The Westover Manuscripts - Pages 61-89



Page 61

   23d. At the distance of sixty-two poles from where we lay, we crossed 
the south branch of what we took for the Irvin, nor was it without 
difficulty we got over, though it happened to be without damage. Great 
part of the way after that was mountainous, so that we were no sooner got 
down one hill, but we were obliged to climb up another. Only for the last 
mile of our stage, we encountered a locust thicket that was level, but 
interlaced terribly with briers and grape vines. We forded a large creek, 
no less than five times, the banks of which were so steep that we were 
forced to cut them down with a hoe. We gave it the name of Crooked creek, 
because of its meanders. The sides of it were planted with shrub-canes, 
extremely inviting to the horses, which were now quite jaded with 
clambering up so many precipices, and tugging through so many dismal 
thickets, notwithstanding which we pushed the line this day four miles 
sixty-nine poles. The men were so unthrifty this morning as to bring but a 
small portion of their abundance along with them. This was the more 
unlucky, because we could discover no sort of game the whole livelong day. 
Woodsmen are certainly good Christians in one respect, at least, that they 
always leave the morrow to care for itself; though for that very reason 
they ought to pray more fervently for their daily bread than most of them 
remember to do.

   The mountains were still concealed from our eyes by a cloud of smoke. 
As we went along we were alarmed at the sight of a great fire, which 
showed itself to the northward. This made our small corps march in closer 
order than we used to do, lest perchance we might be waylaid by Indians. 
It made us look out sharp to see if we could discover any track or other 
token of these insidious foresters, but found none. In the mean time we 
came often upon the track of bears, which cannot without some skill be 
distinguished from that of human creatures, made with naked feet. And 
indeed a young woodsman would be puzzled to find out the difference, which 
consists principally in a bear's paws being something smaller than a man's 
foot, and in its leaving sometimes the mark of its claws in the impression 
made upon the ground.

   The soil, where the locust thicket grew, was exceedingly rich, as it 
constantly is, where that kind of tree is naturally and largely produced. 
But the desolation made there lately, either by fire or caterpillars, had 
been so general, that we could not see a tree of any bigness standing 
within our prospect. And the reason why a fire makes such a havoc in these 
lonely parts is this. The woods are not there burnt every year, as they 
generally are amongst the inhabitants. But the dead leaves and trash of 
many years are heaped up together, which being at length kindled by the 
Indians that happen to pass that way, furnish fuel for a conflagration 
that carries all before it. There is a beautiful range of hills, as level 
as a terrace-walk, that overlooks the valley through which Crooked creek 
conveys its spiral stream. This terrace runs pretty near east and west, 
about two miles south of the line, and is almost parallel with it. The 
horses had been too much harassed to permit us to ride at all out of our 
way, for the pleasure of any prospect, or the gratification of any 
curiosity. This confined us to the narrow sphere of our business, and is 
at the same time a just excuse for not animating our story with greater 
variety.

   24th. The surveyors went out the sooner this morning, by reason the men 
lost very little time in cooking their breakfast. They had made but a 
spare meal over night, leaving nothing but the hide of a bear for the 
morrow. Some of the keenest of them got up at midnight to cook that nice 
morsel after the Indian manner. They first singed the hair clean off, that 
none of it might stick in their throats; then they boiled the pelt into 
soup, which had a stratum 

Page 62

of grease swimming upon, it full half an inch thick. However, they 
commended this dish extremely; though I believe the praises they gave it 
were more owing to their good stomach than to their good taste. The line 
was extended six miles and three hundred poles, and in that distance 
crossed Crooked creek at least eight times more. We were forced to scuffle 
through a thicket about two miles in breadth, planted with locusts and 
hickory saplings, as close as they could stand together. Amongst these 
there was hardly a tree of tolerable growth within view. It was a dead 
plane of several miles extent, and very fertile soil. Beyond that the 
woods were open for about three miles, but mountainous. All the rest of 
our day's journey was pestered with bushes and grape vines, in the 
thickest of which we were obliged to take up our quarters, near one of the 
branches of Crooked creek. This night it was the men's good fortune to 
fare very sumptuously. The Indian had killed two large bears, the fattest 
of which he had taken napping. One of the people too shot a rackoon, which 
is also of the dog kind, and as big as a small fox, though its legs are 
shorter, and when fat has a much higher relish than either mutton or kid. 
It is naturally not carnivorous, but very fond of Indian corn and 
persimmons. The fat of this animal is reckoned very good to assuage 
swellings and inflammations. Some old maids are at the trouble of breeding 
them up tame, for the pleasure of seeing them play over as many humorous 
tricks as a monkey. It climbs up small trees, like a bear, by embracing 
the bodies of them. Till this night we had accustomed ourselves to go to 
bed in our night-gowns, believing we should thereby be better secured from 
the cold: but upon trial found we lay much warmer by stripping to our 
shirts, and spreading our gowns over us. A true woodsman, if he have no 
more than a single blanket, constantly pulls all off, and, lying on one 
part of it, draws the other over him, believing it much more refreshing to 
lie so, than in his clothes; and if he find himself not warm enough, 
shifts his lodging to leeward of the fire, in which situation the smoke 
will drive over him, and effectually correct the cold dews, that would 
otherwise descend upon his person, perhaps to his great damage.

   25th. The air clearing up this morning, we were again agreeably 
surprised with a full prospect of the mountains. They discovered 
themselves both to the north and south of us, on either side, not distant 
above ten miles, according to our best computation. We could now see those 
to the north rise in four distinct ledges, one above another, but those to 
the south formed only a single ledge, and that broken and interrupted in 
many places; or rather they were only single mountains detached from each 
other. One of the southern mountains was so vastly high, it seemed to hide 
its head in the clouds, and the west end of it terminated in a horrible 
precipice, that we called the Despairing Lover's Leap. The next to it, 
towards the east, was lower, except at one end, where it heaved itself up 
in the form of a vast stack of chimneys. The course of the northern 
mountains seemed to tend west-south-west, and those to the southward very 
near west. We could descry other mountains ahead of us, exactly in the 
course of the line, though at a much greater distance. In this point of 
view, the ledges on the right and left both seemed to close, and form a 
natural amphitheatre. Thus it was our fortune to be wedged in betwixt 
these two ranges of mountains, insomuch that if our line had run ten miles 
on either side, it had butted before this day either upon one or the 
other, both of them now stretching away plainly to the eastward of us. It 
had rained a little in the night, which dispersed the smoke and opened 
this romantic scene to us all at once, though it was again hid from our 
eyes as we moved forwards, by the rough woods we had the misfortune to be 
engaged with. The bushes were so thick for near four miles together, that 
they tore the deer skins to pieces that guarded the 

Page 63

bread bags. Though, as rough as the woods were, the soil was extremely 
good all the way, being washed down from the neighbouring hills into the 
plain country. Notwithstanding all these difficulties, the surveyors drove 
on the line four miles and two hundred and five poles.

   In the mean time we were so unlucky as to meet with no sort of game the 
whole day, so that the men were obliged to make a frugal distribution of 
what little they left in the morning. We encamped upon a small rill, where 
the horses came off as temperately as their masters. They were by this 
time grown so thin, by hard travel and spare feeding, that henceforth, in 
pure compassion, we chose to perform the greater part of the journey on 
foot. And as our baggage was by this time grown much lighter, we divided 
it, after the best manner, so that every horse's load might be 
proportioned to the strength he had left. Though, after all the prudent 
measures we could take, we perceived the hills began to rise upon us so 
fast in our front, that it would be impossible for us to proceed much 
farther.

   We saw very few squirrels in the upper parts, because the wild cats 
devour them unmercifully. Of these there are four kinds: the fox squirrel, 
the gray, the flying, and the ground squirrel. These last resemble a rat 
in every thing but the tail, and the black and russet streaks that run 
down the length of their little bodies.

   26th. We found our way grow still more mountainous, after extending the 
line three hundred poles farther. We came then to a rivulet that ran with 
a swift current towards the south. This we fancied to be another branch of 
the Irvin, though some of the men, who had been Indian traders, judged it 
rather to be the head of Deep river, that discharges its stream into that 
of Pee Dee; but this seemed a wild conjecture. The hills beyond that river 
were exceedingly lofty, and not to be attempted by our jaded palfreys, 
which could now hardly drag their legs after them upon level ground. 
Besides, the bread began to grow scanty, and the winter season to advance 
apace upon us. We had likewise reason to apprehend the consequences of 
being intercepted by deep snows, and the swelling of the many waters 
between us and home. The first of these misfortunes would starve all our 
horses, and the other ourselves, by cutting off our retreat, and obliging 
us to winter in those desolate woods. These considerations determined us 
to stop short here, and push our adventures no farther. The last tree we 
marked was a red oak, growing on the bank of the river; and to make the 
place more remarkable, we blazed all the trees around it.

   We found the whole distance, from Coratuck inlet to the rivulet where 
we left off, to be, in a straight line, two hundred and forty-one miles 
and two hundred and thirty poles. And from the place where the Carolina 
commissioners deserted us, seventy-two miles and three hundred and two 
poles. This last part of the journey was generally very hilly, or else 
grown up with troublesome thickets and underwoods, all which our Carolina 
friends had the discretion to avoid. We encamped in a dirty valley near 
the rivulet above-mentioned, for the advantage of the canes, and so 
sacrificed our own convenience to that of our horses. There was a small 
mountain half a mile to the northward of us, which we had the curiosity to 
climb up in the afternoon, in order to enlarge our prospect. From thence 
we were able to discover where the two ledges of mountains closed, as near 
as we could guess, about thirty miles to the west of us, and lamented that 
our present circumstances would not permit us to advance the line to that 
place, which the hand of Nature had made so very remarkable.

   Not far from our quarters one of the men picked up a pair of elk's 
horns, not very large, and discovered the track of the elk that had shed 
them. It was rare to find any tokens of those animals so far to the south, 
because 

Page 64

they keep commonly to the northward of thirty-seven degrees, as the 
buffaloes, for the most part, confine themselves to the southward of that 
latitude. The elk is full as big as a horse, and of the deer kind. The 
stags only have horns, and those exceedingly large and spreading. Their 
colour is something lighter than that of the red deer, and their flesh 
tougher. Their swiftest speed is a large trot, and in that motion they 
turn their horns back upon their necks, and cock their noses aloft in the 
air. Nature has taught them this attitude to save their antlers from being 
entangled in the thickets, which they always retire to. They are very shy, 
and have the sense of smelling so exquisite that they wind a man at a 
great distance. For this reason they are seldom seen but when the air is 
moist, in which case their smell is not so nice. They commonly herd 
together, and the Indians say, if one of the drove happen by some wound to 
be disabled from making his escape, the rest will forsake their fears to 
defend their friend, which they will do with great obstinacy, till they 
are killed upon the spot. Though, otherwise, they are so alarmed at the 
sight of a man, that to avoid him they will sometimes throw themselves 
down very high precipices into the river.

   A misadventure happened here, which gave us no small perplexity. One of 
the commissioners was so unlucky as to bruise his foot against a stump, 
which brought on a formal fit of the gout. It must be owned there could 
not be a more unseasonable time, nor a more improper situation, for any 
one to be attacked by that cruel distemper. The joint was so inflamed that 
he could neither draw shoe nor boot upon it; and to ride without either 
would have exposed him to so many rude knocks and bruises, in those rough 
woods, as to be intolerable even to a stoic. It was happy, indeed, that we 
were to rest here the next day, being Sunday, that there might be leisure 
for trying some speedy remedy. Accordingly he was persuaded to bathe his 
foot in cold water, in order to repel the humour and assuage the 
inflammation. This made it less painful, and gave us hopes, too, of 
reducing the swelling in a short time.

   Our men had the fortune to kill a brace of bears, a fat buck, and a 
wild turkey, all which paid them with interest for yesterday's abstinence. 
This constant and seasonable supply of our daily wants made us reflect 
thankfully on the bounty of Providence. And that we might not be unmindful 
of being all along fed by Heaven in this great and solitary wilderness, we 
agreed to wear in our hats the maosti, which is, in Indian, the beard of a 
wild turkey-cock, and on our breasts the figure of that fowl with its 
wings extended, and holding in its claws a scroll, with this motto, "Vice 
coturnicum," meaning that we had been supported by them in the wilderness 
in the room of quails.

