[
{"source_document": "", "creation_year": 1745, "culture": " English\n", "content": "TIMBERLAKE ***\n[Illustration]\n                        Lieut. HENRY TIMBERLAKE.\n[Illustration]\n[Illustration:\n  A Draught of the\n  CHEROKEE COUNTRY,\n  _On the West Side of the Twenty four Mountains, commonly called Over\n    the Hills_; _Taken by_ Henry Timberlake, _when he was in that\n    Country in March 1762._ _Likewise the Names of the_ Principal _or_\n    Headmen _of each_ Town _and what Number of Fighting Men they send to\n _Mialaquo, or the Great  _24_ _under the Governor of_ =Attakullakulla=.\n   Island_\n _Toskegee_               _55_ =Attakullakulla= _Governor_.\n _Temmotley_              _91_ =Ostenaco= _Commander in Chief_.\n _Toqua_                  _82_ =Willinawaw= _Governor_.\n _Tennessee_              _21_ _under the Government of_ =Kanagatuckco=.\n _Cbote_                 _175_ =Kanagatuckco= _King & Governor_.\n _Chilbowey_             _110_ =Yachtino= _Governor_.\n _Settacoo_              _204_ =Cheulah= _Governor_.\n _Tellassee_              _47_ _Governor dead & none elected since_.\n                        Lieut. HENRY TIMBERLAKE,\n  (_Who accompanied the Three Cherokee Indians to England in the Year\nWhatever he observed remarkable, or worthy of public Notice, during his\n   Travels to and from that Nation; wherein the Country, Government,\n  Genius, and Customs of the Inhabitants, are authentically described.\n      The PRINCIPAL OCCURRENCES during their Residence in LONDON.\n  An ACCURATE MAP of their Over-hill Settlement, and a curious Secret\nJOURNAL, taken by the Indians out of the Pocket of a Frenchman they had\n[Illustration]\n  Printed for the AUTHOR; and sold by J. RIDLEY, in St. James\u2019s-Street;\n    W. NICOLL, in St. Paul\u2019s Church-Yard; and C. HENDERSON, at the\n    Royal-Exchange.\n[Illustration]\nAfter extracting this detail from my Journal, and supplying many\ncircumstances from my memory, I was very much at a loss what title to\ngive it. MEMOIRS seemed to answer my design with the greatest propriety;\nbut that being so commonly misapplied, I was afraid the public would\nexpect a romance, where I only intended laying down a few facts, for the\nvindication of my own conduct. I do not, however, by this mean to\nsuggest to my reader, that he will find here only a bare uninteresting\nnarrative; no, I have added all in my power to make it useful and\nagreeable to others, as it was necessary to myself; and indeed it was\nhighly so, since a person who bears ill treatment without complaining,\nis generally held by his friends pusillanimous, or believed to be\nwithheld by secret motives from his own justification. I know not what\nmine think, but it will not be amiss to inforce their good opinion of\nme, by laying all my actions open to their view, And as once publishing\nwill be more general, and save many repetitions of a disagreeable\nnarration, this motive first induced me to write, to exchange my sword\nfor a pen, that I wield as a soldier, who never dreamt of the beauties\nof stile, or propriety of expression. Excuse then, gentle reader, all\nthe faults that may occur, in consideration that these are not my\nweapons, and that tho\u2019 I received almost as good an education as\nVirginia could bestow on me, it only sufficed to sit me for a soldier,\nand not for a scholar; but tho\u2019 this was the chief end I proposed from\nit, I have, occasionally deviating from my main design, added whatever I\nthought curious and entertaining, that occurred to my observation, in\nthe Cherokee country, and my travels to and from it, not omitting the\nprincipal dangers I have passed through, and the expences I have been\nat, that the reader, weighing them and the rewards I have received, may\njudge where the balance is due. I do not doubt but I shall be censured\nfor exposing so freely the actions of Mr. \u039a\u03b1\u03ba\u03bf\u03b1\u03bd\u03b8\u03c1\u03bf\u03c0\u03bf\u03c2; but to this I\nwas constrained by the clamours made against the unnecessary and\nextravagant expences into which the reception of the Indians had drawn\nthe government. To unveil where the unnecessary and extravagance of it\nlay, became my duty; and I cannot say but I took some pleasure in\ndetecting the person in the crime he so arfully had laid to my charge:\nIt is, I presume, very pardonable in a person who has so much reason to\ncomplain of his unfair practices towards him. As to the manners of the\nIndians, I grant they have been often represented, and yet I have never\nseen any account to my perfect satisfaction, being more frequently taken\nfrom the reports of traders, as ignorant and incapable of making just\nobservations as the natives themselves, than from the writer\u2019s own\nexperience. These I took upon the spot, and if I have failed in relating\nthem, it is thro\u2019 want of art in expression, and not of due knowledge in\npoint of facts. As, however, I did not take upon me to write as an\nauthor who seeks applause, but compelled by the necessity of vindicating\nmyself, I once more beg the public to pass over, with a candid\nindulgence, the many faults that may deserve their censure.\n[Illustration]\n[Illustration]\nNotwithstanding my aversion to formal beginnings, and any thing that may\nrelish of romance, as the reader may desire some knowledge of the person\nwho has submitted his actions to his judgment, I shall, in hastening to\nmy principal design, just acquaint him, that my father was an inhabitant\nof Virginia, who dying while I was yet a minor, left me a small fortune,\nno ways sufficient for my support, without some employment. For some\ntime, by the advice of my friends, I proposed following the more\nlucrative one of commerce, but after my minorship was elapsed, my genius\nburst out. Arms had been my delight from my infancy, and I now resolved\nto gratify that inclination, by entering into the service. Pursuing this\nresolution, I made my first campaign in the year 1756, with a company of\ngentlemen called the Patriot Blues, who served the country at their own\nexpence; but whether terrified by our formidable appearance, or superior\nnumbers, the enemy still avoided us; so that, notwithstanding many\nrecent tracks and fires, we never could come to an engagement. On our\nreturn, I made application for a commission in the Virginia regiment,\nthen commanded by Col. Washington; but there being at that time no\nvacancy, I returned home.\nIn the year 1758, a new regiment was raised for that year\u2019s service, to\nbe commanded by the Hon. William Byrd, Esq; from whom I not only\nreceived an ensigncy, but as subalterns were to be appointed to a troop\nof light-horse, he honoured me with the cornetcy of that also. I was\nsoon after ordered on an escort, in which service I continued till July,\nwhen I joined the army at Ray\u2019s-Town, where I found General Forbes\nalready arrived. The army then marched to Fort Ligonier, on the way to\nFort Du Quesne. I was seized here by a violent fit of sickness, caught\nin searching for some of the troop-horses that were lost, by overheating\nmyself with running, and drinking a large quantity of cold water, which\nrendered me incapable of duty. I got something better about the time the\ntroops marched for Fort Du Quesne and could sit my horse when helped on,\nbut was ordered back by the General, who, however, on my telling the\ndoctor I hoped to do duty in a day or two, permitted me to continue the\nmarch. We heard the French blow up their magazine, while yet some miles\noff; and, on our arrival, we found the barracks, and every thing of\nvalue, in flames. My malady rather increased, so that I was at last\ncompelled to petition for my return. I lost my horse at Fort Ligonier,\nthe third I had lost during the campaign; and being obliged to mount a\nvery weak one, I met with great difficulty in crossing the Allegany\nmountains; and before I reached Ray\u2019s Town my horse was entirely knocked\nup. I bought another, and proceeded to Winchester, where, in a little\ntime, I got perfectly recovered.\nThose light-horsemen that survived the campaign, were herein want of all\nnecessaries; and no money being sent up from Williamsburg to pay them, I\nadvanced upwards of an hundred pounds, intending to reimburse myself\nfrom the first that should arrive; mean while the troops I belonged to\nwere disbanded, and I, in consequence, out of pay. I had no further\nbusiness at Winchester than to wait for this money, which I did, till my\npatience being quite exhausted, I resolved to go down the country in\nsearch of it. On my arrival at Williamsburg, I was informed the money\nhad been sent up to me by the paymaster. I returned immediately to\nWinchester, near 200 miles, where I found the paymaster had paid it to\nthe Lieutenant of the troop, who had appropriated it to his own use. He\nreturned me fifty pounds, but it has never been in his power to pay me\nthe remainder, and to all appearance it never will.\nAfter such unfortunate essays I began to give over all thoughts of the\narmy, when Col. Byrd was appointed to the command of the old regiment,\nin the room of Col. Washington, who resigned; on which I was\nunfortunately induced to accept another commission. I served another\ncampaign in the year 1759, under General Stanwix, in the same quarter;\nbut on our arrival at Pittsburg, formerly Fort Du Quesne, I had little\nemployment, except looking over the men at work, till the fall of the\nleaf, when the General gave me the command of Fort Burd, about sixty\nmiles to the eastward of Pittsburg, where I continued about nine months\nat a very great expence, partly through hospitality to those who passed\nto and from Pittsburg, and the dearness of necessaries, and partly by\nbuilding myself a house, and making several improvements, and finishing\nthe half-constructed fort, for which I never received any gratuity. I\nwas relieved by a company of the Pensylvania regiment in the spring, and\nreturned to Pittsburg, but found Col. Byrd with one half of the regiment\nordered against the Cherokees, now become our most inveterate enemies;\nwhile the remainder under Col. Stephen were destined to serve on the\nOhio. I will not fatigue the reader with an account of campaigns\nwherewith all our news-papers were filled, but confine myself to what\nmore immediately concerned me.\nI remained at Pittsburg till autumn, when I obtained permission to pass\nthe winter at home. I accordingly set out in company with an Ensign\nnamed Seayres, who had obtained the same permission: we found great\ndifficulties from the badness of the road, of which I may quote the\nfollowing instance. After marching three whole days from Pittsburg to\nthe place where General Braddock first crossed the Yawyawgany river\n(little better than sixty miles), and leaving one of my horses fast in\nthe mire, we found, to our great surprise, the river about twelve feet\nhigh. We waited a whole day in hopes of its falling, but had the\nmortification to find it had rather rose a foot; our provisions\nbeginning to run short, we hunted to recruit them, but without any\nsuccess, which obliged us to come to an immediate determination. We at\nlast resolved to look for some other crossing-place; we found about two\nmiles lower, a part of the river, which by its breadth we judged to be\nfordable; but as the water was muddy, and the bottom could not be seen,\nthere was a considerable risk in attempting it, especially as it lay\nunder a fall, from whence the current darted with great impetuosity.\nAfter some deliberation, we resolved to venture it; pushed on by the\nfears of starving, if we remained any longer where we were, Mr. Seayres\nproposed himself to try it first; mounting therefore the best of our\nhorses, he plunged into the stream: for the first hundred yards the\nwater reached little higher than the horse\u2019s belly, but before he got to\na small island in the middle, which we had resolved to rest at, he was\nquite up to the saddle-skirts; after halting a little time, he set out\nagain for the opposite side, but found it impossible to proceed, a deep\nchannel lying between him and the shore, into which he often plunged,\nbut was as often obliged to turn back, at a great hazard of being\ncarried away by the current. Despairing at last of being able to cross\nit, yet unwilling to return, he forced up the shallow part about an\nhundred yards, towards the falls, making several attempts to cross,\nwhich he at last effected; but the banks being excessively steep, he\nfound as much difficulty and danger in climbing them, as he had before\ndone in crossing. We then followed, and tho\u2019 we now knew exactly what\ncourse to keep, as our horses were weaker, and more heavily loaded, our\ntask was not less dangerous or difficult. We found the bottom so rocky\nand irregular, that the horses staggered with their loads. The rapidity\nof the stream, and the false steps they made, threatened every moment to\nleave their burthens and lives in the middle of the stream. One of them,\non which my servant was mounted, actually fell, letting my portmantua\ninto the water, which luckily lodged among the limbs of an old tree,\nthat had been washed down by the current; the horse recovered himself,\nand all the damage occasioned by this accident was, the spoiling of my\ncloaths, and to the amount of forty pounds in paper money, which got so\nwet, and stuck so fast together, that the greatest part of it was\nrendered entirely useless. Happy, however, that this was our only loss,\nand that we escaped with our lives.\nIn the spring 1761, I received orders to return to my division, which\nwas to proceed to the southward, and join the other half against the\nCherokees. Soon after this junction we began our march towards the\nCherokee country. Col. Byrd parted from us at a place called Stalnakres,\nand returned down the country, by which the command devolved on Col.\nStephen. We marched, without molestation, to the great island on\nHolston\u2019s river, about 140 miles from the enemy\u2019s settlements, where we\nimmediately applied ourselves to the construction of a fort, which was\nnearly completed about the middle of November, when Kanagatucko, the\nnominal king of the Cherokees, accompanied by about 400 of his people,\ncame to our camp, sent by his countrymen to sue for peace, which was\nsoon after granted by Col. Stephen, and finally concluded on the 19th\ninstant. All things being settled to the satisfaction of the Indians,\ntheir king told Col. Stephen he had one more favour to beg of them,\nwhich was, to send an officer back with them to their country, as that\nwould effectually convince the nation of the good intentions and\nsincerity of the English towards them. The Colonel was embarrassed at\nthe demand; he saw the necessity of some officer\u2019s going there, yet\ncould not command any on so dangerous a duty. I soon relieved him from\nthis dilemma, by offering my service; my active disposition, or, if I\nmay venture to say, a love of my country, would not permit its losing so\ngreat an advantage, for want of resolution to become hostage to a\npeople, who, tho\u2019 savage, and unacquainted with the laws of war or\nnations, seemed now tolerably sincere, and had, seeing me employed in\ndrawing up the articles of peace, in a manner cast their eyes upon me as\nthe properest person to give an account of it to their countrymen. The\nColonel seemed more apprehensive of the danger than I was myself, scarce\ngiving any encouragement to a man whom he imagined going to make himself\na sacrifice, lest he should incur the censure of any accident that might\nbefall me.\nThe 28th was fixed for our departure; but, on making some inquiries\nabout our intended journey, the Indians informed me that the rivers\nwere, for small craft, navigable quite to their country; they strove,\nhowever, to deter me from thinking of that way, by laying before me the\ndangers and difficulties I must encounter; almost alone, in a journey so\nmuch further about, and continually infested with parties of northern\nIndians, who, though at peace with the English, would not fail to treat,\nin the most barbarous manner, a person whose errand they knew to be so\nmuch against their interest. They professed themselves concerned for my\nsafety, and intreated me to go along with them: but as I thought a\nthorough knowledge of the navigation would be of infinite service,\nshould these people even give us the trouble of making another campaign\nagainst them, I formed a resolution of going by water; what much\nconduced to this, was the slowness they march with when in a large body,\nand the little pleasure I could expect in such company. On the day\nappointed the Indians set out on their journey, and a little after I\nembarked on board a canoe to pursue mine: my whole company consisted of\na serjeant, an interpreter, and servant, with about ten days provisions,\nand to the value of twenty odd pounds in goods to buy horses for our\nreturn: this was all our cargo, and yet we had not gone far before I\nperceived we were much too heavy loaded; the canoe being small, and very\nill made, I immediately ordered my servant out, to join the Indians,\ngiving him my gun and ammunition, as we had two others in the canoe;\nlittle could I foresee the want we were soon to experience of them. We\nthen proceeded near two hundred weight lighter, yet before we had gone a\nquarter of a mile ran fast a-ground, though perhaps in the deepest part\nof the stream, the shoal extending quite across. Sumpter the serjeant\nleaped out, and dragged us near a hundred yards over the shoals, till we\nfound deep water again. About five miles further we heard a terrible\nnoise of a water-fall, and it being then near night, I began to be very\napprehensive of some accident in passing it: we went ashore to seek the\nbest way down; after which taking out all the salt and ammunition, lest\nit should get wet, I carried it along the shore, while they brought down\nthe canoe; which they happily effected. It being now near dark, we went\nashore to[1] encamp about a mile below the fall. Here we found a party\nof seven or eight Cherokee hunters, of whom we made a very particular\ninquiry concerning our future route: they informed us, that, had the\nwater been high, we might from the place we then were reach their\ncountry in six days without any impediment; but as the water was\nremarkably low, by the dryness of the preceding summer, we should meet\nwith many difficulties and dangers; not only from the lowness of the\nwater, but from the northward Indians, who always hunted in those parts\nat that season of the year. I had already been told, and fortified\nmyself against the latter, but the former part of this talk (as they\nterm it) no way pleased me; it was however too late, I thought, to look\nback, and so was determined to proceed in what I had undertaken. We\nsupped with the Indians on dried venison dipped in bears oil, which\nserved for sauce. I lay (though I was too anxious to sleep) with an\nIndian on a large bear-skin, and my companions, I believe, lodged much\nin the same manner.\nFootnote 1:\n  What is meant here by encamping, is only making a fire and lying near\n  it, though the Indians often prop a blanket or skins upon small poles,\n  to preserve them from the inclemency of the weather.\nEarly next morning we took leave of our hosts, and in less than half an\nhour began to experience the troubles they had foretold us, by running\na-ground; we were obliged to get out, and drag the canoe a quarter of a\nmile before we got off the shallow; and this was our employment two or\nthree hours a-day, for nineteen days together, during most part of which\nthe weather was so extremely cold, that the ice hung to our cloaths,\nfrom the time we were obliged to get in the water in the morning, till\nwe encamped at night. This was especially disagreeable to me, as I had\nthe courses of the river to take for upwards of two hundred and fifty\nmiles.\nWe kept on in this manner, without any remarkable occurrence, till the\n6th of December, when our provisions falling short, I went on shore,\nwith the interpreter\u2019s gun, to shoot a turkey; singling one out, I\npulled the trigger, which missing fire, broke off the upper chap and\nscrew-pin; and, as I could find neither, after several hours search,\nrendered the gun unfit for service. M\u2018Cormack was not a little chagrined\nat the loss of his gun; it indeed greatly concerned us all; we had now\nbut one left, and that very indifferent; but even this we were shortly\nto be deprived of, for we were scarce a mile from this unlucky place,\nwhen seeing a large bear coming down to the water-side, Sumpter, to whom\nthe remaining gun belonged, took it to shoot; but not being conveniently\nseated, he laid it on the edge of the canoe, while he rose to fix\nhimself to more advantage; but the canoe giving a heel, let the gun\ntumble over-board. It was irreparably gone, for the water here was so\ndeep, that we could not touch the bottom with our longest pole. We were\nnow in despair: I even deliberated whether it was not better to throw\nourselves over-board, as drowning at once seemed preferable to a\nlingering death. Our provisions were consumed to an ounce of meat, and\nbut very little flour, our guns lost and spoiled, ourselves in the heart\nof woods, at a season when neither fruit nor roots were to be found,\nmany days journey from any habitation, and frequented only by the\nnorthern Indians, from whom we had more reason to expect scalping than\nsuccour.\nWe went ashore, as it was in vain to proceed, and, desponding, began to\nmake a fire; while thus employed, several large bears came down a steep\nhill towards us. This, at another time, would have been a joyful sight;\nit now only increased our affliction. They came within the reach of a\ntommahawke; had we had one, and the skill to throw it, we could scarce\nhave failed of killing. In short, they were as daring as if they had\nbeen acquainted with our misfortunes. Irritated by their boldness, I\nformed several schemes for killing, among which, as mending the broken\ngun seemed most probable, I instantly set about trying the experiment.\nNotching a flint on each side, I bound it to the lower chap with a\nleather thong. This succeeded so far, that in ten or twelve times\nsnapping, it might probably fire, which was matter of great joy to us.\nBefore I had finished it, the bears were frightened away; but as we had\nnow mended our gun, we conceived great hopes. It was very probable they\nmight return; and we were not long in expectation, for in less than a\nquarter of an hour, another very large one stalked down towards us, tho\u2019\nnot so near as the former ones had done. M\u2018Cormack snatched up his gun,\nand followed him near a quarter of a mile. I had sat down in expectation\nof the event, and pulled my shoes and stockings off to dry; when I heard\nthe report of the gun, my heart leaped for joy, since I imagined\nM\u2018Cormack would have certainly taken all imaginable precautions; but\njudge of my despair, when, after running myself out of breath, and\nbare-footed among the rocks and briars, I found he had missed, and that\nhaving left the ammunition at the place where we had encamped, he could\nnot charge again, till I returned for it. I ran back, unable as I was,\nand brought it; then sat down, and he continued the chace. By this time\nSumpter, who had been gathering wood, joined me, and, we soon heard\nM\u2018Cormack fire again; upon which, running with all our speed, to the\nplace from whence the report came, we had the inexpressible joy of\nseeing a large bear, that might weigh near 400 weight, weltering in his\nblood. It being late, we propped him for that night, on an old tree, to\nprevent his being devoured by other beasts. Next morning my companions\nskinned him, and taking as much of his meat as we could conveniently\ncarry, we left the camp in much better spirits than when we came to it.\nNothing more remarkable occurred, unless I mark for such the amazing\nquantity of buffaloes, bears, deer, beavers, geese, swans, ducks,\nturkeys and other game, till we came to a large cave; we stopped to\nexamine it, but after climbing, with great difficulty, near 50 feet\nalmost perpendicular, to get to it, we saw nothing curious, except some\npillars of the petrified droppings, that fell from the roof, of a\nprodigious size. I could not, indeed, penetrate very far, for want of\nlight. Coming back to the edge of the rock, we perceived our canoe\na-drift, going down with the stream. Sumpter scrambled down the rock,\nand, plunging into the river, without giving himself scarce time to pull\noff his coat, swam a quarter of a mile before he could overtake her.\nWhen he returned, every thing on him was stiff frozen. We instantly made\na fire to recover him; but this accident, joined to the severity of the\nweather, obliged us to stay the day and night following. We laid\nourselves down to sleep in the mouth of the cave, where we had made our\nfire, which we no sooner did, than, oppressed with the fatigues of the\npreceding day, we fell into a sound sleep, from which we were awaked\nbefore midnight, by the howling of wild beasts in the cave, who kept us\nawake with this concert till a little before day. About four o\u2019clock in\nthe morning, we had a more terrifying alarm, we were stunned with a\nnoise, like the splitting of a rock. As there had never been, to all\nappearance, a fire near that place, I could no otherwise account for it,\nthan by laying it to the fire, which refining the air, might have\noccasioned some pressure in the cavities, or fired some collected\nvapour, the explosion of which had been the noise that waked us; yet, as\nI could not clearly comprehend it, I was under the greatest\napprehensions, especially as I could perceive it hollow just under us.\nThe severity, however, of the weather obliged us to stay the next night\nlikewise, but the howling of the beasts, and thinking of the preceding\nnight\u2019s noise, prevented me from getting any sleep. On the morning of\nthe 9th instant, we were, to my great satisfaction, obliged to decamp\nfor want of wood. We passed the place where the canoe was taken up, and\ncame to a fall about a quarter of a mile further, which, had she\nreached, we should never have seen the least atom of her cargo more.\nWe continued our journey much in the same manner till the 11th: as\nduring the whole time we had seen or heard nothing of the northward\nIndians, the Cherokees had so menaced us with, we began to imagine\nourselves secure, and that they had, for some reasons, imposed on us,\nwhen the report of a gun on one side of the river undeceived us; for as\nthe Cherokees had told us how much the northward Indians frequented this\nplace, it was reasonable to conclude, that they themselves came only\nhere to fight, at which time they seldom fire, as that gives notice to\nthe enemy where to come and reconnoitre them, but seek to hear their\nadversaries fire, that their scouts may measure their forces, and they\ntake all advantages of the enemy before they come to action. We\ntherefore concluded that this must certainly be a party of northern\nhunters. We were talking of this, when another gun from the opposite\nshore declared us in the midst of our enemies, whom there was no\nresisting; we heard several more some time after, which made us go as\nfar as we possibly could before we encamped, which we did very\ncautiously, retiring into a thicket of canes, and chusing to lay on our\nwet and cold blankets, rather than make a fire to dry them, by which we\nmight be discovered. Next day we heard several more guns on both sides\nof the river, which made us conjecture that the Indians had watched us,\nbut not finding our encampment the night before, were still following\nus. I was resolved, however, to encamp in such an inconvenient manner no\nmore, and to make a fire at night, whatever might be the consequence. We\ntook all other imaginable precautions, encamping in a thicket of canes,\nimpenetrable to the eye, as we had done the preceding night. About\nmidnight some drops falling on my face from the trees under which we\nlay, awaked me, on which I imagined I heard something walk round our\ncamp. I lay still some time to consider what could be patroling at that\ntime of night in the rain, a thing unusual for wild beasts to do, when\nM\u2018Cormack, who had been awake for some time, asked me if I heard the\nnoise. I told him yes, very plain, for by the cracking of the sticks\nthat lay on the ground I could perceive it approached us. M\u2018Cormack\nstarting up, swore directly it was a party of northern Indians, and ran\ndown, in a pannic, to the canoe, and, had not I followed to prevent him,\nwould certainly have made off with it, and left us exposed to the mercy\nof the enemy, if there were any pursuing us, without any means of\nescape; but for my part, I imagined it some half-starved animal looking\nfor food; and Sumpter had been so certain of this, that he never moved\nfrom where he lay; for when, in an hour after, I had persuaded M\u2018Cormack\nto return to the camp, we found Sumpter fast asleep, and the noise\nentirely gone. We set out early the next day, on account of this alarm,\nand about 12 o\u2019clock heard a noise like distant thunder. In half an hour\nwe reached the place called the Great Falls, from which it proceeded.\nThe river was here about half a mile broad, and the water falling from\none rock to another, for the space of half a mile, had the appearance of\nsteps, in each of which, and all about the rocks, the fish were sporting\nin prodigious quantities, which we might have taken with ease, had we\nnot been too busy in working the canoe down, to look after them. I\nobserved here the same method I had with the other falls, by going\nashore and looking out the safest way for the canoe to pass; and lest\nsome accident should happen to it, I took what salt and ammunition we\nhad left, and carried it along the shore: if this was not so dangerous,\nit was quite as difficult a task; and were I to chuse again, I should\nprefer the danger in the canoe to the difficulty of passing such rocks,\nboth hands occupied, with the care of the gun and ammunition. Theirs was\nno ways easy. Before they had passed half the fall, the canoe ran fast\non a rock, and it was with the greatest difficulty they got her clear;\nnotwithstanding which I was at last so entangled among the rocks, that I\nwas obliged to order the canoe ashore, at a place where the current was\nmore practicable than others, and proceed in it. We scarce advanced a\nhundred yards, when we ran with such violence against another rock, that\nSumpter, breaking his pole in attempting to ward the shock, fell\nover-board; and we narrowly escaped being partakers of the same\naccident. Had not the canoe been of more than ordinary strength, she\nmust certainly have dashed to pieces; she turned broadside too, shipping\nin a great deal of water, by which all the things were wet that I had so\nmuch laboured to preserve. We got out to right her; and as I observed\nsome bad places below, I resolved to wade to the shore, being as much an\nincumbrance as a help. The water was not then above knee-deep; but,\nbefore I reached the shore, I got into a sluice as high as my arm-pits,\nand was near forced away by the rapidity of the stream, entangled in my\nsurtout, and a blanket I had wrapped about me: when I got on shore,\nexamining the damage I had sustained, I found my watch and papers\nspoiled by the wet, and myself almost frozen; so that, after shivering\non three miles further, we were constrained to encamp, and make a fire\nto dry ourselves; but as it continued snowing, hailing, and raining\nalternately, we were again obliged to lie in wet blankets; which, though\nmore intolerable, after the hardships we had sustained this day, we had\ndone half the time since our departure from the Great Island.