Chapter IX: Part 9

In addition to what I have said on the subject of the Indians, I shall only observe, that notwithstanding they are such a very friendly hospitable people, yet few persons, who had ever tasted of the pleasures and comforts of civilized life, would feel any inclination to reside amongst them, on becoming acquainted with their manner of living. The filthiness and wretchedness of their smoky habitations, the nauseousness of their common food to a person not even of a delicate palate, and their general uncleanliness, would be sufficient, I think, to deter any one from going to live amongst them from choice, supposing even that no other reasons operated against his doing so. For my own part, I had fully determined in my own mind, when I first came to America, not to leave the continent without spending a considerable time amongst them, in the interior parts of the country, in order to have an opportunity of observing their native manners and customs in their utmost purity; but the samples I have seen of them during my stay in this part of the country, although it has given me a most favourable opinion of the Indians themselves, has induced me to relinquish my purpose. Content therefore with what I have seen myself, and with what I have heard from others, if chance should not bring me again into their way in prosecuting my journey into the settled parts of the States, I shall take no further pains to cultivate a more intimate acquaintance with them.

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_LETTER _ XXXVI.

_Departure from Malden.—Storm on Lake Erie.—Driven back amongst the
Islands.—Shipwreck narrowly avoided.—Voyage across the Lake.—Land at
Fort Erie.—Proceed to Buffalo Creek.—Engage Indians to go through the
Woods.—Set out on Foot.—Journey through the Woods.—Description of the
Country beyond Buffalo Creek.—Vast Plains.—Grand Appearance of the
Trees here.—Indian Dogs.—Arrival at the Settlements on Genesee
River.—First Settlers.—Their general Character.—Description of the
Country bordering on Genesee River.—Fevers common in Autumn.—Proceed
on Foot to Bath._

Bath, November.

[Sidenote: DEPARTURE FROM MALDEN.]

TOWARDS the latter end of the month of October, the schooner in which we had engaged a passage to Presqu’ Isle made her appearance before Malden, where she was obliged to lay at anchor for three days, the wind not being favourable for going farther down the river; at the end of that time, however, it veered about, and we repaired on board, after having taken a long farewel of our friend Captain E——, whose kindness to us had been unbounded, and was doubly grateful, inasmuch as it was totally unexpected by us young strangers, who had not the slighted acquaintance with him previous to our coming into the country, and had not been introduced to him even by letter.

The wind, though favourable, was very light on the morning of our embarkation, but the current being strong we were soon carried down to the lake. In the afternoon we passed the islands, which had the most beautiful appearance imaginable. The rich woods with which the shores were adorned, now tinged with the hues of autumn, afforded in their decline a still more pleasing variety to the eye than when they were clothed in their fulled verdure; and their gaudy colours, intermingled with the shadows of the rocks, were seen fancifully reflected in the unruffled surface of the surrounding lake. At day-break the next morning we found ourselves entirely clear of the land; but instead of the azure sky and gentle breezes which had favoured us the preceding day, we had thick hazy weather, and every appearance in the heavens indicated that before many hours were over we should have to contend with some of those dangerous storms that are so frequent on Lake Erie. It was not long indeed ere the winds began to blow, and the waves to rise in a tremendous manner, and we soon became spectators of a number of those confused and disgusting scenes which a gale of wind never fails to occasion in a small vessel crowded with passengers. A number of old French ladies, who were going to see their grandchildren in Lower Canada, and who now for the first time in their lives found themselves on the water, occupied the cabin. The hold of the vessel, boarded from end to end, and divided simply by a sail suspended from one of the beams, was filled on one side with steerage passengers, amongst which were several women and children; and on the opposite one with passengers who had paid cabin price, but were unable to get any better accommodation, amongst which number was our party. Not including either the old ladies in the cabin, or the steerage passengers, we sat down to dinner each day twenty-six in number, which circumstance, when I inform you that the vessel was only seventy tons burthen, will best enable you to conceive how much we must have been crowded. The greater part of the passengers, drooping under sea-sickness, begged for heaven’s sake that the captain would put back; but bent upon performing his voyage with expedition, which was a matter of the utmost consequence indeed, now that the season was so far advanced, and there was a possibility that he might be blocked up by the ice on his return, he was deaf to their entreaties. What the earnest entreaties, however, of the passengers could not effect, the storm soon compelled him to. It was found absolutely necessary to seek for a place of shelter to avoid its fury; and accordingly the helm having been ordered up, we made the best of our way back again to the islands, in a bay between two of which we cast anchor. This bay, situated between the Bass Islands, which are among the largest in the cluster, is called, from its being so frequently resorted to by vessels that meet with contrary winds in going down the lake, Put-in-Bay, vulgarly termed by the sailors Pudding Bay.

[Sidenote: A STORM.]

