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362 T. C. ELLIOTT

deed was found among Captain Carver's papers after his death. It had not been exhibited by him for the very evident reason of fear to prejudice his standing in London, for by proclamation in October, 1763, the king had especially forbid- den any British subjects to acquire land from the Indians in America.

But another of Major Rogers' accomplishments interests us more directly because it casts suspicions upon the originality of other parts of Carver's Travels. It appears that Rogers was himself possessed of literary ability. One of the objects of his going to London was to publish three books, one the Journals he kept during the French and Indian War, another a brief descriptive narrative entitled A Concise Account of North America, and the third a drama or tragedy called Ponteach, or the Savages of America. These were brought out in 1765-6, and the first two in particular attracted very favor- able attention, and it is easy to see where Captain Carver took his cue for book writing. There appear in his Travels instances of very positive plagiarism from "A Concise Account", and from Major Rogers it is reasonably certain that Captain Carver drew his idea of transcontinental exploration. 19

From Mackinac in the summer of 1768, Captain Carver traveled to Boston by way of Fort Pitt, Philadelphia and New York. At British headquarters in the latter city, he endeavored to secure payment of his expense bill, but General Gage re- fused and gave him a letter of character in the service instead. Arriving in Massachusetts, he visited his family, secured other letters of recommendation from willing citizens and also under- took to get subscriptions for the publication of his book in America. Failing in that he sailed for London in February, 1769.

Of his eleven years in London, few details are really known. During the first five at least, he was not unlike many an indi- vidual who inhabits our own capital city of Washington, nurs- ing a claim against the government. His first memorial was promptly filed and was promptly examined by "the lords of the

19 See Ponteach, Caxton Club edition, at footnote on page 120.