A good hunter, without much fatigue to himself, could
here supply daily one hundred men with meat. The
course of the Ohio, from Elk River to Little Conhawa, is
about south.
20th.—At six in the morning we embarked in our boats, and proceeded down to the mouth of Hochocken or Bottle River,[1] where we were obliged to encamp, having a strong head wind against us. We made but twenty miles this day, and passed by five very fine islands, the country the whole way being rich and level, with high and steep banks to the rivers. From here I despatched an Indian to the Plains of Scioto, with a letter to the French traders from the Illinois residing there, amongst the Shawnesse, requiring them to come and join me at the mouth of Scioto, in order to proceed with me to their own country, and take the oaths of allegiance to his Britannic Majesty, as they were now become his subjects, and had no right to trade there without license. At the same time I sent messages to the Shawnesse Indians to oblige the French to come to me in case of refusal.
21st.—We embarked at half past 8 o'clock in the morning, and sailed to a place called the Big Bend, about
thirty-five miles below Bottle River. The course of the
Ohio, from Little Conhawa River to Big Bend, is about
south-west by south. The country hereabouts abounds
————
- ↑ Hockhocking is the local Indian name for a bottle-shaped gourd, to which they likened the course of this river. Its chief historical event is connected with Lord Dunmore's War. Nine years after this voyage of Croghan, Dunmore descended the Ohio with his flotilla, and disembarking at the river with his army of regulars and frontiersmen—Clark, Cresap, Kenton, and Girty among the number—marched overland to the Scioto, leaving Fort Gower here to guard his rear. Signs of the earthwork of this fortification are still visible. At this place, on the return journey, the Virginia officers of the army drew up resolutions of sympathy with the Continental Congress then in session at Philadelphia.—Ed.