   27th. This being Sunday we were not wanting in our thanks to Heaven for 
the constant support and protection we had been favoured with. Nor did our 
chaplain fail to put us in mind of our duty by a sermon proper for the 
occasion. We ordered a strict inquiry to be made into the quantity of 
bread we had left, and found no more than would subsist us a fortnight at 
short allowance. We made a fair distribution of our whole stock, and at 
the same time recommended to the men to manage this, their last stake, to 
the best advantage, not knowing how long they would be obliged to live 
upon it. We likewise directed them to keep a watchful eye upon their 
horses, that none of them might be missing the next morning, to hinder our 
return. There fell some rain before noon, which made our camp more a bog 
than it was before. This moist situation began to infect some of the men 
with fevers, and some with fluxes, which however we soon removed with 
Peruvian bark and ipocoacanah. In the afternoon we marched up again to the 
top of the hill to entertain our eyes a second time with the view of the 
mountains, but a perverse fog arose that hid them from our sight. In the 
evening we 

Page 65

deliberated which way it might be most proper to return. We had at first 
intended to cross over at the foot of the mountains to the head of James 
river, that we might be able to describe that natural boundary so far. 
But, on second thoughts, we found many good reasons against that laudable 
design, such as the weakness of our horses, the scantiness of our bread, 
and the near approach of winter. We had cause to believe the way might be 
full of hills, and the farther we went towards the north, the more danger 
there would be of snow. Such considerations as these determined us at last 
to make the best of our way back upon the line, which was the straightest, 
and consequently the shortest way to the inhabitants. We knew the worst of 
our course, and were sure of a beaten path all the way, while we were 
totally ignorant what difficulties and dangers the other course might be 
attended with. So prudence got the better for once of curiosity, and the 
itch for new discoveries gave place to self-preservation. Our inclination 
was the stronger to cross over according to the course of the mountains, 
that we might find out whether James river and Appomattox river head 
there, or run quite through them. It is certain that Potomac passes in a 
large stream through the main ledge, and then divides itself into two 
considerable rivers. That which stretches away to the northward is called 
Cohungaroota,(1) and that which flows to the south-west, hath the name of 
Sharantow. The course of this last stream is near parrallel to the Blue 
Ridge of mountains, at the distance only of about three or four miles. 
Though how far it may continue that course has not yet been sufficiently 
discovered, but some woodsmen pretend to say it runs as far as the source 
of Roanoke; nay, they are so very particular as to tell us that Roanoke, 
Sharantow, and another wide branch of Mississippi, all head in one and the 
same mountain. What dependence there may be upon this conjectural 
geography, I will not pretend to say, though it is certain that Sharantow 
keeps close to the mountains, as far as we are acquainted with its 
tendency. We are likewise assured that the south branch of James river, 
within less than twenty miles east of the main ledge, makes an elbow, and 
runs due south-west, which is parallel with the mountains on this side. 
But how far it stretches that way, before it returns, is not yet certainly 
known, no more than where it takes its rise.

   In the mean time it is strange that our woodsmen have not had curiosity 
enough to inform themselves more exactly of these particulars, and it is 
stranger still that the government has never thought it worth the expense 
of making an accurate survey of the mountains, that we might be masters of 
that natural fortification before the French, who in some places have 
settlements not very distant from it. It therefore concerns his majesty's 
service very nearly, and the safety of his subjects in this part of the 
world, to take possession of so important a barrier in time, lest our good 
friends, the French, and the Indians, through their means, prove a 
perpetual annoyance to these colonies. Another reason to invite us to 
secure this great ledge of mountains is, the probability that very 
valuable mines may be discovered there. Nor would it be at all extravagant 
to hope for silver mines, among the rest, because part of these mountains 
lie exactly in the same parallel, as well as upon the same continent with 
New Mexico, and the mines of St. Barb.

   28th. We had given orders for the horses to be brought up early, but 
the likelihood of more rain prevented our being over-hasty in decamping. 
Nor were we out in our conjectures, for about ten o'clock it began to fall 
very plentifully. Our commissioner's pain began now to abate, as the 
swelling increased. He made an excellent figure for a mountaineer, with 
one boot of 

(1. Which by a late survey has been found to extend above two hundred 
miles before it reaches its source, in a mountain, from whence Allegany, 
one of the branches of Mississippi, takes its rise, and runs south-west, 
as this river does south-east.)

Page 66

leather and the other of flannel. Thus accoutred, he intended to mount, if 
the rain had not happened opportunely to prevent him. Though, in truth, it 
was hardly possible for him to ride with so slender a defence, without 
exposing his foot to be bruised and tormented by the saplings, that stood 
thick on either side of the path. It was therefore a most seasonable rain 
for him, as it gave more time for his distemper to abate. Though it may be 
very difficult to find a certain cure for the gout, yet it is not 
improbable but some things may ease the pain, and shorten the fits of it. 
And those medicines are most likely to do this, that supple the parts, and 
clear the passage through the narrow vessels, that are the seat of this 
cruel disease. Nothing will do this more suddenly than rattle-snake's oil, 
which will even penetrate the pores of glass when warmed in the sun. It 
was unfortunate, therefore, that we had not taken out the fat of those 
snakes we had killed some time before, for the benefit of so useful an 
experiment, as well as for the relief of our fellow-traveller. But lately 
the Seneca rattle-snake root has been discovered in this country, which 
being infused in wine, and drunk morning and evening, has in several 
instances had a very happy effect upon the gout, and enabled cripples to 
throw away their crutches and walk several miles, and, what is stranger 
still, it takes away the pain in half an hour. Nor was the gout the only 
disease amongst us that was hard to cure. We had a man in our company who 
had too voracious a stomach for a woodsman. He ate as much as any other 
two, but all he swallowed stuck by him till it was carried off by a strong 
purge. Without this assistance, often repeated, his belly and bowels would 
swell to so enormous a bulk that he could hardly breathe, especially when 
he lay down, just as if he had had an asthma; though, notwithstanding this 
oddness of constitution, he was a very strong, lively fellow, and used 
abundance of violent exercise, by which it was wonderful the peristaltic 
motion was not more vigorously promoted. We gave this poor man several 
purges, which only eased him for the present, and the next day he would 
grow as burly as ever. At last we gave him a moderate dose of ipocoacanah, 
in broth made very salt, which turned all its operation downwards. This 
had so happy an effect that, from that day forward to the end of our 
journey, all his complaints ceased, and the passages continued 
unobstructed.

   The rain continued most of the day and some part of the night, which 
incommoded us much in our dirty camp, and made the men think of nothing 
but eating, even at the time when nobody could stir out to make provision 
for it.

   29th. Though we were flattered in the morning with the usual tokens of 
a fair day, yet they all blew over, and it rained hard before we could 
make ready for our departure. This was still in favour of our podagrous 
friend, whose lameness was now grown better, and the inflammation fallen. 
Nor did it seem to need above one day more to reduce it to its natural 
proportion, and make it fit for the boot; and effectually the rain 
procured this benefit for him, and gave him particular reason to believe 
his stars propitious. Notwithstanding the falling weather, our hunters 
sallied out in the afternoon, and drove the woods in a ring, which was 
thus performed. From the circumference of a large circle they all marched 
inwards and drove the game towards the centre. By this means they shot a 
brace of fat bears, which came very seasonably, because we had made clean 
work in the morning and were in danger of dining with St. Anthony, or his 
grace Duke Humphry. But in this expedition the unhappy man who had lost 
himself once before, straggled again so far in pursuit of a deer, that he 
was hurried a second time quite out of his knowledge; and night coming on 
before he could recover the camp, he was obliged to lie down, without any 
of the comforts of fire, food or covering; nor would his fears suffer him 
to sleep very sound, because, to his great disturbance, 

Page 67

the wolves howled all that night, and the panthers screamed most 
frightfully. In the evening a brisk north-wester swept all the clouds from 
the sky, and exposed the mountains as well as the stars to our prospect. 
That which was the most lofty to the southward, and which we called the 
Lover's Leap, some of our Indian traders fondly fancied was the Kiawan 
mountain, which they had formerly seen from the country of the Cherokees. 
They were the more positive by reason of the prodigious precipice that 
remarkably distinguished the west end of it. We seemed however not to be 
far enough south for that, though it is not improbable but a few miles 
farther the course of our line might carry us to the most northerly towns 
of the Cherokees. What makes this the more credible, is the north-west 
course, that our traders take from the Catawbas for some hundred miles 
together, when they carry goods that round-about way to the Cherokees. It 
was a great pity that the want of bread, and the weakness of our horses, 
hindered us from making the discovery. Though the great service such an 
excursion might have been to the country would certainly have made the 
attempt not only pardonable, but much to be commended. Our traders are now 
at the vast charge and fatigue of travelling above five hundred miles for 
the benefit of that traffic which hardly quits cost. Would it not then be 
worth the assembly's while to be at some charge to find a shorter cut to 
carry on so profitable a trade, with more advantage, and less hazard and 
trouble, than they do at present? For I am persuaded it will not then be 
half the distance that our traders make it now, nor half so far as Georgia 
lies from the northern clans of that nation. Such a discovery would 
certainly prove an unspeakable advantage to this colony, by facilitating a 
trade with so considerable a nation of Indians, which have sixty-two 
towns, and more than four thousand fighting men. Our traders at that rate 
would be able to undersell those sent from the other colonies so much, 
that the Indians must have reason to deal with them preferable to all 
others. Of late the new colony of Georgia has made an act obliging us to 
go four hundred miles to take out a license to traffic with these 
Cherokees, though many of their towns lie out of their bounds, and we had 
carried on this trade eighty years before that colony was thought of.

   30th. In the morning early the man who had gone astray the day before 
found his way to the camp, by the sound of the bells that were upon the 
horses' necks. At nine o'clock we began our march back towards the rising 
sun; for though we had finished the line, yet we had not yet near finished 
our fatigue. We had after all two hundred good miles at least to our 
several habitations, and the horses were brought so low, that we were 
obliged to travel on foot great part of the way, and that in our boots, 
too, to save our legs from being torn to pieces by the bushes and briers. 
Had we not done this, we must have left all our horses behind, which could 
now hardly drag their legs after them, and with all the favour we could 
show the poor animals, we were forced to set seven of them free, not far 
from the foot of the mountains. Four men were despatched early to clear 
the road, that our lame commissioner's leg might be in less danger of 
being bruised, and that the baggage horses might travel with less 
difficulty and more expedition. As we passed along, by favour of a serene 
sky, we had still, from every eminence, a perfect view of the mountains, 
as well to the north as to the south. We could not forbear now and then 
facing about to survey them, as if unwilling to part with a prospect, 
which at the same time, like some rake's, was very wild and very 
agreeable. We encouraged the horses to exert the little strength they had, 
and being light, they made a shift to jog on about eleven miles. We 
encamped on Crooked creek, near a thicket of canes. In the front of our 
camp rose a very beautiful hill, that bounded our view at about a 

Page 68

mile's distance, and all the intermediate space was covered with green 
canes. Though, to our sorrow, fire-wood was scarce, which was now the 
harder upon us, because a north-wester blew very cold from the mountains.

   The Indian killed a stately, fat buck, and we picked his bones as clean 
as a score of turkey-buzzards could have done. By the advantage of a clear 
night, we made trial once more of the variation, and found it much the 
same as formerly. This being his majesty's birthday, we drank all the 
loyal healths in excellent water, not for the sake of the drink, (like 
many of our fellow subjects,) but purely for the sake of the toast. And 
because all public mirth should be a little noisy, we fired several 
volleys of canes, instead of guns, which gave a loud report. We threw them 
into the fire, where the air enclosed betwixt the joints of the canes, 
being expanded by the violent heat, burst its narrow bounds with a 
considerable explosion!

