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 particularly the case with respect to the western bank of the river. Much of the Louisiana purchase is not worth a cent.

Below Natches, there are a great many superb plantations, and the country is under a high state of cultivation. Here, however, the water of the river is confined to its bed by a levee, or embankment.

{197} The cane thickets near the banks of the Mississippi are very luxuriant; and the extensive groves of willows upon them form an impervious shade, and present a gloomy aspect.

About fifty miles below the mouth of the Ohio, on the west bank of the Mississippi, stands New Madrid.[145] Owing to destructive freshets and other causes, it is unflourishing.

After leaving this side of the river, I entered Tennessee on the east. This state is bounded on the Mississippi, from the Iron Banks to one of the Chickasaw Bluffs,[146] a distance of about one hundred miles. The length of the state is four hundred miles. That part of Tennessee, which lies on the Mississippi, is a perfect wilderness, and inhabited, principally, by Indians. In and near this part of the state reside the Cherokees and Chickasaws. The Chickasaws have always been well disposed towards the United States, and their physiognomy and general appearance are much in their favour. The language of this tribe, and of the Choctaws is very similar. The Cherokees were once very numerous; but being much disposed to war, and frequently contending unsuccessfully with the northern Indians, their numbers have become small, and their spirits broken. The Chickasaws are likewise the