Alabama, Georgia and Florida. 169 



"Behold, for instance, a vast circular expanse before you, the wa- 

 ters of which are so extremely clear as to be absolutely diaphanous 

 or transparent as the ether; the margin of the basin ornamented with 

 a great variety of fruitful and floriferoiis trees, shrubs and plants, the 

 pendant golden orange, dancing on the surface of the pellucid waters, 

 the balmy air, vibrating with the melody of the merry birds, tenants 

 of the encircling aromatic grove. 



"At the same instant innumerable bands offish are seen, some 

 clothed in the most brilliant colors ; the voracious crocodile stretched 

 along at full length, as the great trunk of a tree in size ; the devour- 

 ing garfish, inimical trout, and all the varieties of gilded painted 

 bream ; the barbed catfish, dreaded sting-ray, skate, and flounder, 

 spotted bass, sheeps head and ominous drum ; all in their separate 

 bands and communities, with free and unsuspicious intercouse per- 

 forming their evolutions ; there are no signs of enmity, no attempt to 

 devour each other; the different bands seem peaceably and complai- 

 santly to move a little aside, as it were to make room for others to 

 pass, by. 



"But behold yet something far more admirable, see whole armies 

 descending into an abyss, into the mouth of the bubbling fountain: 

 they disappear ! are they gone forever? is it real? I raise my eyes 

 with terror and astonishment; I look down again to the fountain with 

 anxiety, when behold them as it were emerging from the blue ether of 

 another world, apparently at a vast distance; at their first appearance, 

 no bigger than flies or minnows ; now gradually enlarging, their bril- 

 liant colors begin to paint the fluid. 



"Now they come forward rapidly, and instantly emerge, with the 

 elastic expanding column of crystalline waters, into the circular basin 

 or funnel : see now how gently they rise, some upright, others ob- 

 liquely, or seem to lie as it were on their sides, suffering themselves to 

 be gently lifted or borne up by the expanding fluid towards the sur- 

 face, sailing or floating like butterflies in the cerulean ether; then 

 again they as gently descend, diverge and move off"; when they rally, 

 form again, and rejoin their kindred tribes. 



"This amazing and delightful scene, though real, appears at first 

 but as a piece of excellent painting; there seems no medium; you 

 imagine the picture to be within a few inches of your eyes, and that 

 you may without the least difficulty touch any one of the fish, or put 

 your finger upon the crocodile's eye, when it really is twenty or thirty 

 feet under water. 



" And although this paradise of fish may seem to exhibit a just rep- 

 resentation of the peaceable and happy state of nature which existed 

 before the fall, yet in reality it is a mere representation ; for the na- 



VoL. XXy.—N.o. 1. 2% 



