Table of Contents

Illustrations

List of Maps

Dedication

Introduction

[A Note on the Text]

Table of Contents

• Introduction.

1. Chapter I. The Boat for the Voyage.
   CANOES FOR SHALLOW STREAMS AND FREQUENT PORTAGES.-- SNEAK-BOXES FOR DEEP WATERCOURSES.-- HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF THE BARNEGAT SNEAK-BOX.-- A WALK DOWN EEL STREET TO MANAHAWKEN MARSHES.-- HONEST GEORGE, THE BOAT-BUILDER.-- THE BUILDING OF THE SNEAK-BOX "CENTENNIAL REPUBLIC."-- ITS TRANSPORTATION TO THE OHIO RIVER.
2. Chapter II. Sources of the Ohio River.
   DESCRIPTION OF THE MONONGAHELA AND ALLEGHANY RIVERS.-- THE OHIO RIVER.-- EXPLORATION OF CAVELIER DE LA SALLE.-- NAMES GIVEN BY ANCIENT CARTOGRAPHERS TO THE OHIO.-- ROUTES OF THE ABORIGINES FROM THE GREAT LAKES TO THE OHIO RIVER.
3. Chapter III. From Pittsburgh to Blennerhasset's Island.
   THE START FOR THE GULF.-- CAUGHT IN THE ICE-RAFT.-- CAMPING ON THE OHIO.-- THE GRAVE CREEK MOUND.-- AN INDIAN SEPULCHRE.-- BLENNERHASSET'S ISLAND.-- AARON BURR'S CONSPIRACY.-- A RUINED FAMILY.
   
4. Chapter IV. From Blennerhasset's Island to Cincinnati.
   RIVER CAMPS.-- THE SHANTY-BOATS AND RIVER MIGRANTS.-- VARIOUS EXPERIENCES.-- ARRIVAL AT CINCINNATI.-- THE SNEAK-BOX FROZEN UP IN PLEASANT RUN.-- A TAILOR'S FAMILY.-- A NIGHT UNDER A GERMAN COVERLET.
   
5. Chapter V. From Cincinnati to the Mississippi River.
   CINCINNATI.-- MUSIC AND PORK IN PORKOPOLIS.-- THE BIG BONE LICK OF FOSSIL ELEPHANTS.-- COLONEL CROGHAN'S VISIT TO THE LICK.-- PORTAGE AROUND THE "FALLS," AT LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.-- STUCK IN THE MUD.-- THE FIRST STEAMBOAT OF THE WEST.-- VICTOR HUGO ON THE SITUATION.-- A FREEBOOTER'S DEN.-- WHOOPING AND SAND-HILL CRANES.-- THE SNEAK-BOX ENTERS THE MISSISSIPPI.
   
6. Chapter VI. Descent of the Mississippi River.
   LEAVE CAIRO, ILLINOIS.-- THE LONGEST RIVER IN THE WORLD.-- BOOK GEOGRAPHY AND BOAT GEOGRAPHY.-- CHICKASAW BLUFF.-- MEETING WITH THE PARAKEETS.-- FORT DONALDSON.-- EARTHQUAKES AND LAKES.-- WEIRD BEAUTY OF REELFOOT LAKE.-- JOE ECKEL'S BAR.-- SHANTY-BOAT COOKING.-- FORT PILLOW.-- MEMPHIS.-- A NEGRO JUSTICE.-- "DE COMMON LAW OB MISSISSIPPI."
   
7. Chapter VII. Descent of the Mississippi to New Orleans.
   A FLATBOAT BOUND FOR TEXAS.-- A FLAT-MAN ON RIVER PHYSICS.-- ADRIFT AND ASLEEP.-- SEEKING THE EARTH'S LITTLE MOON.-- VICKSBURGH.-- JEFFERSON DAVIS'S COTTON PLANTATION, AND ITS NEGRO OWNER.-- DYING IN HIS BOAT.-- HOW TO CIVILIZE CHINESE.-- A SWIM OF ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY MILES ON THE MISSISSIPPI.-- TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN THE WATER.-- ARRIVAL IN THE CRESCENT CITY.
   
8. Chapter VIII. New Orleans.
   BIENVILLE AND THE CITY OF THE PAST.-- FRENCH AND SPANISH RULE IN THE NEW WORLD.-- LOUISIANA CEDED TO THE UNITED STATES.-- CAPTAIN EADS AND HIS JETTIES.-- TRANSPORTATION OF CEREALS TO EUROPE.-- CHARLES MORGAN.-- CREOLE TYPES OF CITIZENS.-- LEVEES AND CRAWFISH.-- DRAINAGE OF THE CITY INTO LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN.
   
9. Chapter IX. On the Gulf of Mexico.
   LEAVE NEW ORLEANS.-- THE ROUGHS AT WORK.-- DETAINED AT NEW BASIN.-- SADDLES INTRODUCES HIMSELF.-- CAMPING AT LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN.-- THE LIGHT-HOUSE OF POINT AUX HERBES.-- THE RIGOLETS.-- MARSHES AND MOSQUITOES.-- IMPORTANT USE OF THE MOSQUITO AND BLOW-FLY.-- ST. JOSEPH'S LIGHT.-- AN EXCITING PULL TO BAY ST. LOUIS.-- A LIGHT-KEEPER LOST IN THE SEA.-- BATTLE OF THE SHARKS.-- BILOXI.-- THE WATER-CRESS GARDEN.-- LITTLE JENNIE.
   
