A thousand-mile walk to the Gulf

Jarge japtr edition

A Thousand-Mile

w

ak

the Gulf

A Florida

Sunset

From

a watercolor

Ame/lia

M. Watson

A

Thousand- Mile

Jr

alk

the

Gulf

By
John Muir

Boston and New Tork

Houghton Mfflin Company
ip16

'--4--
/.

COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

FIVE HUNDRED AND FIFTY COPIES
OF THIS LARGE-PAPER EDITION
WERE PRINTED AT THE RIVERSIDE
PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, IN OCTOBER, 1916.
FIVE HUNDRED COPIES ARE FOR
SALE. THIS IS NUMBER a-

Contents

INTRODUCTION

S Ix

I. KENTUCKY FORESTS AND CAVES

II. CROSSING THE CUMBERLAND MOUNTAINS .

III. THROUGH THE RIVER COUNTRY OF GEORGIA

S. 47

IV. CAMPING AMONG THE TOMBS

S 66

V. THROUGH FLORIDA SWAMPS AND FORESTS

VI. CEDAR KEYS .

VII. A SJovUn IN CUBA .

* 5 123

* 143

VIII. BY a CROOKED ROUTE TO CALIFORNIA

IX. TWENTY HILL HOLLOW

INDEX .

S. 169

. 5 192

* S* 213

Illustrations

A FLORIDA

SUNSET

Hand-colored

Amelia

Photograevure
r. Watson

Frontispiece

JOHN MUIR

ABOUT

From a photograph by

Bradley &

Rulof/on,

Francisco,

INSIDE

COVER

OF HIS WALK

AND FIRST PAGE OF MR. MuIR'S

TO THE GULF

JOURNAL
xiii

From the original

SHOWING

ROUTE

OF WALK

KENTUCKY OAKS

From a photograph by

Theodore

ENTRANCE

TO MAMMOTH

CAVE

From a photograph.
Railroad

By courtesy of the

Louisille and Nashville

PAGES I8 AND

OF THE JOURNAL,

MEETING WITH THE OLD

TENNESSEE

WITH

SKETCH

FARMER

OF
0

From the original

THE CLINCH RIVER, TENNESSEE

From a photographs
Railroad

courtesy

Louiswille

4 30
and Nashville

A SOUTHERN PINE

From a photograph

Herbert

Gleason

SPANISH

Moss (

Tillandsia)

From a photograph

IN BONAVENTURE CEM

From a photograph by

Herbert

ETERY,

Herbert

f. Gleason

SAVANNAH

W. Gleason

BY THE

ST. JOHN'S

RIVER IN EASTERN FLORIDA

From a photograph by Herbert W. Gleason

[ vii ]

From a water-color

by Miss

I1

. 54

68

90

Illustrations

A FLORIDA PALMETTO HUMMOCK, OR

HAMMOCK"

. 114

From a

photograpA

Herbert

K. Job

PAGE

OF JOURNAL WITH

SKETCH

SHOWING

PALMETTOS

DIFFERENT

STAGES

OF DEVELOPMENT

From the original

A SHELL

MOUND

AT CEDAR

KEYS,

FLORIDA

From a photograph

LIME

KEY

From Mr. Muir' sketch in

MORRO

CASTLE

AND ENTRANCE

TO HAVANA HARBOR

From a photograph

TWENTY HILL HOLLOW, MERCED

COUNTY,

CALIFORNIA

Mr. Muir

Smith

S26

S 34

sketch by

From a

. 8

Introduction

'OHN MUIR, Earth-planet, Universe."--

These words

are written

on the

inside

cover of the notebook from which the con-

tents of this volume have been taken.

They

reflect the mood in which the late author and
explorer undertook his thousand-mile walk to

the Gulf of Mexico a half-century ago.

does

refreshingly

cosmopolitan

No less
address,

which might have startled any finder of the
book, reveal the temper and the comprehen-
siveness of Mr. Muir's mind. He never was and
never could be a parochial student of nature.
Even at the early age of twenty-nine his eager
interest in every aspect of the natural world had
made him a citizen of the universe.
While this was by far the longest botanical
excursion which Mr. Muir made in his earlier

years, it was

by no means the only one.

botanized

Ontario,

around
through

Great

parts

Lakes,

Wisconsin,

[lx]

Introduction

Indiana, and Illinois.

On these expeditions he

disciplined

himself

to endure

hardship,

for his notebooks disclose the fact that he often
went hungry and slept in the woods, or on the
open prairies, with po cover except the clothes
he wore.
"Oftentimes," he writes in some unpublished

biographical notes,

"I had to sleep out with-

out blankets, and also without supper or break-

fast.

But usually I had no great difficulty in

finding a loaf of bread in the widely scattered

clearings of the farmers.

With one of these big

backwoods loaves I was able to wander many
a long, wild mile, free as the winds in the glori-
ous forests and bogs, gathering plants and feed-
ing on God's abounding, inexhaustible spiritual
beauty bread. Only once in my long Canada
wanderings was the deep peace of the wilder-
ness savagely broken. It happened in the maple
woods about midnight, when I was cold and my

fire was low.

I was awakened by the awfully

dismal howling of the wolves, and got up in
haste to replenish the fire."

JOHN MUIR ABOUT 870

V
b-

Introduction

It was not, therefore, a new species of ad-
venture upon which Mr. Muir embarked when

he started on his Southern foot-tour.

It was

only a new response to the lure of those favor-
ite studies which he had already pursued over
uncounted miles of virgin Western forests and

prairies.

Indeed, had it not been for the acci-

dental injury to his right eye in

the month of

March, 1867, he probably would have started

somewhat earlier than he did.

In a letter' writ-

ten to Indianapolis friends on the day after the
accident, he refers mournfully to the interrup-

tion of a long-cherished plan.

he writes,

"For weeks,"

"I have daily consulted maps in lo-

eating a route through the Southern States, the
West Indies, South America, and Europe a
botanical journey studied for years. And so my
mind has long been in a glow with visions of the
glories of a tropical flora; but, 'alas, I am half
glories of a tropical flora; but, alas, I am half

blind.

My right eye, trained to minute analy-

sis, is lost and I have scarce heart to open the

', other.

Had

journey been accomplished,

the stock of varied beauty acquired would have

Introduction

made me willing to shrink into any corner of
the world, however obscure and however re-
mote."
The injury to his eye proved to be less serious

than he had at first supposed.

In June he was

writing to a friend: "I have been reading and

botanizing for

some weeks, and find

that for

such work I am not very much disabled. I leave

this city

[Indianapolis]

home

to-morrow,

accompanied by Merrill Moores, a little friend

of mine.

We will go to Decatur, Illinois, thence

northward through the wide prairies, botaniz-

ing a few weeks by the way.

. I hope to go

South towards the end of the summer, and as
this will be a journey that I know very little
about, I hope to profit by your counsel before
setting out."
In an account written after the excursion he
says: "I was eager to see Illinois prairies on my
way home, so we went to Decatur, near the
center of the State, thence north [to Portage]

by Rockford and

Janesville.

I botanized one

week on the prairie about seven miles south-

Introduction.

west of Pecatonica. ... To me all plants are

more precious than before.
better, nor worse. A cloi

My poor eye is not
id is over it, but in

gazing over the widest landscapes, I am not
always sensible of its presence."
By the end of August Mr. Muir was back

again in Indianapolis.

He had found it con-

venient to spend a

"botanical week"

among

University friends in Madison.

So keen

was his interest in plants at this time that an

interval

hours

spent

Chicago was

promptly turned

to account

m a

search for

them.

"I did not find many plants in her tu-

multuous streets," he complains; "only a few
grassy plants of wheat, and two or three species
of weeds, amaranth, purslane, carpet-weed,

etc.,

- the weeds, I suppose, for man to walk

upon,

wheat

to feed

him.

saw

some

green algae,

but no mosses.

Some of the latter

I expected to see on wet walls, and in seams on

the pavements.

facturers'

But I suppose that the manu-

smoke and the terrible noise are too

great for the hardiest of them.

I rish I knew
I wish I knew

[ xiii ]

Introduction

where I was going.

Doomed to be

'carried of

the spirit into the wilderness,' I suppose. I
wish I could be more moderate in my desires,
but I cannot, and so there is no rest."
The letter noted above was written only two

days

before

started

on his

long walk

Florida.

If the concluding sentences still re-

flect indecision, they also convey a hint of the

overmastering

impulse

under

which

was

acting.

The opening sentences of his journal,

afterwards crossed out, witness to this sense of
inward compulsion which he felt." Few bodies,"

he wrote,

"are inhabited by so satisfied a soul

that they are allowed exemption from extra-

ordinary exertion through a whole life."

After

reciting illustrations of nature's periodicity, of
the ebbs and flows of tides, and the pulsation
of other forces, visible and invisible, he observes
that "so also there are tides not only in the af-
fairs of men, but in the primal thing of life it-
self. In some persons the impulse, being slight,

is easily obeyed or overcome.

But in others it

is constant and cumulative in action until its
[ xiv ]

Introduction

power is sufficient

to overmaster

impedi-

ments, and to accomplish the full measure of its

demands.

For many a year I have been im-

pelled toward the Lord'

South.

tropic gardens of the

Many influences have tended to blunt

or bury this constant longing, but it has out-
lived and overpowered them all."

Muir'

love of nature was so largely a part

of his religion that he naturally chose Biblical
phraseology when he sought a vehicle for his

feelings.

No prophet of old could have taken

his call more seriously, or have entered upon

his mission more frevently.

During

the long

days of his confinement in a dark room he had

opportunity for much reflection.

He concluded

that life was too brief and uncertain, and time
too precious, to waste upon belts and saws; that
while he was pottering in a wagon factory, God
was making a world; and he determined that,
if his eyesight was spared, he would devote the
remainder of his life to a study of the process.
Thus the previous bent of his habits and studies,
and the sobering thoughts induced by one of the

Introduction

bitterest experiences of his

combined

send him on the long journey recorded in these

pages.

Some autobiographical notes found among

papers

furnish

interesting

additional

tails about the period between his release from
the dark room and his departure for the South.

