The Westover Manuscripts - Pages 22-40



Page 22

   Since the surveyors had entered the Dismal, they had laid eyes on no 
living creature: neither bird nor beast, insect nor reptile came in view. 
Doubtless, the eternal shade that broods over this mighty bog, and hinders 
the sunbeams from blessing the ground, makes it an uncomfortable 
habitation for any thing that has life. Not so much as a Zealand frog 
could endure so aguish a situation. It had one beauty, however, that 
delighted the eye, though at the expense of all the other senses: the 
moisture of the soil preserves a continual verdure, and makes every plant 
an evergreen but at the same time the foul damps ascend without ceasing, 
corrupt the air, and render it unfit for respiration. Not even a turkey 
buzzard will venture to fly over it, no more than the Italian vultures 
will over the filthy lake Avernus, or the birds in the Holy Land, over the 
Salt sea, where Sodom and Gomorrah formerly stood.

   In these sad circumstances, the kindest thing we could do for our 
suffering friends was to give them a place in the Litany. Our chaplain, 
for his part, did his office, and rubbed us up with a seasonable sermon. 
This was quite a new thing to our brethren of North Carolina, who live in 
a climate where no clergyman can breathe, any more than spiders in Ireland.

   For want of men in holy orders, both the members of the council and 
justices of the peace are empowered by the laws of that country to marry 
all those who will not take one another's word; but for the ceremony of 
christening their children, they trust that to chance. If a parson come in 
their way, they will crave a cast of his office, as they call it, else 
they are content their offspring should remain as arrant pagans as 
themselves. They account it among their greatest advantages that they are 
not priest-ridden, not remembering that the clergy is rarely guilty of 
bestriding such as have the misfortune to be poor. One thing may be said 
for the inhabitants of that province, that they are not troubled with any 
religious fumes, and have the least superstition of any people living. 
They do not know Sunday from any other day, any more than Robinson Crusoe 
did, which would give them a great advantage were they given to be 
industrious. But they keep so many sabbaths every week, that their 
disregard of the seventh day has no manner of cruelty in it, either to 
servants or cattle. It was with some difficulty we could make our people 
quit the good cheer they met with at this house, so it was late before we 
took our departure; but to make us amends, our landlord was so good as to 
conduct us ten miles on our way, as far as the Cypress swamp, which drains 
itself into the Dismal. Eight miles beyond that we forded the waters of 
the Coropeak, which tend the same way as do many others on that side. In 
six miles more we reached the plantation of Mr. Thomas Spight, a grandee 
of North Carolina. We found the good man upon his crutches, being crippled 
with the gout in both his knees. Here we flattered ourselves we should by 
this time meet with good tidings of the surveyors, but had reckoned, alas! 
without our host: on the contrary, we were told the Dismal was at least 
thirty miles wide in that place. However, as nobody could say this on his 
own knowledge, we ordered guns to be fired and a drum to be beaten, but 
received no answer, unless it was from that prating nymph Echo, who, like 
a loquacious wife, will always have the last word, and sometimes return 
three for one. It was indeed no wonder our signal was not heard at that 
time, by the people in the Dismal, because, in truth, they had not then 
penetrated one third of their way. They had that morning fallen to work 
with great vigour; and, finding the ground better than ordinary, drove on 
the line two miles and thirty-eight poles. This was reckoned an Herculean 
day's work, and yet they would not have stopped there, had not an 
impenetrable cedar thicket checked their industry. Our landlord had seated 
himself on the borders of this Dismal, for the advantage of the green 

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food his cattle find there all winter, and for the rooting that supports 
his hogs. This, I own, is some convenience to his purse, for which his 
whole family pay dear in their persons, for they are devoured by 
mosquitoes all the summer, and have agues every spring and fall, which 
corrupt all the juices of their bodies, give them a cadaverous complexion, 
and besides a lazy, creeping habit, which they never get rid of.

   We ordered several men to patrol on the edge of the Dismal, both 
towards the north and towards the south, and to fire guns at proper 
distances. This they performed very punctually, but could hear nothing in 
return, nor gain any sort of intelligence. In the mean time whole flocks 
of women and children flew hither to stare at us, with as much curiosity 
as if we had lately landed from Bantam or Morocco. Some borderers, too, 
had a great mind to know where the line would come out, being for the most 
part apprehensive lest their lands should be taken into Virginia. In that 
case they must have submitted to some sort of order and government; 
whereas, in North Carolina, every one does what seems best in his own 
eyes. There were some good women that brought their children to be 
baptized, but brought no capons along with them to make the solemnity 
cheerful. In the mean time it was strange that none came to be married in 
such a multitude, if it had only been for the novelty of having their 
hands joined by one in holy orders. Yet so it was, that though our 
chaplain christened above a hundred, he did not marry so much as one 
couple during the whole expedition. But marriage is reckoned a lay 
contract in Carolina, as I said before, and a country justice can tie the 
fatal knot there, as fast as an archbishop. None of our visiters could, 
however, tell us any news of the surveyors, nor indeed was it possible any 
of them should at that time, they being still laboring in the midst of the 
Dismal. It seems they were able to carry the link this day no further than 
one mile and sixty-one poles, and that whole distance was through a miry 
cedar bog, where the ground trembled under their feet most frightfully. In 
many places too their passage was retarded by a great number of fallen 
trees, that lay horsing upon one another. Though many circumstances 
concurred to make this an unwholesome situation, yet the poor men had no 
time to be sick, nor can one conceive a more calamitous case than it would 
have been to be laid up in that uncomfortable quagmire. Never were 
patients more tractable, or willing to take physic, than these honest 
fellows; but it was from a dread of laying their bones in a bog that would 
soon spew them up again. That consideration also put them upon more 
caution about their lodging. They first covered the ground with square 
pieces of cypress bark, which now, in the spring, they could easily slip 
off the tree for that purpose. On this they spread their bedding; but 
unhappily the weight and warmth of their bodies made the water rise up 
betwixt the joints of the bark, to their great inconvenience. Thus they 
lay not only moist, but also exceedingly cold, because their fires were 
continually going out. For no sooner was the trash upon the surface burnt 
away, but immediately the fire was extinguished by the moisture of the 
soil, insomuch that it was great part of the sentinel's business to 
rekindle it again in a fresh place, every quarter of an hour. Nor could 
they indeed do their duty better, because cold was the only enemy they had 
to guard against in a miserable morass, where nothing can inhabit.

   20th. We could get no tidings yet of our brave adventurers, 
notwithstanding we despatched men to the likeliest stations to inquire 
after them. They were still scuffling in the mire, and could not possibly 
forward the line this whole day more than one mile and sixty-four chains. 
Every step of this day's work was through a cedar bog, where the trees 
were somewhat smaller and grew more into a thicket. It was now a great 
misfortune to the men to find their provisions grow less as their labour 
grew greater; they were all forced 

Page 24

to come to short allowance, and consequently to work hard without filling 
their bellies. Though this was very severe upon English stomachs, yet the 
people were so far from being discomfited at it, that they still kept up 
their good humour, and merrily told a young fellow in the company, who 
looked very plump and wholesome, that he must expect to go first to pot, 
if matters should come to extremity. This was only said by way of jest, 
yet it made him thoughtful in earnest. However, for the present he 
returned them a very civil answer, letting them know that, dead or alive, 
he should be glad to be useful to such worthy good friends. But, after 
all, this humorous saying had one very good effect, for that younker, who 
before was a little inclined by his constitution to be lazy, grew on a 
sudden extremely industrious, that so there might be less occasion to 
carbonade him for the good of his fellow travellers. While our friends 
were thus embarrassed in the Dismal, the commissioners began to lie under 
great uneasiness for them. They knew very well their provisions must by 
this time begin to fall short, nor could they conceive any likely means of 
a supply. At this time of the year both the cattle and hogs had forsaken 
the skirts of the Dismal, invited by the springing grass on the firm land. 
All our hopes were that Providence would cause some wild game to fall in 
their way, or else direct them to a wholesome vegetable for their 
subsistence. In short they were haunted with so many frights on this 
occasion, that they were in truth more uneasy than the persons whose case 
they lamented. We had several visiters from Edenton, in the afternoon, 
that came with Mr. Gale, who had prudently left us at Coratuck, to scuffle 
through that dirty country by ourselves. These gentlemen, having good 
noses, had smelled out, at thirty miles' distance, the precious liquor 
with which the liberality of our good friend Mr. Mead had just before 
supplied us. That generous person had judged very right, that we were now 
got out of the latitude of drink proper for men in affliction, and 
therefore was so good as to send his cart loaded with all sorts of 
refreshments, for which the commissioners returned him their thanks, and 
the chaplain his blessing.

