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THE AMERICAN BISONS. 93 
River. The journey here described commenced at Charleston. He travelled 
near the coast till he reached the Santee River, and then ascended that river 
as far, apparently, as Columbia, then turning northeastward, he kept in the 
highlands, crossing the sources of the Cape Fear, and thence eastward to the 
“Pamticough” River and the English settlements. In his preface he says: 
. Having spent most of my Time, during my eight Years Abode in Carohina, 
in travelling; I not only survey’d the Sea-Coast, and those Parts which are 
already inhabited by the Christians, but likewise view’d a spatious Tract of 
Land lying betwixt the Inhabitants and the Ledges of Mountains, from 
whence our noblest Rivers have their Rise, running towards the Ocean, where 
they water as pleasant a Country as any in Lurope ; the Discovery of which 
being never yet made publick, I have, in the following Sheets, given you a 
faithful Account thereof, wherein I have laid down every thing with Impar- 
tiality and Truth.” But in the narrative of his travels he makes no farther 
allusion to the buffalo, and does not appear to have found the Indians in pos- 
session of either its skins or meat. He speaks, however, of the various kinds 
of game he daily met with, and especially of the abundance of turkeys. In 
his chapter on the “Natural History of Carolina,” concerning which he says, 
“‘T have been very exact, and for Method’s Sake rang’d each Species under its 
distinct and proper Head,” he again speaks of the buffalo, as follows: “The 
Buffalo is a wild Beast of America, which has a Bunch on his Back, as the 
Cattle of St. Lawrence are said to have. He seldom appears amongst the 
English Inhabitants, his chief Haunt being in the Land of Messiasippi, which 
is, for the most part, a plain Country ; yet I have known some killed on the 
hilly Part of Cape Far River, they passing the Ledges of vast Mountains 
from the said Messiasippi, before they can come near us.” * 
From Lawson’s eight years’ residence, and extensive travels in the Caro- 
linas, about the year 1700, and from his mentioning only the instance of its 
capture by the Indians above cited, it was evidently not at that time numer- 
ous in the Carolinas.t A few years after the publication of Lawson’s work, 
this same region was visited by John Brickell, who passed through nearly 
the same districts as those traversed by Lawson. Brickell wrote. concerning 
Clarendon River, which is very beautiful and has good land about it,” etc. (p. 8343). He also says: “ The 
Toteras are neighboring Indians to the Saponas, and live Westward in the Mountains ” (p. 343). 
* History of Carolina, p. 115. 
+ Yet in the history of Long’s Expedition to the Source of St. Peter’s River (Vol. II, p. 26), it is stated 
that “from Lawson we find that great plenty of buffaloes, elkes &c. existed near Cape Fear river and its 
tributaries !” 
