friable materials, still also similar to the Chicasaw Bluffs. Beds of very white sand, intimately mixed with argillaceous earth, appear in prominent cliffs. One of the houses which we visited is apparently built upon an aboriginal mound, and there are two others about a mile distant, in which have been found bones and pot-sherds. Last evening we passed bayou Pierre,[222] 30 miles up which stream, and 15 by land, is situated the thriving town of Gibson-*port.[223]
31st.] To-day we arrived at the well known and opulent town of Natchez,[224] situated on the summit of a hill which forms part of the same range and primitive soil as the Petit Gulf. The port was crowded with flat-boats, produce bearing a reduced {232} price in consequence of the low rate of, and small demand for, cotton.
The cliffs of Natchez appear more elevated than those of the Petit Gulf. The lands, of an inferior soil, are also remarkably broken and deeply undulated. The crumbling precipice, of about 150 feet elevation, is continually breaking, by the action of springs and rain-water, into gullies and frightful ravines; the whole visible matter which composes the hills consisting of clays, ferruginous sand, and quartzy gravel. A few years ago, the undermining of the current swept down a considerable part of the bank with several houses upon it. From the irregularity in the thickness of this ancient maritime alluvion, arises the great difference of depth at which water is here
