_Monday, March 16th._--During the last three days the weather has been
warm, but not oppressively so: last evening a light shower of rain was
followed by a lovely night. I am leading a dissipated life here, and
engaged for every day I can yet count upon--must prepare for flight from
this Capua, but how? that's the question! since up the Mississippi I
won't steam again, that's poz!
Visited a noble packet called the Shakspeare, in which I feel hugely
tempted to take passage, although by the route newly opened through
Florida there is greater certainty, albeit with a good deal of hard work
to calculate upon.
_17th._--St. Phaudrig's day. Engaged to dine with the sons of the saint.
Rain falling in torrents, no stirring out; by the afternoon a deluge
threatens us, the streets are turned to rivers, and our neighbour swamp
is become a lake, above which the naked cypress-trees, hung with their
sombre drapery of moss, tower like the masts of some goodly navy whose
hulls lie sunk beneath. Boats will soon be required, for every gutter is
become a branch of mother Mississippi.
About three o'clock P.M. it subsided a little, and we were able to get
through in a well-horsed carriage to the French Theatre, in the
ball-room of which our rendezvous was appointed, dinner being laid in
another of the suite of apartments appropriated to public purposes. We
mustered about a hundred strong, and a more creditable set of children
no saint ever had to his back. About midnight the party broke up, and,
despite the rain, the shamrog had never presided over a gayer table.
_18th._--A glorious morning; paid my visits, made adieus; and after,
rode out to the lake by the canal and _Bayou St. John_. But what a
change had taken place since my last ride here, just three days back!
then all was torpid, decayed, and dead; the forest was voiceless, and
the waters oily and stagnant as though never intended for the use of
living thing. On this day all nature appears awakened, as if by magic,
and vegetation actually seems to proceed before our eyes; in every dyke
the water-snakes are gliding about with their graceful crests reared
above the surface, and on lake and lagoon bask shoals of mullet,
rejoicing in the warm waters of the swamp. The lazy alligator is
dragging himself across the path, newly roused from his winter lair. The
cardinal, the mocking-bird, and the gaudy red-bird, are all darting to
and fro, in pursuit of the various insects that flutter about the air.
The very swamp is putting on a face of beauty, and all nature appears to
hail the arrival of spring. Never was change so complete, so sudden, and
so attractive.
Returning, halted by a camp of Choctaws, consisting of a dozen huts,
about which crawled or ran as many children of all ages, looking
remarkably healthy and well-formed. In a hut, larger and better made
than any other, sat the chief and his squaw, upon whose lap lay
numberless strings of blue and white beads, which she was admiring and
arranging with as much delight as a London girl would her first suite of
pearl.
The chief himself was a stout, honest-faced fellow, and I suppose an
active hunter, for the sides of the hut, which was open in front, were
hung with various skins, and the earth was closely carpeted with the
like trophies: several clean-looking baskets were hanging about the
back of the hut; over the fire, in front, was suspended an iron pot, and
to attend to this seemed the present business of the chief.
This was a portion of a tribe or nation, once very powerful and numerous
in the South; it is now, however, scattered and broken up; many families
under their several chiefs have departed for the Western wilderness,
many more for the tomb. They begged for money as the natives usually do,
but receive with equal indifference the coin or a refusal.
_Friday, 20th._--The ship Shakspeare, according to the owners' promise,
was to sail this day, but sail she did not. Passed an uncomfortable
morning from being kept the best part of it in uncertainty. Almost wish
I had proceeded two days ago by the route through Florida. H----s
gravely assures me it is all for the best, and J. H----n coolly echoes
his philosophy, although both one and the other of the villains are "as
hot Jacks" in their mood "as any in all Italy," Day very sultry, or, as
a countryman of mine here, calls this sort of muggy heat, "Vile
mucilaginous weather."
_21st._--Again a delay, and a put-off till to-morrow; three of our
passengers now deserted, taking the steamer up the river for Louisville;
was half tempted to follow their example, but don't like to cut my
Shakspeare. I verily think, were the ship called by any other name, I
would quit the mess. The bard was wrong when he made Juliet say "what's
in a name?"
