During the last summer, business in Natches was dull. But the constant arrival of boats from up and down the river, gave an active appearance to the place. The profits attending the business of steam boats upon the western rivers are almost beyond belief; but the competition arising from this circumstance is daily lessening them. The steam boats move with so much velocity, even up the river, that the expenses of a trip are not great, whilst the freight of goods, and the price of passage are very high.
I think there can be no doubt, that foreign goods will for the future, be transported from New-Orleans to the settlements above, in steam boats, instead of proceeding down the rivers from the east and south. Although the western rivers present a dangerous navigation to steam boats, yet they may be very profitably employed, even after paying a reasonable premium for insurance, and reducing the price of freight thirty per cent.
[219] After remaining at Natches two or three days, I progressed towards New-Orleans. About sixty miles below the former are Loftus’ Heights, and just below these, stands Fort Adams.[[196]] Not far from the fort, the country becomes in some measure settled; and for about one hundred miles above New-Orleans, both banks of the river are under a high state of cultivation. The country continues thus cultivated for twenty miles below the city. The plantations within these limits are superb beyond description. Some of them resemble villages. The dwelling houses of the planters are not inferior to any in the United States, either with respect to size, architecture, or the manner in which they are furnished. The gardens, and yards contiguous to them, are formed and decorated with much taste. The cotton, sugar, and ware houses are very large, and the buildings for the slaves are well finished. The latter buildings are, in some cases, forty or fifty in number, and each of them will accommodate ten or twelve persons. The plantations are very extensive, and on some of them there are hundreds of negroes. The planters here derive immense profits from the cultivation of their estates. The yearly income from them is from 20,000 to 30,000 dollars. Their produce is sent down to the New-Orleans market, at which place prompt payment in specie is immediately realized. At Natches and New-Orleans, gold and silver are as plenty in the market as any other article. Some of the noted plantations above mentioned are those of Balay, Arnold, Baronge, and Forteus.
The plantations on the Mississippi produce vast quantities of sugar and cotton. The latter article grows in pods, upon a stalk; and the appearance of the latter is not much unlike that of the bean. These pods, when ripe, open; and the cotton is then [220] gathered from the stalk, and separated from the seeds by a machine which will clean 1000 pounds in a day. An acre of land will yield about 800 pounds.
Cotton is sewed in drills about eight feet apart. The seed is thrown in thick; and after they spring, the stalks are thinned so as to make them eighteen inches apart. They are then weeded, and the earth taken from the upper roots, so as to leave them bare. A few weeks after this process, the earth is hoed up to the stalk, and the roots covered. Then there is a third hoeing like the second. If the ground is well prepared, and the growth favourable, the rows of cotton, when fully grown, will nearly meet each other.
The sugar cane is a jointed stalk, not unlike that of corn; and it grows from three to seven feet in length, and from one half inch to an inch in diameter. It is pithy, like the corn stalk, and affords a copious supply of juice. No sweet is less cloying, and no vegetable substance so nutritious as the sugar cane.
Sugar is cultivated by cuttings, set two inches from each other, in drills eight feet apart. Each cutting possesses one joint; and one setting answers for two years. In getting in the harvest the first year, the stalks are cut within about eight inches of the ground. In the production of sugar, the stalks are passed end ways through smooth brass nuts, and the juice thus extracted is boiled down to a thick syrup. It is then put into other vessels, and as it becomes cool, it forms into small grains, and thus becomes sugar. Molasses is produced from the drainings of the sugar; and after this process there is another by distillation; and here rum is obtained. The sugar and molasses of New-Orleans are celebrated for their excellence.
[221] Most of the planters on the lower parts of the Mississippi are French; and there are in New-Orleans, and on other parts of the river many French people, who have, since the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty, emigrated thither from France. Many of them are very interesting characters.
Before reaching Natches, I had travelled considerably in the state of Louisiana, on the west side of the river; but there is nothing here to distinguish it from the lower part of the Missouri Territory.
The old line of demarcation, between the United States and Florida, is about sixty miles below Natches. At Point Coupe on the right side of the river, there are many elegant dwelling houses, and they are superbly furnished.[[197]] At the front and back of the houses, there are piazzas, and the doors and windows extend to the floor. In summer the former are removed, and their place supplied with duck, which excludes the sun, and, by its motion, creates air. In the front yards are many ornamental trees, and the yards back of the houses are filled with a great variety of domestic fowls. Here one almost supposes himself in the West-Indies.