CXX.-DANIEL BOONE, OF KENTUCKY. daunt'-less, fearless; unerschrocken. ec-cen'-tric, odd; singular; ungewöhnlich; überspannt. is'-o-la-ted, placed alone; abgesondert; vereinsamt. vol ́-un-ta-ri-ly, willingly; freiwillig. mi'-gra-to-ry, having a mind for moving about; wanderlustig. ex-ter'-mi-nate, to put an end to; vernichten. jour'-nal, a day-book. stip-u-la'-tion, agreement; Übereinkunft. re-en-force', to strengthen with new force; verstärken. 1. Colonel Boone, the first white inhabitant of Kentucky, deserves to be recorded in history, not only on account of his dauntless courage and eccentric habits, but because his life and achievements present a glowing picture of the sufferings of those who subdued the western forests. 2. He stands forward, too, as a prominent individual of a class peculiar to the United States. We must regard with admiration the sturdy woodsman, who, as the pioneer of civilization, first laid the ax to the tree, and made smooth the road for others. 3. We shall find him an isolated being, possessing tastes and habits of his own, and voluntarily supporting incredible hardships, peril, and privation, without the usual incentives to courage, or its ordinary rewards. 4. In the year 1769, Daniel Boone, a respectable farmer of North Carolina, was led, by a restless, migratory spirit, into the forests of Kentucky, then an extensive wilderness inhabited by numberless savage tribes, and as yet unexplored by civilized man. 5. Passing the Alleghany Ridge, whose hideous precipices alone might have repelled a less determined band, guided only by the stars, depending on game for subsistence, and on their own vigilance and powers for protection, Boone, with five adventurous companions, plunged into the boundless waste, and boldly cut the tie which bound them to society. 6. It was in a country called the "Bloody Ground," from the exterminating character of its conflicts; among savage tribes continually at war with each other, and agreeing in nothing but their deadly enmity to the whites; cut off from society; with scanty means of defence, and no hope of retreat. We scarcely know whether to extol the courage, or censure the rashness of this gallant little party. 7. They continued in Kentucky until the year 1775, leading a wandering life, employed chiefly in exploring the country, and frequently engaged in conflicts with the Indians. 8. In 1775, Boone erected a fort at a salt lick on the Kentucky River, where the town of Boonsborough now stands, which was called Fort Boonsborough, and to which he removed his family in the same year. 9. "My wife and daughters," says he in his journal, (( were the first white women that ever stood on the banks of the Kentucky River." Here he was joined by five families from North Carolina, and forty men from Powel's Valley. 10. During the years 1775, 1776, and 1777, Fort Boonsborough was frequently attacked by the Indians, and several severe engagements took place, in which the savages were always repulsed. 11. Boone's settlement began now to exhibit something like a permanent residence of civilized men. The forest was leveled around the fort, fields were enclosed and cultivated, and rural labors were mingled with the business of war and the sports of the chase. 12. The number of settlers was now sufficient, in general, to prevent surprise; and, in case of danger, the fortress offered a secure retreat. 13. Nevertheless, in January 1778, while Boone was en gaged, with a party of twenty-seven men, in making salt at the Blue Lick, they were surprised and taken by a large body of Indians, who were on their way to attack the fort, and conveyed to Chillicothe, then a considerable Indian town. 14. In the month of March following, Boone was carried, with ten of his men, to Detroit, where the party were well treated by the British Governor, Hamilton, as, indeed, they had hitherto been by the Indians, agreeably to a stipulation made at the time of their capture. 15. The gallant bearing of Boone and his skill in hunting had by this time endeared him to the Indians; so that, although the British officers offered a hundred pounds sterling for him, with the intention of setting him at liberty, his captors would not sell him, nor would they allow him to remain a prisoner with his companions at Detroit, but took him back with them to Chillicothe. 16. "Here," says his journal, "I was adopted into the family of a chief as his son, according to their custom, and permitted to hunt and spend my time as I pleased. In June following, they took me to Scioto Salt Springs, where we continued making salt for ten days. 17. "On our return to Old Chillicothe, I was alarmed to see four hundred and fifty Indians, the choicest of their warriors, painted and armed in a fearful manner, and ready, as I found, to march against Boonsborough. 18. "I now determined to make my escape the first opportunity; there was no time to be lost. On the 16th, before sunrise, I got off in the most secret manner, and on the 20th arrived at Boonsborough, a distance of one hundred and sixty miles, while traveling which I had but one meal." 19. On arriving at his settlement, Boone found the people in a critical situation. About four hundred Indians, led by French officers, were approaching; and, though the whites had been re-enforced by troops from Virginia, they were still inferior to the enemy. The Indians at last arrived; but by the skill and courage of Boone they were baffled in their schemes, and at length retired. 20. These brief sketches are interesting from the evidence they afford of the heroic character of a western woodsman of early times. Boone was the chief of these, the very prince of hunters. 21. If many of the heroes of Greece and Rome derived immortal fame from a single act of heroism, how much more does Boone deserve it, whose whole life presents a series of adventures of the same character as those just related! 22. Nor did he suffer and conquer alone; his wife accompanied him to the wilderness, and shared his dangers. During his captivity, under a belief that he had fallen a sacrifice to the ferocity of the savage foe, she returned with her family to her father's house in North Carolina, braving the toil and perils of a journey through a wilderness of great extent and gloom. She remained there till after the siege, when Boone escorted her back to Boonsborough. 23. Boone died on the twenty-sixth day of September, 1820, at the age of eighty-six years. Selected. CXXI. THE SALT-MINES OF WIELICZKA. PART I. ar-ray', to dress; bekleiden. blouse, a loose overgarment; Kittel. grim, fierce; gloomy; grimmig; finster. wedge, a piece of metal or wood tapering to an edge; Keil. niche, a cavity; Nische; Höhlung. 1. In Galicia, in Eastern Europe, the traveler comes upon a long, low range of hills, stretching from east to west, which enclose a lovely valley, dotted here and there with smaller hills and little knolls, and a cluster of low but wellkept houses lies toward the opening from which he ap proaches the plain. It is a busy scene to which he comes, and men are moving briskly about through the numerous paths that lead over the common. They wear a strange costume of black, and have thick leather aprons tied on behind instead of in front; but they look cheerful and happy, and many a pleasant song is heard far and near. 2. The traveler engages one of these men to show him the mysterious world below, of which he has heard much; and soon he finds himself arrayed in a white blouse and black velvet cap, such as are kept ready for visitors at the mouth of the shaft, which seems to lead down to the very centre of the earth. 3. When his eye has become a little more accustomed to the dim light of the candle stuck in his hat, he notices that wooden rails are laid all the way down the gently inclined plane, and he is invited to mount a wooden contrivance, wondrously like the hobby-horse of our happy childhood. The miner sits down before him; the "horse”. a sausage they call it there--starts with alarming swiftness on the smooth oiled rails, and his right hand, armed with a stout, leathern glove, grasps tightly the rope that runs along the wall, to check the painful velocity. 4. At last the two riders are stopped by reaching a piece of level ground, and the traveler finds himself in a vast gallery cut out of the live salt. Huge blocks of this precious material are lying about, some colorless, some shining in beautiful though subdued blue, the roof, also of salt, rises high above him, and looks gray and grim in the dim light. On the right, the vaulted ceiling rests on huge pillars, in which each tiny grain shines brightly and sparkles as the light falls upon it. 5. A little further on, the miners are heard at work; they attack the mountain by cutting out immense blocks; then water is poured down the furrows and allowed to remain standing there a few days, so as to soften the rock; |