The Indian Wars, 1784-1787 295 



in winter, and by the big, boldly colored, ivory- 

 billed woodpeckers birds which have long drawn 

 back to the most remote swamps of the hot Gulf- 

 coast, fleeing before man precisely as the buffalo 

 and elk had fled. 



Like all similar parties, he suffered annoyance 

 from the horses straying. He lost much time in 

 hunting up the strayed beasts, and frequently had 

 to pay the settlers for helping find them. There 

 were no luxuries to be had for any money, and 

 even such common necessaries as corn and salt were 

 scarce and dear. Half a peck of salt cost a little 

 less than eight pounds, and a bushel of corn the 

 same. The surveying party, when not in the woods, 

 stayed at the cabins of the more prominent settlers, 

 and had to pay well for board and lodging, and for 

 washing, too. 



Fleming was much struck by the misery of the 

 settlers. At the Falls they were sickly, suffering 

 with fever and ague; many of the children were 

 dying. Boonesboro and Harrodsburg were very 

 dirty, the inhabitants were sickly, and the offal and 

 dead beasts lay about, poisoning the air and the 

 water. During the winter no more corn could be 

 procured than was enough to furnish an occasional 

 hoe-cake. The people sickened on a steady diet 

 of buffalo-bull beef, cured in smoke without salt, 

 and prepared for the table by boiling. The buffalo 

 was the stand-by of the settlers ; they used his flesh 1 

 as their common food, and his robe for covering; 

 they made moccasins of his hide and fiddle-strings 



