cennes, but the following circumstance drove me away the next morning.

A Missouri planter, attended by two slaves, à man and woman, was travelling to St. Louis, in a small wheeled carriage called a "Dearborn," and had stopped at Vincennes to rest his horses. Now the day before I arrived, both his slaves had run away. Trying to travel all night when nearly barefooted, the man had both his feet so severely frost bitten, that he could not proceed. Consequently he was overtaken by some people sent after him by his master, and was brought back to Vincennes the very evening after my arrival. When I got up early the next morning, I saw the poor old slave, who had passed the night in the kitchen, with a heavy chain padlocked round both his legs. A man from North Carolina, who had ridden in company with me from White River, where he had been delayed, came into the room at the same time I did; and, although a slave holder himself, was touched with compassion at seeing the miserable state of this old negro. Having procured the key, he took off one of the padlocks, and desired the unhappy being to come towards the fire, in order to warm his frost-bitten legs and feet, which were much swollen, and were no doubt very painful. The poor slave was so lame he could hardly move, but managed to come and sit down the hearth. The Carolinian then said to him, "You have committed a great crime, as you must

be well aware how came you to do it?" The negro replied," Master, I am an old man, upwards of sixty years of age, and I have been all my life in bondage. Several white men told me, that as this was a free State, if I could run away I should be free; and you know master! what a temptation that was. I thought if I could spend my few remaining days in freedom, I should die happy." But, replied the Carolinian, “You were a fool to run away; you know you are much better off as a slave, than if you were free." "Ah! master," said the poor old negro, "No one knows where the shoe pinches, but he who wears it."

Just at this time, in came the master of the slave, and after swearing a terrible oath that he would punish him, desired him to go and get ready the carriage. The poor old man answered that he was in too great pain even to stand upright. Upon this the brute, saying, "I will make you move, you old rascal," sent out for a " cowhide." Now the sort of whip called by this name is the most formidable one I ever saw. It is made of twisted strips of dried cow's skin; and from its weight, its elasticity, and the spiral form in which the thongs are twisted, must, when applied to the bare back, inflict the most intolerable torture.

The wife of the tavern keeper coming in, and hearing that the negro was going to be flogged, merely said, "I would rather it had not been on the Sabbath." For my part, I thought it signified

very little upon what day of the week, such an atrocious act of wickedness was committed; so after trying in vain to obtain a relaxation of the punishment, I called for my horse, determined not to hear the cries of the suffering old man. Yet even when I had ridden far from the town, my imagination still pictured to me the horrors that were then being performed; and I should have thought myself deficient in human kindness, if I had not cursed from the bottom of my heart, every government, that, by tolerating slavery, could sanction a scene like this.

CHAPTER IX.

BIRKBECK'S SETTLEMENT.-EMIGRATION.

FROM Vincennes, I turned to the left, in order to cross White River, below the junction of its two Forks, and proceed through Princetown and Harmony, to Birkbeck's English settlement at Albion.

The road, or rather path, to the ferry on White River, runs chiefly through low flat Barrens, with here and there a patch of Prairie. Upon arriving at the bank, I found the ice running so thick, and in such very large cakes, that the boat could not cross. Some men with a drove of hogs had already waited there two days, and the ferryman said that I had very little chance of being able to cross for a day or two, and perhaps not for a week. I therefore determined to cross the country, in a westerly direction, so as to meet the Wabash just above its junction with White River.

Upon inquiring of the ferrymen, if there were any house in the neighbourhood at which I could stop, they informed me that there was only one, which belonged to a Scotch gentleman who had lately settled in this part of the country. "But although," said one of them, "I am certain he does not keep open house, yet perhaps as you are a stranger, he will allow you to stay there tonight."

As it was getting late I determined to lose no time, and accordingly, after a ride through the woods of about two miles, I found myself at the settlement.

The house, which was of a much better description than any I had lately seen, was situated on a gentle rise, overlooking the river, and surrounded with a large space of cleared land. I dismounted, and upon opening the door was delighted to see six or seven men in Highland bonnets, sitting round a blazing fire. I mentioned to the gentleman that I was a stranger, and should feel much obliged to him for a night's lodging for myself and my horse; upon which he immediately, with the genuine hospitality I have so often experienced in his native land, said that I was welcome to stay there, and to partake of whatever his house afforded.

He had left Perthshire at the head of twenty of his countrymen, and had fixed himself on this spot; and although he had only been here eight months, had already put every thing into very good order.

My fare was sumptuous, compared to what it had been for some time past; and moreover I had a good bed to sleep in, with a pair of fine clean

sheets.

I am particular in noticing this luxury, because it was only in two other places that I enjoyed it, during the whole of my travels, in the States of