Next morning we had the pleasure of finding the ice entirely gone, thawed, probably, by a hard rain that fell over-night, so that about two o’clock we found ourselves in Broad River, which being very high, we went the two following days at the rate of ten miles an hour, till we came within a mile of Tennessee river, when, running under the shore, we on a sudden discovered a party of ten or twelve Indians, standing with their pieces presented on the bank. Finding it impossible to resist or escape, we ran the canoe ashore towards them, thinking it more eligible to surrender immediately, which might entitle us to better treatment, than resist or fly, in either of which death seemed inevitable, from their presented guns, or their pursuit. We now imagined our death, or, what was worse, a miserable captivity, almost certain, when the headman of the party agreeably surprised us, by asking, in the Cherokee language, to what town we belonged? To which our interpreter replied, To the English camp; that the English and Cherokees having made a peace, I was then carrying the articles to their countrymen. On this the old warrior, commonly called the Slave Catcher of Tennessee, invited us to his camp, treated us with dried venison, homminy, and boiled corn. He told us that he had been hunting some time thereabouts, and had only intended returning in seven or eight days, but would now immediately accompany us. We set out with them next morning to pursue our voyage; but I was now obliged to give over taking the courses of the river, lest the Indians, who, tho’ very hospitable, are very suspicious of things they cannot comprehend, should take umbrage at it. Entering the Tennessee River, we began to experience the difference between going with the stream, and struggling against it; and between easy paddles, and the long poles with which we were constrained to slave, to keep pace with the Indians, who would otherwise have laughed at us. When we encamped about ten miles up the river, my hands were so galled, that the blood trickled from them, and when we set out next morning I was scarce able to handle a pole. Within four or five miles of the nation, the Slave Catcher sent his wife forward by land, partly to prepare a dinner, and partly to let me have her place in his canoe, seeing me in pain, and unaccustomed to such hard labour, which seat I kept till about two o’clock, when we arrived at his house, opposite the mouth of Tellequo river, compleating a twenty-two days course of continual fatigues, hardships, and anxieties.