The city is hot and humid, as though it were washing-day above, and the
sun's rays intercepted by wet blankets. In the evening, strong symptoms
of a refreshing thunder burst: sat till after midnight _sans_ coat or
cravat, striving to keep cool; about that time the rain began to
descend, and soon after up came a breeze, under whose influence I crept
beneath my musquito curtain to fall sound asleep in five minutes.
_Sunday._--Called up early. Shakspeare about to quit the Levee: find out
that I have slept through a regular tornado, for to that complexion am I
informed the night breeze came at last. Day clear, fresh, and pure, like
a fine June morning at home; a difference of twenty-eight degrees
between to-day and yesterday; got a hasty breakfast, and learned that
the wind "sits in the shoulder of our sail," or rather of our steam,
since under such convoy do we seek the sea.
At eight A.M. got on to the Levee, and found the Shakspeare already
linked to her fiery mate; bade farewell to the many friends who have
daily attended to add a last link to the chain of kind recollections in
which they have bound my memory.
The market, close by which we lay, was, being Sunday morning, crowded by
a chequered assemblage of European, Quadroon, Negro, and Indian, all
gabbling, pushing, and purchasing in company. We unmoored in very
capital style, though pretty closely jammed, for a ship of seven hundred
tons, and in one minute after were whirled into the mid current of the
Mississippi: the vast crescent of the water-front of the city showing
through a curtain of thick masts, the hulls belonging to which floated
level with the roofs of the highest houses: for the river, at this
period, ran in its course far raised above the city.
The wind blows hard, but a clearer or more bracing day heart could not
desire; and, contrasted with the horrid yesterday, it is indeed most
welcome.
We found some difficulty, owing to the violence of the breeze, in
getting into that extraordinary bend called the "English turn;" but
afterwards we rushed past the fine sugar plantations lying along our
course with great velocity: we had a powerful steam-boat, and wind and
current with us.
About sunset passed Fort Jackson, occupying a well-selected bend of the
river, and commanding a long reach either way. This is one of the works
projected and finished by French engineers, and is said to be of a
first-rate description.
Shortly after passing this fort, a sight of unparalleled grandeur broke
upon us. The western horizon was yet ruddy with the last light of
sunset, and was attracting my attention, contrasted as it was with the
dull stream and dismal jungle around us. Suddenly I observed a bright
flame rush, as it were, over the distant surface of the swamp: at the
same moment we opened a noble reach of the river, and a vast fire was
perceived, steadily advancing over the prairie land on our left, which
character of surface is continued from here to the Balize, covered by a
rank growth of lofty cane or reeds.
As night drew on, the fire seemed to gather greater strength, rolling
away to leeward a mighty ocean of flame; whilst nearer to us lines might
be observed creeping close to the earth, devouring the dry grass, and
marching right in the teeth of the wind, sheltered by the tall cane next
doomed to fall.
Whilst viewed far off, the effect was exactly that of a great city
delivered to the flames: the trees growing by the river's brink, and
scattered here and there over the prairie, showed like some yet standing
spires, whilst here and there a tall cedar might be caught just falling;
the dwarf trees and withered shrubs in front, with the flames quivering
through their branches, might readily be imagined a remnant of the
population fleeing from the destruction pressing on their rear, with the
sullen Mississippi for their only refuge.
We overtook and sailed down, side by side, with this mighty
conflagration for an hour or more, through water made bright by the
fiery reflection: at last, we outstripped its speed, but, for three
hours after, I never withdrew my eyes from this the grandest sight it
ever was given to me to contemplate; nor was the effect at all
diminished though changed by distance. At one turn of our course we were
presented with a _coup d'oeil_ of fearful grandeur; it seemed as though
the flame had crossed the broad river, and formed a half circle, whose
left extremity was lost in distance, and whose right pursued our path,
rolling after us a lofty wall of fire, from behind which burst wreaths
of smoke, of different degrees of darkness, as though shot up from some
volcano's crater, whilst the more distant masses formed gradually into
clouds of snow, whose lower edges were tinged with mingled lines of gold
and jet.
