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All here are in Good Health and Spirits, and trust that this letter will find all in your Household likewise Content

Your son sends his Most Affectionate Regards, and begs to be Remembered to his Father, Brothers and Sisters He bids you tell Matthew and Henry that he sends them the Encloased Object, which is the preserved Skull of an aniious Spines (though it is not at all like the sin the Treetops, where it Feasts upon the tender shoots) Tell Matthew and Henry that I do not knohy the Teeth are orange No Doubt the animal finds it Decorative

Also enclosed you will find a s is contrived by use of the Quills of this same Porpentine, which the Indians dye with the juices of several Plants, before weaving theenious Manner you see before you

Claire has been recently much Interested by Conversation--if the term can be used for a Co of Faces (she insists I note here that she does not Make Faces, to which I reply that I a able to see the Face in question, which she is not)--in Conversation with an old woman of the Indians, much Esteemed in this area as a Healer, who has Given her ers are Purple at present, which I find Most Decorative

Tuesday, 20 Sept

I have beenof the pen-fold in which we keep our fes, pigs, etc at night, to protect them fro to the privy this reat Pawprint in the th of my own Foot The stock appeared Nervous and disturbed, for which Condition I can scarce Blame them

Do not, I pray you, suffer any Alarm on our account The Black Bears of this country are wary of Hule Man Also, our house is strongly built, and I have forbidden Ian to go Abroad after dark, save he is Well-armed

In the us has brought back froh Point both a fine Rifle of the new kind, and several excellent Knives

Also a large boiling kettle, whose Acquisition we have Celebrated with a great quantity of tasty Stew, made with Venison, wild Onions from the wood, dried beans, and likewise some Tomatoe-fruits, dried from the Su of this stew, so Claire is likely right, Tomatoes are not Poison

Wednesday, 21 Sept

The Bear has cos on the new-turned ground of Claire’s Garden today The beast will be fattening for its Winter slurubs in the fresh Earth

I have Re Neither Claire nor the Soas greatly pleased by this arrange cost me three pound from Mr Quillan

Four Indians came today They are of the kind called Tuscarora I have met these men on several Occasions, and found the expressed a determination to hunt our particular Bear, I made them a Gift of some tobacco and a Knife, hich they seemed Pleasd

They sat under the eaves of the Housethemselves, but then near midday made to Depart upon their Hunt I inquired whether, the Bear see Fond of our Society, it would not be best for the Hunters to lie hidden nearby, in Hopes that the animal will return here

I was Inforh word and sign--that the appearance of the Anis indicated beyond any Doubt that it had Quitted the area, and was Bound upon so of no Mind to take issue with such Expert practitioners, I wished them luck and bade theent Labors still to perforone with them, as they have done before

I have loaded my new Rifle and left it ready to Hand, lest our friends’ apprehension as to the Bear’s intent be Mistaken

Thursday, 22 Sept

I was roused froreat Scraping, which reverberated thru the wooden logs of the wall, accompanied by such Thumps and loud Wails that I bolted from my Bed, convinced that the house was like to Fall about our Ears

The Sow, observing the nearness of an Eneh the door of the Pantry (which I will say was fli in a Manner to deafen us Perceiving that the Bear was at Hand, I seiz’d h hazy, and I could plainly see reat black shape, which stretched upon its hind feet appeared near as Tall as Myself, and (toat no Great Distance from me

I fired at it, whereon it Dropped to all fours and Ran with a Speed toward the shelter of the nearby Wood, disappearing before I could ht, I searched the ground for sign of Blood and found none, so cannot say did et The side of the House is decorated with several long Scrapes, aswhite in the Wood

We have since been at soious Size, ain Teeth) to quit our bed and repair to her Sanctuary in the pantry She was Reluctant, but was at length persuaded by the Combination of a trail of shattered corn laid before her, and myself at her Rear, Armed with a Stout Broom

Monday, 26th Sept

Ian and his Red Co eluded them in the wood I shrewd them the Scratches upon the Side of the House, whereon they beca themselves at such a Rate I could not Follow their Words

One e tooth froreat Cere that it would serve to Identify me to the Bear-spirit, and thus protect me from Harm I accepted this Token with all due Sole’d to present hie, thus the proprieties were observ’d

Claire was called to provide the Honeycomb, and with her usual eye for such Matters, perceived that one of our guests was Unwell, being heavy-eyed, coughing, and distracted in Appearance Claire says he is also Flushed with fever, though this is not obvious to look at hi too ill to continue with his Companions, we have laid him on a pallet in the corncrib

The sow has Most Incontinently farrowed in the pantry There are a dozen piglets, all healthy and of a Vigorous Appetite, for which God be thanked Our own Appetites bid fair to be impoverished for the present, as the Sow viciously Attacks anyone who opens the door of the Pantry, roaring and gnashing her Teeth in Rage I was given one egg to et no more until I have Contriv’d a solution to this Difficulty

Saturday, 1 October