day-light; and, as the crossing of the sand-banks or bars, which occur at
the mouths of all the streams of this peninsula is difficult, and can be
accomplished only when the tide is up, one of the guns was fired as a signal
for the government pilot. The good man, it seemed, was unwilling
to leave his couch, but a second gun brought him in his canoe alongside.
The depth of the channel was barely sufficient. My eyes, however, were
not directed towards the waters, but on high, where flew some thousands
of snowy Pelicans, which had fled affrighted from their resting grounds.
How beautifully they performed.their broad gyrations, and how matchless,
after a while, was the marshalling of their files, as they flew past
us!
On the tide we proceeded apace. Myriads of Cormorants covered the
face of the waters, and over it Fish-Crows innumerable were already arriving
from their distant roosts. We landed at one place to search for the
birds whose charming melodies had engaged our attention, and here and
there some young Eagles we shot, to add to our store of fresh provisions !
The river did not seem to me equal in beauty to the fair Ohio; the shores
were in many places low and swampy, to the great delight of the numberless
Herons that moved along in gracefulness, and the grim alligators that
swam in sluggish sullenness. In going up a bayou, we caught a great
number of the young of the latter for the purpose of making experiments
upon them.
After sailing a considerable way, during which our commander and
officers took the soundings, as well as the angles and bearings of every
nook and crook of the sinuous stream, we anchored one evening at a distance
of fully one hundred miles from the mouth of the river. The weather,
although it was the 12th of February, was quite warm, the thermometer
on board standing at 75°, and on shore at 90°. The fog was so
thick that neither of the shores could be seen, and yet the river was not
a mile in breadth. The " blind musquitoes" covered every object, even
in the cabin, and so wonderfully abundant were these tormentors, that
they more than once fairly extinguished the candles whilst I was writing
my journal, which I closed in despair, crushing between the leaves more
than a hundred of the little wretches. Bad as they are, however, these
blind musquitoes do not bite. As if purposely to render our situation
doubly uncomfortable, there was an establishment for jerking beef, on the
nearer shores to the windward of our vessel, from which the breeze came
laden with no sweet odours.
In the morning when I arose, the country was still covered with thick
fogs, so that although I could plainly hear the notes of the birds on shore,
not an object could I see beyond the bowsprit, and the air was as close
and sultry as on the previous evening. Guided by the scent of the
jerkers' works, we went on shore, where we found the vegetation already
far advanced. The blossoms of the jessamine, ever pleasing, lay steeped
in dew ; the humming bee was collecting her winter's store from the snowy
flowers of the native orange; and the little warblers frisked along the
twigs of the smilax. Now, amid the tall pines of the forest, the sun's
rays began to force their way, and as the dense mists dissolved in the atmosphere,
the bright luminary at length shone forth. We explored the
woods around, guided by some friendly live-oakers who had pitched their
camp in the vicinity. After a while the Spark again displayed her sails,
and as she silently glided along, we spied a Seminole Indian approaching
us in his canoe. The poor dejected son of the woods, endowed with talents
of the highest order, although rarely acknowledged by the proud
usurpers of his native soil, has spent the night in fishing, and the morning
in procuring the superb-feathered game of the swampy thickets;
and with both he comes to offer them for our acceptance. Alas ! thou
fallen one, descendant of an ancient line of freeborn hunters, would that
I could restore to thee thy birthright, thy natural independence, the generous
feelings that were once fostered in thy brave bosom. But the irrevocable
deed is done, and I can merely admire the perfect symmetry of
his frame, as he dexterously throws on our deck the trouts and turkeys
which he has captured. He receives a recompense, and without smile or
bow, or acknowledgement of any kind, off he starts with the speed of an
arrow from his own bow.
Alligators were extremely abundant, and the heads of the fishes which
they had snapped off lay floating around on the dark waters. A rifle
bullet was now and then sent through the eye of one of the largest, which,
with a tremendous splash of its tail, expired. One morning we saw a
monstrous fellow lying on the shore. I was desirous of obtaining him
to make an accurate drawing of his head, and, accompanied by my assistant
and two of the sailors, proceeded cautiously towards him. When
within a few yards, one of us fired and sent through his side an ounce
ball, which tore open a hole large enough to receive a man's hand. He
slowly raised his head, bent himself upwards, opened his huge jaws,
swung his tail to and fro, rose on his legs, blew in a frightful manner,