population is so much increased, that there is now computed to be
about seventy thousand inhabitants, including three or four thousand
negro slaves. In 1787 they attempted to form themselves into an
independent state, under the name of the Franklin State; but this
project was abandoned.[58] It is still very probable, and has already
been in question, that East and West Tennessea will ultimately form
two distinct states, which will each enlarge itself by a new addition
of part of the territory belonging to the Cherokee Indians. The
natives, it is true, will not hear the least mention of a cession
being made, objecting that their tract of country is barely sufficient
to furnish, by hunting, a subsistence for their families. However,
sooner or later they will be obliged to yield. The division of
Tennessea cannot be long before it takes place, whether under {249}
the consideration of convenience, or the enterprising disposition of
the Americans. It is commanded, on the one hand, by the boundaries
that Nature herself has prescribed between the two countries, in
separating them by the Cumberland Mountains; and on the other, by
their commerce, which is wholly different, since Cumberland carries on
its trade by the Ohio and Mississippi, while Holston does most by land
with the seaports belonging to the Atlantic states, and has very
little to do with New Orleans by the river Tennessea, and scarcely any
with Cumberland and Kentucky. Under this consideration, Holston is, of
all parts in the United States that are now inhabited, the most
unfavourably situated, being on every side circumscribed by
considerable tracts of country that produce the same provisions, and
which are either more fertile or nearer to the borders of the sea.
What has been said relative to the manners of the inhabitants of
Kentucky will apply, in a great measure to Tennessea, since they come,
as the former {250} do, from North Carolina and Virginia: still the
inhabitants of Tennessea do not yet enjoy that degree of independence
which is remarked among those of Kentucky. They appear also not so
religious, although, in the mean time, they are very strict observers
of Sundays. We found but very few churches in Tennessea. Itinerant
preachers wander, in summer, through the different countries, and
preach in the woods, where the people collect together.
{251} CHAP. XXVIII
_Departure from Jonesborough for Morganton in North Carolina.--
Journey over Iron Mountains.--Sojourn on the mountains.--
Journey over the Blue Ridges and Linneville Mountains.--
Arrival at Morganton._
On the 21st of September 1802 I set out from Jonesborough to cross the
Alleghanies for North Carolina. About nine miles from Jonesborough the
road divides into two branches, which unite again fifty-six miles
beyond the mountains. The left, which is principally for carriages,
cuts through Yellow Mountain, and the other through Iron {252}
Mountain. I took the latter, as I had been informed it was much the
shortest. I only made nineteen miles that day, and put up at one
Cayerd’s at the Limestone Cove, where I arrived benumbed with cold by
the thick fog that reigns almost habitually in the vallies of these
enormous mountains.
Seven miles on this side Cayerd’s plantation, the road, or rather the
path, begins to be so little cut that one can scarce discern the track
for plants of all kinds that cover the superficies of it; it is also
encumbered by forests of _rhododendrum_, shrubs from eighteen to
twenty feet in height, the branches of which, twisting and interwoven
with each other, impede the traveller every moment, insomuch that he
is obliged to use an axe to clear his way. The torrents that we had
continually to cross added to the difficulty and danger of the
journey, the horses being exposed to fall on account of the loose
round flints, concealed by the ebullition of the waters with which the
bottom of these torrents are filled.
I had the day following twenty-three miles to {253} make without
meeting with the least kind of a plantation. After having made the
most minute inquiry with regard to the path I had to take, I set out
about eight o’clock in the morning from the Limestone Cove, and after
a journey of three hours I reached the summit of the mountain, which I
recognized by several trees with “_the road_” marked on each, and in
the same direction to indicate the line of demarcation that separates
the state of Tennessea from that of North Carolina. The distance from
the Limestone Cove to the summit of the mountain is computed to be
about two miles and a half, and three miles thence to the other side.
