46 SHIPPING COTTON AT BLUFFS. [Cn^p. XXIII. 



from the river-water, it is done by a loud and protracted discharge 

 of steam, which reminded us of the frightful noise made by the 

 steam gun exhibited at the Adelaide Gallery in London. Were 

 it not for the power derived from the high-pressure principle, of 

 blowing out from the boilers the deposit collected in them, the 

 muddiness of the American rivers would soon clog the machinery. 

 Every stranger who has heard of fatal accidents by the bursting 

 of boilers believes, the first time he hears this tremendous noise, 

 that it is all over with him, and is surprised to see that his com 

 panions evince no alarm. Habit soon reconciled us to the sound ; 

 and I was amused afterward to observe that the \vild birds 

 perched on the trees which overhung the river, looked on with 

 indifference while the paddle-wheels were splashing in the water, 

 and the steam-pipes puffing and gasping loud enough to be heard 

 many miles off. 



After we had been on board a great part of the day, \ve at 

 length got under weigh in the afternoon ; but what was my sur 

 prise when I actually discovered that we were ascending the 

 stream instead of sailing down toward Mobile. On asking the 

 meaning of this proceeding, the mate told me, very coolly, that 

 the captain had just heard of some cotton ready for exportation 

 some miles above Montgomery. To this higher landing we re 

 paired ; but news being sent that a rival steamboat was making 

 her way up the river, the Amaranth set off down stream in good 

 earnest, moving by aid of her powerful engines and the force of 

 the mid-current with such velocity, that I could readily believe 

 that 800 miles by river was shorter than 100 by land. 



The pilot put into my hands a list of the landings on the Ala 

 bama River from Wetumpka to Mobile, no less than 200 of them 

 in a distance of 434 miles. A small part only of these consisted 

 of bluffs, or those points where the high land comes up to the 

 river s edge in other words, where there is no alluvial plain be 

 tween the great stream and the higher country. These spots, 

 being the only ones not liable to inundation, and which can there 

 fore serve as inland ports when the river is full, or when the 

 largest boats can sail up and down, are of great importance in 

 the inland navigation of the country. A proprietor whose farm 



