A Canoe Voyage up the Minnay Sotor; with an Account of the Lead and Copper Deposits in Wisconsin; of the Gold Region in the Cherokee Country; and Sketches of Popular Manners; andc (in Two Volumes, Vol.II)

Featherstonhaugh, G. W. · 1847 · Historical

Digitized with financial assistance from the Government of Maharashtra on 20 February, 2016 Digitized with financial assistance from the Government of

Public-domain full text preserved in the Mountain Man Mining Library. Original source: archive.org.

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Digitized with financial assistance from the Government of Maharashtra on 20 February, 2016

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Contents

TO THE sECOND/ VOLUME.

Chapter Xxxvil

pags Reach Fort Snelling —Hospitably recived by the Commandant and

his Lady,—Importance of some Knowledge of Indian Tongues and Cus:

tons to. Traveller.—-Overtaken, by Winter. : : bo

Chapter Xxxvhl

Leave the Fort—Thermometer et Zero—-Numerous Swans on Lake Pepin—Reach Prairie du Chien—A Tobacco :-Volcano.—Massacre of Peeay Moshky and his Band—Pleasing Story of an Ojibway and his ¢ "Child. ' x i i : : ers

Chapter Xxxix.

Domestic Arrangements at Night—Reach Galena.—Extent of the Lead Region —Discharge the Voyageurs ; . + 28

Chapter Xl.

Meet with an old Aequaintance.—Leave Galena for St. Louis,—Cavalry Dépét at Des Moines River.— Beautiful Fossils and Minerals at Keokul.—Reach St, Louis 7 , . A . 39

Chapter Xli.

Profusion of Game in the Public Markct.—~A fashionable Soirée.— General Lafayette. — Nez Pereés Indians and their Patron Sir Wm. D. S—Leave St. Louis ei . : + + . 52

iv CONTENTS.

Chapter Xlil

Return to Galenu.—A singular London Gockney metamorphosed into an American, Colonel, and Driver. éf a Stage-conch:—Manner of Morris Birkbeck's Death.--Reach "Mineral Point.—An obliging Judge, — Lad und Copper "Diggings.—The sudden.Growth of Twelve lage: Citiesn Two Years—The City of the Saints . 3

Chapter Xliw.

Smart, Men—A. Trial for Murder—~The Judge too draik to pronomive the Sentence.—Depart for Tychoberah.~Visit Governor Dodge. Gent Bemity of the Wisconsin Prairies, —~Advance-in search of Severt "large Cities, cach capable'of containing Half e Million of Inhabitants

Chapter Xlly.

An extraordinary Series of ancient Indian Mouuds,—Great Expectation, of good Fare at Madison City:—The 'Seven Cities all contained in One small Log Hut, witha single Room.—Mrs. Peck sweetens our Coffee —Two smart Quekers,—A'Winnébago Beauty und her Cavalier .

CHAPTER XLYv. "J

ANew York Flat.—The Wisconsin River.—General Geology of the. Lead-beating Distriets.— The City of Savannah. — The Snoke Dis

Page

9°

singe —Sinsinneay Momd 2. 105

, Chapter Xlvi.

Arrive ot Galena.—An obfiging Landlady.—Get on bonid am inferior Sterner. —-Reach Prarie dn Chien, —Bmbark, on the Mivsisippi— .More'Cities . a '

hos CHAPTER, XLVIL

Reach the old French Settlement of St. Geneviéve. —An Excursion . to the Pilot Knob.—Received by'an amiable Family thére. Deseription

of this remarkable Mass of Tron.—The City of Missouri + 1g. 187

CONTENTS. y

CHAPTER XLVUL PAGE Itinerant Preachers.—Negro Account vf the first White Man.—Negro Drivers-—A Man-Killer from Choice —Beautiful Fossils Mississippi covered with Drift-Wood.—Embark again iu an inferior Steamer, and tricked by the Captain . . 2 e . 11

Chapter Xlix.

Land at a Settlement at the Mouth of a Tennessee River.—Tiansitory State of the Population —A Gentleman Blacksmith. —Suspect the Master of the Steamer of an Intention to leave me in the Woods.— Captain end Miss Kittle—Sensible Way of ying the Hands and Face : R : . - 166

Chapter L.

Waterloo.— Why alone House wus called Palmyra.—Arrive at Tuscumbia, — Go by the Railroad to Decatur. —An Overseer of Slaves.— Pure Buglish not understood oe og : . 181

Chapter Li,

A Gubernatorial Candidate—An Electioneering Speech_—Gander Pulling. —Embark for the Cherokee Country.— Situation of the Cherokee Nation. —Bituminous Coal . . . . - 192

Chapter Lil.

Proceed up the River in a "dug out."—Contrivance of the Tortoise for hatching its Eggs.—The Look-out Mountain.—Reach Ross's Landing. —Troops at Cuinp Wool. —The Morevian Mission. — Proceed into the Cherokee Country - . . . . - 206

Chapter Lut.

A Cherokee Watering-Pluce.—Meet the Indians going to a gencral Meeting of their Nation.—Arrive at Spring Place.—Drunken Population Creek Indians hid away in the Mountains from the United States Authorities . . a ' . . 220

: vie 4 CONTENTS,'

Chapter Liv,

4 : vaun Modern Condottieri.—Reach' Red Clay, the place of Mecting of the

Cherokee Nation Great Assemblage of Indians.—Cherokee Christian Worship and Civilization—The Going Snake and White Path, Two: ancient Chicfs—A Cherokee Dinner—A! Cherokee Prexcher, Bushy Head—A White Preacher, ace the "Devil's Horn" by-the Indian Women, . ss '

Chapter Ly.

Tucossant Rains.— Public Specches.—Apprehonsions of general Sickness.—Return to Spring Place—Re-eross the Mountains.—Proceed to Dahlonesa.—Meet with e celebrated Senntor.—His fine Character.

Chapt Lvi.

Description of Dahlonega.—Gold Deposits. —The Beauty of the Valleys destroyed by the Gold Washers.—Vailey of Nahedochay. cient Constructions found at the Bottom of the Alluvial Dep Reach Clarksville—A Jewish Landlord attempts Suicide mK .

Chapter Lyvii.

Falls of Tocon—A loquacioits " Driver." —The eastern Slope of the Alleghany Mountains.—Visit Mr, at Fort Hill—Episeopal Church at Pendleton,—An odd Present to patriotic old Aunt.—An Excursion to Valley River.—Jocassay Valley.—Catarach of the White Water.—Rench the Summit Level of dividing Waters . .

Chapter Lvi.

Ascend White Side Mountain.—Reach Franklin.—Degraded State of the Populution—Cross the Nantayayblay Chain.—Cherokee Rond- Makers. — Valley River Mountain.— Bandit lookittg -Vohunteers.—- Find Comfort and Moct's Champagne ' és : 7

2A2

rn

CONTENTS. vii

Page Chapter Lix.

Visit some ancient Mining Works.—Traditions of the Cherokees re- - speoting them.—Skeletons covered with 'Pieees of Granite.—Find an aneicht Mininig ShaR.—Its probable Reference to Ferilinand de Soto's Expedition —Re-eross the Mountains.—Gold Veins. . 287

ee ie

Arrive at Dahlonega again—A ¢uriou: starringe.—_'The Falls of Tolule,—Return to Fort Hill.—Mr, fem 'Villa at Portman Shoal.— Agreeable Mode of living of Southern Gentleren.—Rench Greenville. —Flat Rock,—Asheville c + ' 4 ti - 301

Chapter Lxi.

Blacklegs, and Gamblers.—The Author excludes them from his Room with the Bedstead.—French Broad River—Warm Springs.—A filthy Hotel.—Thermal Mineral 'Waters. — Rocks of the Oondykay Chain . o + : . 314

Chapter Lxil

Depart for Rutherfordton.— Brutality of Stage-Coach Passengers. —Magnificent Seenery of the Mountain. Dofile—Reach Rutherfordton. —Visit Bechler, a German Coiner.—Major Pomey' 8 Mining Batablishment.~-Gold Veins and Deposits - B25

Chapter Lxul

Wallace's productive Gold, Lode.—Gold Mining an unprofitable Pursuit.—Depart for Lineolnton.— A drunken Driver. — Lineolnton.— Salisbury.— A basaltic Dyke.— Reach the Town of Charlotte—A strong Dyke of beautiful felspathie Rock—Gold Veins.—Rench Lexington —Conrad's Hill, — Copper-mines.—Raleigh.—Embark on the Potomac.—Termination of the Tour 4 ; 3 - 337

A Canoe Voyage

To The

Sources Of. The /Minnay Sotor.

Chapter Xxxvil"'.

REACH FORT SNELLING.—HOSPUTABLY RECEIVED BY THE COMMANDANT AND HIS JADY,—IMPORTANCE OF SOME KNOWLEDGE OF INDIAN TONGUFS AND CUSTOMS,TO A TRAVELLER.—-OVERTAKEN RY WINTER,

October 13.—Anxious to reach Fort Snelling before the impending change should bring us snow, I had. the camp struck at break of day, in the midst of the rain; and. vigorously pursuing our way, .we only stopped half an hour to breakfast, and getting our paddles in motion again passed the Makato, about half an hour after noon: we found the water diminished in quantity, and the current comparatively gentle to what we experienced on our ascent of the St. Peter's; neither was the river; after passing the junction, much discoloured; tending, I think, to prove that its muddiness at other times commences. near its sources, which, like those of all other streams, at this moment were very low. The afternoon was rather stormy, but we stuck to our paddles—except landing for five minutes to: kill a.couple of racoons

VOL. HL. B mS

2 -How To Dress Racoons.

—and_made-a capital day's work of it, encamping at sunset on a tolerably good place upon narrow willow ridge; with room only for my tent and one fire, so that I was-near enough to hear the conversation of the men; which amused me exceedingly. The racoons they had killed were an old one and a young one, and the old'one was offered to me, because, I suppose, it was the largest; but old dog racoons being outrageously strong, I*declined it. Had they offered me the young one, I do not know but I should bave accepted it, as they are generally fat and sweet; but as they did not think of doing so, nothing was left to. me but to examine their method of cooking these animals. They first. -partially eviseerated them, then singed the hair still more: imperfectly by drawing them a few times across the fire. This done, they consigned. them neck and heels to their pot au feu, where pork was boiling with three of four -grouse, and as many wild ducks. Such a mess I certainly never saw prepared before. When all was ready, they began first with the soup, for soup they will have if made with nothing but salt pork: the pork, with some potatoes, were then taken 'out, and soon devoured; last. came the 'racoons, with the stiffest part of their fur on their skin, Beaupré, who did the honours of the feast,' took the youngest and divided it betwixt Milor and himself, leaving the dog.for Amirant and the rést of the men. - Besides -being intelerably strong, it appeared, to-judge from their grimaces, to be as toigh as 'a bull's hide; at every mouthful. I heard YAmirant exclaim, "Sacre crapaud, commé il est dur!" shilst Milor, who hada good share of. dry

The Yankee And The Indian, 3

humour, said.to him, "Tu ne devrais pas dénigrer ce pauvre animal, il doit étre assez bon pour tui, 'puisque tu as voulu en régale le Bourgeois avec." I then told them the story of a Yankee and an Indian, who had been hunting together, and at the close of the day had got nothing but a wild turkey and a carrion turkey-buzzard.* Having, when they separated at night, to go in different directions, the Yankee said to the Indian, "f Well, we'll divide our sport; you may take the turkey-buzzard, and I will take the turkey." Upon which the Indian said, "Kaween" (no), and gave a grunt of dissatisfaction. "Well then," continued Jonathan, "we'll take it vother way; I'll take the turkey, and you may take the turkey-buzzard." They all laughed at this, and said, " Les Bastonnois} sont fins comme le diable," which induced Milor to say, "Ils ne sont pas plus fins que vous autres, qui aviez bien soin de ne pas offrir Je jeune chat 4 Monsieur."

October 14.—We had a stormy night, with loud thunder, vivid lightning, and heavy rains; I sometimes thought the high wind would carry my tent away, and did not get much sleep. Being convinced that our late fine weather was exhausted, and that we had nothing to look to but frost and snow, I bad the encampment struck before sunrise, and in an hour we reached Traverse de Sioux, where I found the baggage we had sent from Lac qui parle in the chorette. M. Le Blanc's squaw made me a, present of

This bird, which resembles a turkey, is a vulture, and feeding upon the most offensive carrion, is, of course, not eatable.

+ The Canadians call the Americans '' Bastounois," Boston being in old timee more known to them than the other colonies,

Bq

4 Find Our Lost Tea-Kettle.

a fawn-coloured musk-rat's skin, which is considered ararity, and having bartered some things she was in want of for pipes and Indian embroidery, and made a hasty breakfast, we pushed on, and at 10 a.m. passed the Chagnkeuta or Bois Franc river, and paddling the whole day amidst a steady and penetrating rain, reached one of our encampments half an hour before sunset, whore building a couple of stout fires, I hastened to put dry clothes on, and having made a comfortable meal, lay down to rest.

October 15.—Every thing was in the canoe before sunrise, and we resumed our paddles on a cloudy, damp morning, but warm: plying them at the rate of about two leagues an hour, I could calculate almost exactly at what time we should pass any particular places I had noticed on coming up: and this I did in reference to the encampment, where we had left our tea-kettle, &e. on the 19th of the preceding month, We found them all there waiting for us, as many other things which we left in this vast wilderness are no doubt doing to this day. We stopped to breakfast at Le Grand Grés, which we had done on the 18th ult., and starting again in an hour and driving our paddles vigorously to reach Fort Snelling at night, we passed in succession Carver's River, the village of Sixes, and other localities which have been noted, but the rain began to fall in such torrents, and the night set in so dark and stormy, that it became at length impossible to see any thing before us, and regretting now that we had not encamped before'sunset, we put ashore at random, a little below Penichon's village, and having succeeded with

Reach Fort Snelling. 5

the' greatest difficulty in getting the tent up, we found ourselves at Iength checkmated. The night 'was as black as pitch, not a bit of wood was to be had, and the wind was so high that it was not at all an unlikely thing for the tent, which was not very well secured, to be blown away. As we could have no fire, either to cook or dry our clothes, I laid myself down on some skins, contenting myself with dry biscuit. What the men did I knew not, for T never pretended to Jook out of the tent; I could sometimes hear their voices, laid down to leeward of it, munching biscuits I dare say half the night, and smoking at the same time. It was out of the question taking them into the tent; they would have been wretched without their pipes, and their pipes would have made me equally so, so that we had nothing to do but exercise our patience, and he thankful that matters were no worse. October 16.—The storm lasted almost the whole night, and having got very little sleep, I was glad to embark again as soon as ever we could see our way on the river; keeping ourselves warm with vigorous paddling, in an hour and a half we came insight of Fort Snelling, and soon after reachcd the landingplace. Sending my luggage up to the Commandant's, I left the tent for the men, that they might make themselves comfortable after being wet so long, and walked up the hill to the garrison, where T was cordially reccived by Major Bliss and his lady, who presented me immediately with the most refreshing of all imaginable comforts, agreeable letters from my family. I was soon installed ina pleasant and commodious room, and having made

6 Lessons In The Nahcotah,

my toilette, partook of an excellent breakfast: I had been absent exactly a month, having left the fort on the 17th September. The remainder of the day I asked permission to have to myself; so, having bundled off my linen to one of the soldiers' wives to be washed, I sat down by a comfortable wood fire, and after transcribing my notes, writing letters, and packing up my shells, minerals, &c., I sent for Milor, and went over my Nahcotah vocabulary and phrases with him, correcting what I had not exactly comprehended, and noting, according to my own system of accentuation for Indian languages, the proper pronunciation, that I might be at no loss to remember it when I had left the country; for vocabularies, without the true pronunciation, are very imperfect. guides in comparing one Indian language with another, and often mislead these philologists who engage in the delicate task of establishing the just affinity between Indian dialects. Travellers who are earcless in fixing the true pronunciation, often put down words in such a form that the true ropts from whence words are derived are frequently lost sight of.

During the time that Milor had remained with me, I had compiled an immense number of phrases which he translated into the Nahcotah, relating to every possible situation in which a traveller would find himself, consisting of a-particular question, with the answers that might be given to it. These questions Milor taught me to pronounce perfectly, so that he often said, "Monsieur, vous parlez Sioux tout aussi bien que moi." " Yes Milor," I used to answer, "but I only know what you have taught me, and if

A Promise To My Guide. 7

you were to ask me questions that are not down in my book, I should often not be able to answer them." .I now told him to come to me at the fort twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening, to teach me other phrases, which I would write down. Upon this, he replied, with an air of an ancien emiré, "Monsieur, on me dit que vous allez mettre tout cela dans un livre, et tout ce que je desire est que vous me feres honneur de mettre le nom de Milor dedans." And this I certainly did promise him, if ever I should publish a narrative of this excursion. -

This plan of having a list of questions and answers I had found very useful, and would recommend it to all travellers in Indian countries. Frequently, when in advance of my party—which I often was when on horseback—I met families on the prairies, which gave me favourable opportunities of trying Milor's lessons. Once I fell in with a party, with their wives and horses, trailing the wigwam poles, with several young children tied upon them, and, assuming the confidence of an old trader, I rode up to them and said, " T'uchtdy chankoo minddy eatdhténkak" (which is the way to Big Stone Lake ?) Immediately all the women broke out with different questions, many of which I did not comprehend ; some asking me if I was going to the weetah, or island, others if I was going to another part of the Jake. The fact was, that I did not want to know the way to any particular part of the lake; only wished to know if they understood me, and was exceedingly pleased to find I had got an intelligible pronunciation. The question, however, would not

8 Knowledge Of Indian Customs Necessary.

have been an intelligent one iu the Indian sense, if Thad been in want of geographical information. Big Stone Lake is not far short of forty miles long, and the Indians frequent particular parts of it, either because they have settlements there—as upon the islands—or for particular purposes. The questions they expect therefore to be asked, are purely topical 'ones, as they suppose you have some reason for going to one of the places they frequent. To ask the way to a great lake, when you are in its neighbourhood, is somewhat to stultify yourself in the eyes of the Indian, and is something like a traveller in England asking the road to a county, and not to some village or town within it. I found these things out gradually. ' Upon another occasion I asked some natives how ' far it was to any water, when they immediately answered, that I should meet with minnay or water when. the sun would be in that part of the sky to which they pointed. This I understood perfectly, but as I was coming away, one of them made me,a speech which broke me down completely, repeating two or three times over the word kahkindoozah, of the meaning of which I was quite ignorant. As soon as I met Milor I asked him what that word meant, and he said they used it with minnay, to signify "ranning-water," in contradistinction to stagnant water. And no doubt the fact was that these Indians hearing me ask for water, without saying what I wanted it for, had directed me to a swamp where . there was a stagnant pond, but lest I might want it to drink, had obligingly told me there was minnay kahkindoozah, or rauning-water, in another place.

The Unwonted Luxury Of A Bed. 9

To converse intelligently with these untutored people, it is evidently necessary to understand something of their manners and customs. As to the vocabularies which are current out of the Indian country, they are mere playthings for etymologists, and have been of very little use to me in my Indian wanderings.

In the evening I joined the cheerful meal of Mrs. B., which was very good ard nice. The only child of these excellent people, was, as has been stated, a fine boy, now growing too old to remain at this garrison, where there was not much improvement to be had. In the evening I strongly advised the major to send him to some respectable school in the United States, a movement he told me he had long seen the necessity of, but that the trial would be a great one, both to him and his wife. It was evident that the moment of separation would be a particularly cruel one to her, for she had little or no suciety in the garrison, the pious preaching L. having broken up the very limited social circle there with his stupid fanatical practices, This evening 1 bad the luxury of a bed for the first time since I left Navarino, the 21st of August, and a very nice one it was, owing to the great kindness of Mrs. B.

Octoher 17.—After an excellent night's rest, and very pleasant breakfast, T went with two officers of the fort to visit some Naucotah lodges, at a short distance, where we found some young Indian women working very neatly on deer-skins; from thence I paid a visit to a Mr- Baker, an intelligent trader, who resided several years in the Indian country. Mr.

10 Two Benevolent Brothers,

and Mrs. Tagliaferro having invited me to dinner, L-availed myself of their kindness, and in the evening was taken to the house of a Mr. and Mrs. Mirie, who kept a kind of suttler's store for the garrison. I had now made the tour of all the society of the place, except the religious party. I found they did not mix with the others, and that, instead of loving their neighbours and fellow-creatures in this remote situation, they lived as if their doctrines and practices had taught them to hate and avoid all who were not as extravagant as themselves. The leading person of the party was the Major L. I have before alluded to, a weak man in his intellect, and shabby, penurious, and covetous in his actions,. using fanaticism ag a cover to his want of ordinary merit. He _had not even the decency to call upon me.

October 18.—The next day, after breakfastiug with the Commandant and his lady, I rode out to a pretty sheet of water called Lake Calhoun, about eight miles across the prairie, and four miles from the Falls of St. Anthony. This very pellucid bqdy of water is about three miles in circumference, and is named after that distinguished statesman, Mr. Calhoun, of South Carolina. There is an Indian village near it, consisting of numerous Indians belonging to various bands. Two brothers named Pond, who were Connecticut farmers, had travelled to this distant part of the continent, with the philanthropic in4 tention of being useful to the Indians, and especially of teaching them to raise maize and pulse. To this benevolent work they had voluntarily devoted themselves, and carrying out their intentions at their own expense, had neither sought uor received assistance

A MISSIONARY OF TASTE. il

from any religious societies or individuals whatever. From about thirty acres of land they had harvested about 800 bushels of maize the present season, all of which they had put into caches. When I visited the place the Indians were out trapping musk-rats, and the elder Pond had accompanied them with the view to learn their language and customs more effectually. The spectacle this establishment afforded me gave me a great deal of pleasure, and I was happy to express to the brother I found there, my sincere admiration of their rare benevolence, and of the ability they had evinced in their generous enterprise. . '

From Lake Calhoun, I rode to another pretty sheet of water almost circular, called Lake Harriet, equally pellucid with the other. Its shores were perfectly surrounded by woods; and a missionary named Stevens had erected a small louse in a beautiful grove near to the lake. The situation was chosen with great judgment, and I could not but admire the taste of this gentleman, who had not only built a pretty tenement near a pretty lake, but had also put a very handsome young wife in it, and a very attractive niece only sixteen years old. Several healthy young children were running about of all sizes, and the pretty mama had a baby only three weeks old in her arms. He told me that he proposed to " christianize" all the Indians, and to establish a village of them near to his house, and I learnt afterwards that his handsome niece was in the way of christianizing one of the officers of the garrison. Having passed a very pleasant day, I returned to take my evening meal at the Comman-

12 Overtaken By Winter.

dant's, with whom, after supper, I had a long conversation, the result of which was, that his son John should accompany me back to the United States for the purpose of receiving a proper education.

Octoler 19.—This was a very rainy day, and I kept the house, packing all my shells and minerals into boxes, preparatory to my departure. Milor came and passed a great part of the day with me, expressing great, sorrow that be was to separate from me. TI felt also regret at the prospect of pevting with this worthy man. Poor Mrs. B. prepared with an aching heart for the sad separation from her dear boy. I had announced iny departure for the succeeding day, if the weather should elcar np, and there was a good deal of bustle amongst us all.

October 20.—On rising this morning, expecting to start, I found, on looking out of the window, that it had been snowing all night; soon after, one of the men came to inform me that it was a hard frost, and that ice had formed on the edge of the river. Winter then had overtaken us, for on going out T found it bitterly cold and inclement, too much so to depart. This was joyful news to the Commandant's family; so leaving them to enjoy the society of their son, I ordered out the canoe and crossed the St. Peter's, to Mr. Sibley's, to ask him if he had any commissions for me to execute at Prairie du Chien. Milor returned with me to the fort, where, after our usual conversations about the Nahcotahs and their language, we walked over to My. Baker's, to converse with a person named Slit, whom Milor said kuew the Indian country perfectly

Salt And Coal. 13

well. "Mr. Slit informed me, that he had been many years in the Hudson's Bay Company's service, and had traversed a great part of the country which I had_ visited. He informed me, that where the Coteau de Prairie terminates near the Shayanne, the country becomes flat to Turtle River, near to which the Pembinaw hills—which may be considered ao continuation of the Céteau—Legin. These continue beyond the Assiniboin River, and die away about Flat Lake, which is about seventy miles from Lake Winnepeg. Coal is said to be found a little south of Pembinaw, according to the report of several persons who had seen it; shale and fire-clay, resembling those of the coal district near Glasgow—with which he was acquainted—he had seen himself. Mr. Moore had previously informed me that be had found coal in the neighbourhood of Lake Travers, but I had thought it probable that this was lignite, great quantities of which are found in some parts of the banks of the Missouri. Still, as there are salt springs east of the Pembinaw Hills, and many of the small lakes in that part of the country are briny, it may be that coal exists, for salt and coal are very frequently associated in North America, Mr. Slit also said, that the charrettes went from the Grizzly Bears' Den to Afinday Wakon—which the voyageurs have chosen to call Lac du Diable, instead of Great Spirit Lake—in five days of thirty miles cach. As to the extent of the Céteau de Prairie to the south, all the persons who have seen that part of the country, and with whom I have conversed, agree that it terminates near the sources of the Makato, the south-west branches of which river riso near

14 Part With Milor.

those of the De Moine, the land in that neighbourhood being all well wooded and fertile.

October 21.—The snow-storm continued, 'with very inclement weather. A fortnight ago I was on the Céteau deliberating whether to advance or retreat. No doubt the winter had set in there, and, consider+ ing all the chances, I did not regret the determination I tock to return. Milor came and gave me his last lesson in Naheotah, and, besides very liberal wages for his services, I gratified him with several things that were valuable to him in that distant part of the world. Having determined to depart to-morrow, I took leave of my acquaintances here, and after the usual evening's repast with the worthy: Major and his lady, retired to my room.

Depart From Fort Snelling. 15

Chapter Xxxviii.

MEAVE THR YORT.—THERMOMETER AT 20R0.—NUMEROUS SWANS ON LAKE PEPIN.—REACH PRAIRIE DU CHIEN.—A TOBACCO YOLCANO.— MASSACRE OF PEEAY MOSHKY AND HIS BAND.—PLEASING STORY OF AN osIDWAY AND HIS CHILD.

Octobér 22.—This morning when'I rose, the thermometer was down to zero of Fahrenheit, the whole country covered with a deop snow, and the weather bitterly cold. Having sent a messenger to the men to have the canoe in readiness for my embarkation in an heur, I went to a rather melancholy breakfast.

The moment had at length arrived when my kind

friends were about to Jose the society of their only

child, whom they loved so much. He was an affectionate and amiable youth, and they looked forward with dismay to the dreary winter they would have to pass without their dear child. To soothe the unhappy mother, I promised her repeatedly to be careful of her boy, and to take a strong interest in his welfare, but she appeared sensible to nothing but the agony of the moment. The Major concealed his emotions better, but was very much affected. At length the. sad moment for the last embrace came, and, taking the little boy from them, I shook hands most cordially with each, expressing the strong sense I should always entertain of their kind hospitality. I also insisted upon the Major's remaining with his wife, but as she preferred that he should

16 Descend The Mississippi.

go down to the canoe to see their son depart, we

left the house, all the officers of the garrison accom- .

panying us down the hill. The canoe was ready, and giving the little boy a comfortable berth in it close te myself, and wrapping him well up, I made my last bow to the company, and pushed off from Fort Snelling about a quarter before 10 a.m. Passing round by the Cut, I called upon Mr. Sibley, and thanked him for his many attentions, especially for having selected Milor to accompany me. Poor old Milor was sorry to lose me. I had been kind to him, and had made him rather a man of consequence. He was the last person I shook hands with, and as the canoe was leaving the bank, he said with earnestness, "Je suis sir que Monsieur mettra mon nom dans son livre!" Once more. launched upon ta bonne aventure, we paddled along with vigour, and about noon reached the village of Le Petit Corbeau, and at half-past three passed the mouth of the Ste. Croix. By this time the weather had become piercing cold, and my feet were so benumbed as to be insensible; it was a very difficult thing to keep my young charge warm; the poor little fellow chattered with cold, and, afraid of injuring him, I stopped rather earlier than usual to encamp, at a well-wooded place about forty miles from the fort, the current having helped us along excellently well. A good fire and a warm cup of tea soon restored us all, and, taking possession once more of my comfortable tent, I covered the young lad well up with blankets and bear-skins, of which I had a great quantity. He was highly

How To Be Useful. 17

delighted at the idea of sleeping on the ground in a tent, in that wild sort of way.

October 23.—The intense cold prevented my sleeping, for I found it impossible to keep my feet warm. When daylight broke, I found the boy, however, had made but one nap of it, such is the advantage of a young circulation of the blood. Rousing him, I gave him, I rather think, the first lesson he ever received in the important art of taking care of and providing for himself, telling him to take a tin basin and follow me to the river's side to wash himself. When it was over I asked him if it were not pleasanter and better to help himself than to depend upon others. "If you had waited until one of the men had brought you water," I remarked, "he would very probably have brought you djrty water, for he would have dipped the basin into the first mud-hole he found: whereas, when you go to the river side, as you have now done, you can select a clean place, and dip it up in a cup, and fill your basin, as you have done." The boy was pleased with having been of some use to himself, and said he would inform his mother of it when he wrote. "Yes, my lad," I said, " but I will teach you to make your own breakfast, and you can tell her that also." Accordingly, I shewed him how to fry ham and potatoes, when we stopped to breakfast, and he was perfectly delighted.

I had long known that to get through the world comfortably, it was important—although not always necessary—to be able and willing to do every thing for one's self: -but in North America, to a traveller in Indian districts, where he is often abandoned to

VOL. I. c

18 Lake Pepin.

his own resources, it is indispensably necessary to know how to do every thing that is useful, and I thought I might be rendering this fine boy a service in giving him a few useful lessons of this kind.

Having got under weigh, 'we passed the mouth of Cannon River, in the neighbourhood of which were several Jodges with some Indians, one of whom called us to the shore under pretence of having some venison; but when we reached it, he asked me for some pork and biscuit, and said they had no venison. I told him that good Indians did not want to tell lies; that if he wanted food, and had asked me for it, I would have given him some; but as he had begun by telling me he had venison, he might eat that until he procured something else. This was a small band of those needy Indians that are always to be found in the vicinity of white people.

We landed to breakfast opposite Red Wing's village, and all did justice to our repast, especially young Bliss, who seemed to be very much taken with his own cooking, and was sharp enough after making twenty miles before breakfast, with the thermometer at zero. We re-embarked soon after eleven a.m., and passed Le Grange, an outlier on the right bank of the Mississippi, about three hundred feet high, which presented a good section of the sandstone and limestone.

About a quarter past twelve we suddenly came upon Lake Pepin, and the weather having improved into a fine sunny morning, the spectacle which presented itself was as rare and beautiful as any Thad seen the whole summer. Upon the smooth and glassy surface of the lake hundreds upon hun-

Immense Number Of Swans.

dreds of noble swans were floating with their eygnets, looking at a distance like boats under sail. "The cygnets were still of a dull yellow colour, and all the birds were very shy. It made a beautiful picture, and, after contemplating it awhile, we again plied our paddles, and half an hour before sunset stopped on the left bank of the lake, about eight miles from its mouth, and encamped for the night on the beach. We found the ground but slightly covered with snow here, whence I concluded that we should soon leave it behind us.

October 24.—During the night we were continually serenaded by gangs of wolves, howling about our neighbourhood, attracted, no doubt, by the smell of the food in our camp. It was a cloudy aud Harsh morning, with an east wind; and, after a couple of hours' work, we got out of the lake, passing Wahjastahchdy's house, and stopped to breakfast in some high grass on the right bank. Starting again, we passed Riviére au Boeuf, on the left bank, its mouth being indicated by a wide chasm in the line of the shore. About twelve, we landed at the Cedar Prairie, where Carver's fortifications are, which I had examined on the 8th of September. Being curious to examine them a little further, I walked round them, a circuit of about four miles, and ascertained that they do not come to the river, some bottom land intercepting them. The two excavations at the north end are the most regular and" artificial-looking. The ground at the south is much thrown up, and grown over with short trees; the high mounds are all hollow inside. But every thing connected with them is so complicated and irregular,

20 Carver'S Fortifications.

in consequence of the sand blown upon them, that it is evident that the whole has been greatly modified by the wind, if not entirely caused by it. If the" work. has been done by man, it may be asked why so sandy a soil has been chosen, when it must have been evident to those who constructed them, that the mounds were liable to be shifted about by the wind. On the other hand, it may be asked of those who attribute them to the wind, why this part of the prairie only has been disturbed? If they are nothing but sand-hills, why do not we find others making at this time in'the same neighbourhood? There is much to be said on both sides of the question. Leaving this place, we proceeded on our course, passing those curious castellated-looking bluffs, separated from each other by the well-wooded eoulées which I had observed when coming up, and which are so characteristic of this river. A little before sunset -we reached an island opposite to Wabeshaw's Prairie, and here we encamped for the night, making a couple of rousing fires and a hearty meal to close the day.

October 25.—We got off in the grey of the morning, with a raw east wind, and in a short time passed ; Minnay-chonkah, or Trombalo, and stopped to breakfast on a clean sand island, where, having warmed ourselves with a comfortable. meal, we resumed our voyage; and, passing Prairie Ja Crosse and Bad-axe River, as we thought, at three p.m., the men, cheered with the prospect of soon meeting their acquaintances at Prairie du Chien— the distance being only eighteen leagues—got into a lively singing humour, marking the time well with

t

Leave Tae Nahcotah District. 21

their paddles: in the evening we came up with a nice clean little island, and, seeing that it would afford us.a comfortable bivouac, I made the signal, and, taking possession, we proceeded to establish our encampment.

