[18] The day after beginning his descent of the Mississippi, he and his party reached "the station of one of the Spanish gallies, the master of which treated them politely, but detained them until the next day (Journal, 31). A few hours after leaving this point, they reached New Madrid, where they were saluted upon landing "by a discharge of the artillery from the fort and otherwise treated with the greatest respect and attention." Here the commandant stated that he had "a communication to make and for some reasons, which he did not detail," requesting Ellicott "to continue there two or three days." The commissioner declined to be detained longer than one day. At the expiration of that time a letter was produced from the Governor General of the province, containing an order issued about three months previous, not to permit the Americans to descend the river till the posts were evacuated, which could not be effected until the waters should rise." In reply, Ellicott took the position that "if want of water was an objection ... it was ... done away by the commencement of the inundation," that such an order must have been intended for troops and that to detain himself and party "would be an indirect violation of the treaty" they were preparing to carry into effect. The objection was then withdrawn and they proceeded (Ib. 31-33). At Chickasaw Bluffs the Commandant received the party politely but "appeared embarrassed" (Ib. 34) and affected almost total ignorance of the treaty. There were no appearances of preparations to evacuate (Ib. 35). Again resuming their voyage, they were detained a few days later, for about an hour, by a Spanish officer commanding two galleys (Ib. 36). At Walnut Hills (Vicksburg) they were brought to by an "unnecessary" discharge of a piece of artillery, but were treated "very civilly when on shore." Here also the commandant "appeared to be almost wholly unacquainted" with the treaty and was not satisfied until Ellicott produced "an authenticated copy" of that instrument in Spanish (Ib. 37). This incident appeared very extraordinary to the Commissioner in view of the fact that this station was "in the vicinity" of Natchez, where Governor Gayoso resided (Ib. 38). All of these occurrences were more extraordinary still, when viewed in the light of the further facts observed by Professor Hinsdale:--Although Ellicott "bore a commission from the Government of the United States, was accompanied by an escort of American troops and was charged with the performance of a duty created by a solemn international agreement, he was halted and questioned as though he were a suspect in a strange country. Moreover, the one bank of the river, throughout the whole distance, Spain had acknowledged to belong exclusively to the United States, to say nothing of her having guaranteed its navigation by American citizens from its source to the sea" (Annual Rept. Amer. Hist. Association for 1893, pp. 351-2).