Stephen's, and for smaller vessels to within fifty miles of Bear creek, a navigable branch of the Tennessee. Perdido river, which forms the boundary between this territory and West Florida, runs a course of seventy miles nearly south to the Gulf of Mexico, forming a lagoon at its outlet, which is about four leagues southwest by west from Pensacola. * Some branches of the Escambia river, which runs into Pensacola Bay, extend above the source of the Perdido, within the limits of this territory. Some of the branches of the Chatahouche river, which forms the eastern boundary from the latitude of 824 degrees to the 31st, or Florida line, stretch towards those of the Alabama. Chatahouche, which flows into the Mexican Gulf, and has the name of Apalachicola in its passage through the Floridas, is navigable 400 miles. The Tennessee river flows along the northern extremity of this territory 240 miles, within which space are included the Mussel Shoals, which are seven miles in length, and three in breadth. In low water these rocks obstruct the navigation; but when the river rises, boats of thirty tons ascend and descend without danger.

The

Extent of Navigable Waters.-Tennessee is navigable 230 miles; Tombigbee, and eastern branches, Tensaw, Mobile, Fish river, &c. 750; Alabama and branches, including Cahawba, Coose, Tallapoose, Kio

Roberts's Florida, p. 8, in which it is mentioned, that this river was so named because a Spanish ship was cast away in it, and her crew lost.

wee, &c. 800; Perdido, Conecab, Escambia, Yellowwater, Choctaw, and Pea rivers, and Gulf coast, 370; Chatahouche and western branches, 550. In all 2700.*

Islands. The islands formed by the different channels of the Mobile river are numerous, and some of them of considerable size. 1. The isle of Mobile, formed by the Spanish, or eastern, and the Mobile, or western branch, is stated to be thirty-five miles long, and eight broad, containing a considerable portion of arable land, well adapted to the culture of rice. The islands on the coast are Dauphin Island, Horn Island, Petit Bois, and some others of smaller size, none of which merit particular description.

Minerals.-Iron ore is found near the head of Coney creek, and on Shoal creek, where there are fine sites for mills and machinery; blue grindstone grit, as it is called, about sixty miles above Fort Claiborne; coal in great quantity near the same place; also on the Cahawba, Tombigbee, and Black Warrior rivers.

Forest Trees. In the low country near the coast the sandy surface is covered with pine, the swamps with cypress, the margin of the rivers with lofty cane, here and there intermixed with the sour orange tree. The high broken lands, which extend to the distance of sixty miles north from the union of the Alabama and Tombigbee, produce oak, hickery, red and white cedar, and poplar. The undulating surface, which commences about sixty miles above the confluence of the Coose and Tallapoose, and is inhabited by the

Creek Indians, produces oak, elm, ash, hickery, walnut, mulberry, and poplar. The meadows are covered with a long coarse grass.

Animals.-The wild animals are the panther, bear, wild cat, deer, beaver, otter, fox, racoon, squirrel, hare, and rabbit. Alligators, from twelve to fifteen feet long, abound in the rivers; snakes in the marshy and woody places.

Indian Boundary.-By the treaty of August 1814, a boundary line was drawn from the great falls on the Coose river, to a point on the Chatahouche, forty-six miles above the 31st parallel, and thence due east to the Alatamahah, and all the Creek lands west and south of this line were ceded to the United States. That part of the cession which falls within the Alabama territory amounts probably to 17,000 square miles; but it is not very valuable, a large proportion of it being poor pine land. In September 1816, a tract of 13,000 square miles, situated on both sides of the Mussel Shoals of the Tennessee river, watered by several streams, known by the names of Duck, Elk, Buffalo, Beech, and Bear creeks, Black Warrior, Natarchucky, Tombigbee, Catahaba rivers, and was ceded to the United States by the Cherokees, Chickasaws, and Choctaws. Thousands of adventurers, says the author of the Western Gazetteer, have their eyes upon this favourite tract. *

Provisional Government, or Administrative Organization. The governor and secretary are appointed by

* P. 239.

the president of the United States, with the advice and consent of the senate. These officers perform the same duties, and receive for their services the same compensation as those of the former territory of Mississippi. The Judges exercise exclusive original jurisdiction in the superior courts of the different counties; but no judge can sit more than twice in succession in the same court. The general court, composed of three judges, is holden annually on the 1st Monday of January and July, at St Stephen's, the place selected as the seat of government, until otherwise provided for by an act of the legislature. The forms of judicial process are to remain unchanged. All persons in office at the time of the formation of the constitution and state government, are to continue therein. The country watered by the Alabama is formed into a district, under the name of Washington, the extent of which, excluding Indian lands, is estimated at 33,000 square miles. It is subdivided into eight counties.

This population is very much dispersed. The chief settlements extend along the Alabama river, and the Coose branch above Fort Jackson. There are some farming establishments on the Conecah, Cahawba, and Black Warrior rivers. Below St Stephen's, on the Tombigbee, there is a thin population, and also between this river and the Alabama, attracted thither by the superior quality of the soil; but, during the late war with the Creeks, the settlements on the former were abandoned. In Madison county, containing a surface of twenty miles square, the number of inhabitants, in 1817, was estimated at 18,000. Huntsville, the capital, contained 1200. On each side of the Tennessee, above and below the Mussel Shoals, there is a considerable population. That of Jones and the Cahawba valley was estimated at from 3000 to 4000. That of Tuchaloosa, at the falls of the Black Warrior, about 5000. The present population of the territory (1818) is estimated at 50,000. * The emigration is chiefly from Georgia, the Carolinas, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The American government has lately ceded 100,000 acres of land on the Tombigbee, near the junction of the Black Warrior branch, to a French company, at two dollars an acre, payable in fourteen years, on condition of their introducing and cultivating the vine and the olive.

The town of Mobile is situated at the entrance of the river of the same name, on a fine plain, about

* Communication from Dr Fearn of Natchez to the Author, 1818.