338 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 



FASTI ORNITHOLOGIiE REDIVIVL NO. I. BARTRAM'S 'TRAVELS.' 



BY ELLIOTT COUES. 

 " Come square me this by points of compass apply the rule of three." 



William Bartram, naturalist, son of John Bartram, botanist, 

 travelled extensively in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida, during 

 the latter part of the XVIIIth century, and wrote and caused to 

 be printed a book in which his journeys were traced, and his 

 observations recorded. Which book is entitled as follows, to wit : 



" Travels ] through | North & South Carolina, | Georgia, | East 

 & West Florida, | the Cherokee Country, the extensive | Territo- 

 ries of the Muscogulges, | or Creek Confederacy, and the | Country 

 of the Chactaws; | containing | an account of the soil and natural | 

 productions of those regions, toge- | ther with observations on 

 the | manners of the Indians. | Embellished with copper-plates. 



| | By William Bartram. | Philadelphia: | printed by James 



& Johnson, | m,dcc,xci." 1 vol., 8vo., 1 p. 1., pp. i-xxiv, 1-522, pll. 



Another edition of which work was issued at Dublin, 1793, being 

 a reprint, E. and O.E.; and further proof of the appreciation of 

 the author's labors was given in the translation of the work into 

 German, and its publication in that language at Berlin, in 1*193, 

 as the xth vol. of the Magasin von merkwvirdigen neuen Reise- 

 beschreibungen, &c. 



Bartram was a naturalist, in the broadest and best sense of the 

 term, whose acquirements in that line were fairly abreast of the 

 times in which he lived, and whose example might be followed 

 with profit if not with pleasure also. He was a traveller of the 

 energy and perseverance that most successful explorers possess. 

 He was a man of unimpeachable veracity, scrupulously exact in 

 every circumstance of detail. He was a thoughtful critic of nature 

 for the love of it ; and that he was a judge of human nature is 

 attested by his observations on the Indians: witness his graphic 

 account of the vr&y the Indian maidens (?) used to steal their 

 lovers' rum, under pretence of taking a drink, to peddle it out to 

 these untutored sons of the forest at a premium, when the supply 

 ran low. To his other accomplishments he added that of humble 

 devout Christianity, which was a frequent element in the contem- 

 plation of Nature, among thoughtful and sincere men, before she 