Here we lay securely sheltered by the land until four o’clock the next morning, when the watch upon deck gave the alarm that the vessel was driving from her anchor, and going fast towards the shore. The captain started up, and perceiving that the wind had shifted, and the land no longer afforded any protection to the vessel, he immediately gave orders to slip the cable, and hoist the jib, in order to wear the vessel round, and thus get free, if possible, of the shore. In the hurry and confusion of the moment, however, the mainsail was hoisted at the same time with the jib, the vessel was put aback, and nothing could have saved her from going at once on shore but the letting fall of another anchor instantaneously. I can only account for this unfortunate mistake by supposing that the men were not sufficiently roused from their slumbers, on coming upon deck, to hear distinctly the word of command. Only one man had been left to keep the watch, as it was thought that the vessel was riding in perfect safety, and from the time that the alarm was first given until the anchor was dropped scarcely four minutes elapsed.

The dawn of day only enabled us to see all the danger of our situation. We were within one hundred yards of a rocky lee shore, and depending upon one anchor, which, if the gale increased, the captain feared very much would not hold. The day was wet and squally, and the appearance of the sky gave us every reason to imagine that the weather, instead of growing moderate, would become still more tempestuous than it either was or had been; nevertheless, buoyed up by hope, and by a good share of animal spirits, we eat our breakfasts regardless of the impending danger, and afterwards sat down to a game of cards; but scarcely had we played for one hour when the dismal cry was heard of, “All hands aloft,” as the vessel was again drifting towards the shore. The day being very cold, I had thrown a blanket over my shoulders, and had fastened it round my waist with a girdle, in the Indian fashion; but being incapable of managing it like an Indian, I stopped to disencumber myself of it before I went on deck, so that, as it happened, I was the last man below. The readiest way of going up was through the hatchway, and I had just got my foot upon the ladder, in order to ascend, when the vessel struck with great force upon the rocks. The women shrieking now flocked round me, begging for God’s sake that I would stay by them; at the same time my companions urged me from above to come up with all possible speed. To my latest hour I shall never forget the emotions which I felt at that moment; to have staid below would have been useless; I endeavoured, therefore, to comfort the poor creatures that clung to me, and then disengaging myself from them, forced my way upon deck, where I was no sooner arrived than the hatches were instantly shut down upon the wretched females, whose shrieks resounded through the vessel, notwithstanding all the bustle of the seamen, and the tremendous roaring of the breakers amongst the adjacent rocks.

Before two minutes had passed over, the vessel struck a second time, but with a still greater shock; and at the end of a quarter of an hour, during which period she had gradually approached nearer towards the shore, she began to strike with the fall of every wave.

The general opinion now seemed to be in favour of cutting away the masts, in order to lighten the vessel; and the axes were actually upraised for that purpose, when one of my companions, who possessed a considerable share of nautical knowledge from having been in the navy, opposed the measure. It appeared to him, that as the pumps were still free, and as the vessel had not yet made more water than could be easily got under, the cutting away of the masts would only be to deprive ourselves of the means of getting off the rock if the wind should veer about; but he advised the captain to have the yards and topmasts cut away. The masts were spared, and his advice was in every other respect attended to. The wind unfortunately, however, still continued to blow from the same point, and the only alteration observable in it was its blowing with still greater force than ever.

[Sidenote: A STORM.]

As the storm increased, the waves began to roll with greater turbulence than before; and with such impetuosity did they break over the bows of the vessel, that it was with the very utmost difficulty that I, and half a dozen more who had taken our station on the forecastle, could hold by our hands fast enough to save ourselves from being carried overboard. For upwards of four hours did we remain in this situation, expending every instant that the vessel would go to pieces, and exposed every three or four minutes to the shock of one of the tremendous breakers which came rolling towards us. Many of the billows appeared to be half as high as the foretop, and sometimes, when they burst over us, our breath was nearly taken away by the violence of the shock. At last, finding ourselves so benumbed with cold that it would be impossible for us to make any exertions in the water to save ourselves if the vessel was wrecked, we determined to go below, there to remain until we should be again forced up by the waves.

Some of the passengers now began to write their wills on scraps of paper, and to inclose them in what they imagined would be most likely to preserve them from the water; others had begun to take from their trunks what they deemed most valuable; and one unfortunate thoughtless man, who was moving with his family from the upper country, we discovered in the very act of loading himself with dollars from head to foot, so that had he fallen into the water in the state we found him, he must inevitably have been carried to the bottom.

Words can convey no idea of the wildness that reigned in the countenance of almost every person as the night approached; and many, terrified with the apprehensions of a nightly shipwreck, began to lament that the cable had not been at once cut, so as to have let the vessel go on shore whilst day-light remained: this indeed had been proposed a few hours after the vessel began to strike; but it was over-ruled by the captain, who very properly refused to adopt a measure tending to the immediate and certain destruction of his vessel, whilst a possibility remained that she might escape.

