Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 V13.djvu/180

 *tremity. From its peculiar form it had received the name of the Magazine or Barn by the French hunters.[142] It strongly resembles the English mountain in the north of Yorkshire, called Pendle-hill, familiar to me from infancy, and by which all the good wives in the surrounding country could foretel the weather better than by the almanac.

Along either bank the lands are generally elevated and fertile, and pretty thickly scattered with the cabins and farms of the Cherokees, this being the land allotted to them by congress, inexchange for others in the Mississippi Territory, where the principal part of the nation still remain.

I was considerably disappointed in learning that Mr. D. had relinquished the idea of proceeding to the garrison, with whom I had entertained the hope of continuing my passage, without interruption or additional delay.

7th.] Both banks of the river, as we proceeded, were lined with the houses and farms of the Cherokees, and though their dress was a mixture of indigenous and European taste, yet in their houses, which are decently furnished, and in their farms, which were well fenced and stocked with cattle, we perceive a happy approach towards civilization. Their numerous families, also, well fed and clothed, argue a propitious progress in their population. Their superior industry, either as hunters or farmers, proves the value of property among them, and they are no longer strangers to avarice, and the distinctions created by wealth; some of them are possessed of property to the amount of many thousands of dollars, have houses handsomely {124} and conveniently furnished, and their tables spread with our dainties and luxuries.