Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

awares, and a detachment of the Virginia militia. The Indians were defeated and sued for peace.

5. Logan, however, disdained to be seen among the sup pliants; but lest the sincerity of a treaty should be distur bed, from which so distinguished a chief absented himself, he sent by a messenger, the following speech, to be delivered to Lord Dunmore.

6. "I appeal to any white man to say, if ever he entered Logan's cabin hungry, and he gave him no meat; if ever he came cold and naked, and he ciothed him not. During the last long and bloody war, Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advocate for peace.

7. "Such was my love for the whites, that my country men pointed as they passed by, and said, Logan is the friend of white men. I had even thought to have lived with you, had it not been for the injuries of one man.-Colonel Cresap, the last spring in cold blood, and unprovoked, murdered all the relations of Logan, not even sparing my women and children.

8. "There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any living creature. This called on me for revenge. I have sought it: I have killed many; I have fully glutted my vengeance. For my country, I rejoice at the beams of peace; but do not harbor a thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan? Not one."

1.

WHEN

SPEECH OF A SCYTHIAN EMBASSADOR TO ALEXANDER. HEN the Scythian embassadors waited on Alexander the great, they gazed on him a long time without speaking a word, being very probably surprized, as they formed a judgment of men from their air and stature, to find that his did not answer the high idea they entertain. ed of him from his fame.

2. At last, the oldest of the embassadors addressed him thus, "Had the gods given thee a body proportioned to thy ambition, the whole universe would have been too little for thee. With one hand thou wouldst touch the East and with the other the West; and, not satisfied with this, thou wouldst follow the sun, and know where he hides himse.f.

S. But what have we to do with thee?

We never set

10. He now saw nothing which brought to his recollection, either that particular quarter, the city itself, or the objects with which he was formerly acquainted. The houses of his nearest neighbors, which were fresh in his memory, had assumed a new appearance.

11. fa vain were his looks directed to all the objects around him; he could discover nothing of which he had the smallest remembrance. Terrified, he stopped and fetched a deep sigh. To him what did it import, that the city was peopled with living creatures? None of them were alive to him; he was unknown to all the world, and he knew no body; and whilst he wept he regretted his dungeon.

12. At the name of the Bastil, which he often pronounced and even claimed as an asylum, and the sight of his clothes which marked his former age, the croud gathered around him; curiosity blended with pity excited their attention. The most aged asked him many questions, but had no remembrance of the circumstances which he recapitulated.

13. At length accident brought to his way an ancient domestic, now a superannuated porter, who, confined to his lodge for fifteen years, had barely sufficient strength to open the gate. Even he did not know the master he had served; but informed him that grief and misfortune had brought his wife to the grave thirty years before; that his children were gone abroad to distant climes and that of all his relations and friends, none now remained.

14. This recital was made with the indifference which people discover for events long passed and almost forgotten. The miserable man groaned, and groaned alone.-The crowd around, offering only unknown features to his view, made him feel the excesses of his calamities, even more than he would have done in the dreadful solitude which he had left.

(દ

I

15. Overcome with sorrow, he presented himself before the minister, to whose humanity he owed that liberty which was now a burden to him. Bowing down he said, Restore me again to that prison from which you have taken me. cannot survive the loss of my nearest relations; of my friends; and in one word, of a whole generation. Is it pos sible in the same moment to be informed of this universal destruction, and not to wish for death?

16. "This general mortality, which to others comesslowly and by degrees, has to me been instantaneous, the operation of a moment. Whilst secluded from society, I lived with myself only; but here I can neither live with myself, nor with this new race, to whom my anguish and despair appear only as a dream."

17. The minister was melted; he caused the old domestic to attend this unfortunate person, as only he could talk to him of his family.

18. This discourse was the single consolation which he received; for he shunned intercourse with the new race, born since he had been exiled from the world; and he passed his time in the midst of Paris in the same solitude as he had done whilst confined in a dungeon for almost half a century.

19. But the chagrin and mortification of meeting no person who could say to him," We were formerly known to each other," soon put an end to his life.

1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FALLS OF NIAGARA.

A MONG the many natural curiosities which this country affords, the cataract of Niagara is infinitely the greatest. In order to have a tolerable idea of this stupendous fall of water, it will be necessary to conceive that part of the country in which Lake Erie is situated, to le elevated above that which contains Lake Ontario, about three hundred feet.

