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THE
Discoveries of JOHN LEDERER
from Virginia to the West of Carolina,
and other parts of the Continent.
A General and brief Account of the North-
American Continent.
NOrth, as well as South-America, may be divided into three
Regions: the Flats, the Highlands, and the Mountains. The Flats (in Indian,
Ahkynt)is
the Territory lying between the Eastern Coast, and the falls of the great
Rivers, that there run into the Atlantick Ocean, in extent generally
taken Ninety miles. The Highlands (in Indian, Ahkontshuck) begin
at those falls, and determine at the foot of the great ridge of Mountains
that runs thorow the midst of this Continent, Northeast and Southwest,
called by the Spaniards
Apalataei,from the Nation Apalakin;and
by the Indians, Pae-
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motinck. According to the best of my observation and conjecture,
they lie parallel to the Atlantick Sea-coast, that bearing from
Canada
to
Cape Florida, Northeast and Southwest, and then falling off
due West as the Mountains do at Sara: but here they take the name
of Suala; Sara in the Warrennuncock
dialect being
Sasa
or
Sualy.
The Flats, or Ahkynt, are by former Writers made so well known
to Christendom, that I will not stop the Reader here, with an unnecessary
description of them; but shall onely say, that by the rankness of the Soyl,
and salt moistness of the Air, daily discoveries of Fish-shells three fathom
deep in the earth, and Indian tradition; these parts are supposed some
Ages past to have lain under the Sea.
The Highlands (or Ahkontshuch) though under the same Parallels,
are happie notwithstanding in a more temperate and healthful Air. The ground
is over-grown with underwood in many places, and that so perplext and interwoven
with Vines, that who travels here, must sometimes cut through his way.
These Thickets harbour all sorts of beasts of prey, as Wolves, Panthers,
Leopards, Lions, &c. (which are neither so large nor so fierce
as those of Asia and Africa) and small Vermine, as
wilde Cats, Foxes, Racoons. These parts were formerly possessed by the
Tacci,aliàs
Dogi;but
they are extinct; and the Indians now seated here, are distinguished into
the several Nations of Mahoe, Nuntaneuck,aliàs
Nuntaly,
Nahyssan, Sapon, Managog, Mangoack, Akenatzy,and
Monakin,&c.
One Language is common to them all, though they differ in Dialects. The
parts inhabited here are pleasant and fruitful, because cleared of Wood,
and laid open to the Sun. The Valleys feed numerous herds of Deer and Elks
larger then Oxen: these Valleys they call Savanae,being Marish grounds
at the foot of the Apalataei,and yearly laid under water in the
beginning of Summer by flouds of melted Snow falling down from the Mountains.
The Apalataean Mountains, called in Indian Paemotinck,(or
the origine of the Indians) are barren Rocks, and
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therefore deserted by all living creatures but Bears, who cave in the
hollow Cliffs. Yet do these Mountains shoot out to the Eastward great Promontories
of rich Land, known by the high and spreading trees which they bear: these
Promontories, because lower then the main Ridge, are called by the Indians
Tanx-Paemotinck
(aliàs
Aquatt).
To the Northeast the Mountains rise higher; and at Sara
they sink
so low, that they are easily passed over: but here (as was said before)
they change their course and name, running due West, and being called Sualy:
now the Sualian
Mountains rise higher and higher Westward.
Of the Manners and Customs of the Indi-
ans inhabiting the Western parts of Ca-
rolina and Virginia.
THe Indians now seated in these parts, are none of those which the English
removed from Virginia, but a people driven by an Enemy from
the Northwest, and invited to sit down here by an Oracle above four hundred
years since, as they pretend: for the ancient inhabitants of Virginia
were
far more rude and barbarous, feeding onely upon raw flesh and fish, until
these taught them to plant Corn, and shewed them the use of it.
But before I treat of their ancient Manners and Customs, it is necessary
I should shew by what means the knowledge of them hath been conveyed from
former ages to posterity. Three ways they supply their want of Letters:
first by Counters, secondly by Emblemes or Hieroglyphicks, thirdly by Tradition
delivered in long Tales from father to son, which being children they are
made to learn by rote.
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For Counters, they use either Pebbles, or short scantlings of straw
or reeds. Where a Battel has been fought, or a Colony seated, they raise
a small Pyramid of these stones, consisting of the number slain or transplanted.
Their reeds and straws serve them in Religious Ceremonies: for they lay
them orderly in a Circle when they prepare for Devotion or Sacrifice; and
that performed, the Circle remains still; for it is Sacriledge to disturb
or to touch it: the disposition and sorting of the straws and reeds, shew
what kinde of Rites have there been celebrated, as Invocation, Sacrifice,
Burial, &c.
The faculties of the minde and body they commonly express by Emblems.
By the figure of a Stag, they imply swiftness; by that of a Serpent, wrath;
of a Lion, courage; of a Dog, fidelity; by a Swan, they signifie the English,alluding
to their complexion, and flight over the Sea.
An account of Time, and other things, they keep on a string or leather
thong tied in knots of several colours. I took particular notice of small
Wheels serving for this purpose among the Oenocks, because
I have heard that the Mexicans use the same. Every Nation gives
his particular Ensigne or Arms: The Sasquesahanaugh a Tarapine,
or small Tortoise; the Akenatzy's a Serpent; the Nahyssanes
three
Arrows, &c. In this they likewise agree with the Mexican
Indians.
