On the twenty-fourth of October, according to my computation, in a dark
night, I came to a river which appeared to be both broad and deep.
Sounding its depth with a pole, I found it too deep to be forded, and
after the most careful search along the shore, no boat could be
discovered. This place appeared altogether strange to me, and I began to
fear that I was again lost. Confident that I had never before been where
I now found myself, and ignorant of the other side of the stream, I
thought it best not to attempt to cross this water until I was better
informed of the country through which it flowed. A thick wood bordered
the road on my left, and gave me shelter until daylight. Ascending a
tree at sunrise that overlooked the stream, which appeared to be more
than a mile in width, I perceived on the opposite shore a house, and one
large and several small boats in the river. I remained in this tree the
greater part of the day, and saw several persons cross the river, some
of whom had horses; but in the evening the boats were all taken back to
the place at which I had seen them in the morning. The river was so
broad that I felt some fear of failing in the attempt to swim it; but
seeing no prospect of procuring a boat to transport me, I resolved to
attempt the navigation as soon as it was dark. About nine o'clock at
night, having equipped myself in the best manner I was able, I undertook
this hazardous navigation, and succeeded in gaining the farther shore of
the river, in about an hour, with all my things in safety. On the
previous day I had noted the bearing of the road, as it led from the
river, and in the middle of the night I again resumed my journey, in a
state of perplexity bordering upon desperation; for it was now evident
that this was not the road by which we had traveled when we came to the
southern country, and on which hand to turn to reach the right way I
knew not.
After traveling five or six miles on this road, and having the
north-star in view all the time, I became satisfied that my course lay
northwest, and that I was consequently going out of my way; and to
heighten my anxiety, I had not tasted any animal food since I crossed
the Savannah river--a sensation of hunger harassed me constantly; but
fortune, which had been so long adverse to me, and had led me so often
astray, had now a little favor in store for me. The leaves were already
fallen from some of the more tender trees, and near the road I this
night perceived a persimmon tree, well laden with fruit, and whilst
gathering the fallen persimmons under the tree, a noise over head
arrested my attention. This noise was caused by a large opossum, which
was on the tree gathering fruit like myself. With a long stick the
animal was brought to the ground, and it proved to be very fat, weighing
at least ten pounds. With such a luxury as this in my possession, I
could not think of traveling far without tasting it, and accordingly
halted about a mile from the persimmon tree, on a rising ground in a
thick wood, where I killed my opossum, and took off its skin, a
circumstance that I much regretted, for with the skin I took at least a
pound of fine fat. Had I possessed the means of scalding my game, and
dressing it like a pig, it would have afforded me provision for a week;
but as it was, I made a large fire and roasted my prize before it,
losing all the oil that ran out in the operation, for want of a
dripping-pan to catch it. It was daylight when my meat was ready for the
table, and a very sumptuous breakfast it yielded me.
Since leaving Columbia, I had followed as nearly as the course of the
roads permitted, the index of the north-star; which, I supposed, would
lead me on the most direct route to Maryland; but I now became
convinced, that this star was leading me away from the line by which I
had approached the cotton country.
I slept none this day, but passed the whole time, from breakfast until
night, in considering the means of regaining my lost way. From the
aspect of the country I arrived at the conclusion, that I was not near
the sea-coast; for there were no swamps in all this region; the land lay
rather high and rolling, and oak timber abounded.
At the return of night, I resumed my journey earlier than usual; paying
no regard to the roads, but keeping the north-star on my left hand, as
nearly as I could. This night I killed a rabbit, which had leaped from
the bushes before me, by throwing my walking stick at it. It was roasted
at my stopping place in the morning, and was very good.
I pursued the same course, keeping the north-star on my left hand for
three nights; intending to get as far East as the road leading from
Columbia to Richmond, in Virginia; but as my line of march lay almost
continually in the woods, I made but little progress; and on the third
day, the weather became cloudy, so that I could not see the stars. This
again compelled me to lie by, until the return of fair weather.
On the second day, after I had stopped this time, the sun shone out
bright in the morning, and continued to shed a glorious light during the
day; but in the evening, the heavens became overcast with clouds; and
the night that followed was so dark, that I did not attempt to travel.
