"Where Will-o'-the-wisps and glow-worms shine,
In bulrush and in brake;
Where waving mosses shroud the pine,
And the cedar grows, and the poisonous vine
Is spotted like the snake."--LONGFELLOW.
From St. Louis, on the Missouri river, I took passage to New Orleans, in
one of those magnificent steamers that crowd the inland waters of the
American continent, and which, sumptuously furnished as they are, have
not inaptly been termed "floating palaces." We had a prosperous passage
as far as the junction of the Ohio with the Mississippi, where the boat
struck the branches of a large tree, that had been washed into the bed
of the stream, and was there stuck fast, root downwards. This formidable
chevaux-de-frise (or snag, as it was termed by the captain) fortunately
did not do much damage to the vessel, although at first an alarm was
raised that she was sinking, and much confusion ensued. This
apprehension was, however, soon dissipated by the report of the
carpenter, whose account of the damage was so far favourable, that after
extrication by backing the vessel, and a few temporary repairs, she was
again got under headway.
The pellucid waters of the Ohio, as they enter the turbid rushing
current of the Mississippi, which is swollen by the Illinois and other
tributaries, has a remarkable effect, the clear current of the former
river refusing, for a considerable distance, to mingle with the murky
stream of the latter, and forming a visible blue channel in its
centre--a phenomenon I thought allegorical of the slave-stained
condition of the one state, and the free soil of the other, for while
Ohio is free from the curse of slavery, the banks of the Mississippi
have for centuries been deep dyed in the life's blood of the oppressed
African.
Our vessel was borne on the rushing waters with great impetuosity, the
maddening current of the Mississippi seeming to carry everything before
it. As we proceeded we constantly saw trees topple over into the river,
the banks of which are continually widening, and which in many parts has
the appearance of a lake after a storm, impregnated with debris. The
trees, thus washed into the bed of the river, sink root downwards and
make the navigation perilous, as I have before described. We met
numerous steamers coming up the stream, one of them having a freight of
Indians from Florida, removing to the western frontier, under the
surveillance of U.S. soldiery and government agents. The compulsory
removal of Indians, from one remote state to another, whenever new
territory is needed, forms a disgraceful feature in internal American
policy. Transported to new hunting grounds, the poor Indians are brought
into contact with other tribes, when feuds arise from feelings of
jealousy, and the new-comers are often annihilated in a few years. Many
tribes have thus become totally extinct, and the remainder are rapidly
becoming so. As the steamer passed us with her freight of red men they
set up a loud yell, which reverberated through the forests on the
river-shores. It sounded to me very much like defiance, and probably
was, for they execrate the white men as hereditary enemies, and feel
deeply the wrongs inflicted on their people.
All the steamers we met were more or less crowded with passengers, the
visages of many of whom bore traces of fever and ague, and who were,
doubtless, removing to a healthier climate. This insidious disease often
terminates fatally in the cities and districts skirting the swamps of
Louisiana, and, to avoid its baneful effects, the more affluent people
migrate south-west or north when the sickly season sets in. The yellow
fever is also very fatal in such situations, and annually claims numbers
of victims.
We had by this time reached that latitude where perpetual summer reigns.
The banks of the mighty Mississippi, which has for ages rolled on in
increasing grandeur, present to the eye a wilderness of sombre scenery,
indescribably wild and romantic. The bays, formed by the current, are
choked with palmetto and other trees, and teem with alligators,
water-snakes, and freshwater turtle, the former basking in the sun in
conscious security. Overhead, pelicans, paroquets, and numberless other
"Strange bright birds on their starry wings,
Bear the rich hues of all glorious things;"
while the gorgeous magnolia, in luxuriant bloom, and a thousand other
evergreens, on shore, vie with voluptuous aquatic flowers to bewilder
and delight the astonished traveller, accustomed hitherto only to the
more unassuming productions of the sober north. Everything here was new,
strange, and solemn. The gigantic trees, encircled by enormous vines,
and heavily shrouded in grey funereal moss, mournfully waving in the
breeze--the doleful night-cry of the death-bird and the
whip-poor-will--the distant bugle of the advancing boats--the moan of
the turbid current beneath--the silent and queenly moon above, appearing
nearer, larger, and brighter than in our cooler latitudes--the sultry
atmosphere--and most of all, perhaps, the sense of the near vicinity of
death in this infected region--oppressed my spirit with an ominous
feeling of solemnity and awe.