The declivity of the two sides is very steep, insomuch that it is with
great difficulty a person can sit upon his horse, and that half the
time he is obliged to go on foot. Arrived at the bottom of the
mountain, I had again, as the evening before, to cross through forests
of _rhododendrum_, and a large torrent called Rocky Creek, the winding
course of which cut the path in twelve or fifteen directions; every
time I was obliged to alight, or go {254} up the torrent by walking
into the middle for the space of ten or fifteen fathoms, in order to
regain on the other bank the continuation of the path, which is very
rarely opposite, and of which the entrance was frequently concealed by
tufts of grass or branches of trees, which have time to grow and
extend their foliage, since whole months elapse without its being
passed by travellers. At length I happily arrived at the end of my
journey. I then perceived the imprudence I had committed in having
exposed myself without a guide in a road so little frequented, and
where a person every moment runs the risk of losing himself on account
of the sub-divisions of the road, that ultimately disappear, and which
it would be impossible to find again, unless by being perfectly
acquainted with the localities and disposition of the country, where
obstacle upon obstacle oppose the journey of the traveller, and whose
situation would in a short time become very critical from the want of
provisions.
On the 23d I made twenty-two miles through a {255} country bestrewed
with mountains, but not so lofty as that which I had just passed over,
and arrived at the house of one Davenport, the owner of a charming
plantation upon Doe river, a torrent about forty feet in breadth, and
which empties itself into the Nolachuky. I had learnt the evening
before, of the person with whom I had lodged, that it was at
Davenport’s my father had resided, and that it was this man who served
him as a guide across the mountains when on his travels to discover
their productions. I was at that time very far from thinking that at
the same time when this worthy man was entertaining me about his old
travelling companion, I lost a beloved father, who died a victim of
his zeal for the progress of natural history upon the coast of the
island of Madagascar!
I staid a week at Davenport’s, in order to rest myself after a journey
of six hundred miles that I had just made, and during this interval I
travelled over the Blue Ridges that encompass his plantation. On the
2d of October 1802 I set out on my journey {256} again, and proceeded
towards Morganton, a distance of thirty-five miles. About four miles
from Doe river I re-passed the chain of the Blue Ridges. Its summit is
obtained by a gentle declivity, which is much longer and more rapid on
the eastern side, without being impracticable for carriages. The
journey over this mountain is computed to be about four miles and a
half.
About five miles from the Blue Ridges are the Linneville Mountains,
not quite so lofty as the latter, but steeper, and more difficult to
ascend. The road that cuts through them is encumbered westward with
large, flat stones, which impede the traveller on his route. From the
summit of these mountains, which is not overstocked with trees, we
discovered an immense extent of mountainous country covered with
forests, and at their base only three small places cleared, which form
as many plantations, three or four miles distant from each other.
From the Linneville Mountains to Morganton it is computed to be
twenty-five miles, where I arrived {257} on the 5th of October. In
this interval the country is slightly mountainous, and the soil
extremely bad; at the same time we did not find more than four or five
plantations on the road. About a mile on this side the town we crossed
the northern arm of the river Catabaw, in this part nearly fifty
fathoms broad, although the source of this river is only fifty miles.
The rains that had fallen in the mountains had produced a sudden
increase of water, and the master of the ferry-boat conceiving it
would not last long, had not thought proper to re-establish his boat,
so that I was obliged to ford. One of his children pointed out to me
the different directions that I had to take in order to avoid the
immense cavities under water.