"As soon as I got out into heaven's

says,

started

on another

long

light," he
excursion,

making haste with all
mind with the Lord's be

for any fate, light or dark.

my heart to store my
eauty, and thus be ready

And it was from

this time that my long, continuous wanderings

may be said to have fairly commenced.

I bade

adieu to mechanical inventions, determined to
devote the rest of my life to the study of the

inventions of God.

I first went home to Wis-

consin, botanizing by the way, to take leave of
my father and mother, brothers and sisters, all

of whom were still living near Portage.

I also

visited the neighbors I had known as a boy,
renewed my acquaintance with them after an
absence of several years, and bade each a formal
[ xvi ]

Introduction

good-bj
I said,

ye.

When they asked where I was going

'Oh! I don't know just anywhere in

the wilderness, southward.

I have already had

glorious glimpses of the Wisconsin, Iowa, Mich-
igan, Indiana, and Canada wildernesses; now

I propose to go South and

see something of the

vegetation of the warm end of the country, and

possible

to wander far enough into South

America

to see

tropical vegetation in all

palmy glory.'
"The neighbors wished me well, advised me

to be

careful

health,

and reminded

me that the swamps in the South were full of

malaria.

I stopped overnight at the home of

an old Scotch lady who had long been my friend

was

now

particularly

wis es and advice.

motherly

in good

told her that

was

sauntering along the road, just as the sun was
going down, I heard a darling speckled-breast

sparrow singing,

'The day

's done, the day

done.'
plied,

'Weel, John, my dear

laddie,'

'your day will never be done.

she re-

There is

no end to the kind of studies you like so well,

xvii

I

Introduction

but there's

an end to mortals' strength of body

and mind, to all that mortals can accomplish.
You are sure to go on and on, but I want you

to remember the fate of Hugh Miller.

She was

one of the finest examples I ever knew of a kind,
generous, great-hearted Scotchwoman."

formal

leave-taking

from

family

neighbors indicates his belief that he was part-
ing from home and friends for a long time. On
Sunday, the Ist of September, 1867, Mr. Muir
said good-bye also to his Indianapolis friends,

went

by rail

to Jeffersonville,

where he

spent the night.

The next morning he crossed

river,

walked

through

Louisville,

struck southward

through

the State of Ken-

tucky.

A letter written a week later "among

the hills of Bear Creek, seven miles southeast

of Burkesville, Kentucky,"

shows that he had

covered

about

twenty-five

miles

a day.

walked from Louisville,

he says,

"a distance

of one hundred and seventy miles, and my feet

are sore.

But, oh!

I am paid for all my toil a

thousand times over.
[

I am in the woods on a

- .. -- -

-. -
tn2x

At' *~

INSIDE

COVER AND FIRST PAGE OF MR. MUIR'S JOURNAL
OF HIIS WALK TO THE GULF

Introduction

hilltop with my back against a moss-clad log.
I wish you could see my last evening's bed-

room.

The sun has been among the tree-tops

for more than an hour; the dew is nearly all
taken back, and the shade in these hill basins
is creeping away into the unbroken strongholds
of the grand old forests.

"I have enjoyed

trees and

scenery of

Kentucky exceedingly.

How shall I ever tell

of the miles and miles of beauty that have been

flowing into me in such measure?

These lofty

curving ranks of

lobing,

swelling hills,

these

concealed valleys of fathomless verdure,

these

lordly

trees with

nursing

sunlight

glancing in their leaves upon the outlines of the
magnificent masses of shade embosomed among
their wide branches these are cut into my
memory to go with me forever.
"I was a few miles south of Louisville when

I planned my journey.

I spread out my map

under

through

a tree

and made

Kentucky,

my mind

Tennessee,

Georgia

to Florida, thence to Cuba, thence to some part
[ xix

Introduction

of South America; but it will be only a hasty

walk.

I am thankful, however, for so

much.

My route will be through Kingston and Madi-

sonville,

Tennessee,

and- through

Blairsville

Gainesville,

Georgia.

Please

write

at Gainesville.

I am terribly letter-hungry.

hardly dare to think of home and friends."
In editing the journal I have endeavored, by
use of all the available evidence, to trail Mr.
Muir as closely as possible on maps of the sixties

as well as on the most recent state and

graphical maps.

topo-

The one used by him has not

been found, and probably is no longer in exist-

ence.

Only about twenty-two towns and cities

are mentioned in his journal.

This constitutes

a very small number when one considers the

distance he covered.

Evidently he was so ab-

sorbed in the plant life of the region traversed
that he paid no heed to towns, and perhaps
avoided them wherever possible.
The sickness which overtook him in Florida
was probably of a malarial kind, although he

describes it under different names.
[ixxl

It was, no

Introduction

doubt, a misfortune in itself, and a severe test

for his vigorous constitution.

But it was also a

blessing in disguise, inasmuch as it prevented
him from carrying out his foolhardy plan of

penetrating

tropical

jungles

South

America along, the Andes to a tributary of the
Amazon, and then floating down the river on

a raft to the Atlantic.

As readers of the jour-

nal will perceive, he clung to this intention even
during his convalescence at Cedar Keys and in

Cuba.

In a letter

dated

of Novem-

ber he describes himself as "just creeping about

getting plants

and strength after my fever."

Then he asks his correspondent to direct -let-

ters to New Orleans, Louisiana.

to go there," he writes,

America.

"I shall have

"for a boat to South

I do nbt yet know to which point in

South America I had better go."

His hope to

find there a boat for South Arperica explains
an otherwise mystifying letter in which he re-
quested his brother David to send him a cer-
tain sum of money by American Express order

to New Orleans.

As a matter of fact he did not

xi ]

Introduction

Louisiana

at all,

either

because

learned

that no south-bound ship was avail-

able at the mouth of the Mississippi, or because
the unexpected appearance of the Island Belle

in the harbor of Cedar
change his plans.

Keys

caused him

later years

Muir

himself

strongly

disparaged the wisdom of his plans with respect
to South America, as may be seen in the chap-
ter that deals with his Cuban sojourn. The

judgment

there

expressed

was

lead-penciled

into his journal during a reading of it long after-

wards.

Nevertheless the Andes and the South

American

forests

continued

to fascinate

imagination, as his letters show, for many years
after he came to California. When the long de-
ferred journey to South America was finally
made in 1911, forty-four years after the first
attempt, he whimsically spoke of it as the ful-
fillment of those youthful dreams that moved

to undertake his

thousand-mile walk to

the Gulf.
Mr. Muir always recalled with gratitude the

xxii I

Introduction

Florida friends who

nursed him

through his

long and serious illness.

ing through

In 1898, while travel-

the South on a forest-inspection

tour with his friend Charles Sprague Sargent,
he took occasion to revisit the scenes of his early

adventures.

It may be of interest to quote

some

sentences

from

letters written

at that

time to his wife and to his sister Sarah. "I
have been down the east side of the Florida
peninsula along the Indian River," he writes,
"through the palm and pine forests to Miami,

thence to Key West

keys stretching out towards Cuba.

southmost
Returning,

I crossed over to the west coast by Palatka to
Cedar Keys, on my old track made thirty-one

years

nursed me

Hodgson

in search

'through my long

died long

Hodgsons
attack of

ago, also

who

fever.

eldest

son, with whom

used

to go boating among

the keys while slowly convalescing."

He then tells how he found Mrs. Hodgson
and the rest of the family at Archer. They had
long thought him dead and were naturally very
[ xxiii ]

Introduction

much surprised to see him.

Mrs. Hodgson was

in her garden and he recognized her,
the years had altered her appearance.

though
Let us

give his own account of the meeting: "I asked

her if she knew me.
'tell me your name.'

'No, I
'Muir,'

don't,' she said;
I replied. 'John

Muir?

My California John Muir?' she almost

screamed.

I said,

, John Muir; and you

know

promised

to return and

visit you in

about twenty-five years, and

though I am a

little

- SIX

or seven

years-I've

done

the best I could.' The eldest boy and girl re-
membered the stories I told them, and when
they read about the Muir Glacier they felt sure

it must have been named for me.

I stopped at

Archer about four hours, and the way we talked

over old

times you may imagine.

From Sa-

vannah, on the same trip, he wrote: "Here is
where I spent a hungry, weary, yet happy week
camping in Bonaventure graveyard thirty-one

years ago.

Many

changes,

am told, have

been made in its graves and avenues of late, and
how many in my life!"

Introduction

In perusing this journal the reader will miss
the literary finish which Mr. Muir was accus-
tomed to give to his later writings. This fact
calls for no excuse. Not only are we dealing
here with the earliest product of his pen, but
with impressions and observations written down
hastily during pauses in his long march. He ap-
parently intended to use this raw material at
some time for another book. If the record, as
it stands, lacks finish and adornment, it also
possesses the immediacy and the freshness of
first impressions.
The sources which I have used in preparing
this volume are threefold: (I) the original jour-
nal, of which the first half contained many in-
terlinear revisions and expansions, and a con-
siderable number of rough pencil sketches of
plants, trees, scenery, and notable adventures;
(2) a wide-spaced, typewritten, rough copy of
the journal, apparently in large part dictated
to a stenographer; it is only slightly revised,
and comparison with the original journal shows
many significant omissions and additions; (3)
Sxv ]

Introduction

two separate elaborations of his experiences in

Savannah when he camped

there for a week

Bonaventure

my work
materials

fidelity

upon

was

with

graveyard.

prunary

impressed

which

Throughout
i secondary

with

adhered

scrupu-
to the

facts and impressions set down in the original
journal.

Readers of Muir'

writings need scarcely be

told that this book, autobiographically, bridges

period between

The Story of my

Boyhood

and Youth and My First Summer in the Sierra.
However, one span of the bridge was lacking,

for the journal ends with Mr. Muir'

arrival

in San Francisco about the first of April, 1868,
while his first summer in the Sierra was that of

1869.

By excerpting from a letter a summary

account of his first visit to

Yosemite, and in-

cluding a description of Twenty Hill Hollow,
where he spent a large part of his first year in

California,

the connection is made complete.

