CANE-BRAKE. 73 



distance, or even near, the cane-brake presents a 

 splendid object; for though, if it be fully grown, strong 

 animals alone attempt to force their way through 

 the mass of vegetation, yet when young it affords a 

 rich and perennial pasturage for cattle; rising from 

 the ground like asparagus, with large and juicy 

 stems, and thus it continues, succulent and tender, 

 till at least six feet high. In this state it also fur- 

 nishes abundant fodder, and butter made from cane 

 pasture is of the finest kind. 



Such, then, is the favourite resort of the majestic 

 Puma. He is undoubtedly the fiercest creature on 

 the continent of America; more powerful and coura- 

 geous than the wolf, and his ferocity and agility 

 render him an object more to be dreaded, jthan even 

 the unwieldy bear. 



A wild and heathy tract extends upon one of the 

 tributary streams of the Alleghany: its soil was by 

 nature remarkably fertile, and hence, though remote 

 and lonely, it was settled by some adventurers from 

 the states of New England. A few years sufficed to 

 clear away the trees from a narrow belt running 

 parallel with the mountain stream, above which 

 rose, precipitously from the valley, a succession of 

 rocky ledges, covered with timber of luxuriant 

 growth. During spring and autumn the cleared 

 portion of the meadow land became the favourite 

 haunt of the deer that abounded upon the border 

 lands of the Alleghany river. Hunters conse- 

 quently resorted thither, who concealed themselves 

 among the loose fragments of the rocks, and awaited 

 the approach of game. A hunter, who gives the 

 following interesting narrative, had kept his. sta-> 



