guage of the Indians, and in
the exaggerated tales of hunters, who professed that in the chase they
had, from some Pisgah's summit, gazed upon the splendors of this Canaan
of the New World.

Thus far, the settlers had rested contented with the sea-board region
east of the Alleghanies. They had made no attempt to climb the summits
of this great barrier, or to penetrate its gloomy defiles. A dense
forest covered alike the mountain cliff and the rocky gorge. Indeed
there were but few points at which even the foot of the hunter could
pass this chain.

While Daniel Boone was residing in the congenial solitude of his hut, on
the banks of the Yadkin; with the grandeur of the wilderness around him
in which his soul delighted; with his table luxuriously spread according
to his tastes--with venison, bear's meat, fat turkeys, chickens from the
prairie, and vegetables from his garden; with comfortable clothing of
deerskin, and such cloths as pedlars occasionally brought to his cabin
door in exchange for furs, he was quite annoyed by the arrival of a
number of Scotch families in his region, bringing with them customs and
fashions which to Daniel Boone were very annoying. They began to cut
down the glorious old forest, to break up the green sward of the
prairies, to rear more ambitious houses than the humble home of the
pioneer; they assumed airs of superiority, introduced more artificial
styles of living, and brought in the hitherto unknown vexation of taxes.

One can easily imagine how restive such a man as Boone must have been
under such innovations. The sheriff made his appearance in the lonely
hut; the collection of the taxes was enforced by suits at law. Even
Daniel Boone's title to his lands was called in question; some of the
new comers claiming that their more legal grants lapped over upon the
boundaries which Boone claimed. Under these circumstances our pioneer
became very anxious to escape from these vexations by an emigration
farther into the wilderness. Day after day he cast wistful glances upon
the vast mountain barrier piercing the clouds in the distant horizon.
Beyond that barrier, neither the sheriff nor the tax-gatherer were to be
encountered. His soul, naturally incapable of fear, experienced no dread
in apprehension of Indian hostilities, or the ferocity of wild beasts.
Even the idea of the journey through these sublime solitudes of an
unexplored region, was far more attractive to him than the tour of
Europe to