A WINiTER FROM HOME. NEW-YORK: JOHN F. TROW, PRINTER, 49 ANN-STREET. 1852. I.l t I |t n~g Eej .\,.t.. Cor .. - I., 0-i A WINTER FROM HOME. IT was a bright morning in November-we steamed down the Potomac, in a comfortable boat, and had a passing glimpse of Mount Vernon, which should be the property of the nation, without reference to cost and the locality of the Washington Monument. At Acquia Creek we took the cars for Richmond, where we arrived late in the afternoon. Finding that we were in an excellent hotel, we passed two days in this beautiful town. Here we saw the Turkey Buzzard sailing in the clear atmosphere without fluttering a wing, or apparently ruffling a feather. This was the first positive indication thatwe were approaching the South. We rode and sauntered about the place, seeing all that generally attracts the attention of strangers. We visited the Capitol, of course-the statue of Washington; saw the river meandering quietly along at the foot of the hills; the grave-yards, flour mills, public edifices; the island where Chief Justice Marshall used to play quoits, and the Theatre. But this place has been so well described in Bryant's Summer Tour, that we shall not venture to say more about it. We left on the railroad late in the afternoon for Wilmington, and at Petersburgh and Weldon, to our great annoyance, were compelled to change cars, there being interruption in the road at both these places. We were compelled, in the middle of the night, to ride or walk a considerable distance, and at the latter of A WINTER FROM HOME. these places, the baggage was re-ticketed, without sufficient notice to the passengers, so that it was by mere good luck that we did not leave our trunks on the road, as the attaches were not the most communicative persons in the world. We generally passed through a poor country, and the night was lighted up by the fires in the pine woods, where they were making turpentine. The country was dreary and monotonous, and sleep was out of the question, as we had the company of a theatrical corps, who made night hideous with their polyglot conversation in German, French and Italian. It was a second dispersion of the tower of Babel. The following morning, our worthy fellow-travellers were lunching at an early hour on bread and sausages and the atmosphere was redolent of the fumes of their wicker covered bottles. During the night, we passed several fields of cotton, which, in the imperfect light, resembled snow, and was new to most of the travellers. Some of the passengers brought several stalks into the car, and they were much admired by those who had never seen cotton growing before. But notwithstanding this little episode, it was a dull ride. The night was cold, the changing of cars annoying, the country dreary and uninteresting, the towns few and far between, and the negro huts along the road most forbidding in appearance. We made several pleasant acquaintances, however, and received a polite invitation from a respectable planter to visit him in Mississippi. He was on his return from the North, with his family, and we found them agreeable and intelligent persons. At Wilmington, we took passage in the steamer of the same name, and on the following morning found ourselves in the Charleston Hotel. We passed several days at Charleston, and amused ourselves in exploring all the novelties of a southern city. The hotel was excellent, and the attendants were all white persons, being generally considered better servants than the blacks. The weather was warm, but not too much so for locomotion. We had some little curiosity about this place, in consequence of the belligerent attitude that it had occasionally assumed towards the general govern 4 A WINTER FROM HOME. ment, and enjoyed a delightful moonlight walk on the battery, with some southern friends. We saw the statue of Mr. Calhoun, which is life-like and imposing I was personally acquainted with this distinguished gentleman, and believe him to have been a perfectly honest man, although a monomaniac on the subject of slavery I recollect passing a pleasant evening in his company at Washington, and listening with great pleasure to his remarks on literary and general subjects. His conversational talent was very great. He had read much and reflected deeply. He was an excellent English scholar, and was more familiar with books than with men. His speech on the Oregon question was a fine rhetorical display, evidently deeply studied, and prepared with care. It was only when he narrowed his mind down to the one idea of slavery, that he ceased to be a statesman, and dwindled to the dimensions of a mere sectional politician. Such was his election, however, and instead of a general and wide-spread renown, he has only left a local celebrity. He was a pure and honest man, however, and that is saying much in these latter days. I had some pleasant acquaintances here whom I did not visit, and several letters to distinguished persons, which were volunteered by friends, which I did not deliver. We were merely passing through, and all our time was fully occupied in seeing the curiosities of the city. Among other places, we visited the Market, which is most decidedly inferior to those of New-York, Boston and and Philadelphia. The game and fish markets, however. were excellent. Saw at one stand, venison, hares, (vulgarly called rabbits,) wild turkeys, English snipe, and wood and other wild ducks. At others, we noticed the rock crab, quantities of large shrimp, sheeps head, striped bass, small blue fish, flounders and others of the piscatory family. The butchers' meat was generally inferior. Tropical fruits, direct from Havana, were in profusion. We noticed oranges, grapes, green cocoa-nuts, bananas, &c., pretty much as we see them in New-York, but with the advantage of a day or two's time in the voyage. The negroes were also selling quantities of sugar cane, to which many people appear to be par m 5 A WINTER FROM HOME. tial. There was also a respectable show of flowers, and I bought a large bunch of beautiful monthly roses for a dime; at Dunlap's it would have cost me several dollars. The greatest curiosity of the market is the number of turkey buzzards seen walking about and reluctantly moving out of your way. These birds are excellent scavengers, and are protected by law. It is an awkward, uncouth bird on the ground, but in the air, one of the most graceful of the feathered kind, impelling itself forward without an apparent effort, and sailing along without seeming exertion. We went to the opera, of course, and found ourselves in a respectable looking building, crowded from pit to gallery, with a well-dressed, refined, and intelligent audience The company was the same that we are accustomed to at the Astor Opera House, and the opera was an old and familiar acquaintance. We reached Savannah in the Calhoun. an admirable sea boat, built in New-York. The wind was blowing fresh, but our craft behaved well, passing every thing she met, and shooting with great rapidity ahead of the U.S. Cutter, which is reputed to be a fast vessel. The Savannah papers of the following day speak of the gale of yesterday, which surprised us very much, as we should not have thought it any thing beyond a good sailing breeze. In landing at Savannah, we were greatly annoyed by the competing omnibus men. Our baggage was forcibly seized and distributed on the different coaches, and after having made our election of a carriage, we had some trouble in getting every thing together. The city authorities should amend this matter, in justice to travellers, particularly as Savannah has now become a great thoroughfare, and is certainly benefitted by the money of persons passing through it. At the Pulaski, we were in excellent quarters, with a kind and attentive landlord; clean and comfortable rooms, and a good table, on which I observed fine sirloins of beef, designated on the bill of fare, "Fulton Market Beef," which is sent from our city by the steamers in return for the early fruits and esculents received from the South. v 6 A WINTER FROM HOME. Opposite to our hotel is a monument to Greene and Pulaski, which is to be removed, and a new one substituted in its place. At present it is certainly no great ornament to the city. We wandered about this place, wading through the sandy streets, and were delighted with the pure and balmy atmosphere; and dispensing with my coat, in sitting by the window of my room, I could not but contrast the warm airs of the South most favorably with the cold winds of our more northern climate. When I left the North River, the summer foliage had disappeared, and the firost-tinted verdure which Cole's paintings so faithfully represent, had taken its place. Here every thing is green and bright. The trees in the public squares are covered with verdure; the sycamore, the mulberry, and the rich, green, thick-foliaged olive. This latter tree, I believe, is not known at the North. The courtyards of the houses are filled with flowers, among which, I noticed some of the cacti, the morning-glory, and several varieties of roses. We saw some beautiful pomegranates from a private garden, and quantities of figs, which are common here. The tree, as is well known, is an unsightly object, although the fruit is excellent. While in this city we made some pleasant acquaintances, and received kind invitations from two gentlemen, to visit them at their plantations. With one of them we were entirely unacquainted, except by reputation, and highly appreciated his warm-hearted and unexpected kindness. On the morning after our arrival, I passed through the market in search of some flowers for my companion, but was unsuccessful in finding any. The market is indifferent, and my landlord informs me that he receives beef from New-York, by the arrival of every steamer. We have not yet seen a palmetto tree, although I am told that there is one in Charleston, and three or four in this city. We embarked in a small but comfortable boat, called the Welaka, for Florida, taking the inner passage, and passing through narrow channels and crossing numerous inlets, or sounds as they are called here. We had a view of several beautiful islands, 7 A WINTER FROM HOME. which constitute the break-waters of the bays; and numerous rice plantations margined the shore. This passage is a curious one, and the channels through the meadows or marshes, are sometimes very narrow and circuitous. The channel through the "Rumbling Marsh," as it is called, is so contracted and winding, that we were compelled to poll off the bow of the boat in passing through it. We were on a sharp look out for alligators, which are frequently seen on this route, but were not fortunate enough to encounter any of them. We had a pleasant passage, although compelled to anchor for several hours at night, in consequence of a heavy thunder storm. During the day we passed Darien and Brunswick-the former of which is celebrated for groves of oranges, and at the latter, a canal is making, connecting the Altamaha River with the ocean, which will be richly remunerative to the proprietors. The following morning found us on the open ocean, running from St. Marys to the mouth of the St. John's River. In passing the inlet we saw the white and gray pelican for the first time. The sand bars were in some places literally crowded with them. They were intermixed with several varieties of gulls and other migratory birds. We also saw the palmetto tree, which gave quite an oriental aspect to the scenery. As we entered the river we landed passengers near a large saw mill, and found that all the laborers were colored people. Several square-rigged vessels were at anchor, waiting for the tide, or taking in cargoes of lumber. There is an inner passage from St. Marys to the St. John's which is used by the boats in rough weather. But it is very circuitous and shallow, and in one spot difficult, from the hull of a sunken boat lying near the channel. The outer passage is consequently preferred, unless the weather is very bad. These steamers are not well calculated for rough weather, although excellent River Boats. Some enterprising persons have lately put on a new boat called the Florida, which takes the outside passage from Savannah, running as high up the river as Pilatka, and occasionally making a direct voyage to St. Augustine. This is unquestionably the best mode 8 I A WINTER FROM HOME. of reaching that place, and will be preferred by all who know any thing about the roads of this portion of Eastern Florida. In a few hours we reached Jacksonville, continuing our course South, the river running from the South to the North, an exception, and I believe a solitary one, to the other rivers in this country. We passed several small plantations; the handsome island of St. Georges, and saw occasional evidences of settlement, but as a general rule the shores are unoccupied. They are generally low, and the swamps frequently approach to the river, rendering settlement undesirable, if not impossible. We stopped at Jacksonville, a small village, where there are two or three saw mills, but witnessed no great evidences of activity. This is the commencement of the stage route to Middle Florida; and good coaches run to Alligator three times a week, uniting with Stoke's line to Talahassee. There are two or three taverns, and several boardinghouses, which are filled with consumptives from the north, who congregate here in great numbers. We saw some of them in the last stage of the disease, dragging themselves along, like disconsolate ghosts on the banks of the Styx. Several die here every winter, coming too late to be benefitted by a change-f climate. It is the heartless custom of too many physicians to end incurable patients abroad, depriving them of all the comforts and kindness of home, and holding out hopes of cure, which they know to be unfounded,-a practice which cannot be sufficiently reprobated for its heartlessness and cruelty. Either climates, or the opinions of medical men in reference to the adaptation of particular climates to the consumption, have essentially changed within the last half century. Always manifesting a desire to rid themselves of incurable patients, and not having the courage to tell them that consumption is incurable when tubereles are formed on the lungs: they too inconsiderately exile them from the smiles and cares of their families to a strange residence, and the, mercenary attention of strangers. At one time they were sent to the South of France; at another to Charleston; and now to Florida Incipient consumption is oftep 1* * = 7 9 A WINTER FROM HIOME. arrested in this latter delightful winter climate, and valuable lives prolonged for years,. by a residence here. We speak assuredly on this subject, knowing several instances of this kind. But this is only in the early stage of the disease; or in cases of inflammation of the lungs; but where it has been long seated, and the cold night sweats, the dry and hard cough, and constant expectoration, proclaim that this dreadful disease has acquired the complete mastery; and where the wasted body, the feeble gait, and the unearthly brightness of the eye indicate speedy dissolution, it seems the very acme of cruelty to send the suffering patient to die in a strange place, and in the arms of strangers, by holding out the fallacious hope of recovery. We saw several most painful instances of this kind. Persons who had hardly strength enough to walk, and almost emaciated to skeletons: and in every such instance, we thought that the cruelty of the medical adviser could not be sufficiently condemned. If physicians will