On the 7th of January, at six in the morning, our vessel was once more in motion; soon, however, she stuck fast upon the sand. It required much trouble to bring her off, and turn her round; the task occupied an hour and a half. It was shortly before daybreak, and we were all in bed, if such miserable cribs deserved the name. It had various effects upon our travelling companions. Mr. Huygens rose in consternation from his bed, and made a great disturbance. Mr. Bowdoin called to his servant, and directed him to inquire what had happened. He was very uneasy when we told him that we might lie several days, perhaps weeks here, to wait for rain, and the consequent rise of the river. The colonel and I, who had acquired by our long experience, a tolerable portion of recklessness, remained in our cots, and left the matter to Providence, as we perceived that the captain would rather disembark his cotton, which consumed nothing, than to support much longer a number of passengers, all with good appetites, who had agreed for their voyage at a certain price. When we were again afloat, Mr. Bowdoin remarked with a face of great wisdom, that he had foreseen that we should not long remain aground, as he had not felt the stroke of the boat on the sand-bar.
We passed the whole day without any further accident, the weather was rather dull and drizzling. Nothing interesting occurred to our observation. We passed by two steam-boats that had been sunk in the river, of which the last, called the Cotton Plant, went down only a month since. Both struck against trees in the river, and sank so slowly, that all the passengers, and part of the cargo were saved. They were so deep that only the wheel-houses raised themselves above the water. From these boats already a part of the machinery has been taken out piece-meal.
In the afternoon we passed a little place called Claiborne, situated on an eminence on the left bank of the river. Three miles below, we stopped about sunset, on the right bank for wood. The name of the place is Wiggins’s Landing. It consists of two log-houses standing upon a height, among old tall thin oak trees, which was settled by a Mr. Wiggins, with his wife and children, a short time before. The houses had a very picturesque appearance, and I was sorry that I could not take a sketch of them. Mr. W. proposed to cut down the wood for the purpose of raising cotton there. It was a pity to do so with this handsome grove, handsome, although injured in its appearance by the Spanish moss which hangs from the trees. Monsieur Chateaubriand compares the trees enveloped in this moss to apparitions; in the opinion of Brackenridge, they resemble ships under full sail, with which the air plays in a calm at sea. I, who never beheld ghosts, nor possessed Mons. Chateaubriand’s powers of imagination, though I had seen sails tossing in the wind, compared these trees in my prosaic mood, to tenter-hooks, on which beggars dry their ragged apparel before some great holy-day.
We were in hopes, that we should have made more progress during the night, but the captain had become so prudent, and almost anxious, from the sight of the two sunken steam-boats, that he determined to spend the night at Wiggins’s Landing. Formerly, near Claiborne, there was a stockade, called Fort Claiborne, where an affair took place with the Indians in the last war. This place is named in honour of the deceased Mr. Claiborne, governor of the former Mississippi Territory, of which the present state of Alabama formed a part, who died about eight years ago, governor of the state of Louisiana, in New Orleans. He had taken possession of Louisiana, in the name of the United States, which the then existing French Government had sold to them. Mr. Claiborne was a particular favourite and countryman of President Jefferson. He had by his voice decided the presidential election in favour of Jefferson, against his antagonist, Aaron Burr, for which Jefferson was gratefully mindful during his whole life.
On the 8th of January, we left our anchoring ground between six and seven o’clock. The shores, which at first were pretty high, became by degrees lower, they remained, however, woody, mostly of oak wood in appearance, hung with long moss. Under the trees, grew very thick, and uncommonly handsome cane, above twenty feet high. At the rise of the river, these shores, often covered with water, are on this account little inhabited. Taking it for granted that the population of Alabama increases in numbers, and the higher land becomes healthier from extirpation of the forest, without doubt dykes will be made on these lower banks, to guard the land from inundation, and make it susceptible of culture. Here and there rose sand banks out of the water, and also several snags. We passed the place where the year before, a steam-boat, the Henry Clay, was sunk; since which time, however, she has been set afloat again. It is not very consolatory to the traveller, to behold places and remains of such occurrences, particularly when they find themselves on board such a miserable vessel as ours. Several steam-boats, which at present navigate the Alabama, formerly ran on the Mississippi, as this one did; they were judged too bad for that river, and were, therefore, brought into this trade, by which their possessors realized much money. We saw to-day many wild ducks and geese, on the shores also, numbers of paroquets, which make a great noise; in the river there were alligators, which are smaller than the Egyptian crocodile. One of these creatures was lying on the shore of the bank, and was sunning itself, yet too far from us, and our boat went too fast, to permit of my seeing it distinctly, or of shooting at it. In the afternoon we saw several small rivers, which flowed into the Alabama, or ran out of it, forming stagnant arms, which are here called bayous. The river itself takes extraordinary turns, and shapes out a variety of islands. We afterwards reached the confluence of the rivers Alabama and Tombigbee, where there is an island, and the country appears extremely well. Both rivers united, take the name of Mobile river.
