Chapter I: Front Matter

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THE SOUTH-WEST.

BY A YANKEE.

Where on my way I went; ----------A pilgrim from the North-- Now more and more attracted, as I drew Nearer and nearer.

ROGERS' ITALY.

IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. II.

NEW-YORK:

HARPER & BROTHERS, CLIFF-ST.

1835.

[Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1835, by HARPER & BROTHERS, in the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New-York.]

CONTENTS.

XXIV.

Characteristic scenery of the Mississippi--Card playing--Sabbath on board a steamboat--An old sinner--A fair Virginian--Inquisitiveness of Yankee ladies--Southern ladies--A general--Ellis's cliffs--Mines--Atala --Natchez in the distance--Duelling ground--Fort Rosalie--Forests--A traveller's remark. Page 9

XXV.

Land at the Levee--African porters--First impression of passing travellers--"Natchez under the Hill"--A dizzy road--A rapid descent --View from the summit--Fine scenery in the vicinity--Reservoir--A tawny Silenus--A young Apollo--Warriors "hors du combat"--Indian females--Mississippian backwoodsman--Mansion House. 17

XXVI.

A northerner's idea of the south-west--Natchez and health--"Broadway" of Natchez--Street scenes--Private carriages--Auction store--Sale of a slave--Manner in which slaves view slavery--Shopping--Fashion-- Southern gentlemen--Merchants--Planters--Whip bearers--Planters' families. 27

XXVII

First impressions--American want of taste in public buildings-- Agricultural bank--Masonic hall--Natchez academy--Education of Mississippians--Cemetery--Theatre--Presbyterian church--Court-house --Episcopal church--Light-house--Hotels--Planters, Houses and galleries--Jefferson hotel--Cotton square. 36

XXVIII.

Society of Natchez--New-England adventurers--Their prospects--The Yankee sisterhood--Southern bachelors--Southern society--Woman--Her past and present condition--Single combats--Fireside pleasures unknown--A change--Town and country--Characteristic discrepancies. 45

XXIX.

A Sabbath morning in Natchez--A ramble to the bluff--Louisiana forests--Natchez under the Hill--Slaves--Holidays--Negroes going to church--Negro street coteries--Market day--City hotel--Description of the landing--Rail-way--A rendezvous--Neglected Sabbath-bell. 52

XXX.

Reminiscences--An aged pastor--Streets of Natchez on the Sabbath-- Interior of a church--Church music--Pulpit oratory--A New England scene--Peculiar state of society--Wealthy ministers--Clerical planters--Health of Mississippi--Episcopalian church--Catholics-- The French language--Catholic education--Methodists--An alarm bell and slaves. 62

XXXI.

Catholic burying-ground--Evening in a grave yard--Sounds of a busy city--Night--Disturbers of the dead--Dishumation of human remains --Mourning cards--A funeral--Various modes of riding--Yankee horsemanship--Mississippian horsemen--Pacers--A plantation road --Residence--The grave--Slaves weeping for their master!--New cemetery. 73

XXXII.

National diversities of character--Diversities of language-- Provincialisms--A plantation and negroes--Natchez bar--A youthful judge--Physicians--Clergymen--Merchants, &c. &c.--A southern mania--"Washing"--Tobacco--Value of cotton planting and statistics --An easy "way to wealth." 84

XXXIII.

An excursion--A planter's gallery--Neglect of grounds--Taste and economy--Mississippi forests--The St. Catharine--Cotton fields--Worm fences--Hedges--The pride of China--The magnolia tree and flower-- Plantation roads--White cliffs--General view of a plantation. 96

XXXIV.

Horticulture--Chateaubriand--A Mississippi garden and plants--A novel scene--Sick slaves--Care of masters for their sick--Shamming --Inertness of negroes--Burial of slaves--Negro mothers--A nursery --Negro village on the Sabbath--Religious privileges of slaves-- Marriages--Negro "passes"--The advantages of this regulation-- Anecdote of a runaway. 113

XXXV.

Preparations for a deer hunt--A sailor, a planter, and an author--A deer driver--"Stands" for deer--The hunting ground--The hunt-- Ellis's cliff--Silver mine--An hypothesis--Alluvial formation of the lower valley of the Mississippi--Geological descriptions of the south-west. 132

XXXVI.

Geography of Mississippi--Ridges and bottoms--The Mississippi at its efflux--Pine and table lands--General features of the state-- Bayous--Back-water of rivers--Springs--St. Catharine's harp-- Bankston springs--Mineral waters of this state--Petrifactions-- Quartz crystals--"Thunderbolts"--Rivers--The Yazoo and Pearl. 146

XXXVII.

Topography--Natchez--Washington--Seltzertown--Greenville--Port Gibson--Raymond--Clinton--Southern villages--Vicksburg--Yeomen of Mississippi--Jackson--Vernon--Satartia--Benton--Amsterdam--Brandon and other towns--Monticello--Manchester--Rankin--Grand Gulf--Rodney --Warrenton--Woodville--Pinckneyville--White Apple village. 159

XXXVIII.

Coloured population of the south--Mississippi saddle and horse caparisons--Ride through the city--Chain gang--Lynch law--Want of a penitentiary--Difficulties in consequence--Summary justice--Boating on the Mississippi--Chain gang and the runaway--Suburbs--Orphan asylum--A past era. 182

XXXIX.

Slave mart--Scene within--File of negroes--"Trader"--Negro feelings --George and his purchaser--George's old and new wife--Female slaves--The intellect of the negro--A theory--An elderly lady and her slaves--Views of slaves upon their condition--Separation of kindred among slaves. 192

XL.

Towns of Mississippi--Naming estates--The influence of towns on the social relations of the planters--Southern refinement--Colleges --Oakland--Clinton--Jefferson--History of the latter--Collegiate system of instruction--Primary departments--Quadrennial classes. 204

XLI.

Indian mounds--Their origin and object--Tumuli near Natchez--Skulls and other remains--Visit to the fortifications or mounds at Seltzertown--Appearance and description of the mounds--Their age-- Reflections--History of the Natchez. 215

XLII.

Slavery in the south-west--Southern feelings--Increase of slaves --Virginia--Mode of buying slaves, and slave-traders--Mode of transportation by sea--Arrival at the mart--Mode of life in the market--Transportation by land--Privileges of slaves--Conduct of planters toward their negroes--Anecdotes--Negro traders--Their origin. 231

XLIII.

Slaves--Classes--Anecdotes--Negro instruction--Police--Natchez fencibles--Habitual awe of the negro for the white man-- Illustrations--Religious slaves--Negro preaching--General view of slavery and emancipation--Conclusion. 247

THE SOUTH WEST.