1807.) 
*bigby and Alabama rivers,about fifty miles 
north of the bay and city of Mobille, are 
122,000 acres of rich low ground, princi- 
pally large islands. These grounds 
may be divided into three classes; about 
60,000 acres dry cane brake and heavy 
timber, suited to the culture of corn, cot- 
ton, tobacco, and rice: 40,000 acres wet 
swamp, two-thirds of which is well tim- 
bered, the remainder tide-marsh; the 
whole peculiarly adapted to the culture 
ef rice: 28,000 acres, intersected with . 
ponds and lagoons, which will require 
draining and banking before cultivation, 
but which will, doubtless, produce rice 
equal to any in America. Of the whole 
of these low grounds, I believe, there 
are not more than 2,000 acres in culti- 
’ vation, and not a fourth of that quantity 
tolerably attended to. ‘Lhe product of 
an acre is about, from ten to twelve 
hundred pounds of cotton; and, I am 
clearly of opinion, that my present year’s 
crop is equal, in every respect, to any of 
your Sea Island cotton. 
The uplands, bordering en the above- 
mentioned low grounds, are generally 
what are‘here;called Pine Barrens. They 
afford excellent pinetimber’ in great 
abundance; and, although the soil is 
very thin, it is cloathed with an inex- 
haustible coat of the best grass, and 
other range for cattle, rendering them 
not only fit for use at all seasons of tlie 
year, but vastly productive, requiring no 
sort of attention, except marking and 
keeping them together. It is not un- 
common fer an inkabitaut to possess 
from 800 to 1500 head ef cattle. 
The culture of sugar cane has been 
attempted, but on a very small ‘scale. 
i have seev, near the town of Mobille, 
a small quantity, which was said ‘to ‘be 
not inferior to that raised in the neigh- 
bourhood of New Orleans. 
The rivers and principal creeks above 
this place, or Namrahubba Cut-off, ten 
miles north-east from hence, afford ex- 
€ellent jow grounds nearly to their 
source; and, after going forty or fifty 
miles northwardly, we find bordermg on 
these low grounds .externsive bodies -of 
upland, of the best quality, with-hickory 
and oak timber in great abundance. If 
am of opinion, that the time is not far 
distant, when the Mobille will rank with 
Charleston in Re. of commerce. I 
have seen no river in the uuiverse more 
favourable to navigation than the Mo- 
‘ville and its dependent streams, the Tom- 
wigby and Alabama. Any vessel draw- 
ah, 
x 
Sheich of the Mobille Country in America. 219 
ing not more than twelve feet of water 
may ascend, without even a strong cure 
rent to obstruct it, from the bay to the 
Cut-off, or junction of these rivers, and 
from thence up either fifty miles: from 
whence they afford good boat naviga- 
tion for near three hundred miles. From the 
head of this navigation, to the head of 
the Tennisee river, is not more than fiftys 
five miles: where a road equal to that 
from old Culpepper to Richmond, 
may, with thirty hands, be formed in @ 
month. 
As to the inhabitants, they are gene- 
rally such as may be found on the 
frontiers of Georgia. Attempts are 
making, and not without prospects of 
success, to introduce civilization, and 
establish principles of morality and 
social order. There are hopes of be- 
ing able shortly-to institute a respectable 
seminary of learning, but at present 
nothing-:can:be done. Some faint rays of 
the genius ef the American character 
have found their way to this detached 
section of the American Republic. But 
it is in the bosom of a_ wilderness, 
more than two thousand miles in circum- 
ference. It is surrounded by savages 
and tyrants, whose governing policy tends 
‘to-counteract the progress of every sys- 
tem calculated to promote the interests 
of the human race, and the people are 
left to console themselves with the plea- 
sing anticipation of what they may, and 
certainly shall enjoy, when, the govern- 
ment shall have broken the barriers in 
which they are enveloped, and relieved 
the people from their shackles, This 
salutary and much. wished-for work, 
must, ere long take place: the most 
favourable moment for its execution be- 
gins, I think, to approach, 
A stupid, ill-natured intendant of the 
Spanish government, in attempting to 
promote his master’s interest. and, honour, 
‘threw into our -hands by an act of savage 
insolence, under the mask of reciprocal 
commerce, the vast Province of Louisi- 
ana: and-by a similar.conduct.this same 
antendant, with the Spanish governor, 
Folch, will, doubtless, give us the Eloridas; 
which, though now of httle value, should 
be ours, and may turn out to be no in- 
considerable acquisition, ‘Thus may we 
continue to profit by the dishonest zeal 
and stubbornness of its neighbour, His 
Catholic Majesty is in the habit of being 
stripped of his possessions by_ the 
Quixotic manceuvres of Ins high-flying 
provincial governors and agents. Their 
é insolence 
I 9 EE SAT SPE NE 
RAN ne rn ee Be me ee 2 Ne ee ee + 
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— 
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