The wind blew half a gale at about N.N.W., and it was calculated that
our pace could not be less than twelve miles per hour; that of the fire,
therefore, must have been seven or eight, since, despite the turns of
the river, we were closely followed by it for three hours, and very soon
after we anchored at the Balize it again overtook us, rushing on
unchecked whilst it found a supply of food, until extinguished in the
waters of the gulf.
I had before seen the prairie on fire, that is, small districts of mere
dry grass in a blaze; but, although striking from its novelty, it had
none of the grandeur belonging to this wild conflagration. The fuel here
offered to the flame was of an enduring quality, and continued to burn a
fiery red after the first rush of flame had passed over it and onward;
and the next change it assumed was one of singular beauty: the
reflection of the burnt cane, yet standing in perfect order as it grew,
only made transparent by the action of fire, had the appearance of the
harvest of an Eastern tale, composed of grain whose tall stalks were of
burnished gold; whereas on the grass of the wide prairies the effect of
the fire is lost as soon as passed, the bare and blackened soil alone
being left behind.
We arrived at the bar by 10 P.M. and let go an anchor for the night: the
water reported by our pilot to be about eleven feet; a comfortable
hearing, when it is considered that the Shakspeare draws fourteen.
There is now here, hard and fast, an English ship called the Coromandel,
which has been on the bar for the last forty days. Several vessels
intend pushing over, we understand, at the same time we do in the
morning.
_Monday, 23rd._--On deck at six A.M. Our pilot, I find, declines
crossing till the afternoon, when the tide will possibly, he says, be
higher; the rise of water is, however, dependent upon the strength of
the sea-breeze forcing the tide of the gulf up against the current of
the great river. No rise of the Mississippi above, however high, affects
the bar here in the least perceptible degree.
Heaven send us well into blue water! for any place having a more
desolate aspect than this sight never lighted on: not a sign of
vegetation is visible, except the brown rank-growing reeds upon our
right, where no fire has yet been. To the north, all is blackness on
land, and dull and dead at sea: along the course of the water-line, logs
of timber of every size, and trees of every kind, lie strewn, sometimes
scattered singly, and in other places accumulated into enormous beds or
rafts.
On every side is presented a dead level, muddy water, or land barely
showing above it. One might have imagined, looking around here, that the
great Deluge was but now subsiding, and this, the ruined world, left for
the remnant of humanity, gathered here, to weep over. Silence and
solitude reigned absolute, and the only evidence of our not being alone
was to be found in the three or four ships scattered within sight.
As the morning advanced, each ship hoisted the colours of her nation:
several schooners came down near us, tugged along by a powerful
steamer; the Mexican and Brazilian flags were amongst them.
I find, too, that even this just redeemed soil is tenanted; here are
eyes that find in it the charms of home. A couple of natives came
alongside, with a boat-load of fine oysters; viewing them as samples, I
should imagine the air not over salubrious at the Balize, for they were
miserable-looking, blighted beings, "but half made up," and shook like
aspen-leaves in the sharp air of morning.
About two P.M. the pet steamers of the bar, the Pilot and the Grampus,
ran down to us, and made fast to the ship's sides: away we went for a
dash at the pass, the object being to force a ship drawing nearly
fifteen feet over a bar having upon its ridge just twelve feet.
We soon grounded, as was anticipated; when, after a couple of hours'
tugging, we were left by our steamers, although one of their skippers
had sworn stoutly in the morning that he never had quitted a ship on the
bar, and never would. Three vessels that had got under weigh in company
with the Shakspeare were set fast about a hundred yards farther over
than ourselves, and now lay right a-beam of the Coromandel drawing
seventeen feet: when she will forge over is past all calculation; our
own chance of a speedy move does not appear to me very bright.
All day set firm, a little movement perceptible at night: contemplate
returning to New Orleans if a boat goes up to morrow.
_Mem._--Never go by sea if in any haste, however tempting the prospect:
just one week lost to-day, in addition to much vexation of spirit.
To complete the discomfort of our condition, the weather is raw and
cold; clouds above, mud and misery below and about.
_Tuesday, 24th._--Ship forging ahead slowly. At meridian the Spanish
ship got away, and, in an hour after her, over slid the bark, leaving us
gazing after them with longing eyes.
