Part 14

The day after leaving the Lake the weather was cold and windy. After travelling some miles in a south-westerly direction, I entered a beautiful and solitary wood. It had more the appearance of an improved forest than of a wilderness. In this wood I sat down to make some remarks in my journal. I generally stopped two or three times a day for this purpose;—sometimes sitting on a stump, sometimes under a tree, and sometimes by the side of huge masses of ice near the shores of the Lake. A record of passing scenes and events should immediately be made by the traveller. By delay, their impressions upon his mind become less legible, and then _art_ must supply, in some measure, the place of nature.

The rain storm, and the moderate weather of which I have spoken, covered many places in this part of the country with water to the depth of several feet. Here low grounds and prairies made their appearance, and wading over them, through snow, and water, and ice, was both laborious and painful.

The weather having again become cold, the surface of the snow congealed to a hard crust, so that my moccasons and socks became completely worn through, and my feet much swollen. I deemed it advisable, as the remains of my moccasons and socks were no security to my feet, and at the same {92} time retarded my progress, to throw them aside and travel barefooted. From this mode of travelling I found no serious inconvenience. At length, however, my feet swelled to an alarming size; but believing that rest alone would remove the evil, and not being willing to afford myself much, I concluded to abandon them to that possible remedy, which is incident to the crisis of disease and the influence of habit. I now travelled with even more industry than before; and in the course of a few days the swelling was entirely reduced: this experiment, however, was not very pleasant; especially, after a few hours rest.

I am confident that people, who are exposed to want both of food and clothing, and also to pain, suffer much less than is imagined; and particularly so if their minds are engaged in any interesting undertaking. Man may, by habit, render almost any situation tolerable; and I agree with Seneca, that if our sufferings are not very great we can bear them with firmness; and if they are very great we shall soon be relieved from them by death. During at least one half of the time employed in performing my tour from New-Hampshire to Detroit, I was afflicted by the tooth-ache; but notwithstanding this circumstance, and also the toils and privations which I experienced, I do not remember a moment, during this period, in which I did not possess a balance of pleasure. The solitude which surrounded me, the novelty of my situation, and the interesting prospects which frequently presented themselves, often rendered me very happy.

In the course of a day or two after adopting my new mode of travelling, I was so fortunate as to meet with several Indians, and of them I purchased a pair of deerskin shoes. Indian women often accompany the men in their hunting expeditions; and {93} one may frequently see them in the woods employed in dressing Deer and Elk skins, and in making shoes of them. They use the sinews of animals and the fibres of the inner bark of trees instead of thread.

The weather was still rather severe, and the water beneath the surface of the snow and ice exceedingly cold; my health, however, continued good; and the only difficulty with which I had to contend was a want of provisions. Sometimes I could not seasonably find game; sometimes could not meet with even an Indian cabin; and sometimes even here scarcity and want existed.

In this part of the country, although generally level, I met with several very steep hills.

Soon after passing Black River,[84] an inconsiderable stream, the weather again became more moderate; and the sun shone pleasantly. I reached a hunting ground; and here game was very plenty. Black and grey squirrels, partridges, quails, and deer were numerous. Five or six of the latter were situated not far from me in a little thicket. My garments of fur caused them to look upon me with rather an inquisitive than fearful aspect. I had never seen wild deer before, and they appeared too innocent for death. I was only half disposed to shoot them; and whilst I was musing upon this interesting group, they saw my dogs, and bounded delightfully over the hills and rivulets. My dogs voluntarily pursued them, and brought one of these guileless animals to the earth.

It is truly unpleasant to survey that lengthy, and complicated chain of destruction, which supports animal life. From the animalcula of physical nature to Behemoth himself, there is, mutually or exclusively, perpetual carnage. Man, although a compound being;—altho’ possessing a moral as well as a physical nature, is the great devourer. He revels, in {94} pride and in luxury, upon the animal world; and after feasting high, employs himself in the butchery of his own species. Such is the aberrative power incident to his free agency.

The destruction of animal life is necessary to the security, and perhaps to the health of man; but the life and comfort of animals should never be trifled with. It is the only life which they can live; their little light, once put out, is extinguished forever.

Upon leaving the hunting ground I passed Vermillion River.[85] It is inconsiderable, but abounds with fish. The weather had so moderated, that there was much danger in passing it on the ice. The soil near this river is of a very fertile quality. It is diversified with levels and gentle swells; and is covered with a valuable growth of hard wood. The sugar maple greatly abounds here, and vast quantities of sugar and molasses are produced from its sap. Here too are frequently found bee hives containing from 100 to 200 pounds of honey. Many kinds of nuts also grow here in great abundance; and the swine in the woods are very numerous. The boars sometimes become wild and fierce, and are hunted with horses and dogs.

