iver, from Mobile, in a large
trading-boat, and the same evening arrived at _Taensa_. Here the
merchandise, which the boat had conveyed, was formed into small
packages, and placed on horses, for the purpose of being conveyed
overland. The party now consisted of between twenty and thirty horses,
two drivers, the owner of the goods, and Mr. Bartram; who found this
mode of travelling very unpleasant. They seldom set out till the sun had
been some hours risen. Each of the men had a whip, made of cow-skin;
and, the horses having ranged themselves in a line, the chief drove them
by the crack of his whip, and by a whoop or shriek, so loud as to ring
through the forests and plains. The pace was a brisk trot, which was
incessantly urged, and continued as long as the miserable creatures were
able to move forward. Each horse had a bell; and the incessant
clattering of the bells, smacking of the whips, and whooping of the men,
caused an uproar and confusion which was inexpressibly disagreeable. The
time for encamping was generally about the middle of the afternoon; a
time which, to Mr. Bartram, would have been the pleasantest for
travelling.

After having proceeded on their journey several days, they came to the
banks of a large and deep river, a branch of the _Alabama_. The waters
ran furiously, being overcharged with the floods of a violent rain,
which had fallen the day before. There was no possibility of crossing
this river by fording it. With considerable difficulty, a kind of raft
was made, of dry canes and pieces of timber, bound together by a species
of vines or vegetable cords, which are common in the woods of the
tropical districts of America. When this raft was completed, one of the
Indians swam over the river, having in his mouth the end of a long vine
attached to it; and, by hauling the raft backward and forward, all the
goods were safely landed on the opposite side: the men and horses swam
across.

In the evening of the day on which they passed this stream, the party
arrived at the banks of the great _Tallapoose river_; and encamped, for
the night, under the shelter of some Indian cabins. On the ensuing day
they were conducted across the river, in the canoes of a party of
Indians who were resident in the neighbourhood. Not long afterwards, the
travellers arrived at the Indian town of _Alabama_, situated near the
junction of two fine rivers, the _Tallapoose_ and the _Coosa_. At this
place were seen the traces of an a