October 26.—After a tolerable night's rest, I yoused the men as soon as any thing was visible, and embarking in a thick fog, we went cautiously along,

- on account of the great number of small islands; when, to our surprise, we found ourselves abreast of the mouth of Bad-axe, which we supposed ourselves to have passed yesterday, having again mistaken its position, owing, no doubt, to the intricacy of the channel amongst the islands. We landed about nine at one of these, from whence we saw some smoke proceeding, and found a family of Hozchungerahs there. These Winnebagoes, notwithstanding the numerous affinities of their dialect with that of the Nahcotahs, are very different from them, both in their dress and manners. Although of the same stock, they probably have been separated from them along time. They did not understand me when I spoke Sioux to them, and their strong guttural and nasal twang was as unintelligible to myself. I felt some regret at having got out of the district of the Nahcotahs; it had been a great

amusement to me to converse with them, and the chance of making further progress in their languago was now at an end.

On leaving this place we soon got into the main channel of the river, which crossed the valley in a diagonal line about three miles long, to the right bank of the Mississippi. About one p.m. the sun

aS

22 Reach Prairie Du Cyien,

broke out béautifully for the first timie in three days. We soon passed those rocks where animals have been painted by the Indi: three, the fog made a singularly curious aphearance on the river, the heat of the sun having so attehyated it that it was as thin as gauze, waving about and assuming all sorts of forms, as if it was weer

between two forces, the attraction of the water and that of the sun. An immense number of waterspiders, suspended from their gossamer textures, were floating about in this airy fog. We reached Prairie du Chien at four p.m., and brought up the canoe opposite to Monsieur Rolette's, who had engaged me to be his guest on my return. Here a tolerable room was assigned to me, of which I was to have the exclusive possession—a most invaluable privilege—and having removed my luggage there, I hastened to the post-office, where I had the satisfaction of finding agreeable letters from my family. My troubles began as soon as I had reached the verge of civilization, and before I went to sleep I had occasion to regret that I had accepted M. Rolette's invitation; a more vivacious and good-tempered person than himself I never had certainly met with, but I soon discovered that I should-not enjoy a moment's comfort whilst I remained under his roof. It is rather a remarkable thing, that although I have been in the babié! of making long voyages at sea from my youth upwards, and have resided more or less for forty years in countries whore the pure atmosphere of nature is incessantly tormented by tobacco-smokers, I am never an instant at sea without being sea-sick, nor

Un Ancien Voyageur, 23

capable of passing a man with a pipe or cigar in his

mouth without wishing him, for the moment, at the "bottom of Mongibello, to try how he likes to be

annoyed in the same mater with an atmosphere of

sulphur, which it would be my consolation to prefer

—in an extreme case—to an atmosphere of tobacco.

Nothing would frighten me more than to apprehend .an eternity of tobacco-smoke,

I had observed, when I first knew M. Rolette, that he never was without a cigar in his mouth, but I had forgotten this habit of his when I arrived. On returning with my letters, I at once became aware of the dilemma I was in. As soon as his daughter—a tolerably well educated half-breed— had given me a cup of tea, he commenced his volcanie operations, telling me at the same time an endless number of old Indian stories. He smoked at least twenty cigars in the course of the evening, and at length, having become perfectly desolated with a headache, I told him I was unwell, and would go to bed. Taking a candle, I went to my room, and was preparing to get into bed, when in he walked, with a fresh cigar in his mouth, saying " Je ne dis pas excusez mon tabac, parce que vous étes, comme moi, ancien voyageur, mais prenez ce cigar et fumez, et croyez moi qu'il n'y a rien qui chassera votre migraine comme cela." Then down he sat on the bed, and began a story about the Assiniboins. Driven to despair, I got into bed, and extinguishing the light, begged his pardon for leaving him in the dark, adding that I could not fall asleep if there was a light in the room. Ile now groped his way down stairs, and glad I was to get rid of him.

24 The American Commandant.

I had succeeded in getting asleep, when a tremendous thunderstorm, with heavy rain, awoke me, and I discovered that the rain came pouring through the ceiling into my bed, which was in a corner, and that the pillow and the bed-clothes were very wet. How I regretted the want of my comfortable tent! T had now to drag the bed'in the dark to the middle of the room, and place a bear-skin under me, to prevent my catching cold,

October 27.—Fortunately I got asleep again, and awaking early in the morning, went down stairs, found some fire-wood, and returning to my room, lighted a fire and dried my clothes and papers upon which the rain had fallen. At breakfast, the goodnatured Rolette expressed a great deal of sorrow at the inconvenience I had suffered during the night, always consoling me -by saying, that 2s I was an "ancien voyageur," I of course did not mind it. I had the pleasure of dining to-day with the estimable Colonel,..Taylor, the commandant, whose amiable character has been before mentioned. He had seen a, great deal of frontier service, and his conversation was very interesting. On reaching my quarters late in the evening, I found Rolette waiting for me with another batch of stories and cigars, and unable to escape, I was seized with another raging headache, and at length got away from him, every' thing around stinking with the poisonous plant which I never was and never shall be able to endure.

October 28.—I rose unrefreshed and perplexed what to do, whether to stay and nose the tobacco until I was ready to depart, or leave Rolctte's. Know-

Hospitality Of Mons. Rolette. 25

ing that if I were to do go, it would give him a great deal of vexation, I determined to bear with it awhile, 'and implore Miss Rolette to interfere in my favour with her father, which she afterwards did, so as to secure me an immunity from it in my bedroom. Here then I intrenched myself, brought up my notes and worked a little. at my sketches,' The day was very. rainy, but I found a dry corner in the room,: and both father and daughter vied with each other in providing me with every thing I was in want of. It is really wonderful how some people. who are naturally amiable can"resolve to make themselves so disagreeable. Mr. Douceman was Kind enough to recommend a clever squaw to me for the purpose of garnishing 'a handsome white skin dress I had brought from the upper country, the companion of a handsome suit I had' before caused to be made by a very distinguished Indian female, for a charming lady friend in Sussex. That was finished in the Nahcotah fashion, this was to be executed in the Menominay, style. .

, To-day I dined with Rolette and his daughter; he preduiead some very fair claret and champagne, and was kind enough to abstain from smoking, but, said he, "Puisqu'il ne faut pas fumes, il.faut boire." Observing that I did not empty my glass as rapidly as he did his own, he would say " Mais comment, un

"ancien voyageur comme vous!" So that to keep the tobacco out of the room, I was obliged to encourage the circulation of the wine. We had a long crack of it, and some of his Indian adventures were very curious.

There had been a furious massacre in the neigh-

26 Indian Anecdotes,

bourhood some time ago of some Sauks, one of whom, named Peeaymédshhy, the "man who shifts his camp," was a great friend of Rolette's. Shdnkahskah, the " white dog," surprised him and his friends, and murdered them whilst the treaty of Prairie du Chien was in progress in 1830. Rolette being asleep in his house, in a room on the ground-floor, was awaked by @ noise at the window; jumping up he threw it open, and had scarce time to ask what was the matter, when something wet and soft was drawn across his face with a smart slap, and he heard Shinkahskal's voice say, " There's your friend Peeayméshky." Tt was in fact the bloody scalp of that chief, which, after murdering him in a small island where the Sauks thought themselves secure, they had torn from his skull, and then hastened to Prairie du Chien to pay Rolette that extraordinary visit. Rolette afterwards met Shinkahskah, and at of him the war-club with which he had despatche the chief, and having it by him at the time of my visit made me a present of it. Peeayméshky was a warrior of established reputation for bravery, and Shinkahskah paid him the greatest compliment he could, after killing him, by boiling his heart and eating it.

A more pleasing story than this was told me by Rolette, of an Ojibway and his child. Elazéepah, a Musquawkée or Fox Indian, being in ambush with ! his party, crept to an Ojibway lodge at dusk, seized a little girl of five years old, and escaped with her. The mother, who was in the lodge, heard the child ery, "Hinnah, hinnah! attdy, attay! wandékt4yd6h!" (Mother, mother! father, father! they are carrying

A Resolute Parent, 27

meaway!) The father arriving at his lodge at night, and learning the rape of his child, immediately pursued the party, tracking them by moonlight. Tracing their footsteps with unerring sagacity, he reached their lair when they were all fast asleep, and, stealing upon them, slew the whole party, four in number, and returned to his lodge with his child on his back, and the Indian's head in his hand that had carried her off. ,

28 Mons. Dubois And His Niece.

Chapter Xxxix.

DOMESTIC ARRANGEMENTS AT NIGHY.— REACH GALENA.—EXTENT OF TAR LEAD REGION.—DISCHARGE THE VOYAGEURS,

October 29.—This day was appointed for, my departure, and whilst I despatched some persons to collect my men, almost all of whom were the worse for drinking, I called upon Colonel Taylor to bid him adieu. I found him exceedingly distressed by an account he had received the preceding night of the death of his favourite daughter. She had been much beloved by him, had married without his consent, and he had not been reconciled to her since. Her fault was now expiated and forgotten, and he could think of nothing but his affection for her. I shook hands with him silently and left him, much

affected myself by the situation of so respectable a

gentleman.

On reaching Rolette again, I found a friend of his there, a M. Dubois, and his niece, waiting to know if I would give them a passage in my canoe to Du Buques. This was not very convenient; we had many heavy packages in it, and they were apparently not very prepossessing people, encumbered with some luggage. I told Rolette we should be overladen, and some accident might happen; but the party hung about the canoe, and so much was said by Rolette and his daughter, that, to avoid the appearance of being disobliging to those

An Addition To Our Party, 29

who had been'so hospitable to me, I told Beaupré to see if it was possible to find room in the canoe. They immediately took this as a permission, and stepped into it; and as the matter had now gone too far, I pushed off with the gunwale within two inches of the water, and half of the crew stupidly drunk. There was, however, but little wind, and we soon became accustomed to our too-crowded situation. M. Dubois, like all the rest of [these people, was an ancien voyageur ; his niece was a married woman, evidently with a dash of Indian blood in her veins, very taciturn, and with no pretensions to any kind of beauty but Ja beauté du diable, not being more than eighteen years old.

We passed Turkey River between four and five p.m., and landed on the beach for the night, a little below Cassville, a new settlement lately established on the left bank, at the foot of the Bluffs. We had found very few islands in the Mississippi betwixt Prairie du Chien and this place, the river, with few exceptions, filling the whole valley, the cause of which I have previously explained. The evening closed in singularly cold, the thermometer stood at 14° Fahrenheit, and the air had a stinging quality in it as if the temperature had been below zero. The men built up rousing fires, and laid in a great provision of wood for the night. Whilst supper was preparing, I attempted to bring up my notes in the tent, but it was too cold to write, so I took to considering the way in which I should sleep my guests, a rather puzzling affair, since it was impossible to let the young lady sleep out of doors upon

30 Revenge Upon Tobacco Smokers.

such a bitter night, and I had no other place to put her in but my own tent. M. Dubois, her uncle,

'like his friend Rolette, was unhappy when he had not a pipe in his mouth, and had done nothing but smoke ever since we landed. He would scarcely desist even when we took our evening meal, although I had told him twice what violent headaches it gave me. The moment we rose, not from table, but from the ground, he commenced smoking again at my fire, so that it was exceedingly unpleasant tome. To have had such a stinkabus in the tent with me all night was not to be thought of for a moment, so, determining to revenge myself in his person upon the whole Nicotian race, I decreed at once that he should sleep al fresco.

The question now was, what to do with Madame. Her uncle had brought no bed or mattress of any kind with him, only a single blanket for each of them, and it was very clear that I should have to provide her, at least, with covering of some sort to keep her alive all night. My young friend Joln was not of an age to turn his attention much to things of this kind, and very wisely laid himself down immediately after supper, and made himself as comfortable as he could. My mattress was then laid in the accustomed place, her blanket was spread near to it upon a piece of canvass, and two of my own, which, when doubled, were barely sufficient to keep me warm on such a very severe night, were opened and spread over the whole. It struck me that it looked very like an affwire de ménage, but really I thought of nothing but keeping the poor creature alive till morning,

"ng THERMOMETER AT ZERO. 31%, and that at the expense of my own comfort. Nothing makes a man more selfish than the necessity of preserving some warmth in himself during such bitter weather, even if others are to suffer; but when a woman is in the case, the sacrifice is less painful, and I certainly would have passed the night by the fire if the thermometer had not fallen to zero, and I had not been,sure of finding M. Dubois' tobacco-smoke there.

"Meantime, whilst these arrangements were making, Monsieur Dubois and the lady were standing near the fire, conjecturing, no doubt, as to how and where they Were to pass the night, and seeing me leave the tent and approach them, looked anxiously for some announcement of the arrangements that were to be made. Monsieur was standing with his back to the fire, puffing away out of his little dirty pipe, about an inch and @ half long, and she was bending over the' edge of the fire. I told her that the fire would expire in a couple: of hours if somebody did not sit up to replenish it from time to time, and that, under any circumstances, the weather was too severe for her to pass the night in the open air. I, therefore, offered her the protection of my tenf, and told her that she could go to it now if she pleased, and s'arranger le mieux qu'elle pourrait." Upon which, thanking me for my kindness, she withdrew into it, and having giving her a quarter of an hour, I bade Monsieur Dubois and his pipe " bon soir," a piece of politeness which seemed rather to surprise him. Having entered the tent, I fastened the entrance, that if he should follow me he might see clearly that 1 did not intend him to be there.

32 A Situation.

To be sure, it was altogether an amazing, droll affair, and I could not but see that if it were not for the boy's presence my conduct might seem rather " équivoque." I found Madame had taken me at my word to arrange herself "le mieux qu'elle pourrait," and had taken possession of my mattress. Nothing was left for me but to lie down upon her blanket, and draw part of our common cover over myself, improving our situation a little by laying some hear-skins over our feet. But a colder night I never passed; my feet were like ice, and I was unable to sleep for the shortest period of time. Once I rose to peep out, and saw Monsieur Dubois smoking away, with his feet to the fire, that was almost extinguished ; perhaps he was asleep, for an ancien voyageur can sleep and smoke in any situation. What he thought of my hospitality, I never ascertained ; it was too cold for him to be seriously alarmed about his exclusion from the tent, and perhaps the presence of little John might inspire him with confidence. It is to be hoped it did, but alas! little John slept like a top, and the drama of the Sabine Virgins might have been enacted for any attention he paid to what was passing.

October 30.—Long before the dawn, we heard the voices of the men and the crackling of the branches, and Madame, preferring them to my company, jumped up and took leave of me in not.a very affectionate manner. When I joined them at the fire, she said, La nuit avait été terrible," and Monsieur Dubois added, "qu'il avait pensé géler vingt fois." I told them T was glad we had got throngh the night, and that I would give them a warm cup of tea whilst the men

Part With Mons, Dubois. 33

repaired the canoe, which had lost some gum in consequence of the intense frost; having accomplished which, we re-embarked at half-past seven, the river covered with a cold fog. The sun coming out betwixt nine and ten a.m., we stopped to breakfast, and having ,got our blood into a comfortable state of circulation, we took to our paddles again, the steamboat Warrior passing us on her way to Prairie du Chien. :

Evidences of an advancing population increased upon us as we pursued our way, to my great regret. There was now an end to all the attractive simplicity and independence of the roving life I had been leading in the Indian country. I should soon be in the vortex of a white frontier population, must abandon my canoe, exchange the peaceful tent, pitched on the clean bank of an interesting river, for dirty accommodation at some filthy tavern, and make up my account to pay in money for every act of civility I might receive.

At one p.m. I put Monsieur Dubois and his: niece ashore, on the left bank of the Mississippi, nearly opposite the lead-mining village of Dubuque, and after exchanging salutations with them, crossed the Mississippi, and landed at a small valley a little beyond the village, where there was a cupola furnace for smelting the sulphuret of lead.

After looking at the works, which were all very simple and unexpensive, and observing that the galena was brought up to the surface in loose masses, weighing from a quarter of a pound to ten pounds, consisting of aggregates of small cubes, dull at the surface, and of a rubbly appearance, I embarkec

Vol. 11. D

34 The Pale Of Civilization.

again for Galena, a town distant about six miles, built upon a stream called Fever River, from a pestilential disease once fatal to many Indians there. The mouth of this stream, which empties into the Mississippi on the left bank, was said by my men to be very difficult to find, being what the Americans call a slew; indeed some of them were of opinion we had passed it. I accordingly landed, hoping to find some settler who could give me correct information, and after walking about two miles into the interior, found a log hut, with a squatter in it, who said the mouth of the stream was still two miles further south. On regaining the canoe, the sun was setting, and, considering the various disadvantages that would -attend my reaching Galena in the dark,—such as my men getting drunk, exposing my things to be stolen by my white brethren, the great difficulty of getting lodgings, the probability that none were to be had, and that we should be trespassers if we attempted to encamp upon private property, to say nothing of the difficulty of obtaining wood for fuel,—I thought it advisable to lefer until daylight the placing myself within the pala4 of what men have chosen to call civilization; and, much in opposition to the wishes of my party, decided to give myself another night of comfort and independence, and encamped on the bank of the Mississippi for the last time.

October 31.—Taking an early start, we soon got into the mouth of Fever River, which is a fine, broad stream at its junction; and after paddling vigorously for some time, reached Galena, a dirty, wooden, ill-arranged town, standing on a very sharp slope on the right bank. Here, after some diffi-

Extent Of The Lead District. 35

culty, I succeeded in getting into a low den of a tavern, and procuring a dirty, shabby room in it for little John and myself. Our breakfast, however, was abundant, and better than I expected to find it. Having sccured my effects and the canoe, I called upon a Mr. H., one of the principal lawyers of the place, whose brother I had formerly known in Virginia, and found him living in a neat, comfortable house. This gentleman 'was very attentive to me, and made me acquainted with some merchants of the place connected with the mining district, who appeared to be active and respectable men, and from whom I received some interesting information, which determined me to take another opportunity of visiting the lead-mines in the vicinity, and those of the adjoining Wisconsin district, the season being too far advanced to do it at present. During the day, I visited an air-furnace belonging to a Mr. Campbell, where they were pursuing an active business. From the returns of the smelting which I procured here, and the various accounts which were given me of the localities whence the sulphuret of lead is derived, I perceived that the deposit of galena in the western states was upon an ini mense scale, only inferior to that of the iron in the United States. TI had traced it personally from White River in Arkansas beyond the Makato of the St. Peter's, near the sources cf some of the tributaries of which stream masses of sulphuret in aggre~ gate cubes are occasionally found. The geographical distance betwixt these points is equal to 2,000 miles, with an unknown breadth upon an irregular line east of north. The quantity of lead in this extraor- p2

36 Drunkenness Of My People.

dinary area would seem to be enormous, especially in the part of it called the Wisconsin district ; and having made a note of the principal localities where it is excavated, with the intention of hereafter visiting them, and various other lead establishments in the vicinity, I retired to my dirty chamber, which I found a miserable exchange for my clean tent.

November 1.—I had become perfectly ashamed of the companions of my long journey. They had becn with me a great distance, and had been so useful to me, that I could not but feel anxious for their welfare, and was most desirous that they should get safe home to their families. My agreement with them was, that at whatever point I discharged them at the end of the season, the distance from their homes was to be'estimated in leagues, and that 1 was to allow each of them one day's wages for every eight leagues. But they had been so drunk ever since my arrival, that it was not practicable to come to any settlement with them. I therefore rose with the dawn for the express purpose of collecting them together ; and, having at length succeeded, brought them to the tavern, made an estimate of the distance they were from their homes, with which they were satisficd, gave them a breakfast, paid them their money, with a gratuity to each besides, shook hands with them alJ, and recommended to them to commence their journey immediately, which they promised to do. I now went to breakfast myself, and then sat down to write a letter.

On leaving the tavern to put my letter in the postoffice, about an hour and a half after I had parted with

How To Make A Man Sober, 37

the men, the first thing I saw was L'Amirant lying dead-drunk in the middle of the street, incapable of standing or speaking; and close by, near an obscure dram-shop, the rest, of them, almost all at a white heat with drinking rum and whiskey. I reproached Beau Pré for terminating our journey. in so disgraceful a manner ; but as I found they had been drinking: my health, and sounding my praises, I thought it best to continue my acts of kindness to them. Canadian Frenchmen are, like their ra¢e in every part of the world, best managed by gentleness; so, asking them to oblige me for the last time, they assisted me in lifting L'Amirant and carrying him to a pump near at hand, and having first tried the projectile pitch of the spout, I had his head laid exactly within point blank shot, and taking the handle myself administered it most liberally to him. At first he did not mind the operation; but we continued it until he began to grin and carry his hand to his head, and at length coming to his senses, we finally got him on his legs and able to walk. In about half an hour I had the satisfaction of seeing each of them march clear out of the town, with his pacotille, containing his blanket and provisions, well girded on his back, and his pipe in his mouth. These thoughtless fellows had about 200 miles to walk before they would reach their homes, which, making allowances for weather, they would perhaps accomplish in ten days. Considering their habits and dispositions, they had behaved better than it was predicted to me they would do; so I wrote to the merchant at Navarino who had engaged them, that upon the whole I was satisfied

38 Levity Of The French Voyageurs.

with their conduct. To manage men of this race, firmness and kindness are equally necessary; to keep them in good humour, they must have plenty of food—being immense gormandizers—and some tobacco: whilst things go on favourably they are cheerful and willing, but in adverse circumstances I had found they were not to be relied upon as Milor was. His Indian blood had tempered the volatile course of his Gallic descent, and the mixed reflecting animal thus produced was singularly contrasted, when sobriety and forethought were required, with the levity and insufficiency of these men. In engaging Canadian voyageurs for distant expeditions like the one I had just returned from, it is unwise to take any ardent spirits with you; for if they know you have any, they are always discontented if you do.not share it with them, and whenever they can have free access to it they got beastly and dead-drunk in ten minutes, drinking until they can neither stand or speak. '

Meet With An Old Acquaintance, 39

Chapter Xl.

MEET WITH AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE.—LEAVE GALENA FOR ST, LOUIS.— CAVALRY DEPOT AT DES MOINES' RIVER.— BEAUTIFUL FOSSILS AND MINERALS AT KEORUL—REAGH ST. LOUIS.

I was now alone again in the world; I had first lost Milor, and then the light-hearted companions who had been so long with me, and had no longer any one to interest myself about in this part of the country, save little John, who seemed very happy at finding himself in what was to him the great world. Thinking of these things, as I was standing upon the bank of the stream, observing a steamer that was advancing to Galena, I waited until it eame opposite to me, and there, to my great surprise and pleasure, who should I see standing on the quarter-deck with a weather-worn white hat on, but the Hon. C. A.M. He had left Washington before myself on an excursion to the western country, and I had learnt at St. Louis that he had gone up the Missouri, but what regions he had visited I knew not. I was, however, heartily glad to see a fellow-adventurer and a countryman of Mr. M.'s acknowledged merit, and hastened to the quay to shake hands with him. It was a very pleasant meeting; we had a long crack about our mutual adventures. Whilst I had been amongst the Nahcotahs he had been passing a great part of the

40 Abandon My Canoe.

summer with the Pawnees,* by his own account as dirty a set of natives as are to be found on the continent. The resolute manner in which' he had extricated himself and his companions from the encampment of these insolent vagabonds was a proof that he possessed the highest qualifications necessary to a traveller in Indian countries. If we had met in the wilderness, we should of course have shared each other's comforts without any formality ; here I had no tent to share with him, and he had no room to go to, so when night came he very quietly folded up one of my grizzly bear skins for a pillow, and wrapping himself up in some of my buffalo robes, lay down to sleep in a corner of my room.

- Having made a hasty breakfast in the morning and sent our luggage on board the Warrior steamer, Mr. M. and myself embarked at 8 a.m. for St. Louis, and found a great many passengers on board. The day passed pleasantly; I received a great deal of information of what was going on in the world; the country was beautiful, and the Mississippi of a magnificent breadth. Our fare was tolerably good, and what with the power of the steamer and the favouring current, we made great progress. Our fellow-passengers were either small store-keepers from the new settlements, going to St. Louis on their affairs, or speculators. We tried to obtain some information from them, but generally in vain: collected in groups, their discussions appeared to be carried on with great animation; but

Mr. M. has since published a narrative of his travels.

FORT ARMSTRONG. Al

when you approached to find out what interested them so much, it invariably turned out to be the price of building-lots in the settlements they had made, of which they gave the most flaming accounts; nothing could be so good as the soil, so healthy as the country, so good as the water, "so amazing calkerlated to do a power of business." It was evident enough, however, that this palmy state of contentment which each of them professed to feel for his own habitat, whether it was Van Burenberg, or Jacksonville, or by whatever name it went, meant only one thing, that the party was exceedingly desirous of selling his own particular paradise, and I believe that any one so disposed might have purchased the whole of them before we sat down to dinner.

November 3.—We reached Fort Armstrong, on Rock River Island, distant about 100 miles from Galena, about 10 a.m., and as we were to remain there a few hours, I Janded to examine the rocks, which were non-fossiliferous, buff-coloured limestone. Bituminous coal abounds in this part of the country, but I could not learn that the lands had risen much in price in consequence of containing that mineral; that will probably only happen when the population has been much increased. I took an opportunity of calling upon the commandant, Colonel Davenport, a gentlemanly person. On taking my departure, his lady presented me with some flint (Indian) arrowheads, of a different form from any I had before met with. Opposite to this place the Iowa River empties into the Mississippi. This stream takes its

42 Des Moines Rapids.

rise in the Nabcotah country, south of the St. Peter's, its sources interlocking with those of the Makato, and holds its course the whole distance through a fertile territory. Resuming our voyage, towards evening a steady rain came on, which prevented our remaining on deck. M. and'myself took to our books, and the rest of the passengers got into knots in the large cabin, and became engaged in that noisy, low kind of gambling, which all the people of these western countries, with the fewest exceptions, seem devoted to.

November 4.—The succeeding day we had a continuation of the rain, and about noon reached the United States cavalry depét, sixteen miles north of the Des Moines River. The small body of horse stationed here visits the Indian districts occasionally, for the purpose of keeping the natives in order. As we were to be detained here awhile, M. and myself calléd upon Colonel Kearney, the commanding officer, and his lady, and were asked to dine. In the meantime, the cargo of the steamer, which consisted principally of pigs of lead, was shifted into flat-bottomed barges, on account of the Des Moines Rapids, which we had now to pass over, and which extended twelve miles below this place, the rocks, in many places, coming to within two foet of the surface. The steamer being lightened, we re4 embarked, and after a good many rude bumps at the bottom, got clear of these shallows, and reached a sorry settlement on the left bank, called Keokuk, after a celebrated Sauk chief, inhabited altogether by a set of desperadoes of this part of the Mississippi.

Geodes Of Keokuk. 43

The cargo being to take on board again, I landed, and finding a very good section of beds equivalent to our mountain limestone, containing beautiful fossils, and beautiful geodes filled with the most interesting crystals, I went vigorously to work, and made a valuable collection of them.

These geodes tell a very interesting story of the ancient condition of these rocks, which are of the cavernous kind, abounding in, cavities of various sizes, from a foot to an inch in diameter. The inner walls of the geodes are generally studded with brilliant crystals of quartz, that appear to have been formed from solutions of silicious matter, with which the cavities were once filled. Many of them are of a beautiful chaleedoniec structure, like those from Iceland, where silicious matter is in so perfect a state of solution. Subsequent to the formation of the crystals of quartz, the geodes seem to have been filled with successive solutions of mincrals, which have become solidified in turns, until the geodes were nearly filled. Thus a crust, studded with neat crystals of pearlspar and small brilliant cubes of galena, is often superinduced upon the crystals of quartz. Crystals of carbonate of lime are also found in great varieties, together with many other minerals. These interesting objects, so rare and beautiful, were exceedingly abundant ; and I returned to the steamer loaded with my treasures. At Keokuk I found an old acquaintance in Mr. Catlin,* who joined us on board. He also was returning from a visit

Now well known in Europe by his talents and his admirable collection of Indian arms and accoutrements.

44 Mr, Catlin'S Enthusiasm,

amongst the Indians, having accompanied an expedition of American cavalry, under Colonel Dodge, amongst the tribes living betwixt the sources of the Canadian and the Rocky Mountains.

Mr. Catlin, who is a man of good feeling and great enterprise, was full of enthusiasm about the Indian races. Availing himself of his talent for portrait painting and sketching, he had brought from the Indian country a collection of portraits of the principal chiefs he had seen, as well as specimens of their arms, habiliments, and accoutrements. In short, a more determined virtuoso I never knew, for nothing escaped him, from a geode to a tomahawk. He communicated to me a project he had of devoting several years to the illustration of the manners and customs of the Indian tribes by these collections and by his art, and finding him admirably adapted, , by inclination and experience, to accomplish such a task, I encouraged him to persevere, for he appeared to me to be the very man that was wanted to secure the information we were in want of respecting the' aborigines, before they were extinct. Still it was an arduous task for an unassisted individual ; most of the objects would be perishable, and the collection would be a cumbrous one. I remarked to him, that if his enthusiasm should abate, and he could not dispose of it, it would become a great burthen to hifn, all which he admitted; but observed, that its rarity could not fail to attract much attention in the large cities of America and Europe, which might indemnify him for his labours.* We also took a great

On my return to Washington, I recommended strongly that

"Confusion Of. A Steamer. 45

number of persons on board at this place, who were far from possessing Mr. Catlin's merit, and left it with a set of as thorough vagabonds as the town of St. Louis might reasonably expect us to bring. :

November 5.~-Our steamer had now become a Babel of noise and vulgarity; drinking, smoking, swearing, and gambling prevailed from morn to night, the captain of the steamer refusing to suppress any of these irregularities. We staid a couple of hours at Quincy, a new town rising from the right bank of the Mississippi, about 200 miles from St. Louis; having inquired for the quarry where the building-stone 'was procured, I went to it and procured some interesting fossils. The picturesque shores and bluffs in the neighbourhood of this place are very beautiful ; indeed, all the upper part of the Mississippi, from the junction of the Ohio, possessing a thousand beauties that are wanting below that stream, where the flood is wide, without islands, and no sections of rock to be seen. We had a lovely moonlight night, and but for the horrible disorderly set on board, should have enjoyed the scenery very much.

A thick fog obliged us to come to an anchor in the night; but getting under weigh at daylight, we soon passed the mouth of the Illinois River, said to be forty-five miles from St. Louis: the limestone bluffs are very fine there. We stopped ashort time at Alston, another thriving town on the left bank, in the state of Illinois; here are a great many well-con-

the government of the United States should authorize an investigation of all the Indian languages, and the purchase of Mr. Cat- Tin's collections,

46 Reach 8. Louis

structed houses made of excellent limestone. All was bustle and activity at. this place, that sort of activity which is only to be observed where slavery is not tolerated. If this western country continues to prosper in the fortunate manner it has done, and slavery is excluded from it, it will only take one or two generations to see towns built all the way to St. Peter's. We soon passed the broad mouth of the mighty Missomi, that, after a course of 2,000 miles, mingles its turbid waters with the clearer stream of the Mississippi. For some time the river had been comparatively without islands, the explanation of which I suppose to be found in the sedimentary matter brought down by its head streams being deposited in ancient times, before it reached the clearer part of the stream.

At noon we reached St. Louis, and landing, found that all the hotels were full, not a room being to be had for love or money. This was not very pleasant tv a couple of Englishmen disgusted with the dirt and ribaldry of a western steamer, and who were sighing to be alone. There however seems to be a remedy for every evil in this world, if you have patience and perseverance; so I returned to the National Hotel, where I had lodged when on my way to the Mexican frontier, in 1834, and told the landlord'that be must, upon some con4 dition or other, give M. and myself a place to ourselves, as we could not remain in the streets all night.

- He declared that he had not a room in the house ; that we must see he could not turn others out to put us in their place; and that, if he were to die for it, he had no other place but a small cellar, where

Lodgings In A Cellar. 47

he kept his fire-wood. It immediately occurred to me, that if we could uot. turn his lodgers out of their rooms, we might take that liberty with ' his fire-wood; and as to its being a cellar, we were too much accustomed to lie down anyhow, provided we could do it in safety, to trouble ourselves about the name. I therefore instantly went to reconnoitre this same cellar, and found it to be a tolerably dry, small place, beneath the house, with an old window about a foot square, letting the light in from a yard. It was large enough for us to spread our buffalo-skins, and to contain our luggage, so, procuring some assistance, I turned the fire-wood out of the window, got the place well swept out and ventilated, and had our matériel brought there. When M. came to look at it, he laughed heartily, and made the sensible remark, that, indifferently as we were lodged, we should be better off than most of the people in the hotel, who occupied rooms containing five or six beds. Upon this occasion he related to me an adventure which happened to him at Dubuque some time before we met. Being obliged to pass the night at a low tavern, frequented by miners and gamblers, and knowing their habit of gambling until a late hour, he went as soon as he had supped to the only bed-room there was in the house, and out of a great number of beds, selected the one that appeared the most promising, a surgeon in the American army, with whom he was acquainted, taking the next adjoining.

This dormitory, like the hotel itself, had an entrance, but no door, or hinges to hang one by, so

48 A Particular Traveller,

that passengers could enter into both without noise, at any hour of the night. Towards morning M. was awakened by a fellow turning down his bedclothes to get into bed tohim. Aware that no time was to be lost, he gathered the clothes up, threw himself into a boxing attitude, and told the fellow in a peremptory tone that he should not get into his bed without fighting for it to the last moment. A little puzzled at this unusual reception, and not fancying the attitude M. had put himself into, he exclaimed, " Stranger, you gartin don't kalkerlate upon keeping all that are bed to yourself?" " Yes I do," said M., "and that you shall find." " Well, then," replied the fellow, "if you are so almighty pertiklar, I swar Tl be as pertiklar as you, and I'll turn

'in to this ere gentleman." But the doctor, finding how things were going on, had got upon his haunches too, and told the fellow to stand off, or he'd knock him into his ninety-ninth year in no time. Thus ruaely repulsed by these two specimens of civilization, this poor, ill-treated, social animal exclaimed, " If this don't beat all creation!" and, as he related in the morning, " walked" into the next bed, where three of his companions had turned in before him. :

The landlord's family, finding we were in earnest, and that we put up with our humble lodgings, very good-naturedly now took compassion upon us, which they certainly would not have done if we had been at all restive, and sent us a couple of chairs, an old table, two small beds, and some linen ; so that we really were better off than in the steamer, with all

Good Living. 49

its spitting and disorder. When dinner was an~ 'nounced, we went to the table @hdte, and indeed . found a very capital one. There were two saddles of delicious fat venison, exceedingly well roasted ; two large wild turkeys, roasted; and beef, mutton, and pork in profusion. Great was the onslaught made by the guests upon this banquet, every individual of whom, with the exception of M. and myself, having bolted his ample share in less than ten minutes, left us to survey the destruction that had been made. The landlord was full of attentions to us, and as soon as we had dismissed our venison, sent us a couple of fat, well-roasted wild ducks, to which, and other good things that succeeded, we did ample justice at our leisure.