send their patients to a more genial winter climate in time, and before the disease has become deeply seated, many lives will undoubtedly be prolonged; but if the-matter is delayed, as is too generally the case, until the eleventh hour, neither travel nor change of climate wilirove of the slightest efficacy. In mercy let all such afflicted persons stay at home, surrounded by accustomed comforts and kindness-living in a regulated temperature, and avoiding exposure. It is assuredly better in extreme cases to be a prison er for a few winter months in your own house, enjoying the soci ety of your family and friends, than to wander to strange places, and be subjected to the fatigues of travel, and all the privations and discomforts of the too indifferent lodging-houses of the Southern States. Late in the afternoon we landed at Picolata, which figures so largely on the map, and contains a couple of houses and a long wharf. There are the remains of a Spanish fort here, which Bartram describes as "very ancient," and as "a square tower thirty feet high, invested with a high wall, without bastions about breast high, pierced with loop-holes, and surrounded with a deep *, o 10 A WINTER FROM HOME. ditch. The upper story is open on each side, with battlements supporting a cupola or roof: these battlements were formerly mounted with eight four-pounders, two on each side." This fort was constructed of stone from Anastasia Island, a concrete of sea shells and white sand. At the time it was occupied by the Spaniards, they were in possession of several other points in Florida, but in consequence of their refusal to surrender some Indian murderers, the offended tribes made war upon them, divested them of most of their possessions, and drove them into the walls of St. Augustine, to the possession of which their power in East Florida was limited. We were much struck with the beauty of this spot. We walked from the boat to a white frame cottage, kept as a boarding house by a very respectable lady. It is a neat and pretty building, and was situated in a grove of colossal live oaks, beautifully festooned with green moss hanging from the branches, and almost reaching the ground. We also saw several varieties of the cactusses; palmettos, and wild orange trees, while roses and other flowers were in full bloom. After expressing our admiration of this exquisite scene by various exclamations, we took the stage, and after a long and tedious ride, found ourselves at a late hour in the far-famed city of St. Augustine. The following day being the Sabbath, we attended the Episcopal church, and heard an excellent discourse from the rector, who is an intelligent, well-informed gentleman. This church is situated on the south side of the only public square in the place. It is a modern wooden building, without stove or furnace, as it is seldom necessary to warm it. I have sat in my pew in January with the windows open, admitting the gentle and luxurious wind. The congregation is small, but composed of some of the most distinguished people in the city, and a few ladies furnish a respectable choir. There are some neat edifices on the same side of the square with the church. The square itself is composed of some half dozen acres, surrounded by an indifferent wooden fence, and without any shade trees. There is a monument in the centre, 11 A WINTER PROM HOME. in honor of the Spanish Cortez, but it has no beauty to recomi mend it. On the west side of the square is an old Spanish building, which is used for various public offices; on the north stands the Catholic Cathedral, and a few dilapidated buildings; and on the east, the public market, a small wooden structure adjoining the sea wall and harbor. I have been particular in describing this locality, as it is one of the principal objects in the place. St. Augustine is the oldest and least prosperous city in the union. It is an old Spanish town, built of coquino from the extensive quarries on Arastasia Island. This stone is soft and easily quarried, but hardens by exposure to the air. It resists heat and moisture, but crumbles under the influence of frost. It is well adapted for building in this southern climate, and is easily worked. The sea wall and fort of St. Marks are built of it. The streets are narrow and unpaved, and dilapidated houses meet the eye in every direction. The governor's palace and custom-house must once have been fine buildings, but are now mere heaps of ruins. The modern buidings are principally of wood, with verandahs projecting from the second story. and are generally old and common in appearance. There are probably not more than a dozen in the whole place that would be considered comfortable at the north. The favorite walk is the sea wall, which was built by the general government. It extends the whole front of the town, and is really a delightful lounge in a winter evening. About the centre of the wall there is a long wharf, which was recently erected; and a little beyond it, a bath-house, which is in great request at all seasons of the year, as the cold seldom interferes with this delightful exercise. The oldest inhabited house in the place was pointed out to me. It is a large fiat-roofed building of coquino, distinguished by two gutters of the same material projecting about two feet from the front of the building, near the roof. The streets are narrow and unpaved, and you have the advantage of always having a shady side to walk in; and they are uniformly dry, as the sand quickly absorbs all moisture. There is a custom house here, and the collector has probably 12 A WINTER PROM HOME. some official patronage; but I should suppose that like Goldsmith's broken tea-cups, the office was rather for ornament than use, as there was but one arrival while we were here: a vessel from New-York with a cargo of sundries, among which I noticed rice; the freight from New-York being lower than from Savannah, on account of the sandy road between the city and river St. Johns. I believe that the collector receives a nominal salary; and a small office like this is as much competed for here as larger ones with us. In fact, politics, the partial necessity, and at the same time bane of the country, are as violent and rancorous here as elsewhere. There is no Eden from which the serpent can be excluded. During the greater part of the period that we were here, the weather seldom interfered with our out-door amusements. We walked, fished, hunted, or rode; and frequently in the months of December and January sat on the piazza, chatting until a late hour in the evening. But the latter enjoyment was sometimes interrupted, and fires within doors were acceptable. The winter was unusually severe, and for the first time since 1835 they had snow. You feel the cold more sensibly than at the north, the houses not being as well calculated to resist it. But a better opinion can be formed of the climate by extracting from a journal that I kept, giving the dates. To Nov. 30th, shooting, fishing and riding, alternately. Bought several boughs of the sour orange trees, filled with fruit, to decorate our rooms. Walked through an avenue of wild orange trees loaded with unripe and ripe fruit. We have eaten the guava, the fig and the sweet orange since we have been here, and were compelled to return home, when shooting, more than once by the heat. The oleander here is a large tree, thirty or forty feet high, and filled with beautiful flowers. They would make the fortune of a northern horticulturist. The arrow root, cassava snd sugar cane grow in the gardens. The rose is in full bloom; butterflies hover over beds of flowers; mocking-birds, although unhappily not now in song, are on every tree and while our 13 A WINTER FROM HOME. friends are shivering at the North, we are in summer costume, We also saw the guava, burgamot, lemon, pomegranate and prickly-pear, which is much larger than with us, and bears fruit in pro. fusion; and the peach and plum tree are in blossom. Green peas are ripe, although in small quantities. We had peas and other new vegetables for our Christmas dinner, distributed homoeopathically. As I itinerated in the vicinity of the town with my gun, I saw the sandpiper, the golden plover, mocking-bird, raven, the turtle and ground doves, several varieties of snipe, meadow larks. hawks, crows, quails, buzzards, kildeers, jackdaws, yellow shanks, willetts, tattlers, herons, cranes, black birds, common and white bittern, sea partridge, wild duck, and an occasional English snipe. During this month the inhabitants took large quantities of mullet, which came into the bay to spawn. They capture them with a cast net, like that mentioned in scripture. The mullet is a fa. vorite article of food with many of the inhabitants, and are frequently dried in the sun, as we have seen the herrings at Cape Cod-but with this difference, that the atmosphere, from its greater dryness, is not tainted with a strong fishy odor, as in the latter place. This appears to be a good country for the grape. A gentleman in this place planted the vine, but when the fruit was ripe, the mocking-birds attacked it in great numbers. IHe shot several hundred in one season, but in the long run they conquered him. A good netting over the grapes would have superseded the necessity of this wholesale murder of these interesting little robbers. One of the greatest deprivations we experienced was the want of ice, which, with a little effort, might easily be procured from Savannah. We found the water brackish and indifferent; and although in due time we became accustomed to it, we often thought of miniature ice-bergs, from Rockland Lake, floating in pitchers filled with the waters of Croton; and it was positively cruel to be reminded of a sherry cobbler or mint julep. Baillie Nicoll Jarvie says, that a man can'ndt carry the comforts of the Saut Market with him when he travels, and we were too fre 14 A WINTER FRO]M IOME. quently reminded of this; and our indifferent bread and strong butter, contrasted unfavorably with the products of the mills of Rochester, and the dairies of Orange county. I do not mean, howeyer, to disparage the house at which we lived. We fared as well as any one in the place; our table was abundantly supplied; we had good vegetables, meats, venison and wild turkeys in profusion, and if provisions came from one place and the cook from another, it was no fault of the keeper of the house, who did the best that could be expected under the circumstances. There are no such things as intelligence offices in the place. and you must take what you can get. Good cooks are not as plenty as sour oranges; and the monarch of stewpans and skillets can, under these disadvantages, hardly be expected to have been matriculated in the college of Ude, or to have studied under Soyer. But notwithstanding all this, we lived very comfortably. We had a kind and attentive landlord; the house was neat, the bedding and rooms excellent; we breathed a pure and salubrious atmosphere, and our appetites were seldom impaired for want of exercise. In addition to this, we had some agreeable and intelligent inmates, books in abundance, the newspapers, and above all, occasional letters from home. We remained here until the latter part of January, and during this period, we had every variety of weather: hot, moist, dry, and cold. It was sometimes too warm, and occasionally almost too cold to leave the house. December 9th, I find that it is noted too warm for rod or gun. The 12th, thermometer at 74 at 12 M.; the 13th, rain at intervals-a dull day; 15th, a cold rainy day, very much like our March weather; 16th, a cold rain in the morning-clear in the afternoon; 17th, thermometer 340 at 8 A. M.; a clear and cold day. Dec., 18th, ice half an inch thick-the thermometer 240 at 8 A. M.-the water in the streets frozen. This is the coldest weather that they have had here for seventeen years. The house very cold and uncomfortable, and the natives still more so; hardly any one to be seen in the streets. The flowers of yesterday are prostrated, and a pine apple in the 15 A WINTER PROM HOME. court yard is covered by a white cloth to protect it from the frost -its speedy death is not problematical. The poor invalids are all housed and coughing. We had ice water, the first of the season. Dec. 19th, weather still very cold —saw ice in a tub an inch thick. "The oldest inhabitants' complain bitterly of it. It has materially checked vegetation and killed some of the most tender plants. The potatoes are slightly nipped, but the peas seem indifferent to it. Dec. 22d, an overcast day, with occasional showers, very much like a mild April day in New-York; 28th at 9 A. M., mercury at 740. January 1st, a mild, pleasant day, and we are sitting with open windows; 2d, chilly weather. Jan. 18th, a cold day-at 12 M., thermometer at 300; snow in the morning, the residue of the day, rain and sleet; the ground covered with ice, and icicles hanging from the roof. As I before observed, we are more sensitive to cold here than at the North, the houses not being calculated for winter-the windows and doors loose and openings in every direction for the admission of the cold air and the fire places wide and deep, consuming a great deal of wood and emitting but little heat; the chill penetrates to the marrow, and the alternations from heat to cold are sudden and frequent. This is a fair representation of the last winter, and although the weather was generally delightful, it was occasionally more coquettish than agreeable. It must be recollected, however, that the winter was unusually severe; and that there may not be a recurrence of a similar one for many years. The present has been very destructive to the fruits and flowers; and the lemons, pomegranates, guavas and limes, which a few days since were flourishing in all the pride of fruit and flower, are now killed down to the root. Florida oranges at one time had a high reputation, but the trees were generally injured, and many killed in the winter of 1835. Subsequent attempts to recuscitate them have failed, from the presence of an insect, which destroyed most of them. Several trees were pointed out to me covered with this animalcule, and my attention was directed to various furrows made in their ranks, which is said to be done by an insect which has re 16 A WINTER FROM HOME. cently appeared, and feeds upon the destroyer without injuring the tree. It is supposed by some persons that the tree will yet be restored to its pristine vigor, and the fruit again become an important article of commerce to the State. Several gentlemen are turning their attention to the cultivation of the tree, budding the sweet on the sour orange, which grows spontaneously in many parts of East Florida. St. Augustine, when the sweet orange flourished, is said to have been perfumed by the rich odor of the flower; and captains of vessels relate that they have often perceived it when entering the harbor. It may be a question whether the climate is adapted to persons suffering from pulmonary affections. It is understood to be ordinarily better than it was during the last winter, when it was certainly as Protean as the disease it professes to benefit. I should have serious doubts whether a residence so immediately in the vicinity of the ocean, was generally adapted to this devastating complaint. There are several individuals in St. Augustine, who come on from the North, affected, or at least threatened with consumption, who have prolonged their useful lives by a residence here; and on the other hand, there are known instances, where the disease has orginated, and been fatal to persons born in the