THE LAWD OF EDEN. 
109 
the day, because our baggage was so wet it needed a whole day to dry it. 
For this purpose we kindled four several fires, in the absence of the sun, 
which vouchsafed us not one kind look the whole day. My servant had drop- 
ped his great-coat yesterday, and two of the men were so good-natured as 
to ride back and look for it to-day, and were so lucky as to find it. Our In- 
dians having no notion of the sabbath, went out to hunt for something for 
dinner, and brought a young doe back along with them. They laughed at the 
English for losing one day in seven ; though the joke may be turned upon 
them for losing the whole seven, if idleness and doing nothing to the pur- 
pose may be called loss of time. I looked out narrowly for ginseng, this 
being the season when it wears its scarlet fruit, but neither now nor any 
other time during the whole journey could I find one single plant of it. This 
made me conclude that it delighted not in quite so southerly a climate ; and 
in truth I never heard of its growing on this side of thirty-eight degrees of 
latitude. But to make amends we saw abundance of sugar trees in all these 
low-grounds, which the whole summer long the woodpeckers tap, for the 
sweet juice that flows out of them. Towards the evening a strong north- 
wester was so kind as to sweep all the clouds away, that had blackened our 
sky, and moistened our skins, for some time past. 
24th. The rest the sabbath had given us made every body alert this morn- 
ing, so that we mounted before nine o’clock. This diligence happened to be 
the more necessary, by reason the woods we encountered this day were ex- 
ceedingly bushy and uneven. At the distance of four miles we forded both 
branches of Forked creek, which lay within one thousand paces from each 
other. My horse fell twice under me, but, thank God ! without any damage^- 
either to himself or his rider ; and major Mayo’s baggage horse rolled down 
a steep hill, and ground all his biscuit to rocahominy. My greatest disaster 
was that, in mounting one of the precipices, my steed made a short turn and 
gave my knee an unmerciful bang against a tree, and I felt the effects of it 
several days after. However, this was no interruption of our journey, but 
we went merrily on, and two miles farther crossed Peter’s creek, and two miles 
after that Jones’ creek. Between these creeks was a good breadth of low- 
grounds, with which Mr. Jones was tempted, though he shook his head at 
the distance. A little above Jones’ creek, we met with a pleasant situation, 
where the herbage appeared more inviting than usual. The horses were so 
fond of it that we determined to camp there, although the sun had not near 
finished his course. This gave some of our company leisure to go out and 
search for the place where our line first crossed the Dan, and by good luck 
they found it within half a mile of the camp. But the place was so altered 
by the desolation which had happened to the canes, (which had formerly 
fringed the banks of the river a full furlong deep,) that we hardly knew it 
again. Pleased with this discovery, I forgot the pain in my knee, and the 
whole' company ate their venison without any other sauce than keen appetite. 
25th. The weather now befriending us, we despatched our little affairs in 
good time, and marched in a body to the' line. It was already grown very 
dim, by reason many of the marked trees were burnt or blown down. 
However, we made shift, after riding little more than half a mile, to find it, and 
having once found it, stuck as close to it as we could. After a march of two 
miles, we got upon Cane creek, where we saw the same havoc amongst the 
old canes that we had observed in other places, and a whole forest of young 
ones springing up in their stead. We pursued our journey over hills and 
dales till we arrived at the second ford of the Dan, which we passed with no 
other damage than sopping a little of our bread, and shipping some water at 
the tops of our boots. The late rains having been a little immoderate, had 
raised the water and made a current in the river. We drove on four miles 
P 
