exhibiting a new knot at every third numeral, and expressing the two next by additions at the clinch. The knots, as may readily be imagined, in time grow exceedingly complicated and artificial; but they invariably adhere to the ternary system described. from the heart's core, which bespeaks the utter pros tration of the spirit beneath the blow! "There, cold in the embrace of death, lies the honoured husband of a heart-broken wife her first, her only love! Or, it may be, the young wife of a dis tracted husband, the bride of a year, the mother of an hour, and by her, perhaps, the blighted fruit of their love-the bud by the blossom, and both are withered." Tales of a Physician. OTTO OF ROSES. The number of knots in the skin of proper names is 102, and in the three collections of green knots, 231; so that, with the addition of the hundred numerals, the whole number of knots or ideographick symbols is 433. The positive contents, as presented by the key, are in the main very analogous to the The Royal Society of Edinburgh received from account of Peruvian traditions given by Humboldt Dr. Monro the following account of the manner in and Bonpland, as follows:-"The cosmogony of which this costly perfume is prepared in the East: the Mexicans their traditions on the subject of the Steep a large quantity of the petals of roses, freed mother of mankind falling from her first estate of from every extraneous matter, in pure water, in an happiness and innocence-the notion of a great in-earthern or wooden vessel, which is exposed daily undation, in which a solitary family escaped upon a to the sun, and housed at night, till a scum rises to raft the account of a building like a pyramid, raised the surface. This is the otto, which is carefully by the pride of mankind and destroyed by the an- absorbed by a very small piece of cotton tied to the ger of the gods-the ceremonies of ablution prac- end of a stick. The oil collected, squeeze out of tised at the birth of children-their idols made of the cotton into a very diminutive val, stop it for maize flour kneaded into paste, and distributed in use. The collection of it should be continued whilst portions to the people collected in the inclosure of any scum is produced. the temples-their confessions of sin made by penitents their religious associations like our convents of men and of women-the belief universally extended, that white men with long beards, and of great sanctity of manners, had changed the religious and political system of their countrymen-all these circumstances together had led the ecclesiasticks who accompanied the army of the Spaniards at the time of the conquest, to believe that at some very remote period Christianity had been preached in the newly-found continent. Some learned Mexicans thought they discovered the apostle St. Thomas in the mysterious personage, high-priest of Tula, whom the Cholulans knew under the name of Quetzalcoatl. There is no doubt that the doctrines of the Nestorians, mixed with the opinions of the Buddhists and the Chamans, found their way through Mantchou Tartary into the northeast of Asia. It is possible, therefore, to suppose with some appearance of reason, that ideas connected with Christianity may have been communicated by the same road to the Mexican races, and particularly to the inhabitants of that northern region from which the Tolteques migrated." BEAUTIFUL EXTRACT. "There is scarcely a profession in which the sympathies of its professors are more painfully excited than that of the medical practitioner. How often is he called to the bed of hopeless sickness; and that, too, in a family, the members of which are drawn together by the closest bonds of love! How painful is it to meet the inquiring gaze of attached friends, or weeping relatives, directed towards him in quest of that consolation, that assurance of safety, which he has not to give! and how melancholy is it to behold the last ray of hope, which had lingered upon the face of affection, giving place to the dark cloud of despair. "And when all is over-when the bitterness of death hath passed from the dead to the living-from the departed to the bereaved-hark to that shriek of agony, that convulsive sob, that bitter groan, wrung THE KNIGHT'S EPITAPH.-BRYANT. Cuishes, and greaves, and cuiras, with barred helm, By feet of worshippers, are traced his name "He whose forgotten dust for centuries As ever shaven cenobite. He loved As fiercely as he fought. He would have borne His victim from the fold, and rolled the rocks "He lived, the impersonation of an age COL. DANIEL BOON, OF KENTUCKY, IN THE COSTUME OF A WESTERN HUNTER. VOL. III.-36 (281) ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN DANIEL BOON, exposed daily to perils and death, among savages Comprising an Account of the Wars with the Indians on the Ohio, and wild beasts, not a white man in the country but from 1769 to 1782. WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. ourselves. Although many hundred miles from our families, in the howling wilderness, we did not continue in a state of indolence, but hunted every day, and preIt was on the first of May, 1769, that I resigned pared a little cottage to defend us from the winter. my domestick happiness, and left my family and On the first of May, 1770, my brother returned peaceable habitation on the Yadkin river in North home, for a new recruit of horses and ammunition, Carolina, to wander through the wilderness of leaving me alone, without bread, salt, or sugar, or America, in quest of the country of Kentucky, in even a horse or a dog. I passed a few days uncomcompany with John Finley, John Stuart, Joseph fortably. The idea of a beloved wife and family, Holden, James Monay, and William Cool. and their anxiety on my account, would have disOn the seventh of June, after travelling in a west-posed me to melancholy if I had further indulged ern direction, we found ourselves on