1.  Read slowly, and a little at a time.  Take time to enjoy the writing.  Don't rush, or you’ll be frustrated.
2.  Skip the lists of plants and animals, and especially all those Latin names!
3.  Try to get a sense of the speaker, BORN 263 YEARS AGO.  What are his purposes in undertaking these travels and writing about them?  What does he care about?  What is his relation to "nature"? Look at the first few paragraphs. How does he present himself and his project?

Introduction:   This books contains some of the most extraordinary "nature writing" in all of North American literature.  That’s one reason we’re reading it.  Read through the introduction and then go back and reread a few of these descriptions:

-the yellow sarracenia
-"the extraordinary Dionea muscipula"
-vines and their tendrils (cirri)
-seeds
-"the animal creation"
-the death of two bears
-butterflies
-the spider and the bee
-birds

Part 1, Chapter 3:  Be patient with the description.  Something is about to happen.  Read the paragraph beginning "It may be proper to observe . . ." with great care.  Pay attention to the tone, the diction, and the shape of its narrative.  It’s an amazingly compact piece of writing.  Note the conclusions Bartram draws from this encounter.  Note, too, the description of the island I the next-to-last paragraph.  What does it remind you of?

Part 2, Chapter 5:  The most famous passage in Bartram, for obvious reasons.  He’s a great story-teller.  How does he manage this one to create the best effect?  Does his encounter with the alligators change his attitude toward nature in general?

Part 3, Chapter 1:  Compare the descriptions here with those in Part 1, Chapter 2.  Does the presence of slaves change Bartram’s tone?  What is their place on the land?  How does Bartram address the moral issue of slavery?