stretching away among the hills of New York. Tioga Point, from its geographical position, has been noted, in the annals of Indian warfare, as the site of an ancient Indian town, and a place of rendezvous for parties, or armies passing up or down the two great streams. At the lower

end of the village are the remains of an old fort erected during the Indian wars. On the beautiful plain just below the mountain, seen on the left of the picture, stood the "Castle" of the celebrated Catharine Montour, sometimes called Queen Esther, whose more permanent residence was at Catharine's town, at the head of Seneca lake.

Catharine Montour was a half-breed, who had been well educated in Canada. Her reputed father was one of the French governors of that province, and she herself was a lady of comparative refinement. She was much caressed in Philadelphia, and mingled in the best society. She exercised a controlling influence among the Indians, and resided in this quarter while they were making their incursions upon the Wyoming settlements. It has been even suspected that she presided at the bloody sacrifice of the Wyoming prisoners after the battle; but Col. Stone, who is good authority upon the history of the Six Nations, utterly discredits the suspicion. The plain upon which the mansion stood is called Queen Esther's flats. Old Mr. Covenhoven, who still lives in Lycoming co., was one of Col. Hartley's expedition to Tioga, just after the battle of Wyoming, for the purpose of burning the Moravian villages and the Indian town at Tioga. Mr. Covenhoven says, that he himself put the brand to "Queen Esther's castle." He describes it as a long, low edifice, constructed with logs set in the ground at intervals of ten feet, with horizontal hewn plank, or puncheons, neatly set into grooves in the posts. It was roofed, or thatched, and had some sort of porch, or other ornament, over the doorway. In 1784, Judge Hollenback, of Luzerne co., had an establishment at Tioga for trading with the Indians, of whom many were still residing up the Tioga valley. Daniel McDowell was his clerk. The Indians having buried the hatchet with the peace of '83, were disposed to be friendly; but the villany of straggling white traders, aided by the demon of rum, often exasperated them to such a degree, that great fears were entertained for the safety of the resident families. About this time a good-natured Indian, who boasted chiefly of his stature as a "big Shickashinny," was murdered while intoxicated, near Hollenback's store, by a little roving fur-trader from Delaware river. It was with some difficulty the villagers, through McDowell's intercession, appeased the exasperated feelings of the relatives and friends of the Indian by purchasing his corpse at the price of a pair of old horses! The murderer enlisted in the army, and before long received his due from the Indians on the northwestern frontier. In '84, also, Christopher Hollabird and a Mr. Miller came in and squatted upon lands near the town, supposing them to be in the state of New York. The town appears to have been laid out between the years 1784 and '88, for in the latter year, Elisha Mat

From the hill near the Wysox road. In the foreground is the bed of the North Branch Canal, laid bare (in 1841) by the destruction of the dam below. Over the centre of the bridge is the Presbyterian Church; on the hill is the Academy; and on the right the Methodist and the Episcopal Churches.

fire was kept burning. The aged Cayuga chieftain, Fish-Carrier, who was held in exalted vene. ration for his wisdom, and who had been greatly distinguished for his bravery from his youth up, officiated as the high priest of the occasion,-making a long speech to the luminary, occasionally throwing tobacco into the fire as incense. On the conclusion of the address, the whole assembly prostrated themselves upon the bosom of their parent earth, and a grunting sound of approbation was uttered from mouth to mouth around the entire circle. At a short distance from the fire a post had been planted in the earth-intended to represent the stake of torture to which captives are bound for execution. After the ceremonies in favor of Madame Luna had been ended, they commenced a war-dance around the post, and the spectacle must have been as picturesque as it was animating and wild. The young braves engaged in the dance were naked, excepting the breech-clout about their loins. They were painted frightfully—their backs being chalked white, with irregular streaks of red, denoting the streaming of blood. Frequently would they cease from dancing while one of their number ran to the fire, snatching thence a blazing stick, placed there for that purpose, which he would thrust at the post, as though inflicting torture upon a prisoner. In the course of the dance they sang their songs, and made the forests ring with their wild screams and shouts, as they boasted of their deeds of war and told the number of scalps they had respectively taken, or which had been taken by their nation. During the dance, those engaged in it-as did others also-partook freely of unmixed rum; and by consequence of the natural excitement of the occasion, and the artificial excitement of the liquor, the festival had wellnigh turned out a tragedy. It happened that among the dancers was an Oneida warrior, who, in striking the post, boasted of the number of scalps taken by his nation during the war of the revolution. Now the Oneidas, it will be recollected, had sustained the cause of the colonies in that contest, while the rest of the Iroquois confederacy had espoused that of the crown. The boasting of the Oneida warrior, therefore, was like striking a spark into a keg of gunpowder. The ire of the Senecas was kindled in an instant, and they in turn boasted of the number of scalps taken by them from the Oneidas in that contest. They moreover taunted the Oneidas as cowards. Quick as lightning the hands of the latter were upon their weapons, and in turn the knives and tomahawks of the Senecas began to glitter in the moonbeams, as they were hastily drawn forth. For an instant it was a scene of anxious and almost breathless suspense, a death-struggle seeming inevitable, when the storm was hushed by the interposition of old Fish-Carrier, who rushed forward, and striking the post with violence, exclaimed-"You are all of you a parcel of boys: When you have attained my age, and performed the warlike deeds that I have performed, you may boast what you have done; not till then!" Saying which he threw down the post, put an end to the dance, and caused the assembly to retire.* This scene, in its reality, must have been one of absorbing and peculiar interest. An assembly of nearly two thousand inhabitants of the forest, grotesquely clad in skins and strouds, with shining ornaments of silver, and their coarse raven hair falling over their shoulders, and playing wildly in the wind as it swept past, sighing mournfully among the giant branches of the trees above,-such a group, gathered in a broad circle in an "opening" of the wilderness--the starry canopy of heaven glittering above them, the moon casting her silver mantle around their dusky forms, and a large fire blazing in the midst of ⚫ them, before which they were working their spells and performing their savage rites-must have presented a spectacle of long and vivid remembrance.

