The Cane-Brake. 69 



with a bed-room. We had all retired to rest ; every per 

 son I imagined was in deep slumber save myself, when of 

 a sudden I heard a great uproar in the naturalist's room. 

 I got up, reached the place in a few moments, and opened 

 the door ; when, to my astonishment, I saw my guest run- 

 ning naked, holding the handle of my favorite violin, the 

 body of which he had battered to pieces against the walls 

 in attempting to kill the bats which had entered by the 

 open window, probably attracted by the insects flying 

 around his candle. I stood amazed, but he continued 

 jumping and running round and round, until he was 

 fairly exhausted, when he begged me to procure one of 

 the animals for him, as he felt convinced they belonged 

 to a ' new species.' Although I was convinced of the 

 contrary, I took up the bow of my demolished Cremona, 

 and administering a smart tap to each of the bats as it 

 came up, soon got specimens enough. The war ended, 

 I again bade him good-night, but could not help observ- 

 ing the state of the room. It was strewed with plants, 

 which had been previously arranged with care. 



"He saw my regret for the havoc that had been 

 created, but added that he would soon put his plants to 

 rights after he had secured his new specimens of bats. 



Rafinesque had great anxiety to be shown a cane-brake, 

 plenty of which were to be found in the neighborhood. 

 The cane-brake is composed of a dense growth of canes, 

 measuring twenty or thirty feet in height, and packed so 

 closely that a man's body requires to be forced between 

 the shafts of the canes. An undergrowth of plants and 

 trailing climbers further prevents progression, which has 

 to be accelerated by pushing the back between the canes. 

 Game of all sorts frequent the cane-brakes, in which trav- 

 elling is rendered disagreeably exciting by the presence 

 of bears, panthers, snakes, and serpents. The cane- 

 brakes are sometimes set fire to, and the water collected 



