of human bones are to be found mixed with the clay on the surface. Mr. Ranson informed the author, that at this place the under jaw bone of a human being was plowed up, of enormous size: the teeth were found in a perfect state of preservation.

Near the Shannondale springs, on the lands of Mr. Fairfax, an Indian grave some years since was opened, in which a skeleton of unusual size was discovered.*

Mr. E. Paget informed the author, that on Flint run, a small rivulet of the South river, in the county of Shenandoah, a skeleton was found by his father, the thigh bone of which measured three feet in length, and the under jaw bone of which would pass over any common man's face with ease.

Near the Indian village described on a preceding page, on Capt. Oliver's land, a few years ago, some hands in removing the stone covering an Indian grave, discovered a skeleton, whose great size attracted their attention. The stones were carefully taken off without disturbing the frame, when it was discovered, that the body had been laid at full length on the ground, and broad flat stones set round the corpse in the shape of a coffin. Capt. Oliver measured the skeleton as it lay, which was nearly seven feet long.†

In the further progress of this work the author will occasionally advert to the subject of Indian antiquities and traits of the Indian character. This chapter will now be concluded with some general reflections on the seemingly hard fate of this unfortunate race of people. It appears to the author that no reflecting man can view so many burying places broken up their bones torn up with the plow-reduced to dust, and scattered to the winds,-without feeling some degree of melancholy regret. It is to be lamented for another reason. If those mounds and places of burial had been

*Mr. George Wm. Fairfax gave the author this information.

Maximinus, a Roman emperor in the third century, 'was the son of a Thracian shepherd, and is represented by historians as a man of gigantic stature and Herculean strength. He was fully eight feet in hight, and per fectly symmetrical in form. Abridged U. History, vol. ii. p. 35.

permitted to remain undisturbed, they would have stood as lasting monuments in the history of our country. Many of them were doubtless the work of ages, and future generations would have contemplated them with great interest and curiosity. But these memorials are rapidly disappearing, and the time perhaps will come, when not a trace of them will remain. The author has had the curiosity to open several Indian graves, in one of which he found a pipe, of different form from any he has ever seen. It is made of a hard black stone, and glazed or rather painted with a substance of a reddish cast. In all the graves he has examined, the bones are found in a great state of decay except the teeth, which are generally in a perfect state of preservation.

It is no way wonderful that this unfortunate race of people reluctantly yielded their rightful and just possession of this fine country. It is no way wonderful that they resisted with all their force the intrusion of the white people (who were strangers to them, from a foreign country,) upon their rightful inheritance. But perhaps this was the fiat of Heaven. When God created this globe, he probably intended it should sustain the greatest possible number of his creatures. And as the human family, in a state of civil life, increases with vastly more rapidity than a people in a state of nature or savage life, the law of force has been generally resorted to, and the weaker compelled to give way to the stronger. That a part of our country has been acquired by this law of force, is undeniable. It is, however, matter of consoling reflection, that there are some honorable exceptions to this arbitrary rule. The great and wise William Penn set the example of purchasing the Indian lands. Several respectable individuals of the Quaker society thought it unjust to take possession of this valley without making the Indians some compensation for their right. Measures were adopted to effect, this great object. But upon inquiry, no particular tribe could be found who pretended to have any prior claim to the soil. It was considered the common hunting

ground of various tribes, and not claimed by any particular nation who had authority to sell.

This information was communicated to the author by two aged and highly respectable men of the Friends' society, Isaac Brown and Lewis Neill, each of them upwards of eighty years of age, and both residents of the county of Frederick.

