Sometimes It Happens,
That They Have A Large River Or Lake To Pass Over, And The Weather
Is Very Foggy, As It Often Happens In The Spring And Fall Of The Leaf;
So That They Cannot See Which Course To Steer:
In such a Case,
they being on one side of the River, or Lake, they know well enough
what
Course such a Place (which they intend for) bears from them.
Therefore, they get a great many Sticks and Chunks of Wood in their Canoe,
and then set off directly for their Port, and now and then throw over
a Piece of Wood, which directs them, by seeing how the Stick bears
from the Canoes Stern, which they always observe to keep right aft;
and this is the Indian Compass by which they will go over
a broad Water of ten or twenty Leagues wide. They will find
the Head of any River, though it is five, six or seven hundred miles off,
and they never were there, in their Lives before; as is often prov'd,
by their appointing to meet on the Head of such a River, where perhaps,
none of them ever was before, but where they shall rendezvous exactly
at the prefixt time; and if they meet with any Obstruction,
they leave certain Marks in the Way, where they that come after
will understand how many have pass'd by already, and which way they are gone.
Besides, in their War Expeditions, they have very certain Hieroglyphicks,
whereby each Party informs the other of the Success or Losses
they have met withal; all which is so exactly perform'd
by their Sylvian Marks and Characters, that they are never at a Loss
to understand one another. Yet there was never found any Letters
amongst the Savages of Carolina; nor, I believe, among any other Natives
in America, that were possess'd with any manner of Writing or Learning
throughout all the Discoveries of the New-World. {Indians make Maps.}
They will draw Maps, very exactly, of all the Rivers, Towns, Mountains,
and Roads, or what you shall enquire of them, which you may draw
by their Directions, and come to a small matter of Latitude,
reckoning by their Days Journeys. These Maps they will draw
in the Ashes of the Fire, and sometimes upon a Mat or Piece of Bark.
I have put a Pen and Ink into a Savage's Hand, and he has drawn me
the Rivers, Bays, and other Parts of a Country, which afterwards
I have found to agree with a great deal of Nicety: But you must be very much
in their Favour, otherwise they will never make these Discoveries to you;
especially, if it be in their own Quarters. {No Discovery of Mines.}
And as for Mines of Silver and other Metals, we are satisfied we have enow,
and those very rich, in Carolina and its adjacent Parts; some of which
the Indians are acquainted withal, although no Enquirers thereafter,
but what came, and were discover'd, by Chance; yet they say, it is this Metal
that the English covet, as they do their Peak and Ronoak;
and that we have gain'd Ground of them wherever we have come.
Now, say they, if we should discover these Minerals to the English,
they would settle at or near these Mountains, and bereave us
of the best Hunting-Quarters we have, as they have already done
wherever they have inhabited; so by that means, we shall be driven
to some unknown Country, to live, hunt, and get our Bread in.
These are the Reasons that the Savages give, for not making known
what they are acquainted withal, of that Nature.
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