220 Life of Audubon. 



Our repast was an excellent one, and vied with a Ken 

 :ucky breakfast. Beef, fish, potatoes and other vege- 

 tables, were served up with coffee in tin cups, and plenty 

 of biscuit. Every man seemed hungry and happy, and 

 the conversation assumed the most humorous character. 

 The sun now rose above the trees^ and all excepting the 

 cook proceeded to the hummock, on which I had been 

 gazing with great delight, as it promised rare sport. My 

 host, I found, was the chief of the party ; and although 

 he had an axe, he made no other use of it than for strip- 

 ping here and there pieces of bark from certain trees, 

 which he considered of doubtful soundness. He was not 

 only well versed in his profession, but generally intelli- 

 gent, and from him I received the following account, 

 which I noted at the time. 



" The men employed in cutting the live oak, after 

 having discovered a good hummock, build shanties of 

 small logs, to retire to at night and feed in by day. Their 

 provisions consist of beef, pork, potatoes, biscuit, rice, 

 flour, and fish, together with excellent whiskey. They 

 are mostly hale, strong, and active men, from the eastern 

 parts of the Union, and receive excellent wages, accord- 

 ing to their different abilities. Their labors are only of a 

 few months' duration. Such hummocks as are found near 

 navigable streams are first chosen, and when it is abso- 

 lutely necessary, this timber is hauled five or six miles to 

 the nearest water-course, where, although it sinks, it can, 

 with comparative ease, be shipped to its destination. 

 The best time for cutting the. ' live oak' is considered to 

 be from the first of December to the first of March, or 

 while the sap is completely clown. When the sap is flow- 

 ing the tree is 'bloom,' and more apt to be 'shaken.' 

 The white rot, which occurs so frequently in the live oak, 

 and is perceptible only by the best judges, consists of 

 round spots, about an inch and a half in diameter, on the 



