,
was quite useless; those who did not like the conveyance being at full
liberty to wait on any part of the road they might select, until one
better adapted to comfort chanced to come by.

We quitted this place, six men, with just space enough left for us to
crawl in, and we sat, bent almost double, with our legs stretched out
before us. I consoled myself by concluding that we now had reached the
extremity of our inconveniences; but I knew mighty little about the
matter. It would have been impossible, for any length of time, to have
borne the position we were now compressed into; but luckily this was not
expected, since constant occasions were afforded us of stretching our
legs, and getting cool under as heavy rain as the lover of a shower-bath
could desire.

COLUMBUS.

At the hour of two A.M. we reached the city of Columbus, on the
Chattahoochee, the river dividing Alabama from Georgia.

Here we halted for a day and a night; and this time I employed, in
company with my two New York fellow-travellers, in paying a visit to the
Choctaw tribe of Indians, who possess a reserve lying west of the river.

We procured three stout nags, and early in the morning crossed the very
fine bridge which spans this rapid stream close to the falls. On the
Alabama side we found ourselves within a wild-looking village, scattered
through the edge of the forest, bearing the unattractive name of Sodom;
few of its denizens were yet stirring; they are composed chiefly of
"minions o' the moon," outlaws from the neighbouring States. Gamblers,
and other desperate men, here find security from their numbers, and from
the vicinity of a thinly inhabited Indian country, whose people hold
them in terror, yet dare not refuse them a hiding-place. These bold
outlaws, I was informed, occasionally assemble to enjoy an evening's
frolic in Columbus, on which occasions they cross the dividing bridge in
force, all armed to the teeth: the warrants in the hands of the U. S.
Marshal are at such times necessarily suspended, since to execute a
caption would require a muster greater than any within his command. If
unmolested, the party usually proceed to the nearest hotel, drink
deeply, make what purchases they require for the ladies of their colony,
pay promptly, and, gathering the stragglers together, retire peaceably
into the territory, wherein their present rule is by report absolute.
The condition of this near community, and the crimes perpetrated by