Vid.
]os. à Costa.
They worship one God, Creater of all things, whom some call Okaeè,others
Mannith:
to him alone the High priest, or Periku,offers Sacrifice; and yet
they believe he has no regard to sublunary affairs, but commits the Government
of Mankinde to lesser Deities, as Quiacosough
and
Tagkanysough,that
is, good and evil Spirits: to these the inferiour Priests pay their devotion
and Sacrifice, at which they make recitals, to a lamentable Tune, of the
great things done by their Ancestors.
From four women, viz. Pash, Sepoy, Askarin,and
Maraskarin,they
derive the Race of Mankinde; which they
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therefore divide into four Tribes, distinguished under several names.
They very religiously observe the degrees of Marriage, which they limit
not to distance of Kindred, but difference of Tribes, which are continued
in the issue of the Females: now for two of the same Tribe to match, is
abhorred as Incest, and punished with great severity.
Their places of Burial they divide into four quarters, assigning to
every Tribe one: for, to mingle their bodies, even when dead, they hold
wicked and ominous. They commonly wrap up the corpse in beasts skins, and
bury with it Provision and Housholdstuff for its use in the other world.
When their great men die, they likewise slay prisoners of War to attend
them. They believe the transmigration of souls: for the Angry they say
is possest with the spirit of a Serpent; the Bloudy, with that of a Wolf;
the Timorous, of a Deer; the Faithful, of a Dog, &c. and therefore
they are figured by these Emblemes.
Elizium, or the abode of their lesser Deities, they place
beyond the Mountains and Indian Ocean.
Though they want those means of improving Humane Reason, which the use
of Letters affords us; let us not therefore conclude them wholly destitute
of Learning and Sciences: for by these little helps which they have found,
many of them advance their natural understandings to great knowledge in
Physick, Rhetorick, and Policie of Government: for I have been present
at several of their Consultations and Debates, and to my admiration have
heard some of their Seniors deliver themselves with as much Judgement and
Eloquence as I should have expected from men of Civil education and Literature.
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The First EXPEDITION,
From the head of Pemaeoncock, aliàs
York-
River (due West) to the top of the A-
palataean Mountains.
UPon the ninth of March 1669, (with three Indians whose names
were Magtakunh, Hopottoguoh, and Naunnugh)I
went out at the falls of Pemaeoncock, alias York-River
in
Virginia,from
an Indian Village called Shickehamany,and lay that night in the
Woods, encountring nothing remarkable, but a Rattle-snake of an extraordinary
length and thickness, for I judged it two yards and a half or better from
head to tail, and as big about as a mans arm: by the distention of her
belly, we believed her full with young; but having killed and opened her,
found there a small Squirrel whole; which caused in me a double wonder:
first, how a Reptile should catch so nimble a creature as a Squirrel; and
having caught it, how she could swallow it entire. The Indians in resolving
my doubts, plunged me into a greater astonishment, when they told me that
it was usual in these Serpents, when they lie basking in the Sun, to fetch
down these Squirrels from the tops of trees, by fixing their eye steadfastly
upon them; the horrour of which strikes such an affrightment into the little
beast, that he has no power to hinder himself from tumbling down into the
jaws of his enemy, who takes in all his sustenance without chewing, his
teeth serving him onely to offend withal. But I rather believe what I have
heard from others, that these Serpents climb the trees, and surprise their
prey in the nest.
The next day falling into Marish grounds between Pemaeoncock and
the head of the River Matapeneugh, the heaviness of the way
obliged me to cross Pemaeoncock, where its North
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and South-branch (called Ackmick) joyn in one. In the
Peninsula made by these two branches, a great Indian King called Tottopottoma
was
heretofore slain in Battel, fighting for the Christians against the Mahocks
and
Nahyssans,from
whence it retains his name to this day. Travelling thorow the Woods, a
Doe seized by a wild Cat crossed our way; the miserable creature being
even spent and breathless with the burden and cruelty of her rider, who
having fastned on her shoulder, left not sucking out her bloud until she
sunk under him: which one of the Indians perceiving, let flie a luckie
Arrow, which piercing him thorow the belly, made him quit his prey already
slain, and turn with a terrible grimas at us; but his strength and spirits
failing him, we escaped his revenge, which had certainly ensued, were not
his wound mortal. This creature is something bigger then our English Fox,
of a reddish grey colour, and in figure every way agreeing with an ordinary
Cat; fierce, ravenous and cunning: for finding the Deer (upon which they
delight most to prey) too swift for them, they watch upon branches of trees,
and as they walk or feed under, jump down upon them. The Fur of the wilde
Cat, though not very fine, is yet esteemed for its vertue in taking away
cold Aches and Pains, being worn next to the body: their flesh, though
rank as a Dogs, is eaten by the Indians.
The eleventh and twelfth, I found the ways very uneven, and cumbred
with bushes.
The thirteenth, I reached the first Spring of Pemaeoncock, having
crossed the River four times that day, by reason of its many windings;
but the water was so shallow, that it hardly wet my horses patterns. Here
a little under the surface of the earth, I found flat pieces of petrified
matter, of one side solid Stone, but on the other side Isinglas, which
I easily peeled off in flakes about four inches square: several of these
pieces, with a transparent Stone like Crystal that cut Glass, and a white
Marchasite that I purchased of the Indians, I presented to Sir William
Berkley Governour of Virginia.
