Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 3).djvu/288

 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 dispo