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. iiii.'m	.	'•! u - ■ . 11 i 111 • ;i i ii I mi: 11, i ■ t-(i in i >• . ’I’lic jM n ” iw >1 ins,
t». 11< -	11 i * • k < ■:	(in!:.-.	(	-1	11! \ t i i ■ ! ’ i,, f--. arc very large
ir<:n;<l lliicl ii ! M.’j I'il;.' .Mu--.
I'lir < I ii i .< i ■: > i 11 ,i- .-'.il. :i * u (II :i-i ]i ii c.T	tlie \	ImI :nii. i-very siinilur to
ili-ii nf tin- slir',1 I.. »crii at W< >i Iii I.m ii> u "vnvml tliinp, no
^	-hells ;nc fin11nI	I In if 'in !ai i- at piV'cnt. -ii • m I •.< <■ lm ,'i!ii ii -. \ iz : one al/Oilt
three hundred ) an is li.n.: 11\	if11	wide. mi the \< ry 1«111k~ ■•! the .Hulatto liavoil,
at the south end o' tli" Han	Ton	Maj. Aii'liiw -lac ksnii's plantationy. and another
rather 'mailer one. IiiiIiit iiouh. on Col. < uil»nlie's land.
H*iJ. S/>> H	—The fl>i tner. w hii h is about In leet high w here it ad-
joins the Patou. i i.i..-i'ts altogether ol tlie “ clam " -lie 11 or * ■ nni lioilon. and has lieen largely ill ow; ii|i"ii (in' the pmpo'i; ol in.piowng h ails and -Heels at New iirlein- : a- ■! although iliere I' Imi v-iy	little	earthy	nialter mixed with
the shells. I hr < o%m, tin i \ cs linel v on ils \ cry	sum mil.	I	he other shell kank,
I on i ol. I lai I ionic's |, i;t i i i.-ii ion eoiisjsts almost excliisi \ e!y ol oy sters ; it has l»ecn I	greatly spread at.'l leuleil	by	cultivation, and nmeli soil is mingled with the
I	shells. This shell deposit	is	at some distanrc from the present channel of
Mulatto liayou, hut it is on	the	verge of a broad, deep ravine, in which the're ia
but little water at present ; but as it connects w ith the present bayou, there ran be little doubt that it was once a navigable channel. J he position of thi« shell-hunk at a distance from the present channel does not therefore form a real exception to the rule, that these iianks are found in sjiots accessible hy water.
M'ok ."-eventl In anclics in deep ravine- flow through thisliommock ; they arc fed Iiy ~j11-inlts yielding abundance of good drinkablo water throughout flic vcar. 'I'lir* r temperature i.s not very low, but they arc not in 1 lio lens-t brackish. The growth on tlieir banks <JitTc'rs very little from that of tlie ‘ hommoek
Most of the ' lionimock ’’ land is now in culti\ation, and w hen fresh, it yield*
about------of Sea Island -otton per acre. The inode of culture does not differ
materially from that usual with the common cotton ; the chief difference is in the preparation for market as the Sea Island staple requires to lie ginned by means of the r«ll»r gin—a much more troublesome process than that with the saw gin. Moreover, it is not pressed into bales, but put up in long round hags, by tramping with the feet. These bags are made to weigh from 250 to 350 It*.
864. In passing from the Sea Island Cotton plantations towards Pearlington, around the head of Mulatto Bayou, we find at first a country very muck resembling that lietween Shieldshoro’ and the Plantations (T859); after crossing the liayou, the soil liecomes more clayey, but no better for all that ; countless crawfish chimneys in all low regions, show the existence of an impervious clay .stratum at no great depth—as in fact, proves to be the case at Maj. "White's : arid at Pearlington (r -51), where the soil is moderately clayey and productive, and bears a young growth of Oaks, which here spring up wherever ‘ the Pine is cut down.
