Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 V13.djvu/286

 administer internal relief. The paroxysms, attended with excruciating pain, took place every other day, similar to the common intermittent. One of the soldiers who descended with us, was afflicted in this way for the space of six days, after which he recovered. On the intermitting days he appeared perfectly easy, and possessed a strong and craving appetite. I was credibly informed {214} that not less than 100 of the Cherokees, settled contiguous to the banks of the Arkansa, died this season of the bilious fever.

On the 3d of November, I at length got down in a perogue of the garrison as far as Major Wilborne's in the Pecannerie settlement. Here, though the bilious fever and ague had been unusually prevalent, no instance of mortality had taken place.

In this settlement there was a succession of heavy rains down to the month of September. Above, we had experienced no rain beyond the month of June. Perhaps the unusual prevalence of rain, on the banks of the Arkansa, might have been conducive to the extraordinary sickness of this season. As a proof of the locality of this rain, the river was now so exceedingly low, that no boats drawing more than 10 or 12 inches of water could possibly navigate it from the Dardanelles to the Verdigris. All along the banks, the clay and pebbles of the beaches were whitened with an efflorescence of salt (muriate of soda), deposited from the water of the red freshes. We also remarked that all the sandstone rocks, scattered confusedly on the borders of the river, blacken by exposure, and assume a metallic tinge, probably arising from an admixture of manganese.

The Pecannerie, now the most considerable settlement in the territory, except Arkansas, derived its name from the Pecan nut-trees (Carya olivæformis), with which its