NATURE FOR ITS OWN SAKE 
** bottom- 
lands.” 
Swamp- 
lands. 
called the ‘bottom-lands,” are taken up by 
marshes, timber-growth, and lakes. Some- 
times the lakes with flags surrounding them 
look like the shore regions near Chesapeake 
Bay; but more often the bottom is a vast 
jungle of trees, vines, and dense undergrowth, 
not unlike the Dismal Swamp of Virginia. Its 
impressive feature is its luxuriance of vege- 
tation. Its trees are often enormous in size, 
the grass stands higher than one’s head, and the 
ground is black with the mould of centuries. 
The sloughs, or little water-ways connecting 
the lakes or marshes, run sluggishly in blue- 
brown streams, and the density of the shade 
searcely allows of much sky reflection in their 
coloring. Sometimes an open spot in the tim- 
ber, where wild rice surrounds a small, shal- 
low lake, gives a bright dash of sunshine and 
color; but asa general thing the bottoms are 
not brilliant in hue or attractive in light. 
