Some of them, I could observe, were much more fervent and devout in the business than others, and seemed to chant, peep, and mutter with a great degree of warmth and vigor, as if determined to awaken and engage the powers below. I sat at a small distance, not more than thirty feet from them, though undiscovered, with my bible in my hand, resolving, if possible, to spoil their sport, and prevent their receiving any answers from the infernal world, and there viewed the whole scene. They continued their horrid charms and incantations for more than three hours, until they had all wearied themselves out; although they had in that space of time taken several intervals of rest; and at length broke up, I apprehended, without receiving any answer at all.

After they had done powawing, I attempted to discourse with them about Christianity; but they soon scattered, and gave me no opportunity for anything of that nature. A view of these things, while I was entirely alone in the wilderness, destitute of the society of any one who so much as "named the name of Christ," greatly sunk my spirits, and gave me the most gloomy turn of mind imaginable, almost stripped me of all resolution and hope respecting further attempts for propagating the gospel and converting the pagans, and rendered this the most burdensome and disagreeable Sabbath which I ever saw. But nothing, I can truly say, sunk and distressed me like the loss of my hope respecting their conversion. This concern appeared so great, and seemed to be so much my own, that I seemed to have nothing to do on earth if this failed. A prospect of the greatest success in the saving conversion of souls under gospel light would have done little or nothing towards compensating for the loss of my hope in this respect; and my spirits now were so damped and depressed, that I had no heart nor power to make any further attempts among them for that purpose, and could not possibly recover my hope, resolution, and courage, by the utmost of my endeavors.

The Indians of this island.can, many of them, understand the English language considerably well, having formerly lived in some part of Maryland, among or near the white people; but are very drunken, vicious and profane, although not so savage as those who have less acquaintance with the English. Their customs, in various respects, differ from those of the other Indians upon this river. They do not bury their dead in a common form, but let their flesh consume above the ground, in close cribs made for that purpose- At the end of a year, or sometimes a longer space of time, they take the bones, when the flesh is all consumed, and wash and scrape them, and afterwards bury them with some ceremony. Their method of charming or conjuring over the sick, seems somewhat different from that of the other Indians, though in substance the same. The whole of it among these and others, perhaps, is an imitation of what seems, by Naaman's expression, (2 Kings v. 11,) to have been the custom of the ancient heathen. It seems chiefly to consist in their "striking their hands over the diseased," repeatedly stroking them, " and calling upon their god ;” except the spurting of water like a mist, and some other frantic ceremonies common to the other conjurations which I have already mentioned.

When I was in this region in May last, I had an opportunity of learning many of the notions and customs of the Indians, as well as observing many of their practices. I then travelled more than 130 miles

upon the river, above the English settlements; and in that journey met with individuals of seven or eight distinct tribes, speaking as many different languages. But of all the sights I ever saw among them, or indeed anywhere else, none appeared so frightful, or so near akin to what is usually imagined of infernal powers, none ever excited such images of terror in my mind, as the appearance of one who was a devout and zealous reformer, or rather restorer of what he supposed was the ancient religion of the Indians. He made his appearance in his pontifical garb, which was a coat of bear-skins, dressed with the hair on, and hanging down to his toes; a pair of bear-skin stockings, and a great wooden face painted, the one half black, the other half tawny, about the color of the Indians' skin, with an extravagant mouth, cut very much awry; the face fastened to a bear skin cap, which was drawn over his head. He advanced towards me with the instrument in his hand which he used for music in his idolatrous worship; which was a dry tortoise-shell with some corn in it, and the neck of it drawn on to a piece of wood, which made a very convenient handle. As he came forward he beat his tune with the rattle, and danced with all his might, but did not suffer any part of his body, not so much as his fingers, to be seen. No one would have imagined from his appearance or actions, that he could have been a human creature, if they had not had some intimation of it otherwise. When he came near me I could not but shrink away from him, although it was then noonday, and I knew who it was; his appearance and gestures were so prodigiously frightful. He had a house consecrated to religious uses, with divers images cut upon the several parts of it. I went in, and found the ground beat almost as hard as a rock, with their frequent dancing upon it. I discoursed with him about Christianity. Some of my discourse he seemed to like, but some of it he disliked extremely. He told me that God had taught him his religion, and that he would never turn from it, but wanted to find some who would join heartily with him in it; for the Indians, he said, were grown very degenerate and corrupt. He had thoughts, he said, of leaving all his friends, and travelling abroad, in order to find some who would join with him; for he believed that God had some good people somewhere, who felt as he did. He had not always, he said, felt as he now did; but had formerly been like the rest of the Indians, until about four or five years before that time. Then, he said, his heart was very much distressed, so that he could not live among the Indians, but got away into the woods, and lived alone for some months. At length, he said, God comforted his heart, and showed him what he should do; and since that time he had known God, and tried to serve him; and loved all men, be they who they would, so as he never did before. He treated me with uncommon courtesy, and seemed to be hearty in it. I was told by the Indians, that he opposed their drinking strong liquor with all his power; and that, if at any time he could not dissuade them fron it by all he could say, he would leave them, and go crying into the woods. It was manifest that he had a set of religious notions which he had examined for himself, and not taken for granted upon bare tradition; and he relished or disrelished whatever was spoken of a religious nature, as it either agreed or disagreed with his standard. While I was discoursing, he would sometimes say, "Now that I like; so God has