As we passed the plantations which here and there varied the scene,
gangs of negroes could be seen at labour--their sturdy overseers, of
ruffianly mien, prowling sulkily about, watching every motion of the
bondsmen, whip in hand; which weapon they applied with the most wanton
freedom, as if the poor sufferers were as destitute of physical
sensation, as they themselves were of moral or humane feeling. Armed
with a huge bowie-knife and pistols, these embruted creatures were very
cut-throats in appearance; and it is well known there, that their
conduct in general towards those they lord over, justifies the
appellation I have given them.
The steamer halted at intervals to take in wood, which is invariably
used, instead of coal as in England. This is piled in parrallelograms on
the banks--the logs being split longitudinally. This forms a source of
good profit, and is, in many instances, the chief maintenance of the
squalid settlers of these plague-stricken and unwholesome places. After
the measurement of the pile by the mate or captain, the deck-passengers
and boat-hands stow it away in the vicinity of the furnaces--it being
part of the terms of passage, that the lower order of passengers shall
assist in the operation. This is much disliked by the latter, and many
of the Germans of this class on board, endeavoured to escape the
laborious duty by hiding amongst the packages on deck. A general search
was, however, instituted by the officers of the vessel, just before it
stopped at a wooding-station--and the skulkers were brought out, amidst
the clamorous jeers of their fellows. The class of passengers I have
just referred to, consisted chiefly of Germans and Irish, who, although
there is no professed distinction, bargain for a deck-passage, the
charge being better suited to their means. Amongst the objects that
arrested my attention, as our vessel floated majestically down the
turbid current, were gibbets standing on the banks, depending from
several of which were short chains, doubtless required occasionally in
carrying out this kind of discipline. As the horrifying objects occurred
at intervals of a few miles, I at first imagined they were cranes used
to lower bales of cotton into the holds of vessels, and addressing a
passenger whose physiognomy prepossessed me in his favour, and who had
several times shown a disposition to impart the knowledge he possessed
concerning the objects around, he soon convinced me of my mistake,
adding, that such engines were as necessary to the proper discipline of
the negroes in that latitude as the overseer himself. He then proceeded
to detail several instances of fugitive negroes being dragged in capture
to the foot of the gallows, where, with halter-encircled necks, they
were made not only to acknowledge the error committed and expose
accessories, but "pumped dry," as he facetiously termed it, as to the
intended flight of other negroes on the estate. Sometimes, he said, it
was necessary to suspend the culprit for a moment or so, to intimidate,
but this was only in cases where the victim (he used the word rascal)
was inclined to be sullen, and refused readily to give the required
information. I inquired whether it ever occurred that actual execution
took place; to this my new acquaintance replied, "Wall, yes, where the
nigger had dar'd to strike a white man;" but that it was usual to go to
a magistrate first, in such cases. The appearance of these gibbets,
after the information I had received respecting them from my
slave-holding acquaintance, made my flesh creep as we steamed onwards,
the more so as, in many of the grounds skirting the river, where these
sombre murky-looking objects presented themselves to the gaze of the
traveller, gangs of negroes were at work, looking up complacently for a
moment as the vessel glided by. I was subsequently told by a gentleman
who had been long resident in the state of Louisiana, that no punishment
so effectually strikes with terror the negro mind, as that of hanging,
the very threat being sufficient to subdue (in general) the most
hardened offenders. This I do not wonder at, for perhaps there are few
field-hands living in the south but have, at some time or other,
witnessed the barbarities used at a negro execution, sudden death by
pistol or bowie knife being far preferable to the brutal sneers and
indignities heaped upon the victim by the cowardly assassins who
superintend such operations.
