were about to strike when they saw two deadly snakes crawl in
from the opposite side of the tent, move directly towards the
Apostle, and pass harmlessly over his body. Thereafter they
regarded him as under spiritual protection. Indeed so widespread
was his good fame among the tribes that for some years all
Moravian settlements along the borders were unmolested. Painted
savages passed through on their way to war with enemy bands or to
raid the border, but for the sake of one consecrated spirit, whom
they had seen death avoid, they spared the lives and goods of his
fellow believers. When Zinzendorf departed a year later, his
mantle fell on David Zeisberger, who lived the love he taught
for over fifty years and converted many savages. Zeisberger was
taken before the Governor and army heads at Philadelphia, who had
only too good reason to be suspicious of priestly counsels in the
tents of Shem: but he was able to impress white men no less than
simple savages with the nobility of the doctrine he had learned
from the Apostle.

In 1751 the Moravian Brotherhood purchased one hundred thousand
acres in North Carolina from Lord Granville. Bishop Spangenburg
was commissioned to survey this large acreage, which was situated
in the present county of Forsyth east of the Yadkin, and which is
historically listed as the Wachovia Tract. In 1753, twelve
Brethren left the Moravian settlements of Bethlehem and Nazareth,
in Pennsylvania, and journeyed southward to begin the founding of
a colony on their new land. Brother Adam Grube, one of the
twelve, kept a diary of the events of this expedition.*

* This diary is printed in full in "Travels in the American
Colonies." edited by N. D. Mereness.