The Sun.
London, England, 1807-10-28 00:00:00

TILIr2LS IN THE WILDS Oi:il.2llEilICA.

Two Gentlemen, engaged' on a journey throngh
North America, from the Gulph of Florida to.
bec, have performed the first part of . their project
:among the interesting scales of the Ohio .and the
• •
We left tliis Place (New York) on the 25th'
July, 1806, taking with us only a change
,of linen,
'and we arrived there again on' the 18th-of:July,
• 1807. - travelled mostly on foot, exceptnig
where a water Passage offered. 'My
liam, employed himself in taking sketches of most
• of the tine views and natural curiosities that have
come-in our Way. Our route was first to Albany,
the falls of the Mohawk and Niagara rivers, thence
across Lake Erie, down the Alighanny river to
burg. Here we stayed for three or four weeks, •
fitted up a boat peculiar to these rivers, and called
an ark,, with a fire-place and sleeping-hirtlL We_
laiditi our stores of provisions, cooking utensils,'
&c. and commenced our voyage down the mighty
rivers Ohio and -Mississippi on the Ist December, •
and arrived. at Orleans in April; in our boat, in
, which we had lived fourteen weeks. These arks'
are literally floating wooden 'houses ; the one we
' had'-was 24 feet long.and 12 feet broad, and square
at both ends. Rowing or sailing was out of the.
question : we'trusted to the current for head-way ;
we ;had a pair of large oars for guiding the boat
dear of rocks, old trees, &c. The Ohio is gentle
and pheicl,,unless agitated by storms, which are
very common ; in such cages, we made our boat fast.
do it.tree.on shore: Its still serene weather we suf-
fered our vessel to float night and day, sleeping
soundly till morning. The average run' of the, cur-
rent was about 'three miles an hour. Oults banks
were many handsome towns, and
,the country
abound; in game. • AtrMarietta were three ships of
300 tOPS, tiOlolo, it is
.a curious fatit'that
ships- -above, two thousand, miles inland should
havea natural navigation to the ocean. 'Tie cha
ra&er of ithe 'Mississippi is entirely diti;:rcut from
that of. the Ohio : its.waters very muddy and boii-
terons ; its banks' flat and uninhabited for an .hun7
dred miles together, and no chance of getting provi-
sions, but occasionally from the Wild men of the
WOO'ds. These hartnlevs creatures often boarded us,
from their canoes, and their visits were welcomed:as.
they. brought us venison., turkies,l wild honey, bear,.
meat, &c. for which we gave them apples, biscuits,
&c. • These, things were very: grateful to us, after
living 'Our. or five weeks, upon bacon. On the:
Mississipai boats seldom attempt to: flbat in the
night ;, this po.werful river running, in many places at
.the rat's: of eight, mile! an hour, and 'being very full
of lingo timber, whose limbs often, appear. above tl5O
Water, and againSt -which the current roars with,
the noise of a catarad. From New Orleans we re:'
turned by, land to New York, a journey very little
short of 4000 miles the route .sve.,took, as we went
Fatisiderably out of our way to. see some natural ci-
itiities. We travelled abort -44 days in Lower
,`Loni4ana., From the city of ;Notches,, on the-east-
' ern agere of the Mississippi to,Nashyille,,is a wilder-7
11868;o about anti miles,,unitih:tbited, excepting by
two powerful 'nations • of Indians, the Chaitawa and
the Chihawaws. At Natches'we purchased a mule,
for the
apn6.dfoprancikanedoootoiri ptirlivsisijoottilsrnf:;. twlaeyll
slept
regularly idiaoys
entered
blanket and
be: cdi
double
quite
woods;a loeuwr kind of life,.
skin, with
a,
thinbeadingocto,n
odhoafha
answered
pnligripitosdeet's,,a
wmuesqhuie-
dtoabatroaparadh;wsleki,lr
atefutorto,msttehle,'
vjldrntienyd,err;lakaniodgtahufisreeqmuiopteosrd we
tiire commenced ced 'our
inlemseanday,for
the' purpose of boiling .our chocolate, toasting our
bacon, &c.. At night we made a good fire,. as
,near,
as we could bear it, and with a good length of :rope
we tied our nude to a tree to:graze. We bad, fine,
weather, and all went on very, pleasantly for. some
thus, when I was seized with a second-day ague.---.7
This shook and tormented me very tnuen, and at
hist I was obliged to ,lay up in :tan Indian, wigwam
These good creatures did all they
'fcbort:lldbot;t a-
orrWnyeek.
comfort, which, however, was not
much ;, the best bed they could give me was a bear-
skin on the ground. This happened about 200,
miles from the 'abode of white men. I got some-
thing .better, but the save left me very weak for
some time. In our route to this place we, came
through the State of Tenesse, hy the way of Nash-
Maryland, Delaware. and.
tn7iji3e(\i'Vl tVieniiiroicgrkie„eliwiafetdli-asllletclilatdino;hgiah thea e-
deriil
former place we were gratified with a sight of Mr.
Ji.e4l-soo.. He was rem oing from his morning ride,
unattended, even by a single servant : this, wts were
told, ,was his usual custom. • -We, have planned a
journey to Boston, and oil to Lower Canada, Mon •
teeal, and -This will finish our travels in
this bind, when, 'we shall feturn to, visit and consult
with
.our friends as to our future proceedings."
is Nog- York, f01y49:184,” '

Monday morning a party .of four or
gunners assembled, at a friend's. house at 'Pottington,
.tive licensed ,
.
ill Sussex, to take the diversion of shooting, ,where
one•of therm," in, hastily snatching his loaded gun •
from the kitchen chimney-piece, by some accident
discharged it, but without injury to hirt3self or to
maid servant, who was „standing neap a chair that
was blown to pieces by iN contents. Happy in thd
escape, they soon re' ovemi from their fright; and
sallied forth to the tkld, .Where a hare was started,
and followed out of a wood by two of them, at the.
instant she was shot•at'by one of their ompartions,
who fortunately missed his' aim, •or they must in-
evitably have shared the tate of poor puss, being
close behind her, in a dived line, and. Wit a few
yards from the muzzle Of the gun, the whole
contents of which passed wide Of therit'Onlfabotit
two feet. Not. dismayed by this second escape,:
they pursued 'their sport 'till dinner-time, when
they. returned to Tottington, and being about to
discharge their guns, . one Offered a bet that he
killed a small bird then .perched on the prana of,
'distant, tree Which being a6:epted *, he ed., 'and,
Strange tOtell, his gun burst, and fleUiditferent wav,
in diVerS piecesi bUt liielciiy, theyagain' all esCapi;ii
without hurt. Tho pdsou who fired,
handed, herd his gun in a singular manner, and
with both liiindS'helow the guard, which
their being blownto atoms 'by' thetolence. ~:t the
explosion. •