252 



NATURE FOR ITS OWN SAKE 



The 



"bottom- 

 lands." 



called the " bottom-lands, " are taken np by 

 marshes, timber-growth, and lakes. Some- 

 times the lakes with flags surrounding them 

 look like the shore regions near Chesapeake 

 Bay; but more often the bottom is a vast 

 jungle of trees, vines, and dense undergrowth, 

 not unlike the Dismal Swamp of Virginia. Its 

 impressive feature is its luxuriance of vege- 

 tation. Its trees are often enormous in size, 

 the grass stands higher than one's head, and the 

 ground is black with the mould of centuries. 

 The sloughs, or little water-ways connecting 

 the lakes or marshes, run sluggishly in blue- 

 brown streams, and the density of the shade 

 scarcely allows of much sky reflection in their 

 coloring. Sometimes an open spot in the tim- 

 ber, where wild rice surrounds a small, shal- 

 low lake, gives a bright dash of sunshine and 

 color ; but as a general thing the bottoms are 

 not brilliant in hue or attractive in light. 



