The South-West Volume Ii Part 5

Simon's."[10]

The general features of this state have suggested the idea of an immense ploughed field, whose gigantic furrows intersect each other at various angles.--Imagine the hills, formed by these intersections, clothed with verdure, whitened with cotton fields, or covered with n.o.ble woods, with streams winding along in the deep ravines, repeatedly turning back upon their course, in their serpentine windings, before they disembogue into the Mississippi on the west, or the Pearl on the east, and you will have a rude though generally correct idea of the bolder features of this state.

A "plain," or extensive level expanse, which is not a marsh, forms, consequently, no part of its scenery, hill and hollow being its stronger characteristics. For a hilly country it presents one striking peculiarity. The surface of the forests, viewed from the bluffs, or from some superior elevation in the interior, presents one uniform horizontal level, with scarcely an undulation in the line to break the perspective. Particularly is this observable about a mile from Natchez, from the summit of a hill on the road to the village of Was.h.i.+ngton. Here an extensive forest scene lies east of the observer, to appearance a perfect level. But as he travels over hill and through ravine, antic.i.p.ating a delightful prairie to lie before him, over which he may pace, (or _canter_, if he be a northerner) at his ease, he will find that the promised plain, like the _mirage_ before the fainting Arabian, for ever eludes his path.

There is another remarkable feature in this country, peculiar to the whole region through which the lower Mississippi flows which I can ill.u.s.trate no better than by resorting to the idea of a ploughed field.

As many of these intersecting furrows, or ravines, terminate with the ridges that confine them, near the river, with whose medium tides they are nearly level, they are inundated by the periodical effluxes, which, flowing up into the land, find a pa.s.sage through other furrows, and discharge into some stream, that suddenly overflows its banks; or winding sluggishly through the glens, cut deep channels for themselves in the argillaceous soil, and through a chain of ravines again unite with the Mississippi, after having created, by their surplus waters, numerous marshes along their borders, and leaving around their course innumerable pools of stagnant water, which become the home of the lazy alligator,[11] and the countless water-fowls which inhabit these regions. These inlets are properly bayous. They radiate from the Mississippi, in the state of Louisiana, in countless numbers, forming a net-work of inlets along its banks for fifty miles on either side, increasing in numbers and size near its mouth; so that, for many leagues above it, an inextricable tissue of lakes and inlets, or bayous, form communications and pa.s.ses from the river to the Gulf,[12] "accessible,"

says Flint, "by small vessels and bay-craft, and impossible to be navigated, except by pilots perfectly acquainted with the waters." The entrance of some of these bayous, which are in the vicinity of Natchez, is fortified against the effluxes of the river by _levees_, constructed from one highland to another; and by this means the bottom lands in the rear are protected from the overflow, and, when cultivated, produce fine crops of cotton. Inundations are also caused when the Mississippi is high, by its waters flowing up into the small rivers and creeks, whose natural level is many feet below the high water mark, till they find a level.--The water of these streams is consequently forced back upon itself, and, rising above its banks, overflows all the adjacent country.

This "back-water," as it is termed, is more difficult to be resisted by levees than the effluxes of the bayous; and for the want of some successful means of opposing its force, some of the finest "bottom lands" in the state remain uncultivated, and covered with water and forest.

The smaller rivers and streams in this state are wild and narrow torrents, wholly unlike those placid streams which flow through New-England, lined with gra.s.sy or rocky banks, and rolling over a stony bottom, which can be discerned from many feet above it, through the transparent fluid. Here the banks of the streams are precipices, and entirely of clay or sand, and cave in after every rain, which suddenly raises these torrents many feet in a few minutes; and such often is their impetuosity, that if their banks are too high to be inundated, they cut out new channels for themselves; and a planter may, not improbably, in the morning after a heavy rain, find an acre or more added to his fields from an adjoining estate; to be repaid, in kind, after another rain. In the dry season the water of these streams--which, with the exception of three or four of the large ones, are more properly conduits for the rain water that falls upon the hills, than permanent streams--is tolerably clear, though a transparent sheet of water larger than a spring, whether in motion or at rest, I have not seen in this state. After a rain they become turbid, like the Mississippi, impetuous in their course, and dangerous to travellers. Few of these streams are covered with bridges, as their banks dissolve, during a rain, almost as rapidly as banks of snow--so light is the earth of which they are composed--and the points from which bridges would spring are soon washed away. The streams are therefore usually forded; and as their beds are of the finest sand, and abound in quicksands, carriages and horses are often swallowed up in fording them, and lives are not unfrequently lost.

