ere being no steamer
going across the lake to New Orleans: these two days were passed most
delightfully, driving Mr. H----n about the beautiful forest paths which
surround this city; the weather was divine, and flowers of great beauty
yet in abundance.

The evening of the 31st I passed with Mrs. B----r, where in a glass of
good poteen we drank a good bye to the year 1834, and a welcome to the
stranger.

JOURNAL.

_January 1st, 1835._--Still detained at Mobile: the sun shines
powerfully, and the sky is pure and clear. After breakfast lounged about
the very clean streets of this pretty city; then procured a neat
turn-out, and drove Mr. H----n, he acting as pilot, as far as Choctaw
Point, whence we had an extensive view of the Bay of Mobile with the
south-west coast of Florida. Our way lay through a forest of pine and
oak; many little rivulets crossed our path, the sides of which were
decked by a hundred different shrubs and plants, from the magnificent
grandiflora, here growing eighteen and twenty feet high, to the lowly
rose: the vegetation is rich, winter though it is; the beauty of the
spring amongst these noble woods I can only imagine at present, but
hope, before I again look northward, to know more of that season.

The presence of the ghostly-looking cedar, with its funereal draperies
of unwholesome moss, so common throughout Carolina and Georgia, is here
unknown; the forest is a series of regular avenues pillared by the
loftiest pines; and there is no undergrowth, except in little dingles
through which a brook may creep its way: the rides in this vicinity are
therefore most attractive. At one point during our ramble we suddenly
came to an abrupt sandy hill, at whose foot ran a sparkling little
rivulet, in the midst of which one of the aborigines stood in a state of
nature, raising water in the hollow of a gourd, and laving with it his
coal-black shining hair. As we descended, he stood erect and looked
towards us, but without exhibiting the least symptom of either surprise
or embarrassment: his form was light but perfectly proportioned, with
small thorough-bred knees and feet; he looked like a new bronze cast
from the antique: the graceful repose of the attitude he maintained
during our approach was perfect. Mr. H----n asked him if he was Choctaw;
he replied to the question by a slow nod of the head and a brief 'yah!'

Continuing our ride along the sea-bank, we arrived at a large
establishment where oi