Ixxxvi LIFE OF WILSON. 



lar appearance of this moving group, the mingled music of the bells, and the 

 shoutings of the drivers, mixed with the echoes of the mountains, joined to 

 the picturesque solitude of the place, and various reflections that hurried 

 through my mind, interested me greatly ; and I kept company with them for 

 some time, to lend my assistance if necessary. 



" The country now became mountainous, perpetually ascending and descend- 

 ing; and about forty-nine miles from Danville, I passed through a pigeon 

 Toost, or rather breeding-place, which continued for three miles, and, from 

 information, extended in length for more thau forty miles. The timber was 

 chiefly beech ; every tree was loaded with nests, and I counted, in difierent 

 places, more than ninety nests on a single tree. Beyond this I passed a large 

 company of people engaged in erecting a horse-mill for grinding grain. The 

 few cabins I passed were generally poor ; but much superior in appearance to 

 those I met with on the shores of the Ohio. In the evening I lodged near 

 the banks of Green river. This" stream, like all the re.st, is sunk in a deep 

 gulf, between high, perpendicular walls of limestone; is about thirty yards 

 wide at this place, and runs with great rapidity ; but, as it had fallen consider- 

 ably, I was just able to ford it without swimming. The water was of a pale 

 greenish color, like that of the Licking, and some other streams, from whicb 

 circumstance I suppose it has its name. The rocky banks of this river are 

 hollowed out in many places into caves of enormous size, and of great extent. 

 These rocks abound with the same masses of petrified shells so universal in 

 Kentucky. In the woods, a little beyond this, I met a soldier, on foot, from 

 New Orleans, who had been robbed and plundered by the Choctaws as he 

 passed through their nation. ' Thirteen or fourteen Indians,' said he, 'sur- 

 rounded me before I was aware, cut away my canteen, tore off' my hat, took 

 the handkerchief from my neck, and the shoes from my feet, and all the money 

 I had from me, which was about forty-five dollars.' Such was his story. He 

 was going to Chilicothe, and seemed pretty nearly done up. 



" In the afternoon I crossed another stream of about twenty-five yards in 

 width, called Little Barren ; after which the country began to assume a new 

 and very singular appearance. The woods, which had hitherto been stately; 

 now degenerated into mere scrubby saplings, on which not a bud was beginning 

 to unfold, and grew so open that I could see for a mile through them. No 

 dead timber or rotting leaves were to be seen, but the whole face of the ground 

 was covered with rich verdure, interspersed with a variety of very beautiful 

 flowers, altogether new to me. It seemed as if the whole country had once 

 been one general level ; but that from some unknown cause, the ground had 

 been undermined^ and had fallen in, in innumerable places, forming regular, 

 funnel-shaped, concavities of all dimensions, from twenty feet in diameter, and 

 six feet in depth, to five hundred by fifty, the surface or verdure generally 

 unbroken. In some tracts the surface was entirely destitute of trees, and the 

 eye was presented with nothing but one general neighborhood of these conca- 

 vities, or, as they are usually called, sink-holes. At the centre, or bottom of 

 some of these, openings had been made for water. In several places these 

 holes had broken in, on the sides, and even middle of the road, to an 

 unknown depth ; presenting their grim mouths as if to swallow up the unwaVy 



