LIFE IN THE BACKWOODS WILDERNESS. 231 



the settlements were maintained by narrow trails, such 

 as have been already described, leading through the forest, 

 along which trains of heavily laden pack horses carried the 

 necessary supplies and trade goods (for most of these 

 places were Indian trading-posts as well as forts), and for 

 a long time they formed the pioneer depots which were 

 afterwards the nucleus of flourishing settlements. * 

 Here these small detachments and these young officers 

 in the early colonial days were frequently immured for 

 long periods of time, buried in the Wilderness, with 

 little or no supervision by superior officers; and if 

 abuses sometimes crept in, if discipline became lax, if 

 these frontier posts were often inefficiently guarded, it 

 was not to be wondered at, even though such results 

 were only too frequently the prelude to the most fatal 

 and deplorable disasters. Every movement was watched 

 by the keen eyes of stealthy savages, and ample expe- 

 rience showed that " the intelligence department " was 

 much more quickly and efficiently worked by the red- 

 skins than by the pale-faces. News always permeated 

 through the forest most quickly among the Indians; 

 and in the frequent border wars these advanced posts 

 were in consequence often cut off to a man, even before 

 the intelligence of their being in danger could reach 

 the settlements. 



These posts, however, had to be maintained, because 

 the prosperity of the various frontier towns was mainly 

 dependent upon the inland trade with the Indians to 

 the westward. In quiet times, however, men of sporting 

 tastes could from these forts indulge in their favourite 

 pastime, almost to their hearts' content; there was 



* See some observations upon ancient forest trails in Narrative and 

 Critical History of America, Edited by Justin Winsor, 1889, Vol. i, p. 294. 



