Note 188 — Evans’s Pedestrious Tour of Four Thousand Miles—1818 (continued 4)

In the day of the flatboat, a craft which went down stream and never returned, it was customary for the boatmen to return by land. This journey was often undertaken at unhealthy seasons of the year, and the death of boatmen and raftsmen was common. As the travellers usually carried large sums of money, their routes were beset by robbers who could, undoubtedly, have explained many a grave on these lonely roads.—Hulbert, Historic Highways of America, ix, pp. 125, 126.—Ed.