144 INDIANA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS 



chitto River, by a very good ferry, where was once a 

 bridge, and in fact is now, over a part of the swamp, 

 which is traversed by a causeway some two miles long, 

 from four to ten feet high, which will go to show some of 

 the difficulties of bridging streams here, and an as item 

 of excuse for the great neglect of the people to keep the 

 roads passable. Though the excuse is by no means suffi- 

 cient. For a few miles further on, I encountered another 

 stream, called Buffalo Creek, where a new bridge was 

 building, which I suppose was sufficient excuse for hav- 

 ing no ferry — the boat formerly here having been sunk 

 months ago. From the late, almost incessant rains, the 

 creek was sending an angry flood of muddy water fifteen 

 or eighteen feet deep, to give its aid toward extending 

 the lands of Louisiana across the gulf of Mexico, and pre- 

 senting to several travellers on the other side, almost as 

 insurmountable a barrier as would the gulf itself. I 

 found at the place a small "dug out," and several negroes, 

 to whom I gave a couple of dollars, (of course they 

 wanted five,) to assist me in taking my carriage apart 

 and carrying it over a piece at a time ; and baggage, har- 

 ness, and self in the same way, and then swimming the 

 horses over. Streams are very numerous and bridges 

 few, and ferries almost always exorbitant in charges 

 and often very badly kept. I have often paid 50 cents to 

 $1 for toll over streams not twice as wide as some of the 

 cotton teams are long. Tavern bills, too, are outrageously 

 high, and the fare outrageously low; but of the hospi- 

 tality of planters, and kindness with which I have been 

 treated, without a single exception, I cannot speak high 

 enough. Such a reception as I met with upon a late ar- 

 rival, at the house of Mr. Horatio Smith, near Woodville, 

 is almost sufficient to make one forget such little items as 

 the troublesome passage of Buffalo Creek. 



Of all the numerous and curious gullys I have yet seen 

 in this curious country, one passed to-day, (December 

 8th,) north of Woodville, is perhaps the most so. The 

 road for more than half a mile traverses a mere ridge, 



