GENESEE RIVER. 
325 
intoxicate themselves, in which state they 
would not fail of becoming- very troublesome 
companions; it was scarcely dark indeed when 
news was brought us from a house near the 
river, that they went to after we had dis¬ 
charged them, that they were grown quite 
outrageous. with the quantity of spirits they 
had drank, and were fighting and cutting each 
other in a most dreadful manner. They never 
resent the injuries they receive from any per¬ 
son that is evidently intoxicated, but attribute 
their wounds entirely to the liquor, on which 
they vent their execrations for all the mischief 
it has committed. 
Before I dismiss the subject entirely, I must 
observe to you, that the Indians did not seem 
to think the carrying of our baggage was in 
any manner degrading to them; and after hav¬ 
ing received their due, they shook hands with 
us, and parted from us, not as from employers 
who had hired them, but as from friends whom 
they had been assisting, and were now sorry to 
leave. 
The village where we stopped consisted of 
about eight or nine straggling houses; the 
best built one among them was that in which 
we lodged. It belonged to a family from 
New England, who about.six years before had 
penetrated to this spot, then covered with 
woods, and one hundred and fifty miles distant 
