Produced by KD Weeks and the Online Distributed Proofreading
Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from
images generously made available by The Internet Archive)

Transcriber's Note

Some typographical features could not be reproduced in this version.
Italics are therefore delimited with the underscore character as
_italic_. Any words or phrases appearing in mixed case using small
capital letters, are shifted to all upper case.

Please note that the longitudes used in this text, which predates the
establishment of Greenwich as the reference, used the nation's capitol,
Washington, D.C. (approx. W 77°) as its basis. Thus, Cincinnati, at
W 84° 30' on p. 1, is placed at a longitude of 7° 31'. Also, on p. 33,
the location of the state of Indiana is mistakenly given using seconds
(") of longitude, rather than minutes ('). These were corrected.

The spelling of place names was fluid at the time and all are retained
here.

Footnotes, which appeared on the bottom of pages, have been relocated
to follow the paragraph where they are referenced. They have been
lettered consecutively from A to K for ease of reference.

Please consult the transcriber's end note at the bottom of this text
for any other details.

                                  THE
                         AMERICANS AS THEY ARE;
                              DESCRIBED IN
                                 A TOUR
                 THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

                            BY THE AUTHOR OF
                          "AUSTRIA AS IT IS."

                                LONDON:
                         HURST, CHANCE, AND CO.
                        ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD.
                                 1828.

                                LONDON:
                     Printed by Bradbury and Dent,
                      St. Dunstan's-ct., Fleet-st.

ADVERTISEMENT.

The publication of this tour was intended for the year 1827. Several
circumstances have prevented it.

The American is, as far as relates to his own country, justly supposed
to be prone to exaggeration. English travellers, on the contrary, are
apt to undervalue brother Jonathan and his country. The Author has twice
seen these countries, of whose present state he gives a sketch in the
following pages. He is far from claiming for his work any sort of
literary merit. Truth and practical observation are his chief points.
Whether his opinions and statements are correct, it remains for the
reader to judge, and experience to confirm.

                                             _London, March, 1828._

PREFACE.

Upwards of half a century has now elapsed since the independence of
the United States became firmly established. During this period two
great questions have been solved, exposing the fallacies of human
calculations, which anticipated only present anarchy and ultimate
dissolution as the fate of the new Republics. The possibility of a
people governing themselves, and being prosperous and happy, time, the
sure ordeal of all projects, has at length demonstrated. Their political
infancy is over, they are approaching towards manhood, and fully
sensible of their strength, their first magistrate has ventured to
utter those important words contained in his address of 1820: that
"notwithstanding their neutrality, they would consider any attempt on
the part of the European Powers, to extend their system to any portion
of THEIR hemisphere, as dangerous to their peace and safety; and that
they could not admit of any projects of colonization on the part of
Europe." Thus, for the first time, they have asserted their right of
taking a part DE FACTO in the great transactions of European Powers, and
pronounced their declaration in a tone, which has certainly contributed
to the abandonment of those intentions which were fast ripening into
execution.

The important influence of American liberty throughout the civilised
world, has been already apparent; and more especially in France, in the
South American revolutions, and in the commotions in Spain, Portugal,
Naples, and Piedmont. These owe their origin, not to any instigation on
the part of the United States, but to the influence of their example in
raising the standard of freedom, and more than all, to the success which
crowned their efforts. Great has been on the other hand, the influence
of European politics on the North American nation. A party, existing
since the revolution, and extending its ramifications over the whole
United States, is now growing into importance, and guided by the
principles of European diplomacy, is rooting itself deeper and deeper,
drawing within its ranks the wealthy, the enlightened, the dissatisfied;
thus adding every day to its strength. We see, in short, the principle
of monarchy developing itself in the United States, and though it is not
attempted to establish it by means of a revolution, which would
infallibly fail, there is a design to bring it about by that cunning,
cautious, and I may add, American way, which must eventually succeed;
unless the spirit of freedom be sufficiently powerful to neutralize the
subtle poison in its progress, or to triumph over its revolutionary
results. There have occurred many changes in the United States within
the last ten years. The present rulers have succeeded in so amalgamating
opinions, that whatever may be said to the contrary, only two parties
are now in existence. These are the monarchists, who would become
governors, and the republicans, who would not be governed.

The object proposed in the following pages has been to exhibit to the
eyes of the European world, the real state of American affairs, divested
of all prejudice, and all party spirit. Adams on the whole is a
favourite with Great Britain. This empire however, has no reason to
admire him; should his plans succeed, the cost to Great Britain would be
the loss of her last possession in North America. But as long as the
American Republic continues united, this unwieldy mass of twenty-four
states can never become dangerous.

Of the different orders of society, there is yet little to be said, but
they are developing themselves as fast as wealth, ambition, luxury, and
the sciences on the one side, and poverty, ignorance, and indirect
oppression on the other, will permit them. There, as every where else,
this is the natural course of things. To show the state of society in
general, and the relative bearings of the different classes to each
other, and thus to afford a clear idea of what the United States really
are, is the second object attempted in this work. To represent social
intercourse and prevailing habits in such a manner as to enable the
future emigrant to follow the prescribed track, and to settle with
security and advantage to himself and to his new country; to afford him
the means of judging for himself, by giving him a complete view of
public and private life in general, as well as of each profession or
business in particular, is the third object here contemplated.

The capitalist, the merchant, the farmer, the physician, the lawyer, the
mechanic, cannot fail, I trust, to find adequate information respecting
the course which, on their settling in the Union, will be the most
eligible to pursue. Farther explanation I think unnecessary. He who
would consider the following condensed picture of Trans-atlantic society
and manners insufficient, would not be better informed, if I were to
enlarge the work to twice its size. Such an objection would shew him to
be unfit to adventure in the character of a settler in a country where
so many snares will beset his path, and call for no small degree of
natural shrewdness and penetration.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Cincinnati.--Parting glance at Ohio.--Its Government and
Inhabitants.

CHAPTER II.

Tour through the state of Kentucky.--Bigbonelick.--Mammoths.--Two
Kentuckian Characters.--Kentuckian
Scenes.

CHAPTER III.

Vevay.--Geographical Sketch of the state of Indiana--Madison.--
Charleston.--Jeffersonville.--Clarksville.--New Albany.--The Falls of
Ohio.

CHAPTER IV.

Louisville.--Canal of Louisville.--Its Commerce.--Surrounding
Country.--Sketch of the state of Kentucky, and of its Inhabitants.

CHAPTER V.

A Keel-boat journey.--Description of the preparations.--Fall
of the Country.--Troy.--Lady Washington.--The River sport.--
Owensborough.--Henderson.

CHAPTER VI.

Mr. Owen's of Lanark, formerly Rapp's settlement.--Remarks on
it.--Keel-boat Scenes.--Cave in Rock.--Cumberland and
Tennessee rivers.--Fort Massai.

CHAPTER VII.

The Mississippi.--General Features of the state of Illinois, and of
its Inhabitants.

CHAPTER VIII.

Excursion to St. Louis.--Fall of the Country.--Sketch of the state of
Missouri.--Return to Trinity.

CHAPTER IX.

The state of Tennessee.--Steam boats on the Mississippi.--Flat Boats.

CHAPTER X.

Scenery along the Mississippi.--Hopefield.--St. Helena.--Arkansas
Territory.--Spanish Moss.--Vixburgh.

CHAPTER XI.

The city of Natchez.--Excursion to Palmira.--Plantations.--The cotton
planter of the state of Mississippi.--Remarks.--Return to Natchez.

CHAPTER XII.

Arrival at New Orleans.--Cursory reflections.

CHAPTER XIII.

Topographical sketch of the City of New Orleans.

CHAPTER XIV.

The situation of New Orleans considered in a commercial point of view.

CHAPTER XV.

Characteristic features of the Inhabitants of New Orleans and of
Louisiana.--Creoles.--Anglo Americans.

CHAPTER XVI.

Frenchmen.--Free people of colour.--Slaves.--Public spirit.--
Education.--State of religious worship.--Public entertainments.--
Theatres.--Balls, &c.

CHAPTER XVII.

The Climate of Louisiana.--The yellow fever.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Hints for Emigrants to Louisiana.--Planters.--Farmers.--Merchants.--
Mechanics.

CHAPTER XIX.

Geographical features of the state of Louisiana.--Conclusion.

AMERICA.

CHAPTER I.

  Cincinnati.--Parting Glance at Ohio.--Character of its Government and
  its Inhabitants.

The city of Cincinnati is the largest in the state of Ohio: for the last
eight years it has left even Pittsburgh far behind. It is situated in
39° 5' 54" north latitude, and 7° 31' west longitude, on the second bank
of the Ohio, rising gradually and extending to the west, the north, and
the east, for a distance of several miles. The lower part of the city
below the new warehouse, is exposed, during the spring tides, to
inundations which are not, however, productive of serious consequences;
the whole mass of water turning to the Kentuckian shore. The river is
here about a mile wide, and assumes the form of a half moon. When viewed
from the high banks, the mighty sheet of water, rolling down in a deep
bed, affords a splendid sight. In 1780, the spot where now stands one of
the prettiest towns of the Union, was a native forest. In that year, the
first attempt was made at forming a settlement in the country, by
erecting a blockhouse, which was called Fort Washington, and was
enlarged at a subsequent period. In the year 1788, Judge Symmes laid out
the town, whose occupants he drew from the New England States.
Successive attacks, however, of the Indians wearied them out, and the
greater part withdrew. The battle gained by General Wayne over these
natives, tranquillised the country; and after the year 1794, Cincinnati
rapidly improved. It became the capital of the western district, which
was erected into a territorial government. When Ohio was declared an
independent state, in the year 1800, Cincinnati continued to be the seat
of the legislature till 1806.

