Part 2
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_, aliàs _Rorenock_-River; and though I had just cause to fear these _Indians_, because they had been in continual Hostility with the _Christians_ for 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 Pastport, 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 _Pintahæ_, 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 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 afore-hand, 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 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 _Apalatæan_ Mountains in 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 _Apalatæan_ 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 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 so 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 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.
_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 fetch 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 then 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 husbands 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 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 thought 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 Solemnity: for the men and the 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 Menchœrinck; 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 _Apalatæan_ 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 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 _Savanæ_ 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 _Apalatæan_-mountains.
These _Savanæ_ are low grounds at the foot of the _Apalatæans_, 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 Elk’s, 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 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_.
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 _Apalatæan_ 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 _France 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 _Apalatæan_ 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 _Apalatæans_ 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 Water-fowl which delight in Lakes and Rivers, as Swans, Geese, 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 _Apalatæans_.
INSTRUCTIONS to such as shall march upon Discoveries into the North-_American_ Continent.