Show SOUTH WESTERN SKETCHES ETCHES tu TH f E the low 16 er W mississippi is is borde ed upon each side dide by abroad belt of low land known ns as the swampy at memphis in hp southwestern corner of tennessee the bluff tou touches clies the eastern side si deol of the river and alid then bearing c tway away to lo afie 6 stward approaches the river no more until it reaches a point near while the hi counti y has become deal cleal ed and settled with that Tall rapidity dily which characterizes characterises the advance n states I 1 the swamp notwithstanding tip its boundless fertility has remained almo almot almost t a wilderness the enterprising who leaving the worn out lands of vrginia virginia oft the carolinas seeks a location where the he soil oh may repay more liberally the husbands m exposing hig bis slaves deadly miasma of 0 its stagnant lagood labon la oon and to the toil ol 01 0 clearen cl clearing earin it ite tangled land and br brakes brickes inkes in some pa places ace indeed wealthy farmers who have har boldly and cymet ty met these dangers and obstacles haap ceeder siu i in n opening ma farms one which a bale to the acre is but an ordinary ei crop I 1 op unfortunately however a rise of 0 waler walar occasionally overflows the whole farm covering the fields with driftwood sweeping away stock arld and le leves leaves ves the work of learsa in ain but the swamp has other denizens who fortunately for themselves are in in dependant since they owe nothing to foi tune and cannot therefore be expected to layher anything The seare the wood cutter the lumbermen the he trappers bee and bear hunters an l 1 fishermen who have made their cabins by the side of some lake or bayou and who becu secure re of a while illa dugout will float and their hands can wield axe and i rifle pay PRY paya a V very ery literal obedience to the theine unc tion or of scripture scrip tuie e and take no thought t jeor f or ae te L morrow 1 i the s swamp w amp is every where covered bei the he trees do not stand close but are fallie for the most part of immense SI consisting princ principally ap ly of gun gum bi hickory rory and different gariet varieties acs ics of oak the sassa frass top 00 which in the north is but A shrub here gi glows aws to the circumference of ten tell tee fee i and to the height of seventy or a hundred bundred tile the whole space beneath the bade of these forest patriarchs I 1 is s thickly covered with tall cane so tall io so dense s so closely matted t together with 1 the bamboo briar and other creepers that it is is an I 1 bf f frequent blasof the bowie or 01 cane knife angat and at an 1 immens immense e expenditure of a patience dry I 1 goods and curses that thai a green lian hand 1 I can make C his wa way y through it at all I 1 stop if you are out of breath do not hurry on too to tast you might loose your way tile oldest hunters frequently loose ih es in abe cane and to be lost in the mississippi sipi swamp is by no means a joke I 1 I 1 A friend and companion compan tort of mine arlel parted from me pie in the swamp last winter a rf reckless less dac daredevil sort of a fellow always dashing ahead d without stopping to note his course aad bearing i I 1 have nevie neve seen seen hini him sincee neither uve have any of his fir friends ilik but undoubtedly the wolves and blizzards huz zarda hive have and tave left his bones ina in a fine condition to bemused as specimens b by tZ en any y I 1 e curious lo 10 logist I 1 idt they are I 1 very thorough thorough orough an atomizers unfortunately th they eyare are not at all communicative in regard to thep post bortei examinations i or r they might tell all about ray ay luc luckless lickess kess companero abow A aw an and on op through the thick dark ark amending tm ending brake how lioio auy I 1 w weariness ari ness and faintness and slowly inae increasing jing na fear r wrapped their coffe around iiii strong inns and bold bohl heart fill idill I 1 in in sullen u 11 en d despair e he be la lays y s down ait oit on the oozy y lit ground t to await his doom taw how cold and huttger hunger took nim i in I 1 pt pitilessly by the throat nor loosened their hold till the last grasp and struggle 1 were over f little his bis mother sitting by the fai eme of 0 a happy home watching the christmas sports sport lother her children upon how cold st a bed her bar arst born had bad laid down for everi 1 trible ittle thought his fair eair sister ifta as sw 5 dm rifle circle gathered round 0 to o listen to her ber sweet voice melting into music that the beath rattle was in in her brot brother bero throat they aey aw J pw it they would I 1 like ike to buy his boi bones ies and weep airet wet theio owen but afi the swamp kp 0 itsON its awn Kh secrets 1 r I 1 l and ahe they may MAV wish vish I 1 that sad consolation consolati oh in in vain but py my rm O armsto to describe the bottom and I 1 have wandered from it in dwelling so long on the sadi fate of my fellow hunter which 1 I mentioned as a wat ning to mil all novices to beware b bow ow i they loase chev way in ole thie ce cane do not suppose atiat lat the swamp I 1 is is all cane hai and there aie are caress bri brakes lies places ces fhe sw 00 swamp in roa reality lity aud willell which indeed are t heany e ony parts apts of the bottom hat in the h ort 4 wb would bp tho to ae merit that name I 1 mr for the cane limas lands although SU to occasional overflow arp in the summer firm and dry dey the I 1 alway wt ano viz muy mu y I 1 sinking dm in iii the slimy coif ILI ID taft centra of e each ach i att ole these bra brakes g is a pool poal of stagnant water s flie deep and usi taffy w pom each oa these pool avayou a bayou leids lead sat out to some to anether lip it w w sach N the central pool with aa cautions steps as il beseem be i woodsman woodsmen woods men we i shill abs see wa wading ding iri id avedge a ledge dihe water or stalk stalking big over at Us hitun 1 bers I 1 of aquatic birds