The roads throughout the state, with the exception of these fords, are very good, winding through fine natural scenery, past cultivated fields, and pleasant villages.

In the neighbourhood of these streams, on the hills, and in the vales throughout the state, springs of clear cold water abound. There is a deep spring on the grounds attached to Jefferson College in this state, whose water is so transparent, that to the eye, the bottom appears to be reflected through no other medium than the air. The water is of a very mild temperature in the winter, and of an icy coolness in the summer.

The spring is in a deep glen, surrounded by lofty trees, one of which, from its shape, branching from the root into two trunks, and uniting again in an extraordinary manner by a transverse limb, thirty feet from the ground, is called "St. Catharine's Harp," and is one among the natural curiosities of that vicinity. In the interior of the state are several mineral springs, which of late years have become very fas.h.i.+onable resorts for those who do not choose, like the majority of Mississippians, to spend their summers and money at the Kentucky, Virginian, or New-York springs. The waters of most of these springs are chalybeate, with a large proportion of sulphuric acid combined with the iron. The most celebrated are the Brandywine, romantically situated in a deep glen in the interior of the state, and the Bankston springs, two hour's ride from the capital. The const.i.tuent qualities of the waters, as ascertained by a recent chemical a.n.a.lysis, are sulphate of magnesia, sulphate of soda and sulphur, which exist in such a state of combination as to render the waters not disagreeable to the taste, yet sufficiently beneficial to the patient. They are said to act favourably upon most of the diseases of the climate, such as affections of the liver, bowels, cutaneous and chronic diseases, congestive and bilious fevers, debility, and numerous other ills "that flesh is heir to." The location is highly romantic and healthy. In the words of another--"the circ.u.mjacent country is for several miles covered with forests, of which pine is the princ.i.p.al growth; its surface is elevated and undulating, entirely free from stagnant waters, and other local causes of disease. The site of the springs is not inferior in beauty to any spot in the southern country.

They are situated in a narrow plane, surrounded, on one side by an almost perpendicular bluff from which they flow, on the other, by a gentle declivity, dividing itself into two twin ridges; which, after describing a graceful curve, unite again at a point on which stands the princ.i.p.al building, one hundred feet in length, and on either of these ridges, is built a row of new and comfortable apartments. Through the centre of the grove, a path leads from the princ.i.p.al building to the spring, forming at all hours of the day, a delightful promenade. The water at the fountain, is exceedingly cool and exhilarating. A dome supported by neat columns, rises above the fountain, which, with the aid of the surrounding hills and overhanging forest, renders it at all times impervious to the sun. The roads, which during the summer season are always good, communicate in various directions with Port Gibson, Vicksburg, Jackson, Clinton, and Raymond, affording at all times good society. The forest abounds with deer and other game, the chase of which will afford a healthy amus.e.m.e.nt to those who may be tempted to join in it."

The mineral waters in the state are chiefly sulphurous and chalybeate, with the exception, I believe, of one or two of the saline cla.s.s.

In the vicinity of these springs, and also on most of the water courses in the state, and, with but an exception or two, in these places alone, are found the only stones in the state. Rock is almost unknown. I have not seen even a stone, within fifteen miles of Natchez, larger than the third part of a brick, and those that I have seen were found in the pebbly bed of some stream. There is a stratum of pebbles from one to three feet thick extending through this state. It is variously waved, sometimes in a plane, and at others forming various angles of inclination, and at an irregular depth from the surface, according to the thickness of the superimposed ma.s.ses of earth which are composed of clay, loam, and sand. This stratum is penetrated and torn up by the torrents, which strew their beds with the pebbles. There is no rock except a species of soft sand-stone south of lat.i.tude 32 north, in this state, except in Bayou Pierre, (the stony bayou) and a cliff at Grand Gulf, forty miles above Natchez. This last is composed of common carbonate of lime and silex, but the quant.i.ty of each has not been accurately determined.

The sand-stone alluded to above, is in the intermediate state between clay and stone, in which the process of petrifaction is still in progress. In the north-east portion of the state, this species of stone, whose basis is clay, is found in a more matured state of petrifaction.

