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, who were 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, we were awakened by the drums and fifes, which announced the new year, by playing 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 pa.s.sed over half the distance, the soil improved, it looked reddish-yellow, and the apparently everlasting pines gave place to handsome oaks and lofty hickories. On the other hand the carriage road became very bad, and in a narrow place we upset. The carriage fell slowly towards my side, I took the right moment, sprung from the box on which I sat, and fell upon my feet. This was the eighth time I had been overturned, and never did I escape so cheap as on this occasion. As none of the other gentlemen were injured, we could happily laugh at our accident. The carriage was somewhat damaged, and since we were only four miles distant from Lewis"s, and had very fine weather, a true spring day, with clear dark-blue sky, we went the rest of the way on foot.
We pa.s.sed several wigwams and temporary Indian huts, in which the men lived with the hogs, 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 smoking. 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 smoke may draw through them.
The gra.s.s in many parts of the woods was in a blaze, and many pine trees were burning. We crossed two small streams, the Great and Little Uchee, on tolerable wooden bridges. 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 morning, and forty-six in the evening, in their nets. For the singularity of the thing, I will notice our dinner of to-day, that the inquisitive reader may observe that one is in no danger of hunger 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 most tedious manner, and were obliged to proceed on foot very often. The wood on the other hand grew better and better, and consisted, besides the pines, of handsome oaks, and various sorts of nut-bearing trees, mostly hickories: the soil, for the most part, of a reddish yellow. In several marshy places, and on the banks of rivulets, we saw again the evergreen trees and bushes, and in a swamp nearly a mile long, through which a causeway ran, some magnolia grandiflora which were at least sixty feet high. I also saw here again several trees, which first forming one trunk, four or five feet above the ground, 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 stream with marshy banks, a bridge was thrown, three hundred and eleven paces long: the view which I took from this bridge of the luxuriant exotic vegetation which surrounded me, exhibited, as I thought, the original 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 moss, I was reminded that I was in the neighbourhood 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 wigwams, partly in bark cabins. Before one of these huts, or cabins, hung a skinned otter, upon which they seemed preparing 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 coa.r.s.e meal. I bought a species of nuts, which were roasted, ground-nuts, and amused myself with the propensity to thievery a young Indian displayed. As I was putting the nuts in my pocket, one or more would drop, instantly the young fellow would step forward, as if by accident, set his foot on the nut, take it between his toes, and move off. We pa.s.sed through 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 princ.i.p.al of the Creeks, called the Big Warrior, who owns above three hundred negroes, whose wooden dwelling-house stands in the centre of his property. He is now at Washington, 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 number of Indians collected in the neighbourhood of a plantation. We left our carriage to inquire into the cause of it. There had been a horse race of middling unsightly horses: the festival was, however, ended, and the meeting was on the point of breaking up. A white planter who was there, conducted us to the son of the Big Warrior. He was himself a chief, and possessed a high reputation, as was said amongst 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 was wrapped round his head like a turban. He wore richly ornamented leather leggings set with gla.s.s beads, and moca.s.sins, and had an equally ornamented hunting pouch hung around him. Moderately fat, and of a great 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 him. The conversation was very trifling and short. It took place through an interpreter who appeared to be a dismissed soldier. This creature caused the chief to rise when we commenced speaking to him; when I begged him to remain sitting, 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 more at me. Several Indians wore their hair in a singular style; it was shorn on both sides of the head, and the middle, from the neck over to the forehead, stood up like a c.o.c.k"s comb. Seen from behind, they appeared as if they wore a helmet. Quite small boys practised themselves already in shooting 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 Montgomery, twenty-five miles distant.
The road was in the beginning bad, afterwards, however, really good.
We crossed a bridge over a stream one hundred paces long, and were then obliged 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 Alabama, eight miles from Walker"s. Very lofty live oaks, and oaks of other descriptions, several magnolias, and amongst them, a particularly handsome and lofty macrophylla.