In the evening we walked to the suburbs, to examine those fine Indian mounds which had attracted my attention so much in 1834. As we proposed remaining here a few days, I sought out a lady, who was a friend of Mrs. Bliss, and being fortunate enough to find her, I placed young John under her care during my stay.

The succeeding morning we went, after breakfact, to see the new Roman Catholic cathedral, which was consecrated the day of my departure from this place in 1834. Learning from one of the priests that M. Nicollet, a member of the Institute of France, was at St. Louis, I called to see him. I knew that he had been engaged some time in effecting a series of barometrical observations, to ascertain the elevation of particular points in the United States above the general level of the ocean, and was desirous of

Vol. I. E

50 M,. Nicollet:

learning how far he had succeeded, and what assistance he had been able to obtain to carry on so important an undertaking. Very vague and superficial notions scemed, as far as I could judge, to prevail in the United States about barometrical observations. Many had thought it sufficient to go from point to point with one of Engleficld's imperfect and cumbrous instruments, and report the results they obtained, which could not fail to be erroneous. At any one point, the apparent elevation, under a particular state of the atmosphere, might be increased or diminished another day, under the same process, with a different state of the atmosphere, from one to five hundred feet. The elevations I had seen recorded in books were found, upon examination, to be often absurd. Without numerous standard observations or fixed stations, where the true elevation bas been obtained, and to which locomotive observations can be referred, no accurate results can be obtained. I found M. Nicollet a most amiable and sociable person, full of intelligence and zeal. He had registered his observations for a long time, and had left a barometer at one or two particular points, for the purpose of reference ; but his instrument appeared to me to be a very unsatisfactory one, although I dare say his results would be less defective than those which had preceded his labours. M. Nicollet was said to be also a person of fine musical taste, and was kind enough to propose to take M. and myself'to a private society, where we should hear some good music—a great treat to me, whose gratification in that line had for a long time been confined

Mr. Catlin'S Drawings. — 51

to the Canadian boat-songs, and the scalp-dances at

"Lac qui parle. In the evening we had an opportunity of looking over Mr. Catlin's portfolio of drawings, consisting of Indians engaged in their national dances, their pursuit and slaughter of the buffalo, and some very good landscapes with sections of the banks' of the Missouri: all full of life and graphic force, especially his animals, many of which merited the highest praise.

£2

52 General Ashley.

Chapter Xli.

PROFUSION OF GANE IN THE PUBLIC MARKET.—A FAGHIONABLE SOsRER, GENERAL LAFAYETTE.—NEZ PERCES INDIANS AND THEIR PATRON

Bir Wm. D. $.—Leave St. Locis, ,

THE weather was now very fine, and on the morrow we walked out to pay a visit to General Ashley, a fur-trader, celebrated for his expeditions to the Rocky Mountains, and for the address and courage with which he had upon various occasions extricated himself from dangerous situations. He had now retired with a competency, had married an agreeable wife, and together they inhabited a quiet suburban house built upon one of those Indian mounds which have been before alluded to. I did not learn that he had ever been in the army, but it is not necessary to be a military man in the United States to be called general. We found him a modest, intelligent, and rather a superior man, full of interesting information of the Indian countries he had visited, especially of those valleys and coves found in the interior of - that great belt called the Rocky Mountains, which in some directions has a breadth of about one bun-, dred miles. In penetrating through this belt, he had often led a life of great jeopardy, followed and tracked by the Blackfeet and other Indians, whose inveterate hostility he had escaped by his prudence andcourage. Our dinner to-day at the hotel was a

. A Well-Supplied Market. 53

most remarkable affair; such a quantity of well-roasted joints of fine venison, and other game, I had never before seen uponatable. The wild ducks I thought equal to the famous canyass-backs of the Susquehanna, November 9.—This morning M. and myself rose early, and went to the Market as soon as it was opened, where we saw a surprising collection of good things. We counted eighty-seven fat deer with their skins on, at least two hundred Jarge wild turkeys; the quantity of wild ducks, many of which were wood-ducks with their brilliant plumage, was enormous. We both agreed that we had never been in any place so well supplied by good things as St. Louis. Breakfast being over, I took up my hammer and chiscls, and went with them to the limestone quarries, where I passed the rest of the day, returning home with a fine collection of good fossils. Having got through our usual banquet, we Jearnt that there was to be a ball at the hotel, ina long room exactly over our cellar, from which it was separated only by a plank. I was fatigued, and had no inclination to assist at it; but. as it was evident that sleeping was out of the question, we thought it best on every account to purchase tickets and go sthere. There were some pretty women, and the thing went off as well as we expected. I left the affair about ten, but M. remained, and entered into the spirit of the thing. Meantime, I reclined patiently on my bed, listening to the stamping and laughing that were going on above me, until about three in the morning, when M. entered the cellar,

54 An Agreeable Music-Party.

and said the ladies had gone home "considerable lively."

In the morning I went, after breakfast, to visit some quarries which I had not seen, and had the good fortune to procure some exceedingly beautiful fossils of the same genera I had taken from the beds at Quiney, on our way to this place, most of them undescribed species of corallines. It was late in the evening before I got to the hotel, having purposely abstained one day from the too luxurious table. About seven p.m., M. and myself, accompanied by M. Nicollet, went to the promised musical party, at a French gentleman's, namcd D——, This was a very agreeable family. Madame was a well-bred womau, and, with two pleasant daughters, did the honours of a very heat supper. Upon retiring from table, we adjourned to the music-room, where we had somo good quartetts, M. D-w-—) playing an unexceptionable first fiddle. The rest of the performers were amateurs of the place, members of respectable French families. The organist of the eathedral, Signor Maryollano, an Italian, afterwards presided at the piano, and we had some very good vocal music: It was quite delightful, in this remote part of the world, to hear some of the finest passages of Cimarosa's Matrimonio Segreto very tolerably executed. The organist was full of enthusiasm, and obliged us all to contribute towards the amuseznent of the evening, which passed off charmingly.

Amongst the guests wis a Monsieur P- 34 Parisian, who had resided several years at St. Louis, a very eccentric and anmsing petson, full of music,

Soreness Of The French Population. 55

bat not a musician. The sarcastic and droll remarks he made upon the manners of the Americans established at this place amused us all very much, and were exccedingly relished by the French part of the company. The truth is, that the Americans have established themselves here in such numbers, that they have thrown the French, who were the original settlers, into the shade; and, being all Presbyterians, or Baptists, or Dissenters of'one sect or another, had, by their austere and greedy mode of life, seriously interfered with the lively and amusing tone of society which had once been universal in the population ; and, by their denunciation of Christmasday, Easter, and the festivals which the French delight to honour, had created a great disgust amongst them. "Ces Messieurs," said M. P. "ont toujours raison, et c'est pourquoi ils ne font pas sciupule 4 vous voler: je pense quwils font leur compte de traiter le diable au bout du chapitre, comme ils ont traité votre bon Roi d'Angleterre, de sinsurger contre lui et prendre possession des ses états." A traveller, who perceives how much they are wounded at heart by the restraints which the Americans impose upon them, cannot but sympathize with them, especially when assisting at such a pleasant party as this was; but the extraordinary encrgy and enterprise of the Americans are not the less to be admired on that account.

The weather continuing very fine, I rode out the next day to dine and pass the day with my worthy friend, General Atkinson, at Jefferson Barracks. I found most of the officers there whom I had scen

56 Sir William D. 8.

when on my way.to Arkansas, and passed a very plea~ sant day with them, returning to St. Louis late in the evening. The succeeding day M. and myself made two or three excursions to various points, and in the evening went to another musical party at M. P. 's, the eccentrit Parisian; but although our petit souper went off pretty well, we felt the want of the female society which had made the other party so pleasant, and came away very early.

November 13—This day M. and myself were joined by a relative of his, who perhaps: does not yield in eccentricity to any person living. This was Captain, now Sir William D. S. , an exceeds ingly adventurous person, who had served in the British army on the glorious day of Waterloo. Perfectly blas¢ with European life, he had been wandering about two years amongst the Indians of the Rocky Mountains, and the north-west coast of America, and only reached St. Louis this morning from the Missouri River, which he had just descended. I was delighted to make his acquaintance, his conversation being exceedingly attractive. Of Indian life he spoke with the greatest enthusiasm, declared that it was infinitely more satisfactory than civilized life, and that it was his fixed intention to return to it; a singular declaration to come from one allied! to some of the most illustrious families in Great Britain, and to whom the most agreeable careor in Europe would seem to have been always open. We passed the day together conversing about the nations and the countries he had visited, of which and his

Adventurous Trappers, 57

adventures he gave me a most interesting account.

" The Riccarees at one time surprised him and his - party, and robbed them of their horses and every thing they possessed, Icaving them destitute, upon a lonely prairie, hundreds of miles from resources of any kind. A person with less spirit and enthusiasm than himself would have perished upon this occasion 5 but resolved not to 'give up the only chance that was left to save himself, he attacked a fellow who was making off loaded, amongst other things, with the holsters containing his pistols. The Indian, who had never seen holsters before, and had not remarked the pistols in them, was not a little surprised to see one of them drawn out, cocked, and presented to his head. Without this persuasive argument he would never have been able to obtain his horse again, which he now did, and thus procured the means of delivering himself from this one of the most lawless and insolent of all the tribes.

November 14.—The succeeding day was excessively rainy and uncomfortable. St. Louis, as long as fine weather lasts, is agreeable enough for a residence of a few days. I certainly never was in any

other place where there were so many people remarkabie for the adventurous lives they had Jed. Almost all of them had been engaged as trappers in, the recesses of the Rocky Mountains, and some of them were notorious for the desperate encounters they had had with the Blackfeet and other formidable Indians. The days passed very pleasantly when I could get out to talk to these men, and listen to their wild and rude narratives; but, confined to the

58 Unpleasant Atmosphere,

house, with incessant heavy rains, and no place to go to but the public room, frequented by the disgusting people who are always smoking, chewing, and spitting, accustomed to make no difference betwixt the inside and outside of a house, the moments passed heavily, and our cellar was becoming so damp that we were getting very tired of it.

November 15 On the morrow we had no abatement of the rain, and the air in the cellar began to smell so unwholesome, that we were forced to go to what the servants called " up stars ;" but up stars was as bad as down stars, so vulgar and filthy had everything become; and, going from one to the other, at length both M. and myself began to feel unwell. T began to fear now that one or both of us would have a fit of sickness, and determined to go on board some steamer, and proceed to the Ohio, if the weather did not change. I accordingly went to the quay and engaged a berth in the steamer Potosi, bound for Louisville. On my return we found an invitation for M. and myself to a soirée, the next evening, at Mrs. B——s, a rich widow, whose husband had been killed in a duel some time before. As this would help to get over the time, we were glad of it, and accepted the invitation.

November 16.—The weather happily cleared up to-day, so that we could get out and breathe the fresh air. Immediately after breakfast I sallied out to the quarries, where every thing was nice and clean, and working away vigorously, I got rid of my headache, and acquired some fine fossils and a good appetite for the excellent dinner I found on my

General Lafayettte. 59

.¥eturn. In the evening we dressed and presented ourselves at the fair widow's, who received us most ' graciously. The rooms were filled with company, and I had no idea that such a collection of welldressed and agreeable people could be got together in St. Louis. Every thing was done in the best manner; the refreshments .were various and good; we had vocal music, both [talian and English, and many of the ladies were agreeable in their persons and pleasing and cheerful in their manners. I was. told that this was one of the handsomest parties that had been given in St. Louis, and was almost equat in brillianey to one that Mrs. B. had given to General Lafayette when he paid his last celebrated visit to the United States.

This distinguished person, whose career had. been go extraordinary, who had done so much to over+ throw the mouarchy of his own country, and who had all but brought his own neck to the guillotine in his vain efforts to save the life of the sovereign he had assisted to ruin, and to guide the storm he had too inconsiderately been one of the first to set in motion, had a conspicuous failing in his personal vanity, which sometimes exposed his amour propre to be greatly wounded. His ambition was to be considered in France as a French Washington, and to be looked upon in America as an American Frenchman, He professed to love the Americans as much as he did his own countrymen, if not more; he always called himself an American, and indeed he was consistent in bis conduct to his adopted brethren, extending to them individually, when in

60 His Reception In The United States.

France, more hospitality and kindness than all maukind collectively did: During his triumphant tour in the United States his popularity was unbounded; the government at Washington, those of the different states—all of which he visited—the citizens without respect of party, all considered him the national guest, being at that time the only surviving general officer of the American army, when Washington commanded it soon. after the commencement of hostilities. Wherever he went, his table was found at the public expense, and all his expenditure during his journeys through the continent was defrayed by the authorities of the states through which he passed. During many months it was a perfect holiday and public rejoicing wherever he appeared. Long before he reached St. Louis his name was familiarly known to every man, woman, and child in the United States. , But as there is an exception to every thing, so there was in this particular instance, for a very worthy old lady of St. Louis, who was proof against enthusiasm of every kind, had never even heard of Lafayette until the moment that public fame asserted that "General Lafayette was coming to St. Louis," and from that time indeed nothing else was talked about. Mys. B., however, was to give this great man a great party, and the old lady, being a friend, was invited with everybody that was respectable. Overpowering was the reception that he met with at this party; every individual there was personally presented to him, and had the honour of shaking hands and listening to a few honied

Wounded Vanity. . 61

words from his practised lips. When it came to the old Jady's turn, the General took her hand affectionately, and expressed a tender hope that she was in good uealth. "Lord, General," said she, "how well you speak English; was you ever in America before?" This tremendous state of innocency of the past almost overcame the General; the chief that had never flinched before a cannon faltered, for the first time; his vanity was disturbed, and he knew not what to answer. To relate to her his first furtive departure from France, with all his achievements, including the battle of Brandywine, or to advise her to fead the newspapers for the last six months, where every paragraph spoke of hardly any thing but: Lafayette, and his movements, was too great an undertaking. He thought it best, therefore, to make her a respectful bow without answering her, and, as my informant said, "looked very scary" when the next person presented was about to address him, apprehensive lest St. Louis had not been sufficiently penetrated by his fame. This looks like a story got up for the occasion, but it was related to me by a lady who was standing next to him when this eminent person was thus sadly diseoncerted.

Nov. 16.—It was a late hour before we left the party and reached our cellar. In the morning I fell into a frightful dream, and struggling with it, awoke: casting my eyes around, to my great astonishment I observed the room filled with tobaccosmoke, and three slender-looking Indians sitting in silence upon our trunks smoking their pipes as

62 Nez Perches Indians,

earnestly as if they were attempting to suffucate us, which, no doubt, they might have accomplished in. time, the space being very small and without any chimney to carry off the poisoned air. I immediately jumped out of bed, drove them out of the room, and opened the little window which communicated with the yard. Who these Indians were, and where they came from, was a mystery to us until Capt. 8. made his appearance, and then we learnt that they were Nez Percés from the western side of the Rocky Mountains, who had left that country with him, but who had only reached St. Louis in the night. Hearing that we were Captain S.'s friends, they took it for granted that where we were he would be found, and, therefore, established themselves in our room whilst we were sleeping, just as if it had beenatent. They were gentle, intelligent beings, corresponding with, the accounts I had received of them from Captain S., who had resided a long time in their country. After breakfast I got a fair vocabulary of their language from them. When they were first called Nez Percés I do not know, but the Indian name by which they are known is Sah haptinnay.

Having seen so much of St. Louis and its society as we were desirous of doing, we determined to leave it immediately; but as my frionds proposed visiting New Orleans and other places which I had already seen, before they returned to the Atlantic cities of the United States, we separated here with the hope of meeting again at Washington during the winter. Bidding them adieu, I sent my lug-

Termination Of The Year'S Excursion. 63

gage on board the Potosi bound to Louisville on the Ohio, and embarking early in the afternoon, got once more upon the ample bosom of the Mississippi. From hence the route by which I proposed to return has been partly described in the tour I made in 1834, and indeed has been so well described by other tourists, that it would be foreign to my purpose of only laying before my readers an account of regions of country comparatively unknown, if I were further to extend the narrative of this year's excursion, which will close here.

64 Examination Of The Wisconsin Lead Region.

Chapter Xlii.

RETURN TO GALENA.—A SINGULAR LONDON COCKNEY METAMORPHOSED INTO AN AMERICAN COLONEL AND DRIVER OF A STAGE-cOACH. — MANNER OF MORRIS BIRKBECK'S DEATH.—REACH MINPRAL POINT.— AN OBLIGING JODGE.—LEAD AND copPuR " DIGGINGS.

Growth Of Twelve Large Cities In Two Years. Raints.

May 19—On my first visit to the Wisconsin territory in 1835, it will be seen, in the preceding pages, that I approached it by the way of the Great Lakes, and descending in my birch-bark canoe the river which bears that name, got into the Mississippi at Prairie du Chien. The extraordinary extent of the district in the western country from which galena is extracted, and the great quentity of it, which I afterwards learnt at Galena was annually produced in the territory, made me very desirous, as I have before stated, at page 36, of inspecting it personally. Accordingly, in the spring of 1837, as soon as the proper season had arrived, I put myself in motion again, and after travelling more than 2,000 miles, reached the town of Galena, in the state of Illinois, on the 19th of May. On my way there I had the pleasure ,of meeting, at St. Louis, a scientific friend,* well known to English geologists, and, embarking in a steamer, we reached the town of Galena together. Having engaged a barbarous sort of waggon of a

Mr. B.C, T. .

Adventures Of A Cockney. 65

curious, speculating person, called Dr. Phillyo, we left the town, as soon as we could get ready, for Afineral Point, a recent settlement in the interior, near to some lead mines, amongst which were intermixed, as we were informed, some veins of copper. Nothing could be more uninteresting than the prairie country we passed over. Regions of this character, whilst possessed by the Indians, have much interest attached to them: the tfaveller's movements are not without a touch of romance; and at night, when his camp is properly fixed, there is cleanliness and comfort to be obtained. But the advancing tide of white population, amongst which we had now got, had destroyed every chance of these: the miserable low taverns were kept by greedy, vulgar adventurers, who had come into the country to torment it with what they call "diggings," a name they give to the rude, shallow shafts, a few feet deep, which they sink in search of metal. Nothing could exceed the ignorance and filthy habits of the working miners; the greater number of whom, being without skill, and becoming finally disappointed in their expectations, had fallen into the lowest state of poverty. Mr. Phillyo had given us as the "driver" of our 'vehicle, a droll Cockney Englishman, about five feet Ligh, and near sixty years old, born in London, who, by his own account, had never had either father or mother that he knew, and who had picked up his living in the streets there from his fifth year. By some chance, he had fallen under the protection of Mr. Morris Birkbeck, who had brought him to VOL. 1. F

66 Death Of Morris Birkbeck,

the United States; but since his death he had been knocked about in various capacities, and had at length reached what may be called the bathos of all human desires for an Englishman, the situation of driver of this most wretched stage, as he called it, which was dragged by two lame, miserable horses, through a country without the vestige of any thing like comfort.

At the top of his strange physiognomy was stuck the filthy remnant of what had once been a fur cap; about his neck was a disgusting handkerchief that had never been washed ; an old, ragged, red blanket coat, thrice too large for him, covered his person, and beneath its ample skirts appeared two odd boots, that had been patched and repatched so often, that, as he said, they had been made nowhere. One of them, he remarked, was so plaguily large, that he had cut o hole in the foot to let fhe water out; and the other was such.a blessed sight too small, that he had cut a hole in that~to_let his toes out. Everybody we met seemed to know him,: and called him colonel, except one person, who said: "Ginneral, I guess it's a toss-up whether your cattle or your stage break down first."

From this fellow I got a detailed account of the manner of poor Birkbeck's death. He was crossing a very swollen stream on horseback, when he got entangled with a tree that was coming down with the torrent, and finding it doubtful, perhaps, whether he could extricate himself, he endeavoured to dismount and swim to the bank; but, unfortunately, as he was striking off, the horse, that was struggling

Mineral Point. 67

very hard, kicked him in the temple, and becoming senseless, he sank and was drowned.

At a place called Belmont, about twenty-eight miles from Galena, we stopped for a short time to rest our nags, and after driving about twelve miles further through a more wooded courtry, we reached Mineral Point, or rather its suburbs, where were various small wooden honses, stuck up ata distance from each other. With difficulty, we procured a room to sleep in at the post-mastet's; and, it being evening, had scarce got our trunks out of the vehicle, when we were marched to his brother's, who was an apothecary, to sup. The supper consisted of fried ham, coffee, bread and butter, and treacle, served up in a cleanly way, and being hungry with our drive, we made a very hearty meal. As soon as our repast was over, I walked out to look at the place.

The village of Mineral Point is built upon the edge of a coulée (as a ravine or valley betwixt two ridges is called in this part of the western country), a short distance from the upland containing the suburb at which we had stopped. It was an exceedingly miserable place, built there, apparently, on account of a small rivulet, which is a branch of the Peccatonic River. It contained two filthy-looking taverns, into which I ventured to enter for a moment, both of which seemed to be very full, a court of justice being held at this time, which had collected 4 great many parties and witnesses. We had been referred to these taverus for lodgings, as the post-

F2

68 An Authorized Intruder.

master had told me it was not possible for him to give us quarters for more than one night; but I was not sorry to learn that none were to be had, being thoroughly disgusted with the dirty appearance of every thing; and then such a set of " ginnerals, colonels, judges, and doctors," as were assembled there, was any thing but inviting, and most of these dignitaries, as I was informed, were obliged to sleep on the floor. This was exactly what I had to do at the post-master's, whose house, at any rate, was clean. May 20.—On awaking the next morning, I found it exceedingly cold, and asked permission to have a fire lighted, which was very obligingly granted. Some wood was accordingly brought in, and just as I had got it nicely burning and was preparing to make my 'toilette, a dirty, unshaven, but confident-looking fellow, walked into the room, with nothing but his nether garments on, and immediately turning his back to the fire, engrossed it all to himself. His freeand-easy way was not atall to mytaste, and threatened to interfere very much witb my comfort. Under other circumstances, I should not have hesitated to have turned him out; but, sitaated as I was, it was far from a safe proceeding, or, indeed, a justifiable one. It was certainly very cold, and I should have been glad to have had the fire to myself; but I had been treated hospitably, and the least I could do wag to be hospitable to others; besides, my bare-footed friend had an air about him that imported something beyond the low swaggerer, something that smacked of authority—for authority is a thing that, from

One Of The Uses Of A Fork. 69

habit or from the dignity inherent in it, has a peculiar, inexplicable way of revealing itself. This might be the governor, or some great man, en déshabille, so I thought it best io meet him in his own manner, by slipping a pair of pantaloons on, and then addressing him in a friendly manner. It was most fortunate that I acted just as it became me to do, for he soon let me know who he was. He was no less a personage than "tke Court," for so they generally call the presiding judge in the United States, and was beyond all question the greatest man in the place. He was, in fact, the personage of the locality for the moment, and it turned out that the postmaster had given him up bis only good bedroom, and that he had good-naturedly given it up to me for one night, and had taken the " Majesty of the Law" to sleep behind the counter, in a little shop where the post-office was kept, with Dlankets, crockery, cheese, and all sorts of things around him, and had very naturally come to warm himself in his own quarters.

The Court and myself now got aiong very well together j he had been bred tv the law in the western country, did not want for shrewdness, was goodnatured, but was evidently a man of low habits and manners. He was very much amused with my apparatus for dressing, which was simple enough; a nail-brush was quite uew to him, and he remarked that "it was a considerable better invention than a fork, which he said he had seen people use when they had too much. dirt in their nails." He didn't see why I wanted so many tooth-brushes." Ie "once

70 One Of The Uses Of A Tooth-Brush,

carried one, but it was troublesome, though the handle was convenient to stir brandy-sling with." After a while he left me, to dress himself after his fashion, and a little after 6 a.m. I was called to the apothecary's to breakfast, where the same viands with which we had been regaled the preceding evening were spread upon the table, without any change.

I had at various periods investigated portions of the extensive western district containing galena or sulphurate of lead, but never had had sufficient leisure to make an accurate and minute survey of the strata, and their metallic contents. Having now with me a scientific friend, and being in a part of the country offering many natural facilities, we agreed to make something like a regular survey, and ascertain the real geological structure and nidus of the metallic contents of the rocks. Asa preliminary step, we walked over to what they called the Copper Mines, and found that very little work had been done, and that altogether superficial. Veryextravagant accounts of these copper mines had been circulated by interested persons, and we saw at once that they would rerfuire a great deal of gullibility on the pact of purchasers to be got rid of; my description, however, of these, as well as of the beds containing the sulphurate of lead, will be thrown into a separate chapter. After wandering about the whole day, we returned in the evening to our quarters, and sat down again to ham and treacle. Here it was announced to us that we had to "shift" our lodgings, as the Court had only bargained to sleep behind the counter with the crockery and cheese one night. We had, therefore,

A Treacle Diet. 71

to make the best of it, and Jay down on the floor of the eating-room. It was evident that every thing was make-shift at Mineral Point, but certainly we found everybody very obliging. ' May 21.—My berth was both cold and hard, and Tlonged for the morning. About 5 a.m. a woman walked into the room and told us we must get up, forshe wanted to sweep the room and "lay the things," as the family breakfasted at six. Having borrowed a bucket from her, I drew some water at the well, and having made my toilet, came back to the room to warm myself at the fire; but, alas, there was not even a fire-place in it; so I took to walking up and down the middle of the high road to keep myself warm. Not a leaf was to be seen on the few stunted trees here and there, and the chilly, comfortless state of the weather was in perfect keeping with the dismal aspect of the place. At length came the summons to the never-failing repast of coffee, rice, treacle, and bread and butter. Having got into conversation with some of the people of the place, I found that the inhabitants produced nothing of any kind whatever for their subsistence, not even a cubbage, for there was not a garden in the place, and that they were as dependent upon others as if they were on board a ship. Every thing they ate and drank was brought from adistance by waggons at a great expense. Flour, the price of which in the Atlantic states was five and six dollars a barrel, was as high as fourteen here: fresh meat of any kind was altogether unknown; and indeed everybody lived from hand to mouth, without once dreaming of personal comfort.

72 Superficial Diggings For Galena,

The sole topic which engrossed the general mind was the production of galena and copper, especially the first, upon which they relied to pay for every thing they consumed, no one possessing capital beyond that which a transient success might furnish him with,

It was, in fact, a complete nest of speculators, with workmen following in their train; traders again upon their traces, to sell goods and provisions ; doctors, to give physic and keep boarding-houses ; and lawyers, to get a living out of this motley and needy population. With but few exceptions, the diggings for metal were quite superficial; such a thing asa steam-engine, to drain a shaft or hoist out the " mineral," as it was called, was unknown here ; so that, as soon as the superficial diggings were exhausted, the population was always prepared to flock to another quarter. But change of place/is not often accompanied with wounded feelings in the United States. Men do not always seem to select situations in that country with a view to live tranquilly and happily, but to try to find ready money by digging for it, or to live upon others; the moment they find there is no likelihood of success, they go to another place.

After our treacle and coffee, we started again for the copper diggings, and passed the whole day examining the ravines where any rocks presented themselves, to make ourselves masters of the stratification; visiting some shafts that had been sunk, and commencing a general levelling of the whole locality. This was a day of some fatigue to us, as

Perseverance Rewarded. 73

we extended our examinations several miles down. the Peccatonic, where we found a blast-furnace in operation, for smelting the galena.

We reached our quarters at the apothecary's at sunset, and just as I was going to the usual dose of treacle and rice, I became aware that I had lost my bunch of keys, all of them patent locks: a very serious misfortune in a country where it could not be repaired. I was exceedingly annoyed, as there was no remedy but to break open all my locks, including my secretary ; but remembering that I had stooped some time at a heap of copper ore, hammering some pieces for the sake of procuring some fine specimens of green acicular crystals, I announced my determination to return there at once.

Much pains were taken to deter me from this attempt, but in vain: the Joss would be productive of so much inconvenience, that I was determined to make an effort to prevent it; so takiug a lantern with me, and matches to light it, if it should be necessary, I started at a round pace, and quite alone, for the place I had in view, which was about three miles off, on a lone sort of moor, where no individual resided, and reached it just at night. In vain did I search the whole locality for an hour, and was just about to depart, with the intention of making a more thorough search the next day, when, by the aid of my light, I saw something rather red peeping from beneath some ore, and, delighted at the discovery, T seized hold of it, and dragged forth my keys. I mention this trivial incident for the purpose of stating that in my excursions I always tie a piece of

74 Magnificent Cities,

red official tape to the ring of my keys, for that is seen better, if you drop them, than they are. This was not the only time it had been so serviceable to me. On my return, I said nothing at first about having found my keys, and the party at the apotheeary's, believing I had not succeeded, attempted to console me by saying I had done a very foolish thing in going at that time of the night to look for them. I could only answer them, that as I was not in the habit of only washing, shaving, and dressing myself once a week, my keys were almost as necessary to me every day as my food. When they learnt, however, that I had been successful, they very goodnaturedly expressed their satisfaction, and I came in for my share of the treacle as well as themselves, the apothecary declaring that I deserved it, and that he would not have taken such a walk as that alone, at that time of the night--ne, he guessed " not fora dollar."

On our way Son: St. Louis to this place, I had observed that the conversation amongst the other passengers in the steamer turned almost exclusively upon the value of lots or building-places in some new cities, upon a magnificent scale, which had been projected since I had visited this part of the world in 1835. These cities were so numerous, that at first I was completely baffled to find an adequate cause for such an amazing increase of population as had forced into existence at least a dozen new cities, each capable of containing 500,000 inhabitants; for towns in America, at least in the new parts of it, are only congregations of people who intend to live upon

Marion City. 75

the surrounding neighbourhoods. But that those cities had a real substantial existence, no person, least no European, could reasonably doubt; for elaborate engravings of them, executed with taste by artists in the Atlantic cities, were profusely circulated. Cathedrals, cottages, churches, institutions of all kinds, squares, theatres, and streets without number, all bearing the most attractive patriotic names, were set forth with a detail and minute accuracy that bade defiance to scepticism ; and to these engraved plans were aunexed eloquent descriptions of the salubrity of the climate, the purity of the waters, the curative qualities of the rare mineral springs, with many other unparalleled advantages incident to these much-favoured localities.

It was quite impossible for any uninitiated person, especially if honest himself, to suppose that all this was architectural poetry, and that in almost every case the engravings had been made without any reference to the nature of the ground upon which these modern Thebes were supposed to stand; and above all, to imagine it possible that in no instance had any survey of the ground, where all these squares and streets were laid out, been at any time made.

On approaching, therefore, on the second day of my departure from St. Louis, that most respectable metropolis called A/arion City, I was perfectly certain of seeing at least the rudiments of a great city, and the sons of Hiram busily engaged with tie level and the square. This wonder of the western world—which I had been told it was destined to be

76 A City Of The Saints,

—was projected by a well-known preacher, of very extraordinary piety, in one of the Atlantic cities. The title of the land upon which it was to be erected was first acquired at the government price of a dollar and a quarter an acre, which is about six shillings. A noble plan was then lithographed, containing churches, colleges, squares, and streets, all bearing evangelical denominations. It was to be a City of the Saints, and only to be inhabited by the Elect. God, it was declared, was to be glorified there as he never had been glorified ; and what was particularly attractive was, that wealth was to be amassed as it had never been amassed before. There were to be no profane dwellers in it and no papermoney, and salvation and specie-paying banks were . to constitute an earthly paradise of Marion City. The reverend gentleman who was the prime mover of so much worldly blessedness used his opportunities well, and the faithful purchased their lots freely of him. A well-known senator of the United States, who knew all about his proceedings, assured me that nothing could surpass the zeal of the pious proprietor to get the Chosen together into this happy Marion City, and that one of his reverend coadjutors in one of the western towns informed his congregation, after a very exciting discourse delivered from the pulpit, that the Rev. was in the vestry ready to sell pious brethren lots in Marion City; and so ex+ cited were they by the extravagant expectations they had been taught to entertain of thespiritual and other advantages which an interest in the City of Saints

Madison City. 7

would give them, that they rushed to the bait, and again made a temple consecrated to the Lord a den of thieves and fools.

When, after bearing so much of this Marion City, my eyes first opened upon it, I saw nothing but an extensive bottom of very low land, with a few straggling wooden buildings scattered here and there. A more desolate and unpromising-looking residence I never beheld. The captain of the steamer, who from. his constant voyages, was familiarly acquainted with the place, told me that it was inundated at every rise of the Mississippi, and that it was a place that never could become a "resting-place for man." The few persons that had attempted to settle there were, he said, perfectly wretched, and were already looking out for an abode blessed with fewer perfections.

Muay 22.—All this was forcibly brought to my recollection by the arrival of a person at the apothecary's, bringing with him some elaborately-engraved plans of various cities in the territory of Wisconsin, some forty miles from Mineral Point, in the vicinity of Tychéberah, or the Four Lakes. These cities, this person insisted, had at least been surveyed, the lots had all been regularly marked out, and the settlements most flourishingly commenced. One of them, according to him—and our host confirmed this part of his story—was to be the seat of government of the future State of Wiscousin, and was named Madison. Judging from his earnestness that he was concerned in the success of these magnificent enterprises, IT made no suspicious remarks, and merely asked for some information, as I intended to

278 Promising Investments,

visit those lakes, of whose beauty I had heard a great deal said. But I missed my mark this time, for our friend did not possess a tithe of the information about the country that I had collected myself. All that I could gather from him was, that they were the finest cities upon the "univarsal arth :" which was the best of them to live in he could not tell, but he "guessed that any man that would lay out his money in lots in Madison, it would tumble overtail-twenty times in five years, and you-can't do better than that, stranger, go whare you will." I learnt afterwards that this fellow had never'been in this part of the country before; that he had purchased some of these engraved plans not long before at Louisville, and with that prodigious stock of assurance that so much distinguishes the "go-ahead" men in these western parts, had started upon the very original plan of offering for sale at least 100,000 city building-lots for any thing whatever he could get for them from the dupes he might mect with, pretending to have an office of business at Milwaukee, and giving an engagement to deliver a title there as soon as some formality or other had been passed through the legislature. He had even paid his fare in the steamers more than once with his lots, and had sported them at the gambling-table.