{258} CHAP. XXIX
_General observations upon this part of the Chain of the
Alleghanies.--Salamander which is found in the torrents.--
Bear hunting._
IN Pennsylvania and Virginia the Alleghanies present themselves under
the form of parallel furrows, but varying in their length. They are
mostly near together, and form narrow vallies; but sometimes the
interval that separates them is from twenty to thirty miles in length;
again these spaces are filled with a multitude of hills of a lesser
elevation, confusedly scattered, and in no wise affecting the
direction of the principal chains. On the confines of North Carolina
and Tennessea the Alleghanies are, {259} on the contrary, isolated
mountains, and only contiguous by their base; they embrace also in
diameter an extent of country less considerable, and which is not
computed to be more than seventy miles. The furrow that bears more
particularly the name of the Alleghany Ridge in Pennsylvania, and that
of Blue Ridge in North Carolina, is the only one that, continuing
uninterruptedly, divides the rivers that run into the Atlantic Ocean
from those that swell the current of the Ohio. The height of this
chain is still infinitely less than that of the neighbouring
mountains. It is here that the Alleghanies, which cross the United
States for the space of nine hundred miles, have the highest
elevation. This is the opinion of most of the inhabitants, who, from
the mountainous part of Pennsylvania and Virginia, have emigrated on
the confines of North Carolina, and who know the respective heights of
all these mountains. That of the first rank is called Grandfather
Mountain, the next Iron Mountain, and thus in succession Yellow
Mountain, Black Mountain, and Table {260} Mountain, which are all
situate upon the western rivers. On the top of Yellow Mountain, the
only one that is not stocked with trees, all the abovementioned may be
seen.
We may again remark, in support of the preceding observation, that
from the 10th to the 20th of September the cold is so keenly felt upon
the mountains that the inhabitants are obliged to make a fire, which
is not the case upon any of those in Virginia, although they are
situated more northerly by several degrees: and besides I have since
seen in my father’s notes that he had observed trees and shrubs upon
the Yellow and Grandfather Mountains that he did not meet with again
till he reached Low Canada.
As the only ideas given concerning the height of the Alleghanies are
the result of observations taken in Virginia, we see, according to
that short exposition, that we have but an inaccurate account; this
induced me to point out the highest mountains where their true
elevation might be ascertained. They are about three hundred and sixty
miles from Charleston, in {261} South Carolina, and five hundred and
fifty from Philadelphia.
The mineral kingdom is very little diversified in these mountains. The
mines which have hitherto been found are chiefly those of iron. They
are worked with success, and the iron which they derive from it is of
an excellent quality.
In the mountainous parts of Pennsylvania and Virginia the land,
frequently dry and flinty, is of an indifferent nature. Here, on the
contrary, the soil far from being flinty, is perpetually moist, and
very fertile. We may judge of it by the vegetable strength of the
trees, among which we observed the red and black oak, the sugar-maple,
the ash, the yellow-blossomed chesnut, or the _magnolia acuminata_ and
_auriculata_, and the common chesnut, which grows to a prodigious
height. The side of these mountains that looks north is sometimes
covered exclusively with the _kalmia latifolia_, or calico-tree, from
twelve to fifteen feet high. They frequently occupy spaces of from two
to three hundred acres, {262} which at a distance affords the aspect
of a charming meadow. It is well known that this shrub excels every
other in point of blossom.
In the great woods the superficies of the soil is covered with a
species of wild peas, that rises about three feet from the earth, and
serves as excellent fodder for the cattle. They prefer this pasturage
to any other, and whenever they are driven from it they pine away, or
make their escape to get to it again.
These mountains begin to be populated rapidly. The salubrity of the
air, the excellence of the water, and more especially the pasturage of
these wild peas for the cattle, are so many causes that induce new
inhabitants to settle there.
Estates of the first class are sold at the rate of two dollars, and
the taxes are not more than a half-penny per acre. Indian corn, wheat,
rye, oats, and peach trees, are the sole objects of culture.
In the torrents we found a species of salamander, called by the
inhabitants the mountain alligator; {263} many of which are upwards of
two feet in length.[59] It was in Doe river that my father caught the
one which is described in _The New Dictionary of Natural History_,
published by Deterville.
The inhabitants of these mountains are famed for being excellent
hunters. Towards the middle of autumn most of them go in pursuit of
bears, of which they sell the skins, and the flesh, which is very
good, serves them in a great measure for food during that season. They
prefer it to all other kinds of meat, and look upon it as the only
thing they can eat without being indisposed by it. They make also of
their hind legs the most delicious hams. In autumn and winter the
bears grow excessively fat; some of them weigh upward of four hundred
weight. Their grease is consumed in the country instead of oil. They
hunt them with great dogs, which, without going near them, bark,
teaze, and oblige them to climb up a tree, when the hunter kills them
with a carabine. A beautiful skin sells for a dollar and a half or two
dollars. The black bear of North {264} America lives chiefly on roots,
acorns and chesnuts. In order to procure a greater quantity of them,
he gets up into the trees, and as his weight does not permit him to
climb to any height, he breaks off the branch where he has observed
the most fruit by hugging it with one of his fore paws. I have seen
branches of such a diameter that these animals must be endowed with an
uncommon strength to have been able to break them by setting about it
in this manner. In the summer, when they are most exposed to want
victuals, they fall upon pigs, and sometimes even upon men.
