The Town of Natchez.—Excursion to Palmyra Plantations.—The Cotton Planters of the State of Mississippi.—Sketch of the State of Mississippi.—Return to Natchez.

Rain, and a subsequent frost, had a week before our arrival dispelled that scourge of the south—the yellow fever. The inhabitants had returned from the places of safety, to which they had fled in every direction, and intercourse was again re-established, the town having resumed all the activity I had found in it three years before. The road to the town, properly so called, leads through a suburb, known by the name of Low Natchez, consisting of some warehouses and shops of every description. This place deserves, in every respect, the epithet of Low Natchez, being a true Gomorrha, and containing an assemblage of the lowest characters. Although fifteen years ago, a great part of the bluff buried in its fall, several of these wretches, and every rainy season exposes the survivors to the same fate, yet they seem unconscious of their danger. The road ascends to the town on both sides of these liquor shops, built as it were on the brink of a precipice. Natchez is situated on a hill, 250 feet above the level of the water. The prospect from this hill, or bluff, as it is called, is beautiful. At your feet you behold this nest of sinners, close to it four or five steam-boats, and thirty or forty keel and flat-boats anchoring in the port, with the bustle and noise attendant on these wandering arks. On the opposite bank of the Mississippi, which is here one mile and a quarter wide, you see the county town of Concordia, and on both sides of this little town, numerous plantations, with the stately mansion of the wealthy cotton planter, and the numerous cabins of his black dependents; and in the background, the whole scenery is girded by an immense ring of cypress forests, which seem, as it were, to bury themselves in the flats below the Mississippi. To the right and left a charming elevated plain extends, with numerous gardens, which, though it was then the end of November, still preserved their verdure, faded, indeed, into an autumnal hue. In the rear is the town of Natchez, of moderate dimensions; but elegant and regular as far as the broken ground would admit. The dwelling-houses, several of them with colonnades, exhibit throughout a high degree of wealth. The court-house, an academy, the United States’ branch bank, and the bank of Natchez, three churches, three newspaper printing offices, one of which publishes a literary journal (the Ariel), a library and reading-room, are the public institutions, and they are very liberally patronised. Neither during my former journey, nor in the present visit, could I discover any foundation for the charge of narrowness of mind, which is made against the inhabitants. Their number amounts to 3,540, and their houses to 600. They are mostly planters, merchants, lawyers, and physicians, of Anglo-American extraction, with the exception of ten or twelve German families.

Natchez is considered as a port, and on this ground the representative of the state obtained the most useless grant of money ever made—1500 dollars—for the purpose of erecting a light-house, at a place 410 miles distant from the sea. This town had been considered a healthier spot than New Orleans, until the two last years, when it was repeatedly visited by the yellow-fever, from which New Orleans remained free. It is yet doubtful whether this evil is to be ascribed to the dissolute life prevailing in lower Natchez, or to the oppressive heat which prevails on these high plains. The distance, however, from the cooling current of the Mississippi, short as it is, and the unwholesome rain-water, which is used for drinking, must contribute to create bilious fevers. The great pecuniary resources which the inhabitants of Natchez have at command, would make it an easy matter for them to obtain their water for drinking from the Mississippi, in the same manner as the inhabitants of Philadelphia have raised the waters of Schuylkill. The country about Natchez is an extensive and elevated plain, 200 feet above the level of the Mississippi, stretching 130 miles from north to south, and about forty miles to the eastward. Although a fertile tract of land, it is far inferior to the Mississippi bottom-lands. The upland cotton grown upon it, is inferior in quantity and quality to that of Mississippi growth. The soil, however, produces corn, vegetables, plumbs, peaches, and figs in abundance. I stayed two days in Natchez, and rode with a friend to the distance of fifty-five miles above Natchez, on the Mississippi, passing through Gibsonport, twenty-five miles from Natchez, and six miles from the Mississippi, a town having a court-house, a newspaper printing office, and about sixty houses, with 1100 inhabitants. The following day we arrived at Messrs. D.’s plantation. These two brothers having purchased, three years ago, 6500 acres of land, at the rate of two dollars an acre, landed with their slaves at their new purchase, from their former residence in Kentucky. The lands being a complete wilderness, their first occupation was to raise cabins for themselves and their slaves. This was accomplished in four weeks. They succeeded during the first year in clearing fifty acres of land, twenty-five of which were sown in the month of February with cotton seed, the