knots, which have a most picturesque effect, when seen at a distance, in a dark night, and, gleaming through the crannies of the dwellings, remind the traveler of a glowing coal-fire in a northern grate. There is not an inch of paint, plaster, or whitewash about these houses, and yet, in strange contrast with the opposite features of the picture, evidences of refinement, and even of luxury, are by no means rare. On one side stands a superb Geibs' piano; on the other, a mahogany side-board and secretary, and generally a splendid gilt-framed looking-glass. When the weather is cool, the occupants may be seen hovering over their fires, with their cloaks on, it may be, while every door in the house is wide open! It is a remarkable fact, that nobody ever thinks of shutting a door in this country. The stage-drivers all carry long tin horns, to which they give breath with their mouths' almost incessantly, in the night, in imitation of the bugle; but their strains are peculiar to this region, or perhaps to themselves; and never shall I forget the effect produced on my mind by the echoes and reverberations of their long-drawn notes, combined with the picturesque aspect we presented, as we wound slowly among the innumerable by-paths, marked out in shunning the treacherous sands of the main track, while the wild and lurid glare of the light-'ud' torch, in the hand of the guard, penetrated the dark recesses of the vast forest of stately evergreens which we were traversing. In certain sections, I became impressed with the idea, that the inhabitants were of the green-est description. At one place, I especially remember, while we were engaged in cutting away a tree which had fallen directly across our path, our coach underwent a most minute 'searching operation,' inside and out, by several women who came from a neighboring house, where they were visiting, and who seemed never to have encountered a stage before. After satisfying their curiosity in relation to the vehicle, the passengers, and their baggage, one of them kindly remarked, that it was a rapid shame that four men couldn't get that 'ere tree out o' the road sooner; if I wan't a lady, I'd tote it clar away myself!' One evening we stopped at a very large plantation for supper. While discussing our big hominy,' we asked the planter's wife how many acres there were. She replied: Wal, I d'n' know but there's a rapid heap on 'em, I reckon! But to proceed with my journey. On the morning of the 13th we reached Wilmington. This day, for the first time, I began to feel the genial warmth of a southern sun. The day rivalled our loveliest in June.' The mellow light and Sabbath stillness which prevailed that morning, as we rode through forests of stately pines-the ground perfectly free from underwood, and carpeted with long grass, the whole resembling an extensive park was perfectly enchanting. During a brief stay in Wilmington, I embraced the occasion to visit several steam saw and rice mills, the former owned by some enterprising Yankees, who are turning to good account the lumber which is easily procured from the hitherto useless and pestilential swamps in this vicinity. The first two persons we encountered, on embarking on board the steam-boat at Wilmington, were the two Indian-rubber pedlars from Boston, heretofore alluded to. I mention them merely to say, that I Ar this time, the snow was five or six feet deep in the streets of New-York, and the ❝ fierce extremity of the skies' was a matter of public comment. EDS. KNICKERBOCKER. admire the home spirit which prompted them to declare, that the commercial accommodations of Boston were better than those of New-York, though I doubt the fact! Lieutenant W- -, of the army, was a most agreeable acquisition to our company; inducing me to believe, (and subsequent experience has confirmed the impression,) with M. La Trobe, that whenever you meet with an officer of the United States' Army, generally speaking, you find a gentleman, in all the best essentials of that much abused term. We had a tolerably pleasant passage; for our boat, though calculated rather for freight than passengers, was well captain-ed,' and 'cook-ed.' As for the scenery, it may be summed up in four words - muddy water, and swampy margins. We arrived at Fayetteville in the evening - the finest town I have yet seen in North Carolina, judging from an examination necessarily cursory. Next day we started for Cheraw, by stage, at which place we arrived at midnight, and where we were compelled to tarry one day for a boat to take us down the Great Pedee to Georgetown. Cheraw is a flourishing town; but it has recently been visited by a severe calamity; a greater amount of property having been destroyed, in proportion to its size, than was consumed by the great fire in New-York. For several days after embarking at Cheraw, the weather was rainy and uncomfortable. For two hundred and fifty miles, we wound in our high-pressure steam freight boat through the interminable crooks and shoals of the Great Pedee, stopping occasionally to pick up a few bales of cotton from the plantations along the banks, and to take in wood. The scenery and incidents were of the most monotonous description; and had it not been for books, those silent but eloquent companions,' we should have died of ennui. There is, however, one spot on the margin of this river which is replete with deep interest I mean Marion's Battle ground, an area of from ten to fifteen acres, elevated a little above the surrounding swamp, and covered with young and thrifty evergreens, in the midst of which stands a venerable live-oak, said to have sheltered the hero's tent. Standing as they do, surrounded by a forest