SOLON ROBINSON, 1851 465 



such other out buildings as can be crowded upon a little 

 mound of about a quarter of an acre rising out of the 

 overflowed swamp, serving for a ferry and steamboat 

 landing for a great extent of country. A delightful sum- 

 mer residence it must be for the full enjoyment of hunt- 

 ing aligators, fighting mosquitos, and shaking off the 

 ague. 



It was my intention to visit Mariana, and return here 

 to take a boat up to Columbus; but finding some ladies 

 and gentlemen who had been waiting five days, I de- 

 termined to join them upon the very first, which luckily 

 arrived a few hours after I did. As I had no desire to 

 risk so long a waiting upon such circumscribed limits, I 

 hope my friends in Mariana will accept this as my excuse 

 for not keeping my engagements. 



The cotton lands upon the lower part of the Chatta- 

 hoochee River are broad and low, and subject to inunda- 

 tion every year. A few miles above Flint River, on the 

 west branch, there is one small, rocky point which is al- 

 most the only one above high water to be seen in a whole 

 day's sailing. 



Fehrtutry 22>d was like a balmy May day; the early 

 trees along the river as green as summer, while azalias 

 and jasmine flowers lent a delightful fragrance to the 

 air as we wound along the rich alluvial shores, a great 

 portion of which are still in forest; for, notwithstanding 

 the temptation of the rich harvests this soil yields, with 

 little preparation and cultivation, the miasma is as 

 abundant as any other product. 



We left the low bottoms at close of day, and during the 

 night, passed Fort Gaines and Eufaula, where the clay 

 bank rises 160 feet, a considerable portion of it perpen- 

 dicular from the water. Warehouses with unbearded 

 sides, ten or twelve stories high [?] built in the side of 

 these bluffs, present a singular appearance, when lighted 

 up by the glare of half a dozen brilliant light-wood 

 torches that are flashing a glad welcome to the approach- 

 ing steamer, in the hands of that ever- joyous set of be- 