Till nine o’clock at night the vessel kept striking every minute, during which time we were kept in a state of the most dreadful suspence about our fate; but then happily the wind shifted one or two points in our favour, which occasioned the vessel to roll instead of striking. At midnight the gale grew somewhat more moderate; and at three in the morning it was so far abated, that the men were enabled to haul on the anchor, and in a short time to bring the vessel once more into deep water, and out of all danger. Great was the joy, as may well be imagined, which this circumstance diffused amongst the passengers; and well pleased was each one, after the fatigue and anxiety of the preceding day, to think he might securely lay himself down to rest.

The next morning the sun arose in all his majesty from behind one of the distant islands. The azure sky was unobscured by a single cloud, the air felt serenely mild, and the birds, as if equally delighted with man that the storm was over, sweetly warbled forth their songs in the adjacent woods; in short, had it not been for the disordered condition in which we saw our vessel, and every thing belonging to us, the perils we had gone through would have appeared like a dream.

[Sidenote: DAMAGE DONE THE SHIP.]

The first object of examination was the rudder. The tiller was broken to atoms; and the sailors who went over the stern reported, that of the four gudgeons or hooks on which the rudder was suspended, only one was left entire, and that one was much bent. On being unshipped, the bottom of it was found to be so much shivered that it actually resembled the end of a broom. The keel, there was every reason to suppose, was in the same shattered condition; nevertheless the vessel, to the great astonishment of every person on board, did not make much water. Had she been half as crazy as the King’s vessel in which we went up the lake, nothing could have saved her from destruction.

A consultation was now held upon what was best to be done. To proceed on the voyage appeared totally out of the question; and it only remained to determine which way was the easiest and readiest to get back to Malden. All was at a stand, when an officer in the American service proposed the beating out of an iron crow bar, and the manufacturing of new gudgeons. This was thought to be impracticable; but necessity, the mother of invention, having set all our heads to work, an anvil was formed of a number of axes laid upon a block of wood; a large fire was kindled, and a party of us acting as smiths in turns, by the end of three hours contrived to hammer out one very respectable gudgeon.

In the mean time others of the passengers were employed in making a new tiller, and others undertook to fish for the cable and anchor that had been slipped, whilst the sailors were kept busily employed at the rigging. By nightfall the vessel was so far refitted that no apprehensions were any longer entertained about our being able to reach Malden in safety, and some began to think there would be no danger in prosecuting the voyage down the lake. The captain said that his conduct must be regulated entirely by the appearance of the weather on the following day.

[Sidenote: MEET TWO YOUNG TRAVELLERS.]

Early the next morning, whilst we yet remained stretched in our births, our party was much surprised at hearing the sound of strange voices upon deck; but our surprise was still greater, when on a nearer approach we recognized them to be the voices of two young friends of ours, who, like ourselves, had crossed the Atlantic to make a tour of the continent of North America, and whom, but a few days before we had quitted Philadelphia, we had accompanied some miles from that city on their way towards the south. They had travelled, it seemed, from Philadelphia to Virginia, afterwards to Kentucky, and had found their way from the Ohio to Detroit on horseback, after encountering numberless inconveniences. There they had engaged a passage in a little sloop bound to Fort Erie, the last vessel which was to quit that port during the present season. They had embarked the preceding day, and in the night had run in to Put-in-Bay, as the wind was not favourable for going down the lake. The commander of the sloop offered to stay by our vessel, and to give her every assistance in his power, if our captain chose to proceed down the lake with him. The offer was gladly accepted, and it was agreed that the two vessels should sail together as soon as the wind was favourable.

After having breakfasted, we proceeded with our young friends, in the ship’s boat, to that part of the island off which we had been exposed to so much danger. Here we found the shore strewed with the oars, spars, &c. which had been washed overboard, and from the dreadful manner in which they were shattered, no doubt remained on our minds, but that if the vessel had been wrecked, two thirds of the passengers at least must have perished amidst the rocks and breakers. We spent the day rambling about the woods, and recounting to each other our adventures since the last separation, and in the evening returned to our respective ships. About midnight the wind became fair, and whilst we lay wrapt in sleep the vessels put to sea.

All hopes of being able to get on shore at Presqu’ Isle were now over, for the captain, as our vessel was in such a ticklish condition, was fearful of venturing in there, lest he might lose sight of the sloop; we made up our minds, therefore, for being carried once more to our old quarters, Fort Erie; and after a most disagreeable passage of four days, during which we encountered several squalls not a little alarming, landed there in safety.

[Sidenote: ENGAGE INDIAN GUIDES.]

