LETTERS FROM ALABAMA. 
303 
LETTER XIX. 
Mobile, Dec. 31st. 
I ATE my Christmas dinner on board the 
steamer, on my voyage down the Alabama river, 
partaking of a turkey that would be considered 
something remarkable in Leadenhall Market. It 
weighed eighteen pounds when trussed for the 
spit ; and if we allow for the feathers and quills, 
the head, the viscera and the feet, this sturdy 
gobbler could not have been much less than 
five-and-twenty pounds, — a tolerable weight for 
a bird ! 
The voyage from the upper country occupied 
two days and one night,— about the same period 
as my ascending passage in the spring, notwith- 
standing the force of the current, which, when 
the river is straitened by the beetling cliffs of 
some narrow gorge, is powerful and rapid. But 
considerable delay was caused by our stoppages 
to take in cargo— for we were laden, at length, 
almost to the very water’s edge, with cotton. 
Down rushed the bales along the slippery planks 
in quick succession, as soon as the steamer came 
beneath the slide — an interesting spectacle, from 
the impetus which they acquired in the descent, 
especially in the more precipitous stations. I 
looked with pleasure on the magnificent scenery 
of the heights ; I had seen the celebrated gorges 