In traveling the ‘ Kiver road " from Pearlington northwards, we see, for the i first I) or 1 miles, a level country timlicred with tall, somewhat lank, Long-leaf Pine, with only here and there a Post or Water Oak, and full of crawfish holes. As we advance northward, however, and the country ascends, the soil improves, especially near llie liver, where we find, near Na|>o!eon or Pearltown, a hom-mock elevated 1 "> t.■ 'jnfeet above the river level, possessing a yellow loam sitbsoi)—:t guod btk k-rlav—1’ lo .'i feet thick, and a growth o( stout Bottom ■.Pitch) Pine. Post, Water, and White (>ak, and of Willow Oak of tall, graceful growth. l bi' hummock. however, is only from o'*1 yards to mile wide, giadually increasing in width as u e ad'ancc northward: and further inland *■* we find the level " Pine Woods".—At (juitiesvillo. the same condition of things
/
8M», vf»7. 8*18, 8C.9] waters of the coast.	:*.?5
obtains ; the bluff is higher ; wells obtain freestona waler nt 20 to 25 feet, ir. sand.
805. Northward of Gainesville, the level Tine Woods are sometimes interspersed with tracts of undulating land possessing quite a heavy clay soil, on which the Oaks sometimes preponderate) over the Long leaf Pine; it is said, nevertheless, that the soil of the level Pine Woods is prci'erable to the former on account of the great heaviness of the Oak soil, which is underlaid at about throe feet, by heavy gray potter’s clay. In native fertility the Oak soil is doubtless superior, and judicious cultivation would, doubtless, render it the most i profitable (1[808, ff.). P»ut in all this region, cattle-raising, rafting timber, and tar-burning, are tho prevalent occupation of the inhabitants, and the soils have scarcely been fairly tested. (!ol. Kimball, of Habolochitto, informs me, however, that in both soils, the muck of the hollows and l>ottoms cxerciscs a fine effect, as also docs pine straw—all of which, in the north-easWn portion of thv, oounty, have been used on a large scale by some planters. The bottom of Peat".
Kiyer, in the whole of Hancctek county, is almost entirely on the Louisians side (1703).
8C6. The heads M Jourdan’s and Wolf Ilivcr are in a level Tine country, like that just described; but o:i the east fork of the liabclocliitto, there am aomo higher ridge.s.
The bottom of the Habolochitto is quite extensive, and, judging i>y it~ growth, possesses a fertile soil; but is too often overflowed.
Northward of Habolochitto Bridge, we travel for about four miles in a level Pino country, void of springs, which divides the waters of Pearl from those of Habolochitto. Occasionally we still see, in this tract, wet spots with the peculiar flora of the Wet Meadows of the Coast (TT821, 824, ff.). But beyond ws ascend into the Orange Sand ridges which here skirt Pearl River (11780), an‘i teke a final farewell of the flora and soils of the Seacoast
867.	Watebs of thk Coast—The geological phenomena of the Coast, a.', far as observed, have been described in the Geological Kcport (1247 to 251).
It has there been stated, that strata of compost blue or gray clay underlie, at no great depth, all the Coast region; and it is well known that clays of a .similar character form the bottom of the sea at no great distance from the land, wher^^0l the bcach sands ccase. Wells dug in the sand hommocks of the coast, strike these clays at a depth from ten to twenty-five feet; but tho water obtained in
them, is almost always mineral, and unfit for daily use. Doubtless tho mineral	4
tarings of Lynchburg or Ocean Springs, have their origin in the same strata.
Sometimes logs or stamps of Cypress or Pine are struck in these wells, buried in the “ black mud”, which is frequently very fetid. In digging wells near the ooast, it would he well always to ascertain, by a preliminary bore, at what depth the “black mud” underlies. A jnoderate supply of good drink^J>lc water is frequently obtained a few feet above the clay stratum; at Pass Christian, for instance, at a depth of from eight to ten feet; but every attempt to deepen, these wells, so as to increase the volume of water, is liable to result in the entire loss of the well, so soon the “ black mud ” is reached.
868.	It appears, from observations made both on the Coast and on the islands of the Sound, that the water of the latter is rendered almost fresh by filtration, through tlie beach sands, which contain more clayey and vegetable matter than, one would give them credit for. It is therefore better, in general (if cisterns be not used), to rest satisfied with shallow wells, and have several of them, than to risk spoiling the water by undue deepening.
869.	In the few deep wells which havebccu dug along the Coast,, not an inconsiderable rise lias been observed in the water obtained at greater depths, beneath the uppermost clay stratum. Tha3, in a well forty feet deep, at the residence of Mrs. McRae, West Pascagoula (1250), the stream of water last struck rose fifteen feet.
11—25