The Trade Of The ' Smart Creetur." 79

Chapter Xliii.

SMART MEN.—-A TRIAL POR MURDER,—THE JUDGE TOO DRUNK TO PRO- NOUNCR THE SENTENCE.—DEPART FOR }YCHOBERAH.—VISIT GOVERNOR DODGH.—GREAT BEAUTY OF THE WISCONSIN PRAIRIES.—ADVANCE IN SEARCH OF SEVEN LARGE CITIES, EACH CAPABLE OF CONTAINING HALF. A MILLION OF INHABITANTS.

May 23.—I was promoted from the floor of the eating-room to a small apartment at the top of the house, having reached which, I discovered it was the apothecary's shop of our host, and the smell of asafeetida being inconveniently strong just where I was obliged to lay my head, I passed a most extra~ ordinary night. The weather in the morning continued extremely cold, not a bud on the trees swelling. I was informed that warm weather was so uncertain in this part of the country, that many persons did not take their fire-stoves down at all. After breakfast I met with the vender of cities again as I was walking to the copper-veins, and got into an easy conversation with him, without pretending to question the respectability of his vocation. Certainly, nothing can be more disgusting than the barefaced frauds practised by these "smart crecturs" that are roving about wherever men are to be found, for the express purpose of cheating their fellow-beings.

May 24.—In the course of the day I met witha very clever sort of person, called Messersmith, uniting in

80 Death Of Indians From Small-Pox,

himself the vocations of miner and farmer. We informed me that his settlement was not much out of the way to Tychdberah, or the Four Lakes, and invited me to call and see him on my way there. The account he gave me of the sufferings of the Indians from the small-pox was very affecting, He had found a chicf dead in one of the purification lodges of the women: having become blind and helpless, his two squaws, fearing that he and they would perish from the infection, as the whole tribe had almost done, had abandoned him and endeavoured to reach another part of the country ; but they also were found dead in the woods some time after, of the same disorder. I extended my excursion some distance down. the valley of the Peccatonic, and having got out of the reach of the settlement, started a great many fine tetrao. The stream was now a mere rivulet, but flowed in an ancient channe) 800 yards broad, which bore all the marks of being once filled' with a powerful river. The adjacent country was almost entirely prairie, of a rolling and anticlinal character, the strata dipping N. E. aud 8. W., and sometimes presenting natural sections in the coulées or valleys, much dislocated and shattered, the face of the country sufficiently resembling the character of the Alleghany mountains to refer such configuration of surfaces to the same cause.

May 25.—This was an exceedingly cold morning, but having laid in my supply of coffee and treacle, I betook myself into the interior again, and after rather a fagging day, returned in the evening to the treaclepot. In my various adventures I never had been

A Trial For Murder. 81

more curiously fed than at present; and what appears rather odd now is, that I began to take very kindly to it. The fact was, that, knowing there was nothing better to be had, I followed out my old plan of being contented with the best, which is the true way of getting accustomed to the worst.

Thad heard much of a trial for murder that was to take place in the evening, and as amusement aud characteristic manners are usually to be found upon such occasions, especially in the western country, I went to the court-house, which was a log building made of squared timber. It was but a sorry exhibition of a court of justice, dark, and filled with filthy-looking men, spitting about in every direction. The prisoner was an impudent, ill-looking fellow, of the name of McComber, and it appeared on the trial, that in a revengeful spirit, for some supposed injury, he had steadily followed up one Willard, a nephew of General Dodge, the governor of the territory, and seizing Lis opportunity, had shot him. The court was my old friend with his breeches on; but, sorry am to say, he was ill-dressed, excessively dirty, unshaven, and had his jaws tied up in an old silk handkerchief, having, as he told the jury, " got the mumps." The prosccuting attorney, who summed up, exceeded all the pleaders I ever listened to for absurdity of language and bad grammar, and had evidently come from the very lowest class. The following was one of his grave passages, intended to be very impressive.

"Yes, gentlemen of the jury, he is proved to have been maliciously andafurcthought contriving this here

VoL. I. @

82 tHe " COURT " TOO DRUNK.

business. Ie was scen walking up and down, backwards and forwards, with solemnity, and to make the act more solemn, he did the solemnest thing a man can do when he is coming to a solemn thought, and determines on it, by the smoking of the pipe. Yes, he concluded by the smoking of the pipe; and if that beent, as you may say, putting the cap a top, why then, I don't know what is." The twang, the appearance, and gestures of the orator are wanting to do justice to this eloquent passage. At the conclusion of this speech the court adjourned the proceedings until the succeeding evening, and dismissed us, to go where we pleased, jury and all.

May 26.—This day my companion and myself, having procured some assistance, continued our levellings, and at the conclusion of our labours we returned to our quarters, where we learnt that the jury had sent a sealed verdict to the judge, having found the prisoner guilty, and that sentence was to be passed upon him at eight o'clock. The court, my old friend, had. not arrived when I entered the court-house, and I was occupied looking at the convicted prisoner, whose eyes were glancing in an unquiet manner about the room, when the judge, his person in the greatest disorder, his neck-handkerchief awry, and his clothes partly unbuttoned, entered the court-room, staggering drunk, and 'after the most frightful exhibition of impotent inebriety, just managed to reach his judgment-seat without falling.

I have been present at many rare and curious

A Shocking Burlesque. 83

spectacles, but never before assisted at one so peculiarly and intensely shocking as this; most of the persons present evinced great dissatisfaction, and some of them proposed to lead him away. Leaning sideways, and not looking at anybody, he attempted to address the jury, but he was too far gone even to "talk straight." This horrid burlesque was gradually creating a strong feeling of indignation in the spectators, and I thought it probable at one time that they would scize him and duck him in the stream, which would certainly have been putting the "cap a top," as the solemn attorney suid the preceding evening. As to the prisoner, who no doubt was turning the chances in his mind, he looked at his judge and seemed quite baffled at the probable nature of the coming sentence which the fiery dictates of whiskey might suggest. The prosecuting attorney, now feeling that his own dignity was at stake, addressed him, and entreated him to defer the sentence until morning. As it was out of his power to utter any reasons against the court's adjourning until that time, the attorney directed proclamation to be made, and we left the court, the réeling majesty of the law being led publicly to his lodgings by two of the constables.

May 27.—After breakfast I returned to the court-house to witness the conclusion of this disgraceful affair. The judge arrived and took his seat with that wretched and haggard appearance that individuals bear who are far advanced in mania potu; and, after a few absurd phrases, sentenced the murderer to pay a fine of three hundred dollars, and

a2

84 The Murderer At Large.

to be imprisoned until the fine was paid. The disgusting farce being over, the convict was conducted to the log hut which was appointed to be the jail, and as soon as they opened the door to let him in, I saw him make a couple of ground somersets, the jJast of which carried him into his lodgings. These consisted of a solitary log-house, with one room on the ground and a window with some iron bars. No sooner had they locked him in, than he began to crow with all bis might. His numerous friends now went to talk to him at the window, and during the day brought him food and whiskey. In the course of the night he evaporated, and so ended the affair; for as to apprehending him a second time, few persons would be found to attempt that, it being universally known that when frontier bloods of his calibre once imbrue their hands in blood, they entertain no seruples about taking the lives of those who come with hostile intentions against them.

May 28.—Having finished our investigations in the course of the day, I began to pack up my fossils and minerals, preparatory to an excursion to Tychoberah. A more melancholy and dreary place than this Mineral Point I never expect to see again : we had not tasted a morscl of fresh meat, or fish, or vegetables, since we had been here. There was not a vestige of a garden in the place, and the population seemed quietly to have resigned itself to an everlasting and unvarying diet of coffee, rice, treacle and bread, and salt butter, morning, noon, and night, without any other variety than that of occasionally getting a different cup and saucer.

- Depart For Tychoberah. 85

May 29.—Having engaged a waggon, we took our places in it very early, and I turned my back, not unreluctantly, upon our late quarters, leaving my Inggage to keep company with the assafcetida until my return. We were now bound to Tychsberah, and to those prairies and lakes whose beauty had been so much extolled to me. Afudison City, too, was an attraction before us; in truth, we had been so wretchedly off at our apothecary's, that we were convinced any change would be much for the better, and were ardently longing to see new faces in the shape of potatoes, fresh fish, and meat. As to architectural expectations, I was cautious enough, in consequence of my late experience, not to entertain any very exalted ones, and therefore limited my anticipations to the larder of the best tavern of the metropolis of the territory, where it was clear there must be something better than treacle and assafcetida. About five miles from Mineral Point we called upon the governor, General Dodge, at a quiet cabin he had built for himself in a small secluded valley, tolerably well wooded, and spent half an hour with him. This gentleman, at that time the chief magistrate of the territory, was said to be a perfect western character. Thad seen him on horseback in the streets of Mineral Point, and was struck with the appearance of his accoutrements, having, although dressed in plain clothes, immense horse pistols staring out of his holsters. He had been brought up on the frontiers, and since his manhood had been rather notorious for his desperate feuds with various individuals, many of whom still surviving, he always

86 A Hospitable Family.

went armed, the invariable practice of bloods of his calibre being to fire immediately at any hostile approach.

Ou taking our leave of his excellency, we passed some " diggings," with a few miserable huts erected near them, dignified with, the name of Dodgeville. From hence we pursued our way across a rolling prairie, covered with charming wild-flowers, and then came to some woodland, where the country became somewhat billy, Here, at noon, we were met by my acquaintance, Mr. Messersmith, who was on the lookout for us, and who conducted us to his farm-house, situated at the bottom of a little wooded dell, near a copious spring of delicious clear water. We were received in the kindest manner by his family, and after partaking of a homely repast, served to us with unceasing kindness, we set out on a long ramble to visit his diggings, which appeared te be very productive. On our return to the farm we were surprised by a hurricane and a heavy storm, accompanied with torrents of rain, in which we had to walk about four miles drenched through and through. We were glad to get back to our host's cabin, and repair our misfortune as well as we could at a rousing wood fire. Mrs. Messersmith then gave us a cup of coffee, and we lay down whilst our clothes were taken care of by the good lady.

May 30.—At the dawn of day I rose, and, finding my clothes comfortably dried, dressed, and went to the beautiful spring, where, having made my ablutions, I took a stroll before breakfast ; and, having taken our cup of coffee and thanked our friends for

A Beautiful Country. 87°

their very hospitable reception, we again got into our waggon, and drove sixteen miles over the prairieto the Blue Mounds, two considerable elevations of rock, consisting of a silicious hornstone, resembling that which I had seen in 1834 in the lead district of Missouri. The galena procured in this neigh~ bourhood is so very white and brittle, and contains such a superabundance of sulphur, that upon breaking many of the cubes, I generally found erystals of pure sulphur within. We here found an old bachelor, named Brigham, living in a log hut at this solitary place, following, as everybody does in this territory, the occupation of a miner. He gave us a couple of hard-boiled eggs and some stale bread, and charged us about ten times what they were worth for them. Pursuing our journey, at one p.m. we passed the military road leading to Fort Winnebago and Navarino, and soon afterwards got into one of the most exquisitely beautiful regions I have ever seen in any part of the world. The prairie that had hitherto been distinguished by a regular rolling surface, here changed its character, and took the form of ridges somewhat elevated, which frequently resolved themselves into masses of gracefully-rounded hills, separated by gentle depressions, that occasionally became deepened valleys. In these, some of the heads of a stream called Sugar River, a tributary of Rock River, took their rise. In whatever direction our eyes were turned, the most pleasing irregularities of surface presented themselves. But that which crowned the perfection of the view, and imparted an indescribable charm to the whole scene, from the

88 Resembles Park Scenery.

knoll where we stood to the most distant point where the alternate hills and vales blended with the horizon, was the inimitable grace with which the picturesque clumps of trees, that sometimes enlarged themselves into woods, embellished this rural landscape from the band of Nature.

Here a thick grove hanging upon the slope of a hill, distinguished by its symmetry from its numerous companions, impended over the amenity of the valley beneath; whilst, further on, a more robust line of dense foliage betrayed the ample volume of some pellucid stream whence it was nourished. Turn where we would, every object within the ample range concurred to cherish and to establish more indelibly the pleasing impression caused by the whole; whilst the softness of these attractions contrasted here and there so strikingly with the noble rock escarpments peering out from the bluffs, that Nature might be said to speak to you in a voice that must be listened to, and to tell you that she had here surpassed the most polished efforts of English park scenery, the most difficult of all her achieve~ ments. Ameriea will justly boast of this unrivalled spectacle when it becomes known, for certainly it is formed of elements that no magic could enable all Europe to bring together upon so great a scale.

The aspect of this lovely country at once accounted fur so great a population flocking to the lakes, on whose cuchanting banks those cities were founded of which we had heard so much, and to which we were now advancing. Four noble lakes in the centre of a region of such unrivalled beauty must constitute

Seven Large Cities. 89

perfection itself. Our expectations were exceedingly raised; every moment produced a new excitement; the occasional glimpse of the shy deer, with their elegant fawns, and the more frequent flushing of the prairie-hen from her nest, gave animation to the still beauty around us. Enraptured with all I saw, I could not but oceasionally reflect on the oddity of seven large cities, each capable of containing a population of half a million of people, having congregated so close together. There was Madison City, which was the metropolis. Adjacent to this was the City of the Four Lakes. A short distance . beyond this was the city of North Madison. Close upon this again was the city of Hast Madison. Then there was the city of West Madison, the city of South Madison, and, finally, the City of' the First Lake. Of each of these I had a beautifully engraved plan, with all its squares, streets, institutions, and temples. a_i The path we were upon was an ancient Indian trail, holding its course steadily from the waters of the Mississippi to Tychdberah, or-the Four Lakes; and, as if all things rare in their nature had here gathered together, to enhance the interest which was inspired by this romantic country, we came to some Indian monuments of a very remarkable character. ,

90 Remarkable Indian Monuments.

Chapter Xliv.

AN EXTRAORDINARY SERIES OF ANCIENT INDIAN MOUNDS. — GREAT EXPECTATION OF GOOD PARE AT MADISON CITY.—THE SEVEN CITIES ALL CONTAINED IN ONE SMALL LOG HUT, WITH A SINGLE ROOM.— MRS. PECK SWEETENS OUR COPFEE.—TWO SMART GUAKERS.—A WIN- KEBAGO BRAUTY AND HER CAVALIER.

TuEsE were figures of animals and men, formed of the soil upon the surface of the ground, about six feet high, in alto-relievo, all of them perfectly distinct, and covered with a sod that appeared to be coeval with that of the prairie itself. Not one of them appeared to have been opened ; and this circumstance, with the novelty of the spectacle, could not fail to detain me until I had examined, measured, and sketched these interesting objects. They were very numerous, and extended more than half a mile ou each side of our road, which, as before mentioned, was an ancient Indian war-path, leading from the waters of the Mississippi, in the direction of the Four Lakes, to Lake Michigan.

Prairie.

eer, heres

Totems Of The Indians. 91

Ata point very near to the trail, was the figure of a man, amidst some oblong mounds, his arms extended north and south, his head lying to the west, and his legs to the east. East from this figure, about 200 feet, was a round tumulus, sufficiently high to overlook every thing around; and about 600 feet east from it was a line of seven buffalo mounds, each representing distinctly the head, horns, neck, fore and hind legs, body, and tail of that animal. Each of these animal mounds measured, from the nose to the tip of the tail, about 120 feet, of which the tail alone measured thirty-six feet. The figure of the man was about 150 feet long, from one extree mity to the other, the limbs twenty feet apart at the east, and all the parts stood in bold relief, about six feet high from the face of the prairie. To the left of the trail was a circle, about sixty feet in diameter.

As we proceeded westward, we found other mounds of a similar 'character; a few, however, differed from them, and appeared rather to take the form of a beaver, as others, in distant parts of the Wisconsin territory, did that of the turtle. At one point near to the trail, was a large animal mound, embossed upon the prairie, betwixt a rampart of earth at least 200 yards long, and a vertical escarpment of incohcrent sandstone, of the same quality with the friable sand-rock I had seen on the banks of the Wisconsin, which underlies the metalliferous limestone.

From the great abundance of mounds, of various kinds, which exist in this fertile territory, it is evident that it must have been in ancient times a

92 Indian Heraldry.

favourite abode of powerful tribes, remarkable for their ingenuity. We know that, having separated into tribes, the buffalo, the turtle, the beaver, and other animals, became the totems or badges of the Indians ; and that, after their rade and simple manner, they used them as heraldie symbols. Amongst the various Indian nations, of which we have any knowledge, in the continent of America, we find its principal beasts and birds selected by them to designate their races, just as those objects in nature, the lion, the eagle, the horse, have been adopted in various parts of the old world ; and it deserves notice that the presumption that the horse was not indigenous to America is strengthened by the fact that no Indian tribe has ever taken that animal for its totem or badge, and that no ancient name for it is to be found in any of their languages.

That these mounds, whatever form has been given to them, are deposits of the dead, has been proved upon numerous occasions. Some of them, of all kinds, have been opened, and have uniformly been found to contain human bones. Nor is each mound the tomb of one individual, for bones are found distributed throughout, aud in such a manner as to shew that layers of bodies have beeen placed side by side, then covered over with earth, and another layer deposited. I can speak with certainty ofthis, having been present at the opening of more than one of them. A collection of such mounds, then, is to be regarded as an Indian cemetery, placed near one of their great war-paths; whilst those representing men may really have been so figured in

Fine Fish In Anticipation. 93

honour of some. conspicuous warriol, whose tomb, thus situated, could be seen and honoured by all who passed up and down the war-path.

Having stopped to make the preseding sketch of these interesting objects, the first of the kind I had ever seen, we hastened on, as the day was drawing to a close, and we had yet some distance tu go to Madison City. For some time I had kept a good look-out for some of the enterprising farmers, who must have come from great distances to this fertile country, and was rather surprised that we should hitherto have met with no one. We had not passed a single farm, and concluded that, being an Indian country, the settlers had clustered round the great city we were bound to, and had established themselves near that lake where the best fish abounded. Fresh fish! prodigious varieties! cat-fish, pike, pickerel, salmon, trout, buffalo, perch! What anticipations for men who had for so many days been bolting pieces of tough fat bacon, cured 1,000 miles off. At length we came to a belt of open trees, and, passing through it, we reached the flat, marshy shores of the largest of the four lakes: we could see almost entirely around it, and much did we look; but, alas! no vestige of human dwelling was in sight.

This considerably changed the current of our thoughts, and materially impaired the beauty of the prospect. Not being disposed to express all we felt, we reluctantly took to the woods again, along the margin of the lake, in the hope to stumble upon some one or other. Night was gradually drawing her veil over every thing, and it became rather doubtful whe-

94 The Grand Entrance Of Madison City.

ther we should not have—in the language of backwoodsmen—to camp out. Keeping, therefore, all my visions of fried fish in the background for a while, I felt for my box of matches, and, finding it safe, turned my attention—as old Indian travellers always do—to the next best thing, a rousing fire to lie down by. Black clouds were forming in the horizon; we had been drenched thoroughly the day before, and it became pretty certain there would be another storm. Groping our way, and occasionally jolting over the fallen trees, we, at the end of an hour and a half, got to the shore of the third lake, having somehow or other missed the second lake, where Madison City was supposed to be. We now changed our course again, and keeping to the north-west, and meandering, and wondering, and shouting for my companion, who had got out of the waggon to follow a small trail he thought he had discovered, I at length gave up the attempt to proceed any further, and, selecting a dry tree as a proper place to bivousc near, had already stopped the waggon, when, hearing my companion's voice shouting for me in a tone that augured something new to be in the wind, I pushed on in that direction, and at length found him standing at the door of a hastilypatched-up log hut, consisting of one room about twelve feet square. C This was Madison City! and, humble as it was, it concentred within itself all the urban importance of the seven cities we had come so far to admire, and to which, according to our engraved plans, Nineveh of old, Thebes with its hundred gates, and

How To Sweeten Coffee. 95

Persepolis, were but baby-houses. Not another dwelling was there in the whole country, and this wretched contrivance had only been put up within the last four weeks. Having secured our horses, we entered the grand and principal entrance to the city, against the top of which my head got a severe blow, it not being more than five feet high from the ground. The room was lumbered up with barrels, boxes, and all manner of things. Amongst other things was a bustling little woman, about as high as the door, with an astounding high cap on, yclept Mrs. Peck. No male Peck was on the ground, but from very prominent symptoms that went before her, another half-bushel seemed to be expected. My first inquiry was, whether she had any fresh fish in the house. The answer was "No!" Inflexible and unwelcome word. No fresh fish! no large, delicious catfish, of twenty pounds' weight,to be fried with pork, and placed before the voracious traveller in quantities sufficient to calm those apprehensions that so often arise in Indian lands, of there not being enough for him to eat until he falls fast asleep. " Why, then," exclaimed my alarmed companion, "what's to be done?" "T calculate I've got some salt pork," rejoined our little hostess. "Then, Madam, you must fry it without the fish," I replied. So to the old business we went, of bolting square pieces of fat pork, an amusement I had so often indulged in, that I sometimes felt as if I ought to be ashamed to look a live pig in the face. Our landlady, however, was.a very active and obliging person; she said she would make us as comfort-

96 Mrs, Peck Blows The Candle Out.

able as it was possible for her to do, and "she guessed" she had a little coffee, and would make us a cup of it. Whether it was acorns, or what it was, puzzled me not a little; it certainly deserved to be thought tincture of myrrh, and, as we drank and grimaced, dear Mrs. Peck, in her sweetest manner, expresssd her regret, that she had no other sugar for our coffee, they having, "somehow or another, not brought any with them."

Whilst we were at this repast, the thunder-storm broke over us, and a deluge of rain came down, streaming through the roof in various places. In the midst of the confusion two other vagabonds came in; one of them a ruffian-looking fellow, who said he was a miner, on his way across the Indian country from Milwaukee: the other, a stupid, boorish, dirty-looking animal, said he had not tasted any thing for two days, having lost his way on the prairie ; and, having been overtaken the preceding night by a very heavy rain, whilst making his way up a coulée or vale, had been afraid to lie on the ground, and had passed the whole night sitting on a fallen tree. Fortunately, there was pork enough for us all, and when our landlady had put the fryingpan to bed, she did the same to us by the act of blowing the candle out? Where she stowed herself was her own secret. Choosing a place between two barrels, T lay down, and drew my cloak over me; of sleep there was very little to be had, for it rained in torrents almost the whole night, and, not having pitched my camp skilfully, it poured upon me from the unfinished roof as I lay stretched upon the floor,

The Passion For Money. 97

not daring to move in the dark, lest I should pull some of the articles of Mrs. Peck's museum upon me, or break some of her crockery.

May 31.—With the first ray of light I jumped up from my uncomfortable berth, and, having procured some dry clothes from my carpet-bag, strode over the two hang-gallows-looking fellows that were snoring near me, and gained the door. The illusion was now dissipated, and I had completely awoke from my dream of the Seven Cities, wondering how I could have ever thought it possible to have so deceived myself. Smart as I knew these western Americans were, I had not thought them so systematically and callously fraudulent as to cause engrayings to be made of cities, with all their concomitant appendages, in countries where not a human being was to be found, and where not a single tree was cut down; and this for the purpose of robbing their own countrymen. To rob strangers might, from the prejudice of education, be considered even meritorious ; but to rob their own countrymen so remorselessly argued an absence of principle so universal and total, that I do not know where it is to be paralleled in history. ;

The all-absorbing passion for moncy, which the absence of those moral distinctions that so much protect society from it in Europe has established in the American mind, has, with this class of men, obliterated every sense of that feeling that naturally inclines men to obey the divine injunction of "doing unto others as ye would they should do unto you." If a smart man cheats any one, no part of the dis-

Vol. 1. : H

98 Two "SMART FRIENDS."

grace of knavery falls upon him; and if one smart man cheats another smart man,* he receives the most

An apt illustration of this was familiarly spoken of and admired when I first visited New York, near forty years ago. An active, extremely shrewd, and " considerable smart" Quaker merchant expected the arriyal from India of a valuable ship and cargo belonging to him; and she was so much out of time, that he partially insured her at a high premium of twenty per cent. The policy, of which a very large portion remained uncovered, was in the hands of a brother Quaker, of great reputation for sagacity and caution, but fond of large premiums. One morning, Friend Jacob B——, the insurer, was seen out very early, laughing and chatting, as if in oue of his happiest moods. The other "Friend," who still hesitated about taking the risk, was in the habit of having Jacob's movements watched, for he calculated, very naturally, that his temper would be affected one way or the other by the news that he would receive of his ship, and would be a safe guide, in the absence of other information, for his determination about covering the policy. Learning that Jacob had been seen in such a very lively mood, he began to think seriobsly about the premium ; and whilst he was meditating, a note was delivéred to him from Jacob, which ran thus :—

Friend 'c

If thee has not signed the policy, I wish thee'to send it to me immediately by the bearer. Thy friend,

Jacon B———"

" Verily, Jacob," said the good man to himself, "thee did not put on cheerfulness for nothing this morning ; thee hath private news of the arrival of this ship, and I may as well have the premium as not." Saying this, he filled the policy, and giving it to the messenger, said, " Thee may tell Friend are} that I have taken the risk." A quarter of an hour afterwards, 'another friend dropped in to tell him, that news was in town that Jacob's ship was 0 total loss. His state of mind may be imagined, when he found himself thus overreached.

Setting aside the undoubted smartness of this transaction, a more fraudulent proceeding, on both sides, it would be difficult

Moral Reflections, 99

unbounded admiration; so that these smart fellows, having no motive whatever to be commonly honest, . at last become callous, and forget even the nature of justice, living only to carry out their own base and selfish manoeuvres. The vender of cities spoken of at page 79 took no particular pains té conceal from me the atrocious nature of the occupations he had followed, and was hardy enough, in an argument with me, to attempt to justify his practices. "Men," said he, "that keep a bright look-out are never taken in; it is only fools that take themselves in, and they are of no account."

' It is fearful to reflect what will be the condition of society here when honesty retires altogether from the field of action, and leaves fraud, smartly perpetrated, to be the principal feature in all transactions; how much is to be apprehended from the future, when the generations of men, that will have no good examples before their eyes, may abandon even the intention to be respectable.

Having now fully made up my mind that I was in an Indian country as wild and unsettled as any I had yet visited, I hastened to the shore of the lake to espy what truly turned out to be the nakedness of the land, not a vestige of any human being or habitation being to be discerned. Rambling, however, along the lake-shore, picking up unios and

to produce. The insured, knowing his vesscl was lost, assumed acheerfulness he did not feel, and by his fortunate finesse, tempted his brother Quaker to underwrite the pelicy. And his unlucky victim, convinced the risk was over, signed the policy, when he must have felt he could not honestly claim the premium,

H2

100 A Bower Of Bliss.

anadontas, I came upon a wigwam, inhabited by a squaw of the Winnebago tribe, and Jearnt from her that her mate was a French Canadian, and was fishing from a canoe a little lower down. Thither I hied, and having found him, engaged him, with the assistance of his squaw, to procure us a mess of sunfish. This being accomplished, I sent them to Mrs. Peck, and following my messenger to Madison City, requested her to prepare them for our breakfast. No time was lost in doing this, and we made avery hearty meal without putting her to the trouble of preparing us any coffee. Sallying out again, I walked across a tongue of land which separated this from the fourth lake, and soon reached its shore, from whence I had a view of an extremely beautiful sheet of water.

Advancing along, J found more signs of humanity: two men were cutting some poles down; the one a Canadian, the other a somewhat desperado-looking young American, with cropped hair. Near to the lake I observed other poles laid aslant upon a fallen tree, forming a sort of shed, and looking beneath, beheld a youthful Wimnebago squaw lying down on a filthy blanket, thoroughly drenched with the rain of the preceding night. She was pursy and immensely fat, but had some good features. Near to her was a bower of a similar character, containing an elderly squaw, with only one eye, as hideously wrinkled and frowsy as she could well be. Whilst I was standing near to these creatures, the men came up, and I soon saw that the young American was the cavaliero of the fat squaw, and that the

The Winnebagoes. 101

couch where she was lying was their bower of bliss. This fellow, having a canoe, agreed, for a dollar, to take me out upon the lake, and down a channel that connects the fourth with the third lake, and thence to Madison City. Accordingly, getting into a badly-constructed log canoe with his fat beauty, we paddled off.

After visiting various parts of the lake, and being more than once nearly upset from the awkward management of this youth, at whom the squaw laughed heartily, we entered the channel which connects the two lakes. It was about three miles and a half long and about forty feet in breadth, and we found the current so very strong at the entrance, that we shot down it with great rapidity, the shores on each side being, for the greatest part of the distance, a swamp very little raised above the level of the stream. At Jength we came toa piece of ground where a part of the band of Winnebagoes had their wigwams. Three horrible-looking frowsy she-savages were eviscerating fish, which they were curing by fire on some stakes. Their matted, coarse, black locks stood out at right angles, like the strands of a mop when it is twirled; scarce any thing was to be discerned in thcir lineaments that was human, and more loathsome and disgusting objects I never beheld. Every thing about the wigwams was in keeping with their revolting and odious persons; ordure and dead fish in the last stage of corruption made a perfect pestilence around, amidst which they moved in the most contented and philosophic manner. Alecto,

$e

102 Rather Too Near,

Megara, and Tisiphone, the far-famed furies, must have been beauties compared to these hags. I just stayed long enough to purchase from them a fine alligator gar (Hsor osscus) for the sake of its skeleton, and then came away. Just as we were start-" ing, one of these she-devils, wanting to visit the one-eyed squaw we had left behind, strode into our canoe, and a pretty inside passenger we had of her. The canoe itself was a wretched, tottering affair, imperfectly hollowed out of a small log, and wabbled about in such a doubtful manner that we had been several times near upsetting in crossing the Jake. In this " dug-out"—for that is the expressive name they go by—I had taken my seat on the bottom near the prow,,with my face towards the stern, holding the sides with thy hands; thus situated, this she-monster, clapping herself immediately in front of me, and seizing a paddle, of which she seemed a perfect mistress, most vigorously began to ply it. At first I was amused by her motions; but, alas! my satisfaction was of short duration, for warming with the exercise, every time she raised her brawny fins to propel the canoe, she at each stroke almost bobbed a particular part of her person into contact with my nose, when such lots of unknown odours came from her that I soon became wretchedly sick at my stomach, and was delighted when we arrived at dear little Mrs. Peck's prtadise. ®. 'These Howchungerahs, or Winnebagoes, well deserve the name of " Puants," which the first French adventurers gave them. Establishing themselves

'THE GIT, oF AZTALAN. eS 108 where fish is plentiful, they never change the aite'of

- their wigwans,, at the entrances to which 'they throw down the entrails and offal of their fish. 'They have thus become notorious' amongst the other Indians

- for the filthy 'existence they lead. I learnt from our hostess that the young Adonis, in- whose canoe I "had been, had deserted from the American garrison . of Fort: Winnebago, had been app#ehended, flogged, his head shaved, and then drummed out of the fort

; to choose his own mode of life. He had wandered about, until he fell in with this band-of Indians, 'and, rejeeted by his own race, had found refuge and

a mistress amongst the savages.

'' AS soon as we had taken a good reconnaissance

- of the country around, and packed up the unios, and ' other fresh-water shells I had collected, we bade adieu to. the little inhabitant of Madison City and

. turned our faces to the prairie again. It had been part of my plan to strike across the country to a branch of Rock River, being desirous of examining. 'the remains of an ancient city which I had heand a great deal about, and to which the name'of Aztalan had been' given. "This had been described as of 'large dinjensions, having archways and 'casements ade with brick and mortar, as if a city had in

. jancient times. existed here, built of cal y canto, like those: which Cortez foiind: when he advanced into Mexico. But. having spoken with various Indians well acquainted with the. country, who: declared they: had never seen or heard of any thing of the

. kind, or indeed any thing but some mounds near the supposed locality, and considering the small

104 " Declines .Further Search.

success Ihad had in my researches 'after modern cities, I gave up my intention of looking up' 'this ancient one. It would have taken us-at least two days to reach the mounds, and being without guide in. a. region where there was neither road nor inhabitants - betwixt. the lakes 'and them, we in+ 'clined more willingly to the 'supposition that it was quite as likely that the whole affair was a poetical speculation got up to establish. a modern Thebes . upon the ruins of the oldex' one for the' purpose 'of selling the lots; an ingenious device, of which we: soon had a curious and instructive instance. .

Picketts Done Out Of His Butter And Bacon. 105

Chapter Xlv.

A NEW YORE FLAT.—THE WISCONSIN RIVER.— GENERAL GEOLOGY OF THE LEAD-BEARING DISTRICTS, —THE CITY OF SAVANNAH, —THE SNAKE DIGGINGS,—-SINSINNAWAY MOUND,

'We had advanced about seven miles from the lakes into the prairie, when we met with the old bachelor, Mr. Brigham, whose cabin we had stopped at, at the Blue Mounds, accompanied by another person, holding various papers in his hand, and who appeared somewhat agitated as we came up with them. This man's name was Picketts, and his story was as follows. He had left New York on a trading: expedition for Milwaukee, on Lake Michigan, and on arriving there, had sold and deli-

red to a person there, of the name of Glennie, butter, bacon, and other commodities, to the amount of nine hundred dollars. Mr. Glennie, it appeared, being desirous of introducing respectable settlers into the western wilderness, and being gifted with very persuasive powers, had induced Mr. Picketts, when in a remarkably verdant state of mind, to receive in payment for his goods' nine lots admnirably situated for erecting city buildings, in the city of West Madison, which, as the engraved map most forcibly exhibited, was advantageously situated upon the banks of the Third Lake. Mr.