   In the evening one of the men knocked down an opossum, which is a 
harmless little beast, that will seldom go out of your way, and if you 
take hold of it, will only grin, and hardly ever bite. The flesh was well 
tasted and tender, approaching nearest to pig, which it also resembles in 
bigness. The colour of its fur was a goose gray, with a swine's snout, and 
a tail like a rat's, but at least a foot long. By twisting this tail about 
the arm of a tree, it will hang with all its weight, and swing to any 
thing it wants to take hold of. It has five claws on the fore feet of 
equal length, but the hinder feet have only four claws, and a sort of 
thumb standing off at a proper distance. Their feet being thus formed, 
qualify them for climbing up trees to catch little birds, which they are 
very fond of. But the greatest particularity of this creature, and which 
distinguishes it from most others that we are acquainted with, is the 
false belly of the female, into which her young retreat in time of danger. 
She can draw the slit, which is the inlet into this pouch, so close, that 
you must look narrowly to find it, especially if she happen to be a 
virgin. Within the false belly may be seen seven or eight teats, on which 
the young ones grow from their first formation till they are big enough to 
fall off, like ripe fruit from a tree. This is so odd a method of 
generation, that I should not have believed it without the testimony of 
mine own eyes. Besides a knowing and credible person has assured me he has 
more than once observed the embryo opossums growing to the teat before 
they were completely shaped, and afterwards watched their daily growth 
till they were big enough for birth. And all this he could the more easily 
pry into, because the dam was so perfectly gentle and harmless, that he 
could handle her just as he pleased. I could hardly persuade myself to 
publish a thing so contrary to the course that nature takes in the 
production of other animals, unless it were a matter commonly believed in 
all countries where that creature is produced, and has been often observed 
by persons of undoubted credit and understanding. They say that the 
leather-winged bats produce their young in the same uncommon manner. And 
that young sharks at sea, and young vipers ashore, run down the throats of 
their dams when they are closely pursued.

   The frequent crossing of Crooked creek, and mounting the steep banks of 
it, gave the finishing stroke to the foundering our horses: and no less 
than two of them made a full stop here, and would not advance a foot 
father, either by fair means or foul. We had a dreamer of dreams amongst 
us, who warned me in the morning to take care of myself, or I should 
infallibly fall into the creek; I thanked him kindly, and used what 
caution I could, but was not able it seems to avoid my destiny, for my 
horse made a false step and laid me down at my full length in the water. 
This was enough to bring dreaming into credit, and I think it much for the 
honour of our expedition, that it was graced not only with a priest but 
also with a prophet. We were so perplexed with this serpentine creek, as 
well as in passing the branches of 

Page 69

the Irvin, (which were swelled since we saw them before,) that we could 
reach but five miles this whole day. In the evening we pitched our tent 
near Miry creek, (though an uncomfortable place to lodge in) purely for 
the advantage of the canes. Our hunters killed a large doe and two bears, 
which made all other misfortunes easy. Certainly no Tartar ever loved 
horse-flesh, nor Hottentot guts and garbage, better than woodsmen do bear. 
The truth of it is, it may be proper food perhaps for such as work or ride 
it off, but, with our chaplain's leave, who loved it much, I think it not 
a very proper diet for saints, who do not mortify the flesh by toil. And 
now, for the good of mankind, and for the better peopling an infant 
colony, which has no want but that of inhabitants, I will venture to 
publish a secret of importance, which our Indian disclosed to me. I asked 
him the reason why few or none of his country women were barren? To which 
curious question he answered, with a broad grin upon his face, they had an 
infallible secret for that. Upon my being importunate to know what the 
secret might be, he informed me that, if any Indian woman did not prove 
with child at a decent time after marriage, the husband, to save his 
reputation with the women, forthwith entered into a bear-diet for six 
weeks, which in that time produces such healthy effect, that it is great 
odds but his wife becomes a mother in nine months. And thus much. I am 
able to say, besides, for the reputation of the bear diet, that all the 
married men of our company were joyful fathers within forty weeks after 
they got home, and most of the single men had children sworn to them 
within the same time, our chaplain always excepted, who, with much ado, 
made a shift to cast out that importunate kind of devil, by dint of 
fasting and prayer.

   November 1st. By the negligence of one of the men in not hobbling his 
horse, he straggled so far that he could not be found. This stopped us all 
the morning long; yet, because our time should not be entirely lost, we 
endeavoured to observe the latitude at twelve o'clock. Though our 
observation was not perfect, by reason the wind blew a little too fresh, 
however, by such a one as we could make, we found ourselves in thirty-six 
degrees twenty minutes only. Notwithstanding our being thus delayed, and 
the uneveness of the ground, over which we were obliged to walk, (for most 
of us served now in the infantry,) we travelled no less than six miles, 
though as merciful as we were to our poor beasts, another of them tired by 
the way, and was left behind for the wolves and panthers to feast upon.

   As we marched along, we had the fortune to kill a brace of bucks, as 
many bears, and one wild turkey. But this was carrying our sport to 
wantonness, because we butchered more than we were able to transport. We 
ordered the deer to be quartered and divided among the horses for the 
lighter carriage, and recommended the bears to our daily attendants, the 
turkey-buzzards. We always chose to carry venison along with us rather 
than bear, not only because it was less cumbersome, but likewise because 
the people could eat it without bread, which was now almost spent. Whereas 
the other, being richer food, lay too heavy upon the stomach, unless it 
were lightened by something farinaceous. This is what I thought proper to 
remark, for the service of all those whose business or diversion shall 
oblige them to live any time in the woods. And because I am persuaded that 
very useful matters may be found out by searching this great wilderness, 
especially the upper parts of it, about the mountains, I conceive it will 
help to engage able men in that good work, if I recommend a wholesome kind 
of food, of very small weight and very great nourishment, that will secure 
them from starving, in case they should be so unlucky as to meet with no 
game. The chief discouragement at present from penetrating far into the 
woods is the trouble of carrying a load of provisions. I must own famine 
is a frightful monster, and 

Page 70

for that reason to be guarded against as well as we can. But the common 
precautions against it, are so burthensome, that people cannot tarry long 
out, and go far enough from home, to make any effectual discovery. The 
portable provisions I would furnish our foresters withal are glue-broth 
and rockahominy: one contains the essence of bread, the other of meat. The 
best way of making the glue-broth is after the following method: Take a 
leg of beef, veal, venison, or any other young meat, because old meat will 
not so easily jelly. Pare off all the fat, in which there is no nutriment, 
and of the lean make a very strong broth, after the usual manner, by 
boiling the meat to rags till all the goodness be out. After skimming off 
what fat remains, pour the broth into a wide stew-pan, well tinned, and 
let it simmer over a gentle even fire, till it come to a thick jelly. Then 
take it off and set it over boiling water, which is an evener heat, and 
not so apt to burn the broth to the vessel. Over that let it evaporate, 
stirring it very often till it be reduced, when cold, into a solid 
substance like glue. Then cut it into small pieces, laying them single in 
the cold, that they may dry the sooner. When the pieces are perfectly dry, 
put them into a canister, and they will be good, if kept dry, a whole East 
India voyage. This glue is so strong, that two or three drachms, dissolved 
in boiling water with a little salt, will make half a pint of good broth, 
and if you should be faint with fasting or fatigue, let a small piece of 
this glue melt in your mouth, and you will find yourself surprisingly 
refreshed. One pound of this cookery would keep a man in good heart above 
a month, and is not only nourishing, but likewise very wholesome. 
Particularly it is good against fluxes, which woodsmen are very liable to, 
by lying too near the moist ground, and guzzling too much cold water. But 
as it will be only used now and then, in times of scarcity, when game is 
wanting, two pounds of it will be enough for a journey of six months. But 
this broth will be still more heartening, if you thicken every mess with 
half a spoonful of rockahominy, which is nothing but Indian corn parched 
without burning, and reduced to powder. The fire drives out all the watery 
parts of the corn, leaving the strength of it behind, and this being very 
dry, becomes much lighter for carriage and less liable to be spoiled by 
the moist air. Thus half a dozen pounds of this sprightful bread will 
sustain a man for as many months, provided he husband it well, and always 
spare it when he meets with venison, which, as I said before, may be very 
safely eaten without any bread at all. By what I have said, a man need not 
encumber himself with more than eight or ten pounds of provisions, though 
he continue half a year in the woods. These and his gun will support him 
very well during that time, without the least danger of keeping one single 
fast. And though some of his days may be what the French call jours 
maigres, yet there will happen no more of those than will be necessary for 
his health, and to carry off the excesses of the days of plenty, when our 
travellers will be apt to indulge their lawless appetites too much.

   2d. The heavens frowned this morning, and threatened abundance of rain, 
but our zeal for returning made us defy the weather, and decamp a little 
before noon. Yet we had not advanced two miles, before a soaking shower 
made us glad to pitch our tent as fast as we could. We chose for that 
purpose a rising ground, half a mile to the east of Matrimony creek. This 
was the first and only time we were caught in the rain, during the whole 
expedition. It used before to be so civil as to fall in the night, after 
we were safe in our quarters, and had trenched ourselves in; or else it 
came upon us on Sundays, when it was no interruption to our progress, nor 
any inconvenience to our persons. We had, however, been so lucky in this 
particular before, that we had abundant reason to take our present soaking 
patiently, and the misfortune was the less, because we had taken 
precaution to keep all our 

Page 71

baggage and bedding perfectly dry. This rain was enlivened with very loud 
thunder, which was echoed back by the hills in the neighbourhood in a 
frightful manner. There is something in the woods that makes the sound of 
this meteor more awful, and the violence of the lightning more visible. 
The trees are frequently shivered quite down to the root, and sometimes 
perfectly twisted. But of all the effects of lightning that ever I heard 
of, the most amazing happened in this country, in the year 1736. In the 
summer of that year a surgeon of a ship, whose name was Davis, came ashore 
at York to visit a patient. He was no sooner got into the house, but it 
began to rain with many terrible claps of thunder. When it was almost dark 
there came a dreadful flash of lightning, which struck the surgeon dead as 
he was walking about the room, but hurt no other person, though several 
were near him. At the same time it made a large hole in the trunk of a 
pine tree, which grew about ten feet from the window. But what was most 
surprising in this disaster was, that on the breast of the unfortunate man 
that was killed was the figure of a pine tree, as exactly delineated as 
any limner in the world could draw it, nay, the resemblance went so far as 
to represent the colour of the pine, as well as the figure. The lightning 
must probably have passed through the tree first before it struck the man, 
and by that means have printed the icon of it on his breast. But whatever 
may have been the cause, the effect was certain, and can be attested by a 
cloud of witnesses who had the curiosity to go and see this wonderful 
phenomenon. The worst of it was, we were forced to encamp in a barren 
place, where there was hardly a blade of grass to be seen, even the wild 
rosemary failed us here, which gave us but too just apprehensions that we 
should not only be obliged to trudge all the way home on foot, but also to 
lug our baggage at our backs into the bargain. Thus we learned by our own 
experience, that horses are very improper animals to use in a long ramble 
into the woods, and the better they have been used to be fed, they are 
still the worse. Such will fall away a great deal faster, and fail much 
sooner, than those which are wont to be at their own keeping. Besides, 
horses that have been accustomed to a plain and champaign country will 
founder presently, when they come to clamber up hills, and batter their 
hoofs against continual rocks. We need Welsh runts, and Highland Galloways 
to climb our mountains withal; they are used to precipices, and will bite 
as close as Banstead Down sheep. But I should much rather recommend mules, 
if we had them, for these long and painful expeditions; though, till they 
can be bred, certainly asses are the fittest beasts of burthen for the 
mountains. They are sure-footed, patient under the heaviest fatigue, and 
will subsist upon moss, or browsing on shrubs all the winter. One of them 
will carry the necessary luggage of four men, without any difficulty, and 
upon a pinch will take a quarter of bear or venison upon their backs into 
the bargain. Thus, when the men are light and disengaged from every thing 
but their guns, they may go the whole journey on foot with pleasure. And 
though my dear countrymen have so great a passion for riding, that they 
will often walk two miles to catch a horse, in order to ride one, yet, if 
they will please to take my word for it, when they go into the woods upon 
discovery, I would advise them by all means to march a-foot, for they will 
then be delivered from the great care and concern for their horses, which 
takes up too large a portion of their time. Over night we are now at the 
trouble of hobbling them out, and often of leading them a mile or two to a 
convenient place for forage, and then in the morning we are some hours in 
finding them again, because they are apt to stray a great way from the 
place where they were turned out. Now and then, too, they are lost for a 
whole day together, and are frequently so weak and jaded, that the company 
must lie still several days, near some meadow, or highland pond, to 

Page 72

recruit them. All these delays retard their progress intolerably; whereas, 
if they had only a few asses, they would abide close to the camp, and find 
sufficient food every where, and in all seasons of the year. Men would 
then be able to travel safely over hills and dales, nor would the steepest 
mountains obstruct their progress. They might also search more narrowly 
for mines and other productions of nature, without being confined to level 
grounds, in compliment to the jades they ride on. And one may foretell, 
without the spirit of divination, that so long as woodsmen continue to 
range on horse-back, we shall be strangers to our own country, and few or 
no valuable discoveries will ever be made! The French couriers de bois, 
who have run from one end of the continent to the other, have performed it 
all on foot, or else in all probability must have continued full as 
ignorant as we are. Our country has now been inhabited more than one 
hundred and thirty years by the English, and still we hardly know any 
thing of the Appallachian mountains, that are no where above two hundred 
and fifty miles from the sea. Whereas the French, who are later comers, 
have ranged from Quebec southward as far as the mouth of Mississippi, in 
the bay of Mexico, and to the west almost as far as California, which is 
either way above two thousand miles.