\nNext morning, when we decamped, it was so excessive cold, that coming to\na still place of the river, we found it frozen from bank to bank, to\nsuch a degree, that almost the whole day was spent in breaking the ice\nto make a passage. This, indeed, had already happened some days before,\nbut never so severe as now.\nNext morning we had the pleasure of finding the ice entirely gone,\nthawed, probably, by a hard rain that fell over-night, so that about two\no\u2019clock we found ourselves in Broad River, which being very high, we\nwent the two following days at the rate of ten miles an hour, till we\ncame within a mile of Tennessee river, when, running under the shore, we\non a sudden discovered a party of ten or twelve Indians, standing with\ntheir pieces presented on the bank. Finding it impossible to resist or\nescape, we ran the canoe ashore towards them, thinking it more eligible\nto surrender immediately, which might entitle us to better treatment,\nthan resist or fly, in either of which death seemed inevitable, from\ntheir presented guns, or their pursuit. We now imagined our death, or,\nwhat was worse, a miserable captivity, almost certain, when the headman\nof the party agreeably surprised us, by asking, in the Cherokee\nlanguage, to what town we belonged? To which our interpreter replied, To\nthe English camp; that the English and Cherokees having made a peace, I\nwas then carrying the articles to their countrymen. On this the old\nwarrior, commonly called the Slave Catcher of Tennessee, invited us to\nhis camp, treated us with dried venison, homminy, and boiled corn. He\ntold us that he had been hunting some time thereabouts, and had only\nintended returning in seven or eight days, but would now immediately\naccompany us.\nWe set out with them next morning to pursue our voyage; but I was now\nobliged to give over taking the courses of the river, lest the Indians,\nwho, tho\u2019 very hospitable, are very suspicious of things they cannot\ncomprehend, should take umbrage at it.\nEntering the Tennessee River, we began to experience the difference\nbetween going with the stream, and struggling against it; and between\neasy paddles, and the long poles with which we were constrained to\nslave, to keep pace with the Indians, who would otherwise have laughed\nat us. When we encamped about ten miles up the river, my hands were so\ngalled, that the blood trickled from them, and when we set out next\nmorning I was scarce able to handle a pole.\nWithin four or five miles of the nation, the Slave Catcher sent his wife\nforward by land, partly to prepare a dinner, and partly to let me have\nher place in his canoe, seeing me in pain, and unaccustomed to such hard\nlabour, which seat I kept till about two o\u2019clock, when we arrived at his\nhouse, opposite the mouth of Tellequo river, compleating a twenty-two\ndays course of continual fatigues, hardships, and anxieties.\nOur entertainment from these people was as good as the country could\nafford, consisting of roast, boiled, and fried meats of several kinds,\nand very good Indian bread, baked in a very curious manner. After making\na fire on the hearth-stone, about the size of a large dish, they sweep\nthe embers off, laying a loaf smooth on it; this they cover with a sort\nof deep dish, and renew the fire upon the whole, under which the bread\nbakes to as great perfection as in any European oven.\nWe crossed the river next morning, with some Indians that had been\nvisiting in that neigbourhood, and went to Tommotly, taking Fort Loudoun\nin the way, to examine the ruins.\nWe were received at Tommotly in a very kind manner by Ostenaco, the\ncommander in chief, who told me, he had already given me up for lost, as\nthe gang I parted with at the Great Island had returned about ten days\nbefore, and that my servant was then actually preparing for his return,\nwith the news of my death.\nAfter smoaking and talking some time, I delivered a letter from Colonel\nStephen, and another from Captain M\u2018Neil, with some presents from each,\nwhich were gratefully accepted by Ostenaco and his consort. He gave me a\ngeneral invitation to his house, while I resided in the country; and my\ncompanions found no difficulty in getting the same entertainment, among\nan hospitable, tho\u2019 savage people, who always pay a great regard to any\none taken notice of by their chiefs.\nSome days after, the headmen of each town were assembled in the\ntown-house of Chote, the metropolis of the country, to hear the articles\nof peace read, whither the interpreter and I accompanied Ostenaco.\nThe town-house, in which are transacted all public business and\ndiversions, is raised with wood, and covered over with earth, and has\nall the appearance of a small mountain at a little distance. It is built\nin the form of a sugar loaf, and large enough to contain 500 persons,\nbut extremely dark, having, besides the door, which is so narrow that\nbut one at a time can pass, and that after much winding and turning, but\none small aperture to let the smoak out, which is so ill contrived, that\nmost of it settles in the roof of the house. Within it has the\nappearance of an ancient amphitheatre, the seats being raised one above\nanother, leaving an area in the middle, in the center of which stands\nthe fire; the seats of the head warriors are nearest it.\nThey all seemed highly satisfied with the articles. The peace-pipe was\nsmoaked, and Ostenaco made an harangue to the following effect:\n\u201cThe bloody tommahawke, so long lifted against our brethren the English,\nmust now be buried deep, deep in the ground, never to be raised\nagain[2]; and whoever shall act contrary to any of these articles, must\nexpect a punishment equal to his offence[3]. Should a strict observance\nof them be neglected, a war must necessarily follow, and a second peace\nmay not be so easily obtained. I therefore once more recommend to you,\nto take particular care of your behaviour towards the English, whom we\nmust now look upon as ourselves; they have the French and Spaniards to\nfight, and we enough of our own colour, without medling with either\nnation. I desire likewise, that the white warrior, who has ventured\nhimself here with us, may be well used and respected by all, wherever he\ngoes amongst us.\u201d\nFootnote 2:\n  As in this speech several allusions are made to the customs of the\n  Indians, it may not be impertinent to acquaint the reader, that their\n  way of declaring war, is by smoaking a pipe as a bond among\n  themselves, and lifting up a hatchet stained in blood, as a menace to\n  their enemies; at declaring peace this hatchet is buried, and a pipe\n  smoaked by both parties, in token of friendship and reconciliation.\nFootnote 3:\n  The chiefs can inflict no punishment; but, upon the signing of the\n  peace, it was agreed by both nations, that offenders on either side\n  should be delivered up to be punished by the offended party, and it is\n  to this the Chief alludes.\nThe harangue being finished, several pipes were presented me by the\nheadsmen, to take a whiff. This ceremony I could have waved, as smoaking\nwas always very disagreeable to me; but as it was a token of their\namity, and they might be offended if I did not comply, I put on the best\nface I was able, though I dared not even wipe the end of the pipe that\ncame out of their mouths; which, considering their paint and dirtiness,\nare not of the most ragoutant, as the French term it.\nAfter smoaking, the eatables were produced, consisting chiefly of wild\nmeat; such as venison, bear, and buffalo; tho\u2019 I cannot much commend\ntheir cookery, every thing being greatly overdone: there were likewise\npotatoes, pumpkins, homminy, boiled corn, beans, and pease, served up in\nsmall flat baskets, made of split canes, which were distributed amongst\nthe crowd; and water, which, except the spirituous liquor brought by the\nEuropeans, is their only drink, was handed about in small goards. What\ncontributed greatly to render this feast disgusting, was eating without\nknives and forks, and being obliged to grope from dish to dish in the\ndark. After the feast there was a dance; but I was already so fatigued\nwith the ceremonies I had gone through, that I retired to Kanagatucko\u2019s\nhot-house[4]; but was prevented taking any repose by the smoke, with\nwhich I was almost suffocated, and the crowd of Indians that came and\nsat on the bed-side; which indeed was not much calculated for repose to\nany but Indians, or those that had passed an apprenticeship to their\nways, as I had done: it was composed of a few boards, spread with\nbear-skins, without any other covering; the house being so hot, that I\ncould not endure the weight of my own blanket.\nFootnote 4:\n  This Hot-House is a little hut joined to the house, in which a fire is\n  continually kept, and the heat so great, that cloaths are not to be\n  borne the coldest day in winter.\nSome hours after I got up to go away, but met Ostenaco, followed by two\nor three Indians, with an invitation from the headman of Settico, to\nvisit him the next day.\nI set out with Ostenaco and my interpreter in the morning, and marched\ntowards Settico, till we were met by a messenger, about half a mile from\nthe town, who came to stop us till every thing was prepared for our\nreception: from this place I could take a view of the town, where I\nobserved two stand of colours flying, one at the top, and the other at\nthe door of the town-house; they were as large as a sheet, and white.\nLest therefore I should take them for French, they took great care to\ninform me, that their custom was to hoist red colours as an emblem of\nwar; but white, as a token of peace. By this time we were joined by\nanother messenger, who desired us to move forward.\nAbout 100 yards from the town-house we were received by a body of\nbetween three and four hundred Indians, ten or twelve of which were\nentirely naked, except a piece of cloth about their middle, and painted\nall over in a hideous manner, six of them with eagles tails in their\nhands, which they shook and flourished as they advanced, danced in a\nvery uncommon figure, singing in concert with some drums of their own\nmake, and those of the late unfortunate Capt. Damere; with several other\ninstruments, uncouth beyond description. Cheulah, the headman of the\ntown, led the procession, painted blood-red, except his face, which was\nhalf black, holding an old rusty broad-sword in his right hand, and an\neagle\u2019s tail in his left. As they approached, Cheulah, singling himself\nout from the rest, cut two or three capers, as a signal to the other\neagle-tails, who instantly followed his example. This violent exercise,\naccompanied by the band of music, and a loud yell from the mob, lasted\nabout a minute, when the headman waving his sword over my head, struck\nit into the ground, about two inches from my left foot; then directing\nhimself to me, made a short discourse (which my interpreter told me was\nonly to bid me a hearty welcome) and presented me with a string of\nbeads. We then proceeded to the door, where Cheulah, and one of the\nbeloved men, taking me by each arm, led me in, and seated me in one of\nthe first seats; it was so dark that nothing was perceptible till a\nfresh supply of canes were brought, which being burnt in the middle of\nthe house answers both purposes of fuel and candle. I then discovered\nabout five hundred faces; and Cheulah addressing me a second time, made\na speech much to the same effect as the former, congratulating me on my\nsafe arrival thro\u2019 the numerous parties of the northern Indians, that\ngenerally haunt the way I came. He then made some professions of\nfriendship, concluding with giving me another string of beads, as a\ntoken of it. He had scarce finished, when four of those who had\nexhibited at the procession made their second appearance, painted\nmilk-white, their eagle-tails in one hand, and small goards with beads\nin them in the other, which they rattled in time to the music. During\nthis dance the peace-pipe was prepared; the bowl of it was of red stone,\ncuriously cut with a knife, it being very soft, tho\u2019 extremely pretty\nwhen polished. Some of these are of black stone, and some of the same\nearth they make their pots with, but beautifully diversified. The stem\nis about three feet long, finely adorned with porcupine quills, dyed\nfeathers, deers hair, and such like gaudy trifles.\nAfter I had performed my part with this, I was almost suffocated with\nthe pipes presented me on every hand, which I dared not to decline. They\nmight amount to about 170 or 180; which made me so sick, that I could\nnot stir for several hours.\nThe Indians entertained me with another dance, at which I was detained\ntill about seven o\u2019clock next morning, when I was conducted to the house\nof Chucatah, then second in command, to take some refreshment. Here I\nfound a white woman, named Mary Hughes, who told me she had been\nprisoner there near a twelvemonth, and that there still remained among\nthe Indians near thirty white prisoners more, in a very miserable\ncondition for want of cloaths, the winter being particularly severe; and\ntheir misery was not a little heightened by the usage they received from\nthe Indians. I ordered her to come to me to Ostenaco\u2019s, with her\nmiserable companions, where I would distribute some shirts and blankets\nI had brought with me amongst them, which she did some days after.\nAfter a short nap, I arose and went to the town-house, where I found the\nchiefs in consultation; after some time, I was called upon, and desired\nto write a letter for them to the Governor of South Carolina, which\nsignified their desire of living in peace with the English, as long as\nthe sun shone, or grass grew, and desired that a trade might be opened\nbetween them. These wrote, I sealed them up, with some wampum and beads\nin the inside. I was the same day invited to Chilhowey, where I was\nreceived and treated much in the same manner as at Settico. I wrote some\nletters; and one that Yachtino the headman had brought from Col. Stephen\nwas interpreted to them, which seemed to give them great satisfaction. I\nfound here a white man, who, notwithstanding the war, lived many years\namong them; he told me that the lower towns had been greatly distressed\nwhen attacked by Colonel Montgomery; being obliged to live many months\nupon horse-flesh, and roots out of the woods, occasioned partly by the\nnumbers drove among them, and the badness of the crops that year.\nReturning home with Ostenaco the next day, being the 2d of January 1762,\nI enquired whether he thought I should receive any more invitations? He\ntold me he believed not, because the towns to which I had already been\ninvited, having been our most inveterate enemies during the war, had\ndone this, as an acknowledgment and reparation of their fault.\nI had now leisure to complete taking the courses of the river, from\nwhich, as I have already mentioned, I was deterred by the Indians, as\nlikewise to make remarks upon the country and inhabitants.\nThe country being situated between thirty-two and thirty-four degrees\nnorth latitude, and eighty-seven degrees thirty minutes west longitude\nfrom London, as near as can be calculated, is temperate, inclining to\nheat during the summer-season, and so remarkably fertile, that the women\nalone do all the laborious tasks of agriculture, the soil requiring only\na little stirring with a hoe, to produce whatever is required of it;\nyielding vast quantities of pease, beans, potatoes, cabbages, Indian\ncorn, pumpions, melons, and tobacco, not to mention a number of other\nvegetables imported from Europe, not so generally known amongst them,\nwhich flourish as much, or more here, than in their native climate; and,\nby the daily experience of the goodness of the soil, we may conclude,\nthat, with due care, all European plants might succeed in the same\nmanner.\nBefore the arrival of the Europeans, the natives were not so well\nprovided, maize, melons, and tobacco, being the only things they bestow\nculture upon, and perhaps seldom on the latter. The meadows or savannahs\nproduce excellent grass; being watered by abundance of fine rivers, and\nbrooks well stored with fish, otters and beavers, having as yet no nets,\nthe Indians catch the fish with lines, spears, or dams; which last, as\nit seems particular to the natives of America, I shall trouble the\nreader with a description of. Building two walls obliquely down the\nriver from either shore, just as they are near joining, a passage is\nleft to a deep well or reservoir; the Indians then scaring the fish down\nthe river, close the mouth of the reservoir with a large bush, or bundle\nmade on purpose, and it is no difficult matter to take them with\nbaskets, when enclosed within so small a compass.\nNorth America, being one continual forest, admits of no scarcity of\ntimber for every use: there are oaks of several sorts, birch, ash,\npines, and a number of other trees, many of which are unknown in Europe,\nbut already described by many authors. The woods likewise abound with\nfruits and flowers, to which the Indians pay little regard. Of the\nfruits there are some of an excellent flavour, particularly several\nsorts of grapes, which, with proper culture, would probably afford an\nexcellent wine. There are likewise plumbs, cherries, and berries of\nseveral kinds, something different from those of Europe; but their\npeaches and pears grow only by culture: add to these several kinds of\nroots, and medicinal plants, particularly the plant so esteemed by the\nChinese, and by them called gingsang, and a root which never fails\ncuring the most inveterate venereal disease, which, however, they never\nhad occasion for, for that distemper, before the arrival of Europeans\namong them. There are likewise an incredible number of buffaloes, bears,\ndeer, panthers, wolves, foxes, racoons, and opossums. The buffaloes, and\nmost of the rest, have been so often described, and are so well known,\nthat a description of them would be but tedious; the opossum, however,\ndeserves some attention, as I have never seen it properly described. It\nis about the size of a large cat, short and thick, and of a silver\ncolour. It brings forth its young, contrary to all other animals, at the\nteat, from whence, when of a certain size, and able to walk, it drops\noff, and goes into a false belly, designed by providence in its dam for\nits reception, which, at the approach of danger, will, notwithstanding\nthis additional load, climb rocks and trees with great agility for its\nsecurity.\nThere are a vast number of lesser sort of game, such as rabbits,\nsquirrels of several sorts, and many other animals, beside turkeys,\ngeese, ducks of several kinds, partridges, pheasants, and an infinity of\nother birds, pursued only by the children, who, at eight or ten years\nold, are very expert at killing with a sarbacan, or hollow cane, through\nwhich they blow a small dart, whose weakness obliges them to shoot at\nthe eye of the larger sort of prey, which they seldom miss.\nThere are likewise a great number of reptiles, particularly the\ncopper-snake, whose bite is very difficult to cure, and the\nrattle-snake, once the terror of Europeans, now no longer apprehended,\nthe bite being so easily cured; but neither this, nor any other species,\nwill attempt biting unless disturbed or trod upon; neither are there any\nanimals in America mischievous unless attacked. The flesh of the\nrattle-snake is extremely good; being once obliged to eat one through\nwant of provisions, I have eat several since thro\u2019 choice.\nOf insects, the flying stag is almost the only one worthy of notice; it\nis about the shape of a beetle, but has very large beautiful branching\nhorns, like those of a stag, from whence it took its name.\nThe Indians have now a numerous breed of horses, as also hogs, and other\nof our animals, but neither cows nor sheep; both these, however, might\nbe supplied by breeding some tame buffaloes, from which, I have been\ninformed, some white prisoners among them have procured both butter and\ncheese; and the fine long shag on its back could supply all the purposes\nof wool.\nThe mountains contain very rich mines of gold, silver, lead, and copper,\nas may be evinced by several accidentally found out by the Indians, and\nthe lumps of valuable ore washed down by several of the streams, a bag\nof which sold in Virginia at a considerable price; and by the many salt\nsprings, it is probable there are many mines of that likewise, as well\nas of other minerals. The fountains too may have many virtues, that\nrequire more skilful persons than the Cherokees or myself to find out.\nThey have many beautiful stones of different colours, many of which, I\nam apt to believe, are of great value; but their superstition has always\nprevented their disposing of them to the traders, who have made many\nattempts to that purpose; but as they use them in their conjuring\nceremonies, they believe their parting with them, or bringing them from\nhome, would prejudice their health or affairs. Among others, there is\none in the possession of a conjurer, remarkable for its brilliancy and\nbeauty, but more so for the extraordinary manner in which it was found.\nIt grew, if we may credit the Indians, on the head of a monstrous\nserpent, whose retreat was, by its brilliancy, discovered; but a great\nnumber of snakes attending him, he being, as I suppose by his diadem, of\na superior rank among the serpents, made it dangerous to attack him.\nMany were the attempts made by the Indians, but all frustrated, till a\nfellow, more bold than the rest, casing himself in leather, impenetrable\nto the bite of the serpent or his guards, and watching a convenient\nopportunity, surprised and killed him, tearing this jewel from his head,\nwhich the conjurer has kept hid for many years, in some place unknown to\nall but two women, who have been offered large presents to betray it,\nbut steadily refused, lest some signal judgment or mischance should\nfollow. That such a stone exists, I believe, having seen many of great\nbeauty; but I cannot think it would answer all the encomiums the Indians\nbestow upon it. The conjurer, I suppose, hatched the account of its\ndiscovery; I have however given it to the reader, as a specimen of an\nIndian story, many of which are much more surprising.\nThe Cherokees are of a middle stature, of an olive colour, tho\u2019\ngenerally painted, and their skins stained with gun-powder, pricked into\nit in very pretty figures. The hair of their head is shaved, tho\u2019 many\nof the old people have it plucked out by the roots, except a patch on\nthe hinder part of the head, about twice the bigness of a crown-piece,\nwhich is ornamented with beads, feathers, wampum, stained deers hair,\nand such like baubles. The ears are slit and stretched to an enormous\nsize, putting the person who undergoes the operation to incredible pain,\nbeing unable to lie on either side for near forty days. To remedy this,\nthey generally slit but one at a time; so soon as the patient can bear\nit, they are wound round with wire to expand them, and are adorned with\nsilver pendants and rings, which they likewise wear at the nose. This\ncustom does not belong originally to the Cherokees, but taken by them\nfrom the Shawnese, or other northern nations.\nThey that can afford it wear a collar of wampum, which are beads cut out\nof clamshells, a silver breast-plate, and bracelets on their arms and\nwrists of the same metal, a bit of cloth over their private parts, a\nshirt of the English make, a sort of cloth-boots, and mockasons, which\nare shoes of a make peculiar to the Americans, ornamented with\nporcupine-quills; a large mantle or match-coat thrown over all compleats\ntheir dress at home; but when they go to war they leave their trinkets\nbehind, and the mere necessaries serve them.\nThe women wear the hair of their head, which is so long that it\ngenerally reaches to the middle of their legs, and sometimes to the\nground, club\u2019d, and ornamented with ribbons of various colours; but,\nexcept their eyebrows, pluck it from all the other parts of the body,\nespecially the looser part of the sex. The rest of their dress is now\nbecome very much like the European; and, indeed, that of the men is\ngreatly altered. The old people still remember and praise the ancient\ndays, before they were acquainted with the whites, when they had but\nlittle dress, except a bit of skin about their middles, mockasons, a\nmantle of buffalo skin for the winter, and a lighter one of feathers for\nthe summer. The women, particularly the half-breed, are remarkably well\nfeatured; and both men and women are straight and well-built, with small\nhands and feet.\nThe warlike arms used by the Cherokees are guns, bows and arrows, darts,\nscalpping-knives, and tommahawkes, which are hatchets; the hammer-part\nof which being made hollow, and a small hole running from thence along\nthe shank, terminated by a small brass-tube for the mouth, makes a\ncompleat pipe. There are various ways of making these, according to the\ncountry or fancy of the purchaser, being all made by the Europeans; some\nhave a long spear at top, and some different conveniencies on each side.\nThis is one of their most useful pieces of field-furniture, serving all\nthe offices of hatchet, pipe, and sword; neither are the Indians less\nexpert at throwing it than using it near, but will kill at a\nconsiderable distance.\nThey are of a very gentle and amicable disposition to those they think\ntheir friends, but as implacable in their enmity, their revenge being\nonly compleated in the entire destruction of their enemies. They were\npretty hospitable to all white strangers, till the Europeans encouraged\nthem to scalp; but the great reward offered has led them often since to\ncommit as great barbarities on us, as they formerly only treated their\nmost inveterate enemies with. They are very hardy, bearing heat, cold,\nhunger and thirst, in a surprizing manner; and yet no people are given\nto more excess in eating and drinking, when it is conveniently in their\npower: the follies, nay mischief, they commit when inebriated, are\nentirely laid to the liquor; and no one will revenge any injury (murder\nexcepted) received from one who is no more himself: they are not less\naddicted to gaming than drinking, and will even lose the shirt off their\nback, rather than give over play, when luck runs against them.\nThey are extremely proud, despising the lower class of Europeans; and in\nsome athletick diversions I once was present at, they refused to match\nor hold conference with any but officers.\nHere, however, the vulgar notion of the Indians uncommon activity was\ncontradicted by three officers of the Virginia regiment, the slowest of\nwhich could outrun the swiftest of about 700 Indians that were in the\nplace: but had the race exceeded two or three hundred yards, the Indians\nwould then have acquired the advantage, by being able to keep the same\npace a long time together; and running being likewise more general among\nthem, a body of them would always greatly exceed an equal number of our\ntroops.\nThey are particularly careful of the superannuated, but are not so till\nof a great age; of which Ostenaco\u2019s mother is an instance. Ostenaco is\nabout sixty years of age, and the youngest of four; yet his mother still\ncontinues her laborious tasks, and has yet strength enough to carry 200\nweight of wood on her back near a couple of miles. I am apt to think\nsome of them, by their own computation, are near 150 years old.\nThey have many of them a good uncultivated genius, are fond of speaking\nwell, as that paves the way to power in their councils; and I doubt not\nbut the reader will find some beauties in the harangues I have given\nhim, which I assure him are entirely genuine. Their language is not\nunpleasant, but vastly aspirated, and the accents so many and various,\nyou would often imagine them singing in their common discourse. As the\nideas of the Cherokees are so few, I cannot say much for the copiousness\nof their language.\nThey seldom turn their eyes on the person they speak of, or address\nthemselves to, and are always suspicious when people\u2019s eyes are fixed\nupon them. They speak so low, except in council, that they are often\nobliged to repeat what they were saying; yet should a person talk to any\nof them above their common pitch, they would immediately ask him, if he\nthought they were deaf?\nThey have likewise a sort of loose poetry, as the war-songs, love-songs,\n&c. Of the latter many contain no more than that the young man loves the\nyoung woman, and will be uneasy, according to their own expression, if\nhe does not obtain her. Of the former I shall present the following\nspecimen, without the original in Cherokee, on account of the expletive\nsyllables, merely introduced for the music, and not the sense, just like\nthe toldederols of many old English songs.\n      A TRANSLATION of the WAR-SONG.\n      Where\u2019er the earth\u2019s enlighten\u2019d by the sun,\n      Moon shines by night, grass grows, or waters run,\n      Be\u2019t known that we are going, like men, afar,\n      In hostile fields to wage destructive war;\n      Like men we go, to meet our country\u2019s foes,\n      Who, woman-like, shall fly our dreaded blows;\n      Yes, as a woman, who beholds a snake,\n      In gaudy horror, glisten thro\u2019 the brake,\n      Starts trembling back, and stares with wild surprise,\n      Or pale thro\u2019 fear, unconscious, panting, flies.\n      [5]Just so these foes, more tim\u2019rous than the hind,\n      Shall leave their arms and only cloaths behind;\n      Pinch\u2019d by each blast, by ev\u2019ry thicket torn,\n      Run back to their own nation, now its scorn:\n      Or in the winter, when the barren wood\n      Denies their gnawing entrails nature\u2019s food,\n      Let them sit down, from friends and country far,\n      And wish, with tears, they ne\u2019er had come to war.