LETTERS FROM ALABAMA. 
29 
grows in large impeiietraTble thickets. Every one 
knows the flat, oval, fleshy joints of which this 
plant is composed, each growing out of the edge of 
another, and each studded with tufts of bristling 
spines. Flowers and fruits were both numerous ; 
the latter unripe, indeed, yet sufficiently attractive, 
from their plump contour and purple hue, to tempt 
me to essay the taste of one. In a moment I 
regretted my rashness, for my tongue and lips 
were filled with fine barbed spines, which con« 
tinually worked farther in, and gave great pain. 
One by one, however, I contrived to tear them out, 
or break them off, but not till I had thoroughly 
learned the need of caution in eating prickly pears. 
As I had no acquaintance in Mobile, I took the 
first opportunity of proceeding to the mountainous 
part of the State, to which I had introductions. 
The same day, therefore, I took passage on board 
one of the fine high-pressure steamers that throng 
the Mobile wharves, to go up the Alabama river. 
It was evening when we left the city ; from 
which the course of the river winds for many 
miles through a flat marshy country, and is bor- 
dered on each side by a broad belt of reeds, which 
grow thick and strong out of the very water. By 
day I suppose this appearance would be unpleasing; 
but the gloom of night, limiting the view to a few 
yards around us, and making visible the beautiful 
fireflies which danced and crawled about the reeds 
in myriads, or made interrupted lines of radiance 
as they flew like shooting stars through the air, 
made the scene one of romantic and high gratifica- 
tion. By and by, we come into more uneven 
ground, where the high banks reflect a black 
shadow on the smooth water, seeming to contract 