Fort Washington has since made room for peaceful dwellings. Their number
is at present 1560, with 12,000 inhabitants. The streets are regular,
broad, and mostly well paved. The main street, which runs the length of
a mile from the court-house down to the quay, is elegant.--Among the
public buildings, the court-house is constructed in an extremely simple
but noble style; the Episcopalian, the Catholic, and the Presbyterian
churches, the academy and the United States' bank, are handsome
buildings. Besides these, are churches for Presbyterians, Lutherans,
Methodists, Baptists, Swedenborghians, Unitarians, a Lancasterian
school, the farmers', the mechanics', and the Cincinnati banks, a
reading room with a well provided library, five newspaper printing
offices;--among these papers are the Cincinnati Literary Gazette, and a
price current--and the land office for the southern part of the state.
The colonnade of the theatre is, however, a strange specimen of the
architectural genius of the backwoods. Among the manufacturing
establishments, the principal are,--the steam mill on the river, a
saw-mill, cloth and cotton manufactories, several steam engines, iron
and nail manufactories, all on the steam principle. Cincinnati carries
on an important trade with New Orleans, and it may be considered as the
staple of the state. The produce of the whole state is brought to
Cincinnati, and shipped down the Ohio and Mississippi. The only
impediments to its uninterrupted trade, are the falls of the Ohio at
Louisville, which obstruct the navigation during eight months in the
year. These obstacles are now on the point of being removed. The exports
from Cincinnati are flour, whisky, salt, hams, pork, beef, dried and
fresh fruits, corn, &c.; the imports are cotton, sugar, rice, indigo,
tobacco, coffee, and spices. The manufactured goods are generally
brought in waggons from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, and discharged
there. In order to improve the commerce of Cincinnati, an insurance
company has been formed. There is a committee established for the
inspection of vessels running between New Orleans and this place. There
are a number of steam and other boats building at the present time. For
the benefit of travellers, &c., a line of steam boats is established
between Cincinnati and Louisville; and they start regularly every second
day, performing the voyage of 115 miles to Louisville in twelve, and
back again in twenty hours.

There are in Cincinnati a great number of wholesale, commission, and
retail merchants; but the want of ready money is as much felt here as
anywhere else, and causes a stagnation of business. The inhabitants are
chiefly American born, with some admixture of Germans, French, and
Irish. As the former are mostly from the New England States, the general
character of the inhabitants has taken an adventurous turn, which is
conspicuous in their buildings. Most of the houses in the city are
elegant, many are truly beautiful; but they belong to the bank of the
United States, which possesses at least 200 of the finest houses in
Cincinnati. The building mania obtained such strong hold of the
inhabitants, that most of them forgot their actual means; and
accordingly, having drawn money from the bank which they were unable to
refund, they had at last to give up lots and buildings to the United
States' bank. Though this city possesses in itself many advantages over
other towns of the Ohio, and has much the start of them in point of
commerce and manufactures, yet there is little expectation of its
increasing in the same proportion as it has hitherto done. Neither of
the canals which are intended to join the Ohio, will come up as far as
this town. The great Ohio canal is to run near the mouth of the Sciota
river; the _Dayton_ canal below Cincinnati; and these places will
attract a considerable part of the population. The third canal, which is
to connect the waters of the Chesapeake Bay and of the Ohio, will be
more advantageous to the towns of Upper Ohio, Marietta, Steubenville,
and Wheeling. Commerce will thus be more equally divided, and Cincinnati
cannot always expect to continue as it has hitherto been, the staple
of the trade to the southward of the Ohio. The merchant possessed
of a moderate capital, if he consult his interest, will not establish
himself at Cincinnati, but at one of the intermediate places of the
above-mentioned three canals. The farmer has eligible spots in the
Tuscarora valleys, about New Lancaster, Columbus, Franklintown,
Pickaway, Chilicathe, and especially in the Sandusky counties on lake
Erie. Mechanics, such as carpenters, cabinet makers, &c., will also find
these new settlements more advantageous markets for their industry than
the city of Cincinnati itself. The manufacturers, of every kind, will
choose either Cincinnati or Pittsburgh, but still give the preference
to the former, in spite of its smoke and dirt, as the place most
favoured by natural position, which must necessarily become the first
manufacturing town of the Union, notwithstanding the well-known
inactivity of the Pennsylvanians. But as the state of Ohio must look to
its manufactures, unless it chooses to continue a loser by the exchange
of its raw produce; Cincinnati, whose manufactures have attained a high
degree of perfection, favoured as it is by its coal mines, its water
communication, and the fertility and consequent cheapness of the
necessaries of life, must always possess very great advantages.
Travellers arriving from the north, proceed to the south by way of
Louisville on board a steam boat; and coming from thence, they go either
to the eastward to Philadelphia by the mail stage, or by the same
conveyance northward, through Chilicathe and Columbus, to lake Erie,
where they embark for Buffalo.

During my stay, on the twenty-fifth of October, a question of some
importance for the inhabitants of Cincinnati was to be decided. It was
concerning a stricter police and its necessary regulations. The city
council, with the wealthier class of inhabitants, had been for some time
previous to the decision, engaged in preparing and gaining over the
multitude. I went to the court-house in company with Mr. Bama, a
wholesale merchant, and several gentlemen, to hear the speeches
delivered on both sides, and the result of the motion. It was four
o'clock when we arrived, and about 600 persons were assembled in and
outside of the court-house. The noise, however, was such, that it was
impossible to hear more than detached periods. At eight o'clock, when
almost dark, they had gone through the business, and the poll was about
to commence. The party for abridging public liberty was ordered to go
out on the left:--those who insisted on the preservation of the present
order of things, were to draw off to the right. On arriving before the
court-house, they ranged themselves in two separate ranks, each of which
was counted by the presiding judge. There was a majority of 72 votes in
favour of the party which upheld the present system, and the question
was, therefore, decided in favour of popular liberty. I found here, as
well as everywhere else, that the freedom of a community is nowhere more
exposed to encroachments than in large towns, where dissipation and
occupations of every kind are likely to engross the attention of the
people, who leave the magistrates to do what they please. The city
council were on the point of obtaining the majority, had it not been for
the farmers whom the market-day had drawn to town. These, of course, did
not fail to open the eyes of the honest burghers; and the question was
accordingly negatived.

The prevailing manners of society at Cincinnati, are those peculiar to
larger cities, without the formalities and mannerism of the eastern sea
ports. Freedom of thought prevails in a high degree, and toleration is
exercised without limitation. The women are considered very handsome;
their deportment is free from pride; but simple and unassuming as
they appear, they evince a high taste for literary and mental
accomplishments. The Literary Gazette owes its origin to their united
efforts. There is no doubt that the commanding situation of this
beautiful town, its majestic river, its mild climate, which may be
compared to the south of France, and the liberal spirit of its
inhabitants, contribute to render this place, both in a physical and
moral point of view, one of the most eligible residences in the Union.

As much, indeed, may be said of the state of Ohio in general. It
combines in itself all the elements that tend to make its inhabitants
the happiest people on the face of the earth. Nature has done every
thing in favour of this country. In point of fertility, it excels
every one of the thirteen old states; and, owing to its political
institutions, and the abolition of slavery, it has taken the lead among
those newly created.

Ohio is bounded on the north by lake Erie, on the west by the state
of Indiana, on the south by the river Ohio, and on the east by
Pennsylvania, comprising an area of 4,000 square miles; it is divided
into 71 counties, and has a population of 72,000 souls. This state forms
the eastern extremity of the great valley of the Mississippi, which has
the Alleghany for its eastern, and the Rocky Mountains for its western
boundary, sinking by degrees as it approaches the Mississippi, and
extending more than a thousand miles towards the south. The climate of
this state, which presents for the most part the form of an elevated
plain, running between the mountainous Pennsylvania and the swampy
Mississippi states, is temperate, extending from 38° 28', to 72° 58'
northern latitude, and from 3° 32', to 7° 40' west longitude. Its
temperature varies less than that of other states. Its soil is
inexhaustible; its fertility, especially in the northern and southern
parts, being truly astonishing; and though some portions have been
cultivated upwards of thirty years without being manured, the land still
yields the same quantity of produce. The northern inhabitants of the
state send their produce down to New York by lake Erie, and the Buffalo
canal; the southern find a market in Louisiana and New Orleans. The
middle part suffered greatly from the want of water communication, to
which they are now on the point of applying a remedy, in order to obtain
an intercourse with New York; which, as it is well known, has effected
by means of a canal, a water communication with lake Erie. The Ohions
commenced a canal in the year 1825, beginning at Cleveland on the
shores of lake Erie, taking thence a southern course through Tuscarora
county at Zanesville, turning to the right six miles below Columbus, and
running down to the shores of the Ohio. It is intended to be completed
in the space of three years. The state of Ohio expects from this canal,
which if the pecuniary means be considered may be called a gigantic
undertaking, a ready market for its produce in the city and state of New
York; looking forward, at the same time, to become the staple for the
trade between New York and New Orleans. It cannot fail, however, to be
productive of still greater advantage to the United States in general,
and to the cities of New York and New Orleans in particular, which will
thus have the means of a land or water communication, over a space of
nearly 3,000 miles. The first idea of this canal originated with the
state of New York; the citizens of which, when they had finished their
own, encouraged those of Ohio to enter upon a similar undertaking.
Encouragement was not much wanting; the plan of joining the waters of
the Hudson and the Mississippi was taken up with enthusiasm; canal
committees were formed; most of the towns in the state sent their
deputies, and after the customary debates, the resolution was adopted.
The only difficulty was to raise the requisite funds. New York offered
to defray the necessary expenses, if allowed the revenue arising from
the new canal, for a certain period. The pride of the Ohions revolted
against the proposition; they preferred raising a loan in New York. In
this respect the government of the state committed a great error. A loan
of three millions of dollars, and the necessary evils attendant upon it,
are certainly a heavy burthen to a new state, which can scarcely reckon
an existence of forty years, especially as the new canal may be
considered a continuation of the great one of New York, and as the
advantage resulting from it to the state can bear no comparison with
that which New York derives from its own.

