[Footnote 3: "_Return with it or upon it_" was the well-known injunction
of a Greek mother, as she handed her son his shield previous to the
fight.]

[Footnote 4: The mummy-wheat.]

* * * * *




THE PRAIRIE AND THE SWAMP.

AN ADVENTURE IN LOUISIANA.


It was a sultry September afternoon in the year 18--. My friend Carleton
and myself had been three days wandering about the prairies, and had
nearly filled our tin boxes and other receptacles with specimens of rare
and curious plants. But we had not escaped paying the penalty of our
zeal as naturalists, in the shape of a perfect roasting from the sun,
which had shot down its rays during the whole time of our ramble, with
an ardour only to be appreciated by those who have visited the
Louisianian prairies. What made matters worse our little store of wine
had been early expended; some Taffia, with which we had replenished our
flasks, had also disappeared; and the water we met with, besides being
rare, contained so much vegetable and animal mater, as to be undrinkable
unless qualified in some manner. In this dilemma, we came to a halt
under a clump of hickory trees, and dispatched Martin, Carleton's
Acadian servant, upon a voyage of discovery. He had assured us that we