On this journey, computed to be over three hundred miles, both he and his attendants met with many and great hardships and fatigue. They were obliged to traverse a continuous wilderness, where there was no road, and seldom any visible track; and their Indian guides led them often, unavoidably, through tangled thickets, and deep and broken ravines, and across swamps, or bogs, where the horses mired and plunged to the great danger of the riders. They had to pass large rivers on rafts, and cause the horses to wade and swim; and to ford others. During most of the way their resolute leader was under the necessity of sleeping in the open air, wrapped in his cloak or a blanket, and with his portmanteau for a pillow; or, if the night-weather was uncomfortable, or rainy, a covert was constructed of cypress boughs, spread over poles. For two hundred miles there was not a hut to be met with; nor a human face to be seen, unless by accident that of some Indian hunter traversing the woods. At length they arrived at Coweta, one of the principal towns of the Muscoghe, or Creek Indians, where the Chiefs of all the tribes were assembled, on the 11th of August. "Thus did this worthy man, to protect the settlement, which with so much pecuniary expense and devotedness of time, he had planted, now expose himself to the hazards and toils of a comfortless expedition, that would have proved unsurmountable to one of a less enterprising spirit and steady resolutions." Oglethorpe, and his suite, were received with great cordiality; and, after the necessary introduction to individuals, and a little refreshment and rest, a grand convention was formed. The assembly was arranged in due order, with the solemn introductory ceremonies prescribed for such occasions. A libation of the _foskey_,[1] or black-drink, followed; of which Oglethorpe was invited to partake with "the beloved men," and of which the chiefs and warriors quaffed more copious draughts. Speeches and discussions followed; terms of intercourse and stipulations of trade were agreed upon; and, after smoking the calumet, they unitedly declared that they remained firm in their pledged fealty to the King of Great Britain, and would adhere to all the engagements of amity and commerce heretofore entered into with Oglethorpe as the representative of the Trustees. They then renewed the former grants, in terms more explicit and full, confirming the session of territory on the sea-coast, with the islands, and now extending the southern boundary to the river Matteo, or St. John's. And Oglethorpe, on his part, covenanted that the English should not encroach upon, nor take up, other lands, nor intrude upon any reserved privileges of the Creeks; but would cause their rights to be respected, and the trade with them to be conducted upon fair and honorable principles. This important treaty was concluded on the 21st of August, 1739.