LIFE OF WILSON. CXV 



their respective sides of the channel. I rambled up the hanks 

 of this river for four or five miles, and in my return shot a 

 turkey. I also saw five or six deer in a drove, but they were 

 too light-heeled for me. 



" In the afternoon of the 15th I entered Big-Bone Creek, 

 which being passable only about a quarter of a mile, I secured 

 my boat, and left my baggage under the care of a decent fami- 

 ly near, and set out on foot five miles through the woods for 

 the Big-Bone Lick, that great antediluvian rendezvous of the 

 American elephants. This place, which lies " far in the wind- 

 ings of a sheltered vale," afforded me a fund of amusement in 

 shooting ducks and paroquets, (of which last I skinned twelve, 

 and brought off two slightly wounded,) and in examining the an- 

 cient buffalo roads to this great licking-place. Mr. Colquhoun, 

 the proprietor, was not at home, but his agent and manager 

 entertained me as well as he was able, and was much amused 

 with my enthusiasm. This place is a low valley, everywhere 

 surrounded by high hills; in the centre, by the side of the 

 creek, is a quagmire of near an acre, from which, and another 

 smaller one below, the chief part of these large bones have 

 been taken; at the latter places I found numerous fragments of 

 large bones lying scattered about. In pursuing a wounded 

 duck across this quagmire, I had nearly deposited my carcass 

 among the grand congregation of mammoths below, having 

 sunk up to the middle, and had hard struggling to get out. As 

 the proprietor intends to dig in various places this season for 

 brine, and is a gentleman of education and intelligence, I have 

 strong hopes that a more complete skeleton of that animal call- 

 ed the mammoth, than has yet been found, will be procured. 

 I laid the strongest injunctions on the manager to be on the 

 look out, and to preserve every thing; I also left a letter for 

 Mr. Colquhoun to the same purport, and am persuaded that 

 these will not be neglected. In this neighbourhood I found 

 the Columbo plant in great abundance, and collected some of 

 the seeds. Many of the old stalks were more than five feet 

 high. I have since found it in various other parts of this coun- 



