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SOUTHERN
RECORDER.
jss—’sssrm
/VOL. I.
MILLEDGEVILLE, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 18*21.
No. 52.
rUBLISHED WEEKLY,
(on TUESDAYS)
BY S. CR AMT LAM'D ff R. M ORME,
AT TIlnr.F- DOLLARS, IN ADVANCE, OR FOUR
DOLLARS AT THE EXPIRATION OF TIIE
YEAR.
O’ Advertisements conspicuously inserted at
the customary rates.
FLORIDA.
Bernard Romans was an enlightened
physician and observer, who spent several
years in Florida, lie divides the. country in
to two elitnates ; one, of which he calls the
northern, extending from latitude SI to s27
de"\ 10 min.; the southern extending to the
end of the peninsula, in latitude 24. This
distinction lie chiefly founds upon the fre
quency of frosts within one line, and their
rarity heyond it. He might hove said, more
accurately and distinctly, that water freezes
as far south as 27 d. 40 tn., but ceases to
freeze in the rest of the peninsula.
The air of the country is clear and pure.
Fogs are unknown, except upon St.John’s
river, but the dews are heavy. Spring and
autumn are dry seasons, hut the tempera
ture of the latter is very variable. Winter
sets in with wetand tempestuous weather—
February and March are dry and clear
from September to June, inclusive, there
cannot be a finer climate; but July. August
and September are intensely hot, though the
temperature is less variable than that of Ca
rolina, and frost is much more rare.
The noon-day sun is scorching at all sea
sons, anJ the cold never injures the orange,
which fleurishes here in the greatest perfec
tion. St. Augustine is on the frontier of the
two climates.*
The eastern trade winds prevails on the
Atlantic side of the peninsula. On the coast
of the gulph, the west and the north-west sen
breezes diffuse an agreeable coolness every
where in summer. All kinds of fruit flourish
here, without being incommoded by extremes
of heat or cold. The rains is foretokened
one or two days beforehand, by excessive
daws, or by thu total want of them. The
winds fluctuate less than in the country fur
ther north. During tile greater part of spring,
throughout summer, and in the first months
of autumn, the wind is chiefly north-east—
at the close of winter and the opening of
spring, it is westand north-west.
For twenty days before the autumnal equi
nox, and seventy or eighty after it, storms
and hurricanes are to he expected in this
quarter; but our historian relates, that he ne
ver heard of any violent commotion at the
vernal equinox. The dreadful hurricane of
171S8 began on the 29th October, that of 1772
on tiie oOth August. It first blew east and
south-east at Mobile—further west its course
was north north-east. It did little damage
at Pensacola. This tempest swelled all the
rivers to a great height and extent—hut the
most remarkable circumstance attending it
was the mulberry-trees putting out a second
crop of blossoms and fruit.
The south and south-west winds occasion
very thick und unwholesome fogs. They
also breathe that suffocating air, so much
complained of in July and August. The
south-east and north-east winds, on the con
trary, are cool; they moisten the earth, and
fertilize the very sand with frequent show
ers. The winds between east and north are
sprightly and cool. Between north k north
west they are almost cold. The mercury
ranges between 84 and 8ft degrees in the
shade, where there is ample, ventilation.—In
July and August, in the shade, it reaches 94.
In the sunshine it mounts to 1J4. It never
sinks belmv ;iU. The weather, from Octo
ber to June, inclusive, is inexpressibly delight
ful. The eastern side of the peninsula is
more sultry thnn the west, or than the north
ern district, the shore of which is obnoxious
to the keen blasts of winter.
The extremity of Florida, on the western
side, is very liable to storms and whirlwinds,
from May to August. They rise .suddenly
lroru the south-west and south south-west,
and are transient.
Dr. Mackenzie has said much of the effect
of the air in producing mould, rust, kc. hut
though this is manifest at St. Augustine, yet
there is not a healthier place than this in this
quarter. The inhabitantsenjov sound health,
and reach great longevity, a id invalids resort
hither from Cuba, as to another Montpellier.
The northern district, which is formed by
the continental part of Florida;? resembles
the southern part of the peninsula, hut its
customary winds are somewhat colder.
, The epidemic of Mobile, in 1700, arose en
tirely from the intemperance of the soldiers.
