________________________
JOHANN LEDERER'S
BOOK OF TRAVELS
IN
VIRGINIA,
NORTH AND SOUTH CAROLINA
AND GEORGIA
IN
1669 AND 1670.
________________________
JOHANN LEDERER'S BOOK OF TRAVELS
IN VIRGINIA, NORTH AND SOUTH
CAROLINA AND GEORGIA
IN 1669 AND 1670.
HE first attempt of a scientific exploration and description
of the Eastern slope of the Appalachian (Alleghany) Mount-
ains, and all the territory lying between tide-water and the
Alleghanies in general, from Maryland to Florida, was made
in the years 1669 and 1670 by Johannes Lederer, a German, un-
der the auspices of Sir William Berkley, Governor of Virginia.
It was done with the expectation to discover an easy and short
route to India, which was then generally supposed to he but a
short distance. Johannes Lederer, a native of Germany and a
scholar, arrived in 1668 at Jamestown, Va. He said he was a son
of the Alps, and had come to America to explore the country.
He could speak German, French and Italian fluently, was a mas-
ter of the ancient languages, but spoke English imperfectly.
Gov. Berkely engaged him and fitted out an expedition under his
leadership to discover a pass through the mountains to India.
Lederer made within two years three expeditions to the mountains
and extended his explorations as far South as Florida, but he did
not discover a pass through the mountains, nor did he ever cross
them.
In his third expedition his escort deserted him and returned to
the Virginia colony, and he continued his journey until he
reached the Mickasukee lake in Florida near the Spanish pos-
sessions, when being afraid that he might he suspected by the
Spaniards of being a spy and sold by them into slavery to work
in their mines, he returned to Virginia.
His escort who had abandoned him, had in the mean time
spread evil reports about him, and aroused prejudice against him
on account of the expenses incurred by the expeditions, which
had to he borne by the colony. Lederer was threatened, and
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being afraid of his life, escaped to the colony of Maryland and
found a refuge with Lord William Talbot, the Governor of the
Province. Gov. Talbot after careful investigation of the rumors
against Lederer came to the conclusion, that they were unfounded.
He describes Lederer as a modest, intelligent person of much
learning, who had been wronged a great deal, and says his pre-
judice against him gave way to admiration. He became Lederer's
friend and protector, conversed often with him, and translated
the written description of the journeys by Lederer from the Latin
into English and in the year 1672 caused the same to he pub-
lished in the city of London under the following title:
"The Discoveries of John Lederer in throe several marches from
Virginia to the West of Carolina and other parts of the Con-
tinent. Begun in March 1669 and ended in September
1670. Together with a general map of the whole Terri-
tory which he traversed. Collected and translated out of
Latin from his Discourses and Writings. By Sir William
Talbot, Baronet. London, printed by J. C. for Samuel Hey-
rick at Gray's Inn Gate in Holborn 1672."
It is dedicated by Sic Wm. Talbot to the Highly Hon. Anthony
Lord Ashley, Chancellor of the Exchequer, &c. In this dedi-
cation Talbot expresses his belief that the long hoped for dis-
covery of the Indian Ocean is near at hand, and that Virginia is
only separated from it by the Appalachian mountain ranges.
Which is rather a strange conclusion from the text of the book,
where Lederer expressly says:
"Those who believe that the Indian Ocean is but eight or ten
day's journey from the Atlantic Ocean are very much mistaken,
from what I learned from strange Indians in Akenatzy who came
from a far distant Northwestern country."
His book, which contains but 27 pages, is most interesting in
the account it gives of the customs, manners, government and
religion of the Indians. The Indians in the town of Akenatzy,
which was situated on an island in the river Schawan formerly
Rorenock (Roanoke ?), raised Indian corn on well-cultivated fields,
and had at all times as much as twelve months corn in storage.
They had every thing, with the exception of their wives, in strict
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communism. A chief for civil and a chief for military affairs.
Some Indians lived under a monarchial and others under despotic
form of government.
Lederer's book is very rare, as far as known, there is but one
copy of it in this country, which is on the shelves of the Con-
gressional Library in Washington. W. H. Rattermann of Cin-
cinnati copied it, and in 1876 translated it into German and
published the translation in the "Pionier," a German periodical.
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