or candles, light being supplied by pine knots stuck in crevices in the walls. The conver- sation of the family proved that wild beasts were very numerous and bold in the surrounding forests and that they sometimes, when hungry, approached the house. . . On reaching the springs at Saratoga we found but three habitations and those but poor log houses, on the high bank of the meadow, where is now the eastern side of the street on the ridge near the Round Rock. This was the only spring then visited. The log cabins were almost full of strangers, among whom were several ladies and gentlemen from Albany, and we found it almost impossible to obtain accommodations even for two nights. . . . The neighbourhood of the Spring, like all the country we had seen for many miles, was a perfect forest. The earliest advertising that Saratoga Springs seems to have received was through those recruits from differ- ent parts of the country who, having been called to- gether to dispute the advance of Burgoyne and his army, became, when again dispersed to their homes, the propagandists of exaggerated tales of the wonder- ful fertility of the region. The Saratoga Springs of modern ken, having de- veloped in three quarters of a century to one of the greatest watering-places on earth, with all the attrac- tions that wealth and fashion can add to great natural advantages, cannot be described in such a work as this. The tale of its splendour is bewildering, the roll of those who have added to its gaiety, overwhelming. A hst of those who have lodged in its great hostelries, or drank of its waters, would, perhaps, include a majority Digitized by Microsoft® Above Tide-Water 559 of the famous people who have Hved during the past half-century. The peculiar virtues of the waters of Saratoga were long known to the Indians, who, in 1767, revealed them as a mark of special friendship to Sir William CONGRESS SPRING IN 182O Johnson. Johnson, wounded at the battle of Lake George, twelve years before, was subject to recurring attacks of illness due to that injury. The Mohawks, who held him in greater esteem probably than any other white man ever won from them, carried him through the forest to the " High Rock," and with sol- emn ceremonies laid him in the healing pool. His letter to his friend, General Philip Schuyler, is interest- ing: My Dear Schuyler [he wrote], I have just returned from a visit to a most amazing Spring, which has almost effected my cure; and I have sent to Doctor Stringer, of New York, to come up and analyse it. Digitized by Microsoft® 56o The Hudson River The fact seems to have been that Sir William, having reached the spring on a Htter, carried on the shoulders of his Mohawk friends, was so far restored that he accom- plished part of his return journey to Schenectady on foot. In 1783, General Schuyler, who had not forgotten the letter of his quondam friend, though the sad events of the war had cut him off from intimacy with the Johnsons, made a road through the woods from his estate at Schuylersville to the spring, and, taking his family there, encamped for several weeks. The same year. General Washington, being distracted by the long idleness of his waiting at Newburgh, under- took a brief tour of the northern and western part of the State, to study particularly the topography of the country and its battle-fields. During that tour he vis- ited the springs in company with Governor Clinton and Alexander Hamilton. An amusing anecdote is pre- served of one Tom Conner, who was standing by his cabin door, axe in hand, when Washington and his party rode by. Reining his horse, the chief court- eously asked to be directed to the High Rock. Having given the required direction, Tom went on with his wood-chopping, and was presently surprised by the return of the party, when Washington asked for fur- ther directions. Tom looked at him but a moment and then burst forth, " I tell you, turn back and take the first right-hand path into the woods and stick to it. Any darned fool would know the way." What the Father of his Country replied has not been recorded. Digitized by Microsoft® Above Tide- Water 561 Repeated reference has been made to the battle of Saratoga, and its great importance in relation to American history can hardly be overestimated. It should not be forgotten that Sir Edward Creasy, the English military writer, has numbered this among the fifteen decisive battles of the world. Burgoyne started from Canada towards Albany with a reasonable expectation of uniting his forces with those of Clinton and keeping open a direct line