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The fourteenth of March, from the top of an eminent hill,
I first descried the Apalataean Mountains, bearing due West to the
place I stood upon: their distance from me was so great, that I could hardly
discern whether they were Mountains or Clouds, until my Indian fellow travellers
prostrating themselves in Adoration, howled out after a barbarous manner,
Okéepoeze,i.e.
God
is nigh.
The fifteenth of March, not far from this hill, passing
over
the South-branch of Rappahanock-river, I was almost swallowed in
a Quicksand. Great herds of Red and Fallow Deer I daily saw feeding; and
on the hill-sides, Bears crashing Mast like Swine. Small Leopards I have
seen in the Woods, but never any Lions, though their skins are much worn
by Indians. The Wolves in these parts are so ravenous, that I often in
the night feared my horse would be devoured by them, they would gather
up and howl so close round about him, though Tether'd to the same tree
at whose foot I my self and the Indians lay: but the Fires which we made,
I suppose, scared them from worrying us all. Beaver and Otter I met with
at every River that I passed; and the Woods are full of Grey Foxes.
Thus I travelled all the sixteenth; and on the seventeenth of March
I
reached the Apalataei. The Air here is very thick and chill; and
the waters issuing from the Mountainsides, of a Blue colour, and Allumish
taste.
The eighteenth of March, after I had in vain assayed to
ride up, I alighted, and left my horse with one of the Indians, whilst
with the other two I climbed up the Rocks, which were so incumbred with
bushes and brambles, that the ascent proved very difficult: besides, the
first precipice was so steep, that if I lookt down, I was immediately taken
with a swimming in my head; though afterwards the way was more easie. The
height of this Mountain was very extraordinary: for notwithstanding I set
out with the first appearance of light, it was late in the evening before
I gained the top, from whence the next morning I had a beautiful
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prospect of the Atlantick-Ocean washing the Virginian-shore;
but to the North and West, my sight was suddenly bounded by Mountains higher
than that I stood upon. Here did I wander in Snow, for the most part, till
the Four and twentieth day of March, hoping to finde some
passage through the Mountains; but the coldness of the Air and Earth together,
seizing my Hands and Feet with numbness, put me to a ne plus ultra;
and therefore having found my Indian at the foot of the Mountain
with my Horse, I returned back by the same way that I went.
The Second Expedition,
From the Falls of Powhatan, alias James-
River, in Virginia, to Mahock in
the
Apalataean Mountains.
The twentieth of May 1670, one Major Harris and my self,
with twenty Christian Horse, and five Indians, marched from
the Falls of James-River, in Virginia, towards the Monakins;
and on the Two and twentieth were welcomed by them with Volleys of Shot.
Near this Village we observed a Pyramid of stones piled up together, which
their Priests told us, was the Number of an Indian Colony drawn
out by Lot from a Neighbour-Countrey over-peopled, and led hither by one
Monack,
from whom they take the Name of Monakin. Here enquiring the way
to the Mountains, an ancient Man described with a staffe two paths on the
ground; one pointing to the Mahocks, and other to the Nahyssans;
but my English Companions slighting the Indians direction,
shaped their course by the Compass due West, and therefore it fell out
with us, as
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it does with those Land-Crabs, that crawling backwards in a direct line,
avoid not the Trees that stand in their way, but climbing over their very
tops, come down again on the other side, and so after a days labour gain
not above two foot of ground. Thus we obstinately pursuing a due West course,
rode over steep and craggy Cliffs, which beat our Horses quite off the
hoof. In these Mountains we wandred from the Twenty fifth of May
till the Third of June, finding very little sustenance for Man or
Horse; for these places are destitute both of Grain and Herbage.
The third of June we came to the South-branch of James-River,
which Major Harris observing to run Northward, vainly imagined to
be an Arm of the Lake of Canada; and was so transported with this
Fancy, that he would have raised a Pillar to the Discovery, if the fear
of the
Mahock Indian, and want of food, had permitted him to stay.
Here I moved to cross the River and march on; but the rest of the Company
were so weary of the enterprize, that crying out, One and All, they
had offered violence to me,
had I not been provided with a private Commission from the Governour
of Virginia to proceed, though the rest of the company should abandon
me; the sight of which laid their fury.
The lesser Hills, or Akontshuck, are here unpassable, being both
steep and craggy: the Rocks seemed to me at a distance to resemble Eggs
set up on end.
James-River is here as broad as it is about an hundred mile lower
at Monakin; the passage over is very dangerous, by reason of the
rapid Torrents made by Rocks and Shelves forcing the water into narrow
Chanels. From an observation which we made of straws and rotten chuncks
hanging in the boughs of Trees on the Bank, and two and twenty foot above
water, we argued that the melted Snow falling from the Mountains swelled
the River to that height, the Flood carrying down that rubbish which, upon
the abatement of the Inundation, remained in the Trees.
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The Air in these parts was so moist, that all our Biscuit became mouldy
and unfit to be eaten, so that some nicer stomachs, who at our setting
out laughed at my provision of Indian-meal parched, would gladly
now have shared with me: but I being determined to go upon further Discoveries,
refused to part with any of that which was to be my most necessary sustenance.
The Continuation of the Second Expedition
from Mahock, Southward, into the Pro-
vince of Carolina.
