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Book.

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THE

HISTORY OF CAROLINA,

CONTAINING THE

EXACT DESCRIPTION

AND

NATURAL HISTORY OF THAT COUNTRY,

TOGETHER WITH THE PRESENT STATE THEREOF AND A JOUENAL OF
A THOUSAND MILES TRAVELED THROUGH SEVERAL NA-
TIONS OF INDIANS, GIVING A PARTICULAR
ACCOUNT OF THEIR CUSTOMS,
MANNERS, AC, AC.

By JOHN LAWSON,

Gent. Surveyor-General of North Carolina.

LONDON :

Printed for W. Taylor at the Ship, and F. Baker at the

Black Boy, in Pater-Noster Row, 1714.

RALEIGH :

PRINTED BY STROTHER & MARCOM AT THEIR BOOK AND JOB OFFIC]
18G0.

PREFACE TO RE-PUBLICATION.

In offering to tlie public a re-publication of
Lawson's History of North Carolina, the under-
signed will briefly state tlic reasons tliat led to
the undertaking. But two copies of the original
edition (one in the State Library, presented by
President Madison, and one at the University,)
are now to be found within the State ; and possi-
bl}', a century hence, or in less time, they will
have been destroyed. Hence the necessity of a re-
print— and the undersigned flatter themselves
that they will receive the thanks of posterity at
least, if by their instrumentality, the pages of
Lawson shall be perpetuated in all their original-
ity and sprightliness. Subsequent historians have
copied more or less from our author — thus endors-
ing his claim to be considered a faithful chroni-
cler of his time, and showing the importance of
preserving entire whatever tends to elucidate the
history of our good old State — the pride and boast
of us all. Influenced by these considerations,
and prompted by the solicitations of many friends,

IV PREFACE TO RE-PUBLICATION.

the subscribers undertook the re-publication, and

they trust tliat they have done no mean service in

thus rescuing from "the wreck of matter " such

interesting pages in the annals of their country's

legends.

0. II. PEREY & CO.

Baleigh, March 28, 1860.

PREFACE;

'Tis a great misfortune that most of our travel-
lers, who go to this vast continent in America,
are persons of tlie meaner sort, and generally, of
a very slender education ; who being hired by the
merchants to trade amongst the Indians, in which
voyages they often spend several years, are yet,
at their return, incapable of giving any reasona-
ble account of what they met withal in those re-
mote parts ; though the country abounds with cu-
riosities worthy a nice observation.

In this point, I think the French outstrip us.

First: by their numerous clergy, their mission-
aries being obedient to their superiors in the high-
est degree, and that obedience being one great
article of their vow, and strictly o])served amongst
all their orders.

Secondly : They ahvays send abroad some of
their gentlemen in company of the missionaries,
who, upon their arrival, are ordered out into the
wilderness, to make discoveries, and to acquaint
themselves with the savages of America ; and are
obliged to keep a strict journal of all the passages
they meet withal, in order to present the same not
only to their governors and fathers, but likewise

VI PREFACE.

to their friends and relations in France ; which is
industriously spread about that kingdom, to their
advantage. For their monarch being a very good
judge of men's deserts, does not'T)ften let money
or interest make men of parts give place to others
of less worth.

This breeds an honorable emulation amongst
them, to outdo one another, even in fatigues and
dangers ; whereby they gain a good correspon-
dence with the Indians, and acquaint themselves
with tlieir speech and customs ; and so make con-
siderable discoveries in a short time. '"Witness
their journals trom Canada to the Mississippi, and
its several branches, where they have eftected
great matters in a few years.

Having spent most of my time, during my eight
years abode in Carolina, in travelling, I not only
surveyed the sea-coast, and those parts which are
already inhabited l)y the christians, but likewise
viewed a spacious tract of land lying betwixt the
inhabitants and the ledges of mountains, from
whence our noblest rivers have their rise, running
towards the ocean, where they water as pleasant a
country as any in Europe ; the discovery of which
being never yet made public. I have in the fol-
lowing sheets, given you a faithfuh account there-
of; wherein I have laid down every thing Avith im-
partiality, and truth, which is indeed, the duty of
every author, and preferable to a smooth style, ac-
companied with falsities and hyperboles. Great
part of this pleasant and healthful country is in-

niEFACE. VII

habited bj none but savages, wlio covet a cbris-
tian neigliborliood, for the advantage of trade,
and enjoy all tlic comforts of life, free from care
and want.

But not to amuse my readers any longer with
the encomium of Carolina, I refer them, to my
journal, and other more particular description of
that country and its inhabitants, which they will
iind after the natural history thereof, in which I
have been very exact, and for method's sake ar-
ranged each species under its distinct and proper
head.

DEDICATION,

TO HIS EXCELLENCY

William Lord Craven, Palatine ;
The most noble, Henry Duke of Beaufort ;
The right Honorable John Lord Carteret ;
The Honorable Maurice Ashley, Esq.;
Sir John Colleton, Baronet,
John Danson, Esq ;
And the rest of the true and absolute
Lords Proprietors
of the
Province of Carolina in America.
My Lords, As debts of gratitude aught most
punctually to be paid, so, where the debtor is in-
capable of payment, acknowledgments ought, at
least to be made, I cannot, in tlie least, pretend to
retaliate your lordships favors to me, but must far-
ther intrude on that goodness of which I have al-
ready had so good experience, by laying these
sheets at your lordships' feet, where they beg pro-
tection, as having nothing to recommend them
but truth — a gift which every author may be mas-
ter of, if he will.

I here present your lordships with a description
of your own country, for the most part, in her
natural dress, and therefore less vitiated with

X DEDICATION.

fraud and luxury. A country, whose inliabltants
may enjoy a life of the greatest ease and satisfac-
tion, and pass away their hours in solid content-
ment.

Those charms of liberty and right, the darlings
of an English nature, which your lordships grant
and maintain, make you appear noble patrons in
the eyes of all men, and we a happy people in a
foreign country ; which nothing less than ingrati-
tude and baseness can make us disown.

As heaven has been liberal in its gifts, so are
your lordships favorable promoters of whatever
may make us an easy people, which, I hope, your
lordships will continue to us and our posterity;
that we and they may always acknowledge such
favors, by banishing from among us every principle
which renders men factious and unjust; which is
the hearty prayer of,

My Lords,

Your Lordships most obliged,
Most humble and

Most devoted sen^ant,

JOim LAWSOjST.

INTRODUCTION.

In the year 1700, when people flocked from all
parts of the christian world, to sec the solemnity
of the grand jubilee at Rome, my intention at that
time being to travel, I accidentally met with a
gentleman, who had been abroad, and was very
well acquainted with the ways of living in both
Indies; of whom having made inquiry concern-
ing them, he assured me that Carolina was the
best country I could go to ; and, that there then
lay a ship in the Tliames in which I might have
my passage. I laid hold on this opportunity, and
was not long on board, betore we fell down the
river and sailed to Cowes ; where, having taken
in some passengers, we proceeded on our voyage,
'till we sprung a leak, and were forced into the
Islands of Scilly. Here we spent about ten days
in refitting. In which time we had a great deal
of diversion in fishing and shooting on those rocky
islands. The inhabitants were very courteous
and civil, especially the governor, to whose good
company and favor, we were very much obliged.

There is a town on one of these islands, where
is good entertainment for those that happen to
come in, though the land is but mean, and flesh-
meat not plenty. They have good store of rabbits,

XII INTRODUCTION.

quails and fisli; and you see at the poor peoples
doors, great heaps of periwinkle shells, those
fish being a great part of their food. On the first
day of May, having a fair wind at east, w^e put to
sea, and were on the ocean (without speaking to
any vessel, except a Ketch, bound from jN"ew^ Eng-
land to Barbadoes, laden with horses, fiish, and
provisions,) till the latter end of July, when the
winds hung so much southerly, that we could
not get to our port, but put into Sandy-hook bay,
and went up to 'New York, after a pinching vo}^-
age, caused by our long passage. We found at
the watering place, a French man-of-w^ar, who had
on board, men and necessaries to make a colony,
and was intended for the Mississippi river, there
to settle.

The country of New York is very pleasant in
summer, but in the winter very cold, as all the
northern plantations are. Their chief commodities
are provisions, bread, beer, lumber, and fish in
abundance : all which are very good, and some
skins and furs are hence exported. The city is
governed by a mayor, (as in England,) is seated on
an island, and lies very convenient for trade and
defence, having a regular fort, and well mounted
with guns.

The buildings are generally of a smaller sort of
flemish brick, and of the Dutch fiishion, (except-
ing some few houses.) lliey are all very firm and
good work, and conveniently placed, as is like-
wise the town, which gives a very pleasant pros-

INTRODUCTION. XIII

pect of the neighboring islands and rivers. A
good part of the inhabitants are Dutch, in whose
hands this colony once was.

After a fortnight's stay here, we put out from
Sandyhook, and in fourteen days after arrived at
Charlestown, the metropolis of South Carolina,
which is situated in 32.45 north latitude, and ad-
mits of large ships to "^ome over their bar up to
the town, where is a very commodious harbor
about five miles distant from the inlet, and stands
on a point very convenient for trade, being seat-
ed between two pleasant and navigable rivers. — -
The town has very regular and fair streets, in
which are good buildings of brick and wood ; and
since my coming thence, has had great additions
of beautiful large brick buildings, besides a strong
fort and regular fortifications made to defend the
town.

The inhabitants, by their wise management and
industry, have much improved the country, which
is in as thriving circumstances at this time as any
colony on the continent of English America, and
is of more advantage to the crown of Great Brit-
ain, than any of the other more northerly plant-
ations, (Virginia and Maryland excepted). This
colou}^ was at first planted by a genteel sort of
people, that were well accpiainted with trade, and
had either money or parts, to make good use of
the advantages that ottered, as most of them have
done, by raising themselves to great estates, and
considerable places of tnist, and posts of honor,

XIV INTRODUCTION.

ill tills thriving settlement. Since tlie tirst plant-
ers abundance of Frencli and others have gone
oyer and raised tliemselves to considerable for-
tunes. They are very neat and exact in packing
and shipping of their comiiiodities ; which meth-
od has got them so great a character abroad, that
they generally come to a good market with their
commodities ; when oftentimes the product of
other plantations, are forced to be sold at lower
prices. They have a considerable trade, both to
Europe and to the West Indies, whereby they
become rich, and are supplied with all things ne-
cessary for trade and genteel living, which sever-
al other places fall short of. Their cohabiting in
a town has drawn to them ingenious people of
most sciences, wlierel)y they have tutors amongst
them that educate their youth a-la-mode.

Their roads, with great industry, are made ve-
ry good and pleasant. Isqslv the town is built a
fair parsonage house, with necessary officers, and
the minister has a very considerable allowance
from his parish. There is likewise a Frencli
church ill town, of the Reformed religion, and
several meeting houses for dissenting congrega-
tions, who all enjoy at this day an entire liberty
of their worship ; the constitution of this govern-
ment allowing all parties of well-meaning chris-
tians to enjoy a free toleration and possess the
same privileges, so long as they appear to behave
themselves peaceably and well. It being the
lords proprietors intent that the inhabitants of

INTRODUCTION. XV

Carolina should be as free from oppression as
any in the universe, which doubtless they will, if
their own differences amongst themselves do not
occasion the contrary.

They have a well disciplined militia; their
horse are most gentlemen and well mounted, and
the best in America, and may equalize any in
other parts. Their officers, both infantry and
cavalry, generally appear in scarlet mountings,
and as rich as in most regiments belonging to the
crown, which sliovrs the richness and grandeur of
this colony. They are a frontier, and prove such
troublesome neighbors to the Spaniards, that they
have once laid their town of St. Augustine in
ashes, and drove away their cattle, besides many
encounters and engagements, in which they have
defeated them, too tedious to relate here.

What the French got by their attempt against
South Carolina, will hardly ever be ranked a-
mongst their victories ; their admiral Mouville,
being glad to leave the enterprise, and run away,
after he had suffered all the loss and disgrace he
was capable of receiving.

They are absolute masters over the Indiane>,
and carry so strict a hand over such as are within
the circle of their trade, that none docs the least
injury to any of the English, but he is presently
sent for and punished with death, or otherwise,
according to the nature of the fault. The}' have
an entire friendship with the neighboring Indians
of several nations, which are a very warlike peo-

XVI INTROBtKJTION.

pie, ever faithful to the English, and have proved
themselves brave and true on all occasions ; and
are a great help and strength to this colony. The
cheif of the savage nations have heretofore groan-
ed under the Spanish yoke, and having experienc-
ed their cruelty have become such mortal ene-
mies to that people, that they never give a Span-
iard quarter ; but generally, when they take any
prisoners, (if the English be not near to prevent
it) scalp them, that is, to take their hair and skin
of their heads, which they often flee away while
the wretch is alive.

]^otwithstanding the English have used all their
endeavors, yet they could never bring them to
leave this barbarity to the Spaniards, who as they
alledge, use to murder them and their relations,
and make slaves of them to build their forts and
towns.

This place is more plentiful in money than most,
or indeed any of the plantations on the continent;
besides, they build a considerabre numl)er of ves-
sels of cedar, and other wood, with which they
trade to Cuirassau and the West Indies ; from one
they bring money, and from the other the produce
of their islands, which yields a necessary supply of
both to the colony.

Their stocks of cattle are incredible, being from
one to two thousand head in one man's possession.
These feed in the Savannahs, and other grounds,
and need no fodder in the winter. Their mutton
and veal is good, and their pork is not inferior to

INTRODUCTIOX. XVII

any in America. As for pitch and tar, none of
the plantations are comparable for aifordina; the
vast quantities of l^aval stores, as this place does.
There have been, heretofore, some discoveries of
rich mines in the mountainous part of this coun-
try; but beinof remote from the present settle-
ment, and the inhabitants not well versed in or-
dering minerals, they have been laid aside till a
more fit opportunity happens. Thei^e are several
noble rivers, and spacious tracts of rich land in
their lordships dominions, lying to the southward,
which are yet uninhabited, besides Port Royal, a
rare harbour and* inlet, having many inhabitants
thereon, which their lordships have now made a
port for trade. This will be a most advantageous
settlement, lying so commodiously for ships com-
ing from the Gulf, and the richness of the land,
which is reported to be there. These more south-
erly parts will afford oranges, lemons, limes, and
many other fruits, which the northerly plantations
^neld not. The merchants of Carolina are fair,
frank traders. The gentlemen seated in the coun-
try, are very courteous, live very noble in their
houses, and give yory genteel entertainment
to all strangers and others that come to visit
them. And since the produce of South and Xortli
Carolina is the same, unless silk, which this place
produces great qantities of, and very good. jS^'orth
Carolina having never made any trial thereof as
yet, therefore I shall refer the natural produce
of this country, to that part which trciits of Xorth

XVIII IXTRODUCTION.

Carolina, whose productions are mucli tlie same.
The christian inhabitants of Loth colonies pret-
ty equal, but the shwes of South Carolina are far
more in number than those in the ISTorth. I shall
now proceed to relate my journey through the
country from tliis settlement to the other, and
then treat of the natural history of Carolina, wdth
other remarkable circumstances which I have met
with, during mv eight years abode in that country.

A JOURNAL

OF A

THOUSAND MILES TRAVEL AMONG THE INDIANS,
FROM SOUTH TO NORTH CAROLINA.

On December tlie 28tli, 1700, 1 began n\y voyage
(for IN'ortli Carolina,) from Charlestown, being six
Englislimen in company, with, three Indian men
and one woman, wife to our Indian guide, having
■^ve miles from the town to the breach, we w^ent
down in a large canoe, that we had provided for
our vo^^age thither, having the tide of ebb along
with us, which was so far spent by that time we
got down, that we had not water enough for our
craft to go over, although we drew but two feet,
or tliere-abouts. This breach is a passage through
a marsh lying to the northward of Sullivans island,
the pilots having a look-out thereon, lying very
commodious for mariners, (on that coast,) making
a good land-mark in so level a country, this bar
being difficult to hit, where an obj^crvation hath
been wanting for a day or two ; north-east winds
bringing great fogs, mists and rains, which, to-
wards the cool months of October,. November, and
iiiitil the latter end of March, often appear in these
parts.

There arc three piluio lu attend and conduct

20 lawson's history

ships over the bar. The harbour where the ves-
sels generally ride, is against the town on Coop-
er's river; lying within a point which parts that
and Ashley river, they being land-locked almost
on all sides.

At four in the afternoon, (at half flood) we pass-
ed with our canoe, over the breach, leaving Sulli-
vans island on our starboard. The first place we
designed for was Santee river, on wdiich there is
a colony of French protestants, allowed and en-
couraged by the lords proprietors. At night we
got to JjcH's island, a poor spot of land, being about
ten miles round, vrhere lived, (at that time) a Ber-
muclian, being employed here with a boy, to look
after a stock of cattle and hogs, by the owner of
this island. One side of the roof of his house was
thatched with palmetto leaves, the other open to
the heavens, thousands of musketoes, and other
troublesome insects, tormenting both man and
beast inhabiting these islands. The palmetto trees,
wdiose leaves growing only on the top of the tree,
m the shape of a fan, and in a cluster like a cab-
bage ; this tree in Carolina, when at its utmost
growth, is about forty or fifty feet in heighth, and
two feet through. It is worth mentioning, that
the growth of the tree is not perceivable in the
age of any man, the experiment having been
often tried in Bennudas and elsewhere, which
shows the slow growth of this vegetable, the wood
of it being porus and stringy, like some canes ;
the loaves thereof, the Bermudians make womens'

OP NORTH CAROLINA. 21

hats, bokeets, baskets, and pretty dressing boxes,
a great deal being transported to Pensilvania,
and other northern parts of America, (where thej^
do not grow,) for the same manufacture. The
people of Carolina make of the fans of this tree,
brooms, very servicable to sweep their houses
withal.

We took up our lodging this night with the Bcr-
mudian ; our entertainment was very indifferent,
there being no fresh water to be had in the island.
The next morning we set away through the
marshes ; about noon we reached another island,
called Dix's island, much like to the former,
though larger. There lived an honest Scot who
gave us the best reception his dwelling afforded,
being well provided of oat meal, and several oth-
er eftects he had found on that coast ; which goods
belonged to that unfortunate vessel, the Rising
Sun, a Scotch man-of-war, lately arrived from the
isthmus of Darien, and cast away near the bar of
Ashley river, the September before, Capt. Gibson
of Glasco then commanding her, who, with above
an hundred men then on board her, were every
soul drowned, in that terrible gust, which then
happened; most of the corps being taken up,
were carefully interred by Mr. Graham, their lieu-
tenant, who happily was on shore during the
tempest. After dinner we left our Scotch land-
lord, and went, that night, to the north-east point
of the island. It being dark ere we got there, our
canoe struck on a sand near the breakers, and

C}.)

LAWSON S HISTORY

were in great danger of our lives, but (by God's
blessing) got off safe to the shore, where we lay
all niofht. In the morning we set forward on our
intended voyage. About two o'clock we got to
Bulls island, which is about thirty miles long, and
hath a great number of both cattle and hogs upon
it ; the cattle being very wild and the hogs very
lean. These two last islands belong to one Col.
Gary, an inhabitant of South Carolina.

Although it were winter, 3^et we found such
swarms of musketoes, and other troublesome in-
sects, that w^e got but litttle rest that night.

The next day we intended for a small island on
the other side of Sewee bay, which, joining to
these islands, shipping might come to victual or
careen : but there being such a burden of those
flies that few or none, care to settle there ; so the
stock thereon are run wild. We were gotten about
half way to Eacoon island, when there sprung up
a tart gale at E". W., which put us in some danger
of being cast away, the bay being rough, and there
running great seas between the two islands, which
are better than four leagues asunder, a strong
current of a tide setting in and out, which made us
turn tail to it, and got our canoe right before the
wind, and came safe into a creek that is joining to
the north end of Bulls island. We sent our In-
dians to hunt, who brought us two deers, which
were very poor, and their maws full of large grubs.
On the morrow w^e went and visited the eastern-
most side of this island, it joining to the ocean,

OF NORTH CAROLIXA. li^

liaviiig very fair, sandy beeches, paved with innu-
merable sorts of curious pretty shells; very plea-
sant to the eye. Amongst tlie rest, we found the
Spanish oyster shell, whence come the pearls. —
They are very large, and of a different form from
other oysters. Their color much resembles the
Tortoise shell, when it is dressed. There was left
by the tide, several strange species of a mucilagi-
nous, slimy substance, though living, and very
aptly moved at their first appearance ; yet, being
left on the dry sand, by the beams of the sun,
soon exhale and vanisli.

At our return to our quarters, the Indians had
killed two more deer, two wild hogs, and three rac-
coons, all very lean except the raccoons. We had
great store of oysters, conks and clanns, a large
sort of cockles. These parts being very well fur-
nished w^itli shell-fish, turtle of several sorts, but
few or none of the green, with other sorts of salt
water fish, and in the season good plenty of fowles,
as curleus, gulls, gannets, and pillicans, besides
duck and mallard, geese, swans, teal, widgeon, &c.

On Thursday morning we left Bulls Island,
and went through the creeks, which lie betwixt
the bay and tlie main land. At noon we went
on shore, and got our dinner near a plantation,
on a creek having the full prospect of Sewee bay.
We sent up to the house, but found none at home
but a negro, of whom our messenger purchased
some small quantity of tobacco and rice. AVe

24 OP NORTH CAROLINA.

caip.e to a deserted Indian residence, called Aven-
liaugliboiigli, where we rested that night.

The next day we entered Santee river's month,
where is fresh water, occasioned by the extraor-
dinary current that comes down continually. —
With hard rowing, we got two leagues up the
river, lying all night in a swampy piece of ground,
the weather being so cold all that time, we were
almost frozen ere morning, leaving the impression
of our bodies on the wet ground. We set forward
very early in the morning to seek some better
quarters. As we rowed up the river we found
the land towards the mouth, and for about six-
teen miles up it, scarce any thing but swamp po-
cosin, affording vast cypress trees, of which the
French make canoes that will carry fifty or sixty
barrels. After the tree is moulded and dug they
saw them in two pieces, and so put a plank be-
twixt and a small keel to preserve them from the
oyster banks, which are innumerable in the creeks
and bays between the French settlement and
Charlestown. They carry two masts and bermudas
sails, which makes them very handy and fit for
their purpose ; for although their river fetches its
first rise from the mountains and continues a cur-
rent some hundreds of miles ere it disgorges it-
self, having no sound, bay or sand banks betwixt
the mouth thereof and the ocean. ;N"otwithstand-
ing all this, with the vast stream it aftbrds at all
seasons, and the repeated freshes it so often alarms
the inhabitants with, by laying iinder water great

lawson's history 25

part of their country, yet tlie month is barred af-
foarding not above four or five feet water at
the entrance. As we went up the river we heard
a great noise as if two parties were engaged
against each other, seeming exactly like small
shot. "When we approached nearer the place we
found it to be some Sewee Indians firing the
cane swamps, which drives out the game, then
taking their particular stands, kill great quantities
of both bear, deer* turkies, and what wild crea-
tures the parts afford. These Sewees have been
formerly a large nation, though now very much
decreased, since the English hath seated their
land, and all other nations of Indians are observed
to partake of the same fate, where the Europeans
come, the Indians being a people very apt to catch
any distemper they are afflicted withal. The small
pox has destroyed many thousands of these natives
who, no sooner than they are attacked with the
violent fevers and the burning which attends that
distemper, fling themselves over-head in the water,
in the very extremity of the disease, which, shut-
ting up the pores, hinders a kindly evacuation of
the pestilential matter, and drives it back, by
which means death most commonly ensues ; not
but in other distempers which are epidemical,
you may find among them practitioners that have
extraordinary skill and success in removing those
morbific qualities which afflict them, not often go-
ing above one hundred yards from their abode for

K'-jL

i> OF NORTH CAROLINA.

their remedies, some of their chiefest physicians
commonly carrying their compliment of drugs
continually about them, which are roots, barks,
berries, nuts, &c., that are strung upon a thread.
So like a Pomander, the phj^sician wears them
about his neck. An Indian hath been often found
to heal an Englishman of a malady for the value
of a match-coat, which the ablest of our English
pretenders in America, after repeated applications,
have deserted the patient as incurable ; God hav-
ing furnished every country with specific remedies
for their peculiar diseases. Eum, a liquor, now
so much in use with them that they will ]3art with
the dearest thing they have, to purchase it ; and
when they have got a little in their heads, are
the impatientest creatures living, till they have
enough to make them quite drunk, and the most
miserable spectacles when they are so, some falling
into the fires, burn their legs or arms, contracting
the sinews, and become cripples all their lifetime ;
others from precipices break their bones and joints,
with abundance of instances, yet none are so great
to deter them from that accursed practice of drunk-
enness, though sensible how many of them (are
by it) hurry ed into the other world before their
time, as themselves oftentimes will confess. The
Indians I was now speaking of, were not content
with the common enemies that lessoii and destroy
their country-men, but invented an infallible strat-
agem to purge their tribe, and reduce their multi-
tude into far less numbers. Their contrivance

lawson's history 27

was tlius, as a trader amongst them informed me :
They seeing several -ships coming in, to bring the
English supplies from Old England, one chief part
•of their cargo being for a trade with the Indians,
some of the craftiest of them had observed that
the ships came always in at one place, which
made them very confident that way was the exact
road to England ; and seeing so many'fehips come
thence, they believed it could not be far thither,
esteeming the English that were among them, no
better than cheats, and thought, if they could car-
ry the skins and furs they got, themselves to Eng-
land, which were inhabited with a better sort of
people than those sent amongst them, that then
they should purchase twenty times the value for
everypeltthey sold abroad, in consideration of what
rates they sold for at home. The intened barter
was exceeding well approved of, and after a gen-
eral consultation of the ablest heads amongst them
it was yiemine contradicente agreed upon, immediate-
ly to make an addition of their fleet, by building
more canoes, and those to be of the best sort
and bigest size, as fit for their intended discovery.
Some Indians were employed about making the
canoes, others to hunting, every one to the post
he was most fit for, all endeavors tending towards
an able fleet and cargo for Europe. The aflair
was carried on with a great deal of secrecy and ex-
pedition, so as in a small time they had gotten a na-
vy, loading, provisions, and hands, ready to set sail
leaving only the old, impotent and minors at home,

Z^ OF NORTH CAROLINA.

'tV ' their successful return. Tlie wind presenting",
tht :- set up their mat sails, and were scare out of
sight, when there rose a tempest, which it is sup-
posed carrjed on part of these Indian merchants
by way of the other world, whilst the others were
taken up at sea, by an English ship, and sold for
slaves to the islands. The remainder are better
satisfied with their imbecilities in such an under-
taking, nothing afii'onting them more than to re-
hearse their voyage to England.

There being a strong current in Santee river,
caused us to make small way with our oars. With
hard rowing we got that night to Mons. Eugee's
house, which stands about fifteen miles up the riv-
er, being the first christian dwelling we met with-
al in that settlement, and were very courteously
received by him and his w^ife.

Many of the French follow a trade Avith the In-
dians, living very conveniently for that interest.
There- is about seventy families seated on this riv-
er, who live as decently and happily as any plan-
ters in these southward parts of America. The
French being a temperate industrious people,
some of them bringing very little of eftects, yet, by
their endeavors and mutual assistance, amongst
themselves (which is highly to be commended)
have outstripped our English, who brought with
them larger fortunes, though (as it seems) less en-
deavor to manage their talent to the best advan-
tage. Tis admirable to see what time and indus-
try will (with Grod's blessing) effect. Carolina,

lawsgn's history 20

affording many strange revolutions in the age of
a man, daily instances presenting themselves t'
our view, of so many from despicable beginning
which, in a short time, arrive to very splend
conditions. Here property hath a large scop .,
there being no strict laws to bind our privileges.
A qust after game being as freely and perempto-
rilj enjoyed by the meanest planter, as he that is
the highest in dignity, or wealthiest in the pro-
vince. Deer and other game that are naturally
wild, being not immured, or preserved within
boundaries, to satisf}' the appetite of the rich alone.
Apoor laborer that is master of his gun, &c., hath as
good a claim to have continued coarses of delica-
cies crowded upon his table, as he that is master
of a great purse.

AYe lay all that night at Mons. Eugee's, and the
next morning set out farther, to go the remainder
of our voyage l)y land. At ten o'clock we passed
over a narrow, deep swamp, having left the three
Indian men and one woman, that had piloted the
canoe from Ashley river, having hired a Sewee
Indian, a tall lusty fellow, who carried a pack
of our clothes of great weight; notwithstanding
his burden, we had as much a do to keep pace
with him. At noon we came up with several
French plantations, meeting wdth several creeks
by the way. The French were very officious in
assisting with their small dories, to pass over these
waters, (whom we met coming from their church)
being all of them very clean and decent in their

30 OF NORTH CAROLINA.

apparel ; their houses and plantations suitable in
neatness and contrivance. " They are all of the
same opinion with the church of Geneva, there be-
ing no difference amongst them concerning the
punctilios of their christian faith ; which union hath
propagated a happy and delightful concord in all
other matters throughout the whole neighborhood,
living amongst themselves as one tribe or kindred,
every one making it his business to be assistant
to the wants of his country-man, preserving his
estate and reputation with the same exa-ctness and
concern as he does his own, all seeming to share
in the misfortunes, and rejoice at the advance and
rise of their brethren.

Towards the afternoon we came to Mons. L' Jan-
dro, where we got our dinner ; there coming some
French ladies while we were there who were late-
ly come from England, and Mons. L. Grand,
a worty ISTorman, who hath been a great sufferer
in his estate by the persecution in France, against
those of the protestant religion : this gentleman
very kindly invited us to make our stay with him
all night, but we being intended farther that day
took our leaves, returning acknowledgements of
their favors. About four in the afternoon, we
passed over a large cypress run in a small canoe ;
the French doctor sent his negro to guide us over
the head of a large swamp. So we got that night
to Mons. Gallian's the elder, who lives in a very
curious contrived house built of brick and stone,
which is gotten near that place. Kear here comes

lawson's history 31

in the road from Charlestown and the rest of the
English settlement, it being a very good way by
land, and not above thirty-six miles, although
more than one hundred by water ; and I think
the most difficult way I ever saw, occasioned by
reason of the multitude of creeks lying along the
main, keeping their courses through the marshes,
turning and winding like a labyrinth, having the
tide of ebb and flood twenty times in less than
three leagues going. The next morning very
early we li^rried over a creek that runs near the
house ; and after an hour's travel in the woods,
we came to the river side, where we staid for
the Indians who was our guide, and was gone
round by water in a small canoe to meet us at
that place we rested at. They came after a small
time, and ferried us in that little vessel over Santee
river, four miles and eighty-four miles in the
woods, which the overflowing of the freshes,
which then came down, had made a perfect sea
of, there running an incredible current in the riv-
er, which had cast our small craft and us away,
had we not had this Sewee Indian with us ; who
are excellent artists in managing these small ca-
noes. Santee river at this time, (from the usual
depth of water,) was risen perpendicular thirty-six
feet, always making a breach from her banks
about this season of the year. The general opin-
ion of the cause thereof, is supposed to proceed
from the overflowing of fresh water lakes that lie
near the head of this river and others upon the

6Z OF NORTH CAROLINA.

same continent. But my opinion is, -that these
vast inundations proceed from the great and re-
peated quantities of snow that falls upon the
mountains, which lie at so great a distance from
the sea, therefore they have no help of being dis-
solved by those saline, piercing particles as other
adjacent parts near the ocean receive, and there-
fore lies and increases to a vast bulk, until some
mild southerly breeze coming on a sudden, con-
tinues to unlock these frozen bodies, congealed
by the north-west wind, dissipating them in li-
quids, and coming down with impetuosity, fill
those branches that feed these rivers and causes
this strange deluge, which oft times lays under
water the adjacent parts on both sides this cur-
rent, for several miles distant from her banks ;
though the French and Indians affirmed to me,
they never knew such an extraordinary flood there
before.

We all, by God's blessing and the endeavors
of our Indian pilot, passed safe over the river, but
was lost in the woods, which seemed like some
great lake, except here and there a knowl of high
land which appeared above water.

"We intended for Mons. Gallian's jun., but was
lost, none of us knowing the way at that time, al-
though the Indian was born in that country, it
having received so strange a metamorphasis. We
were in several opinions concerning the right way,
the Indian and myself suppossed the house to
boar one way, the rest thought to the contrary ;

lawson's history 83

we differing, it was agreed on amongst us, that
one-half should go with the Indian to find the
house, and the other part to stay upon one of
these dry spots, until some of them returned to
us and informed us where it lay.

Myself and two more were left behind, by rea-
son the canoe would not carry us all. We had
but one gun amongst us, one load of ammunition
and no provision. Had our men in the canoe
miscarried, we must, in all probability, there have
perished.

In about six hours' time from our men's depar-
ture, the Indian came back to us in the same ca
noe he went in being half drunk, which assure
us they had found some place of refreshment
He took us three into the canoe telling us all wao
well : padling our vessel several miles through the
woods, being often half full of water; but at
length we got safe to the place we sought for,
w^hich proved to lie the same way the Indian and
I guessed it did.

"When we got to the house, we found our com-
rades in the same trim the Indian was in, and
several of the French inhabitants with them, who
treated us very courteously, wondering at our
undertaking such a voyage, through a country in-
habited by none but savages, and them of so dif-
ferent nations and tongues.

After we liad refreshed ourselves, we parted
from a very kind, loving and affable people, Avho
wished us a safe and prosperous voyage.
b2

34 OF NORTH CAROLINA.

Hearing of a camp of Santee Indians not far off
we set out intending to take up our quarters with
them that night. There being a deep run of wa-
ter in the way, one of our company being top
heavy, and there being nothing but a small pole
for a bridge, over a creek, fell into the water up
to the chin ; myself laughing at the accident, and
not taking good heed to my steps, came to the
same misfortune. All our bedding was wet. The
wind being at N. W. it froze very hard, which
prepared such a night's loding for me, that I nev-
er desire to have the like again ; the wet bedding
and freezing air had so qualified our bodies, that
in the morning when we awaked we were nigh
frozen to death, until we had recruited ourselves
before a large fire of the Indians.

Tuesday morning we set towards the Congerees
leaving the Indian guide Scipio, drunk amongst
the Santee Indians. We went ten miles out of
our way to head a great swamp, the freshes hav-
ing filled them all with such quantities of water
that the usual paths were rendered impassible.
We met in our way with an- Indian hut, where we
were entertained with a fat boiled goose, venison,
raccoon and ground nuts. We made but little
stay : about noon we passed by several large Sa-
vannahs', wherein is curious ranges for cattle, be-
ing green all the year ; they were plentifully stor-
ed with cranes, geese, &c., and the adjacent woods
with great fiocks of turkeys. This day we trav-
eled about thirty miles, and lay all night at a

lawson's history 35

house which was built for the Indian trade, the
master thereof we had parted with at the French
town, who gave us leave to make use of his man-
sion. Such houses are common in these parts,
and especially where there is Indian towns and
plantations near at hand, which this place is well
furnished withal.

These Santee Indians are a well humored and
affable people ; and living near the English, are
become very tractable. They make themselves
cribs after a very curious manner, wherein they
secure their corn from vermin, which are more
frequent in these warm climates than countries
more distant from the sun. These pretty fabrics
are commonly supported with eight feet or posts
about seven feet high from the ground, well daub-
ed within and without upon laths, with loom or
clay, which makes them tight and fit to keep out
the smallest insect, there being a small door at
the gable end, which is made of the same compo-
sition, and to be removed at pleasure, being no
bigger than that a slender man may creep in at,
cementing the door up with the same earth when
they take corn out of the crib, and are going from
home, always finding their granaries in the same
posture thy left them — theft to each other being
altogether unpracticed, never receiving spoils but
from foreigners.

Hereabouts the ground is something higher
than about Charlestown, there being found some
cjiiaries of brown, free stone, which I have seen

36 OF NORTH CAPvOLINA.

made use of for building, and hath proved very
durable and good. The earth here is mixed with
white gravel, which is rare, there being nothing
like a stone to be found of the natural produce,
near to Ashley river.

The next day about noon, we came to the side
of a great swamp, where we were forced to strip
ourselves to get over it, which, with much diffi-
culty, we effected. Hereabouts the late gust of
wind, which happened in September last, had
torn the large cypress trees and timbers up by
the roots, they lying confusedly in their branches,
did block up the way, making the passage very
difficult.

This night we got to one Scipio's hut, a famous
hunter. There was no body at home, but we hav-
ing in our company one that had used to trade
amongst them, we made ourselves welcome to
what his cabbin afforded, (which is a thing com-
mon) the Indians allowing it practicable to the
English traders to take out of their houses what
they need in their absence, in lieu whereot they
most commonly leave some small gratuity of to-
bacco, paints, beads, &c. "We found great store
of Indian peas (a very good pulse) beans, oil,
thinkapin nuts, corn, barbacued peaches, and
peach bread, which peaches being made into a
quiddony, and so made up into loaves like barley
cakes, these cut into thin slices, and dissolved in
water, makes a very grateful acid, and extraordi-
nary beneficial in fevers, as has often been tried,

lawson's history 37

and approved on by onr Englisli practitioners.
The wind being at IST. W., with cold weather,
made us make a large fire in the Indian's cabin ;
being very intent upon our cookery, we set the
dwelling on fire, and with much a do put it out,
though with the loss of part of the roof.

The next day we traveled on our way, and about
noon came up with a settlement of Santee Indians,
there being plantations lying scattering here and
there, for a great many miles. They came out to
meet us, being acquainted with one of our com-
pany, and made us very welcome with fat barba-
cued venison, which the woman of the cabin took
and tore in pieces with her teeth, so put it into a
mortar, beating it to rags, afterwards stews it
with water, and other ingredients, which makes a
very savoury dish.

At these cabins came to visit us the king of the
Santee nation. He brought with him their chief
doctor, or physician, who was warmly and neatly
clad with a match coat, made of turkies feathers,
which makes a pretty show, seeming as if it was
a garment of the deepest silk shag. This doctor
had the misfortune to lose his nose by the pox,
which disease the Indians often get by the Eng-
lish traders that use amongst them ; not but the
natives of America have for many ages (by their
own confession) been afilicted with a distemper
much like the lues venerea, which hath all the
symptoms of the pox, being diiferent in this only,
for I never could learn, that this country distem-

38 OF NORTH CAROLINA*

per, or jawes, is begun or continued with gon-
orrhoea, jet is attended with nocturnal pains in
the limbs, and commonly makes such a progress
as to vent part of the matter by bothes, and seve-
ral ulcers in the body, and other parts, oftentimes
death ensuing. I have known mercurial ungu-
ents and remedies work a cure, following the
same methods as in the pox, several white people,
but chiefly the Criolos, losing their palates and
noses by this devouring vulture.

It is epidemical, visiting these parts of America
which is often occa^'ioned through the immoderate
drinking of rum, by those that commonly drink
water at other times. Cold night's lodging, and
bad open houses, and more chiefly, by often wet-
ting the feet and eating such quantities of pork as
they do, which is a gross food, and a great propa-
gator of such juices as it often meets withal inhu-
man bodies, once tainted with this malady, which
may differently (in some respects) act its tragedy,
the change being occasioned by the difference of cli-
mates and bodies as in Europe. We being well
enough assured that the pox had its flrst rise
(known to us) in this new world, it being caught
of the Indian women by the Spanish soldiers that
followed Columbus in one of his expeditions to
America, who after their arrival in old Spain,
were hastened to the relief of iN'aples, at that time
besieged by the French. j^Provisions growing
scarce, the useless people were turned out of the
city, to lesson the mouths. Amongst these the

t&Ai-

lawson's history 39

Ciirtesans were one part, who luicl frequently em-
braced the Spaniards, being well fraught with
riche>s by their new discovery. The leager ladies
had no sooner lost their Spanish dons, but found
themselves as well SHtertained by the French,
wdiose camp they traded in, giving the monsieurs
as large a share of the pocky spoils within their
own lines, as the Spaniards had, who took the
pains to bring it in their breeches as far as from
America. The large supply of swine's flesh which
that army was chiefly victualed withal, made it
rage. The siege was raised. The French and
Spaniards retreating to Flanders, which was a
parade of all nations ; by which means this fllthy
distemper crowded itself into most nations of the
known world.

'Now to return to our doctor, who, in the time
of his affliction, withdrew himself (with one that
labored under the same distemper) into the woods.
These two perfected their cures by proper vegeta-
bles, &c., of which they have plent}^, and are well
acquainted with their specific virtue.

I have seen such admirable cures performed by
these savages, which would puzzle a great many
graduate practitioners to trace their steps in heal-
ing, with the same expedition, ease and success ;
using no racking instruments in their chirurgy,
nor nice rules of diet, and physic, to verify the
saying, qui medice vivit, miser e vivit. In w^ounds
which penetrate deep and seem mortal, they order
a spare diet, with drinking fountain water; if

40 OF KORTH CAROLINA.

they perceive a white matter or pus to arise, they
let the patient more at large, and presently cure
him.

After these two had performed their cures at
no easier rate than the expense of both their no-
ses, coming again amongst their old acquaintance
so disfigured, the Indians admired to see them
metamorphosed after that manner, enquired of
them where they had been all that time, and what
were become of their noses ? They made answer
that they had been conversing with the white
man above, (meaning God- Almighty,) how they
were very kindly entertained by that great being ;
he being much pleased with their ways, and had
promised to make their capacities equal with
the white people in making guns, amunition, &c.,
in retaliation of which the^^ had given him their
noses. The verity of which they yet hold, the
Indians being an easy, credulous people, and most
notoriously cheated by their priests and conjurers,
both trades meeting ever in one person, and most
commonly a spice of quackship added to the oth-
er two ingredients, which renders that cunning
knave the impostor, to be more relied upon ;
thence a fitter instrument to cheat these ignorant
people; the priest and conjurers being never ad-
mitted to their practice, till years and the expe-
rience of repeated services hath -wrought their es-
teem amongst the nations they belong to.

The Santee King, who was in company with this
no-nosed Dr., is the most absolute Indian ruler in

lawson's history 41

these parts, although he is head but of a small
people, m respect to some other nations of Indians,
that I have seen. He can put any of his people to
death that hath committed any fault which he
judges worthy of so great a punishment. This
authority is rarely found amongst these savages,
for they act not (commonly) by a determinative
voice in their laws towards any one that hath com-
mitted murder, or such other great crime, but
take this method ; him to whom the injury was
done, or if dead, the nearest of his kindred, pros-
ecutes by way of an actual revenge, being himself
if opportunity serves his intent, both judge and
executioner, performing so much mischief on the
oiFender or his nearest relation, until such time
that he is fully satisfied. Yet this revenge is not
so infallible but it may be bought off with beads,
tobacco, and such like commodities that are use-
ful amongst them, though it were the most sable
villainy that could be acted by mankind.

Some that attend the king presented me with
an odoriferous balsamic root, of a fragrant smell
and taste, the name I know not. They chew it
in the mouth, and by that simple application heal
desperate wounds both green and old. That
small quantity I had was given inwardly to those
troubled with the belly ache, which remedy failed
not to give present help, the pain leaving the pa-
tients soon after they had taken the root.

E'ear to these cabins are several tombs made
after the manner of these Indians ; the largest

42 OF NORTH CAROLINA.

and the cliiefest of them was the sepulchre of the
late Indian king of the Santees, a man of great
power, not only amongst his ovm subjects, but
dreaded by the neighboring nations for his great
valor and conduct, having as large a prerogative
in his way of ruling, as the present king I now
spoke of.

The manner of their interment is thus : A mole
or pyramid of earth is raised, the moidd thereof
being worked very smooth and even, sometimes
higher or lower, according to the dignity of the
person whose monument it is, on the top thereof
is an umbrella, made ridgeways, like the roof of an
house, this is supported by nine stakes, or small
posts, the grave being about six or eight feet in
length and four feet in breadth ; about it is hung
gourds, feathers, and other such like trophies,
placed there by the dead man's relations, in re-
spect to him in the grave. The other part of the
funeral rites are thus : As soon as the party is
dead, they lay the corps upon a piece of bark in
the sun, seasoning or embalming it with a small
root beaten to powder, which looks as red as Ver-
million ; the same is mixed with bear's oil to beau-
tify the hair, and preserve their heads from being
lousy, it growing plentifully in these parts of
America. After the carcass has laid a day or two in
the sun, they remove and lay it upon crotches cut
on purpose, for the support thereof from the earth,
then they annoint it all over with the foremen-
tioned ingredients of the powder of this root and

lawson's history 43

bear's oil. When it is so done, tliey cover it very
exactly over with bark of the pine, or cypress tree,
to prevent any rain to fall upon it, sweeping the
ground very clean all about it. Some of his
nearest of kin brings all the temporal estate he
was possessed of at his death, as guns, bows and
arrows, beads, feathers, match coat, &c. This re-
lation is the chief mourner, being clad in moss
and a stick in his hand, keeping a mournful ditty
for three or four days, his face being black with
smoke of pitch, pine mingled with bear's oil*. All
the while he tells the dead man's relations, and
the rest of the spectators, who that dead person
was, and of the great feats performed in his life-
time ; ' all what he speaks, tending to the praise
of the defunct. As soon as the flesh grows mel-
low and will cleave from the bone, they get it off
and burn it, making all the bones very clean,
then annoint them with the ingredients aforesaid,
wrapping up the skull (very carefully) in a cloth
artificially woven of possom's hair. (These In-
dians make girdles, sashes, garters, &c., after the
same manner.) The bones they carefully preserve
in a wooden box, every year oiling and cleansing
them. By these means preserve them for many
ages, that you may see an Indian in possession of
the bones of his grand-father, or some of liis rela-
tions of a larger antiquity. The}^ liave other sorts of
toombs, as where an Indian is slain, in that very
place they make a heap of stones, (or sticks where
stones are not to be found) to this niemorial, every

44 OF NORTH CAROLINA.

Indian that passes by, adds a stone to augment
tlie heap, in respect to the deceased hero.

'W'e had a very large swamp to pass over near
the house, and would have hired our landlord to
have been our guide, but he seemed unwilling, so
we pressed him no farther about it. He was the
tallest Indian I ever saw, being seven feet high,
and a very straight complete person, esteemed on
by the king for his great art in hunting, always car-
rying with him an artificial head to hunt withal.
They are made of the head of a buck, the back part
of 9ie horns being scraped and hollow for the light-
ness of carriage. The skin is left to the setting
on of the shoulders, which is lined all round with
small hoops, and flat sort of laths, to hold it open
for the arms to go in. They have a way to pre-
serve the eyes, as if living. The hunter puts on a
match coat made of deer skin, with tlie hair on,
and a piece of the white part of the deer skin that
grows on the breast, which is fastened to the neck
end of this stalking head, so hangs down. In these
habiliments an Indian will go as near a deer as he
pleases, the exact motions and behaviour of a deer
being so well coiinterfeited by them, that several
times it hath been known for two hunters to come
' up with a stalking head together, and unknown to
each other, so that they have killed an Indian in-
stead of a deer, which hath happened sometimes
to be a brother or some dear friend; for which rea-
son they allow not of that sort of practice where
the nation is populous.

lawson's history 45

Within lialf a mile of the house we passed over
a prodigious wide and deep swamp, being forced
to strip stark naked, and much a do to save our-
selves from drowning in this fatigue. We with
much a do got through, going that day about five
miles farther, and came to three more Indian cab-
ins, called in the Indian tongue, Hickerau, by the
English traders, the black hou^e, being pleasantly
seated on a high bank, by a branch of Santee riv-
er. One of our company that had traded amongst
these Indians told us that one of the cabins was
his father-in-law's ; he called him so by reason the
old man had given him a young Indian girl, that
was his daughter, to lie with him, make bread,
and to be necessary in what she was capable to as-
sist him in, during his abode amongst them.

When we came thither first there was no body
at home, so the son made bold to search his fa-
ther's granary for corn and other provisions. He
brought us some Indian maiz and peas, which are
of reddish color, and eat well, yet color the liquor
they are boiled in as if it were a lixivium of red
tarter. After we had been about an hour in the
house where was millions of fleas, the indian cab-
ins being often fuller of such vermin, than any
dog kennel, the old man came in to us, and
scem3d very glad to see his son-in-law.

This Indian is a great conjuror, as appears by
the sequel. The Seretoe or Santee Indians were
gone to war against the Hooks and Backbooks
nations, living near the mouth of Winyan river-

46 OF NORTH CAROLINA.

Those tliat were left at home, which are common-
ly old people and children, had heard no news a
long time of their men at arms. This man, at
the entreaty of these people, (being h^eld to be a
great sorcerer amongst them,) went to know what
posture their fighting men were in. His exorcism
was carried on thus : He dressed himself in a clean
white dressed deer skin, a great fire being made
in the middle of the plantation, the Indians sit-
ting all around it, the conjuror was blindfold-
ed, then he surrounded the fire several times
I think thrice — leaving the company he went into
the woods, where he stayed about half an hour,
returning to them surrounded the fire as before ;
leaving them, went the second time into the
woods ; at which time there came a huge swarm
of files, very large, they fiying about the fire sev-
eral times, at last fell all into it, and were visibly
consumed. Immediately after the Indian conju-
ror made a huge lilleloo, and howling very fright-
fully. Presently an Indian went and caught hold
of him, leading him to the fire. The old wizzard
was so feeble and weak, being not able to stand
alone, and all over in a sweat, and as wet as if he
had fallen into the river ; after some time he re-
covered his strength, assuring them that their
men wer near a river aad could not pass over it
till so many days, but would, in such a time, re-
turn all in safety to ther nation — all Avliich prov-
ed true at the Indians' return, whielfwas not long

lawson's history 4T

after. This story the Englishman, liis son-in-law,
affirmed to me.

The old man staid with us about two hours,
and told us we were welcome to stay there all
night, and take w^hat his cabin afforded ; then
leaving us, went into the woods to some hunting
quarter not far off.

The next morning early we pursued our voy-
age, finding the land to improve itself in pleas-
antness and richness of soil. When we had gone
about ten miles one of our company tired, being
not able to travel any farther; so we went for-
ward, leaving the poor dejected traveler with tears
in his eyes, to return to Charlestown, and travel
back again over so much bad way, we having
passed through the worst of our journey, the land
here being high and dry, very few swamps and
those dry and a little way through. We traveled
about twenty miles, lying near a savanna that was
overflown with water ; where we was very short
of victuals, but finding the woods newly burnt, and
on fire in many places, which gave us great hofjes
that Indians were not far oft".

l^ext morning, very early, we waded through the
Savanna, the path lying there ; and about ten o'
clock came to a hunting quarter of a great many
Santees. They made us all welcome, showing a
-great deal of joy at our coming, giving us barbe-
cued turkeys, bear's oil and venison.

Here we hired Santee Jack, (a good hunter, and
a well humored fellow) to be our pilot to the Con-

48 OP NORTH CAROLINA.

geree Indians. We gave him a stroud water blew
to makj his wife an Indian petticoat, who went
with her husband. After two hours refreshment
we went on, and got that day about twenty miles.
"We lay by a small, swift run of water, which
was paved at the bottom with a sort of stone much
like to tripoli, and so light that I fancied it would
precipitate in no stream but where it naturally
grew. The weather was very cold, the winds hold-
ing northerly. We made ourselves as merry as
we could, having a good suj)per with the scraps of
venison we had given us by the Indians, having
killed three teal and a possum, which medly, alto-
gether, made a curious ragoo.

This day all of us had a mind to have rested,
but the Indian was much against it, alleging that
the place we lay at was not good to hunt in, tell-
ing us if we would go on, by noon he would bring
us to a more convenient place, so we moved for-
wards, and about twelve o'clock came to the most
amazing prospect I had seen since I had been in
Carolina. We traveled by a swamp-side which
swamp I believe to be no less than twenty miles
over, the other side being as far as I could well
discern, there appearing great ridges of mountains
bearing from us N". ]^. W. One Alp with a top like
a sugar loaf, advanced its head above all the rest
very considerably. The day was very serene which
gave us the advantage of seeing a long way ; these
mountains were clothed all over with trees which
seemed to us to be very large timbers.

lawson's history 49

At the sight of this fair prospect we staid all
Bight ; our Indian going about half an hour be-
fore us, had provided three fat turkeys ere we got
up to him.

The swamp I now spoke of, is not a miry bog
as others generally are, but you go down to it
through a steep bank, at the foot of which begins
this valley, where you may go dry for perhaps
two hundred yards, then you meet with a small
brook or run of water about two or three feet
deep, then dry land for such another space, so an-
other brook, thus continuing, the hind in this po-
coson, or valley, being extraordinary rich, and
the runs of water well stored with fowl. It is the
head of one of the branches of Santee river ; but
a farther discovery time would not permit ; only
one thing is very remarkable, there growing all
over this swamp a tall, lofty bay tree, but is not
the same as in England, these being in their ver-
dure all the winter long ; which appears here,
when you stand on the ridge, (where our path
lay,) as if it were one pleasant, green field, and
as even as a bowling green to the eye of the be-
holder, being hemmed in on one side with these
ledges of vast high mountains.

Viewing the land here, we found an extraordin-
ary rich, black mould, and some of a copper color,
both sorts very good, the land in some places is
much burthened with iron stone, here being great
store of it, seemingly very good. The eviling
springs, which are many in these parts, issuino-

A3

^A OP NORTH CAROLINA.

out of the rocks, which water we drank of, it col-
oring the excrements of travelers, by its chalybe-
ate quality, as black as a coal.

When we were all asleep in the beginning of
the night, we were awakened with the dismalist
and most hideous noise that ever pierced my ears.
This sudden surprisal incapacitated us of guess-
ing what this threatening noise might proceed
from : but our Indian pilot, who knew these parts
very well, acquainted us, that it was customary
to hear such music along that swamp side, there
being endless number of panthers, tigers, wolves
and other beast of prey, which take this swamp
for their abode in the day, coming in whole droves ^
to hunt the deer in the night, making this fright-
ful ditty till day appears, then all is still as in oth-
er places.

The next day it proved a small drisly rain,
which is rare, there happening not the tenth part
of foggy falling weather towards these mountains
as visits those parts near the sea board. The In-
dian killed fifteen turkeys this day, there coming
out of the swamp, about sun rising, flocks of
these fowl, containing several hundred in a gang,
who feed upon the acorns, it being most oak that
grow in these woods. There are but very few pines
in those quarters.

Early the next morning, we set forward for the
Cmigeree Indians — parting with that delicious
prospect. By the way, our guide killed more tur-
keys and two polecats, which he eat, esteeming

lawson's history 51

them before fat turkeys. Some of tlie turkeys
which we eat whilst we staied there, I believe
weighed no less than forty pounds.

The land we passsed over this day was most of
it good, and the worst passable. At night we kill-
ed a possum, being cloy'd with turkey, made a
dish of that, which tasted much between young
pork and veal ; their fat being as white as any I
ever saw.

Our Indian having this day killed good store of
provisions with his gun, he always shot with a sin-
gle ball, missing but two shoots in about forty ;
they being curious artists in managing a gun to
make it carry either ball or shot, true. "When
they have bought a piece, and find it to shoot anj
ways crooked, they take the barrel out of the
stock, cutting a notch in a tree) wherein they set
it straight, sometimes shooting away above one
hundred loads of ammunition, before they bring the
gun to shoot according to their mind. We took
up our quarters by a fish pond side ; the pits in
the woods that stand full of water naturally breed
fish in them, in great quantities. We cooked our
supper, but having neither bread or salt, our fat
turkeys began to be loathsome to us, although we
were never wanting of a good appetite, 3^ct a con-
tinuance of one diet made us weary.

The next morning Santee Jack told us we
should reach the Indian settlement betimes that
day. About noon we j)assed by several fair Sa-
vannas, very rich and dry ; seeing great copses of

52 OF NORTH CAROLINA.

many acres that bore nothing but bushes, about
the bigness of box trees, which (in the season) af-
ford great quantities of small, black berries, very
pleasant fruit, and much like to our blues, or
huckleberries, that grow on heaths in England.
Hard by the Savannas we found the town, where
we halted. There was not above one man left
with the women, the rest being gone a hunting
for the feast. The women were very busily en-
gaged in gaming. The name or grounds of it I
could not learn, though I looked on above two
hours. Their arithmetic was kept with a heap of
Indian grain. When their play was ended, the
king, or Caffetta's wife, invited ns into her cabin.
The Indian kings always entertaining travelers,
either English or Indian ; taking it as a great af-
front, if they pass by their cabins and take up;
their quarters at any other Indian's house. The
queen set victuals before us, which good compli-
ment they use generally as soon as you come un-
der their roof.

The town consists not of above a dozen houses,
they having other straggling plantations up and
down the country, and are seated upon a small
branch of Santee river. Their place hath curious
dry marshes and Savannas adjoining to it, and
would prove an exceeding thriving range for cat-
tle, and hogs, provided the English were seated
thereon. Besides, the land is good for plantations.

These Indians are a small people, having lost
much of their former numbers, by intestine broils,

lawson's history 53

Ibut mostly by the small pox, whicli batli often
visited them, sweeping away whole towns, occa-
sioned by the immoderate government of them-
selves in their sickness, as I have mentioned be-
fore, treating of the Sewees. E'either do I know
any savages that have traded with the English but
what have been great losers by this distemper.

We found here good store of chinkapin nuts, ,
which they gather in winter great quantities of,
drying them, so keep these nuts in great baskets
for their use. Likewise hickerie nuts, which they
beat betwixt two great stories, then sift them, so
thicken their venison broth therewith, the small
shells precipitating to the bottom of the pot,
whilst the kernel, in form of flower, mixes it with
the liquor, both these nuts made into meal makes
a curious soup, either with clear water, or in any
meat broth.

From the nation of Indians, until such times as
you come to the Turkeiruros in I^s'orth Carolina,
you will see no long moss upon the trees, which
space, of ground contains above five hundred miles.
This seeming miracle in nature is occasioned by
the highness of the land, it being dry and health-
ful ; for though this most bears a seed in a sort of
a small cod, yet it is generated in or near low
ewampy grounds.