   3d. A north-west wind having cleared the sky, we were now tempted to 
travel on a Sunday, for the first time, for want of more plentiful forage, 
though some of the more scrupulous amongst us were unwilling to do evil, 
that good might come of it, and make our cattle work a good part of the 
day in order to fill their bellies at night. However, the chaplain put on 
his casuistical face, and offered to take the sin upon himself. We 
therefore consented to move a Sabbath day's journey of three or four 
miles, it appearing to be a matter of some necessity. On the way our 
unmerciful Indian killed no less than two brace of deer and a large bear. 
We only primed the deer, being unwilling to be encumbered with their whole 
carcasses. The rest we consigned to the wolves, which in return serenaded 
us great part of the night. They are very clamorous in their banquets, 
which we know is the way some other brutes have, in the extravagance of 
their jollity and sprightliness, of expressing their thanks to Providence.

   We came to our old camp, in sight of the river Irvin, whose stream was 
swelled now near four feet with the rain that fell the day before. This 
made it impracticable for us to ford it, nor could we guess when the water 
would fall enough to let us go over. This put our mathematical professor, 
who should have set a better example, into the vapours, fearing he should 
be obliged to take up his winter quarters in that doleful wilderness. But 
the rest were not infected with his want of faith, but preserved a 
firmness of mind superior to such little adverse accidents. They trusted 
that the same good Providence which had most remarkably prospered them 
hitherto, would continue his goodness and conduct them safe to the end of 
their journey. However, we found plainly that travelling on the Sunday, 
contrary to our constant rule, had not thriven with us in the least. We 
were not gainers of any distance by it, because the river made us pay two 
days for violating one. Nevertheless, by making this reflection, I would 
not be thought so rigid an observer of the sabbath as to allow of no work 
at all to be done, or journeys to be taken upon it. I should not care to 
lie still and be knocked on the head, as the Jews were heretofore by 
Antiochus, because I believed it unlawful to stand upon my defence on this 
good day. Nor would I care, like a certain New England magistrate, to 
order a man to the whipping post, for daring to ride for a midwife on the 
Lord's day. On the contrary, I am for doing all acts of necessity, 
charity, and self-preservation, upon a Sunday as well as other days of the 
week. But, as I think our present march could not strictly be justified by 
any of these rules, it was but just we should suffer a little for it. I 
never 

Page 73

could learn that the Indians set apart any day of the week or the year for 
the service of God. They pray, as philosophers eat, only when they have a 
stomach, without having any set time for it. Indeed these idle people have 
very little occasion for a sabbath to refresh themselves after hard 
labour, because very few of them ever labour at all. Like the wild Irish, 
they would rather want than work, and are all men of pleasure, to whom 
every day is a day of rest. Indeed, in their hunting, they will take a 
little pains; but this being only a diversion, their spirits are rather 
raised than depressed by it, and therefore need at most but a night's 
sleep to recruit them.

   4th. By some stakes we had driven into the river yesterday, we 
perceived the water began to fall, but fell so slowly that we found we 
must have patience a day or two longer. And because we were unwilling to 
lie altogether idle, we sent back some of the men to bring up the two 
horses that tired the Saturday before. They were found near the place 
where we had left them, but seemed too sensible of their liberty to come 
to us. They were found standing indeed, but as motionless as the 
equestrian statue at Charing-Cross. We had great reason to apprehend more 
rain by the clouds that drove over our heads. The boldest amongst us were 
not without some pangs of uneasiness at so very sullen a prospect. 
However, God be praised! it all blew over in a few hours. If much rain had 
fallen, we resolved to make a raft and bind it together with grape vines, 
to ferry ourselves and baggage over the river. Though, in that case, we 
expected the swiftness of the stream would have carried down our raft a 
long way before we could have tugged it to the opposite shore.

   One of the young fellows we had sent to bring up the tired horses 
entertained us in the evening with a remarkable adventure he had met with 
that day. He had straggled, it seems, from his company in a mist, and made 
a cub of a year old betake itself to a tree. While he was new-priming his 
piece, with intent to fetch it down, the old gentlewoman appeared, and 
perceiving her heir apparent in distress, advanced open-mouthed to his 
relief. The man was so intent upon his game, that she had approached very 
near him before he perceived her. But finding his danger, he faced about 
upon the enemy, which immediately reared upon her posteriors, and put 
herself in battle array. The man, admiring at the bear's assurance, 
endeavoured to fire upon her, but by the dampness of the priming, his gun 
did not go off. He cocked it a second time, and had the same misfortune. 
After missing fire twice, he had the folly to punch the beast with the 
muzzle of his piece; but mother Bruin, being upon her guard, seized the 
weapon with her paws, and by main strength wrenched it out of the fellow's 
hands. The man being thus fairly disarmed, thought himself no longer a 
match for the enemy, and therefore retreated as fast as his legs could 
carry him. The brute naturally grew bolder upon the flight of her 
adversary, and pursued him with all her heavy speed. For some time it was 
doubtful whether fear made one run faster, or fury the other. But after an 
even course of about fifty yards, the man had the mishap to stumble over a 
stump, and fell down at his full length. He now wouldhave sold his life a 
penny-worth; but the bear, apprehending there might be some trick in the 
fall, instantly halted, and looked with much attention on her prostrate 
foe. In the mean while, the man had with great presence of mind resolved 
to make the bear believe he was dead, by lying breathless on the ground, 
in hopes that the beast would be too generous to kill him over again. To 
carry on the farce, he acted the corpse for some time without daring to 
raise his head, to see how near the monster was to him. But in about two 
minutes, to his unspeakable comfort, he was raised from the dead by the 
barking of a dog, belonging to one of his companions, who came seasonably 
to his rescue, and drove the bear from pursuing the 

Page 74

man to take care of her cub, which she feared might now fall into a second 
distress.

   5th. We judged the waters were assuaged this morning to make the river 
fordable. Therefore about ten we tried the experiment, and every body got 
over safe, except one man, whose horse slipped from a rock as he forded 
over, and threw him into the river. But being able to swim, he was not 
carried down the stream very far before he recovered the north shore. At 
the distance of about six miles we passed Cascade creek, and three miles 
farther we came upon the banks of the Dan, which we crossed with much 
difficulty, by reason the water was risen much higher than when we forded 
it before. Here the same unlucky person happened to be ducked a second 
time, and was a second time saved by swimming. My own horse too plunged in 
such a manner that his head was more than once under water, but with much 
ado recovered his feet, though he made so low an obeisance, that the water 
ran fairly over my saddle.

   We continued our march as far as Lowland creek, where we took up our 
lodging, for the benefit of the canes and winter grass that grew upon the 
rich grounds thereabouts. On our way thither we had the misfortune to drop 
another horse, though he carried nothing the whole day but his saddle. We 
showed the same favour to most of our horses, for fear, if we did not do 
it, we should in a little time be turned into beasts of burthen ourselves. 
Custom had now made travelling on foot so familiar, that we were able to 
walk ten miles with pleasure. This we could do in our boots, 
notwithstanding our way lay over rough woods and uneven grounds. Our 
learning to walk in heavy boots was the same advantage to us that learning 
to dance high dances in wooden shoes is to the French, it made us most 
exceedingly nimble without them. The Indians, who have no way of 
travelling but on the hoof, make nothing of going twenty-five miles a day, 
and carrying their little necessaries at their backs, and sometimes a 
stout pack of skins into the bargain. And very often they laugh at the 
English, who cannot stir to a next neighbour without a horse, and say that 
two legs are too much for such lazy people, who cannot visit their next 
neighbour without six. For their parts, they were utter strangers to all 
our beasts of burthen or carriage, before the slothful Europeans came 
amongst them. They had on no part of the American continent, or in any of 
the islands, either horses or asses, camels, dromedaries or elephants, to 
ease the legs of the original inhabitants, or to lighten their labour. 
Indeed, in South America, and particularly in Chili, they have a useful 
animal called "paco." This creature resembles a sheep pretty much; only in 
the length of the neck, and figure of the head, it is more like a camel. 
It is very near as high as the ass, and the Indians there make use of it 
for carrying moderate burthens. The fleece that grows upon it is very 
valuable for the fineness, length and glossiness of the wool. It has one 
remarkable singularity, that the hoofs of its fore-feet have three clefts, 
and those behind no more than one. The flesh of this animal is something 
drier than our mutton, but altogether as well tasted. When it is angry, it 
has no way of resenting its wrongs, but by spitting in the face of those 
that provoke it: and if the spawl happen to light on the bare skin of any 
person, it first creates an itching, and afterwards a scab, if no remedy 
be applied. The way to manage these pacos, and make them tractable, is, to 
bore a hole in their ears, through which they put a rope, and then guide 
them just as they please. In Chili, they wear a beautiful kind of stuff, 
with thread made of this creature's wool, which has a gloss superior to 
any camlet, and is sold very dear in that country.

   6th. The difficulty of finding the horses among the tall canes made it 
late before we decamped. We traversed very hilly grounds, but to make 
amends 

Page 75

it was pretty clear of underwood. We avoided crossing the Dan twice by 
taking a compass round the bend of it. There was no passing by the angle 
of the river without halting a moment to entertain our eyes again with 
that charming prospect. When that pleasure was over we proceeded to Sable 
creek, and encamped a little to the east of it. The river thereabouts had 
a charming effect, its banks being adorned with green canes, sixteen feet 
high, which make a spring all the year, as well as plenty of forage all 
the winter. One of the men wounded an old buck, that was gray with years, 
and seemed by the reverend marks he bore upon him, to confirm the current 
opinion of that animal's longevity. The smart of his wounds made him not 
only turn upon the dogs, but likewise pursue them to some distance with 
great fury. However he got away at last, though by the blood that issued 
from his wound he could not run far before he fell, and without doubt made 
a comfortable repast for the wolves. However the Indian had better 
fortune, and supplied us with a fat doe, and a young bear two years old. 
At that age they are in their prime, and, if they be fat withal, they are 
a morsel for a cardinal.

   All the land we travelled over this day, and the day before, that is to 
say from the river Irvin to Sable creek, is exceedingly rich, both on the 
Virginia side of the line, and that of Carolina. Besides whole forests of 
canes, that adorn the banks of the river and creeks threabouts, the 
fertility of the soil throws out such a quantity of winter grass, that 
horses and cattle might keep themselves in heart all the cold season 
without the help of any fodder. Nor have the low grounds only this 
advantage, but likewise the higher land, and particularly that which we 
call the Highland Pond, which is two miles broad, and of a length unknown.

