The stream takes in, first, the Boreas River and the Schroon, and fifteen miles north of Saratoga recei^•es the water of the Sacandaga. South of that the Battenkill is added to it, and, between the Battenkill and the Mohawk, the Walloomsac. It will be noticed that these streams, with two exceptions, have Indian names, and this recalls the prophecy of a dying chief, who, while chanting his death-song, surrounded bv his enemies, foretold the disappearance of his race, but

552 The Hudson River

promised that the streams should retain the Indian names, to keep his people in remembrance for ever. In his admiral^le Reminiscences of Saratoga, Mr. William L. Stone quotes the " Interesting narrative of a visit to the ' High Rock Spring ' in 1789, a httle more than twenty years after Sir William Johnson's visit . . . taken down from the lips of Mrs. Dwight, by

:^k

LOOKING DOWN RIVER, NEAR TROY

her son, the Hon. Theodore Dwight." This account of the condition of Saratoga and the route thither is so graphic that our onh^ apology in making the following excerpts is that we cannot quote it entire:

Our party originally consisted of five, three gentlemen and two ladies, who travelled with two gigs (then called chairs) and a saddle-horse. From Hartford, where I resided, our party proceeded westward, and some idea of the fashions may be formed from the dress of one of the ladies, who wore a black beaver with a sugarloaf crown eight or nine inches high, called a steeple-crown, wound round with black and red tassels. Habits having gone out of fashion, the dress was of London smoke broadcloth, buttoned down in front, and at the side with twenty-four gilt buttons, about the size of a half dollar. Large waists and stays were the fashion and the shoes were extremely sharp-toed and high-heeled, ornamented with large paste buckles at the instep.