The jCongerees are kind and affable to the Eng-
lish. The Queen being very kind, giving us what
rarities her cabin afforded, as loblolly made with
Indian corn, and dried peaches. These Congerees

54 OF NORTH CAROLINA.

have abundance of storks and cranes in their sa-
vannas. They take them before they can j9.y, and
breed them as tame and familiar as a dunghill
fowl. They had a tame crane at one of these
cabins, that was scarcely less than six feet in
heighth. His head being round, with a shining, nat-
ural crimson hue, which they all have. These are
a very comely sort of Indians, there being a strange
difference in the proportions and beauty of these
heathens. Although their tribes or nations bor-
der one upon another, yet you may discern as
great an alteration in their features and disposi-
tions, as you can in their speech, which generally
proves quite difterent from each other, though
their nations be not above ten or twenty miles
in distance. The women here being as handsome
as most I have met withal, being several fine fin-
gered brounettos amongst them. These lasses
stick not upon hand long, for they marry when
very young, as at twelve or fourteen years of age.
The English traders are seldom without an Indian
female for his bed fellow, alleging these reasons
as sufiicient to allow of such familiarty, first, they
being remote from any white people, that it pre-
serves their friendship with the heathens, they es-
teeming a white man's child much above one of
their getting, the Indian misses ever securing her
white friend provisions whilst he stays amongst
them ; and lastly, this correspondence makes them
learn the Indian tongue much the sooner, they
being of the Frenchman's opinion, how that an

lawson's history 65

English wife teaches her husband more English
in one nisrht than a school master can in a week.

TVe saw at the Caffetta's cabin the strangest
spectacle of antiquity I ever knew, it being an old
Indian squah, that had I been to have guessed at
her age, by her aspect, old Parr's head (the Welch
Methusalem) was a face in swadling clouts to hers.
Her skin hung in reaves like a bag of tripe. By
a fair competition, one might have justly thought
it would have contained three such carcasses as
hers then was. She had one of her hands con-
tracted by some accident in the fire, they sleeping
always by it, and often Ml into sad disasters, espe-
cially in their drunken moods. I made the strict-
est enquiry that was possible, and by what I could
gather, she was considerably above one hundred
years old, notwithstanding she smoked tobacco
and eat her victuals, to all appearances, as hearti-
ly as one of eighteen. One of our company spoke
some of their language, and having not quite for-
gotten his former intrigues with the Indian lasses,
would have been dealing with some of the young
female fry ; but they refused him, he having noth-
ing that these girls esteemed.

At night we were laid in the king's cabin, where
the queen and the old squah piged with us. The
former was very much disfigured with tetters, and
veiy reserved, which disappointed our fellow-
traveler in his intrigues.

The women smoke much tobacco, (as most In-
diums do.) They liave pipes whose heads arc cut

56 OP NORTH CAROLINA.

out of stone, and will hold an ounce of tobacco,
and some mucli less. Tliey have large wooden
spoons, as big as small ladles, Avhich they make
little use of, lading the meat out of the bowles
with their fingers.

In the morning we rose before da}^, having hir-
ed a guide over night to conduct us on our way ;
but it was too soon for him to stir out, the Indi-
ans never setting forward till the sun is an hour
or two high and hath exhaled the dew from the
earth. The queen got us a good breakfast before
we left her ; she had a young child, which was
much afflicted with the cholic ; for which distem-
per she infused a root in water, which was held in
a gourd ; this she took into her mouth and spurt-
ed it into the infant's, which gave it ease. After
we had eaten, we set out with our new guide, for
the Wateree Indians. We went over a great deal
of indifferent land this day. Here begins to ap-
pear very good marble, which continues more and
less for the space of five hundred miles. "We lay
all night by a run of water, as we always do if
possible, for the convenience of it. The water
was very cold. "We went this day about thirty
miles from the Congerees.

In the morning we made no stay to get our
breakfast, but hastened on our voyage, the land
increasing in marble and richness of soil. At
noon we halted, getting our dinner upon a mar-
ble stone, that rose itself half a foot above the
surface of the earth, and might contain the com-

lav/son's history 57

pass of a quarter an acre of land, being very even,
there growing upon it in some places a small red
berry, like a salmon spawn, tliere boiling out of
tlie main rock curious springs of as delicious wa-
ter as ever I drank in any parts I ever traveled
m.

These parts likewise affords good free stone, fit
for building, and of several sorts. The land here
is pleasantly seated, with pretty little hills and
valleys, the rising sun at once showing his glori-
ous reflecting rays on a great many of these little
mountains. We went this day about twenty
miles, our guide walking like a horse, 'till we had
saddled him with a good heavy pack of some part
of our clothes and bedding — by which means we
kept pace with him.

This night we lay by a run side, where I found
a fine yellow earth, the same with Bruxel's sand,
which goldsmiths use to cast withal, giving a good
price in England and other parts ; here is like-
wise the true blood stone and considerable quanti-
ties of fuller's earth, which I took a proof of by
scouring great spots out of woolen, and it proved
very good.

As we were on our road this morning our In-
dian shot a tiger that crossed the way, he being a
great distance from us, I believe he did him no
harm, because he sat on his breech afterwards,
and looked upon us. I suppose he expected to
have had a spaniel bitcli that I had with me, for
his breakfast, who ran towards him, but in the
b3

58 OF NORTH CAROLINA.

midway- stopped her career, and came sneaking
back to ns witli lier tail betwixt lier legs.

We saw in tlie patli a great many trees blown
up by tlie roots, at the bottom thereof stuck great
quantities of fine red bole : I belive nothing infe-
rior to that of Venice or Lemma. We found
some holes in the earth which were full of water
as black as ink. I thought that tincture might
proceed from some mineral, but had not time to
make a farther discovery. About noon we passed
over a pleasant stony brook, whose water was of
a bluish cast, as it is for several hundreds of miles
toAvards the heads of the rivers, I suppose occa-
sioned by the vast quantities of marble lying in
the bowels of the earth. The springs that feed
these rivulets, lick up some portion of the stones
in the brooks ; which dissolution gives this tinc-
ture, as appears in all, or most of the rivers and
brooks in this country, whose rapid streams are
like those in Yorkshire and other northern coun-
tries of England. The Indians talk of many sorts
of fish which they aflbrd, but we had not time to
discover their species.

I saw here had been some Indian plantations
formerly, there being several pleasant fields of
cleared ground and excellent soil, now well
spread with fine bladed grass, and strawberry
vines.

The mould here is excessive rich, and a coun-
try very pleasing to the eye, had it the conven-
ince of a navigable river, as all new colonies, of

lawson's history 59

necessity require, it would make a delightful set-
tlement.

We went eight miles farther and came to the
"Wateree Chickanee Indians. The land holds
good, there being not a spot of bad land to be
seen in several days' going.

The people of this nation are likely tall persons,
and great pilferers, slealing from us any thing
they could lay their hands on, though very res-
pectful in giving us what victuals we wanted.
We lay in their cabins all night, being dark smo-
ky holes as ever I saw any Indians dwell in.
This nation is much more populous than the Con-
gerees and their neighbors, yet understand not
one another's speech. They are very poor in
English effects, several of them having no guns,
making use of bows and arrows, being a lazy, idle
people, a quality incident to most Indians, but
none to that degree as these, as I ever met with-
al.

Their country is wholy free from swamps and
quagmires, being high dry land, and consequently
healthful, producing large corn stalks, and fair
grain.

'Next morning we took off our beards with a
razor, the Indians looked on with a great deal of
admiration. Tliey told us they had never seen
the like before, and that our knives cut far better
than those that came amongst the Indians. They
w^ould fain have borrowed our razors as they had
our knives, scissors and tobacco tongs the day be-

60 OF NORTH CAROLINA.

fore, being as ingenious at picking of pockets as
any, I believe, the world affords — -for tliey will
steal with, their feet.

Yesterday, one of our company, not walking so
fast as the rest, was left behind. He being out of
sight before we missed him, and not coming up to
us, though we staid a considerable time on the
road for him, we stuck up sticks in the ground,
and left other tokens to direct him which way
we were gone ; but he came not to us that night,
which gave us occasion to fear some of the heath-
.en had killed him for his clothes, or the savage
beasts had devoured him in the wilderness, he
having nothing about him to strike fire withal. '
As we were debating which way we should send
to know what was become of him, he overtook
us, having a Waxsaw Indian for his guide. He
told us he had missed the path and got to anoth-
er nation of Indians but three miles off, who at
that time held great feasting. They had enter-
tained him very respectfully, and sent that Indi-
an to invite us amongst them, wondering that we
would not take up our quarters with them, but
make our abode with such a poor sort of Indians,
that were not capable of entertaining us accord-
ing to our deserts. We received the messenger
with a great many ceremonies acceptable to those
sort of creatures.

Bidding our Wateree king adieu, we set forth
towards the Wa^saws, going along cleared ground
all the way. Upon our arrival, we were led into

lawson's history 61

a very large and lightsome cabin, tlie like I liave
not met withal. They laid furs and deer skins .
npon cane benches for ns to sit or lie upon, bring-
ing immediately, stewed pea«hes and green corn,
that is preserved in their cabins before it is ripe,
and sodden and boiled when they use it, which
is a pretty sort of food, and a great increaser of
the blood.

These Indians are of an extraordinary stature,
and called by their neighbors flat heads, which
seems a very suitable name for them. In their
infancy, their nurses lay the back part of their
children's heads on a bag of sand, (such as engra-
vers use to rest their plates upon.) They use a
roll which is placed upon the babies forehead, it
being laid with its back on a flat board, and swad-
dled hard down thereon, from one end of this en-
gine to the other. This method makes the child's
body and limbs as straight as an arrow, there be-
ing some young Indians that are perhaps crooked-
ly inclined, at their first coming into the world,
who are made perfectly straight by this method.
I never saw an Indian of mature age that was any
ways crooked, except by accident, and that way
seldom ; for they cure and prevent deformities of
the limbs and body very exactly. The instrument
I spoke of before being a sort of a press, that is
let out and in, more or less, according to the dis-
cretion of the nurse, in which they make the
child's head flat: it makes the eyes stand a prodi-
gious way asunder, and the hair hang over the

62 OF NORTH CAROLINA.

forehead like the eves of a house, which seems
very frightful. They being asked the reason why
they practiced this method, replied, the Indian's
sight was much strengthened and quicker thereby
to discern the game in hunting at larger distance,
and so never missed of becoming expert hunters, the
perfection of which they all aim at, as we do to
become experienced soldiers, learned school-men,
or artists in mechanics. He that is a good hunter
never misses of being a favorite amongst the
women ; the prettiest girl being always bestowed
upon the chiefest sportsman, and those of a gross-
er mould upon the useless lubbers. Thus they
have a graduation amongst them, as well as other
nations. As for the solemnity of marriages amongst
them, kept with so much ceremony as divers au-
thors affirm, it never appeared amongst those
many nations I have been withal, any otherwise
than in the manner I have mentioned hereaf-
ter.

The girls, at twelve or thirteen years of age, as
soon as nature prompts them, freely bestow their
maiden heads on some youth about the same age,
continuing her favors on whom she most affects,
changing her mate very often, few or none of
them being constant to one, till a greater number
of years has made her capable of managing do-
mestic affairs, and she hath tried the vigor of most
of the nation she belongs to. Multiplicity of gal-
lants never being a stain to a female's reputation,
or the least hinderance of her advancement ; but

lawson's history 63

tlie more wliorrisli, tlie more honorable, and they
of all most coveted by those of the first rank to
make wives of. The Flos Virginis, so much cov-
eted by the Europeans, is never valued by these
savages.

^AHien a man and woman have gone through their
degrees, (there being a certain graduation amongst
them,) and are allowed to be house keepers, which
is not till they arrive at such an age, and have pass-
ed the ceremonies practiced by their nation, al-
most all kingdoms differing in the progress there-
of, then it is that the man makes his address to
some one of these thoroughpaced girls or other,
whom he likes best. When she is won the parents
of both parties (with advice of the king) agree
about the matter, making a promise of their daugh-
ter to the man that requires her, it often happen-
ing that they converse and travel together for sev-
eral moons before the marriage is published open-
ly. After this, at the least dislike, the man may
turn her away, and take another ; or if she disap-
proves of his company, a price is set upon her,
and if the man that seeks to get her, will pay the
fine to her husband, she becomes free from him ;
likewise, some of their war captains, and great
men, very often will retain three or four girls at a
time for their own use, when at the same time
he is so impotent and old, as to be incapable
of making use of one of them, so that he seldom
misses of wearing greater horns than the game he
kills. The husband is never so enraged as to put

64 OP NORTH CAROLINA.

his adulteress to death ; if she is caught in the
fact, the rival becomes debtor to the cornuted hus-
band, in a certain quantity of trifles, valuable
amongst them, which he pays as soon as discharg-
ed, and then all animosity is laid aside betwixt
the husband and his wife's gallant. The man
proves often so goodhumored as to please his
neighbor and gratify his wife's inclinations, by
letting her out for a night or two, to the embraces
of some other, which perhaps she has a greater lik-
ing to, though this is not commonly practiced.

They set apart the youngest and prettiest faces
for trading girls ; these are remarkable by their
hair, having a particular tonsure by which they are
known and distinguished from those engaged to
husbands. They are mercenary, and whoever
makes use of them, first hires them, the greatest
share of the gain going to the king's purse, who
is the chief bawd, exercising his prerogative over
all the stews of his nation, and his own cabin
very often, being the chiefest brothel house. As
they grow in years, the hot assaults of love grow
cooler ; and then they commonly are so staid, as
to engage themselves with more constancy to each
other. I have seen several couples amongst them
that have been so reserved, as to live together for
many years, faithful to each other, admitting none
to their beds but such as they owned for their
wife or husband, so continuing to their life's end.

At our Waxsaw's landlord's cabin, was a wo-
man employed in no other business than cookery,

lawson's history 65

it being a lioiise of great resort. The fire was sur-
rounded with roast *meet, or barbecues, and the
pots continually boiling full of meat, from morn-
ing till night. This she-cook was the cleanliest
I ever saw amongst the heathens of America,
washing her hands before she undertook to do any
cookery ; and repeating this unusal decency very
often in a day. She made us as white bread as
any English could have done^r^mtl was full as neat
and expeditious in hef^affairs. It happened to be
one of their great feasts when we were there.
The first day that we came amongst them, arrived
an ambassador from the king of Sapona, to treat
with these Indians about some important affairs.
He was painted with vermilion all over his face,
having a very large cutlass stuck in his girdle, and
a fusee in his hand. At night the revels began,
where this foreign Indian was admitted. The
king and war captain inviting us to see their mas-
querade. This feast was held in commemoration
of the plentiful harvest of corn they had reaped
the summer before, with an united supplication
for the like plentiful produce the year ensuing.
These revels are carried on in a house made for
that purpose, it being done round with white
benches of fine canes, joining along the wall ; and
a place for the door being left, which is so low
that a man must stoop very much to enter there-
in. This edifice resembles a large hay rick, its
top being pyramidal, and much Ifigger than tlieir
other dwellings, and at the building wereof, every

66 OF NORTH CAROLINA.

one assists till it is finislied. All their dwelling
Louses are covered with bark, but this differs
very much ; for it is very artificially thatched with
sedge and rushes. As soon as finished, they
place some one of their chiefest men to dwell
therein, charging him with the diligent preserva-
tion thereof, as a prince commits the charge and
government of a fort or castle, to some subject he
thinks worthy of that trust. Li these state houses
is transacted all public and private business rela-
ting to the affairs of the government, as the audi-
ence of foreign ambassadors from other Indian ru-
lers, consultation of waging and making war, pro-
posals of their trade with neighboring Indians, or
the English who happen to come amongst them.
In this theatre, the most aged and wisest meet,
determining what to act, and what may be most
convenient to omit. Old age being held in as
great veneration amongst these heathens, as
amongst any people you shall meet withal in any
part of the world.

Whensoever an aged man is speaking, none ev-
er interrupts him, (the contrary practice the Eng-
lish and other Europeans too much use,) the com-
pany yielding a great deal of attention to his tale
with a continued silence and an exact demeanor,
during the oration. Indeed, the Indians are a
people that never interrupt one another in their
discourse ; no man so much as ofl^ering to open
his mouth till the speaker has uttered his intent :
Wlien an Englishman comes amongst them, per-

lawson's history 67

haps every one is acquainted witli him, yet, first,
the king bids him welcome, after him the war cap-
tain, so on gradually from high to low ; not one
of all these speaking to the white guest, till his su-
perior has ended his salutation. Amongst wo-
men, it seems impossible to find a scold : if they
are provoked or afironted, by their husbands, or
some other, they resent the indignity ofiered them
in silent tears, or by refusing their meat. Would
some of our European daughters of thunder set
these Indians for a pattern, there might be more
quiet families found amongst them, occasioned
by that unruly member, the tongue.

Festination proceeds from the devil, says a
learned doctor, a passion the Indians seem
wholly free from ; they determining no business
of moment without a great deal of deliberation
and weariness. ISTone of their aftairs appear to
be attended with impetuosity or haste, being
more content with the common accidents incident
to human nature, (as losses, contrary winds, bad
weather, and povert}^,) than those of more civiliz-
ed countries.

]S"ow, to return to our state house, whither we
were invited by the grandees. As soon as we
came into it, they placed our Englishmen near
the king, it being my fortune to sit next him,
having his great general or war captain on my
other hand. The ho use is as dark as a dungeon,
and ad hot as one of the Dutch stoves in Holland.
They had made a circular fire of split canes in

68 OF NORTH CAROLINA..

the middle of the house, it was ana man's employ--
ment to add m.ore split reeds to the one end as it
consumed at the other, there being a small vacan-
cy left to supply it with fueL They brought in
great store of loblolly and other medleys, made
of Indian grain, stewed peaches, bear venison,
&c., every one bringing some offering to enlarge
the banquet, according to his degree and quality.
"When all the viands were brought in, the first
figure began with kicking out the dogs, which
are seemingly wolves made tame with starving
and beating, they being the worst dog masters in
the Avorld ; so that it is an infallible cure for sore
eyes, ever to see an Indian's dog fat. They are
of a quite contrary disposition to horses. Some
of their kings having gotten by great chance, a
jade, stolen by some neighboring Indian, and
transported farther into the country and sold, or
bought sometimes of a chiistian that trades
amongst them. These creatures they continually
cram and feed with maiz, and what the horse will
eat, till he is as fat as a hog — never making any
farther use of him than to fetch a deer home,
that is killed somewhere near the Indian's plant-
ation.

After the dogs had fled the room, the compan}^
was summoned by beat of drum ; the music being
made of a dressed deer's skin, tied hard upon an
earthen porridge pot. Presently in came fine men
dressed up with feathers, their faces being cover-
ed with vizards made of gourds ; round their an*

'^^*

lawson's history 69

cles and kness were liiing bells of several sorts ;
having wooden falchions in their hands, (such as
stage fencers commonly use) ; in this dress they
danced about an hour, showing many strange
gestures, and brandishing their wooden weapons
as if they were going to fight each other ; often-
times walking very nimbly round the room, with-
out making the least noise with their bells, a
thing I much admired at ; again turning their bo-
dies, arms and legs, into such frightful postures,
that you would have guessed they had been quite
raving made : at last, they cut two or three high
capers and left the room. In their stead came in
a parcel of women and girls, to the number of
thirty odd, every one taking place according to
her degree of stature — the tallest leading the
dance and the least of all being placed last ; with
these they made a circular dance, like a ring rep-
resenting the shape of the fire they danced about.
Many of these had great horse bells about their
legs and small hawk bells about their necks. —
They had musicians, who were two old men, one
of whom beat a drum, while the other rattled with
a gourd that had corn in it to make a noise with-
al. To these instruments they both sung a mourn-
ful ditty ; the burthen of their song was, in re-
membrance of their former greatness, and num-
bers of their xiation, the famous exploits of their
'-renoAvned ancestors, and all actions of moment
that had, in former days, been performed by their
forefathers.

70 OP NORTH CAROLINA.

At these festivals it is, that they give a tradi-
tional relation of what hath passed amongst them,
to the younger fry, these verbal deliveries being
always published in their most public assemblies,
serve instead of our traditional notes by the use
of letters. Some Indians, that I have met withal,
have given me a very curious description of the
great deluge, the immortality of the soul, with a
pithy account of the reward of good and Tvdcked
deeds in the life to come ; having found amongst
some of them, great observers of moral rules,
and the law of nature ; indeed, a worthy founda-
tion to build Christianity upon, were a true meth-
od found out and practiced for the performance
thereof

Their way of dancing is nothing but a sort of
stamping motion, much like the treading upon
founder's bellows. This female gang held their
dance for above six hours, being all of them of a
white lather, like a running horse, that nas just
come in from his race. My landlady was the ring-*
leader of the Amazons, who, when in her own
house, behaved herself very discreetly, and weari-
ly in her domestic affairs ; yet, custom had so in-
fatuated her, as to almost break her heart with
dancing amongst such a confused rabble. During
this dancing, the spectators do not neglect their
business in working the lobloUy-potg, and the oth-
er meat that was brought thither ; more or less of
them being continually eating, whilst the others
were dancing. When the dancing was ended, eve-

lawson's history 71

ry youth that was so disposed, catched hold of the
girl he liked best, and took her that night for his
bed fellow, making as short courtship and expedi-
tious weddings, as the foot guards used to do with
the trulls in Salisbury court.

JN'ext we shall treat ef the land hereabouts,
which is a marl as red as blood, and will lather
like soap. The town stands on this land, which
holds considerably farther in the country, and is,
in my opinion, so durable that no labor of man in
one or two ages, could make it poor. I have for-
merly seen the like in Leicestershire, bordering
upon Rutland. Here are corn stalks in their
fields as thick as the small of a man's leg, and they
are ordinarily to be seen.

We lay with these Indians one night, there be-
ing by my bedside one of the largest iron pots I
had ever seen in America, which I much wondered
at, because I thought there might be no navigable
stream near that place. I asked them where they
got that pot. They laughed at my demand and
would give me no answer, which makes me guess
it came from some wrecK, and that we were nearer
the ocean or some great river than I thought.

The next day, about noon, we accidentally met
with a southward Indian amongst those that used to
trade backwards and forwards, and spoke a little
English, whom we hired to go with us to the Esaw
Indians, a very laige nation, containing many
thousand p;jople.

72 OF NORTH CAROLINA.

In the afternoon we set forward, taking our leaves
of the "Wisack Indians, and leaving them some tri-
fles. On our way we met with several towns of
Indians, each town having its theatre, or state
house ; such houses being found all along the road
till you come to Sapona, and then no more of those
buildings, it being about one hundred and seventy
miles. We reached ten miles this day, lying at
another town of the Wisacks. The man of the
house offered us skins to sell, but they were two
heavy burdens for our long voyage.

IsText morning we set out early, breaking the ice
we met withal in the stony runs, which were ma-
ny. We passed by several cottages, and about S
o'clock came to a pretty big town, where we took
up our quarters in one of their state houses. The
men being all out hunting in the woods, and none
but women at home. Our fellow traveler, of whom
I spoke before at the Congerees, having a great
mind for an Indian lass for his bed fellow that night,
spoke to our guide, who soon got a couple, reserving
one for himself. That which fell to our compan-
ion's share was a pretty young girl. Though they
could not understand one word of what each other
spoke, yet the female Indian being no novice at her
game, but understanding what she came thither
for, acted her part dexterously enough with her
cully, to make him sensible of what she wanted,
which was to pay the hire before he rode the hack-
ney. He showed her all thi© treasure he was pos-
sessed of, as beads, red cadis, &c., which she liked

LAWSON^S HISTORY 73

very well, and permitted him to put them into his
pocket again, endearing him with all the charms
which one of a better education than dame nature
had bestowed upon her, could have made use of
to render her consort a surer captive. After they
had used this sort of courtship a small time, the
match was confirmed by both parties, with the ap-
probation of as many Indian women as came to
the house to celebrate our Winchester wedding.
Every one of the bride maids were as great whores
as Mrs. Bride, though not quite so handsome. Our
happy couple went to bed together before us all,
and with as little blushing as if they had been
man and wife for seven years. The rest of the
company, being weary with traveling, had more
mind to take their rest, than add more weddinffs
to that hopeful one already consummated; so that,
though the other virgins offered their service to
us, we gave them their answer and went to sleep.
About an hour before day, I awaked and saw some-
body walking up and down the room, in a seem-
ingly deep melancholy. I called out to know who
it was, and it proved to be Mr. Bridegroom, who,
in less than twelve hours, was batchelor, husband,
and widower, his dear spouse having picked his
pocket of the beads, cadis, and what else should
have gratified the Indians for the victuals we re-
ceived of them : however, that did not serve her
turn, but she had also got his shoes away, which
he had made the night before, of a dressed buck-
skin. Thus early did our spark already repei]t h\s
a4

74 OF NOltTII CAROLINA.

new bargain — walking barefoot in liis penitentiak^
like some poor pilgrim to Loretto.

After tlie Indians had laughed their sides sore
at the figure Mr. Bridegroom made, with much
ado, we mustered up another pair of shoes or mog-
gisons, and set forward on our intended voyage,
all the way lifting up their prayers for the new
married couple, whose wedding had made away
with that which should have purchased our food.

Relying wholly on Providence, we marched on,
now and then paying our respects to the new married
man. The land held rich and good ; in many places
there were great quantities of marble. The water
was still of wheyish color. About ten o'clock we
waded through a river about the bigness of Derwent,
in Yorkshire, which I took to be one of the branch-
es of Winjaw^ river. We saw several flocks of pi-
o-eons, fieldfares and thrushes, much like those of
Europe. The Indians of these parts use sweat-
ing very much. If any pain seize their limbs or
body, immediately they take reeds or small wands
and bend them umbrella fashion, covering them
with skins and match coats ; they have a large fire
not far oft*, wherein they heat stones, or where they
are w^anting, bark ; putting it into this stove, which
casts an extraordinary heat, there is a pot of water
in the bagnio, in which is put a bunch of an herb,
bearing a silver tassel, not much unlike the aiirea
virga. "With this vegetable they rub the, head,
temples and other parts, which is reckoned a pre-
server of the sight %Qd strengthener of the brain.

LAWSON S HISTORY 75

We went this day about twelve miles, one of our
company being lame of his knee. "We passed
over an exceeding rich tract of land, affording
plenty of great free stones,marblerocks and abound-
ing in many plesant and delightsome rivulets.
At noon we stayed and refreshed ourselves at a
cabin, where we met with one of their war cap-
tains, a man of great esteem among them. At
his departure from the cabin, the man of the house
scratched this war captain on the shoulder, which
is looked upon as a very great compliment among
them. The captain went two or three miles on
our way w^ith us, to direct us in our path. One of
our company gave him a belt, which he took very
kindly, bidding us call at his house, which was in
our road, and stay till the lame traveler was well,
and speaking to the Indian to order his servant to
make us welcome. Thus we parted, he being on his
journey to the Congerees and Savannas, a famous,
warlike, friendly nation of Indians, living to the
south end of Ashley i^iver. He had a man slave with
him who was loaded with European goods, his
wife and daughter being in company. He told
us, at his departure, that James had sent knots to
all the Indians thereabouts, for every town to
send in ten skins, meaning Captain Moor, then
Governor of South Carolina. The towns beins:
very thick hereabouts, at night we took up our
quarters at one of the chief men's houses, which
was one of the theatres I spoke of before. There
ran, liard by this town, a pleasant river, not very

76 OP NORTH CAROLINA.

large, but, as the Indians told us, well stored with
fish. We being now among the powerful nation
of Esaw8, our landlord entertained us very cour-
teously, showing us, that night, a pair of leather
gloves which he had made ; and comparing them
with ours, they proved to be very ingeniously done,
considering it was the first trial.

In the morning, he desired to see the lame man's
affected part, to the end he might do something
which he believed would give him ease, after he
had viewed it accordingly, he pulled out an instru-
ment, somewhat like a comb, which was made of
a split reed, with fifteen teeth of rattlesnakes, set
at much the same distance as in a large horn comb.
With these he scratched the place where the lame-
ness chiefly lay till the blood came, bathing it
both before and after incision, with warm water
spurted out of his mouth, this done, he ran in-
to his plantation and got some sassafras root,
which grows here in great plenty,driedit in the em-
bers, scraped off the outward rind, and having
beat it betwixt two stones, applied it to the part
afflicted, binding it up well. Thus in a day or
two, the patient became sound. This day we
passed through a great many towns and settle-
ments that belong to the Sugeree Indians, no bar-
ren land being found amongst them, but great
plenty of free stone and good timber. About three
in the afternoon we reached the Kadapau king's
house, where we met with one John Stewart, a
Scot, then an inhabitant of James river, in Vir-

lawson's history TT

giuia, who had traded there for many years, being
alone, and hearing that the Sinnagers (Indians
from Canada) were abroad in that country, he durst
not venture homewards till he saw us, having
heard that we were coming above twenty days
before. It is very odd that news should fly so
swiftly among these people. Mr. Stewart had
left Virginia ever since the October before, and
had lost a day of the week, of which we informed
him. He had brought seven horses along with
him, loaded with English goods for the Indians,
and having sold most of his cargo, told us if we
would stay two nights he would go along with us.
Company being very acceptable, we accepted the
proposal.

The next day we were preparing for our voyage
and baked some bread to take along with us, our
landlord was king of the' Kadapau Indians, and
always kept two or three trading girls in his cabin.
Offering one of these to some of our company, who
refused his kindness, his majesty flew into a vio-
lent passion, to be thus slighted, telling the Eng-
lishmen that they were good for nothing. Our old
gamester, particularly, hung his ears at the propo-
sal, having too lately been a loser by that sort of
merchandise. It was observable that we did not
see one partridge from the Waterees to this place,
though my spaniel bitch, which I had with me
in this voyage, had put up a great many before.

On Saturday morning we all set out for Sapona,
killing in these creeks, several ducks of a strange

78 OF NORTH CAROLINA.

kind, having a red circle about tlieir eyes, like
some pigeons that I have seen, a top-not reach-
ing from the crown of their heads almost to the
middle of their backs, and abundance of feathers
of pretty shades and colors, they proved excellent
meat. Likewise here is good store of woodcocks,
not so big as those in England, the feathers of the
breast being of a carnation color, exceeding ours
for delicacy of food. The marble here is of differ-
ent colors, some or other of the rocks represent-
ing most mixtures, but chiefly the white having
black and blue veins in it, and some that are red.
This day we met with seven heaps of stones, be-
ing the monuments of seven Indians that were
slain in that place by the Sinnagers or Troquois.
Our Indian guide added a stone to each heap.
We took up our lodgings near a brook side, where
the Virginia man's horses got away and went back
to the Kadapaus.

This day one of our company, with a Sapona
Indian, who attended Stewart, went back for the
horses. In the mean time, we went to shoot pi-
geons which were so numerous in these parts that
you might see many millions in a flock; they
sometimes split off the limbs of stout oaks and oth-
er trees upon which they roost of nights. You
may find several Indian towns of not above seven-
teen houses, that have more than one hundred gal-
lons of pigeon's oil or fat ; they using it with pulse
or bread as we do butter, and making the ground
as white as a sheet with their dung. The Lidians

lawson's history 79

take a light and go among them in the night and
bring away some thousands, killing them with
long poles, as they roost in the trees. At this
time of the year, the flocks as they pass by, in great
measure, obstruct the light of the day.

On Monday we went twenty-five miles, travel-
ing through a pleasant, dry country, and took up
our lodgings by a hill side that was one entire
rock, out of which gushed out pleasant fountains
of well tasted water.

The next day, still passing along such land as
we had done for many days before, which was
hills and valleys, about ten o'clock we reached the
top of one of these mountains, which yielded us a
fine prospeT?t of a very level country, holding so
on all sides farther than we could discern. When
we came to travel through it, we found it very
stiff and rich, being a sort of marl. This valley
afibrded as large timber as any I ever met withal,
especially of chesnut oaks, which render it an ex-
cellent country for raising great herds of swine.
Indeed, were it cultivated, we might have good
hopes of as pleasant and fertile a valley, as any
our English in America afford. At night we
lay by a swift current, where we saw plenty of
turkeys, but perched upon such lofty oaks tluft our
guns would not kill them, though we shot very
often, and our guns were very good. Some of our
company shot several times at one turkey before
he would fly away — the pieces being loaded with
large goose shot. "^

80 OF NORTH CAROLINA.

"Next morning we got our breakfast, roasted
acorns being one of the dishes. The Indians beat
them into meal and thicken their venison broth
with them, and oftentimes make a palatable soup.
They are used instead of bread, boiling them till
the oil swims on the top of the water, which they
preserve for use, eating the acorns with flesh meat.
We traveled this day about twenty-five miles over
pleasant savanna ground, high and dry, having
very few trees upon it, and those standing at
a great distance. The land was very good and
free from grubs or underwood. A man near Sa-
pona may more easily clear ten acres of ground,
than in some places he can one ; there being
much loose stone upon the land, lying very con-
venient for making of dry walls or any other sort
of durable fence. The country abounds likewise
with curious, bold creeks, navigable for small craft,
disgorging themselves into the main rivers that
vent themselves into the ocean. These creeks
are well stored with sundry sorts of fish and fowl,
and are very convenient for the transportation of
what commodities this place may produce. This
night we had a great deal of rain with thunder
and lightning.

Next morning it proving delicate weather,
three of us separated ourselves from the horses
and the rest of the company, and went directly
for Sapona town.

That day we passed through a delicious coun-
try— none that I ever saw exceeds it. We saw

lawson's history 81

fine bladed grass six feet high, along the banks of
these pleasant rivulets. We passed by the sepul-
chres of several slain Indians. Coming that day
about thirty miles, we reached the fertile and
pleasant banks of Sapona river, whereon stands
the Indian town and fort ; nor could all Europe
afford a pleasanter stream, were it inhabited by
christians and cultivated by ingenious hands.
These Indians live in a clear field about a mile
square, which they would have sold me ; because
I talked sometimes of coming into those parts to
live. This most pleasant river may be something
broader than the Thames at Kingston, keeping a
continual pleasant warbling noise, with its rever-
berating on the bright marble rocks. It is beau-
tified with a numerous train of swans and other
sorts of water fowl, not common though extraor-
dinary pleasing to the eye.

The forward spring welcomed us with her in-
numerable train of small choristers which inhabit
those fair banks ; the hills redoubling and adding
sweetness to their melodious tunes by their shrill
echoes.

One side of the river is hemmed in with moun-
tainy ground, the other side proving as rich a soil
to the eye of a knowing person with us, as any
this western world can aftbrd.

We took up our quarters at the king's cabin
who was a good friend to the English, and had
lost one of his eyes, in their vindication, being
upon his march towards the Appalatche mouu-
b4

82 OF NORTH CAROLINA.

tains, amongst a nation of Indians in their way,
there happened a difference while they were
measuring of gun powder, and the poAvder by ac-
cident taking lire, blew out one of this king's
eyes and did a great deal more mischief upon the
spot. Yet this Sapona king stood firmly to the
Englishman's interest, with whom he was in com-
pany, still siding with him against the Indians.
They were intended for the South sea, but were
too much fatigued by the vast ridge of mountains,
though they hit the right passage ; it being no
less than five day's journey through a ledge of
rocky hills and sandy deserts. And which is yet
worse, there is no water nor scarce a bird to be
seen during your passage over these barren crags
and valleys.

The Sapona river proves to be the west branch
of Cape Fear or Clarendon river, whose inlet with
other advantages, makes it appear as noble a
river to plant a colony in, as any I have met
withal.

The Saponas had (about ten days before we
came thither) taken five prisoners of the Sinnagers
or Jennitos, a sort of people that range several
thousands of miles, making all prey they lay their
hands on. These are feared by all the savage na-
tions I ever was among, the westward Indians
dreading their approach. They are all sorted in,
and keep continual spies and outguards for their
better security. Those captives they did intend
to burn, few prisoners of war escaping that pun-

lawson's history 83

ishment. The fire of pitch pin,e being got ready,
and a feast appointed, which is solemnly kept at
the time of their acting this tragedy, the sufferer
has his body stuck thick with lightwood splinters,
which are lighted like so many candles, the tor-
tured person dancing round a great fire till his
strength fails, and disables him from making
them any farther pastime. Most commonly, these
wretches behave themselves, in the midst of their
tortures with a great deal of bravery and resolu-
tion, esteeming it satisfaction enough to be assured
that the same fate will befall some of their tormen-
tors, whensoever they fall into the hands of their
nation. More of this you will have in the other
sheets* The Toteros, a neighboring nation, came
down from the westward mountains to the Sapo-
na's, desiring them to give them those prisoners
into their hands, to the intent they might send
them back into their own nation, being bound in
gratitude to be serviceable to the Sinnagers, since
not long ago, those northern Indians had taken
some of the Toteros prisoners and done them no
harm, but treated them civilly whilst among them,
sending them, with safety, back to their own peo-
ple, and affirming that it would be the best meth-
od to preserve peace on all sides. At that time
these Toteros, Saponas, and the Keyauwees, three
small nations, were going to live together, by
which they thought they should strengthen them-
selves and become formidable to their enemies.
The reason offered by the Toteros being heard,

84 OF NORTH CAROLINA.

the Sapona king, with the consent of his counsel-
lors, delivered the Sinnagers up to the Toteros to
conduct them home.

Friday morning the old king having showed us
two of his horses that were as fat as if they had
belonged to the dutch troopers, left us and went
to look after his beaver traps, there being abun-
dance of those amphibious animals in this river
and the creeks adjoining. Taken with the pleas-
antness of the place, we walked along the river
side, where we found a very delightful island
made by the river and a branch ; there being sev-
eral such plots of ground environed with this sil-
ver stream, which are fit pastures for sheep, and
free from any offensive vermin. 'Not can any
thing be desired by a contented mind as to a pleas-
ant situation, but what may here be found ; every
step presenting some new object, which still adds
invitation to the traveler in these parts. Our In-
dian king and his wife entertained us very respect-
fully.

On Saturday the Indians brought in some swans
and geese, which we had our share of. One of
their doctors took me to his cabin and showed me
a great quantity of medical drugs, the product of
those parts; relating their qualities as to the
emunctories they worked by, and what great mala-
dies he had healed by them. This evening came
to us the horses with the remainder of our compa-
ny, their Indian guide (who was a youth of this

lawson's history 85

nation) having killed in their way a very fat doe,
part of which they brought to us.

This day the king sent out all his able hunters
to kill game for a great feast that was to be kept
at their departure from the town, which they of-
fered to sell me for a small matter. That piece
of ground, with a little trouble, would make an
Englishman a most curious settlement, containing
above a mile square of rich land. This evening
came down some Toteros, tall, likely men, having
great plenty of buffaloes, elks, and bears, with oth-
er sort of deer amongst them, which strong food
makes large, robust bodies. Enquiring of them
if they never got any of the bezoar stone, and giv-
ing them a description how it was found ; the In-
dians told me, they had great plenty of it, and
asked me what use I could make of it ? I answer-
ed them that the white men used it in physic, and
that I would buy some of them if they would get
it against I came that way again. Thereupon, one
of them pulled out a leather pouch wherein was
some of it in powder ; he was a notable hunter,
and affirmed to me that that powder blown into
the eyes, strengthened the sight and brain exceed-
ingly, that being the most common use they made
of it.

I bought, for two or three flints, a large peach
loaf, made up with a pleasant sort of seed, and this
did us a singular kindness in our journey. Near
the town, within their cleared land, are several
bagnios, or sweating houses, made of stone, in

86 OF NORTH CAROLINA.

shape like a large oven. These they make much
use of; especially for any pains in the joints, got
by cold or traveling. At night, as we lay in our
beds, there arose the most violent IsT. W. wind I
ever knew. The first puff blew down all the pa-
lifadoes that fortified the town ; and I thought it
would have blown us all into the river, together
with the houses. Our one-eyed king, who pre-
tends much to the art of conjuration, ran out in
the most violent hurry, and in the middle of the
town, fell to his necromantic practice ; though I
thought he would have been blown away or killed,
before the devil and he could have exchanged half
a dozen words : but in two minutes the wind was
ceased, and it became as great a calm as ever I
knew in my life. As I much admired at that sud-
den alteration, the old man told me that the devil
was very angry, and had done thus because they
had not put the Sinnagers to death.

On Monday morning our whole company, with
the horses, set out from the Sapona Indian town,
after having seen some of the locust, which is got-
ten thereabouts, the same sort that bears honey.
Going over several creeks, very convenient for
water mills, about eight miles from the town we
passed over a very pretty river, called Rocky river,
a fit name, having a ridge of high mountains run-
ning from its banks to the eastward, and disgorg-
ing itself into Sapona river, so that there is a most
pleasant and convenient neck of land betwixt both
rivers, lying upon a point where many thousand

lawson's history 87

acres may be fenced in, without much cost or la-
bor. You can scarce go a mile without meeting
with one of these small, swift currents, here being
no swamp, to be found, but pleasant, dry roads all
over the country. The way that we went this day
was as full of stones as any which craven in the west
of Yorkshire could afford ; and having nothing
but moggisons on my feet, I was so lamed by this
stony way that I thought I must have taken up
some stay in those parts. We went this day not
above fifteen or twenty miles. After we had sup-
ped and all lay down to sleep, there came a wolf
close to the fireside where we lay. My spaniel
soon discovered him, at which one of our company
fired a gun at the beast ; but I believe there was
a mistake in the loading of it, for it did him no
harm. The wolf stayed till he had almost load-
ed again, but the bitch making a great noise,
at last left us and went aside. We had no sooner
laid down, but he approached us again, yet was
more shy, so that we could not get a shot at him.
Next day we had fifteen miles farther to the
Keyauwees. The land is more mountainous, but
extremely pleasant, and an excellent place for the
breeding sheep, goats, and horses, or mules, if the
English were once brought to the experience of the
usefulness of those creatures. The valleys are here
very rich. At noon we passed over such another
stony river, as that eight miles from Sapona. This
is called Heighwaree, and affords as good blue
stone for mill stones as that from Cologn, good

88 OP NORTH CAROLINA.

rags, some hones and large pebbles in great abun-
dance, besides free stone of several sorts ; all very
useful. I knew one of these hones made use of
by an acquaintance of mine, and it proved rather
better than any from old Spain or elsewhere. The
veins of marble are very large and curious on this
river and the banks thereof.

Five miles from this river, to the 'N, "W., stands
the Keyauwees town. They are fortified in with
wooden puncheons, like Sapona, being a people
much of the same number. Nature has so forti-
fied this town with mountains, that were it a seat
of war, it might easily be made impregnable ;
having large corn fields joining to their cabins,
and a savanna near the town at the foot of these
mountains, that is capable of keeping some hun-
dred heads of cattle. And all this environed round
with very high mountains, so that no hard wind
ever troubles these inhabitants. Those high cliffs
have no grass growing on them, and very few trees,
which are very short, and stand at a great distance
one from another. The earth is of a red color
and seems to me to be wholly designed by nature
for the production of minerals, being of too hot a
quality to sufter any verdure upon its surface.
These Indians make use of lead ore to paint their
faces withal, which they get in the neighboring
mountains. As for the refining of metals, the
Indians are wholly ignorant of it, being content
with the realgar. But if it be my chance once
more to visit these hilly parts, I shall make a Ion-

lawson's history 89

ger stay amongst them : For were a good vein of
lead found out, and worked by an ingenious hand,
it might be of no small advantage to the under-
taker, there being great convenience for smelting,
either by bellows or reverberation, and the work-
ing of these mines might discover some that are
much richer.

At the top of one of these mountains is a cave
that one hundred men may sit very conveniently
to dine in, whether natural or artificial I could not
learn. There is a fine bole between this place and
the Saps. These valleys, thus hemmed in with
mountains, would, doubtless, prove a good place
for propagating some sort of fruits, that our easter-
ly winds commonly blast. The vine could not
miss of thriving well here ; but we of the northern
climate are neither artists, nor curious in propa-
gating that pleasant and profitable vegetable.
Near the town is such another current as Heigh wa-
ree.

We being six in company, divided ourselves
into two parties ; and it was my lot to be at the
house of Keyauwees Jack, who is king of that
people. He is a Congeree Indian, and ran away
when he was a boy. He got this government
by marriage with the queen ; the female issue
carrying the heritage, for fear of imposters ;
the savages well knowing how much frailty pos-
sesses the Indian women, betwixt th§ garters and
the girdle.

90 OF NORTH CAROLINA.

The next day, having some occasion to write,
the Indian king who saw me, believed that he
could write as well as I. Whereupon I wrote a
word, and gave it to him to copy, which he did
with more exactness than any European could
have done that was illiterate. It was so well that
he who could read mine, might have done the
same by his. Afterwards he took great delight
in making fish hooks of his own invention, which
would have been a good piece for an antiquary to
have puzzled his brains withal, in tracing out the
characters of all the oriental tongues. He sent
for several Indians to his cabin to look at his han-
dy work, and both he and they thought I could
read his writing as well as I could my own. I had
a manual in my pocket that had king David's
picture in it, in one of his private retirements.
The Indian asked me who that figure represented.
I told him it was the picture of a good king, that
lived, according to the rules of morality, doing to
all as he would be done by, ordering all his life
to the service of the Creator of all things ; and
being now above us all in heaven, with God Al-
mighty, who had rewarded him with all the de-
lightful pleasures imaginable in the other world,
for his obedience to him in this. I concluded with
telling them, that we received nothing here below,
as food, raiment, &c., but what came from that
Omnipotent being. They listened to my discourse
with a profound silence, assuring me that they be-
lieved what I said to be true.

lawson's history 91

'No man living will ever be able to make these
heathens sensible of the happiness of a future
state, except he now and then mentions some lively
carnal representation, which may quicken their ap-
prehensions and make them thirst after such a
gainful exchange ; for, were the best lecture that
ever was preached by man, given to an ignorant
sort of people in a more learned style than their
mean capacities are able to understand, the in-
tent would prove ineffectual, and the hearers would
be left in a greater labyrinth than their teacher
found them in. But dispense the precepts of our
faith according to the pupil's capacity, and there
is nothing in our religion but what an indifferent
reason is, in some measure, able to comprehend ;
though a Ne^Y England minister blames the
French Jesuits for this way of proceeding, as be-
ing quite contrary to a true christian practice, and
affirms it to be no ready or true method to estab-
lish a lively representation of our christian belief
amongst these infidels.

All the Indians hereabouts carefully preserve
the bones of the flesh they eat and burn them, as
being of opinion that if they omitted that custom
the game would leave their country, and they should
not be able to maintain themselves by their hunt-
ing. Most of these Indians wear mustaches or
whiskers, which is rare ; by reason the Indians
are a people that commonly pull the hair of their
faces and other parts, up by the roots and suffer
none to grow.

92 OF NORTH CAROLINA.

Here is plenty of chesnuts which are rarely
found in Carolina, and never near the sea or salt
water, though they are frequently in such places
in Virginia. At the other house where our fel-
low travelers lay, they had provided a dish in great
fashion amongst the Indians, which was two young
fawns taken out of the does' bellies, and boiled in
the same slimy bags nature had placed them in,
and one of the country hares, stewed with the guts
in her belly, and her skin with the hair on. This
new fashioned cookery wrought abstinence in our
fellow travelers, which I somewhat wondered at,
because one of them made nothing of eating alle-
gators as heartily as if it had been pork and tur-
nips. The Indians dress most things after the
woodcock fashion, never taking the guts out. At
the house we lay at, there was very good enter-
tainment of venison, turkies and bears ; and which
is customary amongst the Indians. The Queen
had a daughter by a former husband, who was the
beautifulest Indian I ever saw, and had an air of
majesty with her quite contrary to the general
carriage of the Indians. She was very kind to the
English during our abode, as well as her father
and mother.

This morning most of our company having some
inclination to go straightaway for Virginia, when
they left this place, I and one more took our leaves
of them, resolving (with God's leave) to see ISTorth
Carolina, one of the Indians setting us in our way.
The rest being indifferent which way they went,

LAWSON*S HISTORY 98

desired Us, by all means, to leave a letter for them
at the Achonechy town. The Indian that put us
in our path, had been a prisoner amongst the Sin-
nagers, but had outrun them, although they had
cut his toes and half his feet away, which is a prac-
tice common amongst them. They first raise the
skin, then cut away half the feet, and so wrap the
skin over the stumps and make a present cure of
the wounds. This commonly disables them from
making their escape, they being not so good trav-
elers as before, and the impression of their half
feet making it easy to trace them ; however, this
fellow was got clear of them, but had little heart to
go far from home, and carried always a case of pis-
tols in his girdle, besides a cutlass and a fuzee.
Leaving the rest of our company at the Indian
town, we traveled that day about twenty miles, in
very cold frosty weather ; and passed over two
pretty rivers, something bigger than Heighwaree,
but not quite so stony. We took these two rivers
to make one of the northward branches of Cape
Fair river, but afterwards found our mistake.

The next day we traveled over very good land,
but full of freestone and marble, which pinched
our feet severely. We took up our quarters in a
sort of savanna ground that had very few trees in
it. The land was good and had several quarries
of stone, but not loose as the others used to be.

Next morning we got our breakfast of parched
corn, having nothing but .that to subsist on for
above one hundred miles.' All the pine trees were

94 OF NOHTH CAROLINA.

vanished, for we had seen none for two days. We
passed through a delicate rich soil this day ; no
great hills, but pretty risings and levels, which
made a beautiful country. We likewise passed
over three rivers this day, the first about the big-
ness of Rocky river, the other not much differing
in size. Then we made not the least question,
but we had passed over the northwest branch of
Cape Fair, traveling that day above thirty miles.
We were much taken with the fertility and pleas-
antness of the neck of land between these two
branches, and no less pleased that we had passed
the river which used to frighten passengers from
fording it. At last determining to rest on the
other side of a hill which we saw before us ; when
we were on the top thereof, there appeared to us
such another delicious, rapid stream as that of Sa-
pona, having large stones, about the bigness of an
ordinary house, lying up and down the river. As
the wind blew very cold at E". W. and we were
very weary and hungry, the swiftness of the cur-
rent gave us some cause to fear ; but, at last, we
concluded to venture over that night. Accordingly
we stripped, and with great difficulty, (by God's
assistance) got safe to the north side of the famous
Hau river, by some called Eeatkin ; the Indians
differing in the names of places according to their
several nations. It is called Hau river from the Sis-
sipahau Indians, who dwell upon this stream,
which is one of the n^ain branches of Cape Fair,
there being rich land enough to contain some

lawbon's history V>5

thousands of families ; forwbich reason I hope, in
a short time, it will be planted. This river is
much such another as Sapona, both seeming to
run a vast way up the country. Here is plenty of
good timber, and especially of a scaly barked oak ;
and as there is stone enough in both rivers, and
the land is extraordinary rich, no man that will
be content within the bounds of reason, can have
any grounds to dislike it. And they that are other-
wise are the best neighbors when farthest off.

As soon as it was day we set out for the Acho*
nechy town, it being, by estimation, twenty miles
off, which I believe is pretty exact. We were got
about half way, (meeting great gangs of tur-
ties) when w^e saw at a distance, thirty loaded
horses, coming on the road, with four or five men,
on other jades driving them. We charged our
pieces and went up to them ; enquiring whence
they came from ? they told us from Virginia. The
leading man's name was Massey, who was born
about Leeds in Yorkshire. He asked from whence
we came ? We told him. Then he asked again,
w^hether we wanted anything that he had ? telling
us we should be welcome to it. We accepted
of two wheaten biscuits, and a little ammunition.
He advised us by all means, to strike down the
country for Ronoack, and not think of Virginia,
beea*ise of the Sinnagers, of whom they were
afraid, though so well armed and numerous. They
persuaded us also to call upon one Enoe-Will, as
we went to Adshusheer, for that he would conduct

96 OF NORTH CAROLINA.

US safe among the English, giving him the charac-
ter of a very faithful Indian, which we afterwards
found true by experience. The Virginia men
asking our opinion of the country we were then
in. We told them it was a very pleasant one.
They were all of the same opinion, and affirm-
ed, that they had never seen twenty miles of
such extraordinary rich land lying all together like
that betwixt Hau river and the Achonechy town.

Having taken our leaves of each other, we set
forward ; and the country through which we pass-
ed, was so delightful that it gave us a great deal
of satisfaction. About 3 o'clock we reached the
town, and the Indians presently brought us good
fat bear, and venison, which was very acceptable
at that time. Their cabins were hung with a good
sort of tapestry, as fat bear, and barbacued or
dried venison ; no Indians having greater plenty of
provisions than these. The savages do indeed, still
possess the flower of Carolina, the English enjoying
only the fag end of that fine country. We had not
been in the town two hours when Enoe Will came
into the king's cabin, which was our quarters. We
asked him if he would conduct us to the English,
and what he would have for his pains ; he answer-
ed he would go along with us, and for what he
was to have he left that to our discretion.

The next morning we set out with Enoe Will
towards Adshusheer, leaving the Virginia path,
and striking more to the eastward for Konoak.
Several Indians were in our company belonging to

LAWSON S HISTORY

Will's nation, who are the Shoccories, mixed with
the Enoe Indians, and those of the nation of Ad-
shusheer. Enoe Will is their chief man, and rules
as far as the banks of Reatkin. It was a sad, stony
way to Adshnsheer. We went over a small river
by Achonechy, and in this fourteen miles, through
several other streams which empty themselves in-
to the branches of Cape Fair. The stony way
made me quite lame, so that I was an hour or two
behind the rest ; but honest Will would not leave
me, but bid me welcome when we came to his
house, feasting us with hot bread and bear's oil,
which is wholesome food lor travelers. There
runs a pretty rivulet by this town. ISTear the plan-
tation, I saw a prodigious overgrown pine tree,
having not seen any of that sort of timber for
above one hundred and twenty-five miles. They
brought us two cocks and pulled their larger feath-
ers off, never plucking the lesser, but singeing
them off. I took one of these fowls in my hand
to make it cleaner than the Indian had, pulling
out his guts and liver, which I laid in a bason ;
notwithstanding which he kept such a struggling
for a considerable time that I had much a do to
hold him in my hands. The Indians laughed at
me, and told me that Enoe Will had taken a cock
of an Indian that was not at home, and the fowl
was designed for another use. I conjectured that
he was designed for an offering to their god, who,
they say, hurts them, (which is the devil.) In this
struggling he bled afresh, and there issued out of

98 OF NOETH CAR0LI2fA.

his body more .blood tban commonly such crea-
tures afford. IN'otwithstanding all this, we cooked
him and eat him ; and if he was designed for him,
cheated the devil. The Indians keep many cocks,
but seldom above one hen, using, very often, such
wicked sacrifices, as I mistrusted this fowd was
designed for. Our guide and landlord, Enoe "Will,
was one of the best and most agreeable temper
that ever I met with in an Indian, being always
ready to serve the English, not out of gain, but
real affection ; which makes him apprehensive of
being poisoned by some wicked Indians, and was
therefore very earnest with me, to promise him to
revenge his death, if it should so happen. He
brought some of his chief men into his cabin, and
two of them having a drum, and a rattle, sung by
us as we lay in bed, and struck up their music to
serenade and welcome us to their town. And
though at last, we fell asleep, yet they continued
their concert till morning. These Indians are fortifi-
ed in as the former, and are much addicted to a sport
they call Chenco, which is carried on with a staff
and a bowl made of stone, which they trundle up-
on a smooth place like a bowling green, made for
that purpose, as I have mentioned before.

'Next morning we set out with our guide and
several other Indians who intended to go to the
English and buy rum. We designed for a nation
about forty miles from Adshusheer, called the
lower quarter : the first night we lay in a rich po-

lawson's histobt 99

coaon, or low ground that was hard by a creek,
and good dry land.

The next day we went over several tracts of rich
land, but mixed with pines and other indiflerent
soil. In our way there stood a great stone about
the size of a large oven, and hollow; this the Indians
took great notice of, putting some tobacco into
the concavity, and spitting after it. I asked them
the reason of their so doing, but they made me no
answer. In the evening we passed over a pleas-
ant rivulet, with a fine gravelly bottom, having
come over such another that morning. On the
other side of this river we found the Indian town,
which was a parcel of nasty, smoky holes, much
like the Waterrees ; their town having a great
swamp running directly through the middle there-
of. The land here begins to abate of its height,
and has some few swamps. Most of these Indians
have but one eye ; but what mischance or quarrel
has bereaved them of the other I could not learn.
They were not so free to us as most of the other
Indians had been ; victuals being somewhat scarce
among them. However, we got enough to satis-
fy our appetites. I saw, among these men, very
long arrows, headed with pieces of glass, which
they had broken from bottles. They had shaped
them neatly, like the head of a dart, but which
way they did it I can't tell. We had not been at
this town above an hour when two of our compa-
ny, that had bought a mare of John Stewart, came
up to us, having received a letter by one of "Will's

100 OF NORTH CAROLINA.

Indians, who was very cautious, and asked a great
many questions to certify him of the person ere
he would deliver the letter. They had left the
trader and one that came from South Carolina
with us, to go to Virginia, these two being resolv-
ed to go to Carolina with us.

This day fell much rain, so we staid at the In-
dian town.

This morning we set out early, being four Eng-
lishmen, besides several Indians. We went ten
miles, and were then stopped by the freshes of
Enoe river, which had raised it so high that we
could not pass over till it was fallen. I enquired
of my guide where this river disgorged itself? He
said it was Enoe river, and run into a place called
Enoe bay, near his country, which he left when he
was a boy ; by which I perceived he was one of
the Cores by birth, this being a branch of JSTeus
river.

This day our fellow-traveler's mare ran away
from him, wherefore, "Will went back as far as the
lower quarter, and brought her back.