rest with corn. This was was sufficient to defray the expense of the first year. The clearing of woods, however, in this country, if not canebrack bottom, is not so easy a matter as in the northern states. Numerous shrubs, thistles, and thorns, of an immense size, form hedges, which it is almost impossible to penetrate. To these obstructions may be added, snakes, muskitoes, and in the marshes, alligators, which, though not so dangerous as the Egyptian crocodile, are still a great annoyance. The trees are here destroyed in the same manner as in the north, by killing them. Shrubs, underwood, canebrack, are burnt, and the corn or cotton is planted instead. This is the work of the negroes, who labour under the superintendence of their masters, or, if he be a wealthy man, of his overseer. In the months of June or July, the ground is ploughed or turned up; the weeds and shrubs are cleared away, as is done in the case of Indian corn; the cultivation of cotton, though more troublesome, being conducted much in the same manner. In the month of October, the cotton begins to ripen, the buds open, and the white flower appears. The present is the season for gathering cotton. Three kinds of cotton seeds are now sown in the southern states; the green, the black, and the Mexican seed, which latter is considered to be the best. Of the green seed cotton, a slave may gather 150 pounds a day, of the other two kinds, the utmost that can be collected is 100 pounds. The buds are broken from the plants, and the cotton, with the seed, taken out and put into round baskets, which when filled are brought into the cotton yard, and spread along planks, for the purpose of drying. The cotton is from thence carried to the cotton gin, the machinery of which is put into motion by three or four horses. The cotton is thrown between a cylinder moving round a projecting saw; by this process the seed is separated from the cotton, which is then thrown back into a large receptacle, and afterwards pressed into bales. These are laid in stores and kept ready for shipping, in steam or flat boats to Natchez or New Orleans. The two brothers in this, the third, year from the date of their establishment, raised 200 bales of cotton from 200 acres of cleared land. According to their own estimation, and from what I know, they might have raised 350 bales, had it not been for a disaster which befel them in the spring of the year 1825. They were visited with a hurricane, which lifted their dwelling-house from the ground, carried it to a considerable distance and completely destroyed it, with the entire furniture. Mr. D——, who was at the plantation at the time, had great difficulty in escaping with his wife and child, though not without a fractured leg, from the effects of which he was still suffering. Not even a chair had been spared. The immense trees torn up by the roots and still lying in every direction upon the ground, the shattered cabins of his negroes, every thing presented indications of the havoc made in this disastrous night. Happily no human life was lost. This misfortune had, of course, considerably retarded the improvements in progress, and thrown them back for at least a twelvemonth. Still the planters calculated this year upon a profit of 10,000 dollars from their plantation; 4000 dollars may be deducted from this for household and other necessary expenses, leaving a clear profit of 6000 dollars. The original capital of the two brothers consisted, (including the value of their slaves), of 20,000 dollars. They paid half the purchase money when they took possession, and the rest in the present year. Their plantation is now worth 60,000 dollars. In the state of Mississippi, the principal article of cultivation is cotton, as it is the staple article of its commerce; corn and the breeding of cattle are considered as secondary objects, though many plantations reckon from 100 to 300 head of cattle, which have a free range in the vast forests in quest of food. Only those intended for fattening are kept at home and fed with cotton seed, which in a few weeks will make them exceedingly fat. Turkeys and poultry in general are found in abundance, and constitute with firewood the articles which are sold to steam-boats passing on their way. Indian corn supplies in these parts the place of rye or wheat. The slaves live exclusively on corn bread; their masters vary it with wheat cakes. Wheat, flour, whiskey, articles of dress, sacking, and blankets, come from the north, or from New Orleans. The dress of the planter during the summer months consists of a linen jacket, pantaloons of the same, Monroe boots, and a straw hat. During the winter he wears a cotton shirt and a cloth dress. That of his slaves during summer is a coarse cotton shirt and trowsers, with shoes called mocasins. In winter they are furnished with cotton trowsers, and a coat made of a woollen blanket. The females have dresses of the same materials. The manner of living of the southern planter differs little from that of the northern; he likes his doddy, which the northern planter or farmer is also known to be fond of; he lives on wheat cakes or Indian corn bread, and superintends his slaves at their work, as the northern does his hands. Of the effeminate and luxurious style in which the southern planters are said to indulge—of their pretended fondness for female