THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
Ill 
distances, about two feet apart. The stones were evidently 
carried here a distance of a mile or more, as it is this far to a 
limestone ledge. They were half covered by the roots of a 
large mulberry tree that had grown between them. These 
slabs, with the heaps of shells and the mounds not far away, 
show, no doubt, that this was once a camping ground. The 
owner of the land reluctantly consented to let us dig under 
the roots between the stones. We unearthed a few bones, but 
as these people are all so superstitious in regard to disturbing 
these places, we desisted from further search. 
We made frequent rests in our excursions. These stops 
too were half the pleasure of the tour. W e climbed or walked 
till some feature of the scenery was especially pleasing, a deep 
ravine, a tiny water-fall, or immense fallen rocks, — fern-cov- 
ered, if of sandstone; bare and massive, as though Titans had 
been at work, if of limestone ; or till we reached some cool and 
enticing spring, that suggested that this would be a good place 
to dine or rest. 
Turning at last homeward we stopped a day or two at a 
more commodious house than any we had visited. The 
owner, a Baptist preacher, could neither read nor write. After 
dinner, though we were anxious to be off to the woods, the 
old man insisted we should stop to hear him play a tune or 
two. He opened, what I, with only a casual glance when I 
entered, supposed to be a small cabinet organ, and began to 
play. It was, however, one of the music-box kind', worked 
with treadles. Never shall I forget the extreme torture of that 
half hour of the warmest afternoon of last July when, with 
the cool cliffs and caves of the hills in full view, I was com- 
pelled to listen to the loud strains of an ''organette," or what- 
ever this particular machine of torture was called. The pic- 
ture was ludicrous in the extreme, the aldermanic-looking old 
man, whose avoirdupois was probably three hundred 
and fifty, dressed in blue and white cottonade, coatless, with 
