The Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1822-1829, 1826-11-27

Boston. The writer is Rev. II. Flint,
author Of Ten years in the valley of the
Mississippi
REGION or FEVER AND AGuE, & ALGIGAToRs
Red River discharges its waters mo
the Mississippi by broad ami creeping
stream, through a vast and profound
swamp. 1t seems a deeep canal, its
dark surface ruifled only by the darling
of huge and strange fishes through it,
sluggish waters the ioaming path ol
the monstrous alligator, the shark oil rive
ers a thousand little silver fishes leap
ing from the water, and sparkling
like diamonds numberless ailieatols
| trdversing the waters III every direction,
and seeming to be logs possessing the
power of seli-direcGon on oec Jsioaaiiy
these Toys sinking one end IN thc water.
and raising the other in The an, ana
making a deep and triehtful below, be-
tween the hiss Ola serpent and the roar
ing of bull the Iahy and drouue
flight Of monStfous birds, slowly Flap
ping their wings, and carelessly sailing
along JuSt over the surface OF thesc dark
and mophitic waters, with savage and
ontlandish scream apparently all neck,
legs and feathers soil above the bank
greasy and slippery, with deposit Of
slime trees marked fourteen feet high
| by an overflow of half the year; gull
lies seventeonfeet deep,and large enough
to be the outlets Of rivers, covered at
the bottom with purifying logs, and con-
Meeting the river with broad and slug
gsh lakes, too tbickly covered with IA
coat of green buff to be RULED by the
winds VIII ich can scarcely find thir way
! through the dense forests; moecasin
snakes, writing thor huge and scaly
backs at the bottom of these dark gullies
-such was the scenery thai met my eye
rs | advanced through the first thirty
miles OF my entrance into that region,
which had been so embcllished BY my
fancy. / looked around me, D. The trees
as far as | could see, were tcstooncd
with the black and fmorCal drapery of
long moss. My eyes, my ears, and my
nostrls joined to admonish me that here
Fever had erected his throne. | went
on board my boat at the approach Of
night, and when,to get rid Of my thoughts,
] laid me down in my narrow and swell
tering birth, millions Of musquctors rais-
ed their dismal hum, and settled on my
face. Drive away the first thousand
stated with blood, and another thousand
succeeds, and, in that war there IS no
discharge. A hundred owls, perchcd
in the deep swamp, IN all the tones OF
screaming, hooting, gruntlng, and in
every note, from the cry Of an infant,
TO the growl ola bear, sing your rcqul-
UNI.
You rise from sleep attained under
such auspices, and crawl up the greasy
banks to the cabins Of the wood cutters.
You see here inhabitants of an appear
ance and countenance in full keeping
with the surrounding scenery. There is
scarcely one of them but what has a
monstous protuberance in the stomach,
sufficiently obvious 10 the eye, vulgany
called an ague cake yellowish white
complexion, finely described in the
language of the country, 'tallow face. ;
There is an indescribable Transparent
cy OF the skin, which seems 10 indicate
water between the cuticle and the flesh.
Eyes, preternahTally rolling and bril-
liant, glare in the centre Of large,
morbid circle, in which the hucs of red,
black and yellow are mixed. The
small children bear all these dismal
markings of the climate III miniature
Dirty and ragged, as mischieyons as
they are deformcd, they roll about upon
the slippery clay with an agility and al
ermess, from their appearance altogeth-
er incredible for you would suppose
them too feeble and clumsy to move.
There is something unique and cadaver-
Gus in the persons of both old and young.
You would suppose that the grave was
dug for them. But the more slender
and uncertain their hold Of life, the more
gaily they seem TO ENJOY IT. They
laugh, and shout, and drink and bias
pheme, and utter their tale of obseenity,
or, itmay be, of murder, with bachanal-
ian joyousness. Shut your eyes, and
You would suppose yoursclfin the midst
of the merriest group in the world. O.
pen them, and look opon the Iaughers,
and see the strange fire Of their eye,
and YOU would almost believe the chill
ing stories ofthc Vampires.
The first evening of my arrival in
these waters found MS at the point where
the Black, Red, and Tcnsas rivers min
gled their waters in an immense swamp,
checred by the note ofno bird of song,
unenlivcned by the hocks of healthtul
and edible fowls, as the geese, ducks,
and swans, and only vocal with the
slrill notes of the jay, the cawing Of
crows, and the wheeling flight Of number
less carrion vnlurcs, that prey on the
dead fish that float to the shores. On