other; while
through it flows that bright and abounding river, which, on account of
its surpassing beauty, was named by the Indians the Shenandoah--that
is to say, "the daughter of the stars."

The first station of the travellers was at a kind of lodge in the
wilderness, where the steward or land-bailiff of Lord Halifax resided,
with such negroes as were required for farming purposes, and which
Washington terms "his lordship's quarter." It was situated not far
from the Shenandoah, and about twelve miles from the site of the
present town of Winchester. In a diary kept with his usual minuteness,
Washington speaks with delight of the beauty of the trees and the
richness of the land in the neighborhood, and of his riding through a
noble grove of sugar maples on the banks of the Shenandoah; and, at
the present day, the magnificence of the forests which still exist in
this favored region justifies his eulogium.

His surveys commenced in the lower part of the valley some distance
above the junction of the Shenandoah with the Potomac, and extended
for many miles along the former river. Here and there partial
"clearings" had been made by squatters and hardy pioneers, and their
rude husbandry had produced abundant crops of grain, hemp, and
tobacco. More than two weeks were passed by them in the wild
mountainous regions of Frederick County, and about the south branch of
the Potomac, surveying lands and laying out lots, camped out the
greater part of the time, and subsisting on wild turkeys and other
game. Having completed his surveys, Washington set forth from the
south branch of the Potomac on his return homeward; crossed the
mountains to the great Cacapehon; traversed the Shenandoah valley;
passed through the Blue Ridge, and on the 12th of April found himself
once more at Mount Vernon. For his services he received, according to
his note-book, a doubloon per day when actively employed.

The manner in which he had acquitted himself in this arduous
expedition, and his accounts of the country surveyed, gave great
satisfaction to Lord Fairfax, who shortly afterwards moved across the
Blue Ridge, and took up his residence at the place heretofore noted as
his "quarters." Here he laid out a manor, containing ten thousand
acres of arable grazing lands, vast meadows, and noble forests, and
projected a spacious manor house, giving to the place the name of
Greenway Court.

It was probably through the influence of Lord Fairfax that Wash