North-Carolina Chronicle; or Fayetteville Gazette

              the mk'ih carolina chronicle ; or fayettevilie gazelle monday september 27 1790 total no 55.2 and permitted only on extraordinary oe cafions markable ftory concerning one cf thefe reptiles of which he faid he was an eye witnefs an indian belonging to the lv'er.omor.ie nation having t«kcn one cf them contrived to tan.e it and when be had done this treated it as a diety call ing it his great father and carrying it in a box with him wherever he went this the indian had done for feveral fummers when monfieur pinnifence accidentally met with him at lids carrying place juft as he was fctting off for his win ter's hunt the french gentleman ws 3 furpri/.ed one day to fee the indian place the box which contained his god e n the ground and opening the doer give hirs his libeity ; telling him whiift he did it to be fare and return ly the time he himfelf fhould come back which was to be may following as this was but october monfieur told the indian whole fimplicity iftonifl«ed him that he fancied he might wait long enough wheti may arrived for the arrival of his great fa'her the indian was fo confident of his creature's obedience that he of fered to lay the frenchman a wager cf two gallons of mm that atthe'time ap pointed he would come and crav.l into his box this was agreed on and the fecond week in may following fixed for the determination of the wager at that period they both met there again ; the indian fet down the box and called for his great father the fnake heard him not ; and the time bring expired he acknowledged he had left howe ver without feemmg difcouraged he of fered to double the bett if his g r eat fa ther came not within two days more — this was further agreed on ; when behold on the fecend day abeut one o'clock the make arrived and cf ids own accord crawled into the box which was placed ready for him the french gentleman vomched for the truth of this dory and from the accounts i have often received of the docility of thofe creatures i fee no reafon to doubt his veracity i bblerved that the main body cf he fox river came frr.n the sou h weft that of he*ouifconfin from he ncrth eaft and abb that fomc of the fmall branches of thefe two rivers it defend ing into them doubled v thin a fevr feet cf each ether a little to the sctsta about twelve miles before i reached the carrying place i obferved feveral fmall mountains which extended quite to it thefe indeed would only be ef teemed as molehills when compared with thife oa the back of the colonies but as they were the firft i had feen fince my leaving niagara a track of nearly ele ven hundred miles i could not leave them unnoticed bgrvrver's travels continued rr and bears are very numerous rthcf'c parts and a great many beaverjbid other f.trs are taken on ihe ureamsthat empty thcndllves into this river thc*river i am treating of is remarka ble for having been about eighty years ago,thereftdeact oftlie united bands of the ottigakiles and the saukies whom the french had nicknamed according to their wonted cuhlom des sacs and ties reynards the sacks and the foxes of whom the following anecdote was related to me by an indian ' about fixty ysars ngc the french mif fionaries and traders having received many infulis fiom tktfe people a party f french and indiass under the ccno maud of captain morand marched to re venge thrir wrongs the captain fat out from the green bay in the winter when they were uniufricious of a vifit of this kind ar.d tr riding his route over the ibowto their village which lay about fifty miles up the fox river came upon them by f.irarize unprepared a they were hefautad them an eaiy conqneft and onfer-.iently killed or lock prifen ers the greateft part of them on the return of the french to the green e a \> one of the irriria chiefs in alliance v.rih '.. therm who i....j a cr rdldc able ar;d of the piifct et > un.df hri ore flopped to * drinlt at a brook ; in the mean time his companion v a ',■■:', - hi ■* being cbrirv ed by & woman in th i '.*>.' ; / ci d aim with both he h.ari .. v.hdd he ftooped to drink by vn ex.p.hhely fufcep;lb!e part and h,l 1 ini ili : tdl re expired en thefpor as th rhhdhft-ot th extreme torturs he fullered v.-.i unable to call cut tohisfiier.d tu i rive any alarm they palled on v hhoni \- now lageri-at had hap pened ; at j the r-i an having cat the bands of d.cth 1.1 i i'fiow painners who were i the v>r v ah the i made her efca r e . t h h h -. re i n e v >. s c -, e r * ft c r treated " hcvrn.i ■:->. ..-> tbrir d.livcrer and ma a'-hdiril ii her r-w f.^w withlib v a -. ■'.*..": : v r ." b i-rn her deicci.ut.i-u — u aatriuai didducvcit the fox river where it enters the winnebago lake is about fifty yards wide but it gradually decreafes to the carr}ingplace,where it is no more than five yards over except in a few places where it widens into fmall lakes though ftiil of confiderable depth i cannot re collect any thing elfe that is remarkable in this river except that it fo ferpentines for five miles as only to gain in that place one cpaarter ef a mile the carrying place between the fox and ouifconfm rivers is in breadth not more than a mile and three quarters though in fome maps it is fo delineated as to appear to be ten miles and here i cannot help remarking that all the maps of thefe parts i have ever fcen are very erroneous the rivers in general are defcribed as running in different di rections from what they really do ; and many brnr.chrs of them particularly of the mifiirippi omittei the diflances cf places likewife are greatly mifrepre fented ; whether this is done by the french geographers for the englifh maps are all copied from theirs thr ugh design or for want of a juft knowledge of the country i cannot fay ; but i am fati fied that travellers who depend upon them in the parts i vifited will had themfelves much at a lofs having fur veved with the greatelt care every country through which i palled i can atfert that the map prefixed to this work is drawn with much greater preciiion tllan any extant near one half cf the way between the rivers is a morals overgrown with a , kind of long grafs the reft of it a plain with fome few cak and pine trees grow ing thereon i obferved here a great number of rattle fnakes monfienr pin niufccej a french trader told me a re — g 2 , of vol ii history