The next day, early, came two Tuskeruro In-
dians to the other side of the river, but could not get
over. They talked much to us, but we understood
them not. In the afternoon Will came with the
mare, and had some discourse with them. They
told him the English to whom he was going were
very wicked people; and that they threatened
the Indians for hunting near their plantations.
These two foUo^vs were going among the Shoe-

lawson's history 101

cores and Achonecliy Indians to sell their wooden
bowls and ladles for raw skins, whicli they make
great advantage of, hating that any of these west-
ward Indians shonld have any commerce with the
English which would prove a hinderance to their
gains. Their stories deterred an old Indian and his
son from going any farther ; but Will told us noth-
ing they had said should frighten him, he believ-
ing them to be a couple of hog stealers ; and that
the English only sought restitution of their losses
by them, and that this was the only ground for
their report. Will had a slave, a Sissipahau In-
dian by nation, who killed us several turkies and
other game, on which we feasted.

This river is near as large as Reatkin ; the
south side having curious tracts of good land, the
banks high, and stone quarries. The Tuskeruros
being come to us, we ventured over the river,
which we found to be a strong current, and the
water about breast high. However, we all got
safe to the north shore, which is but poor, white,
sandy land, and bears no timber but small, shrub-
by oaks. We went about ten miles and^ sat
down at the falls of a large creek, where lay
mighty rocks, the water making a strange
noise, as if a great many water mills were going at
once. I take this to be the falls of ITeus creek,
called by the Indians, Wee quo Wliom. We
lay here all night. My guide. Will, desiring to
see the book that I had about me, I lent it him ;
and as he soon found the picture of king David,

102 OF NORTH CAROLINA*

lie asked me several qnestions concerning tlie
book and picture, which I resolved him and invi-
ted him to become a christian. He made me a
very sharp reply, assuring me that he loved the
English extraordinary well, and did believe their
ways to be very good for those that had already
practiced them, and had been brought up therein;
but as for himself, he was too much in years to
think of a change, esteeming it not proper for old
people to admit of such an alteration. However,
he told me, if I would take his son. Jack, who was
then about fourteen years of age, and teach him
to talk in that book, and make paper speak, which
they call our way of writing, he would wholly re-
sign him to my tuition ; telling me he was of opin-
ion I was very well affected to the Indians.

The next morning we set out early, and I per-
ceived that these Indians were in some fear of en-
emies ; for they had an old man with them who
was very cunning and circumspect, wheresoever
he saw aay marks of footing, or of any fire that
had been made ; going out of his way very often
to look for these marks. We went, this day,
above thirty miles, over a very level country, and
most pine land, yet intermixed with some quanti-
ties of marble ; a good range for cattle, though
very indifterent for swine. We had now lost our
rapid streams, and were come to slow, dead wa-
ters, of a brown color, proceeding from the swamps,
much like the sluices in Holland, where the Track-
Scoots go along. In the afternoon, we met two

LAWSON'S HISTORY 103

Tuskeruros, who told us that there was a compa-
ny of hunters not far off, and if we walked stoutly
we might reach them that night. But Will, and
he that owned the mare, being gone before, and
the old Indian tired, we rested that night in the
woods, making a good, light fire, wood being very
plentiful in these parts.

l^ext day about ten o'clock, we struck out of
the way by the advice of our old Indian. We
had not gone past two miles ere we met with
about five hundred Tuskeruros in one hunting
quarter. They had made themselves streets of
houses built with pine bark, not with round tops,
as they commonly use, but ridge fashion, after
the manner of most other Indians. We got
nothing amongst them but corn, flesh being
not plentiful, by reason of the great number of
their people. For though they are expert hunt-
ers, yet they are too populous for one range, which
makes venison very scarce to what it is amongst
other Indians, that are fewer ; no savages living
so well for plenty as t^ose near the sea. I saw
amongst these a hump-backed Indian, which waa
the only crooked one I ever met withal. About
two o'clock we reached one of their towns, in
which there was no body left but an old woman
or two, the rest being gone to their hunting quar-
ters. We could find no provision at that place.
We had a Tuskeruro that came in company with
us from the lower quarter, who took us to his
cabin and gave us what it afforded — which was
corn meat.

104 OF NORTH CAROLINA.

This day we passed tlirougli several swamps,
and going not above a dozen miles came to a
cabin, the master whereof used to trade amongst
the English. He told ns if we would stay two
nights, he would conduct us safe to them, himself
designing, at that time, to go and fetch some rum ;
so we resolved to tarry for his company. During
our stay, there happened to be a young woman
troubled with fits. The doctor who was sent for
to assist her, laid her on her belly and made a
small incision with rattle snake teeth ; then
laying his mouth to the place, he sucked out
near a quart of black conglutinated blood and
serum. Our landlord gave us the tail of a be-
ver, which was a choice food. There happen-
ed also to be a burial of one of their dead, which
ceremony is much the same with that of the San-
tees, who make a great feast at the interment of
their corpse. The small runs of water hereabout
aflbrd great plenty of crawfish, full as large as
those in England, and nothing inferior in good-
ness, i

Saturday morning, our patron, with Enoe "Will
and his servant, set out with us for the English.
In the afternoon we ferried over a river, in a ca-
noe, called by the Indians Chattookau, which is
the north-west branch of Keus river. We lay in
the swamp, where some Indians invited us to go
to their quarters, which some of our company ac-
cepted, but got nothing extraordinary, except a
dozen miles' march out of their way. The coun-

lawson's history 105

try here is very thick of Indian towns and plant-
ations.

We were forced to march this day for want of
provisions. About ten o'clock we met an Indi-
an that had got a parcel of shad fish ready harba-
cued. We bought twenty-four of them for a
dressed doe skin, and so went on through many
swamps, finding this day the long ragged moss on
the trees, w^hich we had not seen for above six
hundred miles. In the afternoon we came upon the
banks of Pampticough about twenty miles above
the English plantations by water, though not so
far by land. The Indian found a canoe which he
had hidden, in which we all got over, and went
about six miles farther. We lay that night under
two or three pieces of bark, at the foot of a large
oak. There fell abundance of snow and rain in
the night, with much thunder and lightning.

E'ext day it cleared up, and it being about
twelve miles to the English, about half way we
passed over a deep creek, and came safe to Mr.
Richard Smith's of Pampticough river, in !N"orth
Carolina ; where, being well received by the in-
habitants and pleased with the goodness of the
country, we all resolved to continue.

BO

^ lawson's history 107

A DESCRIPTION

OF

NORTH CAROLINA.

The province of Carolina is separated from Vir-
ginia by a due west line, which begins at Curri-
tuck Inlet, in 36° 30' of northern latitude, and
extends indefinitely to the westward, and thence
to the southward, as far as 29° ; which is a vast
tract of sea-coast. But having already treated,
as far as is necessary, concerning South Carolina,
I shall confine myself in the ensuing sheets, to
give my reader a description of that part of the
country only, which lies betwixt Currituck and
Cape Fair, and is almost 34° north — and this is
commonly called North Carolina.

This part of Carolina is faced with a chain of
sand banks, which defends it from the violence
and insults of the Atlantic ocean ; by which bar-
rier a vast sound is hemmed in, which fronts the
mouths of the navigable and pleasant rivers of
this fertile country, and into which they disgorge
themselves. Through the same are inlets of sev-
eral depths of water. Some of their channels ad-
mit only of sloops, brigantines, small barks and

108 OF NORTH CAROLINA.

ketches ; and sucli are Currituck, Ronoak, and up
tlie sound above Hatteras ; whilst others can re-
ceive ships of burden, as Ocacock, Topsail Inlet,
and Cape Fair, as appears by my chart.

The first discovery and settlement of this coun-
try was by the procurement of Sir Walter Ea-
leigh, in conjunction with some public spirited
gentlemen of that age, under the protection of
queen Elizabeth ; for which reason it was then
named Virginia, being begun on that part called
Bonoak Island, where the ruins of a fort are to be
seen at this day, as well as some old English coins
which have been lately found ; and a brass gun,
a powder horn, and one small quarter-deck gun,
made of iron staves, and hooped with the same
metal ; which method of making guns might ve-
ry probably be made use of in those days for the
convenience of infant colonies.

A farther confirmation of this we have from the
Hatteras Indians, who either then lived on Ro-
noack island or much frequented it. These tell
us that several of their ancestors were white peo-
ple and could talk in a book as we do ; the truth
of which is confirmed by gray eyes being found
frequently amongst these Indians and no others.
They value themselves extremely for their affinity
to the English, and are ready to do them all friend-
ly offices. It is probable that this settlement mis-
carried for want of timely supplies from England ;
or through the treachery of the natives, for we may
reasonably suppose that the English were forced

LAWSON*S HISTORY 109

to cohabit with them for relief and conversation ;
and that in process of time, they conformed them-
selves to the manners of their Indian relations ;
and thus we see how apt human nature is to de-
generate.

I cannot forbear inserting here a pleasant stoivy
that passes for an uncontested truth amongst the
inhabitants of this place ; which is, that the ship
which brought the first colonies does often appear
amongst them, under sail, in a gallant posture,
which they call Sir "Walter Ealeigh's ship. And
the truth of this has been affirmed to me by men
of the best credit in the country.

A second settlement of this country was made
about fifty years ago, in that part we now call Al-
bemarl county, and chiefly in Chuwon precinct,
by several substantial planters from Virginia and
other plantations ; who finding mild winters, and
a fertile soil beyond expectation, producing every-
thing that was planted to a prodigious increase ;
their cattle, horses, sheep, and swine, breeding
very fast, and passing the winter without any as-
sistance from the planter; so that everything
seemed to come by nature, the husbandman liv-
ing almost void of care, and free from those fa-
tigues which are absolutely requisite in winter
countries, for providing fodder and other necessa-
ries ; these encouragements induced them to stand
their ground, although but a handful of people,
seated at great distances one from another, and
amidst a vast number of Indians of diflerent na-

110 on NORTH CAROLINA.

tions, who were then in Carolina. ISTeverthelesB,
I say, the fame of this new discovered summer
country spread through the neighboring colonies,
and in a few years drew a considerable number of
families thereto, who all found land enough to
settle themselves in, (had they been many thous=
ands more) and that which was very good and com=
modiously seated both for profit and pleasure.
And, indeed, most of the plantations in Carolina
naturally enjoy a noble prospect of large and spa-
cious rivers, pleasant savannas and fine meadows,
with their green liveries interwoven with beautiful
flowers of most glorious colors, which the several
seasons afibrd ; hedged in mth pleasant groves of
the ever famous tulip tree, the stately laurels and
bays, equalizing the oak in bigness and growth,
myrtles, jessamines, woodbines, honeysuckles, and
several other fragrant vines and evergreens, whose
aspiring branches shadow and interweave them-
selves with the loftiest timbers, yielding a pleas-
ant prospect, shade and smell, proper habitations
for the sweet singing birds, that melodiously en-
tertain such as travel through the woods of Caro-
lina.

The Planters possessing all these blessings, and
the produce of great quantities of wheat and Indian
corn, in which this country is very fruitful, as like-
wise in beef, pork, tallow, hides, deer skins, and
furs ; for these commodities the new England men
and Bermudians visited Carolina in their barks
and sloops, and carried out what they made, brings

LaWSON'S HISTOllY 111

ing tliem in exchange, rum, sugar, salt, molasses,
and some wearing apparel, though the last at very
extravagant prices.

As the land is very fruitful, so are the planters
kind and hospitable to all that come to visit them ;
there being very few housekeepers but what
live very nobly, and give away more provisions to
coasters and guests who come to see them than
they expend amongst their own families.

OF THE INLETS AND HAVENS OF THIS COUNTRY.

The bar of Currituck being the northernmost
of this country, presents itself first to be treated of.

It lies in 36° 30' and the course over is S. W.
by W., having not above seven or eight feet on
the bar, though a good harbour when you are over
where you may ride safe, and deep enough ; but
this part of the sound is so full of shoals as not to
* suffer any thing to trade through it that draws
above three feet water, which renders it very in-
commodious. However, this affects but some
part of the country, and may be easily remedied
by carrying their produce, in small craft, down to
the vessels which ride near the inlet.

Ron oak inlet has ten feet water, the course
over the bar is almost W., which leads on through
the best of the channel. This bar, as well as Cur-
rituck, often shifts by the violence of the north-
east storms, both lying exposed to those winds.
Notwithstanding which, a considerable trade
might be carried on, provided there was a pilot

112 OP NORTH CAROLINA.

to bring them in ; for it lies convenient for a large
part of this colony whose product would very ea-
sily allow of that charge, latitude 35° 50'.

The inlet of Hatteras lies to the westward of
the Cape, round which is an excellent harbour.
When the wind blows hard at 1^. or !N". E., if you
keep a small league from the Cape point, you will
have three, four and five fathom, the outermost
shoals lying about seven or eight leagues from
shore. As you come into the inlet keep close to
Jie south breakers, till you are over the bar,
Inhere you will have two fathom at low water.
You may come to an anchor in two fathom and a
half when you are over, then steer over close
abroad the north shore, where is four fathom close
to a point of marsh ; then stir up the sound a long
league, till you bring the north Cape of the inlet
to bear S. S. E. half E., then steer W. K "W., the
east point of bluff land at Hatteras bearing E. IST.
E. the southernmost large hammock towards
Ocacock, bearing S. S. W, half S. then you are
in the sound, over the bar of sand, whereon is
but six feet water ; then your course to Pampti-
cough is almost west. It flows on these three bars
S. E, by E. one-fourth E. about eight o'clock,
unless there is a hard gale of wind at E". E. which
will make it flow two hours longer ; but as soon
as the wind is down the tides will have their nat-
ural course. A hard gale at N". or 'N. W. will
make the water ebb, sometimes twenty-four hours,
but still the tide will ebb and flow though not seen

lawson's history 113

by the turning thereof, but may be seen by the
rising of the water and falling of the same, lat-
itude 35° 20'.

Ocacock is the best inlet and harbour yet in this
country ; and has thirteen feet at low water upon
the bar. There are two channels, one is but nar-
row and lies close aboard the south Cape ; the oth-
er in the middle, viz : between the middle ground
and the south shore, and is above half a mile wide.
The bar itself is but half a cable's length over, and
then you are in seven or eight fathom water ; a
good harbour. The course into the sound is IST.
iN". W, at high water, and neap tides here is eigh-
teen feet water ; it lies S. W. from Hatteras inlet,
latitude 35° 8'.

Topsail inlet is above two leagues to the west-
ward of Cape Lookout. You have a fair channel
over the bar, and two fathom thereon, and a good
harbour in five or six fathom to come to an anchor.
Your course over this bar is almost 'N. W., lati-
tude 34° 44'.

As for the inlet and river of Cape Fair, I cannot
give you a better information thereof, than has
been already delivered by the gentlemen who
were sent on purpose from Barbados, to make a
discovery of that river, in the year 1G63, which is
thus:

From Tuesday, the 29th of September, to Fri-
day the 2nd of October, we ranged along the shore
from lat. 32° 20' to lat. 33° 11', but could discern
no entrance for our ship, after wc had passed to

114 OF NORTH CAROLINA.

the northward of 32° 40'. On Saturday, October
8, a violent storm overtook us, the wind between
north and east ; which easterly winds and foul
weather continued till Monday the 12th, by reason
of which storms and foul weather, we were forced to
get off to sea, to secure ourselves and ship, and
were driven by the rapidity of a strong current to
Cape Hatteras, in lat. 35° 30\ On Monday, the
12th aforesaid, we came to an anchor in seven
fathom at Cape Fair road, and took the miridian
altitude of the sun, and were in latitude 33° 43'.
The wind continuing still easterly and foul weath-
er till Thursday, the 15th ; and on Friday the 16th,
the wind being at JST. W., we weighed and sailed
up Cape Fair river some four or five leagues, and
came to an anchor in six or seven fathom, at which
time several Indians came on board, and brought
us great store of fresh fish, large mullets, young
bass, shads, and several other sorts of very good,
well tasted fish. On Saturday, the 17th, we went
down to the Cape, to see the English cattle, but
could not find them, though we rounded the Cape,
And having an Indian guide with us, here we
rode till Oct. 24. The wind being against us, we
could not go up the river with our ship ; but went
on shore and viewed the land of those quarters.
On Saturday we weighed and sailed up the river,
some four leagues, or thereabouts. Sunday the
25th, we weighed again and rode up the river,
it being calm, and got up some fourteen leagues
from the harbour's mouth, where we mored our

lawson's history 115

ship. On Monday, Oct. the 26th, we went down
with the yawl to [N'ecoes, an Indian plantation,
and viewed the land there. On Tuesday, the 27th,
we rowed up the main river with our long boat
and twelve men, some ten leagues, or thereabouts.
On Wednesday, the 28th, we rowed up about eight
or ten leagues more ; Thursday the 29th, was
foul weather, with much rain and wind, which
forced us to make huts and lij still. Friday the
30th, we proceeded up the main river, seven or
eight leaugues. Saturday the Slst, we got up
three or four leagues more, and came to a tree that
lay cross the river; but because our provisions
were almost spent, we proceeded no farther, but
returned downward before night, and on Monday
the 2nd of November, we came aboard our ship.
Tuesday, the 3rd, we lay still to refresh ourselves.
On "Wednesday, the 4th, we went five or six
leagues up the river, to search a branch that run
out of the ma'n river towards the 'N. W., in which
we went up five or six leagues ; but not liking the
land, returned on board that night about midnight
and called that place swampy branch. Thursday,
November the 5th, we stayed aboard. On Friday,
the 6th, we went up Green's river, the mouth of it
being against the place at which rode our ship.

On Saturdy the 7th, we proceeded up the said
river, some fourteen or fifteen leagues in all, and
found it ended in several small branches; the
land, for the most part, being marshy and swamps,
we returned towards our ship and got aboard it

116 OF NORTH CAROLINA.

in the night. Sunday ITovember tlie 8th, we lay
still, and on Monday the 9th, went again up the
main river, being well stucked with provisions,
and all things necessary, and proceeded upwards
till Thursday noon, the 12th, at which time we
came to a place, where were two islands in the
middle of the river; and by reason of the
crookedness of the river at that place, several
trees lay cross both branches, which stopped
the passage of each branch, so that we could pro-
ceed no farther with our boat ; but went up the
river side by land, some three or four miles, and
found the river wider and wider. So we return-
ed, leaving it as far as we could see, up a long
reach, running N". E. we judging ourselves near
fifty leagues north from the river's mouth.

In our return, we viewed the land on both sides
the river, and found as good tract of dry, well
wooded, pleasant and delightful ground as we
have seen any where in the world, with abund-
ance of long thick grass on it, the land being ve-
ry level, with steep banks on both sides the river,
and in some places very high, the woods stored
every where, with great numbers of deer and tur-
keys, we never going on shore, but we saw of
each sort ; as also great store of partrides, cranes,
and conies, in several places we likewise heard
several wolves howling in the woods, and saw
where they had torn a deer in pieces. Also in
the river we saw great store of ducks, teal, wid-
geon ; and in the woods great flocks of parrakee-

lawson's history 117

tos. The timber that the woods afford, for the most
part, consists of oaks of four or five sorts, all dif-
fering in leaves, but each bearing very good
acorns. We measured many of the oaks in sev-
eral places, which we found to be in bigness,
some two, some three, and others almost four
fathom in height, before you come to boughs or
limbs ; forty, fifty, sixty feet and some more ; and
those oaks very common in the upper parts of
both rivers ; also a very tall large tree of great
bigness, which some call cypress, the right name
we know not, growing in swamps ; likewise wal-
nut, birch, beech, maple, ash, bay, willow, alder,
and holly ; and in the lowermost parts innumera-
ble pines, tall and good for boards or masts, grow-
ing, for the most part, in barren and sandy, but
in some places up the river, in good ground, be-
ing mixed amongst oaks and other timbers. We
saw mulberry trees, multitudes of grape vines,
and some grapes which we ate of. We found a
very large and good tract of land on the north-
west side of the river, thin of timber, except here
and there a very great oak, and full of grass, com-
monly as high as a man's middle, and in many pla-
ces to his shoulders, where we saw many deer and
turkies ; one deer having very large horns and
great body, therefore called it stag park. It be-
ing a very pleasant and delightful place, we
traveled in it several miles, but we saw no end
thereof.

118 OP NORTH CAROLINA.

So we returned to our boat, and proceeded down

the river, and came to another place, some twenty-
five leagues from the river's mouth, on the same
side, where we found a place, no less delightful than
the former; and as far as we could judge both tracts
came into one. This lower place we called rocky
point, because we found many rocks and stones of
several sizes upon the land, which is not common.
We sent our boat down the river before us, ourselves
traveling by land many miles. Indeed, we were so
much taken with the pleasantness of the country,
that w^e traveled into the woods too far to recover
our boat and company that night. The next day
being Sunday, we got to our boat ; and on Monday,
the 16th of JSTovember, proceeded down to a place
on the east side of the river, some twenty-three
leagues from the harbour's mouth, which we call-
ed turkey quarters, because we killed several tur-
kies thereabouts ; we viewed the land there and
found some tracts of good ground, and high, facing
upon the river about one mile inward, but back-
wards some two miles, all pine land, but good pas-
ture ground.

"We returned to our boat and proceeded down
some two or three leagues where we had former-
ly viewed, and found it a tract of as good land as
any we have seen, and had as good timber on it.
The banks on the river being high, therefore we
called it highland point. Having viewed that we
proceeded down the river, going on shore in sev-
eral plfiees on both sides, it being generally large

lawson's history 119

marshes, and many of them dry, that they may
more fitly be called meadows. The wood land
against them is, for the most part, pine, and in
Bome places as barren as ever we saw land, but in
other places good pasture ground.

On Tuesday, E'ovember the 17th, we got aboard
our ship, riding against the mouth of Green's riv-
er, where our men were providing wood and fit-
ting the ship for the sea. In the interium, we
took a view of the country on both sides of the
river, there finding some good land but more bad,
and the best not comparable to that above. Fri-
day the 20th, was foul weather ; yet in the after-
noon we weighed, went down the river about two
leagues and came to an anchor against the mouth
of Hilton's river, and took a view of the land there
OH both sides, which appeared to us mucl;i like
that at Green's river. Monday the 23d, we went,
with our long boat w^ell victualed and manned,
up Hilton's river ; and when we came three
leagues, or thereabouts, up the same, we found
this and Green's river to come into one, and so
continued for tour or five leagues, which makes a
great island betwixt them. We proceeded still
up the river till they parted again, keeping up
Hilton's river on the larboard side, and followed
the said river five or six leagues farther, where
we found another large branch of Green's river to
come into Hilton's, which makes another great
island. On the star board side, going up, we pro-
ceeded still up the river some four leagues and re-

120 OP NORTH CAROLINA.

turned, taking a view of tlie land on both sides, and
then j udged ourselves to be from our ship some Ig
leagues W. and by IST. One league below this
place came four Indians in a canoe to us, and sold
us several' baskets of acorns, which w^e satisfied
them for, and so left them ; but one of them fol-
lowed us on the shore some two or three miles, till
he came on the top of a high bank facing on the
river ; and as we rowed underneath it, the fellow
shot an arrow at us which very narrowly missed
one of our men and stuck in the upper edge of
the boat, but broke in pieces leaving the head be-
hind. Hereupon we presently made to the shore
and went all up the bank, (except four to guide
the boat) to look for the Indian, but could not find
him. At last we heard some sing, further in the
woods, which we looked upon as a challenge to
us to come and fight them. We went towards
them with all speed ; but before we came in sight
of them, heard two guns go off from our boat ;
whereupon we retreated as fast as we could to se-
cure our boat and men : when we came to them
we found all well, and demanded the reason of
their firing the guns. They told us that an Indian
came creeping along the bank, as they supposed,
to shoot at them ; and therefore they sliot at
him at a great distance, with small shot, but
thought they did him no hurt, for they saw him
run away. Presently after our return to the boat,
and while we were thus talking, came two Lidians
to us with their bows and arrows, crying bony,

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 121

bonny. We took their bows and arrows from them,
and gave them beads to their content. Then we
led them by the hand to the boat, and showed
them the arrow head sticking in her side, and
related to them the whole passage, which, when
they understood, both of them showed a great con-
cern, and signified to us, by signs, that they knew
nothing of it. So we let them go, and marked a
tree on the top of the bank, calling the place
mount skerry. We looked up the river as far as
we could discern, and saw that it widened, and
came running directly down the country. So we
returned, viewing the land on both sides the river,
and finding the banks steep in some places, but
very high in others. The bank sides are general-
ly clay, and as some of our company did affirm,
some marl. The land and timber up this river is
no way inferior to the best in the other, which we
call the main river. So far as we could discern,
this seemed as fair, if not fairer, than the former,
and we think runs farther into the country because
a strong current comes down, and a great deal
more drift wood. But to return to the business
of the land and timber. We saw several plots of
ground cleared by the Indians after their weak
manner, compassed round with great timber trees,
which they are no wise able to fell, and so keep
the sun from corn fields very much ; yet neverthe-
less, we saw as large corn stalks, or larger, than
we have seen anywhere else. So we proceeded
down the river till we found the canoe. The In-
a6

122 LAWSOX'S HISTORY

dian was in, who shot at us. In the morning we
went on shore and cut the same in pieces. The In-
dians perceiving us coming towards them ran away.
Groing to his hut we pulled it down, broke his pots,
platters, and spoons, tore the deer skins and mats in
pieces, and took away a basket of acorns ; and af-
tewards proceeded down the river two leagues, or
thereabouts, and came to another place of Indians,
bought acorns and some corn of them, and went
downward two leagues more. At last espying an
Indian pefping over a high bank, w^e held up a
gun at him, and calling to him skerry, presently
several Indians came in sight of us, and made great
signs of friendship, saying bonny, bonny. Then
running before us, they endeavored to persuade us
to come on shore ; but we answered them with stern
countenances, and called out skerry, taking up our
guns, and threatening to shoot at them, but they
still cried, bonny, bonny ; and when they saw they
could not prevail nor persuade us to come on shore,
two of them came off to us in a canoe, one paddling
with a great cane, the other with his hand. As
soon as they overtook us, they laid hold of our
boat, sweating and blowing, and told us, it was
bonny on shore, and at last persuaded us to go on
shore with them. As soon as we landed several
Indians, to the number of near forty lusty men,
came to us, all in a great sweat, and told us
bonny. "We showed them the arrow head in the
boat-side, and a piece of the canoe we had cut in
pieces; whereupon, the chief man amongst them

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 123

made a long speech, threw beads into our boat,
which is a sign of great love and friendship, and
gave us to understand, that when he heard of the af-
front which we had received, it caused him to cry,
and that he and his men were come to make peace
with us, assuring us, by signs, that they would tie the
arms and cut off the head of the fellow who had
done us that wrong. And for a farther testimony
of their love and good will towards us, they pre-
sented us with two very handsome, proper, young
Indian women, the tallest that ever we saw in this
country, which we supposed to be the king's daugh-
ters, or persons of distinction amongst them. Those
young women were so ready to come into our boat
that one of them crowded in, and would hardly be
persuaded to go out again. We presented the
king with a hatchet and several beads, and made
presents of beads also to the young women, the
chief men, and the rest of the Indians, as far as
our beads would go. Tliey promised us, in four
days, to come on board our ship, and so departed
from us. When we left the place, which was soon
after, we called it mount bonny, because we
had there concluded a firm peace. S Proceeding
doAvn the river two or three leagues farther, we
came to a place where were nine or ten canoes,
all together. We went ashore there and found
several Indians, but most of them were the same
which had made peace Avith us before. We staid
very little at that place, but went directly down
the river, and came to our ship before day. Thurs-

124 lawson's history

day the 26th of November the wind being at south,
we could ^o^t go down to the river's mouth, but
on Friday the 27th, we weighed at the mouth of
Hilton's river, and got down a league towards the
harbour's mouth. On Sunday the 29th, we got
down to Crane island, which is four leagues or
thereabouts, above the entrance of the harbour's
mouth. On Tuesday the 1st of December, we
made a purchase of the river and land of Cape
Fair, of "Wat Coosa, and such other Indians as ap-
peared to us to be the chief of those parts. They
brought us store of fresh fish aboard, as mullet,
shads, and other sorts very good. This river is-
all fresh water, fit to drink. Some eight leagues
within the mouth the tide runs up about thirty-
five leagues, but stops and rises a great deal far-
ther up. It flows at the harbour's mouth, S. E.
and N. W. six feet at neap tides and eight feet at
spring tides. The channel on the east side by the
Cape shore, is the best, and lies close aboard the
cape land, being three fathoms at high water, in
the shallowest place in the channel just at the en-
trance ; but as soon as you are past that place,
half a cable's length inward, you have six or seven
fathoms, a fair turning channel into the river, and
so continuing five or six leagues upwards. Af-
terwards the channel is more difficult, in some
places six or seven fathoms, in others four or five,
and in others but nine or ten feet, especially where
the river is broad. When the river comes to part
and growb narrow, there it is all channel from side

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 125

to side in most places ; though in some yoii shall
have five, six or seven fathoms, but generally two
or three, sand and oaze. We viewed the Cape
land and judged it to be little worth, the woods
of it being shrubby and low and the land sandy
and barren ; in some places grass and rushes, in
others nothing but clear sand : a place fitter to
starve cattle, in our judgment, than to keep them
alive; yet the Indians, as v^e understand, keep
the English cattle down there and sufler them not
to go off of the said Cape, (as we suppose) because
the country Indians shall have no part with them,
and, therefore, 'tis likely they have fallen out
about them which shall have the greatest share.
They brought on board our ship very good and
fat beef several times, which they sold us at a very
reasonable price ; also fat and very large swine,
good and cheap, but they may thank their friends
of l^ew England who brought their hogs to so
fair a market. Some of the Indians brought very
good salt aboard us, and made signs, pointing to
both sides of the river's mouth, that there was
great store thereabouts. We saw up the river
several good places for the sitting up of corn or
saw mills. In that time, as our business called
us up and down the river and branches, we killed
of wild fowl, four swans, ten geese, twenty-nino
cranes, ten turkies, forty ducks and mallards, three
dozen of parrakeeto's and six dozen of other
small fowls, as curlues and plover, &c*

Whereas there was a writing left in a post at

126 lawson's history

the point of Capes Fair river, by those Kew Eng-
land men, that left cattle with the Indians there,
the contents whereof tended not only to the dis-
paragement of the land about the said river, but
also to the great discouragement of all such as
should hereafter come into those parts to settle.
In answer to that scandalous writing, we, whose
names are underwritten do affirm, that we have
seen, facing both sides the river and branches of
Cape Fair aforesaid, as good land, and as well
timbered, as any we have seen in any other part
of the world, sufficient to accommodate thousands
of our English nation, and lying commodiously
by the said river's side.

On Friday the 4th of December, the wind being
fair, we put out to sea, bound for barbados ; and
on the 6th of February 166f, came to an anchor
in Carlisle bay ; it having pleased God, after sev-
eral apparent dangers both by sea and land, to
bring us all in safety to our long wished for and
much desired port, to render an account of our
discovery ; the verity of which we do assert

Anthony Long.

William Hilton.

Peter Fabian.

Thus you have an account of the latitude, soil
and advantages of Cape Fair, or Clarendon river,
which was settled in the year 1661, or thereabouts,
and had it not been for the irregular practices of
some of that colony against the Indians, by send-

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 127

iug away some of their children (as I have been
told) under pretence of instructing them in learn-
ing and the principles of the christian religion,
which so disgusted the Indians, that, though they
had then no guns, yet they never gave over till they
had entirely rid themselves of the English, by
their bows and arrows ; with which they did not
only take oif themselves but also their stocks of
cattle ; and this was so much the more ruinous to
them in that they could have no assistance from
South Carolina, which was not then planted, and
the other plantations were but in their infancy.
Were it not for such ill practices, I say, it might,
in all probability, have been at this day, the best
settlement in their lordships' great province of
Carolina.

The Sound of Albermarl, with the rivers and
creeks of that country, afford a very rich and du-
rable soil. The land, in most places, lies indif-
ferent low, (except in Chuwon and high up the
rivers) but bears an incredible burden of timber ;
the low grounds being covered with beech, and
the high land yielding lofty oaks, w^alnut trees,
and other useful timber. The country, in some
plantations, has yearly produced indian corn, or
some other grain ever since this country was first
seated, without the trouble of manuring or dress-
ing ; and yet, to all appearance, it seems not to
be, in the least, impoverished, neither do the plan-
ters ever miss of a good crop, unless a very unnat-
ural season visits them, which seldom happens.

128 lawson's history

of the corn op carolina.
The wheat of this place is veiy good, seldom
yielding less than thirty fold, provided the land is
good where it is sown ; not but that there has
been sixty-six increase for one measure sown in
piny land, which we account the meanest sort.
And I have been informed by people of credit,
that wheat which was planted in a very rich piece
of land, brought a hundred and odd pecks for one.
If our planters, when they found such great in-
crease, would be so curious as to make nice ob-
servations of the soil and other remarkable acci-
dents, they would soon be acquainted with the na-
ture of the earth and climate and be better quali-
fied to manage their agriculture to more certainty
and greater advantage, whereby they might ar-
rive to the crops and harvests of Babylon, and
those other fruitful countries so much talked of.
For I must confess I never saw one acre of land
managed as it ought to be in Carolina since I
knew it ; and were they as negligent in their hus-
bandry in Europe as they are in Carolina, their
land would produce nothing but weeds and straw.

They have tried rye, and it thrives very well ;
but having such plenty of maiz, they do not re-
gard it, because it makes black bread, unless very
curiously handled.

Barley has been sowed in small quantities, and
does better than can be expected; because that
grain requires the ground to be very well worked
with repeated ploughings, which our general way

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 129

of breaking the earth with hoes, can, by no means
perform, though in many places we have a light,
rich, deep, black mould, which is the particular
soil in which barley best thrives.

The naked oats thrive extraordinary well; and
the other would prove a very bold grain ; but the
plenty of other grains makes them not much cov-
eted.

The Indian corn, or maiz, proves the most use-
ful grain in the world ; and had it not been for the
fruitfulness of this species, it would have proved
very difficult to have settled some of the planta-
tions in America. It is very nourishing, whether
in bread, sodden, or otherwise ; and those poor
christian servants in Virginia, Maryland, and the
other northerly plantations that have been forced
to live wholly upon it, do manifestly prove that it
is the most nourishing grain for a man to subsist
on, without any other victuals. And this assertion
is made good by the negro slaves, who, in many
places eat nothing but this Indian corn and salt.
Pigs and poultry fed with this grain, eat the sweet-
est of all others. It refuses no ground, unless the
barren sands, and when planted in good ground,
will repay the planter, seven or eight hundred
fold ; besides the stalks bruised and boiled, make
very pleasant beer, being sweet like the sugar
cane.

There are several sorts of rice, some bearded,
others not, besides the red and the white , but the
white rice is the best. Yet there is a sort of per-
b6

/

130 ■ LAWSON's lilSTOIlY

fumed rice in tlie Ea.st'^^Indies, which gives a cu«
rious flavor in the dressing. And with this sort
America is not yet acquainted ; neither can I learn
that any of it has been brought over to Europe,
the rice of Carolina being esteemed the best that
comes to that quarter of the world. It is of great
increase, yielding from eight hundred to a thou-
sand fold, and thrives best in wild land that has
never been broken up before.

Buckwheat is of great increase in Carolina ;
but we make no other use of it, than instead of
maiz, to feed hogs and poultry ; and guinea corn,
which thrives well here, serves for the same use.

Of the pulse kind, we have many sorts. The
first is the bushel bean, which is a spontaneous
product. They are so called, because they bring
a bushel of beans for one that is planted. They
are set in the spring, round arbors, or at the feet
of poles, up which they will climb and cover the
wattling, making a very pretty shade to sit under.
They continue flowering, budding and ripening
all the summer long, till the frost approaches,
when they forbear their fruit and die. The stalks
they grow on come to the thickness of a man's
thumb ; and the bean is white and mottled, with
a purple figure on each side it, like an ear. They
are very flat, and are eaten as the Windsor bean
is, being an extraordinary well- relished pulse,,
either by themselves or with meat.

We have the Indian rounceVal, or miraculous
peas, so called from their long pods, and great in-

OF NaRTII CAROLINA. 131

crease. These are later peas, and require a pret-
ty long summer to ripen in. They are very good;
and so are the bonavis^calavancies, nanticokes,
and abundance of other pulse, too tedious here to
name, which we found the Indians possessed of,
when first we settled in America, some of which
sorts afford us two crops in one year ; as the bon-
avis and colavancies, besides several others of that
kind.

]^ow I am launched into a discourse of the pulse,
I must acquaint you that the European bean
planted here, will, in time, degenerate into a
dwarfish sort, if not prevented by a yearly supply
of foreign seed, and an extravagant rich soil ; yet
these pigmy beans are the sweetest of that kind I
ever met withal.

As for all the sorts of English peas that we have
yet made trial of, they thrive very well in Caroli-
na. Particularly the white and gray rouncival,
the common field peas, and sickle peas, yield very
well, and are of a good relish. As for the other
sorts, I have not seen any made trial of as yet,
but question not their coming to great perfection
with us.

The kidney beans were here before the English
came, being very plentiful in the Indian corn
fields.

The garden roots that thrive well in Carolina
are, carrots, leeks, parsnips, turneps, potatoes of
several delicate sorts, ground artichokes, radish-
es, horse radish, beet, both sorts, onions, shallot,
garlick, cives, and the wild onions.

132 lawson's history

The sallads are, the lettice, curled, red cabbage
and savoy. The spinage, round and prickly, fen-
nel, sweet and the common sort, samphire, in the
marshes excellent, so is the dock, or wild rhu-
barb, rocket, sorrell, French and English, cresses,
of several sorts, purslain wild, and that of a larger
size which grows in the gardens ; for this plant is
never met withal in the Indian plantations, and
is, therefore, supposed to proceed from cow dung,
which beast they keep not. Parsley, two sorts,
asparagus thrives to a miracle, without hot beds or
dunging the land, white cabbage from European,
or !N"ew England seed, for the people are negli-
gent and unskilful, and dont care to provide seed
of their own. The colly flower we have not yet
had an opportunity to make trial of, nor has the
artichoke ever appeared amongst us, that I can
learn. Coleworts, plain and curled, savoys ; besides
the watermelons of several sorts, very good, which
should have o'one amons-st the fruits. Of musk-
mellons we have very large and good, and sev-
eral sorts, as the golden, green, guinea, and or-
ange. Cucumbers, long, short and prickly, all these
from the natural ground, and great increase, with-
out any helps of dung or reflection ; pompions, yel-
low and very large, burmillions, cashaws, an ex-
cellent fruit boiled ; squashes, simnals, horns and
gourds, besides many other species of less value,
too tedious to*name.

Our pot herbs and others of use, which we al-
ready possess, are, angelica, wild and tame, balm,

OF NORTU CAROLINA. 133

bugloss, borage, burnett, clary, marigold, pot mar-
joram, and other marjorams, summer and winter
savoy, columbines, tansey, wormwood, nep, mal-
lows, several sorts, drage, red and white, lambs
quarters, thyme, hyssop, of a very large growth,
sweet bazzil, rose mary, lavender. The more
phpical are carduns, benedictus, the scurvy grass
of America, I never here met any of the European
sort; tobacco of many sorts, dill, carawa, cummin,
anise, coriander, all sorts of plantain of England,
and two sorts spontaneous, good vulneraries, ele-
campane, comfrey, nettle, the seed from England,
none native ; monks rhubarb, burdock, asarum,
wdld in the woods, reckoned one of the snake
roots ; poppies in the garden, none wild yet
discovered; wormseed, feverfew, rue, ground ivey,
spontaneous but very wild and scarce, aurea virga,
four sorts ot snake root, besides the common spe-
cies, which are great antidotes against that ser-
jjent's bite, and are easily raised in the garden ;
mint, Jamestown weed, so called from Virginia, the
seed it bears is very like that of an onion, it is ex-
cellent for curing burns, and assuaging inflama-
tions, but taken inwardly brings on a sort of drunk-
en madness. One of our marsh weeds, like a dock,
has the same effect, and possesses the party with
fear and watchings. The reed root, whose leaf is
like spear mint, is good for thrushes and sore
mouths, camomil, but it must be kept in the shade,
otherwise it will not thrive ; housleek, first from
England ; vcrvin, night shade, several kinds ;

13-1 lawson's history

harts tongue, yarrow abundance, mullein the same,
both of the country ; sarsparilla, and abundance
more I could name, yet not the hundredth part of
what remains, a catalogue of which is a work of
many years, and without any other subject, would
swell to a large volume, and requires the ability
of a skillful botanist. Had not the ingenious Mr.
Banister (the greatest virtuoso we ever had on
the continent) been unfortunately taken out of this
world, he would have given the best account of
the plants of America, of any that ever yet made
such an attempt in these parts, ^ot but we are
satisfied, the species of vegetable in Carolina are
80 numerous that it requires more than one man's
age to bring the chiefest part of them into regular
classes ; the country being so different in its situa-
tion and soil, that what one place plentifully af-
fords, another is absolutely a stranger to ; yet we
generally observe that the greatest variety is found
in the low grounds, and savannas.

The flower garden in Carolina is as yet arrived
but to a very poor and jejune perfection. We
have only two sorts of roses, the clove July flowers,
violets, prince feathers and tres colores, there has
been nothing more cultivated in the flower gar-
den, which at present occurs to my memory ; but
as for the wild spontaneous flowers of this coun-
try, nature has been so liberal that I cannot name
one tenth part of the valuable ones ; and since, to
give specimens would only swell the volume, and
give little satisfaction to the reader, I shall there-

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 135

fore proceed to the present state of Carolina, and
refer the shi'ubs and other vegetables of larger
growth till hereafter, and then shall deliver them
and the other species in their order.

THE PRESENT STATE OF CAROLINA.

When we consider the latitude and convenient
situation of Carolina, had we no farther confirma-
tion thereof, our reason would inform us that such
a place lay fairly to be a delicious country, being
placed in that girdle of the world which affords
wine, oil, fruit, grain and silk, with other rich
commodities, besides a sw^eet air, moderate cli-
mate and fertile soil ; these are the blessings, under
Heaven's protection) that spin out the thread of
life to its utmost extent, and crown our days with
the sweets of health and plenty, w^hich, when join-
ed with content, renders the possessors the hap-
piest race of men upon earth.

The inhabitants of Carolina, through the rich-
ness of the soil, live an easy and pleasant life.
The land being of several sorts of compost, some
stiff, others light, some marl, others rich, black
mould, here barren of pine, but affording pitch,
tar and masts ; there vastly rich, especially on the
freshes of the rivers, one part bearing great tim-
bers others being savannas or natural meads,
where no trees grow for several miles, adorned by
nature with a pleasant verdure, and beautiful flow-
ers, frequent in no other places, yielding abun-
dance of herbage for cattle, sheep, and horses.

136 lawson's history

The country, in general, aiFords pleasant seats,
the land, except in some few places, being dry
and high banks, parcelled out into most conve-
nient necks, by the creeks, easy to be fenced in
for securing their stocks to more strict boundaries,
whereby, with a small trouble of fencing, almost
every man may enjoy, to himself, an entire plan-
tation, or rather park. These, with the other
benefits of plenty of fish, wild fowl, venison, and
the other conveniences which this summer coun-
try naturally furnishes, has induced a great many
families to leave the more northerly plantations
and sit down under one of the mildest govern-
ments in the world ; in a country that, with mod-
erate industry, will afi:brd all the necessaries of
life. We have yearly abundance of strangers
come among us, who chiefly strive to go souther-
ly to settle, because there is a vast tract of rich
land betwixt the place we are seated in and Cape
Fair, and upon that river, and more southerly
which is inhabited by none but a few Indians, who
are at this time well affected to the English, and
very desirous of their coming to live among
them. The more southerly the milder winters,
with the advantages of purchasing the lords
land at the most easy and moderate rate of any
lands in America, nay, allowing all advantages
thereto annexed, I may say the universe does
not afford such another ; besides men have a great
advantage of choosing good and commodious tracts
of land at the first seating of a country or river,

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 137

whereas the latter settlers are forced to purchase
smaller dividends of the old standers, and some-
times at very considerable rates ; as now in Vir-
ginia and Maryland where a thousand acres of
good land cannot be bought under twenty shil-
lings an acre, besides two shillings yearly acknowl-
edgement for every hundred acres ; which sum,
be it more or less, will serve to put the merchant
or planter here into a good posture of buildings,
slaves, and other necessaries, when the purchase
of his land comes to him on such easy terms and
as our grain and pulse thrives with us to admira-
tion, no less do our stocks of cattle, horses, sheep
and swine multiply.

The beef of Carolina equalizes the best that our
neighboring colonies alford ; the oxen are of a
great size when they are suffered to live to a fit
age. I have seen fat and good beef at all times
of the year, but October and the cool months are
the seasons we kill our beeves in, when we intend
them for salting or exportation ; for then they are
in their prime of flesh, all coming from grass, we
never using any other food for our cattle. The
heifers bring calves at eighteen or twenty months
old, which makes such a wonderful increase, that
many of our planters, from very mean beginnings,
have raised themselves, and are now masters of
hundreds of fat beeves and other cattle.

The veal is very good and white, so is the milk
very pleasant and rich, there being at present,
considerable quantities of butter and cheese made

138 laavson's history

that is very good, not only serving our own ne-
cessities, but we send out a great deal among our
neighbors.

The sheep thrive very well at present, having
most commonly two lambs at one yeaning. As
the countrj^ comes to be open, they prove sill bet-
ter, change of pasture being agreeable to that
useful creature. Mutton is generally exceeding
fat and of a good relish ; their wool is very fine
and proves a good staple.

The horses are well shaped and swift ; the best
of them would sell for ten or twelve pounds in
England. They prove excellent drudges and will
travel incredible journeys. They are troubled
with very few distempers, neither do the cloudy
faced grey horses go blind here as in Europe.
As for spavins, splints and ring bones, they are
here never met withal, as I can learn.. Were we
to have our stallions and choice of mares from
England, or any other of a good sort, and careful
to keep them on the highlands, we could not fail
of a good breed ; but having been supplied with
our first horses from the neighboring plantations,
which were but mean, they do not as yet come up
to the excellency of the English horses ; though v/e
generally find that the colt exceeds in beauty and
strength, its sire and dam.

The pork exceeds any in Europe ; the great di-
versity and goodness of the acorns and nuts which
the woods afford, making that flesh of an excel-
lent taste and produces great quantities ; so that

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 139

Carolina, if not the chief, is not inferior in this
one commodity to any colony in the hands of the
English.

As for goats, they have been found to thrive
and increase well, but being mischievous to or-
chards and other trees, makes people decline keep-
ing them.

Our produce for exportation to Europe and the
islands in America, are beef, pork, tallow, hides,
deer skins, furs, pitch, tar, wheat, indian corn,
peas,»masts, staves, heading, boards and all sorts
of timber and lumber for Madera and the "West
Indies, rosin, turpentine and several sorts of gums
and tears, with some medicinal drugs, are here
produced ; besides rice and several other foreign
grains, which thrive very well. Good bricks and
tiles are made and several sorts of useful earths,
as bole, fuller's earth, oaker and tobacco-pipe
clay, in great plenty ; earths for the potter's trade
and fine sand for the glass makers. In building
with brick, we make our lime of oyster shells,
though we have great store of lime stone towards
the heads of our rivers, where are stones of all
sorts that are useful, besides vast quantities of ex-
cellent marble. Iron stone we have plenty of,
both in the low grounds and on the hills. Lead
and copper has been found, so has antimony here-
tofore ; but no endeavors have been used to
discover those subteraneous species ; otherwise
we might in all probability, find out the best of
minerals, which are not wanting in Carolina. Hot

140 lawson's history

baths we have an account of from the Indians
that frequent the hill country, where a great like-
lihood appears of making saltpetre, because the
earth in many places, is strongly mixed with a
nitrous salt, which is much coveted by the beasts,
who come at some seasons in great droves and
herds, and by their much licking of this earth,
make great holes in those banks, which some-
times lie at the heads of great precipices, where
their eagerness after this salt hastens their end by
falling down the high banks, so that th^y are
dashed in pieces. It must be confessed that the
most noble and sweetest part of this country is
not inhabited by any but the savages ; and a great
deal of the richest part thereof, has no inhabitants
but the beasts of the wilderness ; for, the Indians
are not inclinable to settle in the richest land, be-
cause the timbers are too large for them to cut
down, and too much burthened with wood for
their laborers to make plantations of; besides,
the healthfulness of those hills is apparent by the
gigantic stature and grey heads so common a-
mongst the savages that dwell near the mount-
ains. The great Creator of all things having most
wisely diffused his blessings, by parceling out the
vintages of the world into such lots as his won-
derful foresight saw most proper, requisite and
convenient for the habitations of his creatures.
Towards the sea we have the conveniency of trade
transportation and other helps the water affords ;
but oftentimes those advantages are attended with

OP NORTH CAROLINA. 141

indiferent land, a thick air, and other inconven-
iences ; when backwards, near the mountains,
you meet with the richest soil, a sweet, thin air,
dry roads, pleasant small murmuring streams, and
several beneficial productions and species, which
are unknown in the European world. One part of
this country affords what the other is wholly a
stranger to.

"We have chalybeate waters of several tastes and
diflerent qualities, some purge, others work by
the other enunctories. We have amongst the in-
habitants, a water that is inwardly, a great aper-
sive, and outwardly, cures ulcers, tetters and sores
by washing therewith.

Tliere has been a coal mine lately found near
the Mannakin town, above the falls of James riv-
er in Virginia, which proves very good, and is
used by the smiths for their forges ; and we need
not doubt of the same amongst us, towards the
heads of our rivers ; but the plenty of wood, which
is much the better fuel, makes us not inquisitive
after coal mines. Most of the French, who lived at
that town on James river, are removed to Trent
river, in ISTorth Carolina, where the rest were ex-
pected daily to come to them when I came away,
which was in August, 1708. They are much ta-
ken with the pleasantness of that country, and in-
deed are a very industrious people. At present,
they make very good linen cloth and thread, and
are very well versed in cultivating hemp and flax,
of both which they raise very considerable quan-

142 lawson's history

titles ; and design to try an essay of the grape for
making of wine.

As for those of our own country in Carolina,
some of the men are very laborious and make
great improvements in their way, but I dare hard-
ly give them that character in general. The easy
way of living in that plentiful country makes a
great many planters very negligent, which, were
they otherwise, that colony might now have been
in a far better condition than it is, as to trade and
other advantages, which an universal industry
would have led them into.

The women are the most industrious sex in that
place, and, by their good housewifer}^, make a
great deal of cloth of their own cotton, wool and
flax ; some of them keeping their families, though
large, very decently appareled, both with ^linens
and woolens, so that they have no occasion to run
into the merchants debt, or lay their money out
on stores for clothing.

The christian natives of Carolina are a straight,
clean limbed people ; the children being seldom
or never troubled with rickets, or those other dis-
tempers that the Europeans are visited withal.
'Tis next to a miracle to see one of them deform-
ed in body. The vicinity of the sun makes im-
pression on the men who labour out of doors, or
use the water. As for those women that do not
expose themselves to the weather, they are often
very fair, and generally as well featured as you
shall see any where, and have verj brisk, charm-

OF NORTH CAROLINA, 143

ing eyes which sets them off to advantage. They
marry very young ; some at thirteen or fourteen ;
and she that stays till twenty is reckoned a stale
maid, which is a very indifferent character in that
warm country. The. women are very fruitful,
most houses being full of little ones. It has been
observed that w^omen long married and without
children in other places, have removed to Caroli-
na and become joyful mothers. They have very
easy travail in their childbearing, in which they
are so happy as seldom to miscarry. Both sexes
are generally spare of body and not choleric, nor
easily cast dow^n at disappointments and losses,
seldom immoderately grieving at misfortunes, un-
less for the loss of their nearest relations and
friends, which seems to make a more than ordi-
nary impression upon them. Many of the women
are very handy in canoes and will manage them
with great dexterity and skill, which they become
accustomed to in this watery country. They are
ready to help their husbands in any sendle work,
as planting, w^hen the season of the weather re-
quires expedition ; pride seldom banisliing good
housewifery. The girls are not bred up to the
wheel and sewing only, but the dairy and tlie af-
fairs of the house they are very well acquainted
withal ; so that you shall see them, whilst very
young, manage their business with a great deal of
conduct and alacrity. The children of both seeea
are very docile and learn any thing with a great
deal of ease and method, and those that have the

144 lawson's history

advantages of education write very good handd,
and prove good accountants, which is most cove-
ted, and, indeed, most necessary in these parts.
The young men are commonly of a bashful, sober
behaviour; few proving prodigals to consume
what the industry of their parents has left them,
but commonly improve it.

The marrying so young, carries a double advan-
tage with it ; and that is that the parents see their
children provided for in marriage, and the young
married people are taught by their parents how to
get their living ; for their admonitions make great
impressions on their children. I had heard (before
I knew this new world) that the natives of Amer-
ica were a short lived people, which, by all the ob-
servations I could ever make, proves quite contra-
ry ; for those who are born here, and in other col-
onies, live to as great ages as any of the Europe-
ans, the climate being free from consumptions,
which distemper, fatal to England, they are stran-
gers to. And as the country becomes more clear-
ed of wood it still becomes more healthful to the
inhabitants and less addicted to the ague, which
is incident to most new comers into America from
Europe, yet not mortal. A gentle emetic seldom
misses of driving it away; but if it is not too trou-
blesome, tis better to let the seasoning have its
own course, in which case the party is commonly
fre« from it ever after, and very healthful.

And now, as to the other advantages the coun-
try affords, we cannot guess at them at present,

or NORTH CAROLINA. 145

because, as I said before, the best part ol this coun
try is not inhabited by the English, from wlicnce
probably will hereafter spring productions that
this age does not dream of, and of much more ad-
vantage to the inhabitants than any things we are
yet acquainted v/ithal; and as for several produc-
tions of other countries, much in the same lati-
tude, we may expect with good management, they
will become familiar to us, as wine, oil, fruit, silk,
and other profitable Commodities, such as drugs,
dyes, &c., and at present, the curious may have a
large field to satisfy and divert themselves in, as
collections of strange beasts, birds, insects, rep-
tiles, shells, fishes, minerals, herbs, flowers, plants,
shrubs, intricate roots, gums, tears, rosms, dyes,
and stones, with several other that yield satisfac-
tion and profit to those whose inclinations tend
that way. And as for what may be hoped for,
towards a happy life and being, by such as design
to remove thither, I shall add this : that with pru-
dent management, I can afiirm, by experience,
not by hearsay, that any person, with a small be-
ginning, may live very comfortably, and not only
provide for the necessaries of life, but likewise for
those that are to succeed him. Provisions beinof
very plentiful, and of good variety to accommodate
genteel housekeeping, and the neighboring In-
dians are friendly, and in many cases serviceable
to us in making us wares to catch fish in, for a
small matter, which proves of great advantage to
largo lamilio.-r, because those engines take- great

146 lawson's history

quantities of many sorts of iisli that are very good
and nourishing. Some of them hunt and fowl
for us at reasonable rates, the country being as
plentifully provided with all sorts of game as any
part of America ; the poorer sort of planters often
get them to plant for them by hiring them for
that season, or for so much work, which common-
ly comes very reasonable. Moreover, it is remar-
kable, that no place on the continent of America
has seated an English colony so free from blood
shed as Carolina, but all the others have been
more damaged and disturbed by the Indians than
they have ; which is worthy notice, when we con-
sider how oddly it was fii^t planted with inhabi-
tants.

The fishing trade in Carolina might be carried
on io, great advantage, considering how many
sorts of excellent fish our sound and rivers afford,
which cuxe very well with salt, as has been expe-
rienced by some small quantities, which have been
sent abroad and yielded a good price. As for the
whale fishing, it is no otherwise regarded than by
a few ]3eople who live on the sand banks ; and
those only work on dead fish cast on shore, none
being struck on our coast, as they are to the north-
ward^ although we have plenty of whales there.
Great plenty is generally the ruin of industry.
Thus our merchants are not many, nor have those
few there be applied themselves to the European
trade. The planter sits contented at home, whilst
his oxen thrive and grow fat, and his stocks daily

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 147

increase : the fatted porkets and poultry are easily
raised to his table, and his orchard affords him
liquor, so that he eats and drinks away the cares
of the world, and desires no greater happiness
than that which he daily enjoys. Whereas, not
only the European, but also the Indian trade,
might be carried on to a great profit, because we
lie as fairly for the body of Indians as any settle-
ment in English America ; and for the small trade
that has been carried on in that way, the dealers
therein have throve as fast as any men, and the
soonest raised themselves of any people I have
known in Carolina.

Lastly, as to the climate, it is veiy healthful ;
our summer is not so hot as in other places to the
eastward in the same latitude ; neither are we ev-
er visited by earthquakes, as many places in It-
aly and other summer countries are. Our north-
erly winds, in summer, cool the air, and free us
from pestilential fevers, which Spain, Barbary,
and the neighboring countries in Europe, &c.,
are visited withal. Our sky is generally serene
and clear, and the air very thin, in comparison of
many parts of Europe, wh«re consumptions und
catarrhs reign amongst the inhabitants. The win-
ter has several fits of sharp weather, especially
when the wind is at N. W. which always clears
the sky, though never so thick before. However,
such weather is very agreeable to European bodies,
and makes them healthy. The iN". E. winds blow-
ing in winter, bring with them thick weather, and,

148 lawson's histoey

in the spring sometimes, blight the iriiits ; but
they very seldom endure long^ being blown away
by westerly winds, and then all becomes fair and
clear again.

Our spring in Carolina is very beautiful, and the
most pleasant weather a country can enjoy. The
fall is accompanied with cool mornings, which come
in towards the latter end of August, and so con-
tinue (most commonly) very moderate weather till
about Christmas ; then winter comes on ajDace.
Though these seasons are very piercing, yet the
cold is of no continuance. Perhaps you will have
cold weather for three or four days at a tim_e, then
pleasant, warm weather follows such as you have
in England, about the latter end of April or be-
ginning of May. In the year 1707, we had the se-
verest winter in Carolina, that ever was known
since the English came to settle there ; for our riv-
ers, that were not above half a mile wide, and
fresh water, were frozen over, and some of them,
in the north part of this country, were passable
for people to walk over.