The last chapter was first published as an ar-

tide

the Overland

Monthly

July, 1872.

xnV j

Introduction

A revised

copy of

printed

article, found

among Muir'

literary effects, has been made

the basis of

the chapter on

Twenty Hill Hol-

low as it appears in this volume.
WILLIAM FREDERIC BADE

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JOHN MUIR'S

WALK TO

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GULF.

NOTE:
BY RAIL FROM INDIANAPOLIS TO JEFFERSON
BY BOAT FROM SAVANNAH TO FERNANDINA.

INDIANAPOL/S
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Thousand-Mile

[V

2lk

the

Gulf

CHAPTER

KENTUCKY FORESTS AND CAVES
HAD long been looking from the wild woods
and gardens of the Northern States to those
of the warm South, and at last, all draw-

backs overcome, I

set forth [from Indianapo-

lis] on the first day of September, 1867, joyful
and free, on a thousand-mile walk to the Gulf

of Mexico.

[The trip to

Jeffersonville, on the

banks of the Ohio, was made by rail.]
the Ohio at Louisville [September 2]

Crossing
, I steered

through the big city by compass without speak-

ing a word to any one.

Beyond the city I found

a road running southward, and after passing a
scatterment of suburban cabins and cottages I

reached

the green woods and spread out my

pocket map to rough-hew a plan for my journey.
My plan was simply to push on in a general

A Thousand-Mile

alk

southward

direction

the wildest, leafiest,

and least trodden way I could find, promising

the greatest extent of virgin forest.

Folding my

map,
press
tucky

shouldered

little

strode away among the old

oaks,

rejoicing

splendid

plant
Ken-

visions

pines and palms and tropic flowers in glorious
array, not, however, without a few cold shad-

ows

loneliness,

although

great

oaks

seemed to spread their arms in welcome.
I have seen oaks of many species in many
kinds of exposure and soil, but those of Kentucky
excel in grandeur all I had ever before beheld.
They are broad and dense and bright green. In
the leafy bowers and caves of their long branches
dwell magnificent avenues of shade, and every
tree seems to be blessed with a double portion

of strong exulting life.

Walked twenty miles,

mostly on river bottom, and found shelter in
a rickety tavern.

September

Escaped

from

dust

squalor of my garret bedroom to the glorious
forest. All the streams that I tasted hereabouts

KENTUCKY OAKS

Kentucky

Forests

and

Caves

are salty and so are the wells.

Salt River was

nearly dry. Much of my way this forenoon was

over naked limestone.

After passing the level

ground

that

extended

twenty-five

or thirty

miles from the river I came to a region of roll-

ing hills called Kentucky Knobs

- hills of de-

nudation, covered with trees to the top.

of them have a few pines.

Some

For a few hours I

followed

farmers'

paths,

soon

dered away from roads and encountered many
a tribe of twisted vines difficult to pass.
Emerging about noon from a grove of giant
sunflowers, I fouAd myself on the brink of a

tumbling

rocky stream [Rolling

Fork].

not expect to find bridges on my wild ways,

and at

once

started

to ford,

when

a negro

woman on the opposite bank earnestly called

on me to wait until she could tell the

"men

folks"

to bring bme a horse -

that the river

was too deep and rapid

to wade and that I

would "sartain be drowned" if I attempted to

cross.

I replied that my bag and plants would

ballast me; that the water did not appear to be
[3]

rbhousand- Mile

W

alk

deep, and that if I were carried away, I was a
good swimmer and would soon dry in the sun-

shine.

But the cautious old soul replied that no

one ever waded that river and set off for a horse,
saying that it was no trouble at all.
In a few minutes the ferry horse came gin-
gerly down the bank through vines and weeds.
His long stilt legs proved him a natural wader.
He was white and the little sable negro boy that

rode

him looked like a bug on his back.

After

many a tottering halt the outward voyage was
safely made, and I mounted behind little Nig.
He was a queer specimen, puffy and jet as an
India rubber doll and his hairwas matted in sec-

tions like the wool of a merino sheep.

The old

horse, overladen with his black and white bur-
den, rocked and stumbled on his stilt legs with

fair promises of a fall.

But all ducking signs

failed and we arrived in safety among the weeds

vines of

rugged bank.

A salt

bath

would have done us no harm. I could swim and

little

Afric looked as if he might

float like a

bladder.

Kentucky

Forests

and

Caves

I called at the homestead where my ferry-
man informed me I would find "tollable" water.

But, like all the water of this section
have tasted, it was intolerable with salt.

that I
Every-

thing about this old Kentucky home bespoke

plenty, unpolished and unmeasured.

The house

was

built in

true Southern style, airy, large,

and with a transverse central hall that look-s

a railway tunnel, and

heavy rough

out-

side chimneys. The negro quarters and other
buildings are enough in number for a village,

altogether

an interesting

representative of

genuine old

Kentucky

home,

embosomed in

orchards, corn fields and green wooded hills.

Passed gangs of woodmen

hewing

grand

engaged
oaks for

market.

Fruit very abundant.
scenery all afternoon.

Magnificent flowing hill
Walked southeast from

Elizabethtown till wearied and lay down in the
bushes by guess.

September

The sun was gilding the hill-

tops when I was awakened by the alarm notes
of birds whose dwelling in a hazel thicket I had

disturbed.

CWalk

They flitted excitedly close to my

head, as if scolding or asking angry questions,
while several beautiful plants, strangers to me,

were looking me full in the face.

tanical discovery in bed

The first bo-

This was one of the

most delightful camp grounds, though groped
for in the dark, and I lingered about it enjoying
its trees and soft lights and music.

Walked tef miles of forest.

Met a strange

with

willow-looking

leaves.

Entered

sandy stretch of black oak called "Barrens,"
many of which were sixty or seventy feet in
height, and are said to have grown since the

fires were kept off,

forty years ago.

The farm-

ers hereabouts are tall, stout, happy fellows,

fond

guns

horses.

Enjoyed

friendly

chats with them.

Arrived at dark in a village

that seemed to be drawing its last breath.

guided to the "tavern"
tremely accommodating

Was

by a negro who was ex-
. "No trouble at all,"

he said.

September

5. No bird or flower or friendly

tree above me this morning; only squalid garret
[6]

SThousand- Mile

Kentucky

Forests and

Caves

rubbish and dust. Escaped to the woods.

Came

to the region of caves. At the mouth of the first
I discovered, I was surprised to find ferns which
belonged to the coolest nooks of Wisconsin and
northward, but soon observed that each cave
rim has a zone of climate peculiar to itself, and

it is always cool.

This cave had an

opening

about

ten feet

in diameter,

twenty-five

feet perpendicular depth.

A strong cold wind

issued from it and I could hear the sounds of

running water.

A long pole was set against its

walls as if intended for a ladder, but in some
places it was slippery and smooth as a mast and
would test the climbing powers of a monkey.
The walls and rim of this natural reservoir were

finely carved and flowered.

Bushes leaned over

it with shading leaves, and beautiful ferns and
mosses were in rows and sheets on its slopes

and shelves.

Lingered here a long happy while,

pressing

specimens

printing this

beauty

mto memory.

Arrived

about

noon

at Munfordville

was

soon discovered and examined

Mr. Mun-

Thousand-Mile

Wi

ilk

ford himself, a pioneer and father of the village.
He is a surveyor has held all country offices,
and every seeker of roads and lands applies to

him for information.

He regards all the vil-

lagers as his children, and all strangers who en-

ter Munfordville as his own visitors.

Of course

he inquired my business, destination, et cetera,
and invited me to his house.
After refreshing me with parrss" he compla-

cently covered

table with

bits of

rocks,

plants, et cetera, things new and old which he
had gathered in his surveying walks and sup-

posed to be full of

scientific interest.

He in-

formed me that all scientific men applied to him

for information, and as I

was a botanist, he

either possessed, or ought to possess, the knowl-

edge

was

seeking,

soI

received

long

lessons concerning roots and

herbs

for every

mortal

Thanking my

benefactor for

kindness, I escaped to the fields and followed a
railroad along the base of a grand hill ridge. As
evening came on all the dwellings I found seemed
to repel me, and I could not muster courage
[ 8 1

Kentucky

Forests

and

Caves

enough to ask entertainment at any of them.
Took refuge in a log schoolhouse that stood on
a hillside beneath stately oaks and slept on the
softest looking of the benches.

September 6.

Started at the earliest bird song

in hopes of seeing the great Mammoth Cave

before evening.
an ox team. I

Overtook an old negro driving
tode with him a few miles and

had some interesting chat concerning war, wild

fruits of the woods, et cetera.

said he,

"Right heah,"

"is where the Rebs was a-tearin' up the

track, and they all a sudden thought they seed
the Yankees a-comin', obah dem big hills dar,

and Lo'd, how dey run."

asked him if he

would like a renewal of these sad war times,
when his flexible face suddenly calmed, and he

said with intense earnestness,

no mo wa, Lo'd no."

"Oh, Lo'd, want

Many of these Kentucky

negroes are shrewd and intelligent, and when
warmed upon a subject that interests them, are
eloquent in no mean degree.
Arrived at Horse Cave, about ten miles from

the great cave.

The entrance is by a long easy

Thousand-Mile

slope of several hundred yards.

Walk

It seems like

a noble gateway to

birthplace of

springs

and fountains and the dark treasuries of the

mineral kingdom.

This cave

in a village

[of the same name] which it supplies with an

abundance of

cold

water, and

that

issues from its fern-clad lips.

crowds of

In hot weather

people sit about it in the shade of

the trees that guard it.

This magnificent fan

is capable of cooling everybody in the town at
once.
Those who live near lofty mountains may
climb to cool weather in a day or two, but the
overheated Kentuckians can find a patch of cool

climate in almost every glen in the State.

The

villager who accompanied me said that Horse
Cave had never been fully explored, but that it

was several miles in length at least.

He told me

that he had never been at Mammoth Cave -
that it was not worth going ten miles to see, as
it was nothing but a hole in the ground, and I

found that his was no rare case.

