continually sinking, and our boat lay on her side high and dry. On both
sides of the stream, the ice had broken into heaps, forming huge walls.
Our pilot visited the river daily, to see what prospect there might be
of a change. One night, while, excepting himself, all were sound asleep,
he suddenly roused us with loud cries of "The ice is breaking! Get up,
get up! Down to the boat, lads! Bring out your axes! Hurry on, or we may
lose her! Here, let us have a torch!" Starting up as if we had been
attacked by a band of savages, we ran pell-mell to the bank. The ice was
indeed breaking up; it split with reports like those of heavy artillery,
and as the water had suddenly risen from an overflow of the Ohio, the
two streams seemed to rush against each other with violence; in
consequence of which the congealed mass was broken into large fragments,
some of which rose nearly erect here and there, and again fell with
thundering crash, as the wounded whale, when in the agonies of death,
springs up with furious force and again plunges into the foaming waters.
To our surprise the weather, which in the evening had been calm and
frosty, had become wet and blowy. The water gushed from the fissures
formed in the ice, and the prospect was extremely dismal. When day
dawned, a spectacle strange and fearful presented itself: the whole mass
of water was violently agitated, its covering was broken into small
fragments, and although not a foot of space was without ice, not a step
could the most daring have ventured to make upon it. Our boat was in
imminent danger, for the trees which had been placed to guard it from
the ice were cut or broken into pieces, and were thrust against her. It
was impossible to move her; but our pilot ordered every man to bring
down great bunches of cane, which were lashed along her sides; and
before these were destroyed by the ice, she was afloat and riding above
it. While we were gazing on the scene a tremendous crash was heard,
which seemed to have taken place about a mile below, when suddenly the
great dam of ice gave way. The current of the Mississippi had forced its
way against that of the Ohio, and in less than four hours we witnessed
the complete breaking up of the ice.
During that winter the ice was so thick on the Mississippi that,
opposite St. Louis, horses and heavy wagons crossed the river. Many
boats had been detained in the same manner as our own, so that
provisions and other necessary articles had become very scarce, and sold
at a high price. This was the winter of 1810-11.
THE PRAIRIE
On my return from the Upper Mississippi I found myself obliged to cross
one of the wide prairies which, in that portion of the United States,
vary the appearance of the country. The weather was fine; all around me
was as fresh and blooming as if it had just issued from the bosom of
Nature. My knapsack, my gun, and my dog were all I had for baggage and
company. But, although well moccasined, I moved slowly along, attracted
by the brilliancy of the flowers, and the gambols of the fawns around
their dams, to all appearance as thoughtless of danger as I felt myself.
My march was of long duration; I saw the sun sinking below the horizon
long before I could perceive any appearance of woodland, and nothing in
the shape of man had I met with that day. The track which I followed was
only an old Indian trace, and as darkness overshadowed the prairie I
felt some desire to reach at least a copse, in which I might lie down to
rest. The Night Hawks were skimming over and around me, attracted by the
buzzing wings of the beetles which form their food, and the distant
howling of wolves gave me some hope that I should soon arrive at the
skirts of some woodlands.
I did so, and almost at the same instant, a firelight attracting my eye,
I moved towards it, full of confidence that it proceeded from the camp
of some wandering Indians. I was mistaken: I discovered by its glare
that it was from the hearth of a small log cabin, and that a tall figure
passed and repassed between it and me, as if busily engaged in household
arrangements.
I reached the spot, and presenting myself at the door, asked the tall
figure, which proved to be a woman, if I might take shelter under her
roof for the night. Her voice was gruff, and her attire negligently
thrown about her. She answered in the affirmative. I walked in, took a
wooden stool, and quietly seated myself by the fire. The next object
that attracted my notice was a finely formed young Indian, resting his
head between his hands, with his elbows on his knees. A long bow rested
against the log wall near him, while a quantity of arrows and two or
three Raccoon skins lay at his feet. He moved not; he apparently
breathed not. Accustomed to the habits of Indians, and knowing that they
pay little attention to the approach of civilized strangers (a
circumstance which in some countries is considered as evincing the
apathy of their character), I addressed him in French, a language not
infrequently partially known to the people in that neighborhood. He
raised his head, pointed to one of his eyes with his finger, and gave me
a significant glance with the other. His face was covered with blood.