One great advantage of JSTorth Carolina is, that
we are not a frontier, and near the enemy, which
proves very chargeable and troublesome in time
of war to those colonies that are so seated. An-
other great advantage comes from its being near
Virginia, where we come often to a good marl^t,
at the return of the guinea ships for negroes, and
the remnant of their stores, which is very commo-
dious for the Indian tradCj besides in war time, we

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 149

lie near at hand to go under tlieir convoy, and to
sell our provisions to tlie tobacco fleets ; for the
planting of tobacco generally in those colonies,
prevents their being supplied with stores, suffi-
cient for victualing their ships.

As for the commodities v^rhich are necessary to
carry over to this plantation for use and merchan-
dise, and are, therefore, requisite for those to have
along with them that intend to transport themselves
thither ; they are guns, powder and shot, flints, linens
of all sorts, but chiefly ordinary blues, osnaburgs,
scotch and irish linen, and some fine ; men's and
women's cloths, ready made up, some few broad
cloths, kerseys, and druggets ; to which you must
add Haberdasher's wares, hats, about Rye or six
shillings a piece, and a few finer ; a few wiggs,
not long and pretty thin of hair ; thin stuffs for
women; iron work, as nails, spades, axes, broad
and narrow hoes, frows, wedges, and saws of all
sorts, with other tools for carpenters, joiners, coop-
ers, shoemakers, shave locks, &c., all which, and
others which are necessary for the plantations,
you may be informed of and buy at very reasona-
ble rates, of Mr. James Gilbert, ironmonger in
Mitre tavern yard, near Aldgate. You may also
be used very kindly for your cuttlery ware, and
other advantageous merchandises, and your cargoes
well sorted by Capt. Sharp at the Blue gate in Can-
non street, and for earthern ware, ^vindow glass,
grindstones, millstones,paper, ink, powder, saddles,

b7

T50 lawsonVs history

bridles, and what other things you are minded ta
take with you for pleasure or ornament. 3"

And now I shall proceed to the rest of the vegOr *
tables that are common in Carolina, in referenced ..
to the place where I left off, which is the natural ^^'
history of that country.

OF THE VEGETABLES OF CAROLINA.

The spontaneous shrubs of this country are the
lark heel tree ; three sorts of honeysuckle tree, ^ , _
the first of which grows in branches as our pie- ' t^
mento tree does, that is, always in low, moist
ground; the other grows in clear, dry laud, the
flower more cut and lacerated ; the third, which
is the most beautiful, and, I think, the m.ost char-
ming flow^er of its color I ever saw, grows betwixt
two and three feet high, and for the most part, by
the side of a swampy Vv^ood, or on the banks of
our rivers, but never near the salt water. All
the sorts are white; the last grows in a great
bunch of these small honeysuckles set upon one
chief stem, and is commonly the bigness of a large
turnep. Nothing can appear more beautiful than
these bushes, when in their splendour, which is
in April and May. The next is the honeysuckle
of the forest ; it grows about a foot high, bearing
its flowers on small pedestals, several of them
standing on the main stock, which is the thick-
ness of a wheat straw. We have also the wood
bind, much the same as in England ; princes fea-
ther, verv large and beautiful in the garden ; tres

colorea, branchod sim flower^, dotiblo jx>I)pieBy lu-
pines of several pi'etty sorta. Spontaneous and
the sensible plant is said to be near tlie inountains
which I have not yet seen ; salSower, (and I be-
lieve the saflron of England would thiive lierc if
planted) the yellow jessamin is wild in our woods
of a pleasant smell. Evergreens are hero plenti-
fully found of a very quick growth and pleasant
shade ; cypress or iv^hite cedar, the pitch pine, the
yellow pine, the white pine with long leaves, and
the smaller almond pine, whi^h last bears kernels
in the apple, tasting much like an aim on 1, and in
some years there falls such plenty as to make the
hogs fat. Horn beam, cedar, two sorts, holly,
two sorts, bay tree, two sorts, one the dwarf bay,
about twelve feet high, the other the bigness of a
middling pine tree, about two feet and lialf diame-
ter ; laurel trees, in lieight, equalizing the lofty
oaks, the berries and leaves of this tree die.^ a yel-
low ; the bay berries yield a wax, vrhicli besides
its use in chirurgery, makes candles, that in burn-
ing, give a fragrant smell. The cedar berries are
infused and made beer of by the Bermudians, they
are carminative, and much of the quality of juni-
per berries ; yew or box I have never seen or hoard
of in this country. There are two sorts of myrtles,
>^^^ different in leaf and berry. The berry yields wax
' Ijjthat makes candles, the most lasting and of the
* sweetest smell imaginable. Some mix hiijf tallow
with this wax, others use it without mixture ; and
those are lit fur a lady's chamber, and iiicoi.!i[)ara~

152 LAWSON'S HISTORY

ble to pass the line withal and other hot countries,
because they will stand when others will melt, by
the excessive heat, down in the binacles. Ever-
green oak, two sorts ; gallberry tree, bearing a
black berry with which the women dye their cloths
and yarn black ; 'tis a pretty evergreen and very
plentiful, growing always in low swampy grounds,
and amongst ponds. We have a prim or privet,
which grows on the dry, barren, sandy hills by
the sound side ; it bears a smaller sort than that in
England, and grows* into a round bush, very beau-
tiful. Last of bushes, (except savine, which grows
every where wild,) is the famous yaupon, of which
I find two sorts, if not three. I shall speak first
of the nature of this plant, and afterwards ac-
count for the different sorts. This yaupon,
called by the South Carolina Indians, casse-
na, is a bush that grows chiefly on the sand banks
and islands, bordering on the sea of Carolina ; on
this coast it is plentifully found, and in no other
place that I know of. It grows the most like box
of any vegetable that I know, being very like it
in leaf, only dented exactly like tea, but the leaf
somewhat fatter. I cannot say whether it bears
any flower, but a berry it does, about the bigness
of a grain of pepper, being first red, then brown.
When ripe, which is in December, some of these
bushes grow to be twelve feet high, others ar^
three or four. The wood thereof is brittle as myr-
tle, and affords a light ash colored bark. There
is sometimes found of it in swamps and rich low

OF yORTH CAllOLt^A. 153

grounds, whicb has tlio same figured leaf, only it
is larger, and of a deeper green. This may be
occasioned by tlie riclniess that attends the low
grounds thus situated. The third sort has the
same kind of leaf, but never grows a foot high, and
is found both in rich, low land and on tlio sand
hills. I don't know that ever I found any seed or
berries on the dwarfish sort, yet I fin-d no diifor-
ence in taste, when infusion is made. Cattle and
sheep delight in this plant very much, and so do
the deer, all which crop it very short aad browse
thereon wheresoever they meet with it» I have
transplanted the sand bank and dwarfish y-aupon^
and find that the first 3'ear the shrubs stood at a
stand, but the second year they throve as well as
in their native soil. 'This plant is the In-
dian tea, used and approved by all the savages on
the coast of Carolina, and from them sent to the
westward Indians and sold at a considerable price.
All which they cure after the same way as they
do for themselves, which is thus : they take thls-
plant (not only the leaves ])ut the smaller iw]gA
along with them) and bruise it in a mortar till it
becomes blackish, the leaf being wholly defaced,
then they take it out, put it into one of their earth-
ern pots which is over the fire till it smokes,
stirring it all the time till it is cured. Others take
J.t, after it is bruised, and put it into a bov/1 to
which they put live coal^ and cover them with the
yanpon, till they Iiavo done smoking, often turn-
ing them over. After all, thoy spread it ujK^n

154 lawson's history

their mats and dry it in the sun to keep it for use.
The Spaniards in N"ew Spain have this plant very
plentifully on the coast of Florida, and hold it in
great esteem. Sometimes they cure it as the In-
dians do, or else beat it to a powder, so mix it as
coffee ; yet before they drink it, they filter the
same. They prefer it above all liquids, to drink
with physic, to carry the same safely and speedily
through the passages for which it is admirable, as
I myself have experimented.

In the next place, I shall speak of the timber
that Carolina affords, which is as follows :

Chesnut oak is a very lofty tree, clear of boughs
and limbs for fifty or sixty feet. They bear some-
times four or five feet through, all clear timber ;
and are the largest oaks we have, yielding the
fairest plank. They grow chiefly in low land,
that is stiff and rich. I have seen of them so
high, that a good gun could not reach a turkey,
though loaded with swan shot. They are called
chesnut, because of the largeness and sweetness of
the acorns.

"White, scaly bark oak — This is used, as the for-
mer, in building sloops and ships, though it bears
a large acorn, yet it never grows to the bulk and
height of the chesnut oak. It is so called, because
of a scaly, broken, white bark, that covers this
tref , growing on dry land.

We have red oak, sometimes, in good land, ve-
ry large and lofty. Tis a porous wood, and used
to rive into rails for fences. Tis not very durable,

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 155

yet some use this, as well as the two farmer, for
pipe and barrel staves. It makes good clap
boards.

Spanish oak is free to rive, bears a whitish,
smooth bark, and rives very well into clap boards.
It is accounted durable, therefore some use to
build vessels with it for the sea ; it proving well
and durable. These all bear good mast for the
swine.

Bastard Spanish is an oak betwixt the Spanish
and red oak ; the chief use is for fencing and clap
boards. It bears good acorns.

The next is black oak, which is esteemed a du-
rable wood uilder water ; but sometimes it is used
in house work. It bears a good mast for hogs.

White iron .or ring oak, is so called from the du-
rability and lasting quality of this wood. It chiefly
grows on dry, lean land, and seldom fails of bear-
ing a plentiful crop of acom-s. This- wood is found
to be very durable, and is esteemed the best oak
for ship work that we have in Carolina ; for though
live oak be more lasting, yet it seldom allows
planks of any considerable length.

Turkey oak is so called from a small acorn it
bears, which the wild turkeys feed on.

Live oak chiefly grows on dry sandy knolls.
This is an evergreen and the most durable oak all
America aflbrds. The shortness of this wood's
bowl or trunk, makes it unfit for plank to build,
ships withal. There are some few trees that would
allow a stock of twelve feet, but the firmness and

i6tj ' LAWSON'S HISTORY

great ^^vejglit tliereof> frightens our sawyers from
tKe Migne tliat attenda the cutting of this timber.
A nail onco driyen therein, tis next* to an impossi-
bility to draw it out. The limbs thereof are so
cured that they servo for excellent timbers, knees,
&c., for vessels of any sort. The acorns thereof
are as sweet as chesnuts, and' the Indians draw an
oil from them, aa sweet as that from the olive,
though of an amber color. "With these nuts or
acorns, some have counterfeited the coca, whereof
tiroy have made chocolate, not to be distinguished
by a good palate. Window frames, millets, and
pins for blocks, are made thereof to an excellent
purpose. I knew two trees of this wood among
the indians, which were planted from the acorn,
and grew in the freshes, and never saw anything
more beautiful of that kmd. They are of an in-
diiferent^ quick growth, of which there are two
sortsL, Tlic ae-orns make very line pork.

Yf illow oak is a sort of water oak. It grows in
ponds and branches, and is usef al for many things.
It is so called from the leaf, which very much re-
sembles a willow.

The live oak grows in the fresh water ponds and
swamps by the river sides, and in low ground over-
flown with water ; and is a perennial green.

Of ash v^e have tv^^o sorts, agreeing nearly with
the English in the grain. One of our sorts is tough
like the Englishj but difiers something in the leaf,
and mucli more in the bark, l^cithcr of them
bears Iceys. The water ash is brittle. The bark
If- food for the bevcr?.

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 157

There are two sorts of elm ; the first grows on
our high land and approaches our Eiiglish; the
Indians take the bark of its root and beat it, whilst
green, to a pulp, and then dry it in the chimney,
where it becomes of a reddish color. This they
use as a sovereign remedy to heal a cut or green
wound, or any thing that is not corrupted. It is
of a very glutinous quality. The other elm grows
in low ground, of whose bark the English and In-
dians make ropes ; for as soon as the sap rises, it
strips off with the greatest ease imaginable. It
runs in March, or thereabouts.

The tulip trees which are, by the planters, call-
ed poplars, as nearest approaching that wood in
grain grow to a prodigious bigness, some of them
having been found one and twenty feet in circum-
ference. I have been informed of a tulip tree,
that was ten feet diameter ; and another wherein
a lusty man had his bed and household furniture,
and lived in it till his labor got him a more fash-
ionable mansion. Ho afterwards became a noted
man in his country for wealth and conduct. One
of these sorts bears a white tulip, the other a party
colored, mottled one. The wood makes very pret-
ty wainscot shingles for houses, and planks for
several uses. It is reckoned very lasting, espe-
cially, underground for mill work. The buds,
made into an ointment, cure scalds, inflamations,
and burns. I saw several bushels thereon. The
cattle are apt to eat of these buds, which give a
very odd taste to the milk. Beech is here fre-
.a8

158 lawson's history

quent, and very large. The grain seems exactly
the same as that in Europe. We make little use
thereof, save for fire wood. 'Tis not a durable
timber. It affords a very sweet nut, yet the jDork
fed thereon (though sweet) is very oily, and ought
to be hardened with Indian corn, before it is kill-
ed. Another sort called buck beech is here found.
Horn beam grows in some places very plentifully,
yet the plenty of other wood makes it unregarded.

The virtues of sassafras are well known in Eu-
rope. This wood sometimes grows to be above
two feet over, and is very durable and lasting,
used for bowls, timbers, post for houses, and oth-
er things that require standing in the ground.
'Tis very light. It bears a white flower, which is
very cleansing to the blood, being eaten in the
spring with other sallating. The berry, when
ripe, is black ; 'tis very oily, carminative and ex-
tremely prevalent in clysters for the colic. The
bark of the root is a specific to those afflicted with
the gripes. The same in powder, and a lotion
made thereof, is much used by the savages to mun-
dify old ulcers, and for several other uses, being
highly esteemed among them.

Dogwood is plentiful on our light land, incli-
ning to a rich soil. It flowers the first in the
woods ; its white blossom making the forest very
beautiful. It has a fine grain, and serves for sev-
eral uses within doors, but is not durable. The
bark of this root infused, is held an infallible reme-
dy against the worms.

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 159

Laurel, before mentioned ; as to its bigness and
use, I have seen planks sawn of this wood, but 'tis
not found durable in the weather, yet pretty enough
for many other uses.

Bay and laurel generally delight in a low,
swampy ground. I know no use they make of
them but for firewood, excepting what I poke of
before, amongst the evergreens.

A famous evergreen I must now mention, which
was forgotten amongst the rest. It is in leaf like
a jessamine, but larger and of a harder nature.
This grows up to a large vine, and twists itself
round the trees it grows near, making a very fine
shade. I never saw any thing of that nature out
do it, and if it be cut away close to the ground
it will presently spring up again, it being impossi-
ble to destroy it when once it has got root. 'Tis
an ornamental plant and worth the transplanting.
Its seed is a black berry.

The scarlet trumpet vine bears a glorious red
flower like a bell or trumpet, and makes a shade
inferior to none that I ever saw ; yet it leaves lis
when the winter comes and remains naked till the
next spring. It bears a large cod that holds its
seed.

The may cock bears a glorious flower, and ap-
ple of an agreeable sweet, mixt with an acid taste.
This is also a summer vine.

The indico grows plentifully in our cpiarters.

The bay tulip tree is a fine evergreen which
grows frequently here.

IGO lawson's history

The sweetgum ti^ee, so called because of tlie
fragrant gum it yields in the springtime upon in-
cision of the bark or wood. It cures the herpes
and inflamations, being applied to the morphew
and tetters. 'Tis an extraordinary balsam, and
of great v^lue to those who know how to use it.
'No wood has scarce a better grain ; whereof fine
tables, drawers,and other furniture might be made.
Some of it is curiously curled. It bears a round
bur, with a sort of prickle, which is the seed.

Of the black gum, there grows with us two sorts,
both fit for cart naves. The one bears a black,
well tasted berry, which the Indians mix with
their pulse and soups, it giving them a pretty fla-
vor, and scarlet color. The bears crop these trees
for the berries, which they mightily covet, yet,
killed in that season, they eat very unsavory,
which ipiust be occasioned by this fruit, because at
other times, when they feed on mast, bears flesh
is a very well tasted food. The other gum bears
a berry in shape like the other, though bitter and
ill tasted. This tree, (the Indians report) is never
wounded by lightning. It has no certain grain,
and it is almost impossible to split or rive it.

The white gum, bearing a sort of long bunched
flowers, is the most curled and knotted wood I ev-
er saw, which would make curious furniture in
case it was handled by a good workman. The
red sort of cedar is an evergreen of which Caroli-
na aftbrds plenty. That on the salts grows gene-
rally on tlio sand banks, and that in the freshes is

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 161

found in the swa^^^DS. Of this wood tables, wains-
cot and other necessaries are made, and esteemed
for its sweet smell. It is as durable a wood as any
we have, therefore much used in posts for houses
and sills; likewise, to build sloops, boards, &c., by
reason the worm will not touch it for several
years. The vessels built thereof are very durable,
and good swimmers. Of this cedar ship lods
may be exported. It has been heretofore so plen-
tiful in this settlement, that they have fenced in
plantations with it, and the coffins of the dead are
generally made thereof.

White cedar, so called because it nearly ap-
proaches the other cedar in smell, bark and leaf;
only this grows taller, being as straight as an ar-
row. It is extraordinary light and free to rive.
Tis good for yard, top masts, booms and bolt-
sprits, being very tough. The best shingles for
houses are made of this wood, it being no strain
to the roof and never rots. Good pails and other
vessels free from leakage, are likewise made
thereof. The bark of this and the red cedar, the
Indians use to make their cabins of, which prove
firm and resist all weathers.

Cypress is not an evergreen with us, and is
therefore called the bald cypress, because the
leaves, during the winter season turn red, not re-
covering their verdure till the spring. These
trees are the largest for height and thickne^, that
we have in this i)art of the world ; some of them
holding thirty-six feet in circumference. Upon

162 lawson's history

incision they yield a sweet smelling grain, thougli
not in great quantities ; and the nuts which these
trees bear plentifully, yield a most odoriferous
balsam, that infallibly cures all new and green
wounds which the inhabitants are well acquainted
withal. Of these great trees the pereaugus and
canes are scooped and made, which sort of ves-
sels are chiefly to pass over the rivers, creeks, and
bays, and to transport goods and lumber from one
river to another. Some are so large as to carry
thirty barrels, though of one entire piece of tim-
ber. Others that are split down the bottom and
a piece added thereto, will carry eighty or an hun-
dred. Several have gone out of our inlets on the
ocean to Virginia, laden with pork and other pro-
duce of the country. Of these trees curious boats
for pleasure may be made, and other necessary
craft. Some years ago a foolish man in Albemarl
and his son had got one of these canoes decked.
She held, as I take it, sixteen barrels. He brought
her to the collectors to be cleared for Barbados,
but the of&cer took him for a man that had lost
his senses, and argued the danger and impossibil-
ty of performing such a voyage in a hollow tree,
but the fellow would hearken to no advice of that
kind, till the gentleman told him if he did not
value his own life, he valued his reputation and
honesty, and so flatly refused clearing him ; upon
which the canoe was sold, and, I think, remains in
being still. This wood is very lasting, and free
from the rot. A canoe of it will outlast four boats,

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 163

and seldom wants repair. They say that a chest
made of this wood will suffer mo moth or vermin
to abide therein.

The locust for its enduring the weather, is cho-
sen for all sorts of work that are exposed thereto.
It bears a leaf nearest the liquorice plant. Tis a
pretty tall tree. Of this the Indians make their
choicest bows, it being very tough and flexible.
We have little or none of this wood in Pampti-
cough.

The honey tree bears as great a resemblance to
the locust, as a shallot does to an onion. It is of
that species but more prickly. They bear a cod,
one side whereof contains the seed, the other the
honey. They will bear in five years from the ker-
nel. They were first brought by the Indian tra-
ders and propagated by their seed, at the Apamat-
icks in Virginia. Last year I planted the seed,
and had them sprung up before I came from
thence, which was in August. Of the honey, very
good metheglin is made, there being orchards
planted in Virginia for that intent.

The sorrel, or sowr wood tree, is so called be-
cause the leaves taste like sorrell. Some are about
afoot or ten inches diameter. I am unacquain-
ted with its virtues at present.

Of pines, there are in Carolina, at least four
sorts. The pitch pine, growing to a great bigness,
most commonly has but a short leaf. Its wood
(being replete with abundance of bitumen) is so
durable, that it seems to sufter no decay, though

164 lawson's histoky

exposed to all weathers, for many ages ; and is
used in several domestic and plantation uses.
This tree affords the four great necessaries, pitch,
tar, rosin and turpentine ; which two last are ex-
tracted by tapping and the heat of the sun, the
other two by the heat of the fire.

The white and yellow pines are sawed into planks
for several uses. They make masts, yards, and a
great many other necessaries therewith, the pine
being the most useful tree in the woods.

The almond pine serves for masts very well.
As for the dwarf pine, it is for show alone, being
an evergreen, as they all are.

The hickory is of the walnut kind, and bears a
nut as they do, of which there are found three
sorts. The first is that which we call the common
white hickory. It is not a durable wood ; for if
cut down and exposed to the weather, it will be
quite rotten, and spoiled in three years, as will
likewise the beech of this country. Hickory
nuts have very hard shells, but excellent, sweet
kernels, with which, in a plentiful year, the old
hogs, that can crack them, fatten themselves, and
make excellent x>ork. These nuts are gotten in
great quanties, by the savages, and laid up for
stores, of which they make several dishes and ban-
quets. One of these I cannot forbear mention-
ing ; it is this : they take these nuts, and break
them very small betwixt two stones, till the shells
and kernels are indifierent small; and this pow-
der you are x^i'esented withal in their cabins, in

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 165

little wooden dishes ; the kernel dissolves in your
mouth, and the shell is spit out. This tastes as
well as any almond. Another dish is the soup which
they make of these nuts, beaten, and put into ven-
ison broth, which dissolves the nut and thickens,
whilst the shell precipitates, and remains at the
bottom. This broth tastes ver}^ rich. There is
another sort, which we call red hickor}-, the heart
thereof being very red, lirm and durable ; of which
walking sticks, mortars, pestils, and several other
fine turnery wares are made ; the third is called
the flying barked hickory, from its brittle and sca-
ly bark. It bears a nut with a bitter kernel, and
a soft shell, like a french walnut. Of this w^ood
cogs for mills are made, &c. The leaves smell
very fragrant. The w^alnut tree of America is call-
ed black walnut. I suppose that name was, at
first, to distinguish it from the hickories, it having
a blacker bark. This tree grows in good land, to
a prodigious bigness. The wood is very firm and
durable, of which tables and chests of drawers are
made, and prove very well. Some of this is very
knotty, which would make the best returns for
England, though the masters of vessels refuse it,
not understanding its goodness. Tis a very good
and durable wood, to bottom vessels for the sea
withal ; and they say that it is never eaten by the
worm. The nuts have a large kernel, which is
very oily, except lain by, a long time, to mellow.
The shell is very thick, as all the native nuts of
America are. AVHien it has its yellow uutward

138

166 LAWSOX'S HISTORY

coat on, it looks and smells much like a lemon.
The maple, of which we have two sorts, is used
to make trenchers, spinning-wheels, &c., withal.

Chinkapin is a sort of chesnut, whose nuts are
most commonly very plentiful, insomuch that the
hogs get fat with them. They are rounder and
smaller than a chesnut, but much sweeter. The
wood is much of the nature of chesnut, having a
leaf and grain almost like it. It is used to timber
boats, shallops, &c., and makes anything that is
to endure the weather. This and the hickory are
very tough rods, used to whip horses withal ; yet
their wood in substance is very brittle. This tree
the vine much delights to twist about. Its good
firewood but very sparkling, as w^ell as sassafras.

The birch grows all on the banks of our rivers, very
high up. I never saw a tree on the salts. It dif-
fers something in bark, from the European birch.
Its buds in April are eaten by the parrakeetos,
which resort from all parts at that season to feed
thereon. "Where this wood growls we are not yet
seated ; and as to the wine or other profits it
would yield, we are, at present, strangers to.

The willow here likewise differs both in bark
and leaf. It is frequently found on the banks of
fresh water, as the birch is.

The sycamore in these parts grows in a low,
swampy land, by river sides. Its bark is quite
different from the English, and the most beautiful
I ever saw, being mottled and clouded with sever-
al colors, as white, blue, &c. It bears no keys

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 167

but a bur like the sweet gum. Its uses I am ig-
norant of.

I never saw any aspin but in Rapahannock riv-
er, from whence I brought one, (that was presen-
ted me there as a great present) but it died by
the way.

Of Holly we have two sorts ; one having a large
leaf, the other a smaller. They grow very thick
in our low woods. Many of them are very straight
and two feet diameter. They make good trench-
ers and other turnery ware.

The red bud tree bears a purple lark heel, and
is the best sallad of any flower I ever saw. It is
ripe in April and May. They grow in trees gene-
rally small, but some are a foot diameter,

Pelletory grows on the sandbanks and islands.
It is used to cure the toothache by putting a piece
of the bark in the mouth, which being very hot
draws a rhume from the mouth, and causes much
spittle. The Indians use it to make their compo-
sition, which they give to their young men and
boys when they are husquenawed, of which you
shall hear farther when I come to treat of the cus-
toms, &c., of that people.

Arrowwood growing on the banks, is used by
the Lidians for arrows and gun sticks. It grows
as straight as if plained, and is of all sizes. 'Tis
as tough and pliable as the smallest canes.

The chestnut tree of Carolina grows up towards
the hilly part thereof, is a very large and durable
wood, and flt for house frames, palisado's sills, and

168 iawson's history

many other nses. The nut is smaller than those
from Portugal, but sweeter.

This is no tree but called the oak vine, by reason
It bears a sort of bur as the oak does, and gene-
rally runs up those trees. It is so porous that you
suck liquors through a length of two feet.

Prickly ash grows up like a pole, of which the
Indians and English make poles to set their canoes
along in shoal water. It is very light, and full of
thorns or prickles, bearing berries in large clus-
ters of a purple color, not much unlike the Alder.
The root of this tree is cathartic and emetic, used
in cachexies.

The poison vine is so called because it colors
the hands of those who handle it. What the ef-
fects of it may be, I cannot relate, neither do I
believe that any has made an experiment thereof.
The juice of this will stain linen never to wash
out. It marks a blackish blue color, which is
done only by breaking a bit of the vine off, and
writing what you please therewith. I have thought
that the East India natives set their colors by
some such means, into their finest calicoes. It
runs up any tree it meets withal, and clasps round
about it. The leaves are like hemlock, and fall
oif in winter.

Of canes and reeds we have many sorts. The
hollow reed or cane, such as angling rods are made
of and weavers use, we have great plenty of,
though none to the northward of James river in
Virginia. They always grow in branches and low

01* NORTH CAROLINA, 169

firround : their leaves endure the winter, in which
season our cattle eat them greedily. We have
them (towards the heads of our rivers) so large
that one joint will hold above a pint of liquor.

The small bamboo is next, which is a certain
vine, like the rest of these species, growing in low
land. They seldom, with us, grow thicker than
a man's little finger, and are very tough. Their
root is a round ball which the Indians boil as we
do garden roots, and eat them. When these roots
have been sometime out of the ground they be-
come hard and make good heads to the canes, on
which several pretty figures may be cut. There
are several others of this kind, not thoroughly dis-
covered.

That palmeto grows with us which we call the
dwarfish sort, but the palmeto tree I have not yet
met withal in ISTorth Carolina, of which you have
a description elsewhere. We shall next treat of
the spontaneous fruits of this country ; and then
proceed to those that have been transplanted from
Europe and other parts.

Among the natural fruits, the vine first takes
place, of which I find six sorts, very well known.
The first is the black bunch grapes which yield a
crimson juice. These grow common and bear
plentifully, they are of a good relish, though not
large, yet well knit in the clusters. They have a
thickish skin and large stone, Avhich makes them
not yield much juice. There is another sort of
black grapes like the former in all respects, save

170 lawson's history

that their juice is of a light flesh color, inclining to
a white. I once saw a spontaneous white bunch
grape in Carolina ; but the cattle browzing on the
sprouts thereof in the spring it died. Of those
which we call fox grapes, we have four sorts ; two
whereof are called summer grapes, because ripe
in July ; the other two winter fruits, because not
ripe till September or October. The summer fox
grapes grow not in clusters or great bunches, but
are about five or six in a bunch, about the bigness
of a damson or larger. The black sort are fre-
quent, the white not so commonly found. They
always grow in swamps and low, moist lands, run-
ning sometimes very high and being shady, and
therefore proper for arbours. They afford the lar-
gest leaf I ever saw to my remembrance, the back
of which is of a white horse flesh color. This
fruit always ripens in the shade. I have trans-
planted them into my orchard and find they thrive
well, if manured. A neighbor of mine has done
the same ; mine were by slips, his from the roots,
which thrive to admiration, and bear fruit, though
not so juicy as the European grape, but of a glu-
tinous nature. However it is pleasant enough to
eat.

The other winter fox grapes are much of the
same bigness. These refuse no ground, swampy
or dry, but grow plentifully on the sand hills along
the sea coast and elsewherf , and are great bearers.
I have seen near twelve bushels upon one vine of
the black sort. Some of these, when thoroughly

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 171

ripe, have a very pretty vinous taste and eat very
well, yet are glutinous. The white sort are clear
and transparent, and indifferent small stones. Be-
ing removed by the slip or root, they thrive well
in our gardens, and make pleasant shades.

Persimmons is a tree that agrees with all lands and
soils. Their fruit, when ripe, is nearest our med-
lar ; if eaten before, draws your mouth up like a
purse, being the greatest astringent I ever met
withal, therefore very useful in some cases. The
fruit if ripe, will presently cleanse a foul wound
that cause pain. The fruit is rotten, when ripe,
and commonly contains four fiat kernels, call-
ed stones, which is the seed. 'Tis said the
cortex peruvianus comes from a persimmon tree
hat grotws in I^ew Spain. I have tried the
drying of this bark, to imitate it, which it does
tolerably well, and agrees therewith. It is bind-
ing enough to work the same effect. The tree
in extraordinary land, comes sometimes to two
feet diameter, though not often. There are two
sorts of this fruit ; one ripe in summer, the oth-
er when the frost visits us.

We have three sorts of mulberries, besides the
different bigness of some trees' fruit. The first is
the common red mulberry, whose fruit is the ear-
liest we have (except the strawberries) and very
sweet. These trees make a very line shade to sit
under in summer time. They are found wild in
great quantities, wherever the land is light and
rich ; yet their fruit is much better when they

172 lawson's history

stand open. They are used instead of raisins and
currants, and make several pretty kirksliaws.
They yield a transparent crimson liquor, which
would make good wine ; but few people's incli-
nations in this country tend that way. The others
are a smooth leaved mulberry, fit for the silk worm.
One bears a white fruit, which is common ; the
other bears a small black berry, very sweet. They
would persuade me there, that the black mulberry
with the silk worm smooth leaf, was a white mul-
berry, and changed its fruit. The wood hereof is
very durable, and where the Indians cannot get
locust, they make use of this to make their bows.

This tree grows extraordinary round and plea-
sant to the eye.

The hickory, walnut, chinkapin, and chesnut,
with their fruits, we have mentioned before.

The hazle nut grows plentifully in some places
of this country, especially towards the mountains ;
but ours are not so good as the English nuts, hav-
ing a much thicker shell (like all the fruits of
America, that I have met withal) which in hard-
ness exceeds those in Europe.

The cherries of the woods grow to be very large
trees. One sort which is rarely found, is red, and
not much unlike the cornel berry. But the com-
mon cherry grows high and in bunches, like Eng-
lish currants, but much larger. TliQy are of a bit-
terish, sweet relish, and are equally valuable with
our small black cherries for an infusion in spirits.

They yield a crimson liquor and are great bearers.

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 173

Our rasberries are of a purple color, and agree-
able relish, almost like the English ; but I reckon
them not quite so rich. When once planted, tis
hard to root them out. They run wild all over
the country, and will bear the same year you
transplant them, as I have found by experience.

The hurts, huclde berries, or blues of this coun-
try, are four sorts, which we are well acquainted
withal ; but more species of this sort, and all oth-
ers, time and enquiry must discover. The first
sort is the same blue or bilberry, that grows plen-
tifully in the north of England, and in other pla-
ces, commonly on your heaths, commons, and
woods, where brakes or fern grows.

The second sort grows on a small bush in our
savannas and meads, and in the woods. They
are larger than the common fruit, and have larger
seed.

The third grows on the single stem of a stick
that grows in low good land, and on the banks
of rivers. They grow three or four feet high, and
are very 2:)leasant, like the first sort, but larger.

The fourth sort grows upon trees, some ten and
twelve feet high, and the thickness of a man's
arm ; these are found in the runs and low grounds,
and are very pleasant and bear wonderfully. The
English sometimes dry them in the sun, and keep
them to use in winter, instead of currants. The
Indians get many bushels and dry them on mats,
whereof they make plum bread, and many other
eatables. They are good in tarts, or iuluscd iu
liquors.

174 lawson's history

In the same ground, commonly grows the pie-
mento, or allspice tree, whose berries differ in
shape from those in the West Indies, being taper
or conick, yet not inferior to any of that sort.
This tree grows much like the hurts, and is of the
same bigness. I have knov/n it transplanted to
the high land, where it thrives.

Our dew berries are very good, but the black
berries are bitterish, and not so palatable, as in
England.

The sugar tree ought' to have taken place before.
It is found in no other parts of Carolina or Amer-
ica, that I ever learned, but in places that are near
the mountains. It is most like one sort of maple
of any tree, and may be ranked amongst that
kind. This tree, which I am told, is of very te-
dious growth, is found very plentifully towards
the heads of some of our rivers. The Indians tap
it and make gourds to receive the liquor, which ope-
ration is done at distinct and proper times, when it
best yields its juice, of which, when the Indians have
gotten enough, they carry it home, and boil it to
a just consistency of sugar, which grains of itself,
and serves for the same uses, as other sugar does.

The papau is not a large tree. I think I never
saw one a foot through; but has the broadest leaf
of any tree in the woods, and bears an apple about
the bigness of a hens egg, yellow, soft, and as
sweet as any thing can well be. They make rare
puddings of this fruit. The apple contains a large
stone.

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 175

The wild fig grows in Virginia, up in the moun-
tains, as I am informed b}^ a gentleman of nfy ac-
quaintance, who is a person of credit, and a great
traveler in America. I shall be glad to have an
opportunity to make trial what improvement
might be made of this wild fruit.

The wild Plums of America are of several sorts.
Those which I can give account of from my own
knowledge, I will, and leave the others till a far-
ther discovery. The most frequent is that which we
call the common Indian Plum, of which there are
two sorts, if not more. One of these is ripe much
sooner than the other, and diifers in the bark ; one
of the barks being very scaly, like our American
Birch. These trees, when in blossom, smell as
sweet as any jessamine, and look as white as a
sheet, being something prickly. You may make
it grow to what shape you please ; they are very
ornamental about a hou .■^', and make a w^onderful
fine show at a distance, in the spring, because of
their white livery. Their fruit is red, and very
palatable to the sick. They are of a quick growth,
and will bear from the stone in -Q^ve years, on their
stock. The English, large black plum thrives
well, ^s does the cherry, being grafted thereon.

The American damsons are both black and white
and about the bigness of an European damson.
They grow anywhere if planted from the stone or
slip ; bear a white blossom, and are a good fruit.
They are found on the sand banks all along the
coast of America. I have planted several in my

176 lawson's history

orchard, that come from the stone, wliich thrive
well amongst the rest of my trees, but they never
grow to the bigness of the other trees now spoken
of. These are plentiful bearers.

There is a third sort of plum about the big-
ness of the damsons. The tree is taller, seldom
exceeding ten inches in thickness. The plum
seems to taste physically, yet I never found any
operation it had, except to make their lips sore,
that eat them. The wood is something porous,
but exceeds any box, for a beautiful yellow.

There is a very pretty, bushy tree, about seven
or eight feet high, very spreading, which bears a
winter fruit, that is ripe in October. They call
them currants, but they are nearer a hurt ; I have
eaten very pretty tarts made thereof. They dry
them instead of currants. This bush is very beau-
tiful.

The Bermudos currants grow in the woods on
a bush, much like the European currant. Some
people eat them very much; But for my part, I
can see nothing inviting in them, and reckon them
a very indifferent fruit.

We have another currant, which grows on the
banks of rivers, or where only clay hatk been
thrown up. This fruit is red, and gone almost as
soon as come. They are a pretty fruit whilst they
last, and the tree (for tis not a bush) they grow
upon, is a very pleasant vegetable.

The hawthorn grows plentifully in some parts
of this country. The haws are quite diiferent
from those in England, being four times as big,

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 177

and of a very pleasant agreeable taste. We make
no use of tins plant, nor any other, for hedges,
because tmiber is so plentiful at present. In my
judgement, the honey locust would be the fittest
for hedges ; because it is very apt to shoot forth
many sprouts and succors from the roots, besides,
it is of a quick growth, and very prickly.

The black haw grows on a slender tree, about
the height of a quince tree, or something higher,
and bears the black haw, which people eat, and
the birds covet also. What virtues the fruit or
wood is of, I cannot resolve you at present.

Thus have I given an account of all the sponta-
neous fruits of Carolina, that have come to my
knowledge, excepting services, which I have seen
in the Indians' hands and eat of them, but never
saw how, nor where tliey grow. There may very
well be expected a great many more fruits, which
are the natural product of this country, when we
consider the fruitfulness of the soil and climate,
and account for the vast tract of land, (great part
of which is not yet found out) according to the
product of that which is already discovered, which,
as I once hinted before, is not yet arrived to our
knowledge, we having very little or no correspon-
dence amongst the mountainous parts of this pro-
vince, and towards the country of Missiasippi, all
which we have strange accounts of, and some very
large ones, with respect to the different and noble
fruits, and several other ornaments and blessings of
nature which Missiasippi possesses ; more to be

178 lawson's history

coveted, than any of those we enjoy, to the east-
ward of the mountains. Yet when I came to dis-
course some of the idolizers of that country, I
found it to be rather novelty than truth and real-
ity, that induced those persons to allow it such ex-
cellencies above others. It may be a brave and
fertile country, as I believe it is ; but I cannot be
persuaded that it can be near so advantageous
as ours, which is much better situated for trade,
being faced all along with the ocean, as the Eng-
lish America is ; when the other is only a direct
river, in the midst of a wild unknown land, great-
est part of whose product must be fetched, or
brought a great way, before it can come to a mar-
ket, moreover, such great rivers commonly allow
of more princes' territories than one, and thus
nothing but war and contention accompanies the
inhabitants thereof.

But not to trouble our readers with any more of
this, we will proceed, in the next place, to show,
what exotic fruits we have, that thrive well in
Carolina, and w^hat others it may reasonably be
sup]30sed would do there, were they brought
thither and planted. In pursuance of which I
will set down a catalogue of what fruits we have ;
I mean species, for shouIJ I pretend to give a reg-
ular name to every one, it's neither possible tor
me to do it, nor for any one to understand it when
done, if we consider that the chiefest part of our
fruit came from the kernel, and some others from

OP NORTH CAROLINA. 179

tlie succors, or sprouts of the tree. First, we will
begin with the apples, which are the

Golden Russet,

Peannain, /Winter,
' \ bummer,

Harvey Apple. I cannot tell, whether

the same as m England.

Winter Queening,

Leather Coat,

Juniting,

Codlin,

Redstreak,

Long Stalk,

Lady Finger.

The Golden Russet thrives well.

The Pearmains of both sots, are apt to speck
and rot on the trees ; and the trees are damaged
and cut off by the worm, which breeds in the
forks and other parts thereof; and often makes a
circumposition, by destroying the bark round the
branches till it dies.

Harvey apple — that which we call so, is esteem-
ed very good to make cider of.

Winter Queening is a durable apple, and makes
good cider.

Leather Coat — both apple and tree stand well.

The Junitiiig is early ripe, and soon gone in
these warm countries.

180 lawson's history

Codlin — no better and fairer fruit in tlie world ;
yet tlie tree suffers the same distemper as the
Pearmains, or rather worse ; the trees always dy-
ing before they come to their growth.

The Redstreak thrives very well.

Long Stalk is a large apple with a long stalk,
and makes good summer cider.

We beat the first of our Codlin cider against
reaping our wheat, which is from the tenth of June
to the five and twentieth.

Lady Finger, the long apple, the same as in
England and full as good. We have innumera-
ble sorts ; some called Rope apples, which are
small apples, hanging like ropes of onions ; Flat-
tings, Grigsons, Cheese-apples and a great number
of names, given according to every one's discretion.

The Warden Pear here proves a good eating
pear, and is not so long ripening as in Eng-
land.

Katharine, excellent.

Sugar Pear. ^.

And several others without name. The Berga-
mot we have not, nor either of the Bonne Chresti-
ennes, though I hear they are all three in Virginia.
Those sorts of pears which we have, are as well
relished as ever I eat any where. But that fruit
is of very short continuance with us, for they are
gone almost as soon as ripe.

I am not a judge of the different sorts of quin-
ces, which they call Brunswick, Portugal and
Barbary ; but as to the fruit m general, I believe

OP NORTH CAROLINA. 181

no place has fairer and better relish. They are
very pleasant eaten raw. Of this fruit, they make
a wine, or liquor, which they call quince drink, and
which I approve of beyond any drink which that
country affords, though a great deal of cider and
some perry is there made. The quince drink most
commonly purges those that first drink it and
cleanses the body very well. The arguments of the
physicians, that they bind people is hereby contra-
dicted, unless we allow the quinces to differ in the
two countries. The least slip of this tree stuck in
the ground, comes to bear in three years.
fl All peaches with us are standing ; neither have
we any wall truit in Carolina, for we have heat
enough, and therefore do not require it. We have
a great many sorts of this fruit, which all thrive
to admiration, peach trees coming to perfection,
with us, as easily as the weeds. A peach falling
to the ground brings a peach tree that shall bear
in three years, or sometimes sooner. Eating peach-
es in our orchards makes them come up so thick
from the kernel, that we are forced to take a great
deal of care to weed them out, otherwise they
make our land a wilderness of peach tress. They
generally bear so full that they break great part
of their limbs down. We have likewise very fair
nectarines, especially the red, that clings to the
stone ; the other yellow fruit, that leaves the stone.
Of the last, I have a tree that most years brings
me fifteen or twenty bushels. I see no foreign
fruit like this, for thriving in all sorts of land, and
a9

182 lawson's history

bearing its fruit to admiration. I want to be sat-
isfied about one sort of this fruit, which thd In-
dians claim as their own, and affirm they had
it growing amongst them before any Europeans
came to America. The fruit I will describe as ex-
actly as I can. The tree grows very large, most
commonly as big as a handsome apple tree ; the
flowers are of a redish, murrey color, the fruit is
rather more downy than the yellow peach, and
commonly very large and soft, being very full of
juice. They part freely from the stone, and
the stone is much thicker than all the other peach
stones we have, which seems to me that it is a
spontaneous fruit of America ; yet in those parts
of America that we inhabit, I never could hear
that any peach trees were ever found growing in
the woods ; neither have the foreign Indians, that
live remote from the English, any other sort. And
those living amongst us have a hundred of this
sort for one other. They are a hardy ^mit, and
are seldom damaged by the north-east blast, as
others are. Of this sort we make vinegar ; where-
fore we call them vinegar peaches, and sometimes
Indian peaches.

This tree grows to a vast bigness, exceeding
most apple trees. They bear well, though some-
times an early spring comes on in February, and
perhaps when the tree is fully blown, the cloudy,
north-east winds, which attend the end of that
month, or the beginning of March, destro}^ most
of the fruit. The bigest apricot tree I ever saw,

OP NORTH CAROLINA. 183

as tliey told me, was grafted on a peach stock in
the ground. I know of no other sort with us,
than the common. We generally raise this fruit
from the stone, which never fails to bring the same
fruit. Likewise our peach stones effect the same,
without so much as once missing to produce the
same sort that the stone came from. '^

Damson, damazeen, and a large, round black
plum are all I have met withal in Carolina. They
thrive well enough ; the last to admiration, and
becomes a very large tree, if in stiff ground; oth-
erwise they will not do well.

Of figs we have two sorts. One is the low
bush fig, which bears a large fruit. If the winter
happens to have much frost, the tops thereof die,
and in the spring sprout again, and bear two or
three good crops.

The tree fig is a lesser fig, though very sweet.
The tree grows to a large body and shade, and
generally brings a good burden ; especially if in
light land ; this tree thrives no where better than
on the sand banks by the sea.

"We have the common, red and black cherry,
which bear well. I never saw any grafted in this
country, the common excepted, which was grafted
on an Indian plum stock, and bore well. This is
a good way, because our common cherry trees are
very apt to put scions all around the tree for a
great distance, which must needs be prejudicial to
the tree and fruit. ISTot only our cherries are apt
to do so, but our apples and most other fruits

184 lawson's history

trees, wliieli may chiefly be imputed to the negli-
gence and nnskillfulness of the gardner. Our
cherries are ripe a month sooner than in Virginia. ^*

Gooseberries I have seen of the smaller sort,
but find they do not do so well as in England,
and to the northward. Want of dressing may be
some reason for this.

Currants, white, red, and black, thrive here, as
well as any where.

Rasberries, the red and white, I never saw any
trial made of. But there is no doubt of their
thriving to admiration, since those of the country
do so well.

The mulberries are spontaneous. We have no
others than what I have already mentioned in the
class of natural fruits of Carolina.

Barberry red, with stones, and without stones,
grow here.

Strawberries, not foreign, but those of the coun-
try, grow here in great plenty. Last April I
planted a bed of two hundred feet in length, which
bore the same year.

Medlars we have none.

All sorts of walnuts from England, France and
Maderas thrive well from the nut.

ISTo filberts, but hazle nuts ; the filbert nut plan-
ted, becomes a good hazle nut, and no better.

As for that noble vegetable, the vine, without
doubt, it may (in this country) be improved, and
brought to the same perfection, as it is, at this
day, in the Bamc latitude in Europe, since the

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 185

chiefest part of this country is a deep, ricli, black
mould, wliicli is up towards tlie freshes and heads
of our rivers, being very rich and mixed with
flint, pebbles, and other stones. And this sort of
soil is approved of by all knowing gardners and
vigneroons, as a proper earth, in which the grape
chiefly delights ; and what seems to give farther
confirmation hereof, is that the largest vines that
were ever discovered to grow wild, are found in
those parts, oftentimes in such plenty, and are so
interwoven with one another, that tis impossible
to pass through them. Moreover, in these freshes,
towards the hills, the vines are above five times
bigger than those generally with us, who are seat-
ed in the front parts of this country, adjoining to
the salts. Of the wild vines, which are most of
them great bearers, some wine has been made,
which I drank of. It was very strong and Avell rel-
ished, but what detains them all from ottering at
great quantities, they add, that this grape has a
large stone, and a thick skin, and consequently
yields but a small quantity of wine. Some essa3^a
of this nature have been made by that honorable
knight, sir ISTathaniel Johnson, in South Carolina,
who, as I am informed, has rejected all exotic
vines, and makes his wine from the natural black
grape of Carolina, by grafting it upon its own
stock. What improvement this may arrive to I
cannot tell ; but in otlicr species, I own grafting
and imbudding yields speedy fruit, though I never
found that it made them better.

186 lawson's history

^ew planted colonies are generally attended
with a force, and necessity of planting tlie known
and approved staple and product of the country,
as well as all the provisions their families spend.
Therefore we can entertain but small hopes of the
improvement of the vine, till some skillful in dres-
sing vines shall appear amongst us, and go about
it, with a resolution, that ordering the vineyard
shall be owe half of their employment. If this be
begun, and carried on, with that assiduity and re-
solution which it requires, then we may reasonably
hope to see this a wine country; for then, when
it becomes a general undertaking ; every one will
be capable to add something to the common stock,
of that which ho has gained by his own experience.
This way would soon make the burden light, and a
great many shorter and exacter curiosities, and real
truths would be found out in a short time. The
trimming of vines, as they do in France, that is,
to a stump, must either here be not followed, or
we are not sensible of the exact time, when they
ought to be thus pruned; for experience has
taught us, that the European grape, suffered to run
and expand itself at large, has been found to bear,
as well in America as it does in Europe ; when at
the same time, the same sort of vine trimmed to
a stump, as before spoken of, has born a a poor crop
for one year or two ; and by its spilling, after cut-
ting, emaciated, and in three or four years died.
This experiment, I believe has never failed; for
I have trimmed the natural vine the French way,

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 187

which has been attended at last, with the same
fate. Wherefore, it seems most expedient, to
leave the vines more branches here, than in Eu-
rope, or let them run up trees, as some do, in
Lorabardy, upon elms. The mulberries and chin-
kapin are tough, and trimmed to what you please,
therefore fit supporters of the vines. Gelding and
plucking away the leaves, to hasten the ripening
of this fruit, may not be unnecessary, yet we see
the natural wild grape generally ripens in the
shade. I^ature in this, and many others, may
prove a sure guide. The twisting of the stems to
make the grapes ripe together, loses no juice, and
may be beneficial, if done in season. A very in-
genious French gentlemen, and another from
Switzerland, with whom I frequently converse,
exclaim against that strict cutting of vines, the
generally approved methed of France and Germa-
ny, and say, that they were both out in their judg-
ment, till of late, experience has thaught them
otherwise. Moreover, the French in North Car-
olina assure me, that if we should tri^i our apple
and other fruit trees, as they do in Europe, we
should spoil them. As for apples and plums, I
have found by experience, what they aflirm to be
true. The French, from the Mannakin town or
freshes of James river in Virginia, had, for the
most part, removed themselves to Carolina, to live
there, before I came away ; and the rest were fol-
lowmg, as their minister, (Monsieur Philip de
Kixbourg) told me, who was at Bath town, when

188 lawson's history

I was taking my leave of my friends. He assured
me, that their intent was to propagate vines, as
far as their present circumstances would permit ;
provided they could get any slips of vines, that
would do. At the same time I had gotten some
grape seed, which was of the Jesuits white grape
from Madera. The seed came up very plentiful-
ly, and, I hope, will not degenerate, v/hich if it
happens not to do, the seed may prove the best
way to raise a vineyard, as certainly it is most easy
for transportation. Yet I reckon we should have
our seed from a country, where the grape arrives
to the utmost perfection of ripeness. These
French refuges have had small encouragement in
Virginia, because, at their first coming over, they
took their measures of living, from Europe ; which
was all wrong ; for the small quantities of ten, fif-
teen, and twenty acres to a family did not hold
out according to their way of reckoning, by reason
they made very little or no fodder ; and the win-
ter there being much harder than with us, their
cattle failed ; chiefly, because the English took up
and surveyed all the land round about them ; so
that they were hemmed in on all hands from pro-
viding more land for themselves or their children,
all which is highly prejudicial in America, where
the generality are bred up to planting. One of
these French men being a fowling, shot a fowl in
the river, upon which his dog went down the bank
to bring it to his master ; but the bank was so
high and steep that he could not get up again.

OF XORTII CAROLINA. 189

Thereupon the French man went down to help
Ids clog up, and breaking the mould away acci-
dentally with his feet, he discovered a very rich
coal mine. This adventure he gave an account of
amongst the neighborhood, and presently one of
the gentlemen of that part surveyed the land, and
the poor French m.an got nothing by his discovery.
The French are good neighbors amongst us, and
give examples of industry, which is much wanted
in this country. They make good flax, hemp,
linen cloth and thread, which they exchange
amongst the neighborhood for other commodities
for which they have occasion.

We have hitherto made no trial of foreign her-
bage ; but doubtless it would thrive well, espe-
cially sanfoin, and those grasses that endure heat
and dry ground. As for our low lands, such as
marshes, savannas and pocoson ground, which
lies low, all of them naturally afford good land
for pasturage.

We will next treat of the beasts which you shall
have an account of, as they have been discoverexl.

bO

190 lawson's history

the beasts of carolina are the
BufFelo, or wild beef.
Bear.
Panther.
Catamount.
Wild cat.
Wolf.
Tiger.
Polcat.
Otter.
Bever.
Musk rat.
Possum.
Eaccoon.
Minx.
Water rat.
Rabbet, two sorts.
Elks.
Stags.

Fallow deer.
Squirrel, four sorts.
Fox.

Lion and jackall on the lake.
Rats, two sorts.
Mice, two sorts.
Moles.

Weasel, dormouse.
Bearmouse.

The buffelo is a wild beast of America, which
has a bunch on his back as the cattle of St. Lau-

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 191

rence are said to have. He seldom appears
amongst the English inhabitants, his chief haunt
being in the hmd of Messiasippi, which is, for tho
most part, a phxin country ; yet I have known
some killed on the hilly part of Cape Fair river, they
passing the ledges of vast mountains from the said
Messiasippi, before they can come near us. I
have eaten of their meat, but do not think it so
good as our beef; yet the younger calves are cried
up for excellent food, as very likely they may be.
It is conjectured that these bulielos, mixt in
breed with our tame cattle, would much better
the breed for largeness and milk, which seems
very probable. Of the wild bull's skin buff is made.
The Indians cut the skins into quarters for the
ease of their transportation, and makes beds to
lie on. They spin the hair into garters, girdles,
sashes, and the like, it being long and curled, and
often of a chesnut or red color. These monsters
are found to weigh (as I am informed by a travel-
er of credit) from one thousand six hundred to
two thousand four hundred weight.

The bears here are very common, though not
so large as in Greenland, and the more northern
countries of Russia. The flesh of this beast is
very good and nourishing, and not inferior to the
best pork in taste. It stands bf twixt beef and
pork, and the young cubs are a dish for the grea-
test epicure living. I prefer their flesh before any
beef, veal, pork or mutton, and they look as well
as they eat, their fat being a.s white as snow and

192 lawson's history

tiie sweetest of any creatures in tlie world. If a
man drink a quart thereof, melted, it never will
rise in his stomach. We prefer it ahove all things
to fry fish and other things in. Those that are
strangers to it may judge otherwise, hut I who
have catena great deal of bear's flesh in my life time
(since my being an inhabitant in America) do
think it equalizes, if not excels any meat I ever
eat in Europe. The bacon made thereof is extra-
ordinary meat ; but it must be well saved, other-
wise it will rust. This creature feeds upon all
sorts of wild fruits. When herrings run, which
is in March, the flesh of such of those bears as eat
thereof, is naught all that season, and eats filthily.
Neither is it good when he feeds on gum berries,
as I intimated before. They are great devourers
of acorns, and oftentimes meet the swine in the
woods, which they kill and eat, especially when
they are hungry and can find no other food. Now
and then they get into fields of Indian corn or
maiz, where they make a sad havock, spoiling ten
times as much as they eat. The potatos of this
country are so agreeable to them, that they never
fail to sweep them all clean if they chance to come
in their way. They are seemingly a very clumsy
creature, yet are very nimble in running up trees
and traversing every limb thereof When they
come down they run tail foremost. At catching
of herrings, they are most expert fishers. They
sit by the creek sides, (which are very narrow)
where the fish run in, and there they take them

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 19S

up as fast as it is possible they can dip tlieir paws
into the water. There is one thing more to he
considered of this creature, which is, that no man,
either christian or Indian, has ever killed a she
bear with young.

It is supposed that the she bears, after concep-
tion, hide themselves in some secret and undiscov-
erable place till they bring forth their young,
which, in all probability, cannot be long ; other-
wise the Indians, who hunt the woods like dogs,
would, at some time or other, have found them
out. Bear hunting is a great sport in America,
both with the English and Indians. Spme years
ago there were killed iive hundred bears in two
counties of Virginia in one winter, and but two
she bears amongst them all, which were not with
young, as I told you of the rest. The English
have a breed of dogs fit for this sport, about the
size of farmers' curs, and, by practice, come to ,
know the scent of a bear, which as soon as they
have found, they run him by the nose till they
come up with him and then bark and snap at him
till he trees, when the huntsman shoots him out
of the trees, there being, for the most part, two or
three with guns, lest the first should miss or not
quite kill him. Though they are not naturally
voracious, yet they are very fierce when wounded.
The dogs often bring him to a bay when wounded,
and then the huntsmen make other shots, perhaps
with the pistols that are stuck in their girdles. If
a dog is apt to fasten and run into a bear, he is

194 lawson's history

not good, for the best dog in Europe is nothing
in their paws ; but if ever they get him in their
clutches, they blow his skin from his flesh like a
bladder, and often kill him ; or if he recovers it
he is never good for anything after. As the paws
of this creature are held for the best bit about him,
so is the head esteemed the worst, and always
thrown away, for what reason I know not. I be-
lieve none ever made trial thereof, to know how
it eats. The oil of the bear is very sovereign for
strains, aches and old pains. The fine fur at the
bottom of the belly is used for making hats, in
some places the fur itself is fit for several uses, as
for making muffs, facing caps, &c., but the black
cub skin is preferable to all sorts of that kind for
muffs. Its grain is like hog skin.

The panther is of the cat kind, about the height
of a very large grey hound of a reddish color, the
same as a lion. He climbs trees with the greatest
agility imaginable, is very strong limbed, catching
a piece of meat from any creature he strikes at.
His tail is exceeding long ; his eyes look very
fierce and lively, are large and of a grayish color ;
his prey is swine's flesh, deer, or anything he can
take ; no creature is so nice and clean as this in
his food. When he has got his prey he fills his
belly with the slaughter and carefully lays up the
remainder, covering it very neatly with leaves,
which if anything touches, he never eats any more
of it. He purrs as cats do ; if taken when young
is never to be reclaimed from his wild nature. He

OF NORTH CAROLINA. * 195

hollows like a man in th^ woods when killed,
which is by making him take a tree, as the least
cur will presently do ; then the huntsmen shoot
him ; if they do not kill him outright, he is a dan-
gerous enemy when wounded, especially to the
dogs that approach him. This beast is the grea-
test enemy to the planter of any vermine in Car-
olina. His flesh looks as well as any shambles
meat whatsoever ; a great many people eat him
as choice food, but I never tasted of a panther, so
cannot commend the meat by my own experience.
His ekin is a warm covering for the Indians in
winter, though not esteemed amongst the choice
furs. This skin dressed, makes fine women's shoes
or men's gloves.

