The country which I have but slightly sketched, in its wildest state was the home of BOONE, the great pioneer of the west, who now lives in sculpture in the rotunda of your capitol. In a frontier, and consequently less attractive state, it is now the home of DAVID CROCKETT, whose humours have been spoken of in every portion of our country, and about whom there is less known than of any other individual who ever obtained so much notoriety. I intend no regular comparison between these two personages, for each will live while the "far off West" has a votary; but I must run a parallel only for an instant. Each lived under the same circumstances: the one waged an eternal war with the Indians, and hunted game for recreation: the other waged an eternal war with the beasts of the forest, and served his country when his aid was wanted. Each could send the whizzing ball almost where he wished it. Mr. Knapp, in a beautiful sketch which he has given the world of Boone, mentions that frequently, to try his skill," he shot with a single ball the humming bird, as he sucked the opening flower, and spread his tiny wings and presented his exquisite colours to the sun; and brought down the soaring eagle as he poised in majesty over his head, disdaining the power of this nether world." I cannot say that Col. Crockett has ever performed either of the above feats, but often have I seen him seated on the margin of a river, shooting with a single ball

its scaly inmates, when only for an instant in wanton sport they glittered in the sun: the rifle cracked, and ever was there some little monster struggling on the top. The task of William Tell would give no pain; for in idle sport does he sometimes shoot a dollar from between the finger and thumb of a brother, or plant his balls between his fingers as pleasure suits. In point of mind, Col. Crockett is decidedly Boone's superior. I do not found this remark on the authority of the common sketches of the day, which are little better than mere vagaries of the imagination, but gather my information from a gentleman who now knows Col. Crockett, and who, with Boone for a companion, has often hunted the buffalo on the plains of Kentucky.

The country which it falls to my lot most particularly to describe, is the western district of Tennessee; and of that, to me, the most interesting spot, was Col. Crockett's residence. There, far retired from the bustle of the world, he lives, and chews, for amusement, the cud of his political life. He has settled himself over the grave of an earthquake, which often reminds him of the circumstance by moving itself as if tired of confinement. The wild face of the country-the wide chasms-the new formed lakes, together with its great loneliness, render it interesting in the extreme to the traveller. But above all, the simplicity and great hospitality of its thinly scattered

inhabitants, make one turn to it with pleasure who nas ever visited it. The many stories in circulation of deadly struggles with wild animals, and the great distance sometimes found between settlements, create in this country much interest for the traveller; but for a more particular history of these things I refer you, gentle reader, to the following pages.

SKETCHES AND ECCENTRICITIES

OF

COLONEL DAVID CROCKETT.

CHAPTER I

DAVID CROCKETT, the subject of the following sketch, was born in Greene county, East Tennessee, of poor and respectable parentage. He was the ninth child. The extreme indigence of his father rendered him unable to educate his children, and at a very early age David was put to work. No one, at this early age, could have foretold that he was ever to ride upon a streak of lightning, receive a commission to quiet the fears of the world, by wringing off the tail of a comet, or perform several other wonderful acts, for which he has received due credit, and which will serve to give him a reputation as lasting as that of the hero of Orleans. But he was always a quirky boy, and many and sage were the prophecies made of his future greatness. Every species of fortune-telling was exhausted to find out in what particular department he was to figure; but this was for ever shrouded in mystery. No seer could say more than that David was to be great. In the slang of