96 



CAROLINA PARROT 



from which, and the constant practice of those I kept, it appears, 

 that like the human species in the use of their hands, they do not 

 prefer one or the other indiscriminately, but are either left or right- 

 footed. But to return to my prisoner. In recommitting it to " du- 

 rance vile'^ we generally had a quarrel; during which it frequently 

 paid me in kind for the wound I had inflicted, and for depriving it 

 of liberty, by cutting and almost disabling several of my fingers 

 with its sharp and powerful bill. The path through the wilderness 

 between Nashville and Natchez is in some places bad beyond de- 

 scription. There are dangerous creeks to swim, miles of morass 

 to struggle through, rendered almost as gloomy as night by a pro- 

 digious 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 Parakeet frequently escaped from my pocket, obliging 

 me to dismount and pursue it through the worst of the morass be- 

 fore 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 be- 

 side me, where it usually sat, with great composure, dozing and 

 gazing at the fire till morning. In this manner I carried it up- 

 wards 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 Chickasaw and Chactaw nations, the Indians, 

 wherever I stopped to feed, collected around me, men, women and 

 children, laughing and seeming wonderfully amused with the no- 

 velty of my companion. The Chickasaws called it in their lan- 

 guage " Kelinky ;^^ 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 me- 

 dium of Poll. On arriving at Mr. Dunbar^s, below Natchez, I pro- 