The mountain cat, so called, because he lives in
the mountainous parts of America. He is a beast
of prey, as the panther is, and nearest to him in
bigness and nature.

This cat is quite different from those in Europe ;
being more nimble and tierce, and larger ; his tail
does not exceed four inches. He makes a very
odd sort of cry in the woods, in the night. He is
spotted as the leopard is, tho' some of them are
not, (wdiich may happen, when their furs are out
of season) he climbs a tree veiy dexterously, and
preys as the panther does. He is a great destroy-
er of young swine. I knew an island, which was
possessed by these vermine, unknown to the plan-
ter, who put thereon a considerable stock of swine ;
but never took one back, for the wild cats destroy-

196 ' lawson's history

ed them all. He takes most of his prey by sur-
prise, getting Tip tlie trees, which they pass by or
under, and thence, leaping directly upon them.
Thus he takes deer (wbicb he can not catch by
running) and fastens his teeth into their shoulders
and sucks them. They run with him, till they
fall down for want of strength, and become a prey
to tlie enemy. Hares, birds, and all he meets,
that he can conquer, he destroys. The fur is ap-
proved to wear as a stomacher, for weak and col d
stomachs. They are likewise used to line mufis
and coats withal in cold climates.

The wolf of Carolina, is the dog of the woods.
The Indians had no other curs, before the chris-
tians came amongst them. They are made do-
mestic. When wild they are neither so large nor
fierce as the European wolf. They are not man
slayers, neither is any creature in Carolina unless
wounded. They go in great droves in the night
to hunt deer, which they do as well as the best
pack of hounds. ISTay, one of these will hunt
down a deer. They are often so poor that they
can hardly run. When they catch no prey, they
go to a swamp and fill their belly full of mud ; if
afterwards they chance to get any thing of flesh,
they will disgorge the mud and eat the other.
When they hunt in the night that there is a great
many together, they make the most hideous and
frightful noise that ever was heard. The fur makes
good muffs. The skin dressed to a parchment

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 107

makes the best drum heads, and if tanned makes
the best sort of shoes for the summer countries.

Tigers are never met withal in the settlement,
but are more to the westward, and are not numer-
ous on this side the chain of mountains. I once
saw one that was larger than a panther, and seem-
ed to be a very bold creature. The Indians that
hunt in those quarters, say they arc seldom met
withal. It seems to differ from the tiger of Asia
and Africa.

Polcats or skunks in America are different from
those in Europe. They are thicker and of a great
many colors, not all alike, but each differing from
another in the particular color. They smell like
a fox but ten times stronger. When a dog en-
counters them, they piss upon him, and he will
not be sweet again in a fortnight or more. The
Indians love to eat their flesh which has no man-
ner of ill smell when the bhxdder is out. I know
no use their furs are put to. They are easily
brought up tame.

There have been seen some otters from the
westward of Carolina, which were of a white color,
a little inclining to a yellow. They live on the
same prey here as in Europe, and are the same in
all other respects, so I shall insist no farther on
that creature, their furs, if black, are valuable.

Bevers are very numerous in Carolina, there
being abundance of their dams in all parts of the
country where I have traveled. They are the
most industrious and greatest artillcers (in build-

T98 lawson's history

ing tlieir dams and houses) of any four footed
creatures in the world. Their food is chiefly the
harks of trees and shruhs, viz : sassafras, ash,
sweet gum and several others. If you take them
young they hecome very tame and domestic, hut
are very mischievous in spoiling orchards hy brea-
king the trees and blocking up your doors in the
night with the sticks and wood they bring thither.
If they eat anything that is salt it kills them.
Their flesh is a sweet food, especially their tail,
which is held very dainty. Their fore feet are
open like a dog's ; their hind feet webbed like a
water fowl's. The skins are good furs for several
uses, which every one knows. The leather is very
thick; I have known shoes made thereof in Caro-
lina, which lasted well. It makes the best hedgers
mittens that can be used.

Muskrats frequent fresh streams and no other,
as the bever does. He has a cod of musk which
is valuable, as is likewise his fur.

The possum is found no where but in America.
He is the wonder of all the land animals, being
the size of a badger, and near that color. The
male's pizzle is placed retrograde; and in time of
coition, they differ from all other animals, turning
tail to tail as dog and bitch when tied. The fe-
male doubtless breeds her young at her teats ; for
I have seen them stick fast thereto when tliey have
been no bigger than a small rasberry, and seem-
ingly inanimate. She has a paunch, or false bel-
ly, wherein she carries her 3^oung, after they are

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 199

from those teats, till they can shift for themselves.
Their food is roots, poultry or wild fruits. They
have no hair on their tails, but a sort of a scale or
hard crust, as the hevers have. If a cat has nine
lives, this creature surely has nineteen ; for if you
break every bone in their skin, and mash their
skull, leaving them for dead, you may come an
hour after, and they will be gone quite away, or
perhaps you meet them creeping away. They are
a very stupid creature, utterly neglecting their
safety. They are most like rats of any thing. I
have, for necessity in the wilderness, eaten of them.
Their flesh is very white, and well tasted ; but their
ugly tails put me out of conceit with that fare.
They climb trees as the raccoons do. Their fur
is not esteemed nor used, save that the Indians
spin it into girdles and garters.

The raccoon is of a dark, grey color. If taken
young, is easily made tame ; but is the drunkenest
creature living, if he can get any liquor that is
sweet and strong. They are rather more unlucky
than a monkey. When wild, they are very subtle
in catching their prey. Those that live in the salt
watej, feed much on oysters, which they love.
They watch the oyster when it opens, and nimbly
put in their paw and pluck out the Jfish. Some-
times the oyster shuts and holds fast their paw
till the tide comes in that they are drowned,
though they swim very well. The way that this
animal catches crabs, which he greatly admires,
and which are plenty in Carolina, is worthy of re-

200 lawson's history

mark. When lie intends to make a prey of these
fish, he goes to a marsh, where, standing on the
land, he lets his tail hang in the water. This the
crab takes for a bait, and fastens his claws therein,
which as soon as the raccoon perceives, he of a sud-
den springs forward a considerable way, on the
land, and brings the crab along with him. As
soon as the fish finds himself out of his element, he
presently lets go his hold, and then the raccoon
encounters him, by getting him crosswise in his
mouth, and devours him. There is a sort of small,
land crab, which we call a fiddler, that runs into
a hole when any thing pursues him. This crab
the raccoon takes by putting his fore-foot in the
hole and pulling him out. "With a tame raccoon,
this sport is very diverting. The chief of his other
food is all sorts of wild fruits, green corn, and
such as the bear delights in. This and the pos-
sum are much of a bigness. The fur makes good
hats and linings. The skin dresssed makes fine
womens' shoes.

The minx is an animal much like the English
fillimiirt or polcat. He is long, slender and every
way shaped like him. His haunts are chiefly in
the marshes, by the sea side and salt waters, where
he lives on fish, fowl, mice, and insects. They
are bold thieves, and will steal anything from you
in the night, when asleep, as I can tell by expe-
rience ; for one winter, by misfortune, I ran my
vessel aground, and went often to the banks to
kill wild fowl, which we did a great many. One

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 201

iilglit we liacl a mine to sleep on tlie banks (the
weather being fair) and wrapt up the geese which
Ave had killed and not eaten, very carefully, in the
sail of a canoe, and folded it several doubles, and
for their better security, laid them all night under
my head. In the "morning when I waked, a minx
had eaten through every fold of the canoe sail,
and through one of the geese, most part of which
was gone. These are likewise found high up in
the rivers, in whose sides they live, which is known
by the abundance of fresh water muscle shells
(such as 3^ou have in England) that lie at the
mouth of their holes. This is an enemy to the
tortois, whose holes in the sand, where they hide
their eggs, the minx finds out, and scratches up
and eats. The raccoons and crows do the same.
The minx may be made domestic ; and were it
not for his paying a visit now and then to the
poultry, they are the greatest destroyers of rats
and mice that are in the world. Their skins, if
good of that kind, are valuable, provided they are
killed in season.

The water rat is found here the same as in En-
gland. The water snakes are often found to have
of these rats in their bellies.

That which the people of Carolina call a hare,
is nothing but a hedge coney. They never bo-
rough in the ground, but much frequent marshes
and meadow land. They hide their young in
some place secure from the discovery of the buck,
as the European rabl)ets do, and are of the same

202 lawson's history

color; but if you start one of them and pursue
her, she takes into a hollow tree, and there runs up
as far as she can, in which case the hunter makes
a fire, and smokes the tree, which brings her
down, and smothers her. At one time of the year
great bots or maggots breed betwixt the skin and
the flesh of these creatures. They eat just as the
English ones do ; but I never saw one of them
fat. We fire the marshes and then kill abundance.
The English or European Coneys are here found,
tho' but in one place that I ever knew of, which
was in Trent river, where they boroughed among
the rocks. I cannot believe, these are natives of
the country, any otherwise than that they might
come from aboard some wreck; the sea not being
far off. I was told of several that were upon
Bodies island by Eonoak, which came from that
ship of bodies ; but I never saw any. However
the banks are no ]3roper abode of safety, because
of the many minxes, in those quarters. I carried
over some of the tame sort from England to South
' Carolina, which bred three times going over, we
having a long passage. I turned them loose in a
plantation, and the young ones, and some of the
old ones bred great maggots in their testicles.
At last the great gust in September 1700, brought
a great deal of rain, and drowned them all in their
holes. I intend to make a second trial of them
in i^Torth Carolina, and doubt not but to secure
them.

OF NORTH CAROLIXA. 203

The elk is a monster of the venison sort. His
skin is used ahnost in the same nature as the buf-
felo's. Some take him for the red deer of Ameri-
ca ; but he is not: for, if brought and kept in
company with one of that sort, of the contrary sex,
he will never couple. His flesh is not so sweet as
the lesser deers. His hams exceed (in weight) all
creatures which the new world aflords. They
mil often resort and feed with the buffelo, delight- .
ing in the same range as they do.

The stags of Carolina are lodged in the moun-
tains. They are not so large as in Europe, but
much larger than any fallow deer. They are al-
ways fat, I believe, with some delicate herbage
that grows on the hills, for we find all creatures
that graze much fatter and better meat on the
hills, than those in the valleys : I mean towards
and near the sea. Some deer on these mountains
afford the occidental bezoar, not coming from a
goat, as some report. What sort of beast affords
the oriental bezoar, I know not. The tallow of
the harts make incomparable Candles. Their
horns and hides are of the same value, as others of
their kind.

Fallow deer in Carolina are taller and longer
legged than in Europe ; but neither run so fast
nor are so well haunched. Their singles are much
longer, and their horns stand forward as the oth-
ers incline backward ; neither do they beam or
bear their antlers as the English deer do. To-
wards the aahs they are not generally so fat and

204 lawson's history

good meat as on the liills. I have known some
killed on the salts in January that have had abun-
dance of bots in their throat, which keep them
very poor. As the summer approaches these bots
come out and turn into the finest butterfly imagi-
nable, being very large and having black, white
and yellow stripes. Deer skins are one of the best
commodities Carolina affords to ship off for Eng-
land, provided they be large.

Of squirrels we have four sorts, the first is the
fox squirrel, so called because of his large size,
which is the bigness of a rabbet of two or three
months old. His color is commonly gray ; yet I
have seen several pied ones, and some reddish and
black ; his chiefest haunts are in the piny land
where the almond pine grows. There he provides
his winter store ; they being a nut that never fails
of bearing. He may be made tame, and is very
good meat when killed.

The next sort of squirrel is much of the nature
of the English, only differing in color. Their food
is nuts (of all sorts the country affords) and acorns.
They eat well, and, like the bear, are never found
with young.

The flying squirrel. — This squirrel is gray, as well
as the others. He is the least of the three. Hist
food is much the same with the small gray squir-
rel. He has not wings, as birds or bats have, there
being a fine thin-skin covered with hair, as the
rest of the parts are. This is from the fore feet to
the hinder feet, which is extended, and holds so

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 205

much air, as buoys him up, from one tree to an-
other, that are greater distances asunder, than
other squirrels can reach by jumping or springing.
He is made very tame, is an enemy to a corn field,
(as all squirrels are) and eats only the germinating
eye of that grain, which is very sweet.

Ground squirrels are so called because they nev-
er delight in running up trees, and leaping from
tree to tree. They are the smallest of all squirrels.
Their tail is neither so long not bushy, but flat-
tish. They are of a reddish color and striped
down each side with black rows, which make them
very beautiful. They may be kept tame in a little
box with cotton. They and the flying squirrels
seldom stir out in cold weather, being tender ani-
mals.

The fox of Carolina is gray but smells not as
the foxes in Great Britain and elsewhere. They
have reddish hair about their ears, and are gene-
rally very fat, yet I never saw any one eat them.
When hunted, they make a sorry chase, because
they run up trees when pursued. They are never
to be made familiar and tame as the raccoon is.
Their furs, if in season, are used for muffs and oth-
er ornaments. They live chiefly on birds and
fowls and such small prey.

I have been informed by the Indians that on
a lake of water towards the head of ^N'eus river,
there haunts a creature which frightens them all
from hunting thereabouts. They say he is the
color of a panther, but cannot run up trees ; and

AlO

20G lawson's history

that there abides with him a creature like an Eng-
lishman's dog, which runs faster than he can, and
gets^is prey for him. They add that there is no
other of that kind that ever they met withal ; and
that they have no other way to avoid him but by
running up a tree. The certainty of this I can
not affirm by my own knowledge, yet they all agree
in this story. As for lions, I never saw any in
America, neither can I imagine how they should
come there.

Of rats we have two sorts; the house rat as in
Europe; and the marsh rat which differs very
much from the other, being more hairy, and has
several other distinctions too long here to name.

Mice are the same here as those in England,
that belong to the house. There is one sort that
poisons a cat as soon as she eats of them, 'which
has sometimes happened. These mice resort not
to houses.

The dormouse is the same as in England, and
so is the weasel, which is very scarce.

The bat or rear mouse, the same as in England.
The Indian children are much addicted to eat dirt,
and so are some of the christians, but roast a bat
on a skewer, then pull the skin off, and make the
child that eats dirt eat the roasted rearmouse and
he will never eat dirt again. This is held as an
infallible remedy. I have put this amongst the
beasts as partaking of both natures, of the bird
and mouse kind.

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 207

Having mentioned all the sorts of terrestrial or
land animals which Carolina affords and are yet
known to us, except the tame and domestic crea-
tures, (of which I shall give an account hereafter
when I come to treat of the ways and manners of
agriculture iij that province.) I shall now pro-
ceed to the known insects of that place. Not that
I pretend to give an ample account of the whole
tribe, which is too numerous and contains too
great a diversity of species, many not yet discov-
ered, and others that have slipt my memory at
present, but those which I can remember, I here
present my readers withal.

INSECTS OF CAROLINA.

Allegators.
Rattle snakes.
Ground rattle snakes.
Horn snakes.
Water snakes, four sorts.
Swamp snakes, three sorts.
Red bellied land snakes.
Red backed snake.
Black truncheon snake.
Scorpion lizard.
Green lizard.
Frogs, many sorts.
Long black snake.
King snake.
Green snake.
Corn snake.

208 lawson's history

Vipers, black and gray.

Tortois.

Terebin, land and water.

Brimstone snake.

Egg or cMcken snake.

Eel snake, or great loach.

Brown lizard.

Rotten wood worm, &c.

The allegator is the same as the crocodile, and
differs only in name. They frequent the sides of
rivers, in the banks of which they make their
dwellings a great way under ground ; the hole or
mouth of their dens lying commonly two feet un-
der water, after which it rises till it be considera-
bly above the surface thereof. Here it is that this
amphibious monster dwells all the winter, sleep-
ing away his time till the spring appears, when
he comes from his cave, and daily swims up and
down the streams. He always breeds in some
fresh stream or clear fountain of water, yet seeks
his prey in the broad salt waters, that are brackish,
not on the sea side, where I never met with any.
He never devours men in Carolina, but uses all
ways to avoid them, yet he kills swine and dogs,
the former as they come to feed in the marshes,
the others as they swim over the creeks and wa-
ters. They are very mischievous to the wares
made for taking fish, into which they come to
prey on the fish that are caught in the ware, from
whence they cannot readily extricate themselves,

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 209

and so break the ware in pieces, being a very
strong creature. This animal, in these parts,
sometimes exceeds seventeen feet long. It is im-
possible to kill them with a gun, unless you chance
to hit them about the eyes, which is a much softer
place than the rest of their impenetrable armo-r.
They roar and make a hideous noise against bad
weather, and before they come' out of their dens
in the spring. I was pretty much frightened mth
one of these once, which happened thus : I had
built a house about half a mile from an Indian
town on the fork of ISTeus river, where I dwelt by
myself, excepting a young Indian fellow, and a
bull dog, that I had along with me. I had
not then been so long a sojourner in Ameri-
ca, as to be thoroughly acquainted with this
creature. One of them had got his nest directly
under my house, which stood on pretty high land
and by a creek side, in whose banks his entering
place was, his den reaching the ground directly
on which my house stood. I was sitting alone
by the fire-side, about nine o'clock at night, some-
time in March, the Indian fellow being gone to
the town to see his relations, so that there was no
body in the house but myself and my dog ; when,
all of a sudden, this ill-favored neighbor of mine
set up such a roariiig, that he made the house
shake about my ears, and so continued like a bit-
tern, but a hundred times louder if possible, for
four or iive times. The dog stared as if he was
frightened out of his senses ; nor indeed could I

210 lawson's history

imagine what it was, having never heard one of
them before. Immediately again I had another
lesson — and so a third. Being, at that time,
amongst none bnt savages, I began to suspect they
were working some piece of conjuration under
my house, to get away my goods ; not but that at
another time, I have as little faith in their, or any
others, working miracles, by diabolical means, as
any person living. At last, my man came in, to
whom when I had told the story, he laughed at
me, and presently undeceived me, by telling me
what it was that made that noise.

These alligators lay eggs as the ducks do, only
they are longer shaped, larger, and a thicker shell
than they have. How long they are in hatching
I cannot tell ; but as the Indians say, it is most
part of the summer. The}^ always la^^ by a spring
side the young living in and about the same as soon
as hatched Their eggs are laid in nests made in
the marshes, and contain twenty or thirty eggs.
Some of these creatures afford a great deal of
musk. Their tail when cut off looks very fair
and white, seemingly like the best of veal. Some
people have eaten thereof, and say it is delicate
meat when they happen not to be musky. Their
flesh is accounted proper for such as are troubled
with the lame distemper, (a sort of rheumatism,)
so is the fat very prevailing to remove aches and
pains, by unction. The teeth of this creature,
when dead, are taken out to make chargers for
guns, being of several sizes, fit for all loads.—

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 211

They are white and would make pretty snuff box-
es, if wrought by an artist. After the tail of the
alligator is separated from the body, it will move
very freely for four days.

The rattle snakes are found on all the main of
America, that I ever had any account of; being
so called from the rattle at the end of their tails,
which is a connection of jointed coverigns, of an
€xcrementitious matter, betwixt the substance of
a nail and a horn, though each tegmen is very
thin. Nature seems to have designed these on
purpose to give warning of such an approaching
danger, as the venomous bite of these snakes is.
Some of them grow to a very great bigness, as
six feet in length, their middle being tlie thick-
ness of the small of a lusty man's leg. "We have
an account of muck larger serpents of this kind;
but I never met them yet, although I liave seen
and killed abundance iji my time. They are of
an orange, tawney and blackish color on the
back ; differing as all snakes do^, in color^n the
belly ; being of an ask color inclining to lead.
The male is easily distinguished from the female,
by a black velvet spot on his head, and besides,
his head is smaller shaped and long. Their bite
is venomous if not speedily remedied, especiall}^
if the wound be in.a vain, nerve, tendon or sinew,
when it is very difficult to cure. The Indians are
the best physicians for the bite of these and all
other venomous creatures of this country. There
are four sorts of snake roots already discovered,

212 lawson's history

which knowledge came from the Indians, who
have performed several great cures. The rattle
snakes are accounted the peaceablest in the world ;
for they never attack any one or injure them, un-
less they are trod upon or molested. The most
danger of being bit by these snakes, is for those
that survey land in Carolina ; yet I never heard
of any surveyor that was killed or hurt by them.
I have myself gone over several of this sort and
others, yet it pleased God, I never came to any
harm. They have the power or art, I know not
which to call it, to charm squirrels, hares, part-
ridges, or any such thing, in such a manner that
they run directly into their mouths. This I have
seen by a sq^uirrel and one of these rattle snakes ;
and other snakes have, in some measure, the same
power. The rattle snakes have many small teeth
of which I cannot see they make any use, for
they swallow every thing whole; but the teeth
which poison are only four — two on each side of
their upper jaws. These are bent like a sickle,
and hang loose as if by a joint, towards the set-
ting on of these, there is in each tooth a little
hole, wherein you may just get in the^ point of a
small needle. And here it is that the poison
comes out, which is as green as grass, and follows
the wound made by the point of their teeth. —
They are much more venomous in the months of
June and July, than they are in March, April or
September. The hotter the weather the more
poisonous. Neither may we suppose, that they

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 213

can renew their poison as oft as they will ; for we
have had a person hit hy one of these who never
rightly recovered it and very hardly escaped with
life ; a second person bit in the same place by the
same snake, and received no more harm than if
bitten with a rat. They cast their skins every
year, and commonly abide near the place where
the old skin lies. These cast skins are used in
physic, and the rattles are reckoned good to expe-
dite the birth. The gall is made up into pills
with clay, and kept for use ; being given in pesti-
lential fevers and the small pox. It is accounted
a noble remedy, known to fevf, and held as a
great arcanum. This snake has two nostrils on
each side of his nose. Their venom, I have rea-
son to believe, effects no harm, any otherwise
than when darted into the wound by the serpent's
teeth.

The ground rattle snake, wrong named, because
it has nothing like rattles. It resembles the rat-
tle snake a little in color, but is darker, and never
grows to any considerable bigness, not exceeding
a foot, or sixteen inches. He is reckoned amongst
the worst of snakes ; and stays out the longest of
any snake I know before he returns (in the fall of
the leaf) to his hole.

Of the horn snakes, I never «aw but two that I
remember. They are like the rattle snake in col-
or, but rather lighter. They hiss exactly like a
goose when anything approaches them. They
strike at their enemy with their tail, and kill

BlO

214 lawson's history

whatsoever they wound with it, which is armed at
the end with a horn}^ substance, like a cock's spur.
This is their weapon. I have heard it. credibly re-
ported, by those who said they were eye-witnesses
that a small locust tree, about the thickness of a
man's arm, being struck by one of these snakes at
ten o'clock in the morning, then verdant and flour-
ishing, at four in the afternoon was dead, and the
leaves red and withered. Doubtless, be it how it
will, they are very venomous. I think the Indians
do not pretend to cure their wounds.

Of water snakes there are four sorts. The first
is the horn snake's color, though less. The next
is a very long snake, diifering in color, and will
make nothing to swim over a river a league wide.
They hang upon birches and other trees by the
water side. I had the fortune once to have one
of them leap into my boat, as I was going up a
narrow river ; the boat was full of mats, which I
was glad to take out, to get rid of him. They are
reckoned poisonous. A third is much of an Eng-
lish adder's color, but always frequents the salts,
and lies under the drift sea weed, where they are
in abundance, and are accounted mischievous
when they bite. The last is of a sooty, black col-
or, and frequents ponds and ditches. "What his
qualities are I caotiot tell.

Of the swamp snakes there are three sorts,
which are very near akin to the water snakes,
and may be ranked amongst them. The belly of
the first is of a carmination or pink color ; his

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 215

back a dirty brown ; they are large but have not
much venom in them as ever I learnt. The next
is a large snake, of a brown, dirt color, and always
abides in the marshes.

The last is mottled and very poisonous. They
dwell in swamp sides and ponds, and have prodi-
gious wide mouths, and, though not long, arrive
to the thickness of the calf of a man's leg.

Redbelly land snakes. — These frequent the land
altogether, and are so called because of their red
bellies, which incline to an orange color. Some
have been bitten with these sort of snakes, and
not hurt, when others have sufiered very much by
them. "Whether there be two sorts of these snakes
which we make no difference of, I cannot at pres-
ent determine.

Redback. — I never saw but one of these, which
I stept over, and did not see him till he that
brought the chain after me spied him. He has a
red back as the last has a red belly. They are a long,
slender snake, and very rare to be met withal. I
enquired of the Indian that was along with me,
whether they were very venomous, who made an-
swer that if he had bitten me, even the Indians
could not have cured it.

The black truncheon snake. — This sort of snake
might very well have been ranked with the water
snakes. They lie under roots of trees, and on the
banks of rivers. When anything disturbs them,
they dart into the water (which is salt) like an ar-
row out of a bow. They are thick, and the short-*

216 lawson's history

est snake I ever saw. What good or harm tlire is
in them, I know not. Some of these water snakes
will swallow a black land snake, half as long again
as themselves.

The scorpion lizard is no more like a scorpion,
than a hedge hog ; but they very commonly call
him a scorpion. He is of thf lizard kind, but
much bigger ; his back is of a dark, copper color ;
his belly an orange ; he is very nimble in running
up trees, or on the land, and is accounted very poi-
sonous. He has the most sets of teeth in his
mouth and throat that ever I saw.

Green lizards are very harmless and beautiful,
having a little bladder under the throat, which
they fill with wind, and evacuate the same at plea-
sure. They are of a most glorious green, and
very tame. They resort to the walls of houses in
the summer season, and stand gazing on a man,
without any concern or fear. There are several
other colors of these lizards, but none so beautiful
as the green ones are.

Of frogs we have several sorts ; the most famous
is the bull frog, so called, because he lows exactly
like that beast, which makes strangers wonder
(when by the side of a marsh) what is the matter,
for they hear the frogs low and can see no cattle ;
he is very large. I believe I have seen one 'v\^ith
as much meat on him as a pullet, if he had been
dressed. The small green frogs get upon trees
and make a noise. There are several other color-
ed small frogs : but the common land frog is likest

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 217

a toad, only he leaps, and is not poisonous. He
is a great devourer of ants, and the snakes devour
him. These frogs baked and heat to powder, and
taken with orrice root cures a tympany.

The long, black snake frequents the land alto-
gether, and is the nimblest creature living. His
bite has no more venom than a prick with a pin.
He is the best mouser that can be ; for he leaves
not one of that vermine alive where he comes. He
also kills the rattle snake, wheresoever he meets
him, by twisting his head about the neck of the
rattle snake and whipping him to death with his
tail. This whipster haunts the dairies of careless
housewives, and never misses to skim the milk
clear of the cream. He is an excellent egg mer-
chant, for he does not suck the eggs, but swallows
them whole, (as all snakes do.) He will often
swallow all the eggs from under a hen that sits,
and coil himself under the hen in the nest, where
sometimes the housewife finds him. This snake,
for all his agility, is so brittle that when he is pur-
sued, and gets his head into the hole of a tree, if
any body gets hold of the other end, he will twist
and break himself oiFin the middle. One of these
snakes, whose neck is no thicker than a woman's
little finger, will sw^allow a squirrel ; so much does
that part stretch in all these creatures.

The king snake is the longest of all others, and
not common ; no snake, they say, will meddle
with them. I think they are not accounted ver}^
venomous. The Indians make girdles and sashes
of their skins.

218 lawson's history

Green snakes are very small, tlioiigh pretty (if
any beauty be allowed to snakes.) Every one
makes himself very familiar with them, and puts
them in their bosom, because there is no manner
of harm in them.

The corn snakes are but small ones ; they are of
a brown color, mixed with tawny. There is no
more hurt in this, than in the green snake.

Of those we call vipers, there are two sorts.
People call these vipers, because they spread a
very flat head at any time when they are vexed.
One of these is a grayish, like the Italian viper, the
other black and short ; and is reckoned amongst
the worst of snakes for venom.

Tortois, vulgarly called turtle, I have ranked
these among the insects because they lay eggs,
and I did not know well where to put them.
Among us there are three sorts. The first is the
green turtle, which is not common, but is some-
times found on our coast. The next is the hawks
bill, which is common. These two sorts are ex-
traordinary meat. The third is logger head, which
kind scarce any one covets, except it be for the
eggs, which of this and all other turtles are very
good food. 'None of these sorts of creatures' eggs
will ever admit the white to be harder than a jelly ;
yet the yolk, with boiling, becomes as hard as any
other egg.

Of terebins there are divers sorts, all which, to
be brief, we will comprehend under the distinc-
tion of land and water terebins. The land terebin

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 219

is of several sizes, but generally round mouthed
and not hawk billed, as some are. The Indians
eat them. Most of them are good meat, except
the very large ones, and they are good food too,
provided they are not musky. They are an utter
enemy to the rattle snake, -for when the terebin
meets him he catches hold of him a little below
his neck and draws his head into his shell, which
makes the snake beat his tail and twist about with
all the strength and violence imaginable to get
away ; but the terebin soon dispatches him and
there leaves him. These they call in Europe the
land tortois ; their food is snails, tadpoles, or
young frogs, mushrooms, and the dew and slime
of the earth and ponds.

Water terebins are small, containing about as
much meat as a pullet, and are extraordinary food,
especially in May and June. When they lay,
their eggs arc very good ; but they have so many
enemies that find them out, that the hundredth
part never comes to perfection. The sun and sand
hatch them, which comes out the bigness of a
small chesnut and seek their own living.

We now come again to the snakes. The brim-
stone is so called, I believe, because it is almost
of a brimstone color. They might as well have
called it a glass snake, for it is as brittle as a to-
bacco pipe, so that if you give it the least touch
of a small twig it immediately breaks into several
pieces. Some affirm that if you let it remain
where you broke it, it will come together again.

220 lawson's history

"What harm there is in this brittle ware I can not
tell, but I never knew any body hurt by them.

The egg or chicken snake is so called because
it is frequent about the hen yard and eats eggs
and chickens, they are of a dusky soot color, and
will roll themselves round and stick eighteen or
twenty feet high by the side of a smoothed bark
pine, where there is no manner of hold, and there
sun themselves, and sleep all the sunny part of
the day. There is no great matter of poison in
them.

The wood worms are of a copper shining color,
scarce so thick as your little finger ; are often
found in rotten trees. They are accounted veno-
mous in case they bite, though I never knew any-
thing hurt by them. They never exceed four or
fi.ve inches in length.

The reptiles, or smaller insects are too numer-
ous to relate here, this country affording innu-
merable quantities thereof; as the flying stags,
with horns, beetles, butterflies, grasshoppers, lo-
cust, and several hundreds of uncouth shapes,
which in the summer season are discovered here
in Carolina, the description of which requires a
large volume, which is not my intent at present,
besides, what the mountainous part of this land
may hereafter lay open to our view, time and indus-
try will discover, for we that have settled but a small
share of this large province, cannot imagine, but
there will be a great number of discoveries made
by those that shall come hereafter into the back

or NORTH CAROLINA. 221

part of this land, and make enquiries therein,
when, at least, we consider that the westward of
Carolina is quite different in soil, air, weather,
growth of vegetables, and several animals too,
which we at present are wholly strangers to, and
to seek for. As to a right knowledge thereof, I
say, when an other age is come, the ingenious
then in being may stand upon the shoulders of
those that went before them, adding their own ex-
periments to what was delivered down to them by
their predecessors, and then there will be some-
thing towards a complete natural history, which,
in these days, would be no easy undertaking to
any author that writes truly and compendiously
as he ought to do. It is sufficient, at present, to
write an honest and fair account of any ot the set-
tlements, in this new world, without wandering
out of the path of truth, or bespattering any man's
reputation anywise concerned in the government
of the colony ; he that mixes invectives with rela-
tions of this nature rendering liimself suspected
of partiality in whatever he writes. For my part,
I wish all well, and he that has received any se-
vere dealings from the magistrate or his superiors,
had best examine himself well, if he was not first
in the fault ; if so, then he can justly blame none
but himself for what has happened to him.

Having thus gone through the insects, as in the
table, except the eel-snake, (so called though very
improperly, because he is nothing but a loach,
that sucks, and cannot bite as the snakes do.) He

222 lawson's history

is very large, commonly sixteen inches or a foot
and a half long ; having all the properties that oth-
er loaches have, and dwells in pools and waters as
they do. ITot withstanding, we have the same
loach as you have in bigness. This is all that at
present I shall mention, touching the insects, and
go on to give an account of the fowls and birds
that are properly found in Carolina, which are
these :

BIRDS OF CAROLINA.

Birds in America more beautiful than in Europe.
Eagle bald.
Eagle gray.
Fishing hawk.
Turkey buzzard, or vulture.
Herring-tailed hawk.
Goshawk.
Falcon.
Merlin.

Sparrow hawk.
Hobby. .
Jay.

Green Plover.
Plover gray or whistling.
Pigeon.
Turtledove.
Parrakeeto.
Thrush.

Woodpeckers, five sorts.
Mockingbirds, two sorts.

i

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 223

Catbird.

Cuckoo.

Bluebird.

Buliincli.

l^iglitingale.

Hedge sparrow.

Wren.

Sparrows, two sorts.

Lark.

Ringtail.

Raven.

Crow.

Blackbirds, two sorts.

Buntings, two sorts. ^

Pheasant.

Woodcock.

Snipe.

Partridge. •

Moorhen.

Redbird.

East India bat.

Martins, two sorts.

Diveling, or swift.

Swallow.

Humming bird.

The tomtit, or ox eye.

Owls, two sorts.

Scritch owl.

Baltimore bird.

Throstle, no singer.

Whippoowill.

Eeed sparrow.

224 lawson's history

. Weet bird.
Eice bird.
Cranes and storks.
Snow birds.
Yellow wings.

WATER FOWL ARE

Swans, called Trompeters.

Swans, called Hoopers.

Geese, three sorts.

Brant, gray.

Brant, white.

Sea-pies or pied Curlues.

Will Willets.

Great Gray Gulls.

Old Wives.

Sea Cock.

Curlaes, three sorts.

Coots.

Kingsfisher.

Loons, two sorts.

Bitterns, three sorts.

Hern, gray.

Hern, white.

Water Pheasant.

Little Gray Gull.

Little Fisher or Dipper.

Gannet.

Shearwater.

Great Black-pied GuU,

Marsh-hens.

OP NORTH CAROLINA. 225

Blue Peters.

Saud-birds.

Runners.

Ducks, as in England.

Ducks black, all summer.

Ducks pied, build on trees.

Ducks whistling, at Sapona.

Ducks, scarlet-eye, at Esaw.

Blue-wings.

Widgeon.

Teal, two sorts.

Sliovelers.

"Wliifflers.

Black Flusterers or bald Coot.

Turkeys, wild.

Fisbermen.

Divers.

Raft Fowl.

Bullnecks.

Redheads.

Tropick Birds.

Pellican.

Cormorant.

Tutcocks.

Swaddle-bills.

Men.

Sheldrakes.

Baldfaces.

Water "Witch, or AVare Coot.

J

226 lawson's history

As the eagle is reckoned the king of birds, I
have begun with him. The first I shall speak of,
is the bald eagle ; so called, because his head to
the middle of his neck and his tail, is as white as
snow. These birds continually breed the year
3'ound; for when the young eagles are just down-
ed, with a sort of white woolly feathers, the hen
eagle lays again, which eggs are hatched by the
warmth of the young ones in the nest, so that the
flight of one brood makes room for the next, that
are but just hatched. They prey on any living
thing they can catch. They are heavy of flight
and cannot get their food by swiftness. To help
which there is a fishhawk that catches fishes and
suflers the eagle to take them from her, although
she is long winged and a swift flyer, and can make
far better way in her flight than the eagle can.
The bald eagle attends the gunners in winter,
with all the obsequiousness imaginable, and when
he shoots and kills any fowl, the eagle surely
comes in for his bird ; and besides those that are
wounded and escape the fowler, fall to the eagle's
share. He is an excellent artist at stealing young
pigs, which prey he carries alive to his nest, at
which time the poor pig makes such a noise over
head, that strangers that have heard them cry, and
not seen the bird and- his prey, have thought there
were flying sows and pigs in that country. The
eagles nest is made of twigs, sticks and rubbish.
It is big enough to fill a handsome cart body, and
commonly so full of nasty bones and carcasses

OP NORTH CAROLINA. 227

that it stinks most ofiensively. This eagle is not
bald till he is one or two years old.

The gray eagle is altogether the same sort of
bird as the eagle in Europe ; therefore we shall
treat no farther of him.

The fishing hawk is the eagle's jackal, which
most commonly (though not always) takes his
prey for him. He is a large bird, being above
two thirds as big as the eagle. He builds his nest
as the eagles do ; that is in a dead cypress tree,
either standing in or hard by the water. The
eagle and this bird seldom sit on a living tree.
He is of a gray pied color, and the most dexterous
fowl in nature at catching of fish, which he wholly
lives on, never eating any flesh.

The turkey buzzard of Carolina is a small vul-
ture which lives on dead carcasses. They are
about the bigness of the fishing hawk, and have a
nasty smell with them. They are of the kites
color, and are reported to be an enemy to snakes
by killing all they meet withal of that kind.

The herring, or swallow-tailed hawk, is about
the bigness of a Falcon, but a much longer bird.
He is of a delicate aurora color ; the pinions of
his wrings, and end of his tail are black. He is a
very beautiful fowl, and never appears abroad but
in the summer. His prey is chiefly on snakes,
and will kill tlie biggest we have with a great deal
of dexterity and ease.

Goshawks are very plentifulin Carolina. They
are not seemingly so large as those from Muscovy;
but appear to be a very brisk bird.

228 lawson's history

The falcon is much the same as in Europe, and
promises to be a brave bird, though I never had
any of them in my hand ; neither did I ever see
any of them in any other posture than on the wing,
which always happened to be in an evening, and
flying to the westward ; therefore, I believe they
have their abode and nest among the mountains,
where we may expect to find them, and several
other species that we are at present strangers to.

The merlin is a small bird in Europe, but much
smaller here, yet he very nimbly kills the smaller
sorts of birds, and sometimes the partridge; if
caught alive, he would be a great rarity, because
of his beauty and smallness.

The sparrow hawk in Carolina is no bigger than
a fieldfare in England. He flies at the bush and
sometimes kills a small bird, but his chiefest food
is reptiles, as beetles, grass hoppers, and such
small things. He is exactly of the same color, as
the sparrow hawk in England, only has a blackish
hood by his eyes.

Hobbies are the same here as in England, and
are not often met withal.

The Ringtail is a short-winged hawk, preying
on mice and such vermin e in the marshes, as in
England.

Ravens, the same as in England, though very
few. I have not seen above six in eight years'
time.

Crows are here less than in England. They
are as good meat as a pigeon, and never feed on

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 229

any carrion. They are great enemies to corn fields,
and cry and build almost like rooks.

Black birds. — Of these we have two sorts, which
are the worst vermin in America. They fly some-
times in such flocks that they destroy every thing
before them. They (both sorts) build in hollow
trees as starlings do. The first sort is near as big
as a dove, and is very white and delicate food.
The other sort is very beautiful and about the big-
ness of the owsel. Part of their head next to the
\)ill, and the pinions of their wings are of an orange
and glorious crimson color. They are as good
meat as the former, though very few here (where
large fowl are so plenty) ever trouble themselves
to kill or dress them.

Of the bunting larks we have two sorts, though
the heel of this bird is not so long as in Europe.
The first of these often accompany the black bti'ds,
and sing as the bunting larks in England do, dif-
fering very little. The first sort has an orange
color on the tops of their wings, and are as good
meat as those in Europe. The other sort is some-
thing less of a lighter color ; nothing differing
therein from those in England as to feathers, big-
ness, and meat.

The pheasant of Carolina difi:ers some small
matter from the English pheasant, being not so
big, and having some difference in feather ; yet
he is not anywise inferior in delicacy, but is as
good meat or rather finer. He haunts the back
woods and is seldom found near the inhabitants.

All

.V

230 lawson's history

The woodcocks live and breed here, though
they are not in great plenty as I have seen them
in some parts of England and other places. They
want one third of the English woodcock in big-
ness, but differ not in shape or feather, save that
their breast is of a carnation color ; and they make
a noise (when they are on the wing) like the bells
about a hawk's legs. They are certainly a dainty
meat as any in the world. Their abode is in all
parts of this country, in low, boggy ground,
springs, swamps, and pocosons.

The snipes here frequent the same places as
they do in England, and differ nothing from them.
They are the only wild bird that is nothing differ-
ent from the species of Europe, and keeps with us
all the year. In some places there are a great
many of these snipes.

Our partridges in Carolina very often take upon
trees, and have a sort of whistle and call quite
different from those in England. They are a very
beautiful bird, and great destroyers of the peas in
plantations ; wherefore they set traps and catch
many of them. They have the same feather as in
Europe, only the cock wants the horse shoe, in
lieu of which he has a fair half circle over each
eye. These (as well as the woodcock) are less
than the European bird, but far finer meat. They
might be easily transported to any place, because
they take to eating after caught.

The moorhens are of the black game. I am in-
formed that the gray game haunts the hills. They

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 231

never come into tlie settlement, but keep in tlie
hilly parts.

Jays are liere common and very mischievous in
devouring our fruit and spoiling more than they
eat. They are abundantly more beautiful and
finer feathered than those in Europe, and not above
half so big.

The lapwing or green X3lover are here very com-
mon. They cry pretty much as the English plo-
vers do, and differ not much in feather, but want
a third of their bigness.

The gray or whistling plover are very scarce
amongst us. I never saw any but three times
that fell and settled on the ground. They differ
very little from those in Europe, as far as I could
discern. I have seen several great flocks of them
fly overhead ; therefore, believe they inhabit the
valleys near the mountains.

Our wild pigeons are like the wood queese or
stock doves, only have a longer tail. They leave
us in the summer. This sort of pigeon (as I said
before) is the most like our stock doves or wood
pigeons that we have in England ; only these dif-
fer in their tails which are very long, much like
a parrakeeto's. You must understand that these
birds do not breed amongst us, (who are settled
at and near the mouths of the rivers, as I have in-
timated to you before) but come down (especially
in hard winters) amongst the inhabitants in great
flocks, as they were seen to do in the year 1707,
which was the hardest winter that ever was known

232 lawson's history

since Carolina has been seated by the christians.
And if that country had such hard weather, what
must be expected of the severe winters in Penn-
sylvania, New York, and JSTew England, where
winters are ten times (if possible) colder than with
us. Although the flocks are, in such extremities,
very numerous ; yet they are not to be mentioned
in comparison with the great and'infinite numbers
of these fowl that are met withal about a hundred
or a hundred and fifty miles to the westward of
the places where we at present live ; and where
these pigeons come down in quest of a small sort
of acorns, which in those parts are plentifully
found. They are the same we call turkey acorns,
because the wild turkies feed very much thereon ;
and for the same reason those trees that bear them
are called turkey oaks. I saw such prodigious
flocks of these pigeons in January or February,
1701-2, (which were in the lully country between
the great nation of the Esaw Indians and the pleas-
ant stream of Sapona, which is the west branch
of Clarendon or the Cape Fair river) that they
had broke down the limbs of a great many large
trees all over those woods whereon they chanced
to sit and roost, especially the great pines, which
are a more brittle wood than our sorts of oak are.
These pigeons, about sunrise, when we were pre-
paring to march on our journey, would fly by us
in such vast flocks that they would be near a quar-
ter of an hour before they were all passed by ; and
as soon as that flock was gone another would

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 233

come, and so successfully one after another for
great part of the morning. It is observable that
wherever these fowl come in such numbers, as I
saw them then, they clear all before them, scarce
leaving one acorn upon the ground, which would,
doubtless, be a great prejudice to the planters that
should seat there, because their swine would be
thereby deprived of their mast. When I saw such
flocks of the pigeons I now speak of, none of our
company had any other sort of shot than that
which is cast in moulds, and was so very large that
we could not put above ten or a dozen of them
into our largest pices ; wherefore we made but an
indifferent hand of shooting them ; although we
commonly killed a pigeon for every shot. They
were very fat and as good pigeons as ever I eat.
I enquired of the Indians that dwelled in those parts,
where it was that those pigeons bred, and they
pointed toward the vast ridge of mountains and
said they bred there. Now, whether they make
their nests in the holes in the rocks of those moun-
tains or build in trees, I could not learn ; but they
seem to me to be a wood pigeon that build in trees,
because of their frequent sitting thereon, and their
roosting on trees always at night, under which
their dung commonly lies half a foot thick, and
kills everything that grows where it falls.

Turtle doves are here very plentiful ; they de-
vour the peas ; for which reason people make
traps and catch them.

234 lawson's history

The parrakeetos are of a green color, and or-
ange colored half way their head. Of these and
the alligators, there is none found to the north-
ward of this province. They visit us first when
mulherries are ripe, which fruit they love extreme-
ly. They peck the apples to eat the kernels, so
that the fruit rots and perishes. They are mis-
chievous to orchards. They are often taken alive
and will become familiar and tame in two days.
They have their nests in hollow trees, in low
swampy ground. They devour the birch buds in
April, and lie hidden when the weather is frosty
and hard.

The thrushes in America are the same as in
England, and red under the wings. They never
appear amongst us but in hard weather, and pres-
ently leave us again.

Of woodpeckers we have four sorts. The first
is as big as a pigeon, being of a dark brown col-
or, with a white cross on his back, his eyes cir-
cled with white, and on his head stands a tuft of
beautiful scarlet feathers. His cry is heard a
long way, and he files from one rotten tree to
another to get grubs, which is the food he lives
on.

The second sort are of an olive color, striped
with yellow. They eat worms as well as grubs,
and are about the bigness of those in Europe.

The third is the same bigness as the last — he is
pied with black and white, has a crimson head,
without a topping, and is a plague to the corn and

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 235

fruit ; especlall}^ the apples. He opens the cov-
ering of the young corn, so that the rain gets in
and rots it.

The fourth sort of these woodpeckers, is a black
and white speckled or mottled — the finest I ever
saw. The cock has a red crown ; he is not near
so big as the others ;^ his food is grubs, corn, and
other creeping insects. He is not very wild, but
will let one come up to him, then shifts on the
other side the tree from your sight ; and so dodges
you for a long time together. He is about the
size of an Englisli lark.

The mocking bird is about as big as a thros»
tie in England, but longer ; they are of a white
and gray color, and are held to be the choristers
of America, as indeed they are. They sing with
the greatest diversity of notes that is possible for
a bird to change to. They may be bred up, and
will sing with us tame in cages ; yet I never take
any of their nests, although they build yearly in
my fruit trees, because I have their company as
much as if tame, as to the singing part. They
often sit upon our chimneys in summer, there be-
ing then no fire in them, and sing the whole eve-
ning and most part of the night. • They are al-
ways attending our dwellings, and feed upon mul-
berries and other berries and fruits, especially
the mechoacan berry, which grows here very plen-
tifully.

There is another sort called the ground mock-
ing bird. She is the same bigness and of a cinna-

236 lawson's history

mon color. This bird sings excellently well, but
is not so common amongst us as tlie former.

The cat bird, so named because it makes a noise
exactly like youug cats. They have a blackish
head and an ash colored body, and have no other
note that I know of. They are no biger than a
lark, yet will fight a crow or any other great
bird.

The cuckoo of Carolina may not properly be so
called, because she never uses that cry ; yet she is
of the same bigness and feather, and sucks the
small birds' eggs, as the English cuckoo does.

The blue bird is the exact bigness of a robin
red-breast. The cock has the same colored breast
as the robin has, and his back all the other parts
of him, are of as fine a blue, as can possibly be
seen in any thing in the world. He has a* cry and
a whistle. They bide themselves all the winter.

Bulfinches in America differ something from
those in Europe in their feathers, though not in
their bigness. I never knew any one tame,
therefore know not what they might be brought
to.

The nightingales are difterent in plumes from
those in Europe. They always frequent the low
groves where they sing very prettily all night.

Hedge sparrows are here, though few hedges.
They difier scarce any thing in plume or bigness,
only I never heard this whistle as the English one
does, especially after rain. ^

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 237

The wren is the same as in Europe, yet I never
heard any note she has in Carolina.

Sparrows here differ in feather from the Eng-
lish. "We have several species of birds called spar-
rows, one of them much resembling the bird call-
ed a Corinthian sparrow.

The lark with us resorts to the savannas, or
natural meads, and green marshes. He is colored
and heeled as the lark is, but his breast is of a
glittering fair lemon color, and he is as big as a
fieldfare, and very fine food.

The red birds, whose cock is all over of a rich
scarlet feather, with a tufted crown on his head
of the same color, are the bigness of a bunting
lark, and very hardy, having a strong thick bill.
They will sing very prettily, when taken old and
put in a cage. They are good birds to turn a
cage with bells ; or if taught as the bulfinch is, I
believe would prove very docile.

East India bats, or musqueto hawks, are the
bigness of a cuckoo, and much of the same color.
They are so called because the same sort is found
in the East Indies. They appear only in the sum-
mer, and live on flies, which they catch in the air,
as gnats, musquetos, &c.

• Martins are here of two sorts. The first is the
same as in England ; the other as big as a black
bird. They have white throats and breasts, with
black backs. The planters put gourds on stand-
ing holes on purpose for these fowl to build in,

Bll

238 lawson's history

because they are a very war like bird, and beat the
crows from the plantations.

The swift, or diveling, the same as in England.

Swallows, the same as in England.

The humming bird is the miracl e of all o ur winged
animals. He is feathered as a bird, and gets his
living as the bees, by sucking the honey from each
flower. In some of the larger sort of flowers, he
will bury himself, by diving to suck the bottom of
it, so that he is quite covered, and often times
children catch them in those flowers, and keep them
alive five or six days. They are of diflerent colors,
the cock diflering from the hen. The cock is of a
green red aurora, and other colors mixed. He is
much less than a wren, and very nimble. His
nest is one of the greatest pieces of workmanship
the whole tribe of winged animals can show, it
commonly hanging on a single brier, most artifi-
cially woven, a small hole being left to go in and
out at. The eggs are the bigness of peas.

The tomtit, or ox eyes, the same as in England.

Of owls, we have two sorts. The smaller sort
are like ours in England ; the other sort is as big
as a middling goose, and has a prodigious head.
They make a fearful hollowing in the night time,
like a man, whereby they often make strangers
lose their way in the woods.

Scritch owls much the same as in Europe.

The baltimore bird, so called from the lord Balti-
more, proprietor of all Maryland, in which province
many of them are found. They are the bigness

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 239

of a linnet, with yellow wings, and beautiful in
other colors.

Throstle, the same size and feather as in Eu-
rope, but I never could hear any of them sing.

The weet, so called because he cries always be-
fore rain ; he resembles nearest the iiretail.

Cranes use the savannas, low ground and frogs.
They are above five feet high, w^hen extended;
are of a cream color, and have a crimson spot on
the crown of their heads. Their quills are excel-
lent for pens ; their flesh makes the best broth,
yet is very hard to digest. Among them often
frequent storks, which are here seen, and no where
besides in America, that I have yet heard of. The
cranes are easily bred up tame, and are excellent
in a garden to destroy frogs, w^orms, and other
vermine.

The snow birds are most numerous in the north
parts of America, where there are great snows.
They visit us sometimes in Carolina, when the
weather is harder than ordinary. They are like
the stones smach, or wheat ears, and are delicate
meat.

These yellow wings are a very small bird, of a
linnets color, but wings as yellow as gold. They
frequent high up in our rivers and creeks, and
keep themselves in the thick bushes, very difficult
to be seen in the spring. They sing very prettily,

Whippowill, so named because it makes those
words exactly. They are the bigness of a thrush,
and call their note under a bush, on the ground,

240 LAWSON'S niSTOEY

hard to be seen, though you hear them never so
plain. They are more plentiful in Virginia than
with us in Carolina ; for I never heard but one
that was near the settlement, and that was hard
by an Indian town.

Red sparrow.— This nearest resembles a spar-
row, and is the most common bird we have,
therefore we call them so. They are brown and
red, cinnamon color, striped.

Of the swans, we have two sorts ; the one we
call trompeters, because of a sort of trompeting
noise they make.

Swans. — These are the largest sort we have,
which come in great flocks in the winter, and stay,
commonly, in the fresh rivers till February, that
the spring comes on, when they go to the lakes to
breed. A cygnet, that is, a last years' s'wan, is ac-
counted a delicate dish, as indeed it is. They are
known by their head and feathers, which are not
so white as old ones.

The sort of swans called hoopers, are the least.
They abide more in the salt water, and are equally
valuable for food, with the former. It is observable
that neither of these have a black piece of horny
flesh down the head and bill, as they have in Eng-
land.

Of geese, we have three sorts, diflering from
each other only in size. Ours are not the common
geese that are in the fens in England, but the oth-
er sorts, with black heads and necks.

k

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 241

The gray brant or barnicle, is here very plenti-
ful, as all other water fowl are, in the winter
season. They are tho same which they call barni-
clcs in Great Britain, and are a very good fowl,
and eat well.

There is also a white brant, very plentiful in
America. This bird is all over as white as snow,
except the tips of his wings, and those are black.
They eat the roots of sedge and grass in the
marshes and savannas, which they tear np like
hogs. The best way to kill these fowl is, to burn
a piece of marsh, or savanna, and as soon as it is
burnt, they will come in great flocks to get the
roots, where you kill what you. please of them. •
They are as good meat as the other, only their
feathers are stubbed, and good for little.

The sea pie, or gray curlue, is about the bigness
of a very large pigeon, but longer. He has a long
bill as other curlues have, which is the color of an
English owsels, that is, yellow, as are his legs.
He frequents the sand beaches on the seaside, and
when killed, is inferior to no fowl I ever eat of*

Will willet, is so called from his cry, which he
very exactly calls, will willet, as he flies. His bill
is like a curlues, or wood cock's, and has much
such a body as the other, yet not so tall. He is
good meat.

The great gray gulls are good meat, and as large
as a pullet. They lay large eggs, which are found
in very great quantities on the islands in our
sound, in the months of June and July. The

242 lawson's history

young squabs are very good victuals, and often
prove a relief to travelers by water, that have
spent tlieir provisions.

Old wives are a black and white pied gull, with
extraordinary long wings, and a golden colored
bill and feet. He makes a dismal noise as he
flies, and ever and anon clips his bill in the salt
water. I never knew him eaten.

The sea cock is a gull that crows at break of
day, and in the morning, exactly like a dunghill
cock, which cry seems very pleasant in those un-
inhabited places. He is never eaten.

Of curlues there are three sorts, and vast num-
bers of each. TMiey have all long bills and differ
neither in color nor shape, only in size. The lar-
gest is as big as a good hen ; the smaller the big-
ness of a snipe or something bigger.

We 'have three sorts of bitterns in Carolina.
The first is the same as in England ; the second
of a deep brown with a great topping and yellow-
ish white throat and breast, and is lesser than the
former ; the last is no bigger than a woodcock
and near the color of the second.

We have the same herns as in England.

White herns are here very plentiful. I have
seen above thirty sit on one tree at a time. They
are as white as milk and fly very slowly.

The water pheasant (very improperly called so)
are a water fowl of the duck kind, having a top-
ping of pretty feathers, which sets them out. They
are very good meat.

i

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 243

The little gray gull is of a curious gray color,
and abides near the sea. He is about the bigness
of a whistling plover, and delicate food.

"We have the little dipper or fisher that catches
fish so dexterously, the same as you have in the
islands of Scilly.

We have of the same ducks and mallards with
green heads, in gi-eat flocks. They are accounted
the coarsest sort of our water fowl.

The black duck is full as large as the other, and
good meat. She stays with us all the summer
and breeds. These are made tame by some, and
prove good domestics.

We have another duck that stays with us all the
summer. She has a great topping, is pied and
very beautiful. She builds her nest in a wood-
peckers hole, very often sixty or seventy feet high.

Whistling ducks. — Towards the mountains in
the hilly country on the west branch of Cape Fair
inlet, we saw great flocks of pretty pied ducks that
whistled as they flew, or as they fed. I did not
kill any of them.

Scarlet-eyed ducks. — We killed a curious sort
of ducks in the country of the Esaw Indians, which
were of many beautiful colors. Their eyes were
red, having a red circle of flesh for their eyelids,
and were very good to eat.

The blue wings are less than a duck, but fine
meat. These are the first fowls that appear to us
in the fall of the leaf, coming then in great flocks,

i

i

214 lawson's history

as we suppose, from Canada, and the lakes that
lie behind us.

Widgeons, the same as in Europe, are here in
great j)lentj.

"We have the same teal as in England, and an-
other sort that frequents the fresh water, and are
always nodding their heads. They are smaller
than the common teal, and dainty meat.

Shovellers (a sort of duck) are gray, with a black
head. They are a very good fowl.

These are called whistlers, from the whistling
noise they make as they fly.

Black flusterers — some call these old wives.
They are as black as ink. The cocks have white
faces. They always remain in the midst of rivers,
and feed upon drift grass, carmels or sea nettles.
They are the fattest fowl I ever saw, and some-
times so heavy with flesh that they cannot rise
out of the water. They make an odd sort of noise
when they fly. What meat they are I could nev-
er learn. Some call these the great bald coot.