Perfect gravel is seldom met with here, even in the stratum of pebbles before mentioned. These resemble in properties and colour, the clay so abundant in this region; a great proportion of the gravel is composed of a petrifaction of clay and minute sh.e.l.ls, of the mollusca tribe. I have found in the dry bed of the St. Catharine's, pebbles, entirely composed of thousands of the most delicately formed sh.e.l.ls, some of which, of singularly beautiful figures, I have not before met with. Concave spiral cones, the regular discoid volute, cylinders, a circular sh.e.l.l, a tenth of an inch in diameter, formed by several concentric circles, and a delicate sh.e.l.l formed by spiral whorls, with fragments of various other minute sh.e.l.ls, princ.i.p.ally compose them. The variety of sh.e.l.ls in this state is very limited. All that have been found here have their surfaces covered with the smooth olive-green epidermis, characteristic of fresh water sh.e.l.ls, and are all very much eroded. Agates of singular beauty have also been discovered, and minute quartz crystals are found imbedded in the cavities of pebbles composed of alumina and grains of quartz.

Mica and feldspar I have not met with. About two years ago, on the plantation of Robert Field, Esq. in the vicinity of the white cliffs, a gentleman picked up from the ground a large colourless rock crystal, with six sided prisms and a pyramidal termination of three faces.

Curiosity led him to examine the spot, and after digging a few minutes beneath the surface, he found three more, of different sizes, two of them nearly perfect crystals, but the third was an irregular ma.s.s of colourless transparent quartz. This is the only instance of the discovery of this mineral in the state, and how these came to be on that spot, which is entirely argillaceous and at a great distance from any rocks or pebbles, is a problem. Pure flint is not found in this state, yet the plough-share turns up on some plantations, numerous arrow-heads, formed of this material, and there is also a species of stone, artificially formed, in size and shape precisely resembling the common wedge for cleaving wood, with the angles smoothly rounded. They are found all over the south-western country, and the negroes term them "thunder bolts;" but wiser heads have sagely determined their origin from the moon. Planters call them spear-heads, for which they were probably constructed by the aborigines. The stone of which they are made is not found in this country. Some of them I believe are composed of mica and quartz. Many of them are a variety of the mica and of a brown colour, sometimes inclining to green, and highly polished. I have seen some on a plantation near Natchez, of an iron black colour resembling polished pieces of black marble.

The several strata which compose this state are an upper layer of rich black loam from one to three feet thick, the acc.u.mulation of centuries, and a second stratum of clay several feet in thickness, beneath which are various substrata of loam and sand, similar to that which const.i.tutes the islands and "bottoms" of the Mississippi. With the exception of the Yazoo, which flows through a delightful country rich in soil and magnificent with forests, along whose banks the Mississippians are opening a new theatre for the acc.u.mulation of wealth, and where villages spring up annually with the yearly harvest--and the Pearl--a turbid and rapid torrent whose banks are lined with fine plantations and beautiful villages--this state boasts no rivers of any magnitude; and these, when compared with the great Mississippi, are but streams; and in their chief characteristics they nearly resemble it.

But I have gone as far into geology as the limits of a letter writer will permit. A volume might be written upon the physical features of this country, without exhausting a subject prolific in uncommon interest, or half surveying a field, scarcely yet examined by the geologist.[13]

FOOTNOTES:

[10] It has been said that cotton will thrive as well in a sandy soil, with a _sea_ exposure, as in a rich loam in the interior.

[11] The alligator is found on the sh.o.r.es of the lower Mississippi, in bayous and at the mouths of creeks. It is seldom seen far above 32 north lat.i.tude. There has been much dispute as to the ident.i.ty of the crocodile and alligator, nor are naturalists yet united in their opinions upon this point. The opinion that they belong to the same species is supported by the systema natura, as it came from the hand of Linneus, but it is positively contradicted in the last edition of this work, published by Professor Gmelin.

[12] "The experienced savage or solitary voyager, descending the Mississippi for a thousand miles, paddles his canoe through the deep forests from one bluff to the other. He moves, perhaps, along the inundated forests of the vast interval through which the Mississippi flows, into the mouth of White river. He ascends that river a few miles, and by the Grand Cut-off moves down the flooded forest into Arkansas.

From that river he finds many _bayous_, which communicate readily with Was.h.i.+ta and Red river; and from that river, by some one of its hundred bayous, he finds his way into the Atchafalaya and the Teche; and by this stream to the Gulf of Mexico, reaching it more than twenty leagues west of the Mississippi. At that time this is a river from thirty to a hundred miles wide, all overshaded with forests, except an interior strip of little more than a mile in width, where the eye reposes upon the open expanse of waters visible between the forests, which is the Mississippi proper."

[13] A bed of lime-stone has been recently discovered on the sh.o.r.e at Natchez below high water mark, two hundred feet lower than the summit level of the state of Mississippi. There are some extraordinary petrifactions in the north part of this state, among which is the fallen trunk of a tree twenty feet in length, converted into solid rock. The outer surface of the bark, which is in contact with the soil, is covered as thickly as they can be set, with brilliant brown crystals resembling garnets in size and beauty.