\n      [6]We\u2019ll leave our clubs, dew\u2019d with their country show\u2019rs,\n      And, if they dare to bring them back to our\u2019s,\n      Their painted scalps shall be a step to fame,\n      And grace our own and glorious country\u2019s name.\n      Or if we warriors spare the yielding foe,\n      Torments at home the wretch must undergo[7].\nFootnote 5:\n  As the Indians fight naked, the vanquished are constrained to endure\n  the rigours of the weather in their flight, and live upon roots and\n  fruit, as they throw down their arms to accelerate their flight thro\u2019\n  the woods.\nFootnote 6:\n  It is the custom of the Indians, to leave a club, something of the\n  form of a cricket-bat, but with their warlike exploits engraved on it,\n  in their enemy\u2019s country, and the enemy accepts the defiance, by\n  bringing this back to their country.\nFootnote 7:\n  The prisoners of war are generally tortured by the women, at the\n  party\u2019s return, to revenge the death of those that have perished by\n  the wretch\u2019s countrymen. This savage custom has been so much mitigated\n  of late, that the prisoners were only compelled to marry, and then\n  generally allowed all the privileges of the natives. This lenity,\n  however, has been a detriment to the nation; for many of these\n  returning to their countrymen, have made them acquainted with the\n  country-passes, weakness, and haunts of the Cherokees; besides that it\n  gave the enemy greater courage to fight against them.\n          But when we go, who knows which shall return,\n          When growing dangers rise with each new morn?\n          Farewel, ye little ones, ye tender wives,\n          For you alone we would conserve our lives!\n          But cease to mourn, \u2019tis unavailing pain,\n          If not fore-doom\u2019d, we soon shall meet again.\n          But, O ye friends! in case your comrades fall,\n          Think that on you our deaths for vengeance call;\n          With uprais\u2019d tommahawkes pursue our blood,\n          And stain, with hostile streams, the conscious wood,\n          That pointing enemies may never tell\n          The boasted place where we, their victims, fell[8].\nFootnote 8:\n  Their custom is generally to engrave their victory on some\n  neighbouring tree, or set up some token of it near the field of\n  battle; to this their enemies are here supposed to point to, as\n  boasting their victory over them, and the slaughter that they made.\nBoth the ideas and verse are very loose in the original, and they are\nset to as loose a music, many composing both tunes and song off hand,\naccording to the occasion; tho\u2019 some tunes, especially those taken from\nthe northern Indians, are extremely pretty, and very like the Scotch.\nThe Indians being all soldiers, mechanism can make but little progress;\nbesides this, they labour under the disadvantage of having neither\nproper tools, or persons to teach the use of those they have: Thus, for\nwant of saws, they are obliged to cut a large tree on each side, with\ngreat labour, to make a very clumsy board; whereas a pair of sawyers\nwould divide the same tree into eight or ten in much less time:\nconsidering this disadvantage, their modern houses are tolerably well\nbuilt. A number of thick posts is fixed in the ground, according to the\nplan and dimensions of the house, which rarely exceeds sixteen feet in\nbreadth, on account of the roofing, but often extend to sixty or seventy\nin length, beside the little hot-house. Between each of these posts is\nplaced a smaller one, and the whole wattled with twigs like a basket,\nwhich is then covered with clay very smooth, and sometimes white-washed.\nInstead of tiles, they cover them with narrow boards. Some of these\nhouses are two story high, tolerably pretty and capacious; but most of\nthem very inconvenient for want of chimneys, a small hole being all the\nvent assigned in many for the smoak to get out at.\nTheir canoes are the next work of any consequence; they are generally\nmade of a large pine or poplar, from thirty to forty feet long, and\nabout two broad, with flat bottoms and sides, and both ends alike; the\nIndians hollow them now with the tools they get from the Europeans, but\nformerly did it by fire: they are capable of carrying about fifteen or\ntwenty men, are very light, and can by the Indians, so great is their\nskill in managing them, be forced up a very strong current, particularly\nthe bark canoes; but these are seldom used but by the northern Indians.\nThey have of late many tools among them, and, with a little instruction,\nwould soon become proficients in the use of them, being great imitators\nof any thing they see done; and the curious manner in which they dress\nskins, point arrows, make earthen vessels, and basket-work, are proofs\nof their ingenuity, possessing them a long time before the arrival of\nEuropeans among them. Their method of pointing arrows is as follows:\nCutting a bit of thin brass, copper, bone, or scales of a particular\nfish, into a point with two beards, or some into an acute triangle, they\nsplit a little of their arrow, which is generally of reeds; into this\nthey put the point, winding some deers sinew round the arrow, and\nthrough a little hole they make in the head; then they moisten the sinew\nwith their spittle, which, when dry, remains fast glewed, nor ever\nuntwists. Their bows are of several sorts of wood, dipped in bears oil,\nand seasoned before the fire, and a twisted bear\u2019s gut for the string.\nThey have two sorts of clay, red and white, with both which they make\nexcellent vessels, some of which will stand the greatest heat. They have\nnow learnt to sew, and the men as well as women, excepting shirts, make\nall their own cloaths; the women, likewise, make very pretty belts, and\ncollars of beads and wampum, also belts and garters of worsted. In arts,\nhowever, as in war, they are greatly excelled by their northern\nneighbours.\nTheir chief trade is with those Europeans with whom they are in\nalliance, in hides, furs, &c. which they barter by the pound, for all\nother goods; by that means supplying the deficiency of money. But no\nproportion is kept to their value; what cost two shillings in England,\nand what cost two pence, are often sold for the same price; besides\nthat, no attention is paid to the goodness, and a knife of the best\ntemper and workmanship will only sell for the same price as an ordinary\none. The reason of this is, that, in the beginning of the commerce, the\nIndians finding themselves greatly imposed upon, fixed a price on each\narticle, according to their own judgment; powder, balls, and several\nother goods, are by this means set so low, that few people would bring\nthem, but that the Indians refuse to trade with any person who has not\nbrought a proportionable quantity, and the traders are cautious of\nlosing a trade in which 5 or 600 per cent. in many articles fully\nrecompences their loss in these.\nAs to religion, every one is at liberty to think for himself; whence\nflows a diversity of opinions amongst those that do think, but the major\npart do not give themselves that trouble. They generally concur,\nhowever, in the belief of one superior Being, who made them, and governs\nall things, and are therefore never discontent at any misfortune,\nbecause they say, the Man above would have it so. They believe in a\nreward and punishment, as may be evinced by their answer to Mr. Martin,\nwho, having preached scripture till both his audience and he were\nheartily tired, was told at last, that they knew very well, that, if\nthey were good, they should go up, if bad, down; that he could tell no\nmore; that he had long plagued them with what they no ways understood,\nand that they desired him to depart the country. This, probably, was at\nthe instigation of their conjurers, to whom these people pay a profound\nregard; as christianity was entirely opposite, and would soon dispossess\nthe people of their implicit belief in their juggling art, which the\nprofessors have brought to so great perfection as to deceive Europeans,\nmuch more an ignorant race, whose ideas will naturally augment the\nextraordinary of any thing the least above their comprehension, or out\nof the common tract. After this I need not say that in every particular\nthey are extremely superstitious, that and ignorance going always hand\nin hand.\nThey have few religious ceremonies, or stated times of general worship:\nthe green corn dance seems to be the principal, which is, as I have been\ntold, performed in a very solemn manner, in a large square before the\ntown-house door: the motion here is very slow, and the song in which\nthey offer thanks to God for the corn he has sent them, far from\nunpleasing. There is no kind of rites or ceremonies at marriage,\ncourtship and all being, as I have already observed, concluded in half\nan hour, without any other celebration, and it is as little binding as\nceremonious; for though many last till death, especially when there are\nchildren, it is common for a person to change three or four times\na-year. Notwithstanding this, the Indian women gave lately a proof of\nfidelity, not to be equalled by politer ladies, bound by all the sacred\nties of marriage.\nMany of the soldiers in the garrison of Fort Loudoun, having Indian\nwives, these brought them a daily supply of provisions, though blocked\nup, in order to be starved to a surrender, by their own countrymen; and\nthey persisted in this, notwithstanding the express orders of\nWillinawaw, who, sensible of the retardment this occasioned, threatened\ndeath to those who would assist their enemy; but they laughing at his\nthreats, boldly told him, they would succour their husbands every day,\nand were sure, that, if he killed them, their relations would make his\ndeath atone for theirs. Willinawaw was too sensible of this to put his\nthreats into execution, so that the garrison subsisted a long time on\nthe provisions brought to them in this manner.\nWhen they part, the children go with, and are provided for, by the\nmother. As soon as a child is born, which is generally without help, it\nis dipped into cold water and washed, which is repeated every morning\nfor two years afterward, by which the children acquire such strength,\nthat no ricketty or deformed are found amongst them. When the woman\nrecovers, which is at latest in three days, she carries it herself to\nthe river to wash it; but though three days is the longest time of their\nillness, a great number of them are not so many hours; nay, I have known\na woman delivered at the side of a river, wash her child, and come home\nwith it in one hand, and a goard full of water in the other.\nThey seldom bury their dead, but throw them into the river; yet if any\nwhite man will bury them, he is generally rewarded with a blanket,\nbesides what he takes from the corpse, the dead having commonly their\nguns, tommahawkes, powder, lead, silver ware, wampum, and a little\ntobacco, buried with them; and as the persons who brings the corpse to\nthe place of burial, immediately leave it, he is at liberty to dispose\nof all as he pleases, but must take care never to be found out, as\nnothing belonging to the dead is to be kept, but every thing at his\ndecease destroyed, except these articles, which are destined to\naccompany him to the other world. It is reckoned, therefore, the worst\nof thefts; yet there is no punishment for this, or any other crime,\nmurder excepted, which is more properly revenged than punished.\nThis custom was probably introduced to prevent avarice, and, by\npreventing hereditary acquisitions, make merit the sole means of\nacquiring power, honour, and riches. The inventor, however, had too\ngreat a knowledge of the human mind, and our propensity to possess, not\nto see that a superior passion must intercede; he therefore wisely made\nit a religious ceremony, that superstition, the strongest passion of the\nignorant, might check avarice, and keep it in the bounds he had\nprescribed. It is not known from whence it came, but it is of great\nantiquity, and not only general over all North America, but in many\nparts of Asia. On this account the wives generally have separate\nproperty, that no inconveniency may arise from death or separation.\nThe Indians have a particular method of relieving the poor, which I\nshall rank among the most laudable of their religious ceremonies, most\nof the rest consisting purely in the vain ceremonies, and superstitious\nromances of their conjurers. When any of their people are hungry, as\nthey term it, or in distress, orders are issued out by the headmen for a\nwar-dance, at which all the fighting men and warriors assemble; but\nhere, contrary to all their other dances, one only dances at a time,\nwho, after hopping and capering for near a minute, with a tommahawke in\nhis hand, gives a small hoop, at which signal the music stops till he\nrelates the manner of taking his first scalp, and concludes his\nnarration, by throwing on a large skin spread for that purpose, a string\nof wampum, piece of plate, wire, paint, lead, or any thing he can most\nconveniently spare; after which the music strikes up, and he proceeds in\nthe same manner through all his warlike actions: then another takes his\nplace, and the ceremony lasts till all the warriors and fighting men\nhave related their exploits. The stock thus raised, after paying the\nmusicians, is divided among the poor. The same ceremony is made use of\nto recompence any extraordinary merit. This is touching vanity in a\ntender part, and is an admirable method of making even imperfections\nconduce to the good of society.\nTheir government, if I may call it government, which has neither laws or\npower to support it, is a mixed aristocracy and democracy, the chiefs\nbeing chose according to their merit in war, or policy at home; these\nlead the warriors that chuse to go, for there is no laws or compulsion\non those that refuse to follow, or punishment to those that forsake\ntheir chief: he strives, therefore, to inspire them with a sort of\nenthusiasm, by the war-song, as the ancient bards did once in Britain.\nThese chiefs, or headmen, likewise compose the assemblies of the nation,\ninto which the war-women are admitted. The reader will not be a little\nsurprised to find the story of Amazons not so great a fable as we\nimagined, many of the Indian women being as famous in war, as powerful\nin the council.\nThe rest of the people are divided into two military classes, warriors\nand fighting men, which last are the plebeians, who have not\ndistinguished themselves enough to be admitted into the rank of\nwarriors. There are some other honorary titles among them, conferred in\nreward of great actions; the first of which is Outacity, or Man-killer;\nand the second Colona, or the Raven. Old warriors likewise, or\nwar-women, who can no longer go to war, but have distinguished\nthemselves in their younger days, have the title of Beloved. This is the\nonly title females can enjoy; but it abundantly recompences them, by the\npower they acquire by it, which is so great, that they can, by the wave\nof a swan\u2019s wing, deliver a wretch condemned by the council, and already\ntied to the stake.\nTheir common names are given them by their parents; but this they can\neither change, or take another when they think proper; so that some of\nthem have near half a dozen, which the English generally increase, by\ngiving an English one, from some circumstance in their lives or\ndisposition, as the Little Carpenter to Attakullakulla, from his\nexcelling in building houses; Judd\u2019s friend, or corruptly the Judge, to\nOstenaco, for saving a man of that name from the fury of his countrymen;\nor sometimes a translation of his Cherokee name, as Pigeon to Woey, that\nbeing the signification of the word. The Over-hill settlement is by\nthese two chiefs divided into two factions, between whom there is often\ngreat animosity, and the two leaders are sure to oppose one another in\nevery measure taken. Attakullakulla has done but little in war to\nrecommend him, but has often signalized himself by his policy, and\nnegotiations at home. Ostenaco has a tolerable share of both; but policy\nand art are the greatest steps to power. Attakullakulla has a large\nfaction with this alone, while Oconnestoto, sir-named the Great Warrior,\nfamous for having, in all his expeditions, taken such prudent measures\nas never to have lost a man, has not so much power, and Ostenaco could\nnever have obtained the superiority, if he had not a great reputation in\nboth.\nOn my arrival in the Cherokee country, I found the nation much attached\nto the French, who have the prudence, by familiar politeness, (which\ncosts but little, and often does a great deal) and conforming themselves\nto their ways and temper, to conciliate the inclinations of almost all\nthe Indians they are acquainted with, while the pride of our officers\noften disgusts them; nay, they did not scruple to own to me, that it was\nthe trade alone that induced them to make peace with us, and not any\npreference to the French, whom they loved a great deal better. As\nhowever they might expect to hasten the opening of the trade by telling\nme this, I should have paid but little regard to it, had not my own\nobservations confirmed me, that it was not only their general opinion,\nbut the policy of most of their headmen; except Attakullakulla, who\nconserves his attachment inviolably to the English.\nI shall be accused, perhaps, for mentioning policy among so barbarous a\nnation; but tho\u2019 I own their views are not so clear and refined as those\nof European statesmen, their alliance with the French seems equal,\nproportioning the lights of savages and Europeans, to our most masterly\nstrokes of policy; and yet we cannot be surprised at it, when we\nconsider that merit alone creates their ministers, and not the\nprejudices of party, which often create ours.\nThe English are now so nigh, and encroached daily so far upon them, that\nthey not only felt the bad effects of it in their hunting grounds, which\nwere spoiled, but had all the reason in the world to apprehend being\nswallowed up, by so potent neighbours, or driven from the country,\ninhabited by their fathers, in which they were born, and brought up, in\nfine, their native soil, for which all men have a particular tenderness\nand affection. The French lay farther off, and were not so powerful;\nfrom them, therefore, they had less to fear. The keeping these\nforeigners then more upon a footing, as a check upon one another, was\nproviding for their own safety, and that of all America, since they\nforesaw, or the French took care to shew them, that, should they be\ndriven out, the English would in time extend themselves over all North\nAmerica. The Indians cannot, from the woods of America, see the true\nstate of Europe: report is all they have to judge by, and that often\ncomes from persons too interested to give a just account. France\u2019s\ncircumstances were not in such a flourishing condition as was\nrepresented; the French were conquered, and a war carried into the heart\nof the Cherokee country; many of their towns were sacked and plundered\nwithout a possibility of relieving them, as they lay straggled on a\nlarge extent of ground, many miles from one another; it was then their\ninterest, or rather they were compelled, to ask for peace and trade,\nwithout which they could no longer flourish.\nWere arts introduced, and the Cherokees contracted into a fortified\nsettlement, governed by laws, and remoter from the English, they might\nbecome formidable; but hunting must be then laid more aside, and tame\ncattle supply the deficiency of the wild, as the greater the number of\nhunters, the more prey would be required; and the more a place is\nhaunted by men, the less it is resorted to by game. Means might be\ntaken, would the Cherokees follow them, to render the nation\nconsiderable; but who would seek to live by labour, who can live by\namusement? The sole occupations of an Indian life, are hunting, and\nwarring abroad, and lazying at home. Want is said to be the mother of\nindustry, but their wants are supplied at an easier rate.\nSome days after my reception at Chilhowey, I had an opportunity of\nseeing some more of their diversions. Two letters I received from some\nofficers at the Great Island occasioned a great assembly at Chote, where\nI was conducted to read them; but the Indians finding nothing that\nregarded them, the greater part resolved to amuse themselves at a game\nthey call nettecawaw; which I can give no other description of, than\nthat each player having a pole about ten feet long, with several marks\nor divisions, one of them bowls a round stone, with one flat side, and\nthe other convex, on which the players all dart their poles after it,\nand the nearest counts according to the vicinity of the bowl to the\nmarks on his pole.\nAs I was informed there was to be a physic-dance at night, curiosity led\nme to the town-house, to see the preparation. A vessel of their own\nmake, that might contain twenty gallons (there being a great many to\ntake the medicine) was set on the fire, round which stood several goards\nfilled with river-water, which was poured into the pot; this done, there\narose one of the beloved women, who, opening a deer-skin filled with\nvarious roots and herbs, took out a small handful of something like fine\nsalt; part of which she threw on the headman\u2019s seat, and part into the\nfire close to the pot; she then took out the wing of a swan, and after\nflourishing it over the pot, stood fixed for near a minute, muttering\nsomething to herself; then taking a shrub-like laurel (which I supposed\nwas the physic) she threw it into the pot, and returned to her former\nseat. As no more ceremony seemed to be going forward, I took a walk till\nthe Indians assembled to take it. At my return I found the house quite\nfull: they danced near an hour round the pot, till one of them, with a\nsmall goard that might hold about a gill, took some of the physic, and\ndrank it, after which all the rest took in turn. One of their headmen\npresented me with some, and in a manner compelled me to drink, though I\nwould have willingly declined. It was however much more palatable than I\nexpected, having a strong taste of sassafras: the Indian who presented\nit, told me it was taken to wash away their sins; so that this is a\nspiritual medicine, and might be ranked among their religious\nceremonies. They are very solicitous about its success; the conjurer,\nfor several mornings before it is drank, makes a dreadful howling,\nyelling, and hallowing, from the top of the town-house, to frighten away\napparitions and evil spirits. According to our ideas of evil spirits,\nsuch hideous noises would by sympathy call up such horrible beings; but\nI am apt to think with the Indians, that such noises are sufficient to\nfrighten any being away but themselves.\nI was almost every night at some dance, or diversion; the war-dance,\nhowever, gave me the greatest satisfaction, as in that I had an\nopportunity of learning their methods of war, and a history of their\nwarlike actions, many of which are both amusing and instructive.\nI was not a little pleased likewise with their ball-plays (in which they\nshew great dexterity) especially when the women played, who pulled one\nanother about, to the no small amusement of an European spectator.\nThey are likewise very dexterous at pantomime dances; several of which I\nhave seen performed that were very diverting. In one of these, two men,\ndressed in bear-skins, came in, stalking and pawing about with all the\nmotions of real bears: two hunters followed them, who in dumb shew acted\nin all respects as they would do in the wood: after many attempts to\nshoot them, the hunters fire; one of the bears is killed, and the other\nwounded; but, as they attempt to cut his throat, he rises up again, and\nthe scuffle between the huntsmen and the wounded bear generally affords\nthe company a great deal of diversion.\nThe taking the pigeons at roost was another that pleased me exceedingly;\nand these, with my walking and observations, furnished me with amusement\nfor some time; but the season not always permitting my going abroad, and\nas I had so little to do at home, I soon grew tired of the country. The\nIndian senate indeed would sometimes employ me in reading and writing\nletters for them; of which I generally acquitted myself to their\nsatisfaction, by adding what I thought would be acceptable, and\nretrenching whatever might displease.\nOn the 17th, a party came home from hunting on Holston\u2019s River, bringing\nwith them an eagle\u2019s tail, which was celebrated at night by a grand\nwar-dance, and the person who killed it had the second war-title of\nColona conferred upon him, besides the bounty gathered at the war-dance,\nin wampum, skins, &c. to the amount of thirty pounds; the tail of an\neagle being held in the greatest esteem, as they sometimes are given\nwith the wampum in their treaties, and none of their warlike ceremonies\ncan be performed without them.\nThis Indian acquainted the headman of a current report in the English\ncamp, that a large body of English were to march next spring through the\nCherokees country, against the French. There was little probability or\npossibility in such a report, yet it was received with some degree of\nbelief; every thing of news, every flying rumour, is swallowed here by\nthe populace. The least probability is exaggerated into a fact, and an\nIndian from our camp, who scarce understands four or five words of a\nconversation between two common soldiers, who often know as little of\nthe state of affairs as the Indians themselves, turn all the rest of it\nto something he suspects, and imagines he has heard what was never once\nmentioned; and this, when he returns to his own country, is passed about\nas a certainty. From hence flows the continual mistakes the Indians\nunavoidably make in their councils; they must act according to\nintelligence, and it requires a great penetration indeed to discern the\ntruth, when blended with so much falsity: thus they are often obliged to\nact according to the report of a mistaken or lying Indian, who are all\nbut too much addicted to this vice, which proved a continual fund of\nuneasiness to me all the time I remained in their country.\nOn the 26th of January, advices were received from the Great Island,\nthat some Cherokees had been killed by the northern Indians, who had\nbeen encouraged, and much caressed, by the commanding officer. This\npiece of news seemed greatly to displease them; they suspended however\ntheir judgment, till further intelligence. I began to be very uneasy for\nthe return of an express I had sent out on my arrival, who was to come\nback by the Great Island, and was the only person who could give me any\naccounts I could rely on, as I was sensible the Indian one was\ninfinitely exaggerated. We were yet talking of this, when the _News\nHallow_ was given from the top of Tommotly town-house; whereupon\nOstenaco rose from the table, and went immediately to the town-house,\nwhere he staid till day. On asking him next morning, What news? he\nseemed very unwilling to tell me, and went out of the house, seemingly\nvery much displeased. I then made the same question to several other\nIndians, whose different stories convinced me it was something they\nendeavoured to conceal.\nI was under some apprehension at this unusual incivility. It was no\nwonder I was alarmed; had the English given any encouragement to these\nnorthern ravagers, nay, had the French faction persuaded their\ncountrymen of our countenancing them in the slaughter, the meanest of\nthe deceased\u2019s relations had it in his power to sacrifice me to their\nmanes, and would certainly have done it, since, in default of kindred,\ntheir revenge falls on any of the same country that unfortunately comes\nwithin their reach; and nothing could be a protection to an hostage,\nwhen capitulating could not save the garrison of Fort Loudoun: a body of\nIndians pursued them, and breaking through the articles, and all the\nlaws of war and humanity, surprised and butchered them. Disguising,\nhowever, my uneasiness, I seemingly took to some diversions, while I\nsent M\u2018Cormack to pry into the true cause of such a change; he following\nmy host, found no difficulty in shuffling amongst the crowd into the\ntown-house, where Ostenaco made the following speech.\n\u201cWe have had some bad talks lately from the Great Island, which I hope\nnevertheless are not true, as I should be very sorry that the peace, so\nlately concluded with our brethren the English, should be broke in so\nshort a time: we must not judge as yet of what we have heard from the\nGreat Island. If Bench the express does not return soon, I myself will\nraise a party, and go to the Great Island, where I shall get certain\ninformation of all that has happened.\u201d\nThis speech was received with shouts of applause, and the assembly\nbetook themselves to dancing.\nOn the 28th, I was invited to a grand eagle\u2019s tail dance, at which about\n600 persons of both sexes were assembled. About midnight, in the heat of\ntheir diversion, news was brought of the death of one of their principal\nmen, killed at the Great Island by the northern Indians. This put a\nsudden stop to their diversion, and nothing was heard but threats of\nvengeance. I easily concluded that this could only proceed from the\nconfirmation of the ill news already received. I tried as much as laid\nin my power to mollify their anger, by telling them, that, if any\naccident had happened to their people, it was neither by consent or\napprobation of the English; that tho\u2019 the northern Indians were our\nallies as well as they, I was certain more favour would be shewn them\nthan their enemies, as Capt. M\u2018Neil, who commanded the fort, was a good,\nhumane, brave officer, and had always shewn so much friendship for their\nnation, as to leave no room to doubt of his protection to any of their\npeople who should be under his care. This satisfied them so well, that\nsome proposed dancing again; but as it was late, they agreed to give\nover their diversion for that night.\nOn the 4th of February, an account came in almost contradictory to this.\nAn Indian woman from Holston\u2019s River was the messenger, who related,\nthat the northern Indians had turned their arms against the English, and\nwere then actually building a breast-work within a quarter of a mile of\nFort Robinson; that, whilst one half were employed in carrying on the\nwork, the other observed the motions of our people; but this lie was\neven too gross for Indians to digest; tho\u2019 the next day, another who\ncame in confirmed it, and moreover affirmed the enemy\u2019s fortifications\nto be already breast high.