slaves, without whose assistance they cannot find their beds, I have never had any proofs, though in both my journeys I have not passed less than a year in Mississippi and Louisiana, and know one half of the plantations. The American planter lives in a higher style than his northern fellow citizen: this is quite natural, considering that his income is very large, and his taxes trifling. His chief expense, however, consists in his travels or summer excursions to the north, where he is pleased to shew his southern magnificence in a display of pompous dissipation. This fault, with few exceptions, is general with southern planters. They save at home, and renounce the very comforts of life in order to have the means of spending more money during the summer at Saratoga, Boston, or New York. The slave always rises at five o’clock, and works till seven, then breakfasts—generally upon soup with corn bread, baked on a pan, and eaten warm with a piece of bacon or salt-meat. Their tasks are assigned to them by the master of the plantation, or if he has been settled for some years, by an overseer. Part of the negroes are engaged in the cotton gin, others in carpenters’ or in cabinet work, each plantation having two or three mechanics among the slaves. A third part works in the cotton or corn fields. The females have likewise their tasks. One or two of the girls are housemaids; two more are cooks, one for the white, the other for the black family. The old negro women have the washing assigned to them. The dinner of the slaves consists of corn bread, a pudding of the same stuff, and salt or fresh meat. It is usual to give them a piece of meat, in order to keep them in good condition. The supper is of corn bread again, and a soup without meat. They seldom get any whiskey, and tavern keepers are prohibited by law from selling it to them. The first transgression is punished with a fine, the second with the loss of the tavern licence. On Sundays the slaves are exempt from working for their master, and permitted to attend to their family or their own concerns. Many of them are seen gleaning the cotton fields, collecting this way from eighty to a hundred pounds of cotton in one day. They are not, however, so well treated as in the northern slave states, where they are rather considered as domestics, who in many cases would not exchange their condition for that liberty which is enjoyed by the German peasantry. The northern slave is, for this reason, extremely afraid of transportation, which is a sort of punishment. The southern blacks frequently run away, and there is not a newspaper published, in which some escapes are not announced. The Anglo-Americans, however, treat their slaves throughout better than the French and their descendants, with whom the wretched blacks, (their general allowance being ten ears of Indian corn a day), experience a treatment in few respects better than that of a beast. The principle upon which the French descendant acts, is, that the slave ought to repay him in three years the expense of his purchase. But, strange to say, the worst of all are the free people of colour, who are equally permitted to possess slaves. To be transferred into the hands of their own race, is the most dreadful thing which can happen to a slave. Formal marriages rarely take place between slaves: if the negro youth feels himself attracted by the charms of a black beauty, their master allows them to cohabit. If the female slave is on a distant plantation, the youth is permitted to see her, provided he be trustworthy, and not suspected of an intention to effect his escape. The children belong to the mother, or rather to her master, who is not permitted to dispose of them before they are ten years of age. The punishment which masters are allowed to inflict on their slaves at home, is a flogging of thirty-nine lashes. The huts of these people are of rough logs; lower down the river they are of regular carpenter’s work. The mansions of the American planters are in the easy American style—sometimes frame, mostly, however, brick-houses, constructed on four piles in the manner already described. Below Natchez, the dwelling houses of the planters are in the old-fashioned Spanish style, with immense roofs, but comfortable and adapted to the climate. The windows are high and provided with shutters. They have a summer dining room to the north, open on all sides so as to admit of a free current of air. In the southern parts, the planter is the most respectable and wealthy inhabitant. He lives contented, though his domestic peace is sometimes troubled by the accidents inseparable from the state of bondage in which his black family is kept. If he manages his affairs well, for which very little is wanting beyond common sense and activity, he cannot fail to become wealthy in a few years. I am acquainted with several gentlemen, who settled in these states ten years ago, with a capital of from 10 to 20,000 dollars. They are worth now at least 100,000 dollars. The great difference between these plantations and the northern farms, is the ready mart they are sure to find, and the high price they obtain for their produce. Though the prices of cotton are considerably reduced, yet the profit which is derived from a capital employed in a plantation is superior to any other. The price of a well-conditioned plantation is enormous. I