place. The atmosphere, surcharged as it is with saline particles, I should consider too stimulating for pulmonary affections, although to a person in ordinary health, or merely predisposed to this sickness, nothing can be more grateful than the sweet and balmy atmosphere that he inhales. In this country there is of course a considerable diversity of opinion as to the best locality for consumptive patients. Some prefer this spot, which affords the best accomodations in this part of Florida, while others scatter along the St. John's river, at Jacksonville, Picolata, Palatka, and Lake Monroe, where they escape the ocean atmosphere. Orange or Suwanee Springs, I have no doubt, will in course of time, become great resorts for this class of invalids; and the climate at Tampa Bay is said to be one of the most genial andcl luxurious in the world. There is a wide range for selection, and 17 A WINTER FROM HOME. various places will be favored by different persons, according to taste or circumstances. Medical advisers will have preferences, and patients will frequently act under their advice without pretending to judge for themselves, forgetting the numerous antagonistic theories that obtain in this learned profession -that while one travels the old fashioned alopathic turnpike, the green lanes of homoeopathy are preferred by many; while some voyage over the broad lakes and deep rivers of hydropathy. The country in the vicinity of St. Augustine is sterile and sandy, covered with a growth of pine and some hard timber and palmetto. We visited a sugar plantation in the vicinity of the place, which did not promise to pay for the labor expended upon it. The cane was small and of the ribbed kind, and while the vegetables were more promising; they were vastly inferior to the produce of our northern gardens. There is nothing very tempting to a farmer or planter in the aspect of this part of Eastern Florida, and if it were denuded of its timber, it would be a vast sandy desert, were it not for occasional hammocks of land, and numerous swamps, and other fresh water deposits, which are the favorite homes of the alligator and deadly mocasin snake. The Minorcan population of St. Augustine, with just indignation, repel the imputation of a servile origin. That their ancestors were freemen and grossly imposed upon by Governor Turnbull, no one can doubt, who reads the history of the country. To judge from the names among them, they are of mixed originItalian, Greek, Spanish, and some from the Island of Minorca. They are generally of the Roman Catholic Church, and are a mild and amiable people. They live on little, and with small labor. Their savings are mostly invested in slaves, whom they frequently hire out. Their numerical superiority enables them to elect the corporation; and I am told that they have imposed an annual tax of twelve and a half cents on every slave owned here, and ten dollars on all employed here and owned elsewhere. I am not certain that this is true, but if so. the fact of their owning the slaves, probably explains the cause of this difference. In 18 I A WINTER FROM HOME. other words, they are what in modern phraseology are called Protectionists; advocating a high tariff on foreign labor, for the supposed benefit of home productions. Contented with little, they are not as energetic as the people of other States who have settled among them, nor have they the intelligence and enterprise of the inhabitants of the north. But in exemption from crime few communities excel them, and it is to their great honor that there is no prison in the place, or if there is one it has been tenantless for years; my impression is, however, that one does not exist here, as the black steward of the only vessel that arrived during the winter, was confined in the fort until she sailed, for deliberately and intentionally violating the laws of the State, in entering the town without a permit. Although they are said to be poor, I believe that there are no town paupers among them, and I have seen but one beggar in the streets, a worthless little Minorca lad, who asked for money without the knowledge of his parents and friends, who, I was told, would be exceedingly mortified if they knew the fact. They are accused of being parsimonious, but if they are poor, as is alleged, what is called parsimony is nothing more than necessary prudence. Their wants are few, and they live on very little: they take fish and oysters, and hunt turkeys and deer; raise a little poultry, and purchase a moderate amount of groceries, which, with a few vegetables, enable them to live comfortably. I knew several of them, and always found them obliging, polite, and amiable; and never received a rude answer, nor the slightest incivility or unkindness while in the place. They have large families, if one can judge from the numbers of children moving in the streets, and collected at the corners. They have the habits of the people of Catholic countries, and do not observe the Sabbath with the same strictness as at the north. I have seen hunting parties on this day, yet, at the same time, the cathedral is well filled with numerous and well-dressed worshippers. Take them all in all, they are a kind and good people, and far superior to many that we meet in all other parts of the world. There is nothing about them to dislike, and much to admire and esteem. 19 A WINTER FROM HOME. Although not an enterprising people, they are, in this respect, like the residue of the community in which they live. St. Augustine has neither commerce nor business, except the ordinary retail sales of a small place. It is isolated and sequestered from the rest of the world. It does not own a ton of shipping; has no manufactures, few or no mechanics, and in fact produces little or nothing. It has three or four boarding-houses or taverns, which are supported by southern and northern visitors, the former coming in the summer, and the latter in winter. There is no back country; few or no farms or plantations; no mills, turnpikes, plank roads, railroads, or canals. The country does not even produce sufficient for home consumption. There are no grasses for hay, no corn, none of the cereal grains; and the whole product may be summed up in fish and oysters from the bays and oceans wild fowl from the swamps, venison and turkeys from the woods; dwarf cabbages, potatoes, cassava, arrow-root, and other esculents from the gardens; sugar-cane and syrup from two or three small plantations, and sour oranges from every where. Their groceries, furniture, store goods, preserved meats, luxuries, hay, clothing, salt, corn, flour, and butter, are all imported; and while there is a solitary printing-office, there is not a bookstore in the place. There is a custom-house, but no entries; pilots, but no employment for them; and cattle, but no pasture. There are two stage lines to Picolata, and, I believe, but one hack carriage. for which you pay higher than New-York prices. How then can the Minorcans be expected to be enterprising in this state of things? I am told that they are improving in this respect, however; and some of the young men now leave home for Savannah, and other southern cities, where they become excellent mechanics. But, notwithstanding the habitual stagnation of this venerable city, I have never seen a more happy or better community; and no one can live among them, without becoming attached both to the place and the people. There is here no desperate struggle for wealth; and none of the pulling and tearing, the jostling and struggling that are witnessed elsewhere. The quiet and content 20 A WINTER FROM HOME. ment that are so generally perceptible, are the greatest recommendations to the stranger, who is fagged and wearied with the worldly struggle from which he has temporarily escaped. The general government has a small military force, and barracks, at the southern extremity of the town. There is a graveyard attached, in which, among other mortuary testimonials, are monuments to Major Dade, officers, and men, who perished in an ambuscade in the last Seminole war. We found the officers agreeable and intelligent, and a great addition to the society of the place. Where the barracks now stand, was once a Spanish nunnery, and the Commandant, in setting out orange trees, disinterred the remains of a female skeleton, which might once have been covered by the flesh and cuticle of the Lady Abbess herself, or of some withered nun, some youthful novice, or some humble servitor. But death is a grave jester, and makes sad havoc of pomp and wealth, soon reducing the rich and poor to a level, that even the wildest democracy shrinks from. The bones of the dead of Waterloo were imported into England to fructify the land, to give food to the living; and Sir Francis Chantry was told by the sexton of a London churchyard, that when the bones accumulated too much, he threw them into the Thames.. A sad commentary on all the petty littlenesses and small ambition of life. I may mention in this place that colds accompanied with sore throats have been common here this winter; and several children have died from this cause. I have seen two funerals in one day. One, that of a child of Catholic parents. The coffin was of pine wood painted white, and the attendance was respectable. The other was that of an old negro named Jack. The coffin was black, and ornamented with brass nails. It was carried on a cart, preceded by an old negro with a long crape weeper on his hat. The women, neatly dressed, with handkerchiefs on their heads, came immediately after the cart, and then the men followed. There were from sixty to eighty in the procession. Their countenances were grave, and their deportment serious and becoming the solemn occasion. The deceased was a firm member of the 21 A WINTER FROM HOME. Methodist Church, and although a slave all his life, a man of good conduct and character. Poor Jack now knows the great secret, and is probably better off than the millions who were indifferent to him in life. Like most negroes, he was susceptible of strong religious impressions; and wherever I have been at the south, I am told that there are manytgood Christians among them. The negro has considerable enthusiasm, and when properly directed frequently evinces generous and noble traits of character. Our walks round the city frequently extended to a distance of several miles. There is no great variety,. however, to tempt the pedestrian. They are limited to the Point, Beach, Jacksonville, Fort Peyton, and Picolata road. There was much, however, to amuse an observant person. We frequently derived pleasure from watching the flight of a hawk; in listening to the note of the cat bird, here almost modulated into song; watching the wren, who seemed to say, here too I am a stranger, and will meet you at the north next summier; or in observing a flock of several thousand swallows gyrating in the air, and performing all their evolutions with military precision. We would sometimes walk along the sea wall, and watch the breaking of the water at its base; or lean over the bridge which crosses the St. Sebastian's river to see the mullet or trout spring to the surface. We would sometimes extend our walk to a ruined plantation, which was broken up during the last Indian war. On one occasion I seated myself on the piazza of a deserted house, on the west side of the north branch, which had evidently once been a pretty residence. There were the remains of a neat gateway, green blinds, a garden, and some few ornamental trees. All was now desolation. Weeds encumbered the garden, and the cockspur and thistle grew in the paths. I sat on the piazza musing on the probable fortunes of the former proprietor. I heard his story afterwards. He was a respectable clergyman, poor, and out of health. General Worth procured him a commission of chaplain in the army, and he accompanied him to Tampa Bay, where he subsequently died. Deserted houses are common in this part of East Florida, 22 A WINTER FROM HOME. and most of the plantations that were established south of this city were destroyed by the Indians during the Seminole wars. The whole country is filled with Salamander hills, from two to three feet high, so called from the pouched rat, here denominated the Salamander, from the habit of running over the ground while still warm after a recent burning of the woods. Bartram says that the Vulture Aurea feeds on lizards, frogs, &c., which they find half roasted among the embers. This animal is the Pseudostoma Floridana; the southern pouched rat, and a variety of the Pseudostoma Bursar-the Guaffre of the Missouri, or Canada pouched rat The latter I have seen on the prairies of Illinois, where it is called Gauffre (Gophar). Unlike the Florida rat, it does not raise a hillock over its hole; but it is also a nocturnal animal, and is seldom seen in the day time. There is a hard-shelled turtle in Florida called Gophar, which raises a hillock similar to that of the pouched rat; and as the name appears to be popular, there is also a large Gophar snake, which, although of formidable size, is a species of the constrictor. and perfectly harmless. In travelling through Eastern and Middle Florida, we saw thousands of these salamander and turtle hillocks. One of the favorite amusements of this place is boating on the beautiful bay in front of the town. There are six Minorcan pilots who own a fine open row-boat, which can always be hired with a full complement of men for a trifling compensation. These pilots do not board vessels outside the bar, except in good weather. but stand on the beach making signals, which are generally understood. When a vessel is expected, and like angels' visits, they are few and far between, they stand on the sand hills looking out for her. I did not observe that they had a spy-glass with them, and as such an instrument is hardly requisite, they are probably not in possession of one. The boat generally in use on these waters is a canoe, built of cypress. There are several fine ones among themn. They hold from three to twelve persons, and frequently carry a sail. The inhabitants manage them with great dexterity, and accidents seldom or never occur. The favorite resorts on 23 A WINTER FROM HOME. these occasions are, the beach, which abounds with beautiful shells; the light-house, at the mouth of the harbor; the stone quarries on Anastasia Island; the North and Mantanzas Rivers. There is some coarse pasturage on Anastasia Island, and you have a fine view of the city from it. It abounds with rattlesnakes, who are hybernating at this season of the year; and the ponds are filled with alligators. Pic-nic parties to the beach are common, and an occasional marooning expedition to Mantanzas, is very acceptable to sportsmen. Riding on horseback is a favorite amusement. The ponies that are used by the equestrians are brought to the doors of the hotels every fine day, and you pay fifty cents for a ride. If the riding is cheap, the horses are indifferent. They are larger than St. Bernard dogs, and are the most uncouth, shaggy little animals extant. They are kind and docile, and while perfectly ignorant of the existence of brush or curry-comb, a groom is to them an unknown existence. They are very hardy, however, and have great powers of endurance. Half-fed and ill-tended as they are, they will with ease travel from thirty to fifty miles a day, for several days successively. They rarely have shoes, which are hardly requisite in this sandy region. Their ordinary food is coarse grass and rushes; and they exhibit a most remarkable contrast to the pampered horses of other places. Such as they