THE LAND OF EDEN. 
Ill 
to circulate. We crossed both the branches of Lowland creek, and sundry 
other rills of fine water. From every eminence we discovered the moun- 
tains to the north-west of us, though they seemed to be a long way off. 
Here the air felt very refreshing and agreeable to the lungs, having no 
swamps or marshes to taint it. Nor was this the only good effect it had, 
but it likewise made us very hungry, so that we were forced to halt and 
pacify our appetites with a frugal repast out of our pockets, which we wash- 
ed down with water from a purling stream just by. My knees pained me 
very much, though I broke not the laws of travelling by uttering the least 
complaint. Measuring and marking spent so much of our time, that we 
could advance no further than eight miles, and the chain carriers thought 
that a great way. In the evening we took up our quarters in the low- 
grounds of the river, which our scouts informed us was but two hundred 
yards ahead of us. This was no small surprise, because we had flattered 
ourselves that this back line would not have intersected the Dan at all ; but 
we found ourselves mistaken, and plainly perceived that it ran more souther- 
ly than we imagined, and in all likelihood pierces the mountains where they 
form an amphitheatre. The venison here was lean ; and the misfortune was 
we met no bear in so open a country, to grease the way and make it slip 
down. In the night our sentinel alarmed us with an idle suspicion that he 
heard the Indian whistle, (which amongst them is a signal for attacking their 
enemies.) This made every one stand manfully to his arms in a moment, 
and I found no body more undismayed in this surprise than Mr. Banister ; 
but after we had put ourselves in battle array, we discovered this whistle to 
be nothing but the nocturnal note of a little harmless bird, that inhabits those 
woods. We were glad to find the mistake, and commending the sentinel for 
his great vigilance, composed our noble spirits again to rest till the morning. 
However, some of the company dreamed of nothing but scalping all the rest 
of the night. 
28th. We snapped up our breakfast as fast as we could, that we might 
have the more leisure to pick our way over a very bad ford across the river. 
Though, bad as it was, we all got safe on the other side. We were no sooner 
landed, but we found ourselves like to encounter a very rough and almost 
impassable thicket. However, we scuffled through it without any dismay or 
complaint. This was a copse of young saplings, consisting of oak, hickory 
and sassafras, which are the growth of a fertile soil. We gained no more 
than two miles in three hours in this perplexed place, and after that had the 
pleasure to issue out into opener woods. The land was generally good, 
though pretty bare of timber, and particularly we traversed a rich level of at 
least two miles. Our whole day’s journey amounted not quite to five miles, 
by reason we had been so hampered at our first setting out. We were glad 
to take up our quarters early in a piece of fine low-grounds, lying about a 
mile north of the river. Thus we perceived the river edged away gently to- 
wards the south, and never likely to come in the way of our course again. 
Nevertheless, the last time we saw it, it kept much the same breadth and 
depth that it had where it divided its waters from the Staunton, and in all 
likelihood holds its own quite as high as the mountains. 
29th. In measuring a mile and a half farther we reached the lower ford 
of the Irvin, which branches from the Dan about two miles to the south, 
south-east of this place. This river was very near threescore yards over, 
and in many places pretty deep. From thence, in little more than a mile, we 
came to the end of this course, being in length fifteen miles and eighty-eight 
poles. And so far the land held reasonably good ; but when we came to 
run our northern course of three miles, to the place where the country line 
intersects the same Irvin higher up, we passed over nothing but stony hills, 
