LETTERS FROM ALABAMA. 
51 
tree. As the hole was too small to admit the 
hand with convenience, the negroes were set to cut 
down the tree, which was soon effected. When it 
fell they watched the butt to see that the rabbit did 
not run out ; but it did not make its appearance. 
The hunter then got some long slender switches, 
and, probing the hollow, found that the rabbit was 
at the further end, several feet up the trunk. He 
now commenced turning the switch round in one 
direction a great many times, until the tip of it had 
become so entangled in the animal’s fur as to bear 
a strong pull. He then began to pull steadily out, 
but the rabbit held on as well as it could, crying 
piteously, like a child. At length, however, it was 
pulled down ; but the skin, which in these animals 
is very tender, was so much torn that it was quite 
painful to behold it. Almost all kinds of hunting, 
being accompanied with torture to the poor animals 
pursued, must be considered cruel ; but this mode 
struck me as more than ordinarily barbarous and 
shocking. 
Let us stop here awhile. Here are several species 
of butterflies, revelling, with multitudes of bees, 
wasps, and other insects, on the thick beds of Hore- 
hound [Marruhium vulgare)^ which abounds on 
each side of the road, and which is now in full 
blossom, and on the singular, but beautiful disks of 
the Passion-flower (Fassiflora ccerulea)^ which trails 
its long stems, and entwines its tendrils over the 
ground. Here is a very handsome kind, the 
Zebra Swallow-tail (Papilio Ajax). This beauti- 
ful butterfly is remarkable for the elegance of 
its shape, and the unusual length of the tails of 
the hinder wings, which sometimes project an 
inch and a quarter beyond the wing, although 
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