ll'^^r^EY] LAWSOn's R(_)UTE. 41 



length avenyc it Homo nijoii them, mid made tliein glad t(>ait])ly to this (r<»vcriiineiit 

 for protection (Byrd, 8). 



As there will be frequent occasion to refer to Lawson's narrative, bis 

 route, whicli has been the subject of much misapprehension, may be 

 described in some detail. His own jiuesses are often misleading, as 

 much of the country throni;h which he passed was still unexplored, and 

 he constantly confounded the numerous lari>e streams met with in the 

 interior with the two or three with which he was ac(iuainted alony- the 

 coast. Starting from Charleston, South Carolina, he went by water to 

 the mouth of the Santee, which he ascended 20 or 30 miles to the French 

 settlements. Then, taking the trail from Charleston, which came 

 in near the present railroad crossing, he followed the eastern side of 

 Santee, Wateree, and Catawba rivers, i)assing in succession through 

 the territories of the Sewee, Santee, Congaree, Wateree, and AVaxhaw 

 tribes, until he came to the Catawba (Esaw and Kadapaw) on the 

 boundary between South Carolina and North Carolina. Here he took 

 the great trading j)ath from Virginia to Georgia and followed it into 

 North Carolina as far as the Occaneechi village, about the i)resent Hill^- 

 boro, North Carolina. On this part of the journey he encountered 

 the Sugeree, Saponi, Keyauwee, and Occaneechi, and crossed several 

 rivers and smaller streams. His "Sapona" river, supposed by him to 

 be a l)ranch of the Cape Fear, is the Yadkin, which he crossed at the 

 traders' ford near the site of Salisbury. Here was the Saponi village,^ 

 the name being still commemorated in a small station on the northern 

 side of the river. His "liocky river," miles farther on, is prob- 

 ably Abbott creek, and hfs "Haw or lieatkin" is the Haw, Avhich he 

 forded about at the i^resent railroa<l crossing at Graham. In fact, the 

 Richmond and Danville radroad from Hillsboro, North Carolina, throngh 

 Greensboro, Salisbury, and Charlotte, iuto South Carolina, is laid out 

 almost exactly on the line of the old Occaneechi trail along which Law- 

 son traveled. It is evident that he Avas not aware of the existence of 

 the Yadkin or Pedee as a distinct stream, as in crossing it he supposes 

 it to be a branch of Cape Fear river, and later on confounds it under 

 the name of "Keatkin" with the Haw or main upper portion of the 

 same stream. At the Occaneechi villagenear Hillsboro, commemorated 

 in the ''Occaneeche hills" at that town, he left the trading path and 

 struck off' in a southeasterly direction toward the English settlements 

 on the coast. His general course was down along the western bank of 

 Eno and Neuse rivers until he crossed over to the northern bank about 

 the falls near the railroad crossing at Wake Forest, where he entered 

 the territory of the Tuskarora. He then continued down between the 

 main Neuse and theCotentuey, probably passing near the site of Golds- 

 boro, until he turned northward and crossed the latter stream about 

 the present railroad crossing at (xrifton, afterward continuing across 

 the Tar or Pamlico at Greenville or lower down, and finally coming out 

 at the English settlements on Pamlico river around the present Wash- 



