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Etext created by John M. Krafft [email protected]

From The Discovery and Settlement of Kentucke by John Filson

The ADVENTURES of Col. DANIEL BOON; containing a
NARRATIVE of the WARS of Kentucke.
Curiosity is natural to the soul of man, and interesting objects have a
powerful influence on our affections. Let these influencing powers
actuate, by the permission or disposal of Providence, from selfish or
social views, yet in time the mysterious will of Heaven is unfolded, and
we behold our conduct, from whatsoever motives excited, operating to
answer the important designs of heaven. Thus we behold Kentucke,
lately an howling wilderness, the habitation of savages and wild beasts,
become a fruitful field; this region, so favourably distinguished by
nature, now become the habitation of civilization, at a period
unparalleled in history, in the midst of a raging war, and under all the
disadvantages of emigration to a country so remote from the inhabited
parts of the continent. Here, where the hand of violence shed the blood
of the innocent; where the horrid yells of savages, and the groans of the
distressed, sounded in our ears, we now hear the praises and adoration
of our Creator; where wretched wigwams stood, the miserable abodes

of savages, we behold the foundations of cities laid, that, in all
probability, will rival the glory of the greatest upon earth. And we view
Kentucke situated on the fertile banks of the great Ohio, rising from
obscurity to shine with splendor, equal to any other of the stars of the
American hemisphere.
The settling of this region well deserves a place in history. Most of the
memorable events I have myself been exercised in; and, for the
satisfaction of the public, will briefly relate the circumstances of my
adventures, and scenes of life, from my first movement to this country
until this day.
It was on the first of May, in the year 1769, that I resigned my domestic
happiness for a time, and left my family and peaceable habitation on
the Yadkin River, in North-Carolina, to wander through the wilderness
of America, in quest of the country of Kentucke, in company with John
Finley, John Stewart, Joseph Holden, James Monay, and William Cool.
We proceeded successfully, and after a long and fatiguing journey
through a mountainous wilderness, in a westward direction, on the
seventh day of June following, we found ourselves on Red-River,
where John Finley had formerly been trading with the Indians, and,
from the top of an eminence, saw with pleasure the beautiful level of
Kentucke. Here let me observe, that for some time we had experienced
the most uncomfortable weather as a prelibation of our future
sufferings. At this place we encamped, and made a shelter to defend us
from the inclement season, and began to hunt and reconnoitre the
country. We found every where abundance of wild beasts of all sorts,
through this vast forest. The buffaloes were more frequent than I have
seen cattle in the settlements, browzing on the leaves of the cane, or
croping the herbage on those extensive plains, fearless, because
ignorant, of the violence of man. Sometimes we saw hundreds in a
drove, and the numbers about the salt springs were amazing. In this
forest, the habitation of beasts of every kind natural to America, we
practised hunting with great success until the twenty-second day of
December following.
This day John Stewart and I had a pleasing ramble, but fortune changed
the scene in the close of it. We had passed through a great forest on
which stood myriads of trees, some gay with blossoms, others rich with
fruits. Nature was here a series of wonders, and a fund of delight. Here

she displayed her ingenuity and industry in a variety of flowers and
fruits, beautifully coloured, elegantly shaped, and charmingly flavoured;
and we were diverted with innumerable animals presenting themselves
perpetually to our view.--In the decline of the day, near Kentucke river,
as we ascended the brow of a small hill, a number of Indians rushed out
of a thick cane-brake upon us, and made us prisoners. The time of our