   21st. The surveyors and their attendants began now in good earnest to 
be alarmed with apprehensions of famine, nor could they forbear looking 
with some sort of appetite upon a dog which had been the faithful 
companion of their travels. Their provisions were now near exhausted. They 
had this morning made the last distribution, that so each might husband 
his small pittance as he pleased. Now it was that the fresh coloured young 
man began to tremble every joint of him, having dreamed, the night before, 
that the Indians were about to barbacue him over live coals. The prospect 
of famine determined the people, at last, with one consent, to abandon the 
line for the present, which advanced but slowly, and make the best of 
their way to firm land. Accordingly they set off very early, and, by the 
help of the compass which they carried along with them, steered a direct 
westwardly course. They marched from morning till night, and computed 
their journey to amount to about four miles, which was a great way, 
considering the difficulties of the ground. It was all along a cedar 
swamp, so dirty and perplexed, that if they had not travelled for their 
lives, they could not have reached so far. On their way they espied a 
turkey buzzard, that flew prodigiously high to get above the noisome 
exhalations that ascend from that filthy place. This they were willing to 
understand as a good omen, according to the superstition of the ancients, 
who had great faith in the flight of vultures. However, after all this 
tedious journey, they could yet discover no end of their toil, which made 
them very pensive, especially after they had eaten the last morsel of 
their provisions. But to their unspeakable comfort, when all was hushed in 
the evening, they heard the cattle low, and the dogs bark, very 
distinctly, which, to men in that distress, was more delightful music than 
Faustina or Farinelli 

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could have made. In the mean time the commissioners could get no news of 
them from any of their visiters, who assembled from every point of the 
compass. But the good landlord had visiters of another kind while we were 
there, that is to say, some industrious masters of ships, that lay in 
Nansemond river. These worthy commanders came to bespeak tobacco from 
these parts to make up their loadings, in contempt of the Virginia law, 
which positively forbade their taking in any made in North Carolina. Nor 
was this restraint at all unreasonable; because they have no law in 
Carolina, either to mend the quality or lessen the quantity of tobacco, or 
so much as to prevent the turning out of seconds, all which cases have 
been provided against by the laws of Virginia. Wherefore, there can be no 
reason why the inhabitants of that province should have the same advantage 
of shipping their tobacco in our parts, when they will by no means submit 
to the same restrictions that we do.

   22d. Our patrol happened not to go far enough to the northward this 
morning, if they had, the people in the Dismal might have heard the report 
of their guns. For this reason they returned without any tidings, which 
threw us into a great though unnecessary perplexity. This was now the 
ninth day since they entered into that inhospitable swamp, and 
consequently we had reason to believe their provisions were quite spent. 
We knew they worked hard, and therefore would eat heartily, so long as 
they had wherewithal to recruit their spirits, not imagining the swamp so 
wide as they found it. Had we been able to guess where the line would come 
out, we would have sent men to meet them with a fresh supply; but as we 
could know nothing of that, and as we had neither compass nor surveyor to 
guide a messenger on such an errand, we were unwilling to expose him to no 
purpose; therefore, all we were able to do for them, in so great an 
extremity, was to recommend them to a merciful Providence. However long we 
might think the time, yet we were cautious of showing our uneasiness, for 
fear of mortifying our landlord. He had done his best for us, and 
therefore we were unwilling he should think us dissatisfied with our 
entertainment. In the midst of our concern, we were most agreeably 
surprised, just after dinner, with the news that the Dismalites were all 
safe. These blessed tidings were brought to us by Mr. Swan, the Carolina 
surveyor, who came to us in a very tattered condition. After very short 
salutations, we got about him as if he had been a Hottentot, and began to 
inquire into his adventures. He gave us a detail of their uncomfortable 
voyage through the Dismal, and told us, particularly, they had pursued 
their journey early that morning, encouraged by the good omen of seeing 
the crows fly over their heads; that, after an hour's march over very 
rotten ground, they, on a sudden, began to find themselves among tall 
pines, that grew in the water, which in many places was knee deep. This 
pine swamp, into which that of Coropeak drained itself, extended near a 
mile in breadth; and though it was exceedingly wet, yet it was much harder 
at bottom than the rest of the swamp; that about ten in the morning they 
recovered firm land, which they embraced with as much pleasure as 
shipwrecked wretches do the shore. After these honest adventurers had 
congratulated each other's deliverance, their first inquiry was for a good 
house, where they might satisfy the importunity of their stomachs. Their 
good genius directed them to Mr. Brinkley's, who dwells a little to the 
southward of the line. This man began immediately to be very inquisitive, 
but they declared they had no spirits to answer questions, till after 
dinner. "But pray, gentlemen," said he, "answer me one question at least: 
what shall we get for your dinner?" To which they replied, "No matter 
what, so it be but enough." He kindly supplied their wants as soon as 
possible, and by the strength of that refreshment they made a shift to 
come to us in the evening, to tell their own story. They all 

Page 26

looked very thin, and as ragged as the Gibeonite ambassadors did in the 
days of yore.

   Our surveyors told us they had measured ten miles in the Dismal, and 
computed the distance they had marched since to amount to about five more, 
so they made the whole breadth to be fifteen miles in all.

   23d. It was very reasonable that the surveyors, and the men who had 
been sharers in their fatigue, should now have a little rest. They were 
all, except one, in good health and good heart, blessed be God! 
notwithstanding the dreadful hardships they had gone through. It was 
really a pleasure to see the cheerfulness wherewith they received the 
order to prepare to re-enter the Dismal on the Monday following, in order 
to continue the line from the place where they had left off measuring, 
that so we might have the exact breadth of that dirty place. There were no 
more than two of them that could be persuaded to be relieved on this 
occasion, or suffer the other men to share the credit of that bold 
undertaking, neither would these have suffered it had not one of them been 
very lame, and the other much indisposed. By the description the surveyors 
gave of the Dismal, we were convinced that nothing but the exceeding dry 
season we had been blessed with could have made the passing of it 
practicable. It is the source of no less than five several rivers which 
discharge themselves southwest into Albemarle sound, and of two that run 
northerly into Virginia. From thence it is easy to imagine that the soil 
must be thoroughly soaked with water, or else there must be plentiful 
stores of it under ground; to supply so many rivers; especially since 
there is no lake, or any considerable body of that element to be seen on 
the surface. The rivers that head in it from Virginia are the south branch 
of Nansemond, and the west branch of Elizabeth; and those from Carolina 
are North-west river, North river, Pasquotank, Little river, and Pequimons.

   There is one remarkable part of the Dismal, lying to the south of the 
line, that has few or no trees growing on it, but contains a large tract 
of tall reeds. These being green all the year round, and wavering with 
every wind, have procured it the name of the Green sea. We are not yet 
acquainted with the precise extent of the Dismal, the whole having never 
been surveyed; but it may be computed at a medium to be about thirty miles 
long and ten miles broad, though where the line crossed it, it was 
completely fifteen miles wide. But it seems to grow narrower towards the 
north, or at least does so in many places. The exhalations that 
continually rise from this vast body of mire and nastiness infect the air 
for many miles round, and render it very unwholesome for the bordering 
inhabitants. It makes them liable to agues, pleurisies, and many other 
distempers, that kill abundance of people, and make the rest look no 
better than ghosts. It would require a great sum of money to drain it, but 
the public treasure could not be better bestowed, than to preserve the 
lives of his majesty's liege people, and at the same time render so great 
a tract of swamp very profitable, besides the advantage of making a 
channel to transport by water carriage goods from Albemarle sound into 
Nansemond and Elizabeth rivers, in Virginia.