New York, already the most important commercial city of the Union,
will, after the completion of this canal, enjoy the trade of the
western and south-western states, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Tennessee,
Mississippi, &c.; and thus the Ohio canal will rather contribute to the
aggrandizement of New York, than to that of Ohio. Their debt, so out of
proportion with the resources of the state, made the people of Ohio
relax in their ardour for carrying this project into effect, and gave
rise to discontent against the administration of the state. But the same
case happened in New York, and the exultation of the inhabitants of
Ohio, when they see the work accomplished, will scarcely yield to that
which was manifested by the people of the former state. There is,
nevertheless, not any city in the state of Ohio to be compared with New
York, Philadelphia, or Boston, nor is it probable there will be. At
the same time this want is largely compensated by the absence of
immorality and luxury--evils necessarily attached to large and opulent
cities--which may be said to attract the heart's blood of the country,
and send forth the very dregs of it in return. In Ohio, wealth is not
accumulated in one place, or in a few hands; it is visibly diffused over
the whole community. The country towns and villages are invariably
constructed in a more elegant and tasteful manner than those of
Pennsylvania, and the Northern states. There is something grand in
their plan and execution, though the prevailing want or insufficiency of
means to carry them through, is still an obstacle in the way. The farms
and country houses are elegant; I saw hundreds of them, which no English
nobleman would be ashamed of. They are generally of brick, sometimes
of wood, and built in a tasteful style. The turnpike roads are in
excellent order. It is astonishing to see what has been done during a
few years, and under an increasing scarcity of money, by the mere dint
of industry. The traveller will seldom have reason to rail at bad roads
or bad taverns; I could only complain of one of the latter, which stands
upon a road that is seldom travelled. In every county town there are at
least two elegant inns, and the tables are loaded with such a variety of
venison and dishes of every kind, that even a _gourmand_ could not
justly complain.

The whole state bespeaks a wealthy condition, which, far removed from
riches, rests on the surest foundation--the fertility of the soil, and
the persevering industry of its cultivators. Although behind-hand,
perhaps, with the Yankees in literary accomplishments, they are far more
liberal, and intelligent, being endowed with a strong and enterprising
mind. Crimes are here less frequently committed, the inhabitants
consisting of the most respectable classes of the eastern and foreign
states. Only men of moderate property came into the state; the wealthy
were deterred by the difficulties attending a new settlement; the
indigent by the impossibility of getting vacant lands, and thus the
state remained equally free from money-born aristocrats, (certainly the
worst in the world), and from beggars. Its form of government bears
internal evidence of this, the governor of Ohio having neither the
revenue, nor the power of the eastern governors. He is elected for the
term of two years. The constitution bespeaks independence and
liberality. The number of senators cannot exceed thirty, nor the
representatives seventy-two. The general assembly has the sole power of
enacting laws, the signature of the governor being in no case necessary.
The judges are chosen by the legislature for seven years, and the
justices of the peace for the term of three years, by their respective
townships. The resolutions of their assembly are quite free from that
narrow-minded prejudice found in Pennsylvania and the southern states,
which sees in the law of Moses the only rule for direction, and loses
sight of that liberal spirit which pervades the law of Christ. The
inhabitants of Ohio are not, however, so religious as their neighbours,
the Pennsylvanians. Their ministers exercise little influence; and
numerous sects contribute greatly to lessen their authority, which is
certainly not the case in the north. The people of Ohio are equally free
from the uncultivated and rude character of the western American, and
from the innate wiliness of the Yankees. This state is not unlike a
vigorous and blooming youth, who is approaching to manhood, and whose
natural form and manner excite our just admiration.

CHAPTER II.

  Tour through Kentucky.--Bigbonelick.--Mammoths.--Two Kentuckian
  Characters.--Kentuckian Scenes.

After a stay of six days in Cincinnati I departed; crossed the Ohio in
the ferryboat, and landed in the state of Kentucky, at Newport, a small
country town of Campbell county. It contains, besides the government
arsenal for the western states, a court-house, and about 100 buildings,
scattered irregularly upon the eminence. From thence to Bigbonelick, the
distance is 23 miles; the country is more hilly than on the other side
of the river; it is, however, fertile, the stratum being generally
limestone. The growth of timber is very fine; the trees are beech,
sugar-maple, and sycamore. The contrast between Ohio and Kentucky is
striking, and the baneful influence of slavery is very soon discovered.
Instead of elegant farms, orchards, meadows, corn and wheat fields
carefully enclosed, you see patches planted with tobacco, the leaves
neglected; and instead of well-looking houses, a sort of double cabins,
like those inhabited in the north of Pennsylvania by the poorest
classes. In one part lives the family, in the other is the kitchen;
behind these, are the wretched cabins of the negroes, bearing a
resemblance to pigsties, with half a dozen black children playing about
them on the ground.

About three o'clock I arrived at Bigbonelick, well known for its Mammoth
bones. The lands ten miles on this side of Bigbone are of an indifferent
character, dreary and mountainous. The valley of Bigbone is about a mile
long, and of equal breadth; it no doubt has been the scene of some great
convulsion of nature. The water is seen oozing forth from the many bogs,
and has a saltish taste, impregnated with saltpetre and sulphur. These
quagmires are covered with a thin grass, which has the same taste. Their
depth is said to be unfathomable. Whether the Mammoth bones which are
found here, were brought into the valley by a convulsion of the earth,
by an inundation, or whether the animals sunk down when in search of
food, remains to be decided. The first two suppositions seem authorised
by the circumstance, that bones were found, not on their carcases, but
scattered, which could not be the case if they were swallowed up alive.
The same revolution of nature which carried elephants and palm-trees to
Siberia and Lapland, and the lions of Africa to the coast of Gibraltar,
may, in like manner, have brought these animals to Bigbonelick. The
tradition handed down to us by the Indians respecting them, is
remarkable. "In ancient times, it is said, a herd of these tremendous
animals came to the Bigbonelicks, and commenced an universal destruction
among the buffaloes, bears, and elks, which had been created for the
Indians. The Great Spirit looking down from above, became so enraged at
the sight, that taking some of his thunderbolts he descended, seated
himself on a neighbouring rock which still bears the print of his
footsteps, and hurling down the bolts among the destroyers, killed them
all with the exception of the big bull, which, turning its front to the
bolts, shook them off; but being struck at last in the side, he turned
round, and with a tremendous leap bounded over the Ohio, the Wabash, the
Illinois, and the great lakes, beyond which he is still living at the
present day."

Some few weeks later, I spoke with an Indian trader at Trinity.
According to his account, he found in one of his excursions, traces of a
large animal, belonging to none of the species known to him, and equal
in size to the elephant. On making inquiries of an old Indian, the
latter ascribed the traces to an immense, but very rare animal, the
race of which was almost destroyed by the Great Spirit; there remaining
but very few on the other side of the lakes. He also pretended that
he had seen one of those animals: whether the tale of the Indian, or
that of the trader, a class of people somewhat prone to exaggeration,
be true or not, I am incapable of deciding. I afterwards met this
man at New Orleans, and requested him to go along with me to one of my
acquaintances, in order to furnish further information on this subject,
and enable me to give publicity to it, but he pretended business, and
refused to accompany me. The researches which were undertaken here, were
amply rewarded. The greatest part of the early discoveries has been
transmitted to London; a fine collection is exhibiting in the Museum at
Philadelphia, and in the Levee at New Orleans.

The road from Bigbonelick is, for the distance of ten miles, dreary and
the country barren. I arrived late at a farm-house, of rather a better
appearance, where I intended to stop the night. The first night's
lodging convinced me but too plainly, that the inhabitants of this
state, justly called in New York, half horse and half alligator, had not
yet assumed a milder character. The farmer, or rather planter, was
absent with his wife; and his brother, who took care of the farm, was at
a horse race; an old man, however, with his daughter, answered my
application for a lodging, in the affirmative. I was supping upon slices
of bacon, roasted corn bread, and some milk, when the brother of the
farmer returned from the races with his neighbour. Both had led horses
besides those on which they rode. Before dismounting they discharged
their pistols. Each of the Kentuckians had a pistol in his girdle, and a
poniard in the breast pocket. Before resuming my supper I was pressed to
take a dram. With a quart bottle in one hand, and with the other drawing
the remains of tobacco from his mouth, in rather a nauseous manner, the
host drank for half a minute out of the bottle; then took from the slave
the can with water, and handed the bottle to me, the mouth of which had
assumed, from the remains of the tobacco, a brownish colour. The
Kentuckian looked displeased when I wiped the bottle. I however took no
notice of him, but presented it, after having drunk, to his friend. We
sat down.

"How far are you come to day?" asked the landlord.

"From Cincinnati."

"You don't live in Cincinnati, I guess, do you?"

"No, sir."

"And where do you live?"

"In Pennsylvania."

"A fine distance!" exclaimed my host, "I like the people of Pennsylvania
better than those G----d d----d Yankees, but still they are no
Kentuckians." I gave my full and hearty assent.

"The Kentuckians," continued my landlord, "are astonishingly mighty
people; they are the very first people on earth!"

"Yes, sir."

"They are immensely great, and wonderfully powerful people; ar'nt they?"

"Yes, sir."

"They are ten thousand times superior to any nation on earth."

"Yes, sir."

"How do you like Kentucky?"

"Very well, sir; I travelled through it four years ago."

"G--d d--n my s--l t----e----l d----n!" roared he. "The Pennsylvanians
have not a square mile of land in their state, equal to our poor lands.
Bill," turning now to his neighbour on the left, "Bill has been marked
in a mighty fine style. G--d d--n, &c., he blooded like a hog."

"Yes," replied the neighbour, "Sam has stabbed exceedingly well, I
presume. Bill has to wait four weeks before he may be on his legs again,
if he will be at all. G--d d--n! but to tell Isaac, his horse, which he
thinks so much of, is a poor beast compared with his--and so to give him
the lie. I would have knocked him down, come what might _out of it_. But
Dick and John!"--and now these two fellows broke out into roaring shouts
of horse laughter. "How his eyes twinkled, he looked quite as squire
Toms, when laying all night over the bottle; I guess he never will be
able to set his eyes a-right."

"He does not see," said the neighbour; "the one is quite out of its
socket, and Joe was obliged to carry him home."

"Why, the seconds are wonderfully lovely fellows, I warrant you; they
did not spoil the sport with interfering."