The w^ild turkies I should have spoken of when
I treated of the land fowl. There are great flocks
of these in Carolina. I have seen about Ave hun-
dred in a flock ; some of them are very large. I
never weighed any myself, but have been in-
formed of one that weighed near sixty pound
weight. I have seen half a turkey feed eight hun-
gry men two meals. Sometimes the wild breed
with the tame ones, which they reckon makes
them very hardy, as I believe it must. I see no

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 245

manner of difference betwixt the wild turkies and
the tame ones ; only the wild are ever of one color,
viz : a dark gray or brown, and are excellent food.
They feed on acorns, huckleberries, and many oth-
er sorts of berries that Carolina affords. The eggs
taken from the nest and hatched under a hen will
yet retain a wild nature, and commonly leave you
and run wald at last, and will never be got into a
house to roost but always perch on some high tree
hard by the house, and separate themselves from
the tame sort, although, at the same time, they
tread and breed together. I have been informed
that if you take these wild eggs when just on the
point of being hatched, and dip them (for some
small time) in a bowl of milk-warm water, it
will take off their wild nature and make them as
tame and domestic as the others. Some Indians
have brought these wild breed, hatched at home,
to be a decoy to bring others to roost near their
cabins, which they have shot. But to return to
the w^ater fowl.

Fishermen are like a duck, but have a narrow
bill, with setts of teeth. They live on very small
fish which they catch as they swim along. They
taste fishy. The best way to order them, is, upon
occasion, to pull out the oil box from the rump
and then bury them live or six hours under ground.
Then they become tolerable.

Of divers there are two sorts ; the one pied, the
other gray ; both good meat.

Kaft fowl includes all the sorts of small ducks

246 lawson's history

and teal that go in rafts along tlie shore, and are
of several sorts that we know no name for.

Bullnecks. — These are a whitish fowl about the
bigness of a brant ; they come to us after Christ-
mas in very great flocks, in all our rivers. They
are a very good meat but hard to kill, because
hard to come near. They will dive and endure a
great deal of shot.

Red heads, a lesser fowl than bull necks, are
very sweet food, and plentiful in our rivers and
creeks.

Tropick birds are a white mew, with a forked
tail. They are so called because they are plenti-
fully met withal under the tropicks and thereabouts.

The pellican of the wilderness cannot be the
same as ours ; this being a water fowl with a great
natural wen or pouch under his throat, in which
he keeps his prey of fish, which is what he lives
on. He is web-footed like a goose and shaped
like a duck, but is a very large fowl, bigger than
a goose. He is never eaten as food. They make
tobacco pouches of his maw.

Cormorants are very well known in some parts
of England ; we have great flocks of them with
us, especially against the herrings I'un, which is in
March and April ; then they sit upon logs of dry
wood in the water and catch the fish.

The gannet is a large white fowl, having one
part of his wings black ; he lives on fish as the
pellican. His fat or grease is as yellow as saffron,
and the best thing known to preserve fire arms
from rust.

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 247

Shearwaters are a longer fowl than a duck ;
some of them lie on the coast, whilst others range
the seas all over. Sometimes they are met ^yq
hundred leagues from land. They live without
drinking any fresh water.

We have a great pied gull, black and white,
which seems to have a black hood on his head ;
these lay very fair eggs which are good ; as are
the young ones in the season.

Marsh hen, much the same as in Europe, only
she makes another sort of noise and much thriller.

Blue Peters. — The same as you call water hens
in England, are here very numerous, and not re-
garded for eating.

The sand birds are about the bigness of a lark,
and frequent our sand beaches ; thej are a dainty
food, if you will bestow time and ammunition to
kill them.

Eunners. — These are called runners, because if
3^ou run after them they will run along the sands
and not offer to get up ; so that you may often
drive them together to shoot as you please. They
are a pleasant small bird.

Tutcocks. — ^A sort of snipe, but sucks not his
food ; they are almost the same as in England.

Swaddle bills are a sort of an ash colored duck
which have an extraordinary broad bill, and are
good meat; they are not common as the others
are.

Mew. — The same mew as in England, being a
white, slender bird, with red feet.

i

248 lawson's history

Shelldrakes, the same as in England.

The bald, or white faces are a good fowl. They
cannot dive and are easily shotten.

Water witch, or ware coots, are a fowl with down
and no feathers ; they dive incomparably, so that
no fowler can hit them. They can neither fly nor
go ; but get into the fish wares and cannot fly
over the roads, and so are taken.

Thus have we given an account of what fowl
has come to our knowledge, since our abode in
Carolina, except some that, perhaps, have slipt
our memory, and so are left out of our catalogue.
Proceed we now to treat of the inhabitants of the
watry element, which though we can as yet do
but very imperfectly ; yet we are willing to oblige
the curious with the best account that is in our
power to present them withal.

THE FISH IN THE SALT, AND FRESH WATERS OF
CAROLINA ARE,

"Whales, several sorts.

Thrashers.

Divel fish.

Sword fish.

Crampois.

Bottle noses.

Porpoises.

Sharks, two sorts.

Dog fish.

Spanish Mackarel.

Cavallies.

i

OP NORTH CAROLINA. 249

Bonetos.

Blue fish.

Drum red.

Drum fish, black.

Angel fish.

Bass or rock fish.

Sheeps heads.

Plaice.

Flounder.

Soles.

Mullets.

Shad.

Fat Backs.

Guard white.

Guard green.

Scate or sting ray.

Thornback.

Congar eels.

Lamprey Eels.

Eels.

Sun fish.

Toad fish.

Sea tench.

Trouts of the salt water.

Crocus.

Herring.

Smelts.

Shads.

Breams.

Taylors.

J

250 lawson's history

fresh water fish are,
Sturgeon.
Pike,
Trouts.
Gudgeon.
Pearcli, engiish.
Pearch, white.
Pearcli, brown, or
"Welchmen.
Pearch, flat, and
Mottled, or Irishmen.
Pearch, small and flat, with red spots

called round robbins.
Carp.
Poach.
Dace.
Loaches.
Sucking fish.
Cat fish.
Grindals.
Old wives.
Fountain fish.
White fish.

THE SHELL FISH ARE,

Large crabs, called stone crabs.

Smaller flat crabs.

Oysters, great and small.

Cockles.

Clams.

Muscles.

L

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 251

Conks.

Skellop.

Man of noses.

Perriwinkles, or wilks.

Sea snail liorns.

Fidlars.

Runners.

Spanish, or pearl oysters.

Flattings.

Tortois and terebin, accounted for

among the insects.
Finger fish.
Shrimps.

FRESH WATER.

Craw fish.
Muscles.

Whales are very numerous on the coast of North
Carolina, from which they make oil, bone, &c., to
the great advantage of those inhabiting the sand
banks, along the ocean, where these whales come
ashore, none being struck or killed with a harpoon
in this place, as they are to the northward and
elsewhere ; all those fish being found dead on the
shore, most commonly by those that inhabited the
banks and sea side, where they dwell for that in-
tent, and for the benefit of wrecks which some-
times fall in upon that shore.

Of these monsters there are four sorts ; the first,
which is most choice and rich, is the sperma cceti

J

L

252 lawson's history

whale, from which the sperma coeti is taken. These
are rich prizes ; but I never heard but of one
found on this coast, which wasnear Currituck in-
let.

The other sorts are of a prodigious bigness. Of
these the bone and oil is made. The oil being the
blubber, or oily flesh, or fat of that fish boiled.
These differ not only in color, some being pied,
others not, but very much in shape, one being called
a bottle nosed whale, the other a shovel nose,
which is as different as a salmon from a sturgeon.
These fish seldom come ashore with their tongues
in their heads, the Thrasher (which is the whales
mortal enemy, wheresoever he meets him) eating
that out of his head, as soon as he and the sword-
fish have killed him, for when the whalecatchers
(in other parts) kill any of these fish, they eat the
tongue, and esteem it an excellent dish.

There is another sort of these whales, or great
fish, though not common. I never knew of above
one of that sort, found on the coast of [N^orth Car-
olina, and he was contrary, in shape, to all others
ever found before him ; being sixty feet in length,
and not above three or four feet diameter. Some
Indians in America will go out to sea, and get
upon a whale's back, and peg or plug up his spouts,
and so kill him.

The Thrashers are large fish, and mortal en-
emies to the whale, as I said before. They make
good oil, but are seldom found.

0? NORTH CAROLINA. 253

' The divcl fisli lies at some of our inlets, and as
near as I can describe liim^ is shaped like a scate,
or stingray ; only he has on his head a pair of very
thick strong horns, and is of a monstrous size, an*!
strength ; for this fish has been known to weigh a
sloop's anchor, and run w-ith the vessel a leagu'
or two, and bring her back, against tide, to al-
most the same place. Doubtless, they may afford
good oil ; but I have no experience of any profits
which arise from them.

The sword fish is the other of the whales ene-
mies, and joins with the thrasher to destroy that
monster. After they have overcome him, they
eat his tongue, as I said before, and the whale
drives ashore.

Crampois is a large fish, and by some accoun-
ted a young whale ; but it is not so ; neither is
it more than twenty-five or thirty feet long. They
spout as the whale does, and when taken, yield
good oil.

Bottle noses are between the crampois and por-
pois, and lie near the soundings. They are never
seen to swim leisurel}^, as sometimes all other fish
do, but are continually running after their j^rey in
great shoals, like wild horses, leaping now and
then above the water. The French esteem them
good food, and eat them both fresh and salt.

Porpoises are frequent all over the ocean and
rivers that are salt; nay, we have a fresh water
lake in the great sound of Korth Carolina that has
porpoises in it and several sorts of other unknown

Al2

254 lawson's hirtory

iish, as the Indians say, that we are wholl}^ stran-
gers to. As to the porpoises, they make good oil ;
they prey upon other fish, as drums, yet never are
known to take a bait so as to be caught with a hook.

Sharks. — Of these there are two sorts ; one call-
ed paracooda noses, the other shovel noses ; they
cannot take their prey before they turn themselves
on their backs ; wherefore some negroes and oth-
ers that can swim and dive well, go naked into
the water with a knife in their hand, and fight the
shark and very commonly kill him or wound him,
so that he turns tail and runs away. Their livers
make good oil to dress leather withal ; the bones
found in their heads are said to hasten the birth
and ease the stone by bringing it away. Their
meat is eaten in scarce times ; but I never could
away with it, though a great lover of fish. Their
backbone is of one entire thickness. Of the bones
or joints, I have known buttons made, which serve
well enough in scarce times and remote places.

The dog fish are a small sort of the shark kind,
and iare caught with hook and line, fishing for
drums. They say they are good meat ; but we
have so many other sorts of delicate fish that I*
shall hardly ever make trial what they are.

Spanish mackarel are, in color and shape, like
the common mackarel, only much thicker. They
are caught with hook and line at the inlets, and
sometimes out a little way at sea. They are a
very fine hard fish, and of good taste. They are
about two feet long or better.

L

OF NORTH CAROLINA. iJo5

Cavallies are taken in the same places. The}^
are of a browninsli color, liave exceeding small
scales and a very thick skin ; they are as firm a
jSsh as ever I saw ; therefore will keep sweet, in
the hot weather, two days when others will etink
in half a day, miloss salted. They ought to be
scaled as soon as taken ; otherwise yon must pull
off the skin and scales when boiled, the skin be-
ing the choicest of the fish. The meat which is
Avhite and large, is dressed with this fish.

Bonetos are a very palatable fish, and near a
yard long. They haunt the inlets and water near
the ocean, and are killed with the harpoon and
fishgig.

The blue fish is one of our best fishes, and al-
ways very fat. They are as long as a salmon, and in-
deed, I think, full as good meat. These fish come
in the fall of the year, generally after there has
been one black frost, when there appear great
shoals of them. The Ilatteras Indians and others
run into the sands of the sea, and strike them,
though some of these fish bave caused sickness
and violent burnings after eating of them, which
is found to proceed fi-om the gall that is broken
in some of them and is hurtfu]. Sometimes many
cart loads of these are thro^vn and left dry on the
sea side, w^hich comes by their eager pursuit of
the small fish in which they run themselves ashore,
and the tide leaving them, they cannot recover
the water again. They are called blue fish, be-
cause tliey are of that color and have a forked
tail and are shaped like a dolj[)hi]).

256 lawson's history

The red drum is a large fish much bigger thau
the bkie fish. The body of this is good firm meat,
but the head is beyond all the fish I ever met with-
al for an excellent dish. 'We have greater num-
bers of these fish than of any other sort. People
go down and catch as man}^ barrels full as the}^
please with hook and line, especially every young
flood when they bite. These are salted up and
transported to other colonies^ that are bare of pro-
visions.

Black drums are a thicker made fish than the
red drum, being shaped like a fat pig ; they are a
very good fish, but not so common with us as to
the northward.

Tie angel fish is shaped like an english bream.
He is so called from his golden color, wdiich shines
all about his head and belly. This is accounted
a very good fish as are most in these parts. The
Bermudians have the same sort of fish, and esteem
them very much.

Bass or roek is both in salt and fresh water ;
when young he much resembles a grayling, but
grows to the size of the large cod fish. They are
a very good firm fish. Their heads are souced,
and make a noble dish, if large.

Sheeps head has the general vogue of being the
choicest fish in this place. Indeed, it is a very
delicate fish and well relished ; yet I think there
are several others full as good as the sheep head.
He is much of the bigness of the Angel fish, and
flat as he i^; ; the}' sometimes weigh two or three

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 257

pound weight. This fish hath teeth like a sheep,
and is therefore so called.

Plaice are here very large and plentiful, being
the same as in England.

Flounders should have gone amongst the fresh
water fish, because they are caught there in great
plenty.

Soles are a fish we have but lately discovered :
they are as good as in any other part.

Mullets the same as in England, and great plen-
ty in all places where the water is salt or brackish.

Shads are a sweet fish, but very bony ; they are
very plentiful at some seasons.

Fat backs are a small fish like mullets, but the
fattest ever known. They put nothing into the
pan to fry these. They are excellent sweet food.

The white guard fish is shaped almost like a pike,
but slenderer ; his mouth has a long small bill set
^vith teeth, in which he catches small fish ; his
scales are knit together like armor. When they
dress him they strip him, taking ofi* scales and
skin together. His meat is very white, and rath-
er looks like flesh than fish. The English account
them no good fish, but the Indians do. The gall
of this fish is gi-een, and a violent cathartic, if ta-
ken inwardly.

The green guard is shaped, in all respects, like
the other, r>avc tliat his scales are very snndl and
fine. He is indifierent good meat ; his bones,
when Ijuiled or fried, remain as green as grnss.
The same sort of lisli come before the mackarel in
Entrland.

258 lawson's history

Scate or stingray, the same as in England, and
very common ; but the great plenty of other fish
makes these not regarded, for few or none eat
them in Carolina, though they are almost at every
one's door.

Thornbacks are" the same as in England. They
are not so common as the scate and whip rays.

Congar eels always remain in the salt water ;
they are much more known in the northvrard parts
of America than with tis.

Lampreys are not common ; I never saw but
V' one, which was large, and caught by the Indians
in a ware. They would not eat hini but gave him
to me.

Eels are no where in the world better, or more
plentiful than in Carolina.

Sunfish are fiat and rounder than a bream, and
are reckoned a fine tasted fish, and not without
reason. They are much the size of angel fish.

Toad fish are nothing but a skin full of prickles,
and a- few bones ; they are as ugly as a toad, an<l
preserved to look upon and good for nothing else.

Sea tench. — They are taken by a bait near the
inlet, or out at sea a little way. They are black-
ish and exactly like a tench, except in the back
fins, which have prickles like a pearch. They are
as good if not better than any terich.

Trouts of the salt water r^-e exactly shaped like
the trouts in Europe, having blackish, not red
spots. Tliey are in the salts and are not red with-
in but white, yet a very good fish. They are so

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 259

tender that if they are in or near fresh water, and
a sudden frost come, they are benummed, and
float on the surface of the water as if dead ; and
then they take up canoe loads of them. If you
put them into warm water thej^ pre :ently recover.

The crocus is a fish in shape like a pearch, and
in taste like a whiting. They croke and make a
noise in your hand when taken with a hook or
net. They are very good.

The herrings in Carolina are not so large as in
Europe. They spawn there in March and April,
running up the fresh rivers and small fresh runs
of water in great shoals where they are taken.
They become red if salted ; and drSst with vints-
gar and oil, resemble an anchovy very much ; for
they are far beyond an English Herring when
pickled.

Smelts, the same as in England ; they lie down
a great way in the sound towards the ocean, where,
at some certain seasons, are a great many very fine
ones.

Breams. — Thefresh water affords no such breams
as in England that I have as yet discovered ; yet
there is a sea bream which is a flat and thin fish,
as the European breams are.

The taylpr is a fish about the bigness of a trout,
but of a bluish and green color with a forked tail,
as a mackarel has. They are a delicate fish and
plentiful in our salt waters. Infinite numbers of
species will be hereafter discovered as yet un-
known to us ; although I have seen and eaten of

(

230 lawson's history

•several other sorts of fisliwliicli are not here men-
tioned, because, as yet, they have no certain names
assigned them. Therefore I shall treat no farther
of our salt water fish, but proceed to the fresh.

The first of these is the sturgeon, of which we
have plenty, all the fresh parts of our rivers being
well stored therewith. The Indians upon and
towards the heads and falls of our rivers strike a
great many of these and eat them ; yet the Indians
near the salt water will not eat them. I have seen
an Indian strike one of these fish seven feet long,
and leave him on the sands to be eaten by the
gulls. In ^lay they run up towards the heads of
the rivers, where joii see several hundreds of them
in one day. The Indians have another way to
take them which is by nets at the end of a pole.
The bones of these fish make good nutmeg graters.

The jack pike or pickerel is exactly the same in
Carolina as they are in England. Indeed, I never
saw this fish so big and large in America as I have
in Europe, these with us being seldom above two
feet long, as far as I have yet seen. They are
very plentiful with us in Carolina, all our creeks
and ponds being full of them. I once took out
of a ware above three hundred of these fish at a
time.

Trouts, the same in England as in Carolina;
but ours arc a great way up the rivers and brooks,
that are fresh, having swift currents and stony and
gravelly bottoms.

%

OF XOllTH CAROLIXA. 2G1

The same gudgeons as in Europe are found in
America.

The same sort of pearch as are in England we
hiiYQ likewise in Carolina, though, I tljink, onr^
never rise to be so large as in England.

We have a white pearch, so called because he
is of a silver color, otherwise like the Enjdish
pearch. These we have in great plenty, and they
are preferable to the red ones.

The brown pearch, which some call welchmen,
are the largest sort of pearches that we have, and
very iirm, white and sweet fish. These grow to
be larger than any carp, and are ver}^ frequent in
every creek and pond.

The flat or mottled pearch are shaped almost
like a bream. They are called irishmen, being
freckled or mottled with black and blue spots.
They arc never taken anywhere but in the fresh
water. They are good fish, but I do not approve
of them no more than the other sorts of pearch.

AVe have another sort of pearch which is the
least sort of all, but as good meat as any. These
are distinguished from^ the other sorts by the name
of round robins, being flat and very round shaped ;
they are spotted with red spots very beautiful, and
are easily caught with an angle, as all the other
sort of pearches are.

Wo have tlie same carp as you have in England.

And the same roach, only scarce so large.

Dace are the same as yours, too ; but neither are
these so large nor plentiful, as with you.

El2

262 LAWSON'S HISTORY

Loach, the same as in England.

Sucking fish are the nearest in taste and shape
to a barbel, only they have no barbs.

Cat fish are a round, blackish fish, with a great
flat head, a wide m-outh and no scales. The}^
something resemble eels in taste. Both this sort^
and another that frequents the salt water, are ve-
ry plentiful.

Grindals are a long scaled fish with small eyes,
and frequent ponds, lakes, and slow running
creeks and swamps. They are a soft, sorry fish,
and good for nothing ; though some eat them for
good fish.

Old wives. — These are a bright scaly fish, which
frequents the swamps and fresh runs. They seem
to be between an English roach and a bream, and
eat much like the latter. The Indians kill abun=
dance of these, and barbecue them till they are a
crisp, then transport them in wooden hurdles, to
their towns and quarters.

The fountain fish are a white sort which breed
in the clear running springs and fountains of v/a-
ter, where the clearness thereof makes them very
diiiicaltto be taken. I cannot say hovr good they
are, because I have not as jet tasted of them.

The white fish are very large. Som_e being two
feet and a half long and more. They are found
a great way up in the freshes of the rivers ; and
are firm meat, and an extraordinary well relished
fish.

Barbouts and millers thumbs, are the very same
here in all respects, as they are in England. What

OP NORTH CAROLINA. 263

more are in the fresh waters we have not discov-
ered, but are satisfied, that we are not acquainted
with one-third part thereof; for we are told by the
Indians, of a great many strange and uncouth shapes
and sorts of fish, which they have found in the
lakes laid down in mj chart. However as we can
give no farther account of these than by hearsay,
I proceed to treat of the shell fish, that are found
in the salt water, so far as they have already come
to our knowledge.

The large crabs, which we call stone crabs, are
the same sort as in England, having black tips at
the end of their claws. These are plentifully met
withal, down in Core sound, and the south parts
of North Carolina,

The smaller fiat crabs I look upon to be the
sweetest of all the species. They are the length
of a lusty man's hand, or rather larger. These
are innumerable, lying in most prodigious quanti-
ties, all over the salts of Carolina. They are ta-
ken not only to eat, but are the best bait for all
sorts of fish, that live in the salt water. These
fish are mischievous to night hooks, because they
get away all the bait from the hooks.

Oysters, great and small, are found almost in
•everj creek and gut of salt water, and are very
good and well relished. The large oysters are ex-
cellent pickled.

One cockle in Carolina is as big as five or six in
England. They are often thrown upon the sands
on the sound side, where the gulls are always
^eady to open and eat them.

_J

26-i lawson's history

Clams are a sort of cockles, only differing in
sliell, wliich is thicker and not streaked, or rib-
bed. These are found thronghout all the sound
and salt water ponds. The meat is the same for
look and taste as the cockle. These make an ex-
cellent strong broth, and eat well, either roasted
or pickled.

The muscles in Carolina have a very large shell,
striped with dents. Thej grow by the side of
ponds and creeks, in salt water, wherein you
may get as many of them as you please. I do not
like them so well as the English muscle, which is
no good shell fish.

Conks. — Some of the shells of these fish are as
large as a man's hand, but the lesser sort are the
best meat, and those not extraordinary. They
are shaped like the end of a horsesyard. Of their
shells, the peak, or wampum is made, which is the
richest commodity amongst the Indians. They
breed like a long thing shaped like a snake, but
containing a sort of joints, in the hollowness
whereof are thousands of small coaks, no biocsrer
than small grains of pepper.

The skellops, if well dressed, are a pretty shell
fish; but to eat them only roasted, without any
other addition, in ni}^ judgment, are too luscious.
Man of noses are a shell fish commonly found
amongst us. They are valued for increasing vig-
or in men and making barren women fruitful ; but
I think they have no need of that fish, for the wo-
men in Carolina are fruitful enough without
' their help.

or NORTH CAROLINA. 265

Wilkes, or perriwinkles, are not so large here
as in the Islands of Scilly, and in other parts of
Europe, though very sweet.

The sea snail horn is large, and ver}' good meat.
They are exactly shaped as other snail horns arc.
Fidlars are a sort of small crahs, that lie in holes
in the marshes. The raccoons eat them very much.
I never knew any one try whether the}' were
o'ood meat or no.

Runners live chiefly on the sands. But some-
times run into the sea. They have holes in the
sand beaches and are a whitish sort of a crab.
Though small, they run as fast as a man, and are
good for nothing but to look at.

Spanish o^^^sters have a very thin shell, and
rough on the outside. They are very good shell
hsh, and so large, that halt a dozen are enough to
satisfy an hungry stomach.

The flattings are inclosed in a broad, thin shell,
the whole fish being flat. They are inferior to no
shell fish this country aflbrds.

Finger fish are very plentiful in this country.
They are of the length of a man's finger, and lie
in the bottom of the water about one or two feet
deep. They are very good.

Shrimps are very plentiful and good, and are to
be taken with a small bow net in great quantities.
The small cockles are about the bicness of the
largest English cockles, and differ nothing from
them, unless in the shells, which are striped cross-
wise, as well as longwise.

J

i som

^6^ Law30n*s history

the fresh water shell fish are,
Muscles, wliicli are eaten by the Indians, after
five or six hours boiling to make tbem tender, and
then are good for nothing.

Crawfish in the brooks and small rivers of wa^-
ter amongst the Tuskeruro Indians and up higher,
are found very plentifully, and as good as any in
the world.

And thus I have gone through the several spe-
cies of fish, so far as they have come to my knowh
edge, in the eight years that I have lived in Caro-
lina. I should have made a larger discovery when
traveling so far toward the m_ountains and amongst
the hills, had it not been in the winter season,
wdiich was improper to make any enquiry into any
of the species before recited. Therefore, as my
intent v/as, I proceed to what remains of the pres-
ent state of Carolina, having already accounted for
the animals and vegetables as far as this volume
would allow of, vvdiereby the remainder, though
not exactly known, may yet be guessed at if we
consider wdiat latitude Carolina lies in, which
reaches from 29 to 36^ 30', northern latitude as I
have before observed. Which latitude is as fer-
tile and pleasant as any in the world, as well for
the produce of minerals, fruits, grain and wine, as
other rich commodities. And, indeed, all the ex-
periments that have been made in Carolina, of
the fertility and natural advantages of the coun-
try, have exceeded all expectations as affording
some commodities which other places, in the same

- OF NORTH CAROLINA. 26t

latitude, do not. As for minerals as they are sub-
tBrraneoiis products, so in all new co mtries, they
are the species that are last discovered ; and espe-
cially in Carolina, where the Indians never look for
any thing lower than the superficies of the earth,
being a race of men the least addicted to delving
of any people that inhabit so fine a country as
Carolina is. As good if not better mines than
those the Spaniards possess in America, lie full
west from us ; and I am certain we have as moun-
tainous land and as great probability of having
rich minerals in Carolina as any of those parts
that are already found to be so rich therein. But
waving this subject till some other opportunity,
I shall now give you some observations in general,
concerning Carolina; which are, first, that it lies
as conveuient for trade as any of the plantations
in America; that we have plenty of pitch, tar, skins
of deer, and beeves, furs, rice', wheat, fie, indian
grain, sundry sorts of pulse, turpentine, rosin^
m_asts, yards, planks and boards, stave and lumber,
timber of many common sorts, fit for any uses ;
hemp, flax, barley, oats, buck wheat, beef, pork,
tallow, hides, whalebone and oil, wax, cheese,
butter, &c., besides drugs, dyes, fruit, silk, cotton,
indico, oil and wine that we need not doubt of as
soon as we make a regular essay, the country be-
ing adorned with pleasant meadows, rivers, moun-
Uuns, valleys, hills, and rich pastures, and blessed
with wholesome, pure air ; especially a little back-
wards from the sea, where the wild beasts inhabit,

268 lawson's kistoky

none of wliicli are voracious. The men are active,
the women fruitfal to admiration, every house be-
ing full of children, and several women that have
come hither barren, having presently proved fruit-
ful. There cannot be a richer soil, no place
abounding more in liesh and fowl, both wild and
tame, besides, iish, fruit, grain, cider, and many
other pleasant liquors, together with several oth-
er necessaries for life and trade, that are daily
found out, as new discoveries are made. The
stone and gout seldom trouble us ; the consump-
tion we are wholly strangers to, noplace afibrding
a better remedy for that distemper than Carolina.
For trade we lie so near to Virginia that we liBve
the advantage of their convoys ; as also letters
from thence in two or three days at most, in some
places in as few hours. Add to this that the great
number of ships which come within those capes,
for Virginia and Maryland take off our provisions
and give us bills of exchange for England, which
is sterling money. The planters in Virginia and
Maryland are forced to do the same, the great
quantities of tobacco that are planted there, ma-
king provisions scarce ; and tobacco is a commo-
dity oftentimes so low as to bring nothing, where-
as provisions and naval stores never fail of a mar-
ket. Besides, where these are raised in such plen-
ty as in Carolina, there always appears good house
keeping, and plenty of all manner of delicate ea-
tables. Eor instance, the pork of Carolina is very
good, the younger hogs fed on peaches, maiz, and

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 269

sucli other natural produce ; being some of the
sweetest meat that the world affords, as is ac-
knowledged by all strangers that have been there.
And as for the beef in Pampticongh and the south-
ward parts, it proves extraordinary. We have not
only provisions plentiful, but clothes of our own
manufactures, which are made and daily increase ;
cotton, wool, hemp, and flax being of our own
growth ; and the women to be liigldy commended
for their industry in spinning and ordering their
housewifery to so great advantage as they gene-
rally do, which is much more easy by reason this
happy climate, visited with so mild winters, is
much warmer than the northern plantations,
which saves abundance of clothes, fewer serving
our necessities and those of our servants. But
this is not all, for we can go out with our commo-
dities to -any other part of the West Indies, or
elsewhere, in the depth of winter ; whereas, those
in ISTew England, jSTew York, Pennsylvania, and
the colonies to the northward of us cannot stir for
ice, but are fast locked into their harbors. Be-
sides we can trade with South Carolina, and pay
no duties or customs no more than their own ves-
sels both north and south being under the same
lords pi-oprietors.

-We have, as I observed before, another great
advantage, iu not being a frontier, and so contin-
ually alarmed by the enemy ; and Avliat has been
accounted a detriment to us, proves one of the
greatest advantages any people could wi.sli, wbirli

270 lawsvOn's history

is, our conntry's being faced with a sound near
ten leagues over in some places, through which,
although there be water enough for as large ships
to come in at, as in any part hitherto seated in
both Ca!*linas ; yet the difficulty of that sound to
strangers, hinders them from attempting any hos-
tilities against us ; and at the same time, if we
consider the advantages thereof, nothing can ap-
pear to be a l)etter situation, than to be fronted
with such a bulwark, which secures us from our
enemies. Furthermore, our distance from the
sea rids us of two curses, which attend most other
parts of America, viz : muskeetos and the worm
biting, which eat ships bottoms out ; whereas at
Bath-town, there is no such thing known ; and as
for muskeetos, they hinder us of as little rest as
they do you in England. Add to this, the unac-
countable quantities of fish this great water or
sound, supplies us withal, whenever we take the
pains to fish for them ; advantages I have no
where met withal in America, except here.

As for the climate, we enjoy a very wholesome
and serene sky, and a pure and thin air, the sun
seldom missing to give us his daily blessing, un-
less now and then on a winter's day, which is not
often ; and when cloudy, the first appearance of a
north-west wind clears the horizon, and restores
the light of the sun. The weather, in summer, is
very pleasant. The hotter months being refresh-
ed with continual breezes of cool reviving air ;
and the spring being as pleasant and beautiful, as in

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 271

any place I ever was in. The winter, most com-
monlj^ is so mild, that it looks like an autum,
being now and then attended with clear and thin
north-west winds, that are sharp enough, to regu-
late English constitutions, and free them from a
great many dangerous distempers, that a continu-
al summer afflicts them withal, nothing being
wanting as to the natural ornaments and blessings
of a country, that conduce to make reasonable
men happy. And for those that are otherwise,
they are so miich their own enemies, where they
are, that they will scarce ever be an}^ one's friends
or their own, when they are transplanted so, it is
much better for all sides, that they remain as they
are. 'Not but that there are several good people
that, upon just grounds, may be uneasy under
their present burdens; and such I would advise
to remove to the place I have been treating of,
where they may enjoy their liberty and religion,
and peaceabl}' eat the fruits of their labor, and
drink the wine of their own' vineyards, without
the alarms of a troblesome worldly life.

If a man be a botanist, here is a plentiful field of
plants to divert liim in. If he be a gardner, and
delight in tliat pleasant and happy life, he will
meet with a climate and soil that will further and
promote his designs, in as great a measure, as any
man can wish for ; and as for the constitution of
this government, it is so mild and easy, in respect
to the properties and liberties of a subject, that
without rehearsing the ])articnlars, I say once for

272 lawson's history

all, it is tlie mildest and best established govern-
ment in the world, and the place where any man
may peaceably enjoy his own without being
invaded by another ; rank and superiority ever
giving place to justice and equity, which is the
golden rule that every government ought to be
built upon, and regulated by.

Besides it is worthy our notice, that this pro-
vince has been settled, and continued the most
free from tlie insujts and barbarities of the Indians
of any colony that was ever jot seated in America,
wliich must be esteemed as a particular providence
of God, handed down from heaven to these people,
especially when we consider how irregularly they
settled ITorth Carolina, and yet how undisturbed
they have ever remained, free from any foreign
danger or loss, even to this ^-ery day. And wliat
may well be looked upon for as great a miracle,
this is,. a place where no malefactors are found
dc:orving death, or even a prison for debtors,
t'l L'j being no more than two persons, as far as I
liave. been able to learn, ever suffered as criminals,
ti'though it has been a settlement near sixty years;
one of whom was a Turk that committed murder,
i'i0otheFa.n old woman, for witchcraft. These,
lis true, were on the stage and acted many years
"i)elbre I knev/ the place, but as for the last, I wish
it had been, undone to this day, although they give
a great many arguments to justify the deed wliich
I had rather they should ha\-e liad a liand in than
myself; seeing I could never approve of taking

OF NORTH CAROLINA. ^rj^

life away upon such accusations, the justice where-
of I could never yet understand.

But to return to the suhject in hand, we there
make extraordinary good bricks throughout the
settlement. All sorts of handicrafts, as carpenters,
joiners, masons, plaisters, shoemakers, tanners,
tailors, weavers, and most others. Many with
good beginnings, and God's blessing, thrive very
well in this place, and provide estates for their
children. Land being sold at a much cheaper
rate there than in any other place in America,
and may, as I' suppose, be purchased of the lords
proprietors here in England, or of the governor
there for the time being, by any that shall have a
mind to transport themselves to that country. The
farmers that go thither (for which sort of men it
is a vcr}^ thriving place) should take with them
some particular seeds of grass, as trefoil, clover
grass all sorts, sanfoiu, and common grass, or that
which is a rarity in Europe, especially, wliat has
sprung and rose first from a warm climate, and
will endure the sun without flinching. Likewise,
if there be any extraordinary sort of grain for in-
crease, or hardiness, and some fruit trees of choice
kinds, they will be both profitable and pleasant to
have wiyi you, where you may see the fruits of
your labor in perfection, in a few years. The ne-
cessary instruments of husbandry I need not ac-
quaint the husbandman withal. Iloes of all sorts
and axes, must be had, with saws, wedges, augurs,
nails, hammers, and what other things maybe ne-

274 lawson's history

cessary for building with brick, or stone, wliich
sort your inclination and convenience le^dyouto.
For, after having looked over this treatise, you
must needs be acquainted with tl.e nature of the
country, and therefore cannot but be judges, what
it is that you will chiefl}^ want. As for land, r one
need want it for taking up, even in the places there
seated on the navigable creeks, rivers, and har-
bours, without being driven into remoter holes
and corners of the country for settlements, which
all are forced to do, wdio, at this day, settle in
most or all of the other English plantations in
America ; which are already become so populous
that a new comer cannot get a beneficial and com-
modious seat, unless he purchases, when, in most
places in Virginia and Maryland, a thousand acres
of good land, seated on a navigable water, will
cost a thousand pounds ; wdiereas, with us, it is at
present obtained for the fiftieth part of the money.
Besides our land pays to the lords but an easy quit
rent, or yearly acknowledgement ; and the other
settlement pay two shillings per hundred. All
these things duly weighed, any rational man that
has a mind to purchase land in the plantations for
a settlement of himself and family, will soon dis-
cover the advantages that attend the settlers and
purchasers of land in Carolina above all other colo-
nies in the English dominions in America. And
as tliere is a free exercise of all persuasions amongst
christians, the lord's proprietors to encourage min-
isters of the church of England have given free

OF NORTH CAROLINA. tlliJ

land towards the maintenance of a church, and es-
jDecially for the parish of S. Thomas in Pampti-
cough, over against the town is already- laid out
for a glebe of two hundi-ed and twenty three acres
of rich well situated land, that a parsonage house
may be built upon. And now I shall proceed to
give an account of the Indians, their customs and
ways of living, with a short dictionary of their
speech.

I.

OP NORTH CAROLINA. 277

AN ACCOUNT

OF THE

INDIANS OF N. CAROLINA.

The Indians, wliicli were the inhabitants of
America when the Spaniards and other Europeans
discovered the several parts of that country, are
the people which we reckon the natives thereof;
as indeed they were, when we first found out those
parts and appeared therein. Yet this has not
wrousrht in me a full satisfaction to allow these
people to have been the ancient dwellers of the
new world, or tract of land we call America. The
reasons that I have to think otherwise, are too
man}^ to set down here ; but I shall give the reader
a few before I proceed, and some others he Avill
find scattered in my writings elsewhere.

In Carolina (the part I now treat of) are the
fairest marks of a deluge, that at some time has
probably made strange alterations a5 to the sta-
tion that country was then in, that ever I saw, or,
I think, read of, in any history. Amongst the
other subterraneous matters that have been dis-

Al3

'US LAWSON'S HISTORr

covered J we found, in digging of a well that was
twenty-six feet deep, at the bottom thereof," many
large pieces of the tulip tree, and several other
sorts of wood, some of which were cut and notch-
ed, and some squared, as the joiees of a house are,
which appeared (in the judgment of all that saw
them) to be Wrought with iron instruments; it
seeming impossible for anything made of stone,
or what they were found to make use of, to cut
wood in that manner. It cannot be argued, that
tlie wood so cut, might float from some other con-
tinent, because hickory and the tulip tree are
spontaneous in America, and in no other places
that I could ever learn.

It is to be acknowledged that the Spaniards
give us relations of magnificent buildings, which
were raised by the Indians of Mexico and other
parts, which they discovered and conquered,
amono-st whom no iron instruments were found.
But tis a great misfortune that no person in that
expedition was so curious as to take an exact
draught of the fabrics of those people, which would
have been a discovery of great value, and very ac-
ceptable to the ingenious ; for, as to the politeness
of stones, it may be effected by collision and grind-
ing, which is of a contrary nature, on several ac-
counts, and disproves not my arguments in the
least.

The nextis, the earthernpots that ar ; often found
under ground, and at the foot of the banks where
the water has washed them away. They are, for

01* NORTH CAROLINA. 279

the most part broken in pieces ; but we find them
of a different sort, in comparison of those the In-
dians use at this day, who have had no other ever
since the English discovered America. The bow-
els of the earth cannot have altered them, since
they are thicker, of another shape and composi-
tion, and nearly approach to the urns of the an-
cient Romans.

Again, the peaches, which are the only tame
fruit, or what is foreign, that these people enjoy,
which is an eastern product, and will keep and re*
tain its vegetative and growing faculty the long-
est of anything of that nature, that I know of.
The stone, as I elsewhere have remarked, is thick-
er than any other sort of the peaches in Europe,
or of the European sort, now growing in America,
and is observed to grow, if planted, after it has
been for several years laid by ; and it seems very
probable that these people might come from some
eastern countr}'- ; for when you ask them whence
their forefathers came, that first inhabited the
country, they will point to the westward, and say,
w^here the sun sleeps our forefathers came thence,
which, at that distance, may be reckoned amongst
the eastern parts of the world. And, to this day,
they are a shifting, wandering people ; for I know*
some Indian nations that have changed their set-
ilemcnts many hundred miles, sometimes no less
thiin a thousand, as is proved by the Savanna In-
dians, who formerly lived on the banks of the
Messiasippi, and removed thence to tlie head of

^S'O lawson's histoky

one of tlie rivers of South Carolina, since whicli,
for some dislike, most of them are removed to
live in the quarters of the Iroquois or Sinnagars,
which are on the heads of the rivers that disgorge
themselves into the bay of Chesapeak. I once met
with a young Indian woman that had been brought
from beyond the mountains, and was sold a slave
into Virginia. She spoke the same language as
the Coramine Indians, that dwell near Cape Look-
out, allowing for some fevv^ words, which were dif-
ferent, yet no otherwise than that they might un-
derstand one another very well.

The Indians of N'orth Carolina are a well shaped
clean made people, of different statures, as the
Europeans are, yet chiefly inclined to be tall.
They are a very straight people, and never bend
forwards or stoop in the shoulders, unless much
overpowered by old age. Their limbs are exceed-
ing well shaped. As for their legs and feet, they
are generally the handsomest in the world. Their
bodies are a little flat, which is occasioned by be-
ing laced hard down to a board in their infancy.
This is all the cradle they have, which I shall de-
scribe at large elsewhere. Their eyes are black,
or of a dark hazel ; the \Vhite is marbled with red
streaks, which is ever common to these people,
unless Avhen sprung from a white father or mother.
Their color is of a tawny, which would not be so
dark did they not dawb themselves with bear's oil,
and a color like burnt cork. This is begun in
their infancy aiid continued for a long time, which

OP NORTH CAROLINA. 281

fills the pores and enables them better to enclnre
the extremity of the weather. They are never
bald on their heads, althongh never so old, whicli,
I believe, proceeds from their heads being always
uncovered, and the greasing their hair, so often
as they do, Avith bear's fat, which is a great noiir-
isher of the hair, and causes it to grow very fast.
Amongst the bear's oil, when they intend to be
fine, they mix a certain red powder, that comes
from a scarlet root which they get in the hilly
country, near the foot of the great ridge of moun-
tains, and it is no where else to be found. They
have this scarlet root in great esteem, and sell it
for a very great price one to another. The reason
of its value is, because they not only go a long vv^ay
for it but are in great danger of the iSinnagers or
Iroquois, who are mortal enemies to all our In-
dians, and very often take them captives or kill
them before they return from this voj^ago. The
Tuskeruros and other Indians have often brought
this seed with them from the mountains ; but it
would never grow in our land. With this and
bear's grease they anoint their heads and temples,
which is esteemed as ornamental, as sweet powder
to our hair. Besides, this root has the virtue of
killing lice, and suficrs none to abide or breed in
their heads. For want of this root, they some-
times usepecoon root, which is of a crimson color,
but it is apt to die the hair of an ugl}" hue.

Their eyes are commonly full and manly, and
their gate sedate and mnjestic. They never walk

^.

282 lawson's history

backward and forward as we do, nor contemplate
on the affairs of loss and gain, the things which
daily perplex us. They are dexterous and steady,
both as to their hands and feet, to admiration.
They will walk over deep brooks and creeks on
the smallest poles, and that without any fear or
concern. Nay, an Indian will walk on the ridge
of a barn or house and look down the gable end,
and spit upon the ground as unconcerned as if he
was walking on terra firma. In running, leaping
or any such other exercise, their legs seldom mis-
carry and give them a fall ; and as for letting any
thing fall out of their hands, I never yet knew one
example. They are no inventers of any arts or
trades worthy mention ; the reason of which I
take to be, that they are not possessed with that
care and thoughtfalness, how to provide for the
necessaries of life as the Europeans are ; yet they
will learn any thing very soon. I have known an
Indian stock guns better than most of our joiners,
although he never saw one stocked before ; and
besides, his working tool was only a sorry knife.
I have also known several of them that were slaves
to the English, learn handicraft trades very well
and speedily. I never saw a dwarf amongst them,
nor but one that was hump-backed. Their teeth
are yellow with smoking tobacco, which both men
and women are much addicted to. They tell us that
they had tobacco amongst them before the Euro*
peans made any discovery of that continent. It
differs in the leaf from the sweet scented, and

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 283

Oroonoko, which are the plants we raise and cul-
tivate in America. Theirs differs likewise much
in the smell, when green, from our tobacco before
cured. Thej do not use the same way to cure it
as we do, and therefore the diifereuce must be
verv considerable in taste ; for all men that know
tobacco must allow that it is the ordering thereof
which gives a hogoo to that weed rather than any
natural relish it possesses when green. Although
they are great smokers, yet they never are seen
to take it in snuff or chew it.

They have no hairs on their faces, except some
few, and those but little, nor is there often found
any hair under their arm pits. They are contin-
ually plucking it away from their faces by the
roots. As for their privities, since they wore tail
clouts to cover their nakedness, several of the men
have a deal of hair thereon. It is to be observed
that the head of the penis is covered, throughout
all the nations of the Indians I ever saw, both in
old and young. Although we reckon these a Very
smooth people, and free from hah- ; yet I once saw
a middle aged man th^t was hairy all down his
back ; the hairs being above an inch long.

As there are found very few, or scarce any, de-
formed or cripples amon*gst them, so neither did
I ever see but one blind man ; and then they
would give me no account how his blindness came.
They had a use for him, which was to lead him
with a girl, woman or boy, by a string ; so they
put what burdens they pleased upon his back, and

284 lawson's history

made liim very serviceable upon all such occasions.
No people have better eyes, or see better in the
night or day than the Indians. Some alledge that
the smoke of the pitch pine which they chiefly
burn, does both preserve and strengthen the eyes ;
as, perhaps, it may do, because that smoke never
offends the eyes, though you hold your face over
a great fire thereof. This is occasioned by the
volatile part of the turpentine, which rises ivith
the smoke, and is of a friendly, balsamic nature ;
for the ashes of the pine tree afford no fixed salt
in them.

They let their nails grow very long, which, they
reckon, is the use nails are designed for, and laugh
at the Europeans for pairing theirs, which, they
say disarms them of that which nature designed
them for.

They are not of so robust anil strong bodies as
to lift great burdens, and endure labor and slavish
work, as the Europeans are ; yet some that are
slaves, prove very good and laborious ; but, of
themselves, they never woKk as the English do,
taking care tor no farther than what is absolutely
necessary to support life. In traveling and hunt-
ing, they are very indefatigable, because that car-
ries a pleasure along with the profit. I have
known some of them very strong ; and as for run-
ning and leaping, they are extraordinary fellows,
and will dance for several nights together with the
greatest briskness imaginable, their wind never
failing them.

OF NORTH CAROLINA. Z^b

Their dances are of cUfFereiit natures ; and for
every sort of dance they have a tune, whicli is al-
lotted for that dance ; as, if it be a war dance, they
have a war-like song, wherein they express, with
all the passion and vehemence imaginable, what
they intend to do with their enemies ; how they
will kill, roast, sculp, beat, and make captive, such
and such numbers of them ; and how many they
have destroyed before. All these songs are made
new for every feast ; nor is one and the same song
sung at two several festivals. Some one of the
nation, which has the best gift of expressing their
designs, is appointed by their king and war cap-
tains to make these songs.

Others are made for feasts of another nature ;
as, when several towns, or sometimes difierent na-
tions have made peace with one another ; then
the song suits both nations, and relates how the
bad spirit made them go to war and destroy one
another ; but it shall never be so again ; but that
their sons and daughters shall marry together, and
the two nations love one another, and become as'
one people.

They have a third sort of feasts and dances,
which are always when the harvest of corn is ended
and in the spring. The one to return thanks to
the good spirit for the fruits of the earth ; the other,
to beg the same blessings for the succeeding year.
And to encourage the young men to labor stoutly
in planting their maiz and pulse, they set a sort
of an idol iu the field, which is dressed up exactly
ul3

286 lawson's history

like an Indian, having all the Indians habit, be-
sides abundance of Wampum and their money,
made of shells, that hangs about his neck. The
image none of the young men dare approach ; for
the old ones will not suffer them to come near
him, but tell them that he is some famous Indian
warrior that died a great while ago, and now is
come amongst them to see if they Avork well,
which if they do, he will go to the good spirit and
speak to him to send them plenty of corn, and to
make the young men all expert hunters and
mighty warriors. All this while, the king and old
men sit round the image and seemingly pay a
profound respect to the same. One great help to
these Indians in carrying on these cheats, and in-
ducing youth to do what they please, is, the uninter-
rupted silence which is ever kept and observed
with all the respect and veneration imaginable.

At these feasts which are set out with all the
magnificence their tare allows of, the masquerades
begin at night and not before. There is common-
ly a fire made in the middle of the house, which
is the largest in the town, and is very often the
dwelling of their king or war captain ; where sit
two men on the ground upon a mat ; one with a
rattle, made of a gourd, with some beans in it;
the other with a drum made of an earthern pot,
covered with a dressed deer skin, and one stick in
his hand to beat thereon ; and so they both begin
the song appointed. At the same time one drums
and the other rattles, which is all the artificial mu-

'^f^-

OP NORTH CAROLINA. 287

sic of their own making I ever saw amongst them.
To these two instruments they sing, which candies
no air with it, but is a sort of unsavory jargon ;
yet their cadences and raising of their voices are
formed with that equality and exactness that, to
us Europeans, it seems admirable how they should
continue these songs without once missing to agree,
each with the others note and tune.

As for their dancing, were there masters of that
profession amongst them as there are with us, they
would dearly earn their money ; for these crea-
tures take the most pains at it that men are able
to endure. I have seen thirty odd together a dan-
cing, and every one dropped down with sweat, as
if water had been poured down their backs. They
use those hard labors to make them able to endure
fatigue and improve their wind, which indeed is
very long and durable, it being a hard matter in
any exercise to dispossess them of it.

At these feasts, they meet from all the towns
within^fifty or sixty milesround, where they buy
and sell several commodities, as we do at fairs and
markets. Besides they game very much, and of-
ten strip one another of all they have in the world ;
and what is more, I have known several of them
play themselves away, so that they have remained
the winners servants, till their relations or them-
selves could pay the money to redeem them ; and
when this happens, the loser is never dejected or
melancholy at the loss, but laughs and seems no
less contented than if he had won. They never

288 lawson's history

differ at gaming, neither did I ever see a dispute^
about tlie legality tliereof, so mucli as rise amongst
them.

Their chiefest game is a sort of arithmetic, which
is managed by a parcel of small, split reeds,
the thickness of a small bent ; these are made
very nicel}^, so that they part and are tractable in
their hands. They are fifty-one in number ; their
length about seven inches. When they play,
they throw part of them to their antagonist. The
art is, to discover upon sight, how many you have,
and what you throw to him that plays with you.
Some are so expert at their numbers thixt they
will tell ten times together, what they throw out
of their hands. Although the whole play is car-
ried on with the quickest motion it is possible to
use, yet some are so expert at this game, as to win
great Indian estates by this play. A good set of
these reeds, fit to play withal, are valued and sold
for a dressed doe skin.

They have several other plays and games, as
with the kernels or stones of persimmons, which
are in eflect the same as our dice, because win-
ning or losing depend on which side appear up-
permost, and how they happen to fall together.

Another game is managed with a batoon and a
ball, and resembles our trap ball ; besides, seve-
ral nations have several games and past-times,
which are not used by others.

These savages live in wigwams, or cabins, built
of bark, which are made round, like an oven, to

L

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 289

prevent any damage by liard gales of wind. They
make tlic iire in tlie middle of tlie house, and have
a hole at the top of the roof right above the fire,
to let out the smoke. These dwellings are as hot
as stoves, wdiere the Indians sleep and sweat all
night. The floors thereof are never paved nor
swept, so that they have always a loose earth on
them. They are often troubled wdth a multitude
of fleas, especially near the places w^here they dress
their deer skins, because that hair harbors them ;
yet I never felt any ill, unsavory smell in their cab-
ins, whereas, should w^e live in our houses, as they
do, we should be poisoned w^ith oar owai nastiness,
which confirms these Indians to be, as they really
are, some of the sweetest people in the world.

The bark they make their cabins withal, is gen-
erally cypress, or red or white cedar ; and some-
times, when they are a great way from any of these
woods, they make use of pine bark, v/hich is the
worser sort. In building these fabrics, they get
very long poles of pine, cedar, hickory, or any
other ^vood that w^ill bend ; these are the thickness
of the small of a man's leg, at the thickest end,
which they generally strip of the bark, and warm
them well in the fire, which makes them tough
and fit to bend. Afterwards, they stick the thick-
est ends of them in the ground, about two yards
asunder, in a circular form, the distance they de-
sign the cabin to be (which is not always round,
but sometimes oval) then they bend the tops and
bring them together, and bind their ends with

.^:-i_»i

290 lawson's history

bark of trees, that is proper for that use, as elm
is, or sometimes the moss that grows on the trees,
and is a yard or two long, and never rots ; then
they brace them with other poles to make them
strong ; afterwards cover them all over with bark,
so that they are very warm and tight, and will
keep firm against all the weathers that blow. They
have other sorts of cabins without windows, which
are for their granaries, skins, and merchandises,
and others that are covered over head ; the rest
left open for the air. These have reed hurdles,
like tables, to lie and sit on, in summer, and serve
for pleasant banqueting houses in the hot season
of the year. The cabins they dwell in have benches
all round, except where the door stands, on these
they lay beasts skins, and mats made of rushes,
whereon they sleep and loll. In» one of these sev-
eral families commonly live, though all related to
one another.

As to the Indians' food, it is of several sorts,
which are as follows :

Venison, and fawns in the bags, cut out of the
does belly; iish of all sorts, the lamprey eel except-
ed, and the sturgeon, our salt water Indians will
not touch ; bear, and bever, panther, polecat, wild
cat, possum, raccoon, hares, and squirrels, roasted
with their guts in ; snakes, all Indians will not
eat them, though some do ; all wild fruits, that
are palatable, some of which they dry and keep
against winter, as all sort of fruits, and peaches,
which they dry and make quiddonies and cakes,

L ^

OP NORTH CAROLINA. 291

that are very pleasant, and a little tartish ; young
wasps, when they are white in the combs, before
they can fly, this is esteemed a dainty ; all sorts of
tortois and terebins, shell fish, and stingray, or
scate, dried ; gourds, melons, cucumbers, squash-
es, pulse of all sorts ; rockahomine meal, which is
their maiz, parched and pounded into powder ;
fowl, of all sorts that are eatable; ground nuts, or
wild potatos ; acorns and acorn oil, wild bulls, beef,
mutton, pork, &c., from the English ; Indian corn,
or maiz, made into several sorts of bread ; ears of
corn roasted in the summer, or preserved against
winter.

The victuals is common throughout the whole
kindred relations, and often to the whole town,
especially when they are in hunting quarters, then
they all fare alike, whichsoever of them kills the
game. They are very kind and charitable to one
another, but more especially to those of their own
nation ; for if any one of them has suffered any loss,
by fire, or otherwise, they order the grieved person
to make a feast, and invite them all thereto, which,
on the day appointed, they come to, and after ev-
ery man's mess of victuals is dealt to him, one of
their speakers, or grave old men, makes an har-
rangue, and acquaints the company that that man's
house has been burnt, wherein all his goods were
destroyed ; that he and his family very narrowly
escaped; that he is every man's friend in that
company ; and that it is all their duties to help him,
as he would do to any of them had the like misfor-

292 lawson's history

tune befallen tliem. After this oration is over,
every man, according to his quality, throws him
down upon the ground some present, vfhich is
commonly beads, ronoak, peak, skins, or furs, and
which very often amounts to treble the loss he has
suffered. The same assistance they give to any
man that wants to build a cabin, or make a canoe.
They say it is our duty thus to do ; for there are
several works that one man cannot effect, therefore
we must give him our help, otherwise our society
will fall, and we shall be deprived of those urgent
necessities which life requires. They have no
fence to part one anothers lots in their corn fields,
but every man knows his own, and it scarce ever
happens that they rob one another of so much as
an ear of corn, which, if any is found to do, he is
sentenced by the elders to work and plant for him
that was robbed, till he is recompensed for all the
damage he has suffered in his corn field ; and
this is punctually performed, and the thief held in
disgrace that steals from any of his country folks.
It often happens that a woman is destitute of her
husband, and has a great many children to main-
tain ; such a person they always help, and make
their young men plant, reap, and do every thing
that she is not capable of doing herself; yet they
do not allow any one to be idle, but to employ
themselves in some work or other.

They never fight with one another unless
drunk, nor do you ever hear any scolding amongst
them. They say the Europeans are always rang-

OP NORTH CAROLINA. 293

ling and uneasy, and wonder tliey do not go out
of this world, since they are so uneasy and discon-
tented in it. All their misfortunes and losses end
in laghter ; for if their cabins take lire, and all their
goods are burnt therein (indeed, all will strive to pre-
vent farther damage whilst there is any possibility)
yet such a misfortune ends in a hearty fit of laughter,
unless some of their kinsfolks and friends have lost
their lives ; but then the case is altered, and they
become very pensive, and go into deep mourning,
which is continued for a considerable time ; some-
times longer or shorter, according to the dignity
of the person, and the number of relations he had
near him.

The burial of their dead is performed with a
great deal of ceremony, in which one nation dif-
fers in some few circumstances from another, yet
not so much but we may, by a general relation,
pretty nearly account for them all.

