LETTERS FROM ALABAMA. 
95 
extent, perhaps covering three • or four acres. It 
seems to have been caused by the accidental chok- 
ing up of the course of a small creek, by the falling 
of a tree across it, the formation of the land on 
either side aiding the accumulation of the water. 
Evaporation is checked by the shadow of the dense 
and lofty trees around, the foliage of which spreads 
over the quiet water, and in a great measure shields 
it from the sun’s rays ; for the original course of the 
brook wound through the very heart of the tall forest. 
A desolate scene is presented here to the visitor. 
One consequence of the accumulation of the stand- 
ing water was the speedy death of the growing 
timber upon the whole area inundated; and ma- 
jestic sycamores, and oaks, and chestnuts were in 
a short time prostrated by the high winds, and 
lay about on one another in all directions in the 
wildest ruin. These, as they fell, helped still further 
to choke up the water, and to increase its depth ; 
while their broken, half-decayed trunks, covered 
with moss and parasitical plants, project from the 
sluggish surface, or form piers, which stretch away 
from the banks into the midst of the lake, and pre- 
carious bridges across different portions. 
At first sight you are ready to conclude that no 
living thing is near. All is still and silent ; the 
breeze that ruffles the leaves at the summits of the 
trees cannot reach here ; scarcely a bird or an 
insect appears in an hour ; the surface of the pond 
is unmoved and seemingly immoveable, for it is so 
covered with a dense coat of yellow-green vege- 
tation, that you can scarcely tell where the land 
ends and the water begins, till the plunge of your 
leg half knee-deep into black, fetid, slushy mud, 
informs you of your whereabouts. 
