c 
LIFE OF 
the yard, and at each eight or ten Indian men and women squat 
on the ground. In these hamlets there is generally one house 
built, of a circular form, and plastered thickly all over both without 
and within with clay. This they call a hot-house ; and it is the 
general winter quarters of the hamlet in cold weather. Here 
they all kennel, and, having neither window, nor place for 
the smoke to escape, it must be a sweet place, while forty or 
fifty of them have it in occupancy. Round some of these hamlets 
were great droves of cattle, horses, and hogs. I lodged this night 
on the top of a hill, far from water, and suffered severely from 
thirst. 
“ On Saturday, I passed a number of most execrable swamps ; 
the weather was extremely warm, and I had been attacked by 
something like the dysentery, which occasioned a constant burning 
thirst, and weakened me greatly. I stopt this day frequently to 
wash my head and throat in the water, to allay the burning thirst; 
and, putting on my hat without wiping, received considerable 
relief from it. Since crossing the Tennessee, the woods have been 
interspersed with pines, and the soil has become more sandy. This 
day I met a Captain Hughes, a traveller on his return from Santa 
Fee. My complaint increased so much, that I could scarcely sit 
on horseback ; and all night my mouth and throat were parched 
with a burning thirst and fever. On Sunday, I bought some raw 
eggs, which I ate, and repeated the dose at mid-day, and towards 
evening, and found great benefit from this simple remedy. I 
inquired, all along the road, for fresh eggs, and, for nearly a week, 
made them almost my sole food, till I completed my cure. The 
water in these cane swamps is little better than poison ; and, under 
the heat of a burning sun, and the fatigues of travelling, it is 
difficult to repress the urgent calls of thirst. On the Wednesday 
following, I was assailed by a tremendous storm of rain, wind, and 
lightning, until I and my horse were both blinded by the deluge, 
and unable to go on. I sought the first most open place, and, dis- 
mounting, stood for half an hour under the most profuse heavenly 
shower-bath I ever enjoyed. The roaring of the storm was 
terrible; several trees around were broken off, and torn up by 
the roots, and those that stood were bent almost to the ground ; 
limbs of trees, of several hundred-weight, flew past, within a few 
