I here was received by my friends, H----n and M----e; and on this day, at the house of the latter gentleman, once more sat down to a truly comfortable dinner, in company with our worthy Consul, and a few other gentlemen. I was detained here for two days, there being no steamer going across the lake to New Orleans: these two days were passed most delightfully, driving Mr. H----n about the beautiful forest paths which surround this city; the weather was divine, and flowers of great beauty yet in abundance. The evening of the 31st I passed with Mrs. B----r, where in a glass of good poteen we drank a good bye to the year 1834, and a welcome to the stranger. JOURNAL. _January 1st, 1835._--Still detained at Mobile: the sun shines powerfully, and the sky is pure and clear. After breakfast lounged about the very clean streets of this pretty city; then procured a neat turn-out, and drove Mr. H----n, he acting as pilot, as far as Choctaw Point, whence we had an extensive view of the Bay of Mobile with the south-west coast of Florida. Our way lay through a forest of pine and oak; many little rivulets crossed our path, the sides of which were decked by a hundred different shrubs and plants, from the magnificent grandiflora, here growing eighteen and twenty feet high, to the lowly rose: the vegetation is rich, winter though it is; the beauty of the spring amongst these noble woods I can only imagine at present, but hope, before I again look northward, to know more of that season. The presence of the ghostly-looking cedar, with its funereal draperies of unwholesome moss, so common throughout Carolina and Georgia, is here unknown; the forest is a series of regular avenues pillared by the loftiest pines; and there is no undergrowth, except in little dingles through which a brook may creep its way: the rides in this vicinity are therefore most attractive. At one point during our ramble we suddenly came to an abrupt sandy hill, at whose foot ran a sparkling little rivulet, in the midst of which one of the aborigines stood in a state of nature, raising water in the hollow of a gourd, and laving with it his coal-black shining hair. As we descended, he stood erect and looked towards us, but without exhibiting the least symptom of either surprise or embarrassment: his form was light but perfectly proportioned, with small thorough-bred knees and feet; he looked like a new bronze cast from the antique: the graceful repose of the attitude he maintained during our approach was perfect. Mr. H----n asked him if he was Choctaw; he replied to the question by a slow nod of the head and a brief 'yah!' Continuing our ride along the sea-bank, we arrived at a large establishment where oil is extracted from the seed of the cotton-plant: this is a recent discovery, and likely to prove a most profitable one to the proprietors of this mill.