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: 1799:] 
filence and folitude of the wildernefs.— 
Our route Jay along an Indian pathway 
which conducted us to lake Erie. There 
is an intereft which the® mind feels in the 
remotene(s of fituation, and in the pleafure 
of contemplating fcenes which wear all 
the graces of nature in her primitive attire, 
that will fearcely yield to the moft pic- 
turefque charms of culture and popula- 
tion. 
Traverfing thefe wilds, and obferving 
often nothing but an’ immenfe foreit 
around me, where the cultivated {pots 
comparatively upon a fmaller fcale are no 
more than a few {quare feet cut out of a 
field of ftanding wheat, I could not help 
anticipating that time, when the gloom 
and folitude of the woods will give place 
to a peopled and fmiling land{cape.— 
Though probably I fhall be in my grave 
before that happens, it is difficult to at- 
tach the idea of independent exiftence to 
individual bodies—we live in each other, 
and the future as much as in ourfelves, 
and I exclude the narrow idea, that would 
confine all my views within the confines 
of my own day. No! the~increafe and 
expanfion of human being and happinefs 
afford the brighteft views in the perfpec- 
tive of the mind. Through many a weary 
rile, enveloped in the fhades of unpene- 
trated woods, by indulging in fancy a ra- 
tional picture of the future, I beguiled the 
tedium of my journey. I could not con- 
template without emotions of pleafure, 
that thefe inhofpitable tracts of foreft, def- 
tined by nature for the bleffings of the, 
human race, in the courfe of a few revo- 
lutions of our ‘globe in its orbit fhall be 
transformed by cuiture into a country 
where future generations will experience 
all the comforts and all the embellith- 
ments of life; and I amufed myfelf often 
in imagining, that the rural beauties of 
miy native country would one day adorn 
thefe hills and valleys now covered with an 
endlefs unprofitable foreft of trees. 
There appear to me through this wil- 
demefs two diftin& charatterittic tracts of 
country—one of a moift rich foil, where 
the beech affociates with the maple; the 
other of a light or fandy nature, covered 
with fern or wild grafs, and extending in’ 
beautiful plains or natural parks, inter- 
fperfed with groves of poplars, chefnuts, 
and white oaks. The latter tracts of 
country, from the name of an extenfive 
morafs and the creek in their vicinity, I 
apprehend muft have originally abounded 
with buffaloes ; but they have at prefent 
.difappeared. Thefe Buffalo plains, which 
~ extend far weft, are extremely pleafing to 
Country South of Lake Ontario. 
6r t 
the'eye, and give one an idea of the creat- 
eft refinement in rural feenery. The firft 
night ef our journey acrofs the defart, we 
flept ina fort of log-houfe—but on the 
fecond, after travelling between fixty and 
feventy miles, we halted inthe midft of 
a fine plain. Overcome by fatigue, I took 
my faddle from my horfe as a pillow, and 
lay down on the roots of a-large oak.— 
There was fomething, however, fo awful 
and interefling to, me, in a fituation per- 
fectly new, that I {carcely withed to com- 
pofe myfelf to fleep. . The night_was calm 
and ftarlight; a tall wood at a diftance 
caft a folemn fhade before us; and while 
my companions were in fleep, I lay all 
night in contemplation, attentive to the 
deep filence of the gloomy regions fur- 
rounding us, which was fometimes inter 
‘rupted by the howling of wolves.and the 
wild and fhrill cries of the Indians. Not- 
withftanding Mr. Buffon will not allow 
the panther to be a native of America, it 
IS very confidently faid fo have been feen 
in‘thefe parts; but TI confefs, I never met 
any perfon who could affert it upon un- 
equivocal teitimony. The  Ameri¢an 
wolf, which is a diminutive fpecies, for- 
merly inhabited every part of this and the 
adjoining ftates. So great was the num- 
ber of wolves at the early fettlements to the 
fouth-eait, that when the fmall.pox firft 
committed its ravages amongft the In- 
dians, attracted by the peftilential flench 
of the putrid bodies, they aflembled round 
the Indian caftles and devoured the help= 
lefs fick. From this animal it is fufpected 
the Indian dog derives his race—although 
domefticated for a length of time, he ftilf 
retains fome of the features and ferocity 
of his progenitors. From the liberal boun- 
ties given by the weftern counties of this 
ftate for wolves’ heads, they will loon pro- 
bably be deftroyed. 
On our arrival at Buffalo creek, -we met 
with a party of furveyors and fome of the 
chiefs of the Six Nations, who were em- . 
ployed in adjufting the boundaries of a 
tract of three million acres of land latcly 
purchafed from the Indians by a com- 
pany of Dutch proprietors. At the 
mouth of the creek we beheld a beautiful 
and extenfive profpect of lake Erie. The 
promontory of Cape Abineau fronted us at 
a confiderable diftance on the Canadian 
fide of the lake; on the fouth the fhore pre - 
fented an extended curve of hills in remote 
perfpective, and on the weft we beheld 
nothing but an unbounded wate of water. 
The whole was very much like a hand- 
fome view of the fea; but the: tall: and 
fpreading trees which line the banks, di- 
minifh 
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