The fifth of June, my Company and I parted good friends, they
back again, and I with one Sasquesahanough-Indian, named Jackzetavon,
only, in pursuit of my first Enterprize, changing my course from West to
Southwest & by South, to avoid the Mountains. Major Harris at
parting gave me a Gun, believing me a lost man, and given up as a prey
to Indians or savage Beasts; which made him the bolder in Virginia
to report strange things in his own praise and my disparagement, presuming
I would never appear to disprove him. This, I suppose, and no other, was
the cause that he did with so much industry procure me discredit and odium;
but I have lost nothing by it, but what I never studied to gain, which
is Popular applause.
From the fifth, which was Sunday, until the ninth of June,
I travelled through difficult Ways, without seeing any Town or Indian;
and then I arrived at Sapon, a Village of the Nahyssans,
about an hundred miles distant from Mahock, scituate upon a branch
of Shawan, alias Rorenock-River; and though I had just cause
to fear these Indians, because they had been in continual Hostility
with the Christians for
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ten years before; yet presuming that the Truck which I carried with
me would procure my welcome, I adventured to put my self into their power,
having heard that they never offer any injury to a few persons from whom
they apprehend no danger: nevertheless, they examined me strictly whence
I came, whither I went, and what my business was. But after I had bestowed
some trifles of Glass and Metal amongst them, they were satisfied with
reasonable answers, and I received with all imaginable demonstrations of
kindness, as offering of Sacrifice, a complement shewed only to such as
they design particularly to honour: but they went further, and consulted
their Godds whether they should not admit me into their Nation and Councils,
and oblige me to stay amongst them by a Marriage with the Kings or some
of their great Mens Daughters. But I, though with much a-do, waved their
courtesie, and got my Passport, having given my word to return to them
within six months.
Sapon is within the limits of the Province of Carolina,
and as you may perceive by the Figure, has all the attributes requisite
to a pleasant and advantagious Seat; for though it stands high, and upon
a dry land, it enjoyes the benefit of a stately River, and a rich Soyl,
capable of producing many Commodities, which may hereafter render the Trade
of it considerable.
Not far distant from hence, as I understood from the Nahyssan
Indians, is their Kings Residence, called Pintahae, upon the same
River, and happy in the same advantages both for pleasure and profit: which
my curiosity would have led me to see, were I not bound, both by Oath and
Commission, to a direct pursuance of my intended purpose of discovering
a passage to the further side of the Mountains.
This Nation is governed by an absolute Monarch; the People of a high
stature, warlike and rich. I saw great store
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of Pearl unbored in their little Temples, or Oratories, which they had
won amongst other spoyls from the Indians of Florida, and hold in
as great esteem as we do.
From hence, by the Indians instructions, I directed my course to Akenatzy,
an Island bearing South & by West, and about fifty miles distant, upon
a branch of the same River, from Sapon. The Countrey here, though
high, is level, and for the most part a rich soyl, as I judged by the growth
of the Trees; yet where it is inhabited by Indians, it lies open in spacious
Plains, and is blessed with a very healthful Air, as appears by the age
and vigour of the people; and though I travelled in the Month of June,
the heat of the weather hindred me not from Riding at all hours without
any great annoyance from the Sun. By easie journeys I landed at Akenatzy
upon the twelfth of June. The current of the River is here so strong,
that my Horse had much difficulty to resist it; and I expected every step
to be carried away with the stream.
This Island, though small, maintains many inhabitants, who are fix'd
here in great security, being naturally fortified with Fastnesses of Mountains,
and Water of every side. Upon the North-shore they yearly reap great crops
of Corn, of which they always have a twelve-months Provision aforehand,
against an Invasion from their powerful Neighbours. Their Government is
under two Kings, one presiding in Arms, the other in Hunting and Husbandry.
They hold all things, except their Wives, in common; and their custome
in eating is, that every man in his turn feasts all the rest; and he that
makes the entertainment, is seated betwixt the two Kings; where having
highly commended his own chear, they carve and distribute it amongst the
guests.
At my arrival here, I met four stranger-Indians, whose Bodies were painted
in various colours with figures of Animals whose likeness I had never seen:
and by some discourse and signes which passed between us, I gathered that
they were the only survivours of fifty, who set out together
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in company from some great Island, as I conjecture, to the Northwest;
for I understood that they crossed a great Water, in which most of their
party perished by tempest, the rest dying in the Marishes and Mountains
by famine and hard weather, after a two-months travel by Land and Water
in quest of this Island of Akenatzy.
The most reasonable conjecture that I can frame out of this Relation,
is, that these Indians might come from the Island of new Albion
or California, from whence we may imagine some great arm of the
Indian Ocean or Bay stretches into the Continent towards the Apalataean
Mountains into the nature of a mid-land Sea, in which many of these Indians
might have perished. To confirm my opinion in this point, I have heard
several Indians testifie, that the Nation of Rickohockans, who dwell
not far to the Westward of the Apalataean Mountains, are seated
upon a Land, as they term it, of great Waves; by which I suppose they mean
the Sea-shore.
The next day after my arrival at Akenatzy, a Rickohockan
Ambassadour, attended by five Indians, whose faces were coloured with Auripigmentum
(in which Mineral these parts do much abound) was received, and that night
invited to a Ball of their fashion; but in the height of their mirth and
dancing, by a smoke contrived for that purpose, the Room was suddenly darkned,
and for what cause I know not, the Rickohockan and his Retinue barbarously
murthered. This struck me with such an affrightment, that the very next
day, without taking my leave of them, I slunk away with my Indian Companion.
