is remark fully
confirmed. Whether it was the subdued half-light of the luxuriant
wilderness through which we were passing, the solemn stillness, only
broken by the rustling of the dead leaves under our feet, or the
colossal dimensions of the mighty trees, that rose like so many giants
around us, that wrought upon the imagination, I cannot say; but it is
certain that my companions, who were mostly on the northern states, and
had never before been beyond Albany or the Saratoga springs, became at
once silent, and almost sad. The leaves of the cotton-tree, that giant
of the south-western forests, had already assumed the tawny hues of
latter autumn; only here and there a streak of sunbeam, breaking through
the canopy of branches that spread over our heads, brought out the last
tints of green now fast fading away, and threw a strange sparkling ray,
a bar of light, across our path. Here was a magnolia with its snow-white
blossoms, or a catalpa with its long cucumber-shaped fruit, amongst
which the bright-hued red birds and paroquets glanced and fluttered.

We walked for some time through the forest, amused more than once by the
proceedings of two young clerks from Boston, who saw a wild animal in
every thicket, and repeatedly leveled their guns at some bear or
panther, which turned out to be neither more nor less than a bush or
tree-stump. They pestered our guide with all sorts of simple questions,
which he, with a true backwoodsman's indifference, left for the most
part unanswered. After about an hour, we found ourselves on the borders
of a long and tolerably wide swamp, formed by the overflowings of the
river, and which stretched for some five miles from north to south, with
a broad patch of clear bright-green water in the centre. The western
bank was covered with a thick growth of palmettos, the favourite cover
of deer; bears, and even panthers; and this cover we resolved to beat.
We divided ourselves into two parties, the first of which, consisting of
the New Englanders, and accompanied by the guide, was to go round the
northern extremity of the swamp, while we were to take a southerly
direction, and both to meet behind the marsh, on a certain path which
led through a thicket of wild plum-trees and acacias. Our guide's
instructions were not of the clearest, and the landmarks he gave us were
only intelligible to a thorough backwoodsman; but as too many questions
would probably have puzzled him, without making matters cleare