Red river, the thought. where John Finley had formerly been trading with the Indians, and from the top of an eminence saw with pleasure the beautiful level of Kentucky. For some time we had experienced the most uncomfortable weather. We now encamped, made a shelter to defend us from the inclement season, and began to hunt and reconnoitre the country. We found abundance of wild beasts in this vast forest. The buffaloes were more numerous than cattle on their settlements, browsing on the leaves of the cane, or crossing the herbage on these extensive plains. We saw hundreds in a drove, and the numbers about the salt springs were amazing. In this forest, the hab-mountains lift their venerable brows and penetrate itation of beasts of every American kind, we hunted with great success until December. On the twenty-second of December, John Stuart and I had a pleasing ramble; but fortune changed the day at the close of it. We passed through a great forest, in which stood myriads of trees, some gay with blossoms, others rich with fruits. Nature was here a series of wonders and a fund of delight. Here she displayed her ingenuity and industry in a variety of flowers and fruits, beautifully coloured, elegantly shaped, and charmingly flavoured; and we were favoured with numberless animals presenting themselves perpetually to our view. In the decline of the day, near Kentucky river, as we ascended the brow of a small hill, a number of Indians rushed out of a canebrake and made us prisoners. The Indians plundered us, and kept us in confinement seven days. During this time, we discovered no uneasiness or desire to escape, which made them less suspicious; but in the dead of night, as we lay by a large fire in a thick canebrake, when sleep had locked up their senses, my situation not disposing me to rest, I gently awoke my companion. We seized this favourable opportunity and departed, directing our course towards the old camp, but found it plundered and our company destroyed or dispersed. One day I undertook a tour through the country, when the diversity and beauties of nature I met with in this charming season expelled every gloomy thought. Just at the close of the day, the gentle gales ceased; a profound calm ensued; not a breath shook the tremulous leaf. I had gained the summit of a commanding ridge, and looking around with astonishing delight, beheld the ample plains and beauteous tracts below. On one hand, I surveyed the famous Ohio rolling in silent dignity, and marking the western boundary of Kentucky with inconceivable grandeur. At a vast distance, I beheld the the clouds. All things were still. I kindled a fire near a fountain of sweet water, and feasted on the line of a buck which I had killed a few hours before. The shades of night soon overspread the hemisphere, and the earth seemed to gasp after the hovering moisture. At a distance I frequently heard the hideous yells of savages. My excursion had fatigued my body and amused my mind. I laid me down to sleep, and awoke not until the sun had chased away the night. I continued this tour, and in a few days explored a considerable part of the country, each day equally pleasing as the first. After which I returned to my old camp, which had not been disturbed in my absence. I did not confine my lodging to it, but often reposed in thick canebrakes to avoid the savages, who I believe frequently visited my camp, but fortunately for me, in my absence. No populous city, with all its varieties of commerce and stately structures, could afford such pleasure to my mind, as the beauties of nature I found in this country. Until the twenty-seventh of July, I spent my time in an uninterrupted scene of sylvan pleasures, when my brother, to my great felicity, met me, according to appointment at our old camp. Soon after we left the place, and proceeded to Cumberland river, reconnoitring that part of the country, About this time, as my brother with another adven- and giving names to the different rivers. turer who came to explore the country shortly after In March, 1771, I returned home to my family, us, was wandering through the forest, they acciden-being determined to bring them as soon as possible, tally found our camp. Notwithstanding our unfor- at the risk of my life and fortune, to reside in Kentunate circumstances, and our dangerous situation, tucky, which I esteemed a second paradise. surrounded with hostile savages, our meeting fortunately in the wilderness gave us the most sensible satisfaction. Soon after this my companion in captivity, John Stuart, was killed by the savages, and the man who came with my brother, while on a private excursion, was soon after attacked and killed by the wolves. We were now in a dangerous and helpless situation, On my return, I found my family in happy circumstances. I sold my farm on the Yadkin, and what goods we could not carry with us, and on the twenty-fifth of September, 1773, we took leave of our friends and proceeded on our journey to Kentucky, in company with five more families, and forty men that joined us in Powel's Valley, which is one hundred and fifty miles from the new settled parts of Kentucky. But this promising beginning was soon overcast with a cloud of adversity. On the tenth of October the rear of our company was attacked by a party of Indians; who killed six, and wounded one man. Of these my oldest son was one that fell in the action. Though we repulsed the enemy, yet this unhappy affair scattered our cattle and brought us into extreme difficulty. We returned forty miles to the settlement on Clench river. We had passed over two mountains, Powel and Walden's, and were approaching Cumberland mountain, when this adverse fortune overtook us. These mountains are in the wilderness, in passing from the old settlement in Virginia to Kentucky; are ranged in a southwest and northeast direction; are of great length and breadth, and not far distant from