Part 19

The dawn of day only enabled us to see all the danger of our situation. We were within one hundred yards of a rocky lee shore, and depending upon one anchor, which, if the gale increased, the captain feared very much would not hold. The day was wet and squally, and the appearance of the sky gave us every reason to imagine that the weather, instead of growing moderate, would become still more tempestuous than it either was or had been; nevertheless, buoyed up by hope, and by a good share of animal spirits, we eat our breakfasts regardless of the impending danger, and afterwards sat down to a game of cards; but scarcely had we played for one hour when the dismal cry was heard of, “All hands aloft,” as the vessel was again drifting towards the shore. The day being very cold, I had thrown a blanket over my shoulders, and had fastened it round my waist with a girdle, in the Indian fashion; but being incapable of managing it like an Indian, I stopped to disencumber myself of it before I went on deck, so that, as it happened, I was the last man below. The readiest way of going up was through the hatchway, and I had just got my foot upon the ladder, in order to ascend, when the vessel struck with great force upon the rocks. The women shrieking now flocked round me, begging for God’s sake that I would stay by them; at the same time my companions urged me from above to come up with all possible speed. To my latest hour I shall never forget the emotions which I felt at that moment; to have staid below would have been useless; I endeavoured, therefore, to comfort the poor creatures that clung to me, and then disengaging myself from them, forced my way upon deck, where I was no sooner arrived than the hatches were instantly shut down upon the wretched females, whose shrieks resounded through the vessel, notwithstanding all the bustle of the seamen, and the tremendous roaring of the breakers amongst the adjacent rocks.

Before two minutes had passed over, the vessel struck a second time, but with a still greater shock; and at the end of a quarter of an hour, during which period she had gradually approached nearer towards the shore, she began to strike with the fall of every wave.

The general opinion now seemed to be in favour of cutting away the masts, in order to lighten the vessel; and the axes were actually upraised for that purpose, when one of my companions, who possessed a considerable share of nautical knowledge from having been in the navy, opposed the measure. It appeared to him, that as the pumps were still free, and as the vessel had not yet made more water than could be easily got under, the cutting away of the masts would only be to deprive ourselves of the means of getting off the rock if the wind should veer about; but he advised the captain to have the yards and topmasts cut away. The masts were spared, and his advice was in every other respect attended to. The wind unfortunately, however, still continued to blow from the same point, and the only alteration observable in it was its blowing with still greater force than ever.

[Sidenote: A STORM.]

As the storm increased, the waves began to roll with greater turbulence than before; and with such impetuosity did they break over the bows of the vessel, that it was with the very utmost difficulty that I, and half a dozen more who had taken our station on the forecastle, could hold by our hands fast enough to save ourselves from being carried overboard. For upwards of four hours did we remain in this situation, expending every instant that the vessel would go to pieces, and exposed every three or four minutes to the shock of one of the tremendous breakers which came rolling towards us. Many of the billows appeared to be half as high as the foretop, and sometimes, when they burst over us, our breath was nearly taken away by the violence of the shock. At last, finding ourselves so benumbed with cold that it would be impossible for us to make any exertions in the water to save ourselves if the vessel was wrecked, we determined to go below, there to remain until we should be again forced up by the waves.

Some of the passengers now began to write their wills on scraps of paper, and to inclose them in what they imagined would be most likely to preserve them from the water; others had begun to take from their trunks what they deemed most valuable; and one unfortunate thoughtless man, who was moving with his family from the upper country, we discovered in the very act of loading himself with dollars from head to foot, so that had he fallen into the water in the state we found him, he must inevitably have been carried to the bottom.

Words can convey no idea of the wildness that reigned in the countenance of almost every person as the night approached; and many, terrified with the apprehensions of a nightly shipwreck, began to lament that the cable had not been at once cut, so as to have let the vessel go on shore whilst day-light remained: this indeed had been proposed a few hours after the vessel began to strike; but it was over-ruled by the captain, who very properly refused to adopt a measure tending to the immediate and certain destruction of his vessel, whilst a possibility remained that she might escape.

Till nine o’clock at night the vessel kept striking every minute, during which time we were kept in a state of the most dreadful suspence about our fate; but then happily the wind shifted one or two points in our favour, which occasioned the vessel to roll instead of striking. At midnight the gale grew somewhat more moderate; and at three in the morning it was so far abated, that the men were enabled to haul on the anchor, and in a short time to bring the vessel once more into deep water, and out of all danger. Great was the joy, as may well be imagined, which this circumstance diffused amongst the passengers; and well pleased was each one, after the fatigue and anxiety of the preceding day, to think he might securely lay himself down to rest.

