WOODLAND CHORUSES. 355 



though from some names we heard spoken we judged 

 their conversation went back to Tiger Tail. The Indian 

 once, we thought, mentioned Jackson, and once 'gave 

 the native motion for taking scalps. 



After he was gone Mike seemed moody for a day, and 

 then the meeting with the Indian was forgotten. 



The jumping mullet were frequently seen in the waters 

 here, and at night we could catch them in abundance in 

 our canoes by carrying a torch. They sprung from the 

 water toward the light, frequently two or three at a 

 time, and fell in the boat, their pearl-colored scales 

 glancing and flashing in the torchlight. In some places 

 they are called moth-fish from this peculiar instinct. In 

 later years the raftsmen on the river availed themselves 

 of this habit, and placing lights on the sides of their rafts 

 collected quantities of fish that readily leaped the low 

 edges of the raft. 



The nights were very dark, and during a portion of the 

 time we were descending the river, yet as we. were in 

 haste to be home, we kept on our way sometimes till late 

 in the evening, marking our course by the black line of 

 forest that margined the shore. Some of those nights 

 were exceedingly solemn. The mystery of the darkness, 

 the splash of the leaping fish, the murmur of frogs and 

 moths, the rushing wings of the night birds, and now and 

 then the heavy bassoon of the alligator, in whose bosom 

 the spring of the year had awakened tender recollections 

 of his mate, all added to the awe and novelty of our 

 voyage. 