\nThe 15th was the day appointed for the return of the Little Carpenter;\nand his not arriving began to give his friends a great deal of\nuneasiness. Ostenaco bore likewise his share in it, as his brother was\nof the party. Here is a lesson to Europe; two Indian chiefs, whom we\ncall barbarians, rivals of power, heads of two opposite factions, warm\nin opposing one another, as their interest continually clash; yet these\nhave no farther animosity, no family-quarrels or resentment, and the\nbrother of the chief who had gained the superiority is a volunteer under\nhis rival\u2019s command.\nFor my part, I was no less anxious about the express. I dispatched my\nservant out to meet him, and bring me the particulars of what had been\ntransacted at the Great Island; he returned in about five or six days,\nwith the letters the express had been charged with, leaving him to make\nout the rest of the journey as his fatigue would permit. Among others\nwas a letter from Capt. M\u2018Neil, informing me, that a party of about\nseventy northern Indians came to Fort Robinson a short time after I had\nleft it, who told him, that they came from Pittsburg, with a pass from\nthe commanding officer, to join us against the Cherokees, not knowing\nthat we had already concluded a peace. They seemed very much\ndissatisfied at coming so far to no purpose, and demanded if any\nCherokees were near? They were answered, that a party were out a\nhunting; but, if they would be looked upon as friends to the English,\nthey must not meddle with them, while under the protection of the\ncommanding officer. The Indians, however, paying but little regard to\nthis admonition, went immediately in pursuit of them, and finding them a\nfew hours after, as in no apprehension of any enemy, they fired on them\nbefore they discovered themselves, killing one, and wounding another,\nwho however made his escape to the fort. His countrymen all did the\nsame, without returning the fire, as few of their guns were loaded, and\nthey inferior in number. Their enemies pursued them to the fort, but\ncould never see them after, as Capt. M\u2018Neil took great care to keep them\nasunder. Finding therefore no more likelihood of scalping, the northern\nIndians marched away from the fort.\nThis was the same party I encamped with the first night after my\ndeparture from the Great Island, and were surprised at the same place,\nwhere they had still continued.\nHe farther informed me, that I should probably find Fort Robinson, and\nall the posts on the communication, evacuated, as the regiment was to be\nbroke.\nI made this letter public, with which they seemed tolerably well\nsatisfied, particularly when I feigned the wounded Indian was under the\ncare of an English surgeon, who would not fail to cure him in a little\ntime.\nI now began to be very desirous of returning, and acquainted Ostenaco of\nmy anxiety, desiring him to appoint fifteen or twenty headmen, agreeable\nto the orders I had received from Col. Stephen, as likewise to collect\nall the white persons and negroes, to be sent conformable to the\narticles of peace, to Fort Prince George. He replied, that, as soon as\nthe white prisoners returned from hunting, where they then were with\ntheir masters (the white people becoming slaves, and the property of\nthose that take them) he would set about the performance. Some time\nafter this, when all the prisoners were come in, I again attacked\nOstenaco; but then his horses could not be found, and there was a\nnecessity of having one or two to carry my baggage and his own. I then\nwaited till the horses were found; but I supposed all things ready for\nour departure, I was greatly surprised to find it delayed. Ostenaco told\nme, that one of the Carpenter\u2019s party, which was on its return home, had\ncome in the night before, and reported, that the Carolinians had renewed\nthe war before they had well concluded a peace. The Indian had,\naccording to custom, a long account of it; but tho\u2019 I shewed the\nimprobability of such a story, Ostenaco refused to set out before the\nCarpenter arrived, which was not till the 23d following. He brought in\nthe same report, but owned he did not believe it, as it was told him by\na person who he thought wanted to raise some disturbance.\nI now began to be very pressing with Ostenaco, threatening if he would\nnot set out immediately, to return without him. This however would have\nbeen my last resource, as I was for the space of 140 miles ignorant of\nevery step of the way. I at last prevailed on him; but on the 10th of\nMarch, while we were again preparing for our departure, the _Death\nHallow_ was heard from the top of Tommotly town-house. This was to give\nnotice of the return of a party commanded by Willinawaw, who went to war\ntowards the Shawnese country some time after my arrival. After so many\ndisappointments, I began to think I should never get away, as I supposed\nthis affair would keep me, as others had done, two or three days, and\ntill some new accident should intervene to detain me longer. About\neleven o\u2019clock the Indians, about forty in number, appeared within sight\nof the town; as they approached, I observed four scalps, painted red on\nthe fleshside, hanging on a pole, and carried in front of the line, by\nthe second in command, while Willinawaw brought up the rear. When near\nthe town-house, the whole marched round it three times, singing the\nwar-song, and at intervals giving the _Death Hallow_; after which,\nsticking the pole just by the door, for the crowd to gaze on, they went\nin to relate in what manner they had gained them. Curiosity prompted me\nto follow them into the town-house; where, after smoaking a quarter of\nan hour in silence, the chief gave the following account of their\ncampaign.\n\u201cAfter we left Tommotly, which was about the middle of January, we\ntravelled near 400 miles before we saw the least sign of the enemy; at\nlast, one evening, near the river Ohio, we heard the report of several\nguns, whereupon I sent out several scouts to discover who they were, and\nif possible where they encamped, that we might attack them early next\nmorning; about dark the scouts returned, and informed us they were a\nparty of Shawnese, hunting buffaloes; that they had watched them to the\nriver-side, where, taking to their canoes, they had paddled across the\nriver; and seeing a great many fires on the other side, where our scouts\ndirected our sight, we concluded it to be a large encampment; we\nthereupon began to consult, whether it would be more adviseable to cross\nthe river over night, or early next morning: it was decided in favour of\nthe former, notwithstanding its snowing excessively hard, lest we should\nbe discovered. We accordingly stripped ourselves, tying our guns to our\nbacks, with the buts upwards, to which we hung our ammunition, to\nprevent its getting wet; we then took water, and swam near half a mile\nto the other side, where we huddled together to keep ourselves warm,\nintending to pass the remainder of the night in that manner, and to fall\non the enemy at daybreak; but as it continued snowing the whole time, it\nproved so cold, that we could endure it no longer than a little past\nmidnight, when we resolved to surround the enemy\u2019s camp, giving the\nfirst fire, and, without charging again, run on them with our\ntommahawkes, which we had tucked in our belts for that purpose, should\nthere be occasion. We accordingly surrounded them; but when the signal\nwas given for firing, scarce one fourth of our guns went off, wet with\nthe snow, notwithstanding all the precautions we had taken to preserve\nthem dry: we then rushed in; but, before we came to a close engagement,\nthe enemy returned our fire; as, it was at random, not being able to see\nus before we were upon them, on account of the darkness of the night,\nand the thickness of the bushes, we received no damage. They had not\ntime to charge again, but fought us with the buts of their guns,\ntommahawkes, and firebrands. In the beginning of the battle we took two\nprisoners, who were continually calling out to their countrymen to fight\nstrong, and they would soon conquer us; this made them fight much\nbolder, till the persons who had the prisoners in custody put a stop to\nit, by sinking a tommahawke in each of their skulls, on which their\ncountrymen took to flight, and left every thing behind them. As soon as\nit was day, we examined the field, where we found two more of the enemy\ndead, one of which was a French warrior, which, with the prisoners we\nhad killed, are the four scalps we have brought in. We lost only one\nman, the poor brave Raven of Togua, who ran rashly before us in the\nmidst of the enemy. We took what things we could conveniently bring with\nus, and destroyed the rest.\u201d\nHaving finished his account of the expedition, out of his shot-pouch he\npulled a piece of paper, wrapped up in a bit of birch-bark, which he had\ntaken out of the Frenchman\u2019s pocket, and gave it to me to look at,\nasking if I did not think it was his commission? I replied in the\nnegative, telling him it was only some private marks of his own, which I\ndid not understand. It appears to me to have been his journal, every\nseventh line being longer than the others, to denote the Sunday; the\ndeath\u2019s head, and other marks, relate to what happened on the several\ndays; but having filled his paper long before his death, he had supplied\nit by interlining with a pin. These are my conjectures, I have however\nannexed it here from the original, still in my possession, that each\nreader may make his own.\nAbout one o\u2019clock the baggage and all things being ready, Ostenaco took\nleave of his friends, tho\u2019 this ceremony is unusual among them, and we\nbegan our march sooner than I expected. Passing thro\u2019 Toqua, we saw\nseveral Indians weeping for the death of their relations, killed in the\nlate battle. In an hour\u2019s time we arrived at Chote, where we found a\ngreat number of headmen assembled to give us a talk, containing\ninstructions to my Indian conductors, to remind the English of their\npromises of friendship, and to press the Governor of Virginia to open a\ntrade; for the Indians to behave well to the inhabitants when they\narrived, as that was the only way to keep the chain of friendship\nbright; that we should keep a good look-out, as the enemy were very\nnumerous on the path. What occasioned this precaution, and probably\nOstenaco\u2019s delaying his departure so long, was, the defeat of a party of\nabout thirty Indians, who went cut to war some time before, the same way\nthat we were to go, eight of whom had been killed or taken. They\nattributed this loss to the want of arrows, the northern Indians having\npoured several vollies of arrows, and done great execution, before the\nCherokees could charge again, after the first fire. This was especially\ndisadvantageous to the Cherokees, as both parties met unexpectedly on\nthe top of a mountain, which they were both crossing, and engaged so\nclose, that the northern Indians availed themselves of this advantage,\nand the superiority of their numbers.\nTwo pieces of cannon were fired when we had got about 200 yards from the\ntown-house, after which Ostenaco sung the war-song, in which was a\nprayer for our safety thro\u2019 the intended journey; this he bellowed out\nloud enough to be heard at a mile\u2019s distance. We did not march above\nthree miles before we encamped, in order to give time to some Indians\nwho were to accompany us, but had not yet joined us, which they did in\nthe evening, about fourteen or fifteen in number. Next morning, the 11th\nof March, we rose tolerably early, marching to Little River, about\ntwenty miles from the nation, where we encamped.\nAt this place had formerly been an Indian town, called Elajoy; and I am\nsurprised how the natives should ever abandon so beautiful and fertile a\nspot. Were it in a more polished country, it would make the finest\nsituation for a gentleman\u2019s seat I ever saw.\nWe marched the next day to Broad River, which we crossed about four\no\u2019clock in the afternoon, without much difficulty, by reason of the\nlowness of the waters; but the river, which is here 700 yards over, runs\nwith great rapidity, and the banks extremely steep on either side. We\nencamped directly, and were all employed in making a large fire to dry\nourselves, as most of us had got very wet.\nBefore sun-set I perceived a considerable number of Indians passing at\nthe same place, whom I at first imagined to be enemies; but the arrival\nof some of them shewed them to be Cherokees, who kept continually\ndropping in, so that I was greatly surprised next morning at their\nnumbers. I demanded where they were going? to which they replied, To\nVirginia; that the headmen had thought proper to send a reinforcement,\nthinking it unsafe for so small a body to march through a country so\nmuch frequented by the enemy, where, if I met with any accident, the\nblame would fall upon them. I thanked them; but at the same time told\nthem peremptorily to go back, and give themselves no further trouble on\nmy account; that I had no occasion for them; and that it would be\nimpossible for so large a body to subsist when passed the hunting\ngrounds, as the people on the frontiers of Virginia had been so\nimpoverished by the late war, they would not be able to supply us with\nprovisions. This made no impression on them, and they marched, on\nwithout saying another word, and persisted in going, notwithstanding all\nthe efforts Osteco and I could make to prevent them. Indeed I was more\nearnest to have them return, as I found it was the scent of presents,\nmore than the desire of escorting me, that was the real motive of all\nthis good-will.\nWe left the camp the next day, about 165 in number, and marched without\nany extraordinary occurrence till the 15th, about mid-day, when we heard\nour scouts on the left (for we always kept on both flanks) fire pretty\nquick after one another, and in less than a minute seventeen or eighteen\nbuffaloes ran in amongst us, before we discovered them, so that several\nof us had like to have been run over, especially the women, who with\nsome difficulty sheltered themselves behind the trees. Most of the men\nfired, but, firing at random, one only was killed, tho\u2019 several more\nwounded. Our scouts likewise killed another, and brought in the best\nparts of the meat, all which was cooked over-night for our departure\nnext morning.\nAfter passing a very disagreeable night on account of the rain, which,\nas the evening had been clear, I had taken no precaution to shelter\nmyself self against. We had as disagreeable a march, it proved very\nrainy, and were again obliged to encamp to a great disadvantage for the\nconvenience of good water.\nOn the 17th, about two o\u2019clock in the afternoon, we met an Indian who\nleft the Great Island some time after me, with a party of ten or twelve,\ndestined to Williamsburg, who, after he had eat, drank, and smoaked,\ntold us the party that he belonged to had been attacked two days before;\nthat two of them had been killed, two or three taken, and the rest\ndispersed; that he had reason to believe there were a great many of the\nenemy upon the path, as he had seen a great many tracks and other signs.\nOn this intelligence, Ostenaco ordered all his men to fresh prime their\nguns, and those that had bows and arrows to put them in readiness,\nsending out some scouts, and desiring all to keep a good look-out. After\nthese dispositions we parted with the fugitive Indian, and continued our\nroute. At night our scouts came in, and informed formed us, that they\nhad seen some old tracks, and a piece of an old red waistcoat, dropped\nby the enemy, to inform us they were thereabouts. We made large fires to\ndry ourselves, while Ostenaco, and four or five others, took out and\nwaved their eagles tails, then turning towards the place where the\ntracks had been discovered, gave the war-hoop several times extremely\nloud. This was to let the enemy know, if within hearing, and disposed\nfor an engagement, where he and his party lay. This however Ostenaco\nprobably would not have done, had he not confided in the number of his\nparty, being greatly superior to what commonly go to make war on one\nanother. Before the Indians went to sleep, he gave them a strong\ncaution, and instructions how to act in case they were attacked.\nWe decamped pretty early next morning, in order, if possible, to reach\nthe Great island that day; but the scouts had not been out an hour\nbefore some returned with an account of fresh tracks and other signs of\nthe enemy. I really expected a skirmish with the northern Indians, as\nthey might probably imagine some Cherokees would return with me when I\nleft their country; and it was probable the party I had received an\naccount of, and had given so many checks to the Cherokees since, were\nstill waiting.\nAs we marched very slow, on account of receiving intelligence from our\nscouts, which they brought in every two or three hours, we encamped\nshort of the Great Island about seven or eight miles.\nThe next morning we were in no great hurry to decamp, as we intended to\ngo no farther than the Great Island that day. By this retardment each\nman had time to put his arms in proper order. We set out about eleven\no\u2019clock, and, after four or five miles march, Ostenaco desired me to go\nbefore, to see if any of the enemy were there. The northern Indians\nbeing at peace with us, was urged as a sufficient protection, tho\u2019, at\nsetting out, they seemed a little apprehensive of my falling into such\ndesperadoes hands, or rather of their losing their share of the\npresents. I was to tell the enemy, if I met them, that the Cherokees\nwere but few in number, and but indifferently armed; after which Sumpter\nand I were furnished with horses, and went forward pretty briskly, till\nwe reached Holston\u2019s River, the crossing place of which was within a\nmile of Fort Robinson. We had not forded above half-way over, when we\nheard the report of a gun, which made us conclude that our suspicions of\nthe enemy\u2019s being there were but too justly grounded; we rode gently\ntowards the fort to make our observations; but no enemy appearing, on\nentering the clear ground about the fort, and perceiving some smoak from\none of the chimnies, we rode within an hundred yards of it, and\nhallowed, but nobody appearing, we went to the gate, and gave another\nhoop, which, to my great surprise, instead of the enemy, brought a white\nman out of one of the houses, whom I immediately recollected to be\nM\u2019Lamore the interpreter, that accompanied the discomfited party of\nCherokees, I lately mentioned, to Virginia, and he was soon followed by\nthe man who had fired the gun.\nI returned to the party, highly satisfied at my good fortune, in not\nbeing obliged to displease the Indians, by breaking thro\u2019 so\ndisagreeable and dangerous a commission, who had already crossed the\nriver when I joined them.\nWe found in the fort eleven or twelve hundred weight of flour, left by\nthe garrison when they evacuated the place, which abundantly recompensed\nthe Indians for all their fatigues.\nWe remained here all next day to rest ourselves, and mend our mockasons,\ntho\u2019 such fine weather was scarce to be lost, considering the very bad\nwe had experienced most of the way from the Cherokee country; this made\nme extremely anxious to be going forward, but the Indians seldom hurry\nthemselves when they were to leave such good cheer, after having passed\nmost of the way without bread. I was informed by M\u2019Lamore, that the\nflour had been left for want of horses to carry it away, as well as the\ngoods I had observed in one of the storehouses, belonging to a private\ntrader; that the northern Indians, after defeating the small party to\nwhich he belonged, and taking him and two more prisoners, came to the\nfort, where, notwithstanding our alliance with them, they destroyed a\ngreat quantity of the flour and goods, and carried a great quantity more\naway, as well as the man that had the care of them; but that, after some\ndays march, all the prisoners found means to make their escape: that\nthey two returned to the fort, one proposing to wait my coming, and\nreturn with me to Virginia, and M\u2019Lamore to go back to the Cherokee\ncountry.\nI next day intreated Ostenaco to order his men to get ready for the\nmarch, as the weather was fine, and it would be agreeable travelling;\nbut notwithstanding all he or I could say, not a man of them would stir;\ntheir excuse was, that one of their horses was lost, and the owner out\nin search of him. We waited his return till night, when he came, but no\nhorse was to be found. I was very much mortified at this accident, as I\nwas anxious to know what was become of my camp-equipage, cloaths, &c. I\nhad left at Fort Attakullakulla.\nOn the 22d, we rose early in the morning, to make a good day\u2019s march,\nbut the horse was not found till near twelve o\u2019clock: I then thought our\nimmediate departure certain, but was again disappointed; the person who\nhad the care of the goods, missing a piece of broad-cloth, charged the\nIndians with the theft, and a general search was made to no purpose.\nOstenaco then ordered all within the fort, while he and the conjuror\nwent into the house from whence it was stole, to beg the devil\u2019s advice\nabout recovering it. The conjuror might perhaps have saved himself that\ntrouble, for tho\u2019 I am at a loss to guess in what manner, I am inclined\nto believe he had as great a hand in the loss as in the recovery of it.\nI desired him to trouble himself no farther about it, chusing rather to\npay for it, than be detained any longer; but all I could say could not\ndivert him from his conjuring, which however furnished me with a few\nmore of their oddities.\nAfter staying some time, the conjuror sallied out blindfolded, and\ngroped about, till he came to the skirts of the woods, where, pulling\noff the blind, he went straight forwards, a considerable way, and\nreturned in about five minutes with the broad-cloth on his shoulders. I\nobserved his cheek tied up with a bit of twine, which, when untied, bled\nvery much. I gave the conjuror two yards as a reward for playing the\nfool, and we marched forward, encamping about ten miles from the fort.\nWe called in our way at Fort Attakullakulla, which was likewise\nevacuated, looked for my cloaths, &c. but they were all stolen and\ncarried off by the soldiers, except a small trunk, with a few trifles, I\nfound afterwards at New River.\nSome time after, we met Capt. Israel Christian going with a cargo of\ngoods, to trade in the Cherokee country. I here endeavoured to send back\nthe greatest part of the Indians; but notwithstanding all the\npersuasions the Captain and I could make use of, not a man of them would\nreturn, till the Captain promised the same presents to those that would\ngo back, as would be given to those that went forward, not doubting but\nthat he would be reimbursed, as the charge of victualling of them would\nbe entirely saved; but as this expence fell entirely upon me, as will\nappear in the sequel, it was rather taking the burthen off me than off\nthe public. I am heartily sorry, however, this gentleman has suffered,\nas well as myself, for his good intentions, and more so, that it is not\nin my power to discharge the public debt, and reimburse him. But even by\nthis we could only reduce our number to about seventy-two.\nWe called at Fort Lewis, where we found William Shorey the interpreter,\nwho, by order of Col. Stephen, had waited our coming, to accompany the\nIndians to Williamsburg. I received here between seventy and eighty\npounds that was due to me, which came very opportunely to defray our\nexpences to Williamsburg; where we arrived in about eleven days after\nour departure from Fort Lewis.\nOn my arrival, I waited on the Governor, who seemed somewhat displeased\nwith the number of Indians that had forced themselves upon me. Orders\nhowever were issued out for their accommodation, and a few days after a\ncouncil was called, at which Ostenaco, and some of the principal\nIndians, attended. After the usual ceremonies, and mutual promises of\nfriendship, the Indians were dismissed, and presents ordered them, to\nthe amount of 125_l._ currency; 12_l._ 10_s._ for Ostenaco, the same sum\nto be sent back to King Kanagatucko, and the rest to be divided among\nthe party, who seemed much displeased when it came to be divided, being,\nas they said, like nothing among them. I was apprehensive of some bad\nconsequence should they return dissatisfied, and therefore advanced\npretty considerably out of my own pocket to content them.\nA few days before they were to depart for their own country, Mr.\nHorrocks invited Ostenaco and myself to sup with him at the College,\nwhere, amongst other curiosities, he shewed him the picture of his\npresent Majesty. The chief viewed it a long time with particular\nattention; then turning to me, \u201cLong,\u201d said he, \u201chave I wished to see\nthe king my father; this is his resemblance, but I am determined to see\nhimself; I am now near the sea, and never will depart from it till I\nhave obtained my desires.\u201d He asked the Governor next day, who, tho\u2019 he\nat first refused, on Ostenaco\u2019s insisting so strongly upon it, gave his\nconsent. He then desired, as I had been with him so long, that I might\naccompany him to England: this I was to do at my own expence; but the\nGovernor told me he would recommend me to the minister of state, which\nhe did in as strong terms as I could desire.\nI was then upon the point of entering into a very advantageous commerce,\nwhich I quitted to please the Indians, and preserve them ours, yet\nwavering to the French interest. I prepared every thing necessary for my\nvoyage; but this was not my only expence, the Indians having no money,\nexpect the person who travels with them to treat them with whatever they\ntake a fancy to.\nWe set out for Hampton about the beginning of May, where we were to\nembark; but contrary winds, and other delays, retarded us till the 15th,\nduring which time it generally cost me between 15 and 20_s._ per day.\nWe had very fine weather during the whole voyage, yet both the Indians\nand myself were sea-sick all the way. We parted with a convoy we had\nunder our care off Newfoundland, in a very thick fog, notwithstanding\nall the efforts Capt. Blake could make, by ringing bells, and firing\nevery quarter of an hour, to keep them together, tho\u2019 I afterwards heard\nhim severely accused in England of taking this opportunity to leave his\ncharge.\nWe had the misfortune here to lose the interpreter Shorey, who was much\nregretted by us all, but especially by the Indians, as he was a thorough\nmaster of their language. He had lingered some time in a consumption,\ncaught in passing a small river, for, being drunk, his Indian spouse\nplunged him in to sober him, but was unable to draw him out, and had not\nsome Indians come to her assistance he must have been drowned. This was\nan effectual means of sobering him, but by it he contracted the malady\nthat carried him off.\nDuring our voyage the Indians conceived very advantageous ideas of our\nnaval force; the Captain having chased and brought too about sixteen\nsail, found them all to be English or neutral vessels, on which the\nCherokees concluded the French and Spaniards were certainly afraid to\nput to sea.\nOn the 16th of June we arrived at Plymouth, where, before we went on\nshore, the Indians had their desire of seeing a large man of war\ngratified, by being carried on board the Revenge, a seventy-four gun\nship, with which they were equally pleased and surprised.\nWhile in the boat that took us to shore, Ostenaco, painted in a very\nfrightful manner, sung a solemn dirge with a very loud voice, to return\nGod thanks for his safe arrival. The loudness and uncouthness of his\nsinging, and the oddity of his person, drew a vast crowd of boats,\nfilled with spectators, from all the ships in the harbour; and the\nlanding-place was so thronged, that it was almost impossible to get to\nthe inn, where we took post for London.\nWe stopped at Exeter, where the Indians were shewed the cathedral, but,\ncontrary to my expectation, were as little struck as if they had been\nnatives of the place. They were much better pleased the next day with\nLord Pembroke\u2019s seat at Wilton, till they saw the statue of Hercules\nwith his club uplifted, which they thought so dreadful that they begged\nimmediately to be gone.\nWe arrived the next day in London, without any other accident than the\nbreaking down of the chaise in which the Indians were, but happily none\nof them were hurt.\nCapt. Blake waited on Lord Egremont, to acquaint him with our arrival.\nWe were immediately sent for, and, after some few questions, dismissed.\nLodgings were ordered, and taken by Mr. N\u2014\u2014 Caccanthropos. We were again\nsent for by Lord Egremont, but more to gratify the curiosity of some of\nhis friends than about business. I however took this opportunity of\nflipping my letter of recommendation into his Lordship\u2019s hands, which he\nread, and assured me he would shew it to the King that day; telling me\nto let the Indians or myself want for nothing; that as I was a perfect\nstranger, he had ordered Mr. Caccanthropos to provide whatever we\ndesired.\nMy first care was to equip the Indians. I attended Mr. Caccanthropos, to\norder all after the mode of their own country.\nAs several days passed before I had any further orders, the Indians\nbecame extremely anxious to see the King. \u201cWhat is the reason,\u201d said\nthey, \u201cthat we are not admitted to see the Great King our Father, after\ncoming so far for that purpose?\u201d I was obliged to reply, \u201cThat his\nMajesty was indisposed, and could not be waited on till perfectly\nrecovered,\u201d which in some measure pacified them. We were taken not long\nafter to court; but I was only asked a few questions, of which I gave\nthe interpretation to the Indians that might be most favourably\nreceived.