mer paid thirty dollars, and the latter I believe six, on this
occasion. The deckers were provided only with an unfurnished berth. The
steam-boats, on their passage up and down the rivers, stop at nearly all
the towns of importance, both for the purpose of landing and receiving
freight, which enabled me to visit most of the settlements along the
banks.

For several hundred miles from New Orleans, the trees, particularly those
in the cypress swamps, are covered with tellandsea, or Spanish moss, which
hangs down from the branches so thickly, as to give a most gloomy aspect
to the forest. It is found to be a good substitute for horse hair, and is
universally used by upholsterers for stuffing mattresses, cushions, &c.
The process of preparing it is very simple: being taken from the trees, it
is placed in water for a few days, until the outer pellicle has rotted; it
is then dried, when a long fibre resembling horse hair is obtained.

Natchez, in the state of Mississippi, is about 300 miles above Orleans,
and is the largest and wealthiest town on the river, from that city up to
St. Louis. It stands on bluffs, perhaps 300 feet above the water at
ordinary periods. It contains nearly 4000 inhabitants, and is decidedly
the prettiest town for its dimensions in the United States. Natchez,
although upwards of 400 miles from the sea, is considered a port; and a
grant of 1500 dollars was made by congress for the purpose of erecting a
light-house; the building has been raised, and stands there, a monument of
useless expenditure. There are a number of "groggeries," stores, and other
habitations, at the base of the bluffs, for the accommodation of
flat-boatmen, which form a distinct town, and the place is called, in
contradistinction to the city above, Natchez-under-the-hill. Swarms of
unfortunate females, of every shade of colour, may be seen here sporting
with the river navigators, and this little spot presents one continued
scene of gaming, swearing, and rioting, from morning till night.

The ravages of the yellow fever in this town are always greater in
proportion to the population than at New Orleans; and it is a remarkable
fact, that frequently when the fever is raging with violence in the city
on the hill, the inhabitants below are entirely free from it. In addition
to the exhalations from the exposed part of the river's bed, there are
others of a still more pestilential character, which arise from stagnant
pools at the foot of t