Ixxxvi 
LIFE OF WILSON. 
]ar appearance of this moving group, the mingled music of the bells, and the 
shoutings of the drivers, mixed with the echoes of the mountains, joined to 
the picturesque solitude of the place, and various reflections that hurried 
through my mind, interested me greatly ; and I kept company with them for 
some time, to lend my assistance if necessary. 
" The country now became mountainous, perpetually ascending and descend- 
ing ; and about forty-nine miles from Danville, I passed through a pigeon 
roost, or rather breeding-place, which continued for three miles, and, from 
information, extended in length for more than forty miles. The timber was 
chiefly beech ; every tree was loaded with nests, and I counted, in dift'erent 
places, more than ninety nests on a single tree. Beyond this I passed a large 
company of people engaged in erecting a horse-mill for grinding grain. The 
few cabins I passed were generally poor ; but much superior in appearance to 
those I met with on the shores of the Ohio. In the evening I lodged near 
the banks of Green river. This stream, like all the rest, is sunk in a deep 
gulf, between high, perpendicular walls of limestone; is about thirty yards 
wide at this place, and runs with great rapidity; but, as it had fallen consider- 
ably, I was just able to ford it without swimming. The water was of a pale 
greenish color, like that of the Licking, and some other streams, from which 
circumstance I suppose it has its name. The rocky banks of this river are 
hollowed out in many places into caves of enormous size, and of great extent. 
These rocks abound with the same masses of petrified shells so universal in 
Kentucky. In the woods, a little beyond this, I met a soldier, on foot, from 
New Orleans, who had been robbed and plundered by the Choctaws as he 
passed through their nation. ' Thirteen or fourteen Indians,' said he, ' sur- 
rounded me before I was aware, cut away my canteen, tore off my hat, took 
the handkerchief from my neck, and the shoes from my feet, and all the money 
I had from me, which was about forty-five dollars.' Such was his story. He 
was going to Chilicothe, and seemed pretty nearly done iq). 
" In the afternoon I crossed another stream of about twenty-five yards in 
width, called Little Barren; after which the country began to assume a new 
and very singular appearance. The woods, which had hitherto been stately, 
now degenerated into mere scrubby saplings, on which not a bud was beginning 
to unfold, and grew so open that I could see for a mile through them. No 
dead timber or rotting leaves were to be seen, but the whole face of the ground 
was covered with rich verdure, interspersed with a variety of very beautiful 
flowers, altogether new to me. It seemed as if the whole country had once 
been one general level ; but that from some unknown cause, the ground had 
been vnrlermined, and had fallen in, in innumerable places, forming regular, 
funnel-shaped, concavities of all dimensions, from twenty feet in diameter, and 
six feet in depth, to five hundred by fifty, the surface or verdure generally 
unbroken. In some tracts the surface was entirely destitute of trees, and the 
eye was presented with nothing but one general neighborhood of these conca- 
vities, or, as they*are usually called, sink-holes. At the centre, or bottom of 
some of these, openings had been made for water. In several places these 
holes had broken in, on the sides, and even middle of the road, to an 
unknown depth ; presenting their grim mouths as if to swallow up the unwary 