Kven physicians advise the settlers tn a mo
derate ure of liquor, hut, unluckily, they are
sure to overleap the prescribed hounds, and
to run into excess. , ,
The soil of Florida is generally a lieu of
white clay, with a stratum above it of white
•and. Tiie const is naked and bare, but the
inland is a forest of firs.
On the soil and produce of the country,
our author is very full and satisfactory , lie
divides the land into six different kinds:
the pine land, hammock laud, savannahs,
Swamps, marshes and bay, or cypress galls.
“First, the pine land, commonly called
pine barren, which makes up the largest «>-
dv bv far, the peninsula being scarce tiny
thing else; but about a hundred miles to
wards the north-west from St. Augustine,
ami about two hundred from the sea to Vjcst
Florida, carry us entirely out oi it. lilts
land consists of a grey or white sand, and in
many places of a red or yellow gravel, it
produces a great variety of shrubs or plants.
The principal produce from whence it de
rives its name is the firms folus long us urns
ex una theca tern is, or yellow pine and Pjreli
pinc-tres, which I take to lie a variety o, the
samu species, both excellent and good tim-
“ Also the chamcerops fr on dibus pal mot is
plicalis stipitibus aerrutia, of whose fruit all
animals are very fond.
« It is on this-kind of land that immense
Stocks of cattle are maintained, although thu
most natural gra^ui this soil ia ot a harsh
* A eeoeraphici^^W)i^^' r ol ne y *> **’ IS til'' 11
being in latitude 29 <t. 46 m. RomansexpTfcss-
!y placed this line about two degrees southward
of tbit town —Trans.
M
nature, and the cattle not at all fond of it. It
is known by tiie name of wire grass, and they
only eat. it while young. For the procuring
it young, or renewing this kind of pasture,
the woods are frequently fired, and at differ-
ent seasons, in order to have a succession of
young grass, hut the savannahs that are in
terspersed in this kind of laud furnishes a
more plentiful and more proper food for the
cattle.
“ Some high pine hills are so covered
with two or three rarities of the oak, as to
make an underwood to the lofty pines; and
a species of dwarf chesnut is often found
here; another species, of a larger growth, is
also found in the lower parts, particularly
iu the cdge3 of the hay or cypress galls.
“ Tiiis barren and unfavorable soil, in a
wet season, hears many things far beyond
expectation, and is very useful fur the culti
vation of peach and mulberry orchards.-—
This land might also be rendered useful for
many other purposes; but either the people
do not clitise to gn out of the old beaten
track, or content themselves with looking
elsewhere for new land, improvable with less
cost. Tile method of meliorating it is cer
tainly obvious to the meanest capacity, as it
every w here, at a greater or less depth, cov
ers a stiff marly kind of clay, which I am cer
tain, was it properly mixed with the sand,
would render it fertile; and this might he
done with little expense, the clay lying, in
some places, within half a foot or a foot of
tho surface : in most places it is found at the
depth of three, four, or five feet, consequent
ly nor very hard to come. at. In East Flo
rida, in tiie southern parts, this kind of land
is very rocky, but especially from the lati
tude 25 d. 09 m.,and southward to the point,
where it is a solid rock, of a kind of lime
stone, covered with innumerable small, loose
and sharp stones, every where.
“ In west Florida the pine land is also fre
quently found rocky, with an iron stone, es
pecially near where the pines are found grow
ing in a gravelly tract, which is frequently
the case here.
“The hammock land, so called from its
appearing in tufts among the lofty pines:—
some small spots of this kind, if seen at a dis
tance, have a very romantic appearance.—
Tiie large parcels of it often divide swamps,
creeks, or rivers from the pine land; this is
indeed its most common situation. The
whole of the uplands, remote from the sea in
the northern parts, is this kind ofland : its
soil is various, in some, places a sand of di-
sers colours, and in East Florida often a
white sand ; hut the true hammock soil is a
mixture of clay and a blackish sand, and in
some spots a kind of ochre. In East Flori
da some of this is also sometimes rookv—on
every kind of this land lies a stratum of black
mould, made by the decayed Icrvcs, kc. of
the wood and other plants growing up
on it. The salts contained in this stratum
render it very fruitful, and, when cleared,
this is the best, nay, the only fit laud, for the
production of indigo, potatoes, and pulse :—
the first c'Wps, by means of the manure above-
mentioned, generally are very plentiful—but
the salts soon being evaporated) if the soil
over which it lay should prove to be sand, it
is not better than pine land; the other sort
hears many years planting: its natural pro
duce is so various in this climate, that the
complete description of all would be more
work than one man’s life-titne would be suf
ficient for.
