The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1848-03-07
DAILY CRESCENT.
Life on the MiSSiSSippi.

There will probably be not one Of oar readers,
but who, if he knows any thing at all Of the sub
acf. viii acknowledge both the general and special
trullfillness of the following description of life
the 1FissisS ppi. We extract it from the account Of
Balvartl Is adventures the great Western river,
which accompanies his description of his extensive
panorama. now being exhibited III the North. The
picture itself is a very interesting one, and some
parts of it are painted i'll an exceedingly fine
manner
An experience of several months, in all kinds of
situations on III" MiSsissppi, during which he was
taking drawing there, gave sir. BaWard the best
pos he ri ort'nlities of seeing the Lie which
he d"i'ets i'll The following extract:
'i'!c greater part of the commercial intercourse
o, The country is with New Orleans, by HE river
Mississippi iii boats. These 50 various in their
kinds. ana 50 curious III their construction. thai il
would he difficult to re:iu@r them to specific classes
and divisions. No form Of water craft so wfinl-
steal, no shape ou!landsIr, can " be imagined
but what, on descending TO New Orleans, it may
somewhere be wing 10 the shore floating en-
the river The New Norl, canal is genefatng
monsiros conceptions OF this sort ard there viii
soon he a rivalry between the East and the West,
which can create the ingenious floating river
monsters ol passage and transport.
But the boats ni passage and conveyance, that
remain after the invention of steamboats,, and are
still important to those Objects, ke"lbcats and
flats The fiaihotts called. in ie yernacular
phrase. - Kentucky fats. or - broad horns.
They are simply ali ohloEg ark, with roof slightly
curved from the Gentle to shed RAIN They are
generally about fifteen feet wide and from fifty to
eighty. and sometimes hundred feet in length
The timbets OF thc bottom massive beams and
they are intended c be Of great strength. and to
carry 4 btrdei OF from TWO TO four hundred bar
rcIs Great numbers of cattle hogs and horses are
conveyed TO market i'll them. We have seen family
boats Of this description fitted up for the desceu; 81
families to the lower country, with stove, com
Portable apartments beds and arrangements for
cumIno;uIls iabitancy. We see in them. ladies.
servants, cattle horses, sheep, dogs and poultry.
all floating the same bottom and en- he fnol
he ICONS, pl0u9hs, spinning wheels and domestic
implements OF The iamly
Much of the produce OF the upper country, even
after the invention Vi steamboats,, continues de-
scelld to New Orleans in Kentucky flats They
generally carry three hands and PERHAPS a super
Stmerary fourth hand q Kind Of supercaF2o. This
boat, in the form OF paraloiogram lying fat and
dead III the water, am, with square tln!}ers below
its bottom planls. aud carrying such great weigh,
runs on a sand bar with a strong Roadway. and
p!ougEs lis timbers into the sand and il is, OF
course, a work of extreme labor 10 get the boat
ahoat again. Its form and lis weight render ii diff
icult TO give it a direction with any power Of cars.
Hence. in the shallow waters, it often gets aground.
When it has al leng h cleared The shallow waters,
and gained the heavy current OF the Mississippi.
the landing such an unWIedy wafer craft, i'll such
Il current, is a mater of 10 lille difficulty and
"a g:r
All the toll and danger, and exposure, and moy
ing incidents of this long and periious voyage.
hidden However tron the n;ibi:anis, WHO con
template the boats floating by their dwellings
beautiful spring mornings when tiie-verdant forest,
the mild and delicious temperature of the air, the
delightful azure OF the sky OF this country, the fine
bottom on ilIt one hand, and the romantic bluff
/ ,,,iI str rnlIiuu
calmly down the forest and floating the boat gently
forward, present delightful images and as locations
to the heholders. Al this time. there is visible
danger cali ipr labor. The boat takes OF
Itself: and e d. The bcholders imagine how dit
f.rt.ni Il sccia may be presented III half an hour.
Meantime. one Of the lands scrapes a violin, and
the others dance. Greeting, or rude defanceS, or
trials of Wit, protiars OF love TO the girls OH
shore, saucy messages, are scattered between
them and the spectators along the banks The
boat sles on until it disappears behind the point
of wood At this moment, perhaps, the buge-
with which all the boats provided, strikes up
It's note in the distance the water. These
scenes and these notes, echoing from The bluffs Of
the noble mississippi, have Il charm ior the i'tgi-
M lion. which although heard Il thousand times re-
peated, at all hours and positions present the image
Of :, tempting and charming. youthful existence.
that naturally inspires wish to be- mailman.
No Woaicr that to the young, who are reared III
these remote regions. with that restless curiosity
which is ioSiered by solitude and silence. and VINO
witness scenes like This So frequently, TIL" severe
and lilremitiing lhors of agriculture, performed
directly in the View oi such speciaccS should be
come tasteleas and iTk$ome. No wonder that the
Young. along the banks OF the great streams, should
dess the labor; of The field and embrace every
opporitmify either openly or II minors, covcrtly to
escape and devote themselves 10 the pernclous en-
joynlrnt of beating. In this view, we may account
for the tctcSlaon Of the inhabitants, along these
great streams, OF steamboats,, whcha continually
diminishing the number of all other boats and boat
men. and which have already Withdrawn probably
ten thousand from that employment We have seen
what is the character OF This employment, noNIih-
standing all lis Seductlols. In 10 employment do
the hands so soon Wear ont Il is comparatively
but a few years since these waters have been
navgated IN any way yet at every bend, ana
every high point OF the rivers, where you 90 on
shore for q moment. YOU may expect 10 see the mar
row mound antf the rldc monument. and the coarse
memorial carved on an adjoining tree by brother
boatmen, to mark The spot where an exhausted
boatman Welded his breath and was buried.
\ good landing place Oh the Mississippi, towards
evening generally brings up tle descending fiat
boats where they lay by all night and this is
excellent point 0i observation, from which 10 CON
template their aspect The character Of boatiig and
the descriptions and the amount OF produce from
HE ppcr country. You can here take an irnagIn-
ary voyage to the Falls Of ST Anthony or Missouri
TO the Lead Mines OF Rock River. or to Chicago Of
Lake Michigan; to Iippecanoe OF the Wabash,
Oean point OF the Allegheny, Brownsville OF
the fOnongahela. the Saline of the kenaW ha,
the mountains, round whose bases winds the Ten
nessee: or If yen choose, You may take the cheap
and rapid Journey of thought along tie courses OF
hundred other rivers; and in the lapse of a few
days residence III the spring, at this point you may
see boats which have arrived here from all these
imagined places. The boisierous gayety ot'thc
hands, the congratulations of acquainiances, who
have met here from immense distances. the moving
picture Of life on board the boats in the numerous
animals large and small which they carry their
different ladings, the evidence of the increasing ag-
ricuture above, and. more than all, the immense
distances which lhey have already IavcTscd, afford
a copious fund of meditation. In place there
are beats loaded with pine plank from tie pine for
cs's Of the southwest Of New York. IN another
quarter there are numerous boats with TIE = Yankee
notions of Ohio. In another quarter are landed
together the boats Of = Old Kentucky with their
whisky, hemp, tobacco, begging and hale rope,
with all the articles of the produce Of their sod
From Tennessee come the same articles together
II L h. l., a.