1826, 827, 828] pine meadows. 371 



becomes tiresome, and in the spring season, the team goes splashing along, with 

 the wheels deep in mud, which fortunately is not very tough. One is much 

 tempted at times to leave the miry road and travel on what seems to be a solid 

 greensward ; but the experiment is often dearly paid for, the false soil giving 

 way under the feet of the stock, bogging them up to their bellies where the 

 ground seemed most secure. 



826. At long intervals, the uniformity of the landscape is broken by small 

 thickets of the Bay, skirting shallow depressions, through which the coffee- 

 colored waters of the region slowly make their way into larger channels, like 

 that of Little Bluff Creek. Here, where two very gradual slopes from the 

 surrounding plain meet, the waters have excavated deep, narrow channels, 

 which ai*c, however, continually shifting in consequence of the accumulation of 

 sand in them. Fording these creeks during a wet season, is therefore often 

 dangerous, the more so as even an attentive observer is liable to be grossly 

 deceived as to the depth of the brown, but perfectly clear water. Where he 

 expects to find it ankle-deep, he will suddenly find himself immersed up to the 

 hips, and perhaps sinking in quicksands besides. The splendid trout which 

 inhabit these waters, will often seem to be within easy grasp, when the full 

 length of the arm falls short by several feet of reaching them. — Like the waters 

 of the fiatwoods of N. E. Mississippi, these streams rise and fall very slowly, 

 and the traveler, when once water-bound, is likely to have his patience put to 

 the test. 



Lower down, the water-courses are bordered by low hills, on which the Pine 

 grows larger than on the plain above, and the same improvement gradually 

 becomes sensible as we approach the Pascagoula River. The timber, however, 

 is very poor at best, and fit for little else than coal-burning ; which is, I believe, 

 the chief use thus far made of it, especially nearer the coast, where tracts of 

 several sections are frequently found stripped of all their timber, for the sake of 

 coal. 



827. So far as I have learned, the description just given of the 

 lands on Bluff Creek, applies with more or less accuracy to most 

 of the lands lying south of Red Creek and east of Biloxi River, 

 always excepting those lying within about h to one mile of the 

 coast. The lands bordering on the water-courses (or Bayous, as 

 they are generally termed in the coast region), are usually of a 

 better quality and are cultivated profitably ; their timber also, has 

 been of considerable value, but greatly reduced already by cutting, 

 so that it is rather the refuse, lank and thin which now occupies 

 these tracts. But so soon as we recede from the main stream, the 

 meadow lands set in, partly of the character of those south of 

 Big Bluff Creek, partly such as have been described as lying 

 between Big Bluff and Red Creek (1817 to 823). 



828. But one specimen of the soils of this region has as yet been analyzed. 

 It was taken in T. 6, R. 7 W., a few miles south of Little Bluff Creek, in 

 "meadow" lands now used as pastures and timbered with the stunted pine 

 growth before described ; the ground being covered with a dense turf of small 

 sedge-grasses, the smaller Cord-rush (Eriocaulon villosum), small Xyris, and 

 short-leaved Sundew (Drosera hrevifolia). For about 12 inches, the soil is 

 uniform, of a gray color, very sandy ; lower down, pale yellow sand, drenched 

 with water. 



Depth : Twelve inches. 



The soil, saturated with moisture at 71.2 deg. Fahr., lost 1.870 per cent, of 

 water at 400 deg. ; dried at which temperature it consisted of : 



