THE DIV1D1N(^ LIME, 
67 
turbance, the wolves howled all that night, and the panthers screamed most 
frightfully. In the evening a brisk north-wester swept all the clouds from 
the sky, and exposed the mountains as well as the stars to our prospect. 
That which was the most lofty to the southward, and which we called the 
Lover’s Leap, some of our Indian traders fondly fancied was the Kiawan 
mountain, which they had formerly seen from the country of the Cherokees. 
They were the more positive by reason of the prodigious precipice that re- 
markably distinguished the west end of it. We seemed however not to be 
far enough south for that, though it is not improbable but a few miles farther 
the course of our line might carry us to the most northerly towns of the 
Cherokees. What makes this the more credible, is the north-west course, 
that our traders take from the Catawbas for some hundred miles together, 
when they carry goods that round-about way to the Cherokees. It was a 
great pity that the want of bread, and the weakness of our horses, hindered us 
from making the discovery. Though the great service such an excursion might 
have been to the country would certainly have made the attempt not only 
pardonable, but much to be commended. Our traders are now at the vast 
charge and fatigue of travelling above five hundred miles for the benefit of 
that traffic which hardly quits cost. Would it not then be worth the as- 
sembly’s while to be at some charge to find a shorter cut to carry on so pro- 
fitable a trade, with more advantage, and less hazard and trouble, than they 
do at present 1 For I am persuaded it will not then be half the distance that 
our traders make it now, nor half so far as Georgia lies from the northern 
clans of that nation. Such a discovery would certainly prove an unspeak- 
able advantage to this colony, by facilitating a trade with so considerable a 
nation of Indians, which have sixty-two towns, and more than four thousand 
fighting men. Our traders at that rate would be able to undersell those sent 
from the other colonies so much, that the Indians must have reason to deal 
with them preferable to all others. Of late the new colony of Georgia has 
made an act obliging us to go four hundred miles to take out a license to 
traffic with these Cherokees, though many of their towns lie out of their 
bounds, and we had carried on this trade eighty years before that colony was 
thought of 
30th. In the morning early the man who had gone astray the day before 
found his way to the camp, by the sound of the bells that were upon the 
horses’ necks. At nine o’clock we began our march back towards the rising 
sun ; for though we had finished the line, yet we had not yet near finished 
our fatigue. We had after all two hundred good miles at least to our several 
habitations, and the horses were brought so low, that we were obliged to 
travel on foot great part of the way, and that in our boots, too, to save our 
legs from being torn to pieces by the bushes and briers. Had we not done 
this, we must have left all our horses behind, which could now hardly drag 
their legs after them, and with all the favour we could show the poor-animals, 
we were forced to set seven of them free, not far from the foot of the moun- 
tains. Four men were despatched early to clear the road, that our lame 
commissioner’s leg might be in less danger of being bruised, and that the 
baggage horses might travel with less difficulty and more expedition. As we 
passed along, by favour of a serene sky, we had still, from every eminence, a 
perfect view of the mountains, as well to the north as to the south. We 
could not forbear now and then facing about to survey them, as if unwilling 
to part with a prospect, which at the same time, like some rake’s, was very 
wild and very agreeable. We encouraged the horses to exert the little 
strength they had, and being light, they made a shift to jog on about eleven 
miles. We encamped on Crooked creek, near a thicket of canes. In the 
front of our camp rose a very beautiful hill, that bounded our view at about a 
