no 



NORTH AMER :A. 



east to North Carolina, and as far west as I have penetrated. On the Red River, before it was 

 navigated by steam vessels, they were so extremely abundant, that, to see hundreds at a sight along 

 the shores, or on the immense rafts of floating or stranded timber, was quite a common occurrence; 

 the smaller on the backs of the larger, groaning and uttering their bellowing noise, like thousands of 

 irritated bulls about to meet in fight, but all so careless of man, that, unless shot at, or positively dis- 

 turbed, they remained motionless, suffering boats or canoes to pass within a few yards of them, with- 

 out noticing them in the least. The shores are yet trampled by them in such a m.Tnner, that their 

 large tracks are seen as plentiful as those of sheep in a fold. 



" When alligators are fishing, the flapping of their tails about the water may be heard at half a 



mile ; but, to describe this 

 in a more graphic way, suf- 

 fer me to take you along 

 with me in one of my hunt- 

 ing excursions, accompanied 

 by friends and Negroes. ]n 

 the immediate neighborhcod 

 of Bayou-Sarah, on the Mis- 

 sissippi, are extensive shal- 

 low lakes and morasses ; 

 they are yearly overflowed 

 by the dreadful floods of that 

 river, and supplied with myri- 

 ads of fishes of many kinds, 

 amongst which trouts are 

 most abundant, white perch, 

 cat-fish, and alligator gars, 

 or devil-fish. Thither, in the 

 early part of autumn, when 

 ,the heat of a southern sun 

 has exhaled much of the wa- 

 ter, the squatter, the planter, 

 the hunter, all go in search 

 of sport. The lakes are then 



AlLiiratur. 



about two feet deep, ha.ving a fine sandy bottom ; frequently much grass grows in them, bearing crops of 

 seed, for which multitudes of water-fowl resort to those places. The edges of these lakes are deep 

 swamps, muddy for some distance, overgrown with large heavy timber, principally cypress, hung by 

 Spanish beard, and ta:ig]ed with different vines, creeping plants, and cane, so as to render them almost 

 dark during the day, and very difhcult for the hunter's progress. Here and there in the lakes are small 

 islands, with clusters of the same trees, on which flocks of snake birds, wood ducks, and different 

 species of herons, buihl their nests. Fishing lines, guns, and rifles, some salt, and some water, are 

 all the hunters take. Two Negroes precede them, the woods are crossed, — the scampering deer is 

 seen, — the raccoon and the opossum cioss before you, — the black, the gray, and the fox squirrel, 

 are heard barking. As you proceed firther on, the hunh hunk of the lesser ibis is heard from dif- 

 ferent parts, as they rise from the puddles that supply them with crayfish. At last the opening of 

 the lake is seen ; it has now become necessary to drag one's self along through the deep mud, 

 making the best of the way, with *lie head bent, through the small brushy growth, caring about 

 nought but the lock of your gur The long narrow Indian canoe, kept to hunt those lakes, and 

 taken into them during the fresh, is soon launched, and the party seated in the bottom, is paddled or 

 poled in search of water-game. There, at a sight, hundreds of alligators are seen dispersed over all 

 the lake, their head, and all the upper part of the body, floating like a log, and, in many instances so 

 resembling one, that it requires to be accustomed to see them to know the distinction. Millions of 

 the large wood ibis are seen wading through the water, mudding it up, and striking deadly blows with 

 their bills on the fish within. Here are a herd of blue herons, the sand-hill crane rises with hoarse 

 note, tlie snake birds are perched here and there on the dead timber of the trees; the cormorants 

 are fishing; buzzards and carrion crows exhibit a mourning train, patiently waiting for the water to 

 dry and leave food for them, and far in the horizon the eagle overtakes a devoted wood-duck, singled 

 from the clouded flocks that have been bred there. It is then that you see and hear the alligator at 

 his work. Each lake has a spot deeper than the rest, rendered so by these animals who work at it ; 

 it is always situated at the lower end of the lake, near the connecting bayous. Thus, as drainers 

 pass through all those lakes, and discharge sometimes many miles below where the water had made 

 its entrance aliove, they insure to themselves water as long as any remains. This is called by the 

 hunters the Alligator's Hole. You see them there lying close together. 



" The drivers of cattle from the Opelousas, and those of mules from Mexico, on reachmg a lagoon 

 or creek, send several of their party into the water, armed merely each with a club, for the purpose 



