Spread of English-Speaking Peoples 219 



settlers discountenanced wrong being done the In- 

 dians, and tried to atone for it, but they never 

 hunted the offenders down with the necessary merci- 

 lessness that alone could have prevented a repetition 

 of their offences. Similarly, but to an even greater 

 degree, the good Indians shielded the bad. 36 



For several years after they made their lease with 

 the Cherokees the men of the Watauga were not 

 troubled by their Indian neighbors. They had to 

 fear nothing more than a drought, a freshet, a forest 

 fire, or an unusually deep snow-fall if hunting on 

 the mountains in mid-winter. They lived in peace, 

 hunting and farming, marrying, giving in marriage, 

 and rearing many healthy children. By degrees 

 they wrought out of the stubborn wilderness com- 

 fortable homes, rilled with plenty. The stumps were 

 drawn out of the clearings, and other grains were 

 sown besides corn. Beef, pork, and mutton were 

 sometimes placed on the table, besides the more com- 

 mon venison, bear meat, and wild turkey. The 

 women wove good clothing, the men procured good 

 food, the log-cabins, if homely and rough, yet gave 

 ample warmth and shelter. The families throve, 

 and life was happy, even though varied with toil, 

 danger, and hardship. Books were few, and it was 

 some years before the first church, Presbyterian, 



86 Even La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt (8, 95), who loathed 

 the backwoodsmen few polished Europeans being able to see 

 any but the repulsive side of frontier character, a side cer- 

 tainly very often prominent also speaks of the tendency of 

 the worst Indians to go to the frontier to rob and murder. 