A few years after the town had been laid out the Duke de la Rochefaucault Liancourt, an observing French traveller, passed up the valley, in 1795. He had already stopped at French town in Asylum township, whence he took his departure with his friends Messrs. De Blacons and Du Petit Thouars of that place-the latter on foot. He speaks of stopping at Solomon Teasy's, who held 500 acres at Old Sheshequin, under the Connecticut title. Teasy wanted to sell out at $10 75 per acre, and remove to Genesee. He speaks of New Sheshequin as "a small neat town, containing about twelve houses, built either of rough logs or boards." The justice of the peace, the surveyor, and the pastor of the neighboring country resided there. He speaks of Tioga at that time as an inconsiderable village of eight or ten houses, with its single tavern (there had been three the year before) crowded with travellers going to settle near the great lakes. He quotes the price of land in the neighborhood of the town at $8 per acre, "when out of 300 acres 50 or 60 are

MS. recollections of Thomas Morris. Mr. M. was known among the Indians by the name conferred upon him on this occasion, for many years. After his marriage, his wife was called by them Otetiani squaw, and his children, Otetiani pappooses.

cleared." Town lots 50 feet by 150 were at $20. The merchants carried on an inconsiderable trade in hemp, which they got from the valleys above and sent to Philadelphia. He says

"Near the confines of Pennsylvania a mountain rises from the bank of the river Tioga in the shape of a sugar-loaf, upon which are seen the remains of some intrenchments. These the inhabitants call the Spanish ramparts; but I rather judge them to have been thrown up against the Indians in the times of Mr. Denonville, [1688.] One perpendicular breastwork is yet remaining, which, though covered over with grass and bushes, plainly indicates that a parapet and a ditch have been constructed here."

Sheshequin, or New Sheshequin, is a neat village on the left bank of the Susquehanna, composed of farm houses principally, scattered for two or three miles along the road. The Universalist church, the only one, stands near the centre of the village, about 8 miles from Towanda, and 6 1-2 from Athens. The sweet vale of Sheshequin has been very properly compared, by Mrs. J. H. Scott, the gifted native poetess of the valley, to a miniature edition of the Wyoming valley. It is about six miles in length by one or two in breadth, and the broad fertile flats on which the village stands are closed in by mountains on every side except at the romantic passes through which breaks the Susquehanna. Capt. Spalding, afterwards Gen. Spalding, whose name is conspicuous in the annals of Wyoming, had passed up through this valley with Gen. Sullivan in 1779, and set his heart upon its fair lands. After the peace in 1783 he came up and settled here, together with his son John Spalding, Capt. Stephen Fuller and his sons John and Reuben, Benjamin Cole, Hugh Fordsman, Joseph Kinney, and Col. Thomas Baldwin. Col. Franklin, Judge Gore, and "Squire" Gore followed the year after. Col. Kingsbury says that he came in '94, and the valley had then been settled eleven years.

The following is copied from a manuscript found among the papers of the late Mrs. Scott, in the handwriting of Joseph Kinney, Esq.