106 A Good Bargain,

Picketts had thought it one of the best bargains that had ever been made, which was probably also Mr. Glennie's opinion; who, in addition. to his deeds in fee-simple, delivered him a handsomely engraved plan of the city of West Madison, with its imposing squares and streets, and the most charming of lakes lying id all its quiet beauty in front of the city.

Now, these deeds were bounded by certain ranges and lines that had been surveyed by the surveyors of the general government, so that, of course, the lots were there. Having obtained from the Landoffice some directions and instructions as to the numbers of his lots, he brought Mr. Brigham with -him to identify that part of the township where they were situated. Mr. Brigham, who understood all this machinery very well, had just communieated to his companion, that the lots described in his deeds were exactly where he was standing. Mr, Picketts, therefore, had all that satisfaction that a man can have who has found a mathematical point ; but as to its value to him, which depended altogether upon its being in a city founded on the bank of a large Jake, it was as clear to his comprehension, as any thing could be, that it was nil; for, however true it might be that the lots were there, it was no less so that the lake was seven miles off, and could not be seen from them.

Upon looking over his papers, I saw into the fraud at once. The plot of ground where we stood had been laid out into squares and streets on paper, and

- Fraudulent Securities. 107,

the building-lots in the streets had been regularly numbered and conveyed in 'the. deeds, in which no tention 'whatever was made.of the lake. By way' of embellishment, thé vender had added the lake'to .the engraved plan of the city,.and had called the city West Madison. This was tho best that he could "do for his customers; -he had brought, the- lake and the city very prettily together of. paper, and if was most 'unreasénablé to ask fim to bring two points together in any other way that' nature had. so. far ' divided. He had merely sold the lots by their numbers and bounds, and there, they were ; ,to be sure, 'there' was not a drop of water, nor a tree, Hor a -being, within sever miles' of them, and it was pretty certain that there never would be; so nothing was "left for My. Picketts but to make the most of his writikle, and. to part' with 'them to: some untravelled . friénd in New York, who had a-romantic Bae for take seenery. : The issue, however, of all' these ahaa raised 'upon' such' unexampled frauds, cannot but suggest 'serious reflections ; for the amount of fictitious evi- ' -dences of credit that thus 'get into circulation is incredible. Besides these unsubstantial cities, rail- "roads, as shadowy as themselves, have, by the maneuvring' of speculators, become incorporated. by the state legislatures, ostensibly to - connect 'these. imaginary towns. Henee, bonds, and mortgages, and' promissory 'notes, railroad shares, and other apparent evidences of property, have. got' into cireblation by. the ingenuity' of shrewd indivi,

108 Reflections Made In 1837.

duals, and the connivance of those who have the management of banks with nominal capital; indeed, I have been informed, that in many instances evidences of credit, having no basis whatever, have, in the intemperate haste of speculation, got so mixed up with lond fide securities, that they have been received equally in payment' with them in the liquidation of real transactions. Thus do fraudulent transactions receive direct encouragement, and are continually on the increase, and the knowing individuals connected with them, as well as the culpable banks that facilitate their operations, become enyiched; but the moment cannot be far distant when these false securities will have increased to such an amount, that they will no longer be convertible, and an explosion must take place that will force all the ramifications into a liquidation; it will then be found that half the banks in the country are rotten to the core, and an immense number of persons must be ruined. This moment may, to be sure, be deferred by the ingenuity of individuals, especially if they succeed—as many are now attempting—to get American securities into circulation in England: the high rate of interest they will profess to pay will tempt many persons there, and if they only manage to pay the interest'a few times, the distinction between the real and fictitious securities may be lost sight of for a long time.* ©

This passage was entered in my Journal in these terms, in 1837, since which period the world has witnessed the ruin of the Bank of the United States, with the squandering of all its power-

Cross The Country To The Wisconsin. 109

Leaving the outwitted New Yorker to his reflections, we rode on to the buffalo mounds which had 'attracted our attention the preceding day, and having re-measured several of them, pursued our way to Brigham's, where we had to content ourselves with such wretched fare as this parsimonious old fellow had provided. :

June 1.—Hard boards and, an empty stomach had - not assisted me to sleep during the night. I rose at early dawn, and 'took a walk on the prairie, -where plover were feeding in the freshness of the morning, and where I started several tetrao. As soon as the horses were put to, we started again, and reaching Mr. Messersmith's about eight a.m., got a substantial breakfast. Being desirous of riding across the country to the Wisconsin River, about twelve miles distant, our kind host volunteered to accompany us, and we set off immediately after breakfast. The surface of the country was very irregular with hill and dale, and one of the valleys we crossed was singularly beautiful. The whole distance consisted of ridges, coulées, and vales, the escarpments often exhibiting an anticlinal state in the gaps occasionally separating the ridges; which,

ful capital, consisting of thirty millions of dollars, or six millions sterling. When President Jackson severed its connection with the. general government, by vetoing the renewal of the charter, speculation was let loose in every direction, and, if this' were the place to undertake it, it could be shewn, that the ruin of the bauk, and the universal injury sustained by American credit, were greatly produced by the state of things here described.

110 Method Of Making Shot.

however, our guide informed me, were often continuous for several miles. It, was very evident that the stratification had been much modified, either by an undulating movement from below, or from superficial pressure, from causes analogous to those which have acted upon the strata of the Alleghany chain. ke ass

On reaching the shot-tower, on the bank of Wisconsin, I found every thing much improved since my visit there in 1835. Although called a tower, it was, in fact, a perpendicular cylinder cut from the top of the escarpment, through the incoherent saudstone, to the depth of 180 feet, and the adit below, from the surface of the escarpment to the water-tub, was 90 feet long. Their method in the manufacturing of shot was to put 10 Ibs. of arsenic to every 1,000 Ibs, of galena, to make the lead brittle and disposed to separate ; three-fourths of this arsenic evaporates whilst melting, and does not combine with the lead. The lead, when melted a second time, is poured through a perforated ladle, and falls from the top of the tower into the water below, in all sorts of sizes and shapes. When taken out and dried, it is poured over a series of inclined planes, separated by small troughs. Those globules, which are quite orbicular, run over all the planes, whilst the imperfect ones waddle along, and being sometimes double, and having no spring in their movement, drop into the troughs, and are melted over again. The perfect shot are finally sifted in a machine containing various drawers with their bottoms perforated in holcs of all

RETURN TO MINERAL POINT. lll

sizes, from buckshot to mustard-seed. This machine is moved by the hand. The shot, when scparated into sorts, is glazed and put into bags.

But a very short time ago, the whole country was a. wilderness, containing only a few roaming Winnebagocs, and already the white men had established a well-conducted and prosperous manufactory. The colony of swallows, too, which I had observed in 1835, had increased greatly, continuing to make holes in the face of the soft sandstone with their beaks, and fillisg them with nests of clay, having small orifices ; in some instances the nests were built upon the face of the vertical escarpment. Many hundreds of them had established themselves in the rock; some of the nests had eggs, and from others young birds were peeping out. It was truly a very pretty sight. Having got something to eat at the house, we lay down to sleep on the floor, and surrendered ourselves to myriads of pitiless mosquitoes.

June 2.--What with the mosquitoes, and the heavy thunder and rain that were performing almost the whole night, IT rose at the dawn, slecpless and feverish.

The Wisconsin River, which interested me so much when I came down it in my canoe in 1835, was ag beautifulasever. Having gota cup of coffee, we left its banks about nine p.m., and returned to our guides, where, taking leave of our hospitable friends, we proceeded on our return to Mineral Point, which we reached about four in the afternoon. Here, I found, by the newspapers, that all the State

12 An Apothecary'S Bill,

banks, including that of the United States, bad suspended the cash payment of their notes.

June 6.—We remained at this place, reviewing our investigations, and making a few more excursions, until this morning, when I paid my bill to the worthy apothecary, in whosé house I had been stay~ ing. To have a decent place to remain at as your head-quarters in such a wretched village as this, was an advantage I felt daily, and which deserved to be well paid for. But our host's bill was twice as high as it would have been at a good hotel in one of the Atlantic cities, and many more days were charged than I had heen at the house. This I remarked in a-friendly manner to my host, who listened to mo politely. Not wishing to dispute with him, I placed the amount of the bili on the table, and*told him to make what deductions he thought proper. Upon which, coming to the deduction that I wasa greenhorn, he conveyed the whole of it to his pocket, and leaving the room, I saw no more of him. I therefore, left-a house, where I had been treated in a kind and obliging manner, with a reluctant disgust, which, but for this instance of rapacity, I never should have entertained.

I now proceed to give a brief general account of the geology of this lead-bearing district.

In a part of the work referred to in the note below,* notice is taken of a bed of sandstone of an incoberent texture, which underlays the galenifer-

Vide Excursion through the Slave States, vol. i. pp. 304—

GEOLOGY OF THE DIsTRICT. 113

ous strata of the State of Missouri, about thirty miles west of the Mississippi, in N. Jat. 38°.

'The lead district of Wisconsin, distant about 350 miles from that point, lies in a direction from it similar to the general strike of most of the metalliferous districts of North America, viz., a few points east of north; a circumstance which, aided by the geological affinity of the rocks along the whole of the distance which Separates these two districts, and by the strong fact cf the galeniferous rocks: in Wisconsin being also underlaid by an incoherent sandstone, encourages some probability that galena may hereafter be found at many points along that line of 350 miles, although until this moment it had only been found at its extremities.

The peculiar arrangement of some of the galeniferous and cupreous beds in Wisconsin, and the remarkable simplicity in the order of the rocks inclosing them, will render a somewhat detailed account of them acceptable to mineralogical and geological readers. ©

It has been already stated in aval: i. chap. 19, that in descending the Wisconsin River, its escarpments consisted of a friable, incoherent sandstone, resembling that in Missouri; and that on approaching the Mississippi, the sandstone on the left bank supported a loose, fetid, ealcarious rock, not dissimilar to that which inclosed the galona in Missouri; and as it was only twenty miles from this point to.the " diggings " in the interior, where the metal was

vou. II. I

id KEY TO THE STRATIFICATION,

obtained, I always kept a good lock-out for this sandstone, believing it to be the key of the stratification of the country.

The " diggings" in the vicinity of Mineral Point, where our survey was conducted, were situated in a prairie country, sometimes rolled out into ridges 1,500 feet long, interrupted occasionally by great depressions of the surface, the slopes of the ridges being steep, especially where truncated by the transverse valleys. This state of the surface was favourable to making out the stratification, the valleys gene~ rally cutting down to the sandstone, through the metalliferous and fossiliferous limestones of the annexed vertical section, which represents the stratification of the country.

Straltelcation Of Ti Wisconsin Galeniperous District.

MeKnight's Lead Diggings. Kendall's Copper Diggings. a. pana atscaihserramaiete: sland cae do rer

Fussiliferous limestone, 5 fet thick.

Incoherent sandstone, 3

wa muneral vein: hud been traced,

As the greatest quantity of. the copper ore was stated to have been extracted from "Kendall's Diggings"—referred to in the vertical section— we first turned our attention to them, and found

Copper Diggings. 115

that the deepest shaft sunk at this locality was ouly thirty-seven feet. In going down, the miners had followed an carthy, ferruginous dead for eighteen feet, consisting of clay, silicious matter, and oxide of iron, to which the Cornishmen who had been employed had given the provincial name of gossan: here they struck a floor, dipping slightly to the-south, consisting of oxides of iron, light, earthy, cupreous carbonates, and coarse, harsh lumps of sulphuret of iron, much intermixed and coated with green carbonate of copper, and occasionally blended with sulphurets of the same metal. These lumps were characterized by a vesicular structure, the fracture of which disclosed small eavities filled with diverging acicular prisms of green carbonate of copper, of great beauty, and not unfrequently coated with small but brilliant erystals of blue carbonates. From this floor the workmen had pursued the lead of gossan seven feet further down, to a second floor of cupreous-matter, much superior to the first. Intermixed with this ore, were found cubes of galena. The gencral appearance of the contents of both these floors was that of a ferruginous scoria, much coated with eupreous carbonates, of a low value, the assays of the first not being rated higher than 8 per cent., and of the second, not higher than 20 parts in 100 of copper. Having emptied this second floor, they had pursued the lead about four fect further, and then abandoned the undertaking. These floors are no doubt irregular expansions of true veins, such as

116 Lead Diggings,

are common in all mining countries; and, indeed, south of a vale through which the Pekatonica flows, at a place called Ansley's South Copper-diggings, we found a small vein of hard, substantial, grey copper ore, which yielded upon assay 50 parts in 100 of good copper.

The diggings and exedvations which had been made at all the places in this district did not appear to warrant much expectation of present profit, taking into the account the nature of the country, the great scarcity of fuel, and the high price of labour and provisions,

The deposits of galena, however, at McA'night's Lead-digyings (see vertical section) had already rewarded the miners, Various shafts had been sunk 'upon the summit of the ridge, down which the workmen had successively come to different floors of galena, all perfectly horizontal, from a few inches to a foot in thickness of metal, accompanied with a dry red earth, that seems to be the general concomitant of all galeniferous deposits, both in Missouri and Wisconsin. The workmen stated that when they had empticd the floors of the inetal, they had generally found a lead of galena running down at a sharp angle, in the form of a vertical vein, to another floor. 'This was repeated so often, that it had become a preponderating opinion amongst the miners that, whatever the form of the flat floors and their ramifications, all of them were connected with a descending lode, gossan always leading down from them where galena was not present.

Geology Continued. 7

At other loealities, twenty miles east from this place, I found the floors also horizontal. Still, this is not the constant form of the deposits, for in the vicinity of Fever River, veins of galena came to the surface, through hard limestone rocks, in strong vertical lodes. I made the observation at the time, that where the metal was found in horizontal floors, the rock was of a soft, rubbly. character, and easily excavated; as if the direction of the metal, when projected from below, had been governed by the state of induration of the rock through which it

passed, diverging into 'floors where there was the least resistance.

The vertical section (at page 114) represents the circumstances under which deposits of galena may be expected to be found in any part of the galeniferous district, the chance of finding the metal depending upon the presence and thickness of the metalliferous bed nearest to the surface. At McKuight's Lead-diggings, the thickness of the bed, from the surface down to the fossiliferous limestone, was 118 feet: here, as elsewhere, were various floors of galena, but in no instance did I Jearn that any had ever been found, either in the fossiliferous limestone, or in the inferior sandstone. In whatever part of the lead-bearing district this metalliferous bed was shallow, not exceeding a

few feet in thickness, no metal was to be found. This was the case in the district where the Snakediggings—hereafter to be mentioned—were: there the bed was thick, and, at a distance of not more

118 The Galena Accompanied By Red Earth.

than twenty-five feet from the surface, a quantity of metal, amounting to about 800,000 Ibs., had been collected in a superficial area not exceeding four hundred yards in length; whilst in the vicinity, at places where the bed had thinned out, no galena had ever been found. Whilst the sandstone, therefore, is to be considered as the key to the lead-bearing district, the presence and depth of the metalliferous limestone is to be taken as a sure indication of the probability of finding galena.

It deserves a remark also, that whilst in the Missouri galeniferous district, the galena is frequently found in solid horizontal bands of bright metal, encased in a moist, waxy, red clay, in the 'Wisconsin country it is as frequently found in floors, in the form of masses of aggregated cubes, of a dull aspect, and generally accompanied by a quantity of red, argillaceous earth, perfectly dry. In both cases, the red clay appears to have been projected along with the metal.

Resuming our waggon, we finally left Mineral Point, and proceeded' on our visit to some more "diggings," intending to descend to the Wisconsin at a place called "English Prairie," which had attracted my attention in 1835. We found the country cut up by ravines and coulées, and sogn broke down at a place called Pedlar's Creek, where we had to remain a couple of hours to repair damages.

We next traversed a naked prairie, on which

Indifferent Lodgings, 119

shallow excavations had been made in every direction, and reached Parish's, a settlement in a small valley, with a few straggling trees. From hence we went to the diggings on Bluc River, and got on a good hard prairie road: for the last six miles the country was very picturesque as we descended to the low lands on the Wisconsin, and there was a great deal of wood, until'we reached the English Prairie, an extensive sandy bottom. On nearing the river, a Mr. Stevenson, the agent of a gentleman named TL. , who had a lead-furnace there, conducted us to a sort of hut, filled with countless myriads of mosquitoes ; at the door of which was a negro attending a fire, and ercating as much smoke as he could, with the vain intention of preventing their entrance into the hut. What they had to eat, though not inviting, was hospitably offered; but, having a distressing headache, I Jay down as soon as I was permitted to do so.

June7—I arose at half-past four, in a perfect fever with the mosquitoes, and, on looking around, saw that six other individuals, the negro amongst the rest, had been piggingin the small tenement, which I afterwards learned was the private room of Mr. H. when here. There was no looking-glass, no washing furniture, no towels, and, indeed, nothing to minister to human comfort: on standing up, however, my face was almost in contact with a shelf, containing a few odd volumes of Voltaire's writings. Such was the retreat of one who submits to all these inconveniences for the sake of the "al-

120 The City Of Savannah.

mighty dollars" that his lead-furnace produces him.

After partaking lightly of a most filthy and 'disgusting breakfast, we drove away from this wretched place, consisting of a badly arranged log-hut, and a very inefficient smelting-furnace, together dignified with the title of "City of Savannah."

The mosquitoes seeming disposed to devour us on this low prairie, we hastened to gain the upland, and at eleven a.m. got to the Blue River diggings. There is a deep ravine here with a perpendicular escarpment of sandstone, curiously disturbed, and of a brick-red colour at the top, which is very erumbling. Upon this lies about twenty-five feet of fossiliferous limestone, supporting about the same 'thickness of galeniferous rock. .The greatest quantity of galena is found at eighteen feet from the surface, lying in flat floors, and mixed up with what they call "dry bones," and "black Jack." From this place we got upon a sort of blind road, twisting and turning in every direction over the prairie, sometimes going due east, sometimes due west, the only encouragement we had to proceed being that it must lead to some place or other. 4

At length, having wandered about twenty miles, and our horses and ourselves being heartily tired, we came to a settler's, called Morrison. Finding a good spring of water, and civility, we determined, with the permission of the mistress of the house, to remain here the night. She provided us with some bread made of Indian corn, and,

Snake Diggings. 121

for the rest, I drew upon my store of good black tea and loaf sugar.

June 8.—I awoke much refreshed by my night's rest, in what appeared a strange sort of sleepingroom. There was no door to it; my bed consisted of a few rags that the family could no longer wear —~but clean—strewed on the floor, some pieces of harness for a pillow, and every thing else to correspond. TI rose, however, cheerfully, and went to the spring, which was quite a luxury. The mistress of the house offered me every facility to accomplish my ablutions, and was unwearied in her obliging attentions. She was in a rapid decline, and, from her appearance, could not survive beyond the autumn. She expressed her apprehension of this to me, and attributed her condition to having had a numerous family too quickly. As soon as we had breakfasted, we started again, passing, soon after, a place called Lancaster, about twenty miles. from the Mississippi and the Wisconsin. The soil around was excellent, and promised to make a fine agricultural country. i

About noon, we reached "Snake Diggings," so called from a nest of rattlesnakes being found there in cave. Galena had been found in great quantities in this neighbourhood. From one floor, not more than twenty-five feet from the surface, upon a length not exceeding 400 yards, they had already collected about 800,000 Ibs. of galena, in masses of small aggregated cubes, of the first quality. I was permitted to select some curious and beautiful spe-

122 Sinsinnaway Mound.

cimens of these masses. Here I learnt that some of the diggings had been carried' to the depth of sixty feet, in consequence of the thickness of the galeniferous rocks.

About two p.m., we reached a settlement called Paris, where a Frenchman, called Detun de Baratz, had a store and some poor buildings. The houses here were excessively dirty, and the people seemed stupid and drunk, which is generally the case where rum and whiskey are sold in the stores. The natural situation of this settlement was very interesting, being an extensive cove near the forks of the Platte, surrounded by lofty bluffs. Having crossed the Platte in a ferry-boat, we ascended a very steep road to the summit of an escarpment about 250 feet above the valley, from whence I had a fine view of the cove below, with the Platte and its branches. Just below me the little Platte ran at the foot of the escarpment, with a lofty and narrow ridge to the north on its right bank; at the southern base of the ridge the north branch of the river flowed, with lofty bluffs to the north. To the west was the spacious cove, extending half a mile from N. to S., evidently scooped out by the stream in ancient times. ;

From the summit level we crossed the prairie to the Menominy Diggings, and about sunset reached Sinsinnaway Mound, the residence of Mr. G. W. Jones, a member of Congress from the territory of Wisconsin; here we were very hospitably received by himself and lady. Every thing in this

An Agreeable Family, 123

house was the very reverse of what we had lately been accustomed to, and we sat down to a very nice repast, enlivened by the agreeable manners of the mistress of the house, and a most pleasant sister of our host, who had been educated in Wales, and had only just returned from a visit to England.

124 Arrive At Galena,

Chapter Xlvi.

ARRIVE AT GALENA.—AN OBLIGING LANDLADY,—G8T ON BOARD AN INFERIOR STEAMER.—REACH PRAIRIE DU CHIEN —EMBARK ON TRE MISSISSIPPI.—MORE CITIES.

June 9.—I rose at the dawn of day and sallied out to examine this mound, which, like the Blue Mounds, rises far above the general level of the prairies. It consisted principally of the fossiliferous limestone, and after collecting the characteristic fossils, I returned to breakfast. This repast being over, we reluctantly took leave and drove to the town of Galena, where we found the beastly tavern full of all sorts of low people, and not a bed to be had, unless I would consent to share one with an animal of my own sex, in a room into which five other beds had been crowded. I therefore made up my mind to wait until the canaille had retired to roost, and then to lie down on the floor of the bar-room with the " waiters." Seeing me about to shake a bearskin down on the floor, the lundlady— what acts of kindness are women capable of in all countries !—would not permit it, and, listening only to her own compassionate feelings, insisted upon giving up her bed-room to me. To be sure, it was not half wide enqugh to swing a cat in, and the

A Kind Landlady, 125

small window which opened upon the yard was exactly over the pigstye; but the luxury of being alone overbalanced these disadvantages, and upon her assuring me that she had another place to go to, I consented to the arrangement.

June 10.—1 got through the night tolerably well, and was in the street again at daylight, the pigs not being very agreeable neighbours, and after breakfast, having paid my bill, with -many thanks, I got on board a dirty little steamer, called the Envoy, bound to Dubuque and Prairie du Chien. My trunk was placed over the boiler in the anteroom, where, with its contents, it became, as I afterwards found, quite hot through. The steamer was filled with low gambling vagabonds, and had not a place in it clean enough to sit down upon; nevertheless, I was delighted to exchange the stench of Galena for the pure air of the Mississippi. From Dubuque we pursued our way to the Wisconsin, enjoying the charming picturesque views furnished by the bluffs on the banks of the river. The occupation of the passengers on board the steamer was unremitted low gambling and cursing and swearing during the voyage; the captain permitted every one to act as dirtily and as coarsely as he pleased, and the various little boys on board, from seven to ten years old, appeared to me to be as accomplished blackguards as the men. Towards evening one of our paddles got out of order, and we moored at a wood-yard on the left bank to repair it. Tere, being obliged to remain all night, the mosquitoes

126 Gft On Board An Inferior Steamer.

literally took possession of our vessel, so that it was next to impossible to obtain any sleep.

July 11.—At the dawn of day we unmoored, and pursued our voyage, enjoying as much as I ever did in my various trips in this part of the river the curious and rare appearance of the banks, the strata often running great distances in straight ranges like the cornice of a room, and sometimes breaking out into huge bastion-like masses, giving to the whole the appearance of a ruined fortification. We stopped at Cassville several hours, and did not get away until nine p.m. It had improved very much since I first saw it in 1835, some substantial wooden buildings having been run up, and the foundation laid for a large hotel, to be constructed of stone. Some wealthy persons, I was informed,-had taken an interest in it, so it may possibly succeed. I saw no preparations for gardens, the want of which is a great defect in all American settlements in this part of the country. Two gaily-dressed females, however, were walking about dressed in white gowns, with parasols in their hands, and were singularly contrasted with some Indian women near them, with their filthy blankets over their shoulders.

Things looked so unpromising on board, that I did not venture to lie down: this was not the first time that Thad had the bad luck to find myself on board one of the numerous class of low, dirty steamers that ply on the Mississippi. Those of the first class are noble vessels, clean, comfortable, generally well commanded, and provided with every thing necessary,

Escape Bring Blown Up. 127

and nothing permitted on board that can be reasonably objected to. The Envoy was one of a class of 'disreputable steamers, not seaworthy, usually commanded by low, drunken fellows, who run about from place to place, picking up freight and chance passengers amongst the coarse dissipated gamblers that abound on the western rivers and frontiers, and who, committing excesses at every place where they land, are happy in opportunities to escape from punishment. Many of these fellows live on board, and are the colleagues of the captain in various kinds of villany. They are cternally playing at a low game of cards, called poker, slecping two or three hours in the daytime. ' The chance passengers we took on board seemed to want very little pressing to sit down to the gambling-table, and I presume were vagabouds no better than the rest.

During the confusion on board [had kept as near the stern as I could, seated on a large, loose bench, which, in the expectation that we,should explode, and that I might have to float myself ashore, promised to be of some use; fortunately, perhaps, we ran aground after midnight, and remained stuck fast until near five in the morning. In this Pandemonium, how many of our passengers and erew were drunk, and how it came to pass that we were not blown up or set fire to, was not explained to me.

June 12.—The morning was beautiful when we got under way; the degraded beings on board had, at length, discontinued their orgies, and were asleep, and I saw no more of them; for at cight a. m. we reached Prairie du Chien, looking as beautiful and

128 Reach Prairif Du Chien.

picturesque as ever, with its magnificent bluffs, and its ample and verdant plain bounded by the noble river with its graceful islands.

Remembering the smoking I had got here in 1835, from my worthy host, Mons. 1t.,1 went quietly and secured myself a clean lodging in a private house, before I made any calls; and having transported my luggage out of the filthy steamer, and installed myself in my quarters, I called upon my old friond, whom T found with a cigar in his mouth, as usual; a drunken band of Wincbagoes were rolling about ina high state of intoxication,and others were prostrated on the ground in front of his house literally sewed up in perfect oblivion. One of their party, who had been concerned fn the murder of a white man not Jong before, had been arrested that morning; and this being an exciting event, they had made the most of it, after their own way. Towards evening I ealled upon the commandant, Colonel Taylor, and had a long and pleasing conversation with that worthy and intelligent officer.

Tune 13.— With a room to myself, a good bed, and clean sheets, I could not fail to pass a good night ; and having breakfasted, I went to the Blafts with my hammer and memorandum-book. At two p. m., having made a frugal dinner, I went to the French village to consult M. Rolette about making arrangements for an excursion across the M: ippi, to the heads of the Towa and De Moine rivers, This matter was diseussed over claret, champaign, and countless quantities of cigars, all smoked by himself. My jovial friend had engaged to remove every difficulty,

Qualifications Of A Voyageur. 129

and procure me every facility; and, accordingly, he began with the first and most necessary want, an efficient guide. The man whom he sent for, however, aud whom he represented as equal to any thing, was a little copper-coloured Canadian, as pert as it was useful to be, at least, but whose qualifications were not much better than my own. My plan was to cross the country from hence td the Missouri River, and to visit on my road the head waters of the Makatoh, or Terrebleu River, and the locality of the Red Pipe-stone Rock. The difficulties I should have to contend with were the necessity of carrying our subsistence on our backs, this being the season when all gaine was breeding, and the want of an interpreter. The little Canadian could neither talk Nacotah nor Sauk and Fox; he was a stranger to the country, and seemed weak and unequal to the task. I saw at once that he was not the man for me, and felt greatly the want of Milor. During my examination of the qualifications of this man, Rolette had smoked a prodigious number of cigars, and upon finishing my inquiries, and saying to him, " Eh bien, qu'en pensez-vous?" he replied, " Si vous aimiez Je tabac, mon cher, vous pourriez aller au bout du monde: pour moi quand je fais des voyages, je fais toujours une bonne provision de tabac et je mange ce que je trouve. En cas de besoin je sais manger le diable et boire son bouillon." This is a valuable secret of the Canadian voyageur.

June14.—I rose at five a.m., and it being a beautiful and refreshing morning, went tothe Blutis to enjoy the interesting spectacle of the night fog rising frum

Vol. 1. K

130 Change Of The Author'S Route.

the waters of the Wisconsin and Mississippi. One of the most pleasing natural sights of this country, intersected by so many streams, is cnjoyed when you stand upon an eminence and see the night-mist gracefully rising asthe sun ascends in the heavens; as if the earth, inits matutinal revolution, flung those long liorizontal and airy columns from the bosom of the numerous lines of waters where they had reposed. During the day, I made many inquiries respecting the practicubility uf my excursion to the Missouri at this season. Colonel Taylor did not approve of the means TI should have of accomplishing it; and discussing it again with M. Rolette, with whoin I dined to-day, I found he was of the same opinion. I therefore at once determined to give the excursion up for the present, 'and to employ the remainder of the summer in descendiug the Mississippi, exploring the iron and lead region of Missouri a little more, and then finish the scason amongst the Cherokee Indians, and in the gold regions of Dahlonega, in Georgia.

June 15.—I arose before five, and going, as' usual, to the Bluffs, saw the smoke and steam of the Pahnyra steamer at a considerable distance to the north, descending the Mississippi from Fort Snelling; and nearly at the samctime that I observed this interesting object, the smoke of the Burlington, another large steamer expected from St. Louis, appeared advancing to the prairie. This, which would have been a beautiful sight anywhere, was 8 most interesting one in this remote Indian country. I now hastened to my lodgings, breakfasted, and sent my luggage on board the steamer bound to St. Louis, and following

A REMARKABLE OLD LADY, 13h

it, secured a clean and commoiious state-room to myself. On board the Burlington I found Mrs. Hamilton, the widow of the celebrated Alexander Jamilton, and mother to the gentleman in whose hut Thad lately slept at English Prairie. This lively old Jady, now about eighty years old, told me that, knowing she might not have along time to sec things of this world in, she had determined.to avail herself of the great facilities for travelling, and pry a visit to her son; and having an inclination to sec ail she could, was determined to ascend the Mississippi to the St. Peter's. I could not but admire her spirit and vivacity.

At half-past ten I bade adicu to the pleasant and, , with me, favourite shores of Prairie du Chien: the Mississippi being full of water from the melted snows and ice of the upper north country, we were rapidly borne along. The islands were so overflown, I could searccly reengnise them, and on passing the mouth of the Wisconsin, I could not but deplore the melancholy fate of' one of the noblest of those magnificent cities, intended (on paper) to be the ornaments of this interesting country. In old times, before the enjoyable romance of this Indian country was destroyed by the introduction of the white man's improvements, I had often wandered on the beach where the Wisconsin joins the Mississippi, collecting fresh-water shells, and little dreaming of the mighty metropolis that was to be raised within so short a period on the identical spot. But to those who resided at a distance, it was now announced, that the "city of Prairie du Chien," with all its architectural wonders, was

K2

132 A City Twelve Feet Under Water,

"located" at the confluence of these mighty streams. This city the "Father of Floods" had now taken under his especial care, converting it into one vast cold bath; all the streets, bearing the illustrious names of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, &c., being at least twelve feet under water, and nothing indicative of what sober people call "real estate" being visible, except the tops of a few willows, which wriggled about as our noble steamer shot rapidly over them.

With much interest did I look upon this beautiful country as I left it behind, never, most probably, to be revisited by me. The selfish, vulgar, white man had got possession of it, and had destroyed the prestige which once made it so attractive. It will take many generations to civilize and refine the descendants of the present settlers, and make them as agreeable as the educated people are in the old American settlements. Only eighteen months ago, when I passed through this country, something of romance was still left for the sanguine traveller, vad all the incidents of his life were more or less connected with Tndian adventure. Then, on arriving at the Indian posts, the universal topic was sure to be the Indians, their manners and customs, and the stirring incidents continually arising amidst their doomed race. Then, you were asked if you had seen the celobrated . Mowchungerah chief, " Whisling Thunder." Now, you are asked if you have scen "Governor Dodge." Ere long, the whites will tread upon the graves of the whole ved race. Atsix p.m. we reached Dubuque, but got

Metalliferous Rocks Of Galena. 133

aground, tlie waters of the Mississippi having covered all the laudmarks, and made the pilot mistake the channel, nor did we get afloat again until eleven p.m.

June 16.—Awoke very early this morning, lying at the wharf at Galena, the steamer touching here to take a cargo of lead on board. Nobody being up in the town, I walked to a quarry and got some fossils, from the beds that appear to ke the equivalent of the Wenlock limestones. Afi breakfast T called upon my old acquaintance, Mr. Gear. He has been a practical miner here eighteen years, and informed me that the veins or crevices at his " Diggings," as they are called here, are vertical, aud run nearly north and south. Sometimes the sulpharet failed, and the vein closed; at other times it was filled with gossan, but he had always followed it downwards, and, hitherto, with success, though always without intersecting any floors like those which prevail near Mineral Point. Sometimes he had found lumps of galena at the surface, weighing 1,000 Ibs., which he supposed had been thrown out of the erevice, but which, more probably, were left behind when the surface had been degraded, and the earthy matter carried away. IT suggested to him to run adits from the lowest valleys, or coulées, and intersect them by shafts through the lower sandstone, which he secmed inclined to do. In the neighbourhood of Mineral Point, no shaft had ever been sunk through this sandstone, and the metal had invariably beesi found in horizontal floors in the metalliferous limestone, superincumbent upon the fossiliferous bed. Supposing,

134 More Cities.

therefore, the metal to have been injected from below in both cases, it is to be inferred, from the circumstance of the galena being found here in vertical crevices, that the causes which produced these vertical fissures did not extend to the beds near Mineral Point.

