_January 1st, 1835._--Still detained at Mobile: the sun shines
powerfully, and the sky is pure and clear. After breakfast lounged about
the very clean streets of this pretty city; then procured a neat
turn-out, and drove Mr. H----n, he acting as pilot, as far as Choctaw
Point, whence we had an extensive view of the Bay of Mobile with the
south-west coast of Florida. Our way lay through a forest of pine and
oak; many little rivulets crossed our path, the sides of which were
decked by a hundred different shrubs and plants, from the magnificent
grandiflora, here growing eighteen and twenty feet high, to the lowly
rose: the vegetation is rich, winter though it is; the beauty of the
spring amongst these noble woods I can only imagine at present, but
hope, before I again look northward, to know more of that season.
The presence of the ghostly-looking cedar, with its funereal draperies
of unwholesome moss, so common throughout Carolina and Georgia, is here
unknown; the forest is a series of regular avenues pillared by the
loftiest pines; and there is no undergrowth, except in little dingles
through which a brook may creep its way: the rides in this vicinity are
therefore most attractive. At one point during our ramble we suddenly
came to an abrupt sandy hill, at whose foot ran a sparkling little
rivulet, in the midst of which one of the aborigines stood in a state of
nature, raising water in the hollow of a gourd, and laving with it his
coal-black shining hair. As we descended, he stood erect and looked
towards us, but without exhibiting the least symptom of either surprise
or embarrassment: his form was light but perfectly proportioned, with
small thorough-bred knees and feet; he looked like a new bronze cast
from the antique: the graceful repose of the attitude he maintained
during our approach was perfect. Mr. H----n asked him if he was Choctaw;
he replied to the question by a slow nod of the head and a brief 'yah!'
Continuing our ride along the sea-bank, we arrived at a large
establishment where oil is extracted from the seed of the cotton-plant:
this is a recent discovery, and likely to prove a most profitable one
to the proprietors of this mill.
In the afternoon, accompanied Mr. H----n to the northern extremity of
the city, where we found broad streets already marked out: plunging deep
into the forest, many scattered houses of brick were springing up on
sites where barely trees enough had been cut down to afford elbow-room
for the builders.
_January 2nd._--Quitted Mobile on the box of the mail for Portersville:
our way lay over Spring Hill and through the Pine-barren; the road was a
track cleared by the woodman's axe; the stumps were not as yet
macadamized by time, still the horses picked their way amongst them at a
very fair pace. At a single log-house, situated about mid-way, we pulled
up to change horses; here too I perceived, by the array of a table
placed in the open hall, dinner was provided. On my asking the landlord,
who was a countryman, how soon dinner would be ready, he replied with a
friendly confidential air, "Almost immediately, but unless you're cruel
sharp-set, I'd recommend _you_ not to mind it, sir."
I took the hint thus disinterestedly given, and walked forward, passing
over one of the primitive bridges common in this section of the
country, where swamps and watercourses are frequent; these are commonly
overlaid also, as far as may be necessary, by a back-wood railway; that
is, by trunks of trees packed closely side by side, over which the
machine is dragged at a trot: in Canada this sort of road is termed a
corduroy.
Half an hour's start of our mail, whose pace was not over five or six
miles per hour, enabled me to prolong my walk as far as I chose, and I
enjoyed my freedom greatly; the perfect solitude of the scene; the
absence of all trace of man, excepting the one narrow and seemingly
interminable track, whose unvarying line might be traced as far as eye
could reach; not a sound could be heard, only the low sighing of the
breeze as it swept over the ocean of graceful pines whose spiry heads
appeared to kiss the sky. In ten minutes after quitting the log-hut
where the coach rested, I was in fact plunged in a solitude as complete
as it was beguiling.
If you by any chance turned about to look back upon the line you had
trod, or muse upon the scene, the only remembrance of your true course
was the sun; and indeed more than once, as time wore on, did I halt
struck with a sudden apprehension that I might have turned upon my
steps, and it required some moments of consideration to reassure me. At
length, seating myself upon a fallen pine within the shadow of a tall
magnolia, I resolved to abide with patience the coming up of the coach.