This state of the weather continued more than a week; obliging me to
remain stationary all this time. These cloudy nights were succeeded by a
brisk wind from the north-west, accompanied by fine clear nights, in
which I made the best of my way towards the north-east, pursuing my
course across the country without regard to roads, forests, or streams
of water; crossing many of the latter, none of which were deep, but some
of them were extremely muddy. One night I became entangled in a thick
and deep swamp; the trees that grew in which, were so tall, and stood so
close together, that the interlocking of their boughs, and the deep
foliage in which they were clad, prevented me from seeing the stars.
Wandering there for several hours, most of the time with mud and water
over my knees, and frequently wading in stagnant pools, with deep slimy
bottoms, I became totally lost, and was incapable of seeing the least
appearance of fast land. At length, giving up all hope of extricating
myself from this abyss of mud, water, brambles, and fallen timber, I
scrambled on a large tussock, and sat down to await the coming of day,
with the intention of going to the nearest high land, as soon as the sun
should be up. The nights were now becoming cool, and though I did not
see any frost in the swamp where I was in the morning, I have no doubt
that hoar frost was seen in the dry and open country. After daylight I
found myself as much perplexed as I was at midnight. No shore was to be
seen; and in every direction there was the same deep, dreary, black
solitude. To add to my misfortune, the morning proved cloudy, and when
the sun was up, I could not tell the east from the west. After waiting
several hours for a sight of the sun, and failing to obtain it, I set
out in search of a running stream of water, intending to strike off at
right angles, with the course of the current, and endeavor to reach the
dry ground by this means; but after wandering about, through tangled
bushes, briars, and vines, clambering over fallen tree-tops, and wading
through fens overgrown with saw grass, for two or three hours, I sat
down in despair of finding any guide to conduct me from this detestable
place.
My bag of meal that I took with me at the commencement of my journey was
long since gone; and the only provisions that I now possessed were a few
grains of parched corn, and near a pint of chestnuts that I had picked
up under a tree the day before I entered the swamp. The chestnut-tree
was full of nuts, but I was afraid to throw sticks or to shake the tree,
lest hunters or other persons hearing the noise, might be drawn to the
place.
About ten o'clock I sat down under a large cypress tree, upon a decaying
log of the same timber, to make my breakfast on a few grains of parched
corn. Near me was an open space without trees, but filled with water
that seemed to be deep, for no grass grew in it, except a small quantity
near the shore. The water was on my left hand, and as I sat cracking my
corn, my attention was attracted by the playful gambols of two squirrels
that were running and chasing each other on the boughs of some trees
near me. Half pleased with the joyous movements of the little animals,
and half covetous of their carcasses, to roast and devour them, I paid
no attention to a succession of sounds on my left, which I thought
proceeded from the movement of frogs at the edge of the water, until the
breaking of a stick near me caused me to turn my head, when I discovered
that I had other neighbors than spring frogs.
A monstrous alligator had left the water, and was crawling over the mud,
with his eyes fixed upon me. He was now within fifteen feet of me, and
in a moment more, if he had not broken the stick with his weight, I
should have become his prey. He could easily have knocked me down with a
blow of his tail; and if his jaws had once been closed on a leg or an
arm, he would have dragged me into the water, spite of any resistance
that I could have made.
At the sight of him, I sprang to my feet, and running to the other end
of the fallen tree on which I sat, and being there out of danger, had an
opportunity of viewing the motions of the alligator at leisure. Finding
me out of his reach, he raised his trunk from the ground, elevated his
snout, and gave a wistful look, the import of which I well understood;
then turning slowly round, he retreated to the water, and sank from my
vision.
I was much alarmed by this adventure with the alligator, for had I
fallen in with this huge reptile in the night time, I should have had no
chance of escape from his tusks.
The whole day was spent in the swamp, not in traveling from place to
place, but in waiting for the sun to shine, to enable me to obtain a
knowledge of the various points of the heavens. The day was succeeded by
a night of unbroken darkness; and it was late in the evening of the
second day before I saw the sun. It being then too late to attempt to
extricate myself from the swamp for that day, I was obliged to pass
another night in the lodge that I had formed for myself in the thick
boughs of a fallen cypress tree, which elevated me several feet from the
ground, where I believed the alligator could not reach me if he should
come in pursuit of me.
