38 
THE HISTORY OF 
thrown the men into sundry acute distempers ; especially the Dismal, where 
the soil was so full of water, and the air so full of damps, that nothing but a 
Dutchman could live in them. Indeed the foundation of all our success was 
the exceeding dry season. It rained during the whole journey but rarely, 
and then, as when Herod built his temple, only in the night or upon the sab- 
bath, when it was no hinderance at all to our progress. 
September. The tenth of September being thought a little too soon for the 
commissioners to meet, in order to proceed on the line, on account of snakes, 
it was agreed to put it off to the twentieth of the sanae month, of which due 
notice was sent to the Carolina commissioners. 
Sept. 19. We, on the part of Virginia, that we might be sure to be punctual, 
arrived at Mr. Kinchin’s, the place appointed, on the nineteenth, after a jour- 
ney of three days, in which nothing remarkable happened. We found three 
of the Carolina commissioners had taken possession of the house, having 
come thither by water from Edenton. By the great quantity of provisions 
these gentlemen brought, and the few men they had to eat them, we were 
afraid they intended to carry the line to the South sea. They had five hun- 
dred pounds of bacon and dried beef, and five hundred pounds' of biscuit, 
and not above three or four men. The misfortune was, they forgot to 
provide horses to carry their good things, or else trusted to the uncertainty 
of hiring them here, which, considering the place, was leaving too much 
to that jilt, hazard. On our part we had taken better care, being completely 
furnished with every thing necessary for transporting our baggage and 
provisions. Indeed we brought no other provisions out with us but a thou- 
sand pounds of bread, and had faith enough to depend on Providence for 
our meat, being desirous to husband the public money as much as possible. 
We had no less than twenty men, besides the chaplain, the surveyors and 
all the servants, to be subsisted upon this bread. However, that it might 
hold out the better, our men had been ordered to provide themselves at 
home with provision for ten days, in which time we judged we should get 
beyond the inhabitants, where forest game of all sorts was like to be plenty 
at that time of the year. 
20th. This being the 'day appointed for our rendezvous, great part of it 
was spent in the careful fixing our baggage and assembling our men, who 
were ordered to meet us here. We took care to examine their arms, and 
made proof of the powder provided for the expedition. Our provision-horses 
had been hindered by the rain from coming up exactly at the day ; but this 
delay was the less disappointment, by reason of the ten days’ subsistence the 
men had been directed to provide for themselves. Mr. Moseley did not join 
us till the afternoon, nor Mr. Swan till several days after. 
Mr. Kinchin had unadvisedly sold the men a little brandy of his own. 
making, which produced much disorder, causing some to be too choleric, and 
others too loving; insomuch that a damsel, who assisted in the kitchen, had 
certainly suffered what the nuns call martyrdom, had she not capitulated a 
little too soon. This outrage would have called for some severe discipline, 
had she not bashfully withdrawn herself early in the morning, and so carried 
off the evidence. 
21st. We despatched away the surveyors without loss of time, who, with 
all their diligence, could carry the line no farther than three miles and a 
hundred and seventy-six poles, by reason the low ground was one entire 
thicKet. In that distarjce they crossed Meherrin river the fourth time. In 
the mean while the Virginia commissioners thought proper to conduct their 
baggage a farther way about, for the convenience of a clearer road. 
The Carolina gentlemen did at length, more by fortune than forecast, hire 
a clumsy vehicle, something like a cart, to transport their effects as far as 