   I question not but there are thirty thousand acres at least, lying 
altogether, as fertile as the lands were said to be about Babylon, which 
yielded, if Herodotus tells us right, an increase of no less than two or 
three hundred for one. But this hath the advantage of being a higher, and 
consequently a much healthier, situation than that. So that a colony of 
one thousand families might, with the help of moderate industry, pass 
their time very happily there. Besides grazing and tillage, which would 
abundantly compensate their labour, they might plant vineyards upon the 
hills, in which situation the richest wines are always produced. They 
might also propagate white mulberry trees, which thrive exceedingly in 
this climate, in order to the feeding of silk-worms, and making of raw 
silk. They might too produce hemp, flax and cotton, in what quantity they 
pleased, not only for their own use, but likewise for sale. Then they 
might raise very plentiful orchards, of both peaches and apples, which 
contribute as much as any fruit to the luxury of life. There is no soil or 
climate will yield better rice than this, which is a grain of prodigious 
increase, and of very wholesome nourishment. In short every thing will 
grow plentifully here to supply either the wants or wantonness of man. Nor 
can I so much as wish that the more tender vegetables might grow here, 
such as orange, lemon, and olive trees, because then we should lose the 
much greater benefit of the brisk north-west winds, which purge the air, 
and sweep away all the malignant fevers, which hover over countries that 
are always warm. The soil would also want the advantages of frost, and 
snow, which by their nitrous particles contribute not a little to its 
fertility. Besides the inhabitants would be deprived of the variety and 
sweet vicissitude of the season, which is much more delightful than one 
dull and constant succession of warm weather, diversified only by rain and 
sunshine. There is also another convenience, that happens to this country 
by cold weather--it destroys a great number of snakes, and other venomous 
reptiles, and troublesome insects, or at least lays them to sleep for 
several months, which otherwise would annoy us the whole year round, and 
multiply beyond all enduring. Though oranges 

Page 76

and lemons are desirable fruits, and useful enough in many cases, yet, 
when the want of them is supplied by others more useful, we have no cause 
to complain. There is no climate that produces every thing, since the 
deluge wrenched the poles of the world out of their place, nor is it fit 
it should be so, because it is the mutual supply one country receives from 
another, which creates a mutual traffic and intercourse amongst men. And 
in truth, were it not for the correspondence, in order to make up each 
other's wants, the wars betwixt bordering nations, like those of the 
Indians and other barbarous people, would be perpetual and 
irreconcileable. As to olive trees, I know by experience they will never 
stand the sharpness of our winters, but their place may be supplied by the 
plant called sessamun, which yields an infinite quantity of large seed, 
from whence a sweet oil is pressed, that is very wholesome and in use 
amongst the people of Lesser Asia. Likewise it is used in Egypt, 
preferably to oil olive, being not so apt to make those that eat it 
constantly break out into scabs, as they do in many parts of Italy. This 
would grow very kindly here, and has already been planted with good 
success in North Carolina, by way of experiment.

   7th. After crossing the Dan, we made a march of eight miles, over hills 
and dales as far as the next ford of that river. And now we were by 
practice become such very able footmen, that we easily outwalked our 
horses, and could have marched much farther, had it not been in pity to 
their weakness. Besides here was plenty of canes, which was reason enough 
to make us shorten our journey. Our gunners did great execution as they 
went along, killing no less than two brace of deer, and as many wild 
turkeys. Though practice will soon make a man of tolerable vigour an able 
footman, yet, as a help to bear fatigue I used to chew a root of ginseng 
as I walked along. This kept up my spirits, and made me trip away as 
nimbly in my half jack-boots as younger men could do in their shoes. This 
plant is in high esteem in China, where it sells for its weight in silver. 
Indeed it does not grow there, but in the mountains of Tartary, to which 
place the emperor of China sends ten thousand men every year on purpose to 
gather it. But it grows so scattering there, that even so many hands can 
bring home no great quantity. Indeed it is a vegetable of so many virtues, 
that Providence has planted it very thin in every country that has the 
happiness to produce it. Nor indeed is mankind worthy of so great a 
blessing, since health and long life are commonly abused to ill purposes. 
This noble plant grows likewise at the cape of Good Hope, where it is 
called kanna, and is in wonderful esteem among the Hottentots. It grows 
also on the northern continent of America, near the mountains, but as 
sparingly as truth and public spirit. It answers exactly both to the 
figure and virtues of that which grows in Tartary, so that there can be no 
doubt of its being the same. Its virtues are, that it gives an uncommon 
warmth and vigour to the blood, and frisks the spirits, beyond any other 
cordial. It cheers the heart even of a man that has a bad wife, and makes 
him look down with great composure on the crosses of the world. It 
promotes insensible perspiration, dissolves all phlegmatic and viscous 
humours, that are apt to obstruct the narrow channels of the nerves. It 
helps the memory, and would quicken even Helvetian dulness. It is friendly 
to the lungs, much more than scolding itself. It comforts the stomach, and 
strengthens the bowels, preventing all colics and fluxes. In one word, it 
will make a man live a great while, and very well while he does live. And 
what is more, it will even make old age amiable, by rendering it lively, 
cheerful, and good-humoured. However it is of little use in the feats of 
love, as a great prince once found, who hearing of its invigorating 
quality, sent as far as China for some of it, though his ladies could not 
boast of any advantage thereby.

   We gave the Indian the skins of all the deer that he shot himself, and 
the 

Page 77

men the skins of what they killed. And every evening after the fires were 
made, they stretched them very tight upon sticks, and dried them. This, by 
a nocturnal fire, appeared at first a very odd spectacle, every thing 
being dark and gloomy round about. After they are dried in this manner 
they may be folded up without damage, till they come to be dressed 
according to art. The Indians dress them with deer's brains, and so do the 
English here by their example. For expedition's sake they often stretch 
their skins over smoke in order to dry them, which makes them smell so 
disagreeably that a rat must have a good stomach to gnaw them in that 
condition; nay, it is said, while that perfume continues in a pair of 
leather breeches, the person that wears them will be in no danger of that 
villanous little insect the French call morpion. And now I am upon the 
subject of insects, it may not be improper to mention some few remedies 
against those that are most vexatious in this climate. There are two sorts 
without doors, that are great nuisances, the ticks, and the horse flies. 
The ticks are either deer-ticks, or those that annoy the cattle. The first 
kind are long, and take a very strong gripe, being most in remote woods, 
above the inhabitants. The other are round, and more gently insinuate 
themselves into the flesh, being in all places where cattle are frequent. 
Both these sorts are apt to be troublesome during the warm season, but 
have such an aversion to pennyroyal, that they will attack no part that is 
rubbed with the juice of that fragrant vegetable. And a strong decoction 
of this is likewise the most effectual remedy against seed-ticks, which 
bury themselves in your legs, when they are so small you can hardly 
discern them without a microscope.

   The horse flies are not only a great grievance to horses, but likewise 
to those that ride them. These little vixens confine themselves chiefly to 
the woods, and are most in moist places. Though this insect be no bigger 
than an ordinary fly, it bites very smartly, darting its little proboscis 
into the skin the instant it lights upon it. These are offensive only in 
the hot months, and in the day time, when they are a great nuisance to 
travellers; insomuch that it is no wonder they were formerly employed for 
one of the plagues of Egypt. But dittany, which is to be had in the woods 
all the while those insects remain in vigor, is a sure defence against 
them. For this purpose, if you stick a bunch of it on the head-stall of 
your bridle, they will be sure to keep a respectful distance. Thus, in 
what part of the woods soever any thing mischievous or troublesome is 
found, kind Providence is sure to provide a remedy. And it is probably one 
great reason why God was pleased to create these, and many other vexatious 
animals, that men should exercise their wits and industry, to guard 
themselves against them. Bears' oil is used by the Indians as a general 
defence against every species of vermin. Among the rest, they say it keeps 
both bugs and mosquitoes from assaulting their persons, which would 
otherwise devour such uncleanly people. Yet bears' grease has no strong 
smell, as that plant had which the Egyptians formerly used against 
mosquitoes, resembling our palma Christi, the juice of which smelled so 
disagreeably, that the remedy was worse than the disease. Against 
mosquitoes, in Egypt, the richer sort used to build lofty towers, with bed-
chambers in the tops of them, that they might rest undisturbed. It is 
certain that these insects are no high fliers, because their wings are 
weak and their bodies so light, that if they mount never so little, the 
wind blows them quite away from their course, and they become an easy prey 
to the martins, East India bats, and other birds that fly about in 
continual quest of them.

   8th. As we had twice more to cross the Dan over two fords, that lay no 
more than seven miles from each other, we judged the distance would not be 
much greater to go round the bend of it. Accordingly we sent the Indian 

Page 78

and two white men that way, who came up with us in the evening, after 
fetching a compass of about twelve miles. They told us that, about a mile 
from our last camp, they passed a creek fortified with steep cliffs, which 
therefore gained the name of Cliff creek. Near three miles beyond that 
they forded a second creek, on the margin of which grew abundance of tall 
canes and this was called Hix's creek, from one of the discoverers. 
Between these two creeks lies a level of exceeding rich land, full of 
large trees, and covered with black mould, as fruitful, if we believe 
them, as that which is yearly overflowed by the Nile. We who marched the 
nearest way upon the line found the ground rising and falling between the 
two fords of the Dan, which almost broke our own wind, and the hearts of 
our jaded palfreys. When we had passed the last ford, it was a sensible 
joy to find ourselves safe over all the waters that might cut off our 
retreat. And we had the greater reason to be thankful, because so late in 
the year it was very unusual to find the rivers so fordable. We caught a 
large terrapin in the river, which is one kind of turtle. The flesh of it 
is wholesome, and good for consumptive people. It lays a great number of 
eggs, not larger but rounder than those of pigeons. These are soft, but 
withal so tough that it is difficult to break them, yet are very sweet and 
invigorating, so that some wives recommend them earnestly to their 
husbands. One of the men, by an overstrain, had unhappily got a running of 
the reins, for which I gave him every morning a little sweet gum dissolved 
in water, with good success. This gum distils from a large tree, called 
the sweet-gum tree, very common in Virginia, and is as healing in its 
virtue as balm of Gilead, or the balsams of Tolu and of Peru. It is 
likewise a most agreeable perfume, very little inferior to ambergris. And 
now I have mentioned ambergris, I hope it will not be thought an 
unprofitable digression, to give a faithful account how it is produced, in 
order to reconcile the various opinions concerning it. It is now certainly 
found to be the dung of the spermaceti whale, which is at first very black 
and unsavoury. But after having been washed for some months in the sea, 
and blanched in the sun, it comes at length to be of a gray colour, and 
from a most offensive smell, contracts the finest fragrancy in the world. 
Besides the fragrancy of this animal substance, it is a very rich and 
innocent cordial, which raises the spirits without stupifying them 
afterwards, like opium, or intoxicating them like wine. The animal spirits 
are amazingly refreshed by this cordial, without the danger of any ill 
consequence, and if husbands were now and then to dissolve a little of it 
in their broth, their consorts might be the better for it, as well as 
themselves. In the Bahama islands (where a great quantity is found, by 
reason the spermaceti whales resort thither continually,) it is used as an 
antidote against the venomous fish which abound thereabouts, wherewith the 
people are apt to poison themselves. We are not only obliged to that whale 
for this rich perfume, but also for the spermaceti itself, which is the 
fat of that fish's head boiled and purged from all its impurities. What 
remains is of a balsamic and detersive quality, very friendly to the 
lungs, and useful in many other cases.

   The Indian had killed a fat doe in the compass he took round the elbow 
of the river, but was content to prime it only, by reason it was too far 
off to lug the whole carcass upon his back. This, and a brace of wild 
turkeys which our men had shot, made up all our bill of fare this evening, 
but could only afford a philosophical meal to so many craving stomachs. 
The horses were now so lean that any thing would gall those that carried 
the least burthen; no wonder then if several of them had sore backs, 
especially now the pads of the saddles and packs were pressed flat with 
long and constant use. This would have been another misfortune, had we not 
been provided with an easy remedy for it. One of the commissioners, 
believing that such accidents might 

Page 79

happen in a far journey, had furnished himself with plasters of strong 
glue spread pretty thick. We laid on these, after making them running hot, 
which, sticking fast, never fell off till the sore was perfectly healed. 
In the mean time it defended the part so well, that the saddle might bear 
upon it without danger of further injury.

