Much preparation seems to have been required.  Boone’s wife, who was one of the best of housekeepers and managers, had to fit out his clothes, and to make arrangements for house-keeping during his expected long absence.  His sons were now old enough to assist their mother in the management of the farm, but, doubtless, they had to be supplied with money and other necessaries before the father could venture to leave home; so that it was not till the 1st of May, 1769, that the party were able to set out, as Boone, in his autobiography, expresses it, “in quest of the country of Kentucky.”

It was more than a month before these adventurers came in sight of the promised land.  We quote from Mr. Peck’s excellent work the description which undoubtedly formed the authority on which the artist has relied in painting the accompanying engraving of “Daniel Boone’s first view of Kentucky.”  It is as follows: 

“It was on the 7th of June, 1769, that six men, weary and wayworn, were seen winding their way up the steep side of a rugged mountain in the wilderness of Kentucky.  Their dress was of the description usually worn at that period by all forest rangers.  The outside garment was a hunting shirt, or loose open frock, made of dressed deer skins.  Leggings or drawers, of the same material, covered the lower extremities, to which was appended a pair of moccasins for the feet.  The cape or collar of the hunting shirt, and the seams of the leggings, were adorned with fringes.  The under garments were of coarse cotton.  A leather belt encircled the body; on the right side was suspended the tomahawk, to be used as a hatchet:  on the left side was the hunting-knife, powder-horn, bullet-pouch, and other appendages indispensable for a hunter.  Each person bore his trusty rifle; and, as the party slowly made their toilsome way amid the shrubs, and over the logs and loose rocks that accident had thrown into the obscure trail which they were following, each man kept a sharp look-out, as though danger or a lurking enemy was near.  Their garments were soiled and rent, the unavoidable result of long traveling and exposure to the heavy rains that had fallen; for the weather had been stormy and most uncomfortable, and they had traversed a mountainous wilderness for several hundred miles.  The leader of the party was of full size, with a hardy, robust, sinewy frame, and keen, piercing, hazel eyes, that glanced with quickness at every object as they passed on, now cast forward in the direction they were traveling for signs of an old trail, and in the next moment directed askance into the dense thicket, or into the deep ravine, as if watching some concealed enemy.  The reader will recognize in this man the pioneer Boone, at the head of his companions.”

[Illustration:  Boone’s first view of Kentucky.]