Thin flakes of the purest enamel, the size of a guinea and irregularly shaded, have been found in the ravines near Natchez. In the same ravines mammoth bones are found in great numbers, on the caving in of the sides after a heavy rain.

x.x.xVII.

Topography--Natchez--Was.h.i.+ngton--Seltzertown--Greenville--Port Gibson--Raymond--Clinton--Southern villages--Vicksburg--Yeomen of Mississippi--Jackson--Vernon--Satartia--Benton--Amsterdam-- Brandon and other towns--Monticello--Manchester--Rankin--Grand Gulf--Rodney--Warrenton--Woodville--Pinckneyville--White Apple village.

In my last letter I alluded to the geological features of Mississippi, the peculiarities of its soil and rivers, or streams, and the characteristics of its scenery. In this I will give you a brief topographical description of the state, embracing its princ.i.p.al towns and villages. Were I confined to the details of the tourist, in my sketches, you might follow me step by step over hill and dale, through forest and "bottom," to the several places which may form the subject of the first part of this letter. But a short view of them, only, comes within my limits as a letter-writer. For the more minute information I possess upon this subject I am indebted to a gentleman,[14] whose scientific and historical researches have greatly contributed to the slender stock of information upon this state--its resources, statistics, and general peculiarities.

Although I have said a great deal of Natchez, under this head something may be communicated upon which I have not touched in my remarks upon that city. Natchez is one hundred and fifty-five miles from New-Orleans by land, and two hundred and ninety-two by water. It contains a population of about three thousand, the majority of whom are coloured.

The influx of strangers--young merchants from the north, who have within the last four years, bought out nearly all the old standing merchants--numerous mechanics, and foreign emigrants--is rapidly increasing the number, and in five years, if the rail-road already surveyed from this city to the capital, a distance of one hundred and nine miles, is brought into operation, it will probably contain twice the present number of souls. Under the Spanish government vessels came up to Natchez; and in 1803 there was, as appears by a publication of Col. Andrew Marschalk, of Mississippi, a brisk trade kept up between this and foreign and American ports which suddenly ceased, after a few years' continuance, on account of the obstacles interposed by the Spaniards. In 1833, this trade was revived by some enterprising gentlemen of Natchez, and cotton is now s.h.i.+pped directly to the northern states and Europe, from this port, instead of being conveyed by steamboats to New-Orleans and there res.h.i.+pped. There are two oil mills in this city worked by steam. The oil is manufactured from cotton-seed, which heretofore was used as manure. This oil is said to be superior to sperm oil, and the finest paint oil. Similar manufactories are established in New-Orleans, and I think, also, in Mobile. The material of which this oil is made is so abundant that it will in all probability in a very few years supersede the other oils almost entirely. The "cake" is in consistency very much like that of flax-seed.

It is used, in equal parts with coal, for fuel, and burns with a clear flame, and a fire so made is equally warm as one entirely of coal.

A Bethel church is to be erected this year under the hill, the erection of which on this noted spot, will be the boldest and most important step Christianity has taken in the valley of the Mississippi. There are four occasionally officiating Methodist ministers here, one of the Presbyterian, and one of the Episcopalian denominations. There are eighteen physicians and surgeons, and sixteen lawyers, the majority of whom are young men. There is a weekly paper, with extensive circulation, and three others are about to be established. There are five schools or seminaries of learning--three private, and two public--a flouris.h.i.+ng academy for males, and a boarding-school for young ladies, under the care of very able teachers. There are also a hospital and poor-house, and a highly useful orphan asylum. There are no circulating libraries in the city, nor I believe in the state. There are three banks one of which--the Planter's bank--has branches in seven different towns in the state. Steamboats were first known at Natchez in 1811-12.

Was.h.i.+ngton, six miles north-east from Natchez, with a charming country between, through which winds one of the worst carriage-roads in the west, not even excepting the delightful rail-roads from Sandusky to Columbus, in Ohio, is a corporation one mile square, containing about four hundred inhabitants, of all sizes and colours. It contains a fine brick hospital and poor-house in one building, two brick churches, one of the Baptist, and the other of the Methodist denomination. The first has recently settled a preacher, the other has long had a stationed minister, who regularly officiates in the desk. There is a Presbyterian clergyman residing in the place, whose church is five miles distant in the country, in a fine grove on one of the highest elevations in the state. The inhabitants of the village are princ.i.p.ally Methodists, a majority of which sect will be found in nearly every village in the south-west.

