XCvi LIFE OF 



and some of them very elegant, presented themselves to my view as 

 I rode along. This must be a heavenly place for the botanist. 

 The most observable of these flowers was a kind of sweetwilliam of 

 all tints, from white to the deepest crimson ; a superb thistle, the 

 most beautiful I had ever seen ; a species of passion flower, very 

 beautiful ; a stately plant of the sun flower family, the button of 

 the deepest orange, and the radiating petals bright carmine, the 

 breadth of the flower is about four inches j a large white flower, 

 like a deer's tail ; great quantities of the sensitive plant, that 

 shrunk instantly on being touched, covered the ground in some 

 places. Almost every flower was new to me, except the Carolina 

 pink root and Columbo, which grew in abundance on every side. 

 At Bear Creek, which is a large and rapid stream, I first observed 

 the Indian boys with their blow-guns. These are tubes of cane, 

 seven feet long, and perfectly straight, when well made. The 

 arrows are made of slender slips of cane, twisted, and straightened 

 before the fire, and covered for several inches at one end with the 

 down of thistles, in a spiral form, so as just to enter the tube. By 

 a puff, they can send these with such violence, ^as to enter the 

 body of a partridge twenty yards off. I set several of them a-hunt- 

 ing birds, by promises of reward, but not one of them could succeed. 

 I also tried some of the blow-guns myself, but found them gener- 

 ally defective in straightness. I met six parties of boatmen to-day, 

 and many straggling Indians, and encamped about sunset near a 

 small brook, where I shot a turkey, and, on returning to my fire, 

 found four boatmen, who stayed with me all night, and helped to 

 pick the bones of the turkey. In the morning, I heard the turkeys 

 gobbling all round me, but not wishing to leave my horse, having 

 no great faith in my guest's honesty, I proceeded on my journey. 



" This day (Wednesday) I passed through the most horrid swamps 

 I had ever seen. These are covered with a prodigious growth of 

 canes and high woods, which, together, shut out almost the whole 

 light of day, for miles. The banks of the deep and sluggish creeks, 

 that occupy the centre, are precipitous ; where I had often to plunge 

 my horse seven feet down, into a bed of deep clay, up to his belly, 

 from which nothing but great strength and exertion could have 

 rescued him ; the opposite shore was equally bad, and beggars all 

 description. For an extent of several miles, on both sides of these 