"Yes, they bore John an old grudge."

"Oh, certainly--it was a mighty fine sport; I would not for the world
have missed it. G--d d--n! Dick is a fine gouger--the second turn--John
down--and both thumbs in his eyes.--I presume you have races in
Pennsylvania?" turning to me.

"Yes, sir."

"And fightings and gougings?"

"No, sir." With an expressive look towards his neighbour, he continued:
"Yes, the Pennsylvanians are a quiet, religious sort of people; they
don't kill anything but their hogs, and prefer giving their money to
their parsons." The evening passed in these and similar conversations,
of which the above are mere specimens; and it was eleven o'clock before
the interesting pair separated.

Some miles below Mr. White's farm, the road divides into two, the one
leading to Newcastle, the other to the Ohio. I stopped at a farm fifteen
miles from my former night's lodging. The landlord was mounting his
horse for Newcastle; his wife sat in the kitchen, surrounded by eight
negro girls, all busy knitting and sewing. The girls seemed to be in
excellent spirits, and were tolerably well dressed; the house rather
indicated affluence, though it was far from possessing the order and
cleanliness of a few of only half its value in Ohio. It was a simple
brick house; but constructed without the least attention to the rules of
symmetry. The fields were in a very indifferent state. Behind the
dwelling, were seen some negro infants at play, while an old negro woman
was preparing my breakfast. The family had thirty-five slaves, both
young and old, forming a capital of at least 10,000 dollars. "Was not I
a fool?" asked the open-hearted landlady, "to marry Mr. Forth, who had
but twelve slaves, and a plantation, with seven children; but they are
provided for;--whereas I had fourteen slaves, and a plantation too,
after my first husband's decease, and no children at all."--"I don't
know," was my reply, afraid of engaging the old lady in further
discussion. While descanting upon this theme, and on the advantages
resulting to her happy husband from a match so disparaging on her part,
I was allowed to take my breakfast, when some yells and hallooing called
us to the door. A troop of horsemen were passing. Two of the party had
each a negro slave running before him, secured by a rope fastened to an
iron collar. A tremendous horsewhip reminded them at intervals to
quicken their pace. The bloody backs and necks of these wretches,
bespoke a too frequent application of the lash. The third negro had,
however, the hardest lot. The rope of his collar was fastened to the
saddle string of the third horseman, and the miserable creature had thus
no alternative left, but to keep an equal pace with the trotting horse,
or to be dragged through ditches, thorns, and copsewood. His feet and
legs, all covered with blood, exhibited a dreadful spectacle. The three
slaves had run away two days before, dreading transportation to
Mississippi or Louisiana. "Look here," said Mrs. Forth, calling her
black girls, "what is done with the bad negroes, who run away from their
good masters!" With an indifference, and a laughing countenance, which
clearly shewed how accustomed these poor children were to the like
scenes, they expressed their sentiments at this disgusting conduct.

The road from Mr. Forth's plantation runs a considerable distance along
ridges, descending finally into the bottom lands along the Ohio. These
are exceedingly fertile. The growth of timber is extremely luxuriant. I
measured a sycamore of common size, and found it seventeen feet in
diameter; their height is truly astonishing. The soil is of a deep brown
colour, and where it is turned up, proves to be blackish. The stratum
is generally limestone. I crossed the Ohio at Ghent, in Kentucky,
opposite to Vevay, in Indiana.

CHAPTER III.

  Vevay.--Geographical Sketch of the State of Indiana.--Madison.--
  Charlestown--its Court.--Jeffersonville.--Clarksville.--New
  Albany.--The Falls of the Ohio.

Vevay, in Indiana, became a settlement twenty years ago, by Swiss
emigrants, who obtained a grant of land, equal to 200 acres for each
family, under the condition of cultivating the vine; they accordingly
settled here, and laid out vineyards. The original settlers may have
amounted to thirty; others joined them afterwards, and in this manner
was founded the county town of New Switzerland, in Indiana, which
consists almost exclusively of these French and Swiss settlers. They
have their vineyards below the town, on the banks of the river Ohio. The
vines, however, have degenerated, and the produce is an indifferent
beverage, resembling any thing but claret, as it had been represented.
Two of them have attempted to cultivate the river hills, and the
vineyards laid out there are rather of a better sort. The town is on the
decline; it has a court-house, and two stores very ill supplied. The
condition of these, and the absence of lawyers, are sure indications of
the poverty of the inhabitants, if broken windows, and doors falling
from their hinges, should leave any doubt on the subject; they are,
however, a merry set of people, and balls are held regularly every
month. In the evening arrived ten teams laden with fifty emigrants from
Kentucky, going to settle in Indiana; their reasons for doing this were
numerous. Although they had bought their lands in Kentucky twice over,
they had to give them up a third time, their titles having proved
invalid; but still they would have remained, had it not been for the
insolent behaviour of their more wealthy neighbours, who, in consequence
of these emigrants having no slaves, and being thus obliged to work for
themselves, not only treated them as slaves, but even encouraged their
own blacks to give them every kind of annoyance, and to rob them--for
no other reason than their dislike to have paupers for neighbours.

My landlord assured me that at least 200 waggons had passed from the
Kentucky side, through Vevay, during the present season, all full of
emigrants, discouraged from continuing among these lawless people.

The state of Indiana, which I had now entered, begins below Cincinnati,
running down the big Miami westward to the big Wabash, which separates
this country from the Illinois. To the south, it is bounded by the Ohio;
to the north, by lake Michigan; thus extending from 37° 50', to 42° 10',
north latitude; and from 7° 40', to 10° 47', west longitude. Like the
state of Ohio, it belongs to the class coming within the range of the
great valley of the Mississippi. It exhibits nearly the same features as
the state of Ohio, with the exception, that it approaches nearer to the
Mississippi than its eastern neighbour, and is the second slope of the
eastern part of the valley of the Mississippi: it declines more than
Ohio, being but 250 feet above lake Erie, and 210 feet above lake
Michigan, which is one hundred feet less in elevation than the state of
Ohio. Two ridges of mountains, or rather hills, traverse the country;
the Knobs, or Silver-hills, running ten miles below Louisville, in a
north-eastern direction, and the Illinois mountains appearing from the
west, and running to the north-east, where they fall to a level with the
high plains of lake Michigan. These hills have a perfect sameness. The
climate is rather milder than that of Ohio. Cotton and tobacco are
raised by the farmers in sufficient quantities for their home
consumption. The growth of timber is the same as in Ohio. The vallies
are interspersed with sycamores and beeches; and below the falls, with
maples, and cotton and walnut-trees. The hills are covered with beech,
sassafras, and logwood. This state, though not inferior to Ohio in
fertility, and taken in general, perhaps, superior to it, has one great
defect. It has no sufficient water communication, and thus the
inhabitants have no market for their produce. There is not in this state
any river of importance, the Ohio which washes its southern borders
excepted. A scarcity of money therefore is more severely felt here,
than in any other state of the Union. This want of inter-communication,
added to the circumstance that the state of Ohio had already engrossed
the whole surplus population from the eastern states, had a prejudicial
effect upon Indiana, its original population being in general by no
means so respectable as that of Ohio. In the north-west it was peopled
by French emigrants, from Canada; in the south, on the banks of the
Ohio, and farther up, by Kentuckians, who fled from their country for
debt, or similar causes.

The state thus became the refuge of adventurers and idlers of every
description. A proof of this may be seen in the character of its towns,
as well as in the nature of the improvements that have been carried on
in the country. The towns, though some of them had an earlier existence
than many in Ohio, are, in point of regularity, style of building, and
cleanliness, far inferior to those of the former state. The wandering
spirit of the inhabitants seems still to contend with the principle of
steadiness in the very construction of their buildings. They are mostly
a rude set of people, just emerging from previous bad habits, from whom
such friendly assistance as honest neighbours afford, or mutual
intercourse and good will, can hardly be expected. The case is rather
different in the interior of the country, and on the Wabash, the finest
part of the state, where respectable settlements have been formed by
Americans from the east. Wherever the latter constitute the majority,
every necessary assistance may be expected.

For adventurers of all descriptions, Indiana holds out allurements of
every kind. Numbers of Germans, French, and Irish, are scattered in the
towns, and over the country, carrying on the business of bakers,
grocers, store, grog shops, and tavern keepers. In time, these people
will become steady from necessity, and consequently prosperous. The
number of the inhabitants of Indiana amounts to 215,000. Its admission
into the Union as a sovereign state, dates from the year 1815 to 1816;
its constitution differs in some points from that of Ohio, and its
governor is elected for the term of three years.

Madisonville, the seat of justice for Jefferson-county, on the second
bank of the Ohio, fifty-seven miles above its falls, contains at present
180 dwelling-houses, a court-house, four stores, three inns, a printing
office--with 800 inhabitants, most of them Kentuckians. The innkeeper of
the tavern at which I alighted, does no credit to the character of this
people. He was engaged for some time in certain bank-note affairs, which
qualified him for an imprisonment of ten years; he escaped, however, by
the assistance of his legal friends, and of 1000 dollars. The
opportunity of testifying his gratitude to these gentlemen soon
presented itself. One of his neighbours, a boatman, had the misfortune
to possess a wife who attracted his attention. Her husband knowing the
temper of the man, resolved to sell all he had, and to move down to
Louisville. Some days before his intended departure, he met Sheets in
the street, and addressed him in these words: "Mr. Sheets, I ought to
chastise you for making such shameful proposals to my wife;" so saying,
he gently touched him with his cane. Sheets, without uttering a
syllable, drew his poniard, and stabbed him in the breast. The
unfortunate husband fell, exclaiming, "Oh, God! I am a dead man!"--"Not
yet," said Sheets, drawing his poniard out of the wound, and running it
a second time through his heart; "Now, my dear fellow, I guess we have
done." This monster was seized and imprisoned, and his trial took place.
_His_ countrymen took, as might be expected, a great interest in his
fate. With the assistance of 3000 dollars, he even this time escaped the
gallows. I read the issue of the trial, and the summons of the jury, in
the county paper of 1823, which was actually handed to me in the evening
by one of the guests. But a more remarkable circumstance is, that the
inhabitants continue to frequent his tavern. At first they stayed away
for some weeks; but in less than a month the affair was forgotten, and
his house is now visited as before.