each other. Over them nature has formed passes less difficult than might be expected from the view of such huge piles. The aspect of these cliffs are so wild and horrid, that it is impossible to behold them without horrour. Until the sixth of June, 1774, I remained with my family on the Clench, when myself and another person were solicited by Governour Dunmore, of Virginia, to conduct a number of surveyors to the falls of Ohio. This was a tour of eight hundred miles, and took sixty-two days. On my return, Gov. Dunmore gave me the command of three garrisons during the campaign against the Shawanese. In March, 1765, at the solicitation of a number of gentlemen of North Carolina, I attended their treaty at Wataga with the Cherokee Indians, to purchase the lands on the south side of Kentucky river. After this, I undertook to mark out a road in the best passage from the settlements through the wilderness to Kentucky. Having collected a number of enterprising men well armed, I soon began this work. We proceeded until we came within fifteen miles of where Boonsborough now stands, where the Indians attacked us, and killed two and wounded two more of our party. This was on the twenty-second of March, 1775. Two days after we were again attacked by them, when we had two more killed and three wounded. After this, we proceeded on to Kentucky river without opposition. On the first of April, we began to erect the fort of Boonsborough, at a salt lick sixty yards from the river on the south side. On the fourth the Indians killed one of our men. On the fourteenth of June, having completed the fort, I returned to my family on the Clench, and whom I soon after removed to the fort. My wife and daughter, were supposed to be the first white women that ever stood on the banks of Kentucky river. when nearly one hundred of them attacked the village of Boonsborough, and killed a number of its inhabitants. On the sixteenth Colonel Logan's fort was attacked by two hundred Indians. There were only thirteen men in the fort, of whom the enemy killed two and wounded one. On the twentieth of August, Colonel Bowman arrived with one hundred men from Virginia, with which additional force we had almost daily skirmishes with the Indians, who began now to learn the superiority of the "long knife," as they termed the Virginians; being outgeneralled in almost every action. Our affairs began now to wear a better aspect, the Indians no longer daring to face us in open field, but sought private opportunities to destroy us. On the seventh of February, 1778, while on a hunting excursion alone, I met a party of one hundred and two Indians and two Frenchmen, marching to attack Boonsborough. They pursued and took me prisoner, and conveyed me to Old Chilicothe, the principal Indian town on little Miami, where we arrived on the eighteenth of February, after an uncomfortable journey. On the tenth of March I was conducted to Detroit, and while there, was treated with great humanity by Governour Hamilton, the British commander, at that port, and intendant for Indian affairs. The Indians had such an affection for me, that they refused one hundred pounds sterling, offered them by the governour, if they would consent to leave me with him, that he might be enabled to liberate me on my parole. Several English gentlemen then at Detroit, sensible of my adverse fortune and touched with sympathy, generously offered to supply my wants, which I declined with many thanks, adding that I never expected it would be in my power to recompense such unmerited generosity. On the tenth of April, the Indians returned with me to Old Chilicothe, where we arrived on the twenty-fifth. This was a long and fatiguing march, although through an exceeding fertile country, remarkable for springs and streams of water. At Chilicothe I spent my time as comfortable as I could expect; was adopted, according to their custom, into a family where I became a son, and had a great share in the affection of my new parents, brothers, sisters, and friends. I was exceedingly familiar and friendly with them, always appearing as cheerful and contented as possible, and they put great confidence in me. I often went a hunting with them, and frequently gained their applause for my activity at our shooting matches. I was careful not to exceed many of them in shooting, for no people are more envious than they in this sport. I could observe in their countenances and gestures the greatest expressions of joy when they exceeded me, and when the reverse happened, of envy. The Shawanese king took great notice of me, and treated me with profound respect and entire friendship, often intrusting me to hunt at my liberty. I frequently returned with the spoils of the woods, and as often The Indians, having divided themselves into sev-presented some of what I had taken to him, expreseral parties, attacked in one day all our infant settlements and forts, doing a great deal of damage. The husbandmen were ambushed and unexpectedly attacked while toiling in the field. They continued this kind of warfare until the fifteenth of April, 1777, On the twenty-fourth of December, the Indians killed one of our men and wounded another; and on the fifteenth of July, 1776, they took my daughter prisoner. I immediately pursued them with eight men, and on the sixteenth overtook and engaged them. I killed two of them and recovered my daughter. sive of duty to my sovereign. My food and lodging were in common with them, not so good indeed as I could desire, but necessity made every thing acceptable. I now began to meditate an escape, and carefully avoided giving suspicion. I continued at Chilicothe | and twenty-five pounds of their bullets, besides what until the first day of June, when I was taken to the stuck in the logs of the fort. salt springs on Sciotha, and there employed ten days in the manufacturing of salt. During this time, I hunted with my Indian