LETTERS FROM ALABAMA, 
223 
sliaggy friendj however, has felt a similar approval, 
and indulged similar anticipations ; and some 
nioonshiny night has issued from his lonely den at 
the roots -of some ancient sycamore in the neigh- 
bouring swamp, and 'climbing the pig-fence, has 
taken the squealing pig in his arms, and borne 
him away in his paternal hug. 
It is very seldom that a bear is met with in the 
woods, for his ■ activity is chiefly nocturnal ; but a 
highly curious rencontre is said to have taken place 
one day in a part of the forest not very remote 
from this place, which I will give you, as ilius- 
trative of the manners, both human and ursine, of 
these parts. 
A planter had ridden out into the wood to 
look after some strayed cattle, carrying with him 
the redoubtable cow-whip, consisting of a handle 
three feet long, and of a lash of twisted raw hide 
thirty feet long, which was coiled on his right 
arm. Suddenly a huge bear starts up before him, 
from behind the gnarled roots of an old tree. The 
man could not resist the impulse to give the animal 
a lash with his whip, but, to his surprise, the bear 
showed a disposition to fight. It was rather an 
awkward predicament, but the horse was intel- 
ligent and agile, and as the rider made him face 
the bear, he was able, bj' leaping nimbly to and 
fro, to evade the ferocious brute, stung to madness 
by the repeated blows of the terrific cow-whip. 
At length the bear acknowledged his master, and 
turned tail for flight ; when a thought struck the 
planter that he might possibly drive him home, 
as he would a refractory bullock. He accordingly 
kept close behind the .animal, driving him along 
one of the numerous cattle-paths that thrid the 