   24th. This being Sunday, we had a numerous congregation, which flocked 
to our quarters from all the adjacent country. The news that our surveyors 
were come out of the Dismal, increased the number very much, because it 
would give them an opportunity of guessing, at least, whereabouts the line 
would cut, whereby they might form some judgment whether they belonged to 
Virginia or Carolina. Those who had taken up land within the disputed 
bounds were in great pain lest it should be found to lie in Virginia; 
because this being done contrary to an express order of that government, 
the patentees had great reason to fear they should in that case have lost 
their land. But 

Page 27

their apprehensions were now at an end, when they understood that all the 
territory which had been controverted was like to be left in Carolina. In 
the afternoon, those who were to re-enter the Dismal were furnished with 
the necessary provisions, and ordered to repair the over-night to their 
landlord, Peter Brinkley's, that they might be ready to begin their 
business early on Monday morning. Mr. Irvin was excused from the fatigue, 
in compliment to his lungs; but Mr. Mayo and Mr. Swan were robust enough 
to return upon that painful service, and, to do them justice, they went 
with great alacrity. The truth was, they now knew the worst of it; and 
could guess pretty near at the time when they might hope to return to land 
again.

   25th. The air was chilled this morning with a smart north-west wind, 
which favoured the Dismalites in their dirty march. They returned by the 
path they had made in coming out, and with great industry arrived in the 
evening at the spot where the line had been discontinued. After so long 
and laborious a journey, they were glad to repose themselves on their 
couches of cypress-bark, where their sleep was as sweet as it would have 
been on a bed of Finland down. In the mean time, we who stayed behind had 
nothing to do, but to make the best observations we could upon that part 
of the country. The soil of our landlord's plantation, though none of the 
best, seemed more fertile than any thereabouts, where the ground is near 
as sandy as the deserts of Africa, and consequently barren. The road 
leading from thence to Edenton, being in distance about twenty-seven 
miles, lies upon a ridge called Sandy ridge, which is so wretchedly poor 
that it will not bring potatoes. The pines in this part of the country are 
of a different species from those that grow in Virginia: their bearded 
leaves are much longer and their cones much larger. Each cell contains a 
seed of the size and figure of a black-eye pea, which, shedding in 
November, is very good mast for hogs, and fattens them in a short time. 
The smallest of these pines are full of cones, which are eight or nine 
inches long, and each affords commonly sixty or seventy seeds. This kind 
of mast has the advantage of all other, by being more constant, and less 
liable to be nipped by the frost, or eaten by the caterpillars. The trees 
also abound more with turpentine, and consequently yield more tar, than 
either the yellow or the white pine; and for the same reason make more 
durable timber for building. The inhabitants hereabouts pick up knots of 
lightwood in abundance, which they burn into tar, and then carry it to 
Norfolk or Nansemond for a market. The tar made in this method is the less 
valuable, because it is said to burn the cordage, though it is full as 
good for all other uses, as that made in Sweden and Muscovy. Surely there 
is no place in the world where the inhabitants live with less labour than 
in North Carolina. It approaches nearer to the description of Lubberland 
than any other, by the great felicity of the climate, the easiness of 
raising provisions, and the slothfulness of the people. Indian corn is of 
so great increase, that a little pains will subsist a very large family 
with bread, and then they may have meat without any pains at all, by the 
help of the low grounds, and the great variety of mast that grows on the 
high land. The men, for their parts, just like the Indians, impose all the 
work upon the poor women. They make their wives rise out of their beds 
early in the morning, at the same time that they lie and snore, till the 
sun has risen one third of his course, and dispersed all the unwholesome 
damps. Then, after stretching and yawning for half an hour, they light 
their pipes, and, under the protection of a cloud of smoke, venture out 
into the open air; though, if it happens to be never so little cold, they 
quickly return shivering into the chimney corner. When the weather is 
mild, they stand leaning with both their arms upon the corn-field fence, 
and gravely consider whether they had best go and take a small heat at the 
hoe: but generally find reasons to put it off till another time. Thus they 
loiter 

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away their lives, like Solomon's sluggard, with their arms across, and at 
the winding up of the year scarcely have bread to eat. To speak the truth, 
it is a thorough aversion to labor that makes people file off to North 
Carolina, where plenty and a warm sun confirm them in their disposition to 
laziness for their whole lives.

   26th. Since we were like to be confined to this place, till the people 
returned out of the Dismal, it was agreed that our chaplain might safely 
take a turn to Edenton, to preach the Gospel to the infidels there, and 
christen their children. He was accompanied thither by Mr. Little, one of 
the Carolina commissioners, who, to show his regard for the church, 
offered to treat him on the road with a fricassee of rum. They fried half 
a dozen rashers of very fat bacon in a pint of rum, both which being 
dished up together, served the company at once both for meat and drink. 
Most of the rum they get in this country comes from New England, and is so 
bad and unwholesome, that it is not improperly called "kill-devil." It is 
distilled there from foreign molasses, which, if skilfully managed, yields 
near gallon for gallon. Their molasses comes from the same country, and 
has the name of "long sugar" in Carolina, I suppose from the ropiness of 
it, and serves all the purposes of sugar, both in their eating and 
drinking. When they entertain their friends bountifully, they fail not to 
set before them a capacious bowl of Bombo, so called from the admiral of 
that name. This is a compound of rum and water in equal parts, made 
palatable with the said long sugar. As good humour begins to flow, and the 
bowl to ebb, they take care to replenish it with sheer rum, of which there 
always is a reserve under the table. But such generous doings happen only 
when that balsam of life is plenty; for they have often such melancholy 
times, that neither landgraves nor cassiques can procure one drop for 
their wives, when they lie in, or are troubled with the colic or vapours. 
Very few in this country have the industry to plant orchards, which, in a 
dearth of rum, might supply them with much better liquor. The truth is, 
there is one inconvenience that easily discourages lazy people from making 
this improvement: very often, in autumn, when the apples begin to ripen, 
they are visited with numerous flights of paroquets, that bite all the 
fruit to pieces in a moment, for the sake of the kernels. The havoc they 
make is sometimes so great, that whole orchards are laid waste in spite of 
all the noises that can be made, or mawkins that can be dressed up, to 
fright them away. These ravenous birds visit North Carolina only during 
the warm season, and so soon as the cold begins to come on, retire back 
towards the sun. They rarely venture so far north as Virginia, except in a 
very hot summer, when they visit the most southern parts of it. They are 
very beautiful; but like some other pretty creatures; are apt to be loud 
and mischievous.

   27th. Betwixt this and Edenton there are many whortleberry slashes, 
which afford a convenient harbour for wolves and foxes. The first of these 
wild beasts is not so large and fierce as they are in other countries more 
northerly. He will not attack a man in the keenest of his hunger, but run 
away from him, as from an animal more mischievous than himself. The foxes 
are much bolder, and will sometimes not only make a stand, but likewise 
assault any one that would balk them of their prey. The inhabitants 
hereabouts take the trouble to dig abundance of wolf-pits, so deep and 
perpendicular, that when a wolf is once tempted into them, he can no more 
scramble out again, than a husband who has taken the leap can scramble out 
of matrimony. Most of the houses in this part of the country are log-
houses, covered with pine or cypress shingles, three feet long, and one 
broad. They are hung upon laths with pegs, and their doors too turn upon 
wooden hinges, and have wooden locks to secure them, so that the building 
is finished without nails or other iron work. They also set up their pales 

Page 29

without any nails at all, and indeed more securely than those that are 
nailed. There are three rails mortised into the posts, the lowest of which 
serves as a sill with a groove in the middle, big enough to receive the 
end of the pales: the middle part of the pale rests against the inside of 
the next rail, and the top of it is brought forward to the outside of the 
uppermost. Such wreathing of the pales in and out makes them stand firm, 
and much harder to unfix than when nailed in the ordinary way.