The road from Madison to Charleston, leads through a fertile country, in
some parts well cultivated. The distance from Madison is twenty-eight
miles. It is the chief town of Clark county, and seems to advance more
rapidly than Madison, the country about being pretty well peopled, and
agriculture having made more progress than in any part of the state
through which I had travelled. I found it to contain 170 houses and 750
inhabitants, five well stored tradesmen's shops, a printing office, and
four inns. The town is about a mile distant from the river, on a high
plain. When I arrived, the court was going to adjourn, and I hastened to
the court-house. The presiding judge and his two associate judges were
in their tribune, and the parties seated on boards laid across the
stumps of trees. One of the lawyers having concluded his speech, the
defendant was called upon. The gentleman in question, whom I took for a
pedlar, stood close by my side in conversation with his party, holding
in his hand half an apple, his teeth having taken a firm bite of the
other half. At the moment his name was called, he walked with his mouth
full, up to the rostrum, and kept eating his apple with perfect
indifference. "Well," interrupted the judge impatient of the delay;
"what have you to say against the charge? You know it is high time to
break up the court, and I must go home." The gentleman at the bar now
pocketted his apple, and having thus augmented the store of provision
which he probably kept by him, looked as if he carried two knapsacks
behind his coat. "It strikes me mightily,"--was the exordium of this
speech, which in point of elegance and conciseness was a true sample of
back-wood eloquence. Fortunately the speaker took the judge's hint; in
less than half an hour he had done--in less than one hour the jurymen
returned a verdict, the county transactions were finished, and the court
broke up.

From Charleston to Louisville, the distance is fourteen miles. The lands
are fertile. Several very well looking farms shew a higher degree of
cultivation, especially near Jeffersonville. There the road turns into
an extensive valley formed by the alluvions of the Ohio. Jeffersonville,
the seat of justice for Floyd-county, three quarters of a mile above
the falls of the Ohio, was laid out in 1802, and has since increased to
160 houses, among which are a bank, a Presbyterian church, a warehouse,
a cotton manufactory, a court-house, and an academy, with a land office,
for the disposal of the United States' lands. The commerce of the
inhabitants, 800 in number, is of some importance, though checked by the
vicinity of Louisville, and by the circumstance, that the falls on the
Indiana side are not to be approached, except at the highest rise. Two
miles below this town, is the village of Clarksville, laid out in 1783,
and forming part of the grant made to officers and soldiers of the
Illinois regiment. It contains sixty houses and 300 inhabitants. New
Albany, a mile below Clarksville, has a thousand inhabitants, and a
great deal of activity, owing to its manufactory of steam engines, its
saw mills, and the steam boats lying at anchor and generally repairing
there. It is a place of importance, and though hitherto the resort of
sailors, boatmen, and travellers, who go down the river in their own
boats, it is annually on the increase.

The Ohio is generally crossed above the falls at Jeffersonville. The
sheet of water dammed up here by the natural ledge of rocks which forms
the falls, expands to 5,230 feet in breadth. The falls of the Ohio,
though they should not properly be called falls, cannot be seen when
crossing the river, and the waters do not pour like the falls of
Niagara over an horizontal rock down a considerable depth, but press
through a rocky bed, about a mile long, which spreads across the river,
and causes a decline of twenty-two feet in the course of two miles. When
the waters are high, the rocks and the falls disappear entirely. Seen
from Louisville at low water, they have by no means an imposing
appearance. The majestic and broad river branches off into several small
creeks, and assumes the form of mountain torrents forcing their way
through the ledge of rocks. When the river rises, and only three islands
are to be seen, the immense sheet of water rushing down the declivity at
the rate of thirteen miles an hour, must afford a magnificent spectacle.
At the time I saw it, the river was lower than it had been for a series
of years.

CHAPTER IV.

  Louisville.--Canal of Louisville--its Commerce.--Surrounding
  Country.--Sketch of the State of Kentucky and its Inhabitants, &c.

The road from the landing-place to Louisville, leads through one of the
finest and richest alluvial bottoms on the banks of the Ohio. They are
here about seventy feet above the level of the water, and sufficiently
high to protect the town from inundation, but there being no outlets for
stagnant waters and ponds, epidemic diseases are frequent. A lottery is
now established for the purpose of raising the necessary funds for
draining these nuisances. Louisville extends in an oblong square about a
mile down the river, and may be considered as the natural key to the
Upper and Lower Ohio, and the most important staple for trade on this
river, not excepting the city of Cincinnati. The commodities coming
during the summer and autumn from southern states are landed here.
Travellers who arrive by water, whether from the north or south, engage
steam boats at this place either for New Orleans or for Cincinnati.
These advantages made the inhabitants less desirous of having a canal,
notwithstanding the solicitations of the states watered by the Ohio. The
Congress has, at last, interposed; the canal is now contemplated.
Probably this undertaking, in which not only the Upper states of the
river Ohio, but the Union at large, are very much interested, is already
commenced. By means of this canal, steam vessels will be enabled to
avoid the falls, and to proceed to the upper Ohio at every season of the
year. It is to be two miles and a half long; to open at the mouth of
Beargrasscreek and to terminate at Shippingport. The highest ground is
twenty-seven feet; upon an average twenty feet; and it is of a clayey
substance, bottomed upon a rock. The expences are estimated at about
200,000 dollars, a trifle compared with the object to be accomplished.

Louisville, the seat of justice for Jefferson county, in Kentucky, in
38° 8' north latitude, is about half the size of Cincinnati, and lies
105 miles below that city, by the Kentucky road through Newcastle, and
125 miles by the Kentucky and Indiana road. It is 1500 miles northeast
of New Orleans. The town is laid out on a grand scale, the streets
running parallel with the river, and intersected by others at right
angles. The main street, about three quarters of a mile long, is
elegant; most of the houses are three stories high; those of the other
streets are of course inferior in size. The number of dwelling houses
amounts to 700, inhabited by 4,500 souls, exclusive of travellers
and boatmen. Louisville has no remarkable public buildings; the
court-house and the Presbyterian church are the best. Besides these,
the Episcopalians, Catholics, and Unitarians have their meeting houses.
There are now three banks, including a branch bank of the United States,
an insurance company, and four newspaper printing offices. A quay is now
constructing which will greatly contribute to the security of the middle
part of the town, opposite to the falls. The manufactories of
Louisville are important; and the distilleries and rope walks on a large
scale. Besides these there are soap, candle, cotton, glass, paper, and
engine manufactories, all on the same principle, with grist and saw
mills. The commerce of Louisville is still more important. Of the
hundred steam boats plying on the Mississippi and Ohio, fifty at least
are engaged during six months in the year in the trade with Louisville.
They descend to New Orleans in six days, returning in double the time.
Though the town is but half as large as Cincinnati, the credit of the
merchants is more substantial, and the inhabitants are in general more
wealthy. Luxury is carried to a higher pitch than in any other town on
this side of the Alleghany mountains. Here is the only billiard-table[A]
to be met with between Philadelphia and St. Louis. The owner has to pay
a tax of 563 dollars--an enormous sum.

[A] Of course this billiard table is not mentioned as a matter of
importance, but merely to give a characteristic idea of the state of
society in these parts.

Notwithstanding the circulating library, the reading-room, and several
houses where good society is to be met with, Louisville is not a
pleasant town to reside in, owing to the character of the majority of
its inhabitants, the Kentuckians. Louisville has an academy, but sends
its youth to the college of Bairdstown, thirty miles to the southwest,
where lectures are given by some French priests. Below Louisville, are
the two villages of Shippingport and Portland; the former is two miles
from the town, with 150 inhabitants, the latter at the distance of three
miles, with fifty inhabitants, mostly boatmen and keepers of grog shops,
for the lowest classes of people. The environs of Louisville are well
cultivated, Portland and Shippingport excepted, the inhabitants of which
are said to extend their notions of common property too far. Behind
Louisville the country is delightful; the houses and plantations vying
with each other in point of elegance and cultivation. The woods have
greatly disappeared, and for the distance of twenty miles, the roads are
lined in every direction with plantations. This town holds the rank of
the second order in Kentucky, a country which, in latter times, has
obtained a renown of somewhat ambiguous nature. It extends to the
south, from the river Ohio, to the state of Tennessee, having for its
eastern boundary the state of Virginia; and to the west, the river
Mississippi, which separates it from the state of Missouri. It extends
from 36° 30' to 39° 10' north latitude, and from 4° 78' to 12° 20' west
longitude. It embraces an area of 40,000 square miles. Though under a
southern degree of latitude, it enjoys a moderate temperature, which is
also less variable than in the more eastern states. The two great rivers
of the Mississippi and the Ohio, forming the boundary of this state,
secure to it no inconsiderable trade.