The savannahs are in this country of two
very different kinds : the one is to he found
in the pine la/ids, and, notwithstanding the
black appearance of the soil, they are ns
much a white sand as tho higher lands round
them. True it is that clay is very often much
nearer to their surface than in tile higher
pine lands; they are a kind of sinks or drains
to those higher lands,and their low situation
only prevents the growth of pities in them.
In wet weulher, the loads leading through
them are almost impassable. Oil account
of their producing some species of grast, of
a better kind than the wire gras.-, they arc
very often styled meadows; and I believe,
if they could he improved by draining tjiem,
without taking away all tlie.irjnoisture, very
useful grass might he raised in them; but
on draining them completely, they prove to
he as arrant a sand ns any in this country-—
These savannahs often have spots in them
more low than common, and filled with wa
ter: they are overgrown with different spe
cies of the caratixgilt, or haw thorn, as also
very often a species of shrub much resemb
ling the laurus in appearance, hut, as I never
had an opportunity of seeing it in blossom, I
cannot describe it, so as to asi irtnin the ge
nus it belongs to. In its fruit it is widely dil-
ferent from any of the laurel kind, that have
fallen under my inspection ; it is a baern,
with several cells, full of an agreeable acid,
like the common lime from the West-Indies
—it is of the size of a large pigeon’s erg, hut
more oblong. W r <: also find it on the low
banks of ri'ers in Georgia, and know it by
the name of the Ogechre lime.
“ The other savannahs differ very widely
from those, and are chiefly (n be found in
West Florida. They consist of a high
ground, often wit h small gentle i i -ings in them.
Home tire of a vast extent, and on the west
of Mississippi, they are said to be many days
journey over. The largest within my know
ledge is on the road from the Cl o taw to the
Chickasaw nation, and is in length nearlorty
miles over, from north to south, and from
one end to the other a horizon, similar to
that at soil, appears. There is generally a
rivulet at one or other, or at each, end ot the
savannahs, and some come to the. nver banks
—in one or tw o of them I have seen soni
very small remairik of ancient liuls, by w hich
■ • " - ’ inhabited by ln-
I judge they were formerly
diitns. Tho soil hero is very fertile,; in seine
1 have seen fossil shell.; in great numbers, ill
others flint, in others .again some chalk and
marl. It is remarkable, that cattle are very
fond of the grass growing here ; the Chicka
saw old fields, as it is termed, is a clear de
monstration of this, for the cattle will come
to it from any distance, even when the grass
scarcely appears; mid in all the circumjacent
tract are abundance of both winter and sum
mer canes to he found, on which they m,gnt
more luxuriously feed. In these savannahs,
if a well or pond is dug, the water has a ve
ry strong nitrous taste. _ I have seen some
very curious plants in litis ground but there
was no time for my taatmr oi
them, except a nondescript of the genus ta-
getes, of a line crimson colour. 1 shall, in
some measure, describe and give the figure
of this plant. The only high growth 1 have
seen iu these savannahs are some willows
and other aquatic plants, by the side of rivu
lets, in or near them : some of the smaller
kind of oaks, and a few small jumpers, are
also to lie’ seen in those places ; thefragaria,
or strawberry’, is very common iu them.
“ Swamps are also found of two kinds, ri
ver and inland awamps. Those on the ri
vers are justly esteemed the most valuable,
and the more so if they are in the tide way,
because then the river water may lie at plea
sure let on or kept out, with much less labor
and expence than in the other kinds. These
lands are the sources of riches in these pro
vinces, because, where they lie between the
sandy pine barrens, they produce that valu
able staple rice, and on the Mississippi, where
much of this river laud is situated a great
deal higher than the common run of it in
Carolina and other similar countries, this
soil is the best adapted for corn and indigo
yet known. Some of these grounds are
clay, others sand, and others again partake
of both—when used for rice it matters not
which of these soils they arc made up of—
but, I believe, were the sandy ones to he
quite drained, they would prove barren e-
nottgli. The use of water on nee is more to
suppress the growth of noxious weeds if grass,
w hich would otherwise, stifle the grain, than
for promoting the growth of the rice itself—
for none of the grasses can stand the water,
hut rice does, as long as it is not totally im
mersed. Therefore it is, that after weeding,
the planter, if he has it convenient, lets on
water to about half the height ofltis grain.