are, however, they answer the purposes to which they are applied, and are remarkably well adapted to this country. The old Spanish fort of St. Marks is the largest lion in the place. We visited it of course, and found it greatly dilapidated. It is surrounded by a ditch which once extended to the St. Sebastian River, and was the northern boundary of the city which at that time was protected by a wall. The posterns of the northern gate, which is a curiosity in its way, are still standing. The fort is now frontedby a water battery called Marion,which is equipped with Paixhan guns, and completely commands the harbor. We saw the famous walled-up cell in which a human skeleton was found, and the narrow window from which Wild-cat and his men are said to 24 A WINTER FROM HOME. have escaped. If they ever got through this narrow aperture, they must have had considerable gutta percha in their formation; but unhappily for the story, there is a door opposite to the window, which, when guarded by a negligent sentinel, afforded an easy egress. The sportsman is enabled to amuse himself in the vicinity of this place to a greater extent than with us. There is good fishing in the Sebastian river and bay. The fish principally taken are the mullet, sea trout, sheeps-head and drum. These are indifferent fish, with the exception of the sheeps-head, which is so well known in our markets. There are several other varieties, which afford amusement to the angler. The fresh water trout is a stranger in the southern streams, but there is a very fine fish of the same name but of much larger size and different shape, taken in the River St. John's, and elsewhere, which is delicate and palatable. A few miles from the town the gunning and hunting are good. Quails, deer, water fowl and wild turkeys are abundant; numerous bevies of the former are found in the pine barrens, and the birds at this season of the year are in fine condition. The English snipe is occasionally seen, but it is not numerous, and I saw but one woodcock during the whole time that I was here, although this delicious bird is frequently found at Lake Jackson and other places in middle Florida. The wild pigeon is rare, as it seldom extends its migration so far south. It is customary in deer hunting to encamp in the woods, and the Florida hunter always takes his coffee-pot with him in preference to the brandy bottle, as the climate is unfavorable to the free use of ardent spirits. Coffee is universally drank, and it is a sufficient stimulant in this delightful country. Parties are sometimes formed for hunting and fishing at Mantanzas, and the sportsman is generally well rewarded for his trouble. In the immediate vicinity of the town there is little to reward the gunner. Every Minorcan lad carries a gun, and what little game there is, is rendered wild by their constant pursuit. Dove shooting is their favorite sport, and they frequently bring them to town by dozens for sale. They are very 2 25 A WINTER FROM HOME. good eating, and about as large as the wild pigeon. On one occasion, while on a hunting expedition, a lad who accompanied us, exhibited his leg, which had been bit by an alligator which was lying by the path that he was passing along. It was horribly scarred. This is a rare circumstance, as an alligator seldom attacks a person in the water, and this is the only instance in which it has ever been known to have occurred on the land. It is supposed that the boy must have trod upon its head in passing through the palmettos. He was caught by the ankle, but succeeded in wrenching it out of the creature's mouth. His brother, who was on horseback, hearing his outcries, rode up and shot it. It was about twelve feet long. The wound was cured by dressings of salve, without calling in a physician. The alligator is a great destroyer of dogs, and old hounds always refuse to take to the water which they are known to frequent. Their principal food is fish, which they take in great numbers. Bartram describes a terrific conflict that he had with them at the mouth of Lake Monroe, on the St. John's, but they were evidently in pursuit of the fish with which he had nearly filled his canoe, without any desire to feast on our friend, the botanist. While here, we had frequent rumors of another Indian war, undoubtedly got up by timid or interested persons. An Indian war, with its attendant disbursements, would be a God-send to some of these people. By this remark, I do not intend the industrious, well-doing and respectable portion of the community, who always deprecate excitement and change. But in every place there are shiftless, restless and idle persons, who live by agitation, and having nothing to lose, are reckless of consequences. The Fillibusters of the South, and the Interventionists of the North, come within this category. This portion of Florida is certainly poor, and although there are individual instances of wealth, the mass are in moderate circumstances. The people here certainly made a great mistake when they knocked at the door of the Union for admission as a State. They now have to pay all their own expenses, which formerly came from the ample 26 I A WINTER FROM HOME. pocket of Uncle Sam. Their local or town taxes, and particu. larly the road tax, are considerable. It is due, however to the people of Florida, that the Indians should be removed from their limits. They are worthless vagrants, and occupy some of the best lands. Settlement is rapidly approaching their boundary, and nothing can prevent collision with the whites, but the prompt action of the general government. It is to be hoped that an amicable arrangement' with them will soon be effected. The bulk of the visitors here are from New-England and New-York. They are generally afflicted with pulmonary affections. They are not all the most pleasant fellow-boarders: their appetites are excessive, and when the bell announces dinner, they rush to the table and perform wonderful trencher feats. This appetite is undoubtedly a part of their disease. You hear the funereal cough all over the house, and in the parlor they loll at full length on the sofas. and expectorate almost constantly., They are very apt to be argumentative and disputatious, and it is really painful to witness the sad exhibitions of bodily and mental decadence. On the other hand, there are many agreeable and wellinformed persons among them, whose conduct secures your friendship, and whose sufferings enlist your warmest sympathies. But notwithstanding, every public house is, to a certain extent, a hospital, and whenever you walk the streets you meet some sufferer, whose wasted form and feeble gait proclaim the victim of consumption. The society of the place is delightful. The principal families are from the North and the older Southern States. There are also one or two of Spanish or English descent. In addition there are the army officers, who are generally educated and accomplished persons. The circle is small, but any respectable stranger who is properly introduced, never regrets his admission into it. There are no public amusements, except a nine-pin alley, recently erected by one of the most respectable gentlemen in the place, whose kindness and hospitality are only exceeded by his intelligence and enterprise. There are some highly refined fami 27 A WINTER FROM HOME. lies, and they entertain frequently and liberally. The great charm of society, however, is the entire absence of pretence, and the genuine kindness and unaffected good feeling with which you are received. There is no evidence of the parvenuism which is so common in the commercial towns, and there is too much real gentility for the existence of an upper-tendom. Every one dresses well, behaves well, and dances well. Hiere, as throughout the South, ladies are treated with great deference and respect; and some of our young fashionables would soon have the alternative of changing their deportment in this particular, or submitting to a social ostracism. Card playing and dancing are the principal amusements. The favorite game is Ucer; but gambling at private houses appears to be interdicted by general consent. Dancing is indulged in by persons of all ages, and I have seen venerable devotees of Terpsichore, seated in the chair in the German cotillion, nor was there any thing offensive or displeasing in this, as it evidenced a cheerful and happy temperament, rather than a frivolous and idle disposition. The invitations are verbal, and at short notice, the hours seasonable and your welcome cordial. We enjoyed these meetings very much, and although well acquainted with the sayings and doings of the upperten in New-York, thought them more pleasant than Brown's assemblages and Weller's suppers. The society is small, as this ancient city is a mere village; but take it all in all, it is more pleasing and more refined-less ostentatious and less heartless, than the curious melange called fashionable society, in our great commercial emporium. In addition to the ordinary parties, we had an occasional masquerade, and I never saw this thing carried off with more spirit and effect. The masqueraders would assemble at a particular house, and after visiting the principal families, meet the ladies at some designated residence, and wind up the evening with several hours of dancing. These things were generally off-hand and with little previous concert. On one occasion, we had a ladies' fair for the benefit of the Episcopal Church, which was numerously attended. The refreshment table was 28 A WINTER FROM HOME. liberally patronized, and there was the usual rich display of cheap toys, dressed dolls, pin cushions, and other small trifles. There was Marcellini, the Orpheus of the place, with his two sable at tendants, with violin and tambourine. This music is highly re spectable, and I have often listened to it at night, with great sat isfaction. There was the usual amount of noise and hubbub smiles and gossip. There, as in other public places, Daphne fled and Apollo pursued; and now reversing the heathen mythology, our whiskered and moustached Apollo endeavored to escape from some smiling Daphne. One word in regard to the negroes of this place, and we have done. As far as my observation extends, they are perfectly happy and contented, and are treated with great kindness. Hard masters are rare, and are held in great disrespect. They are a careless, thoughtless race; and whatever they are elsewhere, are here a species of Lazzaroni-idling as much and working as little as possible. They sometimes accumulate considerable pro perty; and one was pointed out to me in the street who was said to be worth one thousand dollars. They are fat and sleek; well fed and well dressed; play much and work little. They are al ways cheerful and contented, and are better off. in many respects, than the poor white laborer of the north. Dining with a friend one day, a favorite servant, accompanied by another, came into the room, and danced and sung for about half an hour. Hie was then called into the parlor, and received a present from his mistress. The Christie imitation of negro dancing and singing is tolerable; but, like all imitations, somewhat of a caricature. Another gentleman in the place has a slave in his store, who attends to the retail business and has charge of the money drawer. He is a devout Methodist, and a man of exemplary character. The ladies on plantations are said to be slaves to their slaves. I asked the wife of a respectable planter whether this was true, as stated by Miss Martineau? She replied, that she was compelled to take care of their slaves; superintend their comforts; make their clothes; administer their medicine, and tend them 29 A- WINTER FROM IHOME. when sick. The negro is a thriftless and helpless animnal; and one white man will perform more labor than three of them. There is no romance in plantation life: it is a dull, sad reality. Southern wealth is, generally, over-.estimated. There are, I doubtless; many rich planters but the majority are in moderate circumstances. Slave labor can never compete with free; and the peculiar institutions of the south are not, in my opinion, conducive either to the happiness or prosperity of the whites. But it is for them, and not for us, to decide in this matter. They have constitutionalrights, which we are bound to respect; and when we cease to do so, they will be perfectly justified in aban doning the confederacy. But, in good time, they will, if left alone, dispense with the Institution of Slavery. Abolitionism only postpones emancipation. WIithiout it, Delaware, 3Iaryland, Kentucky, and probably Virginia, would now have been free States. As far as my observation has extended, the masters are kind and indulgent; and I am satisfied that most of the slaves, I at the south, are better off than the free blacks at the north. It is a question whether many of them are not better off than their masters, who are compelled to take care of them in sick ness, in childhood; and in old age. On every plantation there are a number of useless hands, who must be supported by the owners. Slave property is not, generally, a good investment and Government securities, or six per cent. mortgages, will pay i better in the long run. What will eventually be done with this race is a problem for future solution. They degenerate rapidly at thenorth; and some free States have interdicted their set. tlement within their borders. Immediate emancipation would be destructive to the south; the idea of practical amalgamation is disgusting, and colonization appears to be the only remedy, but hoiv, and w/zre, and tc/ie2, are the grave answers to this pro position. One thing, however, is certain, that if the extreme Abolitionists can carry out their views, one of three results must soon follow; a severance of the Union-a depopulation of the slave States-or a war of races, which will end in the exter mination of the blacks. 30 I A WINTER FROM HOME. In the latter part of January, we left St. Augustine with great regret, leaving many friends behind us, from whom we parted with reluctance and with the warmest wishes for their uniform happiness and prosperity. Palatka is a small settlement on the tide waters of the St. John's. It was built up during the Seminole Wars, but is now decayed and without much business. It is a beautiful locality, and, in time, will become a place of some importance. Squarerigged vessels come to the wharves, and it is the terminus of steam navigation, with the exception of small vessels of this description, which proceed as far as Enterprise. It is much resorted to by invalids, and there are two excellent boardinghouses, but the accommodation is not sufficient: and if a good hotel was erected it would be crowded during the winter months. A hotel could be better supplied here than at St. Augustine, having a direct and frequent communication with Savannah, from whence marketing, groceries, and the great essential of ice could be readily obtained. A good physician at this place is a great desideratum and if some respectable member of that profession would take up his residence here, he would be liberally patronized. There is a beautiful orange grove in the immediate vicinity of the village, and the river affords fine boating; while the scenery is pleasing and agreeable We saw very few houses, and only one or two plantations, on the banks of the river, in voyaging from Picolata to this spot. The stream still continues wide, but the banks are, generally, low; and long points of land frequently project far out, rendering the navigation somewhat tedious. We did not visit Lake Monroe, but were told that it was a beautiful spot, somewhat frequented by strangers, but with insufficient accommodations A small steamer visits it once a week, but the most desirable mode of reaching it, by persons travelling for pleasure, is to take an open boat, well provisioned, and properly manned, and encamp at night on the shores. By travelling in this mode, you can proceed to other lakes beyond Monroe; and if partial to fishing and gunning, you will have ample amusement on your voyage. 