In confirmation of this statement, a letter written by Thomas Chaulkley to the monthly meeting on Opequon, on the 21st of 5th month, 1738, is strong circumstantial evidence; of which letter the following is a copy:

"VIRGINIA, at John Cheagle's, 21st 5th month, 1738,

"To friends of the monthly meeting at Opequon. "Dear friends who inhabit Shenandoah and Opequon: Having a concern for your welfare and prosperity, both now and hereafter, and also the prosperity of your children, I had a desire to see you; but being in years, and heavy, and much spent and fatigued with my long journeyings in Virginia and Carolina, makes it seem too hard for me to perform a visit in person to you, wherefore I take this way of writing to discharge my mind of what lies weighty thereon; and

"First. I desire that you be very careful (being far and back inhabitants) to keep a friendly correspondence with the native Indians, giving them no occasion of offense; they being a cruel and merciless enemy, where they think they are wronged or defrauded of their rights; as woful experience hath taught in Carolina, Virginia and Maryland, and especially in New-England, &c.; and

"Secondly. As nature hath given them and their forefathers the possession of this continent of America (or this wilderness), they had a natural right thereto in justice and equity; and no people, according to the law of nature and justice and our own principle, which is according to the glorious gospel of our dear and holy Jesus Christ, ought to take away or settle on other men's lands or rights without consent, or purchasing

the same by agreement of parties concerned; which I suppose in your case is not yet done.

"Thirdly. Therefore my counsel and christian advice to you is, my dear friends, that the most reputable among you do with speed endeavor to agree with and purchase your lands of the native Indians or inhabitants. Take example of our worthy and honorable late proprietor William Penn; who by his wise and religious care in that relation, hath settled a lasting peace and commerce with the natives, and through his prudent management therein hath been instrumental to plant in peace one of the most flourishing provinces in the world.

"Fourthly. Who would run the risk of the lives of their wives and children for the sparing a little cost and pains? I am concerned to lay these things before you, under an uncommon exercise of mind, that your new and flourishing little settlement may not be laid waste, and (if the providence of the Almighty doth not intervene,) some of the blood of yourselves, wives or children, be shed or spilt on the ground.

"Fifthly. Consider you are in the province of Virginia, holding what rights you have under that government; and the Virginiaus have made an agreement with the natives to go as far as the mountains and no farther; and you are over and beyond the mountains, therefore out of that agreement; by which you lie open to the insults and incursions of the Southern Indians, who have destroyed many of the inhabitants of Carolina and Virginia, and even now have destroyed more on the like occasion. The English going beyond the bounds of their agreement, eleven of them were killed by the Indians while we were traveling in Virginia.

"Sixthly. If you believe yourselves to be within the bounds of William Penn's patent. from king Charles the second, which will be hard for you to prove, you be-. ing far southward of his line, yet if done, that will be no consideration with the Indians without a purchase from them, except you will go about to convince them

tice, as well as that of stealing the bride's shoe, was common to all the Germans.

Among the Lutherans and Calvinists, dancing with other amusements was common, at their wedding parties particularly. Dancing and rejoicings were sometimes kept up for weeks together.*

The peaceable and orderly deportment of this hardy and industrious race of people, together with their perfect submission to the restraints of the civil authority, has always been proverbial. They form at this day a most valuable part of our community.

Among our early settlers, a number of Irish Presbyterians removed from Pennsylvania, and settled along Back creek, the North mountain and Opequon. A few Scotch and English families were among them.

The ancestors of the Glasses, Allens, Vances, Kerfotts, &c. were among the earliest settlers on the upper waters of the Opequon. The ancestors of the Whites, Russells, &c. settled near the North mountain. There were a mixture of Irish and Germans on Cedar creek and its vicinity: the Frys, Newells, Blackburns, Wilsons, &c. were among the number. The Irish, like the Germans, brought with them the religion, customs and habits, of their ancestors. The Irish wedding was always an occasion of great hilarity, jollity and mirth. Among other scenes attending it, running for the bottle was much practiced. It was usual for the wedding parties to ride to the residence of the clergyman to have the ceremony performed. In their absence, the father or next friend prepared, at the bride's residence, a bottle of the best spirits that could be obtained, around the neck of which a white ribin was tied. Returning from the clergyman's, when within one or two miles of the home of the bride, some three or four young men prepared to run for the bottle. Taking an even start, their horses were put at full speed, dashing over mud, rocks, stumps,

* Christian Miller, an aged and respectable man near Woodstock, related this custom to the author.

+ Gen, Samuel Blackburn, it is said, descended from this family.