486 AUDUBON 



tree assumed the appearance of a pillar of flame. The 

 Bears mounted to the top branches. When they had 

 reached the uppermost, they were seen to totter, and soon 

 after, the branch cracking and snapping across, they came 

 to the ground, bringing with them a mass of broken 

 twigs. They were cubs, and the dogs soon worried them 

 to death. 



The party returned to the house in triumph. Scipio's 

 horse, being severely wounded, was let loose in the field, 

 to repair his strength by eating the corn. A cart was 

 afterwards sent for the game. But before we had left the 

 field, the horses, dogs, and Bears, together with the fires, 

 had destroyed more com within a few hours than the poor 

 Bear and her cubs had during the whole of their visits. 



A KENTUCKY BARBECUE 



Beargrass Creek, which is one of the many beautiful 

 streams of the highly cultivated and happy State of Ken- 

 tucky, meanders ^through a deeply shaded growth of 

 majestic beechwoods, in which are interspersed various 

 species of walnut, oak, elm, ash, and other trees, extend- 

 ing on either side of its course. The spot on which I wit- 

 nessed the celebration of an anniversary of the glorious 

 proclamation of our independence is situated on its banks 

 near the city of Louisville. The woods spread their dense 

 tufts towards the shores of the fair Ohio on the west, and 

 over the gently rising grounds to the south and east. 

 Every open spot forming a plantation was smiling in the 

 luxuriance of a summer harvest. The farmer seemed to 

 stand in admiration of the spectacle; the trees of his 

 orchards bowed their branches, as if anxious to restore to 

 their mother earth the fruit with which they were laden ; 

 the flocks leisurely ruminated as they lay on their grassy 



