Travels in a Tree- top 55 



Nothing was in sight but the scrubby pines, 

 and we had to be very careful that our fire 

 did not get among the " needles" and dash 

 through the woods. I found here absolutely 

 no birds. They seem all to prefer the trafts 

 covered by deciduous trees ; but inseft-feeders 

 could have flourished here. The steam of 

 our dinner-pot brought more substantial forms 

 than mosquitoes, one house-fly being deter- 

 mined to share my Frankfurter and success- 

 fully defying all attempts at capture. 



Again afloat, we soon came to the mouth 

 of an inflowing stream called Dead River, 

 said to be very deep. This point was per- 

 haps the wildest of all. The open water 

 here was very wide, and a forest of projecting 

 stumps of various heights showed plainly that 

 we were on the edge of an area of drowned 

 land. In the distance was an unbroken back- 

 ground of pines, which now looked black. At 

 wide intervals could be seen huge pines 

 that had escaped the charcoal-burner or lum- 

 berman. The stems and lower branches 

 were, of course, concealed, but in the hazy 

 atmosphere the tops were as floating islands 

 of darkest green, standing boldly out against 

 the pearly sky behind them. 



