USA > Virginia > A history of the valley of Virginia, 1st ed > Part 29
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I remember that when a boy I put up an excellent sweep at my father's. It was made of a sugar tree sapling, and was kept going almost constantly from morning till night by our neighbors for several weeks.
In the Greenbriar country, where they had a num- ber of saltpetre caves, the first settlers made plenty of excellent gunpowder by means of these sweeps and mortars.
A machine still more simple than the mortar and pestle was used for making meal when the corn was too soft to be beaten. It was called a grater. 'This was a half circular piece of tin, perforated with a punch from the concave side, and nailed by its edges to a block of wood. The ears of corn were rubbed on the rough edges of the holes, while the meal fell through them on the board or block to which the grater was nailed, which being in a slanting direction, discharged the meal into a cloth or bowl placed for its reception. 'This, to be sure, was a slow way of making meal; but necessity has no law.
: The hand mill was better than the mortar and gra- ter. It was made of two circular stones, the lowest of which was called the bed stone, the upper one the run- ner. These were placed in a hoop, with a spout for discharging the meal. A staff was let into a hole in the upper surface of the runner, near the outer edge, and its upper end through a hole in a board fastened to a joist above, so that two persons could be employed in turning the mill at the same time. The grain was put into the opening in the runner by hand. These mills are still in use in Palestine, the ancient country of the Jews. 'To a mill of this sort our Savior allu- ded, when, with reference to the destruction of Jerusa- Im, he said, " Two women shall be grinding at a mill. the one shall be taken and other left."
This mill is much preferable to that used at present in upper Egypt for making the dhourra bread. It is a smooth stone, placed on an inclined plain, upon which
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the grain is spread, which is made into meal by rubbing another stone upand down upon it.
Our first water mills were of that description denomi- nated tub mills. It consists of a perpendicular shaft, to the lower end of which a horizontal wheel of about four or five feet diameter is attached : the upper end passes through the bed stone and carries the runner, after the manner of a trundlehead. These mills were built with very little expense, and many of them answered the pur- pose very well. Instead of bolting cloths, sifters were in general use. These were made of deer skins in the state of parchment, stretched over a hoop and perforated with a hot wire.
Our clothing was all of domestic manufacture. We had no other resource for clothing, and this indeed was a poor one. The cropsof flax often foiled, and the sheep were destroyed by the wolves. Linsey, which is made of flax and wool, the former the chain, and the latter the filling, was the warmest and most substantial cloth we could make. Almost every house contained a loom and almost every woman was a weaver.
Every family tanned their own leather. The tan vat was a large trough sunk to the upper edge in the ground. A quantity of bark was easily obtained every spring in clearing and fencing land. This, after dry- ing, was brought in, and in wet days was shaved and pounded on a Mock of wood with an ax or mallet. Ashes was used in place of lime for taking off the hair. Bear's oil, hog's lard and tallow, answered the place of fish oil. The leather, to be sure, was coarse ; but it · was substantially good. The operation of currying was performed by a drawing knife with its edge turned after the manner of a currying knife. The blacking for the leather was made of soot and hog's lard.
Almost every family contained its own tailors and shoemakers. Those who could not make shoes could make shoepacks. These, like moccasons, were made of a single piece of leather, with the exception of a tongue piece on the top of the foot, which was about
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two inches broad and circular at the lower end, and to which the main piece of leather was sewed with a gathering stitch. The seam behind was like that of a moccason, and a sole was sometimes added. The wo- men did the tailor work. They could all cut out and make hunting shirts, leggins and drawers.
The state of society which existed in our country at an early period of its settlement, was woll calculated to call into action every. native mechanical genius. There was in almost every neighborhood, some one whose natural ingennity enabled him to do many things for himself and his neighbors, far above what could have been reasonably expected. . With the few tools which they brought with them into the country, they certainly performed wonders. Their plows, har- rows with their wooden teeth, and sleds, were in many instances well made. Their cooper-ware, which com- prehended every thing for holding milk and water, was generally pretty well executed. The cedar ware, by having alternately a white and red stave, was then thought beautiful. - Many of their puncheon floors were very neat, their joints close, and the top even and sinooth. 'Their looms, although heavy, dal very well. Those who could not exercise these mechanic arts were under the necessity of giving labor or barter to their neighbors in exchange for the use of thein, so far as their necessities required.
