CHAP. XXV.] BLUFF OF ST. STEPHEN S. 77 



cession of rocks on the Alabama River with those of the same 

 date in England. If there were no fossils, he might suppose the 

 lower cretaceous beds of loose gravel to be the newest tertiary, 

 the main body of the chalk to be lias, and the soft limestone of 

 St. Stephen s, which is tertiary, to be the representative of chalk. 

 When I arrived at the last-mentioned rock, or the white calca 

 reous bluff of St. Stephen s, it was quite dark, but Captain 

 Lavargy, who commanded the vessel, was determined I should 

 not be disappointed. He therefore said he would stop and take 

 in a supply of wood at the place, and gave me a boat, with two 

 negroes amply provided with torches of pine wood, which gave so 

 much light that I was able to explore the cliff from one end to 

 the other, and to collect many fossils. The bluff was more than 

 100 feet high, and in parts formed of an aggregate of corals 

 resembling nummulites, but called, by A. D Orbigny. orbitoides. 



I had seen the same &quot; orbitoidal&quot; limestone in the interior of 

 Clarke County, forming knolls, on which many cedars or junipers 

 were growing, reminding me greatly of parts of the English South 

 Downs, covered with yew trees or juniper, where the pure cal 

 careous soil of the chalk reaches the surface. 



When I looked down from the top of the precipice at St. Ste 

 phen s, the scene which presented itself was most picturesque. 

 Near us was the great steamboat, throwing off a dense column 

 of white vapor, and an active body of negroes throwing logs on 

 board by torch-light. One of my companions had clambered 

 with me, torch in hand, to the top of the bluff; the other was 

 amusing himself in the boat below by holding another blazing 

 torch under large festoons of Spanish moss, which hung from the 

 boughs of a huge plane tree. These mossy streamers had at 

 length been so dried up by the heat, that they took fire, and add 

 ed to the brilliant illumination. My fellow passengers were asleep 

 during this transaction, but congratulated me the next morning 

 on having had the command of the vessel during the night. 



On board the steamer were three gentlemen of respectable 

 families and good standing in society, who had been ruined by 

 their drunken habits. They had all been brought up to the bar, 

 and two of them were married. One had become quite imbe- 