Resting here, strange fancies connected with the forest and its savage
denizens came thronging upon my mind. Here, within a very few years, the
Choctaw alone had wandered, and the only path was the scarce traceable
line leading to the village of his tribe. Where are these hunters now?
gone swiftly away, borne like autumn's leaves, upon the irrepressible
flood of enterprise and intelligence which is taming the wilderness with
a rapidity Europe has yet no adequate appreciation of. The hunter and
his prey have alike been scattered or rooted wholly out; the forest
still remains to witness for their existence, and, although assailed in
every quarter, the woodman's axe ringing from east to west, from north
to south, it yet appears to defy the activity of its assailants.
So rapid is vegetation in this climate, so prompt is Nature to repair
any waste in this favoured domain of hers, that even where places have
been completely bared by the axe or by the whirlwind, a very few years
of repose clothes them once more, a luxuriant growth of forest, vigorous
and healthful, spreads rapidly over the waste, asserting its ancient
claim, and eagerly repossessing itself of its heritage.
We reached Portersville at four o'clock, having been just six hours
coming thirty-two miles: here we found the Government steamer, the
Watchman, and five passengers, who had left Mobile on the 31st ultimo.
They had been detained here two days, living in a log-house; their only
amusement watching the ducks and snipe whirling in search of fresh
feeding-ground over the dreary waters of Lac Pontchartrain.
Over a long fragile pier, carried far into the lake on piles, and
breached in fifty places, we gained the deck of the Watchman, and in
five minutes after were heading towards the setting sun, whose rays,
brilliant though they were, failed to invest with cheerfulness this
desolate, half-drowned land.
I walked to and fro upon the ample deck of the vessel until my limbs
were fatigued and my eyes sick of the eternal sameness of the scene;
and then sought my berth, a very comfortable one, where I lay till
roused next morning with the intelligence that we were before the
railroad.
_Jan. 3rd._--On landing, we found the six o'clock train had just
departed; we were afforded therefore half an hour to look about us. Here
is a very large hotel, during the summer much frequented by the citizens
of New Orleans, the offices connected with the railroad depot, three or
four little stores, together with a small range of dirty huts, including
two or three cut-throat-looking sheds, bearing inscribed over the
entrance, in large, ill-assorted characters, the word _Tire_; which
immediately under is translated, for the benefit of country gentlemen,
into "_Shutting Galery_." These little indications serve to remind the
stranger that he is now in the land of the "_duello_," where each
"captain of compliments" is reputed for "the very butcher of a silk
button," and "fights as you sing prick-song,--rests me his minim rest,
one, two, and the third in your bosom."
In little more than half an hour the cars returned from the city, and in
about thirty minutes we were whirled under the covered depot, where I
was fortunate enough to get a hackney-coach, in which I proceeded at
once to Mr. H----n's house in _Rue Bourgogne_, where I was received by
his nephews with a heartiness of welcome that made me in one moment feel
that I was at home.
The whole of this day was cloudy and cold; a good deal of rain had
fallen during the night, and consequently the streets were nearly
impassable for carriages: the side-walks were, however, very well kept;
and I took a short stroll about the American quarter, finding on my
return that already, with the prompt courtesy which distinguishes this
country, several gentlemen had left cards of compliment and invitation.
_Sunday, 4th._--A lovely day. Mr. B----e having planned a ride as far as
the lake, I saw after breakfast three or four good-looking horses
arrive, caparisoned with showy, coloured, housings and _demi-pique_
Spanish saddles: shortly after, their masters appeared, and off we
pushed through mud knee-deep; we soon gained the shell road however, and
found it as good as the streets of Mobile, hard, smooth, and binding as
lime. It is a pity, as this material is to be procured in abundance,
that it is not more generally applied: paving the streets with heavy
stones, which soon sink deep in the alluvial soil, is, I fear, likely,
without vast outlay, to prove labour lost; besides that these have to be
imported from the North or from England, not a pebble existing here over
the whole surface of the country.
At five o'clock, met a large party at dinner at Mr. B----'s; Madame
B----e, a lady of the country, doing the honours with that vivacity and
grace which is said to distinguish the French creoles of New Orleans:
the dinner was excellent, a mixture of English and French cooking, both
good, and admirably served; whilst for wines, we had Chateau Margarot of
1825, with frozen champagne, and Madeira, such as can only be produced
in this country. The dinner party, with the exception of a couple of
creole French gentlemen, was composed of my own countrymen; and little
was here to remind one of a strange land, save the plates of clear ice
sparkling on the table, and the faces of ebony shining behind our
chairs.