625 
debted to the valiant authors of its ides 
pendence, imadfum to which its pecuniary 
refources were unequal, had recourte to 
the expedient of fatisfying them by a 
- grant of lands which had been derived by 
\ 
a purchate from. the Six Nations. For 
this purpofe the territory extending from 
the fources of the Sufquehannah: to the 
fhore cf Lake Ontario, and from the Ca- 
nafaraga ftream to. the Seneca Lake, was 
divided into 28. townfhips, bearing the 
names of fome of the more diftinguifhed 
herces, poets, and philofophers. Each 
townthip was fubdivided into 100 lots of 
600 acres each, and diftribuied amongft 
the army, from the foldiers to the general 
officers, in proportion to theirrank. Some 
indeed of the officers had the magnanimity 
to refufe any compenfation for their fer- 
vices; and many of the poor foldiers who 
accepted of it, confidering the property in 
fo remote a country as little better than - 
Jands in the moon, were the dupes of {pe- 
culators, who made a jufter eftimate of its 
future value. Being fhifted from hand to 
hand, and undergoing in many inftances 
repeated fales by the fame or fictitious 
claimants, this traé&t continues a fruitful 
fource of litigation and fraud.—Our firft 
entry on this clafiic ground was towards 
_the wait of Manlius, the great defender of 
the Capitol, from whom we were to pre- 
ceed cover Marcellus and Aurelius, to the 
great grandfire Romulus. As | lay upon 
a bed much fatigued in coping with the 
clay of the venerable Manlius, I was > 
ainufed to over-hear an equivoque in the 
next rcom—a Connecticut emigrant, re- 
lating his,travels in the fouthern town- 
fhips, ia converfation round the fire, ob- 
ferved that he had been ali through Tully, 
Locke, and Virgil; and Inow, faid he, in- 
tend to go over Homer, which will not 
take me above two or three days. The 
fecretary of ftate, or whoever planted 
thefe hard namés in the wildernefs, had 
but a fuperficial acquaintance, one may 
fufpect, with the originals ; for neither 
Dryden, Milton, nor Ovid, was. ever! di- 
fiinouifhed as an example by any of the 
attributes of heroifm.—Galen may be ad- 
mitted to definate the lands of the fur- 
geons of the army: but Zvd/ly and Cicero. 
(who are here made diftin& perfons), when 
unitéd, were not worth a joint of Alexan- 
. der or Achilles, who were entitled, I fhould 
have thouclit, to a fief a-piece, as tenants 
in capité of ancient renown.” 
TI cannot “but adimire the great labour 
which lias been employed in cutting a road 
through this hiliy and heavily timbered 
sountry:-—and, indeed, to the honour of 
Country South of Lake Ontarin 
f Auguft, 
fome diltinguithed’ gentlemen of. Jiberal 
and enlarged minds, it muft be mentioned 
that the jufinefs.and the: grandeur of. their 
{chemes, in promoting the fettlement of 
this Wefterh country, has given. @ di- 
rection to the labour employed-in.its cul- 
tivationy which is perhaps without exame 
ple in the fuccefs and rapidity of its pro- 
grefs. The patlage of the intended road 
is generally from thirty to fixty feet wide, 
and tor the moft part in a direét line. From 
fome points of view, looking before or be+ 
hind, you perceive a lengthening aperture 
through the wood for feveral miles, and in 
the valleys and {wampy places, long cx- 
tended caufeways,.on which infinite la- 
bour has been beftowed. a 
The land; after we croffed the Canafaraga, 
appeared gradually rifing, till we reached 
the-vicinity of the military tract, and then 
became mountainous and uneven. Unfor- 
tunately, from an ignorance of the fpots 
where 1t was vifible through the trees, we 
loft a view of the Oneida Lake, which lay 
. ftretched at a confiderable diftance to the 
North-ea@. The firft. water we difcovers 
ed was the Oxondago, or falt fpring lake, 
adjoining the Seneca river, which fhortly - 
atter aflumes the name of Oiwego, and — 
runs, into Lake Ontario.. We daw. this 
lake furrounded with luxuriant woods; 
making a picturefque objeé in perfpective; 
from aneminence above what is called the 
Oxondago ollow. From an interefting 
memoir communicated by Mr. Benjamin 
De Witt, to the Society for the Promotion 
ot Agriculture, Arts, and Manufaétures, 
of the ftate of New York, it .appears 
that he found. the principal falt {prings 
iitued from a marfh on a folid bed of ,cal- 
careous rocks in the vicinity of, the lake ; 
the bottom of which has a whitifh appear 
ance. Mr.De Witt obtained from 2a 
pint of the falt water, 551 grains, or about 
s ounce and 4 avyoirdupois of falt, 26 
grains of calcareous earth (lime), and a- 
minute proportion of vitriolic acid pro< 
bably united with the foflil alkali, in form 
ef Glauber’s falt... The prefent proceeds 
of the different falt-works may be eftimat- 
ed at 6000 bufhels.per annum. - 
_.The Ononaago Indians, from the ety-~ 
mology of this_word in their language, 
ave fo denominated from their refidenceon 
a marfh at the foot of a mountain, which 
is the defcription of the Onondago hollow. 
This hollow, or vale, furrounded by large 
elevated hills, where about 100 of their 
tribe itill refide, is famous in the hiftory ; 
of the confederate nations, tor having been 
the feat of their councils. They have 60 
or 70 acves of cleared land at them calile : 
but 
ay 
