When we cross the mountains, and come to the slope descending to the Mississippi, we survey a large extent of country almost universally fertile, and divided, as we have before mentioned, into the thickly timbered, the barren, and the prairie country. In the first division every traveller remarks a grandeur in the form and size of the trees, a depth of verdure in the foliage, and a luxuriance of growth of every sort, that distinguish this country from other regions. The trees are large, tall, and rise aloft free from branches, like columns. In the richer lands they are generally wreathed with a drapery of ivy, bignonia, grape vines, or other creepers. Intermingled with the foliage of the trees are the broad leaves of the grape vines, with trunks occasionally as large as the human body. Sometimes the forests are entirely free from undergrowth; at others, the only shrub is the graceful and splendid papaw; but often, particularly in the richer alluvions of the south, beneath the trees, are impenetrable cane brakes, and a tangle of brambles, briars, vines, and every sort of weed. The country denominated barrens has a very distinct and singular configuration. It has usually a surface gently undulating, in long and uniform ridges. The soil is generally of a clayey texture, of a reddish or grayish color, covered with tall, coarse grass. The trees are thinly scattered, seldom either large or dwarfish. They are chiefly oaks, and have an appearance peculiar to the region they inhabit. The general quality of the land seldom exceeds the third rate; but in the proper latitudes, it is favorable to the growth of wheat and fruit trees. On the little elevations of the barrens, trees and grass grow; but grass and weeds are the only occupants of the low grounds. The soil of the barrens is alluvial to a greater or less depth, though on some of the highest points there is very little; and the lower the ground the deeper the alluvion. On the elevations, when there is no alluvion, a stiff blue clay is found, without pebbles. On the little ridges, where the dampness is not too great, the oak or the hickory has taken possession, and there grows to a moderate height in clusters; on the low lands the soil is too wet and the grass too thick for such a growth.