   Within three or four miles of Edenton, the soil appears to be a little 
more fertile, though it is much cut with slashes, which seem all to have a 
tendency towards the Dismal. This town is situated on the north side of 
Albemarle sound, which is there about five miles over. A dirty slash runs 
all along the back of it, which in the summer is a foul annoyance, and 
furnishes abundance of that Carolina plague, mosquitoes. There may be 
forty or fifty houses, most of them small, and built without expense. A 
citizen here is counted extravagant, if he has ambition enough to aspire 
to a brick chimney. Justice herself is but indifferently lodged, the court-
house having much the air of a common tobacco-house. I believe this is the 
only metropolis in the Christian or Mahometan world, where there is 
neither church, chapel, mosque, synagogue, or any other place of public 
worship of any sect or religion whatsoever. What little devotion there may 
happen to be is much more private than their vices. The people seem easy 
without a minister, as long as they are exempted from paying him. 
Sometimes the Society for propagating the Gospel has had the charity to 
send over missionaries to this country; but unfortunately the priest has 
been too lewd for the people, or, which oftener happens, they too lewd for 
the priest. For these reasons these reverend gentlemen have always left 
their flocks as arrant heathen as they found them. Thus much however may 
be said for the inhabitants of Edenton, that not a soul has the least 
taint of hyprocrisy, or superstition, acting very frankly and above-board 
in all their excesses.

   Provisions here are extremely cheap, and extremely good, so that people 
may live plentifully at a trifling expense. Nothing is dear but law, 
physic, and strong drink, which are all bad in their kind, and the last 
they get with so much difficulty, that they are never guilty of the sin of 
suffering it to sour upon their hands. Their vanity generally lies not so 
much in having a handsome dining-room, as a handsome house of office: in 
this kind of structure they are really extravagant. They are rarely guilty 
of flattering or making any court to their governors, but treat them with 
all the excesses of freedom and familiarity. They are of opinion their 
rulers would be apt to grow insolent, if they grew rich, and for that 
reason take care to keep them poorer, and more dependent, if possible, 
than the saints in New England used to do their governors. They have very 
little corn, so they are forced to carry on their home traffic with paper 
money. This is the only cash that will tarry in the country, and for that 
reason the discount goes on increasing between that and real money, and 
will do so to the end of the chapter.

   28th. Our time passed heavily in our quarters, where we were quite 
cloyed with the Carolina felicity of having nothing to do. It was really 
more insupportable than the greatest fatigue, and made us even envy the 
drudgery of our friends in the Dismal. Besides, though the men we had with 
us were kept in exact discipline, and behaved without reproach, yet our 
landlord began to be tired of them, fearing they would breed a famine in 
his family. Indeed, so many keen stomachs made great havoc amongst the 
beef and bacon which he had laid in for his summer provision, nor could he 
easily purchase more, at that time of the year, with the money we paid 
him, because people having no certain market seldom provide any more of 
these commodities than will barely supply their own occasions. Besides the 

Page 30

weather was now grown too warm to lay in a fresh stock so late in the 
spring. These considerations abated somewhat of that cheerfulness with 
which he bade us welcome in the beginning, and made him think the time 
quite as long as we did until the surveyors returned. While we were thus 
all hands uneasy, we were comforted with the news that this afternoon the 
line was finished through the Dismal. The messenger told us it had been 
the hard work of three days to measure the length of only five miles, and 
mark the trees as they passed along, and by the most exact survey they 
found the breadth of the Dismal in this place to be completely fifteen 
miles. How wide it may be in other parts, we can give no account, but 
believe it grows narrower towards the north; possibly towards Albemarle 
sound it may be something broader, where so many rivers issue out of it. 
All we know for certain is, that from the place where the line entered the 
Dismal, to where it came out, we found the road round that portion of it 
which belonged to Virginia to be about sixty-five miles. How great the 
distance may be from each of those points, round that part that falls 
within the bounds of Carolina, we had no certain information: though it is 
conjectured it cannot be so little as thirty miles. At which rate the 
whole circuit must be about a hundred. What a mass of mud and dirt is 
treasured up within this filthy circumference, and what a quantity of 
water must perpetually drain into it from the rising ground that surrounds 
it on every side? Without taking the exact level of the Dismal, we may be 
sure that it declines towards the places where the several rivers take 
their rise, in order to carrying off the constant supplies of water. Were 
it not for such discharges, the whole swamp would long since have been 
converted into a lake. On the other side this declension must be very 
gentle, else it would be laid perfectly dry by so many continual drains; 
whereas, on the contrary, the ground seems every where to be thoroughly 
drenched even in the driest season of the year. The surveyors concluded 
this day's work with running twenty-five chains up into the firm land, 
where they waited further orders from the commissioners.

   29th. This day the surveyors proceeded with the line no more than one 
mile and fifteen chains, being interrupted by a mill swamp, through which 
they made no difficulty of wading, in order to make their work more exact. 
Thus, like Norway mice, these worthy gentlemen went right forward, without 
suffering themselves to be turned out of the way by any obstacle whatever. 
We are told by some travellers, that those mice march in mighty armies, 
destroying all the fruits of the earth as they go along. But something 
peculiar to those obstinate little animals is, that nothing stops them in 
their career, and if a house happen to stand in their way, disdaining to 
go an inch about, they crawl up one side of it, and down the other: or if 
they meet with any river, or other body of water, they are so determined, 
that they swim directly over it, without varying one point from their 
course for the sake of any safety or convenience. The surveyors were also 
hindered some time by setting up posts in the great road, to show the 
bounds between the two colonies.

   Our chaplain returned to us in the evening from Edenton, in company 
with the Carolina commissioners. He had preached there in the court-house, 
for want of a consecrated place, and made no less than nineteen of father 
Hennepin's Christians.

   By the permission of the Carolina commissioners, Mr. Swan was allowed 
to go home, as soon as the survey of the Dismal was finished; he met with 
this indulgence for a reason that might very well have excused his coming 
at all; namely, that he was lately married. What remained of the drudgery 
for this season was left to Mr. Mosely, who had hitherto acted only in the 
capacity of a commissioner. They offered to employ Mr. Joseph Mayo as 

Page 31

their surveyor in Mr. Swan's stead, but he thought it not proper to accept 
of it, because he had hitherto acted as a volunteer in behalf of Virginia, 
and did not care to change sides, though it might have been to his 
advantage.

   30th. The line was advanced this day six miles and thirty-five chains, 
the woods being pretty clear, and interrupted with no swamp, or other wet 
ground. The land hereabout had all the marks of poverty, being for the 
most part sandy and full of pines. This kind of ground, though unfit for 
ordinary tillage, will however bring cotton and pototoes in plenty, and 
consequently food and raiment to such as are easily contented, and, like 
the wild Irish, find more pleasure in laziness than luxury. It also makes 
a shift to produce Indian corn, rather by the felicity of the climate than 
by the fertility of the soil. They who are more industrious than their 
neighbours may make what quantity of tar they please, though indeed they 
are not always sure of a market for it. The method of burning tar in 
Sweden and Muscovy succeeds not well in this warmer part of the world. It 
seems they kill the pine trees, by barking them quite round at a certain 
height, which in those cold countries brings down the turpentine into the 
stump in a year's time. But experience has taught us that in warm climates 
the turpentine will not so easily descend, but is either fixed in the 
upper parts of the tree, or fried out by the intense heat of the sun.

