THE ART OF BARTRAM 117 



take us from Philadelphia to South Carolina, and the rest of his 

 account bristles with incidents, strange encounters, dramatic epi- 

 sodes, Indian legends, and complete short stories. His landscape 

 ceases to be merely a colorful canvas spread before the eyes of 

 a painter and becomes the background against which the heated 

 spectacle of life is enacted. In spite of the apparent discursive- 

 ness of his narrative, Bartram has a directness of communication 

 which springs from an instinctive perception of the dramatic ele- 

 ments of a situation. He selects his materials skilfully, knowing 

 what to exclude, when to linger and when to move on. 



In the course of his travels into the Indian territory he met 

 many planters and traders. Their life is depicted not by long 

 descriptions and speculations, but by sketching these men as he 

 came in contact with them. He does not give a complete list of 

 all his experiences and observations, but singles out a few of 

 the numerous white people he has met and recounts a few epi- 

 sodes of their lives. Thus he tells us of the hospitality of the 

 planters by recounting his reception at the plantation of Mr. 

 Mcintosh, who greeted him with the words: " Welcome, stran- 

 ger; come in, and rest; the air is now very sultry; it is a very 

 hot day," and of Mr. Bailey, who treated him " very civilly " 

 (pp. 13, 15) . Or he tells us of a friendly planter who housed 

 him for three days while a storm raged outside, working " al- 

 most irreparable damages " everywhere in the neighborhood 

 (p. 143). The life of the white traders among the Indians is 

 pictured in a number of short stories. One of these tells of an 

 unhappy trader " who had for a companion a very handsome 

 Siminole young woman " who " dishonestly distributes amongst 

 her savage relations ... all his possessions," so that " he now 

 endeavors to drown and forget his sorrows in deep draughts of 

 brandy" (pp. 111-2). There is the incident of Mr. M'Latche 

 who presumed to refuse credit to the proud Long Warrior, who 

 thereupon threatened to command " the terrible thunder now 

 rolling in the skies above, to descend upon your head, in rapid 

 fiery shafts, and lay you prostrate at my feet" (pp. 258-59). 

 And there is the story, already referred to, of the trader who 

 had had an affair with the wife of an Indian chief and was 

 threatened with having his ears cut off (pp. 447-8) . 