An old man in my father's neighborhood had the art of turning bowls, from the knots of trees, particu- larly those of the ash. In what way he did it I do not know, or whether there was much mystery in his art. Bo that as it may, the old man's skill was in great. request, as well-turned wooden bowls were amongst our first-rate articles of household furniture.
My brothers and myself once undertook to procure a fine suit of these bowls made of the best wood, tho ash. We gathered all we could find on our father's land, and took them to the artist, who was to give, as the saying was, one half for the other. lic put the
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..
knots in a branch before the door, when a freshet came and swept them all away, not one of them being ever found. This was a dreadful misfortune. Our antici- pation of an elegant display. of new bowls was utterly blasted in a moment, as the poor old man was not able to repair our loss or any part of it.
My father possessed a mechanical genius of the highest order, and necessity, which is the mother of invention, occasioned the full exercise of his talents. His farming utensils were the best in the neighborhood. After making his loom he often used it as a weaver. All the shoes belonging to the family were made by him- self. He always spun his own shoc thread, saying that no woman could spin shoe thread as well as he could. His cooper-ware was made by himself. I have seen him make a small, neat kind of wooden ware, called set work, in which the staves were all attached to the bottom of the vessel, by means of a groove cut in them by a strong clasp knife and a small chisel, before a single hoop was put on. He was sufficiently the car- penter to build the best kind of houses then in use, that is to say, first a cabin, and afterwards the hewed log house, with a shingled roof. In his latter years he be- came sickly, and not being able to labor, he amused himself with tolerably good imitations of cabinet work.
Not possessing sufficient health for service on the scouts and campaigns, his duty was that of repairing the rifles of his neighbors when they needed it. In this business he manifested a high degree of ingenuity. A small depression on the surface of a stump or log, and a wooden mallet, were his instruments for straight- ening the gun barrel when crooked. Without the aid of a bow string he could discover the smallest bend in a barrel, and with a bit of steel he could make a saw for deepening the furrows when requisite. A few shots determined whether the gun might be trusted.
Although he never had been more than six weeks at school, he was nevertheless a first rate penman and a good arithmetician. His penmanship was of great ser-
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vice to his neighbors in writing letters, bonds, deeds of conveyance, &c.
Young as I was, I was possessed of an art which was of great use, viz. that of weaving shot pouch straps, belts and garters. I could make my loom and weave a belt in less than one day. Having a piece of board about four feet long, an inch auger, spike gimblet, and a drawing knife, I needed no other tools or materials for making my loom.
It frequently happened that my weaving proved ser- viceable to the family, as I often sold a belt for a day's work, or making an hundred rails ; so that although a boy, I could exchange my labor for that of a full grown person for an equal length of time.
CHAPTER XXVI.
Medicine.
This amongst a rude and illiterate people consisted mostly of specifics. As far as I can recollect them, they shall be enumerated, together with the diseases for which they were used.
The diseases of children were mostly ascribed to worms; for the expulsion of which a solution of com- mon salt was given, and the dose was always large. 1 well remember having been compelled to take half a table spoonful when quite small. To the best of my recollection it generally answered the purpose.
Scrapings of' pewter spoons was another remedy for the worms. This dose was also large, amounting. I should think, from twenty to forty grains. It was com- monly given in sugar.
Sulphate of iron, or green copperas, was a third re-
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medy for the worms. The dose of this was also larger than we should venture to give at this time.
For burns, a poultice of Indian meal was a common remedy. A poultice of scraped potatoes was also a fa- vorite remedy with some people. Roasted turnips, made into a poultice, was used by others. Slippery elm bark was often used in the same way. I do not recollect that any internal remedy or bleeding was ever used for burns.
