1819,820,821] oula bottom. 369 



which bears th ion found on all the " Pine Meadows " further south, 



tag from that heretofore seen on these lands, in the presence of the singu- 

 lar I ' (which though a grass, seems to hear large white 

 flowers, the petals of which are tipped with light green awns), and the "Wced- 



,) with its panicles of golden yellow flowers 



oped in white woolly furze. For the rest, the ; ilants, long-leaved 



Sundew, bright-colored <> and the Cord-rushes crowned with their 



white buttons, with the n jGallberry, form the hulk of the vegetation. 



819. In traveling from Red Greek ferry to Dwyer's ferry on the Pascagoula 

 River, by the ,; river road'', we pass almost entirely through Pine Hills of the 

 same character as those seen near Pairley's ferry. A belt of this hilly pine 

 land, about 3 miles wide, generally skirts the river bottom, thus intervening 



lowlands; the latter, however, extend 

 closer to the riv bottoms. 



At Dwyer's ferry (* , the hills on the right hand bank fall 



off steeply towards the river; and the portion immediately contiguous to the 

 bottom, so> if a mile inland, is very fertile, but unfortunately 



very much broken. The soil is of a chocolate color, and very light ; resemb- 

 ling closely that of the sea-coast "hommocks", as also does its growth ; at the 

 depth of about G inches, it becomes of a paler tint and more sandy, so that sub- 

 soiling would he unadvisable. It bears a vigorous growth of timber viz : Post, 

 Spanish (" Bed"), White, Willow.and Red ("Black") Oaks; Bottom White 

 Pine, Cucumber-tree, Sorrel-tree, Dogwood, Hickory, Stag-horn Sumach, 

 Black Gum, also Grape-vines and Green-briers (Smilax) ; on the hillsides, the 

 Magnolia is common. — This soil is very productive, and lasts pretty well. As 

 we recede from the bottom, the Long-leaf Pine gradually mingles with the other 

 growth, and by degrees the rich hommock soil passes into that of the Pine Hills. 



But few of the settlers in this region raise corn enough to supply their wants, 

 and those who do so, generally cultivate the river bottom, on the opposite side, 

 Mr. Bryan C. Rice, an intelligent planter of this neighborhood, informed me 

 that the character of the bottom here is very similar to what I found it at Fair- 

 ley's, and of an equal width. He finds the soil productive, but it is to some 

 extent subject to the inconveniences before mentioned (1[809). 



820. The outcrop of the tertiary, gray, lignito-gypseous clays, which forms 

 a high, abrupt bluff, a few hundred yards below the ferry, has already been 

 described in the Geological Report (11246). It is probable that some portions of 

 the material forming this bluff might be profitably employed as marls for the 

 sandy hommocks which they underlie ; a question which must be decided by 

 analysis. The locality is an interesting one, both as being, so far as known, the 

 outcrop furthest south of the tertiary strata of the Grand Gulf Age (1230) ; 

 and still further, as proving the cause of the stagnation of the water in the 

 upland " Pine Meadows". These lands, although extremely sandy in them- 

 selves, can drain off the rain water but very slowly, because the impervious 

 clays of the Tertiary, which underlie at no great depth, prevent the percolation 

 of the water in a vertical direction ; and the fall being very slight, it takes a 

 great while to drain sideways. 



821. Passing on from Dwyer's ferry towards Pascagoula, we recede from 

 the river and soon strike the " meadow lands " (If818), again. These are here 

 somewhat undulating, and distinctly divided into upland and lowland, the latter 

 being the sandy bogs with a growth of lank, dwarfish pine, some cypress, and 

 Pitcher-plant (Sarracenia), the long-leaved Sundew, the larger species of Cord- 

 rush (Eriocaulon decangulare) the Dichromem, the yellow Star-grass (Aletris au- 

 rea), etc. ; while the uplands bear a growth of sturdier pine, and the ground is 

 covered with a grassy sward, formed chiefly by the smaller species of Cord-rush 

 (Eriocaulon villosum), Xyris, and the white Star-grass (Aletris farinosa) ; the 

 Gallberry, and stunted bushes of the Carolina Wax-myrtle (Myricacarolinensis) 

 form the undergrowth. The soil of these lowlands is scarcely anything more 



R— 24 



