brute creation. Numbers of deer, timorous and wild, ranged through the
trees, and herds of buffaloes were found grazing in the savanna. Above
his head the feathered tribes, more remarkable for the splendour of their
plumage than the harmony of their notes, would fly; whilst under his feet
would crawl innumerable reptiles and insects. Here it may not be improper
to enumerate some of the different kinds of living creatures found in the
country, and leave the particular description of them to the natural
historian.

[Sidenote] Of its animals.

Beyond doubt Carolina teems with animals both of the useful and hurtful
kind. The alligator, probably a species of the crocodile, is found here
nigh the rivers and ponds, and is very destructive to young creatures
about a plantation. He is perhaps the largest animal, except the
crocodile in Africa, of the ovarious kind. The bear is a fierce animal,
but in many respects a rich prize to the Indian hunter. The beaver is
also a native of Carolina, and his fur is a precious article of American
commerce. The racoon and oppossum are also natives of the country, and
scarcely found in any other continent. The latter demands the particular
notice of naturalists; its young are said to breed at the female's teats,
which is furnished with a double belly, into one of which, on the
appearance of danger, the young ones retreat, and are saved by being
carried up a tree. The leopard, the panther, the wolf, the fox, the
rabbit, wild and pole cats, are all found in the country, on which the
American hunter pours his vengeance. Squirrels of various kinds and
different hues are numerous here; one of which is called the flying
squirrel, not from its having wings like a bird, but from its being
furnished with a fine loose skin between its fore and hind legs, which it
contracts or expands at pleasure, and which buoys it up, and enables it