\nThe uncommon appearance of the Cherokees began to draw after them great\ncrowds of people of all ranks; at which they were so much displeased,\nthat home became irksome to them, and they were forever teizing me to\ntake them to some public diversion. Their favourite was Sadler\u2019s-Wells;\nthe activity of the performers, and the machinery of the pantomime,\nagreeing best with their notions of diversion. They were likewise very\nfond of Ranelagh, which, from its form, they compared to their\ntown-house; but they were better pleased with Vauxhall, tho\u2019 it was\nalways against my inclination I accompanied them there, on account of\nthe ungovernable curiosity of the people, who often intruded on them,\nand induced them to drink more than sufficient. Once, in particular, one\nof the young Indians got extremely intoxicated, and committed several\nirregularities, that ought rather to be attributed to those that enticed\nthem, than to the simple Indians, who drank only to please them. I\ncannot indeed cite sobriety as their characteristic; but this I can say,\nthese excesses never happened at home. A bottle of wine, a bowl of\npunch, and a little cyder, being the ordinary consumption of the three\nIndians, Sumpter, and myself; and as we were seldom at home, it could\nnot put the nation to a great expence. If the bills given in for these\narticles were to the greatest degree excessive, let them that charged\nthem answer who consumed them; I only know that no more was ever drank\nby us.\nThis was not the only thing laid to my charge; I was accused of\nreceiving money for admission to see the Indians. The sheep was accused\nby the wolf of rapine, who carried his point. He was a thorough-paced\nunder-courtier; the sheep, a raw Virginian, who, ignorant of little\narts, innocently believed others as honest as himself, and could never\nbelieve such impudence existed, as to accuse another of crimes his\nconscience assured him he was sole actor of. I was so prepossessed with\nthese opinions, that I can scarce as yet, however severely I have felt\nit, believe that some men have no ideas of conscience, and esteem it the\nprejudices of education, and a narrow mind; and that blasting an\ninnocent person\u2019s character, whenever it answered their ends, or that\nrobbing the nation was no crime, when they could escape punishment.\nIt was a long time before I knew any thing of these money-taking works.\nThe following accident was what brought it to light. Finding myself\nentirely confined by the continual crowds of visitors, I resolved to\nlessen the number, by ordering the servants to admit none but people of\nfashion. This was what would have been at once agreeable to the Indians,\nand raised their ideas of the English nation. So far from these orders\nbeing complied with, the whole rabble of the town was ushered in the\nnext day. Not a little mortified, I complained to Lord Egremont, who,\nalready perhaps prepossessed against me, only told me coldly, that he\nwould speak of it to Mr. Caccanthropos. At my return, tho\u2019 I found the\nhouse full of people, I said nothing more.\nSome days after, Sumpter, who had contracted some genteel acquaintance,\nsome of whom he was bringing to see the Indians, was stopped by the\nservant, Mr. Caccanthropos\u2019s relation, who refused to admit them without\nmoney. The young man, who had faced all dangers for the service of his\ncountry in the war, who had been so highly instrumental in saving us\nfrom the dangers that threatened us in going to their country, and had\naccompanied us ever since, received that affront from an insolent\nservant; but not being able to bear the insult, he took a warrior\u2019s\nsatisfaction, and knocked him down. A blunt Virginian soldier cannot\nknow the laws of England, as little can he bear an insult from so mean a\nquarter.\nThe servant informed his kinsman, who came next day open-mouthed,\nthreatening Sumpter with the crown-office. He next gave me such\nscurrilous language, that I was perfectly at a loss how to retort it\nadequately; I had subject enough, but being accustomed to gentlemen\u2019s\ncompany, I could scarce understand his dialect: piqued, however, at the\nstinging truths I told him, he threatened me with confinement also,\nassaying to intimidate me from publishing them, by reminding me that he\nwas a justice of the peace. Happily I reflected on the disparity of his\nyears and strength to mine; my hands had near disgraced me, by striking\na person I so much every way despised. He dared not, however, put his\nthreats into execution; his only vengeance for affronting me, was\nordering the people of the house to feed us for the future on ox-cheek,\ncow-heel, and such like dainties, fit entertainment for Indians\naccustomed to only the choicest parts of the beast, and very fit to\nraise their opinion of England. I however understanding Lord Egremont\u2019s\norders in a different light, took care to provide whatever was requisite\nfor the Indians, avoiding at the same time all appearance of\nextravagance.\nSumpter\u2019s company were not the only persons to whom admittance was\nrefused; the same servant had even the impudence to stop Lady T-r\u2014l-y.\nHer Ladyship sent immediately for Mrs. Quin, the gentlewoman of the\nhouse, to enquire if I encouraged the servants in taking money for\nseeing the Indians. Mrs. Quin set her Ladyship to rights in that\nparticular; but still whatever exactions these fellows made, the public\ngenerally laid to me. I was cleared, however, by Cacanthropos himself,\nwho once attempted to stop Mr. Montague; and his fear and confusion on\nfinding whom he had offended, in some measure revenged me.\nSoon after these disturbances, orders were given by Lord Egremont, that\nno person whatever should be admitted, without an order from himself, or\nMr. Wood, under Secretary of State: but instead of the throngs\ndecreasing by this order, it rather increased; and I really believe few\npersons have more friends than Mr. Wood, if he knew but half of those\nthat were ushered in under that name; nay, grown bolder by that\nsanction, they pressed into the Indians dressing room, which gave them\nthe highest disgust, these people having a particular aversion to being\nstared at while dressing or eating; on which last occasion, if I was\nirksome myself, judge what a crowd of strangers must be. They were so\ndisgusted, that they grew extremely shy of being seen, so that I had the\ngreatest difficulty in procuring Lord C\u2014t\u2014f\u2014d a sight of them; on which,\nbeing a little angry, I was afterwards informed his Lordship had been\noffended at something I am yet a stranger to. It ever was against my\ninclination to give offence to even the lowest class of mankind, much\nless to Lord C\u2014t\u2014f\u2014d.\nI was not only, however, accused of receiving money at our lodgings, but\nat the public places we frequented. To this I answer, so far from making\nby them, it generally cost me pretty considerable to the servants,\nbesides coach-hire; for tho\u2019 one was allowed us, we could command it no\noftener than Mr. Cacanthropos was pleased to do us that favour; and this\nexpence was entirely out of my own pocket, without any prospect of\nreimbursement.\nAs to the charge laid against me, the proprietors are still alive, and\nany person that entertains the smallest doubt, may, and would oblige me,\nby enquiring of themselves, whether I ever demanded or took directly or\nindirectly any money or consideration whatever from them.\nBut let us now return to the Indians. Some time before they left\nEngland, they were admitted to a conference with his Majesty at St.\nJames\u2019s. Ostenaco\u2019s speech on that occasion contained nothing more than\nprotestations of friendship, faithful alliance, &c. To which an answer\nwas afterwards given in writing, to be interpreted in their own country,\nas I was not conversant enough in their language to translate it; though\nI understood whatever they said, especially the speech, which I gave\nword for word to his Majesty, as Shorey had likewise explained it before\nhis death, except the last part, which was so much in my favour that I\nwas obliged to suppress it, and was in some confusion in finding\nwherewith to supply it; till I at last told his Majesty, that it was\nonly in some manner a repetition of the first part of his discourse.\nThey were struck with the youth, person, and grandeur of his Majesty,\nand conceived as great an opinion of his affability as of his power, the\ngreatness of which may be seen on my telling them in what manner to\nbehave; for finding Ostenaco preparing his pipe to smoak with his\nMajesty, according to the Indian custom of declaring friendship, I told\nhim he must neither offer to shake hands or smoak with the King, as it\nwas an honour for the greatest of our nation to kiss his hand. You are\nin the right, says he, for he commands over all next to the Man above,\nand nobody is his equal. Their ideas were likewise greatly increased by\nthe number of ships in the river, and the warren at Woolwich, which I\ndid not fail to set out to the greatest advantage, intimating that our\nSovereign had many such ports and arsenals round the kingdom.\nSome days before the Indians set out on their return to their own\ncountry, Lord Egremont sent for me, and informed me that the Indians\nwere to be landed at Charles Town; but this was so contrary to their\ninclination, that Ostenaco positively declared, that, unless he was to\nland in Virginia, he would not stir a step from London. His Lordship\nthen desired me to tell them that they should land at Virginia, but at\nthe same time gave me to understand, that the ship being to be stationed\nat Charles Town, they must absolutely be landed there. I informed his\nLordship that it was entirely out of my power to accompany them there,\nhaving scarce five shillings remaining out of the 130 pounds I had\nreceived, the best part of which I laid out for the Indians use, rather\nthan apply to Mr. Cacanthropos; that I was ready to obey his Lordship,\nif he would please to order me wherewith to defray my expences from\nCharles Town to Virginia. My Lord replied, that no more could be\nadvanced; that if I refused to accompany them, others must be found that\nwould.\nSumpter was immediately sent for by Mr. Wood; but he refused the employ\ntill he had obtained my approbation; nay, I was obliged to use the most\npersuasive arguments to determine him to go; so that it was then in my\npower (had I been the man I was represented) to have made what terms I\npleased, since the Indians would not have gone without one of us, and\nSumpter had too much honour to accompany them to my prejudice. I scorned\nso low an action; but told Sumpter, that tho\u2019 I had only asked my\nexpences, which might amount to about twenty or twenty-five pounds,\nthere was a difference between his going and mine; that he must make the\nvoyage in the view of advantage, whereas I had sought none in it, except\nreturning to my native country. The terms agreed on were fifty pounds in\nhand, and a hundred on his arrival; and it was even in his power to\ninsist on more.\nHad I really had the money, I should not have troubled the government,\nor deserted the Indians; but to be landed in a strange country without\nmoney, and far from my friends, did not seem very eligible. I was\nextremely rejoiced at the young man\u2019s advantage; yet could not but think\nit hard to be left in England for so small, so reasonable a demand, as\nno other business than the Indian affairs had brought me there, when\nseven times the sum was granted to another. Lord Egremont indeed had\ninformed me that the King, in consideration of my services in the\nCherokee country, had ordered me a Lieutenancy in an old regiment, which\nI should receive from Sir Jeffery Amherst in North America, and\npositively assured me, I should never be reduced to half-pay; so that,\nhad I been in my own country, I had reason to be satisfied; but I had no\nmoney to carry me there.\nThe Indians soon re-imbarked in the same vessel that brought them, and\nleft England about the 25th of August; so that I was now entirely at my\nown expence, without money or friends. I continually solicited Lord\nEgremont for money sufficient to defray my passage to Virginia, during\nwhich my circumstances were continually growing worse. I disclosed my\ndistressed situation to a Gentleman with whom I had contracted an\nintimacy, who advised me to present a petition to the King, assuring me\nat the same time, that he would speak to a Nobleman of his acquaintance\nto second it. I went to the Park next morning with a petition that my\nfriend approved, but was very irresolute whether to deliver it or not;\nmy necessities, however, at last determined me.\nSome days after I was sent for by Mr. Wood, who, after a short reverie,\ntold me, that Lord Egremont had ordered a hundred pounds, _if that would\ndo_. I knew from whence these orders came; but, as he industriously\navoided mentioning the petition, I only answered that it would. I was\nsince informed, that two hundred pounds were ordered me; but even one\nhad been sufficient, had I received it at one payment; but getting it at\ndifferent times, before I had paid my debts, and received it all, I was\nagain run short.\nUpon applying to the treasury for this money, I was asked by Mr. M\u2014t-n\nif I was not the person that accompanied the Cherokees to England? On\nanswering in the affirmative, he desired me to revise Mr. Cacanthropos\u2019s\naccounts, exclaiming against their extravagance. On looking over them, I\ndid not find them quite so extravagant as I expected, being only\novercharged by about 150 pounds; but what I mean by overcharging, is\nwhat the Indians never had; for I cannot be so sensible of what was\novercharged by other means. _The Indians being remarkable for their\nskill in mathematics, but unfortunate in not having sufficient workmen\namong them, he had wisely stocked the whole nation with instruments._\nMr. W\u2014\u2014 the optician\u2019s bill being to the amount, as near as I can\nremember, of fifty odd pounds in these costly play-things for the\nCherokees; but as neither they nor I had ever seen or heard of such\ninstruments, although I was desired to order all things they might have\noccasion for, as best judge of what was necessary, I am inclined to\nthink they were turned to a much better purpose. There was another bill\nfrom Mr. L\u2014d for stocks and stockings, to the amount of forty odd\npounds. Wampum, I suppose, is become so scarce among the Indians, that\nthey are resolved to adopt the English custom of stocks. It is a little\nunconscionable to have forty pounds worth in change; but then Mr.\nCacanthropos can easily account for that. These people wear a great deal\nof vermilion, and are naturally not over cleanly, so of consequence\ntheir stocks would very soon be dirty; besides, they cannot be expected\nto wear so long as everlasting wampum. Very true! very provident, Sir!\nAnd I suppose you presume too the bushes would tear a great many\nstockings; but if I can judge of Indians, they are a great deal wiser\nthan to be fine in stockings among the briars, at the expence of their\nlegs, which good leggons keep unscratched, and a great deal warmer. This\ndoes not however, dear Sir, prevent my admiring your provident views;\nthey are absolutely too striking ever to admit of that.\nFive yards of superfine dove-coloured cloth, at a guinea a yard, was\ncharged at the woollen-draper\u2019s. Ah! dear Sir, you were short sighted\nhere; two yards and three-quarters make a match-coat and leggons, five\nyards will not make two; a coarser cloth would have suited Indians, and\nanother colour would have pleased them much better; for I am much\nmistaken if these are not the only Indians that ever wore other than\ntheir favourite colours of red and blue; but the laceman\u2019s bill will\nclear up this affair. Let me see! Vellum lace, broad and narrow: Was it\nfor button holes for a Cherokee mantle? Sure Ostenaco never once had the\nridiculous fancy of putting useless, and solely ornamental, buttons upon\na match-coat; where the duce then were the button-holes placed? But I\nmay, I believe, give a history of that affair, without being matter of\nan uncommon penetration. A certain _Man-Killer_ wanting a holiday suit\nto appear in, at the installation of some royal and noble knights of the\ngarter\u2014but here some critic, a pretended judge of Indian affairs, will\nperhaps say, that Indians have no such installations, and that they\nwould never become the laughing-stock of their countrymen, by being\nswathed up in English cloaths. Well, sharp-eyed critic, good cloaths\nwill never want wearers; it is a pity good things should be lost, and\nthe gentleman that provided them most absolutely be obliged to wear them\nhimself, since the Indians will not. What goodness! Condescend to wear\nthe Indians refusals! _O tempora! O mores!_ The washerwoman\u2019s bill, with\nmany others, I had already paid; but as it had not paid toll _en\npassant_, it found its way into the treasury, with an increase of five\nor six pounds, being just as much again as the contents of the bill; so\nsumming up the gentleman\u2019s profits on what was really received, I\nimagined it to be about _cent. per cent._\nMr. Martin desired me to take the accounts home to revise at my leisure,\nwhich I soon after returned with alterations, little to the honour of\nthe original accomptant, however great his skill in figures. But as his\ncharacter has been sufficiently known in several late affairs, I shall\nspend no more of my time, or the reader\u2019s patience, in quoting numerable\ninstances of the same dye. I shall only mention the injury done to Mr.\nQuin, whose house was so spoiled by the rabble that came to see the\nIndians, that he was at a great expence to put it to rights; but instead\nof Mr. Cacanthropos\u2019s allowing out of the immense profits of the show,\nwherewith to repair the damage, he got him to sign a receipt in full,\nand then curtailed and perquisited three pounds.\nBut it is now time to return to my own misfortunes. After paying the\ndebts I had contracted, my finances were, as I have already hinted, so\nlow, that I had not wherewith to defray my passage. I made no doubt of\ngetting credit for a part till my arrival. At the Virginia Coffee-house\nI found a Captain of my acquaintance, bound to Virginia, into whose\nhands I deposited ten guineas to secure my passage; but the ship, thro\u2019\nsome unaccountable delays, did not quit her moorings till December, when\nthe Captain told me she would go round to Portsmouth, which place he\nthought would be more convenient for me to embark at. I readily\nacquiesced with this, as I thought my passage would be long enough\nwithout any addition. But before I arrived at Portsmouth, my money ran\nso short, that I was forced to borrow of the landlord, to pay the last\nstage. I had staid here nine or ten days, in expectation of the ship,\nwhen a letter arrived from the Captain, to define me to return\nimmediately to London, or repair to Deal, as his employers had sent him\norders not to touch at Portsmouth, but to proceed immediately to sea. I\nwas thunderstruck. The tavern-keeper had just sent in his bill for\npayment, the instant I received this letter. I was obliged to deposit\ncloaths and other effects to the amount of forty pounds, and borrow ten\nguineas to return.\nAs soon as I arrived at London, I sent my servant to enquire if the ship\nhad fallen down the river, who shortly after returned with information\nthat she had. I then went to Gravesend, where my money running short\nagain, I had recourse to the landlady. I sent to the office, to know if\nsuch a ship had cleared, and was agreeably informed there had not. After\nexpecting the ship four or five days, I sent my servant to London, to\nprocure some money on my watch, with orders to inquire after the ship at\nevery place between London and Gravesend. On his return the next day he\ninformed me the ship, with several more, were frozen up at Deptford. I\nnow began to be under the greatest uneasiness about my return to\nVirginia, fate seeming determined to detain me where misfortunes daily\nincreased. I sent to the Captain for the ten guineas I had advanced for\nmy passage, since I found it impossible to go with him, and returned to\nLondon, where my first concern was, to enquire at the war-office whether\nthere had lately arrived any returns from Sir Jeffery Amherst? I was\ninformed there had, and, on turning over the books, found myself\nappointed Lieutenant in the forty-second or Royal Highland regiment of\nfoot, with several months subsistence due to me, which I received soon\nafter from Mr. Drummond, the agent, to whom I made known my\ncircumstances, intreating him to lend me fifty pounds more, without\nwhich I found it impossible to get out of England. He obligingly told\nme, that if I could get any gentleman to accept a bill payable in four\nmonths, he would willingly advance that sum. I applied to a gentleman in\nthe city, who was kind enough to accept the bill.\nI agreed with a Captain of a ship bound to Virginia, about the middle of\nMarch, and paid him thirty-two guineas for my wife\u2019s passage and my own;\nfor I had married, or rather made a young lady a companion of my\nmisfortunes some time before; but her father having refused his consent\nto our union, had the barbarity to deny us the least assistance, nay,\nrefused me even ten guineas that I found deficient, after paying my\ndebts, and laying in what was necessary. All affairs being seemingly\nsettled, I went to Billingsgate over-night to save expences, by going in\na Gravesend boat the next day, but was prevented by a bailiff, who, as\nsoon as I was up, arrested me, at the suit of a person, who, not making\nany demand upon me, in my confusion I forgot, or rather did not know\nwhere to find.\nI was carried immediately to Wood-Street Compter, where I wrote to a\nfriend for money to discharge it but being disappointed, I was obliged\nto pay away the little I had reserved for my expences, so that I had but\ntwo shillings left. We now embarked for Gravesend; but before we had got\ntwo miles down the river, the boat ran foul of a ship\u2019s hawser, by which\nwe were almost overset. We staid a considerable time, to no purpose, to\nget her clear, but were obliged at last to go ashore and return to\nBillingsgate, where we staid all night, and next morning, for want of\nmoney to discharge our reckoning, I was forced to sell a gold seal that\ncost me four guineas, for only eleven shillings.\nI then embarked in another boat, and got within four miles of Gravesend\nwithout any further interruption; but the tide being spent here, we were\nobliged to walk to Gravesend on foot, where the ship came down, and\nanchored next morning.\nThe Captain informed me, that two gentlemen and a lady, passengers in\nthe ship, would be glad that we should all dine together. This I readily\nconsented to, but begged a couple of guineas that I had been deficient\nin my old reckoning at the White-Hart. Unwilling to borrow any more from\nthe Captain, I sent my servant with a pair of new crimson velvet\nbreeches that cost me three guineas, who returned with thirteen\nshillings that he had raised on them. Being now on board, I thought\nmyself secure from all further demands or impediments; but we no sooner\narrived in the Downs than my servant left me, and demanded four guineas\nfor the time he had served me; a gentleman that was going ashore did me\nthe favour to pay him the money he demanded.\nThis detail may seem very dry to a reader; but this must effectually\nconvince the public, that had I made money of the Indians, nay, partook\nof the great sums that were clandestinely made by them, I should not\nhave been so soon reduced to the necessities I underwent.\nAfter some difficulties in getting out, we had a very good passage to\nVirginia. I staid there but just long enough to settle my affairs, and\nthen set out for New York to wait on Sir Jeffery Amherst for my\ncommission; but to save the expences of going by land, I embarked in an\nold worm-eaten sloop that belonged to a gentleman at New York, who had\nbeen obliged to send a Captain to bring her home, her former one having\ndeserted her in that ruinous condition. She had, however, tolerable\npumps and sails, and three good hands besides the Captain.\nThe first day the wind was very fair, and gave us hopes it would\ncontinue so the whole passage, but shifting next day to the northwest\nquarter, we experienced a perfect hurricane, in which the vessel made\nwater so fast, that the men were constantly at the pumps to clear her.\nThe sea ran so high, and the vessel was so old and crazy, that I\nexpected each wave would dash her to pieces; the third day we shewed a\nlittle sail, though it continued blowing very fresh till evening, when\nit became pretty fair; yet she still made water at a prodigious rate,\nand extremely fatigued the men. We saw land next day, but were becalmed\ntill the morning after, when a fresh gale springing up fair, we went at\nthe rate of eight knots an hour till four in the afternoon, when a pilot\ncame on board; the Captain told him that he must run the vessel quite to\nNew York that night, as he had no cable to bring her to an anchor. Had I\nknown this circumstance before, which even the pilot was astonished at,\nI should not, I believe, have trusted so much to fair weather. We\narrived, however, safe at New York.\nI waited next morning on Sir Jeffery Amherst, who gave me my commission,\nwith orders immediately to join my regiment, which was then on its way\nto Pittsburg. I dined with his Excellency next day; after which he told\nme to wait on Col. Reid, and not be in a hurry to join my regiment. A\npacket it seems had arrived from England the same day I received my\ncommission, which, I suppose, brought a list of the officers to be\nreduced on half pay, and on waiting on Col. Reid, I found I was of the\nnumber. I related Lord Egremont\u2019s assurances to the contrary, and\nproduced this his Lordship\u2019s Letter to Sir Jeffery Amherst in my favour.\n  \u201cSir,\n  Mr. Fauquier, Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, having represented the\n  long and very useful services, particularly in the Cherokee country,\n  of Mr. Timberlake, and having strongly recommended him to some mark of\n  his Majesty\u2019s royal favour, and Mr. Timberlake having accompanied some\n  chiefs of the Cherokee nation to London, where he has constantly\n  attended them, and has conducted himself entirely to the King\u2019s\n  satisfaction: I am to acquaint you that his Majesty, in consideration\n  of the above services of Mr. Timberlake, has been pleased to command\n  me to signify to you his royal pleasure, that you should appoint him\n  to the first Lieutenancy in an old regiment, which shall become vacant\n  in North America, after you receive this letter. I am, &c.\nThe Colonel, on perusing it, was of the same opinion, that certainly his\nLordship never intended me to be reduced. I went again to wait on the\nGeneral; but being denied admission, I immediately inquired for a vessel\nbound to Virginia, and having at last found one, returned home after\nspending between twenty and thirty guineas to no purpose; for had it\nbeen his Lordship\u2019s intention to have had me reduced, I could have been\nno more in a young regiment, without sending me to New York, in North\nAmerica, for a commission.\nI remained at home till January 1764, when the General Assembly of the\ncolony met for the dispatch of public business, whither I repaired to\npetition for my expences from the Cherokee country to Williamsburg;\nwhich, however, were greatly superior to the accounts I gave in, lest\nthey should judge any of them unreasonable. While my money lasted the\nIndians wanted for nothing, and I am still considerably indebted on\ntheir account.\nI gained a majority, and a committee was appointed to look into my\naccounts, who told me it was to be paid by the council, out of the money\nfor contingent charges, and not by the colony. After waiting a\nconsiderable time, at a very great expence, whilst urgent business\nrequired my presence elsewhere, I at last got the favour of Mr. Walthoe,\nClerk of the Council, to undertake presenting my petition and accounts\nto the Governor and Council, in my absence, which he did at the next\nmeeting, and soon after sent me the following letter.\n  \u201cSir,\n  \u201cIt would have afforded me a very sensible pleasure, had I been\n  enabled by the resolution of the Council to have returned a\n  satisfactory answer to your letter of the 26th of last month. In\n  compliance with your request, I the last day of the sessions presented\n  to the board your account, and the opinion of the committee to which\n  it was referred. It was maturely considered and debated, and,\n  extremely contrary to my hopes, disapproved of and rejected; for this\n  reason principally, that you went, as they were persuaded, not by any\n  order, to the Cherokee nation, but in pursuit of your own profit or\nI was quite astonished to find, on the receipt of this letter, that\nthese gentlemen imagined I had made a party of pleasure to a savage\ncountry, in the winter season; or that I went in the view of profit,\nwith a stock of twenty pounds worth of goods, most of which I\ndistributed amongst the necessitous prisoners. Had I intended profit, I\nshould certainly have taken the safest way, and a sufficient quantity of\ngoods to have recompensed me for all my fatigues and danger, as I surely\ndid not expect presents in the Cherokee country.\nI went to convince the Indians of our sincerity, to know the navigation,\nand to serve my country. Let others take care how they precipitate\nthemselves to serve so ungrateful a \u2014\u2014. But the reader, by this time, is\ntoo well acquainted with the particulars of my journey, to pass judgment\nwith these gentlemen. I have already shewn, that my expences and losses,\nduring that unfortunate jaunt, was upwards of an hundred pounds in ready\nmoney, besides what I gave them in presents at their return to their own\ncountry, and what I am still indebted for on their account.\nIt was objected, that I was not ordered. I own it. Do they know Col.\nStephen? Did he ever order any officer on such a service? Is my service\nof less merit, because I offered myself to do what, tho\u2019 necessary, he\ncould not well command? Does the brave volunteer, who desires to mount\nthe breach, merit less than the coward, whose officer compells him to\nit? No, certainly. We should praise and countenance such forwardness;\nyet for this same reason have I been refused my expences. Can any one\nthink Col. Stephen would command any officer amongst a savage and\nunsettled enemy, whose hands were still reeking, as I may say, with the\nblood of Demer\u00e9 and the garrison of Fort Loudoun, massacred after they\nhad capitulated, and were marching home according to agreement, who have\nno laws, and are both judges and executors of their revenge?\nI had no written orders. I never doubted they would be called in\nquestion, tho\u2019 verbal. But here are some extracts of two of Col.\nStephen\u2019s letters to me, while in the Cherokee country, that may clear\nup this particular. In one dated Fort Lewis, January 30, 1762, he says,\n\u201cGive my compliments to your best friends, and I should have been\nextremely glad to have heard that Judd\u2019s Friend (i. e. Ostenaco) had\nreceived the small present I sent him from the Great Island. I know no\nreason which will prevent you and Judd\u2019s Friend taking your own time to\ncome in, and should be glad to see you, &c.