The monotony of the scenes which had for a thousand miles rendered the
passage irksome, began to break as we approached Natchez. This place
takes its name from the Natch-i-toches, or Red River, which falls into
the Mississippi, the abbreviation being a corruption of the original
Indian name, which is as above stated. The town stands on a declivity or
bluff, and is of considerable extent. I did not visit it, although the
boat halted for a considerable time, to land letter-bags and passengers.
I was informed by a fellow-passenger of gentlemanly bearing, who
resided in the vicinity, that it was a dissipated place, and gambling
the chief occupation of its inhabitants. The locality has been
remarkable for landslips, owing to the siliceous nature of the soil; I
saw traces of a fearful catastrophe of the kind which had, some time
before, buried or destroyed many of the houses and their occupants, the
enormous mass having also sunk several steam-boats and other vessels
which were moored at the foot of the bluff under the town.
After leaving Natchez, we steamed away with renewed vigour towards that
centre of slavery and dissipation, New Orleans, and were in due course
moored to the levee, which extends the whole river-length of the city,
and is about a mile in extent. The first news I heard, and which alarmed
me not a little, was that the yellow fever was at this time raging in
the city. New Orleans is just fifty-four miles from the mouth of the
Mississippi, and being built at the time of the Orleans Regency,
contains many ancient structures. Its inhabitants, even to this day, are
to a great extent either French or of Gaelic origin. It lies exceedingly
flat, which causes the locality to be unhealthy and ill-suited to
European constitutions; the soil is, however, fertile and rich; this is,
perhaps, to be accounted for by the constant irrigation it undergoes
from the overflowing of the Mississippi, which, like another Nile,
periodically submerges the country around its banks. The town is
situated on the east side of the river.
The vast quantity of shipping of all classes in the harbour is a very
striking feature in this extensive and wealthy city. The bad eminence to
which New Orleans has attained is painful to contemplate. Its wealth is
purchased by the blood and tears of thousands of slaves, who are daily
exposed like cattle in its markets; and this fact operates on the mind
of an Englishman to the prejudice of its inhabitants. I was myself
filled with disgust towards the whites, as well as pity towards the
blacks, on beholding, immediately on our arrival, a gang of forty or
fifty negroes, of both sexes, and nearly all ages, working in shackles
on the wharf. These, I was informed, were principally captured
fugitives; they looked haggard and care-worn, and as they toiled with
their barrows with uncovered heads, under a burning sun, they were
mercilessly lashed with a heavy slave-whip, by a tall, athletic negro,
who acted as overseer, and who, with refined cruelty, dispensed the
punishment alike on stout men, slender youths, and thin attenuated
females. Our arrival having attracted the notice of the gang, and
induced a momentary halt in their work, the unfeeling wretch commenced
a furious onslaught with the whip, each crack of which, followed, as it
was, by the groans or cries of the sufferer, roused the indignant
feelings of the passengers, many of whom were from the free states, and
who simultaneously raised a yell of execration which made the welkin
resound, and caused the cruel driver to stand aghast. This demonstration
drew a remonstrance from the captain, who represented to the passengers
the danger of such conduct, and concluded by observing that if it was
repeated, it would probably arouse the indignation of the citizens, who
were very bigoted. He should be sorry, he added, to be obliged to put
the vessel about again, a proceeding that might be necessary for the
safety of all on board, unless they were more cautious. Some of the
passengers seemed disposed to dispute this argument, but they were
overruled by the majority, who, better acquainted with southern usages,
prejudices, and barbarities, thought that discretion under the
circumstances would be the better part of valour. I afterwards found
that the captain's view was a strictly correct one, for so jealous are
the citizens of men entertaining hostility to the pro-slavery cause,
that spies are often sent on board newly-arrived boats, to ascertain if
missionaries are amongst the passengers. These spies, with Jesuitical
art, introduce themselves by making apparently casual inquiries on
leading topics of those they suspect, and if their end is subserved,
basely betray them, or, what is more usual, keep them under strict
surveillance, with a view to their being detected in disseminating
abolition doctrines amongst the slaves, when they are immediately made
amenable to the laws, and are fined or imprisoned.
