friend, for the sake of a trifling reward, went to the Georgia slave traders, to betray the whole family into their hands; and, in the middle of the night, they were seized, bound, and forcibly taken from their comfortable habitation, in order to be put on board a small sloop which lay in the river, near at hand. On coming near the river, the poor black man, who had been placed on horseback, behind one of these Georgia men, suddenly broke loose, and leaping from the horse, plunged headlong into the river, which he quickly swam across, and, getting into the woods, escaped from his inhuman pursuers. On this occasion, the agitation of the poor wife and children was beyond expression; and to silence the shrieks and cries of this miserable family, these unprincipled men beat them unmercifully; and the last which the poor negro man saw of this scene, as he fled into the woods was, their beating his wife upon the head, in the most brutal manner. To a person who has not been an eyewitness to such scenes, it may appear incredible that transactions of so atrocious a nature, could occur under a form of government like that of the United States; but the slavery of the negroes having long since been introduced, the evil consequences resulting from it have not yet been rooted out of the Southern States; where a warm climate seems to have enervated both the bodies and the minds of the white inhabitants. It is, however, to the credit of the people of Pennsylvania, and the States to the eastward and northward of them, that almost every thing in their power has been done, to induce

their Southern neighbours to re linquish the infamous and debasing system of personal slavery; and there can be scarcely a doubt, if they persevere in their honourable endeavours, that they will, in the end, be crowned with success.

Settlers on the Banks of the Ohio, from the same.

This afternoon, at B. J.'s, one of our company was a young woman who was there on a visit. Her usual residence was in one of the new settlements, on the banks of the Ohio, about 500 miles from Philadelphia. She informed us

that many families on the banks of this great river, are supplied with shop goods from vessels which navigate it, and are fitted up with counters, shelves, and drawers, in the same manner as are shops on land, and well stored with all kinds of goods. As they sail along the river, on coming near a plantation, they blow a horn or conch shell, to give notice of their arrival; when the planters, with their wives and daughters, repair to these floating shops, and select such things as they are in want of; and make payment in the produce of their plantations; such as grain, flour, cotton, tobacco, dried venison, the skins of wild animals, &c. &c. The shopkeeper having disposed of his goods in this way, returns home with the produce he has collected; and again renews his stock, and proceeds on another voyage. The young woman remarked, that four or five of these floating shops would pass by her father's house, in the course of a day.

She likewise informed us, such was the primitive simplicity in

which they lived, that it was a very unusual thing to have locks to their doors; and that when more strangers called upon them, than they had beds to accommodate them with, it was customary for the family to spread temporary beds upon the floor, on which they passed the night, leaving their own to the strangers.

An Indian Village, from the

same.

In the evening I came to an Indian village, called Brothertown. Here I was comfortably accommodated at the house of an Indian, whose name was Obadiah Scipio. His wife Elizabeth is the daughter of an Indian chief of the name of Fowler. She was a personable woman, and of an expressive countenance, and was very industrious. Her dairy produced excellent cheese and butter, notwithstanding a great part of her time was employed in spinning for the family apparel, which was very decent. It was mostly prepared for the weaver by her own household; and, whilst I was in the house, a female weaver of the village brought in a piece of cloth made from yarn spun in this family, which was such as would have done credit to any female in England. This reputable Indian couple had four fine healthy children, who sat by the fire; and, though of a copper colour, their countenances were far from unpleasing. Their names were Denis, Calvin, Cinthia, and Celinda.

The schoolmaster of this Indian village, who is paid by friends, introduced me to a chief of the name of Hendricks, with whom I had some conversation; and we sat

about an hour by the fire-side of a pretty large family of Indians, where it was pleasant to see the spinning-wheel go briskly round. There were 16 or 18 Indians round the fire; the older part of the family sat on a bench in front, and the little Indians on the ground on each side. The fire was inade at the end of the building, and the smoke found its way through the roof, without the aid of a chimney. The walls and roof were hung with ears of Indian corn, and other winter provisions. It is dif ficult to describe my feelings, on sitting down with an Indian family in this way.

I spent the remainder of this evening by Scipio's fire-side, and was accommodated with a good bed at night, on which I slept comfortably. Both the sides and ceiling of that part of the building in which I lodged, were covered with ears of Indian corn in the husk; which, to me, had a novel, but not an unpleasant appearance.

From the Indian village of Brothertown, I came to another settlement of theirs, called the Orchard. Many of their habitations are formed principally of the bark of trees, attached to posts, which are fixed in the ground; the roofs being also of bark; but as it is taken off the trees in broad pieces, they contrive to make a pretty warin dwelling. A few chiefs, and others, have good houses of wood, well furnished; and some of the Indians, being very good workmen, and having complete sets of tools, I have seen houses of their building superior to many in England.