can instance Mr. B., who having inherited one half of a plantation, bought the other half for 32,000 dollars. The failures in crops are of very rare occurrence in these parts, and generally in the fourth year after a plantation has been begun, the produce is equal to the capital employed in the establishment. The management of these plantations requires by no means a very enterprising turn of mind. I know some ladies who have established cotton plantations, and raise from four to five hundred bales a year, being assisted only by their overseer. Mrs. Barrow, Mrs. Hook, &c., &c., are instances in proof of what I advance. Those who are unable to bear the summer heats, or are not inured to the climate, reside in the north, leaving a trusty overseer in charge of the plantation. The distance from Natchez to Louisville or Cincinnati, between 11 and 1200 miles, may be performed in nine or ten days. The journey is a pleasant one, and is amply rewarded by the purchases which planters generally make in the north for themselves, their families, and their slaves. Indolence, luxury, and effeminacy, are vices that are but seldom to be met with in the American planter. He does not yield to the northern farmer in activity or industry. He cannot work in person without exposing himself to a bilious fever; but this is not necessary; the superintendence of his affairs is a sufficient occupation for him. In this state I found matters: after a serious and practical investigation, and much experience, I can pronounce it to be a safer way of employing a moderate capital in an advantageous manner, than any other which offers itself in the United States.

There can scarcely be a country where there is greater facility for hunting than in these parts. Mr. D. being still lame from his late accident, was obliged to remain at home, but he provided us with a guide, in the person of the overseer of the Palmyra plantation, five miles above Mr. D.’s settlement. We mounted our horses, and arrived in a few minutes on the outside of the cotton-fields, a tract of canebrack bottom, extending about ten miles, where we expected to start a deer or a bear. We had not ridden above half an hour when we discovered a bear, which was killed. We proceeded afterwards to a marsh two miles behind the plantation, the resort of flocks of ducks and wild geese. We found about 300 of them, and having shot nine returned home. The bear was found to be a young one, weighing 150 pounds:—its flesh was excellent. These animals, as well as every description of game, are found in such prodigious numbers, that our landlord thought it not worth while sending his slaves such a distance for the ducks and geese we had shot in the pond; and they were, therefore, left for birds of prey to feast upon. The following day we made a shooting excursion with the overseer of Palmyra plantation. After partaking of some refreshments at his dwelling, we proceeded in his company. He superintends the plantation of Mrs. Turner, for an annual salary of 1500 dollars, with board, lodging, &c.; a sum which would be considered in the north as a first rate salary, suitable to any gentleman. Seven wild turkeys were the spoils of this day; we divided them equally amongst us, reserving the seventh to be roasted at Warrington for our dinner. Warrington, formerly the seat of justice for Warren county, which is now transferred to Vixburgh, though situated sixty feet above the water level of the Mississippi, is regularly inundated by the spring floods. This town is on the decline, owing to the removal of the seat of justice. It contains 200 inhabitants, with forty houses, five of which are built of brick, the rest of wood. Two lawyers, who are now on the move, two taverns, and two stores, are to be found here. The two store-keepers, who were extremely poor when they first settled here, eight years ago, are now worth above 20,000 dollars; one of them is going to establish a plantation. We returned in good time, being here at a distance of twenty miles from the plantation. Although the tract of country we came through is extremely fertile, yet there is a great difference in the soil. The plantation of Mr. D——, has undoubtedly the advantage over the six which came under our notice; his cotton is of a superior quality. The richness of the soil depends on the stratum. The best is considered to be that which is found to have three or four feet of river sediment on a red brownish earth; where sand or gravel forms the stratum, the land, though fertile, is not of so durable a quality. The growth of timber is generally the surest mode of ascertaining the nature of the soil; we measured on the plantation of Major Davis, some sycamores torn up by the hurricane, which were not less than 200 feet in length; and cotton trees of 170 feet. Where such a gigantic vegetation is seen, one may rely on the fertility and inexhaustible quality of the soil. Our guide gave me a proof of this: in one of his fields, he raised tobacco for ten successive years, without doing more than ploughing the earth; the produce, instead of diminishing, has rather increased both in quantity and quality. One can hardly conceive how a soil, apparently sandy, can be of a nature so inexhaustibly productive; the overflowing of the Mississippi, and the sediment left on the banks, account, however, sufficiently for it.

