-no religion did; for the latter was bound for me, though he had not seen me before-and he also carried the money a distance for nothing; so I see that the hearts of all men are in the hand of God, and he can and doth work by whom he pleaseth.

Feeling my soul refreshed by my visit, and my work done here for the present, and my horse paid for, and I well equipped for travelling, and my heart drawn to the west, and a number of letters being given me to give to people, I was resolved to go to the westward: I accordingly told brother Mead, who was going to Virginia, that if he was minded he might give out a chain of appointiments for me, through that country, to which he agreed. (During this visit, I had a narrow escape from a raving heifer.) I felt a desire to hold meeting in a certaiu house of quality people; but knew not how to accomplish it. But a thought struck my mind; so I got oue to go and deliver an errand in such a way as to provoke the man to say, I'm willing if my wife is, and the woman to say, I'm willing if my husband is; which was effected, by the errand being delivered to them separately. I then published the appointment, but it so happened, that the family were all from home, except the blacks at the time of meeting; so I spoke before the gate in the road, and had a good time: but I received a few lines from one of the absentees, expressing grief on their side at the circumstance.

April 19. Being provided with necessaries, I crossed the Oconee river, and there meeting some persons, setoff for Tombigby; but I had not proceeded an hundred yards, before I found that one on whom we depended as a guide, knew nothing about the road; of course, must depend on my own judgment. I had procured a map of the road, an hundred and thirty miles to the Chatahocha river, and a pocket compass, &c. A young man from Connecticut, who was acquainted with some of my relations, was feeding mules in the woods, so we followed him a few miles, and then encamped in the woods for the night. Next day a wonan and a child got flung from a horse, and thereby were ducked in the Oakmulgee river. So we proceeded on, frequently seeing Indians, (which a black woman

of the company was much afraid of,) till we came to Flint river, when we hired an Indian to lead a horse through, and himself wade before it. Some of the land over which we passed, was miserable,and some was preferable to any I had ever seen in the south. We fre quently saw wild game, among which were deer and turkeys. The Indians frequently came to our camp, and while we had our evening devotion, they would be solemn and mute: we could talk together only by signs, and I desired to know if they knew what we were about; they replied, that we were paying our addresses to the Great Man above, who is the author of breath, &c. Thus all intelligences have some idea of divinity, futurity, and rewards and punishments, and what causes such universal acknowledgment, but an universal teacher, which must be God! I broke my umbrella, and likewise lost my whip, the latter while buying corn, and hiring a pilot.

One day a couple of us thought to get to the agent's house before the company, to get provision, but had not gone far before an Indian alarmed us much, by shooting a deer through, and the ball struck near us, which made us suppose some hostile intention was against us, till we saw the mistake. We left a man and woman in the woods, who were going to trade with the Indians, as they travelled slow.

Hawkins the agent treated us cool, so we quit him and went on. Next day, we missed our road, or rather Indian path, which we were convinced of by some swamps and water courses, and turning a little back, one of the company being a good woodsman, took the lead, and striking across, we came to the path, which divided the minds of the company at first, but at length we agreed to strike across it further through the woods, and that afternoon found a path which proved to be the right one. We at length found a man hunting horses, who piloted me to the first house in the settlement, which we made in thirteen days and an half from the time we set out, having travelled about four hundred miles.

The company supposed that they could save thirty or forty miles' travel, by swimming across the Alabama

river, and forcing a swamp, which they attempted to do, and got detained by rain two days, but I left them, and went down the river ten miles, and stayed with an half bred Indian, who charged me a dollar and a half for the night. I then left an appointment for Sunday, in the Tensaw settlement, and went over the Alabama by the Cut-off, to the west side of Tombigby, through a cane brake or swamp, seven miles, and found a thick settlement, and then a scattered one seventy miles in length, through which I sent a chain of appointments, and afterwards fulfilled them, and the fruit I expect to see at a future day.

The river Tombigby, like the Nile, overflows once a year, is also a flood tide river only once in twenty-four hours; it is navigable for vessels, and will one day become the glory of the south part of the United States, as the trade of Tennessee, &c. will pass through it.The inhabitants are mostly English, but are like sheep without a shepherd. Whilst under the Spanish government, it was a place of refuge for bad men; but of late, since it fell to us, seems to be in a hopeful way, and there is still room for great amendment. A collection was offered me. I did not feel free to accept it; and I left the settlement, procured some corn, and had not a cent left. Three of my travelling companions fell in with me again, and accompanied me through the Choctaw nation, to the Natchez settlement, which we reached in six days and an half, being about eight hundred miles from Georgia; on the way, we met with a man going along to Georgia; and in the sixth town, I gave my saddle-cloth to the Indians for corn to feed my horse with.