He was one

of the useful, practical men too wise to waste

Kentucky

Forests

and

Caves

precious time with weeds, caves, fossils, or any-
thing else that he could not eat.

Arrived at the great Mammoth Cave.

I was

surprised to find it in so complete naturalness.
A large hotel with fine walks and gardens is

near it.

But fortunately the cave has been un-

improved, and were it not for the narrow trail
that leads down the glen to its door, one would

not know that it had been visited.

There are

house-rooms

halls whose entrances

give

but slight hint of their grandeur.

And so also

this magnificent hall in the mineral kingdom of
Kentucky has a door comparatively small and

unpromising.

might

pass

within

a few

yards of it without noticing it.

A strong cool

breeze

issues

constantly

from

creating

northern climate for the ferns that adorn its
rocky front.
I never before saw Nature's grandeur in so
abrupt contrast with paltry artificial gardens.

fashionable

hotel

grounds

are m exact

parlor taste, with many a beautiful plant cul-

tivated

to deformity,

and arranged

in strict

rhousand-Mile

Wt

alk

geometrical

beds,

whole

pretty

affair

laborious
beauty.

failure

with

Divine

The trees around the mouth of the

cave

are smooth and

bent

forward

at the bottom,

then straight upwards.

Only

a butternut
branches, to

seems,

its angular

sympathize with

knotty

belong

the cave,

with

a fine

growth

Cystopteris

and Hypnum.

Started for Glasgow

Junction.

Got belated

in the hill woods.

Inquired my way at a farm-

house and was invited to stay overnight in a

rare, hearty, hospitable manner.

Engaged in

familiar running talk on politics, war times, and

theology.

The old Kentuckian seemed to take

a liking to me and advised me to stay in these
hills until next spring, assuring me that I would
find much to interest me in and about the Great
Cave; also, that he was one of the school offi-

cials and was sure that I
school for the winter term.

could

obtain

their

I sincerely thanked

him for his kind plans, but pursued my own.

September 7. Left

the hospitable Kentuck-
1i

ENTRANCE T(O MAMMOTH CAVE

Kentucky

Forests

and

Caves

ians with their sincere good wishes and

bore

away southward again through the deep green

woods.

In noble forests all day.

for the first time.

Saw mistletoe

Part of the day I

traveled

with a Kentuckian from near Burkesville. He
spoke to all the negroes he met with familiar

kindly

greetings,

addressing

them

always

"Uncles" and "Aunts."

All travelers one meets

on these

roads,

white

black,

male

female,

travel on horseback.

Glasgow is one

of the few Southern towns that shows ordinary

American

night

with

well-to-do

farmer.
September 8. Deep, green, bossy sea of way-

ing, flowing hilltops.
bacco fields scattered

Corn and cotton and to-

here and

there.

I had

imagined

that

a cotton

field

in flower

was

something magnificent.

But cotton is a coarse,

rough, straggling, unhappy looking plant, not
half as good-looking as a field of Irish potatoes.
Met a great many negroes going to meeting,

dressed in their Sunday best.

Fat, happy look-

ing, and contented. The scenery on approaching

rhousand-1Mile

W4

alk

the Cumberland River

becomes still grander.

Burkesville, in beautiful location, is embosomed
in a glorious array of verdant flowing hills. The

Cumberland must be a happy stream.

I think

I could enjoy traveling with it in the midst of

such beauty all my life.

This evening I could

find none willing to take me in, and so lay down
on a hillside and fell asleep muttering praises
to the happy abounding beauty of Kentucky.

September p. Another

day in

the most

vored province of bird and flower. Many rapid

streams,

flowing in

beautiful flower-bordered

caiions embosomed in dense woods. Am seated
on a grand hill-slope that leans back against

the sky like a picture.

Amid the wide waves

green

wood

there

are spots of

autumnal

yellow and the atmosphere, too, has the dawn-

ings of autumn in colors and sounds.

The soft

light of morning falls upon ripening forests of
oak and elm, walnut and hickory, and all Na-

ture is thoughtful and calm.

Kentucky is the

greenest, leafiest State I have yet seen. The
sea of soft temperate plant-green is deepest here.

Kentucky

Forests

and

Caves

' Comparing volumes of vegetable verdure in

different countries to a wedge,

the thick

would be in the forests of Kentucky, the other

in the lichens and mosses of the North.

This

verdure wedge would not be perfect in its lines.
From Kentucky it would maintain its thickness

long and

well in passing the level forests of

Indiana and Canada.

From the maples and

pines of Canada it would slope rapidly to the
bleak Arctic hills with dwarf birches and alders;
thence it would thin out in a long edge among

hardy

lichens

liverworts

and mosses

the dwelling-places of everlasting frost.

Far the

grandest of all Kentucky plants are her noble

oaks.

They

are the master existences of her

exuberant forests.
dise of oaks. Passe

Here is the Eden, the para-
ed the Kentucky line towards

evening and obtained food and shelter from a

thrifty
use of

Tennessee farmer, after

he had made

the ordinary anti-hospitable

argu-

ments of cautious comfortable families.

September

1o. Escaped from a heap of un-

cordial kindness to the generous bosom of the
[Is]

woods.

Walk

After a few miles of level ground in

luxuriant tangles of brooding vines, I began the
ascent of the Cumberland Mountains, the first
real mountains that my foot ever touched or

eyes beheld.

The ascent was by a nearly regu-

lar zigzag slope, mostly covered up like a tun-

nel by overarching oaks.

But there were a few

openings where the glorious forest road of Ken-

tucky was

grandly seen,

stretching over

and valley, adjusted to every slope and curve

by the hands of Nature

- the most sublime

and comprehensive picture that ever entered

my eyes.
hours a

Reached the summit in six or seven

strangely

long

period

up-grade

work to one accustomed only to the hillocky
levels of Wisconsin and adjacent States.

Thousand- Mile

CHAPTER II
CROSSING THE CUMBERLAND MOUNTAINS
HAD climbed but a short distance when
I was overtaken by a young man on horse-
back, who soon showed that he intended to
rob me if he should find the job worth while.
After he had inquired where I came from, and
where I was going, he offered to carry my bag.
I told him that it was so light that I did not
feel it at all a burden; but he insisted and coaxed
until I allowed him to carry it. As soon as he
had gained possession I noticed that he gradu-
ally increased his speed, evidently trying to get
far enough ahead of me to examine the con-
tents without being observed. But I was too
good a walker and runner for him to get far.
At a turn of the road, after trotting his horse
for about half an hour, and when he thought he
was out of sight, I caught him rummaging my
poor bag. Finding there only a comb, brush,
towel, soap, a change of underclothing, a copy
[171

Thousand-Mile

W

zlk

of Burns's

poems, Milton's Paradise Lost, and

a small

New

Testament, he waited

handed back my bag, and returned down the
hill, saying that he had forgotten something.
I found splendid growths of shining-leaved
Ericacee [heathworts] for which the Alleghany

Mountains are noted.

Also ferns of which Os-

munda

cznnamomea

[Cinnamon

Fern]

largest and perhaps the most abundant. Os-
munda regalis [Flowering Fern] is also common

here, but not large.

Wood's and Gray's

Botany Osmunda cinnamomea is said to be a

much larger

than

Osmunda claytoniana.

This

found

to be

Tennessee

southward, but in Indiana, part of Illinois, and

Wisconsin

the opposite is true.

Found

here

the beautiful, sensitive Schrankia, or sensitive

brier.
with

It is a long,

dense

heads

prickly, leguminous vine,

small,

yellow

fragrant

flowers.
I Alphonso Wood, Class-book of Botany, with a Flora of
the United States and Canada. The copy of this work, carried

by Mr. Muir on his wanderings, is still extant.
is that of I862.

The edition

The Cumberland Mountains

Vines growing on roadsides receive many a
tormenting blow, simply because they give evi-
dence of feeling. Sensitive people are served
in the same way. But the roadside vine soon
becomes less sensitive, like people getting used
to teasing -Nature, in this instance, making for
the comfort of flower creatures the same benev-
olent arrangement as for man. Thus I found
that the Schrankia vines growing along foot-
paths leading to a backwoods schoolhouse were
much less sensitive than those in the adjacent
unfrequented woods, having learned to pay but
slight attention to the tingling strokes they
get from teasing scholars.
It is startling to see the pairs of pinnate
leaves rising quickly out of the grass and fold-
ing themselves close in regular succession from
the root to the end of the prostrate stems, ten
to twenty feet in length. How little we know as
yet of the life of plants their hopes and fears,
pains and enjoyments!
Traveled a few miles with an old Tennessee
farmer who was much excited on account of the
[ 19]

Thousand-Mile

WV

a7k

news he had

England,

heard.

Ireland, and

"Three

Russia, have

kingdoms,

declared

war agin the United States.

Oh, it's terrible,

terrible,"

said he.

"This

big war coming'

quick, after our own big fight.

Well, it can't be

helped, and all I have to say is, Amerricay for-
ever, but I'd a heap rather they did n't fight."
"But are you sure the news is true?" I in-

quired.

"Oh, yes, quite sure,'" he replied,

"for

me and some of my neighbors were down at the
store last night, and Jim Smith can read, and
he found out all about it in a newspaper."
Passed the poor, rickety, thrice-dead village

Jamestown,

incredibly

dreary

place.

Toward the top of the Cumberland grade, about
two hours before sundown I came to a log house,
and as I had been warned that all the broad
plateau of the range for forty or fifty miles was
desolate, I began thus early to seek a lodging
for the night. Knocking at the door, a motherly
old lady replied to my request for supper and
bed and breakfast, that I was welcome to the
best she had, provided that I had the necessary
[ 20 ]

4

-i1

..

PAGES iS AND uq OF THE JOURNAl., WITH SKETCH OF

MEETING WITH THE OLD TENNESSEE FARMER

The

Cumberland

Mountains

change to pay my bill.

When I told her that un-

fortunately I had nothing smaller than a five-

dollar

greenback, she said,

"Well, I'm sorry,

but cannot afford to keep you. Not long ago
ten soldiers came across from North Carolina,
and in the morning they offered a greenback
that I could n't change, and so I got nothing for
keeping them, which I was ill able to afford."