About six P.M. the Shakspeare took a long slide, just clearing the
bowsprit of the Coromandel. Breeze getting up from S.S.E. a little sea
coming in. Our pilot, it seems, does not know when the tide is at its
highest, but thinking we might slide over suddenly in the night, this
efficient person now quitted us, taking to our larger neighbour, whose
chance, I am sorry to say, does not seem great of a hasty removal. She
lies nearly on her beam-ends, with very little motion, thirteen feet
water under her bowsprit end.
After amusing myself all day taking different bearings, and calculating
each inch we made, got disgusted at last, and about midnight crept into
bed, praying Heaven henceforward to be kept clear of all bars, from this
of the Balize to the bar of the Old Bailey; although I do think, if I
had a choice, I should prefer being arraigned for highway-robbery, or
any other gentlemanlike felony, at the latter, to the being kept for a
month weltering in mud upon the former.
_Wednesday, 25th._--Prospect a little brighter, a swell setting in from
the eastward; the ship evidently working over, as we now have sixteen
feet water within half our length ahead: day mild and clear, with a
south-easterly breeze: all the passengers busy noting our snail-like
progress: the poor Coromandel, which is fixed as a rock, affords us an
excellent _land_-mark; we have slipped by her inch by inch. At three
o'clock P.M. the ship's bow is all alive, the heel alone hangs on the
ridge: a French brig is just taking the bar, and rapidly nears us. At
four P.M., just as the Frenchman came abreast of us, and her crew
raised a cheer, the Shakspeare launched forward, as though just sent
from the stocks; and, as all hands of us were on deck, with the poop and
forecastle both well manned, we gave forth an involuntary hurrah, in
which the crew of the Coromandel, who were all forward watching the
result, heartily joined: the cheer of the dashing little Frenchman was
in this way fairly drowned.
Our captain seems a smart hand; he had his sails trimmed, and the
Shakspeare heading seaward, in less than no time: nor was it long before
we reached the boundary line of the great river. At some six or seven
miles from the bar a well-defined line is observable, stretching away
north and south, with a regular curve outward. On all sides within this
arch the water is thick and muddy, and immediately without this is the
clear deep blue of the gulf; yet the influence of the current of the
Mississippi is sensibly felt full seventy miles to the southward, its
strength being found to set in that direction.
Our breeze freshened gradually all the evening, until by midnight it
blew a rattler; but, thank Heaven, we are clear of the mud; no more
lead-lines bandying about the decks.
_Friday, 27th._--How time flies! and yet how same has been my existence
since this day week,--five days of expectation, with but two of action;
yet the fifty-secondth part of the year is away scarce marked! One is
here actually compelled to turn back to the date of one's last _mem._
and look what day one has fallen on, so hard is it to keep note of time
without occupation, or the remembrancers that surround us in our daily
affairs on shore. I do not wonder at Crusoe notching his stick; the
wonder is, that he should have been able to decide whether or no to-day
was yesterday.
All is calm and fixed above, with a long easterly swell rolling under
our foot, which does not seem likely to subside, although, as our
captain informs me, unusual at this time of year. Large logs of
blackened timber drift about, reminding us of the great river within
whose influence we yet unhappily remain, although but twenty hours of
fair wind would lead us round the Tortugas, within the influence of the
gulf-stream. Employed all my morning shooting at bottles as empty as
myself; this, with eating, drinking, and _ecarte_, forms the amusement
and occupation of the day. I have heard of people who could read and
write on ship-board; but, for myself, protest I never could do either
with the least possible satisfaction.
Last night the Connecticut steamer passed close by us, bound for
Havannah; I could not help wishing she had been compelled to give Billy
Shakspeare a pull.
Whilst at whist in the night, a passenger was reported dead of cholera.
"Well," said our chief, "if he's dead, we must bury him, that's all." It
was an old man, whose only daughter, with her husband and child, were on
board; and the report is, that he has been grossly neglected by this
pair, having been very well when received.
_Saturday, 28th._--Seven A.M.; went upon deck, and was delighted to find
stun-sails on both sides, a clear blue sky above, reflected on a sea of
the same colour, only crested with wreaths of snowy whiteness: wind
about west by north. What an instantaneous elasticity does the spirit
gather up from a change like this! I had quitted my room despondingly,
having slept sound and hearing no indications of a breeze; the dull
heavy creak of the bulk-heads alone spoke of motion; when, on gaining
the poop-deck, a fair, free breeze, and an atmosphere filled with life
and vigour, awaited to be hailed.
