TRAVELS IN 
4 o? 
French, as there appear vediges of a rampart and 
Other traces of a fortrefs ; perhaps fort Louis de la 
Mobile ; but in all probability it will not remain 
long vifible ; the dream of the river making daily 
encroachments on it, by carrying away the land on 
which it flood. 
Obferved here amongfl other vegetable produc- 
tions, a new fpecies, or at leaft a variety, of Hale- 
fia dip ter a : thefe trees are of the fize and figure of 
ordinary Mulberry trees, their items ihort, and 
tops regular and fpreading, and the leaves large 
‘tnd broad, in fize and figure refembling thofe of 
our common wild Mulberry. 
Oppofite this bluff, on the other fide of the river, 
is a didrict of fwamp or low land, the riched I ever 
law, or perhaps any where to be feen : as for the 
trees I lliall forbear to deferibe them, becaufe it 
would appear incredible; let it fuffice to mention, that 
the Cyprefs, Afh, Platanus, Populus, Liquidambar, 
and others, are by far the tailed, draighted, and every 
way the mod enormous that 1 have feen or heard 
of. And as a proof of the extraordinary fertility of 
the foil, the reeds or canes (Arundo gigantea) grow 
here thirty or forty feet high, and as thick as a 
man's arm, or three or four inches in diameter ; I 
fuppofe one joint of fome of them would contain 
above a quart of water; and thefe reeds ferve very 
well for fetting poles, or mads for barks and canoes. 
Continued yet afeending this fine river, paifing 
by the mod delightful and fertile fituations : ob- 
ferved frequently, on bluffs of high land, deferted 
plantations, the houfes always burnt down to the 
ground, and ancient Indian villages. But perceiv- 
ing little variation in the natural vegetable pro- 
fluftionsj the current of the river preding down 