As we entered upon the territory of Alabama, we soon observed that we were upon a much better soil. It was darker, much wood was removed, and signs of cultivation every where. Upon several plantations, the cotton fields exhibited themselves in beautiful order; the log houses were only employed as negro cabins; the mansion-houses, two stories high, are for the most part painted white, and provided with piazzas and balconies. At most of them the cotton gins 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 pa.s.s from Mobile to Montgomery. This place had therefore, for a length 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 met several caravans of emigrants from the eastern part of Georgia, who were on their way to Butler county, Alabama, to settle themselves on land which they had purchased very cheap from the United States. The number of their negroes, wagons, horses, and cattle, showed that these emigrants were in easy circ.u.mstances. On account of the bad road, we went at first a good deal on foot; at one of the creeks, the carriage pa.s.sed through the ford, and we footmen crossed over on one of the simplest bridges in the world, namely, a felled pine tree of great size. We arrived at Montgomery about two o"clock. In the night it had frozen, but the day had solaced us with the warmth of spring.
Montgomery lies on the Alabama river, a navigable stream, which rises about two hundred and twenty miles above this place, and after it has joined itself to the Tombigbee, empties into the Mexican gulf, 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 employed in loading 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 animation.
The journey by water from Montgomery to Mobile, is four hundred miles, and as we intended to go this way, we took a look at the two steam-boats lying 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 steam-boats in the north: every thing was coa.r.s.er, 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-making, 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 commendable: and how can this young town, whose situation, at least in summer, is unhealthy, have a fixed character; how can it attain a high degree of cultivation? All come here for the purpose of ama.s.sing property, or are driven here by the prostration of their fortunes, in their old residence!
CHAPTER XVII.
_Journey from Montgomery, 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. The machine of the Steubenville was made in Pittsburg. The body of the boat is occupied by the cargo, the cabins are upon deck. The dining-room had twelve births; behind this is a gallery with some apartments; the last one was hired by us. Before we sailed, two Indians came on board, who wondered very much at my double barrelled gun, with percussion locks; they had never seen such fire-arms before; I permitted them to discharge it, and gave them some of the copper caps, at which present they testified great delight.
We went down the river very swiftly, sixteen miles an hour. The banks of the river near Montgomery are rather high, they consist of red earth, with many spots of flint, and covered with willow-growth. We came only a distance of eighteen miles, to a place called Washington, where the Hornet lay, and where we also were stopped, to remain during the night for the purpose of taking in wood and cotton. On account of the number of sand banks, the navigation of the river must be dangerous; the captain a.s.sured me that the experienced pilot then on board, had one hundred dollars per month pay, so seldom are the officers of the boats here, accustomed to the localities!
The next morning 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 sh.o.r.e. We had above four hundred bales already on board. The hold of the boat was full, the s.p.a.ce between the machine and the first cabin was filled, as well as the s.p.a.ce about the cabins, and the roof over them. There was no room left for exercise in walking, and in the cabin it was very dark. The first delay lasted about an hour; as soon as we were in motion again, we were obliged to stop for several hours, as one of the two pipes fell, and drew the other with it.
The steward standing near, was wounded. We pursued our journey about midday, and laid by again towards sunset to take in wood, and remain for the night, as the water in the river had fallen, and the sand banks were numerous in this vicinity.
We went on sh.o.r.e 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 quant.i.ty of cotton seed left, more than is required for the next year"s planting, and the overplus is used for manure. I am well convinced, that with a small trouble and little expense, a very good oil could be expressed from this seed. It was thrown out in great 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 much. The right bank may be about sixty feet high, it rests partly on sandstone, and consists of many layers of soil; the left bank is lower. Both are grown up with wood, close to the water"s edge with willows, 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 warm and unhealthy during the summer, a residence here would be delightful. We saw upon the river many flocks of wild geese and ducks, and upon the sh.o.r.e several buzzards. The river makes a number of turns, and contains several islands; yet the most of them are merely sand banks. Upon them lie fallen trees, of which pa.s.sing vessels must take great care. On the banks were canoes, which, in the Indian fashion, 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 Alabama. It lies upon the right 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 Alabama, has resolved to change the seat of government to Tuscaloosa.
