Part 15

My New York companions and I had out-walked the Box; but when about half-way across, the rain extinguished our torches, which were rather too slight for the service, when, as we had perceived in our course that many of the planks were unshipped or full of holes, we thought it best to halt for the coming up of our baggage.

I can never forget the effect produced by the blaze of the huge bundle of light-wood borne aloft by our Creek guide: I entirely lost sight of the discomfort of our condition in the pleasure I derived from the whole scene.

Let the reader imagine a figure dressed in a deep-yellow shirt reaching barely to the knees, the legs naked; a belt of scarlet wampum about the loins, and a crimson and dark-blue shawl twisted turban-fashion round the head; with locks of black coarse hair streaming from under this, and falling loose over the neck or face: fancy one half of such a figure lighted up by a very strong blaze, marking the nimble tread, the swart cold features, sparkling eye, and outstretched muscular arms of the red-man,--the other half, meantime, being in the blackest possible shadow: whilst following close behind, just perceptible through wreaths of thick smoke, moved the heads of the leading horses; and, over all, flashed at frequent intervals red vivid lightning; one moment breaking forth in a wide sheet, as though an overcharged cloud had burst at once asunder; the next, descending in zigzag lines, or darting through amongst the tall pines and cypress trees; whilst the quick patter of the horses' hoofs were for a time heard loudly rattling over the loose hollow planks, and then again drowned wholly by the crash of near thunder.

Never in my life have I looked upon a scene which holds so vivid a place within my memory: the savage solitude of the jungle, the violence of the storm, together with the pictorial accessories by which the whole picture was kept in movement, fixed the attention, and can never, I think, be forgotten by those who witnessed it.

Having cleared the swamp, we took our places on the Box, still lighted by our friendly Creek; and in about half an hour gained the log-house where the mail agent to whose considerate order we owed our change of vehicle, and consequent added discomfort, dwelt: here, however, a clean comfortable meal of tea, chops, fowls, and hot bread of every denomination, awaited us.

My first movement on jumping off the Box was to lay hands on the Indian guide, and to proffer to him a flask of cognac, which had proved of singular comfort to the party: to my great surprise, he at once declined tasting it; smiling and pointing his finger to his forehead, he gravely repeated half a dozen words, which a by-stander of the nation readily translated to mean,--"Whisky water make man not eat,--bad for sore head."

I agreed with this as a general rule, but at the same time begged my Creek to look on old brandy as an exception, when used medicinally; this being duly interpreted, the Indian laughed heartily, but abided by his rejection of the consolation. During our parley he took the red and blue shawl from off his head, wrung it as dry as possible, refolded it, and then adjusted his turban with infinite care, preparing forthwith to be gone: he did not depart without a slight gratuity, and took with him our best wishes. This was a fine open-countenanced fellow, middle-sized, and firmly built; he was, in fact, one of the few really good-looking aborigines I have met. As he was departing from the house, I asked if he did not require a bundle of light-wood to show him his road home; he laughed, and replied, "No, he was no waggon; no fear of him falling into the swamp."

Away he dashed into the mud at a quick trot, with bent knees and folded arms, anxious, I fancied, to appease his squaw; since it was contrary to her desire that he had ventured on this service, and not, as the coachman assured us, without receiving much abuse for his foolishness, as his "gentle ladye" termed this courtesy.

Here we learned that the mail preceding us had been overturned into a stream from off the bridge we had next to pass, and lay there yet; luckily no passenger was in it at the time: our new driver added, that he had no expectations of getting the coach through, but he was bound to try. So wearied were we, that any or all of the party would have been well contented to stay here; but no place could be given us to sleep in, and until the next coach passed, no means could be procured to forward us to Montgomery; we had no choice therefore but to push on with the mail and meet our fortune.

From this hour, midnight, until daylight, we were generally on foot; the driver in one or two instances refusing to advance until even the poor girl got out, assuring us that he would not hazard the young woman's life, however hard it was for her to face the night and the roads, frequently over knee-deep.

We had a plentiful supply of fire-wood: we were able, and, I will add, willing men; and by dint of great personal exertion, added to an excellent team, and a judicious driver, we brought the coach through all difficulties, arriving at Montgomery at six in the morning: thus completing a journey of ninety miles in thirty-two hours; and having paid well to be permitted to assist in getting the mail-bag through roads which, for the next few days, remained, I believe, utterly impassable, even under the circumstances I have here attempted to describe.