On landing, I hired a sorry conveyance, driven by a creole and drawn by
a mule, and had my luggage taken to a house in the suburbs, where I had
been recommended to take up my residence during my stay, which, owing to
the presence of the yellow fever, that daily carried off numbers of
victims, I had determined, contrary to my original intention, should be
short.
The crowds of people on the levee, attracted by the constant arrival of
steam-boats, had a motley appearance; many of these were rough-looking
fellows, fit for any occupation, most of them being armed with bowie
knives, the silver hilts of which could often be seen peering
suspiciously from under the waistcoat, in the inner lining of which a
case or scabbard of leather is sewn for the reception of the weapon. The
vast proportion of blacks in the streets soon struck me. I should think
they were five to one of the white population. These, for the most part,
wore in wretched plight; many of them begged of the passers-by, which
practice I found afterwards to be very general, especially in the
suburbs of the city.
Amongst the passengers on our boat, was a person, apparently of the
better class, who was met at the levee by two black servants with a
carriage. I noticed particularly, that, although the negroes touched
their hats, and inquired how he was (by which I concluded he had been
absent for some time), he did not deign to answer their inquiries. From
their timidity, it was evident that he was an overbearing man, and the
imperial haughtiness manifested in giving them his orders, confirmed
this impression. This individual was one of those who condemned the
demonstration I have noticed, when the boat first approached the levee.
After a day's rest at my boarding-house, I walked through the city, and
afterwards visited the calaboose, which in New Orleans is a mart for
produce, as well as a place of detention and punishment for slaves. Here
those owners who are averse to correcting their slaves in a rigorous
manner at home, send them to be flogged. The brutal way in which this is
done at the calaboose, strikes terror into the negro mind, and the
threat is often sufficient to tame the most incorrigible. Instances, I
was told, have often occurred of negroes expiring under the severity of
the discipline here; but it was remarked that the pecuniary loss
attendant on such casualties made the keepers careful not to exceed the
physical endurance of the sufferer, and that they were so well
acquainted with negro constitutions that it was a rare exception for
death to ensue. The punishment, however, almost always resulted in the
victim being invalided and unfitted for exertion for a considerable
time.
I believe New Orleans to be as vile a place as any under the sun; a
perfect Ghetto or cursed place; in fact, it is the rendezvous of
renegades of all nations, and hordes of negro traders and planters are
to be seen flocking round the hotels. These are extensive patrons of the
gambling-houses; and the faro, _rouge-et-noir,_ roulette, and other
establishments, fitted up with gorgeous saloons, are generally crowded
with them. As you pass, you may observe the frequenters of such places
in dozens, deeply engaged in play, while the teller of the establishment
sits at a table with a huge heap of Spanish doubloons or Mexican mill
dollars before him, which he adds to or takes from with the tact of a
banker's clerk, as the chances of luck may arise. Violence and Woodshed
have been indigenous to this city from time immemorial, and feuds are
instantly settled by an appeal to the bowie knife, or ever-ready
revolver. Highway robberies are very frequent, and I was told it was
more than your life was worth to be out after dark, in certain
localities, unless armed and on your guard. The police authorities are,
nevertheless, vigilant, and the magistrates severe, so that many
desperadoes are brought to justice.
The suburbs of New Orleans lie low, and the swampy soil emits a
poisonous miasma. This is, without doubt, the cause of virulent
epidemics that visit the city annually with direful effect. Thousands
fly to the northern states, to escape the contagion; but there are many
who, for want of means, are obliged to risk a continued residence at
such periods, and it is amongst those that the yellow fever, the ague,
or the flux, plays dreadful havoc. It is the custom for the small
store-keepers, as well as the more affluent merchants, to confide their
affairs at such seasons to others, and I have frequently seen
advertisements in the _New Orleans Picayune_, and other papers, offering
a gratuity to persons to undertake the charge in their absence.