Jefferson College, the oldest and best endowed collegiate inst.i.tution in the state, is pleasantly situated at the head of a green on the borders of the village. It is now flouris.h.i.+ng; but has for several years been labouring under pecuniary embarra.s.sments, which are now, by a generous provision of Congress, entirely removed, and with a fund of nearly two hundred thousand dollars, it bids fair to become a useful and distinguished inst.i.tution. There is also a female seminary in a retired part of this village, which was handsomely endowed by Miss Elizabeth Greenfield, of Philadelphia, a member of the society of Friends, from whom it is denominated the Elizabeth Academy. It is one of the first female inst.i.tutions in this state, and under the patronage of the Methodist society.

Was.h.i.+ngton is one of the oldest towns in the state, was formerly the seat of government, under the territorial administration, and once contained many more inhabitants than any other place except Natchez, in the territory. It was nearly depopulated by the yellow fever in 1825, from the effects of which it has never recovered. The public offices, with the exception of the Register's and Receiver's offices, are removed to Jackson. The town possesses no resources, and is now only remarkable for its quiet beauty, the sabbath-like repose of its streets, and its pure water, and healthy location, upon the plane of an elevated table land, rising abruptly from the St. Catharine's, which winds pleasantly along by one side of the village with many romantic haunts for the student and "walks" for the villagers, upon its banks. There is a post office in the village, through which a triweekly mail pa.s.ses to and from Natchez. The route of the rail-road will be through this place, when it will again lift its head among the thriving villages of the Great Valley.

Seltzertown, containing a tavern and a blacksmith's shop (which always form the nucleus of an American village) is six miles from Was.h.i.+ngton and twelve from Natchez. It is remarkable only for the extensive scenery around it, and the remarkable Indian fortifications or temples in its vicinity. These will form the subject of another letter.

Greenville, on the road from Natchez, pa.s.sing through the two former places, is twenty-one miles from that city. It is delightfully situated in a little green vale, through which winds a small stream. The plain is crossed by the rail-road, which here becomes a street, bordered by two rows of dilapidated houses, overgrown with gra.s.s and half buried in venerable shade trees. From the prison with its dungeons fallen in, and its walls lifting themselves sullenly above the ruins by which they are enclosed, to the tavern with its sunken galleries, and the cobbler's shop with its doorless threshold, all were in ruins, a picture of rural desolation exhibiting the beau ideal of the "deserted village."

Greenville was formerly a place of some importance, but other towns have grown up in more eligible spots, for which this has been deserted by its inhabitants. One does not meet with a lovelier prospect in this state, than that presented to the eye on descending from the hill south and west of the valley, into the quiet little vale beneath, just before the going down of the sun. The air of peace and quiet which reigns around the traveller, will perhaps remind him of the valley whose description has so delighted him while lingering over the elegant pages of Ra.s.selas.

Forty-two miles from Natchez is Port Gibson, one of the most flouris.h.i.+ng and beautiful towns in the south. It is only second to Natchez in the beauty of its location, the regularity of its streets, the neatness of its dwellings, and the number and excellence of its public buildings. It is but seven miles by land from the Mississippi, with which it communicates by a stream, called Bayou Pierre, navigable for keel and flat boats, and, in high floods, for steamboats, quite to the village.

It is very healthy, and has seldom been visited by epidemics. It contains about one thousand souls. The citizens were once distinguished for their dissipation, if not profligacy; but they are now more distinguished for their intelligence and morality as a community. There is no town in the south which possesses so high a standard of morals as Port Gibson. This reformation is the result of the evangelical labours of the Presbyterian clergyman of that place; who, with untiring industry and uncommon energy, combined with sterling piety, in a very few years performed the work and produced the effect of an age.

There are a Presbyterian and a Methodist church in the town, with their respective clergymen. It contains also a branch bank, court-house, gaol, post-office, and one of the finest hotels in the state. A weekly paper, called the "Correspondent," and very ably edited, is published here. The society of the village and neighbourhood is not surpa.s.sed by any in the state. There are some very pretty country seats in the vicinity, the abodes of planters of intelligence and wealth; and the country around is thickly wooded, with fine plantations interspersed; and the general features of the scenery, though tame, are beautiful. The road from Natchez to Port Gibson is through a rich planting country, pleasantly undulating, with alternate forest and field scenery on either hand. But beyond Port Gibson the country a.s.sumes a more rugged aspect, and is less beautiful. The road, for the first few miles, winds among woods and cotton fields; but, after crossing Bayou Pierre, at a ford, called "Grindstone Ford," where the first rock is seen, in coming north from the Mexican Gulf, the forest is for many miles unbroken. I cannot express the strange delight I experienced as the iron heels of my horse first rung upon the broad rocky pavement, when ascending the bank of this stream from the water. No one but a northerner, the bases and crests of whose native hills are of granite, and who has pa.s.sed two years or more in the stoneless soil of this region, can duly appreciate such emotions from such a cause.