At Montgomery we found a wretched inn, with no possibility of procuring anything save liquor; but we had the good luck to learn that in a couple of hours a steam-boat was departing for Mobile, down the Alabama: we gave up the stage therefore, and sallied out of this den of a hotel for the steamer Carolina. This movement was lucky, as the stage-route to Mobile was, as I afterwards learned, as bad as the worst we had come through; all the late coaches had met with accidents, and the added rain of the last twenty-four hours would, it was presumed, render it impassable.

I was so wearied that I saw little of this place but a muddy river, whose banks were strewn with bales of cotton awaiting the means of transport. I could hardly keep my eyes open till I had swallowed my breakfast: a clean-looking berth was assigned me, and, turning in, I remained oblivious to the world and its cares until after noon of the following day, when I awoke fresh as a bird and hungry as an ostrich. I was told several attempts had been made to rouse me, but they were unavailing; I answered, but slept on: for my own part, of this twenty-four hours of life I protest utter unconsciousness. I found that I had slept faster than the boat had progressed, for we were but fifty miles off our starting-place, having a certain portion of freight to take in at each plantation, according to previous engagements.

Down this noble stream we journeyed for four days and nights; in clear weather making tolerably good way, but often compelled by thick fogs and drift timber to lay our ship alongside the forest, and make fast to some large tree. Occasionally the stream would cant our head suddenly, and, before the helm could be shifted, rush we went right stem on into the nearest grove of willows, with such a crashing and rattling as made one wonder at first what the deuce was the row. In one instance, whilst at dinner, a huge branch burst open a side door, and nearly impaled a French conjurer of celebrity on his way to New Orleans. We were nearly a hundred souls on board, and each day our limits grew more and more circumscribed; for the side galleries were filled in with bales of cotton, the windows blocked up, at last the very doorways, all but one: lights were burned in the cabin day and night: the Carolina became, in fact, a floating mass of cotton, which, had the season been dry, one unlucky spark might have set in a blaze--an accident by no means unknown; luckily, the rain continued to fall more or less daily, as is usual at this season.

Our passengers were principally composed of the planters whose cotton had already been shipped; they were a rough but merry set of fellows, and many of them exceedingly intelligent; kinder or better-disposed men I never met: for their own health's sake I could have desired to see the bar less prosperous; their visits to that quarter were over frequent: not that an instance of inebriety occurred on board, but the stimulant, together with the quantity of tobacco they use, must, I am sure, be ruinous to both health and enjoyment. I found most of them complaining of dyspepsia, but had much difficulty to induce them to admit the possibility of their own habits being at least as much the cause as the climate.

The cotton-grounds along the whole cultivated line of this river are rich beyond conception; fields of a mile square were here just picked, and yet white as snow from the after-growth. Many of them would have been worth re-picking had hands been procurable; on every side fresh clearings are going on, and the produce next season will be greatly increased in consequence of the stimulus derived from the high prices of this year.

A night scene, whilst lying beneath some of the noble bluffs towering above the river, was often worthy the delay we paid for it. One or two of these heights were two hundred feet perpendicular, or nearly so: from the summit there is laid down in a slanting direction a slide or trough of timber, wide enough to admit of the passage of a cotton bale; at the bottom of the bluff this slide rests upon a platform of loose planks, alongside of which the boat is moored; the cotton-bag is guided into the slide at top, and thence, being launched, is left to find its own way to the bottom; if it keeps the slide until it strikes the platform, communicating with the vessel by a plane inclined according to circumstances, it is carried on board by its own impetus and the spring of the planks; but it often chances that through meeting a slight inequality on the slide, or from some unknown cause, the bale bounces off in its passage, either sticking amongst the trees by the way, or rolling headlong into the river. At any jutting intermediate stand of the precipice, negroes are stationed to keep up the huge fires which afford light for the operation, as well as to forward such bales as may stick by the run: these black half-naked devils, suspended in midair as it were, laughing, yelling, or giving to each other confused directions, make the forest ring to the water's edge; whilst through this occasional din swells the wild chorus of the men upon the summit, who are regularly engaged rolling the bales from the near barn to the slide.