The next morning the sun arose in all his majesty from behind one of the distant islands. The azure sky was unobscured by a single cloud, the air felt serenely mild, and the birds, as if equally delighted with man that the storm was over, sweetly warbled forth their songs in the adjacent woods; in short, had it not been for the disordered condition in which we saw our vessel, and every thing belonging to us, the perils we had gone through would have appeared like a dream.

[Sidenote: DAMAGE DONE THE SHIP.]

The first object of examination was the rudder. The tiller was broken to atoms; and the sailors who went over the stern reported, that of the four gudgeons or hooks on which the rudder was suspended, only one was left entire, and that one was much bent. On being unshipped, the bottom of it was found to be so much shivered that it actually resembled the end of a broom. The keel, there was every reason to suppose, was in the same shattered condition; nevertheless the vessel, to the great astonishment of every person on board, did not make much water. Had she been half as crazy as the King’s vessel in which we went up the lake, nothing could have saved her from destruction.

A consultation was now held upon what was best to be done. To proceed on the voyage appeared totally out of the question; and it only remained to determine which way was the easiest and readiest to get back to Malden. All was at a stand, when an officer in the American service proposed the beating out of an iron crow bar, and the manufacturing of new gudgeons. This was thought to be impracticable; but necessity, the mother of invention, having set all our heads to work, an anvil was formed of a number of axes laid upon a block of wood; a large fire was kindled, and a party of us acting as smiths in turns, by the end of three hours contrived to hammer out one very respectable gudgeon.

In the mean time others of the passengers were employed in making a new tiller, and others undertook to fish for the cable and anchor that had been slipped, whilst the sailors were kept busily employed at the rigging. By nightfall the vessel was so far refitted that no apprehensions were any longer entertained about our being able to reach Malden in safety, and some began to think there would be no danger in prosecuting the voyage down the lake. The captain said that his conduct must be regulated entirely by the appearance of the weather on the following day.

[Sidenote: MEET TWO YOUNG TRAVELLERS.]

Early the next morning, whilst we yet remained stretched in our births, our party was much surprised at hearing the sound of strange voices upon deck; but our surprise was still greater, when on a nearer approach we recognized them to be the voices of two young friends of ours, who, like ourselves, had crossed the Atlantic to make a tour of the continent of North America, and whom, but a few days before we had quitted Philadelphia, we had accompanied some miles from that city on their way towards the south. They had travelled, it seemed, from Philadelphia to Virginia, afterwards to Kentucky, and had found their way from the Ohio to Detroit on horseback, after encountering numberless inconveniences. There they had engaged a passage in a little sloop bound to Fort Erie, the last vessel which was to quit that port during the present season. They had embarked the preceding day, and in the night had run in to Put-in-Bay, as the wind was not favourable for going down the lake. The commander of the sloop offered to stay by our vessel, and to give her every assistance in his power, if our captain chose to proceed down the lake with him. The offer was gladly accepted, and it was agreed that the two vessels should sail together as soon as the wind was favourable.

After having breakfasted, we proceeded with our young friends, in the ship’s boat, to that part of the island off which we had been exposed to so much danger. Here we found the shore strewed with the oars, spars, &c. which had been washed overboard, and from the dreadful manner in which they were shattered, no doubt remained on our minds, but that if the vessel had been wrecked, two thirds of the passengers at least must have perished amidst the rocks and breakers. We spent the day rambling about the woods, and recounting to each other our adventures since the last separation, and in the evening returned to our respective ships. About midnight the wind became fair, and whilst we lay wrapt in sleep the vessels put to sea.

All hopes of being able to get on shore at Presqu’ Isle were now over, for the captain, as our vessel was in such a ticklish condition, was fearful of venturing in there, lest he might lose sight of the sloop; we made up our minds, therefore, for being carried once more to our old quarters, Fort Erie; and after a most disagreeable passage of four days, during which we encountered several squalls not a little alarming, landed there in safety.

[Sidenote: ENGAGE INDIAN GUIDES.]