\u201d\nIn another, dated Fort Lewis, February 14, 1762, he says, \u201cThe Governor\nis extremely pleased with Judd\u2019s Friend\u2019s favours to you, and the\nkindness of all the Cherokees, and I think it is the better how soon the\nchiefs come in with you.\u201d\nI was to bring some chiefs in then: this has likewise been disputed?\nBut if I had no written orders, those given to Shorey will prove my\nverbal ones. The original, among my other papers, is in Mr. Walthoe\u2019s\nhands; but the substance, as near as I can recollect, was as follows:\n\u201cWilliam Shorey, you are to wait at Fort Lewis for the coming of Mr.\nTimberlake, and accompany Judd\u2019s Friend in quality of interpreter to\nWilliamsburg. I can rely more upon you than on M\u2018Cormack. Pray put the\ncountry to as little expence as possible.\u201d\nThrough these continual series of ill fortunes, I got so much in debt,\nthat I was obliged to sell my paternal estate and negroes. My friends\nadvised me to return to London, promising to send me their tobacco, and\nI to make returns in such goods as would best suit the country, of which\nI was a tolerable judge. I communicated this project to many of my\nacquaintances, who gave me great encouragement, and promises of\nassistance. Mr. Trueheart, a gentleman of Hanover county, so much\napproved it, that he proposed himself a partner in the undertaking, as a\nvoyage to England might be the means of recovering his health, then much\non the decline. I did not hesitate to accept the proposals of a person\nof fortune, who could advance money to carry it into execution. We\naccordingly begun our preparations for the voyage, which were already in\nsome degree of readiness, when walking one day in Mr. Trueheart\u2019s\nfields, I perceived five Indians coming towards the house, in company\nwith one of Mr. Trueheart\u2019s sons, whom, upon a nearer view, I\nrecollected to be some of my Cherokee acquaintance. I enquired of Mr.\nTrueheart where he found them? He told me at Warwick, enquiring for me,\nand overjoyed when he offered to conduct them to his father\u2019s house,\nwhere I was, since they had feared being obliged to go a great way to\nseek me.\nAfter eating and smoaking, according to custom, the headman told me he\nhad orders to find me out, even should I be as far off as New-York, to\naccompany them to Williamsburg, being sent with a talk to the Governor,\nabout business of the greatest consequence, and the headman hoped I was\ntoo much their friend to refuse them that favour. I replied, that the\nbehaviour of the Cherokees to me, while in their country, obliged me to\nreturn what lay in my power while they were in mine; that I would never\nrefuse anything that could be of any advantage to them, but do every\nthing to serve them. After resting a couple of days, we set out, and in\ntwo more arrived at Williamsburg. They waited next morning on the\nGovernor to disclose their business, which the headman afterwards told\nme, was to demand a passage to England, as encroachments were daily made\nupon them, notwithstanding the proclamation issued by the King to the\ncontrary; that their hunting grounds, their only support, would be soon\nentirely ruined by the English; that frequent complaints had been made\nto the Governors to no purpose, they therefore resolved to seek redress\nin England. Next day a council met on the occasion, and an answer\npromised the day following. As I had some particular business with the\nGovernor, I waited on him the morning the Indians were to have their\nanswer. The chief of what the Governor said concerning them was, that\nthey should have applied to Capt. Stuart, at Charles Town, he being\nsuperintendant for Indian affairs; that if the white people encroached,\nhe saw no way to prevent it, but by repelling them by force. I no sooner\nleft the Governor than the Indians came to wait on him. I am\nunacquainted with what passed during this interval; but the interpreter\ncame just after to my lodgings, and told me their demand was refused;\nthat the headman, who was then down at the Capitol, intended to go to\nNew-York for a passage; on which I rode down there, to take my leave of\nthem. The interpreter then told me, that the headman intreated me to\ntake them to England, as he understood by Mr. Trueheart\u2019s people that I\nwas going over. I replied, that however willing to do the Cherokees any\nfavour, it was utterly out of my power to do that, as their passage\nwould be a great expence, and my finances ran so low, I could scarce\ndefray my own. I should then have objected the Governor\u2019s orders to the\ncontrary, if any such had ever been given; but I am apt to think they\ncame in a private letter to England many months afterwards. I strove to\nshuffle the refusal on Mr. Trueheart, hinting that he was a person of\nfortune, and had it in his power; on which they returned back with me,\nand applied to him.\nOn my return, I acquainted Mr. Trueheart with the whole affair, who,\nmoved by their intreaties, and a sense of the injustice done to these\nunfortunate people, who daily see their possessions taken away, yet dare\nnot oppose it, for fear of engaging in a war with so puissant an enemy,\ncontrary to my expectation, agreed to bring them over. One of them died\nbefore we set out, but we proceeded with the other four to York Town. We\nwere already embarked, and weighing anchor, when Mr. Trueheart finding\nthe cabin much lumbered, resolved to take his passage in another vessel.\nWe were scarce out of York River, when the wind shifted directly\ncontrary, and in a little time blew so hard, that we were obliged to let\ngo another anchor, the vessel having dragged the first a considerable\nway. We got to sea in a day or two after, and proceeded on our voyage to\nBristol. The day we made land, one of the Indians, brother to Chucatah\nthe headman, died suddenly. We saw a ship lying off Lundy, which we\nfound, on speaking with, to be the same Mr. Trueheart was on board, and\nthat his son had died on the passage. In a day or two after our arrival,\nwe set out for London, where the day after we arrived I went, as Mr.\nTrueheart knew nothing of the town, to acquaint Lord H\u2014\u2014 of the Indians\narrival; but his Lordship was not at home. I called again next day, but\nreceived the same answer. I went some time after to the office, and\nacquainted one of the Under-Secretaries with their business, who told\nme, as well as I can remember, that his Lordship would have nothing to\ndo with them, as they did not come over by authority; at which Mr.\nTrueheart and the Indians were greatly displeased: that gentleman, then,\nto lessen the expences as much as possible, took a cheap lodging in\nLong\u2019s-Court, Leicester-Fields, for himself and the Indians, where,\nafter a short illness, he died on the 6th of November.\nThis was a great loss to me, and likely to be severely felt by the\nIndians, who must have perished, had I not taken care of them, and\npromised payment for their board, &c. I never indeed doubted but when\nLord H\u2014\u2014 should be informed with the true situation of affairs, he would\nreadily reimburse me; I sent him a letter for that purpose, but received\nno answer. The Indians began to be very uneasy at so long a confinement,\nas my circumstances would not permit their going so often to public\ndiversions as they should have done. They, therefore, begged to come and\nlive with me.\nI some time after, the better to accommodate them, took a house, and\ngave my note for their board, which came to \u00a3. 29 : 13 : 6. I wrote\nagain to Lord H\u2014\u2014, and received a verbal answer at the office, from Mr.\nSt\u2014h\u2014e, which was, that his Lordship took very ill my troubling him with\nthose letters: that since I had brought the Indians here, I should take\nthem back, or he would take such measures as I should not like. I\nreplied, something hastily, that I had not brought the Indians, neither\nwould I carry them back: that his Lordship might take what measures he\npleased; which I suppose offended a courtier accustomed to more\ndeceitful language. I am a soldier, and above cringing or bearing tamely\nan injury.\nBut should these people commence a war, and scalp every encroacher, or\neven others, to revenge the ill treatment they received while coming in\na peaceable manner to seek redress before they had recourse to arms, let\nthe public judge who must answer it; I must, however, lay great part of\nthe blame on Mr. Cacoanthropos, who, possessing the ear of Lord H\u2014\u2014,\nmade such an unfavourable report of me, that either his Lordship\nbelieved, or pretended to believe them impostors, or Indians brought\nover for a shew. They were known by several gentlemen in London to be of\npower in their own country; and had not the government been convinced of\nthat, I scarce think they would have sent them home at all. As to his\nother suspicion, even when I had been so great a loser, without hopes of\nredress, I might have justified making a shew of them; but they were\nquite private; few knew there were such people in London. Nay, I did not\nenough disabuse the public when that impostor, who had taken the name of\nChucatah, was detected; so the public, without further examination,\nimagined Chucatah himself to be the impostor. What contributed greatly\nto raise this report, was, that three Mohock Indians were, after making\nthe tour of England and Ireland, made a shew of in the Strand, and\nimmediately confounded by the public with the Cherokees, and I accused\nof making a shew all over England of Indians who never stirred out of\nLondon. Had I showed them, I should not have been under such anxiety to\nhave them sent away; I should have wished their stay, or been able to\nhave sent them back without any inconveniency in raising the necessary\nmoney for that purpose: but as it was entirely out of my power, I was\nadvised to put in an advertisement for a public contribution; I first,\nhowever, resolved to present a petition to the Board of Trade, in answer\nto which Lord H\u2014\u2014h told me, that it no way concerned them, but Lord H\u2014\u2014,\nto whom I must again apply. On a second application, Lord H\u2014\u2014h agreed I\nshould be paid for the time they remained in London, and that he would\ntake care to have them sent home. I was allowed two guineas a week for\nthe month they stayed afterwards in town; but from Mr. Trueheart\u2019s\ndeath, what in cloaths, paint, trinkets, coach-hire, and other expences,\nincluding the bill from their late lodgings (for which I was arrested,\nand put to a considerable expence) and the time they had lived with me,\nI had expended near seventy pounds, which I must enevitably lose, as\nLord H\u2014\u2014 has absolutely refused to reimburse me.\nAbout the beginning of March 1765, by the desire of Mr. Montague, I\naccompanied the Indians on board the Madeira packet, in which they\nreturned to their own country, leaving me immersed in debts not my own,\nand plunged into difficulties thro\u2019 my zeal to serve both them and my\ncountry, from which the selling of twenty pounds a year out of my\ncommission has rather allayed than extricated me. The Indians expressed\nthe highest gratitude and grief for my misfortunes; all the recompence\nthey could offer, was an asylum in their country, which I declined;\nsince their murmurs, and some unguarded expressions they dropt,\nconvinced me they would not fail at their return to spirit up their\ncountrymen, to vindicate their right by force of arms, which would\ninfallibly again have been laid to my charge, and I perhaps be reputed a\ntraitor to my country. My circumstances, however, are now so much on the\ndecline, that when I can satisfy my creditors, I must retire to the\nCherokee, or some other hospitable country, where unobserved I and my\nwife may breathe upon the little that yet remains.\n[Illustration:\n  _A Curious secret Journal taken by the INDIANS out of the Pocket of a\n    FRENCH OFFICER they had kill\u2019d._\n 1. P. vi, changed \u201cadded whatever I thought curious and taining\u201d to\n      \u201cadded whatever I thought curious and entertaining\u201d.\n 2. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling.\n 3. Archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed.\n 4. Footnotes were re-indexed using numbers and collected together at\n      the end of the paragraph.\n 5. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.\n 6. Enclosed bold font in =equals=.", "source_dataset": "gutenberg", "source_dataset_detailed": "gutenberg -  The Memoirs of Lieut. Henry Timberlake\n"},
{"created_timestamp": "01-01-1745", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0001", "content": "Title: Poor Richard, 1745\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: \nCourteous Reader,\nFor the Benefit of the Publick, and my own Profit, I have performed this my thirteenth annual Labour, which I hope will be as acceptable as the former.\nThe rising and setting of the Planets, and their Conjunctions with the Moon, I have continued; whereby those who are unacquainted with those heavenly Bodies, may soon learn to distinguish them from the fixed Stars, by observing the following Directions.\nAll those glittering Stars (except five) which we see in the Firmament of Heaven, are called fixed Stars, because they keep the same Distance from one another, and from the Ecliptic; they rise and set on the same Points of the Horizon, and appear like so many lucid Points fixed to the celestial Firmament. The other five have a particular and different Motion, for which Reason they have not always the same Distance from one another; and therefore they have been called wandering Stars or Planets, viz. Saturn \u2644, Jupiter \u2643, Mars \u2642, Venus \u2640, and Mercury \u263f, and these may be distinguished from the fixed Stars by their not twinkling. The brightest of the five is Venus, which appears the biggest; and when this glorious Star appears, and goes before the Sun, it is called Phosphorus, or the Morning Star, and Hesperus, or the Evening Star, when it follows the Sun. Jupiter appears almost as big as Venus, but not so bright. Mars may be easily known from the rest of the Planets, because it appears red like a hot Iron or burning Coal, and twinkles a little. Saturn, in Appearance, is less than Mars, and of a pale Colour. Mercury is so near the Sun, that it is seldom seen.\nAgainst the 6th Day of January you may see \u2642 rise 10 35, which signifies the Planet Mars rises 35 Minutes after 10 o\u2019Clock at Night, when that Planet may be seen to appear in the East. Also against the 10th Day of January you will find \u2640 sets 7 13, which shows Venus sets 13 Minutes after 7 o\u2019Clock at Night. If you look towards the West that Evening, you may see that beautiful Star till the Time of its setting. Again, on the 18th Day of the same Month, you will find \u2644 rise 9 18, which shews that Saturn rises 18 Minutes after 9 at Night.\nOr the Planets may be known by observing them at the Time of their Conjunctions with the Moon, viz. against the 14 Day of January are inserted these Characters \u260c \u263d \u2644, which shews there will be a Conjunction of the Moon and Saturn on that Day. If you look out about 5 o\u2019Clock in the Morning, you will see Saturn very near the Moon. The like is to be observed at any other time by the rising and setting of the Planets, and their Conjunctions with the Moon; by which Method they may be distinctly known from the fixed Stars.\nI have nothing further to add at present, but my hearty Wishes for your Welfare, both temporal and spiritual, and Thanks for all your past Favours, being, Dear Reader, Thy obliged Friend,\nR. Saunders\nGo, wond\u2019rous Creature! mount where Science guides,\nGo measure Earth, weigh Air, and state the Tides;\nShew by what Laws the wand\u2019ring Planets stray,\nCorrect old Time, and teach the Sun his Way.\nGo soar with Plato to th\u2019empyreal Sphere,\nTo the first Good, first Perfect, and first Fair;\nOr tread the mazy Round his Follow\u2019rs trod,\nAnd, quitting Sense, call imitating God,\nAs Eastern Priests in giddy Circles run,\nAnd turn their Heads to imitate the Sun.\nGo teach Eternal Wisdom how to rule,\nThen drop into thyself, and be a Fool.\nXI Mon. January hath xxxi days.\n\u201cI give and I devise (old Euclio said,\nAnd sigh\u2019d) my Lands and Tenements to Ned.\u201d\nYour Money, Sir? \u201cMy Money, Sir! what all?\nWhy\u2014if I must\u2014(then wept) I give it Paul.\u201d\nThe Mannor, Sir? \u201cThe Mannor! hold,\u201d he cry\u2019d,\n\u201cNot that\u2014I cannot part with that\u201d\u2014and dy\u2019d.\n   Beware of little Expences, a small Leak will sink a great Ship.\n   Wars bring scars.\n   A light purse is a heavy Curse.\n   As often as we do good, we sacrifice.\nHelp, Hands;\nFor I have no Lands.\nXII Mon. February hath xxviii days.\nSelf Love but serves the virtuous Mind to wake,\nAs the small Pebble stirs the peaceful Lake;\nThe Centre mov\u2019d, a Circle strait succeeds,\nAnother still, and still another spreads,\nFriend, Parent, Neighbour, first it will embrace,\nHis Country next, and next all human Race;\nWide and more wide, th\u2019 o\u2019erflowings of the Mind\nTake every Creature in of every Kind.\n   It\u2019s common for Men to give 6 pretended Reasons instead of one real one.\nI Mon. March hath xxxi days.\nFame but from Death a Villain\u2019s Name can save,\nAs Justice tears his Body from the Grave;\nWhen what t\u2019oblivion better were resign\u2019d\nIs hung on high to poison half Mankind.\nAll Fame is foreign but of true Desert,\nPlays round the Head, but comes not to the Heart.\nOne Self-approving Hour whole Years outweighs\nOf stupid Starers, and of loud Huzza\u2019s.\n   Vanity backbites more than Malice.\n   He\u2019s a Fool that cannot conceal his Wisdom.\n   Great spenders are bad lenders.\n   All blood is alike ancient.\nII Mon. April hath xxx days.\n\u2019Tis not for Mortals always to be blest:\nBut him the least the dull and painful Hours\nOf Life oppress, whom sober Sense conducts,\nAnd Virtue, thro\u2019 this Labyrinth we tread.\nVirtue and Sense are one; and, trust me, he\nWho has not Virtue, is not truly wise.\n   You may talk too much on the best of subjects.\n   A Man without ceremony has need of great merit in its place.\n   No gains without pains.\nIII Mon. May hath xxxi days.\nVirtue, (for meer Good-Nature, is a Fool)\nIs Sense and Spirit, with Humanity:\n\u2019Tis sometimes angry, and its Frown confounds;\n\u2019Tis ev\u2019n vindictive, but in Vengeance just.\nKnaves fain would laugh at it; some great Ones dare;\nBut at his Heart, the most undaunted Son\nOf Fortune, dreads its Name and awful Charms.\n   Had I revenged wrong, I had not worn my skirts so long.\n   Graft good Fruit all, or graft not at all.\nIV Mon. June hath xxx days.\nUnhappy Italy! whose alter\u2019d State\nHas felt the worst Severity of Fate;\nNot that Barbarian Bands her Fasces broke,\nAnd bow\u2019d her haughty Neck beneath her Yoke;\nNor that her Palaces to Earth are thrown,\nHer Cities desart, and her Fields unsown;\nBut that her ancient Spirit is decay\u2019d,\nThat sacred Wisdom from her Bounds is fled.\nThat there the Source of Science flows no more,\nWhence its rich Streams supply\u2019d the World before.\n   Idleness is the greatest Prodigality.\n   Old young and old long.\nPunch-coal, cut candle, and set brand on end,\nIs neither good house-wife, nor good house-wife\u2019s friend.\nV Mon. July hath xxxi days.\nHot from the Field, indulge not yet your Limbs\nIn wish\u2019d Repose, nor court the fanning Gale,\nNor taste the Spring. O! by the sacred Tears\nOf Widows, Orphans, Mothers, Sisters, Sires,\nForbear!\u2014No other Pestilence has driven\nSuch Myriads o\u2019er th\u2019 irremeable Deep.\nHe who buys had need have 100 Eyes,\nBut one\u2019s enough for him that sells the Stuff.\n   There are no fools so troublesome as those that have wit.\nVI Mon. August hath xxxi days.\nHas God, thou Fool! work\u2019d solely for thy Good,\nThy Joy, thy Pastime, thy Attire, thy Food?\nWho for thy Table feeds the wanton Fawn,\nFor him as kindly spread the flow\u2019ry Lawn.\nIs it for thee the Lark descends and sings?\nJoy tunes his Voice, Joy elevates his Wings.\nIs it for thee the Mock-bird pours his Throat?\nLoves of his own, and Raptures, swell the Note.\n   Many complain of their Memory, few of their Judgment.\n   One Man may be more cunning than another, but not more cunning than every body else.\nVII Mon. September hath xxx days.\nThe bounding Steed you pompously bestride,\nShares with his Lord the Pleasure and the Pride.\nIs thine alone the Seed that strows the Plain?\nThe Birds of Heav\u2019n shall vindicate their Grain.\nThine the full Harvest of the golden Year?\nPart pays, and justly, the deserving Steer.\nThe Hog that plows not, nor obeys thy Call,\nLives on the Labours of this Lord of all.\n   To God we owe fear and love; to our neighbours justice and charity; to our selves prudence and sobriety.\n   Fools make feasts and wise men eat them.\n   Light-heel\u2019d mothers make leaden-heel\u2019d daughters.\nVIII Mon. October hath xxxi days.\nFor Forms of Government let Fools contest,\nWhate\u2019er is best administer\u2019d is best:\nFor Modes of Faith let graceless Zealots fight,\nHis can\u2019t be wrong, whose Life is in the right:\nAll must be false, that thwart this one great End,\nAnd all of God, that bless Mankind, or mend.\n      The good or ill hap of a good or ill life,\nIs the good or ill choice of a good or ill wife.\n   \u2019Tis easier to prevent bad habits than to break them.\nIX Mon. November hath xxx days.\nFair Summer\u2019s gone, and Nature\u2019s Charms decay.\nSee gloomy Clouds obscure the chearful Day!\nNow hung with Pearls the dropping Trees appear,\nTheir faded Honours scatter\u2019d here and there.\nBehold the Groves that shine with silver Frost,\nTheir Beauty wither\u2019d, and their Verdure lost.\nSharp Boreas blows, and Nature feels Decay,\nTime conquers all and we must Time obey.\n   Every Man has Assurance enough to boast of his honesty, few of their Understanding.\n   Interest which blinds some People, enlightens others.\nX Mon. December hath xxxi days.\nThese Blessings, Reader, may Heav\u2019n grant to thee;\nA faithful Friend, equal in Love\u2019s degree;\nLand fruitful, never conscious of the Curse,\nA liberal Heart and never-failing Purse;\nA smiling Conscience, a contented mind;\nA temp\u2019rate Knowledge with true Wisdom join\u2019d;\nA Life as long as fair, and when expir\u2019d,\nA kindly Death, unfear\u2019d as undesir\u2019d.\n      An ounce of wit that is bought,\nIs worth a pound that is taught.\n   He that resolves to mend hereafter, resolves not to mend now.\n   Courts.\nThe Christian Doctrine teaches to believe\nIt\u2019s every Christian\u2019s Duty, to forgive.\nCould we forgive as fast as Men offend\nThe Laws slow Progresses would quickly end.\nRevenge of past Offences is the Cause\nWhy peaceful Minds consented to have Laws.\nYet Plaintiffs and Defendants much mistake\nTheir Cure, and their Diseases lasting make;\nFor to be reconcil\u2019d, and to comply,\nWould prove their cheap and shortest Remedy.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1745},
{"created_timestamp": "01-03-1745", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0002", "content": "Title: Presentment of the Philadelphia Grand Jury, 3 January 1745\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: Shippen, Edward,Allen, William\nTo the Worshipful the Mayor, the Recorder and the rest of the Justices of the City of Philadelphia.\nThe Grand Jury of the said City, met at the present Sessions, do, in Compliance with the Direction of the Court, [make] the following particular Presentments of unlawful Bakehouses, Coopers Shops, Disorderly Houses, &c. but believing from the Reprimand they yesterday received from the Court, that the general Presentment they then made was misapprehended, and that, thro\u2019 the Clerk\u2019s hasty Reading, the Court did not sufficiently advert to the Tenor and Import of that Presentment, they beg Leave here to repeat it.\n\u201cThe Grand Jury observe with great Concern the vast Number of Tipling Houses within this City, many of which they think are little better than Nurseries of Vice and Debauchery, and tend very much to encrease the Number of our Poor. They are likewise of Opinion, that the profane Language, horrid Oaths and Imprecations, grown of late so common in our Streets, so shocking to the Ears of the sober Inhabitants, and tending to destroy in the Minds of our Youth, all Sense of the Fear of God and the Religion of an Oath, owes its Increase in a great Measure to those disorderly Houses. The Jury therefore beg Leave to recommend it to the Court, to fall on some Method of limiting or diminishing the Number of Publick Houses, and preserving Good Order in such as shall be licenced for the future.\u201d\nThe Jury would only observe, that they had no Intention in the least to break in upon the Authority of the Magistrates; that they only complain\u2019d of the great Number of Tipling Houses as a Grievance which they feel, and, far from prescribing to the Justices, they only requested them to fall upon some Methods among themselves of preventing it for the future: Which is no more than is practiced in like Cases by the Grand Juries of the City of London, as the Presentment they made of the great Increase of Gin Shops, to the Lord Mayor and Justices of that City, fully shows. [In the margin: Here read the Middlesex Presentment.] For this Presentment the Jury were, as we are inform\u2019d, thank\u2019d by that honourable Court, and a Committee of the Bench appointed to enquire into the Grievance complain\u2019d of, upon whose Report Measures were afterwards taken to remove it. The Grand Jury do therefore still think it their Duty to complain of the enormous Increase of Publick Houses in Philadelphia, especially since it now appears by the Constables Returns that there are upwards of One Hundred that have Licences, which, with the Retailers, make the Houses that sell strong Drink, by our Computation, near a tenth Part of the City; a Proportion that appears to us much too great, since by their Number they impoverish one another as well as the Neighbourhoods they live in, and, for want of better Customers, may, thro\u2019 Necessity, be under greater Temptations to entertain Apprentices, Servants, and even Negroes. The Jury therefore are glad to hear from the Bench, that the Magistrates are become sensible of this Evil, and purpose to apply a Remedy; for which they will deserve the Thanks of all good Citizens.\nWe do further hereby particularly present the following Persons for keeping Disorderly Houses in this City, to wit, Katharine Mason, John Browne, Joseph Webb, Margaret Cook, Widow Finley, Ralph Highrick, William Jones, Jane Bond, Katharine Carr, Sarah Levine.\nThe Jury observ\u2019d with Concern in the Course of the Evidence, that a Neighbourhood in which some of these disorderly Houses are, is so generally thought to be vitiated, as to obtain among the common People the shocking Name of Hell-Town.\nWe do farther present the following Persons for having Coopers Shops not regulated according to Law, and dangerous to the City on Account of Fire, to wit. Hugh McMachen, Samuel Powel, Andrew Farrel, Benjamin Betterton, Thomas James, Jonathan Evans, Aaron Jenkins, Jacob Kollock, Thos. Glentworth, Thomas Fisher, Richard Brockden, Cateer, Jacob Shute, William Nixon, Hugh McCullough, Edmund Beech.\nWe do farther present the following Persons for keeping Bakehouses not regulated according to Law, and dangerous to the City on Account of Fire, to wit. William Darvell, Marcus Kuhl, John Fitzharris, John Fer[nal], Daniel Button [or Britton], Francis Johnson, Samuel Reed, Joseph Clark, Stephen Jenkins. And we do present Norton Prior, Wight Massey, and Marcus Kuhl for having Piles of Faggots dangerously situated and contrary to Law.\nWe do farther present Lynford Lardner for abusing and assaulting the Constable of the Watch then upon Duty.\nAnd lastly, we do present Samuel Hasell Esqr. as a Magistrate who not only refused to take Notice of a Complaint made to him against a Person guilty of profane Swearing, but (at another Time) set an Evil Example by swearing himself.\nWe beg Leave only to add, that as a good Grand Jury (which the Recorder was pleased to say we had the Appearance of being) may, if there is no Misunderstanding between the Magistrates and them, greatly assist and strengthen the Court in the Suppression of Vice and Immorality, we hope no Cause will be given hereafter of the least Disagreement; and that well meaning Persons may not be made unwilling to serve in that Office by unkind Reprimands from the Bench, tho\u2019 they should sometimes happen to mistake their Duty, but be treated\u2014at least with some Indulgence.\nBy Direction and in Behalf of the Grand Jury\nWillm. Bell foreman", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1745},
{"created_timestamp": "02-12-1745", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0003", "content": "Title: From Benjamin Franklin to William Strahan, 12 February 1745\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: Strahan, William\nSir,\nI received your Favour per Mr. Chew dated Sept. 10, and a Copy via Boston. I received also Mr. Middleton\u2019s pieces. I am pleased to hear that my old Acquaintance Mr. Wygate is promoted, and hope the Discovery will be compleated. I would not have you be too nice in the Choice of Pamphlets you send me. Let me have everything, good or bad, that makes a Noise and has a Run: for I have Friends here of Different Tastes to oblige with the Sight of them. If Mr. Warburton publishes a new Edition of Pope\u2019s works, please to send me as soon as \u2019tis out, 6 Setts. That Poet has many Admirers here, and the Reflection he somewhere casts on the Plantations as if they had a Relish for such Writers as Ward only, is injurious. Your authors know but little of the Fame they have on this Side the Ocean. We are a kind of Posterity in respect to them. We read their Works with perfect Impartiality, being at too great a Distance to be byassed by the Fashions, Parties and Prejudices that prevail among you. We know nothing of their personal Failings; the Blemishes in their character never reach us, and therefore the bright and amiable part strikes us with its full Force. They have never offended us or any of our Friends, and we have no Competitions with them, and therefore we praise and admire them without Restraint. Whatever Thomson writes, send me a Dozen Copies of. I had read no Poetry for several years, and almost lost the Relish of it, till I met with his Seasons. That charming Poet has brought more Tears of Pleasure into my Eyes than all I ever read before. I wish it were in my Power to return him any Part of the Joy he has given me. I purpose to send you by a Ship that is to sail shortly from this Port a Bill, and an Invoice of Books that I shall want for Sale in my Shop, which I doubt not you will procure as cheap as possible; otherwise I shall not be able to sell them, as here is one who is furnished by Oswald that sells excessively low; I cannot conceive upon what terms they deal. The Pamphlets and Newspapers I shall be glad to receive by way of N York and Boston, when there is no Ship directly hither; If you direct them for B.F. Boston and Philada. they will come directly to hand from those Places. Mr. Hall is perfectly well and gains ground daily in the Esteem of all that know him. I hope Caslon will not delay casting the English Fount I wrote to you for, so long as he has some that have been sent me. I have no doubt but Mr. Hall will succeed well in what he undertakes. He is obliging, discreet, industrious but honest; and when these Qualities meet, things seldom go amiss. Nothing in my Power shall be wanting to serve him. I cannot return your Compliments in kind; this Quaker plain Country producing none. All I can do is, to demonstrate, by a hearty Readiness in serving you when I have an Opportunity, or any Friend you recommend, that I do truly esteem and love you, being, Sir, Your obliged humble Servant\nB Franklin\nP.S. Please continue the Political Cabinet.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1745},
