224 
LETTEES FEOM ALABAMA. 
forests^ admonishing him, by a severe cut with the 
whip, whenever he attempted to leave the track, 
until at length the poor creature patiently went as 
he was driven. A distance of six miles was thus 
traversed by pursuer and pursued, till the planter 
came within hail of his own house, when his son 
came out with a rifle and shot the poor persecuted 
bear. 
This story may seem apocryphal, but it is so 
entirely in consonance with the habits of the people, 
that I see no reason for disbelieving it, ' though I 
have only hearsay-evidence for its truth. Such an 
attempt, under the circumstances, is quite likely to 
have been made by a southern planter ; and when 
devised, the nature of the cow-whip, and the power 
and skill with which it is wielded in compelling 
semi- wild cattle to obedience, present ' means 
adequate to the emergencey. 
As I sit in the cool of the evening, at the back- 
door of the house where I am residing, I have an 
opportunity of witnessing those singular evolutions 
of the Chimney Swallows [Hirundo pelasgia)^ 
which are the prelude to their nightly repose. 
There is a tall chimney rising from the smithy 
a few rods distant, round the summit of which 
some hundreds of swallows assemble every even- 
ing, about sunset. They come one by one from 
all parts, trooping to the common lodging at the 
same hour ; and as soon as each arrives, he begins 
to wheel round and round in the air above the 
chimney-top. In a few minutes a large number 
are collected, which sweep round in a great circle, 
twittering and chirping ; others continuing to arrive 
every moment, which immediately take their part in 
the circumvolution. By and by, one and another, 