Our friends immediately set out for Newark, from whence, if the season would admit of it, and a favourable opportunity offered, they proposed to sail to Kingston, and proceed afterwards to Lower Canada; we, on the contrary, desirous of returning by a different route from that by which we had come up the country, crossed over to Buffalo Creek, in hopes of being able to procure horses at the Indian village there, to carry us through the Genesee country. To our disappointment we found, that all the Indians of the village who had horses had already set out with them on their hunting expedition; but the interpreters told us, that if we would consent to walk through the woods, as far as the settlements of the white people, the nearest of which was ninety miles from Buffalo Creek, he did not doubt but that he could find Indians in the village who would undertake to carry our baggage for us; and that once arrived at the back settlements, we should find it no difficult matter to hire horses. We readily agreed to his proposals, and he in consequence soon picked out from the Indians five men, amongst which was a war chief, on whom he told us we might place every reliance, as he was a man of an excellent character. The Indians, it was settled, were to have five dollars apiece for their services, and we were to furnish them with provisions and liquor. The interpreter, who was a white man, put us on our guard against giving them too much of the latter; but he advised us always to give them some whenever we took any ourselves, and advised us also to eat with them, and to behave towards them in every respect as if they were our equals. We had already seen enough of the Indians, to know that this advice was good, and indeed to have adopted of ourselves the line of conduct which he recommended, even if he had said nothing on the subject.

Having arranged every thing to our satisfaction, we returned to Fort Erie; there we disposed of all our superfluous baggage, and having made some addition to the stores of dried provisions and biscuits which our kind friend Captain E—— had furnished us with on leaving his hospitable roof, we embarked, with all belonging to us, in the ship’s boat, for the village on Buffalo Creek, where we had settled to pass the night, in order to be ready to start early the next morning.

[Sidenote: JOURNEY THROUGH THE WOODS.]

The Indians were with us according to appointment at day-break; they divided the baggage, fastened their loads each on their carrying frames, and appeared perfectly ready to depart, when their chief requested, through the interpreter, “that we would give them before they set out a little of that precious water we possessed, to wash their eyes with, which would dispel the mists of sleep that still hung over them, and thus enable them to find out with certainty the intricate path through the thick forest we were about to traverse;” in other words, that we would give them some brandy. It is always in figurative language of this kind that the Indians ask for spirits. We dispensed a glass full of the precious liquor, according to their desire, to each of them, as well as to their squaws and children, whom they brought along with them to share our bounty, and then, the Indians having taken up their loads, we penetrated into the woods, along a narrow path scarcely discernible, owing to the quantities of withered leaves with which it was strewed.

After proceeding a few miles, we stopped by the side of a little stream of clear water to breakfast; on the banks of another stream we eat our dinner; and at a third we stopped for the night. Having laid down their loads, the Indians immediately began to erect poles, and cover them with pieces of bark, which they found lying on the ground, and which had evidently been left there by some travellers who had taken up their quarters for the night at this same place some time before; but we put a stop to their work, by shaking out from the bag in which it was deposited, our travelling tent. They perceived now that they must employ themselves in a different manner, and knowing perfectly well what was to be done, they at once set to work with their tomahawks in cutting poles and pegs. In less than five minutes, as we all bore a part, the poles and pegs were cut, and the tent pitched.

One of the Indians now made signs to us to lend him a bag, having received which he ran into the woods, and was soon out of sight. We were at a loss to guess what he was in pursuit of; but in a little time he returned with the bag full of the finest cranberries I ever beheld. In the mean time another of them, of his own accord, busied himself in carrying heaps of dried leaves into the tent, which, with our buffalo skins, afforded luxurious beds to men like us, that had slept on nothing better than a board for upwards of a month past. In the upper country it is so customary for travellers to carry their own bedding, that even at our friend Captain E——’s house we had no other accommodation at night than the floor of an empty room, on which we spread our skins. As for themselves, the Indians thought of no covering whatsoever, but simply stretched themselves on the ground beside the fire, where they lay like dogs or cats till morning. At day-break we started, and stopped as on the preceding day beside streams of water to eat our breakfasts and dinners.

[Sidenote: JOURNEY THROUGH THE WOODS.]

From Buffalo Creek to the place where we encamped on the first night, distant about twenty-five miles, the country being very flat, and the trees growing so closely together that it was impossible to see farther forward in any direction than fifty yards, our journey after a short time became very uninteresting. Nothing in its kind, however, could exceed the beauty of the scenery that we met with during our second day’s journey. We found the country, as we passed along, interspersed with open plains of great magnitude, some of them not less, I should suppose, than fifteen or twenty miles in circumference. The trees on the borders of these having ample room to spread, were luxuriant beyond description, and shot forth their branches with all the grandeur and variety which characterizes the English timber, particularly the oak. The woods round the plains were indented in every direction with bays and promontories, as Mr. Gilpin terms it, whilst rich clumps of trees, interspersed here and there, appeared like so many clusters of beautiful islands. The varied hues of the woods at this season of the year, in America, can hardly be imagined by those who never have had an opportunity of observing them; and indeed, as others have often remarked before, were a painter to attempt to colour a picture from them, it would be condemned in Europe as totally different from any thing that ever existed in nature.