I have observed, that the land, in the vicinity of Buffalo, is not so good as that which is east of it. The soil appears to become better and better after crossing the Pennsylvania line; and especially after reaching Vermillion River. Previous to my arrival here, however, I could, owing to the snow, judge only from the situation of the land, the growth of timber upon it, and from information occasionally obtained.

On the 8th of March I passed Huron River.[86] The weather was moderate, the snow and ice melted very fast, and I crossed a rapid freshet on logs. The traveller, after having long marched through deep snows, and after having experienced all the severities {95} of winter, sees, in the thawing winds of spring, the hand of a watchful and kind Providence. “He casteth forth his ice like morsels; who can stand before his cold! He sendeth out his word, and melteth them; he causeth his wind to blow and the waters to flow.”

Soon after leaving this river I crossed vast prairies, all of which are rich, but some of them are too wet for cultivation. The best of these prairies are from two to three feet deep, consisting of a rich black mould, and having a pan of limestone. A team of four yoke of oxen is necessary to plough them. The most proper series of crops is, first wheat, secondly corn, and then, lying fallow, the land will produce a spontaneous growth of fine grass, which answers every necessary purpose of fodder in this part of the country. Innumerable cattle may be fed on these prairies in summer, and, generally, they may subsist here during a considerable part of the winter. An unlimited quantity of coarse hay may be cut here; growing, as it does, spontaneously, and in great abundance. By cutting it, the growth becomes less coarse, and more succulent and palatable.

Cattle in this part of the country are, in the summer season, very fat; but a great many of them die of disease, and often very suddenly. Last winter they suffered greatly from the severity of the season, and the want of fodder; and during the early part of last spring many of them were in a perishing condition.

Crops of wheat here are very good; and the best of the land produces from 40 to 60 bushels of corn an acre without manure. Indeed manure is never used here. In time, however, the natural fertility of the soil will become less; and farmers would do well, even here, to yard their cattle.

At present, provisions in this part of the country {96} command a high price. The numerous emigrations thither produce a scarcity. Along the south shore of Lake Erie the markets will, for some time to come, be very good. Depos of provisions are established here by the farmers of New-York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio; and vessels on the Lake transport them, during the spring and fall, to Detroit and other places. Although the cultivator, in the immediate vicinity of Detroit, meets with every encouragement, agriculture there is very little attended to; the consequence is, that produce to a large amount finds, from abroad, a ready market in that place.

I now consider myself in that part of the state of Ohio which lies west of the Connecticut Reserve.

Of considerable portions of the country, which are situated between the Huron and Sandusky rivers, I entertain a favourable opinion; other parts of it, however, are too swampy for cultivation. There are many fine tracts from the Pennsylvania line to the last mentioned place.

The Deer in the vicinity of the prairies, of which I have been speaking, are very large. Some of them weigh from 150 to 200 pounds. Wild turkeys too, are here numerous, and they sometimes weigh from 20 to 30 pounds. But facts like these unduly affect the imagination. These kinds of game cannot always be found; the toils of the chase are frequently unrewarded; and many who have settled in the west with lively feelings upon this topic, have abandoned this precarious source of profit.

For several days I have been employed in crossing vast prairies. The weather continued moderate, the snow, water, and mud were deep, and wading laborious. I frequently met with considerable freshets, and the banks of the creeks were overflown. Here I saw vast flocks of wild geese flying towards {97} Sandusky Bay. Their hoarse notes, proceeding from the misty air, rendered even more solitary a trackless and almost illimitable plain of high and coarse grass. I was repeatedly lost in these prairies; and found it necessary to calculate my way by compass and maps.

Within about twenty miles of the famous Black Swamp,[87] I entered, late in the afternoon, a dark wood in a low and wet situation. The weather being moderate, I continued to travel until very late in the evening. About 12 o’clock at night my dogs contended with a herd of wolves and were both slain. The winter, until within a few days, having been very severe, the wolves, probably, were very hungry and ferocious. It is said, that in this part of the country they are very numerous and bold. From the manner in which the contest commenced, I am inclined to believe, that the wolves, having issued from their dens, had come to feast themselves. Previous to the rencounter, all was perfect silence. My dogs were near me, and without the least noise, which I could perceive, the war commenced. It was sudden and furious.

