Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 3).djvu/293

 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