These plains are covered with long coarse grass, which, at a future day, will probably afford feeding to numerous herds of cattle; at present they are totally unfrequented. Throughout the north-western territory of the States, and even beyond the head waters of the Mississippi, the country is interspersed with similar plains; and the farther you proceed to the westward, the more extensive in general are they. Amidst those to the westward are found numerous herds of buffaloes, elks, and other wild graminivorous animals; and formerly animals of the same description were found on these plains in the state of New York, but they have all disappeared long since, owing to their having been so constantly pursued both by the Indians and white people.

Very different opinions have been entertained respecting the deficiency of trees on these extended tracts of land, in the midst of a country that abounds so generally with wood. Some have attributed it to the poverty of the soil; whilst others have maintained, that the plains were formerly covered with trees, as well as other parts of the country, but that the trees have either been destroyed by fire, or by buffaloes, beavers, and other animals.

[Sidenote: JOURNEY THROUGH THE WOODS.]

It is well known that buffaloes, in all those parts of the country where they are found wild, commit great depredations amongst the trees, by gnawing off the bark; they are also very fond of feeding upon the young trees that spring up from seed, as well as upon the suckers of the old ones; it may readily be imagined, therefore, that the entire of the trees, on very extended tracts of land, might be thus killed by them; and as the American timber, when left exposed to the weather, soon decays, at the end of a few years no vestige of the woods would be found on these tracts, any more than if they had been consumed by fire.

It appears to me, however, that there is more weight in the opinion of those, who ascribe the deficiency of trees on the plains to the unfriendliness of the soil; for the earth towards the surface is universally very light, and of a deep black colour, and on digging but a few inches downwards you come to a cold stiff clay. On Long Island, in the state of New York, plains are met with nearly similar to these in the back country, and the Dutch farmers, who have made repeated trials of the soil, find that it will not produce wheat or any other grain, and, in short, nothing that is at all profitable except coarse grass. I make no doubt but that whenever a similar trial comes to be made of the soil of the plains to the westward, it will be found equally incapable of producing any thing but what it does at present.

[Sidenote: JOURNEY THROUGH THE WOODS.]

After having passed over a great number of these plains of different sizes, we entered once more into the thick woods; but the country here appeared much more diversified with rising grounds than it was in any part we had already traversed. As we were ascending to the top of a small eminence in the thickest part of these woods, towards the close of our second day’s journey, our Indian chief, _China-breast-plate_, who received that name in consequence of his having worn in the American war a thick china dish as an ornament on his breast, made a sign to us to follow him to the left of the path. We did so, and having proceeded for a few yards, suddenly found ourselves on the margin of a deep extensive pit, not unlike an exhausted quarry, that had lain neglected for many years. The area of it contained about two acres, and it approached to a circular form; the sides were extremely steep, and seemed in no place to be less than forty feet high; in some parts they were considerably higher. Near the center of the place was a large pond, and round the edges of it, as well as round the bottom of the precipice, grew several very lofty pines. The walls of the precipice consisted of a whitish substance not unlike lime-stone half calcined, and round the margin of the pit, at top, lay several heaps of loose matter resembling lime-rubbish. _China-breast-plate_, standing on the brink of the precipice, began to tell us a long story, and pointing to a distant place beyond it, frequently mentioned the word Niagara. Whether, however, the story related to the pit, or whether it related to the Falls of Niagara, the smoke arising from which it is by no means improbable might be seen, at times, from the elevated spot where we stood, or whether the story related to both, we could in no way learn, as we were totally unacquainted with the Seneka language, and he was nearly equally ignorant of the English. I never met with any person afterwards who had seen this place, or who knew any thing relating to it. Though we made repeated signs to _China-breast-plate_ that we did not understand his story, he still went on with it for near a quarter of an hour; the other Indians listened to it with great attention, and seemed to take no small interest in what he said.

I should have mentioned to you before, that both the Indians and the white Americans pronounce the word Niagara differently from what we do. The former lay the accent on the second syllable, and pronounce the word full and broad as if written Nee-awg-ara. The Americans likewise lay the accent on the second syllable; but pronounce it short, and give the same sound to the letters I and A as we do. Niagara, in the language of the neighbouring Indians, signifies a mighty rushing or fall of water.