° 1915 ] Wright, Early Records of the Wild Turkey. 215 



long feathers of the neck and breast of that fowl. The inner end 

 of the feather was twisted and made fast in a strong double thread 

 of hemp or coarse twine made of the inner bark of the mulberry -tree. 

 These threads were then worked together after the manner of a fine 

 netting. The long and glittering feathers imparted to the outside 

 of the blanket a pleasing appearance. Such fabrics were quite 

 warm." 



Kentucky and Tennessee. 



In this region we have several interesting notes. John Lederer 

 comments on its l " Great variety of excellent Fowl, as wilde 



Turkeys, " In early voyages up and down the Mississippi we 



find mention of this form. Cavelier's account of La Salle's Voyage 

 remarks 2 " how the whole nation (of Indians) had greatly honoured 

 them and held them for something more than men, on account of the 

 power of their guns : that the}' wondered to see them kill .... several 

 turkeys at a single shot." St. Cosme remarks that they took 

 several turkeys during his voyage (before 1700). In 1700, Gravier 

 alludes to the turkey mantles. "Sometimes they (the men) too, 

 as well as the women, have mantles of turkey feathers. . . .well 

 woven and worked." Of the early times in Kentucky (Boone's 

 day) Timothy Flint asserts that 3 "in the open woods, . . . .turkeys 

 were as plenty as domestic fowls in the old settlements." "In 

 the sheltered glades, turkeys and large wild birds were so abundant, 

 that a hunter could supply himself in an hour for the wants of a 

 week. They would not be found like the lean and tough birds in 

 the old settlements, that lingered around the clearings and stumps 

 of the trees, in the topmost of whose branches the fear of man 

 compelled them to rest, but young and fully fed." "They were 

 never out sight of buffaloes, . . . .turkeys." Of the year 1779, Rev. 

 Mr. Davidson of Mercer County, Ky., says 4 "A winter of un- 



1 Talbot, Sir Wm. The Discoveries of John Lederer in three several Marches 

 from Virginia to the West of Carolina London, 1672, p. 25. 



1 Shea, John G. Early Voyages Up and Down thb Mississippi, etc. Albany, 

 1861, pp. 25, 57, 134. 



* Flint, Timothy. Biographical Memoir of Daniel Boone. Cincinnati, 1833, 

 pp. 36, 39, 44, 58, 241, 263. 



4 Collins, Lewis. Historical Sketches of Kentucky, Cincinnati, 1847, p. 



456. 