Though the desire of informing my self further concerning some Minerals,
as Auripigmentum, &c. which I there took special notice
of, would have perswaded me to stay longer amongst them, had not the bloody
example of their treachery to the Rickohockans frighted me away.
The fourteenth of June, pursuing a South-southwest course, sometimes
by a beaten path, and sometimes over hills and
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rocks, I was forc’d to take up my quarters in the Woods: for though
the Oenock-Indians, whom I then sought, were not in a direct line
above thirty odde miles distant from Akenatzy, yet the Ways were
such, and obliged me to go far about, that I reached not Oenock
until the sixteenth. The Country here, by the industry of these Indians,
is very open, and clear of wood. Their Town is built round a field, where
in their Sports they exercise with so much labour and violence, and in
so great numbers, that I have seen the ground wet with the sweat that dropped
from their bodies: their chief Recreation is Slinging of stones. They are
of mean stature and courage, covetous and thievish, industrious to earn
a peny; and therefore hire themselves out to their neighbours, who employ
them as Carryers or Porters. They plant abundance of Grain, reap three
Crops in a Summer, and out of their Granary supply all the adjacent parts.
These and the Mountain-Indians build not their houses of Bark, but of Watling
and Plaister. In Summer, the heat of the weather makes them chuse to lie
abroad in the night under thin arbours of wilde Palm. Some houses they
have of Reed and Bark; they build them generally round: to each house belongs
a little hovel made like an oven, where they lay up their Corn and Mast,
and keep it dry. They parch their Nuts and Acorns over the fire, to take
away their rank Oyliness; which afterwards pressed, yeeld a milky liquor,
and the Acorns an Amber-colour’d Oyl. In these, mingled together, they
dip their Cakes at great Entertainments, and so serve them up to their
guests as an extraordinary dainty. Their Government is Democratick; and
the Sentences of their old men are received as Laws, or rather Oracles,
by them.
Fourteen miles West-Southwest of the Oenocks, dwell the Shackory-Indians,
upon a rich Soyl, and yet abounding in Antimony, of which they shewed me
considerable quantities. Finding them agree with the Oenocks in
Customs and Manners, I made no stay here, but passing thorow their
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Town, I travelled till the nineteenth of June; and then after
a two days troublesome Journey thorow Thickets and Marish grounds, I arrived
at Watary above fourty miles distant, and bearing West-Southwest
to Shakor. This Nation differs in Government from all the other
Indians of these parts: for they are Slaves, rather then Subjects to their
King. Their present Monarch is a grave man, and courteous to strangers:
yet I could not without horrour behold his barbarous Superstition, in hiring
three youths, and sending them forth to kill as many young women of their
Enemies as they could light on, to serve his son, then newly dead, in the
other world, as he vainly fancyed. These youths during my stay returned
with skins torn off the heads and faces of three young girls, which they
presented to his Majestie, and were by him gratefully received.
I departed from Watary the one and twentieth of June;
and keeping a West-course for near thirty miles, I came to Sara:
here I found the ways more level and easie. Sara is not far distant
from the Mountains, which here lose their height, and change their course
and name: for they run due West, and receive from the Spaniards the name
of Suala. From these Mountains or Hills the Indians draw great quantities
of Cinabar, with which beaten to powder they colour their faces:
this Mineral is of a deeper Purple then Vermilion, and is the same
which is in so much esteem amongst Physitians, being the first element
of Quicksilver.
I did likewise, to my no small admiration, find hard cakes of white
Salt amongst them: but whether they were made of Sea-water, or taken out
of Salt-pits, I know not: but am apt to believe the later, because the
Sea is so remote from them. Many other rich Commodities and Minerals there
are undoubtedly in these parts, which if possessed by an ingenious and
industrious people, would be improved to vast advantages by Trade. But
having tied my self up to things onely that I have seen in my Travels,
I will deliver no Conjectures.
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Lingua sile non est ultra narrabile quidquam.
These Indians are so indiscreetly fond of their children, that they
will not chastise them for any mischief or insolence. A little Boy had
shot an Arrow thorow my body, had I not reconciled him to me with gifts:
and all this anger was, because I spurred my horse out of another Arrows
way which he directed at him. This caused such a mutiny amongst the Youth
of the Town, that the Seniors taking my horse and self into protection,
had much ado (and that by intreaties and prayers, not commands) to appease
them.
From Sara I kept a South-Southwest course until the five and
twentieth of June, and then I reached Wisacky. This three-days
march was more troublesome to me than all my travels besides: for the direct
way which I took from Sara to Wisacky, is over a continued
Marish over-grown with Reeds, from whose roots sprung knotty stumps as
hard and sharp as Flint. I was forc'd to lead my horse most part of the
way, and wonder that he was not either plunged in the Bogs, or lamed by
those rugged knots.
This Nation is subject to a neighbour-King residing upon the bank of
a great Lake called Ushery, invironed of all sides with Mountains,
and Wisacky Marish; and therefore I will detain the Reader no longer
with the discourse of them, because I comprehend them in that of Ushery.