Our friends immediately set out for Newark, from whence, if the season would admit of it, and a favourable opportunity offered, they proposed to sail to Kingston, and proceed afterwards to Lower Canada; we, on the contrary, desirous of returning by a different route from that by which we had come up the country, crossed over to Buffalo Creek, in hopes of being able to procure horses at the Indian village there, to carry us through the Genesee country. To our disappointment we found, that all the Indians of the village who had horses had already set out with them on their hunting expedition; but the interpreters told us, that if we would consent to walk through the woods, as far as the settlements of the white people, the nearest of which was ninety miles from Buffalo Creek, he did not doubt but that he could find Indians in the village who would undertake to carry our baggage for us; and that once arrived at the back settlements, we should find it no difficult matter to hire horses. We readily agreed to his proposals, and he in consequence soon picked out from the Indians five men, amongst which was a war chief, on whom he told us we might place every reliance, as he was a man of an excellent character. The Indians, it was settled, were to have five dollars apiece for their services, and we were to furnish them with provisions and liquor. The interpreter, who was a white man, put us on our guard against giving them too much of the latter; but he advised us always to give them some whenever we took any ourselves, and advised us also to eat with them, and to behave towards them in every respect as if they were our equals. We had already seen enough of the Indians, to know that this advice was good, and indeed to have adopted of ourselves the line of conduct which he recommended, even if he had said nothing on the subject.

Having arranged every thing to our satisfaction, we returned to Fort Erie; there we disposed of all our superfluous baggage, and having made some addition to the stores of dried provisions and biscuits which our kind friend Captain E—— had furnished us with on leaving his hospitable roof, we embarked, with all belonging to us, in the ship’s boat, for the village on Buffalo Creek, where we had settled to pass the night, in order to be ready to start early the next morning.

[Sidenote: JOURNEY THROUGH THE WOODS.]

The Indians were with us according to appointment at day-break; they divided the baggage, fastened their loads each on their carrying frames, and appeared perfectly ready to depart, when their chief requested, through the interpreter, “that we would give them before they set out a little of that precious water we possessed, to wash their eyes with, which would dispel the mists of sleep that still hung over them, and thus enable them to find out with certainty the intricate path through the thick forest we were about to traverse;” in other words, that we would give them some brandy. It is always in figurative language of this kind that the Indians ask for spirits. We dispensed a glass full of the precious liquor, according to their desire, to each of them, as well as to their squaws and children, whom they brought along with them to share our bounty, and then, the Indians having taken up their loads, we penetrated into the woods, along a narrow path scarcely discernible, owing to the quantities of withered leaves with which it was strewed.

After proceeding a few miles, we stopped by the side of a little stream of clear water to breakfast; on the banks of another stream we eat our dinner; and at a third we stopped for the night. Having laid down their loads, the Indians immediately began to erect poles, and cover them with pieces of bark, which they found lying on the ground, and which had evidently been left there by some travellers who had taken up their quarters for the night at this same place some time before; but we put a stop to their work, by shaking out from the bag in which it was deposited, our travelling tent. They perceived now that they must employ themselves in a different manner, and knowing perfectly well what was to be done, they at once set to work with their tomahawks in cutting poles and pegs. In less than five minutes, as we all bore a part, the poles and pegs were cut, and the tent pitched.

One of the Indians now made signs to us to lend him a bag, having received which he ran into the woods, and was soon out of sight. We were at a loss to guess what he was in pursuit of; but in a little time he returned with the bag full of the finest cranberries I ever beheld. In the mean time another of them, of his own accord, busied himself in carrying heaps of dried leaves into the tent, which, with our buffalo skins, afforded luxurious beds to men like us, that had slept on nothing better than a board for upwards of a month past. In the upper country it is so customary for travellers to carry their own bedding, that even at our friend Captain E——’s house we had no other accommodation at night than the floor of an empty room, on which we spread our skins. As for themselves, the Indians thought of no covering whatsoever, but simply stretched themselves on the ground beside the fire, where they lay like dogs or cats till morning. At day-break we started, and stopped as on the preceding day beside streams of water to eat our breakfasts and dinners.

[Sidenote: JOURNEY THROUGH THE WOODS.]

From Buffalo Creek to the place where we encamped on the first night, distant about twenty-five miles, the country being very flat, and the trees growing so closely together that it was impossible to see farther forward in any direction than fifty yards, our journey after a short time became very uninteresting. Nothing in its kind, however, could exceed the beauty of the scenery that we met with during our second day’s journey. We found the country, as we passed along, interspersed with open plains of great magnitude, some of them not less, I should suppose, than fifteen or twenty miles in circumference. The trees on the borders of these having ample room to spread, were luxuriant beyond description, and shot forth their branches with all the grandeur and variety which characterizes the English timber, particularly the oak. The woods round the plains were indented in every direction with bays and promontories, as Mr. Gilpin terms it, whilst rich clumps of trees, interspersed here and there, appeared like so many clusters of beautiful islands. The varied hues of the woods at this season of the year, in America, can hardly be imagined by those who never have had an opportunity of observing them; and indeed, as others have often remarked before, were a painter to attempt to colour a picture from them, it would be condemned in Europe as totally different from any thing that ever existed in nature.

