Departure from Fort Blount to West Point, through the Wilderness.—Botanical excursions upon Roaring River.—Description of its Banks.—Saline productions found there.—Indian Cherokees.—Arrival at Knoxville.
On the 11th of September we went from Fort Blount to the house of a Mr. Blackborn, whose plantation, situated fifteen miles from this fortress, is the last that the whites possess on this side the line, that separates the territory of the United States from that of the Indian Cherokees. This line presents, as far as West Point upon the Clinch, a country uninhabited upward of eighty miles in breadth, to which they give the name of the Wilderness, and of which the mountains of Cumberland occupy a great part. As Mr. Fisk was obliged to go to the court of justice, which is held a few miles from thence in the county {210} of Jackson; we deferred crossing the Wilderness for a few days, and I profited by his absence to go and see Roaring River, one of the branches of the Cumberland. This river, from ten to fifteen fathoms broad, received its name from the confused noise that is heard a mile distant, and which is occasioned by falls of water produced by the sudden lapse of its bed, formed by large flat stones contiguous to each other. These falls, from six, eight, to ten feet high, are so near together, that several of them are to be seen within the space of fifty to a hundred fathoms. We observed in the middle of this river, great stones, from five to six feet in diameter, completely round, and of which nobody could form the least idea how they could have been conveyed there.
The right bank of Roaring River rises in some places from eighty to a hundred feet, and surmounted at this height by rocks that jet out fifteen or twenty feet, and which cover again thick beds of ferruginous schiste, situated horizontally. The flakes they consist of are so soft and brittle, that as soon as they are touched, they break off in pieces of a foot long, and fall into a kind of dust, which, in the course of time, imperceptibly undermines the rocks. Upon the flakes of schiste that are least exposed to the air {211} and water, we observed a kind of white efflorescence, extremely thin, and very similar to snow.
There exists again upon the banks of this river, and in other parts of Cumberland, immense caverns, where there are masses of aluminous substances, within so small a degree of the purity necessary to be employed in dyeing, that the inhabitants not only go to fetch it for their own use, but export it to Kentucky. They cut it into pieces with an axe; but nobody is acquainted there with the process used on the Old Continent to prepare the different substances, as it is found in trade.
Large rivulets, after having serpentined in the forests, terminate their windings at the steep banks of this river, whence they fall murmuring into its bed, and form magnificent cascades several fathoms wide. The perpetual humidity that these cascades preserve in these places gives birth to a multitude of plants which grow in the midst of a thick moss, with which the rock is covered, and which forms the most beautiful verdant carpet.
All these circumstances give the borders of Roaring River a cool and pleasing aspect, which I had never witnessed before on the banks of other rivers. A {212} charming variety of trees and shrubs are also seen there, which are to be met with no where else. We observed the magnolia auriculata, macrophilla, cordata, acuminata, and tripetala. The fruit of these trees, so remarkable for the beauty of their flowers and superb foliage, were in the highest perfection. I gathered a few seeds to multiply them in France, and to add to the embellishment of our gardens. These seeds grow rancid very soon. I endeavoured to remedy this inconvenience by putting them into fresh moss, which I renewed every fortnight till my return to Carolina, where I continued the same precautions till the epoch of my embarking for Europe. I have since had the satisfaction to see that my pains were not fruitless, and that I succeeded by this means in preserving their germinative faculty.
Major Russel, with whom I went to lodge after I had taken my leave of Mr. Blackborn, and where Mr. Fisk rejoined me, furnished us very obligingly with necessary provisions for the two days journey through the territory of the Cherokees. Notwithstanding the harmony that at present subsists between the whites and these Indians, it is always more prudent to travel five or six in a party. Nevertheless as we were at a considerable distance from the usual place of rendezvous, where the travellers put up, we resolved {213} to set out alone, and we arrived happily at West Point. This country is exceedingly mountainous, we could not make above forty-five miles the first day, although we travelled till midnight. We encamped near a small river, where there was an abundance of grass; and after having made a fire we slept in our rugs, keeping watch alternately in order to guard our horses, and make them feed close by us for fear of the natives, who sometimes steal them in spite of all the precaution a traveller can take, as their dexterity in that point exceeds all that a person can imagine. During this day’s journey we saw nothing but wild turkies, thirty or forty in a flight.
The second day after our departure we met a party of eight or ten Indians, who were searching for grapes and chinquapins, a species of small chesnuts, superior in taste to those in Europe. As we had only twenty miles to go before we reached West Point, we gave them the remainder of our provisions, with which they were highly delighted. Bread is a great treat for them, their usual food consisting of nothing but venison and wild fowl.
The road that crosses this part of the Indian territory cuts through the mountains in Cumberland; it is as broad and commodious as those in the environs of Philadelphia, in consequence of the amazing number {214} of emigrants that travel through it to go and settle in the western country. It is, notwithstanding, in some places very rugged, but nothing near so much as the one that leads from Strasburgh to Bedford in Pennsylvania. About forty miles from Nasheville we met an emigrant family in a carriage, followed by their negroes on foot, that had performed their journey without any accident. Little boards painted black and nailed upon the trees every three miles, indicate to travellers the distance they have to go.
