The river trenches from hence E. S. E. and a mile lower is another new settlement on the right, from whence is a fine reach of the river downwards E. 1/2 S. In the next half league, are three more new settlements also on the right, all commenced this spring.
A mile lower is a charming situation for a settlement, at present unoccupied. It is opposite island No. 103, and continues three miles to a point where the river resumes its S. S. W. direction, at the end {279} of that island, which is itself a delightful and most eligible situation for an industrious and tasty farmer.
There are some settlements opposite the end of the island on the right bank, and on the left, opposite, is discernible the bed of an old schute of the Mississippi, or rather a mouth of the Yazoos, as the low willows which mark this old bed join that river two miles above where it enters the Mississippi. From my admiration of No. 103, my fellow voyagers named it Cuming's island, and indeed I should have been tempted to have settled on it, had every thing been perfectly convenient for that purpose.
CHAPTER XLVIII
The Walnut hills and Fort M'Henry—Palmyra—Point
Pleasant—Big Black—Trent's point—The Grand
Gulph—Bayau Pierre.
A mile below Cuming's island, is a settlement on the right, and four others immediately below it, all within a quarter of a mile of each other, and all apparently commenced last year. Three miles below Cuming's island, we passed the mouth of the river Yazoos on the left. It is about two hundred and fifty yards wide, and affords a fine view up it four or five miles. Opposite, on the right, is the fine settlement of George Collins, with the Walnut hills in sight over the trees at the end of the reach. Three quarters of a mile