When an Indian is dead the greater person lie
was, the more expensive is his funeral. The first
thing which is done, is to place the nearest rela-
tions near the corps, who mourn and weep very
much, having their hair hanging down their shoul-
ders in a very forlorn manner. After the dead
person has lain a day and a night in one of their
hurdles of canes, commonly in some out house
made for that purpose, those that officiate about
the funeral go into the town, and the first young
men they meet withal, that have blankets or match
coats on, whom they think fit for their turn, they

294 lawson'b history

strip them from their backs, who suffer them so
to do without any resistance. In these they wrap
the dead bodies, and cover them with two or three
mats which the Indians make of rushes or cane ;
and, last of all, they have a long web of woven
reeds or hollow canes, which is the coffin of the
Indians, and is brought round several times and
tied fast at both ends, which, indeed, looks very
decent and well. Then the corps is brought out
of the house into the orchard of peach trees, where
another hurdle is made to receive it, about which
comes all the relations and nation that the dead
person belonged to, besides several from other na-
tions in alliance with them ; all which sit down
on the ground upon mats spread there for that
purpose; where the doctor or conjurer appears ;
and, after some time, makes a sort of o-yes, at
which all are very silent, then he begins to give
an account who the dead person was, and how
'^tout a man he approved himself; how many ene-
mies and captives he had killed and taken ; how
strong, tall, and nimble he was ; that he was a
great hunter ; a lover of his country, and possess-
ed of a great many beautiful wives and children,
esteemed the greatest of blessings among these
savages, in which they have a true notion. Thus
this orator runs on, highly extoling the dead man
for his valor, conduct, strength, riches, and good
humor; and enumerating his guns, slaves, and al-
most everything he was possessed of when living.
After which he addresses himself to the people of

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 295

that town or nation, and bids them supply the
dead man's place by following his steps, who, he
assures them, is gone into the country of souls,
which they think lies a great way off in this world
which the sun visits in his ordinary course, and that
he will have the enjoyment of handsome young
women, great store of deer to hunt, never meet
with hunger, cold or fatigue, but every thing to
answer his expectation and desire. This is the
heaven thej propose to themselves ; but, on the
contrary, for those Indians that are lazy, thievish
amongst themselves, bad hunters, and no warriors,
nor of much use to the nation, to such they allot,
in the next world, hunger, cold, troubles, old ugly
women for their companions, with snakes, and all
sorts of nasty victuals to feed on. Thus is marked
out their heaven and 'hell. After all this harangue
he diverts the people with some of their traditions,
as when there was a violent hot summer, or very
hard winter ; wlien any notable distempers raged
amongst them ; when the}^ were at war with such
and such nations ; how victorious they were ; and
what were the names of their war captains. To
prove the times more exactly, he produces the re*
cords of the country, which are a parcel of reeds
of different lengths, with several distinct marks,
known to none but themselves, by which they
seem to guess very exactly at accidents that hap-
pened many years ago ; nay, two or three ages or
more. The reason I have to believe what they
tell me on this account, is, because I have been at

^

K

lawson's history

the meetings of several Indian nations, and they
agreed, in relating the same circumstances as to
time, very exactly ; as for example, they say there
was so hard a winter in Carolina one hundred and
■Qye years ago, that the great sound was frozen
over, and the wild geese came into the woods to
eat acorns, and that they were so tame, I suppose
through want, that they killed abundance in the
woods by knocking them on the head with sticks.
But to return to the dead man. "When this long
tale is ended, by Jiim that spoke first ; perhaps
a second begins another long story ; so a third,
and fourth, if there be so many doctors present ;
v/hich all tell one and the same thing. At last
the corps is brought away from that hurdle to the
grave by four young men, attended by the rela-
tions, the king, old men, and all the nation. "When
they come to the sepulcre, which is about six feet
deep and eight feet long, having at each end, that
is, at the head and feet, a lightv/ood or pitch pine
fork driven close down the sides of the grave firm-
ly into the ground ; these two forks are to contain
a ridge pole, as you shall understand presently,
before they lay the corps into the grave, they cov-
er the bottom two or three times over Avith bark
of trees, then they let down the corps with two
belts, that the Indians carry their burdens withal,
very leisurely upon the said bark ; then the}^ lay
over a pole of the same wood in the two forks, and
having a great many pieces of pitch pine logs,
about two feet and a half long, they stick them in

01' NORTH CAROLINA. 297

tlie sides of the grave down each end and near the
top thereof, where the other ends lie on the ridge
pole, so that they are declining like the roof of a
house. These being very thick placed, they cover
them many times double with bark, then they
throw the earth thereon that came out of the grave,
and beat it down verj^ firm ; by this means the
dead body lies in a vault, nothing touching him ;
so that when I saw this way of burial I was mighti-
ly pleased with it^ esteeming it very decent and
pretty, as having seen a great many christians bu-
ried without the tenth part of that ceremony and
decency. J^ow, when the flesh is rotted and
moulded from the bone, they take up the carcass
and clean the bones and joint them together; af-
terwards they dress them up in pure white dressed
deer skins^ and lay them amongst their grandees
and kings in the quiogozon, which is their royal
tomb or burial place of their kings and war cap-
tains. This is a very large magniticent cabin, ac-
cording to their building, which is raised at the
public charge of the nation, and maintained in a
great deal of form and neatness. About seven
feet high is a floor or loft made, on which lie all
their princes and great men that have died for
several hundred years, all attired in the dress I
before told you of. No person is to have his bones
lie here, and to be thus dressed, unless he gives a
round sum of their money to the rulers for admit-
tance. If they remove never so far, to live in a
foreign countiy, ihoy never fail to take all these

298 LAWSON^S HISl^ORY

dead bones along with them, though the tedious-
ness of their short daily marches keeps them never
so long on their journey. They reverence and
adore this quiogozon with all the veneration and
respect that is possible for such a people to dis-
charge, and had rather lose all than have any vio-
lence or injury offered thereto.

These savages differ some small matter in their
burials ; some burying right upwards, and other-
wise, as you are acquainted withal in my journal
from South to E'orth Carolina ; yet they all agree
in their mourning, which isj to appear every night
at the sepulchre, and howl and weep in a very
dismal manner, having their faces dawbed over
with lightwood soot, (which is the same as lamp-
black) and bear's oil. This renders them as black
as it is possible to make themselves, so that theirs
very much resemble the faces of executed men
boiled in tar. If the dead person was a grandee,
tojcarry on the funeral ceremonies, they hire people
to cry and lament over the dead man. Of this
sort there are several that practice it for a liveli-
hood, and are very expert at shedding abundance
of tears, and howling like wolves, and so discharg-
ing their office with abundance of hypocrisy and
art. The women are never accompanied with these
ceremonies after death, and to what world they
allot that sex, I never understood, unless to wait
on their dead husbands : but they have more wit
than some of the other eastern nations, who sacrifice
themselves to accompany their husbands into the

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 299

next world. It is the dead man's relations by blood,
as his uncles, brothers, sisters, cousins, sons and
daughters, that mourn in good earnest, the wires
thinking their duty is discharged, and that they
are become free, when their husband is dead ; so
as fast as they can look out for another to supply
his place.

As for the Indian women which now happen in
my way, when young, and at maturity, they are
as fine shaped creatures, take them generally, as
any in the universe. They are of a tawny com-
plexion, their eyes very brisk and amorous, their
smiles afibrd the finest composure a face can pos-
sess, their hands are of the finest make, with
small, long fingers, and as soft as their cheeks,
and their whole bodies of a smooth nature. They
are not so uncouth or unlikely as we suppose them,
nor are they strangers or not proficients in the soft
passion. They are, most of them, mercenary, ex-
cept the married women, who sometimes bestow
their favors also to some or other, in their hus-
band's absence; for which they never ask any re-
ward. As for the report, that they are never found
unconstant, like the Europeans, it is wholly false ;
for were the old world and the new one put into a
pair of scales (in point of constancy) it would be a
hard matter to disc-ern wliich was the heavier. As
for the trading girls, which are those designed to
get mone; by their natural parts, these are dis-
cernable by the cut of their hair ; their tonsure
difiering from all others of that nation, who are

300 lawson's history

not of their profession, which method is intended
to prevent mistakes ; for the savages of America
are desirous (if possible) to keep their wives to
themselves, as vv^ell as those in other parts of the
world. When any addresses are made to one of
these girls, she immediately acquaints her parents
therewith, and they tell the king of it, (provided
he that courts her be a stranger) his majesty com-
monly being the principal bawd of the nation he
rules over, and there seldom being any of these
"Winchester weddings agreed on without his royal
consent. He likewise advises her Avhat bargain
to make, and if it happens to be an Indian trader
that wants a bed fellow and has got rum to sell,
be sure the king must have a large dram for a fee
to confirm the match. These Indians that are of
the elder sort, when any such question is put to
them, will debate the matter amongst themselves
with all the sobriety and seriousness imaginable,
every one of the girl's relations arguing the advan-
tage or detriment that may ensu e such a night's
encounter ; all which is done with as much stea-
diness and reality as if it was the greatest concern
in the world, and not so much as one person shall
be seen to smile, so long as the debate holds, ma-
king no difference betwixt an agreement of this
nature and a bargain of any other. If they com-
ply with the men's desire, then a particular bed is
provided for them, either in a cabin by themselves
or else all the young people turn out to another
lodging, that they may not spoil sport, and if the

OP NORTH CAROLINA. . 301

old people are in the same cabin along with them
all night, they lie as unconcerned as if they were
so many logs of wood. If it be an Indian of their
own town or neighborhood, that wants a mistress,
he comes to none but the girl, who receives what
she thinks fit to ask him, and so lies all night with
him, without the consent of her parents.

The Indian traders are those which travel and
abide amongst the Indians for a long space of time;
sometimes for a year, two, or three. These men
have commonly their Indian wives, whereby they
soon learn the Indian tongue, keep a friendship
with the savages ; and, besides the satisfaction of
a she bed fellow, they find these Indian girls very
serviceable to them, on account of dressing their
victuals, and instructing them in the affairs and
customs of the country. Moreover, such a man
gets a great trade with the savages ; for when a
person that lives amongst them, is reserved from
the conversation of their women, tis impossible for
him ever to accomplish his designs amongst that
people.

But one great misfortune which oftentimes attends
those that converse with these savage women, is,
that they get children by them, which are seldom
educated any otherwise than in a state of infideli-
ty ; for it is a certain rule and custom, amongst all
the savages of America, that I was ever acquain-
ted withal, to let the children always fall to the
woman's lot; for it often happens, that two Indians
that have lived together, as man and wife, in whirl i

Al4

^2 ^ lawson's history

time they have liad several children ; if they part,
and another man possesses her, all the children go
along with the mother, and none with the father.
And therefore, on this score it ever seems impos-
sible for the christians to get their children (which
they have by these Indian women) away from them ;
whereby they might bring them up in the knowl-
edge of the christian principles. Nevertheless, we
often find, that English men, and other Europeans
that have been accustomed to the conversation of
these savage women, and their way of living, have
been so allured with that careless sort of life, as to
be constant to their Indian wife, and her relations,
so long as they lived, without ever desiring to return
again amongst the English, although they had very
fair opportunities of advantages amongst their
countrymen ; of which sort I have known several.

As for the Indian marriages, I have read and
heard of a great deal of form and ceremony used,
which I never saw ; nor yet could learn in the
time I have been amongst them, any otherwise
than I shall here give you an account of, which is
as follows :

When any young Indian has a mind for such a
girl to his wife, he, or some one for him, goes to
the young woman's parents, if living ; if not, to
her nearest relations, where they make offers of
the match betwixt the couple. The relations re-
ply, they will consider of it ; which serves for a
sufficient answer, till there be a second meeting
about the marriage, which is generally brought

JLk

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 308

into debate before all the relations, that are old
people, on both sides, and sometimes the king
with all his great men, give their opinions therein.
If it be agreed on, and the young woman approve
thereof, for these savages never give their children
in marriage without their own consent, the man
pays so much for his wife ; and the handsomer
she is the greater price she bears. ISTow, it often
happens, that the man has not so much of their
money ready as he is to pay for his wife ; but if
they know him to be a good hunter, and that he
can raise the sum agreed for, in some few moons,
or any little time they agree, she shall go along
with him as betrothed, but he is not to have any
knowledge of her till the utmost payment is dis-
charged ; all which is punctually observed. Thus
they lie together under one covering for several
months, and the woman remains the same as she
was when she first came to him. I doubt our Eu-
ropeans would be apt to break this custom, but
the Indian men are not so vigorous and impatient
in their love as we are. Yet the women are quite
contrary, and those Indian girls that have con-
versed with the English and other Europeans,
never care for the conversation of their own coun-
trymen after\vards.

They never marry so near as a first cousin, and
although there is nothing more coveted amongst
them than to marry a woman of their own nation,
yet when the nation consists of a very few people,
as nowadays it often happens, so that they are all

g04 LAWSON's HISTTORr

of them related to one another, then thej^ look out
for husbands and wives amongst strangers. For
if an Indian lies with his sister, or any very near
relation, his body is burnt, and his ashes thrown
into the river, as unworthy to remain on earth ;
yet an Indian is allowed to marry two sisters, or'
his brother's wife. Although these people are
called savages, yet sodomy is never heard of
amongst them, and they are so far from the prac-
tice of that beastly and loathsom.e sin, that they
have no name for it in all their language.

The marriages of these Indians are no farther
binding than the man and woman agree together.
Either of them has liberty to leave the other upon
any frivolous excuse they can make, yet whoso-
ever takes the woman that was another man's be-
fore, and bought by him, as they all are, must cer-
tainly pay to her former husband whatsoever he
gave for her. l!^ay, if she be a widow", and her
Imsband died in debt, whosoever takes her to wife
pays all her husband's obligations, though never
so many ; yet the woman is not required to pay
anything, unless she is w^illing, that was owing
from her husband, so long as she keeps single.
But if a man courts her for a night's lodging and
obtains it, the creditors will make him pay her
husband's debts, and he may, if he will, take her
for his money, or sell her to another for his wife.
I have seen several of these bargains driven in a
day ; for you may see men selling their wives as
men do horses in a fair, a man being allowed not

L

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 305

only to change as often as he pleases, but likewise
to have as many wives as he is able to maintain. I
have often seen that very old Indian men, that have
been grandees in their own nation, have had three
or four very likel}^ young Indian wives, which I
have much wandered at, because, to me, they seem-
ed incapacitated to make good use of one of them.

The young men will go in the night from one
house to another to visit the young women, in
A\'hich sort of rambles they will spend the wliole
night. In their addresses they find no delays, for
if she is willing to entertain the man, she gives
him encouragement and grants him admittance ;
otherwise she withdraws her face from him, and
says, I cannot see you, either you or I must leave
this cabin and sleep somewhere else this night.

They are never to boast of their intrigues with
the women. If they do, none of the girls value
them ever after, or admit of their company in
their beds. This proceeds not on the score of
reputation, for there is no such thing, on that ac-
count, known amongst them ; and although we
may reckon them the greatest libertines and most
extravagant in their embraces, yet they retain and
possess a modesty that requires those passions
never to be divulged.

The trading girls, after they have led that course

of life, for several years, in which time thc}^ scarce

ever have a chikl ; (for they have an art to destroy

the conception, and slie that brings a child in this

lation, is accounted a fool, and her reputation is

306 lawson's history

lessened thereby) at last they grow weary of so
many, and betake themselves to a married state,
or to the company of one man ; neither does their
having been common to so many any wise lessen
their fortunes, but rather augment them.

The woman is not punished for adultery, but tis
the man that makes the injured person satisfaction,
which is the law of nations practised amongst them
all ; and he that strives to evade such satisfaction
as the husband demands, lives daily in danger of
his life ; yet when discharged, all animosity is laid
aside, and the cuckold is very well pleased with
his bargain, whilst the rival is laughed at by the
whole nation, for carrying on his intrigue with no
better conduct, than to be discovered and ^Day so
dear for his pleasure.

The Indians say, that the woman is a weak
creature, and easily drawn away by the man's per-
suasion ; for which reason, they lay no blame upon
her, but the man (that ought to be master of his
passion) for persuading her to it.

They are of a very hale constitution ; their
breaths are as sweet as the air they breathe in, and
the woman seems to be of that tender composition,
as if they were designed rather for the bed than
bondage. Yet their love is never of that force
and continuance, that any of them ever runs mad,
or makes away with themselves on that score.
They never love beyond retrieving their first in-
dififerency, and when slighted, are as ready to un-
tie the knot at one end, as you are at the other.

L

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 307

Yet I knew an European man that had a child
or two by one of these Indian women, and after-
wards married a christian, after which he came to
pass away a night with his Indian mistress ; but
she made answer that she then had forgot she ever
knew him, and that she never lay with another
woman's husband, so fell a crying, and took up the
child she had by him, and went out of the cabin
(away from him) in great disorder.

The Indian women's work is to cook the victuals
for the whole family, and to make mats, baskets,
girdles, of possum hair, and such like. They
never plant the corn amongst us, as they do
amongst the Iroquois, who are always at war and
hunting ; therefore, the plantation work is left for
the women and slaves to perform, and look after ;
whilst they are wandring all over the continent
betwixt the two bays of Mexico and St Laurence.

The mats the Indian women make, are of rushes,
and about ^yq feet high, and two fathom long, and
sewed double, that is, two together ; whereby
they become very commodious to lay under our
beds, or to sleep on in the summer season in the
day time, and for our slaves in the night.

There are other mats made of flags, which the
Tusker uro Indians make, and sell to the inhab-
itants.

The baskets our neighboring Indians make are
all made of a very fine sort of bulrushes, and some-
times of sijk grass, which they work with figures
of beasts, birds, fishes, &c.

308 LAWSON'S HISTORY

A great way up in tlie country, both baskets
and mats are made of the split reeds, which are
only the outward shining part of the cane. Of
these I have seen mats, baskets, and dressing box-
es, very artificially done. 7

The savage women of America have very easy
travail with their children. Sometimes they bring
twins, and are brought to bed by themselves,
when took at a disadvantage ; not but they have
midwives amongst them, as well as doctors who
make it their profession (for gain) to assist and de
liver women, and some of these midwives are very
knowing in several medicines that Carolina affords,
which certainly expedite, and make easy births.
Besides, they are unacquainted with those severe
pains which follow the birth in our European wo-
men. Their remedies are a great cause of this ea-
siness in that state ; for the Indian w^omen will
run up and down the plantation the same day^
very briskly, and without any sign of pain or
sickness ; yet they look very meagre and thin.
ISTot but that we must allow a great deal owing to
the climate and the natural constitution of these
women, whose course of nature never visits them in
such quantities, as the European women have.
And though they never want plenty of milk, yet
I never saw an Indian woman with very large
breasts ; neither does the youngest wife ever fail
of proving so good a nurse as to bring her child
up free from the rickets and disasters that proceed
from the teeth, with many other distempers which

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 309

attack our infants in England, and other parts of
Europe. They let their children suck till they are
well grown, unless they prove big with cliild soon-
er. They always nurse their own children tliem-
selves, unless sickness or death prevents. I once
saw a nurse hired to give suck to an Indian wo-
man's child, wdiich you have in 1113^ journal. After
delivery, they absent the company of a man for
forty daj'S. As soon as the child is born, they
wash it in cold water at the next stream and then
bedawb it, as I have mentioned before. After
which the husband takes care to provide a cradle,
which is soon made, consisting of a piece of flat
wood, which they hew with their hatches to the
thickness of a board ; it is about two feet long,
and a foot broad ; to tliis they brace and tie the
child down very close, having near the middle, a
stick fastened about two inches from the board,
which is for the child's. breech to rest upon, under
wliich they put a wad of moss that receives the
child's excrements, by which means they can shift
the moss and keep all clean and sweet. Some na-
tions have very flat heads, as you have heard in
my journal, which is made whilst tied on this era-
' die, as that relation informed you. These cradles
are apt to make the body flat ; yet they are the
most portable things that can be invented, for there
is a string which goes from one corner of the board
to the other, whereby the mother flings her child
on her back ; so the infant's back is towards hers,
and its face looks up towards the sky. If it rains

Bl4

i

310 lawson's history

she throws her leather or woolen match coat, over
her head, which covers the child all over, and se-
cures her and it from the injuries of rainy w^eather.
The savage women quit all company, and dress
not their own victuals during their purgations.

After they have had several children, they grow
strangely out of shape in their bodies ; as for bar-
renness, I never knew any of their women that
have not children when married.

The women's dress is, in severe weather, a hai-
ry match coat in the nature of a plad, which keeps
out the cold, and, as I said before, defends their
children from the prejudices of the weather. At
other times they have only a sort of flap or apron
containing two yards in length, and better than
half a yard deep. Sometimes it is a deer skin
dressed white, and pointed or slit at the bottom,
like fringe. When this is clean it becomes them
very well. Others wear blue, or red flaps, made
of bays and plains, which they buy of the English,
of both which they tuck in the corners, to fasten
the garment, and sometimes make it part ^vith a
belt. All of them, when ripe, have a small string
round the waist, to which another is tied and comes
between their legs, where always is a wad of moss
against the ospubis, but never any hair is there to
be found. Sometimes they wear Indian shoes or
moggizons, which are made after the same man-
ner as the men's are.

The hair of their heads is made into a long roll
like a horses tail, and bound round with ronoak,

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 311

Of porcelaii, which is a sort of beads they make of
the conk shells. Others that have not this make
a leather string serve.

The Indian men have a match coat of hair,
furs, feathers, or cloth, as the women have. Their
hair is rolled up on each ear, as the women's only
much shorter, and oftentimes a roll on the crown
of the head, or temples, which is just as they fan-
cy, there being no strictness in their dress. Be-
twixt their legs comes a piece of cloth, that is tuck-
ed in by a belt, both before and behind. This is
to hide their nakedness, of which decency they
are very strict observers, although never practiced
before the christians came amongst them. They
wear shoes of buck's and sometimes bear's skin,
which they tan in an hour or two, with the bark
of trees boiled, wherein they put the leather
whilst hot, and let it remain a little while, where-
by it becomes so qualified as to endure water and
dirt, without growing hard. These have no heels,
and are made as fit for the feet as a glove is for
the hand, and are very easy to travel in when one
is a little used to them. When these savages live
near the water, they frequent the rivers in summer
time very much, where both men and women very
often in a day go in naked to wash themselves,
though not both sexes together.

Their feather match coats are very pretty, espe-
cially some of them, which are made extraordina-
ry charming, containing several pretty figures
wrought in feathers, making them seem like a

812 LAWSON^S HISTOKY

fine flower silk shag ; and when new and fresh^
they become a bed very well, instead of a quilt.
Some of another sort are made of hair, raccoon,
bever, or squirrel skins, which are very warm.
Others again are made of the green part of the
skin of a mallard's head, which they sew perfectly
well together, their thread being either the sinews
of a deer divided very small, or silk grass. "When
these are finished, they look very finely, though
they must needs be very troublesome to make.
Some of their great men, as rulers and such, that
have plenty of deer skins by them, will often buy
the English made coats, which they wear on festi-
vals and other days of visiting. Yet none ever
buy any breeches, saying, that they are too much
confined in them, which prevents their speed in
running, &c.

"We have some Indians that are more civilized
than the rest, which wear hats, shoes, stockings,
and breeches, with very tolerable linnen shirts,
which is not common amongst these heathens.
The Paspitank Indians did formerly keep cattle
and make butter.

These are them that wear the English dress.
"Whether they have cattle now or no, I am not
certain, but I am of the opinion that such inclina-
tions in the savages should meet with encoura^e-
m.ent, and every Englishman ought to do them
justice and not defraud them of their land, which
has been allotted them formerly by the govern-
ment ; for if we do not show them examples of

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 313

justice and virtue, we can never bring them to be-
lieve us to be a worthier race of men than them-
selves.

The dresses of these people are so diflerent, ac-
cording to the nation that they belong to, that it
is impossible to recount all the whimsical figures
that they sometimes make by their antic dresses.
Besides, Carolina is a warm country, and very
mild in its winters to what Virginia, Maryland,
Pensylvania, New York, the Jersies, and 'New
England are ; wherefore our Indian's habit very
much difibrs from the dresses that appear amongst
the savages who inhabit those cold countries ; in
regard their chiefest clothing for the winter sea-
sons is made of the furs of beever, raccoon and
other northern furs, that our climate is not ac-
quainted withal, they producing some furs as the
monack, moor, marten, black fox, and others to U3
unknown.

Their dress in peace and war is quite diiFerent.
Besides, when they go to war, their hair is combed
out by the women and done over very much with
bear's grease and red root, with feathers, wings,
rings, copper, and peak, or wampum in their ears.
Moreover, they buy vermillion of the Indian tra-
ders, wherewith they paint their faces all over red,
and commonly make a circle of black about one
eye and another circle of white about the other,
whilst others bedawb their faces with tobacco pipe
clay, lamp black, black lead, and divers other col-
ors, which they make with the several sorts of

314 LAWSON^S HISTORY

minerals and earths tliat they get in different parts
of the country, where they hunt and travel. When
these creatures are thus painted, they make the
most frightful figures that can be imitated b}^ men,
and seem more like devils than human creatures.
You may be sure that they are about some mis-
chief when you see them thus painted ; for in all
the hostilities which have ever been acted against
the English at any time in several of the planta-
tions of America, the savages always appeared in
this disguise, whereby they might never after be
discovered or known by any of the christians that
should happen to see them after they had made
their escape ; for it is impossible ever to know an
Indian under these colors, although he has been
at your house a thousand times, and you know
him at other times as well as you do any person
living. As for their w^omen, they never use any
paint on their faces ; neither do they ever carry
them along with them into the field, when they
intend any expedition, leaving them at home with
the old men and children.

Some of the Indians wear great bobs in their
ears, and sometimes in the holes thereof they put
eagles and other birds, feathers, for a trophy.
When they kill any fowl, they commonly pluck
off the downy feathers, and stick them all over
their heads. Some (both men and women) wear
great necklaces of their money made of shells.
They often wear bracelets made of brass, and
sometimes of iron wire.

L

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 315

Their money is of different sorts, but all made
of shells, which are found on the coast of Carolina,
which are very large and hard, so that they are
very difficult to cut. Some English smiths have
tried to drill this sort of shell money, and there
by thought to get an advantage ; but it proved so
hard, that nothing could be gained. They often-
times make, of this shell, a sort of gorge, which
they w^ear about their neck in a string ; so it hangs
on their collar, whereon semetimes is engraven a
cross, or some odd sort of figure, which comes next
in their fancy. There are other sorts valued at a
doe skin, yet the goi'ges will sometimes sell for
three or four buck skins ready dressed. There be
others, that eight of them go readily for a doe skin ;
but the general and current species of all the In-
dians in Carolina, and, I believe, all over the con-
tinent, as far as the bay of Mexico, is that which
we call Peak and Ronoak ; but Peak more espe-
cially. This is that which at IN'ew York, they call
w^ampum, and have used it as current money
amongst the inhabitants for a great many years.
This is what many writers call porcelan, and is
made in IS'ew York in great quantities, and with
us in some measure. Five cubits of this purchase
a dressed doe skin, and seven or eight purchase a
dressed buck skin. An Englishman could not af-
ford to make so much of this wampum for five or
ten times the value ; for it is made out of a vast
great shell, of which that country affords plenty;
where it is ground smaller than the small end of a

J

316 lawson's history

tobacco pipe, or a large wlieat straw. Four or five
of these make an inch, and every one is to be drill-
ed throngli, and made as smooth as glass, and so
strung, as beads are, and a cubit of the Indian
measure contains as much in length, as will reach
from the elbow to the end of the little finger.
They never stand to question, whether it is a tall
man or a short man, that measures it ; but if this
wampum peak be black or purple, as some part of
that shell is, then it is twice the value. This the
Indians grind on stones and other things, till they
make it current but the drilling is the most diffi-
cult to the Englishmen, vvdiich the Indians manage
with a nail stuck in a cane or reed. Thus they
roll it continually on their thighs, Avith their right
hand holding the bit of shell with their left, so in
time they drill a hole quite through it, which is a
very tedious work ; but especially in making their
ronoak, four of which will scarce make one length
of wampum. The Indians are a people that never
value their time, so that they can afford to make
them, and never need to fear the English will take
the trade out of their hands. This is the money
w^ith which you may buy skins, furs, slaves, or any
thing the Indians have; it being the mammon (as
our money is to us) that entices and persuades
them to do any thing, and part with every thing
they possess, except their children for slaves. As
for their wives, they are often sold, and their
daughters violated for it. With this they buy off
murders ; and whatsoever a man can do that is ill,

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 317

this wampum will quit liim of, and make liim, in
their opinion, good and virtuous, though never so
black before.

All the Indians give a name to their chiklren,
which is not the same as the father or mother, but
Avliat they fancy. This name they keep, (if boys)
till they arrive to the age of a warrior, which is
sixteen or seventeen years ; then they take a name
to themselves, sometimes, eagle, panther, allega-
tor, or some such wild creature, esteeming noth-
ing on earth worthy to give them a name, but these
wild fowl, and beasts. Some again take the name
of a fish, which they keep as long as they live.

The king is the ruler of the nation, and has oth-
ers under him, to assist him, as his war captains,
and counsellors, who are picked out and chosen
from among the ancientest men of the nation he is
king of. These meet him in all general councils
and debates, concerning war, peace, trade, hun-
ting, and all the adventures and accidents of hu-
man afiairs, which appear within their verge ;
where all afiairs are discoursed of and argued pro
and con, very deliberately (without making any
manner of parties or divisions) for the goodof tho
public ; for, as they meet there to treat, they dis-
charge their duty with all the integrity imagina-
ble, never looking towards their own interest, be-
fu'e the public good. Alter every man has given
his opinion, that which has most voices, or, in
iimming up, is found the most reasonable, that
they make use of without any jars and wrangling.

318 lawson's history

and put it in execution, the first opportunity that
ofiers.

The succession falls not to the king's son, but to
his sister's son, which is a sure way to prevent im-
postors in the succession. Sometimes they poison
the heir to make way for another, which is laot
seldom done, when they do not approve of the
youth that is to succeed them. The king himself
is commonly chief Dr. in that cure.

They are so well versed in poison, that they
are often found to poison whole families ; nay,
most of a town ; and which is most to be admired,
they will poison a running spring or fountain of
water, so that whosoever drinks thereof, shall in-
fallibly die. When the offender is discovered, hig
very relations urge for death, whom nothing will
appease, but the most cruel torment imaginable
which is executed in the most public manner that
it is possible to act such a tragedy in. For all the
whole nation, and all the Indians within a hundred
miles, if it is possible to send for them, are sum-
moned to come and appear at such a place and
time, to see and rejoice at the torments and death
of such a person, who is the common and professed
enemy to all the friendly Indians thereabouts, who
now lies under the condemnation of the whole na-
tion, and accordingly is to be put to death. Then
all appear, young and old, from all the adjacent
parts, and meet, with all the expressions of joy, to
consummate this horrid and barbarous feast, which
is carried on after this dismal manner. First,

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 319

they bring the j)risoner to the place appointed for
the execution, where he is set down on his breech
on the ground. Then they all get about him and
you shall not see one sorrowful or dejected coun-
tenance amongst them, but all very merrily dis-
posed, as if some comedy was to be acted instead of
a tragedy. He that is appointed to be the chief exe-
cutioner, takes a knife and bids him hold out his
hands^ which he does, and then cuts round the wrist
through the skin, which is drawn off like a glove,
and flead quite off at the fingers' ends, then they
break his joints and bones, and buffet and tor-
ment him after a very inhuman manner, till some
violent blow perhaps ends his days ; then they
burn him to ashes and throw them down the river.
Afterwards th.Qy eat, drink and are merry, repea-
ting all the actions of the tormentors and the pris-
oner, with a great deal of mirth and satisfaction.
This accusation is laid against an Indian hero
sometimes wrongfully, or when they have a mind
to get rid of a man that has more courage and
conduct than his neighboring kings or great men ;
then they alledge the practice of poisoning In-
dians against him, and make a rehearsal of every
Indian that died for a year or two, and say that
they were poisoned by such an Indian ; which re-
ports stir up all the relations of tlic deceased
against the said person, and by such means make
him away presently. In some aff'airs, these sava-
ges are very reserved and politic, and will attend
a long time with a great deal of patience to bring

320 lawson's history

about their designs ; tliey being never impatient
or hasty in executing any of their designs of re-
venge.

]!l»fow I am gone so far in giving an account of
the Indian's temper, I will proceed, and can give
you no other character of them, but that they are
a very wary people, and are never hasty or impa-
tient. They will endure a great many misfor-
tunes, losses, and disappointments without show-
ing themselves, in the least, vexed or uneasy.
"When they go by water, if there proves a head
wind, they never vex and fret as the Europeans
do, and let what misfortune come to them as will
or can happen, they never relent. Besides, there
is one vice very common everywhere, which I
never found amongst them, which is, en^^-^ing oth-
er men's happiness, because their station is not
equal to, or above their neighbors. Of this sin I
cannot say I ever saw an example, though they
are a people that set as great a value upon them-
selves, as any sort of men in the world, upon which
accountthey find something valuable in themselves
above riches. Thus, he that is a good warrior is
the proudest creature living ; and he that is an
expert hunter, is esteemed by the people and him-
self; yet all these are natural virtues and gifts,
and not riches, which are as often in the posses-
sion of a fool as a wise man. Several of the In-
dians are possessed of a great many skins, wam-
pum, ammunition, and what other things are es-
teemed riches amongst them ; yet such an Indian

OP NORTir CAROLI^U. ^21

is no more esteemed amongst tliem, than anj^ oth-
er ordinary fellow, provided he has no personal
endowments which are the ornaments that must
gain him an esteem among them ; for a great deal-
er amongst the Indians, is no otherwise respected
and esteemed than as a man that strains his wits
and fatigues himself to furnish others with neces-
saries of life that live much easier and enjoy more
of the world than he himself does with all his ]}e\t\
If they are taken captives and expect a miserable
exit, they sing ; if death approach them in sick-
ness, they are not afraid of it ; nor are ever heard
to say, grant me some time. They know by in-
stinct, and daily example, that they must die;
wherefore they have that great and noble gift to
submit to everything that happens, and vahie noth-
ing that attacks them.

Their cruelty to their prisoners of war is what
they are seemingly guilty of an error in, I mean
as to a natural failing, because they strive to in-
vent the most inhuman butcheries for them that
the devils themselves could invent or hammer out
of hell ; they esteeming death no punishment, but
rather an advantage to him, that is exported out
of this into another world.

Therefore, they inflict on them torments, where-
in the}" prolong life in that miserable state as long
as they can, and never miss skulping of them as
they call it, w^hich is, to cut off the skin from the
temples and taking the whole head of hair
along with it, as if it was a night-cap. Sometimes

J

L

S22 lawson'b history

they take the top of the skull along with it ; all
which they preserve and carefully keep by them,
for a trophy of their conquest over their enemies.
Others keep their enemies teeth which are taken
in war, whilst others split the pitch pine into splin-
ters, and stick them into the prisoner's body yet
alive. Thus they light them which burn like so
many torches ; and in this manner they make
him dance round a great fire, every one buffeting
and deriding him, till he expires, when every one
strives to get a bone or some relic of this unfor-
tuate captive. One of the young fellows that has
been at the wars, and has had the fortune to take
a captive, returns the proudest creature on earth,
and sets such a value on himself, that he knows
not how to contain himself in his senses. The
Iroquois, or Sinnagars, are the most war-like In-
dians that we know of, being always at war, and
not to be persuaded from that way of living by
any argument that can be used. If you go to
persuade them to live peaceably with the Tuskeru-
ros, and let them be one people, and in case
those Indians desire it and will submit to them,
they will answer you that they cannot live with-
out war, which they have ever been used to;
and that if peace be made with the Indians they
now war withal, they must find out some others
to wage war against ; for, for them to live in peace
is to live out of their element, war, conquest, and
murder, being what they delight in, and value
themselves for. When they take a slave and in-

OJP NORTH CAROLINA. 323

tend to keep him to work in their fields, they flea
the skin from the setting on of his toes to the mid-
dle of his foot, so cut off one half of his feet, wrap-
ping the skin over the wounds, and healing them.
By this cruel method, the Indian captive is hinder-
ed from making his escape, for he can neither run
fast or go anywhere, but his feet are more easily
traced and discovered. Yet I know one man who
made his escape from them, though they had thus
disabled him, as you may see in my journal.

The Indians ground their wars on enmity, not
on interest, as the Europeans generally do ; for the
loss of the meanest person in the nation, they will
go to war and lay all at stake, and prosecute their
designs to the utmost, till the nation they were in-
jured by, be wholly destroyed, or make them that
satisfaction which they demand. They are very
politic in waging and carrying on their war : first,
by advising with all the ancient men of conduct and
reason, that belong to their nation ; such as super-
annuated war captains, and those that have been
counsellors for many years, and whose advice
has commonly succeeded very well. They have
likewise their field counsellors, who are accus-
tomed to ambuscades and surprises, which meth-
ods are commonly used by the savages, for I scarce
ever heard of a field battle fought amongst them.

One of their expeditions afforded an instance,
worthy mention, which was thus ; two nations of
Indians here in Carolina were at war together, and
a party of each were in the forest ranging to see

^24 LAATSON^S HISTOriY

what enemies they could take. The lesser num-
ber found they were discovered, and could not well
get over a river, (that lay between them and their
home) without engaging the other party, whose
numbers were much the greater ; so they called a
council, which met, and having weighed their
present circumstances with a great deal of argu«
ment and debate, for a considerable time, and
found their enemies advantage, and that they
could expect no success in engaging such an une-
qual number ; they, at last, concluded on this stra-
tagem, which, in my opinion, carried a great deal
of policy along with it. It was, that the same
night, they should make a great fire, which they
were certain would be discovered by the adverse
party, and there dress up logs of wood in their
cloths, and make them exactly seem like Indians,
that were asleep by the fireside ; (which is their
way, when in the woods) so,, said they, our ene-
mies will fire upon these images, supposing them
to be us, who w^ill lie in ambuscade, and, after
their guns are unloaded, shall deal well enough
with them. This result was immediately put in
execution, and the fire was made by the side of a
valley, where they lay perdu very advantageously.
Thus, a little before break of day, (which common-
ly is the hour they surprise their enemies in) the
Indians came down to their fire, and at once fired in
upon those logs in the Indians clothes, and run up
to them, expecting they had killed every man
dead ; but they found themselves mistaken, for

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 825

then the other ludiaus, who had hiiii all the night
stark naked in the bottom, attacked them with
their loaded pieces, which so surprised them, that
every man was taken prisoner, and brought in
bound to their ^own.

Another instance was betwixt the Machapunga
Indians and the Coranine's on the sand banks ;
which was as follows. The Machapungas were
invited to a feast, by the Coranines ; (which two
nations had been a long time at war together,
and had lately concluded a peace.) Thereupon,
the Machapunga Indians took the advantage of
coming to the Coranines' feast, which was to avoid
all suspicion, and their king, who, of a savage, is
a great politician and very stout, ordered all his
"Tien to carry their tomakawks along with them,
hidlen under their match coats, which they did;
and beiug acquainted when to fall on, by the word
given, they all (upon this design) set forward for
the feast, and came to the Coranine town, where
they had gotten victuals, fruit, and such things as
make a.n Indian entertainment, all' ready to make
these new friends welcome, which they did ; and,
after dinner, towards the evening, (as it is custo-
mary p^mongst them) they went to dancing, all to-
gether ; so when the Machapunga king saw the
host opportunity offer, he gave the word, and his
men pulled their tomahawks or hatchets from un-
der their match coats, and killed several, and took
the rest prisoners, except some few that wore not
present, and about four or five that oseaped. The

J

L

320 LAWSOX*,^ fl I STORY

prisoners tliey sold slaves to the Englisli. At the
time this was done, those Indians had nothing but
bows and arrows, neither side having guns.

The Indians are very revengeful, and never for-
get an injury done, till they liavo received satis-
faction. Yet they are the freest people from heats
and passions (which possess the Europeans) of anj^
I ever heard of. They never call any man tolic-
count for what he did, when he was drunk ; but
say, it was the drink that caused his misbehaviour,
therefore he ought to be forgiven. They never
frequent a christian's house that is given to pas-
sion, nor will the}^ ever buy or sell with him, if
they can get the same commodities of any o-h^^r
person ; for the}^ say, such men are mad woiv
and no more men.

They know not what jealousy is, becai:^^ the .•
never think their wives are unconstant, ur 'e?^ thev
lire eye witnesses thereof. They ar.
ycvj bashful, espeeiall}^ the young lij: •
when they come into a strange cabin, "wl^
are not acquainted, never ask for any thint,.
never so hungry or thirsty, but sit down,
speaking a word, be it never so long, .W
the house asks them a question, or f:
course, with the stranger. I never
amongst them, and to their children ._. . ^

traordinary tender and indulgent ; noithor did j
ever see a parent correct a child, exctpiing ov,r
woman, that was the king's wife, and she indeed,
did possess a temper that is not commonly fonnd

or NORTH CAROLINA. -)-.7

amongst them. They arc free from aH manner of
compliments, except shaking of hands and scratch-
ing on the shoulder, which two are tlie greatest
marks of sincerity and friendship, that can be
shewed one to another. They cannot express fare -
3^ou-well ; but when they leave the house, will say,
I go straightway, which is to intimate their depar-
ture ; and if the man of the house has any mes-
sage to send by the going man, he may acquaint
him therewith. Their tongue allows not to say,
sir, I am your servants ; because they have no dif-
ferent titles for man, only king, war captain, old
man, or young man, which respect the stations and
circumstances men are employed in, and arrived
to, and not ceremony. As for servant, they have
no such thing, except slave, and their dogs, cats,
tame or domestic Ijeasts, and birds, are called by
the same name. For the Indian word for slave
includes them all. So when an Indian tells you he
has got a slave for you, it may, in general terms,
as they use, be a young eagle, a dog, otter, or any
other thing of that nature, which is obsequiously
to depend on the master for its sustenance.

They are never fearful in the night, nor do the
thoughts of spirits ever trouble them ; such as the
many hobgoblins and bug bears that we suck in
with our milk, and the foolery of our nurses and
servants suggest to us ; who by their idle tales of
fairies, and witches, make such impressions on
our tender ears, that at maturity, we carry pigmies'
souls in giants' bodies and ever at'tej*, are thereby

L

328 lawson's history

so much deprived of reason, and unmaned, as
never to be masters of lialf the breavery nature
designed for us.

'Not but that the Indians have as many lying
stories of spirits and conjurers, as any people in
the world ; but they tell it with no disadvantage
to themselves ; for the great esteem which the
old men bring themselves to, is by making the
others believe their familiarity with devils and
spirits, and how great a correspondence they
have therewith, which if it once gains credit, they
ever after are held in the greatest veneration
imaginable, and whatever they after impose upon
the people, is received as infallible. They are so
little startled at the thoughts of another world,
that they not seldom murder themselves ; as for
instance, a Bear river Indian, a very likely young
fellow, about twenty years of age, whose mother
was angry at his drinking of too much rum, and
chid him for it, thereupon replied, he would have
her satisfied, and he would do the like no more ;
upon which he made his words good; for he went
aside, and shot himself dead. This was a son of
the politic king of the Machapunga, I spoke of
before, and has the most cunning of any Indian I
ever met withal.

Most of the savages are much addicted to drunk-
enness, a vice they never were acquainted with,
till the christians came amongst them. Some of
them refrain drinking strong liquors, but very few
of that sort are found amon2:st tliem. Their chief

OF NORTH CAIIOLINA. 329

liquor is rum. witliout any mixture. This tlie
English bring amongst them, and buy skins, furs,
slaves and other of their commodities therewith.
They never are contented with a little, but when
once begun, they must make themselves quite
drunk ; otherwise they will never rest, but sell all
they hare in the world, rather than not have their
full dose. In these drunken frolics, which are
ahvays carried on in the night, they sometimes
murder one another, fall into the fire, fall down
precipices, and break their necks, with several
other misfortunes which this drinking of rum
brings upon tliem ; and though they are sensible
of it, yet they have no power to refrain this ene-
my. About five years ago, when Landgrave
Daniel was governor, he summoned in all the In-
dian kings and rulers to meet, and in a full meet-
ing of the government and council, w^itli those In-
dians, they agreed upon a firm peace, and the In-
dian rulers desired no rum might be sold to them,
which w^as granted, and a law made, that inflicted
a penalty on those that sold rum to the heathens ;
but it was never strictly observed, and besides
the youns: Indians were so diso-asted at that
article, that they threatened to kill the Indians
that made it, unless it was laid aside, and they
might have rum sold them, when they Avent to the
Englishmens' houses to buy it.

Some of the heathens are so very poor that they
have no manner of clothes, save a wad of moss to
hide their nakedness. These are either lusty and

330* lawson's history

will not work ; otherwise they are given to gaming
or drunkenness ; 3'et these get victuals as well as
the rest, because that is common amongst them,
if they are caught in theft they are slaves till they
repay the person, as I mentioned before, but to
steal from the English they reckon no harm, ^ot
but that I have known some few savages that have
been as free from theft as any of the christians.
When they have a design to lie with a woman,
which they cannot obtain any,otherwise than by a
larger reward than they are able to give, they then
strive to make her drunk, which a great many of
them will be ; then they take the advantage to do
with them what they please, and sometimes in
their drunkenness, cut oii their hair and sell, it to
the English, which is the greatest affront can
be offered to them. They never value time ; for
if they be going out to hunt, fish, or any^other in-
different business, jou may keep them in talk as
long as 3^ou please, so you but keep them in dis-
course, and seemed pleased Vv-ith their company ;
yet none are more expeditious and safer messen-
gers than they, when any extraordinar}' business
that they are sent about requires it.

When they are upon traveling the woods, they
keep a constaSt pace, neither will they stride over
a tree that lies cross the path, but always go round
it, which is quite contrary to the custom of the
English and other Europeans. Yvlien they cut
with a knife, the edge is towards them, whereas
wo alwavs cut and whittle from us. Xor did I

L

OF NOnXlI CAllOLINA. . 331

ever see one of tliem left handed. Before the
christians came amongst them, not knowing the
use of steel and flints, they got their fire with
sticks, which by vehement collision or rubbing
together, take fire. This method they will some-
times practice now, when it has happened through
niiny weather, or some other accident, that they
have wet their spunk, w^hich is a sort of soft, corky
substance, generally of a cinnamon color, and
grows in the concave part of an oak, hickory, and
several other woods, being dug out with an axe
and always kept by the Indians, instead of tinder
or touchwood, both which it exceeds. You are
to understand that the two sticks they use to strike
fire withal are never of one sort of wood, but al-
ways difier from each other.

They are expert travelers, and though they have
not the use of our artificial compass, yet they un-
derstand the north point exactly, let them be in
never so great a wilderness. One guide is a short
moss, that grows upon some trees, exactly on the
north side thereof

Besides, they have names for eight of the thirty-
two points, and call the winds by their several
names, as we do ; but indeed more properly : for
the north w^est wind is called the'cold wind; the
north east, the wet wdnd; the south, the warm
wind, and so agreeable of the rest. Sometimes it
happens that they have a large river or lake to
pass over, and the weather is very foggy, as it
often happens in the spring and fill.-of the leaf;

J

832 ' LAWSON S HISTORY

SO that they cannot see which course to steer ; in
such a case, they being on one side of the river
or lake, they know well enough what course such
a place, which they intend for, bears from them.
Therefore, they get a great many sticks and chunks
of wood in their canoe and then set off directly
for their port, and now and then throw over a
piece of wood, vvhich directs them, by seeing how
the stick bears from the canoe stern, which they
always observe to keep right aft ; and this is the
Indian compass^ by which they will go over a
broad water of ten or twenty leagues wide. They
ivill find the head of any river, though it is -^Ye,
six, or seven hundred miles o-&] and they never
were there in their lives before, as is often proved
hj their appointing to meet on the head of such a
river, where, perhaps, none of them ever was
before, but where they shall rendezvous exactly at
the prefixed time ; and if they meet with any ob-
struction, they leave certain marks in the way
where they that come after, will understand how
many have passed by already, and which way they
ar% gone.

Besides, in their war expeditions, they have
very certain hierogl^^Dhics, whereby each party in-
forms the other of the success or losses they have
met withal ; all which, is so exactly performed by
their sylvan marks and characters, that they are
never at a loss to understand one another. Yet
there was never found any letters amongst the sav-
ages of Carolina ; nor I believe, among any other

i

• OF NOHTJI CAROLINA. 333

natives in America, that were possessed with any
manner of writing, or learning thronghout all the
discoveries of the new world. They will draw
maps very exactly of all the rivers, towns, moun-
tains and roads, or what you shall enquire of them,
which you may draw by their directions, and come
to a small matter of latitude, reckoned by their
day's journeys. These maps they will draw in the
ashes of the fire, and sometimes upon a mat or
piece of bark. I have put a pen and ink into a
savage's hand, and he has drawn me the rivers,
bays, and other parts of a country, which after-
wards I have found to agree with a great deal of
nicety. But you must be very much in their fa-
vor, otherwise tliey will never make these discov-
eries to you, especially if it be in their own quar-
ters. And as for mines of silver and other metals,
we are satisfied we have enough, and those very
rich, in Carolina and its adjacent parts. Some of
which the Indians are acquainted withal, although
no enquirers thereafter, but what came and were
discovered by chance ; yet they say it is this
metal that the English covet, as they do their peak
and ronoak, and that we have gained ground of
them wherever we have come. 'Now, say they, if
we should discover these minerals to the English,
they would settle at or near these mountains, and
bereave us of the Ijcst hunting quarters we have,
as they have already done Avherever they have in-
habited ; so by that means we shall be driven to
some unknown country, to live, hunt, and get our

J3l5

o-jJ: LAV>'SO^'S IIISTOIIY #

bread in. These are the reasons that the savages
give for not making known v*^hat they are acqain-
ted withal of that nature. And, indeed, all men
that have ever gone upon those discoveries, allow
tlieni to be good ; more especially my ingenious
friend, Mr. Francis Louis Mitchell, of Bern in Switz-
erland, who has been for several years, very indefat-
gable and strict in his discoveries amongst those vast
ledges of mountains and spacious tracts of land, ly-
ing towards the heads of the great bays and rivers
of Virginia, Maryland and Pensylvania, where he
has discovered a spacious country inhabited by
none but the savages, and not many of them, who
yet are of a very friendly nature to the christians.
This gentleman has been employed by the canton
of Bern to find out a tract of land in the English
America, where that republic might settle some of
their people, which proposal, I believe, is now in a
fair way towards a conclusion betv/een her majesty
of Great Britain and that canton, which must
needs be of great advantage to both ; and as for
ourselves^ I believe no man tliat is in his wits, and
understands the situation and affairs of America,
but will allow. E"othing can be of more security
and advantage to the crown and subjects of Great
Britain, than 'to have our fi'on-tiers, secured by a
warlike people, and our friends, as the Switzers
are, especially when we have more Indians than
we can civilize, and so many christian enemies
lying on the back of us, that we do know not how
long or short a time it may be before they visit us.

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 335

Add to these the effects and produet that may be
expected from those mountaius, which m.aj here-
after prove of great advantage to the British mon-
archy: and none more fit than an industrious peo-
ple, bred in a mountainous country, and inured to
all the fatigues of war and travel, to improve a
country. Thus we have no room to doubt, but as
soon as ajiy of those parts are seated by the Swit-
zers, a great many Britains will strive to live
amongst them, for the benefit of the sweet air and
healthful climate which that country affords, were
it only for the cultivating of hemp, fiax, wine,
and other valuable staples which those people are
fully acquainted withal. l!^ot to mention the ad-
vantages already discovered by that worthy gen-
tleman I just now spoke of, who is highly deserv-
ing of the conduct and management of such an
affair, as that wise canton has intrusted him withal.
When these savages go a hunting, they com-
monly go out in great numbers, and oftentimes
a great many days' journey froni home, beginning
at the coming in of the winter ; that is, when the
leaves are fallen from the trees and arc become
dry. Tfs then they burn the woods by setting
fire to the leaves and withered bent and grass,
which they do with a match made of the black
moss that hangs on tho trees in Carolina, and is
sometimes above six feet long. This, wlicn dead,
becomes black, though of an ash color before, and
will then hold fire as well as the best match we
have in Europe. In places where this moss is not

S36 LAWSON S IXISTOUY

found, as towards tlie mountains, tliej make lin-*
tels of tlie bark of cypress beaten, wliicL serve as
well. Thus tliey go and fire the woods for many
miles, and drive tlie deer and other game into small
necks of land and isthmuses where they kill and
destroy what they please. In these hunting quar-
ters they have their wives and ladies of the camp,
where they eat all the fruits and dainties of that
countiy, and live in all the mirth and jolhty which
it is possible for such people to entertain them-
selves withaL Here it is that they get their com-
pliment of deer skins and furs to trade with the
English, (the deer skins being in season in winter
which is contrary to England.) All small game,
asturkies, ducks and small vermine, they common-
ly kill with bow and arrow, thinking it not worth
throwing powder and shot after them. Of tur=
kies they have abundance, especially in oak land,
as most of it is that lies any distance backwards,
I have been often in their hunting quarters where a
roasted or barbacued turkey, eaten with bear's fat,
is held a good dish, and indeed I approve of itve-
ry well ; for the bear's grease is the sweetest and
least offensive to the stomach, as I said 'before, of
any fat of animals I ever tasted. '-The savage men
never beat their corn to make bread, but that is
the women's work, especially the girls, of whom
you shall see four beating with long great pestils
in a narrow wooden mortar ; and every one keeps
her stroke so exactly, that tis worthy of admira-
tion. Their cookery continues from morning till

L

OF NORTH CAKOLl^U. 337

liiirlit. The liuntino; makes tliem hiin<>:rv, and
the Indians are a people that always eat very of-
ten, not seldom getting np at midnight to eat.
They plant a great many sorts of pulse, part of
which they eat green in the summer, keeping
great quantities for their winter's store, which
tliey carry along with them into the hunting quar-
ters and eat them.

The small red peas is very common with them,
and they eat a great deal of that and other sorts
boiled with their meat or eaten wdth bear's fat,
which food makes them break wind backwards,
Avhich the men frequently do and laugh heartily
at it, it being accounted no ill manners amongst
the Indians — yet the women are more modest
than to follow that ill custom. At their setting
out, they have Indians to attend their hunting
camp that are not good and expert hunters, there-
fore are employed to carry burdens, to get bark
for the cabins, and other servile work ; also to go
backward and forward to their towns, to carry
news to the old people, wdiom they leave behind
them. The women are forced to carry their loads
of grain and other provisions and get fire wood ; '
for a good hunter or warrior in these expeditions,
is employed in no other business than the affairs
of game and battle. The wild fruits which arc
dried in the summer, over fires, on hurdles and
in the sun, are now brought into the field ; as are
likewise the cakes and quiddonies of peaches,
and that fruit and bilberries dried, of which they

^

838 lawson"s HisToiiy

stew and make fruit bread aii'd cakes. In some
parts where pigeons are plentiful, thej get of their
fat enough to supply their winter stores. Thus
they abide in these quarters all the winter long,
till the time approach for planting their maiz
and other fruits.

■'T In these quarters, at .spare hours, the women
make baskets and mats to lie upon, and those that
are not extraordinary hunters, make bowls, dishes
and spoons, of gumwood, and the tulip tree, oth-
ers, where they find a vein of white clay, fit for
their purpose, make tobacco pipes, all wdiich are
often transported to other Indians, that perhaps
have greater plenty of deer and other game^ so
they buy, with these manufactures, their raw skins,
with the hair on, v/hich our neighboring Indians
bring to their towns, and, in the sumiiier time,
make the slaves and sorry hunters dress them, the
winter sun being not strong enough to dry them ;
and those that are dried in the cabins are black
and nasty with the lightwood smoke, which they
commonly burn. Their way of dressing their
; Idns is, by soaking them in water, so they get the
hair off with an instrument made of the bone of
a deer's foot; yet some use a sort of iron drawing
knife, which they purchase of the English, and af-
ter the hair is oft' they dissolve deer's brains, which
before hand are made in a cake and baked in the
embers, in a bowl of water, so soak the skins there-
in till the brains have sucked up the water ; then
they dry it gently, and keep working it with an

or xoivrii CAiioLiNA. 339

oyster shell, or some such tliiiii^, to scrape withal
till it is dry ; whereby it becomes soft and pliable.
Yet these so dressed will not endure wet, but be-
come hard thereby ; which to prevent, they either
cure them in the smoke or tan them with bark, as
before observed ; not but that young Indian corn,
beaten to a pulp, wdll effect the same as the brains.
Tliey are not only good hunters of the wild beasts
and game of the forest, but very expert in taking the
lish of the rivers and waters near Vvdiich they in-
habit, and are acquainted withal. Thus they that
a live, great way up the rivers practice striking stur-
geon and rockfish, or bass, when they come up the
rivers to spawn ; besides the vast shoals of sturgeon
which they kill and take with snares, as we do
pike in Europe. The herrings, in March and
April, run a great way up the rivers and fresh
streams to spaw^n, Avhcre the savages make great
wares with hedges that Innder their passage only
in the middle, where an artificial pond is made to
take them in, so that they cannot return. This
method is in use all over the fresh streams, to
catch trout and the other species of fish which
those parts attord. Tlieir taking of crawfish is so
pleasant, that I cannot pass it by without mention ;
v/hen they have a mind to get these shell fish,
they take a piece of venison and half barbacue or
roast it, then they cut it into thin slices, Avhich
slices they stick through with reeds about six
inches asunder betwixt piece and piece ; then the
rcedo are made sharp at one end ; and ::;o they

340 LAWSON'S IIISTOIIY

stick a great many of tliem down in the bottom of
the water, thus baited, in the small brooks and
runs, which the crawfish frequent. Thus the In-
dians sit by and tend those baited sticks, every
now and then taking them up to see how many
are at the bait ; where they generally find abun-
dance, so take them oli' and put them in a basket
for the purpose, and stick the reeds down again.
By this method, they will, in a little time, catch
several bushels, which are as good as any I ever
eat. Those Indians that frequent the salt waters,
take abundance of fish, some very large and of
several sorts, which to preserve, they first barba-
cue, then pull the fish to pieces, so dry it in the
sun, whereby it keeps for transportation ; as for
scate, oysters, cockles, and several sorts of shell
fish, they open and dry them upon hurdles, hav-
ing a constant fire under them. The hurdles are
made of reeds or canes in the shape of a gridiron.
Thus they dry several bushels of these fish and
keep them for their necessities.

