About a mile above this place, we left Red River, and travelled the
road on the bank of Bayou Rapide for twenty-five miles, to the mansion
house of a Mr. Henderson, where we stayed over night. In this day's
ride, we passed over as rich land as I ever saw, covered with extensive
cotton plantations. It is all river-bottom land of a red clayey soil;
and all along the road, as we passed, we saw clouds of negroes with
bags and baskets at their sides, picking cotton. The land produces an
abundant and a profitable crop, and the planters appear to have grown
rich. But it seems not exactly to be a paradise, if there be indeed,
any such a place on earth. It is excessively annoyed by moschetoes,
and is very unhealthy. During the warm, sickly summer months, the
planters with their families flee to the pine woods, where the air is
fine and salubrious; and leave their overseers and negroes to battle
with disease and moschetoes, the best way they can. They are very
companionable, hospitable and kind, and their style of living is much
the same as that of the southern planters generally.
About half way up, we crossed the stream over a bridge to the right
hand side; and just before we arrived at Mr. Henderson's, we crossed
it again. Soon after we crossed it the first time, I happened to cast
my eyes towards the stream, and found it running the other way! We had
certainly been travelling all along up the stream; and now, without any
apparent cause, either in the "lay of the land," or direction of the
channel, it was just as certain its current was with us. I enquired of
our host the meaning of all this. He pleasantly observed, that the
streams in this part of the country, were very accommodating; they
could go almost any way. He, however, explained the phenomenon. He
said, the channel of the stream, by the side of which we had travelled,
was, undoubtedly, once the bed of Red River. Ten miles above him, the
river had taken a straight course to Alexandria, and left its former
circuitous route. The water, which we now saw running, is supplied by
a stream from the lake, enters the old channel on the opposite side
from where we were travelling, then divides itself, one half running
down and entering the river near Alexandria, and the other running up
the old bed, and entering the river ten miles above. When the river
is high, a portion of it flows round in its old bed, and drives the
upper current along with it. So that by this house the stream runs
about half of the year one way, and the other half in the opposite
direction! A rather difficult stream I should think, to build a mill
upon. This is indeed quite a curiosity; but to the explanation one
objection may be urged. If this be in fact the old bed of Red River,
and from examination I am satisfied it is, one might naturally suppose
it would be all along descending _one way_; and, therefore, the stream
which enters it would not divide itself, but the _whole_ of it run in
the _same direction_ that the river formerly did. The answer to this
is, the stream coming in, carried sand with it, and for a considerable
distance somewhat filled up the old channel, so as to make a descent
each way; but not so much as to prevent Red River when high, from
sweeping round, in its former course.
A curiosity, in some respects similar to this, is found in Arkansas
territory. White river and Arkansas river enter the Mississippi ten
miles apart; and about twenty miles above, there is a direct water
communication between them; which is a large navigable stream; the
water of which runs, sometimes one way and sometimes the other,
according to the comparative height of each river; so that a person
living on its bank, could make no sort of calculation which way the
stream might run, from day to day.
Mr. Henderson has a large house pleasantly situated on a sandy hill
near the pine woods, and commands an extensive view in front of the
river flatland, and cotton plantations. We here fared well; and as Mr.
Henderson has ample accommodations, his house may be safely recommended
as a stopping place for the traveller. Our route now lay through
the pine woods. Our object was to strike the road from Natchitoches
to Mexico, at the nearest point practicable; and this spot, we were
told, was at the garrison, fort Jessup. This fort is situated half way
between Natchitoches and the Sabine river, the line between the United
States and Texas; being twenty-five miles from each. Natchitoches
being twenty-five miles north of our route, we concluded not to pass
through it; but when Red River is high, travellers to Texas often take
a passage on board a steamboat from Natchez to that place, and from
thence, take the Mexican road.
From Mr. Henderson's an intelligent gentleman, well acquainted with the
country, travelled with us three or four days on our route; and from
whom we obtained much information. This day, we travelled forty miles
through an unbroken forest of pitch pine. The land is sandy, gently
undulating, but seldom rocky. The trees were of good size, but not so
thick together as to prevent the grass from growing beneath them; or
the traveller from seeing a great distance as he passes along. About
half way, we found a small log house, in which a white man lived with
a black wife. With some people, I suppose this would be commendable;
but I confess it gave me unpleasant feelings to see half a dozen of
_half-bloods_ running about the house. He professed to keep a sort of
tavern, but all the refreshment we obtained was bread and meat.
At night, we came to the house of a planter, near a small river. He had
a hundred acres cleared of river bottom land, which had been planted
with cotton and corn; a large stock of cattle and hogs, which ranged in
the woods. He had lived here twelve years, was worth twenty thousand
dollars; yet still lived in a log house with only two rooms, and
without a window in it. Our supper was fried beef, fried greens, sweet
potatoes, corn bread and a cup of coffee, without milk or sugar; which
we ate by the light of the fire, as he had neither a candle or a lamp.
Our fellow traveller told us that we had now got out of the region
of what we should call comfortable fare; and we might expect to find
it worse, rather than better, all the way through Texas. Our lodging
was on a comfortable bed made of Spanish moss; and our breakfast
exactly like our supper, which we ate with the doors open to give us
light. Our bill was a dollar each, for supper, breakfast, lodging and
horsekeeping; and this, I found to be the general price, in all country
places throughout Texas.
