all the large pieces suspended The hams of bacon are laid upon the hurdle so that the srass in many parts of the woods was in a blaze, andWe crossed two small streaes Between three and four o'clock in the afternoon we reached Lewis's, a handsome house, the best that we had found in the Indian territory We took here an excellent dinner We ate daily of the best of venison In Fort Mitchel we had eaten partridges, of which the officers in one day took fifty-seven in the , in their nets For the singularity of the thing, I will notice our dinner of to-day, that the inquisitive reader er on the lands of the Indians: soup of turnips, roast-beef, a roast-turkey, venison with a kind of sour sauce, roast-chickens, and pork with sweet potatoes
On the 2d of January we rode thirty-one miles to Walker's, also a solitary plantation The country hilly, the road bad to such a degree that we could only creep along in the ed to proceed on foot very often The wood on the other hand grew better and better, and consisted, besides the pines, of handso trees, mostly hickories: the soil, for the most part, of a reddish yellow In several ain the evergreen trees and bushes, and in a swanolia grandiflora which were at least sixty feet high I also saw here again several trees, which first forround, divided themselves into two trunks, and then shot up into the air one hundred feet In the north-western part of the state of New York, I have seen trees which ran up in five, six, and even seven trunks Over a streae was thrown, three hundred and eleven paces long: the viehich I took froetation which surrounded inal of the sketches of the Brazilian forests in the travels of the Prince Nieuwied The beautiful day, the cloudless dark-blue sky, also introduced by him, were recalled to me by this picture But when I observed upon the trees the hateful Spanish hbourhood of Columbia and Charleston, and that it was a token of unwholesome air In the swamps I noticed several plants which were known to me from hot-house cultivation, but unfortunately I cannot recall their names
The country is comparatively populously inhabited by Indians They live partly in ams, partly in bark cabins Before one of these huts, or cabins, hung a skinned otter, upon which they see to make a meal The Indians roast their maize on the naked coals, then they throw it into a cavity made in a trunk of a tree, and pound it with a stick of wood into a sort of coarse round-nuts, and a Indian displayed As I was putting the nuts infelloould step forward, as if by accident, set his foot on the nut, take it between his toes, and h a tolerably cleared, fenced, and built district, in which several negro quarters of a decent appearance were scattered about This plantation belonged to a chief, one of the principal of the Creeks, called the Big Warrior, ns above three hundred negroes, whose wooden dwelling-house stands in the centre of his property He is now at Washi+ngton, as one of the deputies of his nation We came over another cleared spot, where the Indians were routed in the last war by the Georgia militia under General Floyd
Not far from this place, we noticed a nuhbourhood of a plantation We left our carriage to inquire into the cause of it There had been a horse race of htly horses: the festival was, however, ended, and theup A white planter as there, conducted us to the son of the Big Warrior He was hih reputation, as was said ast those of the nation He sat upon a felled tree between two inferior chiefs His dress was a tunic of flowered, clear blue calico, a piece of the same stuff rapped round his head like a turban He wore richly ornalass beads, andaround hireat stature, he appeared to be about thirty years old He had mustaches like all his countrymen I was introduced to him, and shook hands with hi and short It took place through an interpreter who appeared to be a dismissed soldier This creature caused the chief to rise e co, he reseated himself mechanically He directed no questions to me, and answered mine with yes and no To the question, whether he knew any thing of the country of which I was a native, he answered by a shake of the head He looked no ular style; it was shorn on both sides of the head, and the middle, from the neck over to the forehead, stood up like a cock's comb Seen from behind, they appeared as if they wore a hel with a little bow I attempted to joke with a little fellow, three years old, but he took the jest in bad part, and threatened me with his bow
After sunset, towards six o'clock in the evening, we reached Walker's, and found a good reception in a large log-house, each of us had a separate chamber The landlord was a captain of infantry in the United States' service formerly, and had, as our host of yesterday, an Indian wife
On the following day we rode to Montgoinning bad, afterwards, however, really good
We crossed a bridge over a streaed to toil over a long, wretched causeway The vegetation was again exceedingly luxuriant, it was remarkably beautiful on the banks of Line Creek, a little river, which forms the boundary between the Indian territory and the state of Alabaht miles from Walker's Very lofty live oaks, and oaks of other descriptions, several st them, a particularly handsome and lofty macrophylla
As we entered upon the territory of Alabama, we soon observed that ere upon a much better soil It was darker, ns of cultivation every where Upon several plantations, the cotton fields exhibited the houses were only eh, are for the most part painted white, and provided with piazzas and balconies At ins and presses were at work The planters had not finished the whole of their crop, on account of the unusual drought
The Alabama river was so low that the steam-boats had not been able for several weeks to pass froth of time, suffered for the want of the most necessary supplies, which are drawn from Mobile; fifteen dollars had been asked for one bushel of salt We rants froia, ere on their way to Butler county, Alabama, to settle themselves on land which they had purchased very cheap froons, horses, and cattle, showed that these erants were in easy circuood deal on foot; at one of the creeks, the carriage passed through the ford, and we footes in the world, naoht it had frozen, but the day had solaced us with the waroable stream, which rises about two hundred and twenty miles above this place, and after it has joined itself to the Toulf, below Mobile The town contains about one thousand two hundred inhabitants, of both complexions It has two streets, which are very broad, tolerably good houses, one, not yet finished, of brick, which material is very bad here This place was first laid out about five years ago, and has already a very lively appearance On the bank of the river, they were e two steam-boats with cotton bales, as, within a few days, the river had risen five feet, and the navigation was once more carried on with anioo this e took a look at the two stea here, the Steubenville and Hornet, bound for Mobile We chose the Steubenville, which gave out to start on the next day The construction of both these boats, and their arrangement, was far inferior to that of the stea was coarser, and displayed the difference between the civilization of the two different sections of the union This town is so new, that the original forest still stands between the houses In a street there was a well digging; I discovered by this that the earth was exceedingly well adapted to brick-, and that an industrious man, who should establish a kiln here, must make a handsome profit on the business The bricks which they sell here at ten dollars a thousand, are scandalous Of the inhabitants I heard nothing co tohose situation, at least in summer, is unhealthy, have a fixed character; how can it attain a high degree of cultivation? All co property, or are driven here by the prostration of their fortunes, in their old residence!
