174 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



to drink and dance away the tedium. And so in the 

 spring they had neither seed-corn nor bread ; lived 

 meanwhile on milk and blackberries, or by hunting, 

 (and many of them on less), in expectation of the 

 harvest which has turned out well, and now they are 

 preparing for fresh quickenings. With all their negli- 

 gence, they had before the war fine store of cattle, 

 hogs, hemp, flax &c., of which the superfluity sold 

 brought them what they needed. Of their mills one 

 was burnt by the Indians, and there was no water for 

 the other ; they must therefore send their corn 50 miles 

 over the mountains, or whoever could not do this was 

 obliged to pound it in wooden troughs after the fashion 

 of the Indians. Of what faith they are, no man 

 knows. An old Anabaptist lives among them and 

 preaches to whomsoever has a mind to hear. We came 

 a day too late to see the solemn baptism of a young 

 girl 20 years old, who was baptized in the Susque- 

 hannah. 



The especial fertility of this splendid valley is owing 

 chiefly to a thick clay-bed which lies just beneath the 

 fat and strong black mould. They dig through 2-4-8 

 inches of good garden earth, then 4-5 ft. of rich white 

 clay, then several feet of rough sand, and below a bed 

 of sand holding large smooth pebbles. At this depth of 

 12-14 ft. they find their wells of water, having struck 

 no hard rock. There are places where the soil is 

 greatly richer. The Shavannah bottoms, four miles 

 down the river on the west side, are 14-15 ft. deep in 

 mould, with little clay or sand intermixed. This spot 

 of perhaps 1000 acres of the choicest, inexhaustible 

 land is like a garden. But this fatness of the soil gives 

 the water an unpleasant taste. 