taught me," &c.; and some of his sentiments seemed very just. Yet he utterly denied the existence of a devil, and declared there was no such creature known among the Indians of old times, whose religion he supposed he was attempting to revive. He likewise told me that departed souls went southward, and that the difference between the good and bad was this: that the former were admitted into a beautiful town with spiritual walls, and that the latter would for ever hover around these walls in vain attempts to get in. He seemed to be sincere, honest, and conscientious in his own way, and according to his own religious notions; which was more than I ever saw in any other pa gan. I perceived that he was looked upon and derided among most of the Indians as a precise zealot, who made a needless noise about religious matters; but I must say that there was something in his temper and disposition which looked more like true religion than any thing I ever observed among other heathen. But, alas! how deplorable is the state of the Indians upon this river! The brief representation which I have here given of their notions and manners is sufficient to show that they are led captive by Satan at his will," in the most eminent manner; and methinks might likewise be sufficient to excite the compassion and engage the prayers of God's children for these their fellow-man, who, "sit in the region of the shadow of death."- Memoirs.

On the 23d of September Brainerd left the Indians and returned to the Forks of Delaware, (Bucks county, now Northampton).

The following interesting facts were furnished by Mitchell Steever, Esq., of New Port, Perry county:

"At one time when Mr. William Baskins, grand uncle to Cornelius and James Baskins, having a crop of grain on what is now called Duncan's Island (having however previous removed his family to Fort Hunter for security) returned with part of his family to cut the grain; and while engaged, all on a sudden they were startled by the yell or whooping of Indians, who were hard by; however, on discovering that they were neighbors, their alarms were quieted; but, alas! they were deceived; for the barbarous savages, as soon as near enough, gave them distinctly to understand that their object was their scalps! At this moment, they all fled in consternation, hotly pursued, towards the house, and when there, Mr. Baskins, in the act of getting his gun, was shot dead and scalped; his wife, a daughter of about seven, and a son three years old, were abducted. Mr. McClean who was also in the field, plunged into the river and swam the Juniata, at what is called the "Sheep Island," and concealed himself in the cleft of rocks, on the opposite side, and thus eluded the pursuit of the savages and saved his life.

A

Mrs. Baskins effected her escape from the Indians some

where near Carlisle; the daughter was taken to the Miami country, west of the Ohio, then an unbroken wilderness, where she was detained for more than six years, when in conformity to a treaty made with the Indians, she was delivered up, and returned. She was afterwards married to Mr. John Smith, whose son James is now residing in New Port, Perry county, and to whom I am indebted for this interesting tradation. The lad, that was taken at the same time, was carried to Canada, where he was raised by Sir William Johnston, not knowing the name of the boy, when he was baptised by a missionary, was named, Timothy Murphy. He was afterwards discovered by Alexander Stevens, Mr. James Stevens' father, who resides in Juniata township, Perry county, by some peculiar mark on his head.

visited his friends in Perry. James Smith, his nephew, when at Canada in defence of his country, during the late war, visited him and found him comfortably situated near Malden in Upper Canada, and the owner of a large estate."-See Chap. vii.

The present Clark's Ferry, near Duncan's Island, was called Queenasha wakee by the Indians, and the Juniata near by it was spelled Choniata. This ferry was once a great fording place-a little above it, at the White Rock, on the river side, John Harris had, in 1733, a house and some fields cleared, which was complained of by the Indians.

CHAPTER XXII.

Original settlers-Present population-Education-Relief of the Poor. In preceding pages it has been stated that settlements had been made within the present bounds of Dauphin, prior to 1719 or 1720. Prior to 1729, or 1730, all that portion south of the Blue mountain, was settled. James Logan, in a letter to John Penn, Esq. dated February 27th, 1731–2, says, "I must further observe that almost all the lands on Susquehanna, south of the hills above Pextang, that bound what is habitable on the east side of the rivers are generally settled by our people, though the Five Nations still claim them.-HAZ. REG. of Pa. iii. 210.

The townships in the southern and eastern portion of the county, (then Chester county) were settled prior to 1719 or 1720; Pextang, or Harris's, at an earlier period, and McCallister's, then Chambers's, prior to 1729 or 1730.

The first settlers, with few exceptions, were from the north of Ireland; some from Scotland, and were usually called "The Scotch Irish." They possessed all the indispensable qualities requisite to make good pioneer settlers. Dauntless and valorous were they. Educated as Presbyterians, they had strong hopes of becoming the undisturbed possessors of the lands still, to some extent occupied by the tawny sons of the woods; this they did, but at the cost of many a helpless child, an endeared bosom companion, a father, a mother, or some friend or relative; for during the French and Indian from 1755 to 1763, many fell victims to the cruel savages then marauding the frontier settlements, as the attentive reader will have observed from Chap. vii.-xi., pp. 85, 88, 95, 100, 102, 103, 118, 123, 126, 128, 130, 133, 141.

war,

Owing to the want of fire arms, ammunition, &c., and not living as contiguous as people in older settled countries, they were obliged to abandon their houses and farms.

Perhaps all would have left this region of country, had it not been for some bold and daring men amongst them, of this number none was more conspicuous than Rev. JOHN ELDER,