The croup, or what was then called the " bold hives," was a common disease among the children, many of whom died of it. For the cure of this, the juice of roasted onions or garlic was given in large doses. Wall ink was also a favorite remedy with many of the old ladies. For fevers, sweating was the general remedy. This was generally performed by means of a strong decoction of Virginia snake root. The dose was al- ways very large. If a purge was used, it was about half a pint of a strong decoction of walnut bark. This, when intended for a purge, was peeled downwards; if for a vomit, it was peeled upwards. Indian physic, or bowman root, a species of ipecacuanha, was frequently used for a vomit, and sometimes the pocoon or blood root.
For the bite of a rattle or copper-snake, a great va- riety of specifics were used. I remember when a small boy to have seen a man, bitten by a rattle-snake, brought into the fort on a man's back. One of the company dragged the snake after him by a forked stick fastened in its head. The body of the snake was cut into pieces of about two inches in length, split open in succession, and laid on the wound to draw out the poison, as they expressed it. When this was over, a fire was kindled in the fort yard, and the whole of the serpent burnt to ashes, by way of revenge for the in- jury he had done. After this process was over, a large quantity of chestnut leaves was collected and boiled in a pot. The whole of the wounded man's leg and part of his thigh were placed in a piece of chestnut bark,
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fresh from the tree, and the decoction poured on the leg so as to run down into the pot again. After con- tinuing this process for some time, a quantity of the boiled leaves were bound to the leg. This was re- peated several times a day. The man got well; but whether owing to the treatment bestowed on his wound, is not so certain.
A number of native plants were used for the cure of snake bites. Among them the white plantain held a high rank. This was boiled in milk, and the de- coction given the patient in large quantities. A kind of fern, which, from its resemblance to the leaves of the walnut, was called walnut fern, was another reme- dy. A plant with fibrous roots, resembling the seneka snake root, of a black color, and a strong but not dis- agreeable smell, was considered and relied on as the Indian specific for the cure of the sting of a snake. A decoction of this root was also used for the cure of colds. Another plant, which very much resembles the one above mentioned, but which is violently poi- sonous, was sometimes mistaken for it and used in its place. I knew two young women, who, in conse- quence of being bitten by rattle-snakes, used the poi- sonous plant instead of the other, and nearly lost their lives by the mistake. The roots were applied to their legs in the form of a poultice. The violent burning and swelling occasioned by the inflammation discover- ed the mistake in time to prevent them from taking any of the decoction, which, had they done, would have been instantly fatal. It was with difficulty that the part to which the poultice was applied was saved front mortification, so that the remedy was far worse than the disease:
Cupping, sucking the wound, and making deep in- cisions which were filled with salt and gunpowder, were also amongst the remedies for snake bites.
It does not appear to me that any of the internal remedies, used by the Indians and the first settlers of this country, were well adapted for the cure of the
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disease occasioned by the bite of a snake. The poison of a snake, like that of a bec or wasp, must consist of a highly concentrated and very poisonous acid, which instantly inflames the part to which it is applied. That any substance whatever can act as a specific for the decomposition of this poison, seems altogether doubt- ful. The cure of the fever occasioned by this animal poison, must be effected with reference to those general indications which are regarded in the cure of other fevers of equal force. 'The internal remedies alluded to, so far as I am acquainted with them, are possessed of little or no medical efficacy. They are not emetics, cathartics, or sudorifics. What then ? They are harm- less substances, which do wonders in all those cases in which there is nothing to be done.
The truth is, the bite of a rattle or copper-snake in a fleshy or tendinous part, where the blood vessels are neither numerous or large, soon healed under any kind of treatment. But when the fangs of the serpent, which are hollow, and eject the poison through an ori- fice near the points, penetrate a blood vessel of any con- siderable size, a malignant and incurable fever was generally the immediate consequence, and the patient often expired in the first paroxysm.