By swamps then, in general, is to be under
stood any low ground subject to inundations,
distinguished from marshes in having a large
grow th of timber, and much underwood,
canes, reeds, wytlics, vines, briars and such
like, so malted together, that they are, in a
great measure, impenetrable toman or beast.
The produce of these swamps, if sandy, is
more generally tile, cypress tree, which is
here of three species: two of these grow in
this kind ofland—tho common sort grows to
an enormous size, but none so large as what
are seen on or near the banks of the Missis
sippi ; tiie other kind, vulgarly miscalled
white cedar, is in great quantities near Pensa
cola, particularly in the swamps of Chester
river : this likewise grows to a tree, which
may be ranked among those of the first mag
nitude.
“ The back and inland swamps answer in
situation to what are called the meadows or
savannahs,among the pine lands: their soil
being rich, occasions them to hear trees.—
The true back swamps, that ate in wet sea
sons full of standing water, bear scarcely any
other tree, than-i variety of that species of
nyssa, distinguished by botanists by Ihe
name of nyssnfoliislati acuminatis non dec-
totisfructn cdcagni minore, ptdunculis mul-
tifore, vulgarly culled bottle arsed tupelo..—
The continuance of water on this kind of
ground is the reason why scarce any under
growth is found here. There are swamps
also called h«ck swamps, but they are either
at tho head of some stream, or have more
nr less water running through them ; these
are generally easy to drain. 1 would have
confined my descriptions of hack swamps to
the first or standing ones, and ranked the last,
which I think might properly be dune, among
Ihe river swamps, but 1 was apprehensive
that it might have displeased some persons,
who entertain the more established opinion.
These last described often are found mere
cypress swamps; in that case they are al
most impassable, by reason of the cypress
spurs, even when dry, and for horses they
are extremely dangerous, as they often get
staked on those spurs. This vegetable mou
nter I do not remember to have seen menti
oned anywhere. When this kind of swamp
is not overgrown with cypress alone, its pro
duct is the same as that of the river swamps
above mentioned, and in that case, the soil is
certainly good; these iast, when property
drained, are the best land for the cultivation
of hemp;
“ The marshes are next to be considered.
They are of four kinds, two in the salt, and
two in the fresh water. They are either
soft or hard—the soft marshes, consisting of
a very wet clay or mud, are as yet of no use,
without a very great expcuce to drain them
—the hard ones are made up of a kind of
marly clay, which in dry seasons is almost
burned up. True it is, they afford a pasture
sufficient to keep any graminivorous animals
in good order—hut their milk and flesh, in
seasons n lien the cattle near the sea side can
not find any other food, and consequently
feed on this alone, have so horrible a taste,
that no stranger to thocountry can make use
of them. Hard marshes, in general, are
stirlt whose soil has too much solidity for
water to disunite its particles, by penetrating
them—the soft marshes are those whose
spungy nature allows the water easily to pc-
nettaii: them. I have seen of both kinds on
Turtle i n er, about £0 miles tip, in which, at
about eight or ten feet helotv the surface,
there are numbers of cypress and other
stumps remaining, but chiefly cypress, and
many of the fallen trees crossing each, other
—this is only to be seen at low water, and
to the height above mentioned. These trees
are covered with a rich, nitrous, muddy soil
— but 1 beg leave to expert, that better na
turalists max explain this extraordinary ap
pearance : I believe them ruins of ancient
forests, on which the sea has encroached*
“ Tho marsh;s on fresh water arc in every
respect similar to those ou thu salt, except
that they arc not impregnated with the sa
line particles, of whir h the first tire very re
plete—therefore the hard ones, with little
trouble, are adapted to cultivation ; the soft
ones cost a considerable deal more of ox-
peneu, to render them fit :o answer this pur
pose, hut when so drained a-j to answer tiiis
end, they certainly are by no means inferior
to any land in this country. In «.*> lower
part of these marshes grows a kind of hither
to ur.described grain, of which tho western
Indians make a great use for bread. I never
could see it in blossom, therefore cannot de
scribe it. It is known by the name of wild
oats. t
“ This kind ofland produces rice very wil
lingly, but, if sufficiently mnde dry, always
proves the best for corn, indigo nnd hemp.
