xcviii LIFE OF 



shells, of a large species of clam, some of which are almost entire. I 

 this day stopped at the house of a white man, who had two Indian 

 wives, and a hopeful string of young savages, all in their fig leaves. 

 Not one of them could speak a word of English. This man was 

 by birth a Virginian, and had been forty years among the Chickasaws. 

 His countenance and manners were savage, and worse than Indian. 

 I met many parties of boatmen to-day, and crossed a number of 

 bad swamps. The woods continue to exhibit the same open luxu- 

 riant appearance; and at night I lodged at a white man's, who has 

 also two wives, and a numerous progeny. Here I met with a 

 lieutenant of the United States army, anxiously inquiring for 

 General Hampton. On Friday, the same open woods continued. 

 I met several parties of Indians, and passed two or three of their 

 hamlets. At one of these there were two fires in the yard, and at 

 each eight or ten Indian men and women squat on the ground. In 

 these hamlets there is generally one house built, of a circular form, 

 and plastered thickly all over both without and within with clay. 

 This they call a hot-house ; and it is the general winter quarters of 

 the hamlet in cold weather. Here they all kennel, and, having 

 neither window, nor place for the smoke to escape, it must be a 

 sweet place, while forty or fifty of them have it in occupancy. 

 Round some of these hamlets were great droves of cattle, horses, 

 and hogs. I lodged this night on the top of a hill, far from water, 

 and suffered severely from thirst. 



" On Saturday, I passed a number of most execrable swamps ; 

 the weather was extremely warm, and I had been attacked by some- 

 thing like the dysentery, which occasioned a constant burning thirst, 

 and weakened me greatly. I stopt this day frequently to wash my 

 head and throat in the water, to allay the burning thirst ; and, put- 

 ting on my hat without wiping, received considerable relief from it. 

 Since crossing the Tennessee, the woods have been interspersed with 

 pines, and the soil has become more sandy. This day I met a 

 Captain Hughes, a traveller on his return from Santa Fee. My 

 complaint increased so much, that I could scarcely sit on horseback ; 

 and all night my mouth and throat were parched with a burning 

 thirst and fever. On Sunday, I bought some raw eggs, which I 

 ate, and repeated the dose at mid-day, and towards evening, and 

 found great benefit from this simple remedy. I inquired, all along 



