T860, 861] SHELL BANKS AND HOMMOCKS. 383 



the beach is occupied by the " Pitch Pine " and Live Oak ; and level pine woods 

 (of Long-leaf Pine), with wet spots characterized by the Pitcher-plant (Sarra- 

 cenia variolar is), and yellow star-grass (Atelris aurca) form the back ground 

 at no great distance. Such, also, is the aspect of the country passed over in 

 traveling from Shieldsboro' to the mouth of Pearl Paver, and to Pearlington. 



Shell banks and hommocks (H"833; 851), occur, to ajlarge extent, on the 

 western shore of the inner Bay St. Louis, inland from Shieldsboro'. The shells 

 (chiefly the "clam", or Gnathodon) have been used in the improvement of the 

 (extremely sandy) streets at Pass Christian ; and the " shell roads " thus made 

 are exceedingly pleasant to the traveler who has been obliged thus far, to jog 

 along at the rate of a mile and a half an hour, in the deep sand of the " hom- 

 mocks." I have not as yet personally visited these shell deposits. 



Thereafter, we meet with no more shell banks or hommocks, up to the mouth 

 of Pearl River ; there, on the Sea Island Cotton plantations of Col. Claiborne 

 and Maj. A. Jackson, we find several extensive deposits — the last, in this 

 direction, in the State of Mississippi. 



860. An exception to the general character of the sand "hommocks " of this 

 region, occurs at Col. J. F. H. Claiborne's residence, at the extreme west end of 

 Shieldsboro', five miles from the Point. The hommock land on which Col. 

 Claiborne's residence is situated, resembles a good deal that of the Pascagoula 

 shell hommocks, although no shells are found there. The light, "mulatto" 

 colored soil scarcely changes for about ten inches from the surface ; then its 

 color gradually becomes paler ; the subsoil is very sandy, so that it is advisable 

 not to plow too deep (1T510). At two and a half to three feet, there underlies 

 a yellow hardpan, which at times passes into a pretty heavy clay, which has 

 been used to advantage in making brick. It lies too deep to be reached by the 

 plow. The same material crops out on the beach, forming a steep bank some 

 five feet high. This is another of the " clay ridges " reaching down to the shore. 



This hommock land produces corn finely— -forty bushels to the acre — and is a 

 warm, generous soil, easily tilled. Its growth is mainly Sweet Gum and Mag- 

 nolia, with Oaks, viz : the Live Oak, Spanish (" Red "), Water and Laurel-leaved 

 Oak ; Pitch Pine, Hickory, "Cassina", Stagdiorn Sumach, Persimmon, Spanish 

 Mulberry, Wild Plum, and Grape vines. This growth, it will be observed, is 

 almost identical with that of the Pascagoula "Shell hommocks" (if 833), as 

 well as the river hommock at Dwyer's ferry (1[819). Patches of hommock land 

 somewhat similar occur near the heads of Mulatto Bayou, e. g., at Maj. White's 

 plantation; it is, however, underlaid by stiff gray clay at about three feet. 



Between Shieldsboro' and the mouth of Pearl River, the coast is mostly low, 

 and a great deal of it taken up with marshes, usually of the " Round Rush " 

 character. 



801. The Sea Island Cotton Plantations. — The rich " horn- 

 mocks " which form the soil of these plantations, are situated at 

 the south-eastern border of the great Pearl River marsh on Mulatto 



Bayou. They comprise, on the whole, an area of about acres, 



and are bounded by the level pine woods on one side, and by the 

 marsh or the Bayou on the other, forming a belt one-third of a 

 mile on an average, and elevated six to ten feet above the marsh. 

 The soil is very light and easily worked, of a dark " mulatto " 

 color ; its aspect does not vary sensibly for eighteen to twenty 

 inches, at which depth there underlies a pale yellow sand. It 

 bears a magnificent growth of Magnolia, the latter being almost 

 the predominant tree ; next to it Sweet Gum, Bay, Live Oak, 

 Spanish ( u Red"), White and Laurel-leaved Oaks ; Ironwood, Sas- 

 safras, Hickory, and the Pitch or Bottom Pine, sparingly ; French 