   Care was taken to erect a post in every road that our line ran through, 
with Virginia carved on the north side of it, and Carolina on the south, 
that the bounds might every where appear. In the evening the surveyors 
took up their quarters at the house of one Mr. Parker, who, by the 
advantage of a better spot of land than ordinary, and a more industrious 
wife, lives comfortably, and has a very neat plantation.

   31st. It rained a little this morning, but this, happening again upon a 
Sunday, did not interrupt our business. However the surveyors made no 
scruple of protracting and plotting off their work upon that good day, 
because it was rather an amusement than a drudgery. Here the men feasted 
on the fat of the land, and believing the dirtiest part of their work was 
over, had a more than ordinary gaiety of heart. We christened two of our 
landlord's children, which might have remained infidels all their lives, 
had not we carried Christianity home to his own door. The truth of it is, 
our neighbours of North Carolina are not so zealous as to go much out of 
their way to procure this benefit for their children: otherwise, being so 
near Virginia, they might, without exceeding much trouble, make a journey 
to the next clergyman, upon so good an errand. And indeed should the 
neighbouring ministers, once in two or three years, vouchsafe to take a 
turn among these gentiles, to baptize them and their children, it would 
look a little apostolical, and they might hope to be requited for at 
hereafter, if that be not thought too long to tarry for their reward.

   April 1st. The surveyors getting now upon better ground, quite 
disengaged from underwoods, pushed on the line almost twelve miles. They 
left Sommerton chapel near two miles to the northwards, so that there was 
now no place of public worship left in the whole province of North 
Carolina.

   The high land of North Carolina was barren, and covered with a deep 
sand; and the low grounds were wet and boggy, insomuch that several of our 
horses were mired, and gave us frequent opportunities to show our 
horsemanship.

   The line cut William Spight's plantation in two, leaving little more 
than his dwelling house and orchard in Virginia. Sundry other plantations 
were split in the same unlucky manner, which made the owners accountable 
to both governments. Wherever we passed we constantly found the borderers 
laid it to heart if their land was taken into Virginia: they chose much 
rather 

Page 32

to belong to Carolina, where they pay no tribute, either to God or to 
Cæsar. Another reason was, that the government there is so loose, and the 
laws are so feebly executed, that, like those in the neighbourhood of 
Sidon formerly, every one does just what seems good in his own eyes. If 
the governor's hands have been weak in that province, under the authority 
of the lords proprietors, much weaker then were the hands of the 
magistrate, who, though he might have had virtue enough to endeavour to 
punish offenders, which very rarely happened, yet that virtue had been 
quite impotent, for want of ability to put it in execution. Besides, there 
might have been some danger, perhaps, in venturing to be so rigorous, for 
fear of undergoing the fate of an honest justice in Coratuck precinct. 
This bold magistrate, it seems, taking upon him to order a fellow to the 
stocks, for being disorderly in his drink, was, for his intemperate zeal, 
carried thither himself, and narrowly escaped being whipped by the rabble 
into the bargain.

   This easy day's work carried the line to the banks of Somerton creek, 
that runs out of Chowan river, a little below the mouth of Nottoway.

   2d. In less than a mile from Somerton creek the line was carried to 
Blackwater, which is the name of the upper part of Chowan, running some 
miles above the mouth of Nottoway. It must be observed that Chowan, after 
taking a compass round the most beautiful part of North Carolina, empties 
itself into Albemarle sound, a few miles above Edenton. The tide flows 
seven or eight miles higher than where the river changes its name, and is 
navigable thus high for any small vessel. Our line intersected it exactly 
half a mile to the northward of Nottoway. However, in obedience to his 
majesty's command, we directed the surveyors to come down the river as far 
as the mouth of Nottoway, in order to continue our true west line from 
thence. Thus we found the mouth of Nottoway to lie no more than half a 
minute farther to the northward than Mr. Lawson had formerly done. That 
gentleman's observation, it seems, placed it in 36 degrees 30', and our 
working made it out to be 36 degrees 30 & 1/2'--a very inconsiderable 
variance.

1/2 
   The surveyors crossed the river over against the middle of the mouth of 
Nottoway, where it was about eighty yards wide. From thence they ran the 
line about half a mile through a dirty pocoson, as far as an Indian field. 
Here we took up our lodging in a moist situation, having the pocoson above 
mentioned on one side of us, and a swamp on the other.

   In this camp three of the Meherrin Indians made us a visit. They told 
us that the small remains of their nation had deserted their ancient town, 
situated near the mouth of the Meherrin river, for fear of the Catawbas, 
who had killed fourteen of their people the year before; and the few that 
survived that calamity, had taken refuge amongst the English, on the east 
side of Chowan. Though, if the complaint of these Indians were true, they 
are hardly used by our Carolina friends. But they are the less to be 
pitied, because they have ever been reputed the most false and treacherous 
to the English of all the Indians in the neighbourhood.

   Not far from the place where we lay, I observed a large oak which had 
been blown up by the roots, the body of which was shivered into perfect 
strings, and was, in truth, the most violent effects of lightning I ever 
saw.

   But the most curious instance of that dreadful meteor happened at York, 
where a man was killed near a pine tree in which the lightning made a hole 
before it struck the man, and left an exact figure of the tree upon his 
breast, with all its branches, to the wonder of all that beheld it, in 
which I shall be more particular hereafter.

   We made another trial of the variation in this place, and found it some 
minutes less than we had done at Coratuck inlet; but so small a difference 
might easily happen through some defect in one or other of the 
observations, and, therefore, we altered not our compass for the matter.

Page 33

   3d. By the advantage of clear woods, the line was extended twelve miles 
and three quarters, as far as the banks of Meherrin. Though the mouth of 
this river lies fifteen miles below the mouth of Nottoway, yet it winds so 
much to the northward, that we came upon it, after running this small 
distance.

   During the first seven miles, we observed the soil to be poor and 
sandy; but as we approached Meherrin it grew better, though there it was 
cut to pieces by sundry miry branches, which discharge themselves into 
that river, Several of our horses plunged up to the saddle skirts, and 
were not disengaged without difficulty.

   The latter part of our day's work was pretty laborious, because of the 
unevenness of the way, and because the low ground of the river was full of 
cypress snags, as sharp and dangerous to our horses as so many chevaux-
defrise. We found the whole distance from the mouth of Nottoway to 
Meherrin river, where our line intersected it, thirteen miles and a 
quarter.

   It was hardly possible to find a level large enough on the banks of the 
river whereupon to pitch our tent. But though the situation was, on that 
account, not very convenient for us, yet it was for our poor horses, by 
reason of the plenty of small reeds on which they fed voraciously. These 
reeds are green here all the year round, and will keep cattle in tolerable 
good plight during the winter. But whenever the hogs come where they are, 
they destroy them in a short time, by ploughing up their roots, of which, 
unluckily, they are very fond.

   The river was in this place about as wide as the river Jordan, that is, 
forty yards, and would be navigable very high for flat bottom boats and 
canoes, if it were not choked up with large trees, brought down by every 
fresh. Though the banks were full twenty feet high from the surface of the 
water, yet we saw certain marks of their having been overflowed.

   These narrow rivers that run high up into the country are subject to 
frequent inundations, when the waters are rolled down with such violence 
as to carry all before them. The logs that are then floated, are very 
fatal to the bridges built over these rivers, which can hardly be 
contrived strong enough to stand against so much weight and violence 
joined together.

   The Isle of Wight county begins about three miles to the east of 
Meherrin river, being divided from that of Nansemond only by a line of 
marked trees.

   4th. The river was here hardly fordable, though the season had been 
very dry. The banks too were so steep that our horses were forced to climb 
like mules to get up them. Nevertheless we had the luck to recover the 
opposite shore without damage.