The productions of this beautiful country might, if properly cultivated,
become inexhaustible sources of wealth and prosperity to its inhabitants;
tobacco is a staple article, excelling in quality even that of Virginia,
if properly managed: cotton thrives well in the southern parts of the
state. Corn yields from forty to ninety bushels; wheat from thirty to
sixty; melons, sweet potatoes, peaches, apples, plumbs, &c., attain
a superior degree of perfection. One of the principal articles of
trade is hemp, the culture of which has been brought to a high state of
improvement; it constitutes one of the chief articles of export to New
Orleans. Kentucky has not such extensive plains as Ohio, but is equally
fertile, and less exposed to bilious and ague fevers. The stratum, which
is generally limestone, is a sure sign of inexhaustible fertility. Hills
alternating with valleys form landscapes, which though consisting of
native forests, are in the highest degree picturesque. There are parts
about Lexington and its environs, which nothing can exceed in beauty of
scenery. Even Louisville, with its three islands, the majestic Ohio, and
the surrounding little towns, possesses charms seldom rivalled in any
country. Kentucky is, without the least exaggeration, one of the finest
districts on the face of the earth. The climate is equal to that of the
south of France; fruits of every kind arrive at the highest perfection;
and it would be difficult to quit this country, did not the character of
the inhabitants lessen one's regret at leaving it. But notwithstanding
these natural advantages, the population has not increased either in
wealth or numbers, in proportion to the more recent state of Ohio. The
inhabitants consist chiefly of emigrants from Virginia, and North and
South Carolina, and of descendants from back-wood settlers--a proud,
fierce, and overbearing set of people. They established themselves under
a state of continual warfare with the Indians, who took their revenge by
communicating to their vanquishers their cruel and implacable spirit.
This, indeed, is their principal feature. A Kentuckian will wait three
or four weeks in the woods, for the moment of satiating his revenge; and
he seldom or never forgives. The men are of an athletic form, and there
may be found amongst them many models of truly masculine beauty. The
number of inhabitants is now 57,000, including 15,000 slaves. Planters
are among the most respectable class, and form the mass of the
population. Lawyers are next, or equal to them in rank, no less than the
merchants and manufacturers. Physicians and ministers are a degree
lower; and last of all, are those mechanics and farmers not possessed of
slaves. These are not treated better than the slaves themselves. The
constitution inclines towards federalism, landed property being
required to qualify a man for a public station. Ministers, of whatever
form of worship, are wholly excluded from public offices. Kentucky is
not a country that could be recommended to new settlers; slavery;
insecure titles to land: the division of the courts of justice into two
parts, furiously opposed to each other; an executive, whose present
chief is a disgrace to his station, and whose son would be hung in
chains, had he been in Great Britain; the worst paper-currency, &c., are
serious warnings to every lover of peace and tranquillity. We abstain
from farther particulars, as our purpose is to give a characteristic
description of the Union, which would assuredly not gain by a faithful
representation of the state of things in this country, during the last
ten years. The Desha family, the emetic scene, the proceedings of the
legislature, and of the courts of justice, Sharp's death, &c., are facts
which belong rather to the history of the tomahawk savages, than to that
of a civilised state. Passions must work with double power and effect,
where wealth, and arbitrary sway over a herd of slaves, and a warfare of
thirty years with savages, have sown the seeds of the most lawless
arrogance, and an untameable spirit of revenge.

The literary institutions, the Transylvanian university of Lexington,
and the college of Bairdstown, have hitherto exercised very little
influence over these fierce people. But a still worse feature observable
in them, is an utter disregard of religious principles. Ohio has its
sects, thereby evincing an interest in the performance of the highest of
human duties. The Kentuckian rails at these, and at every form of
worship; certainly a trait doubly afflicting and deplorable in a rising
state.

CHAPTER V.

  A Keel-boat Voyage--Description of the Preparations.--Face of the
  Country.--Troy.--Lady Washington.--The River
  Sport.--Owensborough.--Henderson.

The Ohio still continuing low, and there being no prospect of proceeding
to New Orleans by a steam boat, I resolved to embark on board a keel
boat, in company with several ladies and gentlemen, who were returning
to their plantations and their homes. The preparations in such a case,
are to dispose of horse and gig, where one does not choose going by land
through Nashville, and Natchez. There is not much pleasure to be derived
from a passage on board a keel boat--a machine, fifty feet long and ten
feet broad, shut up on every side; with two doors, two and a half feet
high. It forms a species of wooden prison, containing commonly four
rooms; the first for the steward, the second a dining room, the third a
cabin for gentlemen, and the fourth a ladies' cabin. Each of these
cabins was provided with an iron stove, one of which some days
afterwards was very near sending us all to heaven, in the manner which
the most Catholic king has been pleased to adopt in regard to us
heretics. On the sides were our births, in double rows, six feet in
length and two broad. In former times this manner of travelling was
generally resorted to on the Ohio and Mississippi; the application of
steam, however, has superseded these primitive conveyances, and I hope
to the regret of no one. Our passage to Trinity, 515 miles by water,
including provisions, &c., was twenty-five dollars. We were sure of
meeting there with steam boats. The company consisted of two ladies with
their families, returning to Louisiana; two others were going to
Yellow-banks, with several governesses, nieces, &c.; in all ten ladies,
with eleven gentlemen, considered a happy omen. Amongst the men were
three planters from Louisiana and Mississippi; three merchants, one a
Yankee, the other a Kentuckian, the third a Frenchman; a lawyer, from
Tennessee; two physicians, one from the same state, the other from
Kentucky, with a Kentuckian six and a half feet high. Of these persons
the Kentuckian doctor was the most to be pitied. He was in the last
stage of a pulmonary affection, and expected relief from the mild
climate of Louisiana; but much as we did to alleviate the fate of this
man, whose perpetual cough was as insufferable to us, as the constant
fire he kept up in the stove, and which at last communicated to our
boat, the poor fellow died three days after his arrival at New Orleans.
Four individuals of less note joined the company, consisting of three
slave-drivers, and a Yankee who travelled to make his fortune. We
resigned ourselves to our lot, with as good a grace as we could, the
Frenchman excepted, who found fault with every thing but the dinner,
when he handled his knife and fork with uncommon activity. A captain, a
mate, and a steward, composed the officers, twelve oarmen formed the
crew, and forty slaves, who were to be transported to the states of
Mississippi and Louisiana, were a sort of deck passengers, so that the
whole cargo, inside and out, amounted to ninety persons. As long as the
weather continued fine, the poor negroes had a tolerable lot, but when
afterwards it began to rain, and they continued on a deck seven and a
half feet broad, and forty-two long, without any covering over their
heads, or being able to move, our kitchen being likewise upon deck,
their situation became truly distressing, and one of the infants died
shortly afterwards; another, as I was informed, fell into the
Mississippi above Palmyra settlements.

We took our meals in three divisions; the first consisting of the ladies
and five gentlemen, who were helped by the other six gentlemen;
afterwards the six remaining sat down with the three drivers, and the
Yankee; the latter personages were, however, excused from helping the
ladies. After them came the captain, with his boatmen. Our dinner was
very good, because we took the precaution of making it part of our
agreement that we should purchase such provisions as we thought proper.
Our breakfast at the hour of eight, consisted of pigeons, ducks,
sometimes opossum, roast beef, chickens, pork cakes, coffee and tea.
Our dinner at three o'clock, in the same manner, with the addition of a
haunch of venison or a turkey. Our supper at six, was the same as our
breakfast. To fill up the intervals, we took at eleven a lunch,
consisting of a _doddy_; at nine at night we had a tea party given by
the ladies, and the said ten gentlemen alternately. We started the 7th
of November, at four o'clock in the afternoon, instead of nine in the
morning. The cause of this delay was the alteration which had to be made
in the births; for it appeared that two of the Kentuckians were
considerably longer than the space allotted to them. They were therefore
to be made more _lengthy_ at the expense of the dining rooms. When every
thing was ready we started, heartily tired of this delay. We had taken
the precaution to provide ourselves with powder and shot, in order to
make shooting excursions, having a skiff along side the boat. The
landscape on both banks of the Ohio was still hilly, the shores varying
from bottom lands to moderate hills, thus forming a boundary line
between the interior of Kentucky which lay to our left, and Indiana and
the river lands on our right. The cotton tree is almost the only one
here, with the exception of beeches and sycamores. The first do not
quite attain the height of the sycamore, but still they are seldom less
than 140 feet high. The forests assume a more southern character; the
shrub-grass, thistles and thorns, are stronger, and the vines of an
astonishing size. At several places we were unable to land from the
thickness of the natural hedges which lined the banks, presenting an
impenetrable barrier. Pigeons now appeared in flocks of thousands and
tens of thousands. On the morning of the following day we shot
seventy-five, and in the afternoon seventy, without any difficulty.

Troy, the seat of justice for Crawford county, in Indiana, was the first
place we visited. It has a court-house, a printing-office, and about
sixty houses. The inhabitants seem rather indolent. On our asking for
apples, they demanded ten dollars for half a barrel; the price for a
whole one in Louisville being no more than three dollars. We advised
them to keep their apples, and to plant trees, which would enable them
to raise some for themselves; and to put panes of glass in their
windows, instead of old newspapers. The surrounding country is beautiful
and fertile. Farms, however, become more scarce, and are in a state of
more primitive simplicity. A block cabin not unlike a stable, with as
many holes as there are logs in it, patches of ground planted with
tobacco, sweet potatoes, and some corn, are the sole ornaments of these
back-wood mansions. We purchased, below Troy, half a young bear, at the
rate of five cents per pound. Two others which were skinned, indicated
an abundance of these animals, and more application to the sport than
seems compatible with the proper cultivation of these regions. The
settlers have something of a savage appearance: their features are hard,
and the tone of their voice denotes a violent disposition. Our Frenchman
was bargaining for a turkey, with the farmer's son, an athletic youth.
On being asked three dollars for it, the Frenchman turned round to Mr.
B., saying: "I suppose the Kentuckians take us for fools." "What do you
say, stranger," replied the youth, at the same time laying his heavy
hand across the shoulders of the poor Frenchman, in rather a rough
manner. The latter looked as if thunderstruck, and retired in the true
style of the Great Nation, when they get a sound drubbing. We remarked
on his return, the pains he took to repress his feelings at the
coarseness of the Kentuckians. He was, however, discreet enough to keep
his peace, and he did very well; but his spirit was gone, and he never
afterwards undertook to make a bargain, except with old women, for a pot
of milk, or a dozen of eggs, &c.