I have seen at Mr. Brewinglon’s plantation,
about, three miles below Savannah, in Geor
gia, very good corn and rice together, With
the two kinds of melons, and cucumbers in
great perfection, on this species of soil.
“ 1 shall next describe the bay andeypress
galls. These intersect the pine lands, and
Hre seldom of any breadth; the bay gulls are
properly water courses, covered with u spun
gy earth, mixed witli a kind ol matted vege
table fibres. They are so very unstable as
to shake for a great extent round a person,
who, standing on some part thereof, moves
himself slightly up and down ; they often
prove fatal to cattle—and sometimes I have
been detained lor above an hour at the nar
rowest passes of them, they being so dange
rous to cross, that frequently a horse plung
es in, so as to leave only hit head in sight.—
Their natural preduce is a stately tree, called
loblolly bay*, and many different vines, bri
ars, thorny vvylhs, and on their edges a spe
cies of red or summer cane, which together
combine to make this ground impenetrable,
as if nature had tints intended lo prevent the
destruction of cattle in these dismal bogs,
which would be particularly fatal to many of
them in spring, when the early produce of
grass and green leaves in these galls might
entice them into this danger, was not such a
natural obstacle in their way. As these have
generally vent, they are sometimes drained,
and rice planted therein, which, for one or
two years, thrives there tolerably—but this
ground is so replete with vitriolic principles,
that the water standing in them is impreg
nated with acid, insomuch that I have tast
ed it sour enough to have persuaded a per
son, unacquainted with this circumstance,
that it was an equal portion of vinegar and
water mixed together, therefore it requires
to lie open at least one year before it will bear
any thing, and they generally, by lying open
four or five years without any other draining,
become quite dry, and might be advantage
ously used for pasture ground.
“ The cypress trails differ from there, in
being a firm sandy soil, in having no vitriolic
taste in the water, and very seldom vent.—I
never knew these made use of for the pur
pose of planting, and the cypress they pro
duce is a dwarf kind, not fit lor use, being ve
ry much twisted and often liollow. There
is no undergrowth here, hut in dry seasons
some tolerable grass. Through all the above
species of land we find a distribution of ve
ry fine clay, fit for manufacturing. The fin
est I ever saw is at the village on Mobile
Bay, where 1 have seen the inhabitants, in
imitation of the savages, have several rough
made vessels thereof. There is also a great
variety of nitrous mid bituminous earths,
fossils, marls, boles, magnetic and other iron
ore, lead, coal, chalk, slate, freestone, chrya-
tals, anil white topazes : these last in the
beds of rivers. Ambergris is sometimes
found—one Stirrup, a few years ago, found
a piece of a very enormous size on one of the
keys. There is also much of a natural
pitch, or asphnllhvs, vulgarly called wiun-
giuc, thrown up by the sea. The upland
ai-o afford a metallic substance, appearing
like musket bullets, which on being thrown
into the fire, go offin smoke with a very sul
phtiriotis stench.
“ The water in this country is very vari
ous as to taste, quality and use. There ate
salt, brackish, nitrous, sulphurious,and good
fresh springs in most parts of this coun
try, as well as salt nnd fresh lakes, lagoons
and rivers. The rivers also vary in many
respects, and so tioes the sea, as well in the
color and clearness of (lie water, as in its de
gree of saltness. The water of St. Mary's
and Nassau, and all the brooks that run into
them, is very good, wholesome, and well
tasted. The. colour in the rivers is dark, a
in ail the American rivers of the southern
district. St. John’s is a curiosity anting ri-
tho house of Mr. Rolle, who has here made
auodd attempt towards settling ami making
alt cstato in as complete u sandy d< : art ns
can he found. Just above this, it is full of
islands, exhibiting every where a very ro
mantic appearance. There is « fine piece of
water, called Dun’s Lake—this is about nine
miles from the river, eastward from this
place; this empties itself by a stream into
tho river. Anothor, called the Doctor's
Lake, is on the w;st side, about sixty miles
from the mouth: we see a variety of aqua
tic plants floating thereon.
