Insects fyc. 705 



odd situation in which I saw it. In general the banks are clothed 

 with tall forests to the water's edge, trees clothed in all shades of 

 green, of various height and form, some covered with glorious flowers, 

 suddenly appeared and as swiftly vanished, a constantly shifting pa- 

 norama. Many trees had their tangled roots all exposed by the wash- 

 ing away of the soil from beneath them, others were prostrate in the 

 stream from the operation of the same cause. Sometimes a pretty 

 wooded island appeared, cleaving the stream with its shore of bright 

 yellow sand : now the river expanded into a silvery lake, then nar- 

 rowed to a gorge, between beetling precipices of limestone, rising per- 

 pendicularly to the height of several hundred feet. 



I was surprised to observe so exceedingly little of animal life: 

 scarcely a single insect was to be seen during the whole voyage up, 

 and very few birds. The depth of the forest is not favourable to the 

 development of animal existence ; the edges of the woods, or open 

 plains, where light is abundant, where flowers bloom, and herbs seed, 

 are the resorts of birds and insects, and on this account, these charm- 

 ing visitants are found to swarm when man has made a clearing, even 

 in the spot w T here before scarcely an individual could have been found. 

 A few I saw : the blue heron (Ardea carulea), with doubled neck, 

 and stretched-out legs, slowly flapped his great wings, in his heavy 

 flagging flight from shore to shore : the belted kingfisher (Alcedo Al- 

 cyon) shot along, with a harsh rattling laugh ; or, sitting on some low 

 projecting branch, suddenly plunged headlong into the water beneath, 

 and instantly emerged w r ith his prey : the wood-duck [Anas Sponsa) 

 flew shyly along the margin, close to the water, beneath the over- 

 hanging bushes : now and then we overtook a tortoise, swimming at 

 the surface, his body submerged, poking up his head at intervals, with 

 a timid curiosity, to see what all the noise was about. 



There is perhaps no river so winding as the Alabama : the boat's 

 head is turned towards every point of the compass, and that often 

 within the space of a few minutes : sometimes we may make a run of 

 fifty miles, and be then within three miles of where we were at first. 

 Indeed at the place where I afterwards resided, which is about six 

 miles in a direct line from the river, I have been assured that the 

 booming of a steamer's engine will sometimes be heard in the morn- 

 ing, and continue to be audible at intervals for a great part of the day; 

 having been perhaps at no time more than twenty miles distant, in a 

 course of many hours. It is pleasant to meet another boat in the 

 river, especially in a part of the low country, where the course is very 

 tortuous : to catch the faint black line of smoke upon the sky, across 

 ii 2d 