Below Lady Washington, or Hanging Rock, as it is called,--a bare
perpendicular rock a hundred feet above the water on the right side of
the river, the mountains, or rather hills, cease by degrees, and are
succeeded by a vast plain on both sides the high banks of the Ohio. We
had here the enjoyment of some sport on the water: a deer was crossing
the river, contracted in this place to about a thousand feet, when it
was discovered by three Kentuckians, who were going to do the same. Our
boat was about half a mile above the spot when we discovered the game.
Four of us leaped into the skiff in order to intercept it. The deer
continued its course towards the Indiana side, and it was easy for us
to intercept its path. As soon as we were near enough, we aimed a blow
at it with our oars, having in the hurry forgotten our guns. The deer
then took the direction of the boat--we followed--the Kentuckians
approached from the other side: full thirty minutes elapsed before these
could come up with the animal and give it a blow. Though its strength
was on the decline, it did not relax its efforts, but advanced again
towards us without our being able to reach it. A second blow on the part
of the Kentuckians, who were more expert in handling their oars, seemed
to stun the noble animal; yet, summoning up its remaining strength, it
went up the stream on the Kentucky side, and reached the shore, but so
exhausted by long swimming and the two blows from the powerful
Kentuckians, that on landing it staggered and fell, without being able
to ascend the high bank. Instantly one of the Kentuckians rushed upon
it, cutting asunder its knee joints. The deer, taking a sudden turn,
made a plunge at the Kentuckian, tearing away part of his trowsers, and
lacerating his leg. So sudden was the last effort of this animal, that
but for the speedy arrival of his companion, who had been assisting the
third Kentuckian in drawing the skiff closer to the shore, it would
infallibly have ripped up its aggressor's bowels. The dirk of the second
Kentuckian ended _the sport_, which had terminated in a rather serious
way. By this time we had also reached the field of battle. "What do you
want, gentlemen?" said the wounded Kentuckian, accosting us with his
poniard in his hand. "Part of the deer, which you know you could not
have got without our assistance?" They first looked at our party of
four, then at our boat, which was already at the distance of a mile and
a half from us. The wounded man seating himself, asked again, "What part
do you choose?" "Half the deer, with the bowels, and tongue for our
ladies." "Have you ladies on board your vessel?" "Yes, sir." Without
uttering a word more, they skinned the venison, cleaned, and divided it.
We stepped aside meanwhile, collected a couple of dollars, and offered
them to the wounded man. He took the money, thanked us, and the other
two carried the venison to our boat. We parted after cordially shaking
hands. There was now an abundance of pigeons, venison, and bear's flesh
on board our boat; the latter, when young, is delicious, having a very
fine flavour, with rather a sweet and luscious taste. We were all
partial to it except the Frenchman, who most likely took us for a
species of these animals. But as thoughts are free, even in the most
despotic countries, he had the privilege of thinking, without daring to
utter a syllable--assuredly the severest punishment upon one of the
Great Nation. On the third day we lost part of our company, as two of
the ladies landed on the Yellow-banks, so called from the yellow colour
of the shores, which formerly gave the name to the county town of Davies
county, now Owensborough. It contains eighty buildings, including a
court-house, a newspaper printing office, and three stores. The
distance hence to Louisville, is 170 miles. From this village, down to
the mouth of the Green river, wild vines grow very luxuriantly, forming
a continued series of hedges. The grapes are used for wine, which is of
a hard taste, but not a bad flavour; if properly attended to they would
certainly yield an excellent produce. We gathered in a few minutes
abundance of grapes, and found them juicy and very good. Near the mouth
of the Green river, and up its banks, are several ponds of bitumen, a
material which is used by the inhabitants for lamp oil. The country
abounds in saltpetre, and saltlicks. On the same side, sixty miles below
Owensborough, is laid out Henderson, the seat of justice for the county
of the same name. It contains 500 inhabitants, 90 dwellings, and a
courthouse. Some of the houses are in tolerable order, but the greatest
part in a shattered condition, and the town has a dirty appearance. The
Ohio forms a bend between Owensborough and Henderson, thus making the
distance by water sixty miles, which by land-travelling would not exceed
twenty. A species of the mistletoe here makes its appearance for the
first time. The trees are covered with bunches of this plant, its
foliage is yellow, the berries milk white, and so viscous as to serve
for bird lime; when falling they adhere to the branches, and strike root
in the bark of the trees.

In the morning of the sixth day we arrived at Miller's Ferry, twenty
miles above the mouth of the Wabash. As the Ohio makes a great bend in
this place, and our navigation was very slow, Messrs. B----, R----, and
myself, determined on taking a tour to Harmony, now Owen's settlement,
fifteen miles distant from the ferry. The guide we took led us through a
rich plain, with settlements scattered over it; the road was excellent,
though a mere path, and we arrived at half-past ten.

CHAPTER VI.

  Mr. Owen's of Lanark, formerly Rapp's Settlement.--Remarks on
  it.--Keel-boat Scenes.--Cave in Rock.--Cumberland and Tennessee
  Rivers.--Fort Massai.

About a hundred and fifty houses, built on the Swabian plan, with the
exception of Mr. Rapp's[B] former residence--a handsome brick
house--presented themselves to our view. We were introduced to one of
the managers, a Mr. Shnee, formerly a Lutheran minister, who entered
very soon into particulars respecting Mr. Owen's ulterior views, in
rather a pompous manner. This settlement, which is about thirty miles
above the mouth of the big Wabash, in Indiana, was first established by
Rapp, in the year 1817, and was now (in the year 1823), purchased by Mr.
Owen, of Lanark, for the sum of 150,000 dollars. The society is to be
established on a plan rather different from the one he has pursued in
Scotland, and on a larger scale. Mr. Owen has, it is said, the pecuniary
means as well as the ability to effect something of importance. A plan
was shown and sold to us, according to which a new building of colossal
dimensions is projected; and if Mr. Owen's means should not fall short
of his good will, this edifice would certainly exhibit the most
magnificent piece of architecture in the Union, the capitol at
Washington excepted. This palace, when finished, is to receive his
community. According to his views, as laid down in his publications, in
the lectures held by him at Washington and at New York, and as stated in
the verbal communications of the persons who represent him, he is about
to form a society, unshackled by all those fetters which religion,
education, prejudices, and manners have imposed upon the human species;
and his followers will exhibit to the world the novel and interesting
example of a community, which, laying aside every form of worship and
all religious belief in a supreme being, shall be capable of enjoying
the highest social happiness by no other means than the impulse of
innate egotism. It has been the object of Mr. Owen's study to improve
this egotism in the most rational manner, and to bring it to the highest
degree of perfection; and in this sense he has published the
Constitution, which is to be adopted by the community. It is
distributed, if I recollect rightly, into three subdivisions, with
seventy or more articles.--Mechanics of every description--people who
have learned any useful art,--are admitted into this community. Those
who pay 500 dollars, are free from any obligation to work. The time of
the members is divided between working, reading, and dancing. A ball is
given every day, and is regularly attended by the community. Divine
service, or worship of any kind, is entirely excluded; in lieu of it,
moreover, a ball is given on Sunday. The children are summoned to school
by beat of drum. A newspaper is published, chiefly treating of their own
affairs, and of the entertainments and the social regulations of the
community, amounting to about 500 members, of both sexes, composed
almost exclusively of adventurers of every nation, who expect joyful
days. The settlement has not improved since the purchase, and there
appeared to exist the greatest disorder and uncleanliness. This
community has since been dissolved as was to have been expected. The
Scotchman seems to have a very high notion of the power of egotism. He
is certainly not wrong in this point; but if he intends to give still
greater strength to a spirit which already works with too much effect in
the Union, it may be feared that he will soon snap the cords of society
asunder. According to his notions, and those of his people, all the
legislators of ancient and modern times, religious as well as political,
were either fools or impostors, who went in quest of prosperity on a
mistaken principle, which he is now about to correct. Scotchmen, it is
known, are sometimes liable to adopt strange notions, in which they
always deem themselves infallible. I am acquainted with an honorable
president of the quarter-sessions, who, as a true Swedenborghian, is
fully convinced that he will preside again as judge in the other world,
and that the German farmers will be there the same fools they are here,
whom he may continue to cheat out of their property. Great Britain has
no cause to envy the United States this acquisition. We stayed at this
place about two hours, crossed the Wabash, and took the road to
Shawneetown, through part of Mr. Birkbeck's settlement. The country is
highly cultivated, and the difference between the steady Englishman of
the Illinois side, and the rabble of Owen's settlement, is clearly seen
in the style and character of the improvements carried on.

