88 FIRE AT MOBILE. [CHAP. XXVI. 



great is the anxiety of those who then remain in the city. It is 

 fearful to witness the struggle between the love of gain, tempting 

 the merchant to continue at his post, and the terror of the plague, 

 which causes him to stand always prepared for sudden flight. 

 In 1839, such was the dismay, that only 3000 out of a popula 

 tion of 16,000 tarried behind in the city. Dr. Hamilton, one 

 of those who staid, told me that he knew not a single family, a 

 member of which was not attacked by the disease. Out of the 

 3000, 800 died. All the clergy remained faithful to their duties, 

 and many of them perished. 



The yellow fever is not the only scourge which has frequently 

 devastated Mobile. I found it slowly recovering, like so many 

 other American cities, from the ravages of a great fire, which, in 

 1839, laid the greater part of it in ashes. The fire broke out 

 in so many places at once, as to give too much reason to suspect 

 that it was the work of incendiaries seeking plunder. 



Feb. 23. The distance from Mobile to New Orleans is 175 

 miles by what is called the inland passage, or the channel be 

 tween the islands and the main land. We paid five dollars, or 

 one guinea each, for berths in the &quot; James L. Day&quot; steamer, 

 which made about nine miles an hour. Being on the low pres 

 sure principle, she was so free from noise and vibration, that we 

 could scarcely believe we were not in a sailing vessel. The 

 stunning sounds and tremulous motions of the boats on the south 

 ern rivers are at first so distracting, that I often wondered we 

 could sleep soundly in them. The &quot; James L. Day&quot; is 185 feet 

 long, drawing now five and a half feet water, and only seven feet 

 when fully freighted. We sailed out of the beautiful bay of 

 Mobile in the evening, in the coldest month of the year, yet the 

 air was warm, and there was a haze like that of a summer s 

 evening in England. Many gulls followed our ship, enticed by 

 pieces of bread thrown out to them by the passengers, some of 

 whom were displaying their skill in shooting the birds in mere 

 wantonness. The stars were brilliant as the night came on, and 

 we passed between the islands and main land, where the sea was 

 as smooth as a lake. 



On board were many &quot; movers,&quot; going to Texas with their 



