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NATCHEZ IN 1820. 



One clear frosty morning in December I approached in my flat-boat 

 the City of Natchez. The shores were crowded with boats of various 

 kinds, laden with the produce of the western country ; and there was a 

 bustle about them, such as you might see at a general fair, each person 

 being intent on securing the advantage of a good market. Yet the scene 

 was far from being altogether pleasing, for I was yet " under the hill ;■"■ 

 but on removing from the lower town, I beheld the cliffs on which the 

 city, properly so called, has been built. Vultures unnumbered flew close 

 along the ground on expanded pinions, searching for food ; large pines 

 and superb magnolias here and there raised their evergreen tops toward 

 the skies ; while on the opposite shores of the Mississippi, vast alluvial 

 beds stretched along, and the view terminated with the dense forest. 

 Steamers moved rapidly on the broad waters of the great stream ; the 

 sunbeams fell with a peculiarly pleasant efifect on the distant objects ; and 

 as I watched the motions of the White-headed Eagle while pursuing the 

 Fishing Hawk, I thought of the wonderful ways of that Power to whom 

 I too owe my existence. 



Before reaching the land I had observed that several saw-mills were 

 placed on ditches or narrow canals, along which the water rushed from 

 the inner swamps towards the river, and by which the timber is conveyed 

 to the shore ; and on inquiring afterwards, I found that one of those tem- 

 porary establishments had produced a net profit of upwards of six thou- 

 sand dollars in a single season. 



There is much romantic scenery about Natchez. The Lower Town 

 forms a most remarkable contrast with the Upper, for in the former the 

 houses were not regularly built, being generally dwellings formed of the 

 abandoned flat boats, placed in rows as if with the view of forming a long 

 street. The inhabitants formed a medley which it is beyond my power 

 to describe ; hundreds of laden carts and other vehicles jogged along the 

 declivity between the two towns ; but when, by a very rude causeway, I 

 gained the summit, I was relieved by the sight of an avenue of those 

 beautiful trees called here the Pride of China. In the Upper Town I 

 found the streets all laid ort" at right angles to each other, and tolerably 

 well lined with buildings, constructed with painted bricks or boards. 