masters, and found the land for a great extent about this river to exceed the soil of Kentucky. On my return to Chilicothe, one hundred and fifty of the choicest Indian warriours were ready to march against Boonsborough. They were painted and armed in a frightful manner. This alarmed me, and I determined to escape. On the twenty-sixth of June, before sunrise, I went off secretly, and reached Boonsborough on the thirtieth, a journey of one hundred and sixty miles, during which I had only one meal. I found our fortress in a bad state, but we immediately repaired our flanks, gates, posterns, and formed double bastions, which we completed in ten days. One of my fellow prisoners escaped after me, and brought advice, that on account of my flight, the Indians had put off their expedition for three weeks. About the first of August, I set out with nineteen men, to surprise Point Creek-town on Sciotha, within four miles of which we fell in with forty Indians going against Boonsborough. We attacked them, and they soon gave way without any loss on our part. The enemy had one killed and two wounded. We took three horses and all their baggage. The Indians having evacuated their town, and gone altogether against Boonsborough, we returned, passed them on the sixth, and on the seventh, arrived safe at Boonsborough. On the ninth, the Indian army, consisting of four hundred and forty-four men, under the command of Captain Duquesne, and eleven other Frenchmen, and their own chiefs, arrived and summoned the fort to surrender. I requested two days' consideration, which was granted. During this we brought in through the posterns all the horses and other cattle we could collect. On the ninth, in the evening, I informed their commander, that we were determined to defend the fort while a man was living. They then proposed a treaty, they would withdraw. The treaty was held within sixty yards of the fort, as we suspected the savages. The articles were agreed to and signed; when the Indians told us, it was their custom for two Indians to shake hands with every white man in the treaty, as an evidence of friendship. We agreed to this also. They immediately grappled us to take us prisoners, but we cleared ourselves of them, though surrounded by hundreds, and gained the fort safe, except one man, who was wounded by a heavy fire from the enemy. In July, 1779, during my absence, Colonel Bowman, with one hundred and sixty men, went against the Shawanese of Old Chilicothe. He arrived undiscovered. A battle ensued, which lasted until ten in the morning, when Colonel Bowman retreated thirty miles. The Indians collected all their strength and pursued him, when another engagement ensued for two hours, not to Colonel Bowman's advantage. Colonel Harrod proposed to mount a number of horses, and break the enemy's line, who at this time fought with remarkable fury. This desperate measure had a happy effect, and the savages fled on all sides. In these two engagements we had nine men killed and one wounded. Enemy's loss uncertain. Only two scalps were taken." June twenty-third, 1780, five hundred Indians and Canadians under Colonel Bird, attacked Riddle and Martain's station, and the forks of Licking river, with six pieces of artillery. They took all the inhabitants captives, and killed one man and two women, loading the others with the heavy baggage, and such as failed in the journey were tomahawked. The hostile disposition of the savages caused General Clark, the commandant at the falls of Ohio, to march with his regiment and the armed force of the country against Peccaway, the principal town of the Shawanese, on a branch of the great Miami, which he attacked with great success, took seventy scalps, and reduced the town to ashes, with the loss of seventeen men. About this time, I returned to Kentucky with my family; for during my captivity, my wife thinking me killed by the Indians, had transported my family and goods on horses, through the wilderness, amidst many dangers, to her father's house in North Carolina. On the sixth of October, 1780, soon after my settling again at Boonsborough, I went with my brother to the Blue Licks, and on our return he was shot by a party of Indians, who followed me by the scent of a dog, which I shot and escaped. The severity of the winter caused great distress in Kentucky, the enemy during the summer having destroyed most of the corn. The inhabitants lived chiefly on buffalo's flesh. In the spring of 1782, the Indians harassed us. In May they ravished, killed, and scalped a woman and her two daughters near Ashton's station, and took a negro prisoner. Captain Ashton pursued them with twenty-five men, and in an engagement which lasted two hours, his party were obliged to retreat, having eight killed, and four mortally wounded. Their brave commander fell in the action. The savages now began to undermine the fort, beginning at the watermark of Kentucky river, August eighteenth, two boys were carried off which is sixty yards from the fort; this we discov- from Major Hoy's station. Captain Holder pursued ered by the water being made muddy by the clay. the enemy with seventeen men, who were also deWe countermined them by cutting a trench across feated, with the loss of seven killed and two woundtheir subterraneous passage. The enemy discover- ed. Our affairs became more and more alarming. ing this by the clay we threw out of the fort, desisted. On the twentieth of August, they raised the siege, during which we had two men killed and four wounded. We lost a number of cattle. The loss of the enemy was thirty-seven killed, and a much larger number wounded. We picked up one hundred The savages infested the country and destroyed the whites as opportunity presented. In a field near Lexington, an Indian shot a man, and running to scalp him, was himself shot from the fort, and fell dead upon the ground. All the Indian nations were now united against us. |