The following day we took leave of our hospitable landlord, and returned. The country we passed through is one continued range of the most beautiful forests, opening some times to give place to a rising plantation. I counted between Palmyra and Natchez, twenty-five.

The State of Mississippi was received into the Union in the year 1817. It extends from 30° 10' to 35° north latitude, and from 11° 30' to 14° 32' west longitude; and is bounded on the north by Tennessee, on the west by Arkansas and Louisiana, on the south by Louisiana and the gulf of Mexico, and on the east by Alabama. It comprises an area of 15,000 square miles. Though this state has acquired, this ten years past, a political existence, and in point of fertility is far superior to Missouri and Indiana, yet its population has not increased in the same proportion;—it does not exceed 80,000 souls, including 34,000 slaves. The emigrants to Mississippi, are either men of fortune, or needy adventurers. The middle classes, having from 2 to 3,000 dollars property, seldom chose to settle there, having no prospect of succeeding by dint of personal industry. The fatigue and labour in these hot and sultry climates, can only be borne by slaves; a white man who should attempt the same labour which kept him stout and hearty in the north, would soon be overcome by the heat of the climate. Most of the respectable settlers are therefore from Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, the Carolinas, and Kentucky; having sold their property there, and emigrated with their slaves into this country. The North American, properly so called, from New England, New York, &c., seldom ventures so far. Owing to this cause, the towns in Mississippi and Louisiana, are neither so elegant nor so wealthy as those of the north. With the exception of places of commerce, such as New Orleans and Natchez, the towns of the state of Mississippi cannot be compared to those of other states of more recent date. These smaller towns of Mississippi and Louisiana, are generally inhabited by mechanics, tradesmen, tavern-keepers, and the poorer classes of the people. Those who have any fortune, prefer laying it out on plantations,—a sure and infallible source of wealth, and the most respectable occupation in the country. Merchants who have succeeded in making a fortune in these small towns, remove to more convenient places. The traveller who judges of the wealth of the country from the mean appearance of these villages and towns, would be greatly mistaken. In order to form a correct opinion he must visit the plantations, and he will be surprised at the high degree of prosperity and comfort enjoyed by the possessors.

After a stay of three days in Natchez, I took a passage on board the steam-boat Helen MacGregor, which had lately returned from New Orleans to Walnut hills, and was on its way to the capital of Louisiana. The intercourse between Natchez and New Orleans is by water, travellers naturally preferring this easy and comfortable mode of conveyance by steam-boats to land journeys, rendered disagreeable by the wretchedness of the roads, and the still worse condition of the generality of inns. This evil has been occasioned by the former hospitality of the French creoles. Any one calling at a plantation was sure of a welcome reception. This hospitality has ceased, and the most respectable traveller is now likely to have the door shut in his face, owing to the misconduct of the Kentuckians. It was the practice of these gentlemen to call on their rambles at these plantations, where plenty of rum and brandy, with other accommodations, could be had for nothing. They behaved with an arrogance and presumption almost incredible, not unfrequently calling the creoles in their own houses French dogs, and knocking them down if they presumed to shew the least displeasure. These people are the horror of all creoles, who when they wish to describe the highest degree of barbarity, designate it by the name of Kentuckian. The worst of it is that the creoles, who are far from being eminent scholars, comprehend the whole north under the appellation of Kentucky. We started from Natchez at nine o’clock in the evening, took in 300 bales of cotton at Bayon Sarah[E], and some firewood a few miles below, and then passed Baton Rouge, the Bayons Plaquimines, Manchac, Tourche, both sides of the river being lined with beautiful plantations, and arrived on Sunday, at four o’clock, above New Orleans.