A fatiguing and bad road goes from the landing to this village. 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 formerly served in the army, was afterwards governor of South Carolina, and now a planter in Alabama. He carried us to the state-house, where the legislature was in session.[II-1] He introduced me to Governor Murphy, in whose office we pa.s.sed half an hour, in conversing very pleasantly. The governor gave me several details concerning the state. The greater 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 shipped 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 Tombigbee rivers, lies the town of Demopolis, formerly called Eagleville. It was located by the French, who had come back from the much promising Champ d"Asyle. This place attracted my curiosity in a lively degree, and I would willingly have visited it. The governor and the secretary of state, however, advised me strongly against this, as there was nothing at 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 number of French arrived from the perishing _Champ d"Asyle_ to the United States. At the head of them were the Generals Lefebvre-Desnouettes, Lallemand and Rigaud; congress allowed these Frenchmen a large tract of land upon a very long credit, almost for nothing, under the promise that they would endeavour to plant the vine and olive tree. Both attempts miscarried, either through the neglect 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 them very advantageously, spread themselves through the United States, and sought a livelihood in a variety of ways. Some were dancing and fencing 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 time of the Spanish revolution to Spain, there to contend against France, and may now be living in England; General Lefebvre-Desnouettes, also went back to Europe, as it was said to obtain the money collected in France for the colony, and to bring out settlers; he lost his life some years ago in the shipwreck of the Albion packet, on the Irish coast. General Lallemand resorted to New York, where he is doing well. The Frenchmen, with some of whom I afterwards conversed in New Orleans, insisted that they had received none of the money collected for them. Eagleville, since called Demopolis, has only one store, and a few log houses. It lies in a very level country, and at the most only five Frenchmen, whose names I could not obtain, are living there now, the remaining inhabitants are Americans.
After we had looked about the two streets of Cahawba, we embarked and pursued our voyage. At our going on board, we remarked that Cahawba was a depot for cotton, which, partly in steam-boats, and partly in vessels made of light wood, are transported down the river. These vessels have a flat bottom, and are built in the form of a parallelogram. The part under the water is pitched, and on the fore and back narrower ends, are rudder oars, with which the boats are steered. The vessels are finished in a very rough way; they are broken up in Mobile, and the timber sold.
They are known by the general t.i.tle of flat boats.
Some miles below Cahawba we stopped on the right bank, near the plantation of Mr. Rutherford. There were still fifteen bales of cotton to be taken in. While this was doing, we went on sh.o.r.e to take a walk, where the bank was tolerably high. Mr. Rutherford"s plantation has been about six years in cultivation. The mansion-house is of wood, and built as other log houses, but it is handsomely situated among live oaks and pride of China trees. The entrance is shaded by a rose-tree. Around were handsome, high and uncommonly thick sycamores, whose trunks appeared white, elms, gum trees, and the above named (live oaks and Chinas) many from a single trunk, also cane, that was at least twenty feet high. The situation of the plantation was unhealthy, and Mr. R. a Georgian by birth, told us that he carried his family for the sake of health to the north every summer. We saw here several hundred paroquets flying round, who kept up a great screaming. Many were shot. They are parrots, but of a larger species than the common kind, clear green with yellow tips to their wings, and orange-coloured heads, flesh-coloured bills, and long green tails. We had before seen on the bank several astonishingly numerous flocks of black birds. The banks of the river are here and there one hundred feet high, they are composed of steep sandstone rock, from which springs flow.
By the accession of the new load of cotton bales, our vessel became too heavily laden. She acquired a balancing motion, like a ship at sea. This was exceedingly embarra.s.sing in the numerous bends of the river, and to avoid the danger of falling back, it was necessary to stop the machinery at every turn. The fine dry weather which pleased us so much, was the cause of the great fall in the water of the river. The change from high to low water was very rapid. In the spring, as I was a.s.sured, the river rose sixty feet and more, and inundated the high land near it. I could not doubt the fact; for I saw upon the rocky banks the traces of the high water. About dark we laid by on the right sh.o.r.e to take in wood.
