THE LAND OF EDEl^ IQQ 



the day, because our ' baggage was so wet it needed a whole day to dry it. 

 For this purpose we kindled fonr several fires, in the absence of the sun, 

 which vouchsafed us not one kind look the whole day. My servant had drop- 

 ped his great-coat yesterday, and two of the men were so good-natured as 

 to ride back and look for it to-day, and were so lucky as to find it. Our In- 

 dians having no notion of the sabbath, went out to hunt lor something for 

 dinner, and brought a young doe back along with them. They laughed at #he 

 English for losing one day in seven ; though the joke may be turned upon 

 them for losing the whole seven, if idleness and doing nothing to the pur- 

 pose may be called loss of time. I looked out narrowly for ginseng, this 

 being the season when it wears its scarlet fruit, but neither now nor any 

 other time during the whole journey could I find one single plant of it. This 

 made me conclude that it delighted not in quite so southerly a climate; and 

 in truth I never heard of its growing on this side of thirty-eight degrees of 

 latitude. But to make amends we saw abundance of sugar trees in all these 

 low-grounds, which the whole summer long the woodpeckers tap, for the 

 sweet juice that flows out of them. Towards the evening a strong north- 

 wester was so kind as to sweep all the clouds away, that had blackened our 

 sky, and moistened our skins, for some time past, 



24th. The rest the sabbath had given us made every body alert this morn- 

 ing, so that we mounted before nine o'clock. This diligence happened to be 

 the more necessary, by reason the woods we encountered this day were ex- 

 ceedingly bushy and uneven. At the distance of four miles we forded both 

 branches of Forked creek, which lay within one thousand paces from each 

 other. My horse fell twice under me, but, thank God ! without any damage 

 either to himself or his rider; and major Mayo's baggage horse rolled down 

 a steep hill, and ground all his biscuit to rocahom.iny. My greatest disaster 

 was that, in mounting one of the precipices, my steed made a short turn and 

 gave my knee an unmerciful bang against a tree, and I felt the effects of it 

 several days after. However, this was no interruption of our journey, but 

 we went merrily on, and two miles farther crossed Peter's creek, and two miles 

 after that Jones' creek. Between these creeks was a good breadth of low- 

 grounds, with which Mr. Jones was tempted, though he shook his head at 

 the distance. A little above Jones' creek, we met with a pleasant situation, 

 where the herbage appeared more inviting than "Usual. The horses were so 

 fond of it that we determined to camp there, although the sun had not near 

 finished his course. This gave some of our company leisure to go out and 

 search for the place where our line first crossed the Dan, and by good luck 

 they found it within half a mile of the camp. But the place was so altered 

 by the desolation which had happened to the canes, (which had formerly 

 fringed the banks of the river a full furlong deep,) that we hardly knew it 

 again. Pleased with this discover)'-, I forgot the pain in my knee, and the 

 whole company ate their venison without any other sauce than keen appetite. 

 25th. The weather now befriending us, we despatched our little affairs in 

 good time, and marched in a body to the line. It was already grown very 

 dim, by reason many of the marked trees were burnt or blown down. 

 However, we made shift, after riding little more than half a mile, to find it, and 

 having once found it, stuck as close to it as we could. After a march of two 

 miles, we got upon Cane creek, where we saw the same havoc amongst the 

 old canes that we had observed in other places, and a whole forest of young 

 ones springing up in their stead. We pursued our journey over hills and 

 dales till we arrived at the second ford of the Dan, which we passed with no 

 other damage than sopping a little of our bread, and shipping some water at 

 the tops of our boots. The late rains having been a little immoderate, had 

 raised the water and made a current in the river. We drove on four miles 

 15 



