Ohio. On approaching it, I felt no small degree
of awe. The slow and majestic movement of so
vast a body of running water,
added to the re-
collection of the blood which had been spilt re-
lative
to its shores, enforced the sensation. With
what obstinacy the poor Indians
resisted the de-
signs of the white men in making settlements
west of
this river! Having been driven further
and further westward, relinquished
claim to tract
after tract, they here made a stand, fixed in a
re-
solve, hitherto ye may come, but no farther!
This river shall be
the boundary between us!
It shall limit your encroachment! The
resist-
ance they made, and the blood which was split,
sufficiently
prove the reluctance with which they
gave up the contest. The bottom upon
the west
side of the river where we crossed, which was at
the junction
of Short Creek
wide. In this bottom we observed a mound of
earth cast up to the height of fifteen feet, its
diameter at the base forty-five feet, and said to
be a burial place, but whether made by the In-
dians or not is not ascertained. It is said that
two miles below this is a square fortification
containing several acres of ground, enclosed by
a bank of earth thrown up by art to the height
of eight feet.
Along the east shore of the river great de-
struction was made a few years
ago by a species
of caterpillar which infested the trees. They
fed
upon the leaves, and thus killed trees of