About three miles below this junction, several wooden houses formed a group on the right bank. Formerly, there was a stockade here, Fort Stoddart, from which this collection of houses has its name. Here is the line which forms the thirty-first degree of latitude, once the boundary between the United States and the Spanish possessions. The Mobile river still increased in breadth, and as the night commenced, seemed about half a mile wide. The weather was very dark and cloudy, the pilot could not distinguish his course, and although we approached close to the city, we could proceed no farther, without exposing ourselves to danger.
Early on the 9th of January it was extremely foggy. On this account a boat was sent out to reconnoitre. The fog after some time cleared away a little, and we found ourselves so near the wharves that we immediately touched one of the piers, and landed about half past eight. We had travelled four hundred and fifty miles from Montgomery. The journey by land amounts only to two hundred and fifty-eight miles, and yet is seldom performed, on account of the want of good roads and accommodation. Being arrived at Mobile and extremely glad at having left our wretched steam-boat, in which we had enjoyed no comfort, we took up our residence in Smooth’s Hotel, a wooden building, the bar-room of which is at the same time the post-office, and therefore somewhat lively.
Mobile, an ancient Spanish town, yet still earlier occupied by the French, was ceded with Louisiana, in 1803, to the United States. The few respectable creole families, who had formerly dwelt here, left the place at the cession, and withdrew to the island of Cuba, and none but those of the lower classes remained behind. A new population was formed of the North Americans, who came here to make money. From this cause, the French as well as the Spanish language remains only among the lower classes; the better society is thoroughly American. Mobile contains five thousand inhabitants, of both complexions, of which about one thousand may be blacks. The town lies on the right bank of the Florida river, where it is divided into several arms, and has formed Mobile bay, which, thirty miles below, joins the Mexican gulf. It is regularly built, the streets are at right angles, part of them parallel with the river, the rest perpendicular to it. Along the shore is a wooden quay, and wooden piers or landing bridges project into the water, for the convenience of vessels. There are lying here about thirty ships, of which several are of four hundred tons, to be loaded with cotton. The most of them are from New York. When the ebb tide draws off the water, a quantity of filth remains uncovered on the shore, and poisons the atmosphere. This circumstance may contribute its agency to the unhealthiness of the place in summer. The shore opposite the harbour is marshy and full of cane. The town lies upon a poor sandy soil; the streets are not paved, and unpleasant from the depth of the sand. On both sides of the streets there are paths made of strong plank, which divide the walk from the cartway of the street, which will be converted into pavements when brick or stone shall have become cheaper.
The generality of the houses are of wood, covered with shingles, and have piazzas. Some new houses only, are built of brick. This article must be imported, and is not to be procured in large quantities of any quality. As an example of this, I saw a house finished, of which the two first stories were of red brick, and the third of yellow. There are also here some Spanish houses which consist of timber frames, of which the open spaces are filled up with beaten clay, like those of the German peasantry. Besides several private houses, most of the public buildings are of brick. These are, a theatre, which, besides the pit, has a row of boxes and a gallery, the bank, the court of the United States, the county court-house, the building of which was in progress, and the prison. Near this prison stood the public whipping post for negroes. It was constructed like a sash frame. The lower board on which the feet of the unfortunate being were to stand, could be pushed up or down, to accommodate the height of the individual. Upon it is a block, through which the legs are passed. The neck and arms are passed through another.
The Catholic church here is in a very miserable situation. I went into it, just at the time the church seats were publicly rented for the year to the highest bidders; two in my presence were disposed of for nineteen dollars a piece. The church within resembles a barn, it had a high altar with vessels of tin, and a picture of no value, also two little side altars.