he hill. The miasmata appear to ascend until they
reach the level of the town above, where the atmosphere being less dense,
and perhaps precisely of their own specific gravity, they float, and
commingle with it.

The country from Baton-rouge to Vicksburg, on the walnut hills, is almost
entirely devoted to the cultivation of cotton, the soil and climate being
found particularly congenial to the growth of that plant. The great trade
of Natchez is in this article. The investment of capital in the
cultivation of cotton is extremely profitable, and a plantation
judiciously managed seldom fails of producing an income, in a few years,
amounting to the original outlay. Each slave is estimated to produce from
250 to 300 dollars per annum; but of course from this are to be deducted
the _wear and tear_ of the slave, and the casualties incident to human
life. On sugar plantations the profit is much more on each individual; but
the risk is greater, and the deaths are generally calculated at one-third
of the gang in ten years: this is the cause why slaves _on sugar
plantations_ are so miserably fed and clad, for their being rendered less
wretched would not make them less susceptible to the epidemic. Each acre
of well-cultivated land produces from one and a half to two bales of
cotton, and even the first year the produce will cover the expenses. A
planter may commence with 10,000 or 12,000 dollars, and calculate on
certain success; but with less capital, he must struggle hard to attain
the desired object. A sugar plantation cannot be properly conducted with
less than 25,000 or 30,000 dollars, and the first year produces no return.
The cotton begins to ripen in the month of October--the buds open, and the
flowers appear. A slave can gather from 100 to 150 lbs. a day. Rice and
tobacco are also grown in the neighbourhood of the cotton lands, but of
course the produce is inferior to that of the West Indies.

Occasionally, along the banks of the Mississippi, you see here and there
the solitary habitation of a wood-cutter. Immense piles of wood are placed
on the edge of the bank, for the supply of steam-boats, and perhaps a
small corn patch may be close to the house; this however is not commonly
the case, as the inhabitants depend on flat-boats for provisions. The
dwelling is the rudest kind of log-house, and the outside is sometimes
decorated with the skins of deer, bears, and other animals, hung up to
dry. Those people are commonly afflic