that to our
minds presaged calamity, and which, I may add, was altogether unlike the
usual indication of fatigue in animals which have travelled a great
distance. Had the tornado burst upon us, instead of passing off as it
did, it is very doubtful whether the hand that writes this would not
have been mingled with its native dust, in the arid sands of Florida;
for, as we rode on, we saw gigantic pine, cedar, and hiccory trees,
torn up by the roots, and scattered over the surrounding country, by
by-gone hurricanes, many of them hundreds of yards from the spot that
nurtured their roots--while the gnarled branches lying across our track,
scorched black-with the lightning, or from long exposure to a burning
sun, impeded our advance, and made the journey anything but pleasant.

The occurrence I have mentioned formed a topic of conversation for some
miles as we journeyed to our destination; and one of my companions
stated, that a few months before, when in the neighbourhood of
Pensacola, a hurricane came on unexpectedly, and caused great
devastation, unroofing the houses, tearing up trees, and filling the air
with branches and fragments of property. He happily escaped, although
his little estate, situated at Mardyke Enclosure, some short distance
from the town, was greatly injured, and some six or eight people were
crushed to death by the falling trees and ruins of houses.

CHAPTER VI.

"Before us visions come
Of slave-ships on Virginia's coast,
Of mothers in their childless home,
Like Rachel, sorrowing o'er the lost;
The slave-gang scourged upon its way.
The bloodhound and his human prey."--WHITTIER.

Florida produces oranges, peaches, plums, a species of cocoa-nut, and
musk and water-melons in abundance. The more open portions of the
country are dotted over with clumps of gnarled pines, of a very resinous
nature, white and red oak, hiccory, cedar, and cypress, and is in
general scantily clad with thin grass, fit only for deer to browse upon.
The dreary sameness of the interior of this desolate country is
distressing to the traveller; and the journey from one settlement to
another, through pine-forests, seems almost interminable.

One morning, a short time prior to my intended departure for
Tallahassee, I was roused before daybreak by a rifle-shot, which was
instantly followed by the cry of "Guard, turn out!" and much hubbub. As
this was no unusual occurrence, from the constant apprehe