   We halted for half an hour at Charles Anderson's, who lives on the 
western bank of the river, in order to christen one of his children. In 
the mean time, the surveyors extended the line two miles and thirty-nine 
chains, in which small distance Meherrin river was so serpentine, that 
they crossed it three times. Then we went on to Mr. Kinchin's, a man of 
figure and authority in North Carolina, who lives about a mile to the 
southward of the place where the surveyors left off. By the benefit of a 
little pains, and good management, this worthy magistrate lives in much 
affluence. Amongst other instances of his industry, he had planted a good 
orchard, which is not common in that indolent climate; nor is it at all 
strange, that such improvident people, who take no thought for the morrow, 
should save themselves the trouble to make improvements that will not pay 
them for several years to come. Though, if they could trust futurity for 
any thing, they certainly would for cider, which they are so fond of, that 
they generally drink it before it has done working, lest the fermentation 
might unluckily turn it sour.

   It is an observation, which rarely fails of being true, both in 
Virginia and Carolina, that those who take care to plant good orchards 
are, in their general 

Page 34

characters, industrious people. This held good in our landlord, who had 
many houses built on his plantation, and every one kept in decent repair. 
His wife, too, was tidy, his furniture clean, his pewter bright, and 
nothing seemed to be wanting to make his home comfortable.

   Mr. Kinchin made us the compliment of his house, but because we were 
willing to be as little troublesome as possible, we ordered the tent to be 
pitched in his orchard, where the blossoms of the apple trees contributed 
not a little to the sweetness of our lodging.

   5th. Because the spring was now pretty forward, and the rattlesnakes 
began to crawl out of their winter quarters, and might grow dangerous, 
both to the men and their horses, it was determined to proceed no farther 
with the line till the fall. Besides, the uncommon fatigue the people had 
undergone for near six weeks together, and the inclination they all had to 
visit their respective families, made a recess highly reasonable.

   The surveyors were employed great part of the day, in forming a correct 
and elegant map of the line, from Coratuck inlet to the place where they 
left off. On casting up the account in the most accurate manner, they 
found the whole distance we had run to amount to seventy three miles and 
thirteen chains. Of the map they made two fair copies, which agreeing 
exactly, were subscribed by the commissioners of both colonies, and one of 
them was delivered to those on the part of Virginia, and the other to 
those on the part of North Carolina.

   6th. Thus we finished our spring campaign, and having taken leave of 
our Carolina friends, and agreed to meet them again the tenth of September 
following, at the same Mr. Kinchin's, in order to continue the line, we 
crossed Meherrin river near a quarter of a mile from the house. About ten 
miles from that we halted at Mr. Kindred's plantation, where we christened 
two children.

   It happened that some of Isle of Wight militia were exercising in the 
adjoining pasture, and there were females enough attending that martial 
appearance to form a more invincible corps. Ten miles farther we passed 
Nottoway river at Bolton's ferry, and took up our lodgings about three 
miles from thence, at the house of Richard Parker, an honest planter, 
whose labours were rewarded with plenty, which, in this country, is the 
constant portion of the industrious.

   7th. The next day being Sunday, we ordered notice to be sent to all the 
neighbourhood that there would be a sermon at this place, and an 
opportunity of christening their children. But the likelihood of rain got 
the better of their devotion, and what, perhaps, might still be a stronger 
motive of their curiosity. In the morning we despatched a runner to the 
Nottoway town, to let the Indians know we intended them a visit that 
evening, and our honest landlord was so kind as to be our pilot thither, 
being about four miles from his house. Accordingly in the afternoon we 
marched in good order to the town, where the female scouts, stationed on 
an eminence for that purpose, had no sooner spied us, but they gave notice 
of our approach to their fellow citizens by continual whoops and cries, 
which could not possibly have been more dismal at the sight of their most 
implacable enemies. This signal assembled all their great men, who 
received us in a body, and conducted us into the fort. This fort was a 
square piece of ground, inclosed with substantial puncheons, or strong 
palisades, about ten feet high, and leaning a little outwards, to make a 
scalade more difficult. Each side of the square might be about a hundred 
yards long, with loop-holes at proper distances, through which they may 
fire upon the enemy. Within this inclosure we found bark cabins sufficient 
to lodge all their people, in case they should be obliged to retire 
thither. These cabins are no other but close arbours made of saplings, 
arched at the 

Page 35

top, and covered so well with bark as to be proof against all weather. The 
fire is made in the middle, according to the Hibernian fashion, the smoke 
whereof finds no other vent but at the door, and so keeps the whole family 
warm, at the expense both of their eyes and complexion. The Indians have 
no standing furniture in their cabins but hurdles to repose their persons 
upon, which they cover with mats and deer-skins. We were conducted to the 
best apartments in the fort, which just before had been made ready for our 
reception, and adorned with new mats, that were very sweet and clean. The 
young men had painted themselves in a hideous manner, not so much for 
ornament as terror. In that frightful equipage they entertained us with 
sundry war dances, wherein they endeavoured to look as formidable as 
possible. The instrument they danced to was an Indian drum, that is, a 
large gourd with a skin braced tight over the mouth of it. The dancers all 
sang to the music, keeping exact time with their feet, while their heads 
and arms were screwed into a thousand menacing postures. Upon this 
occasion the ladies had arrayed themselves in all their finery. They were 
wrapped in their red and blue match coats, thrown so negligently about 
them, that their mahogany skins appeared in several parts, like the 
Lacedæmonian damsels of old. Their hair was braided with white and blue 
peak, and hung gracefully in a large roll upon their shoulders.

   This peak consists of small cylinders cut out of a conch shell, drilled 
through and strung like beads. It serves them both for money and jewels, 
the blue being of much greater value than the white, for the same reason 
that Ethiopian mistresses in France are dearer than French, because they 
are more scarce. The women wear necklaces and bracelets of these precious 
materials, when they have a mind to appear lovely. Though their 
complexions be a little sad-coloured, yet their shapes are very strait and 
well proportioned. Their faces are seldom handsome, yet they have an air 
of innocence and bashfulness, that with a little less dirt would not fail 
to make them desirable. Such charms might have had their full effect upon 
men who had been so long deprived of female conversation, but that the 
whole winter's soil was so crusted on the skins of those dark angels, that 
it required a very strong appetite to approach them. The bear's oil, with 
which they anoint their persons all over, makes their skins soft, and at 
the same time protects them from every species of vermin that use to be 
troublesome to other uncleanly people. We were unluckily so many, that 
they could not well make us the compliment of bed-fellows, according to 
the Indian rules of hospitality, though a grave matron whispered one of 
the commissioners very civilly in the ear, that if her daughter had been 
but one year older, she should have been at his devotion.

   It is by no means a loss of reputation among the Indians, for damsels 
that are single to have intrigues with the men; on the contrary, they 
account it an argument of superior merit to be liked by a great number of 
gallants. However, like the ladies that game, they are a little mercenary 
in their amours, and seldom bestow their favours out of stark love and 
kindness. But after these women have once appropriated their charms by 
marriage, they are from thenceforth faithful to their vows, and will 
hardly ever be tempted by an agreeable gallant, or be provoked by a brutal 
or even by a careless husband to go astray. The little work that is done 
among the Indians is done by the poor women, while the men are quite idle, 
or at most employed only in the gentlemanly diversions of hunting and 
fishing. In this, as well as in their wars, they use nothing but fire-
arms, which they purchase of the English for skins. Bows and arrows are 
grown into disuse, except only amongst their boys. Nor is it ill policy, 
but on the contrary very prudent, thus to furnish the Indians with fire-
arms, because it makes them depend 

Page 36

entirely upon the English, not only for their trade, but even for their 
subsistence. Besides, they were really able to do more mischief, while 
they made use of arrows, of which they would let silently fly several in a 
minute with wonderful dexterity, whereas now they hardly ever discharge 
their fire-locks more than once, which they insidiously do from behind a 
tree, and then retire as nimbly as the Dutch horse used to do now and then 
formerly in Flanders. We put the Indians to no expense, but only of a 
little corn for our horses, for which in gratitude we cheered their hearts 
with what rum we had left, which they love better than they do their wives 
and children. Though these Indians dwell among the English, and see in 
what plenty a little industry enables them to live, yet they choose to 
continue in their stupid idleness, and to suffer all the inconveniences of 
dirt, cold and want, rather than to disturb their heads with care, or 
defile their hands with labour.