These plains are covered with long coarse grass, which, at a future day, will probably afford feeding to numerous herds of cattle; at present they are totally unfrequented. Throughout the north-western territory of the States, and even beyond the head waters of the Mississippi, the country is interspersed with similar plains; and the farther you proceed to the westward, the more extensive in general are they. Amidst those to the westward are found numerous herds of buffaloes, elks, and other wild graminivorous animals; and formerly animals of the same description were found on these plains in the state of New York, but they have all disappeared long since, owing to their having been so constantly pursued both by the Indians and white people.

Very different opinions have been entertained respecting the deficiency of trees on these extended tracts of land, in the midst of a country that abounds so generally with wood. Some have attributed it to the poverty of the soil; whilst others have maintained, that the plains were formerly covered with trees, as well as other parts of the country, but that the trees have either been destroyed by fire, or by buffaloes, beavers, and other animals.

[Sidenote: JOURNEY THROUGH THE WOODS.]

It is well known that buffaloes, in all those parts of the country where they are found wild, commit great depredations amongst the trees, by gnawing off the bark; they are also very fond of feeding upon the young trees that spring up from seed, as well as upon the suckers of the old ones; it may readily be imagined, therefore, that the entire of the trees, on very extended tracts of land, might be thus killed by them; and as the American timber, when left exposed to the weather, soon decays, at the end of a few years no vestige of the woods would be found on these tracts, any more than if they had been consumed by fire.

It appears to me, however, that there is more weight in the opinion of those, who ascribe the deficiency of trees on the plains to the unfriendliness of the soil; for the earth towards the surface is universally very light, and of a deep black colour, and on digging but a few inches downwards you come to a cold stiff clay. On Long Island, in the state of New York, plains are met with nearly similar to these in the back country, and the Dutch farmers, who have made repeated trials of the soil, find that it will not produce wheat or any other grain, and, in short, nothing that is at all profitable except coarse grass. I make no doubt but that whenever a similar trial comes to be made of the soil of the plains to the westward, it will be found equally incapable of producing any thing but what it does at present.

[Sidenote: JOURNEY THROUGH THE WOODS.]

After having passed over a great number of these plains of different sizes, we entered once more into the thick woods; but the country here appeared much more diversified with rising grounds than it was in any part we had already traversed. As we were ascending to the top of a small eminence in the thickest part of these woods, towards the close of our second day’s journey, our Indian chief, _China-breast-plate_, who received that name in consequence of his having worn in the American war a thick china dish as an ornament on his breast, made a sign to us to follow him to the left of the path. We did so, and having proceeded for a few yards, suddenly found ourselves on the margin of a deep extensive pit, not unlike an exhausted quarry, that had lain neglected for many years. The area of it contained about two acres, and it approached to a circular form; the sides were extremely steep, and seemed in no place to be less than forty feet high; in some parts they were considerably higher. Near the center of the place was a large pond, and round the edges of it, as well as round the bottom of the precipice, grew several very lofty pines. The walls of the precipice consisted of a whitish substance not unlike lime-stone half calcined, and round the margin of the pit, at top, lay several heaps of loose matter resembling lime-rubbish. _China-breast-plate_, standing on the brink of the precipice, began to tell us a long story, and pointing to a distant place beyond it, frequently mentioned the word Niagara. Whether, however, the story related to the pit, or whether it related to the Falls of Niagara, the smoke arising from which it is by no means improbable might be seen, at times, from the elevated spot where we stood, or whether the story related to both, we could in no way learn, as we were totally unacquainted with the Seneka language, and he was nearly equally ignorant of the English. I never met with any person afterwards who had seen this place, or who knew any thing relating to it. Though we made repeated signs to _China-breast-plate_ that we did not understand his story, he still went on with it for near a quarter of an hour; the other Indians listened to it with great attention, and seemed to take no small interest in what he said.

I should have mentioned to you before, that both the Indians and the white Americans pronounce the word Niagara differently from what we do. The former lay the accent on the second syllable, and pronounce the word full and broad as if written Nee-awg-ara. The Americans likewise lay the accent on the second syllable; but pronounce it short, and give the same sound to the letters I and A as we do. Niagara, in the language of the neighbouring Indians, signifies a mighty rushing or fall of water.

On the second evening of our expedition we encamped on a small hill, from whose top there was a most pleasing romantic view, along a stream of considerable size which wound round its base, and as far as our eyes could reach, appeared tumbling in small falls over ledges of rocks. A fire being kindled, and the tent pitched as usual, the Indians sat down to cook some squirrels which we had killed on the borders of the plains. These animals the Indians had observed, as we came along, on the top of a large hollow tree; they immediately laid down their loads, and each taking out his tomahawk, and setting to work at a different part of the tree, it was felled down in less than five minutes, and such of the squirrels as escaped their dogs we readily shot for them.