divested of verdure, this little cluster of evergreens struck me as a forcible emblem of the immortality of the spot which they ornamented. The anniversary of American Independence is always celebrated here, though several miles distant from any settlement, by the patriotic citizens of this district. The trees, in many places for miles together, are covered with a moss peculiar to the southern country, and most striking to unaccustomed eyes. It is very long, and hangs suspended in festoons from branch to branch, and in long pendant masses, all inclining in one direction, owing probably to the prevailing course of the winds. Imagine the swingle-tow of the farmer to have been profusely lodged on a tree, in a stiff breeze, and you will have a correct idea of the appearance of this moss. It is supposed to be produced by the miasma arising from the unhealthy swamps. It is rotted and dressed in much the same manner as flax, and is used in making pure hair mattresses !' We reached Charleston at eight o'clock on the morning of the 22d of January, twenty-three days from New-York! I like Charleston; it is a fine city, and delightfully situated, its bay and harbor reminding me forcibly of New-York. The buildings are mostly of dark-colored brick, and have a solemn, antiquated appearance. Many of the dwellings have spacious court-yards, filled with various shrubbery — green, even at this season; and yesterday I saw full-blown roses blooming in the open air, without the aid of hot-beds or flower-pots. The weather is to the full as pleasant and warm as a day in our northern May. These are stirring times in this quarter. The intelligence from Florida continues to be of the most alarming character; and volunteers are enlisting here from among the most respectable young men of this chivalrous community. Success to them! I say. I was present last evening at a meeting for organizing volunteers, General Hayne presiding, assisted by General Hamilton. The required number presented themselves in less than an hour, and a steam-boat was gratuitously tendered to convey them to the scene of action. This is doing things in earnest, and speaks well for the generous spirits of South Carolina. I admire the chivalrous daring and disinterestedness which prompt this noble band of volunteers to undertake their perilous enterprise; but my admiration was mingled with a melancholy presentiment, when I saw the brimming eyes of the fair forms who thronged the open corridors on either side of the street, while husbands, brothers, sons, and lovers, marched by to the sound of inspiring martial music. The horrors and uncertainty of war never struck me more vividly. JANUARY 30. I am on board the steam-boat William Seabrook,' bound for Savannah - a vessel perfect in all its arrangements, whether of beauty, comfort, or luxury, and owned by the gentleman whose name she bears. Charleston has fallen far in the distance, over her beautiful harbor: we have passed Castle Pinckney and Fort Moultrie, and are rising and sinking on the long swells of the open sea 'watery kingdom, whose ambitious head Spits in the face of heaven.' that If I held the pen of a Marryat, I would here apostrophize 'Old Ocean,' and tell how this my first step on his boundless domain has enkindled a latent desire within me to share their adventures who go down to the sea in ships, and do business in great waters.' The theme is too magni ficent for my feeble powers as it is for the capacity of most others. Descriptions of the sea seldom do justice to its grandeur, sublimity, and power. To my perception, Shakspeare's clown (in the Winter's Tale,' I think,) comes nearest to a correct delineation of the ocean agitated by a tempest: I would,' says he, 'you did but see how it chafes, how it rages, how it takes up the shore! but that's not to the point: O the most piteous cry of the poor shipwrecked souls! Sometimes to see 'em and not to see 'em now the ship boring the dim moon with her main-mast, and anon swallowed with yeast and froth, as you'd thrust a cork into a hogshead: to see how the sea flap-dragoned it! how the poor souls roared, and the sea mocked them!' But to return from this digression. I I arrived in Savannah on the first of February, in the midst of a heavy rain, which at last subsided, leaving the streets in ice.' had but little leisure to examine the city, which is well situated, and I understand flourishing, beyond any former period. We embarked in a dirty steam-boat the best on the river- for Augusta; and after three days and three nights' patient endurance of fogs, breaking of cranks, stopping to take in wood, etc., we arrived safe and sound, but wo fully besmeared with dirt and pine-wood smoke. Last night we wooded' in company with a boat bound down the river, towing two others, with fifteen hundred bales of cotton, and having on board General Scott and staff, on their way to Florida. This officer is a fine, venerable-looking man but such quarters as he was in ! Our situation was a paradise to his, and we possessed ourselves in much contentment,' for the remainder of the passage. Augusta impresses me as the finest town I have seen at the South. It is a great cotton mart-eight or nine millions of dollars being annually paid here for that article. The weather is warm and sunny, and the place, being very healthy, is quite a resort for invalids. After a brief stay, we left Augusta for Charleston, by the rail-road, a distance of one hundred and thirty-six miles, several of which were passed at the rate of thirty miles an hour. On the way, I saw numerous laborers ploughing the ground for corn and cotton, in fields containing upward of a thousand acres. MOBILE, FEBRUARY 