After passing the river and about a mile of bottom land, we came to
the pine woods again. I could always tell when we approached a stream,
by the trees being covered with Spanish moss. The first I saw, was on
the Mississippi, about a hundred miles above Natchez; and in all the
region south of that, it is found hanging to the limbs of the trees
near streams of water. It is of a silver-grey color, hanging straight
down from the limbs three or four feet, like a horse's mane. It looks,
perhaps, more like dressed flax than any thing else; and some of
the trees were so completely covered with it that we could scarcely
discover any thing but the moss. It does not strongly attach itself to
the limb I used to pull off handfulls of it, as we passed along, to
examine. It is but the work of a few minutes to gather enough for a
bed. The only preparation necessary is to scald it in hot water, or to
let it remain awhile in cold water, to rot like hemp. It then looks
like fine long hair, and a dark brown color. When dry, it is whipped,
and put into the tick. It makes a very good, cheap bed, and lasts a
long time. Of this material most of the beds in this country are made,
and sometimes a mattress of the kind is found at the north.
All the river bottom lands at the south, are covered with a dense,
heavy growth of trees, among which are many kinds not found at the
north. The cotton-wood grows very large, somewhat resembling the
whitewood of the western States. The magnolia, celebrated for its
large, splendid blossom, is an evergreen, having a dark, green leaf
an inch and a half wide, and two and a half long, and of the size of
the maple--the peccan, a tree resembling the walnut, and bearing a
round nut an inch long, equal to the hickory-nut--the hackberry, about
the size and much resembling the beach--the holly, a small evergreen,
having a small thick leaf--the chinquopin, a mere shrub, resembling the
chestnut tree, and bearing a similar but smaller nut. We frequently
found the grape vine of large size running high up the trees; and
occasionally, a spot of cane-brake.
This day's travel was through the pine woods, except at some few places
where we found a small clearing and a log house, near some small
stream. We did not go by fort Jessup. Our companion knew of a nearer
route, and we took it. About the middle of the afternoon, we came out
on the Mexican road, three miles south of the garrison. It appeared
to be a road a good deal travelled by wagons, as well as on horseback;
some places running through swamps and muddy; occasionally, a bridge
over the most miry streams; but generally in a state of Nature. The
land became some better, and we passed more settlements.
At night we stopped at a log house kept by a widow. She had, living
with her, two sons and one daughter. The house had no windows, and but
one room in it. Near it, was a small kitchen where a negro woman did
the cooking. Our fare was very similar to that of the night before,
except the old lady had a candle on the table at supper. There were
four beds in the room where we all slept--the old lady and her daughter
in one bed--her two sons in another--and we three travellers in the
other two. I hope the delicate nerves of my fair readers may not
greatly be disturbed at this; if they are, they must close the book,
and read no further; for If I must tell "the whole truth," I shall be
obliged to state, that during the thirty following nights, I often
slept in the same room with one or more ladies!
The old lady had about twenty acres cleared and cultivated with corn;
but the land is not the first rate. The fact is, all along Missouri,
Arkansas and Louisiana, after you get sixty or seventy miles west of
the Mississippi river, you come to light, sandy, hilly land; generally
covered with pitch pine; excepting a narrow strip on the margin of the
streams; so that half of Missouri, three-fourths of Arkansas, and half
of Louisiana, are poor land, hardly fit for cultivation. This is not
what I had supposed; but from my own observations, and the information
of travellers, I believe this to be the fact.
We took an early start, and travelled on. The northern people have
been accused of being very inquisitive; but I am sure I would turn
out the people here against them on a wager. As a general rule, we
were inquired of, "where from"--"where going," &c. &c. To-day, a man,
twenty rods distant from the road, came running up, and asked us,
where we were from. I thought this was carrying inquisitiveness too
far; and so I took the yankee privilege of answering his question by
asking another, viz:--If it was out of mere curiosity, or for the sake
of obtaining information beneficial to himself, that induced him to
enquire. He said he was from Kentucky himself, and did not know but we
might be from there also; and in that case, he wished to inquire the
news. I told him we were none of us from Kentucky. But this did not
satisfy him; he insisted upon knowing where we were from; and appeared
quite vexed that he could not obtain the information from any of us.
We passed a number of covered waggons, generally with four horses,
loaded with goods and families bound to Texas. They invariably lodge
out doors over night. They carry their own provisions with them, and
select some spot where there is plenty of wood and water, build up a
fire, cook their meals, turn their horses or oxen loose to feed on
the prairie, or in the woods, and camp down on the grass by the side
of the fire. I saw some who had been thirty and forty and sixty days
on the road; from Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, &c. and said they had
not put up at a house for a single night. Some of them looked quite
"wearied and worn;" and if they do indeed find rest at last, it must be
confessed, that "through great tribulation," they enter the promised
land.
About noon to-day, we came to the Sabine river, the dividing line
between the United States and Texas. We had now travelled from Natchez
two hundred and twenty-five miles on horseback; and this, the seventh
day since we started. I had now become used to the saddle; and saving
the muddy roads and miry streams which we sometimes found, I enjoyed
the trip very well. I was surprised to find the Sabine so small a
river. I should think it was not more than one third as large as Red
River. It is a deep muddy stream, and gentle current. We were paddled
across the river by a woman, who was a "right smart" one, and landed at
last on the shore of
TEXAS.