138 
THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY, 
tened home, and gave the alarm; the nearest neighbours 
were immediately convened, and proceeded in search of the 
child. Wm. Loudon, David Allure, and Joseph Bennett, 
(all good woodsmen,) ascertained which way she had 
started, pursued the trail through laurel thickets, over 
mountains that were almost impassable. She had pursued 
a pretty straight course until she got within a short dis- 
tance of the settlement on Holly, a branch of Big Elk 
river; from thence she fell hack on a branch of the Little 
Kanawha, descended to its mouth, continued down the 
Kanawha river eight or ten miles, through thickets that 
bears can scarcely penetrate, crossed the river upwards of 
sixty times, got within a very short distance of Thomas 
M. Haymond’s, when night overtook her. With a toma- 
hawk, which she carried with her, she peeled the bark 
from a birch tree, scraped off the inside of the bark, and 
ate it. She then broke off the branches from some bushes, 
laid them in the bark for a bed; collected some more, of 
which she made a covering; peeled the bark off a hickory 
withe, tied one end round the neck of a dog which ac- 
companied her, and the other end round her wrist, and in 
this manner laid down in her couch of bark, and slept all 
night. Those in pursuit followed her trail all day (Friday) 
until dark, then lighted pine torches, and continued in 
pursuit until daylight ^Saturday morning, at which time 
they first disturbed the slumbers of the lost child. When 
they found her, she seemed to be perfectly composed, and 
showed no signs of alarm. 
The girl is eight or nine years old, and must have tra- 
velled twenty miles through a wilderness, rough and 
dreary enough to dishearten and alarm the most robust 
and resolute. 
She satisfactorily explained the cause of having left the 
deer, by stating, that while Jenison was absent, a panther 
came and laid hold of it. Notwithstanding the hideous 
appearance of this unexpected visitant, she had the cou- 
rage and presence of mind to advance and untie the dog- 
before she took to flight. — Western Enquirer. 
NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BASSE. 
The Basse belongs to the third order of fishes, Thorci- 
cici ; genus, Perea. The generic character is, teeth 
sharp, incurvate, numerous; gill covers, tryphyllous, 
scaly, serrated; first dorsal fin, spiny; scales hard and 
rough. 
Perea Fluviabilis Flavus, the “ Yellow River Basse,” 
or, the Yellow Basse of the River, is distinguished by 
having about nine spiny rays to the first dorsal fin, and 
fifteen soft ones to the second; these fins joined so closely 
as to appear like one: colour of the dorsal and pectoral 
fins, bright olive, with a blueish cast; ventral, a dirty 
white; anal and candal, light olive, tipt with red; tail, 
forked; body broad and tapering, rather thick, but of fail- 
proportions, the large fish become thick and “ hog-backed.” 
Head, tolerably large, flattened towards the nose — the un- 
der lip longest, and protruded; mouth large; teeth small, 
sharp, and numerous; eye large, iris of a greenish yellow; 
gill, membranous, three rayed, and spiny. Colour, dark 
olive on the back; sides, a greenish yellow; at some sea- 
sons of a bright yelloiv; belly, white, shaded with black 
towards the ventral fin. The body is marked by broad, 
dark, transverse shades, or bars, which are very apparent 
shortly after being taken from the water. Scales, rather 
small, of an oval shape towards the outward part. Weight, 
generally, from twelve ounces to six pounds; some have 
been reported to weigh sixteen pounds; but this is consi- 
dered fabulous. 
The shape of the common sized Basse, is of the most 
beautiful proportions; of a fine oblong form, neither too 
thick nor too flat, which gives to it the appearance of 
great strength and activity. Their astonishing bounds from 
the water when hooked, is well known to all anglers; and 
their desperate struggles to escape, requires the utmost 
skill of the disciple of “ honest Isaac” to secure his finny 
prey. It cannot be said of the Basse, however, that it is 
as active as some of its genus in Asia, where a species of 
perch are said to climb trees, and repose in the water col- 
lected in the hollow of the palm leaf, where it joins the 
trunk of the tree; but it is a fact to be attested by many 
an “ honest angler,” that Basse will spring four or five 
feet out of water when hooked — and jump over seines 
like a flock of sheep over a fence, to the mortification of 
the disappointed fisherman. 
This fine fish is found in abundance in all the rivers and 
lakes west of the Allegheny mountains, and in some of the 
eastern waters, though there not so abundant. It is es- 
teemed a delicious fish for the table — by some even pre- 
ferred to the River Salmon and Pike. As a pan fish, it 
is superior to either. In the clear waters that run into the 
northern lakes, the Basse is found in immense numbers. 
In the Sciota, the Miamies, and the tributaries of the Ohio, 
it also abounds, but not so plentiful. The shape and colour 
of the Basse varies somewhat with its location. In the 
northern streams, where they are generally called the 
“ Black Basse,” the body is rounder, and the colour 
darker than in the Ohio. The colour also varies with 
the season, being brighter in autumn than in the spring. 
The shape of the smaller sized fish is also of a more oblong 
