THE CAROLINA PARROT. 88 



lempted to abandon it; but I persisted in briuging it 

 along. 



When at night I encamped in the woods, I placed it ob 

 the baggage beside me, where it usually sat with great com 

 posure, dozing and gazing at the fire till morning. In thit 

 manner I carried it upwards of a thousand miles, in mj 

 pocket, whore it was exposed all day to the jolting of th« 

 horsp, but regularly liberated at meal-times and in tht 

 evening, at which it always expressed great satisfaction 

 In passing through the Chickasaw and Choctaw nations 

 the Indians, wherever I stopped to feed, collected around 

 me, men, women, and children, laughing, and seeming 

 wonderfully amused with the novelty of my companion. 

 The Chickasaws called it in their language ^' Kelinki/ ;'' 

 but when they heard me call it Poll, they soon repeated 

 the name; and wherever I chanced to stop among these 

 people, we soon became familiar with each other through 

 the medium of Poll. 



On arriving at Mr. Dunbar's, below Natchez, I procured 

 a cage, and placed it under the piazza, where, by its call, it 

 soon attracted the passing flocks ; such is the attachment 

 they have for each other. Numerous parties frequently 

 alighted on the trees immediately above, keeping up a con- 

 stant conversation with the prisoner. One of these I 

 wounded slightly in the wing, and the pleasure Poll 

 expressed on meeting with this new companion waa really 

 •musing. She crept close up to it as it hung on the side 