The six and twentieth of June, having crossed a fresh River which
runs into the Lake of Ushery, I came to the Town, which was more
populous then any I had seen before in my March. The King dwells some three
miles from it, and therefore I had no opportunity of seeing him the two
nights which I stayed there. This Prince, though his Dominions are large
and populous, is in continual fear of the Oustack-Indians seated
on the opposite side of the Lake; a people so addicted to Arms, that even
their women come into the field, and shoot Arrows over their hus-
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bands shoulders, who shield them with Leathern Targets. The men it seems
should fight with Silver-Hatchets: for one of the Usheryes told
me they were of the same metal with the Pomel of my Sword. They are a cruel
generation, and prey upon people, whom they either steal, or force away
from the Usheryes in Periago's, to sacrifice to their Idols.
The Ushery-women delight much in feather-ornaments, of which they
have great variety; but Peacocks in most esteem, because rare in those
parts. They are reasonably handsome, and have more of civility in their
carriage then I observed in the other Nations with whom I conversed; which
is the reason that the men are more effeminate and lazie.
These miserable wretches are strangely infatuated with illusions of
the devil: it caused no small horrour in me, to see one of them wrythe
his neck all on one side, foam at the mouth, stand bare-foot upon burning
coals for near an hour, and then recovering his senses, leap out of the
fire without hurt, or signe of any. This I was an eye-witness of.
The water of Ushery-lake seemed to my taste a little brackish;
which I rather impute to some Mineral-waters which flow into it, then to
any saltness it can take from the Sea, which we may reasonably suppose
is a great way from it. Many pleasant Rivulets fall into it, and it is
stored with great plenty of excellent fish. I judged it to be about ten
leagues broad: for were not the other shore very high, it could not be
discerned from Ushery. How far this Lake tends Westerly, or where
it ends, I could neither learn or guess.
Here I made a days stay, to inform my self further in these Countries;
and understood both from the Usheries, and some Sara-Indians
that came to trade with them, that two-days journey and a half from hence
to the Southwest, a powerful Nation of Bearded men were seated, which I
suppose to be the Spaniards, because the Indians never have any; it being
an universal custom amongst them, to prevent
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their growth, by plucking the young hair out by the roots. Westward
lies a Government inhospitable to strangers; and to the North, over the
Suala-mountains,
lay the Rickohockans. I though it not safe to venture my self amongst
the Spaniards, lest taking me for a Spy, they would either make me away,
or condemn me to a perpetual Slavery in their Mines. Therefore not thinking
fit to proceed further, the eight and twentieth of June I faced
about, and looked homewards.
To avoid Wisacky-Marish, I shaped my course Northeast; and after
three days travel over hilly ways, where I met with no path or road, I
fell into a barren Sandy desert, where I suffered miserably for want of
water; the heat of the Summer having drunk all the Springs dry, and left
no signe of any, but the Gravelly chanels in which they run: so that if
now and then I had not found a standing Pool, which provident Nature set
round with shady Oaks, to defend it from the ardour of the Sun, my Indian
companion, horse and self had certainly perished with thirst. In this distress
we travelled till the twelfth of July, and then found the head of
a River, which afterwards proved Eruco; in which we received not
onely the comfort of a necessary and seasonable refreshment, but likewise
the hopes of coming into a Country again where we might finde Game for
food at least, if not discover some new Nation or People. Nor did our hopes
fail us: for after we had crossed the River twice, we were led by it upon
the fourteenth of July to the Town of Katearas, a place of
great Indian Trade and Commerce, and chief Seat of the haughty Emperour
of the Toskiroro's, called Kaskusara, vulgarly Kaskous.
His grim Majestie, upon my first appearance, demanded my Gun and Shot;
which I willingly parted with, to ransom my self out of his clutches: for
he was the most proud imperious Barbarian that I met with in all my Marches.
The people here at this time seemed prepared for some extraordinary
Page 20
Solemnity: for the men and women of better sort had decked themselves
very fine with pieces of bright Copper in their hair and ears, and about
their arms and neck, which upon Festival occasions they use as an extraordinary
bravery: by which it should seem this Country is not without rich Mines
of Copper. But I durst not stay to inform my self further in it, being
jealous of some sudden mischief towards me from Kaskous, his nature
being bloudy, and provoked upon any slight occasion.
Therefore leaving Katearas, I travelled through the Woods until
the sixteenth, upon which I came to Kawitziokan, an Indian town
upon a branch of Rorenoke-river, which here I passed over, continuing
my journey to Menchoerinck; and on the seventeenth departing from
thence, I lay all night in the Woods, and the next morning betimes going
by Natoway, I reached that evening Apamatuck in Virginia,
where I was not a little overjoyed to see Christian faces again.
The third and last EXPEDITION,
From the Falls of Rappahanock-River in
Virginia, (due West) to the top of the
Apalataean Mountains.
ON the twentieth of August 1670, Col. Catlet of Virginia
and
my self, with nine English Horse, and five Indians on foot, departed from
the house of one Robert Talifer, and that night reached the
falls of Rappahanock-river, in Indian Mantepeuck.
The next day we passed it over where it divides into two
Page 21
branches North and South, keeping the main branch North of us.
The three and twentieth we found it so shallow, that it onely wet our
horses hoofs.
The four and twentieth we travelled thorow the Savanae amongst
vast herds of Red and Fallow Deer which stood gazing at us; and a little
after, we came to the Promontories or Spurs of the Apalataean-mountains.