“In my journey by land from the Ray of
Tampe across the peninsula to St. Augustine,
I crossed 23 miles from eust to west of mi
serable barren sand bills: the grain of the
sand is vrF_v small and ferrugineous. These
hills rise a considerable height—on them ia
some growth of very small pines, and a very
humble kind of oak grows so thick, that
with the addition of some wythes and other
plants, tn me ut'.erly unknown, they render
it absolutely impenetrable. Id this ridge,
which, as far as I cun learn, extends from
north tn south, between the rivers St. John
and Ocklaw-wawhato, for about a hundred
ar.d fifty miles, having no w here nny water
in its whole extent; my Indian guide had
the precaution to carry water for ourselves
nnd horses, which proved very serviceable,
ns it was a very hot day, no growth of trees
to shade us, and such a burning snnil for tip)
sun to reflect on. I leave tho reader to
judge what we suffered, though it was hut a
short distHiicr over—both ourselves k beasts
often experienced the necessity of carrying
water. What must travelling over this place
be in a hot day, where it is forty or more
miles wide ?
“ Before I leave St. John’s river, I must
not forget the river running front south to
north, called Pablo. This originates at a
small distance from St. Mark’s or North Ri
ver, and empties into St John’s, at a small
distance from the mouth. The water of this
river is good, so*s the land on it—and it is
thought that a communication with St.
Mark’s or the North River might tie effect
ed without much difficulty—this would 11-
pen an inland navigation by cannon or boots,
all the way from Carolina to near the JMox-
keto. _ t
“The river St. Mary’s, although it is said
to originate in the T.kanphanwkin swamp*,
has a current of fine, elear, and wholesome
water, supplied from the pine lands through
which it flows, with many line springs, runs,
and rivulets of very clear water. Nassau has
also the same blessings, but doth not spring
far distant from the sea. On Amelia Isht-.d,
near the sea, is a very good spring, which
makes a fine stream for some miles,dividing
.the island almost in two—but below the
spring its water is not commendable. On
the beach between St. John’s and St. Augus
tine, at nr near the place called the Horse-
guards, there arc three good springs running
into the sea, and in every paid where the beadI
is clear sand, water is olnained by digging.
About four miles north of St. Augustine, ris
es St. Sebastian's creek, being a good fresh
spring ; it soon joins a creek in salt marshes,
and at a small distance from town it becomes
very large and deep. It empties into St.
Anastasia’s Sound, two miles south ol St.
Augustine, makings peninsula of this terri
tory nearly in form of a crescent. Three
miles farther south is the mouth of the river
St. Nicholas, not very considerable; St.Ce-
cilia in the same sound ; the North-west,
south of the Mntanra and Penon ; the To-
moke and Spruce creek, in the Musketo La
goon, and in short every river und creek in
the country, except those ubove named, are
excellent wholesome water. Thus much, I
suppose, will suffice as to the nature and qui^-
iity of tho water. All the rivets and springs
in West Florida are good.”
Sudden and violent changes of tempera
ture, with heavy dews, are frequent at Ht.
John’s, Nassau, Mobile, und Campbleton;
hut at Pensacola and the country cast of it,
at New-Orlcans and on the Miss issippi, they
vers indeed—this rises at 11 small distance j were nnt complained of. These iticonveni-
from the lagoon called Indian river, some- j nticies, however, are much greater in Geor-
where in or near the latitude £7, perhaps out gin, and greater still in Carolina. People
of the lake Mayacco, which I have reason to
believe really exists, and is the head of tiie
river St. Lucia, as 1 am told by a credible
Spanish hunter, who had been cartird there
by way of this last river. From its origin it
runs through wide extended plains k marsh
es, till near tho latitude 2K, where it ap
proaches the lagoon much. It then conti
nues its course with a considerable current
northward, and Elides through five great
lakes, of which the last, called lake George,
is bv nitteh the most considerable. In this
last lake is about eight feet water ; it is £0
miles long, and about eleven or twelve wide.
