XC1V LIFE OF 



where lie sat about a minute. He once more got to the room ; 

 afterwards, he came to the kitchen door, but did not speak; she 

 then heard him scraping the bucket with a gourd for water, but it 

 appeared that this cooling element was denied the dying man ! As 

 soon as day broke, and not before, the terror of the woman having 

 permitted him to remain for two hours in this most deplorable 

 situation, she sent two of her children to the barn, her husband not 

 being at home, to bring the servants ; and, on going in, they found 

 him lying on the bed. He uncovered his side, and showed them 

 where the bullet had entered ; a piece of the forehead was blown 

 off, and had exposed the brains, without having bled much. He 

 begged that they would take his rifle and blow out his brains, and 

 he would give them all the money he had in his trunk. He often 

 said, ' I am no coward ; but I am so strong — so hard to die ! ' He 

 begged the servant not to be afraid of him, for that he would not 

 hurt him. He expired in about two hours, or just as the sun rose 

 above the trees. He lies buried close by the common path, with 

 a few loose rails thrown over his grave. I gave Grinder money to 

 put a post fence round it, to shelter it from the hogs and from the 

 wolves, and he gave me his written promise that he would do it. 

 I left this place in a very melancholy mood, which was not much 

 allayed by the prospect of the gloomy and savage wilderness which 

 I was just entering alone. 



" I was roused from this melancholy reverie by the roaring of 

 Buffalo River, which I forded with considerable difficulty. I passed 

 two or three solitary Indian huts in the course of the day, with a 

 few acres of open land at each ; but so wretchedly cultivated, that 

 they just make out to raise maize enough to keep in existence. 

 They pointed me out the distances by holding up their fingers. 

 This is the country of the Chickasaws, though erroneously laid down 

 in some maps as that of the Cherokees. I slept this night in one 

 of their huts : the Indians spread a deer skin for me on the floor ; 

 I made a pillow of my portmanteau, and slept tolerably well : an 

 old Indian laid himself down near me. On Monday morning I rode 

 fifteen miles, and stopt at an Indian's to feed my horse. The sight 

 of my paroquet brought the whole family around me. The women 

 are generally naked from the middle upwards j and their heads, in 

 many instances, being rarely combed, look like a large mop. They 