These Savanae are low grounds at the foot of the Apalataeans,
which all the Winter, Spring, and part of the Summer, lie under snow or
water, when the snow is dissolved, which falls down from the Mountains
commonly about the beginning of June; and then their verdure is
wonderful pleasant to the eye, especially of such as having travelled through
the shade of the vast Forest, come out of a melancholy darkness of a sudden,
into a clear and open skie. To heighten the beauty of these parts, the
first Springs of most of those great Rivers which run into the Atlantick
Ocean,
or Cheseapeack Bay, do here break out, and in various branches interlace
the flowry Meads, whose luxurious herbage invites numerous herds of Red
Deer (for their unusual largeness improperly termed Elks by ignorant people)
to feed. The right Elk, though very common in New Scotland, Canada,and
those Northern parts, is never seen on this side of the Continent: for
that which the Virginians call Elks, does not at all differ from
the Red Deer of Europe, but in his dimensions, which are
far greater: but yet the Elk in bigness does as far exceed them: their
heads, or horns, are not very different; but the neck of the Elk is so
short, that it hardly separates the head from the shoulders; which is the
reason that they cannot feed upon level ground but by falling on their
knees, though their heads be a yard-long: therefore they commonly either
brouse upon trees, or standing up to the belly in ponds or rivers feed
upon the banks: their Cingles or tails are hardly three inches long. I
have been told by a New-England-Gentleman, that the
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lips and nostrils of this creature is the most delicious meat he ever
tasted. As for the Red Deer we here treat of, I cannot difference the taste
of their flesh from those in Europe.
The six and twentieth of August we came to the Mountains, where
finding no horse-way up, we alighted, and left our horses with two or three
Indians below, whilst we went up afoot. The ascent was so steep, the cold
so intense, and we so tired, that having with much ado gained the top of
one of the highest, we drank the Kings Health in Brandy, gave the Mountain
His name, and agreed to return back again, having no encouragement from
that prospect to proceed to a further discovery; since from hence we saw
another Mountain, bearing North and by West to us, of a prodigious height:
for according to an observation of the distance taken by Col. Catlet,it
could not be less then fifty leagues from the place we stood upon.
Here was I stung in my sleep by a Mountain-spider; and had not an Indian
suckt out the poyson, I had died: for receiving the hurt at the tip of
one of my fingers, the venome shot up immediately into my shoulder, and
so inflamed my side, that it is not possible to express my torment. The
means used by my Physician, was first a small dose of Snakeroot-powder,
which I took in a little water; and then making a kinde of Plaister of
the same, applied it neer to the part affected: when he had done so, he
swallowed some by way of Antidote himself, and suckt my fingers end so
violently, that I felt the venome retire back from my side into my shoulder,
and from thence down my arm: having thus sucked half a score times, and
spit as often, I was eased of all my pain, and perfectly recovered. I thought
I had been bit by a Rattle-snake, for I saw not what hurt me: but the Indian
found by the wound, and the effects of it, that it was given by a Spider,
one of which he shewed me the next day: it is not unlike our great blue
Spider, onely it is somewhat longer. I suppose the nature of his poyson
to be much like that of the Tarantula.
Page 23
I being thus beyond my hopes and expectation restored to my self, we
unanimously agreed to return back, seeing no possibility of passing through
the Mountains: and finding our Indians with our horses in the place where
we left them, we rode homewards without making any further Discovery.
CONJECTURES of the Land beyond
the Apalataean Mountains.
THey are certainly in a great errour, who imagine that the Continent
of North-America is but eight or ten days journey over from the
Atlantick
to
the Indian Ocean:
which all reasonable men must acknowledge, if they consider that Sir
Francis
Drake kept a West-Northwest course from Cape Mendocino
to California.
Nevertheless,
by what I gathered from the stranger Indians at Akenatzy
of their
Voyage by Sea to the very Mountains from a far distant Northwest Country,
I am brought over to their opinion who think that the Indian Ocean does
stretch an Arm or Bay from California
into the Continent as far
as the Apalataean Mountains, answerable to the Gulfs of Florida
and
Mexico
on
this side. Yet I am far from believing with some, that such great and Navigable
Rivers are to be found on the other side the Apalataeans
falling
into the Indian Ocean, as those which run from them to the Eastward. My
first reason is derived from the knowledge and experience we already have
of South-America,whose Andes send the greatest Rivers in
the world (as the Amazones
and Rio de la Plata,&c.)into
the
Atlantick,but none at all into the Pacifique Sea. Another
Argument is, that all our Waterfowl which delight in Lakes and Rivers,
as Swans, Geese,
Page 24
Ducks, &c. come over the Mountains from the Lake of Canada,when
it is frozen over every Winter, to our fresh Rivers; which they would never
do, could they finde any on the other side of the Apalataeans.
INSTRUCTIONS to such as shall
march upon Discoveries into the
North-American Continent.
