Part 22 (2/2)
They are fixed there by poor people, who seek to acquire property in this unhealthy district We stopt at two of this kind of plantations to take in wood, and I went ashore both times for exercise At one of these places, the owner had put fire to all the trees that were not hen, to e the wood into cotton fields The day passed over in the sa party was increased by a woman from St Louis, who had waited for us with her three children at one of the plantations She was the wife of abeen to Santa Fe, in Mexico, and froht mules for sale to the state of Alaba; his wife, and her three little children, had travelled after hi able to find hiht we passed the little town of Warrenton, on the left bank of the river, three hundred and ninety-eight miles from New Orleans, and afterwards another, on an eminence on the same shore, called Walnut Hills, ten miles farther About midday, on the 30th of March, we passed thethis river, the Western Navigatorreia, takes a south-westerly direction, h a fertile country, and empties itself into the Mississippi, in the latitude of 32 30' At its mouth it is about one hundred and thirty yards wide”
The country was again very monotonous, low banks, partly covered ater, covered thickly with trees, of which the fresh green leaves were very reeable Spanish moss: some inconsiderable plantations, where cotton and Indian corn were raised, and the dwelling-houses, rate, on account of the overfloater We stopt at one of these places for wood, on the left bank The labourers discovered areen and yellow striped, with a white belly They considered it poisonous, and killed it; I believe, however, that it was not, for at a dinner in the habitation of Mr Andry, the sons of our host brought a siarden, into the chamber, and I permitted it, (to the terror of the ladies,) to creep into h the head of this snake had been cut off, yet the body still had life, and wound itself so fast upon er with the tail that I could carry it a considerable distance There are many bears in the woods here, as the wife of the planter assured s of the inhabitants, but do not attack men The islands in the river are very low, and covered thick with timber
The weather had beco neoody shores, high trees, poplars and syca plants, mostly of wild vines, and here and there tall cane We passed several low islands, which, as well as a distance on both shores, were overflowed, also sos The left bank of the river still is in the liht thus far is in Arkansas Territory; of which Little Rock on the Arkansas river is the principal place, at which rants from the eastern states have settled theht we reached the ator” speaks as follows:--This very beautiful river is about three hundred and sixty yards wide, at itsIt rises at forty degrees north latitude in the Mexican mountains, between the river La Platte on the one side, and the Rio del Norte on the other ”This river, (as Stoddart writes,) has a rocky bed, and the navigation of it is much ih which it rolls, is diversified by some mountains, nu the water-courses; by scattered groves and copses of wood, and by prairies or natural reat extent, where iraze”
The pilot was obliged to be very careful here, since several dangerous ”snags”[II-13] lay in the river where we passed by the remains of the steae stea fro style The mouth of the Arkansas is distant five hundred and ninety and a half miles from New Orleans, and there are still five hundred and fifty-nine and a halfto St Louis, so that the distance from New Orleans to St Louis aht miles
[Footnote II-13: In these rivers there is a difference understood between the two kinds of trunks of trees which lie in the streas and sawyers The first, of which I have spoken already in the Alabama river, are fast at one end in the bottom, and stand up like piles; the others are not fastened, by beingmotion, from whence its appellation is derived]
On the 1st of April, the shores on both sides, as well as most of the islands, continued still as low and woody as those we had noticed during the preceding days The ugly long ht shore, was situated a little new settles, , we stopped to wood on the right bank, at a s Prairie It was an open place, surrounded by forests, in which stood some very handsoreat nu about, which for a h furnace in the forest, out of which the sparks were flying The navigation during the night was very dangerous on account of the nus: we received some powerful blows, and a branch, to which we approached too near in the dark, forced its way into one of the cabins, and made a considerable breach Luckily no one at the ti day we still contemplated no object but low and inundated shores The hus, thein a scattered ed to fasten to the wood-pile, as the whole plantation was under water The lights on the left shore, which may rise about forty feet, are called the Chickesa Bluffs, of which there are reckoned four in a stretch of about sixty miles
Before we reached the fourth Chickesa Bluff, we passed a large island, called President's Island The river changes its course almost every year, and constantly washes the sand-banks ahile it makes others, so that the chart of the streauide The passage in which we sailed along, was at times rather narrow on account of the island, when the river was at least an English mile broad Upon the fourth Chickesa Bluff stood the quonda of a stockade, as were the forts, as they were called in the Creek nation The two block houses of this fort are still visible, of which a plantation house has been roup of rather miserable houses: it is the town of Memphis It is seven hundred and sixty-three hty-seven froreat naes itself into the Mississippi The state of Mississippi has its boundary here, and the state of Tennessee coht, of whom notice has been taken before, has settled herself near Meroes, and located a plantation During her travels in the northern states, she expressed so great a disgust towards slavery, that she could not be persuaded to cross the Potoinia
