24 WILD SPORTS IN THE SOUTH. 



couples, they were gently launched over the drifting wood and 

 tangled roots that cluttered up the side of the river, and were all 

 connected together with a rope, and then tied to a tree. This was 

 our ark, and on it were placed, first of all, the powder and other 

 ammunition, and Mike, as captain, and a negro as crew, each 

 armed with a long pole and a rude paddle, began the first trip. 

 First fastening the end of a long rope to a tree on the shore from 

 whence they started, they poled out until the depth of the water 

 prevented them from touching the bottom, and then with the 

 paddle slowly worked their way to the opposite bank. Then com- 

 menced the difficulty. The tall canes grew down into the water, 

 and presented a barrier to the entrance of so obtuse a vehicle as a 

 raft ; and though they might be pushed aside sufficiently to effect 

 an entrance, they would spring up on every side, and hedge the 

 pioneers in an enclosure as tight as a bird cage. To meet this 

 difficulty, Mike sat down on the bow of the raft, and with a 

 hatchet cut away the reeds, as the negro poled the raft, until a 

 narrow lane was cut through to terra firma, and the men landed 

 with the munitions. Here selecting a sturdy cabbage palmetto, 

 they fastened the other end of the rope securely, thus making a 

 taut line entirely across the river, and throwing away both poles 

 and paddle, by means of the rope pulled back to the shore from 

 which they started. 



Next came the ponies' turn, and with much coaxing, and some 

 pushing and pulling, one of their equine highnesses was brought 

 on board the raft and pulled to the other shore, where, when he 

 was loosened, he quickly disappeared in the reeds. Sometimes we 

 made him swim by the side of the raft, but it was a dangerous 

 attempt in large rivers on account of the alligators that were 

 tempted to nibble at the legs so invitingly paddling above them. 



The third trip brought the other pony, who, by his obstinacy, 

 came near breaking up the raft ; and, finally, I rowed over with 

 the balance of the camp equipage and the dogs, that had to be tied 

 up at the beginning of the operations, to prevent them swimming, 

 which, had they attempted, they would certainly have been lost by 

 the rapaciousness of the alligators, that even in the early fall were 

 still very active in all the rivers. 



