THE DEOWNED LANDS. 221 



with their dead and naked arms, and the occasional mass 

 of broken reeds and matted drift-wood that in the sum- 

 mer had formed the alligator's lair, all contributed to 

 imjDress the mind with a feeUng of strangeness and soli- 

 tude. The wild birds, too, were unwontedly familiar in 

 their demeanor. Marsh hens ran over the drifts before 

 the boat, and gulls came screaming around us. 



About three miles from where we had entered the 

 Drowned Land, we came to the edge of open water, and 

 found a large lake. Before entering it a glance ahead 

 showed the further end of the pond literally covered with 

 ducks. It was impossible, being on the same level^ to 

 tell how many there were, but from the extent of their 

 front hne they were very numerous. A hurried council 

 of war was called to decide how they were best ap- 

 proached, and after two or three plans had been pro- 

 posed and discarded, it was settled that we should try 

 and paddle around on the further side of the pond so as 

 to be near the flock, and then take our chances of their 

 coming over us, as they probably might when alarmed 

 by the firing in the other boats. So with much care as 

 to the noise we might make, and some self self-control in 

 not firing at single ducks that would rise close by us, we 

 ultimately got around the flock, so as to place them 

 between us and the other boats. We pulled our canoe 

 into the thickest of the grass that completely sheltered 

 us, and from where I sat I could see the ducks lying on 

 the open water, moving hither and thither, and diving 

 down for the eel-grass below the surface. I immediately 



