Topography of the Guyandot and Sandy Rivers. 127 



forest; which have been accumulating, undisturbed, for ages. For 

 thirty years, these hills and forests have furnished a constant supply of 

 thousands of tons of this plant to the traders stationed at remote points 

 along the larger streams. The only currency of the country being 

 " Sang" and the skins of the Bear and the Deer ; and although so 

 many years have been spent in this traffic, the hills yet furnish an un- 

 diminished supply. Cut off from all intercourse with the rest of the 

 world, the country being inaccessible to any but hunters, with here 

 and there a horse track, winding up the sides of the ravines and moun- 

 tains, the inhabitants retain all the primitive simplicity, in manners 

 and in dress, common to the aborigines of the country. A small 

 •' patch of corn" and potatoes furnishes them with bread ; and the wild 

 beasts of the forest with meat and with clothing ; rendering them a 

 truly independent race. The hills and mountains, although steep and 

 broken, are covered by an immense growth of forest trees, of all the 

 species common to the climate, which here attain an elevation, and 

 a magnitude, not seen in any other place ; rich mountain sides in a 

 temperate climate, always affording a heavier and taller growth, than 

 the low lands — witness " the Cedars of Lebanon." This law of na- 

 ture applies as well to man as to forest trees. The tallest races be- 

 ing invariably found in mountainous countries ; the shorter in the low 

 lands and plains. It is but a few years since the bottom lands on 

 the Sandy, were clothed with cane ; and as late as the year 1805, 

 boats visited that stream, as high up as they could navigate, until 

 checked by the falls, for the purpose of collecting the stems of this 

 gigantic grass, to be manufactured into reeds, &c. Since the ingress 

 of domestic animals, the cane has wholly disappeared, except in 

 some inaccessible recesses. The country on the Guyandot and San- 

 dy, with some of the tributaries of the Kenawha, was once the favor- 

 ite haunts of Bears. Enticed by the profusion of chesnuts and other 

 favorite food, they resorted to this region in vast numbers ; the caves 

 and shelving rocks, affording them fine retreats for the winter. The 

 best hunting months were February, March and April, when the 

 pelt was most valuable. , 



Bear hunting. — I have the following interesting particulars of the 

 amount of the trade in skins, from a man of strict veracity, who 

 was, for a number of years, engaged in the traffic. In the years 

 1805, 6 and 7, there were collected from the hunters in this vicinty, 

 no less than eight thousand skins, the best of which were worth 

 from four to five dollars ; the wars raging in Europe bringing them 



