Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1851-01-16
indian Justice, or tho cayuga Revenge.
a TALE OF THE LAST CENTURY.

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80 "A TALE OF THE LAST CENTURY.
Shortlyafter the Declaration of the In.
B dependence OF. the United States, q sur
aveyor's party plunged boldly into the
depths of the primeval forest, bent on sur
pey:ng andmaking out anew settlement.
1t oooIss not now!toS point out the precise
:: spot. Sufficient for our purposes sto locate
lin the vicinity of Cayuga Lake. Strange
as it may, and does appear, they were in
sextricably lost, Notwithstanding that there
were several expertwoodmen in the party.
For several days they wandered about in
their sendeavors to- extlicate themselves,
each succeeding day, only making the
confusion in their, brains worse contound-
-e,ed. How often do we find the coolest.
in moments of difficulty, lose their
;guse, s.; ttllsere are. times, When Sy
5an overpowering inauence-one cannot
call it fear, though gradually and unmis-
takab!y it assumes that type-all our
knowledge of past events, all our thought
of the future is one din, hazy blank, which,
by degrees, assumes darker east, unless
master mind is there calmly and delibe-
rately to rend the veil asunder, to restore
the fast fading confidence, without which
all human energy is nought.
IT'S passing strange how the mind of
one man in times Of darkness and dread;
undismayed by danger, and uninAuenccd
by immediate peril, can SO animate the
mass that they would face greater danger
than that which totally unnamed them
scarce five minutes lrcvious y. There
was master with the party commenced
to tell YOU about, but the mind there was
not; hence their total lost and consequent
bewildcrment
Many of our readers may not have had
tie extreme felicity of losing themselves
in the bush, and consequently cannot for
moment picture to their minds the SEN
sations likely to be experienced there;
there may be many again, who without
being absolutely lost, have fancied 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 obviously as it were, and ever
have we found that, unless the bugbear
was eradicated, there and then efectually,
that total shipwreck would iufallibly be
the result. In one particular Instance,
we especially recollcct following, for sew
eral hours fasting, Ito which we attribute
$ the disorder,) deer in all manner of di.
rections, till we gave up the chase, unable
any longer, from want of snow, to track.
The bush we were in we had travcrsed
many time, we knew that n. E. course
would bring us out from any part Of it,
somewhere near where we wanted to go,
and yet when we did see about returning
our compass lied, the moss on the trees
lied, every thiugl lied but our fancics, which
pointed out quite contrary direction
We sat dow to argue the point, bring rea
son to combat prejudice, and yet ther
every argument failed to CONVINCE tho
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 al
times to control the mind. We were ner
vous, irritable, and fancied ourselves hal
lost-why we cannot tell-and when WE
got out of the bush we were totally lost
for we did not recognize a 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 seiz
the mind, spite of better Judgment, in al
almost well.known small bush, tits cas-,
to account for the total bewilderment 0
the party whose entrance into an unknown
wild we chronicled some time back. Iha
this particular party were lost is eviden
from their having wandered for sever;
days, until at sundown one evening, wit