would send immediately, either to recover or to purchase those promised lands; but they soon found out their mistake. After the treaty of Greenville, many Indians passing through Gallipolis, on their way to the seat of government, and several travellers, revealed the whole transaction, from which it was ascertained that the pretended Scioto Company was composed of New Englanders, the names of very few only being known to the French, who, being themselves ignorant of the English language, and at such a distance from the place of residence of their defrauders, and without means for prosecuting them, could get no redress.

Lonely Condition of the Colonists.—Far in a distant land, separated forever from their friends and relations-with exhausted means, was it surprising that they were disheartened, and that every social tie should have been loosened, nearly broken, and a great portion of the deceived colonists should have become reckless? May the happy of this day never feel as they did, when all hope was blasted, and they were left so destitute! Many of the colonists went off and settled elsewhere with the means that remained to them, and resumed their trades in more populous parts of the country; others led a half-savage life, as hunters for skins: the greater part, however, resolved, in a general assembly, to make a memorial of their grievances, and send it to Congress. The memorial claimed no rights from that body, but it was a detail of their wrongs and sufferings, together with an appeal to the generosity and feelings of Congress; and they did not appeal in vain. One of the colonists proposed to carry the petition; he only stipulated that his expenses should be paid by a contribution of the colonists, whether he succeeded or not in their object; but he added that if he obtained for himself the quantity of land which he had

paid for, and the rest had none, he should be repaid by their gratitude for his efforts.

The French Grant.-At Philadelphia he met with a French lawyer, M. Duponceau, and through his means he obtained from Congress a grant of 24,000 acres of land, known by the name of the French grant, opposite to Little Sandy, for the French, who were still resident at Gallipolis. The act annexed the condition of settling on the lands three years before receiving the deed of gift. The bearer of the petition had his 4,000 acres; the rest was divided among the remaining French, amounting to ninety-two persons, married and single.

Each inhabitant had thus a lot of 217 acres of land; but before the surveys and other arrangements could be made, some time was necessary, during which, those who had reclaimed the wilderness and improved Gallipolis being reluctant to lose all their labor, and finding that a company, owning the lands of Marietta, and where there was a settlement previous to that of the French colony, had met to divide lands which they had purchased in a common stock, the colonists sent a deputation for the purpose of proposing to the company to sell them the spot where Gallipolis was and is situated, and to be paid in proportion to what was improved, which was accepted. When at last the distribution of the lots of the French grant was achieved, some sold their share, others went to settle on it, or put tenants, and either remained at Gallipolis, or went elsewhere; but how few entered again heartily into a new kind of life, many having lost their lives and others their health, amid hardships, excess of labor, or the indolence which follows discouragement and hopeless efforts! Few of the original settlers remain at Gallipolis: not many at the French grant.

and gilders to the king, coach-makers, friseurs and peruke-makers, and a variety of others who might have found some employment in our larger towns, but who were entirely out of their place in the wilds of Ohio. Their means by this time had been exhausted, and they were beginning to suffer from the want of the comforts and even the necessaries of life.

The country back from the river was still a wilderness, and the Gallipotians did not pretend to cultivate anything more than small garden spots, depending for their supply of provisions on the boats which now began to descend the river; but they had to pay in cash and that was become scarce. They still assembled at the ball-room twice a week; it was evident, however, that they felt disappointment, and were no longer happy. The predilections of the best among them being

on the side of the Bourbons, the horrors of the French revolution, even in their remote situation, mingled with their private misfortunes, which had at this time nearly reached their acme in consequence of the discovery that they had no title to their lands, having been cruelly deceived by those from whom they had purchased. It is well known that Congress generously made them a grant of 20,000 acres, from which, however, but few of them ever derived any advantage.

As the Ohio was now more frequented, the house was occasionally resorted to, and especially by persons looking out for land to purchase. The doctor had a small apartment which contained his chemical apparatus, and I used to sit by him as often as I could, watching the curious operation of his blow

pipe and crucible. I loved the cheerful little man, and he became very fond of me in return. Many of my countrymen used to come and stare at his doings, which, they were half inclined to think, had a too near resemblance to the black art. The doctor's little phosphoric matches, igniting spontaneously when the little glass tube was broken, and from which he derived some emolument, were thought by some to be rather beyond mere human power. His barometer and thermometer, with the scale neatly painted with the pen, and the frames richly carved, were objects of wonder, and probably some of them are yet extant in the west. But what most astonished some of our visitors was a large peach in a glass bottle, the neck of which would only admit a common cork;

this was accomplished by tying the bottle to the limb of a tree, with the peach when young inserted into it. His swans which swam around basins of water amused me more than any wonders exhibited by the wonderful man.

