of about seventy miles. Surveyors were appointed for the purpose, but from some causes not generally known, it has never been done.

The land in and about the Chickasawka is rich and fertile, but the inhabitants do not attend much to agriculture. Trading with the Indians for furs, of which they send large quantities to Mobile, forms the principal part of their commerce, and receives their most particular at

tention.

I remained in this place better than three weeks, during which time I purchased large quantities of furs, with the intention of taking them to St. Stephens, where I expected to dispose of them at an advanced price.

I purchased two horses, which I used as pack-horses, and started for St. Stephens, which is fifty-five miles distant from Chickasawka. I proceeded slowly along without meeting with any remarkable occurrence, and on the evening of the 2d of December, arrived at St. Stephens.

The town of St. Stephens is small, and not very regularly built; it is situated on the Tombigbee river, and contains about ninety houses and three hundred inhabitants. It is a place of considerable trade, and annually furnishes a large number of skins for the European markets. The Choctaw Indians alone, in two years, brought to this market two hundred and twenty-five thousand skins, which were exchanged for European and WestIndia goods. These skins are shipped by the merchants to those places which furnish the best market. This is a thriving place, and promises in a few years to become of considerable importance to the United States.

My skins did not find so ready a market here as I

expected, owing to there being a large quantity on hand, and but few shipments, which determined me to go down the river to Mobile, where there was a probability of my meeting with a more advantageous market. Having but few arrangements to make, in four days after my arrival I was ready to proceed.

I went on board of a boat which was going down the river, and which was the most expeditious mode of travelling. I found on board a number of gentlemen who were going on to New-Orleans and Pensacola. We had an agreeable passage, and nothing was wanting to render it pleasing and delightful. On the third day, about one o'clock, we arrived at Mobile.

I here found a ready market for my furs, at an advance of seventy-five per cent, which, after deducting twentyfive for my expenses from the Choctaws, will leave me fifty per cent on them clear of every charge.

The fur trade from this place has greatly declined within a few years. They formerly shipped peltry and furs to the amount of twenty thousand pounds sterling, but now it does not amount to more than one half of that

The city of Mobile is in latitude 30° 12′ north; it is pretty regular, of an oblong figure, and situated on the west bank of the river of the same name. To the northwestward it is in the neighbourhood of marshes, which render the town unhealthy. The inhabitants are afflicted with the intermittent fever, fever and ague, and other complaints common to such places.

There are in this town many very elegant houses, which are inhabited by Spanish, French, English, and American gentlemen. Towards the lower end of the town

stands Fort Conde, a regular built fortress, in which there is a very neat and commodious square of barracks, for the accommodation of officers and soldiers. The town at present contains about three hundred houses, many of which are built after the Spanish fashion. The guns in the fort at Mobile Point, 30 miles from the town, were all spiked just before the victory of general Jackson.

One of the principal causes which has probably operated to effect the decline of Mobile, is the obstructions to large vessels coming up to the town, a bar rendering it impossible for them to come nearer than within sevent miles. If this obstruction could be removed, I think that the commercial importance of this place would again revive, and we should once more see its streets thronged with merchants. Its situation is well calculated for commerce, excepting the objection already mentioned, and it is my opinion that with thirty or forty thousand dollars this might be removed, and the inhabitants have secured to them all the advantages which they formerly enjoyed.

As I was within eighty miles of Pensacola, the capital of West-Florida, I thought it would be advisable for me to visit the place. I accordingly made preparations for that purpose, and my business being soon arranged, I left Mobile on the 4th of January, 1815. Owing to boisterous weather, I did not arrive in Pensacola before late the next day.

The town of Pensacola is situated on a bay of the gulf of Mexico, which forms a very commodious harbour, where there is plenty of water, and where vessels may ride secure from every wind. The town is of an oblong form, about a mile in length, and a half a mile

in breadth. It contains about two thousand houses, and seven thousand inhabitants. The houses are many of them elegant and spacious. The chimnies are all built of soft lime-stone, cut in squares, which lasts for centuries. The public buildings are mostly built of stone, and are very large and spacious. The town has much increased of late, and promises soon to become the principal mart of all the produce which is disposed of in West-Florida. The mercantile business is well attended to, and many merchants have made their fortunes in Pensacola in a few years.

The exports of Pensacola consist of skins, logwood, dying stuffs, and silver dollars, together with sugar, cotton, and indigo, which in 1812 amounted to 240,500 dollars.

The soil of West-Florida is various, according to the different improvements which have been made upon it. It is a mixture of sand and black mould, making what is generally termed a grey soil. A considerable part of it, when under cultivation, yields good crops of indigo, cotton, corn, or potatoes. The planting of cotton has of late years been much attended to, several planters having turned their indigo plantations into cotton fields. There are two kinds of cotton which flourish very well here, the annual and the West-Indian. The former is low and planted every year; the phlox long, strong, and perfectly white: The latter is a tall, perennial plant, the stalk. somewhat shrubby, several of which rise up from the root for a number of successive years, the stems of the former year being killed by the frosts. The balls of the West-India cotton are not quite so large as the other, but the phlox, or wool, is long, extremely fine, silky, and white.

CHAP. XXXV.

Author goes from Pensacola to the Alabama-Fort Claiborne-Fort Montgomery-Fort Mins-St. Stephens-Author starts for the northern part of the United States-Flint river-Description of it.

FROM Pensacola, I proceeded by land through a pine, barren country, to the Alabama. The distance is about seventy-five miles, and there are no plantations on the road, although the culture of cotton might be advantageously carried on. In many parts the pine grows to a considerable height. It is not our common pine, but like that which is called the long-leafed pine. The shape of the leaf is nearly like that of other pines, but is a yard in length, hanging in large clusters.

On the 10th of January I arrived on the banks of the Alabama river at Fort Claiborne. The Alabama is formed by the junction of the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers, at Little Talassee, and runs in a southwesterly.direction until it meets the Tombigbee. This beautiful river has a gentle current and pure water, and abounds in excellent fish. It is eighty yards wide opposite the fort, which is situated on a high bluff, called the Choctaw bluff, which is about two hundred and fifty feet high, while the bank on the opposite side of the river is not elevated more than two feet above the surface of the water.

This river frequently overflows, and the country for some distance is occasionally covered with water, which continues for a considerable length of time. Travellers