230 Life of Audubon, 



age that surrounded the little pool ; but as little time 

 was to be lost, we quickly remounted and resumed oui 

 disagreeable journey, during which we had at no time 

 proceeded at a rate exceeding two miles and a half in the 

 hour. All at once, however, a wonderful change took 

 place j the country became more elevated and undulating, 

 the timber was of a different nature, and consisted of red 

 and live oaks, magnolias, and several kinds of pine. 

 Thousands of * mole-hills,' or the habitations of an an- 

 imal here called the '■ sal amander,' and Gopher's burrows^ 

 presented themselves to the eye, and greatly annoyed our 

 horses, which every now and then sank to the depth of a 

 foot and stumbled, at the risk of breaking their legs, and 

 what we considered fully as valuable — our necks. We 

 now saw beautiful lakes of the purest water, and passed 

 along a green space having a series of them on each side 

 of us. These sheets of water became larger and more 

 numerous the farther we advanced, some of them extend- 

 ing to a length of several miles, and having a depth of 

 from two to twenty feet of clear water j but their shores 

 being destitute of vegetation we observed no birds near 

 them. Many tortoises, however, were seen basking in 

 the sun, and all as we approached plunged into the v/ater. 

 Not a trace of man did we see during our journey, scarce- 

 ly a bird, and not a single quadruped, not even a rat ; 

 nor can one imagine a poorer and more desolate country 

 than that which lies between the Halifax River, which we 

 had left in the morning, and the undulated grounds at 

 which we had now arrived. 



" But at length we perceived the tracks of living be- 

 ings, and soon after saw the huts of Colonel Rees' negroes. 

 Scarcely could ever African traveller have approached 

 the city of Timbuctoo with more excited curiosity than 

 we felt in approaching this plantation. Our Indian hors- 

 es seemed to participate in our joy, and trotted at a 



