154 THE WILDERNESS AND ITS TENANTS. [1760-1763. 



red cloth, guns and hatchets, liquor, tobacco, paint, 

 beads, and hawks' bells. This wild traffic was 

 liable to every species of disorder ; and it is not to 

 be wondered at that, in a region where law was 

 unknown, the jealousies of rival traders should 

 become a fruitful source of broils, robberies, and 

 murders. 



In the backwoods, all land travelling was on 

 foot, or on horseback. It was no easy matter for 

 a novice, embarrassed with his cumbrous gun, to 

 urge his horse through the thick trunks and under- 

 growth, or even to ride at speed along the narrow 

 Indian trails, where at every yard the impending 

 branches switched him across the face. At night, 

 the camp would be formed by the side of some 

 rivulet or spring ; and, if the traveller was skilful 

 in the use of his rifle, a haunch of venison would 

 often form his evening meal. If it rained, a shed 

 of elm or bass-wood bark was the ready work of 

 an hour, a pile of evergreen boughs formed a bed, 

 and the saddle or the knapsack a pillow. A party 

 of Indian wayfarers would often be met journeying 

 through the forest, a chief, or a warrior, perhaps, 

 with his squaws and family. The Indians would 

 usually make their camp in the neighborhood of 

 the white men ; and at meal-time the warrior 

 would seldom fail to seat himself by the traveller's 

 fire, and gaze with solemn gravity at the viands 

 before him. If, when the repast was over, a frag- 

 ment of bread or a cup of coffee should be handed 

 to him, he would receive these highly prized 

 rarities with an ejaculation of gratitude ; for 