{"created_timestamp": "02-26-1745", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0004", "content": "Title: Notes on Assembly Debates, 26\u201328 February 1745\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: \nThese fragments are part of an account Franklin wrote of Assembly debates, February 26\u201328, 1745, on aid to Massachusetts\u2019 expedition against Louisbourg. Governor William Shirley had written Governor Thomas on February 4 about preparations and requested him to excite \u201can Emulation\u201d in the Pennsylvanians and encourage them to do their part to promote \u201cHis Majesty\u2019s Service and the common Interest of these Provinces.\u201d Thomas laid Shirley\u2019s request before the Assembly in a special session on February 25. \u201cDispatch, you will see, is the Life of the Undertaking,\u201d he pointed out. The Assembly showed dispatch only in rejecting the governor\u2019s request. A committee was appointed on February 27 to draft an answer, which was read, considered, approved, and sent to the governor on the 28th.\nThe Assembly put their rejection of Shirley\u2019s call on the grounds of dignity and policy. \u201cIf they expected the Assistance of the neighbouring Colonies, it is reasonable they should have consulted them.\u201d Furthermore, the Assembly pointed out, the Crown might call for action with which New England\u2019s plans might interfere. \u201cHad we not other Reasons to determine us,\u201d they concluded, with a veiled reference to the Quakers\u2019 religious scruples, \u201cwe should think it not prudent to unite in an Enterprize, where the Expence must be great, perhaps much Blood shed, and the Event very uncertain.\u201d The expedition remained an undertaking of the New England colonies alone, chiefly Massachusetts, aided by a squadron of the Royal Navy under Commodore Peter Warren.\n[Pages missing] Crown, he did not see how we could come into it, our Principles considered. After some Minutes Silence, Mr. Trotter said, We have often been importun\u2019d to do something in our own Defence, and have always refus\u2019d: Therefore it will not become us to raise Men and Money to go and disturb those that neither meddle nor make with us; People with whom we have nothing to do. [This Gentleman forgot, that a Privateer from Cape Breton, took 4 of our Vessels near the Mouth of our Bay last Summer; and sent Word to the Governor that he should cruise there a fortnight.] Mr. Norris said, That if the Crown had recommended the Affair we might possibly do something; for as we are protected by the Crown we think we ought to give Money when demanded: But it would be inconsistent for those who would not defend themselves to attack their Neighbours, (as we might in some sense call them, tho\u2019 Enemies. There is no particular Commission for this Expedition, and if Commands should come from the Crown hereafter it may be of as much Use to give Money then as now; for now it is too late, and therefore he thought it might well enough be postpon\u2019d at present. Mr. Leech said, That tho\u2019 a few of the Members might be dispos\u2019d to encourage and assist in this Expedition, it would be to no purpose to lay their Reasons before the House, or to speak in the Affair, considering the religious Principles of the Majority; and therefore he should hereafter be silent in it. Mr. Norris, added, that it was well known an Application had been made to the Crown by the Agent of New England last Spring to take Cape Breton which if the Crown had approv\u2019d, there had been time enough to send Orders for the purpose; but as no Orders had been sent, it would appear forward in us to join in the Enterprize. Some Pause intervening, Mr. Pennock said, He wish\u2019d the Members would speak their Minds freely: let them consider their Principles and they must soon come to a Result. Mr. Hall, then said that since it was inconsistent with our Principles, and not required by the Crown, he thought we should do nothing in it: And Mr. Harvey said the same. So some proposed a Committee might be appointed to prepare an Answer to the Governors Message agreeable to the Sentiments of the House: But others observing that it was an Affair of Importance, and it would look too hasty and Precipitate if it appear\u2019d on our Minutes that the House came to so sudden a Resolution; the farther Consideration of it was adjourned to the Morning: and then the House adjourned. [Pages missing] opposite to Defense, and more so to an offensive War. Together with the Absurdity they would be involv\u2019d in, who have always refus\u2019d the one, if they should agree to the other. When I compare the Governor\u2019s Message to the House, with his private Conversation, I cannot but admire at his Insincerity, to commend the Undertaking publickly, that he might gain the Applause of the Governor and People of New-England; and the Ministry at home. At the same time that he privately does all in his Power to disappoint it. He is not therefore the Man of Honour his former Friends cry\u2019d him up to be; I say his former Friends for those Gentlemen [obliterated] differently of him of late. Nor can I justify the Assembly from Disingenuity in their Answer. For tho\u2019 if it be against their Consciences, they ought not by any Means to encourage Military Proceedings in others more than themselves; yet I think they ought to be open and honest and give the true Reason; and not trifle in the Manner they do; by pretending among other Things, that they are offended at not being consulted in such an Affair, &c. In short the Governor and Assembly have been only acting a Farce and playing Tricks to amuse the World.\nSeveral of the Members told me to day that they heartily wished the N E People Success. I told them those People were as much oblig\u2019d to them for their Good Wishes as the Poor in the Scripture to those that [say] Be ye warmed be ye filled &c. I ask\u2019d them what should hinder the House from sending a little Provision to their fellow Subjects, who were going [to be at?] so useful an Undertaking and probably might suffer for want of it. One Answered, That would be encouraging War, and they [remainder missing].", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1745},
{"created_timestamp": "04-14-1745", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0006", "content": "Title: From Benjamin Franklin to William Strahan, 14 April 1745\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: Strahan, William\nSir\nPhilada. April 14. 1745\nI wrote to you lately via New York, and sent a Copy via Maryland, one or other of which I hope may come to hand. I have only Time now to desire you to send me the following Books, viz.\n1 Doz Cole\u2019s Eng. Dictionaries\n3 Doz. Mather\u2019s Young Man\u2019s Companion\n2 Doz Fisher\u2019s Ditto\n2 Quarter Waggoners for America\n6 Echard\u2019s Gazetteer\n4 Doz Grammars with const[ruin]g Book\n1 Doz Clark\u2019s Corderius\n1 Doz London Vocabulary\n1 Doz Bailey\u2019s English Exercises\n6 Clark\u2019s Introduction\n6 Esop\u2019s Fables, Latin\n1 Doz Accidences.\n6 Brightland\u2019s English Grammar\nI am, Sir, Your most humble Servant\nB Franklin\nCopy", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1745},
{"created_timestamp": "04-14-1745", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0007", "content": "Title: From Benjamin Franklin to William Strahan, 14 April 1745\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: Strahan, William\nSir,\nPhilada. April 14. 1745\nThe above is a Copy of mine per Capt. Martyn. I have only to desire you to add the following Books. 6 French Testaments. 12 Boyer\u2019s Grammars, 12 Cord[ier]. Colloqu[es]. French. 3 Cambray\u2019s Fables. 3 Telemaque, 2 Travels of Cyrus, French. 2 Boyer\u2019s Dictionaries 8vo. 1 New German and Eng. Dictionary and Grammar by Professor A. of Leipsig. Yours &c.\nB Franklin\nAddressed: To \u2002Mr William Strahan \u2002Printer \u2002In Wine Office Court Fleetstreet \u2002London \u2002per Capt. Mesnard", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1745},
{"created_timestamp": "04-01-1745", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0008", "content": "Title: Report of Viewers of a Road in the Northern Liberties, [April 1745]\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: \n[April 1745]\nJoseph Fox & al.vsMary Ball\nThe Persons appointed to View and lay out a Road &ca. Report as followeth.\nTo the Honourable the Judges of the Supream Court of the Province of Pennsylvania now Sitting\nWhereas by an Order of the Supream Court held at Philadelphia the Twenty fourth day of September last, We the Subscribers were appointed \u201cTo View a certain Road leading from a Dam across the Creek called Gunners Creek to the plantation lately in Possession of Joseph Lynn and Jeremiah Elfreth near the Mouth of Frankfort Creek and to lay out a Road there if we should See Occasion and to judge whether for Publick or Private use and to Examine thro\u2019 whose Improved Lands the same should pass and the Value of such Improved Lands as shall be taken up for the Use of such Road and to Certify all our Proceedings therein to this Court.\u201d\nAnd we having pursuant to the said Order Carefully viewed the premises Do Report to this Court that We are of Opinion there is Occasion for a publick Road between the places aforesaid Begining at the Dam abovementioned and extending thence on the Land late of William Ball deceased North East One hundred and ten Perches thence on the same Land North Sixty one Degrees East Three hundred and Seventy one perches, thence continuing the last mentioned Course on the unimproved Lands of divers Persons Six hundred and Eighty four Perches to a Line dividing the Land of William Logan and Samuel Parr at Forty Perches distance on the said Line from the River Delaware. And we have accordingly laid out a Publick Road as the same is above Described (a Draught whereof is hereunto annexed). But as the said Road as far as it passes over the Land late of William Ball (tho\u2019 hereafter it may be of great Advantage to that Land) will in the Present Circumstances of the Plantation and Possessors be a much greater Damage thereto than benefit to the publick; And as there is a private Road now Subsisting by Agreement thro\u2019 the said Plantation, which if Established a Private Road by this Court may Accommodate Sufficiently well all Persons concerned for the Present: We therefore think the publick Road abovementioned need not be opened thro\u2019 the same \u2019till the Youngest Children of the said William Ball become of Age; At which time also Judgment may be better made what Allowance should be given to that Estate for the Ground which such Road will take up.\nThe Private Road thro\u2019 the said Plantation begins at the Dam afd [aforesaid], thence South Seventy two Degrees and a half, East Forty Six perches towards the River Delaware Thence North fifty Six Degrees East Forty six perches to a Small Walnut Tree, Thence North Fifty nine Degrees East Eighty Eight Perches to a place a little beyond the Widow Balls House Thence North fifty nine Degrees and a half East Seventy perches to a place called the Red Gate, And thence North fifty four Degrees and three Quarters East Two hundred and Fifty five Perches to the above Described Publick Road at Edward Warners Corners: which private Road we are of Opinion should Subsist no longer than until the Publick Road through the said Plantation is opened as abovesaid, but be then given up and abolished in favour of that Estate. Read and Confirmed by the Court.\nThos. Howard\nJohn Stamper\nPhilip Syng\nSamll. Burge\nJames Morris\nB. Franklin", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1745},
{"created_timestamp": "04-01-1745", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0009", "content": "Title: Agreement about the Road, [April 1745]\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: \n[April 1745]\nWhereas we the Subscribers have by a Written Agreement dated the day of \u2003 17 \u2002 made with the late William Ball deceased a Right to a certain private Road thro the said William Ball\u2019s plantation beginning at a Dam over Gunner\u2019s Run and extending to the Land belonging to Edward Warner. And whereas by an Order of the Supreme Court held at Philadelphia the 10 day of September last Benjamin Franklin \u2002James Morris \u2002Philip Syng \u2002Thomas Howard \u2002John Stamper and Samuel Burge or any four of them were Appointed to view and lay out a Road thro\u2019 the said Plantation if they Saw Occasion and they have accordingly laid out a publick Road thro\u2019 the same which is to be opened when the Children of the said Willm. Ball become of Age, provided the private Road now used to the said Edward Warner\u2019s Land be then given up. We therefore who have by the above mentioned agreement a Right to the use of the said private Road, do hereby Agree and promise for our Selves our Heirs Executors Administrators and Assigns, that if the said publick Road is Confirmed by the Court and laid open as aforesaid we will whenever the same shall be done, and we do hereby for our Selves our heirs Executors and Administrators relinquish and quit Claim from that time forever to the said private Road as far, as to the Land of the said Edward Warner. Wittness our Hands and Seals the day of April 1745.\nWight Massey [Seal]\nWm Callender [Seal]\nMichl Hillegas [Seal]\nJos Fox [Seal]\nEdwd: Warner [Seal]\nJames Parroch [Seal]\nJohn Till [Seal]\nJohn Coats [Seal]\nSigned sealed and delivered (the above Interlineation first made) by James Parroch, John Till, and John Coats, in the Presence of us.\nJas: MorrisB Franklin\nSealed and deliver\u2019d by Wight Massey, Michael Hilligas, Joseph Fox, \u00a0William Callender and Edward Warner, in the presence of us\nHugh RobertsJos. Oldman", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1745},
{"created_timestamp": "06-25-1745", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0011", "content": "Title: Old Mistresses Apologue, 25 June 1745\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: \nIn both manuscript and print, this composition has had an unusual history. Three versions of it were among the papers which William Temple Franklin inherited from his grandfather. One was entirely in Benjamin Franklin\u2019s autograph; this is the text reproduced here. The second was a contemporary copy, to which Benjamin Franklin himself made two additions. The third manuscript, made early in the nineteenth century, seems to have been intended for Temple Franklin\u2019s edition of his grandfather\u2019s writings. He decided, however, not to include it and the piece remained unknown to the public.\nIn 1850, nearly 30 years after Temple Franklin\u2019s death, what remained of the Franklin papers he had owned were purchased by the London bookseller Henry Stevens of Vermont. Stevens\u2019 catalogue offering the collection for sale in 1881 listed \u201cEssays in form of Letters, on \u2018Perfumes\u2019 and \u2018Choice of a Mistress,\u2019 witty and explosive, but perhaps too Dean Swiftian for the press;\u201d but Stevens did not enumerate the manuscript versions. The United States Government purchased the collection in 1882. It contained, as the librarians of the Department of State were startled to discover, two copies of the Old Mistresses\u2014the copy with Franklin\u2019s two additions, and the transcript that had been made for the printer.\nPresumably Henry Stevens had withdrawn the Franklin autograph draft from the collection. In any event, it was subsequently acquired by the Chicago collector Charles Frederick Gunther, who later offered his library to the city of Chicago on condition that the city construct a fireproof building to house it. Mr. Gunther died in 1920 before any action had been taken on his offer; the collection became part of his estate; and his widow sold it\u2014some 50,000 items\u2014to the Chicago Historical Society. The Society disposed of those items which did not fall within its fields of interest. Thus Franklin\u2019s autograph Old Mistresses\u2019 Apologue was discarded. The manuscript passed through the hands of Forrest G. Sweet into the collection of Dr. A. S. W. Rosenbach of Philadelphia in 1926. Dr. Rosenbach prized it as \u201cthe most famous and the wittiest essay\u201d Franklin ever wrote and gave it the place of honor in the exhibition of his Frankliniana at the Free Library of Philadelphia in 1938.\nMeanwhile the letter had been frequently, if furtively, printed. In the catalogue of his collection Stevens listed two copies (one \u201con the purest vellum\u201d) of \u201cDr. Franklin\u2019s Two New Bagatelles [on Perfumes, and on Marriage],\u201d edited and printed in London in 1881 from the original manuscripts in his possession; but it seems that this never got past the stage of printer\u2019s proof. Possibly from Stevens\u2019 unfinished printing, but more than likely from the two manuscript versions which gentlemen might see at the Department of State despite the special restrictions placed on them, other limited editions were privately issued. The first was made in 1885; Paul L. Ford did another in 1887, entitled \u201cA Philosopher in Undress;\u201d and two other printings were run off before 1889, one of them designed by form and type to be inserted between appropriate pages of Bigelow\u2019s edition of Franklin\u2019s writings.\nFord has recounted the story of his printing. In the Department of State, he explained to a friend, the Franklin letter \u201cwas kept very private, and when Bigelow wanted to add it to his edition, permission was refused by Bayard. To a distinguished politician and intimate friend, however, he gave an MSS. copy, which was read aloud at a dinner party in New York (after the ladies had left, it is needless to remark). Several gentlemen at once requested copies, which were declined on account of the troubled [sic] to the dis. Pol. involved, so the suggestion was made that he should have it printed. Very well\u2014find me a safe printer\u2014this was a poser to all but himself. He was a friend of mine and knew that for many years I had owned a press and was in the habit of printing little tracts, varying in editions from 1 to 50 copies; and so he came to me and asked me to do it as a favor, as it could not be done by an ordinary printer. Agreed. I added a title page, in keeping, as I thought with the matter, and put it into type, receiving [?] two copies, and sundry shekels in return. One copy went into my Franklin collection, and one into my press file. \u2026 You are at liberty to use as much or as little of this story as you please, only kindly omit my name, as I do not care to harness it, even with that of B.F. to such a cart.\u201d\nBy such means Franklin\u2019s essay acquired a clandestine fame. No nineteenth century editor or biographer, however, dared to print it. John Bach McMaster, who warmly praised The Speech of Polly Baker, thought the Old Mistresses\u2019 Apologue \u201cunhappily too indecent to print.\u201d Ford was certain it would \u201cshock modern taste.\u201d Without being specific, Smyth spoke of Franklin manuscripts \u201cthe printing of which would not be tolerated by the public sentiment of the present age.\u201d Not even that cheerful iconoclast Sydney George Fisher would quote it without deep excisions. Slowly, however, the national taste changed. In 1926 Phillips Russell printed the complete essay in his widely read biography of the man he called \u201cthe first civilized American.\u201d Fifteen years later Franklin\u2019s little essay achieved acceptance, if not complete respectability: Simon and Schuster included it in their Treasury of the World\u2019s Great Letters, and that volume was delivered as a dividend to 225,000 members of the Book-of-the-Month Club.\nMy dear Friend,\nI know of no Medicine fit to diminish the violent natural Inclinations you mention; and if I did, I think I should not communicate it to you. Marriage is the proper Remedy. It is the most natural State of Man, and therefore the State in which you are most likely to find solid Happiness. Your Reasons against entring into it at present, appear to me not well-founded. The circumstantial Advantages you have in View by postponing it, are not only uncertain, but they are small in comparison with that of the Thing itself, the being married and settled. It is the Man and Woman united that make the compleat human Being. Separate, she wants his Force of Body and Strength of Reason; he, her Softness, Sensibility and acute Discernment. Together they are more likely to succeed in the World. A single Man has not nearly the Value he would have in that State of Union. He is an incomplete Animal. He resembles the odd Half of a Pair of Scissars. If you get a prudent healthy Wife, your Industry in your Profession, with her good \u0152conomy, will be a Fortune sufficient.\nBut if you will not take this Counsel, and persist in thinking a Commerce with the Sex inevitable, then I repeat my former Advice, that in all your Amours you should prefer old Women to young ones. You call this a Paradox, and demand my Reasons. They are these:\n1. Because as they have more Knowledge of the World and their Minds are better stor\u2019d with Observations, their Conversation is more improving and more lastingly agreable.\n2. Because when Women cease to be handsome, they study to be good. To maintain their Influence over Men, they supply the Diminution of Beauty by an Augmentation of Utility. They learn to do a 1000 Services small and great, and are the most tender and useful of all Friends when you are sick. Thus they continue amiable. And hence there is hardly such a thing to be found as an old Woman who is not a good Woman.\n3. Because there is no hazard of Children, which irregularly produc\u2019d may be attended with much Inconvenience.\n4. Because thro\u2019 more Experience, they are more prudent and discreet in conducting an Intrigue to prevent Suspicion. The Commerce with them is therefore safer with regard to your Reputation. And with regard to theirs, if the Affair should happen to be known, considerate People might be rather inclin\u2019d to excuse an old Woman who would kindly take care of a young Man, form his Manners by her good Counsels, and prevent his ruining his Health and Fortune among mercenary Prostitutes.\n5. Because in every Animal that walks upright, the Deficiency of the Fluids that fill the Muscles appears first in the highest Part: The Face first grows lank and wrinkled; then the Neck; then the Breast and Arms; the lower Parts continuing to the last as plump as ever: So that covering all above with a Basket, and regarding only what is below the Girdle, it is impossible of two Women to know an old from a young one. And as in the dark all Cats are grey, the Pleasure of corporal Enjoyment with an old Woman is at least equal, and frequently superior, every Knack being by Practice capable of Improvement.\n6. Because the Sin is less. The debauching a Virgin may be her Ruin, and make her for Life unhappy.\n7. Because the Compunction is less. The having made a young Girl miserable may give you frequent bitter Reflections; none of which can attend the making an old Woman happy.\n8[thly and Lastly] They are so grateful!!\nThus much for my Paradox. But still I advise you to marry directly; being sincerely Your affectionate Friend.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1745},
{"created_timestamp": "08-15-1745", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0012", "content": "Title: From Benjamin Franklin to James Alexander, 15 August 1745\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: Alexander, James\nSir\nPhilada. Augt. 15. 1745\nI return you herewith your Draughts, with a Copy of one of them per Mr. Evans and a few Lines relating to it from him. I wrote to Mr. Parker last Post that they might be got done in Boston by one Turner who is said to be a good Engraver. Our only tolerable Engraver here will not undertake the Jobb. And for my own Part I would rather chuse you should get them done there, or by Mr. Evans, than abide by the Proposal I made you: Tho\u2019 I will do them for you with what Dispatch I can, if you conclude on that Method. I have mislaid yours of June 17. and forget what further Explanation you desir\u2019d. I am, Sir, Your most humble Servant\nB Franklin\nAddressed: To James Alexander Esqr \u2002 at \u2002Perth Amboy", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1745},
{"created_timestamp": "08-15-1745", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0013", "content": "Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Cadwallader Colden, 15 August 1745\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: Colden, Cadwallader\nSir\nPhilada. Augt. 15. 1745\nI receiv\u2019d your Favour of the 20th past, with your medical Piece enclos\u2019d, the Reading of which gave me a great deal of Pleasure. I show\u2019d it to our Friend Mr. Bertram, who carried it home, and, as he since tells me, is taking a Copy of it; His Keeping of it for that End has prevented my Showing it to any other Gentlemen as you desired; and hitherto prevented my Writing to you upon it as I intended. But lest you should conclude me the very worst Correspondent in the World, I shall delay no longer giving you some Thoughts that occur\u2019d to me in Reading of it; chusing rather to be blam\u2019d for not writing to the Purpose, than for not Writing at all.\nI am extreamly pleas\u2019d with your Doctrine of the absorbent Vessels intermix\u2019d with the perspiratory Ducts both on the external and internal Superficies of the Body. After I had read Sanctorius, I imagin\u2019d a constant Stream of the perspirable Matter issuing at every Pore in the Skin: But then I was puzzled to account for the Effects of mercurial Unctions, for the Strangury sometimes occasion\u2019d by an outward Application of the Flies, and the like, since whatever Virtue or Quality might be in a Medicine laid upon the Skin, if it would enter the Body it must go against Wind and Tide, (as one may say). Dr. Hales help\u2019d me a little, when he inform\u2019d me, (in his Vegetable Statics) that the Body is not always in a perspirable but sometimes in an imbibing State, as he expresses it; and will at Times actually grow heavier by being expos\u2019d to a moist Air. But this did not quite remove my Difficulty, since, as these Fits of Imbibing did not appear to be regular or frequent, a Blistering Plaister might lie on the Skin a Week, or a mercurial Unguent be us\u2019d a Month, to no purpose, if the Body should so long continue in a perspirable State. Your Doctrine, which was quite new to me, makes all easy, since the Body may perspire and absorb at the same Time, thro\u2019 the different Ducts destin\u2019d to those different Ends.\n   I must own, however, that I have one Objection to the Explanation you give of the Operation of these Absorbents. That They should communicate with the Veins, and the Perspirants with the Arteries only, seems natural enough; but as all Fluids by the hydrostatical Law press equally in all Directions, I question whether the mere Direction of one of those minute Vessels (where it joins with a Vein or Artery) with or against the Stream of Blood in the larger Vessel, would be sufficient to produce such contrary Effects as perspiring and absorbing. If it would, both Perspirants and Absorbents might proceed from the Arteries only, or from the Veins only, or from both indifferently; as by the Figure in the Margin, whether the Vessel a b is a Vein or an Artery, if the Stream moves from a to b, the minute communicating Vessel c shall be a Perspirant, and d an Absorbent, and contrary if it moves from b to a. Yet I cannot say, I am certain the mere Direction of the Vessels will have no Effect; I only suspect it, and am making a little Machine to try an Experiment with for Satisfaction. \u2019Tis a Syphon made of two large Joints of Carolina Cane united at e, into which two small glass Tubes f and g are to be inserted one on the descending and the other on the ascending Side. I propose to fill the Syphon and the two glass Tubes with Water, and, when \u2019tis playing, unstop at the same Instant the Tops of both glass Tubes, observing in which the Water sinks fastest. You shall know the Success. I conceive the Pressure of the Atmosphere on the Apertures of the two glass Tubes to be no way different from the Pressure of the same on the Mouths of the Perspirants and Absorbents; and if the Water sinks equally in the two Tubes, notwithstanding the Direction of one against and the other with the Stream, I shall be ready to think we must look out for another Solution. You will say, perhaps, that \u2019twill then be time enough, when the Experiment is try\u2019d and succeeds as I suspect; yet I cannot forbear attempting at one beforehand, while some Thoughts are present in my Mind. If a new Solution should be found necessary, this may be ready for Consideration.