Add to all, the hissing sound of the spare steam, the blaze of the great fires, and the crackling of the trees which feed them, with the many strange figures presented on all sides,--and a wilder grouping imagination cannot well conceive.

At Clairborne, an elevation rising boldly from the river at least three hundred feet, we took in the last bale of cotton the Carolina could stow: the water was now level with her gunwale; indeed, amidships it was flowing over. We had still one hundred and fifty miles to perform of our journey in darkness, with upwards of a thousand bales of cotton on board: such a strange motley scene as our cabin presented at bed-time it would be hard to describe; our provisions held out pretty well however, and all were disposed good-humouredly to bear our lot with Christian patience.

Tuesday, Dec. 30th.--We reached Mobile, having come five hundred miles down the Alabama since Christmas-day. Upon inquiry for our mail, I found it was still due, as well as the two immediately preceding it; I had, therefore, lost no time by making choice of the Carolina, and had possibly escaped broken bones: the distance by land, I ought to observe, is from Montgomery only about one hundred miles.

I here was received by my friends, H----n and M----e; and on this day, at the house of the latter gentleman, once more sat down to a truly comfortable dinner, in company with our worthy Consul, and a few other gentlemen. I was detained here for two days, there being no steamer going across the lake to New Orleans: these two days were passed most delightfully, driving Mr. H----n about the beautiful forest paths which surround this city; the weather was divine, and flowers of great beauty yet in abundance.

The evening of the 31st I passed with Mrs. B----r, where in a glass of good poteen we drank a good bye to the year 1834, and a welcome to the stranger.

JOURNAL.

January 1st, 1835.--Still detained at Mobile: the sun shines powerfully, and the sky is pure and clear. After breakfast lounged about the very clean streets of this pretty city; then procured a neat turn-out, and drove Mr. H----n, he acting as pilot, as far as Choctaw Point, whence we had an extensive view of the Bay of Mobile with the south-west coast of Florida. Our way lay through a forest of pine and oak; many little rivulets crossed our path, the sides of which were decked by a hundred different shrubs and plants, from the magnificent grandiflora, here growing eighteen and twenty feet high, to the lowly rose: the vegetation is rich, winter though it is; the beauty of the spring amongst these noble woods I can only imagine at present, but hope, before I again look northward, to know more of that season.

The presence of the ghostly-looking cedar, with its funereal draperies of unwholesome moss, so common throughout Carolina and Georgia, is here unknown; the forest is a series of regular avenues pillared by the loftiest pines; and there is no undergrowth, except in little dingles through which a brook may creep its way: the rides in this vicinity are therefore most attractive. At one point during our ramble we suddenly came to an abrupt sandy hill, at whose foot ran a sparkling little rivulet, in the midst of which one of the aborigines stood in a state of nature, raising water in the hollow of a gourd, and laving with it his coal-black shining hair. As we descended, he stood erect and looked towards us, but without exhibiting the least symptom of either surprise or embarrassment: his form was light but perfectly proportioned, with small thorough-bred knees and feet; he looked like a new bronze cast from the antique: the graceful repose of the attitude he maintained during our approach was perfect. Mr. H----n asked him if he was Choctaw; he replied to the question by a slow nod of the head and a brief 'yah!'

Continuing our ride along the sea-bank, we arrived at a large establishment where oil is extracted from the seed of the cotton-plant: this is a recent discovery, and likely to prove a most profitable one to the proprietors of this mill.

In the afternoon, accompanied Mr. H----n to the northern extremity of the city, where we found broad streets already marked out: plunging deep into the forest, many scattered houses of brick were springing up on sites where barely trees enough had been cut down to afford elbow-room for the builders.

January 2nd.--Quitted Mobile on the box of the mail for Portersville: our way lay over Spring Hill and through the Pine-barren; the road was a track cleared by the woodman's axe; the stumps were not as yet macadamized by time, still the horses picked their way amongst them at a very fair pace. At a single log-house, situated about mid-way, we pulled up to change horses; here too I perceived, by the array of a table placed in the open hall, dinner was provided. On my asking the landlord, who was a countryman, how soon dinner would be ready, he replied with a friendly confidential air, "Almost immediately, but unless you're cruel sharp-set, I'd recommend you not to mind it, sir."