31 A WINTER FROM HOME. Orange Spring is about thirty miles from Pilatka. The proprietor has erected a large frame house for the accommodation of visitors, and is a very kind and obliging person. Hie keeps a good house, and an unexceptionable table. He is in easy circumstances; has a farm; cotton gin, country store, and several negroes, who are well treated and apparently much attached to their master. HIe took us to see the spring, which is white sulphur, of about thirty feet in diameter, and fifteen deep. The temperature of the water is 72Q, and affords delightful bathing at all seasons of the year. The house is sequestered; and is placed in a beautiful grove, which is filled with the gopher hillocks. It is on the stage road from Pilatka to Otkala, and stages pass two or three times a week. After leaving Orange Spring we travelled through a wild country, passing several large ponds and lakes on our route, and not seeing more than four or five houses in a day's ride. These lakes are extremely beautiful, and some are perfectly round, with hard sandy shores. We saw quantities of wild fowl swimming in their pellucid waters. Lime-silnks are also common in this country, and we passed one every few miles for several successive days. We stopped at a log house for the night, and dined on " hog and homiiny," with a sugarless cup of coffee. There was neither bread, butter, nor milk in the house, although our landlord has several hundred head of cattle running about the woods. The cattle ranges in this country are extensive, most of the government land not yet having been entered, and the farms being at long intervals apart. Our landlord has a small plantation, a cotton gin, and fourteen negroes. We found him on our arrival engaged in arresting a wood fire which threatened his fences. In the evening our landlady furnished us with fresh bread and a good supper; and while conversing with the famlily before a monstrous wood fire, their nearest neighbor, living some miles off, rode up on horseback, with a stick of light-wood in his hand, to ask for neighborly assistance in some difficulty. The night was exceed 32 A WINTER FROM ro0eME. ingly dark, and the effect of the lighted brand upon the rider's face was curious; half being lighted up, and half hidden. I afterwards accompanied my host to cut down a burning tree which he feared might in falling extend the fire over his plantation. The light-wood, a resinous pine, is a great blessing in this country. I frequently made my fire by applying the flame of the candle to it. The woods are full of it, and it costs nothing but the trouble of cutting and hauling. The logs encumber the troads, compelling frequent detours to avoid them; the branchless and broken trees meet the eye in every direction; and when the woods are on fire, the turpentine burns with great violence, the flame sometimes jetting from the top of the trunk, and converting it into a gigantic candlestick. We sat by the fire until a late hour, conversing with our friendly entertainers, and found them possessed of good sense, but entirely ignorant of the busy world. They had never seen a turnpike, canal, railroad, or steamboat. They had heard of Washington, and other great men, but never of our northern millionaires-thereby justifying the'conclusion that an honorable fame is more desirable than the mere acquisition of wealth. They knew nothing about the north, but had understood that the northerners intended to free all the slaves. They were quite happy when I told them that it was not in their power to do so even if they had the inclination. In these out places they have preaching from circuit riders of the Methodist Church once a fortnight. They are generally Baptists and Mlethodists, and are a good moral people. In all my intercourse with them I found them uniformly kind and obliging. Our log hut was situated in a primeval pine forest; and nothing can be more composing to a worldly mind than a night passed in the seclusion of a forest cabin, with the bright stars filling the heavens and the sad wind moaning through the tall trees. On retiring to bed, I endeavored to recall the incidents of the day, but was soon lulled to sleep by the soughing of the wind, which reminds one of the distant roaring of the ocean. This moaning of the wind is not describable in any other way, 2* 83 A WINTER FROM HOME. and is a melancholy and solemn sound. On the following morning we took an early breakfast with the family, and, with our dinner-consisting, among other things, of hard boiled eggs and broiled chickens, which our landlady had cooked for us by special request-we started on our journey. It was one of our mild October days, during the Indian summer at the -north. The road was hard and entirely free from stone. It passed through primeval pine forests, with the exception of the last few miles, where we met with the black Jack and occasional patches of hammock land. We took our dinner seated on a log, by a clear spring, and thought of our friends at home, who were enduring all the rigors of a northern winter. There were large numbers of cattle pasturing in the wood, which are taxed three dollars, and can be purchased for from four to five dollars each. The road is little travelled, and the houses at long intervals apart. We saw but four during the day; and the good woman, at one where we stopped to water our horses, sent out a quantity of sugar-cane to my companion. During the day we passed a large fire in the woods, which extended for several miles and had crossed four or five miles of our road. In one place it approached us with great rapidity, with a noise resembling platoon-firing-occasioned by the disengagement of the gases in the wood. The atmosphere was darkened by the smoke; and logs and trees were burning near the road. These fires are very frequent, but seldom interrupt travelling. They are often occasioned by the carelessness of travelling parties in not extinquishing the fires of their encampment. Late in the afternoon we reached Newmansville, a small village, with a wooden court-house and several stores, A stage passes through here once a week, from Ocala to Alligator, connecting with the stage from Jacksonville to Talahassee. We found comfortable accommodations at a country tavern, and met with some agreeable persons who had resided for some years in this remote place. The following night we lodged at Alligator, thirty-four miles distant, We took our dinner with us, and pick-nicked on the 34 A WINTER FROM HOME. road as usual. The road was good, and through pine forests; and the houses few and far apart. During the day we passed the natural bridge, where the river passes under the road. We stopped at a comfortable house, and had the usual supper of ham and hominy. Milk was scarce, and the butter poor; and there was but one sheet on each bed. There are several ancient tumuli in the vicinity of this place which are supposed to be the remains of forts erected by De Soto, who is conjectured to have passed through this part of the country on his route to the Mississippi. The village itself is on a sandy plain, and is a very meagrelooking place. The following day we proceeded to Suwannee Springs, and stopped at Mr. Tresvant's, where we found excellent accommodations. This is a fashionable watering-place for the Floridians in summer; and the river Suwannee is within one hundred yards of the house. It is a clear, rapid stream, with bold rocky banks. The spring is white sulphur, immediately on the margin of the river. The path to it is precipitous; and there is a wooden machine to lower visitors, if too indolent to walk. There are good arrangements for swimming and shower baths; and I should suppose that a few weeks might be passed comfortably here. There is some fishing; and wild turkeys and deer are numerous. Leaving this place with reluctance, we dined next day at Columbus-a mere apology for a village-and crossed the Suwannee. on a wooden bridge, into Miiddle Florida, This river runs parallel with the St. John's, but in an opposite direction-one of the many singularities of this strange country. We rode eighteen miles through the pine forest to Madison Court-house without seeing a house or meeting a traveller. With the exception of some wild cattle, an occasional squirrel, and a few hawks, we did not meet a living thing on our route. There were numerous lime sinks in the vicinity of the road, in some instances with the tops of the trees on a level with the surface of the ground. We did not meet with a drop of water in all this dis 35 A WINTER FiRoM HOMED tance. This is the neatest village that we have yet seen in Florida; but the hotel is not as good as it ought to be. There are about four hundred inhabitants, several churches, a fine livery stable, a court-house, and an academy with sixty-one scholars; and they are now building a cotton factory and steam saw-mill. After rising from an exceedingly indifferent table. I retired to the parlor, and made an unsuccessful attempt at conversation with three travellers whom I found there. All I could learn from them was, that one was unwell and expectorated constantly. Another told me that it was "a fine winter to save hogs;" and the third had a cold. and said that he felt' mighty bad." I retired at an early hour to a most uncomfortable dormitory, and thought of dinners at home, and the many comforts of the north. We continued our journey at the earliest opportunity, and found the roads generally good, although sandy in spots. We saw several bevies of quails, and a drove of wild turkeys within half gun-shot. Saw a few sheep in an adjoining field —the first that I have met with in Florida. Passed through Monticelloa handsome and flourishing village. It has three churches; and several stores and taverns. We met a New-York circus conmpanry here; and the streets were crowded with people in various vehicles and on horseback. We saw several parties of emigrants from the Carolinas and Georgia to East Florida and as we passed their encampment by the road-side, at night, the effect was quite picturesque-the people being grouped round the fires, while their animals were dimly seen feeding in the vicinity. At Talahassee. our kind friends had made arrangements for our accommodation, which was particularly grateful after a long ride. We remained here for some time, and were amply compensated for our visit. It is the capital of the State; and, according to Oglethorpe, Talahassee, in the Indian language, means a country bare of trees. The country in this section of Florida was once more generally settled than at present, as is evidenced by the remains of numerous forts and stations. As you ap. proach it fromn Eastern Florida, the trees are evidently of se 36 A WINTER }'ROM HIOME. eondary growth-the primeval forest not extending far beyond Nunensville. The white population of Florida, at present, does not much exceed fifty thousand; and many of the Government lands are not yet entered. The emigration to this State is now considerable; and there are large tracts of valuable cotton and sugar lands which will soon be taken up. The tide of emigration at present tends to the southern portion of Eastern Florida; but the valuable lands on the coast and on the Suwannee and Ocilla Rivers. must soon come into requisition. There is considerable wealth here; and the principal inhabitants live handsomely. You see neat equipages in the streets as in other wealthy communities. We enjoyed the intercourse of a refined and intellectual circle, and always found the conversation of a higher and better tone than among certain fashionables in our own great Babylon. The planters generally reside in the city, preferring the social intercourse of the latter to the dull monotony of a plantation life; and it is this preference which renders their society so agreeable. The want of a good hotel is sensibly felt by strangers; and a building of this description would be a great inducement to them to visit here in the winter. A tontine has been proposed by some very respectable gentlemen, and it is possible that the proposition may be favorably entertained. There are many pleasant walks and rides in the vicinity of the town, and you are repaid for your exertions by the various objects that meet your eye. There are many beautiful birds and flowers to occupy your attention; the paroquet among the former, and among the latter the flowering apple and fragrant yellow jessamine. The live oaks, at a distance, resemble apple trees; and I sometimes mistook them for apple orchards. I was told that strangers frequently fall into the like error. The bamboo vine grows to a great length. The leaf is beautiful; and I was informed that they decorated the Episcopal Church with it last Christmas. The red clover does not thrive in Florida, and the crowfoot is the best grass of the country. The Governor, 37 A WINTER FROM HOME. who is a public-spirited and intelligent gentleman, has procured a quantity of the Chili grass seed, which he is distributing. It is said to be well adapted to this climate, and to grow luxuriantly. It is also represented to be sweet and nutricious, and to afford several cuttings in a season. If all this is true, it will be of inestimable value to the Southern States. Florida would then become a grazing country; and when she comes to participate in the system of internal improvements so generally adopted, she will exchange her herds and flocks for the luxuries of the North. Many of the inhabitants are partial to horticultural pursuits. The fig grows in abundance; the sweet orange succeeds with a little care; and the grape is successfully cultivated. Under glass, and with natural heat, almost any of the exotics, I have no doubt, would thrive. The peach is said to be delicious, and the crab apple grows wild in the woods. It is supposed that the cherry and apple will not succeed here. The gardens furnish celery, cabbages sweet and common potatoes, peas, beans, and many of the northern roots. Strawberries grow in profusion, with a little care: but the gooseberry and currant do not succeed. There is a wild plum here which is now in blossom; and the mistletoe bough is often seen growing on some dead tree-the only green thing about it. The meats of this country are not as good as with us, but I have seen beef on the table which would not discredit the pastures of the Schuylkill. On the other hand. the poultry is excellent; and a Florida turkey cannot be surpassed-it is far superior to the turkeys of Rhode Island. Oysters are abundant; and the red-fish grouper and trout would command a high price in our markets. Wild fowl are numerous, and venison cheap and abundant. The life of a planter is dull and monotonous and not generally acceptable to the ladies of the fajmily. In this country, however, it is an exceedingly independent mode of existence. He generally cultivates his own corn, tobacco and oats; he raises 38 11 A WINTER FROM HOME. his own meats and poultry; every stream is full of fish., game is in profusion, and on almost every plantation there is a cane and rice patch for home consumption. The country houses are comfortable and well furnished, and