The fact was that an hour before this, as he was in the act of
discharging an arrow at a Raccoon in the top of a tree, the arrow had
split upon the cord, and sprung back with such violence into his right
eye as to destroy it forever.
Feeling hungry, I inquired what sort of fare I might expect. Such a
thing as a bed was not to be seen, but many large untanned Bear and
Buffalo hides lay piled in a corner. I drew a fine time-piece from my
breast, and told the woman that it was late, and that I was fatigued.
She had espied my watch, the richness of which seemed to operate upon
her feelings with electric quickness. She told me there was plenty of
venison and jerked buffalo meat, and that on removing the ashes I should
find a cake. But my watch had struck her fancy, and her curiosity had to
be gratified by an immediate sight of it. I took off the gold chain that
secured it, from around my neck, and presented it to her; she was all
ecstasy, spoke of its beauty, asked me its value, and put the chain
round her brawny neck, saying how happy the possession of such a watch
would make her. Thoughtless, and as I fancied myself in so retired a
spot secure, I paid little attention to her talk or her movements. I
helped my dog to a good supper of venison, and was not long in
satisfying the demands of my own appetite.
The Indian rose from his seat, as if in extreme suffering. He passed and
repassed me several times, and once pinched me on the side so violently
that the pain nearly brought forth an exclamation of anger. I looked at
him. His eye met mine, but his look was so forbidding that it struck a
chill into the more nervous part of my system. He again seated himself,
drew his butcher-knife from its greasy scabbard, examined its edge, as I
would do that of a razor suspected dull, replaced it, and again taking
his tomahawk from his back, filled the pipe of it with tobacco, and sent
me expressive glances, whenever our hostess chanced to have her back
towards us.
Never until that moment had my senses been awakened to the danger which
I now suspected to be about me. I returned glance for glance to my
companion, and rested well assured that, whatever enemies I might have,
he was not of their number.
I asked the woman for my watch, wound it up, and under pretence of
wishing to see how the weather might probably be on the morrow, took up
my gun, and walked out of the cabin. I slipped a ball into each barrel,
scraped the edges of my flints, renewed the primings, and returning to
the hut gave a favorable report of my observations. I took a few Bear
skins, made a pallet of them, and calling my faithful dog to my side,
lay down, with my gun close to my body, and in a few minutes was, to all
appearance, fast asleep.
A short time had elapsed when some voices were heard, and from the
corner of my eye I saw two athletic youths making their entrance,
bearing a dead stag on a pole. They disposed of their burden, and asking
for whiskey, helped themselves freely to it. Observing me and the
wounded Indian, they asked who I was, and why the devil that rascal
(meaning the Indian, who, they knew, understood not a word of English)
was in the house. The mother--for so she proved to be--bade them speak
less loudly, made mention of my watch, and took them to a corner, where
a conversation took place, the purport of which it required little
shrewdness in me to guess. I tapped my dog gently. He moved his tail,
and with indescribable pleasure I saw his fine eyes alternately fixed
on me, and raised towards the trio in the corner. I felt that he
perceived danger in my situation. The Indian exchanged a last glance
with me.
The lads had eaten and drunk themselves into such a condition that I
already looked upon them as _hors de combat_; and the frequent visits of
the whiskey bottle to the ugly mouth of their dam, I hoped would soon
reduce her to a like state. Judge of my astonishment, reader, when I saw
this incarnate fiend take a large carving-knife, and go to the
grindstone to whet its edge; I saw her pour the water on the turning
machine, and watched her working away with the dangerous instrument,
until the cold sweat covered every part of my body, in despite of my
determination to defend myself to the last. Her task finished, she
walked to her reeling sons, and said: "There, that'll soon settle him!
Boys, kill yon ---- ----, and then for the watch."
I turned, cocked my gun-locks silently, touched my faithful companion,
and lay ready to start up and shoot the first who might attempt my life.
