88 WILLIAM BARTRAM 



ance of the objects moving in the transparent floods, or reposing 

 on the silvery bed, with the finny inhabitants sporting in its 

 gently flowing stream " (p. 224). 



Bartram's attention to lesser bodies of water is equally con- 

 centrated and often detailed. Lake George is " a large and 

 beautiful piece of water; it is a dilatation of the river St. Juan 

 . . ." (p. 102). Lake Wakamaw " is the source of a fine river 

 of that name . . . twenty six miles in circuit . . . bounded on the 

 North- West coast by vast rich swamps, fit for the production 

 of Rice . . ." (p. 473) . Battle Lagoon he remembers for the 

 multitude of crocodiles that infest it; Carver's Creek adds a 

 touch of intimacy to his description of the " ancient seat of 

 Colonel William Bartram," his uncle, in North Carolina; Fall- 

 ing Creek is memorable for its " unparalleled cascade . . . roll- 

 ing and leaping off the rocks" (p. 341). The cataracts at 

 Augusta are four or five feet in height, when the Savannah River 

 is low. Midway between Augusta and Savannah is a Great 

 Spring, an " amazing fountain of transparent cool water. . . . 

 There are multitudes of fish in the fountain . . . continually 

 ascending and descending through the rocky apertures " (p. 

 461). The Great Sink in the Indian country is a large basin 

 surrounded by a " group of rocky hills." The waters " descend 

 by slow degrees, through rocky caverns, into the bowels of the 

 earth, whence they are carried by secret subterraneous channels 

 into other receptacles and basons" (p. 203). ^"^ Other "sinks 

 and wells " are described; the surrounding strata of rock. Bar- 

 tram finds, " admit water to weep through, trickling down, 

 drop after drop, or chasing each other in winding little rills 

 down to the bottom " (pp. 246-247). Then there is " the vast 

 fountain of . . . hot mineral water " which " boils up with great 

 force, forming immediately a vast circular bason, capacious 

 enough for several shallops to ride in " (p. 145) . And, finally, 

 there is the " inchanting and amazing crystal fountain, which 

 incessantly threw up, from dark, rocky caverns below, tons of 

 water every minute " (p. 165).^^ 



To complete the summary of bodies of water as an element 



^^ In connection with this quotation see Part III on Coleridge's indebtedness 

 to Bartram. 