The same observations apply to the effects of the bite of serpents when inflicted on beasts. Horses were frequently killed by them, as they were commonly bit- ten somewhere about the nose, in which the blood vessels are numerous and large. I once saw a horse die of the bite of a rattle-snake: the blood for some time before he expired exuded in great quantity through the pores of the skin.
Cattle were less frequently killed, because their noses are of a grisly texture, and less furnished with blood vessels than those of a horse. Dogs were sometimes bitten, and being naturally physicians, they commonly scratched a hole in some damp place, and held the wounded part in the ground till the inflammation aba- ted .. Hogs, when in tolerable order, were never hurt
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by them, owing to the thick substratum of fat between the skin, muscular flesh, and blood vessels. The hog generally took immediate revenge for the injury done him, by instantly tearing to pieces and devouring the serpent which inflicted it.
The itch, which was a very common disease in early times, was conimonly cured by an ointment made of brimstone and hog's lard.
Gunshot and other wounds were treated with slip- pery elm bark, flax seed, and other such like poultices. Many lost their lives from wounds which would now be considered trifling and easily cured. The use of the lancet, and other means of depletion, in the treatment of wounds, constituted no part of their cure in this coun- try, in early times.
My mother died in early life of a wound from the tread of a horse, which any person in the habit of letting blood might have cured by two or three bleedings, with- out any other remedy. The wound was poulticed with spikenard root, and soon terminated in an extensive mortification.
Most of the men of the early settlers of this country were affected with the rheumatism. For relief from this disease the hunters generally slept with their feet to the fire. From this practice they certainly derived much advantage. The oil of rattlesnakes, geese, wolves, bears, raccoons, ground-hogs and pole cats, was applied to the swelled joints, and bathed in before the fire.
The pleurisy was the only disease which was suppo- sed to require blood letting; but in many cases a bleeder was not to be had.
Coughs and pulmonary consumptions were treated with a great variety of sirups, the principal ingredients of which were commonly spikenard and elecampanie. These sirups certainly gave but little relief.
Charms and incantations were in use for the cure of many diseases. I learned, when young, the incanta- tion, in German, for the cure of burns, stopping blood, tooth ache, and the charm against bullets in battle ;
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but for the want of faith in their efficacy, I never used any of them.
The erysipelas, or St. Anthony's fire, was circum- scribed by the blood of a black cat. Hence there was scarcely a black cat to be seen, whose ears and tail had not been frequently cropped for a contribution of blood.
Whether the medical profession is productive of most good or harm, may still be a matter of dispute with some philosophers, who never saw any condition of so- ciety in which there were no physicians, and therefore could not be furnished with a proper test for deciding - the question. Had an unbeliever in the healing art been amongst the early inhabitants of this country, he would have been in a proper situation to witness the consequences of the want of the exercise of this art. For many years in succession there was no person who bore even the name of a doctor within a considerable distance of the residence of my father.
For the honor of the medical profession, I must give it as my opinion that many of our people perish- ed for want of medical skill and attention.
The pleurisy was the only disease which was, in any considerable degree, understood by our people. A pain in the side called for the use of the lancet, if there was any to be had; but owing to its sparing use, the patient was apt to be left with a spitting of blood, which sometimes ended in consumption. A great number of children died of the croup. Remittent and intermittent fevers were treated with warm drinks for the purpose of sweating, and the patients were denied the use of cold water and fresh air ; consequently ma- ny of them died. Of those who escaped, not a few died afterwards of the dropsy or consumption, or were left with paralytic limbs. Deaths in childbed were not unfrequent. Many, no doubt, died of the bite of ser- pents, in consequence of an improper reliance on spe- cines possessed of no medical virtue.
My father died of an hepatic complaint, at the age of about forty-six. Ile had labored under it for thir-
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teen years. The fever which accompanied it was called " the dumb ague," and the swelling in the region of the liver, "the ague cake." The abscess burst, and dis- charged a large quantity of matter, which put a period to his life in about thirty hours after the commence- ment of the discharge.
Thus I for one may say, that in all human proba- bility I lost both my parents for want of medical aid,
CHAPTER XXVII.