For forty-seven miles from Port Gibson, the road winds through a "rolling" country, two-thirds of which is enveloped in the gloom of the primeval forests, and then enters the little village of Raymond, situated in an open s.p.a.ce among the lofty forest trees which enclose it on all sides. Raymond has been planted and matured to a handsome village, with a fine court-house, several hotels, and neat private dwellings, within five years. The society, like that of most new towns in this state, is composed of young men, merchants, lawyers, and physicians, the majority of whom are bachelors. The village is built around a pleasant square, in the centre of which is the court-house, one of the finest public buildings in this part of the state. It contains about four hundred inhabitants, not one fifth of whom are females.

Beyond Raymond the country is less hilly, spreading more into table lands, which in many places are marshy. A ride of eight miles through a rudely cultivated country, in whose deep forests the persecuted deer finds a home, often bounding across the path of the traveller, will terminate at Clinton, formerly Mount Salus, one of the prettiest and most flouris.h.i.+ng villages in the state. It is situated upon a cl.u.s.ter of precipitous hills, contains some good buildings, and is a place of much business, which a rail-road, now in projection to the Mississippi, will have a tendency greatly to increase. There is a Methodist church in the village, and a small society of Presbyterians. The most flouris.h.i.+ng female seminary in the state is located in the immediate vicinity, under the superintendence of a lady, formerly well known in the literary world of New-York, as the auth.o.r.ess of one or two works, and a contributor to the columns of the "Mirror" when in its infancy. There is also a college in this place, but it is not of long standing or very flouris.h.i.+ng. The system adopted in this country, of combining an academy with a college, though the state of education may require some such method, will always be a clog to the advancement of the latter. There is a Spanish proverb, "manacle a giant to a dwarf and he must stoop," which may have yet a more extensive application, and the truth of which this system is daily demonstrating. Here are a land office and a printing office, which issues a weekly paper. There are many enterprising professional men and merchants in the village from almost every state in the Union, but they are generally bachelors, and congregate at the hotels, so that for the number of inhabitants the proportion of families and dwellings is very small. When a number of high-spirited young men thus a.s.semble in a little village, a code of honour, woven of the finest texture and of the most sensitive materials, will naturally be established. This code will have for its basis--feeling. It will be constantly appealed to, and its adjudications sacredly observed. To the decisions of such a tribunal, may be traced the numerous _affaires d'honneur_ which have occurred in the south during the last twenty years, most of which originated in villages composed princ.i.p.ally of young gentlemen. There is something striking to the eye of a northerner, on entering one of these south-western villages. He will find every third building occupied by a lawyer or a doctor, around whose open doors will be congregated knots of young men, _en deshabille_, smoking and conversing, sometimes with animation, but more commonly with an air of indifference. He will pa.s.s by the stores and see them sitting upon the counters or lounging about the doors. In the streets and bar-rooms of the hotels, they will cl.u.s.ter around him, fas.h.i.+onably dressed, with sword canes dangling from their fingers. Wherever he turns his eyes he sees nothing but young fellows.

Whole cla.s.ses from medical and law schools, or whole counting-houses from New-York or Boston, seem to have been transported _en ma.s.se_ into the little village through which he is pa.s.sing. An old man, or a gray hair, scarcely relieves his vision. He will be reminded, as he gazes about him upon the youthful faces, of the fabled village, whose inhabitants had drunk at the fountain of rejuvenescence. Women he will find to resemble angels, more than he had believed; for "few and far between," are their forms seen gliding through the streets, blockaded by young gentlemen, and "few" are the bright eyes that beam upon him from galleries and windows. If he stays during the evening, he may pa.s.s it in the noisy bar-room, the billiard-room, or at a wine-party. If he remains a "season," he may attend several public b.a.l.l.s in the hotel, where he will meet with beautiful females, for whom the whole country, with its villages and plantations for twenty miles round, has been put under contribution. One of the most fas.h.i.+onable a.s.semblies I have attended in the south-west, I was present at, one or two winters since, in the village of Clinton.