{265} CHAP. XXX
_Morganton.--Departure for Charleston.--Lincolnton.--Chester.--
Winesborough.--Columbia.--Aspect of the Country on the Road.--
Agriculture, &c. &c._
Morganton, the principal town of the county of Burke, contains about
fifty houses built of wood, and almost all inhabited by tradesmen. One
warehouse only, supported by a commercial house at Charleston, is
established in this little town, where the inhabitants, for twenty
miles round, come and purchase mercery and jewellery goods from
England, or give in exchange a part of their produce, which consists
chiefly of dried hams, butter, tallow, {266} bear and stag skins, and
ginseng, which they bring from the mountains.
From Morganton to Charleston it is computed to be two hundred and
eighty-five miles. There are several roads to it, which do not vary in
point of distance above twenty miles. Travellers take that where they
think of finding the best houses for accommodation: I took the one
that leads through Lincolnton, Chester, and Columbia. The distance
from Morganton to Lincolnton is forty-five miles. For the whole of
this space the soil is extremely bad, and the plantations, straggling
five or six miles from each other, have but a middling appearance. The
woods are in a great measure composed of different kinds of oaks, and
the surface of the ground is covered with grass, intermixed with
plants.
Lincolnton, the principal town of the county of Lincoln, is formed by
the junction of forty houses, surrounded by the woods like all the
small towns of the interior. Two or three large shops, that do the
same kind of business as that at Morganton, are established {267}
there. The tradesmen who keep them send the produce of their country
to Charleston, but they find it sometimes answers their purpose better
to stock themselves with goods from Philadelphia, although farther by
six hundred miles. Some expedite them by sea to Carolina, whence they
go by land to Lincolnton. The freight, a little higher from England to
Charleston, and the enormous advance which the merchants lay on their
goods, appear the only motives that make them give the preference to
those of Philadelphia.
At Lincolnton they print a newspaper in folio, that comes out twice a
week. The price of subscription is two dollars per year; but the
printer, who is his own editor, takes, by way of payment, for the ease
of his country subscribers, flour, rye, wax, &c. at the market price.
The advertisements inserted for the inhabitants of the country are
generally the surest profit to the printers. The foreign news is
extracted from the papers that are published at the sea ports. The
federal government, of which the constant aim is {268} to propagate
among the people instruction, the knowledge of the laws, grants the
editors of periodical papers, throughout the whole extent of the
United States, the right to receive, free of postage, the newspapers
that they wish to exchange among themselves, or those which are
addressed to them.
The county of Lincoln is populated, in a great measure, by Germans
from Pennsylvania. Their plantations are kept in the greatest order,
and their lands well cultivated. Almost all have negro slaves, and
there reigns much more independance among them than in the families of
English origin. One may form a correct idea of the industry of some of
them by the appearance of the plantation where I stopped, situated
upon a branch of the Catabaw River. In eight hundred acres, of which
it is composed, a hundred and fifty are cultivated in cotton, Indian
corn, wheat, and oats, and dunged annually, which is a great degree of
perfection in the present state of the agriculture of this part of the
country. Independant of this, he has built in his yard several {269}
machines, that the same current of water puts in motion; they consist
of a corn mill, a saw mill, another to separate the cotton seeds, a
tan-house, a tan-mill, a distillery to make peach brandy, and a small
forge, where the inhabitants of the country go to have their horses
shod. Seven or eight negro slaves are employed in the different
departments, some of which are only occupied at certain periods of the
year. Their wives are employed under the direction of the mistress in
manufacturing cotton and linen for the use of the family.
