the other! Will not pride spur us on to add to the catalogue? Will you not strive to rival the vigor of the North? Do we admire the great names of antiquity? Do we wish for an opportunity to be equally celebrated by posterity?

Then the present-there never was a more inviting or certain opportunity of acquiring an immortal name. A world to be converted into an Empire, is the work now in hand-a work wherein the names of the workmen will be engraved in indelible characters. Shall we not exert ourselves to be ranked in this most illustrious list? Nor is it so difficult a thing to acquire place in it as may be imagined; it is in every man's power to exert himself with vigor and constancy.

My dear countrymen, trifle not with an opportunity unexampled, and not to be recalled-it is passing with rapidity. Let us put our hands to our breasts, and examine what we have done in forwarding this imperial structure. How many must say, I have youth, strength, activity, an abundant fortune, learning, sense-or some of these blessings; but-I have shown my attachment to America, only by a momentary vigor, to mark my inconstancy-scrutinizing the conduct of others-good wishes-and inquiring the news of the day. Such men must be sensible of a disgraceful inferiority, when they hear those American names, which the trumpet of fame now sounds through the world-a blast that will reach the ears of the latest posterity.

Surely, such men may have a desire to be relieved from so oppressive a sensation? The remedy is within their own power; and if they will use it, while it throws off their disgrace, it will operate for the benefit of their country. Let them inquire of the President, WHAT SERVICE THEY CAN RENDER THE STATE? To a rich planter he would say, if you will send twenty, thirty, or forty laborers to the public works, and for whom you shall be paid, you will do an essential service in a critical time. To another, if you will diligently overlook, and push on the construction of such a battery, or line, you will merit the thanks of your fellow-citizens. To s third, if instead of hunting, you will ride about your neighborhood, or a little beyond, and endeavor to instruct those

who are ignorant, of the importance of the public contestreclaim the deluded-animate the timid-rouse the languid and raise a spirit of emulation as to who shall exert himself most in the cause of freedom and America, you will deserve the applause of the continent. How many opportu nities are there for a man to distinguish himself, and to be beneficial to his country!

CHAPTER XXXVII.

The Settlements in the West-Biography of Boone, by Himself—Biography of Simon Kenton.

Since the peace with the Indians on the western frontier, various projects had been started for settlements beyond the mountains. In a treaty held at Fort Stanwix, the Six Nations, in consideration of the payment of £10,460, had ceded to the crown all the country south of the Ohio, as far as the Cherokee or Tennessee river. So much of this region as lay south of the Great Kanawha was claimed, however, by the Cherokees as a part of their hunting-grounds. The banks of the Kanawha, or New river, flowing north into the Ohio, across the foot of the great central Allegheny ridge, already began to be occupied by individual settlers. Application was soon made to the British government, by a company —of which Franklin, Sir William Johnson, Walpole, a wealthy London banker, and others, were members-for that part of this newly-ceded territory north of the Kanawha, and thence to the Upper Ohio. They offered to refund the whole amount paid to the Indians, and proposed to establish on the ceded lands a new and separate colony. This grant, though opposed by Lord Hillsborough, was finally agreed to by the ministry; but the increasing troubles between the colonies and the mother country prevented its final completion. Other grants solicited and ceded north of the Ohio were defeated by the same cause. Such was the origin of the Walpole or Ohio Company, the Vandalia Company, the Indiana Company-founded on a cession said to have been made to certain traders at the treaty of Fort Stanwix-and other land companies, not without a marked influence on the

politics of a future period. Even the distant regions on the shores of Lake Superior attracted the attention of some adventurous speculators, by whom attempts were made to work the mines; but the expenses attendant upon so remote an undertaking, caused it to be speedily abandoned.

The first settlement within the limits of the present State of Tennessee was made by emigrants from North Carolina, under the leadership of James Robinson, who settled on the Wataga, one of the head streams of the Tennessee river, on lands of the Cherokees, from whom, however, these settlers presently obtained an eight years' lease. As in the early settlements of New England, these emigrants organized themselves into a body politic. A code of laws was assented to, and signed by each individual of the colony. Others who joined them soon extended the settlement down the Valley of the Houlston, and, crossing the intervening ridges, occupied the banks of the Nolichucky and Clinch rivers, while others yet passed into Powell's Valley, the south-western corner of the present State of Virginia.

John Finley, an Indian trader, returning to North Carolina from the still more distant regions beyond the westernmost mountains, brought back glowing accounts of that fertile country. He persuaded Daniel Boone, a native of Maryland, and four other settlers on the Yadkin, to go with him to explore it. Having reached the head waters of the Kentucky, these adventurers saw from the hills fertile plains stretching toward the Ohio, covered with magnificent forests, ranged over by numerous herds of buffalo, and abounding with other game. They had several encounters with Indians. But we furnish here an account of Boone's own life, taken down from his own lips, by a cotemporary:

ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN DANIEL BOONE,

Comprising an Account of the Wars with the Indians on the Ohio, from 1769 to 1782.

WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.

It was on the 1st of May, 1769, that I resigned my domestic happiness, and left my family and peaceable habitation on the Yadkin river, in North Carolina, to wander through the wilderness of America, in quest of the country

of Kentucky, in company with John Finley, John Stuart, Joseph Holden, James Monay, and William Cool.

On the 7th of June, after travelling in a western direction, we found ourselves on Red river, where John Finley had formerly been trading with the Indians, and from the top of an eminence saw with pleasure the beautiful level of Kentucky. For some time we had experienced the most uncomfortable weather. We now encamped, made a shelter to defend us from the inclement season, and began to hunt, and reconnoiter the country. We found abundance of wild beasts in this vast forest. The buffaloes were more numerous than cattle in the settlements, browsing on the leaves of the cane, or cropping the herbage on these extensive plains. We saw hundreds in a drove, and the numbers about the salt-springs were amazing. In this forest, the habitation of beasts of every American kind, we hunted with great success until December.

On the 22d of December, John Stuart and I had a pleasing ramble; but fortune changed the day at the close of it. We passed through a great forest, in which stood myriads of trees, some gay with blossoms, others rich with fruits. Nature was here a series of wonders and a fund of delight. Here she displayed her ingenuity and industry in a variety of flowers and fruits, beautifully colored, elegantly shaped, and charmingly flavored; and we were favored with numberless animals presenting themselves perpetually to our view. In the decline of the day, near Kentucky river, as we ascended the brow of a small hill, a number, of Indians rushed out of a canebreak and made us prisoners. The ndians plundered us, and kept us in confinement seven days. During this time, we discovered no uneasiness or desire to scape, which made them less suspicious; but in the dead of aight, as we lay by a large fire in a thick canebrake, when sleep had locked up their senses, my situation not disposing me to rest, I gently awoke my companion. We seized this favorable opportunity and departed, directing our course toward the old camp, but found it plundered, and our company destroyed cr dispersed.

About this time, my brother with another adventurer, who came to explore the country shortly after us, were wandering through the forest, and accidentally came upon our camp.