This village contains about four hundred inhabitants, and is thirty-five miles from Vicksburg, its port, on the Mississippi. Vicksburg is about two miles below the Walnut hills, one of the bluffs of the Mississippi, and five hundred from the Balize. It contains nearly two thousand inhabitants. Thirty thousand bales of cotton, about one eighth of the whole quant.i.ty s.h.i.+pped by the state at large, are annually s.h.i.+pped from this place. In this respect it is inferior only to Natchez and Grand Gulf, the first of which s.h.i.+ps fifty thousand. There is a weekly paper published here, of a very respectable character, and well edited, and another is in contemplation. There are also a bank, with two or three churches, and a handsome brick court-house, erected on an eminence from which there is an extensive view of the Mississippi, with its majestic steamers, and humbler flat boats, "keels" and "arks," and of the vast forests of the Louisiana sh.o.r.e, which every where, when viewed from the Mississippi side of the river, exhibits the appearance of an ocean whose surface, even to the level horizon, is thickly covered with the tops of trees in full foliage, like the golden isles of sea weed floating in the southern seas.

There is no town in the south-west more flouris.h.i.+ng than Vicksburg. It is surrounded by rich plantations, and contains many public-spirited individuals; whose co-operation in public enterprises is opening new avenues of wealth for the citizens, and laying a broad and secure foundation for the future importance of the town. It is already a powerful rival of Natchez: but the two places are so distant from each other, that their interests will always revolve in different circles.

The situation of this town, on the shelving declivity of a cl.u.s.ter of precipitous hills, which rise abruptly from the river, is highly romantic. The houses are scattered in picturesque groups on natural terraces along the river, the balcony or portico of one often overhanging the roof of another. Merchandise destined for Clinton is landed here, and hauled over a hilly country to that place, a distance of thirty-five miles. Cotton is often conveyed to Vicksburg, and other s.h.i.+pping places, from a distance of one hundred miles in the interior.

The cotton teams, containing usually ten bales, are drawn by six or eight yoke of oxen, which accomplish about twenty miles a day in good weather. The teamsters camp every night, in an enclosure formed by their waggons and cattle, with a bright fire burning; and occasionally their bivouacs present striking groups for the pencil. The majority of these teamsters are slaves; but there are many small farmers who drive their own oxen, often conveying their whole crop on one waggon. These small farmers form a peculiar cla.s.s, and include the majority of the inhabitants in the east part of this state. With the awkwardness of the Yankee countryman, they are dest.i.tute of his morals, education, and reverence for religion. With the rude and bold qualities of the chivalrous Kentuckian, they are dest.i.tute of his intelligence, and the humour which tempers and renders amusing his very vices. They are in general uneducated, and their apparel consists of a coa.r.s.e linsey-woolsey, of a dingy yellow or blue, with broad-brimmed hats; though they usually follow their teams bare-footed and bare-headed, with their long locks hanging over their eyes and shoulders, giving them a wild appearance. Accost them as they pa.s.s you, one after another, in long lines, cracking their whips, which they use instead of the goad--perhaps the turn-out of a whole district, from the old, gray-headed hunter, to the youngest boy that can wield the whip, often fifteen and twenty feet in length, including the staff--and their replies will generally be sullen or insulting. There is in them a total absence of that courtesy which the country people of New-England manifest for strangers. They will seldom allow carriages to pa.s.s them, unless attended by gentlemen, who often have to do battle for the highway. Ladies, in carriages or on horseback, if unattended by gentlemen, are most usually insulted by them. They have a decided aversion to a broad-cloth coat, and this antipathy is transferred to the wearer. There is a species of warfare kept up between them and the citizens of the s.h.i.+pping ports, mutually evinced by the jokes and tricks played upon them by the latter when they come into market; and their retaliation, when their hour of advantage comes, by an encounter in the back woods, which they claim as their domain. At home they live in log-houses on partially cleared lands, labour hard in their fields, sometimes owning a few slaves, but more generally with but one or none.--They are good hunters, and expert with the rifle, which is an important article of furniture in their houses. Whiskey is their favourite beverage, which they present to the stranger with one hand, while they give him a chair with the other. They are uneducated, and dest.i.tute of the regular administration of the gospel. As there is no common school system of education adopted in this state, their children grow up as rude and ignorant as themselves; some of whom, looking as wild as young Orsons, I have caught in the cotton market at Natchez, and questioned upon the simple principles of religion and education which every child is supposed to know, and have found them wholly uninformed.

This cla.s.s of men is valuable to the state, and legislative policy, at least, should recommend such measures as would secure religious instruction to the adults, and the advantages of a common education to the children, who, in thirty years, will form a large proportion of the native inhabitants of Mississippi.

