62 



THE HISTORY OF 



of grease swimming upon it full half an inch thick. However, they commend- 

 ed ihis dish extremely ; though I believe the praises they gave it were more 

 owing to their good stomach than to their good taste. The line, was extended 

 six miles and three hundred poles, and in that distance crossed Crooked creek 

 at least eight times more. We were forced to scuffle through a thicket about 

 two miles in breadth, planted with locusts and hickory saplings, as close as 

 they could stand together. Amongst these there was hardly a tree of tolera- 

 ble growth within view. It was a dead plane of several miles extent, and 

 very fertile soil. Beyond that the woods were open for about three miles, but 

 mountainous. All the rest of our day's journey was pestered with bushes 

 and grape vines, in the thickest of which we were obliged to take up our 

 quarters, near one of the branches of Crooked creek. This night it was the 

 men's good fortune to fare very sumptuously. The Indian had killed two 

 large bears, the fattest of which he had taken napping. One of the people 

 too shot a rackoon, which is also of the dog kind, and as big as a small fox, 

 though its legs are shorter, and when fat has a much higher relish than either 

 mutton or kid. It is naturally not carnivorous, but very fond of Indian corn 

 and persimmons. The fat of this animal is I'eckoned very good to assuage 

 swellings and inflammations. Some old maids are at the trouble of breeding 

 them up tame, for the pleasure of seeing them play over as many humorous 

 tricks as a monkey. It climbs up small trees, like a bear, by embracing the 

 bodies of them. Till this night vve had accustomed ourselves to go to bed 

 in'our night-gowns, believing we should thereby be better secured from the 

 cold : but upon trial found we lay much warmer by stripping to our shirts, 

 and spreading our gowns over us. A true woodsman, if he have no more 

 than a single blanket, constantly pulls all off, and, lying on one part of it, 

 draws tiie other over him, believing it much more refreshing to lie so, than in 

 his clothes ; and if he find himself not warm enough, shifts his lodging to 

 leeward of the fire, in which situation the smoke will dri\^e over him, and 

 effectually correct the cold dews, that would otherwise descend upon his 

 person, perhaps to his great damage. 



25th. The air clearing up this morning, we were again agreeably sur- 

 prised with a full prospect of- the inountains. They discovered themselves 

 both to the north and south of us, on either side, not distant above ten miles, 

 according to our best computation. We could now see those to the north 

 rise in four distinct ledges, one above another, but those to the south formed 

 only a single ledge, and that broken and interrupted in many places ; or ra- 

 ther they were only single mountains detached from each other. One of the 

 southern mountains was so vastly high, it seemed to hide its head in the 

 clouds, and the west end of it terminated in a horrible precipice, that we 

 called the Despairing Lover's Leap. The next to it, towards the east, was 

 lower, except at one end, where it heaved itself up in the form of a vast 

 stack of chimneys. The course of the northern mountains seemed to tend 

 west-south-west, and those to the southward very near west. We could 

 descry other, mountains ahead of us, exactly in the course of the line, though 

 at a much greater distance. In this point of view, the ledges on the right 

 and left both seemed to close, and form a natural amphitheatre. Thus it 

 was our fortune to be wedged in betwixt these two ranges of mountains, in- 

 somuch that if our line had run ten miles on either side, it had butted before 

 this day either upon one or the other, both of them now stretching away 

 plainly to the eastward of us. It had rained a little in the night, which dis- 

 persed the smoke and opened this romantic scene to us all at once, though it 

 was again hid from our eyes as we moved forwards, by the rough woods we 

 had the misfortune to be engaged with. The bushes were so thick for near 

 four miles together, that they lore the deer skins to pieces that guarded the 