As the whole of this day's journey lay amongst the Indians,

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whose

whose habitations are pretty numerous in this quarter, I had a fair opportunity of forming some judgment of the progress they have made in the useful arts of civilized life and I confess it is my opinion, that many in these villages are further advanced in this respect, and enjoy more of the comforts of life, than many of the inhabitants of the remote parts of Great Britain and Ireland.

In passing by one of their habitations, I noticed the Indian manner of preparing dear skins for use. After taking off the hair, they sew up the skin like a bag; and one end being suspended by a support, the lower end is brought close over a vessel, containing a small fire, of green wood, at the bot tom. The pyroligneus acid ascending with the smoke, so impregnates the skin, that it becomes a durable and elastic leather; very suitable for their shoes, or moccasons, and other useful purposes. This operation was going forward under the piazza of a very good framehouse; and, from the appearance of the inhabitants, I suppose the master was a chief of the first order. Upon his head he had a very grotesque kind of cap, much

resembling a lofty antique helmet. His daughter, who appeared to be a girl about 13 years old, had a very pleasing Indian countenance; and her arms were ornamented with silver bracelets of considerable breadth, both above and below the elbow. Though her dress was entirely in the Indian fashion, with moccasons, leggins, blanket, &c., yet being neat, clean, and of finer materials than usual, she had not an inelegant appearance. These people understood a little English ; but, at several of their habitations, where I called in the course of the day, they either could not or would not understand what I said. Some of the younger boys and girls laughed immoderately, ou my inquiring of them the road, but without being able, seemingly, to give me any other answer. As I went along, I met with two cleverlooking Indian young men, carpenters, having their tools with them. And under the piazza of a commodious Indian dwelling, I saw, hung up in neat order, the harness and yokes of horses and oxen. There was also a good farmyard, surrounded with barns and stables, the whole having every appearance of good management.

NATURAL

A NARRATIVE OF THE ERUPTION OF A VOLCANO IN THE SEA OFF THE ISLAND OF ST. MICHAEL. By S. Tillard, Esq. Captain in the Royal Navy, Philos. Trans.

one having only burst forth two days prior to our approach, and about three miles distant from the one before alluded to.

Desirous of examining as minutely as possible a contention so

St. Michael's, on Sunday the 12th of June, 1811, in his majesty's sloop Sabrina, under my command, we occasionally observed, rising in the horizon, two or three columns of smoke, such as would have been occasioned by an action between two ships, to which cause we universally attributed its origin. This opinion was, however, in a very short time changed, from the smoke increasing and ascending in much larger bodies than could possibly have been produced by such an event; and having heard an account prior to our sailing from Lisbon, that in the preceding January or February a volcano had burst out within the sea near St. Michael's, we immediately concluded, that the smoke we saw proceeded from this cause, and on our auchoring the next morning in the road of Ponta del Gada, we found this conjecture correct as to the cause, but not to the time; the eruption of January having totally subsided, and the present

powerful elements, I set off from the city of Ponta del Gada on the morning of the 14th, in company with Mr. Read, the consul general of the Azores, and two other gentlemen. After riding about twenty miles across the N. W. end of the island of St. Michael's, we came to the edge of a cliff, whence the volcano burst suddenly upon our view in the most terrific and awful grandeur, It was only a short mile from the base of the cliff, which was nearly perpendicular, and formed the margin of the sea; this cliff being as nearly as I could judge from three to four hundred feet high. To give you an ade quate idea of the scene by description is far beyond my powers; but for your satisfaction I shall at tempt it.

Imagine an immense body of smoke rising from the sea, the surface of which was marked by the silvery ripling of the waves, occasioned by the light and steady breezes incidental to those climates

in summer. In a quiescent state, it had the appearence of a circular cloud revolving on the water like a horizontal wheel, in various and irregular involutions, expanding itself gradually on the lee side; when suddenly a column of the blackest cinders, ashes, and stones would shoot up in form of a spire at an angle of from ten to twenty degrees from a perpendicular line, the angle of inclination being universally to windward: this was rapidly succeeded by a second, third, and fourth, each acquiring greater velocity, and overtopping the other till they had attained an altitude as much above the level of our eye, as the sea was below it. As the impetus with which the

which formed a most beautiful and striking addition to the general appearance of the scene.

That part of the sea, where the volcano was situate, was upwards of thirty fathoms deep, and at the time of our viewing it, the volcano was only four days old. Soon after our arrival on the cliff, a peasant observed he could discern a peak above the water: we looked, but could not see it; however, in less than half an hour it was plainly visible, and before we quitted the place, which was about three hours from the time of our arrival, a complete crater was formed above the water, not less than twenty feet high on the side where the greatest quantity of ashes fell; the