THE DIVIDIN(,' LIJSF.. 67 



turbance, tlie wolves howled all that night, and the panthers screamed most 

 frightfully. In the evening a brisk north-wester swept all the clouds from 

 the sky, and exposed the mountains as well as the stars to our prospect. 

 That which was the most lofty to the southward, and which we called the - 

 Lover's Leap, some of our Indian traders fondly fancied was the Kiawan 

 mountain, which they had formerly seen from the country of the Cherokees. 

 They were the more positive by reason of the prodigious precipice that re- 

 markably distinguished the west end of it. We seemed however not to be 

 far enough south for that, though it is not improbable but a few miles farther 

 the course of our line might carry us to the most northerly towns of the 

 Cherokees. What makes this the more credible, is the north-west course, 

 that our traders take from the Catawbas for some hundred miles together, 

 when they carry goods that round-about way to the Cherokees. It was a 

 great pity that the want of bread, and the weakness of our horses, hindered us 

 from making the discovery. Though the great service such an excursion might 

 have been to the country would certainly have made the attempt not only 

 pardonable, but much to be commended. Our traders are now at the vast 

 charge and fatigue of travelling above five hundred miles for the benefit of 

 that trauic which hai-dly quits cost. Would it not then be worth the as- 

 sembly's while to be at some charge to find a shorter cut to carry on so pro- 

 fitable a trade, with more advantage, and less hazard and trouble, than they 

 do at present '! For I am persuaded it will not then be half the distance that 

 our traders make it now, nor half so far as Georgia lies from the northern 

 clans of that nation. Such a discovery would certainly prove an unspeak- 

 able advantage to this colony, by facilitating a trade with so considerable a 

 nation of Indians, which have sixty-two towns, and more than four thousand 

 fighting men. Our traders at that rate would be able to undersell those sent 

 from the other colonies so much, that the Indians must have reason to deal 

 with them preferable to all others. Of late the new colony of Georgia has 

 made an act obliging us to go four hundred miles to take out a license to 

 traffic with these Cherokees, though many of their towns lie out of their 

 bounds, and we had carried on this trade eighty years before that colony was 

 thought of 



30th. In the morning early the man who had gone astray the day before 

 found his way to the camp, by the sound of the bells that were upon the 

 horses' necks. At nine o'clock we began our march back towards the rising 

 sun ; for though we had finished the line, yet we had not yet near finished 

 our fatigue. We had after all two hundred good miles at least to our several 

 habitations, and the horses were brought so low, that we were obliged to 

 travel on foot great part of the way, and that in our boots, too, to save our 

 legs from being torn to pieces by the bushes and briers. Had we not done 

 this, we must have left all our horses behind, which could now hardly drag 

 their legs after them, and with all the favour we could show" the poor animals, 

 we were forced to set seven of them free, not far from the foot of the moun- 

 tains. Four men were despatched early to clear the road, that our lame 

 commissioner's leg might be in less danger of being bruised, and that the 

 baggage horses might travel with less difficulty and more expedition. As we 

 passed along, by favour of a serene sky, we had still, from every eminence, a 

 perfect view of the mountains, as well to the north as to the south. We 

 could not forbear now and then facing about to survey them, as if unv/illing 

 to part with a prospect, which at the same time, like some rake's, was very 

 wild and very agreeable. We encouraged the horses to exert the little 

 strength they had, and being light, they made a shift to jog on about eleven 

 miles. We encamped on Crooked creek, near a thicket of canes. In the 

 front of our camp rose a very beautiful hill, that bounded our view at about a 



