A PATIENT WITH THE AGUE SWAMPS. 177 



possible, sweetened with honey. He then threw him- 

 self on the skin and was soon asleep. Next day he 

 was somewhat better, and we passed the time as well 

 as we could, till S. should come with his second load. 

 I employed myself in collecting wood for the fire, and 

 in shooting turkeys, to make our provisions last. 

 After a week, during the last days of which we had 

 lived on turkeys and pumpkins, taking the latter, which 

 were very sweet and deUcate, from the field of a neigh- 

 bor at no great distance, S. arrived with the rest of 

 his property, cows, horses, pigs, geese, cats, chickens, 

 and dogs. Then there was all the bustle of arranging 

 and settling, and then another attack of ague, which 

 seemed regularly to have fixed itself on me m this un- 

 healthy country. I bore up against it, but was not 

 well enough to mount a horse till the 20th November, 

 when I took a ride of four or five miles with my rifle, 

 for a breath of fresh air. 



These swamps and morasses partly realize the idea 

 which Europeans entertain of the primitive forest, but 

 in which they are frequently deceived, for the simple 

 reason, that on the higher dry grounds w^hich are 

 covered with dry leaves and wood, fires are often made, 

 not only by shooting parties, but by the settlers, for 

 the sake of the grass, which comes up all the sooner 

 when all these enormous quantities of leaves, &c., have 

 been burnt ; and the fire does not consume the young 

 plants only, but considerably checks the growth of the 

 older trees, excepting in the marshes, where the ground 

 even in summer is moist ; and there the trees grow to a 

 colossal grandeur — I have seen some measuring seven, 

 eight, and even nine feet in diameter. 