The Indian dogs, in general, have short legs, long backs, large pricked up ears, and long curly tails; they differ from the common English cur dogs in no respect so much as in their barking but very seldom. They are extremely sagacious, and seem to understand even what their masters say to them in a low voice, without making any signs, either with the hand or head.

[Sidenote: JOURNEY THROUGH THE WOODS.]

Whilst the squirrels were roasting on a forked stick stuck in the ground, and bent over the fire, one of the Indians went into the woods, and brought out several small boughs of a tree, apparently of the willow tribe. Having carefully scraped the bark off from these, he made a sort of frame with the twigs, in shape somewhat like a gridiron, and heaping upon it the scraped bark, placed it over the fire to dry. When it was tolerably crisp he rubbed it between his hands, and put it up in his pouch for the purpose of smoking.

The Indians smoke the bark of many different trees, and a great variety of herbs and leaves besides tobacco. The most agreeable of any of the substances which they smoke are the leaves of the sumach tree, rhus-toxicodendron. This is a graceful shrub, which bears leaves somewhat similar to those of the ash. Towards the latter end of autumn they turn of a bright red colour, and when wanted for smoking are plucked off and dried in the sun. Whilst burning they afford a very agreeable perfume. These leaves are very commonly smoked, mixed with tobacco, by the white people of the country; the smoke of them by themselves alone, is said to be prejudicial to the lungs. The sumach tree bears tufted bunches of crimson flowers. One of these bunches dipped lightly, for a few times, into a bowl of punch, gives the liquor a very agreeable acid, and in the southern states it is common to use them for that purpose, but it is a dangerous custom, as the acid, though extremely agreeable to the palate, is of a poisonous quality, and never fails to produce a most alarming effect on the bowels if used too freely.

A sharp frost set in this night, and on the following morning, at day-break, we recommenced our journey with crossing the river already mentioned up to our waists in water, no very pleasing task. Both on this and the subsequent day we had to wade through several other considerable streams.

A few squirrels were the only wild animals which we met with in our journey through the woods, and the most solemn silence imaginable reigned throughout, except where a woodpecker was heard now and then tapping with its bill against a hollow tree. The birds in general flock towards the settlements, and it is a very rare circumstance to meet with them in the depth of the forest.

[Sidenote: MISTAKEN SETTLERS.]

The third evening we encamped as usual. No sooner had we come to our resting place, than the Indians threw off their clothes, and rolled themselves on the grass just as horses would do, to refresh themselves, the day having proved very hot, notwithstanding the frost the preceding night. We were joined this evening by another party of the Seneka Indians, who were going to a village situated on the Genesee River, and in the morning we all set out together. Early in the day we came to several plains similar to those we had before met with, but not so extended, on the borders of one of which we saw, for the first time, a bark hut apparently inhabited. On going up to it, our surprise was not a little to find two men, whose appearance and manners at once bespoke them not to be Americans. After some conversation we discovered them to be two Englishmen, who had formerly lived in London as _valets de chambre_, and having scraped together a little money, had set out for New York, where they expected at once to become great men; however they soon found to their cost, that the expence of living in that city was not suited to their pockets, and they determined to go and settle in the back country. They were at no loss to find persons who had land to dispose of, and happening to fall in with a jobber who owned some of these plains, and who painted to them in lively colours the advantage they would derive from settling on good land already cleared to their hand, they immediately purchased a considerable track of this barren ground at a round price, and set out to fix themselves upon it. From the neighbouring settlements, which were about ten miles off, they procured the assistance of two men, who after having built for them the bark hut in which we found them left them with a promise of returning in a short time to erect a log house. They had not, however, been punctual to their word, and unable to wield an axe, or to do any one thing for themselves, these unfortunate wretches sat moping in their hut, supporting themselves on some salt provisions they had brought with them, but which were now nearly exhausted. The people in the settlements, whom, on arriving there, we asked some few questions respecting these poor creatures, turned them into the greatest ridicule imaginable for being so helpless; and indeed they did present a most striking picture of the folly of any man’s attempting to settle in America without being well acquainted with the country previously, and competent to do every sort of country work for himself.

[Sidenote: DRUNKEN INDIANS.]