June 17—We left Galena before daylight, and soon got into the Mississippi, and having passed another city, called' Savannah, consisting of two log houses, came, soon after seven o'clock, to a pretty prairie, with two more log huts upon it, dignified with the name of New York. At another place, on aslope with a few trees, was a solitary log hut, called, in honour of the president of the United States, Van Buren, and, a short distance from it, was a settlement, consisting of two huts, called AWany. Plans of these flourishing places were in circulation, but T was tald that the lots of places with New York names did not sell well. We passed a settlement, however, called Bloomington, which had been formed under enrions eireumstances, and whieh may possibly succeed. By the theory of the Jaw, all lands belonging to the federal government must be advertised to be sold at public auction, by order of the President, at the minimum price of one dollar and a quarter an acre, which is about six English shillings. Those who intend to settle in a particular part of the country usually pay a preliminary visit to it to suit themselves, and, having done so, erect a log hut, and make a small clearing, where they establish their familics, until the appointed period of the public sale. But the speculator, who watches the movements of the

Combination Against Speculators. 185

bond fide scttler, appears, as the time draws near, and announces to the farmer that he means to bid against him at the sale. To prevent the price running very high, the poor man is frequently induced to give the settler a heavy gratuity in some form or other. Where, however, this last is a man of spirit, he often contends with the speculator, but in vain ; for in these distant parts of the United States, where the agents who conduct these land sales are so far remoyed from the eye of the government, they often egllude with apeculatéis, and, by various frauds and devices, make the settler pay five dollars . or more an acre, for what ought not to have cost him more than ohe dollar and a quarter. 'These malpractices, which had been too common of Jate, had irritated and disgusted the ond fide settlers, and, at this particular place, had driven them to a mode of defending their interests, quite as illegal as the proeced-~ ings of the others were dishonest. The settlers, then, at this Bloomington, having agreed amongst themselves to occupy an allotment or farm not to execed 420 acres each, and to mutually guarantee the possession to cach other, offered the minimum price at the public sale, and if they were overbid on the part of the speculators, took possession of the land nevertheless ; and, when the person to whom the farm was knocked down at the sale, or his assignee, came to claim it, a jury was summoned, by the person in possession, from amongst the fraternity of settlers, which was sure to bring in a verdict that the land belonged to the person in possession. If the claimant was disposed to be troublesome, they brought him before

136 : 'Lynch Law.

Judge Lynch; and the ahvernative being.then put ta. him, to surrender his pretensions, or underg' go due pro- 'cess of law, upon his bare back, with a est-o'-tiinetails, a compromise usually took place. No doubt, this scheme will occasion much litigation, when regular courts of justice are established ; but as it will be a long time before they have the power to en= force their decisions, the first attempts to do so will" probably give rise to mich violence: In the mean time, the speculators have been very much, baffied.

Village Of St, Genevieve. 137

Chapter Xlyvii.

REACH THE OLD WRENCH SETTLEMENT OF ST. GENEVIRVY.—AN EBXCUR- SION TO THE PILOT KNOB,—RECEIVED BY AN AMIABLE FAMILY THERE, DESCRIPTION OF THIS REMARKABLE MASS OF TRON."-THE CITY OF MISSOURI, eS

June 2A.—After a pleasant passage I reached the town of St. Louis again on the 19th, and remaining there a few days, embarked on the 24th, on board the William Glasgow, a fine steamer' bound up the Ohio. Intending, however, to make another exeursion into the interior of the state of Missouri, I landed at the old French settlement, called St. Genevidve, onthe right bank of the Mississippi, where the steamer stopped for a few minutes at the wharf, and walking about a mile to the village, was very hospitably received for the night by an acquaintance residing here,

June 25.—I arose very early, and walled out to look at this interesting place, which is an ancient French settlement. The streets are narrow, and the houses almost all built after the humble but grotesque fashion of the people of Normandy, whose descendants form a great majority of the inhabitants. Each cottage had its fertile and productive garden, full of vegetables and fruit-trees. When Louisiana was transferred to the United Stutes, the Americans took

138 Abundance Of Food,

possession of this place; but very few had been induced to settle at it, the religion, manners and customs of the French being so different from their own, . and there being no 'opportunities of pushing trade at it. The few, however, who did reside here, lived upon very friendly terms with their French neighbouts; and the settlement was said to be a very happy one. Adjacent to the village was a very extensive alluvial bottomof rich soil, upon which the inhabitants plant their Indian corn and pulse, and as the river, by rising a foot in the course of the past night, threatened to inundate their crops, some anxiety was expressed on that account. In consequence of every one possessing great abundance of cereal and leguminous products, and raising their own pouliry, there was no market held in the place for any thing whatever. When any of the inbabitants caught any . fish in the river with a seine, which is easily done, every one who was desirous of having fish could haye it without purchasing. Neither were vegetables, turkeys, chickens, or any hind of poultry, sold in this place, the surplus quantities being sent by the passing steamers to be sold at New Orleans. But this is only done when the waters of the Ohio are so low that no supply can be furnished from that quarter. At such times, the people of St. Geneviéve can sell their turkeys at New Orleans for five dollars each, . and their fowls for twelve dollars a dozen.

There was a good school in the place, kept by an intelligent Frenchman, where French, English, music, dancing, and many useful things were taught; so thatthe young French and Americans, edueated there,

Reach Farmington.. 139

not only could acquire each other's languages, but be respectably educated. Judge Bogy, a very well-informed inhabitant, of the French stock, informed me that the two races lived in the most amicable manner together ; and indeed he gave me a most pleasing account of 'the place and its society. The adult inhabitants, with an exception or two, had not yet Jearnt to speak each other's language, though a certain degree of fusion was commencing, if one may judge from the following notice, which I saw over a door. .

Benezoit Tient Grocery.

In the course of the day, I hired a clever-looking little pony, and having managed to procure a rather inconvenient saddie, left my luggage and started. for the lead-mines, and crossing some bad 'and miry branches of a stream, called the Vase, got upon a barren sandstone country, where I rode fif-

" teen miles without finding a human being. There being various tracks leading to the "diggings," it was not difficult to lose myself, which I contrived to do ; being, however, quite indifferent about it, as the whole country was new to me, and knowing from long experience that every road leads to some place or other, I rode confidently on. Instead of Frederieton, however, to which I was bound, I came to Farmington ; so, riding up to the house at which I had alighted in 1834, when going to the Mexican frontier, I found Mr. Boice, the landlord, who recognised me, and gave me a tolerable supper and a clean room to sleep in.

140 A Wretched Tavern,

Tune 26.—I arose early, and making a hasty breakfast, pursued my way to Mine Lamotte, distant fifteen miles, and having passed a couple of hours examining the excavations, which are described in another work,* I remounted my slow, lazy pony, who often obliged me to dismount and' lead him by the bridle, and rode on towards Fredericton. A remarkably thick, smoky atmosphere had prevailed for some days, which, was said to be unusual at this season. On reaching Fredericton, a little after five p.m, I met in the street an old acquaintance, in a senator of the United States, who conducted me to, I think, one of the most wretched taverns I almost ever entered ; but, for the sake of his society, I agreed to remain there for the night.

- In the evening, he took me to sup at a Mons. Pratte's, the son of an old French trader. Here Madame Pratte, a young Frenchwoman of lively and engaging manners, gave us a very comfortable repast, and we talked French and were very gay. I was sorry when the hour came to retire, for I had a perfect horror at the idea of sleeping at the beastly tavern; but there was no remedy, and only one room, with six or seven detestable, filthy beds, upon one of which I lay down, surrounded with all sorts of disgusting people, To be sure, I had-merely stretched myself on the coverlid, and drawn a cloak over me; but I scarcely got asleep once, for if I happened to doze, I felt the bugs crawling on my face, or fancied I did. My companions, it appeared, had taken their clothes off: one fellow, who, with another, occupied the bed next to me, was constantly

Excursion through the Slave States, vol. i. p. 322.

Take To The Woods Again. +141

doubling himself up on his hams, to scratch away as energetically as if he was paid for it. If the little animals who were trying to penetrate into his hide .had understood English, they could not but have adinired with me. the various compliments he paid them, which for oviginal deep blasphemics were anequalled. How I got through the night in this ruffian-like hole, kept by a tall, lazy hulk of a Yankee fellow, called: Idson, I. know not; but the dawn at length came, and I rushed down stairs before it was light enough to see the horrors of the place where I "bad passed the night. Finding a well, wi vith a pail near it, out of doors, I kept possession of them for half an hour before anybody was stirring, and having dried my towels - and partaken of a breakfast prepared by the landlady, that, was almost a3 disgusting as herself, I joy~ fully mounted my pony again, and, taking advantage of an old Frenchman, named Le Saint, who was going in my direction, turned my back upon these brutal people, who were quite as filthy in their habits as any Indians I had ever been amongst. 'My companion, who was an old inhabitant of this mineral country, had, like many others in the neighbourhood, his bead full of dreams of silver-mines, which he believed he should find some. day or another ; and this induced him to pick up every glittering stone, hoping it might turn out to be gold or silver. He had heard something of my pursuits, and had formed a little plan of his own, to draw me to a hut he had in the woods, and get my opinion of his treasures. . When, therefore, we reached an

142 "VISIONS OF wea mi.

obscure' fork in the road, which, was) altogether in. the forest, and where we had to separate, he entreated "me to-accompany him to his cabin. Ce a'était" qw deux pas, et.de 14 je vous remettiai moi-métie . sur votre chemin, Jai trouvé de Pargent, jen si la eouviction, et je crois aussi avoir trouvé de Por, mais... je ne suis pas si st, vous pourrez me resoudre éola, et vous pouvez penser, Monsieur, 'eombien Je serai redevablé & votre politesse."

With even a slight inclination to be 5 e there was no resisting this;.so, in thy: -edpacity of savant, I rode through a bridle-path in, the woods, at least two miles, to, his domicile, where he had a" patch of cleared land. His treasures, .unfor' tunately, turned out to be pieeés. of iron pyrites; and, on: leaving him, L was sorry. to think that-my visit. had. not contributed 'to his happiness, "for the last thing" he said, when E had. xremounted my horse}/ was: Vous pensez done que mes pierres ne sont bonnes Arien?" "Absolument;" I replied, and rode away. When I had got about ten -or twelve 'miles from Fredericton, £ eame to thé St. Francis River, which was full of water, and tbe current very strong. Sceing a cabin at no great distance, I rode up to it, to inguire if the ford was safe, when another Frenchman. came out, and before he would give me any definitive answer, insisted on. my going into bis house, to see "des échantillons magnifiques d'argent, 'qu'il . avait trouvés." I told him-to bring them out and I" would look at them ; but, like the others, they tuned' out to be worthless; and whether this man, who told me his name was La Guerre, was angry 'at

The Pilot Knob, 143

my decision or not, he certainly directed me toa 'part of the river where my pony and myself crossed with difficulty and in doing which I got completely wet. Pursuing my road, I crossed several branches of what is called Stowf's Creek, ad, as evening drew on, came to a lofty and precipitous ridge, about 650 feet high. Tlaving scrambled over this, I came to a valley of fertiJe soil, and extremely well wooded.

Night was rapidly approaching; I was very wet, and, looking anxiously and vainly for a settlement, began to fear I should have to pass the night on the ground. The pony followed the blind path we were upon with moro spirit, however, than he had shewn during the day, and I was comforted with this, having had numerous proofs of the undoubted intelligence of horses upon similar occasions. At any rate, I determined to go as long as he would, and on we jogged until we came to a more open part of the country, when I saw, at no great distance before inc, a lofty conical mountain, which, from its shape, I supposed to be the " Pilot Knob." Being apprized that there was a settlement near to it, and seeing the track of wheels, I followed and came to a fence, and having got through it, came at length in sight of a large log cabin, Riding up to it, I learnt it was the dwelling-house of a Mr. Pease, an enterprising person, who, with some of his friends, had projected the establishment of some iron-works here. Mr. P. and his family, consisting of his wife and her sister; two amiable and very clever females, from New England, received me in the kindest

144 A Neat Cottage,

manner. The cabin was neatly furnished, had two rooms on the ground-floor and two above. They lost no time in giving me a very refreshing cup of tea, with very good fried meat and bread, and then shewed me to a nice small room, containing a comfortable, clean bed. Having laid my clothes at the door to be dried, I laid myself down in the most perfect confidence that none of the Idsonian species 'were to be my companions. I arose at six, thoroughly refreshed, after a charming night's rest, and full of admiration at the tidiness with which these worthy ladies had arranged "every thing in their cottage. This I determined to make my head-quarters for a day or two, if I should be permitted to make them a compensation for their hospitality. After breakfast Mr. Pease and myself made preparations to ascend the very remarkable phenomenon I had come to see, and which deserves a detailed description. : This Pilot Knob is a well-wooded cone, about, 650 feet in height from the base, and may be estimated to contain, from the base to the summit, a circumferential avea of 500 acres of land, But what makes it so rare and curious a 'phenomenon is, that it entirely consists of a micaceous iron ore, which yields from 50 to 65 per cent. of pure iron. It is, in fact, a mountain of iron, and how far the metal extends beneath the base, must be of course unknown. The skirts ofthe base are covered for a considerable distance with ponderous masses and pebbles of this ore, and the ascent to the top is everywhere strewed with broken fragments of the same, some of them

Description Of The Pilot Knob, 145

exceedingly sharp. About half-way up, on the S. W. side, is a depression or ravine, both sides of which are piled up with enormous masses of iron-stone, as though a fissure or crater had once existed here; bands of silicious stone are found alternating with the oxide of'iron, but in such instances the ore always appears to be very heavy.

On the east side is a steep escarpment of about 150 feet in height, at the foot of which is a terrace, succeeded by another escarpment. Towards the top, the ferruginous rock appears to turn in broad flat plates to the S. W., whilst the natural cleavage has separated it into thin seams, which resemble strata on their edges: At the summit, where I found whortle-berries and wild vines growing in great profusion, the cone divides into two pinnacles, each about thirty-five feet high, and much weatherworn. The view from the top was, of course, very extensive, the whole country being at your feet. I now perceived that this Pilot Knob stood at the north edge of a basin, surrounded by mammillated hills, less lofty than itself, describing a circle to a considerable distance, whilst beyond it was a universal forest. It formed a most pleasing picture, and I hastened to make a sketch of it (vide frontispiece). Many trees upon the mountain had been struck with lightning, but none of the specimens of ore which I examined were magnetic in the slightest degree. On the east side the ore lay in courses not more than one or two inches thick, and the grain was so fine, that Mr. Pease had used it successfully as a hone for razors and knives. IIcre

Vol. U. L

146 , Mamillary Silicious Cones,

"the beds dip to the -west,.in such a manner as to lead to'the inference that,the whole mountain has been heaved in-that direction, and that the huge fragments lying on that side had been shaken from the top when the pinnacles were separated. I found some tole vible erystals-of specular iron ore on the south side, though far inferior in beauty to those-of Elba; and at the base, on the. east side, was.a cool chalybeate spring. I did not visit the mammillary cones I have spoken - of, but Mr. Pease. iuformed me that. they consisted of a silicious rock, sometimes yéry much impregnated with: ferruginoys matter. From the general appearance of things, all the cones appeared to me to have heen -produced, at the. same time, by an eruption from below.

. Having passed the greater. part 'of the day examining this extraordinary mass.of iron ore, which, withont taking into, calculation the: subterrancous

portion no doubt subjacent to it, would suffice: several thousand years for, the consumption, of the

United States, we .returned. to, the house with a collection of specimens, and having taken. some refreshment, rode to a waterfall. on Stout's Creek, where Mr. P. contemplated erecting some works, This was situated at. the confluence' of seveyal mountain streams, the water coming brawling along over the rocks with great rapidity, The

silicious rocks here passed into' a sort of porphy-—

ritie granite, containing prodigious quantities of irregular crystals of red felspar, the quartzose matter being an opaque flint-looking substance, intermixed with occasional seams of micaceous iron.

The Iron Mountain, 147

Many geologists would class these with motemior: phic rocks.

From Mr. Pease's conversation I perceived that he was an enterprising man, and very sanguine as to the result of his operations in smelting the unlimited quantity of iron ore-in his possession. Of this it is true he holds an entire mountain, which if iron ore were a scarce mineral would be invaluable; but it is, as it appears to me, too plentiful in the Atlantic states 'to be valuable at present, especially in Pennsylvania and New York, where canals and railroads abound to take it to market, so that competition with them from this quarter cannot be attempted without an immense expenditure of capital in roads and works, and it is very problematical whether the iron would not cost more than it would sell for. In the evening Mr. Pease took me toseea Mr. Van Doren, another settler, with whom he appeared to be connected, who, with his wife, son, and three daughters, had moved from the Atlantic states into this remote part of the world, to live upon the iron mountain. In this day's rambling I- became wet through twice, but my comfortable bed made amends for every thing.

June 29.—I rose early and prepared for an exeursion of twenty miles to that extensive deposit of micaceous oxide of iron which I had visited in' 1834, and which, without being quite 2 mountain, is Les called the Iron Mountain, whilst this true moun-

in is called Pilot Knob. On leaving Mr. Pease's (ouse I offered him a bank note for my entertain-

ent, which he politely but promptly declined,

L 2

148 Disinterested Hospitality.

adding that he thought it a duty to entertain re-

spectable strangers, but that he took no money for

doing so. I was somewhat embarrassed at this, as

I had rather unceremoniously ordered grain for my

pony, and perhaps too much conducted myself as

travellers usually do when 'they are at houses of entertainment kept by respectable farmers; but as

he offered to accompany me as guide in the ride I

was about to take, I thought some method of oblige-

ing him might present itself before we parted; so,

accepting his offer with pleasure, we rode away

together through a beautiful and fertile country.

On our way we visited a picturesque outlier of

huge masses of granite, loaded with erystals of red

felspar, which my guide said was called—and I

thought oddly, the "Grindstone Quarry." We

came suddenly upon it in a flat woody bottom, which bad evidently been denuded, and it presented

a curious appearance. In one part the rocks

towered up toa great height, assuming all gorts\ of. grotesque forms, and presenting a picture which

became still more interesting by the appearance of - a beautiful deer, which came and gozed upon us

from one of the masses. All these rocks were ex- . ceedingly bright and smooth at the surface, ag if

water had passed rapidly over them for a long

period.

We remained a couple of hours at the Iron Mountain, which is in fact composed of two distinct hills of micaceous oxide; both of them per. haps contain together an area of 500 acres of lan In many instances the ore was composed of. a aa

The "City Of Missouri." 149

of imperfect crystals, with a bright fracture of a steel-grey colour ; and there was an unequivocal, character of fusion in many of them. Immense masses of ore were laid at the top of the two hills, the spaces between them being filled up by fragments that had been broken from them, with angular edges a little rounded by the weather. Some portions of the ore were mixed up with quartzose matter of a flinty character, and in some instances erystals of iron were imbedded in the quartz. The other hills which I examined adjacent to these two, consisted of a dark-colouréd coarse quartz and red felspar without mica.

Mr. Pease at this place disclosed to me a project in which he was concerned with the Van Doren family, viz. the building of an immense city at this place, to be called the "City of Missouri," and conducted me to a brick-yard where a person named Chapman was making bricks. He shewed me also a beautifully engraved plan of the city, evidently destined to be larger than the largest size. The universities, the colleges, the cathedrals, the churches, and the streets were innumerable. In the mean time' there was not the foundation of a single house yet laid, nor could I conjecture for what purpose a house, much less a city, should be built here; but it was difficult to object to what might take place hereafter, or to the intention of the projectors, because there really was a live man on the ground making bricks, which was a step far beyond any preparation I had witnessed at any other pseudo metropolis. I avoided

150° A City Where A Vileage'Could Not Thrive,

conversing about itas much as I could, because if a fraud was not intended, the.affair-appeared to me the most. extravagant piece of folly that' ever came under my notice. There was not a drop of water near the place; nor any 'satisfactory reasons to be given why even a village should be Wuilé, there. Iron-ore at such a. plice had no more marketable value than the granite that abounds. everywhere, and must remain valueless for centuries: Men might as well try to put all the coal-fields in the world into operation at once, ag all the jron ore. These remarks; however,' I kept to myself, as I had "before had proofs that'a traveller is hardly ever safe from the resentment 'of spéculators. if he. 'erosses their purposes: by his, observations. '

Country Preachers, 151

Chapter Xlviii.

ITINPRANT PREACHERS,—-NEGRO ACCOUNT OF THE FIRST WHITE MAN,— NEGRO DRIVERS, —A MAN-KILLER FROM CHOICE.—BEAUTIFUL FOSSILS. "MISSISSIPPI COVERED WITH DRIFT WOOD,—EMBARK AGAIN IN AN INFERIOR STEAMER, AND TRICKED BY THE CAPTAIN,

Arter a pleasant ride, I came at night to Mr. Van Doren's, where I had promised to alight, and found, besides the family, two travelling Methodist minis-- ters there. One of them had been amongst the Indians on the Missouri, and had seen enough of life in other situations to make him a practical and rational person. The other was a coarse sort of country preacher, with manners appropriate enough for a back settlement apostle. His conversation was ever of the shop. ' Not an observation could escape from any of us but he instantly brought us back to the necessity of " glorifying God." He was a violent abolitionist, and spoke very freely, considering that we wero in a slave state; but I believe he was quite safe, for the whole family entertained his opinions. It is the practice of these itinerant preachers, during their journeys, to stay only with those families who agree with them in religion and politics, for many of them are active agents in canvassing the votes of back settlers, and circulating party newspapers. Brother McDougall, for sg they called this man, expressed, amongst other things, an

152 The First White Man,

opinion that the blacks would have been just as white as ourselves, but for the crime of their ancestor Cain, and that the penal mark set upon him was his black complexion, for, as he forcibly observed, "there aint no mark under arth equal to the black face of a nigger." Upon which I told him the following story, that I had heard of a black preacher, when holding forth to his congregation. He said: "Tt was berry kurous how peopel wid de -same parent should be sum of dem black, and sum of dem as white as a turnip. Now, de Scriptur, my bredren, says dis is de way dat it kum about. When Cain kill his brudder Abel, Goddermity meet him one day and said, 'Cain, what is become of your brudder?" So said Cain, 'Massa, it an't none of my business to look arter him.' And den he meet him anodder time, and he say jist de same ting. Well, den, I tell you, he git considerably angry, and said, 'I know what you been about, as well as yourself, and I set a mark upon you dat won't kum off so easy,' Den Cain get frightened, and have de cold chills, and when de fever and agy left him, his face was jist as pale as a snowstorm, and he was de first white man, my bredren, what ever lived." They all laughed most beartily at this, and brother MeDougall shook his sides over and over again.

After this we had prayers and a hymn, and, to wind up, brother McDougall' gave us a tremendous Jong prayer, in which he specially mentioned every individual of the family, complimented each of us, spoke of our intelligent conversation, and sent us all to bed exceedingly well pleased, 1 suppose, both

Conflict Betwixt A Dog And Wolves. 153

with the orator and ourselves. The two reverend gentlemen and myself were shewn to the attic, where two beds with clean sheets were spread on the floor. I tucked mine into as narrow a compass as I could, flung off my clothes, got into it, and bade them good night, in a tone to make them comprehend that I meant to sleep by myself; but I had no occasion to apprehend any interference, for they got very cozily into bed together, and I heard no more until about three in the morning, when we were all roused by a contest betwixt Mr. Van Doren's dog and some wolves, that had come into the yard; and it must have been a sharp one, for we found in the morning that the poor fellow had been severely bitten.

June 30.—I rose at five a.m., and taking my towel in my hand, found my way to the well, and having shaved and brought up my notes of the preceding day, I went to the breakfast-table. Having finished our repast, we had prayers, after which the family bible was circulated, each of us reading two verses and passing it to hisneighbour. I was much pleased with the manner in which this was done. There is nothing which unites human beings so thorouglily into a brotherhood asa knowledge of the bible, and I believe we all rose from our exercise most kindly disposed to each other.

Ilaving heard of an extensive tract of statuary marble, some ten miles off, in a direction where I had not been, I expressed an intention of visiting it, and Mr. Pease kindly offering to accompany me, we mounted our nags, and had ridden some miles through

154 A She~Bear And Her Cubs,

the woods and valleys chatting along, when suddenly we saw a huge black she-bear with her two, cubs,on ahill-side a short distance before us. We immediately alighted, and having tied our horses to trees, led our dog up the hill, and pursued her ; every now. and then, she would turn and rear upon her hind legs to look at us, and then rush through the woods with her young ones. When we reached the top of the hill, we lost sight of her; and the dog being, I suppose, intimidated, refused: to go any furtlier, knowing that when they have young ones, it is: very dangerous to contend with them. Having remounted, we rode on to the marble, which turned out to be a ridge of altered silirian limestone in horizontal strata, some of it being partially coloured red, and the rest highly crystalline, of a dullish white colour, resembling statuary marble. There appeared to be about 1,000 acres of it exposed at the surface. On. my return, I stopped again-at-My'Vau Doren's, and — after a cheerful supper, we went. to prayers, the master of the house officiating, and the ladits singing very pleasingly. :

July 1.—Breakfast being over, I took leave of this kind family and departed, 'admiring the simplicity and: tranquillity of their lives, and sorry to.see that they were involved in speculations that,: according to my judgment, could produce no useful results. On my way, I, called to repeat my thanks to the worthy members of the Pease family, and then directed my course N. E. by the east flank of the granitic hills, here composed. of a dark red felspar, and a small, quantity of quartz. 'I had.a pleasant

Innocence And Beauty. 155

woodland ride of five hours, enlivened by the occa-~

- sional sight of deer, to Farmington, which I reached about four p.m. Here I hoped to have Mr. Boice's nice clean room to myself, but was afraid I should be disappointed, as a dirty spitting insolent fellow, with the most offensive manners, was playing the great man at the tavern, and I began to dread that it would be proposed to me to sleep in the same room with him. On being called to supper, however, I found a woman at table, who was called his wife, and her presence relieved me for two reasons. First, I was delighted, because it was probable he would sleep with her in the room generally provided at these places for married people; and secondly, because I should not have to sleep in the same room with her, for a more unfeminine she-jack I never met with: their conversation was entirely about runaway negroes, the state of Mississippi, and yellow fever. I soon came to the conclusion that he was what I afterwards found him to be, an agent for purehasing refractory negroes to drive to the sugarmills at New Orleans.

After supper, I called to see a son of Mr, Van Doren, who was a Presbyterian minister at this place ; but he was gone on a journey, and I only saw his wife. I think I never looked upon a more beautiful young woman than herself, and upon her repeated invitation, I walked in and sat down. She must have thought that I was one of the brethren, for she several times urged me to stay all night, adding that there was nobody at home but herself, and she could accommodate me very well. When a man contends

156 How To Resist Temptation.

against-a she-bear, and prevails against her, he is - generally thought to have performed a great feat ; but what sort of a feat is that compared to resisting the temptation .of sleeping in a suburban cottage, with no other person in it but a lovely young woman, who in the innocency of her heart would draw a man into so perilous an adventure. Andas if the tempta~ tion were not dangerous enough, nothing could be neater and cleaner than the inside of the cottage,

which promised infinitelymore comfort than was tobe

had at the tavern. But, believing that her guilelessness and hospitality deserved the best return I could make her, and remembering the great kindnesses I had received from her friends, I told her that I was not a -minister of the gospel, but an English traveller, who had been entertained by her father-in-law; and as her husband was from home, I would, if she would permit me, decline her kind offer, and-return tp sleep at Mr. Boice's. She seemed to understand me, for she pressed me no more, and I took my leave. I passed a very indifferent night at the tavern; a strong smell of tobacco prevailing during the whole of it, . which I have no doubt proceeded from the negrodriver and bis woman, who slept in, a.room about eight feet long and six feet wide, and who comforted themselves with smoking, 'and cursing, and swearing. at the hot weather.

July 2.—I arose at the dawn of day, and. after breakfasting with the negro-driver and his companion, mounted, and took to. the woods. again, meeting with nothing but deer and wild turkeys until I reached the Vase River. It was a pro-

A Pleasant Shower-Bath.

digiously hot day: during miy first stage of twenty-~ : -two miles, I stopped a few moments under the shade of a tree, and, suspending my thermometer, found that it stood at 91° of Fahrenheit. It was three p.m. before I reached St. Geneviéve, and upon returning to my old quarters, I found that both the master and mistress of the house had gone on a visit to Kaskaskias, an' old French settlement in Illinois, but had left word that I was to consider myself at home. I had engaged to spend the 4th of July with them, the great American festival ; therefore I took possession of my old room, and contriving, with the aid of a negress, to get a quantity of water into it, I made a sort of sponge showerbath, from which I had often received great relief in such hot weather. This is effected by loading a large sponge with cold water, and placing' it on the top of the head, and pressing it gently. A quarter of an hour's exercise of this kind refreshed me greatly, for I had become so inflamed with riding in the sun, that my head was rather disordered. Having further refreshed myself with a comfortable cup of tea, I strolled out into the village.

How different the tranquil existence of this primitive French village from the busy excitement of a populous city! At nine p.m. there was not a soul to be met in the streets; here and there the chords of a guitar, accompanied by a French voice, agreeably interrupted the general silence, whilst the only tread that was audible was that of cows slowly moving up and. down the streets. Returning to the house, I sat upon the steps until a late hour,

158 A Man Butcher,

hoping 'that a breeze would arise, or that I should become sleepy. There was no door to the house, but in its place was a large piece of striped calico, which served as a curtain, and which reminded me of those exhibitions I had seen in my youth, where an Irish giant, or a Jady cutting watch-papers with her toes, was sure to be placed, to the high gratifica~ tion of my juvenile appetite for wonders. Here, at least in the house where I was, there was no door to be locked, a fact that spoke volumes for the habits of the lower classes of French and mixed negroes, who, indeed, living in the midst of abun-_ dance, are not under the necessity or temptation of stealing. .

July 3.—Here I remained until the arrival of the master and mistress of the house. - "ti the 4th, they bad company to dinner, to celebrate the day; when some striking anecdotes, characteristic of the country, were related of a notorious person, orice well known here, by the name of John Smith T. What the T stood for I could not learn, but this was the name he went by. In the course of his career, he had killed fourteen men either in duels, or by unceremoniously blowing their brains out. He was said to take great pleasure in manslaughter, and to be.in the habit of killing men with as little remorse as others would deer, and had, not a very long time ago, put a ball through the head of a young man, whilst sitting at a table, for merely differing in opinion with him. These re~ peated cold-blooded murders caused him to be so much dreaded, that although he had been more than

A Creole Ball, 159

once put upon his trial, no jury had ever been bold enough to find him guilty. He used to say, openly, that if any man injured him, he had a right to take his life, and as everybody knew that he was equal to carrying his words into effect, he was respected accordingly. The man with whom he had had the longest feud, was General Dodge, the governor at Wisconsin, whom I had visited near Mineral Point. Inhabiting the same part of the country, they always travelled with horse-pistols in their holsters, in expectation of meeting, and it was for this cause that Dodge had his pistols with him when I first met him in the street at Mineral Point. He was a half-brother of the senator in whose house I was staying, and who, although a most obliging and amiable person, was, as I was afterwards informed, a decided dilettante in that line, having figured in a great many adventures. One of our party was an ex-member of Congress, by the name of S., a well-informed man. The day being hot, he had come to the party dressed in a light jacket and loose waistcoat, which being open, everybody could see what indeed he took no pains to hide, a pair of pistols and a bowie-knife stuck in a belt that went round his waist. I was told afterwards, that ho also invariably went armed in that way, having some ancient fends yet unsettled. In the evening, I went to a ball given at a French house in a room about fifteen feet square; there was a room full of these French creoles dancing most vehemently to a wretched violin, with Fabrenheit at least at 100°,

160 A Duel Betwixt Two' Boys,

July 5.—The morning was tremendously hot. I walked to the landing-place to see if there was any steamer bound down the Mississippi, and leaving a person stationed there to bring me information, I returned to breakfast, under one of the most fiery suns I ever experienged. Our repast being over, I observed my worthy entertainers engaged in élose and low conversation, after which my host Dali to me for having an engagement that would detain him an hour or so, and [I took leave of him with many, thanks for his kindness, expecting my mese senger within that time. Soon after I heard pistol firing, and in twenty minutes the master of the house returned, and told me he had been out on. the ground, in the capacity both of second and surgeon in a duel; the principals were two young French~ men of the place—one of them, named Rozier, a youth of nineteen years of age; happily, the parties having fired without hurting each other, became reconciled, and thus acquired their glory very cheaply. Upon my asking how he could reconcile 'his taking such a part with two boys, with what was due to his character as a senator of the United States, he said that he went out with no other intention than to give them a lesson how to manage such affairs by preventing mischief, and that he did not think the parties would have been reconciled withoyt his interference. This was certainly very humane in him, and shewed that he had more consideration for them than for himself; for if one of the parties had been killed, one would deem it difficult for a man turned fifty years of age, and a senator of the United

Furious Current Of The River, 161

States, to justify himself with the sober portion of his countrymen, for taking so principal a part in a - duel between two inexperienced boys. No boat having arrived, I went again to a singular bed of limestone in the neighbourhood, containing some beautiful large fossils of the genus Bellerophon, in jasperized silicious nodules of a red colour. In many parts the limestone, for a great extent, was

brought into the same jasperized state.