We remained here for the night, and I had in a wretched lair an equally wretched repose.[II-2]
[Footnote II-2: In this part of the country, they have either feather beds or moss mattresses; if these latter are old, the moss clots together, and it is like lying on cannon-b.a.l.l.s.]
On the 7th of January, at six in the morning, our vessel was once more in motion; soon, however, she stuck fast upon the sand. It required much trouble to bring her off, and turn her round; the task occupied an hour and a half. It was shortly before daybreak, and we were all in bed, if such miserable cribs deserved the name. It had various effects upon our travelling companions. Mr. Huygens rose in consternation from his bed, and made a great disturbance. Mr. Bowdoin called to his servant, and directed him to inquire what had happened. He was very uneasy when we told him that we might lie several days, perhaps weeks here, to wait for rain, and the consequent rise of the river. The colonel and I, who had acquired by our long experience, a tolerable portion of recklessness, remained in our cots, and left the matter to Providence, as we perceived that the captain would rather disembark his cotton, which consumed nothing, than to support much longer a number of pa.s.sengers, all with good appet.i.tes, who had agreed for their voyage at a certain price. When we were again afloat, Mr. Bowdoin remarked with a face of great wisdom, that he had foreseen that we should not long remain aground, as he had not felt the stroke of the boat on the sand-bar.
We pa.s.sed the whole day without any further accident, the weather was rather dull and drizzling. Nothing interesting occurred to our observation. We pa.s.sed by two steam-boats that had been sunk in the river, of which the last, called the Cotton Plant, went down only a month since. Both struck against trees in the river, and sank so slowly, that all the pa.s.sengers, and part of the cargo were saved. They were so deep that only the wheel-houses raised themselves above the water. From these boats already a part of the machinery has been taken out piece-meal.
In the afternoon we pa.s.sed a little place called Claiborne, situated on an eminence on the left bank of the river. Three miles below, we stopped about sunset, on the right bank for wood. The name of the place is Wiggins"s Landing. It consists of two log-houses standing upon a height, among old tall thin oak trees, which was settled by a Mr. Wiggins, with his wife and children, a short time before. The houses had a very picturesque appearance, and I was sorry that I could not take a sketch of them. Mr. W. proposed to cut down the wood for the purpose of raising cotton there. It was a pity to do so with this handsome grove, handsome, although injured in its appearance by the Spanish moss which hangs from the trees. Monsieur Chateaubriand compares the trees enveloped in this moss to apparitions; in the opinion of Brackenridge, they resemble ships under full sail, with which the air plays in a calm at sea. I, who never beheld ghosts, nor possessed Mons. Chateaubriand"s powers of imagination, though I had seen sails tossing in the wind, compared these trees in my prosaic mood, to tenter-hooks, on which beggars dry their ragged apparel before some great holy-day.
We were in hopes, that we should have made more progress during the night, but the captain had become so prudent, and almost anxious, from the sight of the two sunken steam-boats, that he determined to spend the night at Wiggins"s Landing. Formerly, near Claiborne, there was a stockade, called Fort Claiborne, where an affair took place with the Indians in the last war. This place is named in honour of the deceased Mr. Claiborne, governor of the former Mississippi Territory, of which the present state of Alabama formed a part, who died about eight years ago, governor of the state of Louisiana, in New Orleans. He had taken possession of Louisiana, in the name of the United States, which the then existing French Government had sold to them. Mr. Claiborne was a particular favourite and countryman of President Jefferson. He had by his voice decided the presidential election in favour of Jefferson, against his antagonist, Aaron Burr, for which Jefferson was gratefully mindful during his whole life.