The heat, although the summer was not far advanced, was excessive, and
the thousands of mosquitoes that filled the air, especially after a fall
of rain, when they seemed to burst into life in myriads spontaneously,
kept up an increasing annoyance. At night this was ten-fold, for
notwithstanding the gauze awnings, or bars, as they are called, which
completely enveloped the bedstead, to the floor of the room, they found
admittance with pertinacious audacity, and kept up a buzzing and humming
about my ears that almost entirely deprived me of rest. This unceasing
nuisance in the hot season, makes it difficult to keep one's equanimity
of temper, and has, probably, much to do with that extreme irascibility
shown by the southern inhabitants of the American continent.
The appearance and situation of hundreds of quadroon females in this
city, soon attracted my attention, and deserve notice. I saw numbers of
them not only at the bazaars or shops making purchases, but riding in
splendid carriages through the streets. So prodigal are these poor
deluded creatures of their money, that, although slaves and liable to
immediate sale at the caprice of their keepers, they have often been
known to spend in one afternoon 200 dollars in a shopping excursion.
Endowed with natural talents, they are readily instructed in every
accomplishment, requisite to constitute them charming companions. Often
as a carriage dashes by, the pedestrian is able to catch a glimpse of
some jewelled and turbaned sultana, of dazzling beauty, attended by her
maid, who does not always possess a sinecure, for the mistress is often
haughty, proud, and petulant, very hard to please, and exacts great
deference from her inferiors. Many of them live in regal splendour, and
everything that wealth and pampered luxury can bestow is theirs, as long
as their personal charms remain; but when their beauty has ceased to
gratify the passions of their masters, they are, in most instances, cast
off, and frequently die in a condition which presents the greatest
possible contrast to their former gay but not happy life.
"Oh that they had earlier died,
Sleeping calmly side by side,
Where the tyrant's power is o'er,
And the fetter galls no more."
Many of such poor outcasts are to be found scattered all over the slave
states, some employed as field hands, but in general they are selected
as domestics, their former habits of luxury and ease rendering their
constitutions too delicate for the exposure of ordinary field labour. It
is not, however, as the reader will have observed, commiseration that
saves them from that degradation. As soon as beauty begins to fade,
which in southern climes it does prematurely, the unfeeling owners of
these unfortunates succeed in ridding themselves of what is now
considered a burden, by disposing of the individual to some heartless
trader. This is done unknown to the victim, and the news, when it
reaches her, drives her almost frantic; she at once seeks her
perfidious paramour, and finds to her dismay, that he has been gone
some days on a tour to the provinces, and is, perhaps, a thousand miles
off. Tears and protestations avail her nothing, the trader is
inexorable, she belongs to him by law, and go she must; at length,
having vainly expended her entreaties, she becomes calm, and submits in
sullen apathy to her wretched fate. This is the ordinary history of such
cases.
Considering it unsafe to remain longer in this infected city, from the
reports that the fever was gaining ground, I now made preparations for
leaving New Orleans, and as I had made an engagement to manage the
affairs of a gentleman in Florida, during his absence at Washington, I
determined to proceed thither with the least possible delay. In
furtherance of this object I made inquiries for a conveyance by water to
St. Marks, giving the preference to steam. In this object I was,
however, disappointed, and was obliged to take a passage on board a
brig, about to sail for that obscure port. The vessel was towed down to
the balize or mouth of the Mississippi, in company with two others, by a
departing steamer, which had on board the mail for Bermuda and St.
George's Island. Arrived at the balize, whose banks for several miles
are overflowed by the sea, I saw a small fleet of vessels, some outward
and some inward bound. Amongst these was a United States ship of war,
of great beauty, carrying heavy guns. A boat from this vessel, in charge
of an officer, boarded us, and delivered to the captain a sealed packet,
which I understood to be a dispatch, addressed to General Taylor, the
officer in command of the troops operating against the Indians in
Florida.
