NORTH AMERICA® 5 I 
planned for our conduct as a ladder whereby to 
mount to the fummit of terreftrial glory and hap- 
pinefs, and from whence we perhaps meditated our 
flight to heaven itfelf, at the very moment when we 
vainly imagine ourfelves to have attained its point, 
fome unfore feen accident intervenes, and furprifes 
us ; the chain is violently fhaken, we quit our hold 
and fall : the well contrived fyftem at once becomes 
a chaos ; every idea of happinefs recedes; the fplen- 
dour of glory darkens, and at length totally difap- 
pears ; every pleafing objedt is defaced, all is de- 
ranged, and the flattering feene pafles quite away ; 
a gloomy cloud pervades the underftanding, and 
when we fee our progrefs retarded, and our beft 
intentions fruftrated, we are apt to deviate from the 
admonitions and convi&ions of virtue, to fnut our 
eyes upon our guide and protedtor, doubt of his 
power, and defpair of his affiftance. But let us wait 
and rely on our God, who in due time will fhine 
forth in brightnefs, diffipate the envious cloud, and 
reveal to us how finite and circumfcribed is human 
power, when aflfuming to itfelf independent wifdom. 
But, before I leave the river Alatamaha, we 
will proceed to give a further and more particular 
account of it. It has its fource in the Cherokee 
mountains, near the head of Tugilo, the great 
weft branch of Savanna, and, before it leaves 
them, is joined and augmented by innumerable 
rivulets ; thence it defeends through the hilly 
country, with all its collateral branches, and winds 
rapidly amongft the hills two hundred and fifty 
miles, and then enters the flat plain country, by 
the name of the Oakniulge ; thence meandering an 
hundred and fifty miles, it is joined on the eaft fide 
by the Ocone, which likewife heads in the lower 
rid ges of the mountains. After this confluence, 
E 2 / having 
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