   The whole number of people belonging to the Nottoway town, if you 
include women and children, amount to about two hundred. These are the 
only Indians of any consequence now remaining within the limits of 
Virginia. The rest are either removed, or dwindled to a very 
inconsiderable number, either by destroying one another, or else by the 
small-pox and other diseases. Though nothing has been so fatal to them as 
their ungovernable passion for rum, with which, I am sorry to say it, they 
have been but too liberally supplied by the English that live near them. 
And here I must lament the bad success Mr. Boyle's charity has hitherto 
had towards converting any of these poor heathens to Christianity. Many 
children of our neighbouring Indians have been brought up in the college 
of William and Mary. They have been taught to read and write, and have 
been carefully instructed in the principles of the Christian religion, 
till they came to be men. Yet after they returned home, instead of 
civilizing and converting the rest, they have immediately relapsed into 
infidelity and barbarism themselves.

   And some of them too have made the worst use of the knowledge they 
acquired among the English, by employing it against their benefactors. 
Besides, as they unhappily forget all the good they learn, and remember 
the ill, they are apt to be more vicious and disorderly than the rest of 
their countrymen. I ought not to quit this subject without doing justice 
to the great prudence of colonel Spotswood in this affair. That gentleman 
was lieutenant governor of Virginia when Carolina was engaged in a bloody 
war with the Indians. At that critical time it was thought expedient to 
keep a watchful eye upon our tributary savages, who we knew had nothing to 
keep them to their duty but their fears. Then it was that he demanded of 
each nation a competent number of their great men's children to be sent to 
the college, where they served as so many hostages for the good behaviour 
of the rest, and at the same time were themselves principled in the 
Christian religion. He also placed a school master among the Saponi 
Indians, at the salary of fifty pounds per annum, to instruct their 
children. The person that undertook that charitable work was Mr. Charles 
Griffin, a man of a good family, who, by the innocence of his life, and 
the sweetness of his temper, was perfectly well qualified for that pious 
undertaking. Besides, he had so much the secret of mixing pleasure with 
instruction, that he had not a scholar who did not love him 
affectionately. Such talents must needs have been blest with a 
proportionable success, had he not been unluckily removed to the college, 
by which he left the good work he had begun unfinished. In short, all the 
pains he had taken among the infidels had no other effect but to make them 
something cleanlier than other Indians are. The care colonel Spotswood 
took to tincture the Indian children with Christianity produced the 
following epigram, which was not published during his administration, for 
fear it might then have looked like flattery.

Page 37

Long has the furious priest assayed in vain, 
With sword and faggot, infidels to gain, 
But now the milder soldier wisely tries 
By gentler methods to unveil their eyes. 
Wonders apart, he knew 'twere vain t'engage 
The fix'd preventions of misguided age. 
With fairer hopes he forms the Indian youth 
To early manners, probity and truth. 
The lion's whelp thus, on the Lybian shore, 
Is tamed and gentled by the artful Moor, 
Not the grim sire, inured to blood before. 

   I am sorry I cannot give a better account of the state of the poor 
Indians with respect to Christianity, although a great deal of pains has 
been and still continues to be taken with them. For my part, I must be of 
opinion, as I hinted before, that there is but one way of converting these 
poor infidels, and reclaiming them from barbarity, and that is, charitably 
to intermarry with them, according to the modern policy of the most 
Christian king in Canada and Louisiana. Had the English done this at the 
first settlement of the colony, the infidelity of the Indians had been 
worn out at this day, with their dark complexions, and the country had 
swarmed with people more than it does with insects. It was certainly an 
unreasonable nicety, that prevented their entering into so good-natured an 
alliance. All nations of men have the same natural dignity, and we all 
know that very bright talents may be lodged under a very dark skin. The 
principal difference between one people and another proceeds only from the 
different opportunities of improvement. The Indians by no means want 
understanding, and are in their figure tall and well-proportioned. Even 
their copper-coloured complexion would admit of blanching, if not in the 
first, at the farthest in the second generation. I may safely venture to 
say, the Indian women would have made altogether as honest wives for the 
first planters, as the damsels they used to purchase from aboard the 
ships. It is strange, therefore, that any good Christian should have 
refused a wholesome, straight bed-fellow, when he might have had so fair a 
portion with her, as the merit of saving her soul.

   8th. We rested on our clean mats very comfortably, though alone, and 
the next morning went to the toilet of some of the Indian ladies, where, 
what with the charms of their persons and the smoke of their apartments, 
we were almost blinded. They offered to give us silk-grass baskets of 
their own making, which we modestly refused, knowing that an Indian 
present, like that of a nun, is a liberality put out to interest, and a 
bribe placed to the greatest advantage. Our chaplain observed with 
concern, that the ruffles of some of our fellow travellers were a little 
discoloured with pochoon, wherewith the good man had been told those 
ladies used to improve their invisible charms.

   About 10 o'clock we marched out of town in good order, and the war 
captains saluted us with a volley of small arms. From thence we proceeded 
over Black-water bridge to colonel Henry Harrison's, where we 
congratulated each other upon our return into Christendom.

   Thus ended our progress for this season, which we may justly say was 
attended with all the success that could be expected. Besides the punctual 
performance of what was committed to us, we had the pleasure to bring back 
every one of our company in perfect health. And this we must acknowledge 
to be a singular blessing, considering the difficulties and dangers to 
which they had been exposed. We had reason to fear the many waters and 
sunken grounds, through which we were obliged to wade, might have 

Page 38

thrown the men into sundry acute distempers; especially the Dismal, where 
the soil was so full of water, and the air so full of damps, that nothing 
but a Dutchman could live in them. Indeed the foundation of all our 
success was the exceeding dry season. It rained during the whole journey 
but rarely, and then, as when Herod built his temple, only in the night or 
upon the sabbath, when it was no hinderance at all to our progress.

   September. The tenth of September being thought a little too soon for 
the commissioners to meet, in order to proceed on the line, on account of 
snakes, it was agreed to put it off to the twentieth of the same month, of 
which due notice was sent to the Carolina commissioners.

   Sept. 19. We, on the part of Virginia, that we might be sure to be 
punctual, arrived at Mr. Kinchin's, the place appointed, on the 
nineteenth, after a journey of three days, in which nothing remarkable 
happened. We found three of the Carolina commissioners had taken 
possession of the house, having come thither by water from Edenton. By the 
great quantity of provisions these gentlemen brought, and the few men they 
had to eat them, we were afraid they intended to carry the line to the 
South sea. They had five hundred pounds of bacon and dried beef, and five 
hundred pounds of biscuit, and not above three or four men. The misfortune 
was, they forgot to provide horses to carry their good things, or else 
trusted to the uncertainty of hiring them here, which, considering the 
place, was leaving too much to that jilt, hazard. On our part we had taken 
better care, being completely furnished with every thing necessary for 
transporting our baggage and provisions. Indeed we brought no other 
provisions out with us but a thousand pounds of bread, and had faith 
enough to depend on Providence for our meat, being desirous to husband the 
public money as much as possible. We had no less than twenty men, besides 
the chaplain, the surveyors and all the servants, to be subsisted upon 
this bread. However, that it might hold out the better, our men had been 
ordered to provide themselves at home with provision for ten days, in 
which time we judged we should get beyond the inhabitants, where forest 
game of all sorts was like to be plenty at that time of the year.