the domestics much superior to ours. The gopher turtle makes a delicious soup, and the country is blistered with its hills. Sweet oranges are easily cultivated, and I saw one tree in a garden, which was so loaded with fruit, that they were compelled to prop it up, as they frequently do the peach with us. The wolf is not often seen, having been thinned off by strychnine. The bear is frequently captured and deer are common. The opossum, racoon, hare, squirrel, grey fox, and wild and tiger cats exist in great numbers; and the panther is occasionally shot; wild ducks, brandt, snipes and curlew frequent the ponds and marshes, and the quail is found in every field. Many of the latter birds are destroyed by the hawks, which are numerous in this country. The wild turkey is taken in great numbers. They are captured in square pens, constructed of rails, with boards laid over the top; a passage way is dug under the lower rail, for their admission, which is baited with corn; the turkey enters without difficulty, but never attempts to escape at the same door at which he entered; his captor crawls in at the hole and takes him alive, and the poor turkey is the victim of his own greediness-like many speculators, who easily get into a difficulty, without knowing how to extricate themselves. A more independent life than that of a planter, who is a just and humane man, and out of debt, I cannot imagine. If slavery is an evil in this section of the country, (which I do not believe,) he can do much good and contribute essentially to the happiness of his people. Cruel masters are rare, and are not only amenable to the law, but are also socially ostracised. The negro, as far as I have seen him at the South, is contented and happy-not overworked, and taken care of in sickness and old age. At the North the free negro rapidly degenerates, and is generally a shiftless and unhappy creature. The cotton from this section of the country is generally car 39 A W_INTER PROM IIOME, ried by railroad to St. Marks, or by wagon to Newport, where it is shipped. The railroad is an indifferent one, and the cars are drawn by mules, an animal in general use for draft and field labor, The railroad is laid with flat iron, and is in a very imperfect state. There is one train each way, six times every week, carrying about two hundred bales of cotton, and at the rate of four miles an hour. They bring back hay, salt, and fire brick from New York, and oats, bacon and flour from New-Orleans. They also bring considerable quantities of miscellaneous articles from both places. An attempt is making in Congress to obtain a grant for a ship canal over the southern part of Florida, which will be of great value to our shipping houses engaged in the New-Orleans and Mobile trade, and of great importance to the eastern underwriters. A charter has also been obtained for a railroad from the Legislature of Florida. to connect the waters of the Alantic with the Gulf of Mexico, and when this is accomplished, it is estimated that the time between New-York and New-Orleans will be reduced to less than four days. When this time arrives, Florida will advance with great rapidity, and her valuable pine lands will immediately engage the attention of northern capitalists. This beautiful country requires these and similar commercial facilities, and when she receives thenm, nothing will remain to retard her rapid advancement. Our time in Talahassee was too short to enable us to see many of the curiosities of the country; and among others, the WVakulla Spring, which it was almost inexcusable to neglect. It was a day's work, however, and our time was so fully occupied, that we had not that day to spare. It has often been described, and a repeated description is generally a great infliction. We travelled by stage from this city to Oglethorpe, in Georgia, to which place a railroad is proposed. We had good stages, horses and drivers, and after travelling all night, breakfasted at the Georgia Hotel, in Thomasville, a petty inn, with a high sounding name, where we had a most unpalatable meal. At night we crossed the Flint River in a rope scow, and stopped to sleep at Albany. 4t) A WINTER FROM HOME. The next day, after passing through Americus, we reached Oglethorpe, where we took the railroad to the beautiful town of Macon. We stopped at Leneer's, which has the reputation of being the best public house in the State of Georgia. We travelled through an uninteresting country, with a sparse population and indifferent public houses. The stage was overcrowded. the weather cold, and sleep was a stranger to our eyelids. The better route would probably have been through Quincy to the Chatahloochee River and thence by steamboat to Columbus. We travelled by railroad from Macon. through Atalanta to Nunen, and thence by stage over an indifferent road, fifty-five miles, to West Point, where we took another railroad to Montgomiery in Alabama. A railroad charter has been obtained from Nunen to La Grange, and the road will soon be constructed, leaving a gap of seventeen miles from the latter place to West Point, not provided for. The towns of La Grange and West Point are said to be opposed to making this short distance of road, erroneously thinking that their interests would be injured thereby. Local interests should never be allowed to interfere with the general welfare. and this opposition should be disregarded, as this is one of the principal thoroughfares of the country, being the great Southern route from New-Orleans to New-York. We found an excellent hotel in Montgomery, which is a handsome town, the seat of government of Alabama, and a great cotton depot. The Capitol is a beautiful building, situated on an eminence, commanding the town and river. The streets are planked in the middle, with paved sidewalks, and were crowded with a busy and active population. We passed down the Alabama River in a fine steamer, in company of some fifty passengers, and a cargo of two thousand bales of cotton. The lower and upper decks, the guards, and even the hurricane deck, were crowded with cotton. Light and air were almost excluded, and nothing was to be seen from the vessel but high bluffs and the blue sky. Life preservers were hung up in every state room, which might afford a shadowy chance 41 A WINTER FROM HOME. of escape, in the event of the boat taking fire from her combustible freight. This, however, is the only mode of travelling on this river, and singular as it may appear, accidents are not frequent. There is nothing attractive in the aspect of Mobile, the principal inhabitants having residences in the vicinity of the city. The people, however, are active and intelligent, and have adopted a system of railroad improvement, which will greatly advance their interests at the expense of New-Orleans. As there was no good hotel in the place, we left as soon as possible, in the Florida, a beautiful New-York built steamboat, and the next morning found ourselves in New-Orleans. We soon exhausted this place. It was the season of Lent, and the Mardi Gras was celebrated during our stay, very much resembling a parade of militia fantasticals with us. The levee is well worth visiting, and so great a collection of steamers was probably never before dreamed of by a northerner. We listened to an excellent company at the French opera, rode out on the shell and gulf roads, visited the market, witnessed the celebration of Washington's birth-day, attended a ball at the hotel, shopped for amusement, lounged at the caf6s, dropped in at the theatres, and saw the grave-yards. The weather was exceeding close and sultry. It was hot in the house, and in the streets and the whole population, native and foreign, resident and visitor, was in a constant and profuse perspiration. We were nine days travelling from New-Orleans to St. Louis; and up to Memphis found the navigation pleasant. The peach tree was in blossom, and the birds were singing in the woods. The most conspicuous object at Memphis was a brick building, with a very large sign, bearing this disgusting inscription:"Bolton, Dickens & Co. Slave-dealers." It is proper to observe here, that no persons are held in greater contempt at the south than professional slave-dealers. They are not admitted into respectable society, and the woman who marries one of them, no matter how respectable she may heretofore have been, immediately 4-2 I A WINTER FROM HOME. loses caste. From this point the river becomes dreary and monotonous, and a voyage on the lower Mississippi will seldom be repeated by those who can avoid it. While at St. Louis we visited the Exchange, some of the public buildings, and several of the Missouri river steamboats. One in particular, the Ellen Jewett, was remarkable for its finish and beauty. The cabins were elegantly furnished, and the state rooms as comfortable as possible. In the ladies' cabin there was a rose-wood piano, with accompanying music; gilded chandeliers, atlases and books in profusion, sofas, lounges, cushioned chairs, fine carpets, and a handsome table service. She compared favorably with the finest eastern boats. In selecting a boat for these western waters, you must be governed by the character of the captain. Steamboat accidents are of frequent occurrence, and while we were in this country, there were some of the most terrific description. They are generally the result of the carelessness or recklessness of the officers. Fogs, on the lower river, are frequently the cause of disaster, by bringing boats into collisi6n, or causing them to founder by coming in contact with some snag, which the pilot is unable to see. It is not always the finest boat that is the most safe, nor is the most polite and gentlemanly captain always the most desirable. The clerks are generally well-informed and agreeable persons, and it is their business to dispense the civilities, while the captain attends to the safety of the boat. A gallant com. mander, who is constantly dancing attendance on the ladies, sauntering about the cabin, and drinking his wine at table, instead of being on the deck or with the pilot, watching his boat, had, as a general rule, better be avoided. The less you see of your captain during your voyage the better for you. We were always governed by the advice of our friends in selecting a boat, and did not encounter the slightest accident on our route. We did not meet with a captain or clerk who indulged in sipping his wine, or was ever seen at the bar-room; and in some boats this latter appen dage did not exist. The sooner these floating groggeries are dispensed with the better, as few persons require them, and those ,i 3 A WINTER FROM HOME. who do, cannot be seriously injured by a compulsory abstinence of a few hours, or days at most. In fact, excessive drinking is rarely to be witnessed among travellers in this country, and we saw but three drunken persons during our absence-one in Florida, one in the railroad car in Georgia, and one on the Upper Mississippi; and this is the blessed result of the temperance movement, exerting the influence of persuasion and example, with out the aid of stringent and severe legislation. While in this city, we found considerable excitement existing in consequence of the presence of the Hungarian, Kossuth. The people were, to a certain extent, divided in opinion in reference to him; and, with the exception of some busy politicians, his warmest admirers appeared to be Germans, who had not been long in the country. He was very busy making speeches and selling bonds, and I was surprised to learn that the presentation of a bond at the door, was necessary to admit his hearers. I did not converse with a respectable person, from Florida to Minnesota, who advocated his doctrine of intervention. His splendid declamation attracted general attention, as any other novelty would have done. Political agitators, theatrical novelties, and strange exhibitions, will always attract crowds in this country. Calvin Edson, Joice Heth, the woolly horse, Celeste the dancer. and Jenny Lind the singer, were followed by crowds, until some fresher novelty succeeded them. I could not but contrast the state in which this man travelled, with his attendant guards, with the simple progress of La Fayette, the nation's guest, and his superior in all that constitutes the really good and great man. Kossuth is a splendid declaimer, but also a mere political mendicant, and the advocate of the most wicked and mischievous doctrine of intervention. iHe seems by his precipitate flight from Hiungary, to have lacked the first qualification of a rebel, which is to despise life, and when he fled from his country, he completely demoralized the attempted revolution. His cause was undoubtedly just, but seems to have been most unfortunate in a leader. This man has been deceived by the politicians, who endeavored to make capital of him, and 44 I. A WINTER FROM HOME. to his ignorance of the worthlessness and servility of this class of men, much of his subsequent folly is to be attributed. He entirely misunderstood the character and temper of our people. With an unaffected love of liberty, they have their full share of common sense, and the declamation which would sway an Hungarian serf, or excite a Saxon peasant, was harmless in a community of educated freemen. He has had his day, and it is his fate to be soon forgotten; and the time has now arrived when a grave proposition, to make the United States the Don Quixote of nations, the redresser of the grievances of the world, excites a smile from Maine to California. The politicians who adopted, and the crowds that gathered round this clever adventurer, have already almost forgotten his existence; and although the material aid that charity or fanaticism may have given him, is totally inadequate to revolutionize the kingdoms of Europe, it is to be hoped that it will be productive of personal comforts. I saw but three persons in my route with the Kossuth hat and feather; they were silly looking young men, and were generally objects of goodhumored laughter. I mention this little matter as evidence of the indisposition of our people to countenance tom-fooleries, which would be very acceptable to an ignorant European population and the adoption of this badge was, invariably, considered conclusive evidence of a weak intellect. The upper Mississippi contrasts most pleasantly with the lower. The latter river commences at the outlet of the Missouri, and is in fact a mere'continuation of it, partaking of its characteristics of turbulence and power, and surcharged with its mud, which even discolors the waters of the ocean. There can be no permanent settlement except on the bluffs, as the alluvial banks are constantly washing away, twenty or thirty acres sometimes disappearing at once, while deserted houses are seen every few miles, the occupants being driven off by the encroachment of the river. When the river overflows the land, it sometimes leaves a deposit of four or five feet in depth. On the Missouri this is not infrequent, and I noticed the advertisement of a town site on 45 A WINTER FROM HOME. its banks, recommended as being based on rock. Farms are sometimes washed away, and sometimes enriched by a deposit of rich alluvial, and sometimes ruined by one of sand. The worst navigation on the lower Mississippi is from Cairo to St. Louis, as the river is comparatively shallow, and the channel frequently changes. St. Genevieve was once close to the river, but is now at a considerable distance, and a fellow-passenger told me, that he recollected the spot over which we were then passing as a corn field a few years since. The character