tries and goods. To the discredit of the
nation be it said, he was never repaid what he had advanced. When Cutler
joined him he was making his way up the Ohio in a big keel-boat,
propelled by ten oars and a square sail. The Doctor found his quarters
pleasant; for there was an awning and a cabin, and Vigo was well
equipped with comforts and even luxuries. In his travelling-chest he
carried his silver-handled knives and forks, and flasks of spirits. The
beds were luxurious for the frontier; in his journal the Doctor mentions
that one night he had to sleep in "wet sheets." The average pioneer knew
nothing whatever of sheets, wet or dry. Often the voyagers would get out
and walk along shore, shooting pigeons or squirrels and plucking bunches
of grapes. On such occasions if they had time they would light a fire
and have "a good dish of tea and a french fricassee." Once they saw some
Indians; but the latter were merely chasing a bear, which they killed,
giving the travellers some of the meat. Cutler and his companions caught
huge catfish in the river; they killed game of all kinds in the forest;
and they lived very well indeed. In the morning they got under way
early, after a "bitter and a biscuit," and a little later breakfasted on
cold meat, pickles, cabbage, and pork. Between eleven and twelve they
stopped for dinner; usually of hot venison or wild turkey, with a strong
"dish of coffee" and loaf-sugar. At supper they had cold meat and tea.
Here and there on the shore they passed settlers' cabins, where they
obtained corn and milk, and sometimes eggs, butter, and veal. Cutler
landed at his starting-point less than a month after he had left it to
go down stream. [Footnote: Cutler, p. 420.]

Another Massachusetts man, Col. John May, had made the same trip just
previously. His experiences were very like those of Dr. Cutler; but in
his journal he told them more entertainingly, being a man of
considerable humor and sharp observation. He travelled on horseback from
Boston. In Philadelphia he put up "at the sign of the Connastago Wagon"
--the kind of wagon then used in the up country, and afterwards for two
generations the wheeled-house with which the pioneers moved westward
across plain and prairie. He halted for some days in the log-built town
of Pittsburg, and, like many other travellers of the day, took a dislike
to the place and to its inhabitants, who were largely Pennsylvania
Germans. He mentions that he had reached it in th