84 DESOLATION OF THE FRONTIERS. [1763. 



numerous religious sects : English, Irish, German, 

 Swiss, Welsh, and Dutch ; Quakers, Presbyterians, 

 Lutherans, Dunkers, Mennonists, and Moravians. 

 Nor is this catalogue by any means complete. The 

 Quakers, to whose peaceful temper the rough fron- 

 tier offered no attraction, were confined to the east- 

 ern parts of the province. Cumberland County, 

 which lies west of the Susquehanna, and may be 

 said to have formed the frontier, Avas then almost 

 exclusively occupied by the Irish and their descend- 

 ants ; who, however, were neither of the Eoman 

 faith nor of Celtic origin, being emigrants from 

 the colony of Scotch which forms a numerous and 

 thrifty population in the north of Ireland. In 

 religious faith, they were stanch and zealous Pres- 

 byterians. Long residence in the province had 

 modified their national character, and imparted 

 many of the peculiar traits of the American back- 

 woodsman ; yet the nature of their religious tenets 

 produced a certain rigidity of temper and demeanor, 

 from which the Virginian was wholly free. They 

 were, nevertheless, hot-headed and turbulent, often 

 setting law and authority at defiance. The coun- 

 ties east of the Susquehanna supported a mixed 

 population, among which was conspicuous a swarm 

 of German peasants ; who had been inundating 

 the country for many years past, and who for the 

 most part were dull and ignorant boors, like some 

 of their descendants. The Swiss and German 

 sectaries called Mennonists, who were numerous 

 in Lancaster County, professed, like the Quakers, 



