Spread of English-Speaking Peoples 183 



ing their way through the "desolate and voiceless 

 solitudes" ; mere wastes of cliffs, crags, caverns, and 

 steep hillsides covered with pine, laurel, and under- 

 brush. Twice they were literally starving and were 

 saved in the nick of time by the killing, on the first 

 occasion, of a big bull elk, on the next, of a small 

 spike buck. At last, sun-scorched and rain-beaten, 

 foot-sore and leg-weary, their thighs torn to pieces 

 by the stout briars, 34 and their feet and hands blis- 

 tered and scalded, they came out in Powell's Val- 

 ley, and followed the well-worn hunter's trail across 

 it. Thence it was easy to reach home, where the 

 tale of their adventures excited still more the young 

 frontiersmen. 



Their troubles were ended for the time being; 

 but in Powell's Valley they met other wanderers 

 whose toil and peril had just begun. There they 

 encountered the company 35 which Daniel Boone was 

 just leading across the mountains, with the hope of 

 making a permanent settlement in the far distant 

 Kentucky. 36 Boone had sold his farm on the Yad- 

 kin and all the goods he could not carry with him, 

 and in September, 1773, he started for Kentucky 

 with his wife and his children; five families and 

 forty men besides went with him, driving their 

 horses and cattle. It was the first attempt that was 

 made to settle a region separated by long stretches 



34 They evidently wore breech-clouts and leggings, not 

 trousers. 



35 McAfee MSS. 



36 Filson's "Boone." 