Ali these lakes and the river in general is ve
ry pleasant. Endless orange groves are
found here, and indeed on every part of the
river—below these the river grows wider,
loses its current, k has in some places none,
in others a retrogade one, when vet lower
down it-is again in its true direction. The
hanks of this river are very poor hind, and
exhibit, in a number of places, sad monu
ments of the felly and extravagant ijo is of
the first European adventurers k sent iners,
and the tiffany of their managers. The (id
does not affect this river very far up. In ma
ny places, high up this river, are found
extraordinary springs, which, at a small ins
tance from the river, on both sides, rush or
il out of the earth, at once becoming na
vigable for boats, and from twenty-five to
forty yards wide: their course is scldunt.
half a mile before they meet the liver.—
Tlleir water is, contrary to that of tile river,
clear, sons to admit of sect'll^ a small piece
of money at the depth of ten feet or more
they snn 1^'strong of sulphur, and whatever
is thrown in them becomes soon encrusted
with a white fungous rnattei—their taste is
bituminous, very disagreeable, and they, in
my opinion, cause the greet) cloudings w
see on the surface of the water of this river,
and make it putrid, and so unwholesome as
experience has taught us it is.
“ I have no sufficient ground to decide up
on another circumstance, which I atri told
viz. that when rice is overflown with the ri
ver water, it kills it: above tho springs the
uard against them by kindling an evening
fire, ami by putting on flannel. There are no
brackish swamps, except at St. John’s,
whereas they are common in Georgia and
the Carolina’s, und the air is loaded with
their mosquitoes and noisome exhalations.
Flies and mosquitoes abound only in the
plantations ofrice and indigo. As cultivati
on advances they retire. The shores of
the Mississippi are infested with these veno
mous insects, to a degree scarcely credible,
nor is there any living, hut under the protec
tion of musquitoe nels.f
Oke,fin,o,rail (or hog) from Okc,water, in
the Kemliiolie tongue, and I'’iii,o,i:uo,(|uivei ing,
n the Cm k 'onsne. This is sometimes called
E,cun,fni,o,cat),from E,ciin»naii,earth, and l in,-
ctnt, quivering.—Cot. Hatekint.
t At night, ancHii the houses or woods, for
half the year, this plague prevails, and the ve-
y negroes nrc obliged to screen themselves
behind a curtain or net.—Trans.
FROM TIIF. NF.W-YORK COLUMBIAN.
Peter OTSAqiXTTE was the son of a
man of consideration among the Indians
of our frontier. He belonged to the Na
tion of the Oneidas, and was classed a-
ming a division of them designated by
the appellation oFthe W’oll Tribe. At
the ckse of the revolutionary war, he
was'ttoliced by the Marquis de la Fay-*
tttc, a nobleman who, to martial prow
ess and a noble zeal for liberty, united
the most philanthropic feelings. After
tiie successful struggle for independence
required only a formal acknowledgment
from our oppressors to perfect it, it ap
peared as if be still aimed at the exten
sion of further benefit to that country to
wards the emancipation of which he bad
so materially contributed. Viewing,
Hereford, this young savage with pecu
liar interest, and anticipating the happy
results to be derived from his moral re
generation, lea determined, though he
nette was still in the zenith of their glory,
lie was there taught every accomplish*
cnent of a gentleman ; no care was spar
ed in giving him every necessary in
struction ; und to this was added the stu
dy of music, drawing, and fencing ; and
he danced with h grace that n V'estrie
could not but admire. At about eigh
teen, the period of his separation from ft
country in which he bad spent his time
so agreeably and se profitably, became
necessary, i.nd, laden with favours from
the Marquis, and tho minatures of those
friends he hud left behind, he departed
for America—buoyed up, perhaps, with
the idea that the deep ignorance in which
the nation to w hich lie belonged was bu
ried, with that of the Indians of Ihe
whole continent, might be dispollpd by
his efforts, nnd he become the proud in
strument of the civilization of thousand*,
rie cqiue, soon after his urrtval, to the
city of Albany—not the uncivilized sa- *
vage—not with any of those marks whirl!
