40 
being were to stand, could be pushed up or down, to accommo¬ 
date the height of the individual. Upon it is a block, through 
which the legs are passed. The neck and arms are passed through 
another. 
The Catholic church here is in a very miserable situation. I 
went into it, just at the time the church seats were publicly rent¬ 
ed for the year to the highest bidders; two in my presence were 
disposed of for nineteen dollars a piece. The church within 
resembles a barn, it had a high altar with vessels of tin, and a 
picture of no value, also two little side altars. 
A large cotton warehouse, of all the buildings in Mobile, most 
excited my attention. This consists of a square yard, surround¬ 
ed on three sides by massive arcades, where the cotton bales 
coming from the country are brought in, and preparatory to 
their shipment are again pressed, that they may occupy as little 
room as possible in the vessel. The bales were arranged on a 
layer of thick plank, between which there is room allowed to 
pass the ropes through. Above the bales, which are placed be¬ 
tween four strong iron vices, is a cover, in which there is room 
left for the ropes as below. These covers have four apertures, 
with female screws, through which the vices pass. On every 
screw there is a face wheel. All these four face wheels are 
driven by a crown wheel, which is put in motion by a horse. 
The covers are thus screwed down on the bales, and their bulk 
reduced one-third. During the pressure, the negro labourers 
have drawn the ropes through the groves between the planks, 
and fastened the bales with little difficulty. This warehouse or 
magazine has two such presses. It occupies three sides of the 
yard, the fourth contains a handsome dwelling house. The whole 
is built of brick, and has an iron verandah. It belongs to specu¬ 
lators in New Orleans, and is known by the name of the “ fire 
proof magazine,” although the interior is of wood. 
The weather was very fine, and as warm as we have it in sum¬ 
mer: I felt it very much in walking, and most of the doors and 
windows in the houses stood open. On this account I seated 
myself in the piazza before the house. A number of Choctaw 
Indians, who led a wandering life in the woods around the town, 
went about the streets selling wood, which they carried in small 
billets, bound on their backs. They are of a darker colour, and, j 
if possible, still dirtier than the Creeks, they wrap themselves 
also in blankets, and most of them wore round hats trimmed with 
tin rings and pieces of tin. I walked through the streets of the 
place, which contains several large stores, to all appearance well 
stocked. In these excursions I found an old Brunswicker, named j 
Thomas, who kept a grog-shop here, and who showed me a young j 
alligator, an ugly animal, at most three months old. It was 
