LIFE OF WILSON. 
cxli 
native glauber salts are found in these caves, and are used by the 
country people in the same manner, and with equal effect, as those 
of the shops. But the principal production is saltpetre, which is 
procured from the earth in great abundance. The cave in Warren 
county abovementioned has lately been sold for three thousand 
dollars to a saltpetre company, an individual of which informed me 
that, from every appearance, this cave had been known to the In- 
dians many ages ago ; and had evidently been used for the same 
purposes. At the distance of more than a mile from the entrance, 
the exploring party, on their first visit, found the roof blackened 
by smoke, and bundles of half burnt canes scattered about. A 
bark mockasin, of curious construction, besides several other Indi- 
an articles, were found among the rubbish. The earth, also, lay 
piled in heaps, with great regularity, as if in preparation for extract- 
ing the saltpetre. 
Notwithstanding the miserable appearance of the timber on 
these barrens, the soil, to my astonishment, produced the most 
luxuriant fields of corn and wheat I had ever before met with. But 
one great disadvantage is the want of water, for the whole running 
streams, with which the surface of this country evidently once 
abounded, have been drained off to a great depth, and now murmur 
among these lower regions secluded from the day. One forenoon 
I rode nineteen miles without seeing water; while my faithful horse 
looked round, but in vain, at every hollow, with a wishful and lan- 
guishing eye, for that precious element. These barrens furnished 
me with excellent sport in shooting grous, which abound here in 
great numbers ; and in the delightful groves that here and theie 
rise majestically from these plains, I found many new subjects for 
my Ornithology. I observed all this day, far to the right, a range 
of high rocky detached hills, or knobs, as they are called, that skirt 
the Barrens, as if they had been once the boundaries of the great 
lake that formerly covered this vast plain. These, I was told, 
abound with stone coal and copperas, I crossed Big Barren river 
2N 
VOL. IX. 
