This notebook contains Charles Lyell’s notes from February 7th to February 20th, 1846 while traveling around the Mobile and Tuscaloosa areas of Alabama. The index is located in the back of the notebook on 10 uncounted pages with the final page pasted to the top of page 1. Notes are in pencil and ink and include field sketches.

Content warning: Lyell uses his Scientific Notebooks to gather evidence, based on both his own observation, by reviewing other people's works, by correspondence, asking questions and analyses. The language used in this index is historical, can be discriminatory and may cause offence.

Transcription note:
In the index, an X, ?, or G. is written in the left margin to mark certain entries. A date noted in the left margin has been inserted at the beginning of the appropriate section.

Index
Febr[uary] 7th 1846
p. 1 X Mobile Bay - Light House.
p. 1 X - [Mobile Bay] Pines to waters edge.
p. 1 X - [Mobile Bay] G[ulf]. of Mexico rippled sands
p. 1 X - [Mobile Bay] drift timber, Gnathodon Cyrena.
p. 1 X - [Mobile Bay] Water fresh with north wind
p. 1 X - [Mobile Bay] [illegible letter deleted] Ships watering - balani
[Note: The top of page 1 is covered by the last page of the index.]
p. 3 X - [Mobile Bay] Mud saltier than water?
p. 3 X - [Mobile Bay] Button wood Live oak - Cactus.
p. 3 X - [Mobile Bay] Cattle lost in swamps vis [‘vis’ interlined] Turk[ey] buzz[ard].
p. 3 X - [Mobile] Tides - S[outh]. Wind.
p. 5 X - [Mobile] Cyrena et cetera does not go up riv[er]
p. 5 X - [Mobile] Frost of 1835 below zero
p. 5 X - [Mobile] Sickliness of Light h[ouse] man.
p. 5 G. - [Mobile] Rev[erend]. Dr. Hamilton's collect[ion]
p. 5 & 7 G. Gnathanodon fossil, situat[ion] of
p. 9 G. Hale's collect[ion] Claiborne fossils
[The above index line starts on p. 8]
p. 10 G. Stigmaria from 110 m[eters] above Tuscaloosa
p. 10 G. Shell bluff oyster at Claiborne
p. 10 X Yellow jessamine odour of
p. 10 A passenger over board - paid?
p. 10 X Yellow Fever in 1839 Mobile
p. 10 Bigby River
p. 11 X No voting for one who had such fixing on his daughter's gown
p. 13 X Yellow fever did not in 1845 come with heat & N[orth]. wind.
p. 13 X Democratic envy of wealth
p. 15 X War - whipping the English
p. 15 X "You are from the north"?
p. 15 X Mobile great fire, incendiaries?
p. 15 X - [Mobile] revival of
p. 15 X Yellow fever
p. 15 X Delta Mobile, wolves
p. 15 X Yellow fever & extinction of species
p. 17 X War. Englishman, for it.
p. 17 X - [War] Oregon question priority Arbitrat[ion]
[February] 8th [1846]
p. 17 X Emigration 500 waggons thro' Tuscaloosa
p. 19 X Ascend river [‘river’ interlined] steamer [? then] Ala[bama] [‘Ala[bama]’ interlined] river - Cotton
p. 19 X - [Ascend] cotton down other stores up
p. 19 X - [Ascend] high pressure, small draught
p. 19 X - [Ascend] wood taken in from raft attached
p. 19 & 25 ? Steam Engine, high pressure
p. 21 G. St. Stephens bluff. white. Geology
p. 21 G. Artesian Well Dr Aimes note on p. 21 G. Hippurite Montgomery
p. 23 X Button wood. Myrica
p. 23 X Tide in Al[abama] river ascends to
p. 23 ? Woods Bluff Mem[orandum]. Arcola.
p. 25 X? Low & high pressure engines
p. 25 G. Geology. Tuskahoma bluff
p. 25 & 29 G. - [Geology] note on fossil animal
p. 27 X Riches Jealousy of in S[outh]. different from N[orth]. Eng[land].
p. 27 X Trees in overflow of Al[abama] Riv[er]
p. 29 G. Wood's bluff & St. Stephens steps from on pine barrens to oak
p. 29 G. Demopolis beds, dip of fossils
p. 31 G. Tuskahoma St. Stephen's Bluff
p. 31 G. Wood's Bluff. Black [Bluff]. Demopolis
p. 33 G. Geology of Bluffs in Al[abama] & Tombigbee
p. 33 ? - [Geology] Ravine in clay Tuscaloosa, 12 y[ea]rs
p. 35 ? Missouri Steamer large size of
p. 35 X Mobile to Tuscaloosa 415 m[iles]. (by water?)
