ELEMENTS OF BARTRAM'S LANDSCAPE 77 



ever, finds it important enough to specify the kind of wood his 

 canoe was made of, the depth of a stream he had to wade or 

 swim across, and, above all, the layout of his camping place 

 and what food he was able to procure. 



To a practical explorer camping places are of great import- 

 ance. After a day's weary traveling a resting site is a grave 

 consideration. Upon it depend health and safety. Travelers 

 of the type represented by Carver tell us that they had camped 

 at a certain place only if some event of importance had occurred 

 at that place. It is the event that is worthy of mention, not the 

 camping place — unless it be a curious Indian town or an other- 

 wise interesting locality. Often they will not bother to describe 

 their camp even if something of importance did happen to them 

 at that place. To cite a capital illustration, Carver, telling of a 

 band of Indians who one night were about to plunder his canoe, 

 indicates the place where this happened by the mere statement: 

 "" About ten days after I had parted from the traders, I landed 

 as I usually did every evening, and having pitched my tent, I 

 ordered my men, ... to lay themselves down to sleep." ^ Such 

 a vague "" landing " never occurs in Bartram. With him a camp 

 site is first of all a matter for " reconnoitering," before he 

 spreads his " skins and blanket by [his] cheerful fire, under the 

 protecting shade of the hospitable Live-oak " (Travels, p. 50). 

 It is a matter of finding " a convenient and safe harbour," 

 preferably " in a little lagoon, under an elevated bank " (p. 81) , 

 but if that be impossible, a " little cape of flat rocks " will do, 

 especially if it afford " a comprehensive and varied scene ..." 

 (p. 175). 



Bartram's camping places are part of his landscape, but they 

 are also a practical necessity. A good site is one which feeds 

 his aesthetic sensibility and at the same time affords shelter 

 from the night and protection from attack. Sometimes he 

 rejoices at finding just such a spot: 



I fixed my camp in an open plain, near the utmost projection of the 

 promontory, under the shelter of a large Live Oak, which stood on the 

 hiehest part of the ground and but a few yards from my boat. From 

 this open, high situation, I had a free prospect of the river, which was 



'J. Carver, op. at., p. 51. 



