112 Harper: TRIP ON WARRIOR AND TOMBIGBEE RIVERS 
composition, and in the country away from the river by their 
characteristic topography and vegetation. The Eocene, which 
begins at Moscow Bluff on the Tombigbee, about 15 miles below 
Demopolis and just above the upper mouth of Sucarnochee Creek 
in Sumter County, has numerous subdivisions, which are not so 
easily recognized by one who is not a paleontologist, and there- 
fore scarcely need to be mentioned here. Details concerning 
them can be found in the geological reports cited above. 
Except for the locks already mentioned, civilization has not 
done much damage along the banks of these rivers. The highest 
bluffs are not cultivated because of their difficulty of access, and 
the lowest banks because of their liability to inundation, so that 
such places are generally pretty well wooded. The cultivated 
fields visible from a boat are mostly in the “second bottoms,” 
just above the reach of floods. And such locations are not con- 
sidered very healthy to live in, consequently not many houses are 
to be seen. Cotton warehouses, with inclined tracks leading 
down to the water, are frequent on the bluffs of the lower 
Tombigbee, but rare or absent on the Warrior, probably largely 
because there navigation has hitherto been almost impossible in 
the fall, which is the cotton season. Lumbering has apparently 
not been carried on much in the region we traversed, probably 
because the prevailing trees near the river are hardwoods and 
short-leaf pines, for which there is not much demand. Long-leaf 
pine, the most important tree in Alabama, seldom grows on river- 
banks, but after we came within its range (which was not until the 
second week) we passed several wood landings and even a few 
logging railroads, by means of which the trunks of this noble tree 
were being hauled down from the uplands and embarked on their 
voyage to the seaport sawmills. Cypress, the most important river- 
bank tree of the coastal plain, probably never was very abundant 
along our route, for the banks are in most places too steep for it. 
Having sketched the main geographical features of the river, 
we are now ready to consider in some detail the vegetation along 
its banks. While the boat was moving I wrote down the names 
of all the species I could identity, starting anew after every recog- 
nizable landing, bluff, creek, etc. As we usually kept near the 
middle of the river, and no one had thought to bring along a field- 
