Nature Hath So Fortify'd This Town,
With Mountains, That Were It A Seat Of War, It Might Easily
Be Made Impregnable; Having Large Corn-Fields Joining To Their Cabins,
And A Savanna Near The Town, At The Foot Of These Mountains,
That Is Capable Of Keeping Some Hundred Heads Of Cattle.
And all this
environ'd round with very high Mountains, so that no hard Wind ever troubles
these Inhabitants.
Those high Clifts have no Grass growing on them,
and very few Trees, which are very short, and stand at a great Distance
one from another. The Earth is of a red Colour, and seems to me
to be wholly design'd by Nature for the Production of Minerals,
being of too hot a Quality, to suffer any Verdure upon its Surface.
These Indians make use of Lead-Ore, to paint their Faces withal,
which they get in the neighbouring Mountains. As for the refining of Metals,
the Indians are wholly ignorant of it, being content with the Realgar.
But if it be my Chance, once more to visit these Hilly Parts,
I shall make a longer Stay amongst them: For were a good Vein of Lead
found out, and work'd by an ingenious Hand, it might be of no small Advantage
to the Undertaker, there being great Convenience for smelting,
either by Bellows or Reverberation; and the Working of these Mines
might discover some that are much richer.
At the Top of one of these Mountains, is a Cave that 100 Men
may fit very conveniently to dine in; whether natural, or artificial,
I could not learn. There is a fine Bole between this Place, and the Saps.
These Valleys thus hemm'd in with Mountains, would (doubtless) prove
a good place for propagating some sort of Fruits, that our Easterly Winds
commonly blast. The Vine could not miss of thriving well here;
but we of the Northern Climate are neither Artists, nor curious,
in propagating that pleasant and profitable Vegetable. Near the Town,
is such another Current, as Heighwaree. We being six in Company,
divided ourselves into Two Parties; and it was my Lot to be
at the House of Keyauwees Jack, who is King of that People.
He is a Congeree-Indian, and ran away when he was a Boy.
He got this Government by Marriage with the Queen; the Female Issue
carrying the Heritage, for fear of Impostors; the Savages
well knowing, how much Frailty possesses the Indian Women,
betwixt the Garters and the Girdle.
{Wednesday.}
The next day, having some occasion to write, the Indian King, who saw me,
believ'd that he could write as well as I. Whereupon, I wrote a Word,
and gave it him to copy, which he did with more Exactness,
than any European could have done, that was illiterate. It was so well,
that he who could read mine, might have done the same by his.
Afterwards, he took great Delight in making Fish-hooks of his own Invention,
which would have been a good Piece for an Antiquary to have puzzled
his Brains withal, in tracing out the Characters of all the Oriental Tongues.
He sent for several Indians to his Cabin, to look at his Handy-work,
and both he and they thought, I could read his Writing
as well as I could my own. I had a Manual in my Pocket,
that had King David's Picture in it, in one of his private Retirements.
The Indian ask'd me, Who that Figure represented? I told him,
It was the Picture of a good King, that liv'd according to
the Rules of Morality, doing to all as he would be done by,
ordering all his Life to the Service of the Creator of all things;
and being now above us all, in Heaven, with God Almighty,
who had rewarded him with all the delightful Pleasures imaginable
in the other World, for his Obedience to him in this; I concluded,
with telling them, that we received nothing here below,
as Food, Raiment, &c. but what came from that Omnipotent Being.
They listened to my Discourse with a profound Silence, assuring me,
that they believ'd what I said to be true. No Man living will ever be able
to make these Heathens sensible of the Happiness of a future State,
except he now and then mentions some lively carnal Representation,
which may quicken their Apprehensions, and make them thirst
after such a gainful Exchange; for, were the best Lecture
that ever was preach'd by Man, given to an ignorant sort of People,
in a more learned Style, than their mean Capacities are able to understand,
the Intent would prove ineffectual, and the Hearers would be left
in a greater Labyrinth than their Teacher found them in.
But dispense the Precepts of our Faith according to the Pupil's Capacity,
and there is nothing in our Religion, but what an indifferent Reason is,
in some measure, able to comprehend; tho' a New-England Minister
blames the French Jesuits for this way of Proceeding, as being
quite contrary to a true Christian Practice, and affirms it to be no ready,
or true Method, to establish a lively Representation of our Christian Belief
amongst these Infidels.
All the Indians hereabouts carefully preserve the Bones of the Flesh
they eat, and burn them, as being of Opinion, that if they omitted
that Custom, the Game would leave their Country, and they should not be able
to maintain themselves by their Hunting. Most of these Indians
wear Mustachoes, or Whiskers, which is rare; by reason the Indians
are a People that commonly pull the Hair of their Faces, and other Parts,
up by the Roots, and suffer none to grow. Here is plenty of Chesnuts,
which are rarely found in Carolina, and never near the Sea, or Salt-Water;
tho' they are frequently in such Places in Virginia.
At the other House, where our Fellow-Travellers lay, they had provided a Dish,
in great Fashion amongst the Indians, which was Two young Fawns,
taken out of the Doe's Bellies, and boil'd in the same slimy Bags
Nature had plac'd them in, and one of the Country-Hares,
stew'd with the Guts in her Belly, and her Skin with the Hair on.
This new-fashion'd Cookery wrought Abstinence in our Fellow-Travellers,
which I somewhat wonder'd at, because one of them made nothing
of eating Allegators, as heartily as if it had been Pork and Turneps.
The Indians dress most things after the Wood-cock Fashion,
never taking the Guts out.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 21 of 106
Words from 20988 to 22077
of 110081
