CHAPTER I 



THE ELEMENTS OF BARTRAM'S LANDSCAPE 



The landscape of Bartram is the luxuriant, indolent land- 

 scape of the South. Had he described New England or Canada, 

 it is doubtful whether his style would be so luscious and his 

 book so fascinating. Bartram himself was fascinated by the 

 semi-tropical scenery of the region he explored, and he 

 endeavored to transmit to others the fascination he felt. His 

 Travels is an account of his experiences and observations in 

 North and South Carolina, Georgia, and East and West Florida. 

 The Southland appealed to him. " Nothing will do for him 

 now," complained his father to Peter Collinson, " but he will 

 be a planter upon St. Johns river about 24 miles from Augustine 

 & 6 from the fort of Picolata." ^ Dr. Fothergill could not 

 prevail upon him to explore Canada for botanical specimens; 

 Bartram insisted upon going South. His intense curiosity urged 

 him on toward the strange and the unknown, and his aesthetic 

 sensibility drew him towards the picturesque. Canada offered 

 him more of the commonplace; there nature is not so rich, 

 colorful, and varied in her productions as in a semi-tropical 

 country. Many years after his return from his journey he wrote 

 to a " Dear Couzn " that decrepitude of old age had not erased 

 the impressions he had received during his residence in the 

 Carolinas.^ 



Whether Bartram be considered one of the romantic ideal- 

 izers of nature or a scientific observer with an imaginative pen, 

 in either case the latitude of his landscape must be taken into 

 account. " A tropical element," maintains Bissell, " is essential 

 to the full realization of the Arcadian dream." ' What Bissell 

 really means, is a " semi-tropical " element, since life in lati- 

 tudes close to the Equator is hardly comfortable enough to con- 



^ Letter dated June the (date illegible), 1766, in the Bartram Papers, I. 

 ' Letter, dated 1788, in the Simon Gratz Collection, Penn. Hist. Society, 

 Philadelphia. ' Op. cJt., p. 4. 



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