C LIFE OF 



the old Spanish, fort on the south side of the town, about a quarter 

 of a mile distant. From this high point, looking up the river, 

 Natchez lies on your right — a mingled group of green trees, and 

 white and red houses, occupying an uneven plain, much washed into 

 ravines, rising as it recedes from the bluff or high precipitous banks 

 of the river. There is, however, neither steeple, cupola, nor dis- 

 tinguished object to add interest to its appearance. The country 

 beyond it, to the right, is thrown up into the same irregular knolls ; 

 and, at the distance of a mile, in the same direction, you have a 

 peep of some cultivated farms, bounded by the general forest. On 

 your left, you look down, at a depth of two or three hundred feet, 

 on the river, winding majestically to the south ; the intermediate 

 space exhibiting wild perpendicular precipices of brown earth. 

 This part of the river and shore is the general rendezvous of all the 

 arks, or Kentucky boats, several hundreds of which are at present lying 

 moored there, loaded with the produce of the thousand shores of 

 this noble river. The busy multitudes below present a perpetually 

 varying picture of industry ; and the noise and uproar, softened by 

 the distance, with the continued crowing of the poultry with which 

 many of those arks are filled, produce cheerful and exhilarating ideas. 

 The majestic Mississippi, swelled by his ten thousand tributary 

 streams, of a pale brown colour, half a mile wide, and spotted with 

 trunks of trees, that show the different threads of the current, and 

 its numerous eddies, bears his depth of water past in silent grandeur. 

 Seven gun-boats, anchored at equal distances along the stream, with 

 their ensigns displayed, add to the effect. A few scattered houses 

 are seen on the low opposite shore, where a narrow strip of cleared 

 land exposes the high gigantic trunks of some deadened timber that 

 bounds the woods. The whole country beyond the Mississippi, 

 from south round to west and north, presents to the eye one uni- 

 versal level ocean of forest, bounded only by the horizon. So 

 perfect is this vast level, that not a leaf seems to rise above the 

 plains, as if shorn by the hands of heaven. At this moment, while 

 I write, a terrific thunder-storm, with all its towering assemblage 

 of black alpine clouds, discharging lightning in every direction, 

 overhangs this vast level, and gives a magnificence and sublime 

 effect to the whole." 



