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wooden building, the bar-room of which is at the same time the 
post-office, and therefore somewhat lively. 
Mobile, an ancient Spanish town, yet still earlier occupied by 
the French, was ceded with Louisiana, in 1803, to the United 
States. The few respectable creole families, who had former¬ 
ly dwelt here, left the place at the cession, and withdrew to the 
island of Cuba, and none but those of the lower classes remain¬ 
ed behind. A new population was formed of the North Ame¬ 
ricans, who came here to make money. From this cause, the 
French as well as the Spanish language remains only among the 
lower classes; the better society is thoroughly American. Mo¬ 
bile contains five thousand inhabitants, of both complexions, of 
which about one thousand may be blacks. The town lies on 
the right bank of the Florida river, where it is divided into se¬ 
veral arms, and has formed Mobile bay, which, thirty miles be¬ 
low, joins the Mexican gulf. It is regularly built, the streets 
are at right angles, part of them parallel with the river, the rest 
perpendicular to it. Along the shore is a wooden quay, and 
wooden piers or landing bridges project into the water, for the 
convenience of vessels. There are lying here about thirty 
ships, of which several are of four hundred tons, to be loaded 
with cotton. The most of them are from New York. When 
the ebb tide draws off the water, a quantity of filth remains un¬ 
covered on the shore, and poisons the atmosphere. This circum¬ 
stance may contribute its agency to the unhealthiness of the place 
in summer. The shore opposite the harbour is marshy and full 
of cane. The town lies upon a poor sandy soil; the streets are not 
paved, and unpleasant from the depth of the sand. On both sides 
of the streets there are paths made of strong plank, which divide 
the walk from the cartway of the street, which will be converted 
into pavements when brick or stone shall have become cheaper. 
The generality of the houses are of wood, covered with shin¬ 
gles, and have piazzas. Some new houses only, are built of 
brick. This article must be imported, and is not to be procured 
in large quantities of any quality. As an example of this, I saw 
a house finished, of which the two first stories were of red brick, 
and the third of yellow. There are also here some Spanish 
houses which consist of timber frames, of which the open spaces 
are filled up with beaten clay, like those of the German peasan¬ 
try. Besides several private houses, most of the public build¬ 
ings are of brick. These are, a theatre, which, besides the pit, 
has a row of boxes and a gallery, the bank, the court of the 
United States, the county court-house, the building of which 
was in progress, and the prison. Near this prison stood the 
public whipping post for negroes. It was constructed like a sash 
frame. The lower board on which the feet of the unfortunate 
