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laborious ascent through deep sand carries one there. Natchez 
is two hundred and ninety-eight miles distant from New Orleans. 
At half past eight o’clock we proceeded: the banks were very 
low, and bluffs were to be seen only now and then on the left 
side. Only one solitary plantation on a hill covered with grass 
appeared well cultivated. It was situated upon a point called 
Petit gulf, where the river makes a remarkable bend, and is three 
hundred and forty miles from New Orleans. Besides this, we 
took notice of several little plantations which are exposed to in¬ 
undations, and have only wretched log-houses. They are fixed 
there by poor people, who seek to acquire property in this un¬ 
healthy district. We stopt at two of this kind of plantations 
to take in wood, and I went ashore both times for exercise. 
At one of these places, the owner had put fire to all the trees 
that were not hewn down, to make the land arable, and to 
change the wood into cotton fields. The day passed over in the 
same way: our travelling party was increased by a woman from St. 
Louis, who had waited for us with her three children at one of 
the plantations. She was the wife of a mechanic in St. Louis, 
who also was engaged in trade, having been to Santa Fe, in 
Mexico, and from there had brought mules for sale to the state 
of Alabama. He appeared to have staid away rather too long; 
his wife, and her three little children, had travelled after him, 
but not being able to find him, she now returned home. 
During the night we passed the little town of Warrenton, on 
the left bank of the river, three hundred and ninety-eight miles 
from New Orleans, and afterwards another, on an eminence on 
the same shore, called Walnut Hills, ten miles farther. About 
midday, on the 30th of March, we passed the mouth of the 
Yazoo. 
Concerning this river, the Western Navigator makes the fol¬ 
lowing remarks:—“ The Yazoo rises in the state of Georgia, 
takes a south-westerly direction, meanders . through a fertile 
country, and empties itself into the Mississippi, in the latitude 
of 32° 30'. At its mouth it is about one hundred and thirty yards 
wide.” 
The country was again very monotonous, low banks, partly 
covered with water, covered thickly with trees, of which the 
fresh green leaves were very much hidden by the disagreeable Spa¬ 
nish moss: some inconsiderable plantations, where cotton and In¬ 
dian corn were raised, and the dwelling-houses, miserable little 
log-cabins, which are built on a sort of grate, on account of the 
overflowing water. We stopt at one of these places for wood, on 
the left bank. The labourers discovered among the wood prepared 
for them, a snake two feet long, green and yellow striped, with 
