NORTH AMERICA 
51 
planned for our conduft, 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 oiirfelves to have attained its point* 
fome unforefeen accident intervenes, and furprifes 
us ; the chain is violently fnaken, 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 fcene pafles quite away j 
a gloomy cloud pervades the underfbanding, and 
when we fee our progrefs retarded, and our bed 
intentions fruftrated, we are apt to deviate from the 
admonitions and convidlions of virtue, to fhut our 
eyes upon our guide and protestor, doubt of his 
power, and defpair of his afliftance. But let us wait 
and rely on oiir God, who in due time will fhine 
forth in brightnefs, diflipate the envious cloud, and 
feveal to us how finite and circiimfcribed is human 
power, when afluming to itfelf independent wifdoim 
But, before I leave the river Alatamaha* we 
will proceed to give a farther 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 defcends through the hilly 
country, with all its collateral branches, and winds 
rapidly amongft the hills two hundred and fifty 
miles, and then enters the fiat plain country, by 
the name of the Qakmulge ; thence meandering an 
hundred and fifty miles, it is joined on the eaft fide 
by the Ocone, which like wife heads in the lower 
ridges of the mountains. After this confluence, 
E 2 having 
