88 
TRAVELS IN 
There feems, in fhort, nothing wanted but the ap- 
pearance of a wigwam and a canoe to complete the 
fcene. 
Keeping along the Weft or Indian ftiore, I faw 
balking, on the fedgy banks, numbers of alligators *, 
fome of them of an enormous fize. 
The high forefts on this coaft now wore a grand 
and fublime appearance the earth rifing gradually 
from the river weftward, by eafy fwelling ridges, 
behind one another, lifting the diftant groves up in- 
to the fkies. The trees are of the lofty kind, as the 
grand laurel magnolia, palma elata, liquidambar 
ftyracifiua, fagus fylvatica, querci, juglans hiccory, 
fraxinus, and others. 
On my doubling a long point of land, the river 
appeared furprifingly widened, forming a large bay, 
of an oval form, and feveral miles in extent. On the 
W eft fide it was bordered round with low marihes, 
and invefted with a fwamp of Cyprefs, the trees 
fo lofty, as to preclude the fight of the high-land 
forefts beyond them; and thefe trees, having fiat 
tops, and all of equal height, feemed to be a green 
plain, lifted up and fupported upon columns in the 
air, round the Weft fide of the bay. 
The cupreflus difticha frauds in the firft order of 
North American trees. Its majeftic ftature is fur- 
prifing; and on approaching it, we are ftruck 
with a kind of awe, at beholding the ftatelinefs of 
the trunk, lifting its cumbrous top towards the Ikies, 
and calling a wide lhade upon the ground, as a 
dark intervening cloud, which, for a time, excludes 
I have made ufe of the 'terms alligator and crocodile indifcriminately for this 
animal, alligator being the country name, 
the 
V 
