340 John Bachman. 



miles there may be no settlement, yet you cannot 

 divest your mind of the idea that you are in a finely 

 cultivated country. The prairies look like farms ; 

 the Live Oak and Orange groves, cause you in- 

 voluntarily to look for the farm-house. Moreover, 

 the whole country is full of cattle — not wild ; the 

 shepherds drive them up, and mark them, at least, 

 twice in the 3^ ear. This was the country for the 

 lazy Indian ; fish most abundant, game plentiful, 

 the Kunty-root for bread, plenty of light-wood, herds 

 •of cattle, Indian ponies, pumpkins, melons, ground- 

 nuts and sweet potatoes — the latter remaining in 

 the ground, and growing larger with age. Then 

 the rich hammocks — fifty bushels of corn can be 

 raised to the acre. 



I have been much gratified at finding many 

 specimens in Natural History that the world knows 

 of only by^iame, and several species of undescribed 

 plants. The Deer are not plentiful — they have 

 been killed by the disease called " black tongue." 



They are fast clearing out the Cougars in this part 

 of Florida — we staid with a gentleman who has 

 killed upwards of ninety. We saw their tracks and 

 those of the Bear at Withlacoochee. Here the Par- 

 roquets fly about like Wild Pigeons, and I found 

 the Florida Jay breeding here; I saw about fifty 

 Whooping-Cranes, examined their nests and hope to 

 bring home their eggs, of which Naturalists, as yet 

 know nothing. 



I have given the Colonel a lesson in Wild-cat 

 hunting, that I think will enable him to rid himself 

 of these pests. The boys go out at daylight with 

 the dogs, and the Cat is treed. They blow the horn ; 

 then we ride up, rattle the buck-shot around his 

 ears, sling him behind the saddle and go home to 

 breakfast. 



I wish that vou could have seen us bobbing for 