The coast about the balize is low and swampy, and everywhere abounds in
rush and cane brakes which give its sea-beach a desolate appearance.
These morasses harbour thousands of alligators, whose roar had a
singular effect as it rose above the breeze. Flocks of aquatic birds
were to be seen on every side, the most numerous being the pelican, and
a bird of the cotinga species, about the size of an English throstle,
the plumage of which, being jet black and flamingo red, had a beautiful
effect in the sunshine, as they flew or settled in thousands on the
canes.
Our passage across the Gulf of Mexico was a favourable one, but when
within forty miles of our destination, the vessel struck on a hidden
sand-bank. The fog was so dense, that the captain had been mistaken in
his reckoning, and had taken a wrong course. For a considerable time we
were in great jeopardy, and every attempt to get the ship again afloat
was unavailing; and, had not the weather been moderate, there is little
doubt but that she would have been lost, and our lives placed in great
peril. After some hours' exertion, during which an anchor was lost, and
a quantity of iron thrown overboard, we had the satisfaction to find
that the vessel was adrift. This was a great relief to us, for had a
gale sprung up in the night, which was closing in, we must have taken to
the boat, and abandoned the vessel, a perilous undertaking, from which
we all felt too happy to have escaped. I was told by the captain that
the coast here abounds with hidden sand-banks of the description we had
encountered. This, perhaps, together with the poor harbour accommodation
in Florida, accounts for the small size of the vessels which generally
trade there.
The desolate look of the coast from the deck of the vessel, did not
convey to my mind a very favourable impression of the country, and the
hostile disposition of the Indians tended not a little to excite
forebodings of evil, that at one time almost induced me to abandon my
intention, and return to the north. These apprehensions were, however,
allayed by the representations of the captain of the vessel, who stated
that the Indians seldom attempted to molest armed parties, and that an
understanding with the government was daily expected, through the recent
capture of some important sachems or chiefs, under whose influence and
leadership hostilities had been carried on. This information reassured
me, and I determined to proceed, although I found afterwards that it was
almost entirely a misrepresentation, which, however, I cannot believe
was wilful, as the captain would have had me for a passenger on the
return voyage.
I soon after landed in a boat from the shore. The bay or harbour of St.
Marks is not attractive, neither is the town, which presents a desolate
appearance. The houses or stores are chiefly of wood, painted white, the
venetian blinds of the houses being green, as in most parts of the
United States. The hotel-entrances were crowded with loungers, in
snow-white clothing, large Leghorn or palmetto hats, and fancy-coloured
shirts, who smoked cigars incessantly, and generally discussed with
energy the inroads of the Indians, or other leading topics of the day.
The houses are low and irregularly built, and the appearance of the
whole place and its inhabitants, as far as I could see, wore a
forbidding aspect, and was indicative of anything but prosperity.
My next stage was to Tallahassee by railroad, through a desolate-looking
country, whose soil was sand, and whose vegetation looked stunted,
presenting little to cheer the senses, or call forth remark; in fact,
everything around told of a country whose centre is flourishing, but
whose frontiers are a wilderness. Just before we started, a
well-dressed negro, apparently a footman or butler, applied for a seat
in the carriage. He was told by the station-keeper, that there was no
conveyance for "niggers" this train, and he must wait for the following
one. He at first disputed his right to refuse him a passage in the
carriage, which roused the ire of the station-keeper, who threatened to
kick him if he was not soon off. This seemed to awe him, for he quietly
left the station, muttering, however, as he went, his intention of
reporting the circumstance to Colonel Gambole. This caused me to make
some inquiry about the colonel whose name he had mentioned, and who I
learned was his master. I was also informed that no negroes in that
district were so insolent, owing to the indulgence with which all his
hands were treated. I could see, however, that the negro had different
men to deal with here, and if he had not taken his departure, he would,
without a doubt, have been kicked or felled to the ground, on the least
further provocation--a course pursued without hesitation in cases where
a negro assumes anything like equality in the south.