"Very well," I said,

"I'm glad you spoke of

this beforehand, for I would rather go hungry
than impose on your hospitality."
As I turned to leave, after bidding her good-

bye,

evidently

pitying me for my tired

looks, called me back and asked me if I would

like a drink of milk.

This I gladly accepted,

thinking that perhaps I might not be success-
ful in getting any other nourishment for a day

or.two.

Then I inquired whether there were any

more houses

on the road, nearer

than North

Carolina, forty

or fifty miles

away.

"Yes,"

said,

" it's

only two

miles

next

house,

beyond

that there are no

houses

that I know of except empty ones whose own-
[21]

Thousand-Mile

[W

i/k

ers have been killed or driven away during the
war."
Arriving at the last house, my knock at the
door was answered by a bright, good-natured,
good-looking little woman, who in reply to my

request for a night's lodging and food, said,

"Oh,

I guess

I think you can stay.

Come in and

I '11 call my husband.

"But I must first warn

you,

" I said,

"that I have nothing smaller to

offer you than a five-dollar bill for my enter-

tainment.

I don't want you to think that I am

trying to impose on your hospitality."
She then called her husband, a blacksmith,

who was at work at his forge.

He came out,

hammer

in hand,

bare-breasted,

sweaty,

grimed, and

covered with

shaggy

black

hair.

In reply to his wife'

statement, that this young

man wished to stop over night, he quickly re-

plied,

"That'

all right; tell him to go into the

house." He was turning to go back to his shop,

when his wife added,
any change to pay. I
than a five-dollar bill."
[2

'But he says he has n't
ie has nothing smaller
Hesitating only a mo-
2z

The

Cumberland

Mountains

ment, he turned on his heel and said,

to go into the house.

"Tell him

A man that comes right

out like that beforehand is welcome to eat my
bread."

When he came in after his hard day's

work

and sat down to dinner, he solemnly asked a
blessing on the frugal meal, consisting solely of

corn bread and bacon.
table at me, he said,

Then, looking across the

"Young man,

what are

you doing down here?"

I replied that I was

looking

at plants.

"Plants ?

What

kind of

plants?" I said,

"Oh, all kinds

grass,

weeds,

flowers,

trees,

mosses, ferns,

- almost every-

thing that grows is interesting to me."

"Well, young man,

" he queried,

"you mean

to say that you are not employed by the Gov-

emrnment on some private business?"

"No," I

said,

"I am not employed

by any one except

just myself.

I love all kinds of plants, and I

came down here to these Southern States to get
acquainted with as many of them as possible."
"You look like a strong-minded man," he re-

plied,

"and surely you are able to do something

7housand- Mile

W'

alk

better than wander over the country and look

at weeds and blossoms.

These are hard times,

and real work is required of every man that is

able.

Picking up blossoms does n't seem to be

a man's work at all in any kind of times."

To this I replied,

"You are a believer in the

Bible, are you not?"

"Oh, yes.

"Well, you

know Solomon was a strong-minded man, and
he is generally believed to have been the very
wisest man the world ever saw, and yet he con-

sidered

it was worth

while

to study

plants;

not only to go and pick them up as I am doing,
but to study them; and you know we are told
that he wrote a book about plants, not only of
the great cedars of Lebanon, but of little bits of
things growing in the cracks of the walls." 1

"Therefore,

see that Solomon differed

very much more from you than from me in this

matter.

I'11 warrant you he had many a long

ramble in the mountains of Judea, and had he
a The previously mentioned copy of Wood's Botany, used
by John Muir, quotes on the title page I Kings iv, 33: He
spake of trees, from the cedar of Lebanon even unto the
hyssop that springeth out of the wall."

The

Cumberland

Mountains

been a Yankee he would likely have visited every
weed in the land. And again, do you not remem-

ber that Christ

told his disciples

the lilies how they grow,'

to 'consider

and compared

beauty with Solomon in all his glory?

their
Now,

whose advice am I to take, yours or Christ'

Christ

says,

'Consider

lilies.'

You

'Don't consider them. It is n't worth while for
any strong-minded man.'"
This evidently satisfied him, and he acknowl-

edged that he had

never thought of blossoms

that way before.

He repeated

again

again that I must be a very strong-minded man,
and admitted that no doubt I was fully justified

in picking up blossoms.

He then told me that

although the war was over, walking across the
Cumberland Mountains still was far from safe
on account of small bands of guerrillas who were
in hiding along the roads, and earnestly entreated
me to turn back gnd not to think of walking so
far as the Gulf of Mexico until the country be-
came quiet and orderly once more.
I replied that I had no fear, that I had but
[25]

Thousand-Mile

W

alk

very little to lose, and that nobody was likely to
think it worth while to rob me; that, anyhow,

I always had good luck.

the morning

repeated the warning and entreated me to turn
back, which never for a moment interfered with
my resolution to pursue my glorious walk.

September

ix. Long

stretch

of level

sand-

stone

plateau,

lightly furrowed

dimpled

with shallow groove-like valleys and hills. The
trees are mostly oaks, planted wide apart like

those in the

Wisconsin woods.

A good many

pine trees here and there, forty to eighty feet
high, and most of the ground is covered with

showy flowers.

Polygalas

[milkworts], solida-

goes [goldenrods],

asters

were

especially

abundant.

I came to a cool clear brook every

mile

or so, the banks planted

with Os-

munda regalis, Osmunda cinnamomea, and hand-

some

sedges.

larger

streams

were

fringed with laurels and azaleas.

Large areas

beneath the trees are covered with formidable
green briers and brambles, armed with hooked

claws, and almost impenetrable.

Houses are

[z26

fle

Cumberland

Mountains

far apart and uninhabited, orchards and fences
in ruins sad marks of war.

About noon

my road

became dim and

last vanished among desolate fields.

Lost and

hungry, I knew my direction but could not keep

it on account of the briers.

My path was indeed

strewn with flowers, but as thorny, also, as mor-
tal ever trod. In trying to force a way through
these cat-plants one is not simply clawed and
pricked through all one's clothing, but caught

and held fast.

The toothed arching branches

come down over and above you like cruel liv-
ing arms, and the more you struggle the more

desperately

entangled,

your

wounds deepened and multiplied.

has plant fly-catchers.

The South

It also has plant man-

catchers.
M After a great deal of defensive fighting and
struggling I escaped to a road and a house, but

failed to find food

or shelter.

Towards

sun-

down, as I was walking rapidly along a straight
stretch in the road, I suddenly came in sight of

ten mounted men

riding

abreast.

They un-

Thousand-Mile

We

ilk

doubtedly

seen

me before

discovered

them, for they

had stopped

their horses and

were evidently watching me. I saw at once that

it was useless to attempt

to avoid them, for

the ground thereabout was quite open.

I knew

that there was nothing for it but to face them

fearlessly,

without showing the slightest sus-

picion of foul play.

Therefore, without halting

even for a moment, I advanced rapidly with
long strides as though I intended to walk through

the midst of them.

When I got within a rod or

so I looked up in their faces and smilingly bade

them "Howdy."

Stopping never an instant, I

turned to one side and walked around them to
get on the road again, and kept on without ven-
turing to look back or to betray the slightest
fear of being robbed.
After I had gone about one hundred or one

hundred and fifty yards, I

ventured a quick

glance back, without stopping, and saw in this
flash of an eye that all the ten had turned their
horses toward me and were evidently talking
about me; supposedly, with reference to what

The

Cumberland

AMountains

my object was, where I was going, and whether

it would be worth while to rob me.

They all

were mounted on rather scrawny horses, and all
wore long hair hanging down on their shoulders.
Evidently they belonged to the most irreclaim-

able of the

guerrilla bands

who, long accus-

tomed to plunder, deplored the coming of peace.
I was not followed, however, probably because
the plants projecting from my plant press made

them

believe that I was a poor herb doctor, a

common occupation~in these mountain regions.
About dark I discovered, a little off the road,

another house, inhabited by negroes,

where I

succeeded in

obtaining a much

needed meal

of string beans, buttermilk, and corn bread. At

the table I

was seated in a bottomless chair,

and as I became sore and heavy, I sank deeper

deeper,

pressing

knees

against

breast, and my mouth settled to the level of my

plate.

But wild hunger cares for none of these

things, and my curiously compressed position
prevented the too free indulgence of boisterous

appetite.

Of course, I was compelled to sleep

Thousand- Mile

Wv

llk

with the trees in the one great bedroom of the
open night.
September 12. Awoke drenched with moun-

mist,

which made

a grand

show,

as it

moved away before the hot sun.

Passed Mont-

gomery, a shabby village at the head of the
east slope of the Cumberland Mountains. Ob-
tained breakfast in a clean house and began the

descent of the mountains.

Obtained fine views

of a wide, open country, and distant flanking

ridges and spurs.
[Emory River], a

Crossed a wide cool stream
branch of the Clinch River.

There is nothing more eloquent in Nature than
a mountain stream, and this is the first I ever

saw.

Its banks are luxuriantly peopled with

rare and lovely flowers and overarching trees,

making one of Nature's

pitable places.

coolest and most hos-

Every tree, every flower, every

ripple and eddy of this lovely stream seemed
solemnly to feel the presence of the great Cre-

ator.

Lingered in this sanctuary a long time

thanking the Lord with all my heart for his
goodness in allowing me to enter and enjoy it.
[o30 ]

' I, \NEKSI'KE

TilI, < I.I M II RIl -,R

flhe

Cumberland

AMountains

Discovered two ferns, Dicksonia and a small

matted
South.

polypod

trees,

common

farther

Also a species of magnolia with very

large leaves and scarlet conical fruit.

Near this

stream I spent some joyous time in a grand
rock-dwelling full of mosses, birds, and flowers.

Most heavenly place I ever entered.

The long

narrow valleys of

the mountainside,

all well

watered and nobly adorned with oaks, magno-

laurels,

azaleas,

asters,

ferns,

Hypnum

mosses,

Madotheca

[Scale-mosses],

Also

towering clumps of beautiful hemlocks. The
hemlock, judging from the common species of

Canada,
conifers.

