88 
make it susceptible of culture. Here and there rose sand banks 
out of the water, and also several snags. We passed the place 
where the year before, a steam-boat, the Henry Clay, was sunk; 
since which time, however, she has been set afloat again. It is 
not very consolatory to the traveller, to behold places and remains 
of such occurrences, particularly when they find themselves on 
board such a miserable vessel as ours. Several steam-boats, 
which at present navigate the Alabama, formerly ran on the 
Mississippi, as this one did; they were judged too bad for that 
river, and were, therefore, brought into this trade, by which 
their possessors realized much money. We saw to-day many 
wild ducks and geese, on the shores also, numbers of paroquets, 
which make a great noise; in the river there were alligators, 
which are smaller than the Egyptian crocodile. One of these 
creatures was lying on the shore of the bank, and was sunning 
itself, yet too far from us, and our boat went too fast, to permit 
of my seeing it distinctly, or of shooting at it. In the afternoon 
we saw several small rivers, which flowed into the Alabama, or 
ran out of it, forming stagnant arms, which are here called 
bayous. The river itself takes extraordinary turns, and shapes 
out a variety of islands. We afterwards reached the confluence 
of the rivers Alabama and Tombigbee, where there is an island, 
and the country appears extremely well. Both rivers united, 
take the name of Mobile river. 
About three miles below this junction, several wooden houses 
formed a group on the right bank. Formerly, there was a 
stockade here, Fort Stoddart, from which this collection of houses 
has its name. Here is the line which forms the thirty-first de¬ 
gree of latitude, once the boundary between the United States 
and the Spanish possessions. The Mobile river still increased 
in breadth, and as the night commenced, seemed about half a 
mile wide. The weather was very dark and cloudy, the pilot 
could not distinguish his course, and although we approached 
close to the city, we could proceed no farther, without exposing 
ourselves to danger. 
Early on the 9th of January it was extremely foggy. On 
this account a boat was sent out to reconnoitre. The fog after 
some time cleared away a little, and we found ourselves so near 
the wharves that we immediately touched one of the piers, and 
landed about half past eight. We had travelled four hundred 
and fifty miles from Montgomery. The journey by land 
amounts only to two hundred and fifty-eight miles, and yet is 
seldom performed, on account of the want of good roads and ac¬ 
commodation. Being arrived at Mobile and extremely glad at 
having left our wretched steam-boat, in which we had enjoyed 
no comfort, we took up our residence in Smooth’s Hotel, a 