"The treaty held in 1796 with the Six Nations, was one of much interest. About three hundred warriors, well dressed in Indian costume, passed down the Susquehanna, and encamped on the Sheshequin flats. Their whoops and war-dance, although terrifying, still became interesting in the extreme. Gen. Spalding made them a present of six thrifty long-legged shoats, (Col. Kingsbury says only two,) turned loose upon the large flats. They selected as many young runners, each with a scalping-knife, who immediately gave chase. This was fine sport for the inhabitants. The race was long-they striking with their knives at every opportunity. Their mode of cooking would not suit our refined notions. The hogs were thrown into a large fire and the hair burnt off, which was the only dressing. They were then put into large kettles, with a little corn and beans, and cooked. This was their feast, and this they called Ump-a-squanch. On their return from Philadelphia they stopped at the same place. Here they gave the whites a challenge to a foot-race-and Wm. W. Spalding (still living in the Wysox valley) was selected by the whites. The whites were successful: this gave umbrage to the Indians. He then wanted to run a mile, which was of course refused; and it was with the utmost difficulty that peace was restored, as many of the Indians drew their knives."

About the year '87 or '88, Gen. Spalding was visited by John Livingston and others, to solicit his aid in effecting the memorable lease of land for 999 years in New York, from the Six Nations. After the lease was effected, many moved to that country from the Susquehanna, and subsequently suffered much loss and hardship by disputed titles.

(For an interesting account of Old Sheshequin see the history of the Moravians, above.)

Just opposite Towanda, opens the beautiful valley of Wysox creek, stretching away on several branches towards the northeastern corner of

the county. In this valley are several pretty and flourishing villagesWysox, 3 miles, Meyersburg, 4 miles, and Rome, 9 miles from Towanda. On the high summit level at the head of the creek is the neat village of Orwell, 14 miles from Towanda, on the road to Montrose. At Rome, the Sulphur Springs have gained some celebrity, both as a watering-place and for their medicinal qualities. A spacious hotel accommodates the visitors.

The Connecticut Herald of 1817, says:

In the town of Wysox, Bradford co., state of Pennsylvania, is the " ci-devant” residence of a hermit. It is a beautiful valley, imbosomed by mountains, and refreshed by a small river which loses itself in the waters of the Susquehanna. The name of the solitary old man, who was, a few years since, found dead in his cabin, was " Fencelor." Hence the place still does, and probably ever will, retain the name of "Fencelor Castle." This sequestered spot, replete with the most delightful scenery, is now occupied by a gentleman of taste and fortune-an emigrant from Connecticut-who recently transplanted into that garden of nature, earth's fairest flower, an amiable wife.

(For an adventure of Van Camp's, near Towanda cr., see Columbia co.) BURLINGTON is a village not long since started, about 8 miles west of Towanda, where the Berwick and Newtown turnpike crosses Sugar cr. TROY is another pleasant village on Sugar cr., about 18 miles from Towanda, where the Williamsport and Elmira railroad crosses the cr.

MONROE, laid out a few years since by Gordon F. Mason, Esq., surveyor of the co., is on Towanda cr., 8 miles S. W. of Towanda, where the Berwick road crosses the cr. The railroad to the coal mines, at the head of the cr., was located through the village.

CANTON is a small village recently started on the Williamsport and Elmira railroad, near the source of the main branch of Towanda cr.

ULSTER is a small village on the right bank of the Susquehanna, halfway between Athens and Towanda.

Just above the mouth of Wyalusing, a small village has grown up since the construction of the canal, and a mile or so below the mouth is the extensive agricultural and trading establishment of C. F. Wells, Esq. The history of the Moravian towns, near this place, is given on pages 137 to 140.

FRENCHTOWN is in Asylum township, on the right bank of the Susquehanna, in a deep bend opposite the mouth of Rummersfield cr., seven or eight miles, by land, below Towanda.

The village and township received their characteristic names from circumstances related in the following account, condensed from the travels of the Duke de la Rochefaucauld Liancourt, a French nobleman, who travelled through this valley in 1795. He was a close observer of every thing relating to the agriculture, land, &c., of our new country; and, of course, took an especial interest in the settlements of his own countrymen. Asylum (Frenchtown) has been only fifteen months established. Messrs. Talon and De Noailles, French gentlemen, came to this country from England, intending to purchase, cultivate, and people 200,000 acres of land. They had interested in their project some planters of St. Domingo who had escaped from the ruins of that colony with the remains of their fortune. Messrs. Robert Morris and John Nicholson sold them the lands, and in Dec. 1793, the first tree was cut at Asylum. Mr. De Noailles was to manage the concerns of the colony at Philadelphia. Mr. Talon attended to the erection of loghouses, and the preparation of land for the reception of the new colonists. They were disappointed in the receipt of a part of the funds upon which they had relied, and were obliged to relinquish their purchase and improvements. They then became joint partners in the business with Morris and Nicholson; the quantity of land was enlarged to a million of acres, and Mr. Talon was to act as agent, with a salary of $3,000 and the use of a