Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1851-01-16
1ad;an Justice, or The cayusa Revenge.


Shortly after the Declaration of the In
dependence of the United States, a sur
reyor's party plunged boldly into the
depths of, the primeval forest, bent Oh sur
vey:ng and making out anew settlement
1t occts not now to point out the precise
spot. Sufficient for our purposes to locate
lin the vicinity of Cayuga Lake. Strange
as it may, and does appear, they were in
extricab!y lost, notwithstanding that there
were several expert woodmen in the party.
For several days they wandered about in
their endeavors to extricate themselves,
each succeeding day, only making the
confusion in their brains worse contound-
e,ed. How often do we find the coolest
il moments of difficulty, lose their
s-=s-seess,;; s-;e tlhcro are. times, when ~
IAN ovcrpowering inhuence-one cannot
call it fear, though gradually and nnmis-
takab!y it assumes that type-a!l our
knowledge Of past events. al our thought
Of the future is one din, hazy blank, which,
by degrees, assumes a darker east, unless
n master mind is there calmly and delibe-
ratcly to rend the veil asunder, to restore
the fast fading confidence, without which
all human energy is nought.
Ills passing strange how the mind of
one man in times of darkness and dread;
undismaycd by danger, and uainAuenccd
by immediate peril, can SO animate tic
mass that they would face greater danger
than that which totally unnamed them
scarce five minutes previously. There
was master with the party commenced
to tell you about, but the mind there WAS
not hence their total lost and consequent
bcwldcrmen:.
Many of our readers may not have had
tie extreme felicity Of losing themselves
in the bush, and consequently cannot for
a moment picture to their minds the sen,
sations likely to be experienced there;
there may be many again, who without
being absolutely lost, have fancicd them
selves so, the feeling being rarely second
to the reality. Old woodmen, though we
be, this fancy in our hunting excursions,
has more than once crossed our mind,
family and dubiousl y as it were, and ever
have we found that, unless the bugbear
was eradicated, there and then etIectually,
that total shipwreck would iuflllibly be
the result. In one particular Instance,
we especially recollect following, for sew
eral hours fasting, Ito which we attribute
the disorler,) a deer in all manner Of d.
ree!ions, till we gave up the chase, unable
any longer, from want of snow, to track.
The bush we were in we had travcrscd
many Il time, we knew that n. E. course
would bring us out from any part Of it,
somewhere near where we wanted to 60,
and yet when we did see about returning
our compass lied, the moss on the trees
led, every thing lied but our f;sncics, which
pointed out quite contrary direction
We sat dow to argue the point, bring rea.
son to combat prejudice, and yet then
every argument failed to convince the
wandering mind. We had to walk back
seven miles for letting the mind overcome
reason. But even after that we have
been sensible that it is not possible at all
times to control the mind. We were ner.
vous, irritable, and fancied ourselves hall
lost-why we cannot tell-and when we
got out of the bush we were totally lost
for we did not recognize building which
we had seen for years, and yet we were
not afraid in this particular instance, tho
in all probability in another hours time
we should have been that also.
If then at times vague fears will seize
the mind, spite of better judgment, in an
almost well-known small bush, tits easy
to account for the total bewilderment Of
the party whose entrance into an unknown
wild we chronicled some time back. That
this particular party were lost is evident
from their having wandered for sever;l
days, until at sundown one evening, witt