At the time when they are on the salts, and sea
coasts, they have another fishery, that is for a lit-
tle shell fish, which those in England call Black-
moors teeth. These they catch by tying bits of
oysters to a long string, which they lay in such
places, as they know, those shell fish haunt. These
fish get hold of the oysters, and suck them in, so
that they pull up those long strings, and take
great quantities of them, which they carry a great
way into the main land, to trade with the remote

V^

or NORTH CAROLINA. 341

Indians, where tliey are of great value ; but never
near the sea, by reason they are common, there-
fore not esteemed. Besides, the youth and Indi-
an boys go in the night, and one hohling a light-
wood torch, the other has a bow and arrows, and
the lire directing him to fpe the fisli, he shoots
them with the arrows ; and thus they kill a great
many of' the smaller fry, and sometimes pretty
large ones. It is an established custom amongst
all these natives, that the young hunter never eats
of that buck, bear, fish, or any other game, which
happens to be the first they kill of that sort ; be-
cause they believe, if he should eat. thereof, he
would never after be fortunate in hunting. The
like foolish ceremony they hold, when they have
made a ware to take fish withal ; if a big bellied
woman eat of the first dish that is caught in it, they
say, that ware will never take much fish ; and as
for killing of snakes, they avoid it, if they lie in
their way, because their opinion is, that some of
the serpents kindred would kill some of the sav-
ages' relations, that should destroy him. They
have thousands of these foolish ceremonies and
jjeliefs, which they are strict observers of. More-
over, several customs are found in some families,
which others keep not ; as for example, two tami-
lies of the Machapunga Indians, use the Jewish
custom of circumcision, and the rest do not, nei-
ther did I ever know any others amongst the In-
dians that practiced any such thing, and perhaps,
if you aak them, what is the reason they do ^jo,

342 lawson's iiistohy

tliey will make yoii no manner of answer; which
is as much as to say, I will not tell you. Many
other customs they have, for which they will ren-
der no reason or account ; and to pretend to give a
true description of their religon, it is impossible ;
for there are a great many of their absurdities,
which, for some reason, they reserve as a secret
amongst themselves ; or otherwise, they are jeal-
ous of their weakness in the practising them ; so
that they never acquaint any christian with the
knowledge thereof, let writers pretend what they
will ; for I have known them amongst their idols
and dead kings in their Quiogozon for several days,
where I could never get adm.ittance, to see what
they were doing, though I was at great friendship
witli the king and great men ; but all my persua-
sions availed me nothing. ISTeither were any but
the king, with the conjurer, and some few old men,
in that house ; as for the young men, andchiefest
numbers of the Indians, they were kept as igno-
rant of what the elders were doing, as myself.
They all believe, that this world is round, and
that there are two spirits ; the one good, the oth-
er bad. The good one they reckon to be the au-
thor and maker of every thing, and say, that it is
he, that gives them the fruits of the earth, and has
taught them to hunt, fish, and be wise enough to
overpower the beasts of the wilderness, and all
other creatures, that they may be assistant, and
benehcial to man ; to which they add, that the
quera, or good spirit, has been very kind to the

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 843

Englishmen, to teach them to make guns, and
ammunition, besides a great many other necessa-
ries, that are helpful to man, all which, they say
will he delivered to them, when that good spirit
sees fit. The}^ do not believe that Grod punishes
any man either in this life, or that to come ; but that
he delights in doing good, and in giving the fruitr^^
of the earth, and instructing us in making several
useful and ornamental things. They say, it is a
bad spirit, who lives separate from the good one,
that torments us with sicknesses, disappointments,
losses, hunger, travel, and all the misfortunes, that
human life is incident to. How thej- arc treated
in the next world, I have already mentioned, and,
as I said before, they are very resolute in dying,
when in the hands of savao-e enemies ; vet I savv^
one of their young men, a very likely person, con-
demned, on a Sunday, for killing a negro, and
burning the house.

I took good notice of his behavior, when ho
was brought out of the house to die, which was
the next morning after sentence, but he changed
his cofintcnance with trembling, and was in the
greatest fear and agony. I never saw any person
under his circumstances, which perhaps, might bo
occasioned by his being delivered up by his own
nation, (which was the Taskeruros,)'and executed
by us, that are not their common enemies, though
he met with more favor than he would have re-
ceived at the hands of savages ; for he was only
hauired on a trc^^ in\r/ I'm- i.1;iro where the nuir-

344 LAWSOiS['s HISTOKY

der was committed ;. and the three kings, that but
the day before shewed such a reluctance to deliv-
er him up, but would have given another in his
room, when he was hanged, pulled him by the
hand, and said : Thou wilt never play any more
rogue's tricks in this world — whither art thou
^ gone to show thy tricks now ? Which shews
these savages to be what they really are, viz : a
people that will save their own men if they can,
but if the safety of all the people lies at stake,
they will deliver up the most innocent person liv-
ing, and be so far from concern, when they have
made themselves easy thereby, that they will
laugh at their misfortunes, and never pity or think
of them more.

Their priests are the conjurers and doctors of
the nation. I shall mention some of their meth-
ods and practices, and so leave them to the judg-
ment of the reader.

As I told you before, the priests make their ora-
tions at every feast, or other great meeting of the
Indians. I happened to be at one of these great
meetings, which was at the funeral of a Tuskeruro
Indian, that was slain with lightning at a feast the
day before, where I was amongst the rest. It was
in July, and a ver}' fair day, where, in the after-
noon, about six or seven o'clock, as they were
dealing out their victuals, there appeared a little
black cloud to the northwest, which spread and
brought with it rain, wind and lightning ; so Vv^e went
out frojn the place where we were all at victuals.

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 345

and went down to the cabins where I left the In-
dians and went to lie in my canoe, which was con-
venient enough to keep me dry. The lightning
came so terrible and down in long streams, that I
was afraid it would have taken hold of a barrel of
powder I had in my vessel, and so blown me up ;
but it pleased God that it did me no harm ; yet
the violence of the wind had blown all the water
away, where I rid at anchor, so that my canoe lay
dry, and some Indian women came with torches
in their hands to the side of the canoe, and told
me an Indian was killed with lightning. The
next day, I think, he was buried, and I staid to
see the ceremony, and was very tractable to help
the Indians to trim their reeds and make the cof-
fin, which pleased them very much, because I
had a mind to see the interment. Before he was
interred, according to their custom, they dealt
every one some hot victuals, which he took and
did what he would with. Then the doctor began
to talk, and told the people what lightning was,
and that it killed every thing that dwelt upon the
earth ; nciy, the very fishes did not escape ; for it
often reached the porpoises and other fish, and de-
stroyed them ; that everything strove to slum it
except the mice, who, he said, were the busiest
in eating their corn in the fields when it lightened
the most. He added, that no wood or tree could
withstand it, exceptthe black gum, and that it would
run round that tree a great many times to enter
therein, but could not eftcct it. TnTow you mnst

846 lawson's history

understand that sort of gum will not split or rive ;
therefore, I suppose, the story might arise from
thence. At last he began to tell the most ridicu-
lous, absurd parcel of lies about lightning that
could be ; as that an Indian of that nation had
once got lightning in the likeness of a partridge ;
that no other lightning could harm him whilst he
had that about him ; and that after he had kept it
for several years it got away from him ; so that
he tlien became as liable to be struck with light-
ning as any other person. There was present at
the same time an Indian that had lived from his
youth, chiefly in an English house ; so I called to
him and told him what a parcel of lies the conju-
rer told, not doubting but he thought so as well
as I, but I found to the contrary; for he replied,
that I was much mistaken, for that old man, who,
I believe was up\yards of an hundred years old,
did never tell lies ; and as for what he said, it was
verj^ true, for he knew it himself to be so. There-
upon seeing the fellow's ignorance, I talked no
more about it.

Then the doctor proceeded to tell a long tale of
a great rattlesnake, which, a great while ago, lived
by a creek in that I'iver, which was ISTeus, and that
it killed abundance of Indians ; but at last a bald
eagle killed it and they were rid of a serpent that
used to devour whole canoes full of Indians at a
time.

I have been something tedious upon this subject,
on purpose to show what strange, ridiculous stories

OV NORTH LA^ujiAAA. -.>4.

these wretclies are inclinable to believe. I suppose
these doctors understand a little better themselves,
than to give credit to any such fooleries ; for I
reckon them the cunningest knaves in all the
pack. I will therefore begin with their physic
and surgery, which is next :

You must know that the doctors or conjurers, to
gain a gi^eater credit amongst these people, tell
them that all distempers are the effects of evil
spirits, or the bad spirit, which has struck them
with this or that malady, therefore none of these
physicians undertakes any distemper but that he
comes to an exorcism to effect the cure, and ac-
quaints the sick party's friends, that he must con-
verse with the good spirit, to know wdiether the
patient will recover or not, if so, then he will drive
out the bad spirit, and the patient will become
well, ^ow, the general way of their behavior iu
curing the sick, a great deal of which I have seen,
and shall give some account thereof, in as brief a
manner as possible, is, when an Indian is sick, if
they think there is much danger of life, and that
he is a great man or hath good friends, the doctor
is sent for. As soon as the doctor comes into the
cabin, the sick person is set on a mat or skin stark
naked, lying on his back and all uncovered, ex-
cept some small trifle that covers their nakedness
when ripe, otherwise, in very young children,
there is nothing about them. In this inanner the
patient lies, wlien the cKuijurer appears, and the
kino' of tliiil niitioii cc^iiir'.^ In Mll^-nd liim with a

348 lawson's history

rattle made of a gonrd with peas in it. This the
king delivers into the doctor's hand, whilst an-
other brings a bowl of water, and sets it down.
Then the doctor begins, and utters some few words
very softly; afterwards he smells of the patient's
navel and belly, and sometimes scarifies him a
little with a flint, or an instrument made of rattle
snake's teeth for that purpose ; then he sucks the
patient and gets out a mouthful of blood and serum,
but serum chiefly, which, perhaps, may be a better
method in many cases than to take away great
quantities of blood, as is commonly practiced,
which he spits in the bowl of water. Then he be-
gins to mutter, and talk apace, and at last to cut
capers and clap his hands on his breech and sides,
till he gets into a sweat, so that a stranger would
think he was running mad, now and then sucking
the patient, and so, at times, keeps sucking, till
he has got a great quantity of very ill colored mat-
ter out of the belly, arms, breast, forehead, tem-
ples, neck, and most parts, still continuing his gri-
maces, and antic postures, which are not to be
matched in Bedlam. At last you will see the doctor
all over of a dropping sweat, and scarce able to
utter one word, having quite spent himself; then
he will cease for a w^hile, and so begin again till
he comes in the same pitch of raving and seeming
madness, as before, all this time the sick body never
so much as moves, although, doubtless, the lancing
and sucking must be a gj-eat punishment to them,
but thev certainly are the patientest and most

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 349

eteady people under any burden that I ever saw-
in my life. At last, the conjurer makes an end,
and tells the patient's friends, whether the person
will live or die ; and then one that waits at
this ceremony, takes the blood away, which re-
mains in a lump, in the middle of the water, and
buries it in the ground, in a place unknown to
any one, but he that inters it. Now, I believe a
great deal of imposture in these fellows ; yet I
never knew their judgment fail, though I have
seen them give their opinion after this manner,
several times : Some affirm, that there is a smell
of brimstone in the cabins, when they are conju-
ring, which 1 cannot contradict, which way it may
come, -I will not argue, but proceed to a relation
or two, which I have from a great many persons,
and some of them worthy of credit.

The first is, of a certain Indian, that one rainy
night, underminded a house made of logs, such
as the Swedes in America very often make, and
are very strong, which belonged to Seth South-
well, Esq., governor of North Carolina, and one of
the proprietors. There was but one place the In*
dian could get in at, w^hich was very narrow;
the rest was secured, by having barrels of pork
and other provisions set against the side of the
house, so that if this Indian had not exactly hit
the very place he underminded, it liad been im-
possible for him to have got therein, because of
the full barrels that stood round the house, and
barricadoed it within. Tlie Indian stole sixty or

AlG

350 lawson's history

eighty dressed deer skins, besides blankets, pow-
der^ shot and rum, this being the Indian store
house, where the trading goods were kept. Now,
the Indian had made his escape, but dropped some
of the skins by the way and they tracked his foot-
steps, and found him to be an Indian ; then they
guessed who it was, because none but that Indian
had lately been near the house. Thereupon, the
governor sent to the Indian town that he belonged
to, which was the Tuskeruros, and acquainted them
that if they did not deliver up the Indian, who had
committed the robbery, he would take a course with
them, that would not be very agreeable. Upon
this, the Indians of the town he belonged to, brought
him in bound, and delivered him up to the govern-
or, who laid him in irons. At the same time, it
happened that a robbery was committed amongst
themselves, at the Indian town, and this prisoner
was one of their conjurers ; so the Indians came
down to the governor's house, and acquainted him
with what had happened amongst them, and that
a great quantity of peak was stolen away out of
one of their cabins, and no one could find out the
thief, unless he would let the prisoner conjure for
it, who was the only man they had at making such
discoveries. The governor was content he should
try his skill for them, but not to have the prison-
er's irons taken off, which was very well approved
of. The Indian was brought out in his fetters
where were the governor's family, and several otli-

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 351

ers of the neighborhood, now living, to see this ex-
periment ; which he performed thus.

The conjurer ordered three fires to be made in a
triangular form, which was accordingly done ; then
he was hoodwinked very securely, with a dressed
deer skin, two or three doubles, over his face. Af-
ter he had made some motions, as they always do,
he went directly out of one of the three gaps, as ex-
actly as if he had not been blindfolded, and kept
muttering to himself, having a stick in his hand,
with which, after some time, he struck two strokes
very hard, upon the ground, and made thereon a
cross^ after which he told the Indian's name that
had stolen the goods, and said, that he vt^ould have
a cross on his back ; which proved true ; for when
they took and searched him, there appeared two
great wheals, on his back, one cross the other ;
for the thief was at governor Southwell's house,
and was under no apprehension of being discov-
ered. IHie Indians proffered to sell him as a slave
to the governor, but he refused to buy him ; so
they took him bound away.

Another instance of the like nature happened
at the same house. One of the Tuskeruro kings
had brought in a slave to the same governor, to
whom he had sold him ; and before he returned
fell sick at the governor's house ; upon which the
doctor that belonged to this king's nation was
sent for, being a man that was held to be the grea-
test conjurer amongst them. It was three days
before he could arrive, and he appeared, when he

352 lawson's history

came, to be a very little man, and so old, that liis
liair was as white as ever was seen. When he ap-
proached the sick king, he ordered a bowl of wa-
ter to be brought him and three chunks of wood,
which was immediately done. Then he took the
water and set it by him, and spurted a little on
him, and with the three pieces of wood he made a
place to stand on, whereby he was raised higher ;
he being a very low statured man ; then he took
a string of ronoak, which is the same as a string
of small beads ; this he held by one end between
his fingers ; the other end touched the king's
stomach, as he stood on the logs. Then he began
to talk, and, at length, the bystanders thought
really that they heard somebody talk to him, but
saw no more than what first came in. At last,
this string of beads, which hung thus perpendicu-
lar, turned up as an eel would do, and without
any motion of his, they came all up, in a lump,
under his hand, and hung so for a considerable
time, he never closing his hand, and at length re-
turned to their pristine length and shape, at which
the spectators were much frightened. Then he
told the company that he would recover, and that
his distemper would remove into his leg, all which
happened to be exactly as the Indian doctor had
told. These are matters of fact, and, I can, at
this day, prove the truth thereof by several sub-
stantial evidences that are men of reputation, there
being more than a dozen people present when this
was performed ; most of whom are now alive.

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 853

There are a great many otlier stories of this na-
ture, which are seemingly true, being told by per-
sons that affirm they were eye witnesses thereof ;
as, that they have seen one Eoncommock, a Chu-
wou Indian, and a great conjurer, take a reed
about two feet long in his mouth, and stand by a
creek side, where he called twice or thrice with
the reed in his mouth, and, at last, has opened his
arms and fled over the creek, which might be near
a quarter of a mile wide or more ; but I shall urge
no man's belief, but tell my own ; which is, that
I believe the two hrst accounts which were acted
at Mr. Southwell's plantation, as firmly as any
man can believe any thing of that which is told
him by honest men, and he has not seen ; not at
all doubting the credit of my authors.

The cures I have seen performed by the Indians,
are too many to repeat here ; so I shall only men-
tion some few, and their method. They cure scald
heads infallibly, and never miss. Their chief reme-
dy, as I have seen them make use of, is, the oil of
acorns, but from which sort of oak I am not certain.
They cure burns beyond credit. I have seen a
man burnt in such a manner, when drunk, by foil-
ing into a fire, that I did not think he could recov-
er ; yet they cured him in ten days so that he went
about. I knew another blown up with powder,
that was cured to admiration. I never saw an In-
dian have an ulcer, or foul wound in my life;
neither is there any such thing to be found amongst
them. They cure the pox by a berry that salivates

354 lawson's history

as mercury does ; yet they use sweating and de-
coctions very mucli with it, as they do almost on
every occasion ; and when they are thoroughly
heated, they leap into the river. The pox is fre-
quent in some of these nations ; amongst which I
knew one woman die of it ; and they could not,
or would not, cure her. Before she died she was
worn away to a skeleton, yet walked up and down
to the last. We had a planter in Carolina w^ho
had got an ulcer in his leg, which had troubled
him a great majiy years ; at last he applied him-
self to one of these Indian conjurers, who was a
Pampticough Indian, and was not to give the value
of fifteen shillings for the cure. I^ow, I am not
positive whether he washed the ulcer with any
thing before he used what I am now going to speak
of, which was nothing but the rotten, doated grains
of Indian corn, beaten to powder and the soft down
growing on a turkey's rump. This dried the ulcer
up immediately, and no other fontanel was made
to discharge the matter, he remaining a healthful
man till the time he had the misfortune to be
drowned, which was many years after. Another
instance, not of my own knowledge, but I had it
confirmed by several dwellers in Maryland, where
it was done, was, of an honest planter that had
been possessed with a strange, lingering distem-
per, not usual amongst them, under which he ema-
ciated and grew every mouth worse than another,
it having held him several years, in which time
he had made trial of several doctors, as they

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 355

call them, which, I suppose, were ship surgeons.
In the beginning of this distemper, the patient
was very well to pass, and was possessed of sever-
al slaves, which the doctors purged all away, and
the poor man was so far from mending that he
grew worse and worse every day. But it happen-
ed that one day as his wife and he were commise-
rating his miserable condition, and that he could
not expect to recover, but looked for death very
speedily, and condoling the misery he should leave
his wife and family in, since all his negroes were
gone. At that time, I say, it happened that an
Indian was in the same room, who had frequented
the house for many years, and so was become as
one of the family, and would sometimes be at this
planter's house and at other times amongst the In-
dians.

This savage, hearing what they talked of, and
having a great love for the sick man, made this
reply to what he had heard : Brother, you have
been a long time sick, and I know you have giv-
en away your slaves to your English doctors.
What made you do so, and now become poor ?
They do not know how to C\ire you ; for it is an
Indian distemper, which your people know not
the nature of. If it had been an English disease,
probably they couuld have cured you ; and had
you come to me at first I would have cured you
for a small matter, without taking away your ser-
vants that made corn for you and your family to
eat ; and yet, if you will give me a blanket to keep

366. lawson's history

me warm, and some powder and shot to kill deer
withal, I will do my best to make yon well still.
The man was low in conrage and pocket too, and
made the Indian this reply : Jack, my distemper
is past cure, and if our English doctors cannot cure
it I am sure the Indians cannot. But his wife
accosted her husband in very mild terms, and
told him, he did not know but God might be
pleased to give a blessing to that Indian's under-
taking more than he had done to the English ;
and further added, if you die I cannot be much
more miserable, by giving this small matter to
the Indian ; so I pray you, my dear, take my ad-
vice, and try him — to which, by her persuasions,
he consented. After the bargain was concluded,
the Indian went into the woods and brought in
both herbs and roots, of which he made a decoc-
tion, and gave it the man to drink, and bade him
go to bed, saying, it should not be long before
he came again, which the patient performed as
he had ordered ; and the potion he had adminis-
tered made him sweat after the most violent
manner that could be, whereby he smelled very
offensively both to Jiimself, and they that were
about him ; but in the evening, towards night,
Jack came, with a great rattle snake in his hand
alive, which frightened the people almost out of
their senses ; and he told his patient that he must
take that to bed to him ; at which the man was
in a great consternation, and told the Indian he

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 357

was resolved to let no snake come into his bed,
for he might as well die of the distemper he had,
as be killed with the bite of that serpent. To
which the Indian replied, he could not bite him
now nor do him any harm, for he had taken out
his poison teeth, and shewed him that they were
gone. At last, with much persuasion, he admit-
ted the snake's company, which the Indian put
about his middle, and ordered no body to take
him away upon an}^ account, which was strictly
observed, although the snake girded him as hard
for a great while, as if he had been drawn in by
a belt which one pulled at with all his strength.
At last the snake's twitches grew weaker and
weaker, till, by degrees, he felt him not ; and
opening the bed he was found dead, and the man
thought himself better. The Indian came in the
morning, and seeing the snake dead, told the
man that his distemper was dead along with that
snake, which proved so as he said, for the man
speedily recovered his health and became perfect-
ly well.

The}^ cure the spleen, which they are much ad-
dicted to, by burning with a reed. They lay the
patient on his back, so put a hollow cane into the
fire, where they burn the end thereof till it is very
hot, and on fire at the end. Then they lay a piece
of thin leather on the patient's belly, between the
pit of the stomach and the navel, so press the hot
reed on the leather, which burns the patient so

b16

358 lawson's history

that you may ever after see the impression of the
reed where it was laid on, which mark never goes
off so long as he lives. This is used for the belly-
a*h sometimes. They can color their hair black,
though sometimes it is reddish, which they do
with the seed of a flower that grows commonly in
their plantations. I believe this would change the
reddest hair into perfect black. They make use
of no minerals in their physic, and not much of
animals ; but chiefly rely on vegetables. They
have several remedies for the tooth-ache, which
often drive away the pain : but if they fail, they
have recourse to punching out the tooth with a
small cane set against the same on a bit of leath-
er. Then they strike the reed and so drive out
the tooth ; and howsoever it may seem to the Eu-
ropeans, I prefer it before the common way of
drawing teeth by those instruments that endanger
the jaw, and a flux of blood often follows which
this method of a punch never is attended withal :
neither is it half the pain. The spontaneous plants
of America the savages are well acquainted withal,
and a flux of blood never follows any of their op-
erations. They are wholly strangers to amputa-
tion, and for what natural issues of blood happen
immoderately, they are not to seek for a certain
and speedy cure. Tears, rozins, and gums, I have
not discovered that they make much use of ; and
as for purging and emetics, so much in fashion
with us, they never apply themselves to, unless in
drinking vast quantities of their yaupon or tea,

01? NORTH CAROLINA. ^'59

and vomiting it up again as clear as they drink
it. This is a custom amongst all those that can
procure that plant, in which manner they take
it every other morning or oftener, by which meth-
od they keep their stomachs clean without prick-
ing the coats, and straining nature, as eveiy purge
is an enemy to. Besides the great diuretic quali-
ty of their tea carries off a great deal that perhaps
might prejudice their health by agues and fevers,
which all watery countries are addicted to ; for
which reason I believe it is that the Indians are not
so much addicted to that distemper as we are, they
preventing its siezing upon them by this plant
alone. Moreover, I have remarked, that it is only
those places bordering on the ocean and great riv-
ers, that this distemper is frequent in, and only on
and near the same places this evergreen is to be
found, and none up towards the mountains, where
these agues seldom or never appear. iN'ature hav-
mg provided suitable remedies in all countries,
proper for the maladies that are common thereto.
The savages of Carolina have this tea in venera-
tion above all the plants they are acquainted with-
al, and tell you the discovery thereof was by an
infirm Indian, that labored under the burden of
many rugged distempers, and could not be cured
by all their doctors : so one day he fell asleep,
and dreamed that if he took a decoction of the
tree that grew at his head, he would certainly be
cured. Upon which he awoke, and saw the yau-
pon or caffena tree, which was not there when he

360 lawson's history

fell asleep. He followed the direction of his dream
and became perfectly well in a short time. N'ow, I
suppose no man has so little sense as to believe this
fable, yet it lets us see what they intend thereby,
and that it has, doubtless, worked feats enough to
gain it such an esteem amongst these savages who
are too w^ell versed in vegetables to be brought to
a continual use of any one cf them, upon a mere
conceit of fancy, without some apparent benefit
they found thereby ; especially when we are sen-
sible they drink the juices of plants to free nature
of her burdens, and not out of foppery and fash-
ion as other nations are oftentimes found to do.
Amongst all the discoveries of America by the
missionaries of the French and Spaniards I won-
der none of them was so kind to the world as to
have kept a catalogue of the distempers they
found the savages capable of curing, and their
method of cure, which might have been of some
advantage to our materia medica at home, when de*
livered by men of learning and other qualifica-
tions, as most of them are. Authors generally
tell us that the savages are well enough acquain-
ted with those plants which their climate affords,
and that some of them effect great cures, but by
what means and in what form, we are left in the
dark. The bark of the root of the sassafras tree
I have observed is much used by them. They
generally torrefy it in the embers, so strip off the
bark from the root, beating it to a consistence fit
to spread, so lay it on the grieved part, which both

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 361

cleanses a fowl ulcer, and after scarrification be-
ing applied to a contusion or swelling, draws forth
tlie pain and reduces the part to its pristine state
of healthj as I have often seen effected. Fats and
unguents never appear in their chirurgery when
the skin is once broken. The fats of animals are
used by them to render their limbs pliable, and
when wearied, to relieve the joints, and this not
often, because they approve of the sweating house
in such cases, above all things.

The salts they mix with their bread and soup,
to give them a relish, are, alkalis, viz : ashes, and
calcined bones of deer, and other animals. Sal-
lads, they never eat any, as for pepper and mus-
tard, they reckon us little better than madmen, to
make use of it amongst our victuals. They are
never troubled with the scurvey, dropsy, nor stone.
The phthisic, ashma, and diabetes, they are wholly
strangers to. jN'either do I remember I ever saw
one paralytic amongst them. The gout, I cannot
be certain whether they know what it is, or not.
Indeed, I never saw any nodes or swellings, which
attend the gout in Europe ; yet they have a sort
of rheumatism or burning of the limbs, which tor-
tures them grievously, at which time their legs
are so hot, that they employ the young people
continually to pour water down them. I never
saw but one or two thus afflicted. The struma is
not uncommon amongst these savages, and another
distemper, which is, in some respects, like the pox,
but is not attended with no gonorrhoea. This not

362 lawson's history

seldom bereaves them of their nose. I have seen
three or four of them rendered most miserable
spectacles by this distemper. Yet, v^hen they
have been so negligent, as to let it run on so
far without curbing of it ; at last, they make
shift to patch themselves up, and live for many
years after; and such men commonly turn doctors.
I have known two or three of these no nose doc-
tors in great esteem amongst these savages. The
juice of the tulip tree is used as a proper remedy
for this distemper. What knowledge they have
in anatomy, I cannot tell, neither did I ever see
them employ themselves therein, unless as I told
you before, when they make the skeletons of their
kings and great men's bones.

The Indians are very careless and negligent of
their health ; as, by drunkness, wading in the
water, irregular diet and lodging, and a thousand
other disorders, that would kill an European,
which they daily use. They boil and roast their
meat extraordinary much, and eat abundance of
broth, except the savages whom we call the naked
Indians, who never eat any soup. They travel
from the banks of the Messiasippi, to war against
the Sinnagars or Iroquois, and are, if equal num-
bers, commonly too hard for them. They will lie
and sleep in the woods without fire, being inured
thereto. They are the hardiest of all Indians, and
run so fast, that they are never taken, neither do
any Indians outrun them, if they are pursued.
Their ^vage enemies say, their nimbleness and

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 363

wind proceeds from their never eating any broth.
The small pox has been fatal to them, they do not
often escape, when they are seized with that dis-
temper, which is a contrary fever to what they
ever know. Most certain, it had never visited
America, before the discovery thereof by the chris-
tians. Their running into the water, in the ex-
tremity of this disease, strikes it in, and kills all
that use it. j^ow they are become a little wiser ;
but formerly it destroyed whole towns, without
leaving one Indian alive in the village. The
plague was never known amongst them, that I
could learn by what enquiry I have made. These
savages use scarriiication almost in all distempers.
Their chief instruments for that operation is the
teeth of rattle snakes, which they poison withal.
They take them out of the snake's head, and suck
out the poison with their mouths, and so keep
them for use, and spit out the venom, which is
green, and are never damaged thereby. The
small pox and rum, have made such a destruction
amongst them that, on good grounds, I do believe,
there is not the sixth savage living within two
hundred miles of all our settlements, as there were
fifty years ago. These poor creatures have so
many enemies to destroy them, that it is a wonder
one of them is alive near us. The small pox I
have acquainted you withal above, and so I have
of rum, and shall only add, that they have got
away to carry it back to the westward Indians,
who never knew what it was, till within very few

364 lawson's history

years. Now they have it brought them by the Tus-
keruros, and other neighbour Indians, but the Tus-
keruros chiefly, who carry it in rundlets several
hundred miles, amongst other Indians. Some-
times they cannot forbear breaking their cargo,
but sit down in the woods, and drink it all up, and
then hollow and shout like so many bedlamites.
I accidentally once met with one of these drunken
crews, and was amazed to see a parcel of drunken
savages so far from any Englishman's house ; but
the Indians I had in company informed me, that
they were merchants, and had drunk all their
stock, as is very common for them to do. But
when they happen to carry it safe, which is sel-
dom, without drinking some part of it, and filling
it up with water, and come to an Indian town,
those that buy rum of them have so many mouthfuls
for a buck skin, they never using any other meas-
ure ; and for this purpose, the buyer always makes
choice of his man, which is one that has the great-
est mouth, whom he brings to the market with a
bowl to put it in. The seller looks narrowly to
the man's mouth that measures it, and if he hap-
pens to swallow any down, either through wilful-
ness or otherwise, the merchant or some of his
party does not scruple to knock the fellow down,
exclaiming against him for false measure. There-
upon, the buyer finds another mouthpiece to
measure the rum by, so that this trading is very
agreeable to the spectators, to see such a deal of

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 365

quarrelling and controversy as often happens about
it, and is very diverting.

Another destroyer of them, is, the art they have,
and often practice, of poisoning one another ;
which is done by a large white spongy root, that
grows in the fresh marshes, which is one of their
poisons, not but that they have many other drugs,
which they poison one another withal.

Lastly, the continual wars these savages main-
tain, one nation against another, which sometimes
hold for some ages, killing and making captives,
till they become so weak thereby, that they are
forced to make peace for want of recruits, to sup-
ply their wars ; and the difference of languages,
that is found amongst these heathens, seems alto-
gether strange. For it often appears, that every
dozen miles, you meet with an Indian town, that
is quite different from the others you last parted
withal, and what a little supplies this defect is,
that the most powerful nation of these savages
scorns to treat or trade with any others, of fewer
numbers and less power, in any other tongue, but
their own, which serves for the lingua of the
country, with which we travel and deal ; as for
example, we see that the Tuskeruros are most
numerous in ISTorth Carolina, therefore their
tongue is understood by some in every town of
all the Indians near us. And here I shall insert a
small dictionary of every tongue, though not al-
phabetically digested :

366

LAWSON S

HISTORY

English

Tuskeruro,

One,

Unche,

Two,

Necte,

Three,

Ohs-sah,

Four,

Untoc,

Five,

Ouch-whe,

Six,

Houeyoc,

Seven,

Chauh-noe,

Eight,

ISTec-kara,

Mne,

"Wearah,

Ten,

Wartsauh,

Eleven,

Unche scauwhau.

Twelve,

I^ectec scaukhau.

Twenty,

"Wartsau scauhau.

Thirty,

Ossa te wartsau.

Hundred,

Touch se.

Thousand,

Ki you se,

Rum,

Oonaquod,

Blankets,

Oorewa,

White,

Ware-occa,

Red,

Cotcoo-rea,

Black or Blue, idem

Caw-hunshe,

Gunpowder,

Ou-ken,

Shot,

Cauna,

Axe,

Au-nuka,

TCnife,

Oosocke nauh,

Tobacco,

Charho,

Shirt,

Ough-tre's,

Shoes,

Oo-ross-soo,

Hat,

Trossa,

OF NORTH CAROLINA.

;6T

PamptieougL

Weembot,

Neshinnauli,

!N'isli-wonner,

Yau-Ooner,

Umperren,

Who-yeoc,

Top-po-osh,

ISTau-hausli-shoo,

Pach-ic-conk,

Cosh,

Woecon.
Tonne,
I^um-perre,
N'am-mee,
Punnum-punne,
Webtau,
Is-sto,

jN'ommis-sau,
ISTupsau,
Wiehere,
Soone noponne,
Tonne hauk pea,
Soone nomme,
"Winnop,

Weesaccon,

Mattosh,

Wop-poshaumosh,

Mish-cosk,

Mow-cottowosh,

Pungue,

Ar-rounser,

Tomma-liick,

Rig-cosq,

Hoohpau,

Mottau-quahan,

Yup-see,

Roo-iune,

Waurranpa,

Yauta,

Yah-testea,

Rooeyam,

Week,

Tau-unta winnik,

AYee,

Uu-coone,

Tacca-pitteneer,

Wee-kessoo,

Intome-posewa,

368

LAWSON S HISTORY

English.

Fire,

"Water,

Goat,

Awl or ]!^edle,
A Hoe,
Salt,
Paint,
Ronoak,
Peak*
Gun,

Gun-lock,
Flints,
A Flap,
Belt,

Scissors and To-
bacco tongues,
A Kettle,
A Pot,
Acorns,
A Pine Tree,
Englishman,
Indians,

Tuskeruro.
Utcliar,
Awoo,
Ouswox,
Kawhitchra,
Oose-waure,
"Wauclie-wocnoc,
Cheek-ha,
Quaunt,
Nauh-houyeot,
Chu-teclie,
Auk-noc,
Oo-teste,
Ou-negh-ra,
Oukhaure,
Ona-teste,

Cheh-ra,

Oowaiana,

Ocnock,

Kooawa,

Heigta,

Mckreruroli,

Unqua.

OF NORTH CAROLINA,

369

Fampticough,
Tinda,

Woccon.
Yau

Umpe,
Taus-won,

Ejau,
Rummissau,

Moc-cose,

Wonsh-sliee,

Rosh-shocquon,

Rooe-pau,

Chuwon,

Mis-kis-'su,

Whooyeonne,
Rummaer,

Ron oak.

Erroco,

Gau hooptop,
Gun tock seike,

Wittape,
!N'oonkosso,

Hinds,

Matt-teer,

Rappatoc,
Maachone,

Rhooejau,
Weekau,

•

Tockoor,

Tooseawau,

Roosome,

Onnossa,
Tosli-shonte,

Hooheh,
Wintsohore,

Nuppin,

Yauh-he,

3T0

LAWSON S HISTORY

English
A Horse.
Swine,
Moss,

Eaw skin, undrest.
Buckskin,
Fawn skin,
Bear skin.
Fox skin.
Raccoon skin,
Squirrel skin.
Wildcat skin,
Panther skin,
Wolf,
Min,
Otter,
A Mat,
Basket,
Feathers,
Drest skin,
A Turkey,
A Duck,
A King,
Fat,
Soft,

Hard or heavy,
A Eope,
A Possum,
Day,

A Pestel,
A Mortar,

Tiiskeruro.
A Hots.
Watsquerre,
Auoona hau,
Ootahawa,
Ocques,
Ottea,
Oochehara,
Che-chou,
Eoo-sotto,
Sost,

Cauhauweana,
Caunerex,
Squarrena,
Chac-kauene,
Chaunoc,
Ooyethne,
Ooyaura,
Oosnooqua,
Cotcoo,
Coona,
Sooeau,
Teethha,
Ootsaure,
Utsauwanne,
Waucots ne,
XJtsera,
Che-ra,
Ootauh-ne,
Tic-caugh-ne,
Ootic caugh-ne,

OP NORTH CAROLINA.

371

EnglisL

Tuskeruro.

Stockings,

Way haushe.

A Creek,

Wackena,

A River,

Ahunt wackena.

A Man,

Entequos.

Old Man,

Occooahawa,

Young Man,

Quottis,

Woman,

Con-noowa,

Old Woman,

Cusquerre,

Wife,

Kateocca,

A Child,

Woccanookne,

A Boy,

Wariaugh,

Infant,

Utserosta,

Ears,

Ooethnat,

Pishgig,

Ootosne,

A Comb,

Oonaquitchra,

A cake baked,

Ooneck,

A Head,

Ootaure,

Hair,

Oowaara,

Brother,

Caunotka,

I,

Ee,

Thou,

Eets,

There,

Ka,

Homine,

Cotquerre,

Bread,

Ootacnare,

Broath,

Ook-hoo,

Oonaha,

Corn,

Oonave,

Oosare,

Oosha,

Peas,

Saugh-he,

372

2 LAWSON S

HISTORY

English
A Bag,

Fish,

Tuskeruro.

Uttaqua,

Cunshe,

A Louse,
A Flea,
Potatos,

Cheecq,

JSTauocq,

. Untone,

A Stick,

Wood,

House,

Chinqua,

Ouyunkgue,

Ounouse,

A Cow,
A Snake,
A Bat,
A Groose,

Ous-sarunt,
Us-quauh-ne,
Rusquiane,
Au-hoohaha,

A Swan,

Oorhast,

Allegator,
A Crab,

Utsererauh,
Rouare cou.

A Canoe,

Ooshunnawa,

A Box,

Ooanoo,

A Bowl,

Ortse,

A Spoon
A Path,

Oughquere,
Wauh-hanhne,

Sun or Moon,

Heita,

Wind,

Hoonoch

A Star,

Uttewiraratse,

Eain,

Untuch,
Auhuntwood,

Night,

A Rundlet,

Oosottoo,
Oohunawa,

An Eel,

Cuhn-na,

A Cable,
Small ropes,

Utquichra,
TJtsera utquichra,

OF NORTH CAROLINA.

373

English,

Tuskeruro.

A Button,

Tic-hah,

Breeches,

Wahunshe,

Stockings,

Oowissera,

Day,

Wauwoc-hook,

Mad,

Cosserunte,

Angry,

Cotcheroore,

Afraid,

W erricauna,

Smoak,

Oo-teighne,

A Thief or Rogue,

Katichhei,

A Dog,

Cheeth,

A Reed,

Cauna,

Lightwood,

Kakoo,

To morrow,

Jureha,

Now,

Kahunk,

To-day,

Kawa,

A little while ago.

Kakoowa,

Yesterday,

Oousotto,

How manny,

Ut-tewots,

How far,

Untateawa,

Will you go along with ]

cne, Unta-hah,

Go you.

Its warko,

Give it me.

Cotshau,

That's all.

Ut chat,

A Cubit length.

Kihoosocca,

Dead,

W haharia.

A Gourd or Bottle,

Utchaawa,

A lazy fellow.

Wattattoo watse.

Englishman is thisty.

Oukwockaninniwock

I will sell you goods

very cheap,

Wausthanocha,

Al7

874

A LAWSON S HISTORY

English

Tuskeruro.

All the Indians are drunk,

Connaugh jost twane

Have you any thing to eat.

, Utta-ana-wox,

I am sick,

Connauwox,

A Fish-hook,

Oos-skinna,

Don't lose it,

Oon est nonne it quost

A Tobacco-pipe,

Oosquaana,

I remember it,

Oonutsauka,

Let it alone,

Tnotsaurauweek,

Peaches,

Roo-ooe

Walnuts,

Rootau-ooe,

Hickerynuts,

Rootau,

A Jew's-harp,

Ooratsa,

I forget it.

Merrauka,

North-west wind,

Hothooka,

Snow,

Acaunque.

English.

Woceon.

A Horse.

Yenwetoa,

Swine,

Nommewarraupa u,

Moss,

Itto.

Eaw skin, undrest,

Teep,

Buckskin,

Rookau,

Fawn skin,

Wisto,

Bear skin,

Ourka,

Fox skin,

Hannatockore,

Raccoon skin,

Auher,

Squirrel skin,

Yehau,

Panther, skin,

Wattau,

Wolf,

Tire kiro.

Min,

Soccon,

OF NORTH

CAROLINA. 375

English

Woccon.

Otter,

Wetkes,

A Mat,

Soppepepor,

Basket,

Rookeppa,

Feathers,

Soppe,

Brest skin,

Rauhau,

A Turkey,

Yauta,

A Duck,

Welka,

A King,

Roamore,

Fat,

Yendare,

Soft,

Roosomme,

Hard or heavy,

Itte teraugh.

A Eope,

Trawhe,

A Pestel,

Miyau,

A Mortar,

Yossoo,

Old Woman,

Yicau,

Wife,

Yeeauau,

Fishgig,

Weetipsa,

A Comb,

Saeketoome poasma,

A Head,

Poppe,

Hair,

Tumme, ^

Brother,

Yenxauhe,

Homine,

Roocauwa,

Bread,

Ikettau,

Corn,

Cose,

Pease,

Coosauk,

A Bag,

EkoocromoD,

Fish,

Yacunne,

A Louse,

Eppesyau,

Potatos,

Wauk,

Wood,

Yonue,

'6 LAWBON S

HISTORY

English.

Woccon,

House,

Cuke,

A Cow,

Noppinjure,

A Snake,

Yau-hauk,

A Rat,

Wittau,

A Goose,

Auhaun,

A Swan,

Atter,

Allegator,

Monwittetau,

A Crab,

Wunneau,*

A Canoe,

"Watt,

A Box,

Yopoonitsa,

A Bowl,

Cotsoo,

A Spoon

Cotsau,

A Path,

Yauh,

Sun or Moon,

Wittapare,

"Wind,

Yuncor,

A Star,'

"Wattapi untakeer.

Rain,

Yawowa,

Night,

Yantoha,

A Rundlet,

Ynpyupseunne,

A Button,

Rummissauwoune,

Breeches,

Rooeyaukitte,

Stockings,

Rooesoo possoo.

Day,

"Waukhaway,

Mad,

Rockcumne,

Angry,

Roocheha,

Afraid,

Reheshiwau,

Smoak,

Too-she,

A Dog,

Tauh-he,

A Reed,

Weekwonno,

Lightwood^,

VSek,

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 377

English.

Woccon.

To-morrow,

Kittape,

A little while ago,

Yauka,

Yesterday,

Yottoha,

How many,

Tontarinte,

Will you go along with me

, Quauke,

Go you,

Yuppa me,

Give it me.

Mothei,

That is all,

Cuttaune,

A cubit length,

Ishewounaup,

Dead,

Caure,

A gourd or bottle,

Wattape,

A lazy fellow.

Tontaunete,

I will sell you goods

very cheap,

JS'au hou hoo

All the Indians are drunk, Nonnupper,
Have you anything to eat, Noccoo eraute,

I am sick, Waurepa,

A tobacco pipe, Intom,

I remember it, Aucummato,

Let it alone, Sauhau,

Peaches, Yonne,

Hickerynuts, !N'immia,

A Jeu's-harp, Wottiyau,

Snow, Wawawa.

To repeat more of this Indian jargon, would be
to trouble the reader ; and as an account how im-
perfect they are in their moods and tenses, lias
been given by several already, I shall only add,
that their languages, or tongues are so doficirnf.

378 lawson's history

that you cannot suppose the Indians ever could
express themselves in such a flight of stile, as au-
thors would have you believe. They are so far
from it, that they are but just able to make one an-
other understand readily what they talk about. As
for the two consonants L. and F. I never knew
them in any Indian speech I have met withal ; yet
I must tell you, that they have such a way of ab-
breviating their speech, when in their great coun-
cils and debates, that the young men do not un-
derstand what they treat about, when they hear
them argue ; It is wonderful, what has occosioned
so many different speeches as the savages have.
The three nations I now mentioned, do not live
above ten leagues distant, and two of them, viz :
the Tuskeruros and the "Woccon, are not two
leagues asunder ; yet their speech differs in every
word thereof, except one, which is Tsaure, Cockles,
which is in both tongues the same, and nothing
else. Now this difference of speech causes jeal-
ousies and fears amongst them, wich bring wars,
wherein they destroy one another ; otherwise the
christians had not, in all probability, settled Amer-
ica so easily, as they have done, had these tribes
of savages united themselves into one people or
general interest, or were they so but every hun-
dred miles. In short, they are an odd sort of peo-
ple under the circumstances they are at present,
and have some such uncouth ways in their man-
agement and course of living, that it seems a
miracle to us, how they bring about their designs,

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 379

as they do, wlien their ways are commonly quite
contrary to ours. I believe, they are, as to this life,
a very happy people ; and were it not for the feuds
amongst themselves they would enjoy the happi-
est state, in this world, of all mankind. They met
with enemies when we came amongst them ; for
they are no nearer Christianity now, than they
were at the first discovery, to all appearance.
They have learned several vices of the Europeans,
but not one virtue, as I know of. Drunkenness
was a stranger, when we found them out, and
swearing their speech cannot express ; yet those
that speak English, learn to swear the first thing
they talk of. It's true, they have some virtues
and some vices ; but how the christians can bring
these people into the bosom of the church, is a
proposal that ought to be formed and followed by
the wisest heads and best christians. After I have
given one remark or two farther, of some of their
strange practices and notions, I will give my opin-
ion, how I think, in probability, it may be, if pos-
sible, efiected, and so shall conclude this treatise
of Carolina.

They are a very craving people, and if a man
give them any thing of a present, they think it
obliges him to give them another ; and so on, till
he has given them all he has ; for they have no
bounds of satisfaction in that way ; and if they
give you any thing, it is to receive twice the value
of it. They have no consideration that you will
want what you give thorn ; for their way of living

3^0 lawson's history

is so contrary to ours, that neither we nor tliey
can fathom one another's designs and methods.
They call rum and physic by one name, which
implies that rum make people sick, as when they
have taken any poisonous plant ; yet they cannot
forbear rum. They make offerings of their first
fruits, and the most serious sort of them throw in-
to the ashes, near the fire, the first bit or spoonful
of every meal they sit down to, which they say, is
the same to them as the pulling off our hats and
talking when we go to victuals, is to us. They
name the months very agreeably, as one is the
herring month, another the strawberry month,
another the mulberry month. Others name them
by the trees that blossom, especially the dogwood
tree ; or they say, we will return when turkey
cocks gobble, that is in March and April. The
age of the moon they understand, but know no
different name for sun and moon. They can guess
well at the time of the day by the sun's height.
Their age they number by winters, and say, such
a man or woman is so many winters old. They
have no sabbath or day of rest. Their slaves are
not overburdened with work, and so not driven
by severity to seek for that relief. Those that are
acquainted with the English, and speak the tongue,
know when Sunday comes ; besides the Indians
have a distinct name for Christmas, which they
call Winnick Keshuse, or the Englishman's God's'
moon. There is one most abominable custom
amongst them, which they call husquenawing their

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 381

young men, which I have not made any mention
of as yet, so will give you an account of it here.
You must know, that most commonly, once a year, '
at farthest, once in two years, these people take
up so many of their young men, as they think are
able to undergo it, and husquenaugh them, which
is to make them obedient and respective to their
superiors, and, as they say, is the same to them as
it is to us to send our chiklren to school, to be
taught good breeding and letters. This house of
correction is a large, strong cabin, made on pur-
pose for the reception of the young men and boys,
that have not passed the graduation already; and
it is always at Christmas that they husquenaugh
their youth, which is by bringing them into this
house and keeping them dark all the time, where
they more than half starve them. Besides, they
give them pellitory bark, and several intoxicating
plants, that make them go raving mad as ever
were any people in the Avorld ; and you may hear
them make the most dismal and hellish cries and
bowlings that ever human creatures expressed ;
all which continues about live or six weeks, and
the little meat they eat, is the nastiest, loathsome
stuft', and mixt with all manner of tilth it is possi-
ble to get. After the time is expired, they are
brought out of the cabin, which never is in the
town, but always a distance off, and guarded by a
jailor or two, who watch by turn. Now when
they first come out, they are as poor as ever any
creatures were ; for you must know several die

Bl7

382 lawson's history

under this diabolical purgation. Moreover, they
either really are, or pretend to be dumb, and do
not speak for several days ; I think, twenty or
thirty, and look so ghastly, and are so changed,
that it is next to an impossibility to know them
again, although you was never so w^ell -acquainted
with them before. I would fain have gone into
the mad house, and have seen them in their time
of purgatory, but the king would not suffer it, be-
cause, he told me they w^ould do me or any other
white man an injury, that ventured in amongst
them, so I desisted. They play this prank with
girls as well as boys, and I believe it a miserable
life they endure, because I have knowm several of
them run away at that time to avoid it. 'Now the
savages say if it was not for this, they could never
keep their youth in subjection, besides that it har-
dens them ever after to the fatigues of war, hunt-
ing, and all manner tif hardship, which their way
of living exposes them to. Beside, they add, that
it carries off those infirm weak bodies, that would
have been only a burden and disgrace to their na-
tion, and saves the victuals and clothing for better
people that would have been exjoended on such
useless creatures. These savages are described
in their proper colors, but by a very few ; for tliose
that generally write histories of this new world,
are such as interest preferment and merchandize,
drew thither, and know no more of that people
than I do of the Laplanders, which is only by hear-
say. And if wx will make just remarks how near

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 383

guch relations generally approach truth and nicety,
we shall find very few of them worthy of enter-
tainment ; and as for the other part of the volume,
it is generally stufied with invectives against the
government they lived under, on which stage is
commonly acted greater barbarities, in murdering
worthy men's reputations, than all the savages in
the new world are capable of equalizing or so much
as imitating.

And since I hinted at a regulation of the sav-
ages, and to propose a way to convert them to
Christianity, I will first particularize the several
nations of Indians that are our neighbors, and then
proceed to what I promised. ^-afc~

Tusker uro Indians are fifteen towns, viz: Haruta ^^^

Waqui, Contah-nahY^napoka, Conauh-kare Ha- ^^^"fe
rooka, UnallTauhan, Kentanuska,Chunaneets,Ken-
ta,Eno,!N'aur-hegh-ne, Oonossoora, Tosneoc, Nona-
wharitse, Nursoorooka, fightingmen, 1200 ; Woe-
con towns, 2; Yupwauremau, Tooptatmeer, fight-
ingmen, 120; Machapunga town, 1, Maramis-
keet,^ fighting men, 30 ; Bear River town 1,
Raudauqua-quank, fighting men 50; Maherring
Indians, town 1, Maherring River, fighting men,
50 ; Chuwon Indians, town 1 ; Bennett's Creek,
fighting men, 15; Paspatank Indians, town, 1;
Paspatank River, fighting men, 10; Poteskcit,
town, 1 ; North River, fighting men, 30 ; Notto-
way Indians, town 1; Winoack Creek, fighting men,
30 ; Hatteras, town 1 ; Sandbanks, fighting men,
16; Connamox Indians, towns 2 ; Coraninc, Ra-

* ^

384 lawson's history

rata, fighting men, 25; 'NeuQ Indians, towns, 2;
Chattooka, Eouconk, figliting men, 15: Pampti-
cougli Indians, town, 1 ; Island, figliting men, 15;
Jaupin Indians, six people. These ^yq nations of
the Totero's, Sapona's, Keiauwee's, Aconechos,
and Schoccories, are lately come amongst ns, and
may contain in all, about 750 men, women and chil-
dren ; total, 4780.

Now there appears to be one thousand six hun-
dred and twelve fighting men, of our neighboring
Indians, and probably there are three-fifths of wo-
men and children, not including old men, which
amounts to four thousand and thirty savages be-
sides the ^YQ nations lately come. E'ow, as I be-
fore hinted, we will see what grounds there are to
make these people serviceaMe to us, and better
themselves thereby.

On a fair scheme, we must first allow these sav-
ages what really belongs to them, that is, what
good qualities and natural endowments they pos-
sess, whereby they being in their proper colors,
the event may be better guessed at and fathomed.

First, they are as apt to learn any handicraft,
as any people that the world affords ; I will ex-
cept none, as is seen by their canoes and stauking
heads, which they make of themselves ; but to my
purpose, the Indian slaves in South Carolina and
elsewhere, make my argument good.

Secondly, we have no disciplined men in Eu-
rope but what have, at one time or other been
branded with mutining and murmuring against

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 385

their chiefs. These savages are never found guilty
of that great crime in a soklier. I challenge all
mankind to tell me of one instance of it ; besides,
they never prove traitors to their native country,
but rather choose death than partake and side
with the enemy.

They naturally possess the righteous man's gift ;
they are patient under all afflictions, and have a
great many other natural virtues, which I have
slightly touched throughout the account of these
savages.

They arc really better to us than we arc to them,
they always give us victuals at their quarters, and
take care we are armed against hunger and thirst:
We do not bo by them, generally speaking, but let
them walk by our doors hungry and do not often
relieve them. We look upon them with scorn and
disdain, and think them little better than beasts
in human shape, though if well examined, we shall
find that, for all our religion and education, we
possess more moral deformities and evils than these
savages do, or are acquainted withal.

We reckon them slaves in comparison to us, and
intruders, as oft as they enter our houses, or hunt
near our dwellings. But if we will admit reason
to be our guide, she will inform us that these In-
dians are the freest people in the world, and so
far from being intruders upon us that we have
abandoned our own native soil, to drive them
out, and possess theirs, neither have we any true
balance in judging of these poor heathens, because

386 lawson's history

we neither give allowance for their natural disposi-
tion, nor the sylvian education,and strange customs
(uncouth to us) they lie under and have ever been
trained up to; these are false measures for chris-
tians to take, and indeed no man can be reckoned
a moralist only, who will not make choice and use
of better rules to walk and act by. We trade with
them, it is true, but to what end ? ]^ot to show
them the steps of virtue, and the golden rule, to do
as we would be done by. No, we have furnished
them with the vice of drunkenness, which is the
open road to all others, and daily cheat them in
every thing we sell, and esteem it a gift of Chris-
tianity not to sell to them so cheap as we do to
the christians, as we call ourselves. Pray, let me
know where is there to be found one sacred com-
mand or precept of our master, that counsels us to
such behavior ? Besides, I believe it will not ap-
pear but that all the wars which we have had with
the savages, were occasioned by the unjust deal-
ings of the christians towards them. I can name
more than a few, which my own enquiry has giv-
en me a right understanding of, and I am afraid
the remainder (if they come to the test) will prove
themselves birds of the same feather.

As we are in christian duty bound, so we must
act and behave ourselves to these savages, if we
either intend to be serviceable in converting them
to the knowledge of the gospel, or discharge the
duty which every man, within the pale of the
christian church, is bound to do. Upon this score,

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 387

we ought to show a tenderness for these heathens
under the weight of infidelity ; let us cherish their
good deeds, and, with mildness and clemency,
make them sensible and forwarn them of their ill
ones ; let our dealings be just to them in every
respect, and show^ no ill example, whereby they
may think we advise them to practise that which
we will not be conformable to ourselves. Let
them have cheap penniworths, without guile in
our trading with them, and learn them the mys-
teries of our handicrafts, as well as our religion,
otherwise we deal unjustly by them. But it is
higlily necessary to be brought in practice, which
is, to give encouragement to the ordinary people,
and those of a low^er rank, that they might marry
with these Indians, an(J come into plantations, and
houses, where so many acres of land and some
gratuity of money, out of a public stock, arc given
to the new married couple ; and that the Indians
might have encouragement to send their children
apprentices to proper masters, that would be kind
to them and make them masters of a trade, where-
by they would be drawn to live amongst us, and
become members of the same eclesiastical and
civil government w^e are under ; then we should
have great advantages to make daily conversions
amongst them, when they saw that we were kind
and just to them in all our dealings. Moreover,
by the Indians marrying with the christians, and
coming into plantations with their English hus-
bands, or wives, they would become christians.

o88 LAWSON S HISTORY

and tlieir idolatry would be quite forgotten, and
in all probability, a better worship come in its
stead ; for were the Jews engrafted thus, and ali-
enated from the worship and conversation of Jews,
their abominations would vanish, and be no more.

Thus we should be let into a better understand-
ing of the Indian tongue, by our new converts ;
and the whole body of these people would arrive
to the knowledge of our religion and customs, and
become as one people with us. By this method,
also, we should have a true knowledge of all the
Indian's skill in medicine and surgery ; they would
inform us of the situation of our rivers, lakes, and
tracts of land in the Lord's dominions, where, by
their assistance, greater discoveries may be made
than has been hitherto found out, and by their ac-
companying us in our expeditions, we might civ-
ilize a great many other nations of the savages,
and daily add to our strength in trade, and inter-
est ; so that we might be sufficiently enabled to
conquer, or maintain our ground, against all the
enemies to the crown of England in America,
both christian and savage.

What children we have of theirs to learn trades,
&c., ought to be put into those hands that are men
of the best lives and characters, and that are not
only strict observers of their religion, but also of
a mild, winning, and sweet disposition, that these
Indian parents may often go and see how well
their children are dealt with, which would much
win them to our ways of living, mildness being a

OF NORTH CAROLINA. 389

virtue the Indians are in love withal, for they do
not practice beating and correcting their children
as we do. A general complaint is, that it seems
impossible to convert these people to Christianity,
as, at first sight it does ; and as for those in IS'ew
Spain, they have the prayer of that church in latin
by rote, and know the external fcehavior at mass
and sermons ; yet scarce any of them are steady
and abide with constancy in good w^orks and the
duties of the christian church. We find that the
Fuentes and several other of the noted Indian
families about Mexico, and in other parts of Xew
Spain, had given several large gifts to the altar,
and outwardly seemed fond of their new religion ;
yet those that w^ere the greatest zealots outwards,
on a strict enquiry, w^ere found guilty of idolatry
and witchcraft ; and this seems to proceed from
their cohabiting, which, as I have noted before,
gives opportunities of cabals to recall their ancient
pristine infidelity and superstitions. They never
argue against our religion, but wnth all imagina-
ble indifference own, that it is most proper for us
that liave been brought up in it.

In my opinion, it is better for christians of a
mean fortune to marry with the civilized Indians
than to sufter the hardships of four or iive years*
servitude, in which they meet with sickness and
seasonings amidst a crowd ofothcr afflictions, which
the tyranny of a bad master lays upon such poor
souls, all which those acquainted with our tobacco
plantations are not strangers to.

390 lawson's history

This seems to be a ifiore reasonable method of
converting the Indians than to set up our christian
banner in a field of blood, as the Spaniards have
done in New Spain, and baptize one hundred with
the sword for one at the font. Whilst we make
way for a christian colony through a field of blood
and defraud, and make away with those that one
day may be wanted in this world, and in the next
appear against us, we make way for a more potent
christian enemy to invade us hereafter, of which
we may repent, when too late.

THE E]^D.

Lb N '05

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