2. The slope which separates the upper and lower country is generally very steep, and in many places almost perpendicular. It is formed by horizontal straits of stone, great part of which is what we commonly call lime-stone. The slope may be traced from the north side of Lake Ontario, near the bay of Teronto, round the west end of the lake ; thence its direction is generally east, between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie; it crosses the strait of Niagara, and the Cheneseco river; after which it becomes lost in the country towards the Seneka Lake.

3. It is to this slope that our country is indebted, both for the cataract of Niagara and the great falls of the Cheneseco. The cataract of Niagara, was formerly down at the northern side of the slope, near to that place which is

known by the name of the Landing; but from the

great length of time added to the great quantity of water, and distance which it falls, the solid stone is worn away, for about seven miles, up towards Lake Erie, and a chasm is formed which no person can approach without horror.

4. Down this chasm, the water rushes with the most as tonishing velocity, after it makes the great pitch. Is going up the road near this chasm, the fancy is constantly engaged in the contemplation of the most romantic and awful prospects imaginable, until, at length, the eye catches the falls, the imagination is instantly arrested, and you admire in silence! The river is about one hundred and thirty-five rods wide, at the falls, and the perpendicular pitch one hun.dred and fifty feet.

5. The fail of this vast body of water produces a sound which is frequently heard at the distance of twenty miles, and a sensible tremulous motion in the earth for some rods round. A heavy fog, or cloud is constantly ascending from the falls, in which rainbows may always be seen when the sun shines.

6. This fog, or spray, in the winter season, falls upon the neighboring trees where it congeals, and produces a most beautiful chrystaline appearance. This remark is

equally applicable to the falls of the Cheneseco.

7. The difficulty which would attend levelling the rapids in the chasm, prevented my attempting it; but I conjecture the water must descend at least sixty-five feet. The perpendicular pitch at the cataract is at least one hundred and fifty feet; to these add fifty-eight feet, which the water falls in the last half mile immediately above the falls, and we have two hundred and seventy-three feet which the water falls in a distance of about seven miles and a half.

8. If either ducks, or geese, inadvertently alight in the rapids above the great cataract, they are incapable of getǝ ting on the wing again, and are instantly hurried on to destruction. There is one appearance at this cataract worthy of some attention, and which I do not remember to have seen noted by any writer.

9. Just below the great pitch, the water and foam may be scen puffed up in spherical figures nearly as large as common cocks of hay; they burst at the top, and project a column of spray to a prodigious height; they then subside and are succeeded by others, which burst in like manThis appearance is most conspicuous about half

ner.

[ocr errors]

between the island that divides the falls, and the west side of the strait, where the largest column of water descends.

NARRATIVE OF THE CAPTIVITY OF MRS. JEMIMA HOWE, TAKEN BY THE INDIANS AT HINSDALE, NFW-HAMPSHIRE, JULY 27, 1755.

1.

A

S Messrs. Caleb Howe, Hilkiah Grout, and Benjamin Gaffield, who had been hoeing corn in a readow, west of the river, were returning home a little before sun-set, to a place called Bridgman's Fort, they were fired upon by twelve Indians who had ambushed their path.

2. Howe was on horseback, with two young lads, his children, behind him. A ball, which broke his thigh, brought him to the ground. His horse ran a few rods and fell likewise, and both the lads were taken. The Indians in their Savage manner, coming up to Howe, pierced his body with a spear, tore off his scalp, stuck a hatchet in his head, and left him in this forlorn condition.

3. He was found alive the morning after, by a party of men from Fort Hinsdale; and being asked by one of the party whether he knew him, he answered, Yes, I know you all. These were his last words, though he did not expire until after his friends had arrived with him at Fort Hinsdale. Grout was so fortunate as to escape unhurt.

4. But Gaffield in attempting to wade through the river at a certain place which was indeed fordable at that time, was unfortunately drowned. Flushed with the success they had met with here, the savages went directly to Bridgman's Fort. There was no man in it, and only three women and some children, Mrs. Jemima Howe, Mrs. Submit Grout, and Mrs. Eunice Gaffield.

5. Their busbands I need not mention again, and their feelings at this juncture I will not attempt to describe.They had heard the enemy's guns, but knew not what happened to their friends.

6. Extremely anxious for their safety, they stood longing to embrace them, until at length, concluding from the noise they heard without, that some of them were come, they unbarred the gate in a hurry to receive them; when lo! to their inexpressible disappointment and surprise, instead of their husbands, in rushed a number of hideous Indians, to whom they and their tender offsprings became an easy prey; and from whom they had nothing to ex

« ZurückWeiter »