Here I was called to another exercise of my faith, having no money, and a stranger in a strange land, but my hope was still in God who hath helped hitherto.The master of the house, to which I first came, was once a methodist; he happened to hear of my coming the week preceeding, by some travellers, and received me and the three men kindly, and the next day got me a meeting, and good I trust was done. The night after, 1 held meeting at the house of a baptist, then rode on towards the town of Natchez, and parted with my three

companions by the way, who were going to West Florida, to see their father.

I called on a man who was said to be a methodist, but found he was not; so I went to another house where they were called methodists, but met with a cool recep, tion at the first, until I shewed them the governor's passport, and likewise two papers, one from brother Mead, and one from Hull, that I was an acceptable preacher of moral conduct, &c. then they were more kind, and kept my horse about two weeks. Brother Moses Floyd met me the same night, and having receiv ed letters by me from Georgia, was friendly, then the above family became more so; the governor, to whom I had an introductory letter, was also friendly.

I held two or three meetings in the assembly-room, with the permission of the mayor, though with difficulty obtained. The man on whom I called, and found he was not a methodist, reflected how far I had come to see them through the woods, and felt his heart inclined to lend me an horse to ride more than a hundred miles, so I went to Kingston, and procured a spot of ground (by selling my watch) for a meeting-house; and then to the heights and Pinckney-ville, and held meetings. I stopped at a house in the edge of West Florida, and sold my cloak. Thence I returned and visited several neighbourhoods, and God's power was to be felt in some of them.

My horse was now taken lame, so that he was not fit to ride to Tennessee. I spoke at the Pineridge meeting-house, and at Washington, Sulfertown, and at Calender's meeting-house, where some were offended. Here quarterly meeting was held. Thence I went to Wormsville, Biopeer, and Bigblack, and preached the funeral sermon of a neice of the Rev. Tobias Gibson, and the Lord was with us. I left my horse with brother Gibson, and took a Spanish race horse, which he was to be responsible for, and I was to remit him the money by post, when it should be due on my arrival in Georgia in November.

June 20. Having got equipped for my journey thro' the woods of Cumberland, which was several hundred miles, and having being informed that a party of men

were that morning to start into the wilderness, I intended to go with them, but on my arrival found they had started the day before; so I must either wait for more, or go and overtake them. To wait I durst not, as my appointments had gone to Virginia. A Kentuckian had some time before, as I was informed, struck an Indian who shortly after died; and the other Indians supposed that his death was in consequence of the blow; and they complained to the governor, and the Kentuckian was tried and acquitted: wherefore the Indians, according to their custom, were determined to kill somebody, as they must have life for life; and they had now become saucy, and had shot at and wounded several on that road, but had not killed any one yet, and it was supposed that some one must shortly fall a victim.However I set off alone, and rode the best part of twenty miles, when I saw a party of Indians within about a hundred feet of me: I was in hopes they would pass me, but in vain, for the first Indian seized my horse by the bridle, and the others surrounded me. At first, I thought it was a gone case with me, then I concluded to get off my horse and give up all, in order to save my life; but it turned in my mind, that if I do, I must return to the settlements, in order to get equipped for another start, and then it will be too late for my appointments. Again it turned in my mind, how when I was in Ireland, somebody would frequently be robbed or murdered one day, and I would travel the same way the day before or the day after, and yet was preserved and brought back in peace; and the same God is as able to preserve me here and deliver me now as then-immediately I felt the power of faith to put my confidence in God; at the same time I observed the Indians had ramrods in the muzzles of their guns as well as in their stock, so it would take some time to pull out the ramrods, and get the gun cocked and prepared up to their faces, ready to shoot; at this moment, my horse started and jumped sideways, which would have laid the Indian to the ground, who held the bridle, had it not slipped out of his hands; at the same time, the Indian on the other side, jumped seemingly like a streak to keep from under the horse's feet, so that there was a vacancy in the circle;