of the upper Mississippi is the reverse of the lower in every particular. It is comparatively shallow, but its waters are pure and limpid; the scenery is pleasing and diversified, and new and beautiful views feast the eye every mile you travel. The shore is generally formed of solid rock, or bold bluffs, which are based in the river. Villages are frequent, and constantly increasing in number; the surface of the stream is dotted with numerous wooded islands, and there is a general air of lightness and gayety, which contrasts most pleasingly with the sombre and powerful stream to which it is a tributary. Jolict and Marquette passed over this river from the mouth of the Wisconsin in 1673, until they reached the Arkansas, near the 33dQ of lat., and La Salle reached the ocean in 1682. These were the first white men who ever passed over the waters of this mnighlty estuary, sailing through gloomy forests, passing along desolate slhores, and only occasionally meeting a few bands of savage hunters. The contrast that now exists can hardly be realized, and the progress of the great west almost exceeds belief. When we observe the dense population along the banks, the various evidences of civilization that are constantly presenting themselves, the new settlements that are incessantly forming, and the numerous travellers and rich commerce that are wafted over its pure waters, we feel justified in applying to it the lines of Gray, with a slight alteration: "What wonders in the western clime are spread, Where Mississippi wanders o'er his ample bed; 46 A WINTER FROM HO0[E. From his broad bosom life and verdure brings, Extending widely all his watery wings. Here with adventurous steam, and ready sail, The hardy people drive before the gale; Or on frail arks to neighboring cities ride, That rise or glitter o'er the ambient tide." By the last census, the northern and southern States immediately interested in the commerce of this river, contained a population of nearly ten millions; each successive census will show a great increase of population in the northern and ultra Mississippi States, with an additional number of States. They will occupy the great basin to the base of the Rooky Mountains, and extend to the shores of the Pacific. They must eventually control the political power of the country. It will be essentially an agricultural population, the bone and muscle of a great nation; and while the commerce and manufactures of the country will be monopolized by the eastern and middle States, the West will be the granary from which they will derive their food. If variances of interest or sectional jealousies occasionally present themselves. they will be ephemeral; and this great union of States will be perpetuated, not only by the bonds of brotherly love, but also by the iron bands of internal improvement. A liberal and wise policy on the part of the Gen eral Government towards the Mississippi States. will be conse quent on their increased power; and it is to be hoped, that the public lands will soon be liberally donated to the respective States within whose boundaries they are. The Indian tribes must soon be removed to some new locality, and not continued on the western frontier, as a cordon against further settlemenet. If not removed by the government, the western people will remove them. It is only a question of time; the axe of the pioneer is the pre cursor of civilization, as the appearance of the honey-bee precedes the settlement of the wilderness. The rifle always accompanies the axe. The Indian must disappear; it is his inevitable and painful destiny; and it is a nice question for the statist and phi lanthropist, what disposition shall be made of the remnants of 47 . I. A WINTER FROM HOME. these barbarians. Contiguity to the white population is fatal to them; they adopt all the vices, and none of the virtues of the white man; and proximity always produces the dread consequences of disease and intemperance. Nothing can prevent the extension of western settlement, and all interposing obstacles must yield to the pressure of the immense population that will derive support from the cultivation of the western plains. Progressive civilization annihilates barbarism, and as far as we finite mortals are capable of judging, a wise Providence never intended that this great country should be solely occupied by savage hunters, whose ancestors displaced a superior race, as attested by the investigations of the most learned archeologists. The Indian will disappear, the forest will bow to the axe, the mountains will disgorge their wealth, the plains will smile with golden harvests, the war-cry will yield to the voice of prayer, and predatory bands of robbers and murderers will be supplanted by a race of superior virtue and intelligence. The unarmed traveller will then pass in safety from ocean to ocean, the iron horse will speed through the valleys, bridges will span the streams, roads will extend in all directions, the steamer will navigate new rivers, the school-house and church will stand side by side, cities and towns will displace the Indian village; cultivated farms will occupy the hunting grounds; the light of the sun will vivify the sombre forest, and arts and manufactures, science and learning, will supersede barbarism and ignorance. Unjust and partial legislation may retard, but cannot prevent this consummation. Governor Jay, a wise and astute statesman, thought that we should not require the use of the Mississippi in a hundred years, and Jefferson said that it was a century too soon to construct the Erie Canal. Both these eminent men were sincere, but neither foresaw the consequence of the liberal naturalization laws adopted by this country. The Mississippi is now one of the most frequented thoroughfares in the world, and the capacity of the Erie Canal is insufficient to meet the requirements of the commerce of the country. Its speedy enlargement-is imperatively demanded, 48 A WINTER FROM HOME. and notwithstanding the covert and steady opposition of mongrel statesmen, the requisitions of the people must be complied with. No country presents greater inducements to the settler than the West. It is emphatically the home of the poor man. The cheap ness of living and the facility of obtaining land, are among its principal recommendations. Almost every man in the country is a landed proprietor. My driver from Dubuque owns a considerable farm, and the waiter who made my fires, told me that he has two hundred acres of land. He is a decent Irishman, and purchased this property from his little savings. Many persons at the East would greatly improve their condition, if they could only be per suaded to transfer themselves and families to this section of the country. They would enjoy happy homes, with the certainty of a comfortable support and prospective fortunes. There is a good opening for mechanics in the towns on the Upper Mississippi. Sober and industrious men are almost certain to do well, even with out capital, and they can obtain a social position. from which they are excluded in the more artificial circles of the Eastern States. One of the best houses in Dubuque is owned by a mechanic. Car penters, masons, shoemakers, tailors, hatters, glaziers'and painters -boat-builders and furniture makers are in great requisition. There are also good openings in many of the towns for physicians and dentists, and academies for boys and girls are sure to succeed. Market gardeners will do well by locating themselves in the vicinity of the larger towns. The country is healthy, the air pure, living cheap, and rents low. Day laborers and house servants are in great requisition. But those who settle here, must not expect to succeed without sobriety and industry, and with these virtues, their chance of accumulating a competence, is infinitely greater than in the old States. In most of the river towns you can live in good style for one thousand dollars a year; and in the best for double that sum. With a capital of ten thousand dollars, a man is rich; with fifty thousand, wealthy. Intelligent and refined persons are always to be met with, and the nucleus ef an agreeable society is perceptible in every considerable village. There are some 3 49 A WINTER FROM HOME. sacrifices to be made, it is true, by cultivated persons coming from our eastern cities, but they are such as are incident to a new country, and are rapidly disappearing. This country is, of course, overrun with speculators in wild lands, improved farms, town sites, city and village lots, and mill privileges; others are trying their fortunes in lumber, mines, merchandise, and every thing that is to be bought and sold. Many fail, and are succeeded by others, as eager and hungry as themselves. But these men are essential to the advancement of a new country; they build towns and villages, roads and bridges establish hotels and ferries, and, in one word, lay the broad foundations of public prosperity. Some make fortunes, which they frequently spend at the East, and others who have not been so fortunate, wander off to the Sandwich Islands, Oregon, New-Mexico, or California. The moneyed men who reach the western side of the Mississippi, realize large profits from the use of their capital. There are no usury laws, and banks are not tolerated by law. There is no copper money South or West, and nothing sells for less than half a dime. Sixpences and three cent pieces are unusual. Eastern bank notes are generally used, but the most common currency consists of Ohio, Indiana, and Virginia bank bills, and those of Clark & Brothers of St. Louis. They have a high character in the upper country, and are preferred to all others. Money commands a high price here-generally from two to three per cent. a month, and frequently a much greater sum. This is a great drawback to the prosperity of the country, and can only be corrected by the introduction of a good banking system, which will invite foreign capital. If the people, however, are blind to their own interests, they must continue to suffer until experience has couched the cataracts that scale their eyes. The poorest class are generally the greatest sufferers from this state of things, and many of the farms are covered with mortgages for money obtained at an excessive rate of interest. No business will justify these enormous rates, which eventually falls upon the consu 50 A WINTER FROM HOME. mer. It will retard the prosperity of any community, and eventual loss will frequently fall upon the lenders themselves. They will discover in the long run, that if their business is momentarily profitable, in the end it will occasion a widespread and general insolvency. "Would they be blest, despise usurious gains, Be virtuous, and be happy for their pains," would be appropriate advice to these phlebotomizers of the struggling poor. There are very few professional gamblers on these rivers, and but little gambling. During our trip from New-Orleans to the Falls of St. Anthony, we saw but one card-table in the saloon of the boat. Gamblers are generally marked men, and the Minnesota Year Book for 1851, in enumerating the list of occupations in St. Paul, has six gamblers on the catalogue. One of these worthies, who had administered morphine in brandy to a returned Californian, with the intention of robbing him when sufficiently drugged, was set ashore and lynched by the passengers. He was tied to a tree, and received sixty-three lashes on his bare back. This summary and severe punishment was justified by his infamous attempt. There are very few colored people in this country, and none at the hotels. The village or steamboat barber is generally a negro, and a well behaved, decent person. You occasionally se black waiters on the steamboats, and they are sometimes intermixed with whites. But the attendance of whites is usually preferred. The colored people are generally as improvident and thriftless here as in all other parts of the country. In all the newspapers, you meet with advertisements of extensive nurseries of fruit and ornamental trees, shrubs, plants, vines, and the more delicate garden fruits. Several persons have gone largely into this business, and are doing well. Every boat lands quantities of trees and plants, which are in great demand; and whenever I met a return farm-wagon in the country, the 51 A WINTER FROM HOME. owner had some with him. They grow rapidly and the prairie farmers will soon boast of their shade trees and orchards. In a few years fruit will be as abundant as it is now rare. The climate is not favorable to the peach; but the apple, plum, and grape are productive. Game is found in great abundance at the West. The brook trout frequents almost all the streams in Wisconsin and Minnesota, and often weighs from two to four pounds. The perch, sucker, a fish called salmon, buffalo, sheepshead, sun, and catfish are taken in the rivers. Some of these are tolerable. but the best not comparable with fish taken in salt water. The catfish is the Leviathan of the Mississippi-grows to a great size, and is a voracious feeder, with a most indiscriminating appetite. Deer, wild turkeys-almost every variety of water fowl-and the pinnated grouse, are common; while the quail is found in almost incredible numbers. In riding over the prairies, we saw the wild goose, cranes, herons, trumpeter swan, wood ducks, grouse, golden and gray plover, yellow shanks, tattler, blue, indigo, and yellow birds; high-holes, and other varieties of woodpeckers; wild pigeons, doves, bob-o-links, in their northern dress; blue-jays, with their harsh note and splendid plumage; robins, sparrows, swallows, martens, and others of the feathered gentry. We also picked flowers resembling crocuses immediately after a snow storm, while the daisy and other early flowers were surrounded by the rich green of the all-pervading prairie grass. Captain Robinson, of Newburgh, Orange County, in this State, has introduced the carp from Europe into the Hudson River. It is a celebrated pond fish; and when carefully prepared, quite palatable. I Antm surprised that the delicious bass, which is peculiar to Otsego Lake, has not been transplanted to others of our small lakes. It is one of our best fresh-water fish, and only inferior to the speckled trout and moskelonge. It is taken in nets-always refusing the hook. The pinnated grouse, as is well known, is abundant in the Western States. They are netted in large numbers, and sold at a low price. It is 52 A WINTER FROM HOME. well worthy the consideration of our eastern sportsmen, whether this bird should not be introduced among us. It formerly existed at Long Island and the Pocono Mountain in Pennsylvania. A few hundred let out in these places-on the mountains in Sullivan County, the Highlands, and various other placeswould, in a few years, richly pay for their introduction. These birds can be purchased in Illinois for twenty-five cents each, and a considerable number for much less. About five years since I saw a coop at Chicago containing some dozens, which were for sale at a shilling each. There are many persons with whom a contract could be made to furnish any given number, to be delivered at New-York. The time consumed in transporting them is so short that it is probable that few or none would die on the passage. The California quail, which is a beautiful bird, might also be advantageously introduced, although it is doubtful whether they would stand our winters. At all events, they would live in Southern Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Louisiani, and most of the Southern States. In Florida and Texas they would certainly succeed, and not be so likely to be destroyed. The quail can also be procured, at a trifling expense, when thinned off with us by a severe winter. In Iowa they are netted by hundreds of dozens. They should be transported in low coops, only high enough for them to stand up in, as they are apt to injure themselves by striking their heads against the roof. The introduction of grouse and quail can be made at an inconsiderable expense; and a small subscription among the lovers of the gun would not be considered onerous. In letting the birds out, as little publicity as possible should be given as to the time and place, as there are many worthless poachers and pot-shooters, calling themselves sportsmen, who would not hesitate to destroy them at once. The boats on the Upper are smaller than those that navigate the Lower Mississippi. They are generally well officered, and accidents are rare. There are no snags in this river, and the currents are not sufficiently strong to impede navigation. 