130 
LETTERS FROM ALABAMA. 
gone — ^not waiting even for the applause^ which his 
ingenious plan so much merited. 
In the comparative solitude of these vast forests, 
the clearings are small compared with the immen- 
sity of the untouched wilds ; the dwellings few and 
remote from each other ; many of the occupations, 
and especially the amusements, which belong to 
the crowded inhabitants of Europe are here un- 
known. The wild animals are more familiar to 
man than his fellows ; the planter often passes days, 
or even weeks, without seeing a human face except 
those of his own family and his overseer; his 
negroes he scarcely considers as human ; they are 
but goods and chattels.’’ Self-defence, and the 
natural craving for excitement, compel him to be a 
hunter; it ’-is .the appropriate occupation of a new, 
grand, luxuriant, wild country like this, and one 
which seems natural to man, to judge from the 
eagerness and zest with which every one engages 
in it when he has the opportunity. The long rifle 
is familiar to every hand ; skilMn the use of it is 
the highest accomplishment wlpch a southern gen- 
tleman glories in; even the, Children acquire an 
astonishing expertnesB--iir"'"handling this deadly 
weapon at a very early age. 
But skill as a marksman is not estimated by 
quite the same standard as in the old country. 
Pre-eminence in any art must bear a certain rela- 
tion to the average attainment; and where, this is 
universally high, distinction can be won only by 
something very exalted. Hence, when the young 
men meet together to display their skill, curious 
tests are employed, which remind one of the days 
of old English archery, when splitting the peeled 
wand at a hundred paces, and such like, were the 
