THE BAMBOO. 
199 
rugged sides and fill their gourds and calabashes ; 
and birds of many kinds resort hither, particularly in 
the droughts, to quench their thirst. For a long 
time a frog of large size had made his dwelling in 
some hole in the rocky side of the Hallow-well, as it 
is named, and used often to appear, to the no small 
terror of the water-children, who would scamper 
back with precipitancy. In these cool glades many 
birds build their nests ; the neat little cotton cup of 
the Humming-bird, and the purse of the John-to- 
whip, and the hollow globe of the Banana Quit may 
be found around the spring : and the air resounds 
with song ; multitudes of voices, some, it is true, in- 
harmonious in themselves, combine to cheer the 
traveller as he threads the rocky, winding path. 
Among them the cooing of various Doves is promi- 
nent; and ever and anon, he perceives the gentle 
White-belly walking on the road before him, or 
detects the wary Bald-pate watching his motions 
from the summit of a tree, or is startled by the ruddy 
Partridge whirring across, just before his horse’s face. 
At length the woods cease, and we suddenly emerge 
into the sunny canefields of Grand Yale estate. 
THE BAMBOO. 
Humboldt, if I mistake not, has mentioned the 
Bamboo as standing pre-eminent among the features 
which distinguish tropical from European scenery. 
It is an object which once seen can never be for- 
gotten, especially when growing in those isolated 
clumps that look like tufts of ostrich plumes magni- 
fied to colossal dimensions. A thousand of these 
