m 



The distance from Franklin to a point on Bayou Portage, as far 

 Ifl it is accessible on horseback, is about three miles. It is seven 

 miles from Bayou Portage to Bed Fish Point, immediately on the 

 Gulf of Mexico, which, on account of the impassable sea marshes, 

 is inapproachable by land, in all the Attakapas country, and can 

 only be reached in skill- through the bayous which wind through 

 the marshy lowlands, overgrown with rank vegetation, and entirely 

 covered with water during the rainy season. I passed through 

 -trips of timber land, principally live oak, water oak and locust, 

 and here the dwarf palmetto (Sabal Adansonii) attains a consider- 

 able height, and, if I am permitted to use the expression, forms the 

 undergrowth of these forest wilds, with the ever present long moss 

 hanging from the tree branches in long, festoons, which gives to the 

 scenery a semi-tropical appearance; and were it not for the musqui- 

 toes and sand fliea which reign supremely in these parts, the lover 

 of nature might enjoy for a short time the solemn stillness of the 

 solitude, where nothing is seen but the canopy of heaven, the bright 

 green foliage of the trees, brought into relief by the ashy gray of 

 the long moss, the ian-Hke leaves of the palmetto, and the calm, 

 still waters of the Port a- e. The edge of the sea marsh which 

 forms a timberless marsh prairie, is grown up with marsh grasses 

 and rushes, and affords valuable pasture ground for stock; and 

 stock farms would probably pay as well as the cultivation of sugar, 

 requiring less capital and less labor. 



Franklin is a town of considerable size, containing from twelve to 

 fifteen hundred inhabitants, is regularly built, and has many ele- 

 gant private residences, which is a sure indication of the refinement 

 and intelligence of a community. The side walks of the town are 

 made solid by means of shells, which are brought from the lakes on 

 the opposite side of she river. 



To give some vai ietj to qi) nanative, I may be permitted to state, 

 not as a le^it.niate iitru ol m) report, but as a curious incident of 

 my travels, tha on Sunday night, one of the two churches being 

 open for public worship, tLe vhole congregation consisted of seven 

 persons, and I was one i 1 their number. The idea naturally forced 

 itself upon my mind, that the people of Franklin must either be 

 very good, having passed the praying point, or they must be retro- 

 grading in the opposite direction. "Winch of these alternatives is 

 the true one, it is not important to decide. 