The moment was fast approaching, and that night might have been my last
in this world, had not Providence made preparations for my rescue. All
was ready. The infernal hag was advancing slowly, probably contemplating
the best way of despatching me, whilst her sons should be engaged with
the Indian. I was several times on the eve of rising and shooting her on
the spot; but she was not to be punished thus. The door was suddenly
opened, and there entered two stout travellers, each with a long rifle
on his shoulder. I bounced up on my feet, and making them most heartily
welcome, told them how well it was for me that they should have arrived
at that moment. The tale was told in a minute. The drunken sons were
secured, and the woman, in spite of her defence and vociferations,
shared the same fate. The Indian fairly danced with joy, and gave us to
understand that, as he could not sleep for pain, he would watch over
us. You may suppose we slept much less than we talked. The two strangers
gave me an account of their once having been themselves in a somewhat
similar situation. Day came, fair and rosy, and with it the punishment
of our captives.
They were now quite sobered. Their feet were unbound, but their arms
were still securely tied. We marched them into the woods off the road,
and having used them as Regulators were wont to use such delinquents, we
set fire to the cabin, gave all the skins and implements to the young
Indian warrior, and proceeded, well pleased, towards the settlements.
During upwards of twenty-five years, when my wanderings extended to all
parts of our country, this was the only time at which my life was in
danger from my fellow-creatures. Indeed, so little risk do travellers
run in the United States that no one born there ever dreams of any to be
encountered on the road; and I can only account for this occurrence by
supposing that the inhabitants of the cabin were not Americans.
Will you believe, good-natured reader, that not many miles from the
place where this adventure happened, and where fifteen years ago, no
habitation belonging to civilized man was expected, and very few ever
seen, large roads are now laid out, cultivation has converted the woods
into fertile fields, taverns have been erected, and much of what we
Americans call comfort is to be met with? So fast does improvement
proceed in our abundant and free country.[51]
THE REGULATORS
The population of many parts of America is derived from the refuse of
every other country. I hope I shall elsewhere prove to you, kind reader,
that even in this we have reason to feel a certain degree of pride, as
we often see our worst denizens becoming gradually freed from error, and
at length changing to useful and respectable citizens. The most depraved
of these emigrants are forced to retreat farther and farther from the
society of the virtuous, the restraints imposed by whom they find
incompatible with their habits and the gratification of their unbridled
passions. On the extreme verge of civilization, however, their evil
propensities find more free scope, and the dread of punishments for
their deeds, or the infliction of that punishment, are the only means
that prove effectual in reforming them.
In those remote parts, no sooner is it discovered that an individual has
conducted himself in a notoriously vicious manner, or has committed some
outrage upon society, than a conclave of the honest citizens takes
place, for the purpose of investigating the case, with a rigor without
which no good result could be expected. These honest citizens, selected
from among the most respectable persons in the district, and vested with
power suited to the necessity of preserving order on the frontiers, are
named Regulators. The accused person is arrested, his conduct laid open,
and if he is found guilty of a first crime, he is warned to leave the
country, and go farther from society, within an appointed time. Should
the individual prove so callous as to disregard the sentence, and remain
in the same neighborhood, to commit new crimes, then woe be to him; for
the Regulators, after proving him guilty a second time, pass and execute
a sentence which, if not enough to make him perish under the infliction,
is at least forever impressed upon his memory. The punishment inflicted
is usually a severe castigation, and the destruction by fire of his
cabin. Sometimes, in cases of reiterated theft or murder, death is
considered necessary; and, in some instances, delinquents of the worst
species have been shot, after which their heads have been stuck on
poles, to deter others from following their example. I shall give you an
account of one of these desperadoes, as I received it from a person who
had been instrumental in bringing him to punishment.