Our dead passenger was uppermost in my mind, and I made inquiry of the
officer of the watch respecting the hour appointed for committing the
corpse to the sea, until that time when Judgment might claim its own
from the deep caves of ocean. I found, however, that the old man was in
no way prepared to avail himself of this day's sunshine for his dark
journey, being, on the contrary, alive if not merry.
It appears that, whilst busied about the last offices offered by the
living to the dead, signs of life had been discovered by his attendants,
and the expiring flame gently reinvigorated by judicious friction and
brandy and water, the old man's ancient bane, and now his antidote. I
hastened to see this dead-alive, and found him perfectly conscious of
his restoration to "this breathing world;" but I imagine the respite can
only be for a very limited period. Captain Collins had the jolly-boat
fitted up for him on the main-deck, and, when placed in it on a clean
comfortable bed, his pulse was barely perceptible; his eye was glazed
and dim, and his frame emaciated to a degree that was painful to
contemplate. The daughter is a fair-haired devil of two-and-twenty, tall
and hearty, but exhibits a callous want of feeling and a disregard of
opinion, seldom met with in the most ruffianly of our sex, and truly
shocking in a woman.
The father, I learn, is from the state of New Jersey, where he possesses
a good farm, and flocks and herds, to which this Goneril will succeed on
his demise; hence it is that she looks upon his nurses with no love or
gratitude. The poor old man, in hopes of augmenting her store, had
quitted his pleasant possessions in Jersey, to seek wealth amongst the
swamps of the Mississippi. How long, I wonder, will the fluttering soul,
evidently plumed and eager for its flight, be held within the frail,
worn-out prison-house? Its flight!--but whither and to what? "Ay,
there's the rub!" the riddle, which this poor wretch will probably solve
before the wisest living philosopher could build a single conjecture
towards it.
Last night it appears the calf got loose in the stall, and joyfully
helped itself to the food supplied by nature to the mother for its
sustenance; in consequence, we, for this morning, are minus milk for
breakfast. With a decision prompt and unanimous, this act was voted a
robbery, the calf a felon, and the award death without delay. No counsel
was called for the hungry youngster, nor a voice heard in Nature's
behalf; the absence of the customary supply of milk was considered
evidence conclusive and damnatory; the hearts of judge and jurors were
superseded by their appetites, and doubtless the criminal calf must die
the death.
All day our fine wind follows us; the sun is hot; we have an awning
spread over the whole of the noble poop-deck, and within its shade we
lounge or lie about in the most perfect luxury of idleness, whilst the
Shakspeare majestically moves forward on her course, with just motion
enough to be pleasant.
_Sunday, 29th._--This morning we found our table abundantly supplied
with milk; which, together with a burnt-offering of the inconsiderate
calf's liver, bore undoubted evidence of the steward's prompt execution
of the court's decree. Thinking it a pity such an example of strict
justice should be lost to the world, I have, as far as this record goes,
done my utmost to preserve it. Wind still abaft the beam, blowing a
steady, constant sort of blow; sun cheerful, and sea all alive. About
meridian a shore-bird, rather like a woodcock, but considerably larger,
came fluttering round the ship, evidently wearied by long flight, yet
fearing to confide in our hospitality; and not without reason, faith!
for one of our passengers gave me notice of the stranger, and gravely
requested me to shoot it. I said nothing; but the ship and cargo could
not have bribed me to raise a barrel against that timid, storm-worn,
home-sick bird: no, if he would trust in me, he should have rest and
food, and so fly back to his lone mistress rejoicing.
Our old man breathes still, but shows little disposition to make an
effectual rally against the foe: for the rest, crew and passengers, all
are well. A number of Irish lads occupy the between-decks: they have a
fiddle amongst them, and "welt the flure" on the forecastle, every
night, with a perseverance that is most amusing.
