85 
About ten o’clock in the morning, I repaired from the Levee 
on board the steam-boat Phoenix, bound for St. Louis, and 
immediately left the shore. Eight steam-boats ascended the 
river on the same day. Ours was the finest of this number. 
She was not large and had proportionately a too powerful 
and dangerous high pressure engine. This communicated to 
the vessel such a violent shock, that it was hardly possible 
to write. Mr. Huygens was still my travelling companion; and 
I found to my great satisfaction, a new and very welcome one in 
M. Hottinguer, the son of a banker in Paris, whom I had known 
in New York, and who was now desirous of viewing the western 
states on his return to Europe. The remaining passengers, only 
three in number, were inhabitants of St. Genevieve, not far from 
St. Louis, in the state of Missouri. The day was very beautiful; 
the city, as well as the extensive suburb of St. Marie, afforded a 
very picturesque view. What a pity that the shores are so very 
low. It is hard to determine where the suburb St. Marie ends, 
the houses gradually stand farther apart, until they are con¬ 
founded with the sugar plantations, of which we observed a 
good many on both banks of the river, and some ornamented 
with very convenient dwelling houses. The banks are highly 
cultivated, behind the fields, however, the cypress woods are 
seen to commence. Towards the afternoon, something broke in 
the engine, and we had to lie by for repairs, about three hours. 
We heard music on the plantations, as the negroes were allowed 
to amuse themselves on this first day of the Easter holy-days. So 
much timber drove down the stream, that our engine was fre¬ 
quently stopped, to prevent the buckets of the wheels from being 
injured by floating trunks of trees. 
Our accommodations consisted of a cabin with sixteen births; 
behind this were two ladies cabins, of which, as there were no 
ladies on board, we took possession, so that we might be located 
at the greatest possible distance from the engine. We met three 
steam-boats, and several keel and flat boats, which were laden 
with cotton, meal in barrels, bacon, hams, birds, &c. 
We passed the whole night without receiving any damage, 
although we suffered some heavy blows from floating trunks 
of trees. The next day the dwellings were more scattered, 
all of them, as well as the sugar-cane fields about them, ap¬ 
peared in good condition. The banks on both sides we found 
mostly covered with wood; the cypress had ceased, and green¬ 
leaved trees, such as ash and poplar took their place. At first 
the shore was very low, and we could observe from the marks 
on the trees left by the water, that at a high stage of it the sur¬ 
rounding country must be overflowed. Towards midday we 
passed the small town of Baton Rouge, which lies upon a height, 