TWo breaches there are in the Apalataean Mountains, opening a
passage into the Western parts of the Continent. One, as I am informed
by Indians, at a place called Zynodoa, to the Norward; the
other at Sara, where I have been my self: but the way thither
being thorow a vast Forest, where you seldom fall into any Road or Path,
you must shape your course by a Compass; though some, for want or one,
have taken their direction from the North-side of the trees, which is distinguished
from the rest by quantities of thick Moss growing there. You will not meet
with many hinderances on horseback in your passage to the Mountains, but
where your course is interrupted by branches of the great Rivers, which
in many places are not Fordable; and therefore if you be unprovided of
means or strength to make a Bridge by felling trees across, you may be
forced to go a great way about: in this respect company is necessary, but
in others so inconvenient, that I would not advise above half a dozen,
or ten at the most, to travel together; and of these, the major part Indians:
for the Nations in your way are prone to jealousie and mischief towards
Christians in a considerable Body, and as courteous and hearty to a few,
from whom they apprehend no danger.
When you pass thorow an even level Country, where
Page 25
you can take no particular remarks from hill or waters to guide your
self by when you come back, you must not forget to notch the trees as you
go along your small Hatchet, that in your return you may know when you
fall into the same way which you went. By this means you will be certain
of the place you are in, and may govern your course homeward accordingly.
In stead of Bread, I used the meal of parched Mayz, i.e. Indian
Wheat; which when I eat, I seasoned with a little Salt. This is both more
portable and strengthning then Biscuit, and will suffer no mouldiness by
any weather. For other provisions, you may securely trust to your Gun,
the Woods being full of Fallow, and Savanae of Red-Deer, besides
great variety of excellent Fowl, as wilde Turkeys, Pigeons, Partridges,
Phesants, &c. But you must not forget to dry or barbecue some
of these before you come to the Mountains: for upon them you will meet
with no Game, except a few Bears.
Such as cannot lie on the ground, must be provided with light Hamacks,
which hung in the trees, are more cool and pleasant then any bed whatsoever.
The Order and Discipline to be observed in this Expedition is, that
an Indian Scout or two march as far before the rest of the company as they
can in sight, both for the finding out provision, and discovery of Ambushes,
if any should be laid by Enemies. Let your other Indians keep on the right
and left hand, armed not onely with Guns, but Bills and Hatchets, to build
small Arbours or Cottages of boughs and bark of trees, to shelter and defend
you from the injuries of the weather. At nights it is necessary to make
great Fires round about the place where you take up your lodging, as well
to scare Wild-beasts away, as to purifie the air. Neither must you fail
to go the Round at the close of the evening: for then, and betimes in the
morning, the Indians put all their designes in execution: in the night
they never attempt any thing.
Page 26
When in the remote parts you draw near to an Indian Town, you must by
your Scouts inform your self whether they hold any correspondence with
the Sasquesahanaughs: for to such you must give notice of your approach
by a Gun; which amongst other Indians is to be avoided, because being ignorant
of their use, it would affright and dispose them to some treacherous practice
against you.
Being arrived at a Town, enter no house until you are invited; and then
seem not afraid to be led in pinion'd like a prisoner: for that is a Ceremony
they use to friends and enemies without distinction.
You must accept of an invitation from the Seniors, before that of young
men; and refuse nothing that is offered or set afore you: for they are
very jealous, and sensible of the least slighting or neglect from strangers,
and mindful of Revenge.
Touching TRADE with Indians.
IF you barely designe a Home-trade with neighbour-Indians, for skins
of Deer, Beaver, Otter, Wild-Cat, Fox, Racoon, &c. your best
Truck is a sort of course Trading Cloth, of which a yard and a half makes
a Matchcoat or Mantle fit for their wear; as also Axes, Hoes, Knives, Sizars,
and all sorts of edg'd tools. Guns, Powder and Shot, &c. are
Commodities they will greedily barter for: but to supply the Indians with
Arms and Ammunition, is prohibited in all English Governments.
In dealing with the Indians, you must be positive and at a word: for
if they perswade you to fall any thing in your price, they will spend time
in higgling for further abatements, and seldom conclude any Bargain. Sometimes
you
Page 27
may with Brandy or Strong liquor dispose them to an humour of giving
you ten times the value of your commodity; and at other times they are
so hide-bound, that they will not offer half the Market-price, especially
if they be aware that you have a designe to circumvent them with drink,
or that they think you have a desire to their goods, which you must seem
to slight and disparage.
To the remoter Indians you must carry other kinds of Truck, as small
Looking-glasses, Pictures, Beads and Bracelets of glass, Knives, Sizars,
and all manner of gaudy toys and knacks for children, which are light and
portable. For they are apt to admire such trinkets, and will purchase them
at any rate, either with their currant Coyn of small shells, which they
call Roanoack or Peack, or perhaps with Pearl, Vermilion,
pieces of Christal; and towards Ushery, with some odde pieces
of Plate or Bullion, which they sometimes receive in Truck from the Oestacks.
Could I have foreseen when I set out, the advantages to be made by a
Trade with those remote Indians, I had gone better provided; though perhaps
I might have run a great hazard of my life, had I purchased considerably
amongst them, by carrying wealth unguarded through so many different Nations
of barbarous people: therefore it is vain for any man to propose to himself,
or undertake a Trade at that distance, unless he goes with strength to
defend, as well as an Adventure to purchase such Commodities: for in such
a designe many ought to joyn and go in company.
Some pieces of Silver unwrought I purchased my self of the Usheries,for
no other end then to justifie this account I give of my Second Expedition,
which had not determined at Ushery, were I accompanied with
half a score resolute youths that would have stuck to me in a further discovery
towards the Spanish Mines.
FINIS.