3* 53 A WINTER FROM HOME. There are some fine boats among them, and the accommodations are excellent. You occasionally meet with a stern-wheel boat, which is preferred for the more shallow and smaller rivers. Their progress is nearly equal to that of the side-wheel boats; and one was pointed cut to us as one of the fastest boats on the river. The price of passage is extremely moderate, and they appear to be well patronized. These boats generally draw from two to three feet of water, and carry several hundred tons of freight in the hold and on the lower deck-the deck passengers travel on this deck. while the cabin is on the upper one. There are also berths in a building on the hurricane deck, occupied by the servants, which is designated "Texas." The deck passengers are generally Europeans. Americans, however humble, occupy the cabin. This is the result of education which inculcates the pride of equality. Wherever we stopped, we met large numbers of emigrants bound to Oregon and California. They generally travel in canvas covered wagons, drawn by from one to six yoke of oxen; and you frequently see cows intermixed with them. This emigration is a present injury to the Western States, but hordes of new comers will soon supply their place. I conversed with several of them, and found them in good spirits and confident of success. Some contemplated settling in Oregon and California as farmers; but most intended to dig for gold. The first person who crossed over to the Pacific by land is said by Lepage Dupratz to have been an Indian named Zazou; and it is curious to contrast his solitary journey with. the immense cavalcade now on t he same route. The auri sacra fames is universal. Many of these people leave comfortable homes and good farms for a comparatively unknown country, and a hazardous and uncertain occupation. It is estimated that at least forty thousand emigrants will pass over the plains to these new possessions during the present season. They are buoyed up by expectation and hope "Which springs eternal in the human breast." ,54 A WINTER FROM HOME. To these inducements may be added the enterprising character of our people; their natural restlessness, sanguine temperament, and migratory habits. The amount of suffering that they must undergo is incredible; and it is painful to see the women and children who crowd the wagons, without the slightest idea of the difficulties that obstruct their path. There sits the mother patient and contented; the daughters blooming with health; the children petting a favorite dog, who springs into the wagon at their call: the grown son with his ox whip in his hand, watching the resting team, and the father standing by the roadside, with his thick muddy boots and black beard of some days' growth, but with an air of indomitable resolution. It is a picture for a painter: a theme for a poet; and collectively the exodus of these emigrants will be commemorated by some future historian. They are the missionaries of liberty, and are going out to found new States: and their descendants will mnarch to the Isthmus of Darien, occupy the archipelago of the Pacific, and swarm on the almost unknown Isles of the Indian ocean. But enormous as this emigration is, it is but a part of the crowd pressing on to the remote regions of Oregon and California. While these land travellers are moving along from day to day with slow and tedious steps, an equal, if not greater number of adventurers in ships and steamers are doubling Cape Horn, crossing to Panama, passing the hills of Tehuantepec. or floating over the waters of Nicaragua. But notwithstanding this mighty stream of emigration is in movement, other crowds are rushing forward to recently acquired or newly formed States. The. press to Illinois and Iowa still continues; the boats on the Mississippi and Red Rivers are filled with emigrants to Texas and Minnesota. and the encampment fires of new comers nightly light up the woods of Florida. Europe pours out her children by thousands on our shores: and the Celt and Saxon; the German, the Gaul, the Scot, and Hungarian; the Dane, the Swede, and Norwegian; the Hollander and Italian meet in this country to fraternize, and unite in building up the greatest edifice of political and religious liberty that the world i)5 A WINTER FROM HIOME. ever saw. A railway from the Atlantic to the Pacific should be promptly constructed by the general government. It is essential to the union of the Pacific and Atlantic States; and considera tions of cost are insignificant in comparison with the utility and necessity of this great national work. It would be national to us, and international to Asia and Europe. There are already five States, several territories, and three millions of people west of the Mississippi, and this population is increasing at a ratio that defies calculation. The western people should insist upon this measure; and forgetting their petty bickerings and small politics, unite to effect its accomplishment. It must be done in time, and the sooner that it is commenced the better for the good of all. We travelled to Minnesota in a beautiful new steamer on her first trip. She was received at the various points by crowds of people, loud huzzas, and the firing of cannon. A small gun on the bow of the boat, and the shrill steam whistle, promptly responded to these joyous demonstrations. At the mouth of the St. Croix our reception was particularly lively. A crowd of several hundred persons was collected on the shore, and the worthy blacksmith of the place honored us with several salutes from his anvil in the absence of more regular ordinance. At the foot of Lake Pepin, we saw several respectable looking Sioux Indians, and passed frequent villages on the shores of the river just emerging from the forest, or growing up on the prairies, like summer flowers. Lake Pepin is about thirty miles long, and from three to five broad. It is a beautiful sheet of water, begirt by high hills, and rocky cliffs, among which the celebrated Maiden's rock towers conspicuously. It sometimes happens that the waters of this lake are so violently agitated by southeast winds, that the steamers refuse to navigate it. It is the greatest obstruction to early navigation on the upper river, the ice continuing in it some weeks longer than in the more rapid currents above and below. It is contemplated by the inhabitants of St. Paul's to obviate this difficulty by the employment of an ice boat. In passing up the St. Croix to Stillwater, we cut through ice several inces thick, and 56 1% A WINTER FROM HOME. about a mile in width. During the nights, the sky was illuminated by the burning of the long prairie grass on the side hills. On one occasion we were called from our state roomns by the gentlemanly clerk to witness an auroral display, which was one of the most beautiful of the many that so frequently occur in this northern latitude. It was a beautiful arch extending from east to west, based on the horizon, and completely spanning the sky. This natural bridge was apparently about eight feet in width, beautifully colored, and so translucent that the stars could be seen through it. It continued about an hour, and commenced disappearing at the eastern extremity. The captain told me that he had seen two similar atmospheric exhibitions, but that they were not frequent in this shape, although the most beautiful auroral displays are common in this country. St. Paul's and St. Anthony are thriving villages, particularly the former, which is at the head of Mississippi River navigation below the Falls, although boats can go to their foot without difficulty they are about eight miles apart, and there is an excellent road between them. The falls afford one of the greatest manufacturing privileges in the country, and were named by Recollect, a Franciscan priest, who was the first educated white man who saw them. They are eight hundred and fifty miles from St. Louis, by the river route. The greatest perpendicular fall does not exceed twenty feet, at the bottom of which there is a shoot of some ten or fifteen more; they are divided in the centre by an island covered with trees, and there is a rope ferry immediately above the upper rapids. The country above the Falls is described as being very beautiful, and numerous settlements are making along the banks of the river. A stage runs from St. Paul's to Fort Ripley, one hundred and fifty miles up the river, and a stern-wheel boat navigates about ninety miles to the Sauk Rapids. It is supposed that the river can be made navigable five hundred miles above the Falls, by improving the Sank Rapids, removing the boulders, and cutting round the Little Falls. The country at this latter spot is thus described by the Rev. Mr. 57 I ,k' I:. fi I A WINTER FROM HOME. Boutwell: " The prairie extends as far as the eye can reach, with here and there a clump of oaks, which, at a distance, look like New England orchards. It is the most interesting and inviting tract of country that I have ever seen. If there is any thing that can meet the wishes, and fill the soul of man with gratitude, it is found here. What would require the labor of years in preparing the land for cultivation in many of the old States, is here all prepared to the hand. As far as the eye can reach, is one continued field of grass and flowers, waving in the passing breeze, and exhibiting the appearance of a country which has been cultivated for centuries, but now deserted by its inhabitants. The gentle swells which are seen here and there, give a pleasing variety; the soil is apparently easy of cultivation, a black earth and a mixture of black sand. Nothing can be more picturesque and grand than the high banks at a distance, rising before you as you descend. The islands in the stream are most of them alluvial, with a soil of the richest quality." This beautiful country is now rapidly filling up, with a hardy New England population, and when the Indian title is extinguished, by the confirmation of existing treaties, Minnesota will soon be admitted as an independent member of the confederacy. In the vicinity of the Falls are several beautiful lakes, which are visited by strangers. A large one has been recently discovered, some thirty miles in length. Lakes Harriet and Calhoun are considered the most beautiful in the country; the roads to them are good, and they abound in wild fowl, and several varieties of fish. Fort Snelling is a few miles below the Falls, at the junction where the St. Peter's enters the Mississippi. This is one of the most important affluents of the latter river; and one of the most respectable merchants in St. Paul's informed me, that he had ascended it three hundred miles. in a steamboat. The territory through which it passes is included within the last Indian cession, and settlers are already erecting their dwellings and clearing their farms. In t few years it will be filled with a thriving and industrious population. The system of internal improvement adopted in this country, 58 A WINTER FROM HOME. will be peculiarly advantageous to the western States. They will soon be covered with a network of canals and railroads, which will not only develope their immense wealth, but render their access easy and pleasing to the eastern traveller. In a few years this will be a fashionable summer tour, and a more picturesque and beautiful one cannot well be imagined, abounding with the most exquisite scenery, and including every variety of country. The traveller will take a railroad at New-York, pursue his course along the southern shore of Lake Erie to Chicago, passing through the States of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois; from Chicago he will travel by railroad to Rock Island City, opposite to Davenport, in Iowa, one of the most beautiful spots in the world; here he will take a steamer to the Falls of St. Anthony, voyage upon the Wisconsin River, or visit the sublime scenery of the Falls of St. Croix. He will then return to the flourishing town of Dubuque, seat himself in a car on the opposite shore, pass through the mineral hills and sequestered valley of the City of Galena, cross the beautiful Rock River to Chicago, and continue on to the ancient city of Detroit, by the Michigan central railroad; here he will cross the Detroit River to Upper Canada, from whence he will proceed by rail to Buffalo. But if he chooses to vary his mode of travel. he may return to Buffalo on one of the fine boats that navigate the upper lakes stopping at Mackinaw, the Michilamackanac of Morse's geography, and the ultima thule of civilization in our schoolboy days. From this island he may diverge to the Sault St. Marie, and gaze upon Lake Superior, the greatest body of fresh water in the world. At Buffalo the world is all before him; he may limit his desires to a visit to the Falls of Niagara, or pass down Lake Ontario. shooting the rapids of the St. Lawrence in a steamer, and stop at Montreal, preparatory to a detour to Quebec, the only walled city in Northern America. If he prefers continuing on, he will cross to St. John's, embark on Lake Champlain to Ticonderoga, steam over the beautiful crystal waters of Lake George, and terminate his travels at Saratoga Springs. If ambitious of a more extended tour, he will leave the Lake Champlain boat at Burlington, ride 59 A WINTER FROM HOME. over the Green Mountains of Vermont to the Connecticut River on a railroad, thence to the White Mountains and Boston, by the same mode of conveyance; or he may vary his route by visiting Lake Winnipiseogee, and passing through the Franconia Notch, return by the way of Sebago Pond to Portland. From Portland to Boston he will find a seat in a railroad car, and fromn this point he will proceed rapidly by rail and boat to Ncwport, where he will inhale the healthy breezes of the ocean, after being invigorated by the pure atmosphere of the north and west. He will then have made a tour of several thousand miles, in an incredibly short space of time, and at a comparatively trifling expense. He will return home refreshed in mind and body, with additional knowledge of his own country, proud of his birthright, and possibly, elevated from the humble dimensions of the city cockney, or village provincial, to the larger standard of an American citizen. He will never have occasion to regret the temporary abandonment of the vapid pleasures and proverbial ennui of a fashionable watering place; and his sons and daughters, instead of vegetating in monotonous society and growing pale in heated rooms, will return to their ordinary duties or pleasures, with increased zest, and a greater capacity for enjoyment. THE END. co