144 



THE OOLOGJST. 



tacked with dysentery and fever, and 

 at times became so ill that it was 

 difficult for him to proceed. The rem- 

 edy he used was simple, being a close 

 diet for a week on raw eggs and straw- 

 berries which were then in perfection. 

 He also experienced the very uncom- 

 fortable sensation of being in a tornado 

 when the limbs of trees were whirling 

 past him in very volleys. He himself 

 adds that he would prefer to stand in 

 the hottest field of battle than encount- 

 er another such tornado. All these 

 dangerous experiences go to show how, 

 dearly the nine volumes of Wilson's 

 American Ornithology were pui chased. 



May 4th he set out on horseback from 

 Nashville with a pistol in each pocket 

 and a fowling piece belted across his 

 shoulder, and at once plunged into the 

 uncultivated wilds of Tennessee and 

 Mississippi. From his carefulry pre- 

 pared journal we learn that the first 

 night he slept in a Chicksaw Indian hut, 

 the Indians spread a deer skin on the 

 floor, for him, and with his portmanteau 

 as a pillow he declares that he slept tol- 

 lerably well. The following morning 

 he was early in the saddle and rode fif- 

 teen miles, stopping at an Indian hut to 

 feed his horse. Wilson carried with 

 him a paroquet, and this little feathered 

 being proved to be a continual fund of 

 amusement to all ages of these Indians. 

 While his horse was feeding he exhibit- 

 ed his feathered companion to the 

 whole family as they crowded around 

 him, and as they did so it gave him 

 an opportunity of "studying their 

 physiognomies without breach of good 

 manners." He describes the natives 

 as being scantily clothed, and with just 

 enough of civilization to make them 

 lazy and anxious for whisky. 



The country was covered in many 

 places with swamps, and through these 

 Wilson pursued his way with difficulty. 

 These swamps were covered with a 

 prodigous growth of canes and high 

 woods, which together shut out almost 



the whole light of day for miles at a 

 time. He finally reached the Tennes- 

 see river which was swollen by the 

 spring rains, thus making it about a 

 -mile across at that point. The low 

 bottoms bordering the banks were cov- 

 ered with huge canes, twenty or thirty 

 feet high, and he declares that these 

 cane swamps are the gloomiest and 

 most desolate looking places imagina- 

 ble. Not being able to cross the swol- 

 len river he encamped for the night, 

 "kindled a large fire, munched a bit of 

 supper, and laid down to sleep: listen- 

 ing to the owls and chuck-wills-widow, 

 a kind of whip-poor-will that is numer- 

 ous here. I got up several times during 

 the night to recruit my fire, and see 

 how my horse did; and but for the 

 gnats, would have slept tolerably well." 

 Arising early in the morning he shoul- 

 dered his fowling piece and scoured the 

 woods for game till six o'clock. At 

 eleven o'clock he was able to hail a boat 

 and cross the river, much vexed at the 

 long delay. 



The country now assumed a new ap- 

 pearance; the woods were entirely free- 

 from fallen timber and underbrush. 

 He says he could see a mile through the 

 woods, which were covered with high 

 grass fit for mowing. Every spring 

 fire ranges through these woods and 

 they are thus kept so l'emarkably clean 

 that they look most like elegant noble- 

 men's parks. Wilson was struck with 

 the number of strange and beautiful 

 flowers that presented themselves as he 

 rode along, and remarks that this must 

 be a heavenly place for the botanist. 



The Iudian boys with their blow-guns 

 intei-ested him greatly. These blow- 

 guns are made of cane tubes, seven or 

 eight feet long, and when well made 

 are perfectly straight. The arrows are 

 slender strips of the same material, cov- 

 ered for several inches at one end, with 

 the down of thistles, in a spiral form, so 

 as just to enter the tube. By a quick 

 puff they could shoot their arrows with 



