reakfast eaten, we
marched on again, our company presenting the appearance of some numerous
caravan crossing the desert of Sahara. When we pitched our tents for the
night, the slaves must immediately set about cooking not their supper
only, but their breakfast, so as to be ready to start early the next
morning, when the tents were struck; and we proceeded on our journey in
this way to the end.

At Sodus Bay there was then one small tavern, kept by a man named Sill.

The bay is ten miles in length and from a half to two miles in breadth,
and makes an excellent harbor. The surrounding country then was almost an
unbroken wilderness.

After Capt. Helm had rested a few days at Sodus, he went six miles up the
bay and purchased a large tract of land lying on both sides of that
beautiful sheet of water, and put his slaves on to clear and cultivate
it. Then came the "tug of war." Neither the overseer nor the slaves had
the least knowledge of _clearing_ land, and that was the first thing to be
done. It was useless to consult the Captain, for he knew still less about
matters of that kind. To obviate this difficulty, our master bought out a
Mr. Cummings, who had some cleared land on the west side of the bay. On
this he put the overseer and a part of the slaves, and then hired a Mr.
Herrington to take charge of the remainder. Herrington and his gang of
slaves was sent to the east side to chop down the heavy timber and clear
the land for cultivation, all of which had first to be learned, for we
knew nothing of felling trees, and the poor slaves had rather a hard time
of it.

Provisions were scarce and could not be procured for cash in that section.
There was no corn to be had, and we had but little left. We had no
neighbors to assist us in this trying time, and we came near starvation.
True, the wild, romantic region in which we were located abounded in
game,--elk, deer, bear, panther, and wolves, roamed abroad through the
dense forest, in great abundance, but the business of the slaves was not
hunting or fishing, but clearing the land, preparatory to raising crops
of grain the coming season.

At last Capt. Helm chartered a boat, and manned it to go to the mouth of
the Genesee River to buy corn. They embarked under favorable auspices, but
soon there came on such a tremendous storm, that the boat could no longer
be managed, and the crew in despair threw themselves on the bottom of the
boat to await their inevitable destruction, w