42 'i'i^^^ HISTORY OF 



DaTi stretches away pretty near west, and runs clear througli the gi'eat 

 moLintahis. 



We did not follow the surveyors till towards noon, bemg detairied in our 

 camp to christen several more children. We were conducted a nearer way, 

 by a famous woodsman, called Epaphroditus Bamton. This forester spends 

 all his time in ranging the woods, and is said to make great havoc among the 

 deer, and other inhabitants of the forest, not much wilder than himself 



We proceeded to the canoe landing on Roanoke, where we passed the 

 river with the baggage. But the horses were directed to a ford about a mile 

 higher, called by the Indians Moni-seep, which signifies, in their jargon, shal- 

 low water. This is the ford where the Indian traders used to cross with their 

 horses, in their way to the Catawba nation. There are many rocks in tlie 

 river thereabouts, on which grows a kind of water grass, which the wild 

 geese are fond of, and resort to it in great numbers. We landed on the south 

 side of Roanoke, at a plantation of Col. Mumford's, where, by that gentle- 

 man's special directions, we met with sundry refreshments. Here we pitched 

 our tent, for the benefit of the prospect, upon an eminence that overlooked 

 a broad piece of low ground, very rich, though liable to be overflowed. By 

 the way, one of our men killed another rattle-snake, with eleven rattles, hav- 

 ing a large gray squirrel in his maw, the head of which was already digested, 

 while the body remained still entire. The way these snakes catch their piey 

 is thus : They ogle the poor little animal, till by force of the charm he falls 

 down stupified and senseless on the ground. In that condition the snake ap- 

 proaches, and moistens first one ear and then the other with his spawl, and 

 after that the other parts of the head, to make all shppery. When that is 

 done, he draws this member into his mouth, and after it, by slow degrees, all 

 tlie rest of the body. 



29th. This being Sunday, we had divine service and a sermon, at which 

 several of the borderers assisted, and we concluded the duties of the day by 

 christening five children. Our devotion being performed in the open field, 

 like that of Mr. Whitfield's flocks, an unfoitunate shower of rain had almost 

 dispersed our congregation. About f^ur in the afternoon the Carolina com- 

 missioners made a shift to come up with us, whom we had left at Pigeon-roost 

 creek the Friday before, waiting for their provisions. When their cart came 

 up they prudently discharged it, and rather chose to hire two men to carry 

 some part of their baggage. The rest they had been obliged to leave behind, 

 in the crotch of an old tree, for want of proper conveniences to transport it 

 any farther. 



We found in the low ground several plants of the fern root, which is said 

 to be much the strongest antidote yet discovered against the poison of the 

 rattle-snake. The leaves of it resemble those of fern, from whence it obtained 

 its name. Several stalks shoot from the same root, about six inches long, that 

 ire mostly .on the ground. It grows in a very rich soil, under the protection 

 of some tall tree, that shades it from the meridian beams of tlie sun. The 

 root has a faint spicy taste, and is preferred by the southern Indians to all 

 other counter-poisons in tiiis country. But there is another sort preferred by 

 the northern Indians, that they call Seneca rattle-snake root, to which wonder- 

 ful virtues are ascribed in the cure of pleurisies, fevei's, rheumatisms, and 

 dropsies ; besides it being a powerful antidote against the venom of the rattle- 

 snake. 



In the evening the messenger we had sent to Christiana returned with five 

 Saponi Indians. We could not entirely rely on the dexterity of our own 

 men, which induced us to send for some of the Indians. We agreed with 

 two of the most expert of them, upon reasonable tei:ms, to hunt for us the 

 remaining part of our expedition. But one of them falling sick soon after, 