p. 35 X Emigrat[ion] from V[irginia] & S[outh]. C[arolina]
p. 35 ? Ill treatment of slaves. Educat[ion] of [slaves]
p. 35 ? Cotton specul[ation] "fixed for slave travelling"!
p. 35 X Temperance movement good of
p. 37 G. Geology Mitchel [sic Mitchell] N[orth]. C[arolina]
p. 37 & 39 G. - [Geology] Tuscaloosa with Brumby
p. 41 G. - [Geology] Coal vis [a vis].
p. 41 X Pines long leaved on plains & hills
p. 43 G. Coal field of Tuscaloosa, Rook's [Rooke’s] valley
p. 45 G. Tennessee coal - Rooks [Rooke’s] valley
p. 47 X Cold at Tuscaloosa 14 F[ahrenheit].
p. 47 X Forest trees rotation of
p. 47 X - [Forest] on clearings 25 y[ea]rs old
p. 47 X Soap, no potash in Pine wood
p. 49 X Wood - 2[nd] growth trees yield[ed] more charcoal [‘coal’ interlined]
p. 51 ? Health injur[ed] by decomp[osed] vegetat[ion]
p. 51 X Mighty fine citizen
p. 51 G. Hydrated per-oxyde [sic oxide]
p. 51 & 53 G. Coal field
p. 51 X Pines not killed by burning grass oaks are
p. 53 ? G. Boulders none in Al[abama] high or low Brumby
p. 53 G. Coal field outcrop.
p. 53 ? Compass variat[ion] of
p. 55 X Hard wood succeeds pines N[orth]. of Tuscaloosa
p. 55 X Rooks [sic Rooke’s] Valley populat[ion] retrograding
p. 55 ? White men ending in digging coal
p. 55 & 59 X Bankruptcies numbers of in U.S.
p. 55 X University of Tuscaloosa Cost of
p. 57 & 59 G. Geology. Coal field
p. 59 X Cost of living at Tuscaloosa Brumby
p. 59 X False pride of whites in South
p. 59 X Bankruptcies in U.S.
p. 59 X Church, pew cost of annually
[p. 61] X Negros unthrifty
p. 61 X Southerner not repairing log house
p. 61 X Alabama retrograding, debt repudiat[ion]
p. 63 X Education. college not support[ed] by Artizian class
p. 63 G. Coal beds pink red & yellow
p. 63 X Negros in upper Al[abama] very intelligent
p. 64 ? Witumke [sic Wetumpka] junct[ion] of cretac[eous] & mica schist
p. 64 X Lawyers in Al[abama] increasing - from North
p. 64 X - [Lawyers] cannot with[out] professional injury vote for high taxation!
p. 64 X Bankruptcies if so numerous what wonder if State bankruptcy
p. 67 G. Geology. Coal field (Tuscaloosa) contin[ued]
p. 68 G. Boulders & drift absence of in Al[abama] Brumby
p. 68 X Repudiat[ion] in Al[abama] why most disgraceful
p. 68 X - [Repudiation] Governor ag[ainst].
p. 69 ? Rotation of office. Judges Al[abama]
p. 69 ? Al[abama] unsettled state of affairs land depreciated
p. 69 ? How do you like Al[abama]?
p. 69 ? Political Econ[omy] free trade in Univer[sity]
p. 69 G. Geology. Ravines increasing, State Ho[use] threatened
p. 70 G. - [Geology] Coal field of Tuscaloosa contin[ued]
p. 72, 74 G. - [Geology] [Coal] & outliers of sandst[one] Denudat[ion]
p. 74 & 78 G.? Barrenness of low lands chemical acids of soil
p. 74 G. Vermillion beds how coloured
p. 74 G. Coal cov[ered] with iron sand as Eocene
p. 76 G. - [Coal] field Tuscaloosa
p. 78 ? Chemical solvents in soils.
p. 78 ? - [Chemical solvents] oxygen in air et cetera
p. 78 G. Coal field Tuscal[oosa] contin[ued]
p. 80 G. - [Coal field] Lime - sink in Rooks [sic Rooke’s] valley newly formed
p. 80 ? Other recent lime sinks in encrinital limest[one]
p. 80 ? Underground river.