I had, for hours, been experiencing a most excruciating tooth-ache; and my sense of hearing was considerably affected by it. But when the contest began, I, for a moment, forgot my infirmities, seized my gun, encouraged my dogs, and marched forth in the most lively expectation of achieving some great victory. It being, however, very dark, the bushes being thick, and the voice of the battle beginning to die upon my ear, a sense of my sufferings returned, and I sought repose in my tent. But I found no repose there: the whole night was employed in endeavouring to assuage with gun powder and salt, the only applications in my power, an almost insufferable tooth-ache.

{98} My dogs never returned from the strife. I had lost the faithful, and disinterested partners of my toil. I could not leave so interesting a place. For two nights and one day I remained upon the spot;—but for what, I did not know. In the listlessness of sorrow I fired my rifle into the air. At length I realized, that my dogs had fallen nobly; and the sentiments of grief found a solace in the dictates of pride.

As the fate of my dogs is interesting I may be permitted to spend a moment in their praise.

They were not, like the hounds of Sparta, dewlaped and flewed; but they possessed the acuteness of these, with the courage of the mastiff. They were very large, and accustomed to the strife of the woods. Tyger was grave and intrepid. Small game excited in him no interest; but when the breath of the foe greeted him in the breeze, he surveyed, at a glance, and with a lofty aspect the surrounding wood. Slow, steady, and firm in pursuit, he remained silent until the object of his search was found; and then, a cry more terrible than his

“Was never hallowed to, Nor check’d with horn in Crete or Thessaly.”

He had lost an eye in the battles of the mountains, and was, in every sense of the word, a veteran.

Pomp was active, generous, affectionate, and in courage and perseverance unrivalled. In the night, it was his custom to pillow his head upon his master’s breast; and he ever seemed concerned to guard him from the dangers of an unsheltered repose.

Perhaps too I may here notice some traits in the character of the wolf. The countenance of this animal evinces both cunning and ferocity. The length of his body is generally about four feet, the legs from fifteen to eighteen inches, the circumference of {99} the body from two and an half to three feet, and the tail sixteen inches in length. The colour of the wolf is a mixture of light and brown with streaks of grey. His hair is long, rough, and very coarse; his tail is bushy, something like that of a fox, his body is generally gaunt, his limbs are muscular, and his strength very great: with perfect ease he can carry a sheep in his mouth.

The cunning and agility of this animal are equal to his strength; and his appetite for animal food is exceedingly voracious;—so much so, that he often dies in pining for it. When his hunger is very imperious, even man becomes the object of his ferocity. His sense of smelling is so acute, that at the distance of three leagues, a carcass will attract his attention. The wolf is a very solitary animal; and never associates with his species but for the purpose of attacking a human being, or some animal of which he is individually afraid; and when the object of the combination is effected, each retires sullenly to his den.

It appears by the early stages of English history, that wolves in England have been so formidable as to attract the particular attention of the King; and even as late as Edward the first, a superintendant was appointed for the extirpation of this dangerous and destructive animal.

I may add that not long after the loss of my dogs I reached, just before night, a solitary log hut; and in about an hour after a wolf howled at the door.

Leaving the field of battle, I moved on towards Sandusky rapids. My health had suffered by fatigue and want of sleep. The weather was still moderate; and the water, rushing through the vallies, seemed to sing the requiem of my lost companions. My lone steps too, through the streams, forcibly reminded me of their absence.

{100} In the course of the day I passed over the low and swampy grounds, and the prospect became a little diversified. A few small yet steep hills presented themselves. Here the soil is fertile and the growth of timber elegant; upon one spacious rise of ground near these, however, there are a few scattering oaks, and the soil is thin and sterile.

The following night I heard the howling of some beasts of prey, and apprehended an attack. I newly primed my gun and pistols; but my ragged domicil was not invaded.

