Mr. HecJcewelder. 67 



alted intellect. Amidst such a society, Mr. Heckewelder could not 

 but pass his time pleasantly. He was himself a man full of the 

 milk of human kindness ; a great lover of horticulture, and all the 

 beauties of nature, and much devoted to the study of the natural 

 sciences. He kept for many years at Gnadenhutten a regular me- 

 teorological journal of the seasons, and of the flowering of plants, 

 Sic, which was published in Barton's Medical Journal. From his 

 thorough knowledge of the Indian languages, be had been employed 

 by Gen. Rufus Putnam, as an interpreter, at the treaty which he 

 held with the Indian tribes at Vincennes on the Wabash, in Sept. 

 1792. This duty had been accomplished, and the General had re- 

 turned as far as the falls of Ohio, where he was detained by an at- 

 tack of autumnal fever, then common on the Wabash. Mr. H. had 

 in the mean time returned by land to Marietta, in company with 

 some of the Delaware Indians. The only intercourse then sustained 

 between distant places, except for hunters and warriors, was by wa- 

 ter, in canoes or barges. This journey had thus far been performed 

 in a very light barge, built of cedar, and rowed by twelve men. As 

 his fever had somewhat abated before Mr. H. left him, and the sea- 

 son was now advanced into November, the General's family at Ma- 

 rietta were daily expecting him, and were with great anxiety waiting 

 for news. No news however could be obtained. Mrs. Putnam, 

 with whom Mr. Heckewelder lodged, had become very uneasy and 

 alarmed at the long delay of her husband, and it had been the sub- 

 ject of conversation before retiring to rest. In the morning, when 

 Mr. H. appeared at the breakfast table, he told Mrs. Putnam with 

 a smiling countenance, that he had good news for her of the General ; 

 and proceeded to state, that in the course of the night he had had 

 one of those mysterious communications in relation to coming events, 

 that had often been made to him during the course of his life, and 

 which he had never known to deceive him. He said the General 

 would return in safety on the 18th day of that month ; and lest he 

 should forget the day, he had in the night marked on the white- 

 washed chimney by the side of the bed, the number, with a piece of 

 cut money he had in his pocket. My informant, who was then a 

 boy, and lived in the General's family, immediately ran up stairs 

 and examined the spot pointed out. There he found the figures 18 

 plainly marked in the side of the chimney by the bed. This was 

 eight or ten days before the prophetic time. The days were care- 

 fully counted, and as the period approached, many an anxious look 



