220 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



built for protection against the Indians during the war 

 before the last. Now nothing is there but a few miser- 

 able cabins. For the site of the fort a wide opening 

 was chosen, several miles broad, which occurs here in 

 the wall of the Blue Mountain or its continuation. 

 Keeping on by a narrow road cut out of the great 

 woods and, as the case was today with cloudy weather 

 besides, one finds himself suddenly, (and apparently 

 without having climbed any especial ascent) in the 

 rear of the mountain which shortly before had lain in 

 front ; for the road which hitherto has run southwest 

 turns gradually through the gap and continues north 

 and northwest around sundry high and noble eleva- 

 tions. Among them Bernard's Knob is the steepest 

 and highest, of a truncated crest. Every 1-2 miles a 

 sorry block-house is seen in the woods, until (a few 

 miles from Fort Loudon) the somewhat better house 

 of a Mr. Harris is reached. It was late, and it was 

 raining ; the wife had first to be consulted, she agreed, 

 and we were taken in ; having set behind us 27 miles 

 from Shippensburg. 



Our agreeable host was a native Englishman and, 

 for such a mountain country, well to-do. Besides his 

 farming and cattle-raising he makes a trade of tan- 

 ning ; pays out nothing for bark and little for hides, 

 but sells his leather as dear as that brought from else- 

 where. For tanning he prefers especially the bark of 

 the chesnut-oak, because it gives the leather a higher 

 and clearer color than the bark of other oaks. Besides, 

 this bark is distinguished for a particularly pleasant 

 odor, which it imparts to the water. The bark of the 

 black-oak makes good leather also, but gives it an ugly 

 dark color. Most of the country-people in America 



