LETTEP^S FROM ALABAMA. 
31 
peeped over the horizon in cloudless majesty^ and 
flushed with golden light the hills and 'cultivated 
fields that surrounded us ; but as yet the air was 
delightfully cool and refreshiug, and perfumed 
with the breath of flowers, which after a while was 
dissipated by the increasing heat. The river was 
smooth, and shone like silver, until its surface was 
broken and swollen by the rushing steamer : before 
W'OOB-VARD ON THE ALABAMA. 
US we had a polished surface, reflecting a cloudless 
sky ; behind us we left a rolling sea, enshrouded 
beneath a long sable cloud of dense smoke. 
Nor was the day without pleasure, though we 
passed no towns, and very few settlements, at least 
during the daylight : occasionally we stopped to 
replenish our stock of wood, which is cut, split, 
and corded, at certain stations by negroes residing 