The name of Mason is still familiar to many of the navigators of the
Lower Ohio and Mississippi. By dint of industry in bad deeds, he became
a notorious horse-stealer, formed a line of worthless associates from
the eastern part of Virginia (a State greatly celebrated for its fine
breed of horses) to New Orleans, and had a settlement on Wolf Island,
not far from the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi, from which he
issued to stop the flatboats, and rifle them of such provisions and
other articles as he and his party needed. His depredations became the
talk of the whole Western country; and to pass Wolf Island was not less
to be dreaded than to anchor under the walls of Algiers. The horses, the
negroes, and the cargoes, his gang carried off and sold. At last, a body
of Regulators undertook, at great peril, and for the sake of the
country, to bring the villain to punishment.
Mason was as cunning and watchful as he was active and daring. Many of
his haunts were successively found out and searched, but the numerous
spies in his employ enabled him to escape in time. One day, however, as
he was riding a beautiful horse in the woods he was met by one of the
Regulators, who immediately recognized him, but passed him as if an
utter stranger. Mason, not dreaming of danger, pursued his way
leisurely, as if he had met no one. But he was dogged by the Regulator,
and in such a manner as proved fatal to him. At dusk, Mason, having
reached the lowest part of a ravine, no doubt well known to him, hoppled
(tied together the fore-legs of) his stolen horse, to enable it to feed
during the night without chance of straying far, and concealed himself
in a hollow log to spend the night. The plan was good, but proved his
ruin.
The Regulator, who knew every hill and hollow of the woods, marked the
place and the log with the eye of an experienced hunter, and as he
remarked that Mason was most efficiently armed, he galloped off to the
nearest house where he knew he should find assistance. This was easily
procured, and the party proceeded to the spot. Mason, on being attacked,
defended himself with desperate valor; and as it proved impossible to
secure him alive he was brought to the ground with a rifle ball. His
head was cut off, and stuck on the end of a broken branch of a tree, by
the nearest road to the place where the affray happened. The gang soon
dispersed, in consequence of the loss of their leader, and this
infliction of merited punishment proved beneficial in deterring others
from following a similar predatory life.
The punishment by castigation is performed in the following manner. The
individual convicted of an offence is led to some remote part of the
woods, under the escort of some forty or fifty Regulators. When arrived
at the chosen spot, the criminal is made fast to a tree, and a few of
the Regulators remain with him, while the rest scour the forest to
assure themselves that no strangers are within reach, after which they
form an extensive ring, arranging themselves on their horses, well armed
with rifles and pistols, at equal distances and in each other's sight.
At a given signal that "all's ready," those about the culprit, having
provided themselves with young twigs of hickory, administer the number
of lashes prescribed by the sentence, untie the sufferer, and order him
to leave the country immediately.
One of these castigations, which took place more within my personal
knowledge, was performed on a fellow who was neither a thief nor a
murderer, but who had misbehaved otherwise sufficiently to bring himself
under the sentence with mitigation. He was taken to a place where
nettles were known to grow in great luxuriance, completely stripped and
so lashed with them that, although not materially hurt, he took it as a
hint not to be neglected, left the country, and was never again heard of
by any of the party concerned.
Probably at the moment when I am copying these notes respecting the
early laws of our frontier people, few or no Regulating Parties exist,
the terrible examples that were made having impressed upon the new
settlers a salutary dread, which restrains them from the commission of
flagrant crimes.
THE EARTHQUAKE
Travelling through the Barrens of Kentucky (of which I shall give you an
account elsewhere) in the month of November, I was jogging on one
afternoon, when I remarked a sudden and strange darkness rising from the
western horizon. Accustomed to our heavy storms of thunder and rain I
took no more notice of it, as I thought the speed of my horse might
enable me to get under shelter of the roof of an acquaintance, who lived
not far distant, before it should come up. I had proceeded about a mile,
when I heard what I imagined to be the distant rumbling of a violent
tornado, on which I spurred my steed, with a wish to gallop as fast as
possible to a place of shelter; but it would not do, the animal knew
better than I what was forthcoming, and instead of going faster, so
nearly stopped that I remarked he placed one foot after another on the
ground, with as much precaution as if walking on a smooth sheet of
ice. I thought he had suddenly foundered, and, speaking to him, was on
the point of dismounting and leading him, when he all of a sudden fell
a-groaning piteously, hung his head, spread out his four legs, as if to
save himself from falling, and stood stock still, continuing to groan. I
thought my horse was about to die, and would have sprung from his back
had a minute more elapsed, but at that instant all the shrubs and trees
began to move from their very roots, the ground rose and fell in
successive furrows, like the ruffled waters of a lake, and I became
bewildered in my ideas, as I too plainly discovered that all this awful
commotion in nature was the result of an earthquake.
