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Show 40 EMIGRAN"f'S GUIDE. · ~ k p· ,.d and to lower trace from the Entrance mtP Ia e rovt ence, . • 41 settlements on Ouacbitta • • 504 Upper trace from Ouachitta • • • .• 3~ ~!~ Stack island . · · • • . · • 548 To the 33° N. lat. north line of the state ~f Lomstana to~·:) fl60 Muuth _of Arkansaw • • • 6 .. , 714 Po~t ol Ark;msaw . • • · . • · . At tbis tinw two or three steam· boats, and a great number of barges, are in active operation he tween Natchez and New Orleans. The d . ·s commonly estimated in round numbers, at tbree hundred Jstance 1 ' • mil s, but exceeas that ~istance twenty - ~w_o m1les, as. fouhd b_y ~ctu::~l measurement. The following w1ll exhtblt the great d1ff~rence m distance between New Orleans and Natchez, by the respective land or river routes : No. From New Orleans to Natchez, ville, and thence by land :- 8. by lake Pontchartrain, Madison- St. John's suburb, (Fauburg) • . • • • Fort . St. John's, mouth of Bayou St. John • • • Mouth of Chifm~cte • • • • • • •. Madisonville • • • • • Cros~ Tangipao • • • • • • ditto Pontchatoo]a creek • • • • • Springfield, on Notalbany creek . . · • . • Court-bouse, St. Helena, bridge over the T1ckfoha nver Spiller's ., • • • • • • Crof'ls Amite river • • • • • • • The 31° N. lat. • • • • • • .. HomochiUo river • • • ., • Second creek · • • .. _ • • • • St. Catherine creek • • • • • • • Miles. ~ 2 4 6 20 26 3 29 15 44 9 53 5 ' 58 10 68 l D 83 } L1 97 4 101 35 136 f. ! 42 10 152 4 156 Natchez • • • • • From twelve to sixteen <lays are usually consumed in asctnding from New Orleans to Natchez, and about twenty days from Nat chez to the post of Arkansaw. Steam-boa~s, ?Y ste~ming the current at the rate of four miles an hour, and gomg 10 motwn twelve hours. per day, will perform the same voyage in much less than half the t.1m.e. In countries where wood abounds, such as the banks of the M•sstssippi, and where the streams are rapid, steam-boat:; are an invaluable acquisition to the inhabitants. . It is onlJ: to tht)ie w~o have had practical experience, that the pamful, labonous, and ted1ous . ~pera· tion of ascending the Mississippi with barges need be dep1cted. It is a matter of great surprise, however, to behold the boatmen em· p1oy~d in this severe labour sitting on their b~nches, expose~ to the most scorching sun, oftP.n naked from the wa1st up ; and b~mg thus exposed for weeks together, without any serio~ injury to the1r health. The sickness liO prevalent amongst Amencan boatmen, has been mostly ascribed to intemperance ; that circumstance does, no doub!, superinduce disease but more destructive, and to which the Amen· c;an traders, boatmen, and often families, are too frequently exposed; EMIGRANT'S GUIDE. 4t when _upo,n tbe Mississippi, and adjacent streams, in spring and sum .. mer, ~s .tue ]oss. of res.t from the. sting of the musqueto. Tb1s 1s an ev1l east1y. remedu~u, and to which those persons who ~ave been lo~g eu?ugh m the c~untry to adopt the prudent precau .. twns of tbe mbab1tants,. are ~el1eved. A musqueto curtain, maue from the che~pest matenals, 1s part of the equipf\g of every one who tr~vels e1ther by ]and or water, in any part of the Mississippi or Mobile country, from April to November. . It has been 1hought, but very Ar~oneously, tbat the high pine tract., "ere exempt fmm the musqueto m :-ummer. The writer can aver tl~at fH:m the higbe t hills o! the To~bigbee, to those on the Sabin~ nver, m all parts below 33 N. ]at. m ten summer:, to which he was exposed, there was not one season that the musquetoes ·were not suf4 fic1~ntly abunJant to prevent the possibility of comfortable sleep, durmg thP. months of May, June, July, August, and September. Jn the month of J u]y, 1 t) 12, the author travelled from Fort Stoddert to New Orl.eaus by _land, to the mouth of Pascagoula, and found the n:usqueto m t!Xces:nve abundance, upon the dry sandy hjlls of Pog pver. The ~nh~bitants ~bserved, that the circumstance was extraordinary, a?~ theH mform<1t!on rn~y have been correct, but every per;;on who VISits t~e country m summ_e~, would do. ~ell to provide against such a contwgence. As to families, the provisiOn of musqueto cu:r.taius i absolutely indispen able. The general mode of makinu tbese curtains for beds is in thi ma~ner. A tester is gene.rall~ ~ade of thick muslin, th~ length and bre.1J~b of th.e bed, to wh1ch Is attached a curtCtin, about four or fivefeet h1gb, wtthout openings at the sides. This curtain, thus m ~tde, and susper~Jed so as to admit its being folded beneath the bed c1otbe.s, effc~tuallr excludes tbese very troublesome insects. Tlns species of curtain is universal in the houses of the inhaLi ~ nts of the states_ of Mi. ·sis ippi, Louisiana, and Alabama territory. hey are mad.e from the coarsest to the finest materials, :mJ are, in ho~es of the h1gber classes, often elegant. _he boatmen generally ha_ve :mall mattresses, on.ly wide enough to adm1t one person: tbe. curta1.n IS formed of tbe length and width of the mattress. . When. J.tlte n.d mg to provide for his lodging, tbe boatman attaches hts curtam to little posts put iilto the ground, to br~ ncbes of trees, bu ~ hes, or, indeed, whatever else may be found to suit his l~attress, is stretched beneath, and in this retreat, he reposes s:a f~ fro~hthe musqueto, and sheltered from the njght dews. h . e author was one who learned, from dear bought experieuce t 1s usefu I a dd1't 'w n to hI' S travelh·n rr equ1· pments. Durin" a residence' ofneariy ··t · 1 b. b 1\ "'. . . ~1x een years, m t 1e region near and in the delta of the .l!SSJ .S- 1rn p1, t1 1e o r~ Iy' m. dI' sposJ. tt. on o t' any great con~equence he ever e~pe!•enced, was Ill first descending the Mississ iJ)pi to Natchez · and h1 . s1ckn t'SS was tl1 en occas·w ned b.y.. the pain and v~nom of the ' ~ting ot tbe musqueto. When performing the surveys for his map of Louisiana, he was ex" posed to every vi~issitlide of seaso~1, and to every chan~e of p1a~e |