[100] In the course of the day I passed over the low and swampy grounds, and the prospect became a little diversified. A few small yet steep hills presented themselves. Here the soil is fertile and the growth of timber elegant; upon one spacious rise of ground near these, however, there are a few scattering oaks, and the soil is thin and sterile.
The following night I heard the howling of some beasts of prey, and apprehended an attack. I newly primed my gun and pistols; but my ragged domicil was not invaded.
A day or two after, I reached Sandusky Rapids.[[88]] The land in the vicinity of this river is very fertile. The hill, a little west of the river, is high, and its summit constitutes a vast plain of rich land. A town, I understand, is here to be laid out. The soil below the hill, on both sides of the river, is also very rich; but the situation is too low to be pleasant, and must, I think, be unhealthy. On the west of the river are a few scattering houses. The river at the rapids is about thirty rods wide; and when I crossed it, it was full of floating ice. The velocity of the current was great. Sandusky Bay is situated about eighteen miles below the rapids; and Upper Sandusky lies about forty miles above them.[[89]] Upon this river are situated several tribes of Wyandot and Seneca Indians; and the United States derived from them by the treaty of Greenville, two small tracts of land lying upon the banks of the above mentioned river and bay.[[90]]
At a little distance from the western bank of the lower rapids of this river is Fort Sandusky, which was, during the late war, so nobly and effectually defended by the youthful Croghan.[[91]] I examined this post with much attention and interest. Its means of annoyance must have been in itself, inconsiderable; but the genius of a Croghan, supported by one [101] hundred and sixty patriotic and unyielding spirits, defended it against the repeated and embittered efforts of five hundred British regulars, and seven hundred Indians, aided by several gunboats and some pieces of artillery. The beseiged had only one six pounder. This they masked until the enemy leaped into the ditch, and then it swept them with dreadful carnage. This defence is beyond praise.
After remaining at Sandusky a few hours I entered the celebrated Black Swamp. It was in its very worst state. In my journal I observe, that I will not attempt to describe it. There was an unusual quantity of snow and ice upon the ground; and the weather being moderate the water rapidly increased. The distance across the swamp is forty miles. The wading was continually deep, the bushes thick, and the surface of the earth frozen and full of holes. What was worse than all, the ice, not yet separated and nearly strong enough to bear one, was continually breaking and letting the traveller into water from two to four feet in depth. The creeks there too are numerous, and the ice in them was broken up. The freshets were great, the banks of the creeks overflown, and the whole country inundated. In proceeding through the swamp I was constantly employed in making great exertions for nearly four days. The weight of my dress and baggage was a very great incumbrance to me; but my buffalo pantaloons were a defence against the thick yet brittle ice through which I was continually breaking.
At the edge of the swamp I saw an Indian passing across a neck of land on the Sandusky; and I hailed him, for the purpose of obtaining some information as to the best way through this trackless wild; but he either could not speak English, or pretended that this was the case. It is said that they [102] frequently do so. Soon after, I met with three Indians, together with one white man. The white man was a little intoxicated, and had, they said, engaged to do some work for them but had run away. Whilst I was obtaining from them information as to my course, the white man, falling a little behind, again deserted. My rifle was immediately seized by the Indians for the purpose of shooting him; but by great exertions I held it, until the man was out of sight, and then they desisted and pursued him. I marched on.
Towards evening I found a small elevation of land, and there encamped for the night. My little fire appeared like a star on the bosom of ocean. Earth was my couch, and my covering the brilliant canopy of Heaven. After preparing my supper, I slept in peace; but was awakened, at daylight, by a high wind accompanied by rain. Ere I arose, the lofty trees shaken by the tempest seemed ready to fall upon me. During the evening, such was the stillness of the situation, and such the splendour of the firmament, that nothing but fatigue could have checked the current of reflection. How great are the advantages of solitude!—How sublime is the silence of nature’s ever active energies! There is something in the very name of wilderness, which charms the ear, and soothes the spirit of man. There is religion in it.—The children of Israel were in the wilderness, and it was a type of this world! They sought too the Land of Promise, and this was a type of Heaven.
The next morning I renewed my exertions. The weather was lowering and cold. I found it necessary to wade through water of the depth of four or five feet, and my clothes were covered with icicles. About noon I arrived at a creek, a little to the east of Charon river,[[92]] and found much difficulty and danger [103] in crossing it. The channel of the creek was very deep, and its banks overflown, on both sides, for a quarter of a mile. After wading some way, I reached the channel, and by the aid of a fallen tree and some floating logs crossed it; the current, however, was so rapid, that upon the fallen tree lying under the surface, I could scarcely keep upon my feet: a single mis-step would have been fatal.
Immediately after crossing the channel, I found the water about four feet deep; and its depth soon increased so as to reach my shoulders. Here I stopped to survey my situation. Although the trees in this place were large and scattering, I could not perceive the land. The prospect reminded me of the Lake of the Woods. After wading up and down for some time, in the hope of finding the water less deep, I concluded to re-cross the channel and endeavour to obtain a fordable place in some other direction; but in attempting to return, a large and decayed log, upon which I had floated and upon which the impression of my feet had been left, could not be found. I was here completely bewildered. Alone, nearly up to my neck in water, apparently in the midst of a shoreless ocean, being too without my dogs, which used to swim around me when crossing such places, my situation was rather unpleasant; the novelty of it, however, together with my apparent inability to extricate myself produced a resourceless smile. After a while, I repassed the channel of the creek; and finally, by much labour and with great hazard, reached the western shore.
During a part of this day it rained; and so solitary was the aspect of every thing around me, that a very eloquent idea of the pious orator of Uz naturally presented itself:—