LETTERS FROM ALABAMA. 261 
vested with a gloom far more savage and sombre 
than any through which we had passed. Nothing 
can be more dismal than the interior of one of these 
swamps, even by day, half-tepid stagnant water 
covering the ground, the density of the timber 
and the black opacity #f the foliage almost shutting 
out the light, while the gaunt horizontal branches 
are hung with far-pendent ragged masses of that 
Spanish moss that I have before alluded to, the 
very type of dreariness and desolation. Such 
trees always remind me of an army of skeletons, 
giants of some remote age, still standing where 
they had lived, and still wearing the decaying 
tatters of the robes which they had worn of old. 
We did not venture to explore the nocturnal 
horrors of these dreary glades ; but as we peered 
into their thick darkness, the melancholy Quah ! ” 
of the Night-heron [Nycticorax Americanus)^ a 
hoarse and hollow note, boomed out from the 
solitude ; presently followed by the sound of 
flapping wings, as the jealous fowl sought a retreat 
in the more remote recesses, still more secure from 
the prying intrusion of man. 
Individually the Cypress [Taxodium disticha) 
is no less remarkable than in its association. It is a 
tree of noble stature, being occasionally seen 120 feet 
in height, and very valuable for the durability of 
its timber ; hence it is much in request for building. 
The negroes collect from its bark a resin of a red 
hue and pleasant fragrance, which they apply to 
wounds with some success ; perhaps the smallness 
of the quantities which they are able to procure 
enhancing its reputation. But the most singular 
feature in the economy of this tree is that its root 
usually swells into a great cone, or bee-hive shaped 
