, and tulip
trees, giving to the whole tract of land the appearance of a beautiful
artificial park. Here and there, through the branches of the sycamore
and cotton trees, small swirls of smoke were seen curling upwards,
telling of the presence of man, and on nearer inspection there became
visible, under various of the groups of trees, one or more huts,
surrounded by little plantations of Indian corn and tobacco, and forming
collectively a scattered hamlet of some fifty habitations.

No particular rule had been observed in the architecture of these modest
dwellings, whose builders had been more remarkable for indolence than
for refinement of taste, and had carefully avoided overworking
themselves during their construction. The simplest materials had
sufficed, and had been used in the same rough state in which nature
afforded them. The walls were constructed of the smaller boughs of the
cotton-tree, with Spanish moss stuffed into the interstices. Instead of
the clapboards, wherewith, to the west of the Alleghany range, the
dwellings of the poorer class of country people are usually roofed, the
palmetto reed had been made use of, a selection that gave the hamlet a
peculiar air of rustic simplicity. The houses were for the most part
without windows, and their interior received light through the chimney
or door, which latter, instead of being of wood, consisted of a buffalo
hide suspended in front of the doorway, and thrown back during the day
upon the low roof. The principal charm of the village, however, lay not
in its style of building, but in the manner in which the humble
dwellings seemed to nestle under the numerous clusters of trees. The
universal cleanliness and absence of all offal formed another remarkable
feature, and went far to increase the favourable impression made by the
delightful situation of the hamlet. It was truly a lovely spot, as its
ruins still show. The broad Natchez flowing majestically by, on its way
to the sea; the dark framework of cypresses and mangroves fringing its
shores, their tall shadows reflected in the clear waters; the
innumerable groups of trees, with huts peeping out of their shade like
so many hermitages; and finally, the spacious clearing itself, enclosed
at either end by the waving palmettos, and bounded on the third side by
a wall of gigantic and venerable trees, gave to the whole scene an air
of enchanting repose and seclusion.

The inhabitants of this retired spot, although off