CXXXViii LIFE OF WILSON. 



late looking places imaginable. I hailed for the boat as long 

 as it was light, without effect; I then sought out a place to en- 

 camp, kindled a large fire, stript the canes for my horse, eat a 

 bit of supper, and lay down to sleep; listening to the owls, and 

 the Chuck-Wills-Widow, a kind of Whip-poor-Will, that is 

 very numerous here. I got up several times during the night 

 to recruit my fire, and see how my horse did; and, but for the 

 gnats, would have slept tolerably well. These gigantic woods 

 have a singular effect by the light of a large fire; the whole 

 scene being circumscribed by impenetrable darkness, except 

 that in front, where every leaf is strongly defined, and deeply 

 shaded. In the morning I hunted until about six, when I 

 again renewed my shoutings for the boat, and it was not until 

 near eleven that it made its appearance. I was so enraged at 

 this delay, that, had I not been cumbered with baggage, I be- 

 lieve I should have ventured to swim the river. I vented my 

 indignation on the owner of the boat, who is a half-breed, 

 threatening to publish him in the papers, and advise every tra- 

 veller I met to take the upper-ferry. This man charges 

 one dollar for man and horse, and thinks, because he is a chief, 

 he may do in this way what he pleases. The country now as- 

 sumed a new appearance; no brushwood no fallen or rotten 

 timber; one could see a mile through the woods, which were 

 covered with high grass fit for mowing. These woods are 

 burnt every spring, and thus are kept so remarkably clean, 

 that they look like the most elegant noblemen's parks. A pro- 

 fusion of flowers, altogether new to me, and some of them very 

 elegant, presented themselves to my view as I rode along. 

 This must be a heavenly place for the botanist. The most ob- 

 servable of these flowers was a kind of Sweet William, of all 

 tints, from white, to the deepest crimson. A superb Thistle, 

 the most beautiful I had ever seen. A species of Passion flow- 

 er, very beautiful. A stately plant of the Sunflower family 

 the button of the deepest orange, and the radiating petals bright 

 carmine, the breadth of the flower about four inches. A large 

 white flower like a deer's tail. Great quantities of the Sensi- 



