29 
saw here again several trees* which first forming one trunk, four 
or five feet above the ground, divided themselves into two trunks, 
and then shot up into the air one hundred feet In the north¬ 
western part of the state of New York, I have seen trees which 
ran up in five, six, and even seven trunks. Over a stream 
with marshy banks, a bridge was thrown, three hundred and 
eleven paces long: the view which I took from this bridge of the 
luxuriant exotic vegetation which surrounded me, exhibited, as I 
thought, the original of the sketches of the Brazilian forests in 
the travels of the Prince Nieuwied. The beautiful day, the cloud¬ 
less dark-blue sky, also introduced by him, were recalled to me 
by this picture. But when I observed upon the trees the hateful 
Spanish moss, I was reminded that T was in the neighbourhood 
of Columbia and Charleston, and that it was a token of unwhole¬ 
some air. In the swamps I noticed several plants which were 
known to me from hot-house cultivation, but unfortunately I can¬ 
not recall their names. 
The country is comparatively populously inhabited by Indians. 
They live partly in wigwams, partly in bark cabins. Before one 
of these huts, or cabins, hung a skinned otter, upon which they 
seemed preparing to make a meal. The Indians roast their maize 
on the naked coals, then they throw it into a cavity made in a trunk 
of a tree, and pound it with a stick of wood into a sort of coarse 
meal. I bought a species of nuts, which were roasted, ground¬ 
nuts, and amused myself with the propensity to thievery a young 
Indian displayed. As I was putting the nuts in my pocket, one 
or more would drop, instantly the young fellow would step for¬ 
ward, as if by accident, set his foot on the nut, take it between 
his toes, and move off. We passed through a tolerably cleared, 
fenced, and built district, in which several negro quarters of a 
decent appearance were scattered about. This plantation belonged 
to a chief, one of the principal of the Creeks, called the Big War¬ 
rior, who owns above three hundred negroes, whose wooden 
dwelling-house stands in the centre of his property. He is now 
at Washington, as one of the deputies of his nation. We came 
over another cleared spot, where the Indians were routed in the 
last war by the Georgia militia under General Floyd. 
Not far from this place, we noticed a number of Indians col¬ 
lected in the neighbourhood of a plantation. We left our carriage 
to inquire into the cause of it. There had been a horse race of 
middling unsightly horses: the festival was, however, ended, 
and the meeting was on the point of breaking up. A white 
planter who was there, conducted us to the son of the Big War¬ 
rior. He was himself a chief, and possessed a high reputation, 
as was said amongst those of the nation. He sat upon a felled 
tree between two inferior chiefs. His dress was a tunic of flower- 
