Account of Henry Moss, ^c. 1? 



he has supported an Honest character, in the late wai' he 

 enlisted with me into Continental Army as a Soldier, 

 and behaved himself as such very well, from the first of 

 my acquaintance with him till within two or three Years 

 past he was of as dark a complection as any African, and 

 without any known cause it has changed to what it is at 

 present, he was free born, and served his time with 

 Major John Brent of Charlotte County, Given under 

 my hand this 2d Day of September 1794. 



(signed) Joseph Holt. 

 (A True Copy) Bedford County." 



Note B, p. 11. As this fact is curious, and the w^ork 

 in which it is recorded difficult to be met with, I shall 

 transcribe it in the words of the industrious author. 

 Speaking of the Piegaga, or Piestra, that is, the Spotted 

 or Speckled Horda, our author says, " I have seen a 

 Man of this Kind in Tobolsky, whose Hair was all 

 Shav'd off, except about a Finger's Breadth. He had, 

 all over his Head, Spots as white as Snow, and perfectly 

 round, of the Bigness of a Saxo?i double Grosch (or 

 about the Size of a Shilling), which looked wonderfully 

 odd ; Insomuch tiiat I then thought with myself, if this 

 Tartar was in Europe, he might be shown for a Sight ; 

 But the people in Tohohky made so little Wonder at all 

 of it, that they only laugh'd at him. His Body was 

 likewise spotted and speckled, much in the same Man- 

 ner ; The White of the Skin was soft and smooth ; But 

 the Spots were blackish Brown, and the Skin was some- 

 what coarser ; however, the Spots were not so regular 

 as on the Head. In my Travels farther into Siberia, 

 I saw more of the like People, but speckled in a 



VOL. II. PART II. c 



