COMPI,ETI0N OF THE ORNITHOLOGY IO7 



we rode along, with great piety. I found one in his 

 book that very nearly answered to Jones' song of 

 the 'Vicar and Moses/ and that soon became a 

 favourite air with us. He labored with so much 

 earnestness to make me a convert — preaching some- 

 times with great vehemence — that I had no other 

 resource on such occasions but to ride hard down 

 hill, which, the preacher being unable to do, gener- 

 ally broke the thread of his discourse. He was, 

 however, very useful to me in taking charge of my 

 horse while I went into the woods after strange 

 birds, and got so attached to me that he waited two 

 days for me in a place where I had some drawings 

 to make. I stopped five days in the barrens of Ken- 

 tucky, exploring that extraordinary country, in the 

 house of a good Presbyterian, who charged me 

 nothing, and would have kept me for a month for 

 some lessons in drawing which I gave his two 

 daughters. Here my psalm-singing Methodist left 

 me. These barrens are almost without wood, and 

 the whole face of the ground seemed to be covered 

 with blossomed strawberries. They must grow in 

 immense quantities here in the proper season. 

 Great numbers of beautiful flowers that I have 

 never seen before were seen in every direction, some 

 of them extremely elegant. Many of the inhabi- 

 tants keep their milk in caves lOO feet below the 

 surface of the ground, and these caves extend so 

 far under ground that they have never ventured to 

 their extremities. Frightful stories are told of 

 some tavern-keepers, who are suspected of de- 

 stroying travelers and secreting their bodies in 

 these caves. If I were not afraid of giving you 