On the morning of the third day the sun rose beautifully clear, and at
sight of him I set off for the East. It must have been five miles from
the place where I lay to the dry land on the East of the swamp; for with
all the exertion that fear and hunger compelled me to make, it was two
or three o'clock in the afternoon when I reached the shore, after
swimming in several places, and suffering the loss of a very valuable
part of my clothes, which were torn off by the briars and snags. On
coming to high ground I found myself in the woods, and hungry as I was,
lay down to await the coming of night, lest some one should see me
moving through the forest in daylight.
When night came on, I resumed my journey by the stars, which were
visible, and marched several miles before coming to a plantation. The
first that I came to was a cotton field; and after much search, I found
no corn nor grain of any kind on this place, and was compelled to
continue on my way.
Two or three miles further on I was more fortunate, and found a field of
corn which had been gathered from the stalks and thrown in heaps along
the ground.--Filling my little bag, which I still kept, with this corn,
I retreated a mile or two in the woods, and striking fire, encamped for
the purpose of parching and eating it. After despatching my meal, I lay
down beside the fire and fell into a sound sleep, from which I did not
awake until long after sunrise; but on rising and looking around me, I
found that my lodge was within less than a hundred yards of a new house
that people were building in the woods, and upon which men were now at
work. Dropping instantly to the ground, I crawled away through the
woods, until being out of sight of the house, I ventured to rise and
escape on my feet. After I lay down in the night, my fire had died away
and emitted no smoke; this circumstance saved me. This affair made me
more cautious as to my future conduct.
Hiding in the woods until night again came on, I continued my course
eastward, and some time after midnight came upon a wide, well beaten
road, one end of which led, at this place, a little to the left of the
north-star, which I could plainly see. Here I deliberated a long time,
whether to take this road, or continue my course across the country by
the stars; but at last resolved to follow the road, more from a desire
to get out of the woods, than from a conviction that it would lead me in
the right way. In the course of this night I saw but few plantations,
but was so fortunate as to see a ground-hog crossing the road before me.
This animal I killed with my stick, and carried it until morning.
At the approach of daylight, turning away to the right, I gained the top
of an eminence, from which I could see through the woods for some
distance around me. Here I kindled a fire and roasted my ground-hog,
which afforded me a most grateful repast, after my late fasting and
severe toils. According to custom my meal being over, I betook myself to
sleep, and did not awake until the afternoon; when descending a few rods
down the hill, and standing still to take a survey of the woods around
me, I saw, at the distance of half a mile from me, a man moving slowly
about in the forest, and apparently watching, like myself, to see if any
one was in view. Looking at this man attentively, I saw that he was a
black, and that he did not move more than a few rods from the same spot
where I first saw him. Curiosity impelled me to know more of the
condition of my neighbor; and descending quite to the foot of the hill,
I perceived that he had a covert of boughs of trees, under which I saw
him pass, and after some time return again from his retreat. Examining
the appearance of things carefully, I became satisfied that the stranger
was, like myself, a negro slave, and I determined, without more
ceremony, to go and speak to him, for I felt no fear of being betrayed
by one as badly off in the world as myself.
When this man first saw me, at the distance of a hundred yards from him,
he manifested great agitation, and at once seemed disposed to run from
me; but when I called to him, and told him not to be afraid, he became
more assured, and waited for me to come close to him. I found him to be
a dark mulatto, small and slender in person, and lame in one leg. He had
been well bred, and possessed good manners and fine address. I told him
I was traveling, and presumed this was not his dwelling place: upon
which he informed me that he was a native of Kent county, in the State
of Delaware, and had been brought up as a house-servant by his master,
who, on his death-bed, had made his will, and directed him to be set
free by his executors, at the age of twenty-five, and that in the
meantime he would be hired out as a servant to some person who should
treat him well. Soon after the death of his master, the executors hired
him to a man in Wilmington, who employed him as a waiter in his house
for three or four months, and then took him to a small town called
Newport, and sold him to a man who took him immediately to Baltimore,
where he was again sold or transferred to another man, who brought him
to South Carolina, and sold him to a cotton planter, with whom he had
lived more than two years, and had run away three weeks before the time
I saw him, with the intention of returning to Delaware.
That being lame, and becoming fatigued by traveling, he had stopped here
and made this shelter of boughs and bark of trees, under which he had
remained more than a week before I met him. He invited me to go into his
camp as he termed it, where he had an old skillet, more than a bushel
of potatoes, and several fowls, all of which he said he had purloined
from the plantations in the neighborhood.
