128 BERTHA'S VISIT TO HER 



said to have sometimes risen to the height of fifty 

 or sixty feet. 



The breaking down of a levee, with the tre- 

 mendous rush of such a body of water, brings 

 certain destruction on the neighbouring planta- 

 tions. At those times, the whole surface beyond 

 the sloping banks appears, for thousands of 

 square miles, as one vast ocean ; and only four 

 or five years since, upwards of three hundred 

 plantations were overwhelmed with water, and 

 their crops totally destroyed. Very strict regu- 

 lations have, therefore, been established for the 

 prevention of this misfortune. 



In these dreary plains a pretty little species of 

 marmot is found ; it is called the " Prairie-dog," 

 from a supposed resemblance of its cry to the 

 hurried barking of a dog. The habits of this 

 animal are so social, that they live together in 

 burrows which are called " Prairie-dog villages," 

 and which sometimes spread to the extent of 

 many miles ; the entrance of each burrow is 

 through a small mound of earth, of a foot or 

 eighteen inches high, on the summit of which 

 the little animals sit and bark, and flourish their 

 tails ; but they plunge in, on the least appear- 

 ance of danger. In Winter, they become torpid, 

 having first securely closed up the entrance of 

 their burrows, and made a nest of fine dry 

 grass with a small opening just large enough to 



