[50] Magnolia auriculata.
[51] At this place was fought a bloody and decisive battle between these Indians and the Carolinians, under the conduct of general Middleton, when a great number of Cherokee warriors were slain, which shook their power, terrified and humbled them, insomuch that they deserted most of their settlements in the low countries, and betook themselves to the mountains as less accessible to the regular forces of the white people.
CHAPTER IV.
After waiting two days at Cowe expecting a guide and protector to the Overhill towns, and at last being disappointed, I resolved to pursue the journey alone, though against the advice of the traders; the Overhill Indians being in an ill humour with the whites, in consequence of some late skirmishes between them and the frontier Virginians, most of the Overhill traders having left the nation.
Early in the morning I sat off attended by my worthy old friend Mr. Gallahan, who obligingly accompanied me near fifteen miles. We passed through the Jore village, which is pleasingly situated in a little vale on the side of the mountain; a pretty rivulet or creek winds about through the vale, just under the village: here I observed a little grove of the Casine yapon, which was the only place I had seen it grow in the Cherokee country; the Indians call it the beloved tree, and are very careful to keep it pruned and cultivated: they drink a very strong infusion of the leaves, buds and tender branches of this plant, which is so celebrated, indeed venerated by the Creeks and all the Southern maritime nations of Indians. We then continued travelling down the vale about two miles, the road deviating, turning and winding about the hills, and through groves and lawns, watered by brooks and rivulets, rapidly rushing from the towering hill on every side, and flowing into the Jore, which is a considerable branch of the Tanase.
Began now to ascend the mountain, following a small arm or branch of the vale, which led to a gap or narrow defile, compressed by the high pending hills on each side, down which came rapidly a considerable branch of the Jore, dashing and roaring over rocky precipices.
Now leaving Roaring creek on our right, and accomplishing two or three ascents or ridges, another branch of the trading path from the Overhills to Cowe came in on our right, and here my transitory companion Mr. Gallahan parted from me, taking this road back to Cowe; when I was left again wandering alone in the dreary mountains, not indeed totally pathless, nor in my present situation entirely agreeable, although such scenes of primitive unmodified nature always pleased me.
May we suppose that mankind feel in their hearts a predilection for the society of each other; or are we delighted with scenes of human arts and cultivation, where the passions are flattered and entertained with variety of objects for gratification?
I found myself unable, notwithstanding the attentive admonitions and pursuasive arguments of reason, entirely to erase from my mind those impressions which I had received from the society of the amiable and polite inhabitants of Charleston; and I could not help comparing my present situation in some degree to Nebuchadnezzar’s, when expelled from the society of men, and constrained to roam in the mountains and wilderness, there to herd and feed with the wild beasts of the forest.
After parting with my late companion, I went forward with all the alacrity that prudence would admit of, that I might as soon as possible see the end of my toil and hazard, being determined at all events to cross the Jore mountain, said to be the highest land in the Cherokee country.