Fuly 9. —During the last three days no steamer touched at the landing, and I was compelled to remain at this place, to my very great regret, for the heat was overpowering, and for the last forty-eight hours we had constant exhibitions of heavy thunder, vivid lightnings, and surprisingly heavy rains, so that it was very difficult to stir out of the house: nevertheless I always went to the landing after breakfast to watch for a steamer. The current of the Mississippi was furious; its waters were loaded with sediment, and were constantly rising. Enormous quantities of floating drift, covering at times the whole breadth of the Mississippi, were passing down at the rate of five or six miles an hour. This was a state of things which explained clearly to a spectator how the alluvial bank of a river, formerly deposited when the stream was perhaps three or four times the present volume, was again worn away by the river now moving in a confined channel below the surface of its ancient bottom. Masses of the bank were washed away before my eyes, and I was informed that about six acres of land had thus been abraded and carried away within the

VOL. It, M

162 ORIGIN OF sOME DEPOSITS OF LIGNITE,

last five years. I have before observed, that north of the mouth of the Missouri, and especially north of the Wisconsin, the Mississippi is crowded with islands formed of its ancient bottom, when it occupied the whole breadth of the channel, between the bluffs; but that south of the Wisconsin, and more especially south of the Missouri, few or no islands are to be observed, the torrent having carried them. _away. Here, in the countries south of the Missouri, the Mississippi is gradually doing that to the alluvial bottoms, which it. has already done to the islands that-were contemporary with them ; -restor-- ing to the diminished flood its ancient, dominion by again occupying at a shallower depth the whole area lying between the bluffs, and bearing to its mouth, and there spreading into new alluvial bottoms, the ruins of the older ones.

This process can be observed,. in times of great floods, upon all the tributaries of these great rivers. With the falling masses. of the alluvial banks, the forest trees also come down, plunging into the torrent, and. borne along into the main stream: thus, many are carried out inte the ocean, others sink, and are covered with silt, as in the ease of the great raft on Red River. Such, probably, has been the origin of the great deposits of lignite at Bovey- Heathfield in Devonshire, and in the banks of the Upper Missouri. It is in this new world that a geologist has those opportunities of studying the origin of phenomena, which do not explain themselves in the more limited 'fields of Europo, especially in England. In America, there are forests and rivers

Embark In An Inferior Steamer, 163

two and three thousand miles long, where the be- "ginning and ending of such phenomena can be wit- . nessed; whilst the area of England, which presents a fine specimen of European formations and geological systems, communicates very few bits as to the causes which have either brought them there, or modified them. ?

After watching for a steamer from seven in the morning, and contemplating the tumultuous state of the river, which was rising at the rate of an inch an hour, a steamer, about three p.m., bore in sight, and I gladly got on board of her without asking where she was bound to, or what she was; this was a hasty step, and one that I should not have taken, if I had not been wearied out with my protracted stay at Genevitve. The boat turned out to be one of the very bad old ones, and dirty enough. On we went, however, borne by the furious flood at the rate of twelve miles an hour. She was bound, as the captain informed me, to Louisville, so that I could land at Paducah, and from thence proceed up the Tennessee River. With this I was very well satisfied, and when evening came on, I lay down in a berth which was assigned to me, and soon fell asleep.

July 10.—I awoke about 2 quarter past four a.m., feeling no motion, and hearing a voice as if it came from the shore, went upon deck, whcn I found we were at the wharf of a place called Bird's Point, in the state of Illinois, near the mouth of the Ohio. Having shaved' and washed before the other passongers turned out, I landed, and found a couple of

m2

164 . 'Tricks Of The Mississippi.

frame houses, on a very low piece of alluvial ground, thickly timbered, and--filled in a most extraordinary manner with mosquitoes. The papaw trees (Asimina) on this bottom were taller than I had ever seen them before, many of them being nearly thirty feet high, and all the trees were covered With elegant

ereepers. It resémbled a fertile and thickly-wooded-

bottom in South America, and 'I tried to penetrate

into it a short distance, but.was soon obliged to give

it wp on account of the mosquitoes, that iuvaded,'in'

the most resolute manner, my. ears, my mouth, and my nostrils. Calling, on my return, at one of the frame houses, I was informed that this was a very

sickly place towards 'autumn, and that. the present .

hot, moist weather would probably produce cases of fever. This was not pleasant; but I now made another discovery equally 'disagreeable, "which was,

-that our steamer. was not going to Louisville, byt:

had come here for a cargo of plank, with which the captain intended to return to St. Louis... I immediately went on board to see him,'and going below,, found the steamer almost as full of. mosquitoes as the shore. I now saw. into what a trap I had fallen by my too great haste, and that to look before you leap is -quite necessary, however tired you may be of the place from whence you are going. to leap.

The fact was, that our captain had advertised to ©

go to Louisville at a very low fare, and'had-by that, .

means succeeded in getting passengers, who, tempted by the prospect of saving money, neglected the.opportunity of going on board one. of the regular Louisville boats. It was not for me to reproach'

+

The Passengers In A " Fix," 165,

him: I was a voluntary passenger, and it was my in- .terest to be upon good terms with him. I therefore, in a good-humoured tone, asked him if his going to Louisville was really a joke ; upon which he frankly told me, that the advertisement he had put out at St. Louis was only a decoy, adding : " Why, doctor, you must see, that if I had advertised for such a place as this, I shouldn't have got not a beginning of a passenger in a month." Why he had chosen to call me doctor, I was unable to tell; but it was of no consequence, as a travelloz, meets with all sorts of titles in this part of the world. Ie comforted me, however, by saying that a steamer was to leave St. Louis for the Ohio soon after him, and that she was sure to "turn up" this morning. As to the passengers, they were outrageous when they found "out the "fix" they were in, and if he had not had a good share of humour, he would have found it difficult to pacify them, which he at length did, by promising to abate something still more of their fare, which was the tenderest point with them, for he was obliged to keep us all as long as we were on board him, and they had got se far on their journey for very little money, and time being of as little consequence to them as personal comfort, they saw an advantage in being kept at his expense.,

166 Land At Paducah.

Chapter Xlix.

LAND AT A SETTLEMENT AT THE MOUTH OF TAE TENNESSER RIVER— TRANSITORY STATE OF THE POPULATION.—-A GENTLEMAN BLACKSMITH. SUSPECT THY MASTER OF TRY STEAMER OP AN INTENTION TO LEAVE, MEIN THE WOODS.—CAPTAIN' AND MISS EUTLE.—SENSIBLE. WAY OF DRYING THE HANDS AND FACE.

Anour noon we saw a steamer bearing down towards us, which he told us was the Lady Marshall, and that she would come alongside. " That you may be quite sure of," said be, " for she knows I have got passengers for Louisville." " Then," said I, "you always set this trap for people, and they know it, I suppose, in yon steamer " Why, doctor," replied he, "I know it ain't right; but you can't get:on no how on this river without lying a little." Such are the morals of the Mississippi, and the unsqrupulons manner in which they are avowed. I now tran-, shipped myself on board the Lady Marshall, one of .the regular Ohio steamers, and in five minutes we enfered the Ohio, which, mighty a. stream as it is, appears small upon leaving the ample Mississippi ; the current, too, although the river was full, was gentler, and the water much less muddy. At halfpast seven p.m., I landed at Padueah, a pretty settlement, built on a fine dry bank, about fifty feet high, . at the mouth of the Tennessee River, another of the noble streams of this continent. Here I was so fortunate as to secure a comfortable bed-chamber

176 The Author: Finds Important Allies,

ocean, which they had never beheld, and especially. about General Jackson, for whom, in common with all the people in this part of the world, they had an unbounded veneration, that when I went to bed I felt Twas.quite independent of the captain, and that he would never venture to leave a passenger in the woods a second time, who bad seen both Ginneral Jackson and Mr. Van Buren, and who was "decidedly of Miss Kittle's. opinion, that the ast 'was a considerable leeteler man than the first." July 15.—Wewere obliged to come to during the night, on account of a fog as dense as a cloud." On rising from my mattress at the dawn, where, from extreme heat, I had got but little sleep, I observed. that. the other passengers, who were lying around, were sleeping upon sheets as dirty as. tarpaulins. Ei sifa dillee adewresana sta Charme: Quietly rising, I went softly to the washing-place, where I not only got the first turn at the clean towel, but had the whole locality to myself, with plenty of elbow-room for my ablations. 'Thence adjonrning to the deck, my friend, the steward—who had a most remarkable pair of spindle-shanks—got me a tub of water for my feet, and the luxury of another towel. Having. made myself up for the day, I saw my fellow-pas. -sengers turn up in succession: two of them got my wet towels, and after in vain attempting to find , "a dry" upon them, went. to the door of the boiler, to make them serviceable. .But these were unso~ phisticated people, incapable of making themsely eacaae oni

How To Dry The Face. 177

"one; it suffices for them to be able to accomplish their principal object,' whiéh is to dry their hands and face. :

One of the passengers told me that he had been lately on board a steamer on Red River, where they allowed them no towels, " And how did you man- 'age?" said I. " Why," replied he, " I washed my face with my hands, and when I had dried them in my pantaloons, T wiped my face with them." And ' T thought it very sensibly done, for travellers of his class have seldom but one handkerehief, and that they wear round their necks. ,

'We were now 100 miles from Padueab, the hanks of the Tennessee still preserving the same beautiful character, only being a little higher, and sloping gracefully down. Here and there, the universal wilderness was partially broken in upon by the intruding squatter, who, depending upon the sale of wood fuel to the steamers, and upon the sale of venison and deer-skins, hardly plants maize enough for the support of his family, preferring to. take bread in pay for his commodities from the passing steamers. For some time the banks had consisted entirely of tertiary beds, apparently made from tranquil waters, when a great part of the states of Mississippi and Alabama were deposited. The catalpa was growing wild, and signs of southern vegetation were increasing. Occasionally J saw strong beds of gravel at the water's edge.

At half-past seven, we reached,a settlement called Point Mason, with a plantation on the east side, some old buildings and a house for curing tobacco VOL. i. N

178 Tobacco Cultivated.

being on the west side. This plant is grown in considerable quantities alut here, and when cured, is put into hogsheads and shipped for New Orleans.

A curious instance occurred this morning, of tho

184 Arrive At Tuscumbia,

about seventy feet high, upon which the buildings of the terminus are erected. Two miles from this place was a small town called Tuscumbia, through which the railroad passed. I availed myself eagerly of this opportunity of liberating myself from the monotony of the voyage, for time always passes very irksomely where. there is so little to compensate for want of comfort and rational society. The ladies had taken so decidedly to bolting immense quantities of fried onions,at every meal, that we had not been very sociable of late, and the audacious blasphemy that escaped from every individual on board was intolerable. I accordingly hastened to transfer myself and luggage, at eight a.m., into a one-horse car, and was driven to Tuscumbia. Here I found a new and spacious brick hotel, called the Franklin Honse, of which the Jandlord, Mr. Ransom, promised, ina printed eard, to make " travellers agreeable," meaning or despairing to make his house so. Notwithstanding that Fahrenheit stood at 90° in the shade, I sallied out to look at the place, which is prettily situated. The place was laid ont in broad tebe fu ight angles to each other, and many |substantial briek Warehouses were erected here and _-there. I found also that they dséd bituminous coal here, brought from a place called Moulton,\ \bout forty miles from hence. The ecommerce 'of --vhe place was sustained by cotton, which is the staple of the country, and finds its way down the 'Tennessee, to New Orleans, to be shipped for Europe. Later in the day I went to a limestone quarry, the silurian rocks of which are composed

186 "Cotton Plantations.

going to wash myself, he laughed as if/he would split his sides; " Massa," said he, "I eall dat make youself berry greeable;" but when he saw me shave myself without a mirror, he exclaimed, "I don't believe, massa, dere a lawyer in all -Albama can do dat." The landlord at this house was a very obliging person, and ordered a nice breakfast for me of coffee, cream, bread 'and butter. Few persons in this very hot climate have the courage to be clean and nice in their doings; exertion seems to be painful, and it is evident that the general slovenliness is very much tobe attributed to the weather, On leaving the house, I thanked the landlord: for his attentions to me, and I could sce that he was much gratified with what' I said... When I gave the old negro his gratification, he said he " was berry sorry massa was going, dat it did bim so much good to hab a gentleman in de house; dat shave widdout a

At six a.m. the locomotive drew us ont of Tuscombia; it was a beautiful morning, and we had a charming breeze. The cotton plantations as we passed them looked just like potato-fields before they go into blossom, anda great number 'of slaves, particularly children, were in the rows weeding them. Horrible as slavery is, yet industry is always an agreeable spectacle, and since cotton must be had in this manner, it is most fortunate that these poor creatures can work in these fiery suns. 'The picture the fields presented would have been upon the whole a pleasing one, but for the sight of a swarthy ruffian-looking overseer, whom we passed, sitting on

'A Railroad Omnibus, 187

a fence, holding a short-handled whip with a knotted lash in his hand. . Perhaps it was only to intimidate those who were idle, and, like the staff' of the beadle, © denoted that punishment was at hand for those who deserved it ; but the sight of this agent of tyranny excited my indignation; I couldno longer admire any thing, and saw nothing but slavery — in its worst form grinding to the earth helpless heaton i ba apie peal fete hye Grol ated of inner

In this frame of mind I had no relish for the society of the car I was in, consisting of white, yellow, and black, indiscriminately packed together in a long sort of omnibus, including some young men of the country, who cursed and swore every time they opened their mouths. I had often observed, that when L asked for information of those with whom (I oceasionally got into, eompany, they stared without answering me: finding myself often obliged to repeat what I said, I sometimes thought they were rather deaf, and at other times, attributed their silence to their not being accustomed to my mode of articulating words: but here I became clearly convinced that they did not comprehend me for a different reason, and that it was because I did not introduce what I had to say with an execration suited to the taste of those I was addressing, a sort of seasoning, as it were, of the conversation to their liking. When I remarked that "it was very hot, — and that I hoped there would be some cool water at the next stopping-place," it produced no more effect than if I had spoken Polish or Italian. From

188 The English Language In Danger.

what I heard of the communications betwixt my travelling companions, I perceived that if I had made my remark in the following approved form, " T wish I may be roasted in to h—1 if I don't call this reel b—d hot," I should have been instantly understood, and that a strain of eloquence would have been poured out of a sympathetic character. Certainly, the English language is in a strange way, in the southern slave-holding portions of the United States, which, in one way or another, may soon claim to be a new Pandemonium altogether unfitted for the few men 'of education, and eobriety of ae whose lot is cast there.

We made the distance, which does Bn ate I forty-five miles, in four hours, reaching Decatur at ten a.m. On getting out at the station, I walked into the town to see if there was any steamer bound up the Tennessee, and heard that one was expected from Knoxville very soon. Decatur is a rural little place, on the left bank of the Tennessee, every building in which appeared to be a store; the only one which looked like a private house turning out to be a bank. The principal tavern had rather 'a promising exterior, bunt on entering the bar-room I found the swaggering, cursing, and swearing gentlemen of the railroad car' " carrying on there," and as this did not betoken much comfort for a residence that might last several days, I sought out another with a less promising exterior.

This was a very humble tottering-looking wooden concern, at which I was received by a good-tempered old negro, named Adam, who led me up a'

190 Second 'Thoughts Best.

descended into a dark, wu

on the basement-floor, where 1 found loon engineers, stokers; boatmen, and all sorts of gentry of their caliber, discussing their dinners with their eats off. Great, however, was my surprise, to perceive, that not only the table-cloth was clean, but that opposite to an empty chair was a nice-looking dish 'of roast chickens, lower down, a very temptinglooking ham, some exceedingly nice-looking vegetables, and sundry glass pitchers filled with milk. I immediately felt very hungry, and down I sat, and made a most hearty and excellent dinner. So much ran cohage te bon aelbnapye sendin igi

can'stage-coach and four horses, drove up, to take

to Huntsville : it was the first machine of the kind I had seen since IT left Wheeling in the month of May. It looked as it does everywhere, and as its brother, the French diligence does, like a very clumsy contrivance; but in the pestilent, miry state of the roads, at some seasons, in the newly settled parts of this continent, a machine less capable of resistance would, perhaps, not serve the purpose. It went once a week vid Huntsville and Jasper to Knoxville, in Tennessee, and, if the steamer failed 'ime, was the only resource I should lave. J was now in the last settlement adjacent to the, Cherokee country, where there was a, railroad, a bank, merchants, a postmaster, and landlords, yet I had in vain endeavoured to acquire some information as to the best mode of getting into the Cherokee country.

194 Predilections Por Dirt.

heartily ebeered by every body, -although I- was afterwards assured that many of his politics opponents were present.

July 20.—An excessively hot morning: Fahrenheit at 92°. Going down to the steamer I was informed that she would certainly start at noon, as soon'as the captain and his clerk arrived from Taseumbia—an assurance that was soon belied by the arrival of the train. without either of them, or even a message from them. I would gladly have got away from this place, for, notwithstanding old Adam's clean bed, I was yery uncomfortable. It was so hot by day that it was painful to go out before sunset, so that I was obliged to keep the house. If I attempted to remain in the public room, I met nothing there but dirty, profane, smoking, spitting fellows, and the walls of my bedroom were so disgustingly covered with the tobacco-juice that its former occupants had squirted upon them, that I was obliged to drag my table to tho corridor to escape the sight of them. Our landlord was a goodnatured Scotchman, named M'Kenzie, but dirt appeared to be so congenial to him, that I think he would have been unhappy without it. 'The proprieties of the table, which I had observed the' 'first day of my attival, had not been repeated; indeed the clean table-cloth of the dinner made its appearance the next morning at breakfast, in as filthy a state as if it had been in a pig-stye.

July 21.—Hearing that the clerk of the steamer had arrived, I went.on board, wHtia he told me very coolly. that the steamer would not leave Decatur, at any rate, until the next day. The whole lives of

How Slavery Elevates The White Free Man. 195

these fellows are passed in lying and fraud; they no longer pretend to veracity; advertising their steamers for places they are not going to, and swearing every morning that they are going, without the least intention of keeping their words. A more contempt~ ible state of society cannot be imagined than one in which the people you are obliged to deal with attempt to deceive you upon every occasion, and, pereeiving your-dependence upon them, swagger and swear, and attempt to bully you if you say a word. These bad habits and vices, of men of this class in the southern states, grow out of the combined causes of climate and slavery. The climate makes them too indolent to help themselves, and slaves being at hand to do all menial and laborious offices, they acquire, from their earliest years, extravagant ideas of their own importance, and being brought up in the belief that blacks are created to work for them, and constantly hearing about Liberty and Equality amongst white men, they bluster when they cannot reason. That class, therefore, which, in the northern states, sustains the different branches of industry, is too often resolved here into a vapouring, disgusting, and unprofitable set of beings, devoid of education, religion, or manners, and have the audacity to call those who correspénd to their own class in the north, white Niggers.

In the evening. a dance was got up at the tavern by some young persons of the place, and I went into the room to! observe them, It was the first time that I ever was present at an assemblage of young persons of both sexes in the United States,

o2

198 A Pleasing Country.

and that there was a mineral spring of sulphuretted water, and another of ehalybeate at its. foot, not 'more than two or three miles from the river, which were resorted to by the gentry of Alabama. We reached 'Triana ab6ut five p.m. where the extensive clearings contrast: themselves well with the deep: wooded banks of the river: beyond this, and about twenty miles from Decatur, the country becomes very pleasing, lofty and graceful Knolls rising up amongst the clearings. About sunset, we landed some rather livid-looking passengers at a place called Damascus Ferry, who were going to the mineral springs. The sandstone here lay regularly upon a silurian limestone. At night we had thonder and lightning in the distance, with a promise of rain, now much watited, to inercase the depth of the river, and without which, I was given to understand, we should bo puieled to get Over,n/plncs)ealled The Suck."

Fig 3-1" aittaahbioanrae\as asian leeks found we were at Gunter's Landing, a collection of slightly-built, unpainted wooden stores, upon a high sandy bank, about thirty-five feet above the level of the river. Much rain had fallen in the night. We were now at, the most southern bend of the Tennessee River, with the Cherokee country on our right. "Various sandstone ridges were in( sight. Fifteen miles further up, we stopped to take in wood, at the old Cherokee Coosawda village ; and seeing a rude log house in a small clearing hemmed in by the woods, I walked up to it. Some peachtrees were around, with green fruit on them,

200 State Of The Cherokee Nation,

had invented alphabetical. characters to express every separate sound in their language, and books of prayers, psalms and bymns, with the gospels, had been printed in these characters, in the familiar knowledge of which the whole Cherokee nation had been instructed. These poor people did more than possess the Christian religion; in the honest: simplicity of their hearts, they endeavoured to live in conformity to its precepts, and were inost exemplary in the performance of their religious duties.

In the treaties which the Government of the United States lind made with them—the whole of which, on the part of the Cherokees, were treaties

of cession—that Government always guaranteed: to the Indians, in the most solemn form, that portion of their territory which was not ceded ; so that they had the security for the performance of these treaties from the same people at whose instance) they had embraced the Christian religion ; a moral security, which national faith on the one side, and theirown friendless condition on the other, invested with high responsibility.

Tita: Ledara ay, oltiolae eatin sateen Gabe: ment of the United States to believe, that at: first thoy were disposed.to observe the stipulations they had entered into with the Indians, and that they would not have turned aside from so sacred a duty, but for the pressure of the population of those states whose. territory was contiguous to that of the

rehome deco wo Saphira ig forteetly ean read the words:

202 John Ross, A Cherokee Chief.

collision betwixt Qiem and the Georgians, The Cherokee leaders were also invited to cede the whole of their territory to the Georgians, for a con-~ sideration tobe paid to them by the United States, Seige ee Roe eoperare egabameansg

of a very small minority of them, that had been gained over by some subordinate chiefs, whom the agents of the United States Government hai} induced to enter into a contract to cede the whole territory to the Georgians, with a stipulation that the entire nation was to evacuate the country within a)short

feast five-sixths of the nation adhered to them, under the advisement of a half-breed, named John Ross, a man who had reeeived a good education amongst the whites, had fine talents, great experience, an. inflexible character, and who possessed unbounded influence over bis countrymen. It was now more obvious than ever that the Cherokees never would aga: Appa and that their affairs to a crisis.

' 7 hawaii gh vicslsneehens wiih haereas notoriety, 1 felt a warm interest for this much- Tienes ies ren persuaded, however, that

was not to be expected, the United —

204 Bituminous Coal.

tions'of from 700 to 800 feet above our headson each side. We had the same incoherent 'sandstone incumbent upon limestone, the mountain being densely wooded to the top, and abounding, as I was informed, with bears, deer, and wild turkeys. Veins 'of bituminous coal are said to be found in these rocks. Geological proofs were constantly presenting themselves of great areas of the sandstone having heen swept away, previous to the deposit of a red earth upon which the cotton is raised, and the period of the deposit of which is probably contemporaneous with the red soils observed in other countries, asin Devonshire.

At half-past seven the scenery became exceedingly picturesque, and reminded me of the Upper Mississippi, strong esearpments of disintegrating sandstone appearing on each side of the river, which abounded in sudden bends, aud having a strong current setting down. 'The stream now contracted to about 200 yards, and we reached a rapid called the Pan, where the current was so strong that we were detained "two~-hours making preparations to warp the steamer beyond, it. Whilst this was going 'on I amused myself collecting unios, with some fresh-water univalves T had not seen before. There were some bulima of a remarkable size. The animal of some of these shells of the turritella family was very curious, the inferior part consisting of a broad contractile fleshy disk, exceedingly flexible, resembling the cleavers made of leather which boys use to raise stones with. At the top of this the other part appears, its head with two lateral feelers

abs "A TORTOISE-BANK.

peration, whilst his companion seized a strong shrub that was growing in the rock. This enabled the first to get a more secure hold of the bluff, and using a paddle ag a rudder to keep her lead right, I called out to them to' pull with all their might. In this. way we' forced"the canoe round the bluff, and got into quiet water. af laakiedeauss RN imminent danger. ae

The river now expanded to about 800 yards wide, and paddling pleasantly along we came to a high sloping bank of loose sand, which T landed to examine. It had an angle of more than 50°, had a south-west aspect, and was composed of loose sharp sand, derived from disintegrated rock. This was one of those tortoise-banks occasionally found on the margin of the rivers where that amphibious animal abounds. In the upper parts of the Tennessee and its tributaries they attain a large.size, as Thad oceasion to remark when examining, upon a previous occasion, the country watered by the Holston. The contrivance of this species (Z7rio~ nyw ferow) for providing for the hatching of its eggs forcibly shews the power of animal instinct; and the details respecting it which I am about to give, may be considered as illustrating some of the phenomena connected with the fossil footmarks found at Cor Cockle Muir, and at Craigs, near Dumfries, where the inclination of 4 strata is also about 46°S.W.* ss atures an

Where a slope like the one I was wee: 500

pate tt eens ee 1998." Ohh Spee

Ducks Hatched In Trees,

mining, exists near waters inhabited by 'this species, 'animal, at the proper season, crawls up it, and arrived at the top begins to make its nest. This is by screwing its body repeatedly round in the sand, has scooped a pit sufficiently large: here it lays twenty to forty round eggs, genérally without a

brane. Sand is then scratched over of six or eight inches, which the

£1 Boiaan toi caedeedsithe Wiabulcsbon Phayeta Lanveliee canoe ; a favourite mode of conveyance with all travellers who, like myself, have devoted much time to the: exploration of the rivers of America. About ten miles from the — Suck, we came to the Look-out Mountain, a noble pile of stratified limestone with a huge bump of sandstone at the top. I should have been glad to land here, but the men had become rather impatient at my frequent stoppages, and upon my inquiring whether it was. possible to find o path of any sort up the mountain near to the river, told me there was nothing of the kind, that théy wanted to get back, and that I could find somebody at Ross' landing to' serve me,as a guide. From the resolute manner in which ee eee

Vol. 11.

210. / REACH ROSS' LANDING. Tg

that our good understanding might not be ruffled, told them that I was obliged to them for the attention they had paid me, and was contented to proceed. as fast as' they

After some time, they ran the canoe ashore at a beach where there:was no appearance of a settlement, and told me that it was Ross' Landing. 1 was somewhat dismayed at first at the prospect of being abandoned on a lone beach, since these men having fulfilled their agreement, hada right to be paid immediately, and time was impor- 'tant to them to get back that night... Upon purleying with them, however, I learnt that there was a small settlement not far from us, and that they would. carry my luggage there for a reasonable gratification. Upon which L sent them immediately on, and taking @ Jast look at the river followed the road they took. At length I came to a small village hastily built, without any. regard to order. or streets, every one selecting his own site, and relying upon

addressing myself to one of them, he directed me to a small tavern kept by a pérson of the name of Kennedy. 'Supposing, from the state in which the country was, that I should meet with all sorts of disorderly persons, and wishing in my heart that the Indians had continued in possession of their country—for wherever I had. been, the Indians had been friendly to me—I almost dreadéd the idea of going to this tavern; Wut on reaching it, 1 was quite delighted to find that it consisted of three new log huts, built upon a high piece of ground that commanded a beautiful view of the surrounding country. The land~

convened his nation to mect on the 3ist of this month. 'This piece of information, although it was the cause of a great disappointment, excited a strong desire in\ me to go

Mission of Brainerd, six miles distant, and deter:

to go there; T engaged a horse of a suttler for the heat was too overpowering to go on foot.

214 Structure Of The Cherokee Language.

216 Mr. Rawlins And His Gig) 5

was niot encouraged to do so, and perceiving that my presence was an embarrassment, 1 took leave of the inte- a more sincere friend than myself. Mr, Blunt, the farmer, followed me to the gate, looking as if he was conscious that he had not acted a very friendly part towards me, and began an apology which I cut short by saying: " Either you have @ conveyance, Mr. Blunt, or you have not. If you have not, that fact would render an apology unnecessary ; but if you have one, ad I have been informed is the case, then you have lost an opportunity of obliging came efor aman pemepe th Nc

slowly back to my quarters, my head aching violently with the severe blow I had received in the morning. July 27.1 had a restléss night with some) fever and soreness in the back of my head; towards morning, however, I got some sleep, and was awoke by a refreshing breeze passing over my face. Having dressed and, breakfasted I felt much better. 'The landlord had heard of, tho ruins of an old gig with. wooden springs that belonged to a man of the name of Rawlins; it was under a shed, and had served exclusively for some time past for his cocks and hens to roost upon. Hoping that it might be possible to cobble it up in someway or other, I went to see it and its owner, long-legged drawling fellow, who was 1 complete pendant to his vehicle. He said if 1 would go to the expence of having if repaired, he didn't care. if he hired "it tome but that he had no horse, though he had some old harness." As this was the only card T had left to play, and

21s THE GIG IN A "PIX."

fragments: of horse millinery belonging to Rawlins, and the ingenuity of the smith, we had got the horse into the 'shafts and drove to my quarters.

Here 1 took leave of my obliging landlord, and, sending Rawlins to proceed and lead the horse, soon followed. him. Tt was a burning sun, and I was not yet free from headache, but the excitement produced by getting ap this equipage, and by having the world once more before me had made me rather indifferent to it, We reached the Morayian Mission in three hours, which was two miles an hour, and here I fed the horse whilst good Mr. Buttrick: looked up some Cherokee vocabularies for me, At 4 PM. we started again, but/an unthought of difficulty soon brought us up, for we had to pass the Chiguamawgah Creek: this was rather too deep for Rawlins and myself, who were on foot, 80 we were obliged to get into the gig, which had no seat in it, and which was already filled with the luggage. Alas when we had. got fairly into the middle of the creck, our Rosinante could not muster strength enough to drag us, across, In vain we encouraged him, be\would not stir, and for near a quarter an hour it scemed certain that we should have to lighten his load, by jumping out. At the end of that time we tried the poor animal once more, and setting up a great shout, and clattering the ropes upon his, back'we got the steam up a little, and op we weot amidst the rocks and stones at the bottom, bouncing and _rolling from one.to another, every instant expecting an upset. Happily, we reached the opposite bank in safety,

The exertion I had made, and the breezes which becaine very refreshing at the decline of day had abated my headache, and I enjoyed my evening's walk very much. The country around bore 2 truly Indian character, short trees

A Cherokee Watering Place.

Hapter Lut,

A CHAROKRE WATERING PLACK—MEKT EME INDIANS GOING TO A GiOEMAT MEETING OF THEIR NATION.—AWAIVE AT SPRING PLACE. —ORUNIRN POPU LATION. 4CRRRK INDIANS HID AWAY IN PSE MOUNTAINS Yom 'ica omspan

July 28.—I got out of this dismal, filthy place at 5 A.M., and haying walked about ten miles, cane to a chalybeate spring, where I found some of the principal balfbreed Cherokee chiefs with their families in log huts, these people having their watering places as well as the whites. In one of the huts was a tolerable bath, the water being led by wooden spouts from the foot of the hill whence it issues, Being a rural shady place, I remained here a short time for the purpose of conversing with) the Cherokees. All of them, including the women, spoke English, theso last being well dressed and good looking, Pereviving that they were not disposed to communicate very freely with me, I proceeded on, and my horse being ina tolerable willing humour, we at length reached an American settlement called Cleveland, newly made on the road leading from Calhoun, on the Hiwassee, in Tennessee, to Gainsville in Georgia. Being now on a stage coach road, and no longer in danger of being embargoed, I inquired for the — best tavern, and was directed to a clean house kept by a person named Berry. Here I dismissed Mr. Rawlins and his machinery, and having washed and shaved, sat down to a very comfortable but late breakfast. Twelve months ago

222 REACH "SPRING PLACE. Re

.We met many parties of Cherokees. of the lowest closs going on foot to the great meeting. Some of them were

inhabitants. were a tall, sallow, gawky-looking set, with manners of the coarsest kind; their children were all pale and unhealthy-looking, suffering, as the mothers told me, from. bowel complaints, occasioned evidently by unwholesome food and filth, We passed several farms belonging to the principal Cherokees, containing fine patches of the sweet potato (Convoluulus Batata), maize and pulse of various kinds. Some of the Indian women spoke English, but generally they were shy, and in a few instances refused to answer me. ee ae ee

PRs eA Gag Fh further on we found him. seated by the road-side with a waggon near him, and his family around him preparing their meal, He was an old man, and being struck with his strong resemblance to General Jackson, I stopped and spoke to him. He told me that he had a dropsy, and was now on a journey of one hundred miles to consult a famous doctor, '

. Before noon we 'reached a settlement prettily, situated, called Spring Place, 'with the fine tine of Cohuttie Mountains in view, and stopped at a tavern, kept by a person

mse fh

224 Whisky Accidents.

house. nips igbieakarioahk aise TR characteristic of the habits of the country. ..

+ A-young white fellow came to the tavern with a frightful wound in his leg, and so drank that all we could get from him, amidst a torrent of the most audacious blasphemies, was that "his horse had fixed it for him," Next came a half breed youth, about: twenty years old, with his wife, a pretty Cherokee creature, about seventeen, each on horseback, on their way to the council. This young fellow's head was bound up, and when they removed the handkerchief, his eyo was 0 dreadfully bruised, that it appeared to me he would lose the use of it. He had got beastly drank on the road, and — tumbling from his horse the animal had: struck him with — his hoof. The young wife seemed to take it as a matter of age pape Nea TNE hil day.

. July 80.—At 4 am. I got into the stage, the air being cool and agreeable, and for a long distance kept crossing alternate beds of limestone, strongly. veined with white spar and shale. This continued to. the Coosawattie River, or Coosa Wahtay, as the Indians eall it. (Coosa is the Indian name of the Creek nation, and Wahtay means old.) This stream runs at the foot of a ridge of micaceous slate bearing N.N.E., being a continuation of the Undykay chain. Here we stopped at an Indian tavern kept by a half-breed Cherokee of the name of Bell,.one of the Indians opposed: to John Ross and the majority of the nation. 'They had nothing but some filthy pieces of bad cake to give me made, of Indian corn. Upon my asking a Cherokee woman who: , spoke English why they did not provide themselves, with, ate ee a she said "it was too much trouble to keep)

" Everything about their house was: dirty and dispati: shdlt ta DU. Us aciooal about.

APPROACH THE GOLD REGION. Bt 225

Just before I started, I learnt that from two to three "hundred Creek Indians were hid away in the mountains, and were at this time suffering extremely for want of food. Their vation having been compelled to emigrate, these unfortunate beings had eseaped and taken refuge in these hills. A Creek interpreter, accompanied by an United States officer, rode up to acquire information respecting them, with the intention of 'bringing a party to surround them and force them away fo Arkanga.