It was not without very great vexation that we perceived, shortly after leaving this hut, evident symptoms of drunkenness in one of the Indians, and on examining our brandy cask it was but too plain that it had been pillaged. During the preceding part of our journey we had kept a watchful eye upon it, but drawing towards the end of our expedition, and having had every reason to be satisfied with the conduct of the Indians, we had not paid sufficient attention to it this day; and though it could not have been much more than five minutes out of our sight, yet in that short space of time the screw had been forced, and the cask drained to the last drop. The Indian, whom we discovered to be drunk, was advanced a little before the others. He went on for some time staggering about from side to side, but at last, stopping and laying hold of his scalping knife, which they always carry with them by their sides, he began to brandish it with a threatening air. There is but one line of conduct to be pursued when you have to deal with Indians in such a situation, and that is, to act with the most determined resolution. If you betray the smallest symptoms of fear, or appear at all wavering in your conduct, it only serves to render them more ungovernable and furious. I accordingly took him by the shoulder, pushed him forward, and presenting my piece, gave him to underhand that I would shoot him if he did not behave himself properly. My companions, whilst I was taking care of him, went back to see in what state the other Indians were. Luckily the liquor, though there was reason to apprehend they had all had a share of it, had not made the same impression upon them. One of them, indeed, was beginning to be refractory, and absolutely threw down his load, and refused to go farther; but a few words from _China-breast-plate_ induced him to resume it, and to go on. On coming up to the first Indian, and seeing the sad state he was in, they shook their heads, and crying, “No good Indian,” “No good Indian,” endeavoured by signs to inform us that it was he who had pillaged the cask, and drank all the brandy; but as it was another Indian who carried the cask, no doubt remained but that they must all have had a share of the plunder; that the first fellow, however, had drank more than the rest was apparent; for in a few minutes he dropped down speechless under his load; the others hastened to take it off from his back, and having divided it amongst themselves, they drew him aside from the path, and threw him under some bushes, where he was left to sleep till he should come again to his senses.

[Sidenote: GENESEE RIVER.]

About noon we reached the Genesee River, at the opposite side of which was situated the village where we expected to procure horses. We crossed the river in canoes, and took up our quarters at a house at the uppermost end of the village, where we were very glad to find our Indian friends could get no accommodation, for we knew well that the first use they would make of the money we were going to give them would be to buy liquor, and intoxicate themselves, in which state they would not fail of becoming very troublesome companions; it was scarcely dark indeed when news was brought us from a house near the river, that they went to after we had discharged them, that they were grown quite outrageous with the quantity of spirits they had drank, and were fighting and cutting each other in a most dreadful manner. They never resent the injuries they receive from any person that is evidently intoxicated, but attribute their wounds entirely to the liquor, on which they vent their execrations for all the mischief it has committed.

Before I dismiss the subject entirely, I must observe to you, that the Indians did not seem to think the carrying of our baggage was in any manner degrading to them; and after having received their due, they shook hands with us, and parted from us, not as from employers who had hired them, but as from friends whom they had been assisting, and were now sorry to leave.

The village where we stopped consisted of about eight or nine straggling houses; the best built one among them was that in which we lodged. It belonged to a family from New England, who about six years before had penetrated to this spot, then covered with woods, and one hundred and fifty miles distant from any other settlement. Settlements are now scattered over the whole of the country which they had to pass through in coming to it. The house was commodious and well built, and the people decent, civil, and reputable. It is a very rare circumstance to meet with such people amongst the first settlers on the frontiers; in general they are men of a morose and savage disposition, and the very outcasts of society, who bury themselves in the woods, as if desirous to shun the face of their fellow creatures; there they build a rude habitation, and clear perhaps three or four acres of land, just as much as they find sufficient to provide their families with corn: for the greater part of their food they depend on their rifle guns. These people, as the settlements advance, are succeeded in general by a second set of men, less savage than the first, who clear more land, and do not depend so much upon hunting as upon agriculture for their subsistence. A third set succeed these in turn, who build good houses, and bring the land into a more improved state. The first settlers, as soon as they have disposed of their miserable dwellings to advantage, immediately penetrate farther back into the woods, in order to gain a place of abode suited to their rude mode of life. These are the lawless people who encroach, as I have before mentioned, on the Indian territory, and are the occasion of the bitter animosities between the whites and the Indians. The second settlers, likewise, when displaced, seek for similar places to what those that they have left were when they first took them. I found, as I proceeded through this part of the country, that there was scarcely a man who had not changed his place of abode seven or eight different times.

As none but very miserable horses were to be procured at this village on the Genesee River, and as our expedition through the woods had given us a relish for walking, we determined to proceed on foot, and merely to hire horses to carry our baggage; accordingly, having engaged a pair, and a boy to conduct them, we set off early on the second morning from that of our arrival at the village, for the town of Bath.

[Sidenote: PICTURESQUE VIEWS.]

The country between these two places is most agreeably diversified with hill and dale, and as the traveller passes over the hills which overlook the Genesee River and the flats bordering upon it, he is entertained with a variety of noble and picturesque views. We were particularly struck with the prospect from a large, and indeed very handsome house in its kind, belonging to a Major Wadsworth, built on one of these hills. The Genesee River, bordered with the richest woods imaginable, might be seen from it for many miles, meandering through a fertile country; and beyond the flats, on each side of the river, appeared several ranges of blue hills rising up one behind another in a most fanciful manner, the whole together forming a most beautiful landscape. Here, however, in the true American taste, the greatest pains were taking to diminish, and, indeed, to shut out all the beauties of the prospect; every tree in the neighbourhood of the house was felled to the ground; instead of a neat lawn, for which the ground seemed to be singularly well disposed, a wheat field was laid down in front of it; and at the bottom of the slope, at the distance of two hundred yards from the house, a town was building by the major, which, when completed, would effectually screen from the dwelling house every sight of the river and mountains. The Americans, as I before observed, seem to be totally dead to the beauties of nature, and only to admire a spot of ground as it appears to be more or less calculated to enrich the occupier by its produce.

