Note 327 — Chapter XXII · 1763. DESOLATION OF THE FRONTIERS.

“I have often seen them get up early in the morning at this season, walk hastily out, and look anxiously to the woods, and snuff the autumnal winds with the highest rapture; then return into the house, and cast a quick and attentive look at the rifle, which was always suspended to a joist by a couple of buck’s horns, or little forks. His hunting dog, understanding the intentions of his master, would wag his tail, and, by every blandishment in his power, express his readiness to accompany him to the woods.”—Doddridge, Notes on Western Va. and Pa., 124.

For a view of the state of the frontier, see also Kercheval, Hist. of the Valley of Virginia; and Smyth, Travels in America.