   9th. We reckoned ourselves now pretty well out of the latitude of 
bears, to the great grief of most of the company. There was still mast 
enough left in the woods to keep the bears from drawing so near to the 
inhabitants. They like not the neighbourhood of merciless man, till famine 
compels them to it. They are all black in this part of the world, and so 
is their dung, but it will make linen white, being tolerably good soap, 
without any preparation but only drying. These bears are of a moderate 
size, whereas within the polar circles they are white, and much larger. 
Those of the southern parts of Muscovy are of a russet colour, but among 
the Samoeids, as well as in Greenland and Nova-Zembla, they are as white 
as the snow they converse with, and by some accounts are as large as a 
moderate ox. The excessive cold of that climate sets their appetites so 
sharp, that they will attack a man without ceremony, and even climb up a 
ship's side to come at him. They range about and are very mischievous all 
the time the sun is above the horizon, which is something more than five 
months; but after the sun is set for the rest of the year, they retire 
into holes, or bury themselves under the snow, and sleep away the dark 
season without any sustenance at all. It is pity our beggars and pick-
pockets could not do the same.

   Our journey this day was above twelve miles, and more than half the way 
terribly hampered with bushes. We tired another horse, which we were 
obliged to leave two miles short of where we encamped, and indeed several 
others were upon the careen almost every step. Now we wanted one of those 
celebrated musicians of antiquity, who, they tell us, among many other 
wonders of their art, could play an air which, by its animating briskness, 
would make a jaded horse caper and curyet much better than any whip, spur, 
or even than swearing. Though I fear our poor beasts were so harassed that 
it would have been beyond the skill of Orpheus himself so much as to make 
them prick up their ears. For proof of the marvellous power of music among 
the ancients, some historians say, that one of those skilful masters took 
upon him to make the great Alexander start up from his seat, and handle 
his javelin, whether he would or not, by the force of a sprightly tune, 
which he knew how to play to him. The king ordered the man to bring his 
instrument, and then fixing himself firmly in his chair, and determining 
not to stir, he bade him strike up as soon as he pleased. The musician 
obeyed, and presently roused the hero's spirits with such warlike notes, 
that he was constrained, in spite of all his resolution, to spring up and 
fly to his javelin with great martial fury. We can the easier credit these 
profane stories by what we find recorded in the oracles of truth, where we 
are told the wonders David performed by sweetly touching his harp. He made 
nothing of driving the evil spirit out of Saul, though a certain rabbi 
assures us he could not do so much by his wife, Michal, when she happened 
to be in her airs. The greatest instance we have of the power of modern 
music is that which cures those who in Italy are bitten by the little 
spider called the tarantula. The whole method of which is performed in the 
following manner. In Apulia it is a common misfortune for people to be 
bitten by the tarantula, and most about Taranto and Gallipoli. This is a 
gray spider, not very large, with a narrow streak of white along the back. 
It is no wonder there are many of these villanous insects, because, by a 
ridiculous superstition it is accounted great inhumanity to kill them. 
They believe, it seems, that if the spider come to a violent death, all 
those who had been bitten by it will certainly have a 

Page 80

return of their frenzy every year as long as they live. But if it die a 
natural death, the patient will have a chance to recover in two or three 
years. The bite of the tarantula gives no more pain than the bite of a 
mosquito, and makes little or no inflammation on the part, especially when 
the disaster happens in April or May; but, its venom increasing with the 
heat of the season, has more fatal consequences in July and August. The 
persons who are so unhappy as to be bitten in those warm months, fall down 
on the place in a few minutes, and lie senseless for a considerable time, 
and when they come to themselves feel horrible pains, are very sick at 
their stomachs, and in a short time break out into foul sores; but those 
who are bitten in the milder months have much gentler symptoms. They are 
longer before the distemper shows itself, and then they have a small 
disorder in their senses, are a little sick, and perhaps have some 
moderate breakings-out. However, in both cases, the patient keeps upon the 
bed, not caring to stir, till he is roused by a tune, proper for his 
particular case. Therefore, as soon as the symptoms discover themselves, a 
tarantula doctor is sent for, who, after viewing carefully the condition 
of the person, first tries one tune and then another, until he is so 
fortunate as to hit the phrenetic turn of the patient. No sooner does this 
happen but he begins to wag a finger, then a hand, and afterwards a foot, 
till at last he springs up and dances round the room, with a surprising 
agility, rolling his eyes and looking wild the whole time. This dancing-
fit lasts commonly about twenty-five minutes, by which time he will be all 
in a lather. Then he sits down, falls a laughing, and returns to his 
senses. So plentiful a perspiration discharges so much of the venom as 
will keep off the return of the distemper for a whole year. Then it will 
visit him again, and must be removed in the same merry manner. But three 
dancing bouts will do the business, unless, peradventure, the spider, 
according to the vulgar notion, has been put to a violent death. The tunes 
played to expel this whimsical disorder, are of the jig kind, and exceed 
not fifteen in number. The Apulians are frequently dancing off the effects 
of this poison, and no remedy is more commonly applied to any other 
distemper elsewhere, than those sprightly tunes are to the bite of the 
tarantula in that part of Italy. It is remarkable that these spiders have 
a greater spite to the natives of the place than they have to strangers, 
and women are oftener bitten than men. Though there may be a reason for 
the last, because women are more confined to the house, where these 
spiders keep, and their coats make them liable to attacks unseen, whereas 
the men can more easily discover, and brush them off their legs. 
Nevertheless, both sexes are cured the same way, and thereby show the 
wonderful effects of music.

   Considering how far we had walked, and consequently how hungry we were, 
we found but short commons when we came to our quarters. One brace of 
turkeys was all the game we could meet with, which almost needed a miracle 
to enable them to suffice so many voracious appetites. However, they just 
made a shift to keep famine, and consequently mutiny, out of the camp. At 
night we lodged upon the banks of Buffalo creek, where none of us could 
complain of loss of rest, for having eaten too heavy and luxurious a 
supper.

   10th. In a dearth of provisions our chaplain pronounced it lawful to 
make bold with the sabbath, and send a party out a-hunting. They fired the 
dry leaves in a ring of five miles' circumference, which, burning inwards, 
drove all the game to the centre, where they were easily killed. It is 
really a pitiful sight to see the extreme distress the poor deer are in, 
when they find themselves surrounded with this circle of fire; they weep 
and groan like a human creature, yet cannot move the compassion of those 
hard-hearted people, who are about to murder them. This unmerciful sport 
is called fire hunting, 

Page 81

and is much practised by the Indians and frontier inhabitants, who 
sometimes, in the eagerness of their diversion, are punished for their 
cruelty, and are hurt by one another when they shoot across at the deer 
which are in the middle. What the Indians do now by a circle of fire, the 
ancient Persians performed formerly by a circle of men: and the same is 
practised at this day in Germany upon extraordinary occasions, when any of 
the princes of the empire have a mind to make a general hunt, as they call 
it. At such times they order a vast number of people to surround a whole 
territory. Then marching inwards in close order, they at last force all 
the wild beasts into a narrow compass, that the prince and his company may 
have the diversion of slaughtering as many as they please with their own 
hands. Our hunters massacred two brace of deer after this unfair way, of 
which they brought us one brace whole, and only the primings of the rest.

   So many were absent on this occasion, that we who remained excused the 
chaplain from the trouble of spending his spirits by preaching to so thin 
a congregation. One of the men, who had been an old Indian trader, brought 
me a stem of silk grass, which was about as big as my little finger. But, 
being so late in the year that the leaf was fallen off, I am not able to 
describe the plant. The Indians use it in all their little manufactures, 
twisting a thread of it that is prodigiously strong. Of this they make 
their baskets and the aprons which their women wear about their middles, 
for decency's sake. These are long enough to wrap quite round them and 
reach down to their knees, with a fringe on the under part by way of 
ornament. They put on this modest covering with so much art, that the most 
impertinent curiosity cannot in the negligentest of their motions or 
postures make the least discovery. As this species of silk grass is much 
stronger than hemp, I make no doubt but sail cloth and cordage might be 
made of it with considerable improvement.

   11th. We had all been so refreshed by our day of rest, that we decamped 
earlier than ordinary, and passed the several fords of Hico river. The 
woods were thick great part of this day's journey, so that we were forced 
to scuffle hard to advance seven miles, being equal in fatigue to double 
that distance of clear and open grounds. We took up our quarters upon 
Sugar-tree creek, in the same camp we had lain in when we came up, and 
happened to be entertained at supper with a rarity we had never had the 
fortune to meet with before, during the whole expedition. A little wide of 
this creek, one of the men had the luck to meet with a young buffalo of 
two years old. It was a bull, which, notwithstanding he was no older, was 
as big as an ordinary ox. His legs were very thick and very short, and his 
hoofs exceeding broad. His back rose into a kind of bunch a little above 
the shoulders, which I believe contributes not a little to that creature's 
enormous strength. His body is vastly deep from the shoulders to the 
brisket, sometimes six feet in those that are full grown. The portly 
figure of this animal is disgraced by a shabby little tail, not above 
twelve inches long. This he cocks up on end whenever he is in a passion, 
and, instead of lowing or bellowing, grunts with no better grace than a 
hog. The hair growing on his head and neck is long and shagged, and so 
soft that it will spin into thread not unlike mohair, which might be wove 
into a sort of camlet. Some people have stockings knit of it, that would 
have served an Israelite during his forty years' march through the 
wilderness. Its horns are short and strong, of which the Indians make 
large spoons, which they say will split and fall to pieces whenever poison 
is put into them. Its colour is a dirty brown, and its hide so thick that 
it is scarce penetrable. However, it makes very spongy sole leather by the 
ordinary method of tanning, though this fault might by good contrivance be 
mended. As thick as this poor beast's hide was, a bullet made shift to 
enter 

Page 82

it and fetch him down. It was found all alone, though buffaloes seldom 
are. They usually range about in herds, like other cattle, and, though 
they differ something in figure, are certainly of the same species. There 
are two reasons for this opinion: the flesh of both has exactly the same 
taste, and the mixed breed betwixt both, they say, will generate. All the 
difference I could perceive between the flesh of buffalo and common beef 
was, that the flesh of the first was much yellower than that of the other, 
and the lean something tougher. The men were so delighted with this new 
diet, that the gridiron and frying-pan had no more rest all night, than a 
poor husband subject to curtain lectures. Buffaloes may be easily tamed 
when they are taken young. The best way to catch them is to carry a milch 
mare into the woods, and when you find a cow and calf, to kill the cow, 
and then having caught the calf, to suckle it upon the mare. After once or 
twice sucking her, it will follow her home, and become as gentle as 
another calf. If we could get into a breed of them, they might be made 
very useful, not only for the dairy, by giving an ocean of milk, but also 
for drawing vast and cumbersome weights by their prodigious strength. 
These, with the other advantages I mentioned before, would make this sort 
of cattle more profitable to the owner, than any other we are acquainted 
with, though they would need a world of provender.

   12th. Before we marched this morning, every man took care to pack up 
some buffalo steaks in his wallet, besides what he crammed into his belly. 
When provisions were plenty, we always found it difficult to get out 
early, being too much embarrassed with a long-winded breakfast. However, 
by the strength of our beef, we made a shift to walk about twelve miles, 
crossing Blue-wing and Tewaw-homini creeks. And because this last stream 
received its appellation from the disaster of a Tuscarora Indian, it will 
not be straggling much out of the way to say something of that particular 
nation.

