Word: bartram
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...most striking thing about the journals is Bartram's joy in "scenes of nature as yet unmodified by the hand of man." The dark forests are not at all frightening to him. Rather, they are "delightful," "shady," "cool," "verdant." Except for a few references to "musquitoes," he seems either not to have encountered chiggers, horseflies and other such pests, or else to be oblivious to them. As to the real dangers of the wilderness, Bartram believes that studying nature reveals above all "the power of the Creator...
Being alone and unprotected in the wilds does pose a few hazards, however. In Florida Bartram went through one hurricane so strong that huge liveoak branches flew about in the air as if they were mere "leaves and stubble." Bartram also records that he has met venomous snakes: the "bastard rattle snake" and the "large and horrid" moccasin, which has a bite that is "always incurable." He has seen wolves, bears and wildcats too, but to date the only creature that has actually threatened his life is the Florida alligator...
...particularly awesome beast, at least in Bartram's description: "Behold him rushing from the flags and reeds. His enormous body swells. His plaited tail, brandished high, floats upon the lake. The waters like a cataract descend from his opening jaws. Clouds of smoke issue from his dilated nostrils. The earth trembles with his thunder." Nonetheless, when Bartram's cockleshell of a boat was attacked by a giant alligator on a Florida lake, the naturalist beat at it with a club "until he withdrew sullenly and slowly into the water, looking at me and seeming neither fearful...
...Indians, whom other travelers have found to be fickle and fierce, Bartram has had no trouble. Indeed, he sees the red men as dwellers in a sort of paradise, well supplied with food and shelter. The Seminoles of Florida, he writes, are "as blithe and free as the birds of the air, and like them as volatile and active, tuneful and vociferous." All Indians are a long way from being ignorant savages, he observes: "These people are both well-tutored and civil ... It is from the most delicate sense of the honour and reputation of their tribes and families that...
Having witnessed a ceremony in which the merchants of Georgia received at least 2 million acres from the Creeks and Cherokees as "a discharge of their debts," Bartram has no doubt that the encroachments will continue. Nor will his own words, if they are ever published, dissuade Americans from pressing ever deeper into Indian lands. Wherever he goes, he reports on natural marvels-enchanting springs, crystal lakes, whole hillsides blazing with azaleas, potentially rich farm lands -that are sure to entice others to brave the wilds and tame them too. Bartram himself is next going into the largely unexplored territory...