We had now before us an arduous journey of fifteen wiles over the mountains and streams, every foot of which T had to walk over the talcose slate in a burning sun, for the horses were such wretched animals they had enough to do to drag the vehicle, . At 4 P.M. we réached a poor settlement, near @ place called Carmel, where I got a drink of water, and our animals having rested awhile, we pursued our dreary and fatiguing journey, occasionally enlivened by bands of Cherokees on horseback and on foot going with their women and children to Red Clay. After a very 'hot and exhausting journey of forty-five miles, thirty of which Thad to walk, we arrived at 8 p.a. in a valley where there was a tolerable tavern kept by one Tate; and having

refreshed miyself with some food and gota bath for' my

feet, I was most glad to lie down. We: July 3).—Havi

jowney at 4 a.

found near this

off so. that, as I sys;

breakfast atone Field's, a Georgian. 'The people about were tall, thin, cadaverous-looking: animals; looking as melancholy and Inzy as: boiled eod-fish, and when. they dragged themselves about, formed a striking" contrast to some of the swarthy, athléticlooking Cherokees. This, no'doubt, is to be attributed 'to their wretched diet and manner of life; for the better class of' Georgians, 'who Tead more 'generous lives, contains 'many. fine-looking individuals. "What these long. parsnip-looking country fellows secm to énjoy most is political 'disputation in' the bar-room of their filthy taverns, exhibiting much bitterness against each other in supporting the respective candidates of the Union and State-rights parties which' divide, the 'State, and this without seeming to have the slightest informatign tespecting the principles of either. Execration and vociferation, arid ® Well; I'm for Jackson, by ——!" were the nearest approach to logic ever made in ty presence, Their miserable attempts at farming, when compared with the energy, foresight, and neatness of the people of the Northern States; are as absurd as they are ridiculous ; indetd, it is quite "distressing to see the most numerous class in the community condemned by) their ignorance to be the slaves of those demagogues, who with their eternal elections encourage them in these tayernhaunting habits, which bring nothing but: misery and ruin upon themselves and their families, Lesaninet after generation.

The road to the Chagtiieins tne ola good at this season; running the whole way over micaceous sandstone and talcose slates, with occasional hornblende rocks, which are the prevailing rocks in the Gold Region. 'The country was well wooded, and from the summit level, descended rapidly to that pretty stream.) At half-past

"998 urave GarNsvrntel

Gainsville, for he was unable to sleep at night. His complaint, he said, was dyspepsia. I explained to him' that it was nothing but common limestone 'spring-water, and advised him to drink no more of it, but to rise early and go to bed early, and take as much exercise as he could when it was cool enough to walk, avoiding tobacco and ardent spirits altogether. The man was evidently killing himself with chewing tobacco: About three miles from the place there is a similar spring, but I did not visit it.. August 2—I was awoke about midnight by Mr. M—, of Georgetown, in the district of Columbia, who being on his way to the Cherokee Council in the character of Special

August 3.—We were on the road again at

3 A.M, one of our horses so lame that we could never get him off a walk. The day was burning hot, and to make thirty miles it 'took us twelve hours. ge: tn Place at half-past 8 r.xt., and were fortunate enough 'to. get a small garret, with two beds to lie down on) to ourselves, : BUMS

Chapter Liv.

MODERN CONDOTTINRL—REACH RED, CLAY, TRE PLACE OF MEETING OF THE CHEROKEE NATION.—GREAT AS@EMBLAGR OF INDIANS.—CHEROKEE CHRIS- TAN WORSHIP AND CIVELIZATION.—THN GOING SNAKES AND WHITE PATH,

TWO ANCIENT CRIEPS.—-A CHEROKEE DINWER.—A CHUROKER PREACHER, HOSHY TEAD—A WHITE PREACHER, NICKNAMED THK "DRVIL'S HORN" BY 'TiNW INDIAN WOMEN,

August 4.——This morning, whilst we were at breakfast, a company of Georgia Mounted Volunteers rode' through the place on their way to the Cherokee Council. All had their coats off with their muskéts and cartouch-boxes strung acroas their shoulders,. Some of the men had straw hats, some of them white felt hats, others had old black hats on with the,rim torn-off, 'and all of them wero as unshavensand as dirty as they could well be: 'The officers were only distinguished by having Cherokee fringed hunting shirts on. Many of the men were stout young fellows, and they rode on, talking, and cursing and swearing, without any kind of discipline. Upon the whole it was a picturesque sight, and brought to my recollection the descriptions of the condottieri of ancient times.

Having engaged the stage to take us to Red Clay, we left, Spring Place at 8 A.m., passing for twenty-five miles through a wild country with a rolling surface, pleasingly wooded, and sufficiently open to admit of the growth of various beautiful flowers. We crossed the Connesawga, which isa beautiful mountain stream, and were frequently gratified with the sight of fine fat deer bounding across the

narrow wood road with their magnificent antlers, The

turbans, their dark coarse, lank hair, their listless savage gait, and their swarthy Tartar countenances, reminded me of the Arabs from Barbary. Many of these men' were athletic and good-looking ; but the women who' had passed from the maidenly age, had, owing to the hard labour imposed upon them by Indian usages, lost as usual every feminine attraction, so that in my walk I did not see one upon whom I had any desire to look a second time. In the course of the evening, LE attended at the Council-house to hear some of their resolutions read by an English missionary, named Jones, who adhered to the Cherokees ; a man of talent, it was said, and of great activity, but who was detested by the Georgians. These were afterwards translated, vivd voce, into Cherokee by Bushy-head, one of the principal half-breed Cherokees. A most refreshing rain fell in the evening, and about 8 P.at, somewhat fatigued

with the adventures of the day, I retired to our hut, whence, through the interstices of the logs, I saw fires of the Cherokees, who bivouacked in the gleaming in-every direction; and Jong after I laid d the voices of hundreds of the most pious amongst who had assembled at the Council-house to perform

evening worship, came pealing in hymns through ¢ wt fa st ad ray

a an "August 5 Tbe v0 cat bla

é nua 8

of

oratory. When they sang, a line or two .ofja hymn printed in the Cherokee language was given out, each one having a hyran book in his hand, and I certainly never

Amr.) Jones, A: Missionary.

in their.own language, submits to the government of their elders, builds houses and temples of worship, -relies aipon agriculture fur their support, and :produces men. of great ability to rule over them, and to whom they give a willing then, not because they cannot be civilized, but because @ pseudo set of civilized: beings, who are too strong: for them, want their possessions! - What a bitter reflection it will: be to the religiously disposed portion: of the: people, who shall hereafter live here, that the country they, will be 80 proud of and so blest in was torn from the Aboriginals in this wrongful manner. God) be thanked, :that in acquiring the dominion of India, Great Britain protects and blesses the people whose country owns her sway!) ® After breakfast Iomade. myself 'acquainted' with Mr.

Tones, the Missionary, whom Ty found to be a mam of who must i

along time 'amongst them in the mountainos region Nort Carolina, The Georgians, and I found most; of the 'other white settlers had: a decided antipathy to him on saecount of the *ndviee he gave to the Cherokees, which "had frequently-enabled them to baffle the machinations of 'the persons who were plotting to get their lands. Conscious 'that -he® was' watched by his enemies, she had become so ¢ 'euspiciotis/ of ull white men, that from: habit he had got a Us scopes 'We liad a great: deal of conversa-

(iets etait Y é (Soe

VORACITY OF THE INDIANS. "i

friendly manner. . The dinner was good;

Coffee was served with the dinner, and) we retired as soon as it was over, according to the custom. Large wooden bowls of connahdyny, or Indian corn boiled almost to a purée, sith el pecs

suid. to be killed every day,

of Indian corn used. n employed in cooking the provi

which were set out three times a

. T found it was nothing but a ass of melted fat, 'the surface of which was oscillating about ke quicksilver, and

ore at tho, Bodas of Camacho fo. me as f¢hey never wonld bo

Oh ote oe tealieioes oe tad

any ind t a Cherokees,

dtd

?

The Cherokees Resemble The Tartars, 239.

much inclined, (itis vertical at Red Clay), and contained: no fossils; in' many places, there was a strong bed of red clay: red, From this place, I rode-over to the Rev. Dr. Butler's, the head of the Cherokee Mission: in: this neighbourhood, who received me? very politely, gave me a great deal of information, and presented me with some books\and papers printed in the Cherokee language. I was happy to learn: from him that the Rey, Buttrick, whom I bad seen at Brainerd,: was at Red , and: that he had taken groat pains with the chiefs to them 2 my favour; From henee £ rode te 5 Puldndsay's quarters, nnd passed the evening wi! aim, Payne, and'some gen= tlemen of \his family; On my return, I went to the Council-house, and heard an excellent sermou delivered to tho Cherokees in English, by tho Rev. Mr. Buttrick,

which received great' attention as it) well' deserved' to do,

noble voice, and marked every sentence witir one of his déep-toned, sonorous uh-himhgs, that came from hit like the lowest note from a bassoon. On my return to out' hut, I got into # conversation with our landlord, Mr. Hicks, one of the most intelligent of the Cherokees, He tald me, he had once seen some China men at Philadelphia, and that, from the strong resemblance to them in. their faces and eyes, he thought it probable the Cherokees were! descended from that stock. The remark is, at least, founded im fact, for the Cherokees resemble the Tartars very ngly, both inthe general expression of their faces; _and in the of their eyes.

— r

240, THE REV. MR. SCHERMERHORN, vi

"August 7—This was the day appointed for. the delivery Se reas don ce ntti ie od agent, which was expected: with great anxiety, and which Mr. Mason had been much occupied in the composition of. After breakfast, Foreman, the interpreter, came to the hut, and Mr, Mason gave him the "Talk" to study ; he appeared to be a very intelligent man, and perfectly well acquainted with the English tongue. He told us some amusing ancedotes of an agent, named Schermer!.orn, who had beeu appointed by uve United States Government u year or two ago, a8 4 commisiioner: to negotiate with the Cherokees: 'This man was a sort of loose. ¢'ch Presbyterian Minister, and having taken up the talliny of a'yA3itieal demagogue, had been rewarded with this situation by the President, Mr. Van Buren, a Dutchman also by birth. On coming amongst the

ees, instead of dealing fairly with them, and making an arrangement with the Council that could be sanctioned by a majority of the nation, he corrupted a few individuals to consent to emigrate, and deliver up the Cherokee territory ; and reported it to. the Government as if it had been a solemn contract entered into with the. shole nation. 'The Reveresid agent, also, 'being of amorous turn had been detected tampering with some of the young Cherokee, _Rwomen, so that he came to ben object of detestation to the Indians, who took every, opportunity to affront him.

their backs to him. But this wes not all the montseitigs

his evils deeds brought upon him. eal. Ata) the custnen. of. snob df the Tndighinabions. ta

ee lian sean ee every white man who has any trar

tious with them of importance, or who has struck their:

rasiy hs

° u ¥ 262 GEOLOGY OF THE GOLD' REGION.

issuffciently constant to point cleafly to the causes which have

brought all the varieties of which it is formed into place in

'succession. Generally speaking, this soil in the valleys is about twenty feet thick; at the surfice is a reddish soil

derived from the decomposed talcose rock, mixed with fragments of rock ; beneath this a bed of clay sometimes

dark coloured and intermixed' with hornblende, and some-

times consisting of blue aluminous earth derived from

decomposed tale. Tnferior to this again is a bed of gravel,

with the gold lying principally towards the bottom, and" lastly' comes tho talcose rock, forming the hard bottom of"

the valley.

This state of things prevails here as it docs in every part of the Gold Region of North America, which extends about seven' hundred miles from N.N.E, to 8.8.W., and perhaps is prolonged with the taleose slate even into Canada, where, without finding gold, I have repeatedly observed that it "bears a close resemblance in various mineral particulars to the taleose, slate of the southern portions. of the United 'States.

'All the suriferols rocks: of this "continent appeat ite? have been formed under water, and it would seem from the -circumistance of the gravel always lying in these valleys next "to the rock, and the lighter mineral substances lying upon it according to their specific gravity, that on the general retreat of the water from the fuce of the continent, of which so many proofs exist in other parts, the last waters that remained, to/complote the drainage, have cut their way back by retrocession, sometimes in the direction of the gold 'veins, in which'cases the auriferous deposit in the valleys is always found to extend to great distances, the eommiauted'

parts being carried down along with the stream, and sien _cessively deposited according to their specifie gravities 5 the

256) Singular Deposit Of Quartz In Pebbles. —

'to the valley of Nahcdochay, an extremely sweet place. We stopped at one Richardson's, east of the Yéonub, Bear Mountain, a splendid out-tier ofthe Blue Ridge, about fifteen hundred feet high. It is so named from its fancied: resemblance to a crouching bear ; -Yé6nah bein; the Cherokee name for a bear. The valley, as in the

ful upo

ae a

ffi

292 An Ancient Mining Shapt. ;

these excavations had put these bodies here, they would scarcely have buried their dead on the spot where they were daily working, and it is difficult to imagine' a satisfactory reason why the Indians should bring their dead from a distance, and carry them to the top of a rugged hill to give them such imperfect burial, for the Cherokees have always buried their dead-in the manner they do now, by digging graves in the soil. A presumption, therefore, arises that the miners bad cither been surprised at this Place, or had retreated to it and been slain here. The ridge is so exceedingly narrow, that it would not have been difficult to hem them in and prevent their escape, and after destroying them, the Indians might have thrown these masses of quartz over them.

This conjecture is somewhat strengthened by another discovery that we made before we came away, of a rude shaft. sunk upon' the lode of about twenty-five feet deep. My attention was drawn to it by seeing something like a tumulus on the top of the ridge, which turned out to be the rubbish drawn from the shaft, Near the edge of the shaft was the place where the windlass and other machinery had been fixed for drawing up the mineral matter, A laurel, whose roots were struck into the side of the shaft about three feet from the top, prevented our steing to the Lo'tom ; but, on looking into it, 1 saw some of the machinery resting pei sides, and could plainly distinguish

nd

d within our reach looked frésh ae ng eh oe oved to be rotten, and crumbled away

"into the shaft, bt he ens tae

The Probable Line Of De Soto'S March, 293

means of examining the bottom of the shaft. We tried our bridles and stirrups, and endeavoured in yain to contrive some way of getting out, after we should let ourselves down. It was easy enough to get in, but revocare gradum, that was the point, for we were both excessively fatigued, and the day was drawing to a close. If one of us had got down, and the other had not been able to draw him out, it was very clear/'that he would have had to remain in the shaft all night, which would have been rather too romantic. Full of regret, that we could not examine the bottom of the shafts for any tools that might have been there, we reluctantly left the place in a deluge of rain, having first formed the determination of returning here with the means of examining the shaft in a satisfactory manner. On our retura, we saw the locality from whence . the asbestus had been taken for the construction of the furnace, of which there was an immense quantity in a broad vein.

Tt became now more probable than ever to me, that the mining localities visited to-day were links in the long line of De Soto's march. The great object of the Spanish discoverers was gold, and in all their expeditions persons accompanied them more or less versed in mining and metallurgy as they were understood in those days, The discovery of two troughs of micaceous slate at distant points, served to identify the parties who used them; and various defensive works of a similar character had been observed from the Chatahéochie in the 32° N. Lat, to the Towalliga Creek, which empties into the Ocmulgee;,a few miles up which stream (the Towalliga) the remains of a Spanish picketted fort were found with a crucifix and a glass tube.

. 'The subject is certainly sufficiently curious to reward the industry and leisure of any one who would take up the

"294 Visit The Excavations Again,

account of De Soto's march from Tampa Bay, and by means of the'Indian names of the districts /he passed over, and the rivers he crossed, trace his progress until he changed his eourse to the west to gain the Mississippi.

'August 29.—I rose rather stiff with my exertions of "yesterday, and being disinclined to ride, went out with my hanimer to look at the rocks in. the neighbourhood. The prevailing rocks were talcose slate with quartz, and micaeeous slate with garnets, 'A yein of blue and brownish primary marble, running N.N.E., crossed the country in the neighbourhood; but at the surface it was in Jamina not thick enough for useful purposes. Gold in thin flakes is washed out of many of the brooks. Having an incipient headache, and symptoms of sore-throat, from being too long in wet clothes yesterday, Egot some hot tea, and went to bed early, but I had search composed myself to rest, when some of my companions, accompanied by the aequaintances we had formed here, came to my room full of eoncern for me. to play at cards and smoke to bear me company, At my earnest entreaty they spared me the inflietion of the tobacco, In about an hour, 'one of; them said, "I swar, I can't play no how if I can't smoke ;" and all appearing to agree in that opinion, they rose, and bade me good:night; thinking me, I have.no doubt, arvery conceited and ungrateful person.

Sfijute PRES Atbel & goat vices tel ancodlaaie well again, and my mind full of De Soto and the, shaft 1 had seen on the 28th, provided some ropes and tools to explore it. As soon as we had breakfasted, I put myself in motion, accompanied by Mr. C—, junr., and an intelligent young man named Dr, Isaacs, serving as assistant-surgeon with the Tennessee State troops, in search of the excava- 'tions. Acting as guide upon this occasion, spon: fount

296 Gold On Notley River.

We reached our quarters again about 4 p.., and)atter dinner my ions went to a ball-play of the Indians, Tt rained , and bearing that some of the volunteers

- intended to go and kick up a row, I preferred to remain in my quarters and bring up my notes. Those who, went told me on their return that the Indians, fifteen on a-side, were quite naked and rubbed over with slippery elm to prevent, their opponents holding them fast, but the, white men were so insolent to the Indians, and interfered so. much with the game that everybody was disgusted.

August 31,— At 8 As. owe. left our quarters: at Mr. Hunter's where we had been so comfortable; and under the guidance of a gold dealer who was going our road, shaped our course southerly by a bridle path to the mountains north of Dahlonega, Pursuing our way over hills of taleose slate, we passed numerous promising look-

ing lodes of quartzthat had never been touched. The face of the country was very pleasing, consisting of gracefully rounded knolls, wooded to the top, and slopes coveréd with ripe hazel nuts in valleys not so deep as those about When we had rode about eight miles and reached Notley River, we found three Indian women and a little boy, all don their hams with their feet in the thick red water washing for gold:—an old Cherokee squaw, a young married woman with her little boy of two years old, and a young girl of about sixteen, The little fellow was sitting with his legs in the water, and amused himself by pouring dirty water on his thighs from a tin he held in his hand, whilst the shirt he had on was thoroughly wet and daubed with clay. As soon as he saw us he began to cry out lustily. His mother took — him up and having pacified him, washed the tail of his — shirt and of his little person too in the dirty water, and then

steearn. It increased rapidly as we descended the mountain, and we/crossed it various times. uf icp weireachad tht) olttan Sieh act nysandhive bbilto ride six miles in the dark, repeatedly losing our way, crossing creeks and going up hill and down dale almost. at random. It was) 9 p.m. before we reached a place. called Logan's in the Gold Region, and here we were glad to alight, tived, hungry, and sleepy. We had forded so many streams that we were thoroughly wot, and begged for a large fire to dry and warm ourselves by, The family were not at home,' but the people we found in the house were obliging, and after a very humble supper, I was glad to lay downs) 65 "

"September 1,—T rose at 6 a.m, stiff' and jaded, and 'after a miserable breakfast visited what is. called Logan's Vein, which -had been worked upon for some timo they were cutting a tunnel to the vein in order (0 drain the works, and had already proceeded about seven hundred feet. The vein 'looked curious, in consequence of the decomposed pyrites, but it was very rich,in'some parts, and Lobtained some fine specimens. From hence we rode to Loud's deposit, from whence so much gold was reported to haye-been taken. This was ina longitudinal valley, running N.N.E. and S.S.W. containing a deposit similar to that which is. washed for gold in the small valleys near Dahlonega. A very great, portion of it had not yet been dug. the intrinsiowalue of so much fertile bottom land, and the great expense attending these diggings. and washings, Tvimagine the profits attending them will in the en found to be very small. cae fe ae with a fortune from this goldenypursuit. -

- Having examined this locality, we called at a

Chapter Lx.

AMRIVE AT DAWLONRGA AGAIN—A CURIOUS MARRIAGE. —THR PALL OF TOLULA-RETURN TO PORT WILL MR. CPF VELLA AT PORTMAN SHOAL,—~-AGRYRANLE MODE OF LAVING OF SOU CREAN GENTLEMEN, —REACI 'ORERNVILEK. "PLAT ROCK. ASHEVILLE,

From hence I rode to Dahlonega in a heavy rain, where I was fortunate enough to get a room to myself and a fire to dry my clothes. At the supper table we had an odd assernblage of guests, with the usual sprinkling of dirty stage-coach drivers ; but exactly opposite to where I sat was a rather pretty young lady, about eighteen years old, dressed in black, and next to her a common looking man enough, something under thirty. He had not been shaved that day, and had certainly not been made up for company. He looked rather grave, but she ate a very hearty supper, and behaved with the usual disinvoltura of females without refinement. I had been let into the secret of this pair, and took my place opposite to them on purpose. She was a young person from the low country who had lost her parents, and had come to the mountains three days before to enjoy the cool air, with the reputation of having inherited one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. At the tavern she had formed an acquaintance with this man who was an itinerant doctor. Nobody knew any thing more of him but that he called himself doctor. Fortunately, or unfortunately for him, another traveller who was a methodist preacher stopped

Ancient 'Huts Or Pens. 303

disseminated in thin lamina'in the cubes. Indeed, in the deepest: mines rsa) PAC wefan phat psn without any quartzose matter.

At dinner, I again sat opposite to the Trelanpabonine not in the least degree abashed, but seemed to eat voraciously of all the coarse dishes near her. In the afternoon. 1 walked out to take a last look at the neighbourhood: The situation of Dahlonega is a very good one, being built ona fine kpoll sloping to the east, with the ground rising" agreeably to the west. It possessed a rather imposinglooking graviitie building; called the Mint, with a brick Court-house in the centre of the square, and a few tolerablelooking private buildings, all which gave to the town an air) of pretension that was indifferently borne out) by. the inhabitants. 'There were two excellent springs of water at the village. The Court-house was built on a broad vein of hornblende slate, and the soil of the public square was impregnated with small specks of gold. Dahlonega, which the Cherokces pronounce Tahlénekdy, means yellow ; alluding to the gold found there: ©

September 3.—As soon as 1 had breakfasted, I rode out of the town, heartily tired of the vulgarity of the people, and the dirt of the tavern; and taking a bridle-path which conducted us by an agreeable shady road to Logan'sy we made our way from thence to the upper part of Duke's Creek, where the huts or pens were found which are mentioned at page 257. The locality is rather a éurious one, being a deposit in a circular area of about four acres, exceedingly flat, aS though it' had' been the bottom of a lake. With the intention of draining it, some persons had cut a trench through it, of about eight feet wide and ten feet deep, and thus discovered the pens.

person we took slong with us os a guide said, that

304 PROCEED TO hee cx

Leb Ave po! eke Kvn inthis trench close to each other, forming one structure' with doors. cut from one to 'the other. The pens were only raised three or four logs high, and the logs were notched into each other with an 'axe, the ends of the logs being chipped off by way of finish. They had no roofs to them. A part of the logs were yet sticking in the bank of the trench, having been chopped off in digging it, so that parts of the pens were yet covered up. 'The lower logs were! close to the slate upon which the deposit rested, and the gravel inside of the pens contained a little gold; but whether the gravel containing gold, had fallen into the pens after they were s¢t 'upon the slate, or whether it was put into them afterwards, is matter of conjecture. Taking the facts that were related to us and what we saw together, it appeared not iimprobable that these pens were placed here merely as ciches to conceal something it was convenient to leave behind for awhile. Perhaps those who made them, afterwards changed their purpose, and abandoned them, for nothing appears *to have been found except a crucible and a stone trough, like that which T saw at the old furnace, and which would 'appear' to. identify the party which had Leen at worl: at both places. 'The pens when found were covered with three fect of alluvial matter which might very well have been brought there by floods in the course of two or three hundred years. I brought away a part of one of the logs 'with the mark of the axe, where its énd was cut aff, but it was so rotten, that J doubted whether I could preserve 'it; From this place we rode to Richardson's, and having refreshed ourselves, continued our journey on to Clarksville, (

September 4.—Having breakfasted, we mounted our horses rode to the house of Mr. Mathews, a southern gentleman,

The Falls Of Tolula, 305

teint a gry ices pieaB aA Here we

came upon an agreeable change, a genteel well-bred family

at brealfast surrounded with every comfort, and were received in the most hospitable manuer, Mr. Mathews shewed me, some fine specimens of gold found on the surface of his estate. Lumps of quartz with large thick lamina of argentiferous-looking gold in them. J had never seen such rich specimens before. was kind enough to present me with one, as well as with another where native gold appears in the hornblende slate, Having informed him of my intention of visiting the Falls of Talula, he was obliging enough to accompany me, and after riding a few miles through the woods, we suddenly came upon a very grand and wild scene, an immense chasm or ravine, one thousand four hundred feet wide, through which the river precipitated itself over various falls and inclined places. At the edge of the ravine were some bare rocks of micaceous slate, very conveniently situated for observing this striking scene, especially from a point called the Devil's Pulpit, The escarpment immediately below had a vertical, depth of eight hundred feet, so that great caution was required in moving about. The top of the rayine\as well as its sides were covered with trees, and by the assistance of the shrubs growing there we got safely to the bottom, and examined two beautiful falls to the north,

The river heye rans north and south, then inclines to the east to 'be still further precipitated; but the whole descent of the river is distributed through a course of several miles, the most-interesting points of which are the two falls alluded to. Of these the lower one falls shout one hundred féet, the upper part of it for sbout sixty being at ansangle of 45°, whilst the lower part has 2 perpendicular 'pitch of forty feet. The" ypper or, most

VOL, Hi,

Ps 3

Anecdote Of Bees. 839

dote about bees. He had an apiary at his place, and I had' remarked that the honey was very fine. He said that was because it had been a bad'season for fruit, and that he liad remarked: when. peaches, apples, and pears were plentiful, the bees were apt/to resort altogether to:them to drink their juices, and to neglect the flowers; so that when the fruit season was over, they first devoured their small store of honey, then went marauding to other hives that did not belong to them,and lost many of their numbers in fighting. At such seasons, the dead bees about the hives are very humerous, many dying from their wounds and others from starvation. Steady occupation; therefore, it would seem keeps bees honest as well as men, and idle indulgences produce inthe end mischief and. crimet

September 24.—Having classed and Jabelled all my beautiful specimens ; 1 remained after. breakfast. in my room writing letters, being unable to procure a horse on account of a camp meeting -held in the neighbourhood for which every animal was engaged. At 20pm, a family arrived in the stage-coach from Asheville whom. J. bhd known at the Warm Springs. I dined in company: with them when they were obliging enough to invite. me to a country place they were going to. In the afternoon I took a long walk through the woods in the neighbourhood. 'This was certainly a very pleasing country and seemed to be quite salubrious.

September 25.— After breakfast, I walked ,out to Bechler's and other places in his neighbourhood. The old man was very glad to see me, and conducted me. to various interesting places. I obtained some specimens of gneiss with transparent garnets from his tunnel; the . arsenical rock came invat eighty. feet deep from the surface. The whole of this neighbourhood was remarkable for the

z2

340 Facts Illustrative Of " Central Heat"

abundance of massive auriferous pyrites it contained, generally more or less decomposed, for about eighty feet from the surface. 1 observed that the rocks adjacent to the decomposed ones were sometimes. tinged with a vermillion red. In many of the veins, however, the pyrites were not massive, but. consisted of detached cubical crystals. These also, when they had been exposed to moisture, were partially or, entirely decomposed, and the cavities in the crystals frequently contained crystals of sulphur, and then laminated gold. When the sulphuret has undergone this chemical action, the plates which form the skeleton of — the cube appear in, some instances to be silex, in others to be native gold. The gold appears to be perfectly, covered with the sulphuret, and only exhibits itsdf when heat is applied. In some of the gold ores the quartz is blotched with dark purple-coloured spots, which show no gold under the most powerful microscope; but upon exposing them to heat, a small globule of gold appears surrounded by,a:dark stain. suppose the gold to exist in the sulphuret in'such a thin legfy state, that on application'of the heat, the'sulphur is driven. off, and the lamina melted into a minute globule. 'The decomposition of the massive sulphurets beneath the surfice is the effect of a spontaneous combustion produced in the manner of some shales and coal mines, and is attended with an extrication of heat sufficient to colour _the rocks, These facts are. deserving the 'attention of ' philosophers engaged in the discussion of "central heat." Amongst other rocks, 1 found one that. was quartzose and brittle, containing a fine steel-grey-looking. metal resembling tellurium. Mr. Bechler having inlaid my name 'on the rifle with native gold, I paid him for it, and took a hearty leave of him and his worthy son, and again . Tetumed to. my lodgings loaded with specimens. Amongst

344 A Very Beautiful Mineral.

slavery exists, for dirt is not dirty in the eyes of the negro, and the master is too lazy to give directions to have it remnoved. 1 observed to-day that the distances were marked by notehes cut in the trees, or in posts. by the road- i every notch representing a mile from the principal

, September MBH. senna pepo evening, 1 mounted soon after the dawn and rode four miles to Coughenhauer's to examine a basaltic dyke running through a bed' of granite, containing large crystals of feldspar. It consisted of loose joints, almost of the shape of basaltic prisms, of various sizes, some a foot in diameter, others only an inch, and being generally well-defined pentagons... The dyke was about one hundted. yards in breadth, and consisted of a vast congeries of small prisms detached from each other at the surface. Upon oxamining the granite at some, distance from the dyke, 1 found many prisms wedged in with it, I passed the day in investigating various localities containing different minerals. Granite and syenite, traversed by numerous lodes of different qualities, were the prevailing rocks, Iron was abundant ; and I saw numerous traces of '

September, 29.—About 10 At, I got into the, stage= coach again, and drove to Charlotte, in the Mecklenburgh County, where I arrived between 7 and 8 P.m.; and having obtained a clean room anda tolerable supper, I retired at an early hour to rest.

Beptember 30-—After breakfast' 1 revisited the dyke of fedspar 1 had seen in 1835, the most curious and beautiful mineral I have ever seen,* The dyke is very broad, and consists of what the "Germans call weisstein with dark prisms in great abundance and of various sizes. Some- E have deposited a large tablet of this mineral in the British

A COPPER MINE. B45 times it is in joints, and then the natural faces, sections of the prisms, look very much like the skin of the spotted leopard. Here I passed the greater part of the. day selecting specimens of this singular mineral.

October 1.—This day 1 passed entirely in the house, bringing. up my correspondence and. arranging my numerous minerals to forward by a waggon that was going to the north in a day or two. This was a quiet little village, and. seemed to be up principally by the: mining interest. A company, works' a considerable gold mine in the neighbourhood under the. direction of Mr. Bissel, @ person of great experience and intelligence, and to whom I was indebted for many attentions.

October 2.—As soon as breakfast was over, I aecompanied that gentleman to a copper mine belonging to him, looking at two or three promising lodes. on the way. The copper vein ran east and west, and was nearly vertical. 'The rock in which the vein ran was hornblende, thecountry being very flat, without hills or undulations. 'Copper, gold, iron, and galena, were associated in this vein. Mr, Bigsel treated it first for gold, and Jaid by the carbonate of copper for smelting. The mine was very promising one, and was his daughter, Mr. Bissel took us after a severe morning's work to a fine spring, where we found an unexpected and most gratifying load (not lode) of cold roasted chickens, bread and butter, Irish ale, Madeira and Champagne of an excellent quality. Having made a patient and successful assay of these good things, and forwarded them on their road to our own veins, we examined on our return a portion of Capp's gold vein, upon. which they have worked about. sixty feet. It consisted' of quartz with auriferous sulphurets of iron, and its course was about N,E. and S.W.

Privileges Of The "Sovereign People." 347

determined to take' the next stage-coach, and amuse myself by examining the' country ;/any thing' appeared to me preferable to the company of-such reprobates. 9 'This is the effect of frequent elections; universal suffrage, and: the doctrines: of perfect "equality: 'The! first" are constantly throwing'all those who ought to be engaged'in industrious pursuits into a frenzied agitation for or against men and measures they) know about ; the second gives to the legionary idle, depraved, lawless scoundrels, the precious privileges that can only be safely confided ta those comparatively few intelligent members of society'who have '4 personal interest in maintaining'order and good government; and the lust only provoke them to offer every sort of insult and hindrarice to'those whom they perceive are not of their class. Over such wretches the law appears to have little or no control. If a magistrate has virtue ¢nough to attempt to control them, they combine against him, he becomes a marked man, and is denounced 'as the enemy of the sovereign people ; and whoever is represented as that enemy, he is sure, whether he be high or . low, to be turned out of his office. Under such system, society is at length almost left without sober examples, 'und generations after generations are likely to be left' with 'nothing but bad ones to follow. If the devil kept 'pigeon: holes with improved forms of government in them, as the Abbé Siéyes is said to have done, he'\eould- not have itnagined anything more fatal to religion, morality, integrity © and sober manners, or more sure to accomplish the ruin of # nation, than frequent Cie ahs eee perfect equality. ORE aati tab Sas 1 RE HI aD es and ; conceived a bad augury as to' the accommodations 1 should + get, but they gave me something to cat and a comfortable

348 GOLD MINE OF CONRAD's HILL.

cup of tea. On requesting to be shewn to my room, to my, great: surprise I was shewn to a very comfortable bed-room, with a nice clean bed in it, as though all had been intended exclusively for'my use. On looking round, however, I. saw various bandboxes, and a few female garments hanging upon pegs, so that I perceived I had déniché'd somo of the ladies of the family. 'Phe walls too were clean, and there was a carpet near the bed-side. What excellent luck, thought I, ae ee sheets! jn Ay Sr Nei AAT HaliikolP AT teria RIBloe young. ide plating obo plas' the next room, which was only separated trom my bed-room by 'a very thin' wainscot partition ; for the attention that had been 'paid tome, I hastened to make my toilette and give up the room, to the fiir Jadies upon whose comforts I felt conscious L had intruded, Having to pass through the

taken a look at the village, which is a rural and pleasinglooking place built upon a hill with'an undulating country around it, I engaged a horse and set out upon my adventures, directing my course to a gold mine of which I had) heard much said, at ajplace called Conrad's Hill. The

country was flat compared with that to the

Hania Ul

Digitized with financial assistance from the Government of Maharashtra on 20 February, 2016