   20th. This being the day appointed for our rendezvous, great part of it 
was spent in the careful fixing our baggage and assembling our men, who 
were ordered to meet us here. We took care to examine their arms, and made 
proof of the powder provided for the expedition. Our provision-horses had 
been hindered by the rain from coming up exactly at the day; but this 
delay was the less disappointment, by reason of the ten days' subsistence 
the men had been directed to provide for themselves. Mr. Moseley did not 
join us till the afternoon, nor Mr. Swan till several days after.

   Mr. Kinchin had unadvisedly sold the men a little brandy of his own 
making, which produced much disorder, causing some to be too choleric, and 
others too loving; insomuch that a damsel, who assisted in the kitchen, 
had certainly suffered what the nuns call martyrdom, had she not 
capitulated a little too soon. This outrage would have called for some 
severe discipline, had she not bashfully withdrawn herself early in the 
morning, and so carried off the evidence.

   21st. We despatched away the surveyors without loss of time, who, with 
all their diligence, could carry the line no farther than three miles and 
a hundred and seventy-six poles, by reason the low ground was one entire 
thicket. In that distance they crossed Meherrin river the fourth time. In 
the mean while the Virginia commissioners thought proper to conduct their 
baggage a farther way about, for the convenience of a clearer road.

   The Carolina gentlemen did at length, more by fortune than forecast, 
hire a clumsy vehicle, something like a cart, to transport their effects 
as far as 

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Roanoke. This wretched machine, at first setting out, met with a very rude 
choque, that broke a case-bottle of cherry brandy in so unlucky a manner 
that not one precious drop was saved. This melancholy beginning foreboded 
an unprosperous journey, and too quick a return, to the persons most 
immediately concerned.

   In our way we crossed Fountain creek, which runs into Meherrin river, 
so called from the disaster of an unfortunate Indian trader who had 
formerly been drowned in it, and, like Icarus, left his name to that fatal 
stream. We took up our quarters on the plantation of John Hill, where we 
pitched our tent, with design to tarry till such time as the surveyors 
could work their way to us.

   22d. This being Sunday, we had an opportunity of resting from our 
labours. The expectation of such a novelty as a sermon in these parts 
brought together a numerous congregation. When the sermon was over, our 
chaplain did his part towards making eleven of them Christians.

   Several of our men had intermitting fevers, but were soon restored to 
their health again by proper remedies. Our chief medicine was dogwood 
bark, which we used, instead of that of Peru, with good success. Indeed, 
it was given in larger quantity, but then, to make the patients amends, 
they swallowed much fewer doses.

   In the afternoon our provision horses arrived safe in the camp. They 
had met with very heavy rains, but, thank God, not a single biscuit 
received the least damage thereby. We were furnished by the neighbours 
with very lean cheese and very fat mutton, upon which occasion it will not 
be improper to draw one conclusion, from the evidence of North Carolina, 
that sheep would thrive much better in the woods than in pasture land, 
provided a careful shepherd were employed to keep them from straying, and, 
by the help of dogs, to protect them also from the wolves.

   23d. The surveyors came to us at night, though they had not brought the 
line so far as our camp, for which reason we thought it needless to go 
forward till they came up with us. They could run no more than four miles 
and five poles, because the ground was every where grown up with thick 
bushes. The soil here appeared to be very good, though much broken betwixt 
Fountain creek and Roanoke river. The line crossed Meherrin river the 
fifth and last time, nor were our people sorry to part with a stream the 
meanders of which had given them so much trouble.

   Our hunters brought us four wild turkeys, which at that season began to 
be fat and very delicious, especially the hens. These birds seem to be of 
the bustard kind, and fly heavily. Some of them are exceedingly large, and 
weigh upwards of forty pounds; nay, some bold historians venture to say, 
upwards of fifty pounds. They run very fast, stretching forth their wings 
all the time, like the ostrich, by way of sails to quicken their speed. 
They roost commonly upon very high trees, standing near some river or 
creek, and are so stupified at the sight of fire, that if you make a blaze 
in the night near the place where they roost, you may fire upon them 
several times successively, before they will dare to fly away. Their spurs 
are so sharp and strong, that the Indians used formerly to point their 
arrows with them, though now they point them with a sharp white stone. In 
the spring the turkey-cocks begin to gobble, which is the language wherein 
they make love.

   It rained very hard in the night, with a violent storm of thunder and 
lightning, which obliged us to trench in our tent all round, to carry off 
the water that fell upon it.

   24th. So soon as the men could dry their blankets, we sent out the 
surveyors, who now meeting with more favourable grounds, advanced the line 
seven miles and eighty-two poles. However, the commissioners did not think 
proper to decamp that day, believing they might easily overtake the 
surveyors the 

Page 40

next. In the mean time they sent out some of their most expert gunners, 
who brought in four more wild turkeys.

   This part of the country being very proper for raising cattle and hogs, 
we observed the inhabitants lived in great plenty without killing 
themselves with labour. I found near our camp some plants of that kind of 
rattle-snake root, called star-grass. The leaves shoot out circularly, and 
grow horizontally and near the ground. The root is in shape not unlike the 
rattle of that serpent, and is a strong antidote against the bite of it. 
It is very bitter, and where it meets with any poison, works by violent 
sweats, but where it meets with none, has no sensible operation but that 
of putting the spirits into a great hurry, and so of promoting 
perspiration. The rattle-snake has an utter antipathy to this plant, 
insomuch that if you smear your hands with the juice of it, you may handle 
the viper safely. Thus much I can say on my own experience, that once in 
July, when these snakes are in their greatest vigour, I besmeared a dog's 
nose with the powder of this root, and made him trample on a large snake 
several times, which, however, was so far from biting him, that it 
perfectly sickened at the dog's approach, and turned its head from him 
with the utmost aversion.

   Our chaplain, to show his zeal, made an excursion of six miles to 
christen two children, but without the least regard to the good cheer at 
these solemnities.

   25th. The surveyors, taking the advantage of clear woods, pushed on the 
line seven miles and forty poles. In the mean time the commissioners 
marched with the baggage about twelve miles, and took up their quarters 
near the banks of the Beaver pond, (which is one branch of Fountain
creek,) just by the place where the surveyors were to finish their day's 
work. In our march one of the men killed a small rattle-snake, which had 
no more than two rattles. Those vipers remain in vigour generally till 
towards the end of September, or sometimes later, if the weather continue 
a little warm. On this consideration we had provided three several sorts 
of rattle-snake root, made up into proper doses, and ready for immediate 
use, in case any one of the men or their horses had been bitten. We 
crossed Fountain creek once more in our journey this day, and found the 
grounds very rich, not withstanding they were broken and stony. Near the 
place where we encamped the county of Brunswick is divided from the Isle 
of Wight. These counties run quite on the back of Surry and Prince George, 
and are laid out in very irregular figures. As a proof the land mended 
hereabouts, we found the plantations began to grow thicker by much than we 
had found them lower down.

   26th. We hurried away the surveyors without loss of time, who extended 
the line ten miles and a hundred and sixty poles, the grounds proving dry 
and free from under-woods. By the way the chain-carriers killed two more 
rattle-snakes, which I own was a little ungrateful, because two or three 
of the men had strided over them without receiving any hurt; though one of 
these vipers had made bold to strike at one of the baggage horses, as he 
went along, but by good luck his teeth only grazed on the hoof, without 
doing him any damage. However, these accidents were, I think, so many 
arguments that we had very good reason to defer our coming out till the 
20th of September. We observed abundance of St. Andrew's cross in all the 
woods we passed through, which is the common remedy used by the Indian 
traders to cure their horses when they are bitten by rattle-snakes. It 
grows on a straight stem, about eighteen inches high, and bears a yellow 
flower on the top, that has an eye of black in the middle, with several 
pairs of narrow leaves shooting out at right angles from the stock over 
against one another. This antidote grows providentially all over the 
woods, and upon all sorts of soil, that it may be every where at hand in 
case a disaster should happen, and may be had all the hot months while the 
snakes are dangerous.