214 VICKSBURG TO MEMPHIS. [CHAP. XXXII. 



population are slaves, I felt more surprise that 

 English capitalists had lent so much money to Mis 

 sissippi, than that they had repented of it. At the 

 same time there is more hope for the future, for edu 

 cation must come. 



The town of Vicksburg is beautifully situated on 

 the slope of a wooded blufE, about 180 feet high, and 

 walks might be made, commanding the river, which 

 would be delightful. At present no one can roam 

 along the paths in the suburbs, as they are disgrace 

 fully filthy.* 



We took our passage in the Andrew Jackson 

 steamer, from Vicksburg to Memphis, a distance of 

 390 miles, and paid only six dollars each (25 shil 

 lings), board and lodging included. The monotony 

 of the scenery on the great river for several hun 

 dred miles together, is such as to grow wearisome. 

 Scarcely any vessels with sails are seen, all the old 

 schooners and smaller craft having been superseded by 

 the great steam-ships. The traveller becomes tired 

 of always seeing a caving bank on one side, and an 

 advancing sand-bar, covered with willows and pop 

 lars, on the other ; the successive growths of young 

 trees rising to greater heights, one tier above another, 

 as before described, below New Orleans. The water, 

 at this season, is too turbid to reflect the sky or the 

 trees on its bank. The aspect of things, day after day, 

 is so exactly similar, that it might seem as necessary 



* For observations on the Geology of Jackson and Vicks 

 burg, see a paper by the Author, Journ. of Geol. Soc. London 

 vol. iv. p. 15. 1847, and Silliman s Journal, Second Series, vol. 

 iv. p. 18G. Sept. 1847. 