10. Chapter X. From Biloxi to Cape San Blas.
    POINTS ON THE GULF COAST.-- MOBILE BAY.-- THE HERMIT OF DAUPHINE ISLAND.-- BON SECOURS BAY.-- A CRACKER'S DAUGHTER.-- THE PORTAGE TO THE PERDIDO.-- THE PORTAGE FROM THE PERDIDO TO BIG LAGOON.-- PENSACOLA BAY.-- SANTA ROSA ISLAND.-- A NEW LONDON FISHERMAN.-- CATCHING THE POMPANO.-- A NEGRO PREACHER AND WHITE SINNERS.-- A DAY AND A NIGHT WITH A MURDERER.-- ST. ANDREW'S SOUND.-- ARRIVAL AT CAPE SAN BLAS.
    
11. Chapter XI. From Cape San Blas to St. Marks.
    A PORTAGE ACROSS CAPE SAN BLAS.-- THE COW-HUNTERS.-- A VISIT TO THE LIGHT-HOUSE.-- ONCE MORE ON THE SEA.-- PORTAGE INTO ST. VINCENT'S SOUND.-- APALACHICOLA.-- ST. GEORGE'S SOUND AND OCKLOCKONY RIVER.-- ARRIVAL AT ST. MARKS.-- THE NEGRO POSTMASTER.-- A PHILANTHROPIST AND HIS NEIGHBORS.-- A CONTINUOUS AND PROTECTED WATER-WAY FROM THE MISSISSIPPI TO THE ATLANTIC COAST.
    
12. Chapter XII. From St. Marks to the Suwanee River.
    ALONG THE COAST.-- SADDLES BREAKS DOWN.-- A REFUGE WITH THE FISHERMEN.-- CAMP IN THE PALM FOREST.-- PARTING WITH SADDLES.-- OUR NEIGHBOR THE ALLIGATOR.-- DISCOVERY OF THE TRUE CROCODILE IN AMERICA.-- THE DEVIL'S WOOD-PILE.-- DEADMAN'S BAY.-- BOWLEGS POINT.-- THE COAST SURVEY CAMP.-- A DAY ABOARD THE "READY."-- THE SUWANEE RIVER.-- THE END.
    

Illustrations

Drawn by F. T. Merrill. Engraved by John Andrew & Son.

• Frontispiece. Shanty-boats--the champion floaters of the West.
• Diagram of parts of boat...14. .
• Indian in canoe...28. .
• The Start--head of the Ohio River...31. .
• [ Coal-stove. . .39 . .] [not listed in table of illustrations]
• Indian Mound at Moundsville, West Virginia...54. .
• A night under a German coverlet...78. .
• Popular idea of the nesting of cranes...111. .
• Stern-wheel Western tow-boat pushing flatboats...114. .
• Meeting with the parakeets...125. .
• Dying in his boat...177. .
• Boyton descending the Mississippi...187. .
• New Orleans roughs amusing themselves...214. .
• Arrival at the Gulf of Mexico--Camp Mosquito...239. .
• The portage across Crooked Island...269. .
• Saddles breaks down...292. .
• Parting with Saddles...302. .
• Last night on the Gulf of Mexico...322. .
• [ Line drawings of a sneakbox, from Dixon Kemp's Manual of Yacht and Boat Sailing of about 1880 or 1882. Courtesy of Craig O'Donnell, ]

List of Maps

1. General map of routes followed by the author during his two voyages made to the Gulf of Mexico, in the years 1874-6.....opposite page 1.. .

GUIDE MAPS OF ROUTE FOLLOWED

in duck-boat "Centennial Republic," along the Gulf of Mexico, in 1876
2. From New Orleans, Louisiana, to Mobile Bay, Alabama. . . .opposite 209. .
3. From Mobile Bay, Alabama, to Cape San Blas, Florida. . . .opposite 247. .
4. From Cape San Blas, Florida, to Cedar Keys, Florida. . . .opposite 273. .

MAP SHOWING RIVER AND PORTAGE ROUTES

across Florida from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean.
5. Route followed by the Author in Paper Canoe "Maria Theresa," in 1875. . . . opposite 319. .

Dedication

[A Note on the Text]

[Online editor's note: Copy-text used for this HTML edition was a facsimile reprint of the 1879 first edition published in Boston by Lee and Shepard, as republished by Gale Research Company, Book Tower, Detroit, 1976. LCC: F354.B62 1976 917.7 71-142572 ISBN 0-8103-4170-0. 322pp + xv. 16 black and white engravings by F. T. Merrill (plus one missing); 5 maps drawn by contract with U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Bureau, 1878. Description and travel--Ohio River, Mississippi River, Gulf Region, La., Gulf Region, Fla. Author: Nathaniel Holmes Bishop (1837-1902), Toms River, N.J.

For this HTML edition we have placed all illustrations in separate files, reached by links from the table of illustrations above, or from links inline in the text (although the links might not be in exactly the same location or order as the pictures in the printed edition). We have not modernized spelling or punctuation, except to render the em dash as two minus signs without surrounding spaces, and to place in lower case some long strings of upper case text in the Table of Contents and a few other places where it seemed appropriate. We have also eliminated periods at the end of some headings. We have not preserved hyphenation at the ends of lines, but have joined or kept separate words as we best suppose intended. Page breaks in the original text are represented by hidden tags of "pb" as in the TEI style; paragraphs are likewise numbered in hidden anchors starting with "g01" for each chapter. ]

We would like to note our thanks to Bruce Miller, a kind reader who volunteered a scan of an illustration missing from our copytext, the New Orleans roughs, which he found in a Martha's Vineyard sneak-box boathouse.