nd the Mississippi for reaching the best market for all they
could produce--yet, with all these natural advantages, promising to
labor and enterprise the most ample rewards, they could not be
stimulated to industry or made to understand them.

They had established their homes on the margin of the stream, and
cleared a few acres of the land donated by the Government, upon which
to grow a little corn and a few vegetables. With a limited amount of
stock, which found subsistence upon the cane and grass of the woods,
and with the assistance of a shot-gun, they managed to subsist--as
Peake's mother served the Lord--after a fashion.

Their houses were unique: a slender frame, often of poles cut from the
forest, and rudely squared, served the purpose. Into the studding were
placed pins, extending from one to the other, horizontally, and about
ten inches apart. The long gray moss of the country was then gathered
and thrown by layers into a pit dug for the purpose, with the soil,
until the pit was full, when water was added in sufficient quantities
to wet the mass through; this done, all who are assisting in the
construction of the house--men, women, boys, and girls--jump in upon
it, and continue to tramp until mud and moss are completely
intermingled and made of proper consistence, when it is gathered up and
made into rails about two feet long. These rolls are laid over the
pins, commencing at the bottom or sill of the building, when each roll
is bent down at the ends, covering the intervals between the pins,
pressed hardly together, and smoothed with the hands, inside and out,
forming a wall some five inches in thickness, with a perfectly smooth
surface. The roof is first put on, and the floors laid. When this mud
dries thoroughly it is white-washed; the house is then complete, and
presents quite a neat appearance. It will continue to do so if the
white-washing is annually continued. If, however, this is neglected,
the lime falls off in spots, and the primitive mud comes out to view:
then the appearance is anything but pleasant. No pains are taken to
ornament their yards, or gather about them comforts. There is a pig or
two in a pen in the corner of the yard, a hen-roost immediately at the
house, a calf or two at large, and numerous half-starved, mangy
dogs--and innumerable ragged, half-naked children, with little, black,
piercing eyes, and dishevelled, uncombed hair falling about sallow,
gaunt faces, are commingling in the ya