8 RAVEN. 



which I extract an account from Drayton's Views of South Carolina. 

 " The Table Mountain is the most distinguished of all the eminences of 

 the State. Its height exceeds 3000 feet, and thirty farms may be dis- 

 cerned at any one view from its top by the unaided eye. Its side is an 

 abrupt precipice of solid rock, 300 feet deep, and nearly perpendicular. 

 The valley underneath appears to be as much below the level as the top 

 of the mountain towers above it. This precipice is called the Lover's 

 Leap. To those who are in the vaUey, it looks like an immense wall 

 stretching up to heaven, and the awe which it inspires is considerably in- 

 creased by the quantities of bones which lie whitening at its base, — the 

 remains of various animals which had incautiously approached too near 

 its edge. Its summit is often enveloped in clouds. The gradual ascent 

 of the country from the sea-coast to this western extremity of the State, 

 added to the height of this mountain, must place its top more than 4000 

 feet above the level of the Atlantic Ocean ; an eminence from which vessels 

 crossing the bar of Charleston might be seen with the aid of such improved 

 glasses as are now in use. Large masses of snow tumble from the side of 

 this mountain in the winter season, the fall of which has been heard seven 

 miles. Its summit is the resort of deer and bears. The woods produce 

 mast in abundance ; wild pigeons resort to it in such numbers as some- 

 times to break the limbs of trees on which they alight." 



A friend of mine, who is an excellent observer of the habits of birds, 

 has told me that he saw a Raven's nest in the high lands of New York 

 placed in a deep fissure of a rock, in the immediate vicinity of that of a 

 Golden Eagle. I chanced one day, while in the Great Pine Forest of 

 Pennsylvania, to stop, for the purpose of resting and refreshing myself, 

 at a camp of the good Jediah Irish, with whom I have already made 

 you acquainted during my former rambles in that remarkable district. 

 We had seen some Ravens that day, and our conversation returning to 

 them, the person employed in preparing the food of the woodcutters told 

 us, that whenever she chanced to place a salt mackerel or other fish in 

 the brook running from the spring near the camp, " the Raven was sure 

 to carry it away in less than an hour." She firmly believed that it had 

 the power of smelHng the fish as she carried it from the hut to the water. 

 We went to the spot with her, and, leaving a fish there, returned to our 

 homely meal, but on visiting the place several hours after, we found it 

 untouched. " The Raven perhaps smelt the powder in our gims !" At 

 all events, it did not choose to come that day. 