On the 8th of January, we left our anchoring ground between six and seven o"clock. The sh.o.r.es, which at first were pretty high, became by degrees lower, they remained, however, woody, mostly of oak wood in appearance, hung with long moss. Under the trees, grew very thick, and uncommonly handsome cane, above twenty feet high. At the rise of the river, these sh.o.r.es, often covered with water, are on this account little inhabited. Taking it for granted that the population of Alabama increases in numbers, and the higher land becomes healthier from extirpation of the forest, without doubt d.y.k.es will be made on these lower banks, to guard the land from inundation, and make it susceptible of culture. Here and there rose sand banks out of the water, and also several snags. We pa.s.sed the place where the year before, a steam-boat, the Henry Clay, was sunk; since which time, however, she has been set afloat again. It is not very consolatory to the traveller, to behold places and remains of such occurrences, particularly when they find themselves on board such a miserable vessel as ours. Several steam-boats, which at present navigate the Alabama, formerly ran on the Mississippi, as this one did; they were judged too bad for that river, and were, therefore, brought into this trade, by which their possessors realized much money. We saw to-day many wild ducks and geese, on the sh.o.r.es also, numbers of paroquets, which make a great noise; in the river there were alligators, which are smaller than the Egyptian crocodile. One of these creatures was lying on the sh.o.r.e of the bank, and was sunning itself, yet too far from us, and our boat went too fast, to permit of my seeing it distinctly, or of shooting at it. In the afternoon we saw several small rivers, which flowed into the Alabama, or ran out of it, forming stagnant arms, which are here called bayous. The river itself takes extraordinary turns, and shapes out a variety of islands. We afterwards reached the confluence of the rivers Alabama and Tombigbee, where there is an island, and the country appears extremely well. Both rivers united, take the name of Mobile river.
About three miles below this junction, several wooden houses formed a group on the right bank. Formerly, there was a stockade here, Fort Stoddart, from which this collection of houses has its name. Here is the line which forms the thirty-first degree of lat.i.tude, once the boundary between the United States and the Spanish possessions. The Mobile river still increased in breadth, and as the night commenced, seemed about half a mile wide. The weather was very dark and cloudy, the pilot could not distinguish his course, and although we approached close to the city, we could proceed no farther, without exposing ourselves to danger.
Early on the 9th of January it was extremely foggy. On this account a boat was sent out to reconnoitre. The fog after some time cleared away a little, and we found ourselves so near the wharves that we immediately touched one of the piers, and landed about half past eight. We had travelled four hundred and fifty miles from Montgomery. The journey by land amounts only to two hundred and fifty-eight miles, and yet is seldom performed, on account of the want of good roads and accommodation. Being arrived at Mobile and extremely glad at having left our wretched steam-boat, in which we had enjoyed no comfort, we took up our residence in Smooth"s Hotel, a wooden building, the bar-room of which is at the same time the post-office, and therefore somewhat lively.
Mobile, an ancient Spanish town, yet still earlier occupied by the French, was ceded with Louisiana, in 1803, to the United States. The few respectable creole families, who had formerly dwelt here, left the place at the cession, and withdrew to the island of Cuba, and none but those of the lower cla.s.ses remained behind. A new population was formed of the North Americans, who came here to make money. From this cause, the French as well as the Spanish language remains only among the lower cla.s.ses; the better society is thoroughly American. Mobile contains five thousand inhabitants, of both complexions, of which about one thousand may be blacks. The town lies on the right bank of the Florida river, where it is divided into several arms, and has formed Mobile bay, which, thirty miles below, joins the Mexican gulf. It is regularly built, the streets are at right angles, part of them parallel with the river, the rest perpendicular to it. Along the sh.o.r.e is a wooden quay, and wooden piers or landing bridges project into the water, for the convenience of vessels. There are lying here about thirty ships, of which several are of four hundred tons, to be loaded with cotton. The most of them are from New York. When the ebb tide draws off the water, a quant.i.ty of filth remains uncovered on the sh.o.r.e, and poisons the atmosphere. This circ.u.mstance may contribute its agency to the unhealthiness of the place in summer. The sh.o.r.e opposite the harbour is marshy and full of cane.
The town lies upon a poor sandy soil; the streets are not paved, and unpleasant from the depth of the sand. On both sides of the streets there are paths made of strong plank, which divide the walk from the cartway of the street, which will be converted into pavements when brick or stone shall have become cheaper.
