COLUMBIA. 
197 
make tikis noise, which is heard a great way 
©ff, about dusk, and continues it through the 
greater part of the night. This bird is so very 
wary, and so few instances have occurred of 
its being seen, much less taken, that many 
have imagined the noise does not proceed from 
a bird, but from a frog, especially as it is heard 
most frequently in the neighbourhood of low 
grounds. 
The frogs in America, it must here be ob¬ 
served, make a most singular noise, some of 
them absolutely whistling, whilst others croak 
so loudlv, that it is difficult at times to tell 
whether the sound proceeds from a calf or a 
frog: I have more than once been deceived 
by the noise when walking in a meadow. 
These last frogs are called bull frogs; they 
mostly keep in pairs, and are never found but 
where there is good water; their bodies are 
from four to seven inches long, and their legs 
are in proportion; they are extremely active, 
and take prodigious leaps. 
The first town I reached on going towards 
the mountains was Columbia, or Point of Fork, 
as it is called in the neighbourhood. It is 
situated about sixty miles above Richmond, at 
the confluence of Rivanna and Fluvanna rivers, 
which united form James River. This is a 
flourishing little place, containing about forty 
houses, and a warehouse for the inspection of 
I 