The French Philosophers and the Savages. -The doctor was a great favorite with the Americans, as well for his vivacity and sweetness of temper, which nothing could sour, as on account of a circumstance which gave him high claim to the esteem of the backwoodsmen. He had shown himself, notwithstanding his small stature and great good nature, a very hero in combat with the Indians. He had descended the Ohio in company with two French philosophers who were believers in the primitive innocence and goodness of

the children of the forest. They could not be persuaded that any danger was to be apprehended from the Indians. As they had no intentions to injure that people, they supposed no harm could be meditated on their part. Dr. Saugrain was not altogether so well convinced of their good intentions, and accordingly kept his pistols loaded. Near the mouth of the Sandy a canoe with a party of warriors approached the boat; the philosophers invited them on board by signs, when they came rather too willingly. The first thing they did on coming on board of the boat was to salute the two philosophers with the tomahawk, and they would have treated the doctor in the same way but that he used his pistols with good effect-killed two of the savages and then leaped into the water, div

ing like a dipper at the flash of the guns of the others, and succeeded in swimming to the shore with several severe wounds whose scars were conspicuous.

Madame Saugrain.-The doctor was married to an amiable young woman, but not possessing as much vivacity as himself. As Madame Saugrain had no maid to assist her, her brother, a boy of my age, and myself, were her principal helps in the kitchen. We brought water and wood and washed the dishes. I used to go in the morning about two miles for a little milk, sometimes on the frozen ground, barefooted. I tried a pair of sabots, or wooden shoes, but was unable to make any use of them, although they had been made by the carver to the king. Little perquisites, too, sometimes fell to our share from blacking boots and shoes. My companion generally saved his, while mine would have burned a hole in my pocket if it had remained there. In the spring and summer a good deal of my time was passed in the garden, weeding the beds. While thus engaged I formed an acquaintance with a young lady of eighteen or twenty on the other side of the palings, who was often similarly occupied. Our friendship, which was purely Platonic, commenced with the story of Blue Beard, recounted by her, and with the novelty and pathos of which I was much interested. This incident may perhaps remind the reader of the story of Pyramus and Thisbe, or perhaps of the hortical ecologue of Dean Swift, "Dermot and Shela."

Connected with this lady is an incident which I feel a pleasure in relating. One day, while standing alone on the bank of the river, I saw a man who had gone in to bathe and who had got beyond his depth without being able to swim. He had begun to strug gle for life, and in a few seconds would have sunk to rise no more. I shot down the bank like an arrow, leaped into a canoe which fortunately happened to be close by, pushed the end to him, and, as he rose, perhaps for the last time, he seized it with a deadly, convulsive grasp and held so firmly that the skin afterward came off the parts of his arms which pressed against the wood. I screamed for help. Several persons came and took him out, perfectly insensible. He afterwards married the young lady and raised a numerous and respectable family. One of his daughters married a young lawyer who now represents that district in Congress.

The

Sufferings of the Settlers.-Toward the latter part of summer the inhabitants suffered severely from sickness and want of provisions. Their situation was truly wretched. swamp in the rear, now exposed by the clearing between it and the river, became the cause of a frightful epidemic, from which few escaped, and many became its victims. I had recovered from the ague, and was among the few exempted from the disease; but our family, as well as the rest, suffered much from absolute hunger, a most painful sensation, as I had before experienced. show the extremity of our distress, on one

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occasion the brother of Madame Saugrain and myself pushed a light canoe to an island above town, where we pulled some corn, took it to mill, and, excepting some of the raw grains, had nothing to eat from the day before until we carried home the flour and made some bread, but had neither milk nor meat. I have learned to be thankful when I had a sufficiency of wholesome food, however plain, and was blessed with health; and I could put up with humble fare without a murmur, although accustomed to luxuries, when I have seen those who have never experienced absolute starvation turn up their noses at that which was a very little worse than the best they had ever known.

General Wilkinson and Suite.-I had been nearly a year at Gallipolis, when Capt. Smith, of the United States army, came along in advance of the barge of Gen. Wilkinson, and, according to the request of my father, took me into his custody for the purpose of bringing me once more to my native place. He remained two or three days waiting for the general, and in the meanwhile procured me hat, shoes and clothes befitting a gentleman's son, and then took me on board his boat. Shortly after the general overtook us I was transferred on board his barge as a playmate for his son Biddle, a boy of my own age. The general's lady and several ladies and gentlemen were on board his boat, which was fitted up in a style of convenience and even magnificence scarcely surpassed even by the present steamboats. It was propelled against the stream by twenty-five or thirty men, sometimes by the pole, the cordelle, and often by the oar. There was also a band of musicians on board, and the whole had the appearance of a mere party of pleasure. My senses were overpoweredit seemed an elysium! The splendor of the furniture-the elegance of the dresses-and then, the luxuries of the table, to a halfstarved creature like me, produced an effect which can scarce be easily described. Every repast was a royal banquet, and such delicacies were placed before me as I had never seen before, and in sufficient abundance to satiate my insatiable appetite. I was no more like what I had been than the cast-off skin of the blacksnake resembles the new dress in which he glistens in the sunbeam. The general's countenance was continually lighted up with smiles, and he seemed faire le bonheur of all around him; it seemed his business to make every one happy about him. His countenance and manners were such as I have rarely seen, and now that I can form a more just estimate of them, were such as better fitted him for a court than a republic. His lady was truly an estimable person, of the mildest and softest manners. She gave her son and myself a reproof one day which I never forgot. She saw us catching minnows with pin-hooks, made us desist, and then explained in the sweetest manner the cruelty of taking away life wantonly from the humblest thing in creation.