20 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



At the request of ladies who had attended his 

 lectures, he sat for a full-length portrait, which was 

 painted with skill by an English artist, Mr. Wilson. 



On concluding his course, Mr. Silliman repaired 

 to Mobile, where he also gave a series of lectures on 

 geology, which were received with the favor that 

 attended him throughout his Southern tour. 



Returning to New Orleans, he ascended the Mis 

 sissippi, stopping at Natchez, where he gave a brief 

 geological course, and also at Rodney, about twenty 

 miles above Natchez, the residence of Mr. John 

 Murdock, a graduate of Yale College. He had the 

 opportunity, in the company of this gentleman, to 

 inspect one of his plantations. 



April 8, Tuesday. We went with Mr. Murdock to see 

 one of his plantations, and to observe the culture of cotton 

 and the management of the slaves, of whom there are here 

 more than two hundred, but only one hundred of them are 

 available for plantation work. We saw a woman holding a 

 plough drawn by a pair of mules ; she was covered by a 

 long robe, but had a disconsolate look which is often visible 

 in those who are of sufficient age to realize their condition. 

 I observed the same fact among the domestic slaves * in my 

 father's house. The adults were sometimes sorrowful or 

 sullen, while the children were bright and playful. From my 

 observations on slavery, which I have now seen in all the 

 old Slave States, that is, in all those in which it existed on 

 a considerable scale, I do not think more favorably of it 

 than before. Many proprietors, however, treat their slaves 

 with as much lenity as is consistent with coerced bondage, 

 and Mr. Murdock appears to be a kind master. I am told 

 that he himself solemnizes the marriages of his people, 



* Slavery then, soon after the Revolution, existed in many families of New 

 England, New York, and other States, from which it was early banished. 