I regarded as the least noble of the
But those of the eastern valleys of the

Cumberland Mountains are as perfect in form

and regal in port as the pines themselves.

latter abundant.

The

Obtained fine glimpses from

open places as I descended to the great valley
between these mountains and the Unaka Moun-

tains on the state line.

Forded the Clinch, a

beautiful clear stream, that knows many of the
dearest mountain retreats that ever heard the

Thousand- Mile

Wt

alk

music of

running water.

Reached

Kingston

before dark.

Sent back my plant collections by

express to my brother in Wisconsin.

September

Walked all

day across small

parallel valleys that flute the surface of the one

wide

valley.

These

flutings

appear to

have

been formed by lateral pressure, are fertile, and
contain some fine forms, though the seal of war

is on all things.

The roads never seem to pro-

ceed with any fixed purpose, but wander as if

lost.

In seeking the way to Philadelphia [in

Loudon County,

Tennessee], I was told by a

buxom Tennessee "gal' that over the hills was
much the nearer way, that she always went that
way, and that surely I could travel it.

started

over

flint-ridges,

soon

reached a set of enchanted little valleys among
which, no matter how or in what direction I
traveled, I could not get a foot nearer to Phila-

delphia.

At last, consulting my map and com-

pass,

neglected

directions

finally

reached the house of a negro driver, with whom
I put up for the night. Received a good deal of

The

Cumberland

Mountains

knowledge which may be of use should I ever
be a negro teamster.

September

Philadelphia is a very filthy

village in a beautiful situation.

More or less of

pine.

Black oak most abundant.

hexagonopterum

Aspidium

Polypodium
acrostichoides

[Christmas Fern] most abundant of ferns and
most generally distributed. Osmunda claytoni-
ana rare, not in fruit, small. Dicksonia abun-
dant, after leaving the Cumberland Mountains.
Asplenium ebeneum [Ebony Spleenwort] quite
common in Tennessee and many parts of Ken-

tucky.

Cystopteris [Bladder Ferni, and Asplen-

ium filix-fcemina not common through the same
range. Pteris aquilina [Common Brake] abun-
dant, but small.
Walked through many a leafy valley, shady

grove, and

cool brooklet.

Reached Madison-

ville, a brisk village.

Came in full view of the

Unaka Mountains, a magnificent sight.

Stayed

over night with a pleasant young farmer.
September 15. Most glorious billowy moun-

tam scenery.

Made many a b4lt at open places

A Thousand-Mile

to take breath and to admire.

Walk

The road, in

many places cut into the rock, goes winding

about

among the

knobs and

gorges.

Dense

growth of asters, liatris,1 and grapevines.

Reached

a house

before

night,

asked

leave to stop.

"Well, you're welcome to stop,

said the mountaineer,

"if you think you can

live till morning on what I have to live on all

the time."

Found the old gentleman very corn-

municative.

Was

favored

with

long

"bar"

stories,

deer

hunts, etc.,

the morning

was pressed to stay a day or two.

September

take

you,"

the highest

ridge

the country,

where

you can

see both ways.

You will have a view

of all the world on one side of
and all creation on the other.

the mountains
Besides, you,

who are

traveling for

curiosity

wonder,

1 Wood's

Botany, edition of I862, furnishes the following

interesting comment on Liatris odoratissima (Willd.), popu-

larly known

as Vanilla Plant or Deer's Tongue: "The fleshy

leaves exhale a rich fragrance even for years after they are
dry, and are therefore by the southern planters largely mixed
with their cured tobacco, to impart its fragrance to that
nauseous weed."

Tihe

Cumberland

Mountains

ought to see our gold m
and went to the mines.

I agreed to stay

Gold is found in small

quantities

throughout

Alleghanies,

many farmers work at mining a few weeks or
months every year when their time is not more

valuable for other pursuits.

In this neighbor-

hood miners are earning from half a dollar to

dollars

a day.

There

are several

large

quartz mills not far from here.

Common labor

is worth ten dollars a month.
September I7. Spent the day in botanizing,

blacksmithing,

examining

a gnst

mill.

Grist mills, in the less settled parts of Tennes-
see and North Carolina, are remarkably simple

affairs.

A small stone, that a man might carry

under his arm, is fastened to the vertical shaft

a little home-made,

boyish-looking,

back-

action water-wheel, which, with a hopper and
a box to receive the meal, is the whole affair.
The walls of the mill are of undressed poles cut

from seedling trees and

there is no floor,

lumber is dear.

No dam is built.

The water is

conveyed

along

some

hillside until

sufficient

[ 35

rhousand-Mile

[t

ak

obtained,

a thing

easily

done

mountains.

On Sunday you may see wild, unshorn,

combed men

coming out of

the woods,

each

with a bag of corn on his back.
a bushel is a common grist. Th

From a peck to
iey go to the mill

along verdant footpaths, winding up and down
over hill and valley, and crossing many a rho-

dodendron glen.

The flowers and shining leaves

brush against their shoulders and knees, occa-
sionally knocking off their coon-skin caps. The
first arrived throws his corn into the hopper,

turns on

the water,

goes

to the

house.

After chatting and

smoking

he returns to see

if his

grist

is done.

Should

stones

empty for an hour or two, it does no harm.
This is a fair average in equipment and ca-
pacity of a score of mills that I saw in Tennes-

This

one was

built by

John

Vohn,

who

claimed

that he could make

it grind

twenty

bushels a day.

But since it fell into other hands

it can be made to grind only ten per day. All
the machines of Kentucky and Tennessee are

see.

The

Cumberland

Mountains

far behind the age.

There is scarce a trace of

that restless

spirit of

speculation

inven-

tion so characteristic of the North.

But one

way of doing things obtains here, as if laws had
been passed making attempts at improvement

a crnme.

Spinning

and weaving are done in

every

one of

these

mountain

cabins

wher-

ever the least

economy.

pretensions are made to thrift
The practice of these ancient

arts they deem marks of advancement

rather

than of backwardness.

"There

's a place back

heah,"

worthy

entertainer,

"whar

there 's a mill-house, an'

still-house, an

a store-house, an'

a spring-house, an' a blacksmith

shop

- all in the same yard!

Cows too, an'

heaps of big gals a-milkin' them."

This is the most primitive

country

I have

seen,

primitive

in everything.

remotest

hidden parts of Wisconsin are far in advance of
the mountain regions of Tennessee and North

Carolina.
fashioned
losopher

But my host speaks of

unenlightened

times,"

light of

"old-
a phi-

civilization.

Thousand- Mile

W[

alk

believe in Providence," said he.

"Our fathers

came into these valleys, got the richest of them,
and skimmed off the cream of the soil. The
worn-out ground won't yield no roastin' ears

now.

But the Lord foresaw this state of

fairs, and prepared something else for us. And

what
these

Why He meant us to bust open

copper

mines and gold mines, so

that

we may have money to buy the corn that we
cannot raise." A most profound observation.
September 18. Up the mountain on the state
line. The scenery is far grander than any I

ever before beheld.

The view extends from the

Cumberland Mountains on the north far into
Georgia and North Carolina to the south, an

area of about five thousand square miles.

an ocean of wooded,

Such

waving, swelling moun-

tain beauty and grandeur is not to be described.
Countless forest-clad hills, side by side in rows

groups,

sunshine

seemed

to be enjoying the

remaining

motionless only

cause

they were so eagerly absorbing it.

were united by curves and slopes of inimitable
[38 1

The

Cumberland

Mountains

softness and beauty.

Oh, these forest gardens

of our

Father!

What perfection,

what divin-

ity, in their architecture!
mysterious complexity of

What simplicity and

detail I

Who shall

read the teaching of these sylvan

pages,

glad brotherhood of rills that sing in the val-
leys, and all the happy creatures that dwell in
them under the tender keeping of a Father's
care?
September. Received another solemn warn-
ing of dangers on my way through the moun-

tains.

Was told by my worthy entertainer of a

wondrous gap in the
vised me to see. "It

mountains which he ad-
is called Track Gap," said

"from the great number of tracks in

rocks

- bird

tracks, bar tracks,

hoss

tracks,

men tracks, all in the solid rock as if it had been

mud.

Bidding farewell to my worthy moun-

taineer and all his comfortable wonders, I pur-
sued my way to the South.
As I was leaving, he repeated the warnings of
danger ahead, saying that there were a good
many people living like wild beasts on whatever
[391

Thousand- Mile

[

ilk

they could steal, and that murders were some-
times committed for four or five dollars, and
even less. While stopping with him I noticed
that a man came regularly after dark to the
house for his supper. He was armed with a gun,
a pistol, and a long knife. My host told me that
this man was at feud with one of his neighbors,
and that they were prepared to shoot one an-

other at sight.

That neither of them could do

any regular work or sleep in the same place two

nights in succession.

That they visited houses

only for food, and as soon as the one that I saw
had got his supper he went out and slept in the

woods,

without of

course making a fire.

enemy did the same.
My entertainer told me that he was trying
to make peace between these two men, because
they both were good men, and if they would

agree

to stop

their

quarrel,

they

could

then

both go to work. Most of the food in this house
was coffee without sugar, corn bread, and some-

times bacon.

But the coffee was the greatest

luxury which these people knew.

The only way

rhbe

Cumberland Mountains

of obtaining it was by selling skins, or, in par-

ticular,

"sang," that is

ginseng,1 which found

a market in far-off China.
My path all to-day led me along the leafy

banks

Hiwassee,2

a most

impressive

mountain river.

Its channel is very rough, as

it crosses the edges of upturned rock

strata,

some

them

standing

at right

angles,

glancing off obliquely to right and left.

Thus a

multitude of

short,

resounding

cataracts

produced, and the river is restrained from the
headlong speed due to its volume and the in-
clination of its bed.
All the larger streams of uncultivated coun-
tries are mysteriously charming and beautiful,

whether

flowing

mountains

through

swamps and plains.