The generality of the houses are of wood, covered with shingles, and have piazzas. Some new houses only, are built of brick. This article must be imported, and is not to be procured in large quant.i.ties of any quality. As an example of this, I saw a house finished, of which the two first stories were of red brick, and the third of yellow. There are also here some Spanish houses which consist of timber frames, of which the open s.p.a.ces are filled up with beaten clay, like those of the German peasantry. Besides several private houses, most of the public buildings are of brick. These are, a theatre, which, besides the pit, has a row of boxes and a gallery, the bank, the court of the United States, the county court-house, the building of which was in progress, and the prison. Near this prison stood the public whipping post for negroes. It was constructed like a sash frame. The lower board on which the feet of the unfortunate being were to stand, could be pushed up or down, to accommodate the height of the individual. Upon it is a block, through which the legs are pa.s.sed. The neck and arms are pa.s.sed through another.
The Catholic church here is in a very miserable situation. I went into it, just at the time the church seats were publicly rented for the year to the highest bidders; two in my presence were disposed of for nineteen dollars a piece. The church within resembles a barn, it had a high altar with vessels of tin, and a picture of no value, also two little side altars.
A large cotton warehouse, of all the buildings in Mobile, most excited my attention. This consists of a square yard, surrounded on three sides by ma.s.sive arcades, where the cotton bales coming from the country are brought in, and preparatory to their shipment are again pressed, that they may occupy as little room as possible in the vessel. The bales were arranged on a layer of thick plank, between which there is room allowed to pa.s.s the ropes through. Above the bales, which are placed between four strong iron vices, is a cover, in which there is room left for the ropes as below. These covers have four apertures, with female screws, through which the vices pa.s.s. On every screw there is a face wheel. All these four face wheels are driven by a crown wheel, which is put in motion by a horse. The covers are thus screwed down on the bales, and their bulk reduced one-third. During the pressure, the negro labourers have drawn the ropes through the groves between the planks and fastened the bales with little difficulty. This warehouse or magazine has two such presses. It occupies three sides of the yard, the fourth contains a handsome dwelling house. The whole is built of brick, and has an iron verandah. It belongs to speculators in New Orleans, and is known by the name of the "fire proof magazine," although the interior is of wood.
The weather was very fine, and as warm as we have it in summer: I felt it very much in walking, and most of the doors and windows in the houses stood open. On this account I seated myself in the piazza before the house. A number of Choctaw Indians, who led a wandering life in the woods around the town, went about the streets selling wood, which they carried in small billets, bound on their backs. They are of a darker colour, and, if possible, still dirtier than the Creeks, they wrap themselves also in blankets, and most of them wore round hats trimmed with tin rings and pieces of tin. I walked through the streets of the place, which contains several large stores, to all appearance well stocked. In these excursions I found an old Brunswicker, named Thomas, who kept a grog-shop here, and who showed me a young alligator, an ugly animal, at most three months old. It was about eight inches long, and was preserved in a tub of water, in which it was daily supplied with fresh gra.s.s. When it was taken out of the water and placed on the sand, it ran about with much alacrity. Its head was disproportionately large, and it had already double rows of sharp teeth.
In the afternoon we saw a volunteer company, of about twenty and upwards strong, pretty well equipped, turn out to celebrate the anniversary of the battle of New Orleans, the eighth of January, 1815. On the preceding day, being Sunday, this festival was not commemorated. They had erected a platform on an open spot of ground, and brought there three old iron pieces, with which a national salute of twenty-four guns was fired.
Colonel Wool had many acquaintances and countrymen here, from the north, to whom he introduced me. Conversation, therefore, did not fail us, though many comforts of life are withheld for a period. Thus, for example, I was deprived of milk so long as I was in the Indian territory, as the cattle were driven into the woods during the winter, to support themselves.
I made an attempt to pa.s.s round the town, but was prevented on one side by woods, and on the other, by ditches and marshes, so that I found myself limited in my promenade to the streets. These, however, I measured to my heart"s content. There was nothing new to me but some fruit shops, in which were excellent oranges from Cuba, at six cents a piece, large pine apples, much larger than the finest I had seen in England, also from Cuba, at forty-two and three-quarter cents a piece, thus much dearer than in Charleston, where they cost but twelve and a half cents a piece, besides bananas and cocoa nuts in abundance.
CHAPTER XVIII.
_Travels to Pensacola._