126 AUDUBON THE KATURALIST. 



day ; having generally an excellent provision of 

 beef, biscuits, rice, fish and some genuine whisky. 

 Arriving from the eastern and middle districts, 

 they annually visit the Floridas. During summer 

 they return to their families, but at the approach 

 of winter again set forth for their toils, from the 

 first of December to the beginning of March, 

 being the season for cutting. Sometimes strange 

 misadventures befall them on these journeyings, 

 when fogs so dense are accustomed to overspread 

 the country, as to make it impossible to see 

 further than thirty or forty yards onwards. In 

 the monotony of woods, moreover, where the 

 trees present exact resemblances to each other, 

 and the grass is so tall that a man of ordinary 

 stature cannot see over it, so difiicult is it to 

 follow even a well known-track, that the most 

 practised woodsman is not unfrequently bewil- 

 dered. A Live Oaker of East Florida, employed 

 on St. John's River, left one day his cabin on 

 the banks of that stream, to proceed to the 

 swamps where he was accustomed to labour. 



After travelling some hours, he felt convinced 

 he must have passed the spot proposed. 



On the dispersion of the fog, he beheld with as- 

 tonishment the sun at meridian height, and dis- 

 mayed, found himself unable to recognize a sin- 

 gle object around. Resolved then to pursue a 

 different course, he turned his back to the sun. 



