THE DIVIDING LINE. 47 



bread, and so be forced to expose our backs in compliment to our bellies. We 

 computed we had then biscuit enough left to last us, with good manageiaient, 

 seven weeks longer; and this being our ciiief dependence, it imported us to 

 be very careful both in the carriage and the distribution of it. 



We had now no other drink but what Adam drank in Paradise, though 'to 

 our comfort we found the water excellent, by the help of which we perceived 

 our appetites to mend, our slumbers to sweeten, the stream of life to run cool 

 and peaceably in our veins, and if ever we dreamed of women, they were 

 kind. Our men killed a very fat buck and several turkeys. These two kinds of 

 meat boiled together, with tlie addition of a little rice or French barley, made 

 excellent soup, and, what happens rarely in other good things, it never cloyed, 

 no more than an engaging wife would do, by being a constant dish. Our In- 

 dian was very superstitious in this matter, and told us, with a face full of con- 

 cern, that if we continued to boil venison and turkey together, we should for 

 the future kill nothing, because the spirit that presided over the woods would 

 drive all the game out of our sight. But we had the happiness to find this an 

 idle superstition, and though his argument could not convince us, yet our repeat- 

 ed experience at last, with much ado, convinced him. We observed abundance 

 of colt's foot and maiden-hair in many places, and no where a larger quantity 

 than here. They are both excellent pectoral plants, and seem to have greater 

 virtues much in this part of the world than in more northern climates ; and I 

 believe it may pass for a rule in botanies, that where any vegetable is planted 

 by the hand of nature, it has more virtue than in places whereto it is trans- 

 planted by the curiosity of man. 



Sth. Notwithstanding we hurried away the surveyors very early, yet the 

 underwoods embarrassed them so much that they could with diificulty ad- 

 vance the line four miles and twenty poles. Our clothes suffered extremely 

 by the bushes, and it was really as much as both our hands could do to pre- 

 serve our eyes in our heads. Our poor horses, too, could hardly drag their 

 loads through the saplings, which stood so close together that it was necessary 

 for them to draw and carry at the same time. We quartered near a spring 

 of very fine v\' ater, as soft as oil and as cold as ice, to make us amends for the 

 want of wine. And our India&i knocked down a very fat doe, just time 

 enough to hinder us from going supperless to bed. The heavy baggage 

 could not come up with us, because of the excessive badness of the ways. 

 This gave us no small uneasiness, but it went worse with the poor men that 

 guarded it. They had nothing in the world with them but dry bread, nor 

 durst they eat any of that, for fear of inflaming their thirst, in a place where 

 they could find no water to quench it. This was, however, the better to be 

 endured, because it was the first fast any one had kept during the whole jour- 

 ney, and then, thanks to tjie gracious Guardian of the woods ! there was no 

 more than a single meal lost to a few of the company. We were entertained 

 this night with the yell of a whole family of wolves, in which we could dis- 

 tinguish the treble, tenor and bass, very clearly. These beasts of prey kept 

 pretty much upon our track, being tempted by the garbage of the creatures 

 we killed every day ; for which we were serenaded with their shrill pipes almost 

 every night. This beast is not so untameable as the panther, but the Indians 

 know how to gentle their whelps, and use them about their cabins instead of 

 dogs. 



9th. The thickets were hereabouts so impenetrable, that we were obliged, 

 at first setting off this morning, to order four pioneers to clear the way be- 

 fore the surveyors. But, after about two miles of these rough woods, we 

 had' the pleasure to meet with open grounds and not very uneven, by the 

 help of which we were enabled to push the line about six miles. The baggage 

 that lay short of our camp last night came up about noon, and the men made 



