114 



THE CAROLINA PARROT. 



some places bad beyond description. There are 

 dangerous creeks to swim, miles of morass to struggle 

 through, rendered almost as gloomy as night by a 

 prodigious growth of timber, and an underwood of 

 canes and other evergreens ; while the descent into 

 these sluggish streams is often ten or fifteen feet 

 perpendicular into a bed of deep clay. In some of 

 the worst of these places, where I had, as it were, 

 to fight my way through, the Parrakeet fi-equently 

 escaped fi-om my pocket, obliging me to dismount 

 and pursue it through the worst of the morass before 

 I could regain it. On these occasions I was several 

 times tempted to abandon it, but I persisted in 

 bringing it along. When at night I encamped in 

 the woods, I placed it on the baggage beside me, 

 where it usually sat, with great composure, dozing 

 and gazing at the fire till morning. In this manner 

 I caiTied it upwards of a thousand miles in my 

 pocket, where it was exposed all day to the jolting 

 of the horse, but regularly liberated at meal times, 

 and in the evening, at which it always expressed 

 great satisfaction. In passing through the Chicka- 

 saw and Chactaw nations, the Indians, wherever I 

 stopped to feed, collected around me, men, women, 

 and children, laughing and seeming wonderfully 

 amused with the novelty of my companion. The 

 Chickasaws called it in their language ' Kelinhj' 

 but when they heard me call it Poll, they soon 

 repeated the name ; and wherever I chanced to stop 

 among these people, we soon became familiar with 

 each other through the medium of Poll. On arriving 