This encampment was in a level, open wood, and it appeared surprising to
me that its occupant had not been discovered and conveyed back to his
master before this time. I told him that I thought he ran great risk of
being taken up by remaining here, and advised him to break up his lodge
immediately, and pursue his journey, traveling only in the night time.
He then proposed to join me, and travel in company with me; but this I
declined, because of his lameness and great want of discretion, though I
did not assign these reasons to him.
I remained with this man two or three hours, and ate dinner of fowls
dressed after his rude fashion.--Before leaving him, I pressed upon him
the necessity of immediately quitting the position he then occupied, but
he said he intended to remain there a few days longer, unless I would
take him with me.
On quitting my new acquaintance, I thought it prudent to change my place
of abode for the residue of this day, and removed along the top of the
hill that I occupied at least two miles, and concealed myself in a
thicket until night, when returning to the road I had left in the
morning, and traveling hard all night, I came to a large stream of water
just at the break of day. As it was too late to pass the river with
safety this morning at this ford, I went half a mile higher, and swam
across the stream in open daylight, at a place where both sides of the
water were skirted with woods. I had several large potatoes that had
been given to me by the man at his camp in the woods, and these
constituted my rations for this day.
At the rising and setting of the sun, I took the bearing of the road by
the course of the stream that I had crossed, and found that I was
traveling to the northwest, instead of the north or northeast, to one of
which latter points I wished to direct my march.
Having perceived the country in which I now was to be thickly peopled, I
remained in my resting place until late at night, when returning to the
road and crossing it, I took once more to the woods, with the stars for
my guides, and steered for the northeast.
This was a fortunate night for me in all respects. The atmosphere was
clear, the ground was high, dry, and free from thickets. In the course
of the night I passed several corn fields, with the corn still remaining
in them, and passed a potato lot, in which large quantities of fine
potatoes were dug out of the ground and lay in heaps covered with vines;
but my most signal good luck occurred just before day, when passing
under a dog-wood tree, and hearing a noise in the branches above me, I
looked up and saw a large opossum amongst the berries that hung upon the
boughs. The game was quickly shaken down, and turned out as fat as a
well-fed pig, and as heavy as a full-grown raccoon. My attention was now
turned to searching for a place in which I could secrete myself for the
day, and dress my provisions in quietness.
This day was clear and beautiful until the afternoon, when the air
became damp, and the heavens were overhung with clouds. The night that
followed was dark as pitch, compelling me to remain in my camp all
night. The next day brought with it a terrible storm of rain and wind,
that continued with but little intermission, more than twenty-four
hours, and the sun was not again visible until the third day; nor was
there a clear night for more than a week. During all this time I lay in
my camp, and subsisted upon the provisions that I had brought with me to
this place. The corn and potatoes looked so tempting, when I saw them in
the fields, that I had taken more than I should have consumed, had not
the bad weather compelled me to remain at this spot; but it was well for
me, for this time, that I had taken more than I could eat in one or two
days.
At the end of the cloudy weather, I felt much refreshed and
strengthened, and resumed my journey in high spirits, although I now
began to feel the want of shoes--those which I wore when I left my
mistress having long since been worn out, and my boots were wrap straps
of hickory bark about my feet to keep the leather from separating, and
falling to pieces.
It was now, by my computation, the month of November, and I was yet in
the State of South Carolina. I began to consider with myself, whether I
had gained or lost, by attempting to travel on the roads; and, after
revolving in my mind all the disasters that had befallen me, determined
to abandon the roads altogether, for two reasons: the first of which
was, that on the highways I was constantly liable to meet persons, or to
be overtaken by them; and a second, no less powerful, was, that as I did
not know what roads to pursue, I was oftener traveling on the wrong
route than on the right one.
Setting my face once more for the north-star, I advanced with a steady,
though slow pace, for four or five nights, when I was again delayed by
dark weather, and forced to remain in idleness nearly two weeks; and
when the weather again became clear, I was arrested on the second night
by a broad and rapid river, that appeared so formidable that I did not
dare to attempt its passage until after examining it in daylight. On the
succeeding night, however, I crossed it by swimming--resting at some
large rocks near the middle. After gaining the north side of this river,
which I believed to be the Catawba, I considered myself in North
Carolina, and again steered towards the North.