| OCR Text |
Show TRAVELS THROUGH UPPER CANADA: lion of the fun, that they fi.ncl their way. On the northern fide_ of a trc~ , t I1 ere J·S genera1 1 y ti1e moO: mofs , and rhc bark on that fide m gencr.t1 differs from that 011 t1 c oppofite one. The branches toward the fouth_ :\re for the mofl: part more luxuriant than tltofc on the other fides o( tr es, and fevcral other diflin C.ti.ons alfo fubfifi: between the nor~h~rn and {()Uthcrn fides, confpicunu· to Indians, who arc t.:lllght from the1r mfa1 1Cy to attend to them, which a common obferver would perhaps never notice. Being ac uflomed fi·om their childhood, likewifc, to pay great attention to the pofition of the fun, they learn to n ake the mofl accurate allowance for its app:1rc:nt motion from one part f the lu.:av 11s to another ·, anJ in any part of the day they will point to the part of the heavens where it is, although the 1lcy be obfcured by louds or mifh . Au inl1ance of their dexterity in finciinl)" their way through an unknown country came under my obfervation when I was at St:n nton, iituated behind the Blue Mountains, Virginia. A num brr of the Creek m.tion had arrived at that town in their way to Philadelphia, whither they were going upon fome aft:1irs of importance, and had fiopped there for the night. In tl1e morning fome circumflance or anothe r, what could not be learned, induced one half of the Indians to fet off without their companions, who did not follow until fome hours afterwards. When thefc laO: were ready to purfue their journey, feveral of th townspeople mounted th ir horfes to efcort them part of the way. Tl:ey proceeded along the high road for fome miles, but all at once, hail:t1y turning afide into the woods, though there was no path, the Indians advanced confidently forward; the p ople who accom panicd them, furprifi d at this movement, informed them that they were f)Uitting the road to Philadelphia, and exprcffed their fears left tbey fhould mifs their companions, who l1ad gone on before. They anfwcred, that they knew better; that the way through the woods was the fhortefl: to Phib.delphia; and that they knew very well that their companions had entered the woods at the very place they did. Curiofity led fome of the horfemen to go on, and to their afioniOunent, for there was apparently no track, they overtook the other Indians in the thickeft part of the wvod; but what appeared moil fingular was, that the route which they took was found, + on ANFCJ 0' r K 93 on cxam~ning a map, to be a J irc(l fo r PhiLtdc lp.li,l a if th.:y h td takc •t th bearings by a m ::~ ri ner's cornpaf.') . F rom othc1 s of their tntil>n, who Iutl been at Philadelphia at a {; rmcr period, they h.l l 1 robably k .u ncci the.: cxaD. dirc::<'lio11 of t]J ;tt city fi-olll thei r villau·, and had ncv.;r lull 1tght of it, although th ey had airc.tcly tr.t velkd three hnnJr...:d mile•, through woods, and had upwarJs of four lllln dr..:d ndcs nwr~ to go ocforc th ey Could r<:,1ch the pl.1ce of th ..:ir deJlinat it>J l. Of the e x:1 Cl: nel~ vith whid1 they c,m fin ! out a fl:rang pLlcc tl .tt they hav been once clin:D.cd to by their own people, a flriking exampl · is furnifhed us, I think, hy Mr. J ·fferfon, in his a count of the Indian graves in Virg ini,l. Th<.:fc.: grav s arc nothing more than Lu-·~c mound · o- <.arth in the woods, which, on being opened, arc found to contain fl ·clctons in an crcD. poflmc: the Indian mode of iepulturc has bocn too often dcfcr.i cd to remain unknown to you. But to come to my fl:o ry. 1\. party or LH1i1!1S that were p:1iling on to fome of the ii.:a ports on the .1\tbntic, j ufl :1 th ~ reeks :-tbovc mentioned were going to Philadelphia, were obfcrved, all on a fudden, to quit the fira ight road by which they were proceeding, and without an::ing any quel1ion s, to flrike through the woods in a direCt line to one of thefe graves, which lay at the di!bnce of fome miles from the road. Now very ncar a centnry muO: have p:1ficd over fince the part of Virginia, in which this g rave wa fituateJ, had been inb<tbitcd by Indians; and th (e Indian travellers, who went to viiit it by themfclves, had, unc1ucflionably, never been in that part of the co11ntry before; they mu{l: have found thi::ir v,ray to it fimply from the defer iption of its iituation that haJ been handed down to them by tradition. The Indians, for the mofi part, arc admirably wcJl acqnainted with the geography of their own country. Afk them any quefiions relative to the 11tuation of a parti ular place in it, and if there be a convenient fpot at hand, they will, with the utmofi: facility, trace upon the ground with a fiick a mnp, by no means inaccurate, of the place in qncfiion, and the furrounding country; they will point out the courfe of the rivers, and by direCling your attention to the fun, make you acquainted with the different bearings. I happened once to be fitting in a houfe at 3 E the |