In this part of Tennessea the mass of the forests is composed of all the species of trees that belong more particularly to the mountainous regions of North America, such as oaks, maples, and nut trees. Pines abound in those parts where the soil is the worst. What appeared to me very extraordinary was, to find some parts of the woods, for the space of several miles, where all the pines that formed at least one fifth part of the other trees were dead since the preceding year, and still kept all their withered foliage. I was not able to learn the causes that produced this singular phenomenon. I only heard that the same thing happens every fifteen or twenty years.
At West Point is established a fort, pallisadoed round with trees, built upon a lofty eminence, at the {215} conflux of the rivers Clinch and Holston. The fedral government maintain a company of soldiers there, the aim of which is to hold the Indians in respect, and at the same time to protect them against the inhabitants on the frontiers, whose illiberal proceedings excite them frequently to war. The objects of these insults were to drive them from their possessions; but the government has prevented this fruitless source of broils and wars, by declaring that all the possessions occupied by the Indians within the boundaries of the United States, comprise a part of their domains.
The following trait will give an idea of the ferocious disposition of some of these Americans on the frontiers. One of them belonging to the environs of Fort Blount, had lost one of his horses, which had strayed from his plantation and penetrated some distance into the Indian territory. About a fortnight after it was brought to him by two Cherokees; they were scarcely fifty yards from the house when the owner perceiving them, killed one upon the spot with his carabine; the other fled and carried the news to his fellow-countrymen. The murderer was thrown into prison; but was afterwards released for the want of evidence, although he stood convicted in the eyes {216} of every one. During the time he was in prison the Indians suspended their resentment, in hopes that the death of their fellow-countryman would be revenged; but scarcely were they informed that he was set at liberty when they killed a white, at more than a hundred and fifty miles from the place where the first murder had been committed. To the present moment we have never been able to make the Indians comprehend that punishment should only fall upon the guilty; they conceive that the murder of one or more of their people ought to be avenged by the death of an equal number of individuals belonging to the nation of that person who committed the deed. This is a custom they will not renounce, more especially if the person so murdered belongs to a distinguished family, as among the Creeks and Cherokees there exists a superior class to the common of the nation. These Indians are above the middling stature, well proportioned, and healthy in appearance, notwithstanding the long fasting they frequently endure in pursuit of animals, the flesh of which forms their chief subsistence. The carabine is the only weapon they make use of; they are very dexterous with it, and kill at a very great distance. The usual dress of the men consists of a shirt, à l’Européene, which {217} hangs loose, and of a slip of blue cloth about half a yard in length, which serves them as breeches; they put it between their thighs, and fasten the two ends, before and behind, to a sort of girdle. They wear long gaiters, and shoes of stag skins prepared. When full dressed they wear a coat, waistcoat, and hat, but never any breeches. The natives of North America have never been able to adopt that part of our dress. They have only on the top of their heads a tuft of hair, of which they make several tresses, that hang down the sides of the face, and very frequently they attach quills or little silver tubes to the extremities. A great number of them pierce their noses, in order to put rings through, and cut holes in their ears, that hang down two or three inches, by the means of pieces of lead that they fasten to them when they are quite young. They paint their faces red, blue, or black.
A man’s shirt and a short petticoat form the dress of the women, who wear also gaiters like the men; they let their hair grow, which is always of a jet black, to its natural length, but they never pierce their noses, nor disfigure their ears. In winter, the men and women, in order to guard against the cold, wrap themselves in a blue rug, which they always {218} carry with them, and which forms an essential part of their luggage.
Near the fort is established a kind of warehouse where the Cherokees carry ginseng and furs, consisting chiefly of bear, stag, and otter skins. They give them in exchange for coarse stuffs, knives, hatchets, and other articles that they stand in need of.
I learnt at West Point, of several persons who make frequent journies among the Cherokees that within these few years they take to the cultivating of their possessions, and that they make a rapid progress. Some of them have good plantations, and even negro slaves. Several of the women spin and manufacture cotton stuffs. The federal government devotes annually a sum to supply them with instruments necessary for agriculture and different trades. Being pressed for time I could not penetrate farther into the interior of the country, as I had intended, and I did not profit by the letters of recommendation that Mr. W. P. Anderson had given me for that purpose to the garrison-officers in the fort.
They reckon thirty-five miles from West Point to Knoxville. About a mile from West Point we passed through Kingstown, composed of thirty or forty log houses; after that the road runs upwards of eighteen {219} miles through a rugged and flinty soil, although covered with a kind of grass. The trees that occupy this extent grow within twenty or thirty yards of each other, which makes it seem as though this district changes from the appearance of a meadow to that of a forest. After this the soil grows better, and the plantations are not so far apart.