CHAPTER XVII
_Journey froomery, on the Alabama river, to Mobile, and residence in that city_
The Steubenville, commanded by Captain Grover, is of one hundred and seventy tons, and has a high pressure machine, of fifty horse-power
Machines like these are very dangerous, and therefore prohibited in the Netherlands TheThe body of the boat is occupied by the cargo, the cabins are upon deck The dining-rooallery with some apartments; the last one was hired by us Before we sailed, two Indians caun, with percussion locks; they had never seen such fire-arave thereat delight
We went down the river very swiftly, sixteen oh, they consist of red earth, with rowth We cahteen ton, where the Hornet lay, and where we also were stopped, to re in wood and cotton On account of the nuerous; the captain assured me that the experienced pilot then on board, had one hundred dollars per month pay, so seldom are the officers of the boats here, accusto we moved on at break of day, with considerable rapidity; but we soon stopped again, to take in some cotton bales, which lay ready in a wood on the shore We had above four hundred bales already on board The hold of the boat was full, the space between the machine and the first cabin was filled, as well as the space about the cabins, and the roof over the, and in the cabin it was very dark The first delay lasted about an hour; as soon as ere in ed to stop for several hours, as one of the two pipes fell, and drew the other with it
The steward standing near, ounded We pursued our journey about ain towards sunset to take in wood, and reht, as the water in the river had fallen, and the sand banks were numerous in this vicinity
We went on shore to look about, and found ourselves near to a plantation with extensive cotton fields, a cotton gin, and a large cotton press
There is a vast quantity of cotton seed left, , and the overplus is used for manure I am well convinced, that with a sood oil could be expressed froreat heaps, which contained so much heat, that it was impossible to keep my hand in it a moment The breadth of the river is here said to be three hundred yards, but I cannot believe it to be so h, it rests partly on sandstone, and consists of rown up ood, close to the water's edge s, and farther back with different sorts of trees; lofty oaks, live oaks, and white oaks, which only flourish in the south, with plane trees, hickories, and other nut-bearing trees, here and there with beech, ash, and alder, and also with tall green cane If it were not so war the suhtful We saw upon the river eese and ducks, and upon the shore several buzzards The river makes a number of turns, and contains several islands; yet the most of them are merely sand banks Upon thereat care On the banks were canoes, which, in the Indian fashi+on, were hewed out of a single tree
On the 6th of January, the boat was under way before daybreak; she stopt at Cahawba till ten o'clock, to take in wood This place has its name from a small river, which here flows into the Alabaht hand bank of the river, here rather high It was founded about five years ago, and it is already the capital of the state With all this advantage, it contains only three hundred inhabitants of all sorts, and it is to be feared that its population will not increase, as the present legislature of Alabaovernoes froe It has two very broad streets, which cut each other at right angles Only four or five houses are of brick, the others all built of wood; they stand at a distance from one another In the streets were erected two very plain triumphal arches, in honour of General La Fayette I was made acquainted with Colonel Pickens, friend of Colonel Wool He had forovernor of South Carolina, and now a planter in Alabaislature was in session[II-1] He introduced me to Governor Murphy, in whose office we passed half an hour, in conversing very pleasantly The governor gave reater part of it had been bought from the Indians, and settled within ten years It was first received by congress as a state of the union in the year 1819 All establishments within it, are of course very new The staple productions are Indian corn and cotton, which are shi+pped to Mobile, the sea port of the state, and sold there The bales of cotton average about forty dollars About forty miles hence, at the confluence of the Black Warrior and the Tobee rivers, lies the town of Deleville It was located by the French, who had co Charee, and I would willingly have visited it The governor and the secretary of state, however, advisedat all there worthy of observation They related to me what follows:
[Footnote II-1: Accommodation is here so difficult to procure, that the senators are obliged to sleep three upon one mattress laid upon the floor: their food consists, it is said, almost without exception of salted pork]
Alabama, as a territory, was under the especial superintendence of congress At that period a nu _Champ d'Asyle_ to the United States At the head of theaud; congress allowed these French credit, al, under the promise that they would endeavour to plant the vine and olive tree Both attelect of the French, or that the land was too rich for the vine and the olive Some of these Frenchmen devoted themselves to the more profitable cultivation of cotton; the most of them, however, disposed of the land allotted to theh the United States, and sought a livelihood in a variety of ways So masters, some fancy shopkeepers, and others in Mobile and New Orleans, even croupiers at the hazard tables, that are there licensed General Rigaud betook himself at the tiainst France, and land; General Lefebvre-Desnouettes, also went back to Europe, as it was said to obtain theout settlers; he lost his life soo in the shi+pwreck of the Albion packet, on the Irish coast General Lalle well The Frenchmen, with some of whom I afterwards conversed in New Orleans, insisted that they had received none of the leville, since called De houses It lies in a very level country, and at the most only five French there now, the re inhabitants are Americans