SNIPE-SHOOTING VEGETATION OF LOUISIANA. 381 



My present occupation did not allow much time for 

 amusement, though now and then I got some duck- 

 shooting in winter, when the ducks come in myriads 

 from the north to this milder chmate, where ice is very 

 seldom seen on the lakes and standing pools, and snow 

 was not seen during the whole winter. Snipe-shooting 

 commenced early in spring, and I followed it up with 

 great eagerness. It is a very different affair here from 

 what it is in Europe ; you go out in the evening, and 

 shoot them by torchlight, when, of course, you must have 

 a very small charge, as they approach within ten yards, 

 often within five or six. The negro, who is not allowed 

 to carry a gun without permission from his master, 

 goes out with a torch, and a small bushy bough of a 

 tree, to knock them down. There are two sorts, both 

 smaller than ours, and they occur in such numbers, that 

 in two hours I have often killed from eighteen to twenty. 

 During the day they remain among the thick reeds 

 and in the marshes, and in the evening flock to the 

 meadows and cotton fields. They are delicate eating, 

 and more tender than the European variety. As the 

 weather gets hotter, they fly off to the north. 



The spring in Louisiana is enchantingly beautiful. 

 All the grasses and flowers springing out of the ground, 

 all the buds and blossoms on the trees, fill the beholder 

 with rapture: the gray silvery-haired moss dangling 

 from the trees, giving them such a mournful appear- 

 ance in winter, now added to the beauty of the scene ; 

 assuming a more lively color itself, it looked a trans- 

 parent silvery veil thrown over the blossoms and fresh 

 green of the leaves. The long slender cypresses shone 

 to the greatest advantage under such a veil. All sorts 