26. On the 15th ultimo, by stage, we left Augusta whither we had come by rail-road from Charleston - for Montgomery, (Alab.,) a distance of three hundred miles. We passed through Milledgeville, Macon, and Columbus, and travelled two days sleeping the intervening night in the Creek nation. The Indians, many of whom we encountered, seemed perfectly friendly, and I apprehended no danger from them. We made some small purchases of, and presents to them. We tarried but a few hours at Montgomery, but took our passage on board the steamer Bonnets o' Blue,' for this city, which we reached after a tedious voyage of five days and nights. We were thus long, in consequence of frequent stoppages to take in cotton, of which we finally received on board nearly eleven hundred bales. The Alabama is a fine river, with high banks, and very deep, clear water, but as crooked as the Raritan. I can well imagine that it must be, as I am informed it is, extremely beautiful in May or June, when the banks are covered with the foliage which is now just budding forth. It rolls through a rich country, bordered with extensive plantations, and is the great highway by which the valuable staple of the country is conveyed to market. Mobile is truly a noble city, of between ten and eleven thousand inhabitants, who well deserve the reputation for enterprise and public spirit they have acquired. The town has a thrifty, business-like aspect, and is more like a northern city, than any I have yet visited. The Episcopalians and Catholics are erecting fine churches; the Presbyterians have a handsome edifice, and I heard an excellent sermon on Sunday from Rev. Mr. Hamilton, of the latter persuasion. I rambled through the burying-ground in the afternoon with a friend, at whose hospitable table I had dined, and made quite a collection of flowers, which were yielding their spring-like odours among the habitations of the dead. I have much enjoyed a pleasant walk to Orange Grove,' a delightful spot, about a mile out of town, where are now encamped the volunteer troops who have concentrated here from different parts of the country. They embark for Florida to-morrow, and really present more of the semblance of war, than any thing I have yet seen. I should not omit VOL. VIII. 7 to mention an agreeable ride to the college at Spring Hill, seven or eight miles from Mobile, and another to Summerville, a pretty little place, two miles out. NEW-ORLEANS, MARCH 13. At length, I am in the great emporium of the Valley of the Mississippi -the great southern mart of the Union the foreign city' - the place where congregate specimens of humanity from every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, under the whole heaven. I am so confused with the hum and bustle of this modern Babel - with what I have seen, and what is passing continually before me that I can trust myself with little save a desultory, outline sketch. For a particular description of men, manners, and things in this region, I would refer the reader to The SouthWest, by a Yankee.' I find every thing 'not otherwise than there set down.' Truly, the author is a most observant and veracious traveler. His work is a perfect guide-book, and has materially aided me in becoming acquainted with this wonderful city. We left Mobile in the morning, and passing down Mobile Bay into the Gulf of Mexico, and through Lakes Borgne and Ponchartrain, we took the rail-road cars on the margin of the latter, and in a quarter of an hour were in New-Orleans. I shall here record, summarily, a few of the things I have witnessed here, leaving my notes for farther amplification hereafter. I have seen the Government House, where the Legislature is now in session; have heard the members of both the Senate and House of Representatives making speeches in French and English; the former are at once translated into English, and their substance repeated by an interpreter, and vice versa—and the 'question' is always put, first in English, then in French. I have been to the celebrated battle-ground, about five miles down the river, where General Jackson won his glorious victory over Packenham-a level, peaceful plain, with nothing to mark it as having been the scene of deadly conflict. The ride was delightful, leading past numerous beautiful villas, and sugar plantations. I have seen the Ursuline Convent, and the Spanish Barracks - the basin and canal - the burying-ground, and the Catholic chapel of the dead, or the last resting place of the bodies before interment in their wet graves. I have atteneded a slave-sale, conducted by the auctioneers in French, Spanish, and English, at the top of their voices. I visited to-day Rev. Mr. Parker's new church, where I met a large congregation, and was forcibly reminded of the North.' I am informed that this church is exercising a salutary influence, especially in regard to the observance of the Sabbath. I have seen, this day, one half of the stores open, and goods exposed for sale; all the cafés and billiard rooms open; the troops parading in the Plaza,' or public square, in front of the cathedral; the markets open, and thronged with buyers and sellers, and their commodities; ships and steam-boats, (the latter the most spacious I ever saw,) lading and unlading, and carts and drays busily engaged in transporting merchandise and the Theatre d'Orleans is to be open this evening. But all this is not so much to be deprecated in the French and Spanish, for their religion does not condemn it as it is in Americans-people from the North, who know better, but who, the moment they come here, instead of setting a good example, throw off all restraint, and become far worse than the natives - |