   These Indians were heretofore very numerous and powerful, making, 
within time of memory, at least a thousand fighting men. Their habitation, 
before the war with Carolina, was on the north branch of Neuse river, 
commonly called Connecta creek, in a pleasant and fruitful country. But 
now the few that are left of that nation live on the north side of 
Moratuck, which is all that part of Roanoke below the great falls, towards 
Albemarle sound. Formerly there were seven towns of these savages, lying 
not far from each other, but now their number is greatly reduced. The 
trade they have had the misfortune to drive with the English has furnished 
them constantly with rum, which they have used so immoderately, that, what 
with the distempers, and what with the quarrels it begat amongst them, it 
has proved a double destruction. But the greatest consumption of these 
savages happened by the war about twenty-five years ago, on account of 
some injustice the inhabitants of that province had done them about their 
lands. It was on that provocation they resented their wrongs a little too 
severely upon Mr. Lawson, who, under colour of being surveyor general, had 
encroached too much upon their territories, at which they were so enraged, 
that they waylaid him, and cut his throat from ear to ear, but at the same 
time released the baron de Graffenried, whom they had seized for company, 
because it appeared plainly he had done them no wrong. This blow was 
followed by some other bloody actions on the part of the Indians, which 
brought on the war, wherein many of them were cut off, and many were 
obliged to flee for refuge to the Senecas, so that now there remain so 
few, that they are in danger of being quite exterminated by the Catawbas, 
their mortal enemies. These Indians have a very odd tradition amongst 
them, that many years ago, their nation was grown so dishonest, that no 
man could keep any of his goods, or so much as his loving wife to himself. 
That, however, their God, being unwilling to root them out for their 
crimes, did them the honour to send a messenger from heaven to instruct 

Page 83

them, and set them a perfect example of integrity and kind behavior 
towards one another. But this holy person, with all his eloquence and 
sanctity of life, was able to make very little reformation amongst them. 
Some few old men did listen a little to his wholesome advice, but all the 
young fellows were quite incorrigible. They not only neglected his 
precepts, but derided and evil entreated his person. At last, taking upon 
him to reprove some young rakes of the Conechta clan very sharply for 
their impiety, they were so provoked at the freedom of his rebukes, that 
they tied him to a tree, and shot him with arrows through the heart. But 
their God took instant vengeance on all who had a hand in that monstrous 
act, by lightning from heaven, and has ever since visited their nation 
with a continued train of calamities, nor will he ever leave off 
punishing, and wasting their people, till he shall have blotted every 
living soul of them out of the world.

   Our hunters shot nothing this whole day but a straggling bear, which 
happened to fall by the hand of the very person who had been lately 
disarmed and put to flight, for which he declared war against the whole 
species.

   13th. We pursued our journey with all diligence, and forded Ohimpamony 
creek about noon, and from thence proceeded to Yapatsco, which we could 
not cross without difficulty. The beavers had dammed up the water much 
higher than we found it at our going up, so that we were obliged to lay a 
bridge over a part that was shallower than the rest, to facilitate our 
passage. Beavers have more of instinct, that half-brother of reason, than 
any other animal, especially in matters of self-preservation. In their 
houses they always contrive a sally-port, both towards the land and 
towards the water, that so they may escape by one, if their retreat should 
happen to be cut off at the other. They perform all their works in the 
dead of night, to avoid discovery, and are kept diligently to it by the 
master beaver, which by his age or strength has gained to himself an 
authority over the rest. If any of the gang happen to be lazy, or will not 
exert himself to the utmost in felling of trees, or dragging them to the 
place where they are made use of, this superintendent will not fail to 
chastise him with the flat of the tail, wherewith he is able to give 
unmerciful strokes. They lie snug in their houses all day, unless some 
unneighbourly miller chance to disturb their repose, by demolishing their 
dams for supplying his mill with water. It is rare to see one of them, and 
the Indians for that reason have hardly any way to take them, but by 
laying snares near the place where they dam up the water. But the English 
hunters have found out a more effectual method, by using the following 
receipt. Take the large pride of the beaver, squeeze all the juice out of 
it, then take the small pride, and squeeze out about five or six drops. 
Take the inside of sassafras bark, powder it, and mix it with the liquor, 
and place this bait conveniently for your steel trap. The story of their 
biting off their testicles to compound for their lives, when they are 
pursued, is a story taken upon trust by Pliny, like many others. Nor is it 
the beavers' testicles that carry the perfume, but they have a pair of 
glands just within the fundamental, as sweet as musk, that perfume their 
dung, and communicate a strong scent to their testicles, by being placed 
near them. It is true several creatures have strange instincts for their 
preservation, as the Egyptian frog, we are told by Elian, will carry a 
whole joint of a reed across its mouth, that it may not be swallowed by 
the ibis. And this long-necked fowl will give itself a clyster with its 
beak, whenever it finds itself too costive or feverish. The dogs of that 
country lap the water of the Nile in a full trot, that they may not be 
snapped by the crocodiles. Both beavers and wolves, we know, when one of 
their legs is caught in a steel trap, will bite it off, that they may 
escape with the rest. The flesh of the beavers is tough and dry, all but 
the tail, which, like the parrot's tongue, was one of the far-fetched 
rarities with which Heliogabalus used to furnish 

Page 84

his luxurious table. The fur of these creatures is very valuable, 
especially in the more northern countries, where it is longer and finer. 
This the Dutch have lately contrived to mix with their wool, and weave 
into a sort of drugget, that is not only warm, but wonderfully light and 
soft. They also make gloves and stockings of it, that keep out the cold 
almost as well as the fur itself, and do not look quite so savage.

   There is a deal of rich low ground on Yapatsco creek, but I believe 
liable to be overflowed in a fresh. However, it might be proper enough for 
rice, which receives but little injury from water. We encamped on the 
banks of Massamony creek, after a journey of more than eleven miles. By 
the way we shot a fat doe and a wild turkey, which fed us all plentifully. 
And we have reason to say, by our own happy experience, that no man need 
to despair of his daily bread in the woods, whose faith is but half so 
large as his stomach.

   14th. Being at length happily arrived within twenty miles of the upper-
most inhabitants, we despatched two men who had the ablest horses to go 
before, and get a beef killed and some bread baked to refresh their fellow 
travellers, upon their arrival. They had likewise orders to hire an 
express to carry a letter to the governor, giving an account that we were 
all returned in safety. This was the more necessary, because we had been 
so long absent that many now began to fear we were, by this time, scalped 
and barbacued by the Indians. We decamped with the rest of the people 
about ten o'clock, and marched near twelve miles. In our way we crossed 
Nutbush creek, and four miles farther we came upon a beautiful branch of 
Great creek, where we took up our quarters. The tent was pitched upon an 
eminence, which overlooked a wide piece of low grounds, covered with reeds 
and watered by a crystal stream, gliding through the middle of it. On the 
other side of this delightful valley, which was about half a mile wide, 
rose a hill that terminated the view, and in the figure of a semicircle 
closed in upon the opposite side of the valley. This had a most agreeable 
effect upon the eye, and wanted nothing but cattle grazing in the meadow, 
and sheep and goats feeding on the hill, to make it a complete rural 
landscape.

   The Indian killed a fawn, which, being upon its growth, was not fat, 
but made some amends by being tender. He also shot an otter, but our 
people were now better fed than to eat such coarse food. The truth of it 
is, the flesh of this creature has a rank fishy taste, and for that reason 
might be a proper regale for the Samoeids, who drink the czar of Muscovy's 
health and toast their mistresses in a bumper of train oil. The 
Carthusians, to save their vow of eating no flesh, pronounce this 
amphibious animal to be a fish, and feed upon it as such, without wounding 
their consciences. The skin of the otter is very soft, and the Swedes make 
caps and socks of it, not only for warmth, but also because they fancy it 
strengthens the nerves, and is good against all distempers of the brain. 
The otter is a great devourer of fish, which are its natural food, and 
whenever it betakes itself to a vegetable diet, it is as some high-
spirited wives obey their husbands, by pure necessity. They dive after 
their prey, though they cannot continue long under water, but thrust their 
noses up to the surface now and then for breath. They are great enemies to 
weirs set up in the rivers to catch fish, devouring or biting to pieces 
all they find there. Nor is it either easy to fright them from this kind 
of robbery, or to destroy them. The best way I could ever find was to 
float an old wheel just by the weir, and so soon as the otter has taken a 
large fish, he will get upon the wheel to eat it more at his ease, which 
may give you an opportunity of firing upon him from the shore. One of our 
people shot a large gray squirrel with a very bushy tail, a singular use 
of which our merry Indian discovered to us. He said whenever this little 
animal has occasion to 

Page 85

cross a run of water, he launches a chip or piece of bark into the water, 
on which he embarks, and, holding up his tail to the wind, sails over very 
safely. If this be true, it is probable men learned at first the use of 
sails from these ingenious little animals, as the Hottentots learned the 
physical use of most of their plants from the baboons.

   15th. About three miles from our camp we passed Great creek, and then, 
after traversing very barren grounds for five miles together, we crossed 
the Trading Path, and soon after had the pleasure of reaching the 
uppermost inhabitant. This was a plantation belonging to colonel Mumford, 
where our men almost burst themselves with potatoes and milk. Yet as great 
a curiosity as a house was to us foresters, still we chose to lie in the 
tent, as being much the cleanlier and sweeter lodging.

   The Trading Path above-mentioned receives its name from being the route 
the traders take with their caravans, when they go to traffic with the 
Catawbas and other southern Indians. The Catawbas live about two hundred 
and fifty miles beyond Roanoke river, and yet our traders find their 
account in transporting goods from Virginia to trade with them at their 
own town. The common method of carrying on this Indian commerce is as 
follows: Gentlemen send for goods proper for such a trade from England, 
and then either venture them out at their own risk to the Indian towns, or 
else credit some traders with them of substance and reputation, to be paid 
in skins at a certain price agreed betwixt them. The goods for the Indian 
trade consist chiefly in guns, powder, shot, hatchets, (which the Indians 
call tomahawks,) kettles, red and blue planes, Duffields, Stroudwater 
blankets, and some cutlery wares, brass rings and other trinkets. These 
wares are made up into packs and carried upon horses, each load being from 
one hundred and fifty to two hundred pounds, with which they are able to 
travel about twenty miles a day, if forage happen to be plentiful. 
Formerly a hundred horses have been employed in one of these Indian 
caravans, under the conduct of fifteen or sixteen persons only, but now 
the trade is much impaired, insomuch that they seldom go with half that 
number. The course from Roanoke to the Catawbas is laid down nearest south-
west, and lies through a fine country, that is watered by several 
beautiful rivers. Those of the greatest note are, first, Tar river, which 
is the upper part of Pamptico, Flat river, Little river and Eno river, all 
three branches of Neuse. Between Eno and Saxapahaw rivers are the Haw old 
fields, which have the reputation of containing the most fertile high land 
in this part of the world, lying in a body of about fifty thousand acres. 
This Saxapahaw is the upper part of Cape Fair river, the falls of which 
lie many miles below the Trading Path. Some mountains overlook this rich 
spot of land, from whence all the soil washes down into the plain, and is 
the cause of its exceeding fertility. Not far from thence the path crosses 
Aramanchy river, a branch of Saxapahaw, and about forty miles beyond that, 
Deep river, which is the north branch of Peedee. Then forty miles beyond 
that, the path intersects the Yadkin, which is there half a mile over, and 
is supposed to be the south branch of the same Peedee. The soil is 
exceedingly rich on both sides the Yadkin, abounding in rank grass and 
prodigiously large trees; and for plenty of fish, fowl and venison, is 
inferior to no part of the northern continent. There the traders commonly 
lie still for some days, to recruit their horses' flesh as well as to 
recover their own spirits. Six miles further is Crane creek, so named from 
its being the rendezvous of great armies of cranes, which wage a more 
cruel war at this day, with the frogs and the fish, than they used to do 
with the pigmies in the days of Homer. About three-score miles more bring 
you to the first town of the Catawbas, called Nauvasa, situated on the 
banks of Santee river. Besides this town there are five others belonging 
to the same nation, lying 

Page 86

all on the same stream, within the distance of twenty miles. These Indians 
were all called formerly by the general name of the Usherees, and were a 
very numerous and powerful people. But the frequent slaughters made upon 
them by the northern Indians, and, what has been still more destructive by 
far, the intemperance and foul distempers introduced amongst them by the 
Carolina traders, have now reduced their numbers to little more than four 
hundred fighting men, besides women and children. It is a charming place 
where they live, the air very wholesome, the soil fertile, and the winters 
ever mild and serene.