About three miles from Clinton, on the main road to the capital, is situated "New Forest," a cotton plantation, owned and recently improved by two enterprising young gentlemen from Hallowell, in Maine. They are the sons of one of the most eminent and estimable medical gentlemen in New-England; whose pre-eminent success in the management of an appalling and desolating epidemic, a few years since, acquired for him a proud and distinguished name, both at home and abroad.--New Forest is spread out upon the elevated ridges which separate the waters of the Chitalusa, or Big Black, and Pearl rivers; and pleasantly situated in one of the richest and healthiest counties, on a line with the projected rail-road, and in the immediate neighbourhood of the capital of the state--it will soon become one of the most valuable and beautiful "homesteads" to be seen in the south.

Besides the proprietors of this estate, there are several other young gentlemen from Maine, residing in Mississippi, who, with the characteristic energy and perseverance of northerners, are steadily advancing to wealth and distinction.

Jackson, the capital of the state, is in lat.i.tude 32 17', and in longitude 13 07' west of Was.h.i.+ngton. It is one hundred and eight miles north-east of Natchez, and forty-five miles east of Vicksburg, on the Mississippi. It lies on the right bank of Pearl river; which, after a southerly course, and dividing the state into two nearly equal parts, empties into Lake Borgne, in the Gulf of Mexico. This river is navigable two hundred miles from its mouth, and steamboats have been as far as Jackson. But the torrent is rapid, and the obstructions to navigation are very numerous. There are many pleasant and thriving villages on its banks, and a rich country of plantations spreads away on either side.

The great rail-road from New-Orleans to Nashville will run near and parallel with this river for a great distance, and will monopolize, for the former market, all that branch of the cotton trade which is now attached to the ports on the Mississippi above mentioned. Jackson was but recently selected as the seat of government of this state. Its site was chosen for its central position alone, without any reference to its resources, or any other aids to future importance, than it might derive from being the state capital. It is built upon a level area, half a mile square, cut out from the depth of the forest which surrounds it. It is a quarter of a mile from the Pearl, which is concealed by the forests; a steep, winding path through which leads to the water side, where the turbid current darts by, a miniature resemblance of the great river rolling to the west of it. There are a branch bank in this place, and a plain, two-storied brick edifice, occupied by the legislature and courts of justice. Three newspapers are published here, which, like all others in this state, are of a warmly political character. A handsome state house is now in the progress of erection, and many private and public buildings are going up in various parts of the town. There is a steam saw-mill near the village, for water privileges are unknown in this region of impetuous streams; and several other avenues of wealth and public benefit are opening by the enterprising citizens.--During the intervals of the sessions of the legislature and supreme court, Jackson is a very uninteresting village; but during the sessions of these bodies, there is no town in the state which, for the time, presents so lively and stirring a scene.

Vernon is a pleasant village situated on a rapid and navigable stream, which often winds through wild and romantic scenery. Steamboats ascend to this place during part of the year. It is rapidly improving and filling with many young men, some of whom, possessing both talent and industry, are natives of this state. It is worthy of remark that those communities composed princ.i.p.ally of young Mississippians, are distinguished by much less dissipation and adherence to the code of honour formerly alluded to, than such as are formed of young men princ.i.p.ally from the northern and Atlantic southern states. The young Mississippian is not the irascible, hot-headed, and quarrelsome being he has been represented, although naturally warm-hearted and full of generous feelings, and governed by a high sense of honour. He is seldom a beau or a buck in the city--acceptation of those terms, but dresses plainly--as often in pantaloons of Kentucky jean, a broad brimmed white hat, brogans and a blanket coat, as in any other style of vesture.

Nevertheless he knows how to be well-dressed, and the public a.s.semblies of the south-west boast more richly attired young gentlemen than are often found in the a.s.sembly-rooms of the Atlantic cities. He is educated to become a farmer--an occupation which requires and originates plainness of manners--and not to s.h.i.+ne in the circles of a city. He prefers riding over his own, or his father's estate, wrapped in his blanket coat, to a morning lounge in Broadway enveloped in a fas.h.i.+onable cloak. He would rather walk booted and spurred upon the "turf," the "exchange" of southern planters, than move, shod in delicate slippers, over the noiseless carpet of the drawing-room. His short handled riding-whip serves him better than the slender rattan--his blanketed saddle is his cabriolet--the road between his plantation and a cotton market, his "drive"--and the n.o.ble forests on his domain--the home of the stag and deer--he finds when he moves through their deep glades, with his rifle in his hand, better suited to his tastes than the "mall,"

or Hyde Park, and he will be ready to bet a bale of cotton that the sport which they afford him is at least an equivalent to shooting c.o.c.k-sparrows from a thorn bush on a moor.