p. 82 G Coal Tuscaloosa, vis
p. 82 G Lignite in Cretaceous
p. 82 X Roads in Al[abama] execrable
p. 82 ? Encrinital limest[one], saw it
p. 82 G. Iron balls in cretaceous, origin of
p. 84 ? Al[abama] Univ[ersity] money voted for 2 y[ea]rs only
p. 84 ? Brumby thinking of return to Law
p. 84 X Roads, no tolls unpopular
p. 84 X Negros house to themselves - parties
p. 84 ? - [Negros] slaves can marry - their ideas of concubine fidelity
p. 84 X Roughing it in Al[abama] - no privacy
p. 84 X Negro artizian - whites collect their debts
p. 85 ? Mixed race inferior. Brumby
p. 85 X Wandering Jew - Indian Prince
p. 85 X Unitarians "no religion" antislavery
p. 85 X Equality in the South compar[ed] to Maine
p. 85 X White negro slave intercourse with [‘with’ interlined] [‘of’ deleted] col[oured]. women
p. 86 G. Geology - Brumby's specimens, coal et cetera
p. 87 G. - [Geology] Cretaceous at Tuscaloosa
p. 87 X Creek Indians leaving Columbus
p. 87 X Cherokees - in 1827 & 1831
p. 87 X Alabama how peopled, migrations
p. 87 X - [Alabama] cannot have national feeling, Repud[iation]
p. 88 X Date of excursions to coal-field et cetera
p. 88 G. Black Bluff cretaceous limest[one].
p. 88 X Gravel (cretac[eous]?) college branch Tuscaloosa [‘oosa’ interlined]
p. 88 X Rapids of Tuscaloosa
p. 89 X Negros, Sabbath Schools.
p. 89 X Slaves why expensive servants
p. 89 ? - [Slaves] advantages enjoyed by
p. 89 X Tuscaloosa an ancient beach - [? line]
p. 89 G. Geology, cretac[eous] gravel on coal
Feb[ruary] 14th 1846
p. 90 X Slaves selling parent & child separately
p. 90 X - [Slaves] notions of conjugal fidelity of Africans
p. 90 X - [Slaves] Curse of two races
p. 91 X New Settlers returning to old county & (Mrs. Bowditch [sic Bowdich]) their become very American
p. 91 X Northern literary tastes in the South
p. 91 X Legislature low – removing
p. 91 X Southerners Politician, not literary
p. 91 X White Aristocracy
p. 92 X School Report "Thanatopsis".
p. 92 X Free trade Cotton Factories
p. 92 ?X White in Al[abama] factories poor whites
p. 92 X War anti-British feeling & free trade
p. 92 X Mobile fires 1839. Incendiaries
Feb[ruary] 14th 1846
p. 93 ? Clever men, widely known in South
p. 93 X Al[abama] & Southern States few whites of
p. 93 X Negros higher in Al[abama] than V[irginia].
p. 93 ? - [Negros] Bad English learned from "ax".
p. 93 X Amalgamation feeling ag[ainst]. negro children
p. 93 X Judges number of in Al[abama] from North
p. 93 X Bar stronger than the Bench
p. 94 G. Cretaceous & Coal Tuscaloosa
p. 94 G. Conrad on cretac[eous] & Coal Tuscaloosa
p. 94 G. Tuscaloosa Gulley in the town
p. 94 X Presbyterian Sabbath School for Negros
p. 94 G. Cretaceous gravel
p. 94 X Arcola lightening tube.
p. 96 X River smaller because higher trees
p. 96 ? Coloured people intercourse with unhappiness
p. 96 X Migration to Texas, all on the move
p. 96 X Cotton going & returning to Al[abama]
p. 97 X Charleston Society of good
p. 97 X Marriage at 15 - celibacy rare
p. 97 X Duelling penalties for in Al[abama]
p. 97 X B[isho]p of Al[abama] acting as clerk.
p. 97 X No negros in church
p. 97 X Professors of diff[erent] denomination
p. 97 X - [Professors] or not a member of any church
p. 98 X G[eorgia] act of ag[ainst] free blacks
p. 98 X Al[abama] bonds Repudiation.
p. 98 X Negros names of
p. 98 X Judges salaries of too small
p. 98 X Free trade, Cotton goods in S[outh].