bespoke a birth in the forests, or yeare
spent in toiling through the wilds of ua
uncultivated country—but possessing a
line commanding figure, an expressive
couotennnce, and an intelligent eye,
with a face scarcely indicative of the
race from which he was descended. Ha
presented, at this period, an interesting
spectacle. -A child of the wilderness
was beheld about to proceed to the home
of hit forefathers, having received the
brilliant advantages of a cultivated mind,
und on his \vuy to impart the benefits
which civilization had given him, to the
uation that owned him. It was an op
portunity for the philosopher to contem
plate, and to reflect on the anticipation*
of the future good this young Indian
might be the means of producing. Short
ly after he arrvied in Albany, where be
visited among Ihe first families, he took
advantage ofGuveriior Clintou’sjourney
to Fort Stanwix, lo make a treaty with
the Indians, to return to his tribe. On
(lie route, Otsuquette amused the com
pany (among whom were the French
Minister, Count Moustiers, and several
gentlemen of respectability,) by his pow
ers on various instruments of music. At
Fort Stanwix, after a long absence of
several years, he found himself again
will) the companions of his early days, '
who saw and recognized him ; his friends
and relations had not forgotten him, and
he was welcomed to bis home and to his
blanket.
Rut that wMkh occurred soon after
uis reception, led but to n too fearful
anticipation of an unsuccessful project ;
for the Oneida*, as if they could not ac
knowledge Otsuquette, attired in the
dress he appeared in before them, ft
mark which did not disclose hit nation,
and thinking he had assumed it as if asha
med of the garb and habiliments of his
ancestors, tore it from him with a sav
age avidity and a fiend-like ferociousness;
daubed on the very paint to which he
had been so long unused, und clothed
him with the uncouth garments that the
tribe held sacred. Their fiery impe
tuosity, in the performance ot the act,
showed but too well the bold stand they
were about to tuke against the innova
tions they supposed Otsnquelte was lo be
the agent of effecting against their cus
toms aod manners, which, from the ven
erable antiquity of their structure, it
would be sacrilege to destroy. The re
formed savage was taken back again to
his native barbarity, und, as if to com
plete the climax of degradation to a mind
just susceptible of its own powers, was
married.
From that day be was no longer the
u/’complisbed Indian, from whom every
tali of philauthroptiy was expected to
he realized ; he became no longer the
instrument by w hose power the emanci
pation of his countrymen, from the ttfral-
doui of ignorance uud superstition, was
to be effected ; from the any Otsuquelte
was again an inmate of the forest, fio was
once more buried in lus original obscuri
ty, and bis nation only viewed him as an
equal ; and even tfie lifiei ,d grunt of the
state failed of giving him that superior
consideration among them dhich Ins ci
vilization find procured for him w ith the
rest of mankind. The commanding
pre-eminence acquired from instruction,
from which it was expected ambition
would have sprung up, and acted as a
double stimulant, from either the natu
ral inferiority of the savage miud or the
predetermination of hit countrymen, be
came of no effect, and, in a little time,
was destroyed—Otsaquette was lost!
Ujs moral perdition began from the hour
lid left Fort-Stanwix. Scarcely threw
months had Transpired, before intemper
ance had marked him for its own, and
soou hurried him to the grave : and, as
if the very transition bad deadened all the
finer feelings of his nature, the picture
the Marquis gave him—the very picture
of his affectionate friend himself, he par
ted with.
Poor youth t we cannot refrain from
letting a tear fall to thy momory. In the
downf.il to our high raised expectations,
you stand before us aa a ^nelaucholy,
though forcible illustrate pSjfat- our
“ * Tin* whole appearance of tlilsrivericem*
to indicate ccch an ancient nnd unrecorded
hurricane., on this part of tho C'xi;t. I
; ; . . , p , 1 generation, oe determined, iiiougu tie 1 wuucu ion
am* one'and a'haif'to'thre^miles whkq except* at! acar cely 12 yt^trs old, to take him j thoughts, our morals, a^|u*moat fi.od
jed j to I ranee. He* arrived at that period 1 belief, arc consequences dF^ur place Ol
•* Ihiperium, scu, Gardenia Lcsianthus.
when IsOuisHh^lOth and Marie Antio* birth
consequences dp^ur placet
How shprt/Ha» the period ol
