Sights in Bygone Days

Excerpt from Francis Harper’s Mammals of the Okefinokee Swamp, published March 1927:

“Long field experience and rare powers of observation have made the contributions of the Okefinokee hunters of extraordinary value. At all seasons they have been abroad in the swamp in pursuit of the game and fur-bearing animals, navigating the expansive prairies and gloomy cypress bays, and making their bivouacs in spots far removed from signs of civilization; they have followed the baying hounds through the piney woods; they have matched wits with the Otter and come to grips with the Bear; they found the lair of the Cougar; they have expressed appreciation of the beauty of their wilderness environment; they have delved into the supernatural and woven the doings of the swamp denizens into their folklore. So they have acquired a vast store of intimate knowledge of the life of the Okefinokee; they have seen sights in bygone days such as will not be witnessed again; they have opened many pages in the book of nature that remain closed, or at best but half-open, to the zoological visitor.”