BOO NE BOO TAN. 



625 



and the two Booties were left the only white men in 

 the wilderness. They passed the winter in a cabin. 

 In May, 1770, B.'s brother returned home. In July 

 of the same year, however, he came back, according 

 to agreement. They then traversed the country to 

 the Cumberland river, and, the following year, re- 

 turned to their families, with a determination of 

 removing with them to Kentucky. In September, 

 1773, B. commenced his removal to Kentucky, with 

 his own, and five other families, and was joined by 

 forty men, who placed themselves under his guidance. 

 Being attacked by the Indians, six of his men were 

 slain, and the cattle belonging to the party dispersed. 

 The survivors returned, in consequence, to the settle- 

 ments on Clinch river, about forty miles from the 

 scene of action. A company of North Carolina, 

 having formed a plan of purchasing the lands on the 

 south side of the Kentucky river from the southern 

 Indians, employed B. to buy a tract of country, the 

 limits of which were described to him. He performed 

 the service, and, soon after, made a road from the 

 settlements on the Holston to the Kentucky river, 

 notwithstanding the incessant attacks of the Indians, 

 in which four ot his men were killed and five wounded. 

 In April, 1775, he built a fort at a salt-spring, on 

 the southern bank of the Kentucky, where Boones- 

 borough is now situated. It consisted of a block- 

 house and several cabins, enclosed with palisades. In 

 1777, he sustained two sieges in Boonesborough from 

 the Indians, but repulsed them. In the following 

 year, however, Feb. 7, B. was taken prisoner by the 

 savages, while hunting, with a number of his men. 

 In May, they were conducted to Detroit, where they 

 experienced great kindness from governor Hamilton, 

 the British commander of that post. He even offered 

 the Indians 100 for their prisoner, in order that he 

 might liberate him on parole, but they would not 

 part with him, having conceived for him sentiments 

 of great affection and respect. On his return, he was 

 adopted by one of the principal chiefs at Chilicothe, 

 and might have been happy in this situation, had not 

 the thoughts of his wife and children continually 

 kept alive the desire of escape. This he effected one 

 morning, having risen at the usual hunting hour, and 

 departed, apparently for the woods, but in reality for 

 Boonesborough. He arrived there on the 20th of 

 June, after a journey of 160 miles, which he per- 

 formed in four days, having eaten, it is said, but one 

 meal during that time. 



On the 8th of August, a body of savages, to the 

 number of 450, commanded by Canadian Frenchmen 

 and some of their own chiefs, invested the fort, with 

 British colours flying. B. was summoned to surrender, 

 but announced his determination, and that of the gar- 

 rison who amounted to but fifty men, " to defend the 

 fort as long as a man of them was alive." The enemy 

 then resolved to obtain it by stratagem, and requested 

 that nine of the principal persons of the garrison 

 would come out and treat with them, promising 

 terms so favourable, that the invitation was accepted. 

 After the articles of the treaty had been signed, B. 

 and his companions were told that it was customary, 

 upon such occasions, among the Indians, for two of 

 them to shake each white man by the hand, in order 

 to evince the sincerity of their friendship. This was 

 also agreed to; and, accordingly, two Indians ap- 

 proached each of the nine, and, taking his hand, 

 grappled him, with the intent of making him prisoner. 

 Their object being then immediately perceived, B. 

 and his party extricated themselves, and retreated 

 into the fort, amid a heavy fire from the savages. An 

 attack was then quickly commenced, and continued 

 until the 20th of August, when the enemy abandoned 

 the siege. This was the last attempt of the Indians 

 to possess themselves of Boonesborough. In October, 



as B. was returning from the Blue Licks, with his 

 brother, the latter was slain, and B. pursued by a 

 party of Indians for three miles, by the aid of a dog; 

 but, having killed the animal, he escaped. 



In 1782, the depredations of the savages increasing 

 to an intolerable extent, B., with other militia offi- 

 cers, collected 176 men, and went in pursuit of a 

 large body, who had marched beyond the Blue Licks 

 to a bend of the main fork of the Licking river, forty 

 miles from Lexington. They overtook them August 

 19, but, being much inferior in numbers, were ob- 

 liged to retreat. General Clark, then at the falls of 

 the Ohio, immediately assembled a considerable 

 number of men, and commenced the pursuit of the 

 savages, accompanied by B. From that time until 

 1798, B. resided alternately in Kentucky and in Vir- 

 ginia. In that year, he removed to Upper Louisiana, 

 where he received a grant from the Spanish authori- 

 ties of 2000 acres of land. His children, friends, and 

 followers were also presented with 800 acres each. 

 He settled with them on the Missouri river, at 

 Charette, some distance beyond the inhabited parts 

 of the country, where he followed his usual course ot 

 life hunting, and trapping for bears until Sept., 

 1822, when he died, at the residence of his son, ma- 

 jor A. Boone, in Montgomery county, in the eighty- 

 fifth year of his age. He had been gradually declin- 

 ing for some years previous to his decease. It is 

 related, that, some time before that event, he had 

 two coffins made out of a favourite cherry-tree, the 

 first of which, not fitting, he gave to a son-in-law; in 

 the second he was buried, having bestowed on it a 

 fine polish by a course of rubbing for several years. 



BOORS. The peasants of Russia are divided into 

 two classes -free boors and vassal boors. The former 

 cannot be alienated or sold. The latter are mere 

 slaves, not being capable of possessing property, but, 

 with their families, being at the disposal of their lords. 

 They are of three sorts the crown boors, the mine 

 boors, and the private boors. The crown boorsare, some 

 of them, considered as absolute property ; others are 

 attached to the mines or soil, while many are only 

 obliged to perform a certain quantity of labour, or to 

 pay a certain proportion of the produce of it. Their 

 condition is superior to that of the other two classes, 

 as they usually pay an annual abrock, or rent, of 

 about five rubles each, and enjoy the rest of their 

 earnings undisturbed. They are allowed also to pur- 

 chase from noblemen lands or villages, with the vas- 

 sals belonging to them. The mine boors are una- 

 lienably attached to particular mines, and may be 

 transferred with them to different masters. The third 

 sort, or private boors, are those belonging to the no- 

 bles. Their condition depends on the character of 

 their masters : it is sometimes very comfortable, but 

 often most wretched. In the richest provinces, ac- 

 cording to the testimony of doctor Clarke, you may 

 find them dying of hunger, or pining from bad food. 

 Pastures, covered with cattle, yield no milk for them. 

 The harvest supplies no bread for their children. 

 The lord claims all the produce. Some attempts 

 were made by Alexander (q. v.) to alleviate their 

 condition, but private interests interfered with the 

 benevolent intentions of the government 



BOOTAN ; an extensive region of Northern Hindos- 

 tan, lying between Bengal and Thibet. It is about 

 250 miles from east to west, and 90 from north to 

 south; but its eastern boundaries ore imperfectly 

 known. It forms a portion of the declivity of that 

 stupendous Alpine chain, of which Thibet occupies 

 the table land. Notwithstanding it is mountainous, 

 and, in many parts, extremely cold, the country is 

 productive, and highly cultivated, the slope of the 

 mountains being cut into terraces for this purpose. 

 As it is situated without the tropics, it is free from 