Their channels are inter-

I Muir's journal contains the following additional note:
"M. County produces $5ooo worth a year of ginseng root,
valued at seventy cents a pound. Under the law it is not al-
lowed to be gathered until the first of September."
P In his journal Muir spells the name "Hiawassee," a

form which occurs on many of the older maps.
probably is derived from the Cherokee Indian "

The name
Ayuhwasi,"

a name applied to several of their former settlements.

'Thousand-Mile

We

ilk

estingly sculptured, far more so than the grand-

est architectural works of man.

The finest of

the forests are usually found along their banks,
and in the multitude of falls and rapids the wil-

deness finds a voice.

wassee,

Such a river is the Hi-

with its surface broken to a thousand

sparkling

gems,

forest

walls

vine-

draped and flowery as Eden.

And how fine the

songs it sings!
In Murphy

[North

Carolina] I

was hailed

by the sheriff who could not determine by my
colors and rigging to what country or craft I

belonged.

Since the war, every other stranger

in these lonely parts is supposed to be a crimi-
nal, and all are objects of curiosity or appre-

hensive concern.

After a few minutes'

conver-

station with this chief man of Murphy

was

pronounced harmless, and invited to his house,
where for the first time since leaving home I
found a house decked with flowers and vines,
clean within and without, and stamped with
the comforts of culture and refinement in all
its arrangements. Striking contrast to the un-

The

Cumberland

Mountains

couth

transitionist

establishments

from

wigwams of

savages to the clumsy but clean

log castle of the thrifty pioneer.
September o20. All day among the groves and

gorges of Murphy with Mr. Beale.

Was shown

the site of Camp Butler where General Scott

had his

headquarters

when

removed

Cherokee Indians to a new home in the West.
Found a number of rare and strange plants on

the rocky banks of the river Hiwassee.

In the

afternoon, from the summit of a commanding

ridge, I

obtained a magnificent view of blue,

softly curved mountain scenery.

Among the

trees I saw Ilex [Holly] for the first time. Mr.
Beale informed me that the paleness of most

the women in his neighborhood,

mountains in general hereabouts,

was caused

chiefly by smoking and by what is called "dip-

ping.

" I had never even heard of dipping.

term simply describes the application of
to the gum by means of a small swab.

September 21. Most luxuriant forest.

snuff

Many

brooks

running across

road.

Blairsville

A 7bousand-Mile

[W

alk

[Georgia],

which

passed

forenoon,

seems a shapeless and insignificant village, but

grandly encircled with banded hills.

At night

was

cordially

received

a farmer whose

wife, though smart and neat in her appearance,
was an inveterate smoker.

September

covered with soil,

Hills becoming small, sparsely
. They are called "knob land"

and are cultivated, or scratched,

of one-tooth cultivator.

with a kind

Every rain robs them

their

fertility,

while

bottoms

are of

course correspondingly enriched.

About noon

reached

way to the sea.

mountain summit

is called

Blue

on my
Ridge

before

it lies

a prospect

very

different

from any I had passed, namely, a vast uniform

expanse of

dark pine woods, extending to the

sea; an impressive view at any time and under
any circumstances, but particularly so to one
emerging from the mountains.
Traveled in the wake of three poor but merry
mountaineers an old woman, a young woman,
and a young man who sat, leaned, and lay

The

Cumberland

Mountains

in the box of a shackly wagon that seemed to
be held together by spiritualism, and was kept
in agitation by a very large and a very small

mule.

In going down hill the looseness of the

harness and the joints of the wagon allowed the
mules to back nearly out of sight beneath the

box, and

three who occupied it were slid

against the front

boards

in a heap over the

mules'

ears.

Before they could unravel their

limbs from this unmannerly and impolite dis-
order, a new ridge in the road frequently tilted

them with a swish

a bump

against

back

boards in a mixing

that was still more

grotesque.

expected to see man,

women, and mules

mingled in piebald ruin at the bottom of some

rocky

hollow,

they

seemed

to have

confidence in the back board and front board

of the wagon-box.

So they continued to slide

comfortably up and down, from end to end, in
slippery obedience to the law of gravitation, as

the grades demanded.

Where the jolting was

moderate,

they

engaged

m conversation

[451

A Thom

love, marriage,

sand-Mile W

and camp-meeting, a

llk

According

to the custom of the country.

The old lady,

through all the vicissitudes of the transporta-
tion, held a bouquet of French marigolds.
The hillsides hereabouts were bearing a fine

harvest of asters.

Reached Mount

Yonah in

the evening.

Had a long conversation with an

Methodist

slaveholder

mine owner.

Was hospitably refreshed with a drink of fine
cider.

u

CHAPTER

THROUGH THE RIVER COUNTRY OF GEORGIA
f EPTEMBER 23. Am now fairly out of

the mountains.

Thus far the climate has

Snot changed in any marked degree, the
decrease in latitude being balanced by the in-

crease in altitude.

These mountains are high-

ways on

which

northern

plants may extend

their

colonies southwarl.

plants of

North

South

have

many minor

places of meeting along the way I have trav-

eled;

but it is here on

the Alleghanies

that the

: southern
greatest n

slope

lumber of

hardy, enterprising representatives of the two
climates are assembled.
Passed the comfortable, finely shaded little

town of Gainesville.

The Chattahoochee River

is richly embanked with massive, bossy, dark
green water oaks, and wreathed with a dense
growth of muscadine grapevines, whose ornate

foliage, so well adapted to bank

embroidery,

[471

"Thousand- Mile

W

zlk

was enriched with other interweaving species of

vines and brightly colored flowers.

This is the

first truly southern stream I have met.
At night I reached the home of a young man

with

whom

worked

Indiana,

Prater.

He was down

here on a visit to his

father and mother.

This was a

plain

back-

woods family, living out of sight among knobby
timbered hillocks not far from the river. The
evening was passed in mixed conversation on
southern and northern generalities.
September 24. Spent this day with Mr. Prater

sailing

Chattahoochee,

feasting

grapes that had dropped from the overhanging

vines.

This remarkable species of wild grape

has a stout stem, sometimes five or six inches
in diameter, smooth bark and hard wood, quite
unlike any other wild or cultivated grapevine

that I have seen.

The grapes are very large,

some

them

nearly

an inch

diameter,

globular and fine flavored.

Usually there are

but three or four berries in a duster, and when

mature

they drop off instead

decaying on

[48

River

Country

of Georgia

the vine.

Those which fall into the river

often found in large quantities in

the eddies

along the

men
wine.

bank,
boats

where they are collected

sometimes

made

I think another name for this grape is
cuppernong,1 though called "muscadine"

here.

Besides sailing on the river,

we had a long

walk among the plant bowers and tangles of
the Chattahoochee bottom lands.

September

family.

5. Bade good-bye to this friendly
Prater accompanied me a short

distance from the house and warned me over
and over again to be on the outlook for rattle-

snakes.

They are now leaving the damp low-

lands, he told me, so that the danger is much
greater because they are on their travels. Thus
warned, I set out for Savannah, but got lost
in the vine-fenced hills and hollows of the river

a The old Indian name for the southern species of fox-
grape, Vitis rotundifolia, which Muir describes here. Wood's
Botany listed it as Vitis vulpina L. and remarks "The va-
riety called 'Scuppernong' is quite common in southern
gardens."

[491

Thousand-Mile

W

alk

bottom.

Was unable to find the ford to which

I had been directed by Mr. Prater.

then

determined

to push

regardless of roads and fords.

on southward
After repeated

failures I succeeded in finding a place on the
river bank where I could force my way into the

stream through the vine-tangles.

I succeeded

in crossing the river by wading and swimming,
careless of wetting, knowing that I would soon
dry in the hot sunshine.

Out near the middle of

river

found

great difficulty in resisting the rapid current.
Though I braced myself with a stout stick, I
was at length carried away in spite of all my

efforts.

But I succeeded in swimming to the

shallows on

farther

side,

luckily

caught

hold

a rock, and

after a rest

swam

waded ashore.

Dragging myself up the steep

bank

by the overhanging vines, I

spread

myself, my paper money, and

plants

Debated

with

myself

whether

to proceed

down the river valley until I could buy a boat,
[ so]

River Country of Georgia

or lumber to make one, for

a march

through

Georgia.

a sail instead of
I was intoxicated

with the beauty of these glorious river banks,
which I fancied might increase in grandeur as

I approached the sea.

But I finally concluded

that such a pleasure sail would be less profit-
able than a walk, and so sauntered on south-

ward as

abundant.

soon

was

Lodged at a

Rattlesnakes

farmhouse.

Found a

few tropical plants in the garden.
Cotton is the principal crop hereabouts, and

picking is now going on merrily.

bolls are now ripe. Those
are green and unopened.

Only the lower

se higher on the plants
Higher still, there are

buds and flowers, some of which, if the plants

be thrifty and the season favorable,

will con-

tinue to produce ripe bolls until January.
The negroes are easy-going and merry, mak-
ing a great deal of noise and doing little work.
One energetic white man, working with a will,

would

easily pick

as much

cotton

as half

dozen Sambos and

Sallies.

The forest here is

almost entirely made up of dim-green, knotty,

7Thousand-Mile-

W

7lk

sparsely planted pines.

The soil is mostly white,

fine-grained sand.
September 26. Reached Athens in the after-
noon, a remarkably beautiful and aristocratic
town, containing many classic and magnificent

mansions of

wealthy

planters,

who

formerly

owned large negro-stocked

plantations in

best

cotton and

sugar regions farther south.

Unmistakable marks of culture and refinement,

as well as wealth,

were everywhere apparent.

This is the most beautiful town I have seen on

journey, so far,

and the only one in

South that I would like to revisit.
The negroes here have been well trained and

are extremely polite.

When they come in sight

a white

man

on the

road,

goes their

hats, even at a distance of forty or fifty yards,

and they walk bare-headed until he

is out of

sight.

September

Long

zigzag walk amid

plantations, a few of which are still cul-

tivated in

the old way by the same negroes

that worked

them

before
[ 52 1

the war,

who

River Country of Georgia

still occupy their former "quarters." They are
now paid seven to ten dollars a month.

The weather

lightly
thirsty

shaded,

is very
lowland

discovered

on these

levels.

a beautiful

When
spring

sandy,

very

sandstone basin overhung with shady bushes
and vines, where I enjoyed to the utmost the

blessing of pure cold water.

