tance on a rising ground surrounded by palisades. He resided at the time in a house which the public workmen, who had lately built this fort, had been ordered to erect › for him. We did not fail to wait upon his majesty, who, not choosing to depart too much from the customs of his ancestors, had not permitted divisions of apartments, or modern furniture, to profane his new dwelling. It had the appearance of a good barn, and was divided across by a mat hung in the middle. King Hendrick, who had indeed a very princely figure, and a countenance that would not have dishonored royalty, was sitting on the floor beside a large heap of wheat, surrounded with baskets of dried berries of different kinds; beside him, his son, a very pretty boy, somewhat older than myself, was caressing a foal, which was unceremoniously introduced into the royal residence. A laced hat, a fine saddle and pistols, gifts of his good brother, the great king, were hung round on the cross-beams. He was splendidly arrayed in a coat of pale blue, trimmed with silver; all the rest of his dress was of the fashion of his own nation, and highly embellished with beads and other ornaments. All this suited my taste exceedingly, and was level to my comprehension. I was prepared to admire King Hendrick, by having heard him described as a generous warrior, terrible to his enemies and kind to his friends: the character of all others calculated to make the deepest impressions on ignorant innocence, in a country where even infants learned. the horrors of war, from its proximity. Add to all this that the monarch smiled, clapped my head, and ordered me a little basket, very pretty, and filled by the officious kindness of his son, with dried berries. Never did princely gifts, or the smile of royalty, produce more ardent admiration and profound gratitude. I went out of the royal presence overawed and delighted, and am not sure

but I have liked kings all my life the better for this happy specimen to whom I was so early introduced.

“This journey, charming my romantic imagination by its very delays and difficulties, was such a source of interest and novelty to me that above all things I dreaded its conclusion, which I well knew would be succeeded by long tasks and close confinement. Happily for me we soon entered Wood Creek, the most desirable of all places for a traveler who loves to linger, if such another traveler there be. This is a small river which winds irregularly through a deep and narrow valley of the most lavish fertility. The depth and richness of the soil here were evinced by the loftiness and the nature of the trees, which were hickory, butternut, chestnut, and sycamores of vast circumference, as well as height. These became so top-heavy, and their roots were so often undermined by this insidious stream, that in every tempestuous night some giants of the grove fell prostrate, and very frequently across the stream, where they lay in all their pomp of foliage, like a leafy bridge, unwithered, and forming an obstacle almost invincible to all navigation. The Indian lifted his light canoe, and carried it past the tree, but our deep-loaded batteaux could not be so managed. Here my orthodoxy was shocked, and my anti-military prejudices revived, by the swearing of the soldiers; but then again, my veneration for my father was, if possible, increased by his lectures against swearing, provoked by their transgression. Nothing remained for our heroes but to attack these sylvan giants, axe in hand, and make way through their divided bodies. The assault upon fallen greatness was unanimous and unmerciful, but the resistance was tough, and the process tedious; so much so that we were three days proceeding fourteen miles, having at every two hours' end, at least, a new

tree to cut through.

These delays were a new source of pleasure to me. It was October; the trees we had to cut through were often loaded with nuts; and while I ran lightly along the branches to fill my royal basket with their spoils, which I had great pleasure in distributing, I met with multitudes of fellow plunderers in the squirrels of various colors and sizes, who were here numberless. This made my excursions amusing. We traveled from one fort to another; but in three or four instances, to my great joy, they were so remote from each other that we found it necessary to encamp at night on the bank of the river. This, in a land of profound solitude where wolves, foxes, and bears abounded, and were very much inclined to consider and treat us as intruders, might seem dismal to wiser folks. But I was so gratified by the bustle and agitation produced by our measures of defense, and actuated by the love which all children have for mischief that is not fatal, that I enjoyed our night's encampment exceedingly. We stopped early, wherever we saw the largest and most combustible kinds of trees. Cedars were great favorites, and the first work was to fell and pile upon each other an incredible number, stretched lengthways; while every one that could was busied in gathering withered branches of pine, to fill up the interstices of the pile, and make the green wood burn faster. Then a train of gunpowder was laid along to give fire to the whole fabric at once, which blazed and crackled magnificently. Then the tents were erected close in a row before this grand conflagration. This was not merely meant to keep us warm, though the nights did. begin to grow cold, but to frighten wild beasts and wandering Indians. In case any such, belonging to hostile tribes, should see this prodigious pile, the size of it was meant to give them an idea of a greater force than we possessed.

"In one place, when we were surrounded by hills with swamps lying between them, there seemed to be a general congress of wolves, who answered each other from opposite hills in sounds the most terrific. Probably the terror all savage animals have of fire, was exalted into fury by seeing so many enemies whom they durst not attack. The bull-frogs, those harmless but hideous inhabitants of the swamps, seemed determined not to be outdone, and roared a tremendous bass to this bravura accompaniment. This was almost too much for my love of the terrible sublime; some women who were our fellowtravelers shrieked with terror; and finally, the horrors of that night were ever after held in awful remembrance by all who shared them."

More than half a century passed away after the journey recorded by the officer's daughter, whose narrative was published in 1808. And still the region about Oswego was essentially a wilderness. During that very year, 1808, a young American naval officer, the future author of "The Pathfinder," made the same journey, in company with a party of messmates who had been ordered to Lake Ontario. Oswego was still very thoroughly a frontier station, beyond the pale of civilization. The young offi

cers had a weary tramp of a week or two over ground which may now be passed in a few hours. There was neither canal, steamboat, nor railroad to shorten the distance between Albany and Oswego, when this party moved from the seaboard to the Lake shore. But the young officers enjoyed extremely the novelty of the change, and the spice of adventure connected with it. They considered it a piece of especial good luck for sailors to find themselves drifting through a forest, and all in the way of duty. Many were the amusing anecdotes told by Mr. Cooper in later years in connection with this

service on Lake Ontario; he always looked back to it with pleasure, and continued through life on the most friendly terms with the officers belonging to the expedition. More than one of these gentlemen declared at a later day that he had been the life and soul of their mess; of a gay and buoyant nature, he was overflowing with vivacity, and full of conversation. His physical activity was also remarkable. So vigorous and sound was his constitution, that his comrades declared that he rarely encumbered himself with cloak or overcoat, even with the thermometer below zero.

In those days travelers moving towards the western wilds on Lake Ontario, or the Genesee country, very generally embarked at Schenectady, ascending the Mohawk in what were still called batteaux.

Among

The Erie Canal had already been thought of. those who had given the subject no little attention was the father of the young midshipman then slowly ascending the Mohawk. In a letter of Judge Cooper, written apparently about the year 1805, the following passages occur relating to this important question. Speaking of the valley of the Mohawk and the western lakes, he says: :

"The trade of this vast country must be divided between Montreal and New York, and the half of it thus lost to the United States, unless an inland communication can be formed from Lake Erie to the Hudson. This project, worthy of a nation's enterprise, has been some time meditated by individuals. Of its practicability there can be no doubt, while the world has as yet produced no work so noble, nor has the universe such another situation to improve. Its obvious utility will hereafter challenge more attention; men of great minds will turn their thoughts, and devote their energies to its accomplishment, and I doubt not that it will be one day achieved.