and interesting friends, and prepared to return to the tumultuous scenes of a busy world; from which, if life be spared, my thoughts will often stray to the sacred solitudes of Yaloo Busha, as to a source of the most grateful and refreshing recollections. I was almost the first person from a distance, who had visited this remote settlement; and was charged with several letters to the friends of the Missionaries. I believe they had pleasure in thinking that I should probably in a few weeks see those, the endearments of whose society they had renounced for ever in this world: it seemed to bring them nearer the scenes to which they had recently bid a last adieu. I felt a strange emotion, in being thus made the link of communication between these self-devoted followers of our blessed Lord, and the world which they had for ever quitted; and when I saw with what affection they cherished the recollection of many, whose faces they expected to see no more in this life, I turned with peculiar pleasure to our Saviour's animating assurance-" There is no man that hath left "house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or

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mother, or wife, or lands, for my sake and the

gospel's, but he shall receive a hundred-fold now in this time, and in the world to come, “life everlasting."

I left with them a late number of the Missionary Register, and another of the Christian Observer, which I had received from England, while at New Orleans.

Mr. Kingsbury rode with us till we had safely forded the Yaloo Busha; but our route to the spot where I am finishing this letter, which I began at Elliot, I must reserve for my next. I forgot to say, that the Indians call the Misssionaries Aba-on-om-poolé, "Talking above."

Letter XFV.

Foot of the Cumberland Mountain, Tennessee, 29th May, 1820.

My two last letters were from Elliot; and as I found none waiting for me at Huntsville, to my great disappointment, I have now no hope of having later dates from home than the 19th of February, till I reach Richmond.

After parting with the Rev. Mr. Kingsbury on the banks of the Yaloo Busha, we proceeded through the woods, along an Indian path, till evening, when we reached the dwelling of a half-breed Choctaw, whose wife was a Chickasaw, and whose hut was on the frontier of the two nations. We found him sitting before the door, watching the gambols of fifty or sixty of his horses, which were frolicking before him; and of more than 200 very fine cattle, which, at sunset, were coming up as usual, of their own accord, from different parts of the surrounding forest, where they have a boundless and luxuriant range. The whole scene reminded me

* He told us, that by giving the cattle a little salt, at the cowpen, at fixed periods, he secured the return of the most

strongly of pastoral and patriarchal times. He had chosen this situation, he said, for its retirement, (in some directions he had no neighbours for fifty or a hundred miles,) and because it afforded him excellent pasturage and water for his cattle he added, that occupation would give him and his family a title to it as long as they chose. He had a few slaves to cultivate as much land as was necessary, and killed a few deer as he wanted them. Near the house were some bones of the buffalo; but that animal has

extensive herds, from whatever distance they might have strayed. Where persons divide their stock into herds of 100 to 200 each, and send them to different parts of the forest, that they may not interfere with each other's pasturage, it is usual, if possible, to place them within a few miles of a salt-lick, as it is called, since they are certain to visit it every few days; and the owner, when going to reclaim them, has only to pitch his tent there for a day or two, in order to be visited by the whole. When the herds are sent to a distance from home, it is common to go and see them every three or

four weeks, for the purpose of keeping up a sort of acquaintance with them; but without some centre of attraction, it would be a hopeless task to look for them in these boundless forests.

Bradbury observes, in speaking of Upper Louisiana, "Salt furnishes the means, by the aid of which the shepherd or the herdsman obtains a complete dominion over the will of his flocks or his herds, and, in the midst of this vast region, can call them around him at pleasure."

I saw two salt-licks, which had the appearance of plains of very white marble, of a sufficient consistency to retain the

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not been seen in this part of the country for many years. He gave us a hospitable reception; and spread a bear-skin for each of us in his only room, which we occupied for two nights, the following day being Sunday.

As our host spoke English very well, and was very intelligent, our quiet meals gave me an opportunity of obtaining some information from him relative to the Indians.

His wife, a pleasing young woman, ate with us, but would not or could not speak English;

impressions of the feet of cattle, which seemed to have trodden it so completely in every part, that it was difficult to find a space of three inches without a footstep. These salt-licks, in which the earth is only partially impregnated with salt, are very different from such salines as are found in prairies, and which are described by Bradbury, as bearing a striking resemblance to a field of brilliant snow, after rain, with a light crust on its top.

The food of the cattle in this part of the country consists principally of cane, which forms a thick undergrowth in the forests for many hundred miles! The sweet and tender young shoots were devoured by our horses with great avidity, and we found that the droves of horses which the Kentuckians and Tennesseans brought down for sale to the south, require no other food during the journey. The cane which we saw was of two distinct species-the arundo-gigantea and the arundo-aquatica; the latter is found principally on the banks of rivers and creeks, and forms what are called Cane Brakes. In passing through these, early in the morning, before the dew had evaporated, we were generally completely wet through; and they seemed to form so admirable a covert for beasts of prey, that we passed them with timidity, and as rapidly as our unsound, swampy path would permit.