Discovered here

a fine

southern

fern,

some

new

grasses,

Fancied that I might have been directed here

by Providence,

while fainting with thirst.

is not often hereabouts that the joys of cool
water, cool shade, and rare plants are so de-
lightfully combined.
Witnessed the most gorgeous sunset I ever

enjoyed

bright world

of light.

sunny South is indeed sunny.

Was directed by

a very

civil negro to

lodgings for the night.

Daily bread hereabouts means sweet potatoes
and rusty bacon.

September

water oak

abundant

on stream banks and in damp hollows.

are becoming tall

Grasses

cane-like and

[I ss53

thousand-Mile

W

alk

cover the ground with their leaves as at the

North
now.

Strange plants are crowding about me

Scarce a familiar face appears among all

the flowers of the day's walk.

September 2g.

To-day

I met a magnificent

grass,
superb

ten or twelve

panicle of

m stature,

glossy purple

with

flowers.

leaves, too, are of princely mould and dimen-

sions.

Its home is in sunny meadows and along

the wet borders of slow streams and swamps.
It seems to be fully aware of its high rank, and
waves with the grace and solemn majesty of

a mountain pine.

I wish I could place one of

these regal plants among the grass settlements

of our Western prairies.

Surely every panicle

would wave and bow in joyous allegiance and
acknowledge their king.
September 30. Between Thomson and Augusta
I found many new and beautiful grasses, tall

gerardias, liatris,

club mosses, etc.

Here, too,

northern limit of

the remarkable long-

leafed pine, a tree from sixty to seventy

height,

from

twenty

to thirty

inches

[ 54]

.*

A SOUTHERN: PINE

River Country

of Georgia

diameter, with leaves ten to fifteen inches long,
in dense radiant masses at the ends of the naked

branches.
resinous.

The wood is strong, hard, and very
It makes excellent ship spars, bridge

timbers, and flooring.

Much of it is shipped to

the West India Islands, New

York, and Gal-

veston.
The seedlings, five'-osix years old, are very
striking objects to one from the North, con-

sisting,

as they

straight,

leafless

stem, surmounted by a crown of deep green

leaves,

arching

spreading

a palm.

Children fancy that they resemble brooms, and
use them as such in their picnic play-houses.

Pinus

palustris is

most abundant in Georgia

and Florida.
The sandy soil here is sparingly seamed with
rolled quartz pebbles and clay. Denudation, go-
ing on slowly, allows the thorough removal of

these clay seams, leaving only the sand.

Not-

withstanding the sandiness of the soil, much of
the surface of the country is covered with stand-
ing water, which is easily accounted for by the
[ss551

Thousand-Mile

W,

7ak

presence of the above-mentioned impermeable
seams.
Traveled to-day more than forty miles with-

out dinner

or supper.

No family would re-

ceive me, so I had to push on to Augusta.

Went

hungry to bed and awoke with a sore stomach
- sore, I suppose, from its walls rubbing on

each other without anything to grind.

kindly directed me to

A negro

hotel, called,

I think, the

Planter's.

Got a good

bed for a

dollar.

October

I. Found

a cheap

breakfast

market-place

then

set off

along the

Savan-

nah River to Savannah.

Splendid grasses and

rich, dense, vine-clad forests. Muscadine grapes
in cart-loads. Asters and solidagoes becoming

scarce.

Carices [sedges] quite rare. Leguminous

plants abundant.

A species of passion flower is

common, reaching back into

Tennessee.

It is

here called "apricot vine," has a superb flower,
and the most delicious fruit I have ever eaten.

The pomegranate is

cultivated

here.

fruit is about the size of an orange, has a thick,
I561

River

Country

of Georgia

tough skin, and when opened resembles a many-

chambered

translucent

purple

candies.
Toward evening I came to the country of one
of the most striking of southern plants, the so-

called

"Long

Moss"

or Spanish

Moss

[Til-

landsia], though it is a flowering plant and be-

longs

to the

"same

family

as the

pineapple

[Bromelworts].

The trees hereabouts have all

their branches draped with it, producing a re-
markable effect.
Here, too, I found an impenetrable cypress

swamp.

This remarkable tree, called cypress,

is a

taxodium, grows large and

high,

remarkable for its flat crown.

The whole forest

seems almost level on the top, as if each tree

had grown up against a ceiling,

or had been

rolled

while

growing.

This

taxodium

only level-topped tree that I have seen. The
branches, though spreading, are careful not to
pass each other, and stop suddenly on reach-
ing the general level, as if they had grown up
against a ceiling.

Thousand- Mile

[

71k

The groves and thickets of smaller trees are

full of blooming evergreen vines.

These vines

are not arranged in separate groups, or in deli-

cate wreaths,

but in bossy walls and heavy,

mound-like heaps and banks.

Am made to feel

that I am now in a strange land. I know hardly
any of the plants, but few of the birds, and I
am unable to see the country for the solemn,

dark,

mysterious cypress woods which

cover

everything.
The winds are full of strange sounds, making
one feel far from the people and plants and fruit-
ful fields of home. Night is coming on and I am

filled with indescribable loneliness.

Felt fever-

ish; bathed in a black, silent stream; nervously

watchful for alligators.

Obtained lodging in a

planter's

house among cotton fields.

Although

the family seemed

to be pretty well-off,

only light in the house was bits of pitch-pine
wood burned in the fireplace.

October

2. In the low bottom forest of the

Savannah River.

Very busy with new speci-

mens.

Most

exquisitely

planned

wrecks

[ 58

s'P\Nis l

MINS

1 7'///'// A, d

River Country

Agrostis scabra [Rough H

Georgia

air Grass].

Pines

glorious array with open, welcoming, approach-
able plants.
Met a young African with whom I had a long

talk.

Was amused with his eloquent narrative

coon hunting, alligators, and many super-

stations.

He showed me a place where a rail-

road train had run off the track, and assured
me that the ghosts of the killed may be seen
every dark night.

Had a long walk after sundown.

At last was

received at the house of Dr. Perkins. Saw Cape
Jasmine [Gardenia florida] in the garden. Heard

long recitals of war

happenings, discussion of

slave question,

and Northern

politics; a

thoroughly characteristic Southern family, re-

fined

in manners

kind,

immovably

prejudiced on everything connected with slav-
ery.
The family table was unlike any I ever saw

before.

It was circular, and the central part

of it revolved.

When any one wished

to be

helped, he placed his plate on

the revolving

[591

Thousand-Mile

WT

alk

part,

which was whirled around

to the host,

and then whirled back with its new load.

Thus

every

plate was

revolved into

place,

without

the assistance of any of the family.

October

"pine barrens"

most

day.
apart

Low, level, sandy tracts; the pines wide
; the sunny spaces between full of beau-

tiful

abounding

grasses,

liatris,

long,

wand-

like solidago, saw palmettos, etc., covering the

ground

garden style.

Here I sauntered

delightful freedom, meeting none of

the cat-

clawed
toms.

vines,

or shrubs,

of the

alluvial

Dwarf live-oaks common.

Toward evening I arrived at the home of Mr.

Cameron,
bands of

a wealthy

slaves

planter,

at work in his

who

large

cotton fields.

They still call him "Massa."

He tells me that

labor costs him less now than it did before the

emancipation of the negroes.

When I arrived

I found him busily engaged in scouring the rust
off some cotton-gin saws which had been ly-
ing for months at the bottom of his mill-pond

to prevent

Sherman's

bummerss" from

River Country of Georgia

trying them.

The most valuable parts of the

grist-mill

cotton-press

were

hidden

same way.

Sherman,

said,

"should

come

down

now without his

army,

he would never go back."
When I asked him if he could give me food

and lodging for the night he said,

"No, no, we

have no accommodations for travelers." I said,
"But I am traveling as a botanist and either
have to find lodgings when night overtakes me
or lie outdoors, which I often have had to do in

my long walk from Indiana.

But you see that

the country here is very swampy; if you will at
least sell me a piece of bread, and give me a
drink at your well, I shall have to look around
for a dry spot to lie down on."
Then, asking me a few questions, and nar-

rowly

examining

said,

"Well,

it is

barely possible

that we

may find a place

you, and if you will come to the house I will

ask my wife.

his wife'

Evidently he was cautious to get

opinion of the kind of creature I was

before committing himself to hospitality.

Thousand-Mile

Wr

alk

halted me at the door and called out his wife,
a fine-looking woman, who also questioned me
narrowly as to my object in coming so far down
through the South, so soon after the war. She
said to her husband that she thought they could,
perhaps, give me a place to sleep.
After supper, as we sat by the fire talking
on my favorite subject of botany, I described

the country I had
cal character, etc.

passed through, its botani-
Then, evidently, all doubt

as to my being a decent man

they both said

vanished, and

that they would n't for any-

thing have turned me away; but I must excuse
their caution, for perhaps fewer than one in a
hundred, who passed through this unfrequented

part of the country,

were to be relied upon.

"Only a short time ago we entertained a man
who was well spoken and well dressed, and he
vanished some time during the night with some
valuable silverware.""
Mr. Cameron told me that when I arrived
he tried me for a Mason, and finding that I was

not a Mason

wondered still

more

that I

River

Country of

Georgia

would venture into the country without being
able to gain the assistance of brother Masons
in these troublous times.
"Young man," he said, after hearing my talks

on botany,

that your hobby is botany.

My hobby is e-lec-tricity.

I believe that the

time is coming, though we may not live to see
it, when that mysterious power or force, used
now only for telegraphy, will eventually supply

power

running

railroad

trains

steamships, for lighting, and, in a word, elec-
tricity will do all the work of the world."
Many times since then I have thought of

the wonderfully correct vision of

this Georgia

planter, so far in advance of almost everybody

else in the world.

Already nearly all that he

foresaw has been accomplished, and the use of

electricity is being extended more

every year.
October 4.

more

New plants constantly appearing.

All day in dense, wet, dark, mysterious forest
of flat-topped taxodiums.

October

Saw the stately banana for the

[63 i

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