Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (Vol 1 1904).djvu/191

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THE JOURNAL OF CHRISTIAN FREDERICK POST, FROM PHILADELPHIA TO THE OHIO, ON A MESSAGE FROM THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA TO THE DELAWARE, SHAWNESE, AND MINGO INDIANS, SETTLED THERE.

July the 15th, 1758.—This day I received orders from his honour, the Governor, to set out on my intended journey, and proceeded as far as German Town, where I found all the Indians drunk.^[1] Willamegicken returned to Philadelphia, for a horse, that was promised him.^[2]

16th.—This day I waited for the said Willamegicken till near noon, and when he came, being very drunk, he could proceed no further, so that I left him, and went to Bethlehem.^[3]

17th.—I arrived at Bethlehem, and prepared for my journey.

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↑ All Indians are excessive fond of rum, and will be drunk whenever they can get it.—[Charles Thomson?]
↑ Willamegicken (Wellemeghikink), known to the whites as James, was a prominent brave of the Allegheny Delawares, who had been employed as a messenger between them and the Susquehanna tribes of the same race. He had agreed to accompany Post on this journey, for which the Pennsylvania Council had voted to supply him with a horse. Pennsylvania Archives, iii, p. 415; Pennsylvania Colonial Records, viii, p. 148.—Ed.
↑ Bethlehem is a Moravian town built in 1741-42, after the retreat of these people from Georgia. Count Zinzendorf organized the congregation at this place, and named the settlement (1742). For the first twenty years a community system prevailed among the inhabitants, called the "Economy." Portions of the buildings erected under that régime are still standing. See "Moravians and their Festival," in Outlook, August 1, 1903. In 1752, the brethren built a large stone house for the accommodation of Indian visitors, and those who escaped the massacre of 1755 were domiciled there when Post passed through.—Ed.

[1] All Indians are excessive fond of rum, and will be drunk whenever they can get it.—[Charles Thomson?]

[2] Willamegicken (Wellemeghikink), known to the whites as James, was a prominent brave of the Allegheny Delawares, who had been employed as a messenger between them and the Susquehanna tribes of the same race. He had agreed to accompany Post on this journey, for which the Pennsylvania Council had voted to supply him with a horse. Pennsylvania Archives, iii, p. 415; Pennsylvania Colonial Records, viii, p. 148.—Ed.

[3] Bethlehem is a Moravian town built in 1741-42, after the retreat of these people from Georgia. Count Zinzendorf organized the congregation at this place, and named the settlement (1742). For the first twenty years a community system prevailed among the inhabitants, called the "Economy." Portions of the buildings erected under that régime are still standing. See "Moravians and their Festival," in Outlook, August 1, 1903. In 1752, the brethren built a large stone house for the accommodation of Indian visitors, and those who escaped the massacre of 1755 were domiciled there when Post passed through.—Ed.

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