\nI do not remember that any Anatomist that has fallen in my Way, has assign\u2019d any other Cause of the Motion of the Blood, thro\u2019 its whole Circle, than the contractile Force of the Heart, by which that Fluid is driven with Violence into the Arteries, and so continually propell\u2019d by Repetitions of the same Force, till it arrives at the Heart again. May we, for our present Purpose, suppose another Cause, producing half the Effect; and say, that the Ventricles of the Heart, like Syringes, draw when they dilate, as well as force when they contract? That this is not unlikely, may be judg\u2019d from the Valves Nature has plac\u2019d in the Arteries to prevent the Drawing back of the Blood in those Vessels when the Heart dilates, while no such Obstacles prevent its Sucking (to use the vulgar Expression) from the Veins. If this be allow\u2019d, and the Insertion of the Absorbents into the Veins, and of the Perspirants into the Arteries, be agreed to, it will be of no Importance in what Direction they are inserted: For, as the Branches of the Arteries are continually lessening in their Diameters, and the Motion of the Blood decreasing, by means of the encreas\u2019d Resistance, there must, as more is continually press\u2019d on behind, arise a kind of Crouding in the Extremities of those Vessels, which will naturally force out what is contain\u2019d in the Perspirants that communicate with them. This lessens the Quantity of Blood, so that the Heart cannot receive again by the Veins all it had discharg\u2019d into the Arteries, which occasions it to draw strongly upon the Absorbents that communicate with them. And thus the Body is continually perspiring and imbibing. Hence, after long Fasting, the Body is more liable to receive Infection from bad Air; and Food, before \u2019tis sufficiently chylified, is drawn crude into the Blood, by the Absorbents that open into the Bowels. To confirm this Position, that the Heart draws as well as drives the Blood, let me add this Particular. If you sit or lean long in such a Manner as to compress the principal Artery that supplys a Limb with Blood, so that it does not furnish a due Quantity, you will be sensible of a pricking Pain in the Extremities like that of a thousand Needles; and the Veins, that us\u2019d to raise your Skin in Ridges, will be (with the Skin) sunk into Channels; the Blood being drawn out of them, and their Sides press\u2019d so closely together, that \u2019tis with Difficulty and slowly that the Blood afterwards enters them when the compress\u2019d Artery is reliev\u2019d. If the Blood was not drawn by the Heart, the Compression of an Artery could not empty a Vein; and I conjecture that the pricking Pain is occasion\u2019d by the Sides of the small Vessels being press\u2019d together.\nI am not without Apprehensions, that this Hypothesis is either not new, or, if it is new, not good for any Thing. It may however, in this Letter, (with the enclos\u2019d Paper on a kindred Subject) serve to show the great Confidence I place in your Candour, since to you I so freely hazard myself (ultra crepidam) in Medling with Matters directly pertaining to your Profession, and entirely out of the way of my own. If you give yourself the Trouble of Reading them, \u2019tis all I can modestly expect. Your Silence about them afterwards will be sufficient to convince me, that I am in the wrong; and that I ought to study the Sciences I dabble in, before I presume to set Pen to Paper. I will endeavour however to make you some Amends, by procuring you from better Judges some better Remarks on the Rest of your Piece; and shall observe your Caution not to let them know from whom I had it.\nThe Piece on Fluxions I purpose shortly to read again, and that on the several Species of Matter, when you shall have what little I shall be able to say about them.\nThe Members of our Society here are very idle Gentlemen; they will take no Pains. I must, I believe, alter the Scheme, and proceed with the Papers I have and may receive, in the Manner you advise in one of your former Letters. The mention of your former Letters puts me in mind how much I am in Arrear with you: Like some honest insolvent Debtors, I must resolve to pay ready Money for what I have hereafter, and discharge the old Debt by little and little as I am able.\nThe Impertinence of these Moskito\u2019s to me, (now I am in the Humour of Writing) prevents a great deal of mine to you, so that for once they are of some Use in the World. I am Sir Your most humble Servant\nB Franklin\nEndorsed: Benj Franklin\n[Enclosure]\nA Guess at the Cause of the Heat of the Blood in Health and of the hot and cold Fits of some Fevers.\nThe Parts of Fluids are so smooth, and roll among one another with so little Friction, that they will not by any (mechanical) Agitation grow warmer. A Phial half full of Water shook with Violence and long continued, the Water neither heats itself nor warms the Phial. Therefore the Blood does not acquire its Heat either from the Motion and Friction of its own Parts, or its Friction against the Sides of its Vessels.\nBut the Parts of Solids, by Reason of their closer Adhesion, cannot move among themselves without Friction, and that produces Heat. Thus, bend a Plumbet to and fro, and in the Place of Bending it shall soon grow hot. Friction on any Part of our Flesh heats it. Clapping of the Hands warms them. Exercise warms the whole Body.\nThe Heart is a thick Muscle, continually contracting and dilating near 80 Times in a Minute; By this Motion there must be a constant Interfrication of its constituent solid Parts; That Friction must produce a Heat, and that Heat must consequently be continually communicated to the perfluent Blood.\nTo this may be added, That every Propulsion of the Blood by the Contraction of the Heart, distends the Arteries, which contract again in the Intermission; and this Distention and Contraction of the Arteries may occasion Heat in them, which they must likewise communicate to the Blood that flows thro\u2019 them.\nThat these Causes of the Heat of the Blood are sufficient to produce the Effect, may appear probable, if we consider that a Fluid once warm requires no more Heat to be apply\u2019d to it in any Part of Time to keep it warm, than what it shall lose in an equal Part of Time. A smaller Force will keep a Pendulum going than what first set it in Motion.\nThe Blood thus warm\u2019d in the Heart, carries Warmth with it to the very Extremities of the Body, and communicates it to them; but as by this Means its Heat is gradually diminished, it is return\u2019d again to the Heart by the Veins for a fresh Calefaction.\nThe Blood communicates its Heat not only to the Solids of our Body, but to our Clothes, and to a Portion of the circumambient Air. Every Breath, tho\u2019 drawn in Cold, is expir\u2019d Warm; and every Particle of the Materia Perspirabilis carries off with it a Portion of Heat.\nWhile the Blood retains a due Fluidity, it passes freely thro\u2019 the minutest Vessels, and communicates a proper Warmth to the Extremities of the Body. But when by any Means it becomes so viscid as not to be capable of passing those minute Vessels, the Extremities, as the Blood can bring no more Heat to them, must grow Cold.\nThe same Viscidity in the Blood and Juices checks or stops the Perspiration, by clogging the perspiratory Ducts; or, perhaps, by not admitting the perspirable Parts to separate. Paper wet with Size and Water will not dry so soon as if wet with Water only.\nA Vessel of hot Water, if the Vapour can freely pass from it, soon cools. If there be just Fire enough under it to add continually the Heat it loses, it retains the same Degree. If the Vessel be clos\u2019d so that the Vapour may be retain\u2019d, there will from the same Fire be a continual Accession of Heat in the Water, till it rises to a great Degree: Or, if no Fire be under it, it will retain the Heat it first had for a long time. I have experienc\u2019d that a Bottle of hot Water stopp\u2019d, and put in my Bed at Night, has retain\u2019d so much Heat 7 or 8 Hours, that I could not in the Morning bear my Foot against it, without some of the Bedclothes intervening.\nDuring the cold Fit then, Perspiration being stop\u2019d, great Part of the Heat of the Blood that us\u2019d to be dissipated, is confin\u2019d and retain\u2019d in the Body; The Heart continues its Motion, and creates a constant Accession to that Heat, the Inward Parts grow very hot, and, by Contact with the Extremities, communicate that Heat to them: The Glue of the Blood is by this Heat dissolved, and the Blood afterwards flows freely as before the Disorder.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1745},
{"created_timestamp": "08-17-1745", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0014", "content": "Title: From Benjamin Franklin to James Read, 17 August 1745\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: Read, James\nDear J[emmy],\nSaturday morning, Aug. 17, \u201945\nI have been reading your letter over again, and since you desire an answer, I sit me down to write you one; yet, as I write in the market, [it] will, I believe, be but a short one, tho\u2019 I may be long about it. I approve of your method of writing one\u2019s mind, when one is too warm to speak it with temper: but being myself quite cool in this affair, I might as well speak as write, if I had an opportunity. Your copy of Kempis, must be a corrupt one, if it has that passage as you quote it, in omnibus requiem quaesivi, sed non inveni, nisi in angulo cum libello. The good father understood pleasure (requiem) better, and wrote, in angulo cum puella. Correct it thus, without hesitation. I know there is another reading, in angulo puellae; but this reject, tho\u2019 more to the point, as an expression too indelicate.\nAre you an attorney by profession, and do you know no better, how to chuse a proper court in which to bring your action? Would you submit to the decision of a husband, a cause between you and his wife? Don\u2019t you know, that all wives are in the right? It may be you don\u2019t, for you are yet but a young husband. But see, on this head, the learned Coke, that oracle of the law, in his chapter De Jus Marit.Angl. I advise you not to bring it to trial; for if you do, you\u2019ll certainly be cast.\nFrequent interruptions make it impossible for me to go thro\u2019 all your letter. I have only time to remind you of the saying of that excellent old philosopher, Socrates, that in differences among friends, they that make the first concessions are the WISEST; and to hint to you, that you are in danger of losing that honour in the present case, if you are not very speedy in your acknowledgments; which I persuade myself you will be, when you consider the sex of your adversary.\nYour visits never had but one thing disagreeable in them, that is, they were always too short. I shall exceedingly regret the loss of them, unless you continue, as you have begun, to make it up to me by long letters. I am dear J[emmy], with sincerest love to our dearest Suky, Your very affectionate friend and cousin,\nB. Franklin", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1745},
{"created_timestamp": "11-07-1745", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0017", "content": "Title: From Benjamin Franklin to William Strahan, 7 November 1745\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: Strahan, William\nSir\nNew York, Nov. 7. 1745\nFinding a Vessel here about to sail to London, I take the Opportunity to enclose you a second Bill, the first of which I sent via Maryland. I left Mr. Hall and all Friends well at Philada last Week, and hope to see them again in a few Days. I have not Time to add but that I am Sir Your very humble Servant\nB Franklin\nThe English and Books are safe arriv\u2019d.\nAddressed: To \u2002Mr Wm Strahan \u2002Printer in \u2002Wine Office Court Fleetstreet \u2002London \u2002Per Capt Bryant", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1745},
{"created_timestamp": "11-16-1745", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0018", "content": "Title: From Benjamin Franklin to William Strahan, 16 November 1745\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: Strahan, William\nSir\nPhilada. Nov. 16. 1745\nI wrote a Line to you via Maryland, and another via New York, lately, enclosing with each a Bill for \u00a315 Sterl. The Third I now send you. I receiv\u2019d the Books and Letter you sent in good Order, and purpose to write for another Parcel of Books by Mesnard who is to sail in 2 or 3 Weeks. I have now every Thing ready for Mr. Hall to go to the W. Indies, but feel some Reluctance to part with him these hazardous Times. He continues to enjoy his Health, as I hope you and yours do, being, Sir with sincere Respect, Your obliged humble Servant\nB Franklin", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1745},
{"created_timestamp": "12-22-1745", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0021", "content": "Title: From Benjamin Franklin to William Strahan, 22 December 1745\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: Strahan, William\nSir\nThe above is a Copy of what I wrote you per Mesnard who sailed about 10 Days ago from this Port. This goes per Capt. Hargrave, who is soon to sail from Maryland. Enclos\u2019d I send you a Bill for \u00a315.7.1, which I hope will be readily paid. Enclos\u2019d is also a Letter to Mr. Collinson, containing an Order for Books for the Library, which when you deliver you will have an Opportunity of proposing to furnish them. Please to add to the enclos\u2019d List the following Books for me, viz. Starkey\u2019s Pyrotechny asserted, an old Book. 6 Echard\u2019s Gazetteer. 6 Watts\u2019s Lyrick Poems. 6 Watts\u2019s Logic with Supplement. 1 Watts\u2019s Essays. also 5 or 6 lbs. of Long primer Fractions, i.e. to use with Long Primer in Arithmetic Work. Mr. Hall and all your Friends here are well, as I hope [obliterated].", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1745},
{"created_timestamp": "12-30-1745", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0022", "content": "Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Robert Grace: Lease, 30 December 1745\nFrom: Grace, Robert\nTo: Franklin, Benjamin\nRobert Grace (see above, I, 209 n), whose parents died when he was young, was brought up by his grandmother and her second husband, Hugh Lowden, in their home on the north side of Market Street, between Front and Second, facing the Jersey Market. Under Lowden\u2019s will, Grace inherited the life use of the property when his grandmother died in 1725. He was living there as a young bachelor when he and Franklin began their lifelong friendship, and it was there that the Junto held its meetings. Franklin\u2019s first establishment was apparently a little west of Grace\u2019s house on the same side of the street. Grace went abroad in 1733, remaining away for several years, and seems never to have lived in the former Lowden house again. On January 11, 1739, Franklin announced in the Gazette that he had moved \u201cfour doors nearer the River,\u201d and it was probably at this time that he first rented the property from Grace, although no lease for the years 1739\u201345 has been found. Here he lived with his family, and here he maintained his printing office and shop and the post office. After Franklin formed his partnership with David Hall in January 1748 and withdrew from the active conduct of his printing business he \u201cremov\u2019d to a more quiet Part of Town,\u201d occupying a house on the northwest corner of Sassafras (Race) and Second streets. The printing office and post office remained at the Grace property until 1752. Hall, who had married a week after the formation of the partnership, probably moved into the vacated living quarters at once and continued to make his home there until at least 1764.\nDecember 30, 1745\nAbstract: Robert Grace, merchant, leases to Benjamin Franklin, \u201cTypographer,\u201d for 14 years beginning Jan. 1, 1746, the lot, with all buildings and other improvements thereon, beginning at John Jones\u2019s lot on the north side of Market St., running eastward 17 ft. to the Widow Read\u2019s lot, then northward 164 ft. to Jones Alley (or Pewter Platter Alley, now Church St.), westward 34 ft. to Thomas Shute\u2019s lot, southward 62 ft., then eastward by John Jones\u2019s lot 17 ft., and then southward 102 ft. to Market St. Franklin is to pay \u00a355 lawful money of Pennsylvania annually, in equal installments on July 1 and January 1, with a right to Grace to enter and distrain in case of default. Franklin is to keep the property in repair. No one is to exercise the trade of baker or brewer on the premises. By a memorandum at the end, dated March 28, 1757, the lease is extended for seven years beyond its original term at an annual rental of \u00a360.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1745},
{"created_timestamp": "01-01-1745", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0023", "content": "Title: The Antediluvians Were All Very Sober, 1745\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: \nThe Antediluvians were all very sober\nFor they had no Wine, and they brew\u2019d no October;\nAll wicked, bad Livers, on Mischief still thinking,\nFor there can\u2019t be good Living where there is not good Drinking.\n   Derry down.\n\u2019Twas honest old Noah first planted the Vine,\nAnd mended his Morals by drinking its Wine;\nHe justly the drinking of Water decry\u2019d;\nFor he knew that all Mankind, by drinking it, dy\u2019d.\n      Derry down.\nFrom this Piece of History plainly we find\nThat Water\u2019s good neither for Body or Mind;\nThat Virtue and Safety in Wine-bibbing\u2019s found\nWhile all that drink Water deserve to be drown\u2019d.\n      Derry down\nSo For Safety and Honesty put the Glass round.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1745},
{"created_timestamp": "01-01-1745", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-03-02-0024", "content": "Title: Extracts from the Gazette, 1745\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: \n\t[Advertisement ] Lost on Friday, the 21st of December, 1744, betwixt Frankfort and Philadelphia, a Fowling-Piece, mounted with Brass, Dutch Make, a black Barrel, with a pretty wide Bore. Whoever has found it, and will return it to the Printer hereof, shall be sufficiently rewarded. [January 1]\n\tAfter a long Dearth of News, we have, by the late Ships, received English Papers to the 12th of November. The War, tho\u2019 it creates a more general Appetite for News, does, we find, in this distant Part of the World, very much disconcert us News Writers. During the Peace, Ships were constantly dropping in at some Port or other of this Continent, and we had fresh Advices almost every Week from Europe; but now, by their waiting for Convoy, and other Hindrances and Delays, we are sometimes Months without having a Syllable. The Consequence is, that a Series of News Papers come to hand in a Lump together; and being each of us ambitious to give our Readers the freshest Intelligence, we croud all the latest Events into our First Paper, and are obliged to fill up the Succeeding Ones with Articles of prior Date, or else omit them intirely, as being anticipated and stale, and entertain you with Matters of another Nature. Hence the Chain of Occurrences is broken or inverted, and much of the News rendered thereby unintelligible. Hence you have tedious Accounts of the raising of Armies, the Motion of Fleets, or the Sieges of Cities, after you have been some Weeks acquainted with the taking of those Cities, and the beating of those Fleets and Armies; or perhaps you are never told at all by what Steps those great Events were brought about. Such a confused Method must make any Writings of a historical Nature less entertaining and instructive to the intelligent Reader. We purpose therefore to avoid it for the future in this Paper, as much as may be, and doubt not, but that for the sake of a clear and regular Account of the Affairs of Europe, our Readers will excuse us if we happen now and then to be a Week or two later than others with some particular Articles. [January 22]\n[Advertisement ] Lost or left at some House, a good Kersey Great Coat of a dark Dove Colour; having a large Cape, with a Cap in its Lining, a Pocket on the right-side of the Coat. Whoever leaves it at the Post-Office, shall be Thank\u2019d or Rewarded.\nN.B. The said Coat has Hair Buttons. [February 5]\n\t   [Advertisement ] Any Gentleman, or Gentlemen, inclined to employ a Schoolmaster, by enquiring at the Printer\u2019s hereof, may be informed of one well qualified, and whose Conduct and Method is well recommended. [February 19]\nMr. Franklin,\nAs Privateering is now so much in Fashion, the printing the following Question may be an Amusement, if not to the Privateers, yet to some of your Correspondents or Readers.\nSuppose a Privateer, in the Latitude of 10 Degrees North, should, at 6 in the Morning, spy a Ship due South of her, distant 20 Miles; upon which she steers directly for her, and runs at the Rate of 8 Miles an Hour. The Ship at the same time sees the Privateer, but not being much afraid of her, keeps on her Course due West, and sails at the Rate of 6 Miles an Hour; how many Hours will it be before the Privateer overtakes the Ship?\nN.B. The Sailing is supposed on a Plane as plain Sailing, and the Privateer keeps her Course constantly directed toward the Ship.\nT.G.\n[March 5]\n\t   [Advertisement ] Left at the Post Office, some Time ago, a Cane, with a wrought Head. The Owner, describing it, may have it again without any Charge. [March 12]\n\t   Saturday Night last died after a long Indisposition, Clement Plumsted, Esq; many Years an eminent Merchant and Magistrate of this City, and one of the Governor\u2019s Council. His Funeral was respectfully attended by a great Number of People, who (instead of Wine and Biscuit heretofore customary) were serv\u2019d each with one of Bishop Tillotson\u2019s Sermons, suitable to the Occasion. [May 30]\nPhiladelphia, June 6. 1745\nAs the Cape-Breton Expedition is at present the Subject of most Conversations, we hope the following Draught (rough as it is, for want of good Engravers here) will be acceptable to our Readers; as it may serve to give them an Idea of the Strength and Situation of the Town now besieged by our Forces, and render the News we receive from thence more intelligible.\nCape-Breton Island, on which Louisburgh is built, lies on the South of the Gulph of St. Lawrence, and commands the Entrance into that River, and the Country of Canada. It is reckon\u2019d 140 Leagues in Circuit, full of fine Bays and Harbours, extreamly convenient for Fishing Stages. It was always reckon\u2019d a Part of Nova-Scotia. For the Importance of this Place see our Gazette, No. 858. As soon as the French King had begun the present unjust War against the English, the People of Louisburgh attack\u2019d the New-England Town of Canso, consisting of about 150 Houses and a Fort, took it, burnt it to the Ground, and carried away the People, Men, Women and Children, Prisoners. They then laid Siege to Annapolis Royal, and would have taken it, if seasonable Assistance had not been sent from Boston. Mr. Duvivier went home to France last Fall for more Soldiers, &c. to renew that Attempt, and for Stores for Privateers, of which they proposed to fit out a great Number this Summer, being the last Year unprovided: Yet one of their Cruisers only, took 4 Sail in a few Days, off our Capes, to a very considerable Value. What might we have expected from a dozen Sail, making each 3 or 4 Cruises a Year? They boasted that during the War they should have no Occasion to cut Fire Wood, for that the Jackstaves of English Vessels would be a Supply sufficient. It is therefore in their own Necessary Defence, as well as that of all the other British Colonies, that the People of New-England have undertaken the present Expedition against that Place, to which may the God of Hosts grant Success. Amen. [June 6]\n\t   By some of our People, who have lately been Prisoners at the Havanna, we learn, that while they were there, an English Ship, from Jamaica, commanded by Captain William Lyford, which had met with the Hurricane at Sea, and lost her Masts, put in there in Distress; the Capt. waited upon the Governor, and surrendered himself a Prisoner, with his Vessel. But the Governor generously told him, no Advantage should be taken of his Misfortune: And Leave was given him to sell Part of his Cargo, in order to refit his Vessel, and pursue his Voyage. Thus have we at length taught our Enemies Humanity. [July 4]\nFrom Trenton we hear, that on Friday the 21st past, two Lads, Benjamin and Severns Albertis, Brothers, going in a Canoe to fish near the Falls, the Canoe overset by running against a Log, and the latter was drowned, the other hardly escaping. Great Search was made for the Body on that and the three following Days, by a great Number of People in Boats and Canoes; but to no Effect, it being driven down, to the Surprize of many, as low as Burlington, and there taken up and interr\u2019d on Monday.\nFrom Abington we hear, that on Saturday, the 22d of June last, a Woman, who had been subject to the Falling-sickness, was found drowned in a Spring, into which it was thought she fell when in a Fit, having gone out to fetch Water.\nSaturday last a Boy about 7 Years of Age, playing with some other Children in a Boat, accidentally fell into the River, and was drowned.\nThe same Day the Body of one John Holmes, who belonged to one of our Privateers, and was accidentally drowned, by falling into the River between the Boat and the Vessel a few Days before, was taken up and buried.\nAnd on Sunday last a Woman of this City, who had been subject to Fits, was found dead in her Bed. [July 4]\n\t   Wednesday last, a great Number of Guns were distinctly heard in several Places round this City, the Occasion of which, as well as the Place where they were fired, was unknown till the Evening of the Day following, when an Express arriv\u2019d with Advice of the Surrender of Louisbourg, which had caus\u2019d great Rejoycings at New-York. \u2019Twas near 9 o\u2019Clock when the Express came in, yet the News flying instantly round the Town, upwards of 20 Bonfires were immediately lighted in the Streets. The next Day was spent in Feasting, and drinking the Healths of Governor Shirley, Gen. Pepperel, Com. Warren, &c. &c. under the Discharge of Cannon from the Wharffs and Vessels in the River; and the Evening concluded with Bonfires, Illuminations, and other Demonstrations of Joy. A Mob gathered, and began to break the Windows of those Houses that were not illuminated, but it was soon dispersed, and suppress\u2019d. [July 18]\n\t   [Advertisement ] Choice Bohea Tea to be sold by the Dozen or half Dozen Pound, at the Post-Office, Philadelphia. [August 8]\n\t   Thursday Night last the Rev. Mr. Whitefield arrived here from New-York. He was met and conducted into Town by about 50 Horse. The Evening following he preach\u2019d at the New-Building, and twice or thrice every Day since to large Audiences. He purposes to set out speedily for Georgia, by Land, thro\u2019 Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolina\u2019s. [September 12]\n\t   [Advertisement ] Lost, about four Months ago, a dark coloured Cloth Surtout Coat. Whoever brings the said Coat to the Post-Office, in Philadelphia, shall have Ten Shillings Reward. [September 12]\n\t   [Advertisement ] Notice is hereby given to all Persons, who have old Pewter to dispose of, that by applying to the Printer hereof, they will be informed where they may have 12d. half Penny per Pound, for any Quantity, from One Pound, to a Thousand Weight, in Cash. [September 26]\n\t   [Advertisement ] On Monday next will be published, Poor Richard\u2019s Almanack, for the Year of our Lord 1746, containing, besides what is usual; His Account of himself and his Way of Life with his Dame Bridget. A Table for the more easy and ready casting up of Pieces of Eight, Pistoles, Moidores, &c. Verses on several Subjects; viz. The Fool out of Fashion. Man\u2019s insatiable Appetite. The best Wealth. Sacred Solitude. Zara. On Pleasure. Man\u2019s Reward. Gold insolvent. Lavinia at threescore. The Opiate. Definition of Female Beauty. Together with many wise Sayings, Jokes, &c. &c. Sold by B. Franklin, at the customary Price. [October 31]\n\t   [Advertisement ] The Pennsilvania Fire-Places, made by Robert Grace, are sold by Lewis Evans, in Strawberry Alley; who takes care, if required, that they are fitted up, and set to the best Advantage, in Philadelphia, or the Parts adjacent. [November 14]\n\t   Several counterfeit Pistoles made of fine Brass, have lately appeared among us. They may be known by their being harder to the Teeth than Gold, and by their extream Lightness; a Piece of Brass equal in Bulk to a Piece of Gold, being not quite half the Weight. [November 21]\n\t   Just Published, The Pocket Almanack for the Year 1746. Printed and sold by B. Franklin. [November 28]\nPhiladelphia, December 24. 1745.\nTaken away from the Post-Office, the 11th Instant, a Silver Spoon, marked T C, Philip Syng Maker: The Person supposed to have taken it, is desired to return the same, before exposed. [December 24]\nWilliamsburg, December 13. 1745.\nRan away from Hanover Court-house, on Thursday Night the 6th of this Instant, a Servant Man, belonging to the Subscriber, named Daniel Whealon, aged about Thirty, 5 Feet 9 Inches high, smooth-tongu\u2019d, his Legs much swell\u2019d. He had a dark grey Beaver Coating Jacket, with Metal Buttons, a Coat near the same Colour, with Metal Buttons, and other good Cloathing. He is an Irishman, a Convict, and a Smith by Trade; shoes Horses very well, makes Locks, and is dexterous at picking of any Locks. He has committed some Felonies lately, and is suspected of others; Has Money, a Silver Watch with only the Hour Hand, Silver Shoe and Knee Buckles, and other Things of Value: He stole when he went off, a middle-siz\u2019d dark bay Horse, branded on the near Shoulder with a Heart; and a Virginia-made Saddle, with a Cut on the Seat, sew\u2019d up with Silk: The Horse belongs to Abraham Bedel, living near the Place where the Upper Southanna Bridge stood, in Hanover County. It is thought he has a forg\u2019d Pass. He ran away before, went to Carolina; and returned to his former Master, Mr. John Fitzgerald of King William County; but now will endeavour to get off, for fear of Prosecution for Felony.\nWhoever will apprehend the said Servant, and secure him, so that he be brought to Justice, shall have Three Pistoles Reward, if taken in Virginia, or Six Pistoles if taken in any other Government. And for the Horse, Saddle and Bridle, One Pistole, if deliver\u2019d to the above-mention\u2019d Owner, or to me in Williamsburg.\nWilliam Parks\nN.B. It\u2019s supposed he\u2019ll go to the Northward.\nP.S. If the said Servant and Horse should be taken up and secur\u2019d in Pennsylvania, or any of the Northern Governments, the Rewards will be paid at Philadelphia, by B. Franklin[December 31]\nPhiladelphia: Printed by B. Franklin, Post-Master, at the New-Printing-Office, near the Market.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1745}
]