424 Travels in 
from the muddy bottom to its furfaco Mmiii& air 
bladders or bubbles: in fhort, thefe : <me 
waters, from every appearance, feern to ! a lb'on|j 
extractor tincture of the leaves of ; r ■.. hsrbs 
and reeds* arirtng from the more: v u h ,;i*-.oft 
overfpread them, afid float or. the rfa :e* inibMj&ch 
that a great part of thefe fl tgi at* i vers, urii g f he 
fummer and autumnal feaforis afa etinftfeiiiei to 
pafs under a load of grafs and v eeds j which are 
continually vegetating ? a id . idi ig over the fur- 
face from the Banks, until i e riimg floods of win- 
ter and fpring, rumlijg down from the main, fweep 
them away, and purify the waters. Late in the 
evening we diFcovered a narrow ridge of land clofe 
to the river bank, high and dry enough to fuller us 
to kindle a fire, and fpace fufficient to fpread our 
bedding on. But here, fire and fmoke were infuf- 
ficientto expel the hofls of mufquitoes that inverted 
our camp, and kept us awake during the long and 
tedious night, fo that /the alligators had no chance 
of taking us- napping. We were glad to rife early 
In the morning, proceeding up the Amite. The 
land now gradually rifes, the banks become higher, 
the foil drier and firmer four or five feet above the 
furface of the river 5 the trees are of an incredible 
magnitude, particularly Platanus occidentalis, Frax- 
inus, ulmus, Quercus hemifpherica, &c. The 
Canna Indica grows here in furprifmg luxuriance, 
prefenting a glorious mow ; the ftem rifes fix, feven 
and 
of fcarlet flowers 
and nine feet high, terminating upwards with fpikes 
Now having advanced near thirty miles up the 
Amite, we arrived at a very large plantation, the 
property of a Scotch gentleman, who received me 
with 
