CHAPTER XXXII. 



Natchez. Vidalia and Lake Concordia. Hibernation of Alligator. 

 Bonfire on Floating Raft. Grand Gulf. Magnolia Steamer. Vicksburg 

 to Jackson (Mississippi) by Railway. Fossils on Pearl River. Ordinary 

 at Jackson. Story of Transfer of State-House from Natchez. Vote by 

 Ballot. Popular Election of Judges. Voyage from Vicksburg to Mem 

 phis. Monotony of River Scenery. Squall of Wind. Actors on Board. 

 Negro mistaken for White. Manners in the Backwoods. Inquisitive- 

 ness. Spoiled Children. Equality and Leveling. Silence of English 

 Newspapers on Oregon Question. 



March 15, 1846. FROM Natchez we crossed the river, by 

 the ferry, to Vidalia, situated on the low river plain, on a level 

 with the base of the bluffs before described. We were accompa 

 nied by Mr. Davis, a large proprietor, who took us to see his 

 negro-houses, all neatly built and well whitewashed. Even in 

 this cursory view we could perceive how much the comfort and 

 bodily wants of the slaves had been attended to. We had now 

 left the country where sugar and cotton are the staple products, 

 and had just entered the region where cotton and Indian corn 

 are cultivated together. Here, as in Louisiana, the negroes 

 constitute half, and sometir^s more than half, the population on 

 the borders of the Mississippi. 



At Vidalia we were joined by Mr. Forshey, the engineer, 

 who went with us to Lake Concordia, a fine example of an old 

 bend of the Mississippi, recently detached and converted into a 

 crescent-shaped lake, surrounded by wood. It is a fine sheet of 

 water, fifteen miles long, if measured by a curved line drawn 

 through the middle. The old levee, or embankment, is still 

 seen ; but it is no longer necessary to keep it in repair, for, a 

 few years ago, the channel which once connected this bend with 

 the main river was silted up. Opposite Natchez the depth of 

 the Mississippi varies from 100 feet to 150 feet, but Lake Con 

 cordia has nowhere a greater depth than 40 feet. There are 



