"Nous voyons avec joie, que la partie du bill tendant à empêcher l'instruction des personnes de couleur, à été rejeté."
CHAPTER VIII
Having spent a month in Orleans and the neighbouring plantations, I took my leave and departed for Louisville. The steam-boat in which I ascended the river was of the largest description, and had then on board between fifty and sixty cabin passengers, and nearly four hundred deck passengers. The former paid thirty dollars, and the latter I believe six, on this occasion. The deckers were provided only with an unfurnished berth. The steam-boats, on their passage up and down the rivers, stop at nearly all the towns of importance, both for the purpose of landing and receiving freight, which enabled me to visit most of the settlements along the banks.
For several hundred miles from New Orleans, the trees, particularly those in the cypress swamps, are covered with tellandsea, or Spanish moss, which hangs down from the branches so thickly, as to give a most gloomy aspect to the forest. It is found to be a good substitute for horse hair, and is universally used by upholsterers for stuffing mattresses, cushions, &c. The process of preparing it is very simple: being taken from the trees, it is placed in water for a few days, until the outer pellicle has rotted; it is then dried, when a long fibre resembling horse hair is obtained.
Natchez, in the state of Mississippi, is about 300 miles above Orleans, and is the largest and wealthiest town on the river, from that city up to St. Louis. It stands on bluffs, perhaps 300 feet above the water at ordinary periods. It contains nearly 4000 inhabitants, and is decidedly the prettiest town for its dimensions in the United States. Natchez, although upwards of 400 miles from the sea, is considered a port; and a grant of 1500 dollars was made by congress for the purpose of erecting a light-house; the building has been raised, and stands there, a monument of useless expenditure. There are a number of "groggeries," stores, and other habitations, at the base of the bluffs, for the accommodation of flat-boatmen, which form a distinct town, and the place is called, in contradistinction to the city above, Natchez-under-the-hill. Swarms of unfortunate females, of every shade of colour, may be seen here sporting with the river navigators, and this little spot presents one continued scene of gaming, swearing, and rioting, from morning till night.
The ravages of the yellow fever in this town are always greater in proportion to the population than at New Orleans; and it is a remarkable fact, that frequently when the fever is raging with violence in the city on the hill, the inhabitants below are entirely free from it. In addition to the exhalations from the exposed part of the river's bed, there are others of a still more pestilential character, which arise from stagnant pools at the foot of the hill. The miasmata appear to ascend until they reach the level of the town above, where the atmosphere being less dense, and perhaps precisely of their own specific gravity, they float, and commingle with it.
The country from Baton-rouge to Vicksburg, on the walnut hills, is almost entirely devoted to the cultivation of cotton, the soil and climate being found particularly congenial to the growth of that plant. The great trade of Natchez is in this article. The investment of capital in the cultivation of cotton is extremely profitable, and a plantation judiciously managed seldom fails of producing an income, in a few years, amounting to the original outlay. Each slave is estimated to produce from 250 to 300 dollars per annum; but of course from this are to be deducted the wear and tear of the slave, and the casualties incident to human life. On sugar plantations the profit is much more on each individual; but the risk is greater, and the deaths are generally calculated at one-third of the gang in ten years: this is the cause why slaves on sugar plantations are so miserably fed and clad, for their being rendered less wretched would not make them less susceptible to the epidemic. Each acre of well-cultivated land produces from one and a half to two bales of cotton, and even the first year the produce will cover the expenses. A planter may commence with 10,000 or 12,000 dollars, and calculate on certain success; but with less capital, he must struggle hard to attain the desired object. A sugar plantation cannot be properly conducted with less than 25,000 or 30,000 dollars, and the first year produces no return. The cotton begins to ripen in the month of October—the buds open, and the flowers appear. A slave can gather from 100 to 150 lbs. a day. Rice and tobacco are also grown in the neighbourhood of the cotton lands, but of course the produce is inferior to that of the West Indies.
Occasionally, along the banks of the Mississippi, you see here and there the solitary habitation of a wood-cutter. Immense piles of wood are placed on the edge of the bank, for the supply of steam-boats, and perhaps a small corn patch may be close to the house; this however is not commonly the case, as the inhabitants depend on flat-boats for provisions. The dwelling is the rudest kind of log-house, and the outside is sometimes decorated with the skins of deer, bears, and other animals, hung up to dry. Those people are commonly afflicted with fever and ague; and I have seen many, particularly females, who had immense swellings or protuberances on their stomachs, which they denominate "ague-cakes." The Mississippi wood-cutters scrape together "considerable of dollars," but they pay dearly for it in health, and are totally cut off from the frequent frolics, political discussions, and elections; which last, especially, are a great source of amusement to the Americans, and tend to keep up that spirit of patriotism and nationality for which they are so distinguished. The excitement produced by these elections prevents the people falling into that ale-drinking stupidity, which characterizes the low English.