burnt up ourselves on the "Ruth," a very splendid boat. Intending to leave Natchez by her, we had been watching some time for her arrival, there being no means of ascertaining anything about the vessels except by looking out for yourself. The "Ruth," however, contrived to give us the slip, and while we were off duty, taking our dinner perhaps, passed down the river without our knowledge. We therefore took the next small steamer, and on the second day, came up with the "Ruth," burnt to the water's edge, and still in flames. We rejoiced fervently over this narrow slip between the cup and the lip, and began to believe in our luck, as this was the third near chance we had run of being, in Yankee phrase, "burnt up."

Standing on high ground to the north of the town of Natchez is a rather handsome hospital, from the top of which a splendid view of the country on the east side of the Mississippi may be obtained. It is a richly wooded, and diversified landscape, dotted with white houses and churches, and interspersed with cultivated fields; while across the river-which flows like a stream of liquid silver, streaked with blue, and is eight hundred yards wide-you may see a vast level, across which there stretches, for forty-six miles, one even unbroken forest; as close, apparently,

and as level as the bristles on a bush. Indeed, I was told, that there is hardly a rise in the land, clear across to Texas. Natchez also was honoured with some fortifications, which, at the time we were there, were occupied by a company or two of United States troops. On remarking that these earthworks were almost useless for purposes of defence, being commanded by a ridge a few hundred yards distant, and asking why they were not thrown up, upon that I was initiated into a mystery of military engineering which had not occurred to me before. The engineer would of course have erected his fortifications on the most eligible spot, had not the site of the present works been occupied by the house and grounds of a wealthy man, whom the officer hoped would bribe him, if he threatened to carry his lines through his property. The gentleman, however, did not deign to offer a bribe, but the engineer, having made the threat, was obliged to carry it out-and that is how the fortifications of Natchez came to be so badly placed.

CHAPTER XXXII.

TO BATON ROUGE AND NEW ORLEANS.

HIS town, which stands on the last rising ground to be seen on the

Mississippi, presents one of the prettiest coups d'ail on the river. The streets at right angles to the river are formed of neatlooking white houses, and are bordered with grass and fine overhanging trees. On an elevation, to the right of the town, are the bare walls and towers of what must once have been a really handsome gothic pile. Two large towers, with a wide and lofty gate, like a castle, front the river. The rest of the building is in good taste, and what is very rare in America, is built of good materials. It was formerly the Town Hall, but had met the usual fate of American buildings-destruction by fire. Still farther to the right, on a hill which slopes gently down to the river, is the hospital, one of the handsomest,

It

if not the handsomest, on the Mississippi. was in good repair, the grounds were well laid out and apparently well kept.

Bâton Rouge has a good wharf, and, as we passed down, it was enlivened by the capers of an insane negro. This town was one of the strongholds of the Confederates, who held it until the fall of Vicksburg. How it came by its unmeaning French name, I could not learn, for, although the country is so modern, it is most difficult to trace the origin of anything. The answer to any question usually is, "Well, I have been here twenty years, and they called it so when I came," or "My father lived thereabouts, but I don't remember if such a place was built then, I was young and paid no much attention."

Below Bâton Rouge the land had been cleared of wood for four or five miles on either side of the river where the forest again formed the bulwark. This low swampy land, before the war, was all under cultivation-of cotton, sugar, or rice, in almost one continuous line as far as New Orleans, two hundred miles, the whole being dotted with plantation residences and the huts of the negroes. Some of the former were pretty and pleasant-looking enough, but small, having generally only one story.

The grounds were laid out in garden and

shubbery-poor and contracted, considering the vast tract of land at the disposal of the owners, who, however, seemed to grudge every inch of ground not devoted to cotton. To prevent the river from overflowing, levées have to be raised, which, however, were not always a safeguard; for in some years the river has overflowed and drowned all the crops. Still the soil is so rich and alluvial—resembling that on the Nile—that one good crop is sufficient to balance several failures.

Here again appeared the evergreen oak, with its pendants of funereal moss; also the magnolia, and orange, wherever they had been allowed to grow-for, usually, they were banished for the sake of cotton. This continuous plain, with its bright-green tinge, where fields of cotton or sweet potatoes were rising, becomes very monotonous, and as little picturesque as a hundred miles of potato field. Yet every one seemed to think this level plain the finest part of the river, perhaps because it was the most profitable, for everything in America resolves itself into dollars and cents.

This lower part of the Mississippi surpasses even Dutch rigidity, and to me it had almost the same wearisome effect as the deserts along the Nile. But "the mansions" and "really palatial residences, madam," "magnificent