Several were fired at from
the vessel, but none procured. One pair that I saw together, must have
been each upwards of twelve feet long.
Natches is a pleasantly situated town, or rather a steep hill, about
half a mile from the landing place, where are many stores and public
houses. The boat remained here an hour, and we ascended to the upper
town, a considerable place, with a town-house, and several good streets
and well-furnished shops, in which we purchased some books. This place
exports much cotton, and the planters are said to be rich. It commands a
fine prospect over the river and surrounding country. It has been tried
as a summer residence by some of the inhabitants of New Orleans, but the
scourges of this part of America (fever and ague) extend their ravages
for more than 1000 miles higher up. A partial elevation of ground, in an
unhealthy district, has been proved to be more pernicious, than even the
level itself. From hence, to the junction of the Ohio, there is little
to interest the stranger, excepting the diversity of wood and water. The
ground rises in some places, though with little variety, till you pass
the junction of the Ohio, 1253 miles from the sea. Shortly after
entering the Ohio, the country begins to improve; you perceive the
ground beginning to rise in the distance, and the bank occasionally to
rear into small hills, which show their strata of stone, and rise into
bluffs, projecting into the bends of the river, shutting it in, so as to
produce the effect of sailing on a succession of the finest lakes,
through magnificent woods, which momentarily changed their form, from
the rapid motion of our boat.
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