there is tho the acebal white ibis the white heron nearly as tal tall I 1 as a map mail the solemn looking blue heron and a very large white bird its wings tipped with jt jet blade black whose naise name I 1 am not naturalist enough to tell fell perhaps we may mar see swimming on the waters water the horrid head of the alligators alligator while huge buge turtles rise from the b ottom bottom 7 IQ didok ailo about tit beai for a moment and then suddenly disappear wee we e you ever in a cypress brake ane whole ground is thickly studded with cypress knes knees the these le singular production spring from the root of the mirent ent tree and grow up in the form of a sugar en loaf af the they are covered w with i tib a smooth barka bark but bill put forth neither leaf nor twig you may see them in the bottom from five inches to five feet in height a and D d fi aiom om two inches indies to two feetie feet ir diameter at lt the base the larger lar ger ones ake ke the 1 larger ager cypress trees frees themselves are 9 enc tally 1 hollow and are frequently cat down and used aa a buckets 1 1 1 q but although the cypress kapes never fai I 1 excite of all those I 1 who aee abe first time they never ever n seem seemah ad to me 80 worthy of admiration as their abe u titan sires the cues cy presses ss t themselves h em selves all around through Ahe brake they rise other of her treed are to 10 he be seen the lower part tf of the brunk to the height beight of about tn ten feet ia larger than that immediately dimmed I 1 calely ab above e it and seams beems like a base for the support of tbt g graceful macef ul and stately shaft the trunks are all perfectly straight ad symmetrical symme trica with smooth bark and rise almost to their fuu fulk height before I 1 throwing off any branches minster or palace never blasted a colonnade half so magnificent or colossal above the be thick boughs jin interweave infer tp weave we ive anil and shut out the light of chesun the sun mid and cover the earth with wilh a gloom like lik that effat of nig night glit tile the m ry ground is covered with the n rank tation which heat beat and ne er ei fail to I 1 11 generate enervate coiled upon fallen ti trunks or basking in the sun surd on the surface of tale central pool lies the cotton mouth deadliest of reptiles giving no warning of his at tack be lies motionless until i some animal approaches appi caches within reach and then gyving the fatal bow low glides silently fly away tile indian vaen wl an truck struck by a rattlesnake applies beine remedies fp 1 0 the he poison but for the vei om oin of tile hie cotton month beynows he be knows no aoH dote and when bi bitten jolls himself up tip ill ii his blanket and with stoical resignation resign alion lies down to die the brakes are dining summer a favoro te resort of deer and bear also sometimes make the their 54 r oens dens in the th huge hollow bollow trunks of the copies it is impossible for any I 1 nv one to conceive a seen scene e of greater and gloom i than a cpr cypress qs broke brake presents the I 1 dim light the uncertain treacle treacherous ous soil in which conr fiet feet sink tile venomous ven omus mis reptiles the he strange Nilta fantastic v vegetation all roi cols spire pre to impress a feeling of awe upon the mind B but bit it the hunter thinks nothing of these things 11 ile HP scrutinizes the g bourd for the footprints 0 c sign of his game lie he listens listen for the slight soled w chic n may betray its and seems it to 0 en enjoy joy I 1 a 11 walk in sombre brake as much as the city eja exquisite does a promenade in the crowded sl reet ajit we have lingered too long in the brake let iet ui 1 leave ve it before the approach of night let us Is follow the bayou and there we shall be in io 10 I 1 I 1 dan iander genof I 1 of mi missing asing our way wa for as I 1 said before a ila bayou oon leads out fro aiom in th the e ceist central al pool of every cypress brake it il is ii summer the he bayou is dried I 1 up tip and its bel bed will afford us iva a path much easier than breaking our w way ay through the cane I 1 at some soma other time deay de ay readar we will ret retiro irp to witness tim process of cuttin cutting gand and floating the UP tia esz 11 logs M it is too early in hie file season now these bayous and lakes lake form another berk remark at al le ie feature 0 of f he io swam swain gnp lakes are not lili like 6 those comm round iu in new and ITic higan they wre are like a river river whick lias has I 1 ceased to ilov flow some of them which i are arc not more than one or two hundred yards in are f vom ten to fifteen miles lorig long winding in I 1 in a most tortuous course but genc raHy par parallel illel in then their main dire tion to the be river etell E ch of them has a bayou bayon I 1 leading into and another leading wit olt of it some of hse run perpetually but bu t most of them arp are try dy except when the mississippi sipi is is in in flood ahn the whole complicated complicate network of bayous which winds through the bottom is fall I 1 the creeks and bran branches clies running into it are backed up by the ille accumulation of water the lakes I 1 a also so arch are fillad and when upon the subsiding of I 1 the flood both bleir t air inlet and outlet are off they remain through th the summer stagnant they are all filled with fish of various kinds which are taken aken L in great numbers R and in vario various ns ways but I 1 have already transgressed my proposed prop limits I 1 and will wil lupon u on some 0 other th er occasion i on giac you a description of the will wild sports of the swa swamp ipps uch such as bigg aff n g by torch light fire hm linn hating ting I 1 tra trapping ap pp in hiving bees dees bear dear hunting g and other eions of a smilar char character which both amusement and nr to the inhabiting inhabitants of that wild regions region co correspondent 7 respondent esponde nt of the buffalo dem democracy 0 cracy |