And now, she has even purchased negroes! It is said, however, that she has acted thus frons, to follow a proposed plan of setting the negroes free, and giving theiven ht
All that I have since heard respecting her, confirment which I then communicated A respectable person, who had become acquainted with her in Philadelphia, said, that she stretched herself on a sofa, spoke little, and gave herself little or no trouble about any one, now and then breaking out in detached sentences, such as this, for example; I believe that bears are of more value than men At Memphis, she will, I have no doubt, enjoyherself in practical experience of the truth of this reat numbers of fire flies, which filled the woods
On the 3rd of April, ere e out
The banks were overflowed, and there was no regular landing place to be obtained At the place called the new cut-off, we had a very powerful current against us, which we overcaone, that old barrels were broke up, and a ed to be sawed for a supply This new cut had formed itself in February 1822, and saves the vessels a circuit of thirteen e bend the Mississippi rees it washed the small isthmus of land, which intervened between the bends, and forh This neck of land, through which this new cut passes, is hardly half a mile wide It is but a short time since the steam-boats first ventured to take this short route: for the remains of the trees washed away are still visible, and this aduard
After we had passed this strait, which is distant eight hundred and sixty-nine ht bank, to provide ourselves ood We eo ashore for a walk, and into the woods A young man of our vessel, killed a very handso, whitish, with coal-black, edged spots on the back, the belly white with black stripes[II-14] Farther on, a black eagle hite head and tail was shot We saw a si before our boat, he had found a snake which he held in his talons We met with several plovers also After sunset, we stopt at the right bank for the second tiht This place was called Point Pleasant, and there were about it several small plantations; one of which served as a trade-deposit with the Indians The Indians bring deer, buck, muskrat and other skins, and barter them for arms, ammunition, woollen blankets, sta companions, Mr Vallais employed himself in this trade We accoht a whole cart-load of pressed skins to the boat, to take up with hiht hand shore the Arkansas territory ceases, and the new state of Missouri begins This was first received into the Union two years since, and with truly great difficulty, and after long debate; as congress was at issue whether the state should be suffered to perth, however, obtained that privilege
Six miles below Point Pleasant, the little town of New Madrid lies upon the right bank, nine hundred and twelve reat regret; for I should have liked to have seen the remains of the violent earthquake, which prevailed here in the years 1811 and 1812 There are great sink-holes to be seen here yet, in which trees are buried The soil upon which the town itself stood, has sunk many feet, and the place has suffered veryas the whole right bank of the Mississippi, that is, froed to the Spaniards, under the name of Louisiana, there was a Spanish military post there
On the left bank of the river this evening, we left the jurisdiction of Tennessee, and entered that of Kentucky
On the 4th of April, it was exactly one year, since I left the city of Ghent, and my family The time has passed over rapidly with s, my mind has been kept on a constant stretch; nevertheless, that which passed o is as present, as if perforreat Architect of the universe shall conduct me in health home to those I love, which I have prayed for, then shall the 4th of April be a festival-day inas I live
Both shores of the river, appeared in the forenoon just as they appeared during the last days Only we remarked two elevations on the left bank, of which one was called Chalk Bank, the other Iron Bank About one o'clock in the afternoon we found ourselves opposite the mouth of the Ohio river The river is here very broad, and both strearown thick ood, puts one in ator says, in a note concerning the Ohio: ”The Ohio arises froahela at Pittsburgh, the first is about three hundred and seventy, the latter near five hundred yards broad at their mouths After a west-south-westerly course of nine hundred and fifty-two miles the Ohio eree of north latitude thirty-seven It changes its breadth from four hundred to fourteen hundred yards At Cincinnati it is eight hundred and forty-seven yards wide, which entle, not broken by falls or rapids, except at Louisville It is inferior to few streams in the convenience of communication from one part to the other, especially if the operation of canaling the falls, and erecting of locks, which has long been conteht of the falls is estith of the descent two ht of the river, are between Pittsburgh and the Mississippi; they lessen as the river is descended, and the ht is from twenty-five to thirty feet At the lowest state of water, the river is fordable in many places above the falls”
The mouth of the Ohio is nine hundred and seventy-seven miles from New Orleans, and one hundred and seventy-three from St Louis Two steam-boats, the Friendshi+p and Philadelphia, which had remained near us all the way from New Orleans, here left us, and ascended the Ohio The Mississippi continues still very broad above the Ohio, and contains many islands Fros to the state of Illinois, the right, as already observed, to the state of Missouri The banks of the Mississippi begin to be soher, and at times still ht bank for wood During this halt I went into the wood lying back, to walk, and reht and stoutness; I believe I can affirm that one of them enty feet in circumference We observed froetation, that ere again in a more northern cli, which in New Orleans, occurred six weeks ago Near the dwellings were large orchards, in which the apple-tree was in blossorew arbres de judee, whose blosso white-thorns