Sports.
"These were such as might be expected among a people, who, owing to their circumstances as well as education, set a higher value on physical than on men- tal endowments, and on skill in hunting and bravery in war, than on any polite accomplishments or fine arts. . Amusements are, in many instances, either imita- tions of the business of life, or at least of some of its particular objects of pursuit. On the part of young men belonging to nations in a state of warfare, mmny amusements are regarded as preparations for the mili tary character which they are expected to sustain in future life. Thus the war dance of savages is a pan- tomime of their stratagems and horrid deeds of cruelty in war, and the exhibition prepares the minds of their young men for a participation in the bloody tragedies which they represent. Dancing, among civilized peo- ple, is regarded, not only as an amusement suited to the youthful period of human life, but as a means of in- ducing urbanity of manners and a good personal de- portment in public. Horse racing is regarded by the statesman as a preparation, in various ways, for the equestrian department of warfare: it is said that the
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English government never possessed a good cavalry, until, by the encouragement given to public races, their breed of horses was improved .. Games, in which there is a mixture of chance and skill, are said to im- prove the understanding in mathematical and other calculations.
Many of the sports of the early settlers of this coun- try were imitative of the exercises and stratagems of hunting and war. Boys were taught the use of the bow and arrow at an early age; but although they acquired considerable adroitness in the use of them, so as to kill a bird or squirrel sometimes, yet it appears to me that in the hands of the white people, the bow and arrow could never be depended upon for warfare or hunting, unless made and managed in a different manner from any specimens of them which I ever saw.
In ancient times, the bow and arrow must have been deadly instruments in the hands of the barbari- ans of our country ; but I much doubt whether any of the present tribes of Indians could make much use of the flint arrow heads, which must have been so gen- erally used by their forefathers.
Fire arms, wherever they can be obtained, soon put an end to the use of the bow and arrow ; but indepen- dently of this circumstance, military, as well as other arts, sometimes grow out of date and vanish from the world. Many centuries have elapsed since the world has witnessed the destructive accuracy of the Benja- mites in their use of the sling and stone ; nor does it appear to me that a diminution, in the size and strength of the aboriginals of this country, has occasioned a decrease of accuracy and effect in their use of the bow and arrow. From all the ancient skeletons which have come under my notice. it does not appear that this section of the globe was ever inhabited by a larger race of human beings than that which possessed it at the time of its discovery by the Europeans.
One important pastime of our boys was that of imi- tating the noise of every bird and beast in the woods.
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This faculty was not merely a pastime, but a very necessary part of education, on account of its utility in certain circumstances. 'The imitations of the gob- bling and other sounds of wild turkeys, often brought those keen eyed and ever watchful tenants of the forest within reach of the rifle. The bleating of the fawn brought its dam to her death in the same way. The hunter often collected a company of mopish owls to the trees about his camp ; and while he amused him- self with their hoarse screaming, his howl would raise and obtain responses from a pack of wolves, so as to inform him of their neighborhood, as well as guard him against their depredations. .
This imitative faculty was sometimes requisite as a measure of precaution in war. The Indians, when scattered about in a neighborhood, often collected to- gether, by imitating turkeys by day, and wolves or owls by night. In similar situations our people did the same. I have often witnessed the consternation of a whole neighborhood, in consequence of a few screeches of owls. An early and correct use of this imitative faculty was considered as an indication that its possessor would become in due time a good hunter and a valiant warrior.
Throwing the tomahawk was another boyish sport. in which many acquired considerable skill. The tomahawk, with its handle of a certain length, wal make a given number of turns in a given distance. Say at five steps, it will strike with the edge, the han- dle downwards : at the distance of seven and a half, it will strike with the edge, the handle upwards ; and so on. A little experience enabled the boy to measure the distance with his eye, when walking through the woods, and strike a tree with his tomahawk in any way he chose.
The athletic sports of running, jumping and wrest- ling, were the pastime of boys, in common with the men.
A well grown boy, at the age of twelve or thirteen
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