72 THE HISTORY OF 



recruit them. All these delays retard their progress intolerably; whereas, if 

 they had only a few asses, they would abide close to the camp, and find suf- 

 ficient food every where, and in all seasons of the year. Men would then 

 be able to travel safely over hills and dales, nor would the steepest mountains 

 obstruct their progress. They might also search more narrowly for mines and 

 other productions of nature, without being confined to level grounds, in com- 

 pliment to the jades they ride on. And one may foretell, without the spirit 

 of divination, that so long as woodsmen continue to range on horse-back, 

 we shall be strangers to our own country, and few or no valuable discoveries 

 will ever be made. The French couriers de bois, who have run from one 

 end of the continent to the other, have performed it all on foot, or else in all 

 probability must have continued full as ignorant as we are. Our country 

 has now been inhabited more than one hundred and thirty years by the 

 English, and still we hardly know any thing of the Appallachian mountains, 

 that are no where above two hundred and fifty miles from the sea. Where- 

 as the French, wlio are later comers, have ranged from Q,uebec southward 

 as far as the mouth of Mississippi, in the bay of Mexico, and to the west al- 

 most as far as California, vv'hich is either way above two thousand miles. 



3d. A north-west wind having cleared the sky, we were now tempted to 

 travel on a Sunday, for the first time, for want of more plentiful forage, 

 though some of the more scrupulous amongst us were unwilling to do evil, 

 that good might come of it, and make our cattle work a good part of the 

 day in order to fill their bellies at night. However, the chaplain put on his 

 casuistical face, and offered to take the sin upon himself We therefore con- 

 sented to move a Sabbath day's journey of three or four miles, it appearing 

 to be a matter of some necessity. On the way our unmerciful Indian killed 

 no less than two brace of deer and a large bear. We only primed the deer, 

 being unwilling to be encumbered with their whole carcasses. The rest we 

 consigned to the wolves, which in return serenaded us great part of the 

 night. They are very clamorous in their banquets, which we know is the 

 way some other brutes have, in the extravagance of their jollity and spright- 

 liness, of expressing their thanks to Providence. 



We came to our old camp, in sight of the river Irvin, whose stream was 

 swelled now near four feet with the rain that fell the day before. This made 

 it impracticable for us to ford it, nor could we guess when the water would fall 

 enough to let us go over. This put our mathematical professor, who should 

 have set a better example, into the vapours, fearing he should be obliged to 

 take up his winter quarters in that doleful wilderness. But the rest were not 

 infected with his want of faith, but preserved a firmness of mind superior to 

 such little adverse accidents. They trusted that the same good Providence 

 which had most remarkably prospered them hitherto, would continue his 

 goodness and conduct them safe to the end of their journey. However, we 

 found plainly that travelling on the Sunday, contrary to our constant rule, 

 had not thriven with us in the least. We were not gainers of any distance 

 by it, because the river made us pay two days for violating one. Neverthe- 

 less, by making this reflection, I would not be thought so rigid an observer 

 of the sabbath as to allow of no work at all to be done, or journeys to be 

 taken upon it. I should not care to lie still and be knocked on the head, as the 

 Jews were heretofore by Antiochus, because I believed it unlawful to stand upon 

 my defence on this good day. Nor would I care, like a certain New England 

 magistrate, to order a man to the whipping post, for daring to ride for a mid- 

 wife on the Lord's day. On the contrary, I am for doing all acts of necessi- 

 ty, charity, and self preservation, upon a Sunday as well as other days of the 

 week. But, as I think our present march could not strictly be justified by 

 any of these rules, it was but just we should suflfer a little for it. I never 