_Thursday, April 2nd._--Since the 28th ult., light west and
south-westerly winds, with warm balmy days. This morning we lost one of
our crew overboard, an exceedingly pretty parroquet I had purchased at
New Orleans: it was an amusing, active little creature, and on several
occasions had crept through the bars of its cage, and slily gone up the
rigging, whence it had, after a time, descended of itself, or had been
brought down by one of the boys: but frequent peril incurred with
impunity breeds presumption, and towering ambition knows no safe
halting-place; so my poor, pretty Poll, on each new climb, gained a more
giddy and more dangerous elevation, until on this day, attracted by her
usual scream of exultation, I cast my eyes upwards in search of her, and
quickly made her out, strutting to the weather-end of the royal
yard-arm, the loftiest perch in the ship.
I augured ill of the attempt, and was watching her movements, when,
either impelled by an innate love of liberty, or lured by some fragrant
odour borne on the air from the distant woods of Florida, she made a
bold flight in the direction of the land, and fell into the sea a little
distance a-head of the ship.
Poll was a favourite, and Captain Collins a kind-hearted man: the
Shakspeare was brought by the wind, and various efforts made to near the
silly bird; but all in vain: we went rapidly past her, and left her to
the fate her presumption had courted. The efforts the little creature
made to approach the vessel were incessant, and almost painful to
regard: from the instant she touched the waves, her head was kept to the
ship, which she strove to regain by flapping along the surface with her
maimed short-clipped pinions. I felt that I could have saved her; and
only for shame, and the great trouble it would have necessarily caused,
I should assuredly have slipped over the side after the miserable little
fool.
Our fair wind sticks to us, and the gulf-stream is calculated to be from
three to three miles and a half in our favour; so that we are making
short work of it. All alive and well.
_Tuesday, 7th._--We last night got inside the Hook, but were blown off,
not being able to get a pilot. We are now thrashing at it with a bitter
head-wind. A great number of ships of all kinds are beating through the
bay, as well as numbers coming out with it all their own way. The
Shakspeare proves worthy the name, as she weathers and goes a-head of
every craft beating with us. A very smart ship, called the "Washington
Irvine," held our Billy a stout tug, but, after reading the name as she
went about a-head of us for many turns, we at last crawled to windward,
and Shakspeare took the lead, as even the "Washington Irvine" must admit
was perfectly proper.
At the quarantine station we landed our sick passenger, and were
permitted to proceed. By four P.M. I once more set my foot on the
dock-side of New York, after an absence of five months, and felt as
though I had again reached home.
Let me here remark, that during these five months I had travelled
through the roughest part of these States in every sort of conveyance,
and had been thrown amongst all classes of the community, yet never
received one rude word or encountered an inconvenience, save those
inseparable from the condition of the roads. Even the Southern mail, the
discomforts of which I have painted exactly as I experienced them, I
must in fairness admit is well managed, when the difficulties to be
encountered at the season of my journey are justly taken into
consideration. Their object is to get on; this, as long as possible, at
any risk, they are bound to do. It will be seen that, when a coach
cannot be dragged through, they nail a few boards on the axle, and
proceed with this lighter and less ticklish vehicle: it is true the
passengers suffer much; but only those exceedingly desirous to proceed
travel at such times, and without such a resort the machinery must stand
still.
Out of our party two stout men gave in at different stages; and another,
when I quitted America, had not recovered from the effects of exposure
to wet, loss of rest, and fatigue.
The journey ought not, in my mind, to be undertaken by any man who
regards his ease, after the month of November or before the month of
May. A new route is, however, already in use by coach and steam-boat
across Florida: a railroad is also in contemplation by the same line,
which, connected with the present ready means of gaining Charleston,
will probably, in a season or so, make the communication with Mobile and
New Orleans a trip of little inconvenience.
Still I consider that a near view of the border parts of Georgia and
Alabama, together with a sail down the noble river of that name,
watering, as it does, the richest lands in the world, and destined, as
it evidently is, to sustain a vast population on its banks, ought not to
be neglected by any man whose motives for travel have any higher aim
than mere amusement. For myself, I would not have missed the
contemplation of this truly elementary society, and the absolute
novelty it presents, for thrice the inconveniences it was my fortune,
during an uncommon series of bad weather, to encounter.