78 
THE HISTORY OF 
and two white men that way, who came up with us in the evening, after 
fetching a compass of about twelve miles. They told u« that, about a mile 
from our last camp, they passed, a creek fortified with steep cliffs, which there- 
fore gained the name of Cliff creek. Near three miles beyond that they 
forded a second creek, on the margin of which grew abundance of tall canes 
and this was called Hix’s creek, from one of the discoverers. Between these 
two creeks lies a level of exceeding rich land, full of large trees, and covered 
with black mould, as fruitful, if we believe them, as that which is yearly over- 
flowed by the Nile. We who marched the nearest way upon the line found the 
ground rising and falling between the two fords of the Dan, which almost 
broke our own wind, and the hearts of our jaded palfreys. When we had 
passed the last ford, it was a sensible joy to find ourselves safe over all the 
waters that might cut off our retreat. And we had the greater reason to be 
thankful, because so late in the year it Vas very unusual to find the rivers 
so fordable. We caught a large terrapin in the river, which is one kind of turtle. 
The flesh of it is wholesome, and good for consumptive people. It lays a 
great number of eggs, not larger but rounder than those of pigeons. These 
are soft, but withal so tough that it is difficult to break them, yet are very 
sweet and invigorating, so that some wives recommend them earnestly'*to 
their husbands. One of the men, by an overstrain, had unhappily got a 
running of the reins, for which I gave him every morning a little sweet gum 
dissolved in water, with good success. This gum distils from a large tree, 
called the sweet-gum tree, very common in Virginia, and is as healing in its 
virtue as balm of Gilead, or the balsams of Tolu and of Peru. It is likewise 
a most agreeable perfume, very little inferior to ambergris. And now I 
have mentioned ambergris, I hope it will not be thought an unprofitable di- 
gression, to give a faithful account how it is produced, in order to reconcile 
the various opinions concerning it. It is now certainly found to be the dung 
of the spermaceti whale, which is at first very black and unsavoury. But after 
having been washed for some months in the sea, and blanched in the sun, 
it comes at length to be of a gray colour, and from a most offensive smell, 
contracts the finest fragrancy in the world. Besides the fragrancy of this 
animal substance, it is a very rich and innocent cordial, which raises the 
spirits without stupifying them afterwards, like opium, or intoxicating them 
like wine. The animal spirits are amazingly refreshed by this cordial, with- 
out the danger of any ill consequence, and if husbands were now and then 
to dissolve a little of it in their broth, their consorts might be the better for 
it, as well as themselves. In the Bahama islands (where a great quantity is 
found, by reason the spermaceti whales resort thither continually,) it is 
used as an antidote against the venomous fish which abound therea- 
bouts, wherewith the people are apt to poison themselves. We are not only 
obliged to that whale for this rich perfume, but also for the spermaceti itself, 
which is the fat of that fish’s head boiled and purged from all its impurities. 
What remains is of a balsamic and detersive quality, very friendly to the 
lungs, and useful in many other cases. 
The Indian had killed a fat doe in the compass he took round the elbow of 
the river, but was content to prime it only, by reason it was too far off to lug 
the whole carcass upon his back. This, and a brace of wild turkeys which 
our men had shot, made up all our bill of fare this evening, but could only 
afford a philosophical meal to so many craving stomachs. The horses were 
now so lean that any thing would gall those that carried the least burthen ; 
no wonder then if several of them had sore backs, especially now the pads of 
the saddles and packs were pressed flat with long and constant use. This 
would have been another misfortune, had we not been provided with an easy 
remedy for it. One of the commissioners, believing that such accidents might 