The whole of my landlord’s taxes, assessed upon his landed property,
and these different kinds of industry, did not amount annually to more
than seven dollars; whilst under the presidency of J. Adams they had
increased to fifty; at the same time his memory is not held in great
veneration in Upper Carolina and the Western States, where the
political opinion is strongly pronounced in the sense of opposition,
and where nobody durst confess himself publicly attached to the
federal party.
{270} In all the towns that I travelled through every tanner has his
tan mill, which does not cost him above ten dollars to erect. The bark
is put into a wooden arch, twelve or fourteen feet in diameter, the
edges of which are about fifteen inches high, and it is crushed under
the weight of a wheel, about one foot thick, which is turned by a
horse, and fixed similar to a cyder-press. For this purpose they
generally make use of an old mill-stone, or a wooden wheel, formed by
several pieces joined together, and furnished in its circumference
with three rows of teeth, also made of wood, about two inches long and
twelve or fifteen wide.
From Lincolnton to Chester court house in the state of South Carolina,
it is computed to be about seventy miles. For the whole of this space
the earth is light and of an inferior quality to that situated between
Morganton and Lincolnton, although the mass of the forests is composed
of various species of oaks; in the mean time the pines are in such
abundance there, that for several miles the ground is covered {271}
with nothing else. Plantations are so little increased there, that we
scarcely saw twenty where they cultivate cotton or Indian wheat. We
passed by several that had been deserted by the owners as not
sufficiently productive: for the inhabitants of Georgia and the two
Carolinas, who plant nothing but rice, choose frequently rather to
make new clearings than to keep their land in a state of producing
annually, by regular tillage, as they do in Europe, and even in New
England and Pennsylvania. The considerable extent of this country,
compared with the trifling population, gives rise to these changes
which take place after fifteen or twenty successive harvests.
Chester contains about thirty houses, built of wood; among the number
are two inns and two respectable shops. In the principal county towns
of the Western and Southern States, they have neither fairs nor
markets. The inhabitants sell the produce of their culture to
shopkeepers settled in the small towns, or what is more usual in the
south, they convey them in waggons to the sea ports.
{272} From Chester the country grows worse in every respect. The
traveller no longer meets reception at plantations; he is obliged to
put up at inns, where he is badly accommodated both in point of board
and lodging, and pays dearer than in any other part of the United
States. The reputation of these inns is esteemed according to the
quantity and different kinds of spirits that they sell, among which
French brandies hold always the first rank, although they are often
mixed with water for the third or fourth time.
They reckon fifty-five miles from Chester to Columbia; twenty-five
miles on this side we passed through Winesborough, composed of about a
hundred and fifty houses. This place is one of the oldest inhabited in
Carolina, and several planters of the low country go and spend the
summer and autumn there. Fifteen miles on this side Winesborough the
_pine barrens_ begin, and thence to the sea side the country is one
continued forest composed of pines.
Columbia, founded within these twenty years, is the seat of government
for the state of South Carolina. {273} It is built about two hundred
fathoms from the Catabaw River, upon an uniform spot of ground. The
number of its houses does not exceed two hundred; they are almost all
built of wood, and painted grey and yellow; and although there are
very few of them more than two stories high, they have a very
respectable appearance. The legislature, formed by the union of the
delegates of different counties that send them in a number
proportionate to their population, meet there annually on the first of
December, and all the business is transacted in the same month; it
then dissolves, and, except at that time, the town derives no
particular advantage from being the seat of government.
The inhabitants of the upper country, who do not approve of sending
their provisions to Charleston, stop at Columbia, where they dispose
of them at several respectable shops established in the town.
The river Catabaw, about twenty fathoms broad, is only navigable
during the winter; the rest of the year its navigation is stopped by
large rocks that intercept {274} its course. They have been,
nevertheless, at work for these several years past in forming a canal
to facilitate the descent of the boats, but the work goes on very
slowly for the want of hands, although the workmen are paid at the
rate of a dollar per day.