A day or two after, I reached Sandusky Rapids.[88] The land in the vicinity of this river is very fertile. The hill, a little west of the river, is high, and its summit constitutes a vast plain of rich land. A town, I understand, is here to be laid out. The soil below the hill, on both sides of the river, is also very rich; but the situation is too low to be pleasant, and must, I think, be unhealthy. On the west of the river are a few scattering houses. The river at the rapids is about thirty rods wide; and when I crossed it, it was full of floating ice. The velocity of the current was great. Sandusky Bay is situated about eighteen miles below the rapids; and Upper Sandusky lies about forty miles above them.[89] Upon this river are situated several tribes of Wyandot and Seneca Indians; and the United States derived from them by the treaty of Greenville, two small tracts of land lying upon the banks of the above mentioned river and bay.[90]

At a little distance from the western bank of the lower rapids of this river is Fort Sandusky, which was, during the late war, so nobly and effectually defended by the youthful Croghan.[91] I examined this post with much attention and interest. Its means of annoyance must have been in itself, inconsiderable; but the genius of a Croghan, supported by one {101} hundred and sixty patriotic and unyielding spirits, defended it against the repeated and embittered efforts of five hundred British regulars, and seven hundred Indians, aided by several gunboats and some pieces of artillery. The beseiged had only one six pounder. This they masked until the enemy leaped into the ditch, and then it swept them with dreadful carnage. This defence is beyond praise.

After remaining at Sandusky a few hours I entered the celebrated Black Swamp. It was in its very worst state. In my journal I observe, that I will not attempt to describe it. There was an unusual quantity of snow and ice upon the ground; and the weather being moderate the water rapidly increased. The distance across the swamp is forty miles. The wading was continually deep, the bushes thick, and the surface of the earth frozen and full of holes. What was worse than all, the ice, not yet separated and nearly strong enough to bear one, was continually breaking and letting the traveller into water from two to four feet in depth. The creeks there too are numerous, and the ice in them was broken up. The freshets were great, the banks of the creeks overflown, and the whole country inundated. In proceeding through the swamp I was constantly employed in making great exertions for nearly four days. The weight of my dress and baggage was a very great incumbrance to me; but my buffalo pantaloons were a defence against the thick yet brittle ice through which I was continually breaking.

At the edge of the swamp I saw an Indian passing across a neck of land on the Sandusky; and I hailed him, for the purpose of obtaining some information as to the best way through this trackless wild; but he either could not speak English, or pretended that this was the case. It is said that they {102} frequently do so. Soon after, I met with three Indians, together with one white man. The white man was a little intoxicated, and had, they said, engaged to do some work for them but had run away. Whilst I was obtaining from them information as to my course, the white man, falling a little behind, again deserted. My rifle was immediately seized by the Indians for the purpose of shooting him; but by great exertions I held it, until the man was out of sight, and then they desisted and pursued him. I marched on.

Towards evening I found a small elevation of land, and there encamped for the night. My little fire appeared like a star on the bosom of ocean. Earth was my couch, and my covering the brilliant canopy of Heaven. After preparing my supper, I slept in peace; but was awakened, at daylight, by a high wind accompanied by rain. Ere I arose, the lofty trees shaken by the tempest seemed ready to fall upon me. During the evening, such was the stillness of the situation, and such the splendour of the firmament, that nothing but fatigue could have checked the current of reflection. How great are the advantages of solitude!—How sublime is the silence of nature’s ever active energies! There is something in the very name of wilderness, which charms the ear, and soothes the spirit of man. There is religion in it.—The children of Israel were in the wilderness, and it was a type of this world! They sought too the Land of Promise, and this was a type of Heaven.

The next morning I renewed my exertions. The weather was lowering and cold. I found it necessary to wade through water of the depth of four or five feet, and my clothes were covered with icicles. About noon I arrived at a creek, a little to the east of Charon river,[92] and found much difficulty and danger {103} in crossing it. The channel of the creek was very deep, and its banks overflown, on both sides, for a quarter of a mile. After wading some way, I reached the channel, and by the aid of a fallen tree and some floating logs crossed it; the current, however, was so rapid, that upon the fallen tree lying under the surface, I could scarcely keep upon my feet: a single mis-step would have been fatal.

Immediately after crossing the channel, I found the water about four feet deep; and its depth soon increased so as to reach my shoulders. Here I stopped to survey my situation. Although the trees in this place were large and scattering, I could not perceive the land. The prospect reminded me of the Lake of the Woods. After wading up and down for some time, in the hope of finding the water less deep, I concluded to re-cross the channel and endeavour to obtain a fordable place in some other direction; but in attempting to return, a large and decayed log, upon which I had floated and upon which the impression of my feet had been left, could not be found. I was here completely bewildered. Alone, nearly up to my neck in water, apparently in the midst of a shoreless ocean, being too without my dogs, which used to swim around me when crossing such places, my situation was rather unpleasant; the novelty of it, however, together with my apparent inability to extricate myself produced a resourceless smile. After a while, I repassed the channel of the creek; and finally, by much labour and with great hazard, reached the western shore.