p. 99 X Observatory Tuscaloosa, Jupiter
p. 99 X New settlers in S[outh]. do not rough it because they have negros
p. 99 X Emigration to Texas, why
p. 99 X Cotton ruins the South
p. 99 X Internal Slave trade Al[abama] [‘Alabama’ interlined] Absenteeism
p. 100 ? Barometer 29-30 at Al[abama]
p. 100 G. Galena Jones valley, Al[abama]
p. 100 X Negros, grand supper
p. 100 X Al[abama] & England relation area of
p. 100 X Turkeys wild & tame price of
p. 100 ? Johnson's [sic Johnston’s] applica[tion]of chemistry agricult[ure]
p. 100 Alcaline [sic Alkaline] bases- excrement of plant
p. 101 X Political parties - Brumby of none
p. 101 X White labour in factories, cheaper,
p. 101 X Puseyism in South injures Episcopal
p. 101 & 102 ? Roughing it in pine woods - clergy
p. 102 X Episcopalian in U.S. like Engl[and] best
p. 102 G. Coal of Tuscaloosa, in river bed?
p. 102 ? Mulattos physically less strong
p. 102 Prostitution of coloured women
p. 102 X Coloured men owning slaves Al[abama
]. p. 104 X Factories, nullification prejudices ag[ainst].
p. 104 X Negros, law ag[ainst] importing them into Al[abama].
p. 104 ? Double stars, parallax
p. 104 X Episcopal church, increase of clergy
p. 104 X Bishops roughing it like first apostles
p. 104 X Puseyism harm done to the church by
p. 104 X Methodists, economy of sermon, by shifting
[Note: The above 2 index lines are on p. 106.]
p. 106 X Camp meeting, apology for
p. 106 G. Cretaceous strata like tertiary Al[abama]
p. 106 Writers on U.S. may choose their sitters
Feb[ruary] 16 [1846]
p. 108 X Ups & downs of fortune in U.S.
p. 108 X No flowers out on banks of “Bigby”
p. 108 X Free trade taught at Tuscaloosa
p. 108 X Ellis the black learning Greek & Hebrew
p. 108 G. Koch's story on Al[abama] zeuglodon bones
p. 109 ? Snakes in Al[abama] different accounts of
p. 109 X Overseer who had shot a negro
[The rest of the index continues on p. 1.]
p. 110 G. Geology cretac[eous] Carthage on Bigby R[iver].
p. 110 X Al[abama] large as England
p. 110 X Canes 30 f[eet] long on Warrior R[iver].
p. 110 X Observatory where Indians so recent
p. 110 G. Geology - section on Black Warrior cret[aceous]
p. 110 G. - [Geology] Steele’s Bluff Black B[luff]. Demopolis
p. 110 G. Creaghs 600 to 800 f[eet]. high, Distances
p. 112 X Box contents of sent from Mobile
p. 112 X Warrior R[iver]. at Tuscaloosa risen 69 f[eet]
p. 112 X - [Warrior River] 200 f[eet] above Mobile at T[uscaloosa].
p. 112 X Tide highest point Woods Buff
[February] 18th [1846]
p. 114 X Artesian Well, section & water
p. 114 X - [Artesian Well] bore of augur, cost, rise of water
p. 114 & 116 G. X Demopolis laminated marl or limestone
p. 115 G. Cretaceous McIntyres Bluff
p. 116 G. Artesian Well, water warmish to drink
p. 116 G. Cretact[eous] limest[one] yellow Bluff
p. 116 G. Demopolis & Arcola. - [Bluff]
p. 118 X Scenery of Bigby R[iver]. Monotony
p. 118 X Mexico, Kendall's tour reconciles annexat[ion]
p. 118 X Slavery extension [‘off’ deleted] of - slaves dearer
p. 118 ? V[irgina] denies breeding of slaves, but exports
p. 118 X Slaves, Exterminat[ion] will prevent amalgma[tion]
[Note: The above index line is on p. 119.]
p. 120 Drunkenness, 3 gents on board, sots
p. 120 X Geology St. Stephens, & cretac[eous] on Bigby
[February] 20th [1846]
p. 122 X Black rock on Bigby
p. 122 X Torch-light expedition to St Stephens.
p. 122 X Torch bearer burning the pendant moss
p. 123 X Good nature of American travellers
p. 123 X White bricklayers outdoing the most active negro
p. 123 G. Geology of Bluffs betw[een] St. Steph[ens] & Mobile
p. 123 G. - [Geology] St. Stephens Bluff, fossils f[ound] by me
p. 123 G. Nummulitic limest[one] with corbula, flabellum, limulite et cetera
p. 123 X Cypress deciduous in leaf
p. 123 X Red maple
p. 123 Unhealthy season most beautiful on Al[abama] R[iver].
[Note: The above 5 index lines are on p. 124.]