   In Santee river, as in several others of Carolina, a small kind of 
alligator is frequently seen, which perfumes the water with a musky smell. 
They seldom exceed eight feet in length in these parts, whereas, near the 
equinoctial, they come up to twelve or fourteen. And the heat of the 
climate does not only make them bigger, but more fierce and voracious. 
They watch the cattle there when they come to drink and cool themselves in 
the river; and because they are not able to drag them into the deep water, 
they make up by stratagem what they want in force. They swallow great 
stones, the weight of which being added to their strength, enables them to 
tug a moderate cow under water, and as soon as they have drowned her, they 
discharge the stones out of their maw and then feast upon the carcass. 
However, as fierce and as strong as these monsters are, the Indians will 
surprise them napping as they float upon the surface, get astride upon 
their necks, then whip a short piece of wood like a truncheon into their 
jaws, and holding the ends with their two hands, hinder them from diving 
by keeping their mouths open, and when they are almost spent, they will 
make to the shore, where their riders knock them on the head and eat them. 
This amphibious animal is a smaller kind of crocodile, having the same 
shape exactly, only the crocodile of the Nile is twice as long, being when 
full grown from twenty to thirty feet. This enormous length is the more to 
be wondered at, because the crocodile is hatched from an egg very little 
larger than that of a goose. It has a long head, which it can open very 
wide, with very sharp and strong teeth. Their eyes are small, their legs 
short, with claws upon their feet. Their tail makes half the length of 
their body, and the whole is guarded with hard impenetrable scales, except 
the belly, which is much softer and smoother. They keep much upon the land 
in the day time, but towards the evening retire into the water to avoid 
the cold dews of the night. They run pretty fast right forward, but are 
very awkward and slow in turning, by reason of their unwieldy length. It 
is an error that they have no tongue, without which they could hardly 
swallow their food; but in eating they move the upper jaw only, contrary 
to all other animals. The way of catching them in Egypt is, with a strong 
hook fixed to the end of a chain and baited with a joint of pork, which 
they are very fond of. But a live hog is generally tied near, the cry of 
which allures them to the hook. This account of the crocodile will agree 
in most particulars with the alligator, only the bigness of the last 
cannot entitle it to the name of "leviathan," which Job gave formerly to 
the crocodile, and not to the whale, as some interpreters would make us 
believe.

   So soon as the Catawba Indians are informed of the approach of the 
Virginia caravans, they send a detachment of their warriors to bid them 
welcome, and escort them safe to their town, where they are received with 
great marks of distinction. And their courtesies to the Virginia traders, 
I dare say, are very sincere, because they sell them better goods and 
better pennyworths than the traders of Carolina. They commonly reside 
among the Indians till they have bartered their goods away for skins, with 
which they load their horses and come back by the same path they went. 
There are generally some Carolina traders that constantly live among the 
Catawbas, 

Page 87

and pretend to exercise a dictatorial authority over them. These petty 
rulers do not only teach the honester savages all sorts of debauchery, but 
are unfair in their dealings, and use them with all kinds of oppression. 
Nor has their behaviour been at all better to the rest of the Indian 
nations, among whom they reside, by abusing their women and evil-
entreating their men; and, by the way, this was the true reason of the 
fatal war which the nations round-about made upon Carolina in the year 
1713. Then it was that all the neighbouring Indians, grown weary of the 
tyranny and injustice with which they had been abused for many years, 
resolved to endure their bondage no longer, but entered into a general 
confederacy against their oppressors of Carolina. The Indians opened the 
war by knocking most of those little tyrants on the head that dwelt 
amongst them, under pretence of regulating their commerce, and from thence 
carried their resentment so far as to endanger both North and South 
Carolina.

   16th. We gave orders that the horses should pass Roanoke river at 
Monisep ford, while most of the baggage was transported in a canoe. We 
landed at the plantation of Cornelius Keith, where I beheld the 
wretchedest scene of poverty I had ever met with in this happy part of the 
world. The man, his wife and six small children, lived in a pen, like so 
many cattle, without any roof over their heads but that of heaven. And 
this was their airy residence in the day time, but then there was a fodder 
stack not far from this inclosure, in which the whole family sheltered 
themselves at night and in bad weather. However, it was almost worth while 
to be as poor as this man was, to be as perfectly contented. All his wants 
proceeded from indolence, and not from misfortune. He had good land, as 
well as good health and good limbs to work it, and, besides, had a trade 
very useful to all the inhabitants round about. He could make and set up 
quern stones very well, and had proper materials for that purpose just at 
hand, if he could have taken the pains to fetch them. There is no other 
kind of mills in those remote parts, and, therefore, if the man would have 
worked at his trade, he might have lived very comfortably. The poor woman 
had a little more industry, and spun cotton enough to make a thin covering 
for her own and her children's nakedness. I am sorry to say it, but 
idleness is the general character of the men in the southern parts of this 
colony as well as in North Carolina. The air is so mild, and the soil so 
fruitful, that very little labour is required to fill their bellies, 
especially where the woods afford such plenty of game. These advantages 
discharge the men from the necessity of killing themselves with work, and 
then for the other article of raiment, a very little of that will suffice 
in so temperate a climate. But so much as is absolutely necessary falls to 
the good women's share to provide. They all spin, weave and knit, whereby 
they make a good shift to clothe the whole family; and to their credit be 
it recorded, many of them do it very completely, and thereby reproach 
their husbands' laziness in the most inoffensive way, that is to say, by 
discovering a better spirit of industry in themselves.

   From hence we moved forward to colonel Mumford's other plantation, 
under the care of Miles Riley, where, by that gentleman's directions, we 
were again supplied with many good things. Here it was we discharged our 
worthy friend and fellow traveller, Mr. Bearskin, who had so plentifully 
supplied us with provisions during our long expedition. We rewarded him to 
his heart's content, so that he returned to his town loaded with riches 
and the reputation of having been a great discoverer.

   17th. This being Sunday, we were seasonably put in mind how much we 
were obliged to be thankful for our happy return to the inhabitants. 
Indeed, we had great reason to reflect with gratitude on the signal 
mercies we had received. First, that we had, day by day, been fed by the 
bountiful hand of 

Page 88

Providence in the desolate wilderness, insomuch that if any of our people 
wanted one single meal during the whole expedition, it was entirely owing 
to their own imprudent management. Secondly, that not one man of our whole 
company had any violent distemper or bad accident befall him, from one end 
of the line to the other. The very worst that happened was, that one of 
them gave himself a smart cut on the pan of his knee with a tomahawk, 
which we had the good fortune to cure in a short time, without the help of 
a surgeon. As for the misadventures of sticking in the mire and falling 
into rivers and creeks, they were rather subjects of mirth than complaint, 
and served only to diversify our travels with a little farcical variety. 
And, lastly, that many uncommon incidents have concurred to prosper our 
undertaking. We had not only a dry spring before we went out, but the 
preceding winter, and even a year or two before, had been much drier than 
ordinary. This made not only the Dismal, but likewise most of the sunken 
grounds near the sea-side, just hard enough to bear us, which otherwise 
had been quite impassable. And the whole time we were upon the business, 
which was in all about sixteen weeks, we were never caught in the rain 
except once, nor was our progress interrupted by bad weather above three 
or four days at most. Besides all this, we were surprised by no Indian 
enemy, but all of us brought our scalps back safe upon our heads. This 
cruel method of scalping of enemies is practised by all the savages in 
America, and perhaps is not the least proof of their original from the 
northern inhabitants of Asia. Among the ancient Scythians it was 
constantly used, who carried about these hairy scalps as trophies of 
victory. They served them too as towels at home, and trappings for their 
horses abroad. But these were not content with the skin of their enemies' 
heads, but also made use of their sculls for cups to drink out of upon 
high festival days, and made greater ostentation of them than if they had 
been made of gold or the purest crystal.

   Besides the duties of the day, we christened one of our men who had 
been bred a quaker. The man desired this of his own mere motion, without 
being tampered with by the parson, who was willing every one should go to 
heaven his own way. But whether he did it by the conviction of his own 
reason, or to get rid of some troublesome forms and restraints, to which 
the saints of that persuasion are subject, I cannot positively say.

   18th. We proceeded over a level road twelve miles, as far as George 
Hixe's plantation, on the south side of Meherrin river, our course being 
for the most part north-east. By the way we hired a cart to transport our 
baggage, that we might the better befriend our jaded horses. Within two 
miles of our journey's end this day, we met the express we had sent the 
Saturday before to give notice of our arrival. He had been almost as 
expeditious as a carrier pigeon, riding in two days no less than two 
hundred miles.

   All the grandees of the Sapponi nation did us the honour to repair 
hither to meet us, and our worthy friend and fellow traveller, Bearskin, 
appeared among the gravest of them in his robes of ceremony. Four young 
ladies of the first quality came with them, who had more the air of 
cleanliness than any copper-coloured beauties I had ever seen; yet we 
resisted all their charms, notwithstanding the long fast we had kept from 
the sex, and the bear diet we had been so long engaged in. Nor can I say 
the price they set upon their charms was at all exorbitant. A princess for 
a pair of red stockings cannot, surely, be thought buying repentance much 
too dear. The men had something great and venerable in their countenances, 
beyond the common mien of savages; and indeed they ever had the reputation 
of being the honestest, as well as the bravest Indians we have ever been 
acquainted with. This people is now made up of the remnants of several 
other nations, of 

Page 89

which the most considerable are the Sapponies, the Occaneches, and 
Stoukenhocks, who not finding themselves separately numerous enough for 
their defence, have agreed to unite into one body, and all of them now go 
under the name of the Sapponies. Each of these was formerly a distinct 
nation, or rather a several clan or canton of the same nation, speaking 
the same language, and using the same customs. But their perpetual wars 
against all other Indians, in time, reduced them so low as to make it 
necessary to join their forces together. They dwelt formerly not far below 
the mountains, upon Yadkin river, about two hundred miles west and by 
south from the falls of Roanoke. But about twenty-five years ago they took 
refuge in Virginia, being no longer in condition to make head not only 
against the northern Indians, who are their implacable enemies, but also 
against most of those to the south. All the nations round about, bearing 
in mind the havoc these Indians used formerly to make among their 
ancestors in the insolence of their power, did at length avenge it home 
upon them, and made them glad to apply to this government for protection. 
Colonel Spotswood, our then lieutenant governor, having a good opinion of 
their fidelity and courage, settled them at Christanna, ten miles north of 
Roanoke, upon the belief that they would be a good barrier, on that side 
of the country, against the incursion of all foreign Indians. And in 
earnest they would have served well enough for that purpose, if the white 
people in the neighbourhood had not debauched their morals, and ruined 
their health with rum, which was the cause of many disorders, and ended at 
last in a barbarous murder committed by one of these Indians when he was 
drunk, for which the poor wretch was executed when he was sober. It was 
matter of great concern to them, however, that one of their grandees 
should be put to so ignominious a death. All Indians have as great an 
aversion to hanging as the Muscovites, though perhaps not for the same 
cleanly reason: these last believing that the soul of one that dies in 
this manner, being forced to sally out of the body at the postern, must 
needs be defiled. The Sapponies took this execution so much to heart, that 
they soon after quitted their settlement and removed in a body to the 
Catawbas. The daughter of the Tetero king went away with the Sapponies, 
but being the last of her nation, and fearing she should not be treated 
according to her rank, poisoned herself, like an old Roman, with the root 
of the trumpet plant. Her father died two years before, who was the most 
intrepid Indian we have been acquainted with. He had made himself terrible 
to all other Indians by his exploits, and had escaped so many dangers that 
he was esteemed invulnerable. But at last he died of a pleurisy, the last 
man of his race and nation, leaving only that unhappy daughter behind him, 
who would not long survive him.

   The most uncommon circumstance in this Indian visit was, that they all 
came on horse-back, which was certainly intended for a piece of state, 
because the distance was but three miles, and it is likely they had walked 
on foot twice as far to catch their horses. The men rode more awkwardly 
than any Dutch sailor, and the ladies bestrode their palfreys a la mode de 
France, but were so bashful about it, that there was no persuading them to 
mount till they were quite out of our sight. The French women used to ride 
a-straddle, not so much to make them sit firmer in the saddle, as from the 
hopes the same thing might peradventure befall them that once happened to 
the nun of Orleans, who, escaping out of a nunnery, took post en cavalier, 
and in ten miles' hard riding had the good fortune to have all the tokens 
of a man break out upon her. This piece of history ought to be the more 
credible, because it leans upon much the same degree of proof as the tale 
of bishop Burnet's two Italian nuns, who, according to his lordship's 
account, underwent the same happy metamorphosis, probably by some other 
violent exercise.