[Illustration: AUDUBON, 1839.
PAINTED IN EDINBURGH BY J. W. AUDUBON.]
I had never witnessed anything of the kind before, although, like every
other person, I knew of earthquakes by description. But what is
description compared with the reality? Who can tell of the sensations
which I experienced when I found myself rocking as it were on my horse,
and with him moved to and fro like a child in a cradle, with the most
imminent danger around, and expecting the ground every moment to open
and present to my eye such an abyss as might engulf myself and all
around me? The fearful convulsion, however, lasted only a few minutes,
and the heavens again brightened as quickly as they had become obscured;
my horse brought his feet to their natural position, raised his head,
and galloped off as if loose and frolicking without a rider.
I was not, however, without great apprehension respecting my family,
from which I was yet many miles distant, fearful that where they were
the shock might have caused greater havoc than I had witnessed. I gave
the bridle to my steed, and was glad to see him appear as anxious to get
home as myself. The pace at which he galloped accomplished this sooner
than I had expected, and I found with much pleasure that hardly any
greater harm had taken place than the apprehension excited for my own
safety.
Shock succeeded shock almost every day or night for several weeks,
diminishing, however, so gradually as to dwindle away into mere
vibrations of the earth. Strange to say, I for one became so accustomed
to the feeling as rather to enjoy the fears manifested by others. I
never can forget the effects of one of the slighter shocks which took
place when I was at a friend's house, where I had gone to enjoy the
merriment that, in our Western country, attends a wedding. The ceremony
being performed, supper over, and the fiddles tuned, dancing became the
order of the moment. This was merrily followed up to a late hour, when
the party retired to rest. We were in what is called, with great
propriety, a _log-house_, one of large dimensions, and solidly
constructed. The owner was a physician, and in one corner were not only
his lancets, tourniquets, amputating knives, and other sanguinary
apparatus, but all the drugs which he employed for the relief of his
patients, arranged in jars and phials of different sizes. These had some
days before had a narrow escape from destruction, but had been
fortunately preserved by closing the doors of the cases in which they
were contained.
As I have said, we had all retired to rest, some to dream of sighs or
smiles, some to sink into oblivion. Morning was fast approaching, when
the rumbling noise that precedes the earthquake, began so loudly as to
waken and alarm the whole party, and drive them out of bed in the
greatest consternation. The scene which ensued it is impossible for me
to describe, and it would require the humorous pencil of Cruikshank to
do justice to it. Fear knows no restraint. Every person, young and old,
filled with alarm at the creaking of the log-house, and apprehending
instant destruction, rushed wildly out to the grass enclosure fronting
the building. The full moon was slowly descending from her throne,
covered at times by clouds that rolled heavily along, as if to conceal
from her view the scenes of terror which prevailed on the earth below.
On the grass-plat we all met, in such condition as rendered it next to
impossible to discriminate any of the party, all huddled together in a
state of great dishabille. The earth waved like a field of corn before
the breeze; the birds left their perches, and flew about, not knowing
whither; and the doctor, recollecting the danger of his gallipots, ran
to his shop room, to prevent their dancing off the shelves to the floor.
Never for a moment did he think of closing the doors, but, spreading his
arms, jumped about the front of the cases, pushing back here and there
the falling jars; with so little success, however, that before the shock
was over he had lost nearly all he possessed.
The shock at length ceased, and the frightened women now sensible of
their undress, fled to their several apartments. The earthquake produced
more serious consequences in other places. Near New Madrid and for some
distance on the Mississippi, the earth was rent asunder in several
places, one or two islands sunk forever, and the inhabitants fled in
dismay towards the eastern shore.
THE HURRICANE