The Genesee River takes its name from a lofty hill in the Indian territory, near to which it passes, called by the Indians Genesee, a word signifying, in their language, a grand extensive prospect.

[Sidenote: GENESEE RIVER.]

The flats bordering upon the Genesee River are amongst the richest lands that are to be met with in North America, to the east of the Ohio. Wheat, as I told you in a former letter, will not grow upon them; and it is not found that the soil is impoverished by the successive crops of Indian corn and hemp that are raised upon them year after year. The great fertility of these flats is to be ascribed to the regular annual overflowing of the Genesee River, whose waters are extremely muddy, and leave no small quantity of slime behind them before they return to their natural channel. That river empties itself into Lake Ontario: it is somewhat more than one hundred miles in length, but only navigable for the last forty miles of its course, except at the time of the inundations; and even then the navigation is not uninterrupted the whole way down to the lake, there being three considerable falls in the river about ten miles above its mouth: the greatest of these falls is said to be ninety feet in perpendicular height. The high lands in the neighbourhood of the Genesee River are stony, and are not distinguished for their fertility, but the valleys are all extremely fruitful, and abound with rich timber.

The summers in this part of the country are by no means so hot as towards the Atlantic, and the winters are moderate; it is seldom, indeed, that the snow lies on the ground much longer than six or seven weeks; but notwithstanding this circumstance, and that the face of the country is so much diversified with rising grounds, yet the whole of it is dreadfully unhealthy; scarcely a family escapes the baneful effects of the fevers that rage here during the autumn season. I was informed by the inhabitants, that much fewer persons had been attacked by the fever the last season than during former years, and of these few a very small number died, the fever having proved much less malignant than it was ever known to be before. This circumstance led the inhabitants to hope, that as the country became more cleared it would become much more healthy. It is well known, indeed, that many parts of the country, which were extremely healthy while they remained covered with wood, and which also proved healthy after they had been generally cleared and settled, were very much otherwise when the trees were first cut down: this has been imputed to the vapours arising from the newly cleared lands on their being first exposed to the burning rays of the sun, and which, whilst the newly cleared spots remain surrounded by woods, there is not a sufficient circulation of air to dispel. The unhealthiness of the country at present does not deter numbers of people from coming to settle here every year, and few parts of North America can boast of a more rapid improvement than the Genesee country during the last four years.

[Sidenote: SMALL TOWNS.]

In our way to Bath we passed through several small towns that had been lately begun, and in these the houses were comfortable and neatly built; but the greater part of those of the farmers were wretched indeed; one at which we stopped for the night, in the course of our journey, had not even a chimney or window to it; a large hole at the end of the roof supplied the deficiency of both; the door was of such a nature, also, as to make up in some measure for the want of a window, as it admitted light on all sides. A heavy fall of snow happened to take place whilst we were at this house, and as we lay stretched on our skins beside the fire, at night, the snow was blown, in no small quantities, through the crevices of the door, under our very ears.

At some of these houses we got plenty of venison, and good butter, milk, and bread; but at others we could get nothing whatsoever to eat. At one little village, consisting of three or four houses, the people told us, that they had not even sufficient bread and milk for themselves; and, indeed, the scantiness of the meal to which we saw them sitting down confirmed the truth of what they said. We were under the necessity of walking on for nine miles beyond this village before we could get any thing to satisfy our appetites.

The fall of snow, which I have mentioned, interrupted our progress through the woods very considerably the subsequent morning; it all disappeared, however, before the next night, and in the course of the third day from that on which we left the banks of the Genesee River we reached the place of our destination.

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_LETTER _ XXXVII.

_Account of Bath.—Of the Neighbourhood.—Singular Method taken to improve
it.—Speculators.—Description of one, in a Letter from an
American Farmer.—Conhorton Creek.—View of the Navigation
from Bath downwards.—Leave Bath for Newtown.—Embark in
Canoes.—Stranded in the Night.—Seek for Shelter in a neighbouring
House.—Difficulty of procuring Provisions.—Resume our
Voyage.—Lochartsburgh.—Description of the eastern Branch of the
Susquehannah River.—French Town.—French and Americans ill suited to
each other.—Wilkes-barré.—Mountains in the Neighbourhood.—Country
thinly settled towards Philadelphia.—Description of the Wind-Gap in
the Blue Mountains.—Summary Account of the Moravian Settlement at
Bethlehem.—Return to Philadelphia._

Philadelphia, November.

[Sidenote: BATH.]