40 SPOET IN NORTH AMERICA. 



home. The coyotes of this part of the country 

 were of the species which has a dark grey fur, a 

 kind which is very abundant in the northern dis- 

 tricts, and in the dense forests and unexplored 

 mountain districts of the Green River. A spot near 

 Henderson, Avhich is situate on the left bank of the 

 Ohio, close to its junction with the Green Paver, 

 was the locality most frequented by these four- 

 footed marauders. The pigs, sheep, and cattle of 

 the planters paid a heavy tribute to these voracious 

 brutes. Many a time, when the snow was on the 

 gromid and the flocks remained under cover, the 

 famished brutes would attack men ; and many a 

 belated farmer, coming home at night, found himself 

 surrounded by the ravenous herd, from whose jaws 

 he had the greatest difficulty in defending himself. 



The adventure which I am about to relate hap- 

 pened to one Dick, an old negro fiddler, who was 

 what is commonl}^ termed " a good-for-nothing 

 darkie." This old fellow had no other merit than a 

 talent for scraping the fiddle, — a talent, however, 

 which, poor as it may have been in my eyes, was of 

 value in those of the coloured population, and even 

 of the whites, for fifty miles around. In all that 

 district, there never was a jollification without Dick 

 being invited. Marriages, christenings, and those 

 long evening festivities wluch. iliey cdlledhreak-downs 

 in the States, could not take place without the aid 

 of his violin. Wherever Dick appeared, with his 



