174 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. 
and protracted; but the former at length made good their 
footing. and the latter drew off their shattered bands, dis- 
mayed by the mental superiority and indomitable courage of 
the white men. 
This region was probably* discovered by a daring hunter, 
the renowned Daniel Boone. The richness of its soil, its 
magnificent forests, its numberless navigable streams, its salt 
springs and licks, its saltpetre caves, its coal strata, and the 
vast herds of buffaloes and deer that browsed on ‘its hills and 
amidst its charming valleys, afforded ample inducements to 
the new settler, who pushed forward with a spirit far above 
that of the most undaunted tribes, which for ages had been 
the sole possessors of the soil. 
The Virginians thronged towards the Ohio. An axe, a 
couple of horses and a heavy rifle, with store of ammunition, 
were all that were considered necessary for the equipment 
of the man, who, with his family, removed to the new State, 
assured that, in that land of exuberant fertility, he could not 
fail to provide amply for all his wants. To have witnessed 
the industry and perseverance of these emigrants, must at 
once have proved the vigor of their minds. Regardless of 
the fatigue attending every movement which they made, they 
pushed through an unexplored region of dark and tangled 
forests, guiding themselves by the sun alone, and reposing at 
night on the bare ground. Numberless streams they had to 
cross on rafts, with their wives and children, their cattle and 
their luggage, often drifting to considerable distances before 
they could effect a landing on the opposite shores. Their 
cattle would often stray amid the rich pasturage of these 
shores, and occasion a delay of several days. To these trou- 
bles add the constantly impending danger of being murdered, 
while asleep in their encampments, by the prowling and 
* We have given the true account of the ‘ Discovery” in the preceding 
sketch of Boone. 