[B] Eighteen miles from Pittsburgh on the road to Beaver, the new and
third settlement of the Swabian separatists, called Economy, was
established two years ago by Rapp, a man celebrated in the Union for his
rustic sagacity. This man affords an instance of what persevering
industry, united with sound sense, may effect.--When he arrived with his
400 followers from Germany, twenty years ago, their capital amounted
to 35,000 dollars; and so poor were they at first, that their leader
could not find credit for a barrel of salt. They are now worth at
least a million of dollars. Their new settlement promises to thrive,
and to become superior to those which they sold in Buttler County,
Pennsylvania, and in Indiana on the Wabash. Nothing can exceed the
authority exercised by this man over his flock. He unites both the
spiritual and temporal power in his own person. He has with him a kind
of Vice-Dictator in the person of his adopted son, (who is married to
his daughter), and a council of twelve elders, who manage the domestic
affairs of the community, now amounting to 1000 souls. When he was yet
residing in Old Harmony, twenty-eight miles north of Pittsburgh, the
bridge constructed over a creek which passes by the village, wanted
repair. It was winter time; the ice seemed thick enough to allow of
walking across. The creek, however, was deep, and 100 feet wide: Master
Rapp, notwithstanding, ventured upon it, intending to come up to the
pier. He was scarcely in the middle of the river, when the ice gave way.
A number of his followers being assembled on the shores, were eager to
assist him.--"Do you think," hallooed Rapp, "that the Lord will withdraw
his hands from his elect, and that I need your help?" The poor fellows
immediately dropped the boards, but at the same time Master Rapp sunk
deeper into the creek. The danger at last conquered his shame and his
confidence in supernatural aid, and he called lustily for assistance.
Notwithstanding the cries of the American by-standers, "You d--d fools,
let the tyrant go down, you will have his money, you will be free," they
immediately threw boards on the ice, went up to him, and took him out of
the water, amidst shouts of laughter from the unbelieving Americans. On
the following Sunday he preached them a sermon, purporting that the Lord
had visited their sins upon him, and that their disobedience to his
commands was the cause of his sinking. The poor dupes literally believed
all this, promised obedience, and both parties were satisfied. Several
of his followers left him, being shocked at his law of celibacy, but
such was his ascendancy over the female part of the community, that
they chose rather to leave their husbands than their father Rapp, as
they call him. Last year, however (1826), he abolished this kind of
celibacy, hitherto so strictly observed, and on the 4th of July,
eighteen couples were permitted to marry. This settlement is one of the
finest villages in the west of Pennsylvania. A manufactory of steam
engines, extensive parks of deer, two elks, and a magnificent palace
for himself, splendidly furnished, show that he knows how to avail
himself of his increasing wealth. The inhabitants of Pittsburgh make
frequent excursions to this settlement, and though his manners savour
of the Swabian peasant, yet his wealth and his hospitality have
considerably diminished the contempt in which he was formerly held by
the Anglo-Americans. We arrived at Shawneetown, where our boat was
waiting for us, having travelled since seven o'clock in the morning a
distance of forty miles. We found our boat's company in the utmost
confusion. Our ladies had hitherto given a regular tea party at nine
o'clock, out of their own stock of provisions. With the exception of
guns, powder, shot, some hundred cigars, a few bottles of wine, the
gentlemen were furnished with nothing. They went therefore to
Shawneetown, a village twelve miles below the mouth of the Wabash, with
sixty houses, and 300 inhabitants, of a very indifferent character,
mostly labourers at the salt works of the Saline river. The party
however were not so fortunate as to procure anything except a dried
haunch of venison. On their return, the invalid doctor missed the
negro girl he had brought to wait upon him, intending to sell her
along with a male slave. She was gone. A search was commenced,
but the honest inhabitants declared, with many G--d d--ns, that
they did not know anything about her. The company discovered what
was wanting, and persuaded the physician to offer a reward for her
recovery. In less than half an hour, one of the worthy inhabitants came
up with the run-away girl, leading her by a rope. He had shortly before
assured some of the inquirers, under the pledge of a round oath, of his
utter ignorance of the matter, whilst at the same time the slave was
concealed in his kitchen. The second physician from Tennessee had the
benevolent precaution of suggesting to the patient to keep himself cool.
But every advice was thrown away. The Kentuckian could not resist
striking the girl. With the utmost pain he raised himself up in his bed,
to give her blows, which did himself infinitely more harm. When called
upon to pay the reward of twenty dollars, his wrath rose to the highest
pitch, and if he had had strength we should have witnessed a strange
scene. He paid, however, and contented himself with binding her arms,
and fastening her to the door-post, from which she was released by the
following accident, which took place about eight o'clock, just as we
returned from our excursion. One of the planters, a Kentuckian by birth,
made a regular excursion, twice a day, to fetch milk and eggs for the
company. The captain refused to dispatch the skiff for him, but the rest
of the company sent it without asking the captain's leave. Some hours
after the Kentuckian's return he heard of the captain's refusal, and
immediately accused him of negligence, &c. The captain gave him the lie,
and hardly was the word spoken, when the Kentuckian rushed upon the
young man with a dirk in his hand. He was, however, prevented, when
turning round, he ran to the other side to fetch an axe, declaring at
the same time, with a G----d d----n, he would knock down any body who
dared to oppose him. I stood with Mr. B. at the door. A quarrel ensued,
and he was going to force it open, when several gentlemen came to our
assistance. During this riot the stove became heated to such a degree,
as unobserved by any one, to set fire to the wood beneath it, so that
the birth of our patient was in flames in a moment. Quarrelling, and
murderous thoughts gave way to the danger of being roasted alive. All
hands, even the Kentuckian, were assiduous in their endeavours to
extinguish the fire; but this could not be so easily accomplished, the
boat being extremely crowded. At last we succeeded; the poor doctor had
almost been forgotten, and was very near being burnt alive, had it not
been for his second servant, who immediately laid hold of a bucket full
of water, and poured it over his master. The behaviour of this invalid
was strange beyond description, and shewed a degree of passion, at once
ludicrous and pitiable. "For heaven's sake," exclaimed he, "I am
roasting! no, I am drowning! the wretch has poured a whole bucket of
water over me. Come hither, rascal!" The servant was obliged to
approach, and tender his face to receive a box on the ear, certainly the
most harmless he ever got; the master at the same time reproaching him
with his villainy, and lamenting the consequences which this bath would
bring upon him, such as rheumatism, fever, &c. We stood astonished and
confounded at this man, the living image of a burnt-out volcano. "But
for heaven's sake," said Mr. B., "Doctor, you would have been roasted
alive but for your slave, and you have been the only cause of the fire,
by the unsupportable heat you kept up in the stove; you must not do that
again." "He is my slave," was the answer, "and should have stayed with
me, instead of listening to your ungentlemanly disputes; then the fire
would not have broken out." We assented to this, and peace was fully
restored.

The next day we proceeded on our journey, having the state of Illinois
on our right, and Kentucky on our left. Thirteen miles below Saline
river we visited the cave of Rock Island. The limestone wall, 120 feet
high, runs for about half a mile along the right bank of the Ohio;
nearly at its end is the entrance to the cave. A few steps bring you at
once into the grotto, which is about sixty-five feet wide at the base,
narrowing as you ascend, and forming an arch, the span of which is from
twenty-five to thirty feet, extending to a length of 120 feet. Marine
shells, feathers, and bones of bears, turkies, and wild geese, afford
ample testimony that this place has not been visited by the curious
alone, but has been the resort of numerous families, which had taken
temporary refuge here.

Our sporting excursions had generally pigeons, turkies, or opossums, for
their object; below the cave, in the rocks, wild geese and ducks become
very plentiful. Flocks of from forty to one hundred were flying over our
heads in every direction, and augmenting in numbers as we approached the
Mississippi. We shot this day seven geese and ducks, and passed the
small villages of Cumberland, at the mouth of the river of that name,
and Smithland, three miles below. Both villages are now springing up.
The Cumberland is 720 feet wide at its mouth. The river Tennessee,
thirteen miles below, is 700 feet. Eleven miles lower down, on the
Illinois side, is fort Spassai, erected on a high bank and in a
commanding position, which overlooks the Ohio, here a mile wide. The
prospect for a distance of forty miles, is charming. The extraordinary
beauty of the river, which the French very properly called _la belle
rivière_, on both sides the majestic native forests, clad in their
autumnal foliage, here and there an island in the midst of the stream,
with its luxuriant growth of trees, not unlike enchanted gardens. The
charm which is diffused over the whole scene can scarcely be described.
The fort is garrisoned by a captain, with a company of regulars, who,
however, suffer much from swamps in the rear of the fort.

On the two following days we passed the county towns of Golconda, the
seat of justice for Pope county; Vienna, for Johnson; and America, for
Alexander county; villages which have nothing in common with the cities
of which they remind you but the name. They are inhabited by some
Kentuckians and loiterers, who spend part of their time in bringing down
the Mississippi the produce of the country, for the transport of which
they demand double wages, and are thus enabled to spend the rest of
their time sitting cross-legged over their whiskey. The ninth day,
about noon, we arrived at Trinity. I was heartily tired of this manner
of travelling, and resolved to wait here with Mr. B., and Mrs. Th----
and family, for a steam-boat from St. Louis. The rest of the company
went on in the boat, after an hour's stopping. Trinity, or as it was
formerly called, Cairo, is situated four and a half miles above the
junction of the Ohio and Mississippi, consisting only of a tavern and a
store, kept by a Mr. Bershoud. The inundations occurring regularly every
year, have hitherto prevented the formation of settlements at this
place. Though these inundations rise every year from four to ten feet
above the banks, as may be seen from the weeds remaining in clusters on
the trees, the inhabitants of these two houses have, if we except the
trouble of transporting their effects and goods to the upper story, but
little to apprehend, the rise of the river being gradually slow, and its
power being lessened by its circuitous course, and by the trees on its
bank.

From Trinity down to Baton Rouge, a distance of 900 miles, the houses
are constructed in such a manner as to be secured against accidents; the
foundations are stumps of trees, or low brick pillars, four feet high.
The houses are so built, or rather laid upon these pillars, as to allow
the water to pass beneath. Notwithstanding this precaution, the flood
generally reaches to the lower apartments, and passengers coming from
Trinity to New Orleans last February, had to get into the skiff sent for
them, through the window of the second story.

From Trinity to the mouth of the Ohio, are reckoned four and a half
miles. We visited on the following morning, this remarkable spot, where
two of the most important rivers unite.

CHAPTER VII.

The Mississippi.--General Features of the State of Illinois and its
Inhabitants.

The nearer we approached the Mississippi, the lower the country became,
and the more imposing the scenery. By degrees the river Ohio loses its
blue tinge, taking from the mightier stream a milky colour, which
changes into a muddy white when very near the junction--this junction
itself is one of the most magnificent sights. On the left hand the Ohio,
half a mile wide, overpowered, as it were, by its mightier rival--in
front the more gigantic Mississippi, one mile and a half broad, rolling
down its vast volumes of water with incredible rapidity. Farther on, the
high banks of the state of Missouri, with some farm buildings of a
diminutive appearance, owing to the great distance; in the back ground,
the colossal native forests of Missouri; and lastly, to the south, these
two rivers united and turning majestically to the south-west. The deep
silence which reigns in these regions, and which is interrupted only by
the rushing sound of the waves, and the immense mass of water, produce
the illusion that you are no longer standing upon firm ground; you are
fearful less the earth should give way to the powerful element, which,
pressed into so narrow a space, rolls on with irresistible force. I had
formerly seen the falls of Niagara; but this scene, taken in the proper
point of view, is in no respect inferior to that which they present. The
immense number of streams which empty into the Mississippi, and caused
it to be named, very appropriately, the _Father of Rivers_, render it
powerful throughout the year; it generally rises in February, and falls
in July. In September and October the autumnal rains begin; and they
continue to swell it through the winter. When it overflows its banks,
the Mississippi inundates the country on both sides, for an extent of
from forty-five to fifty miles, thus forming an immense lake. From the
mouth of the Ohio to Walnut hills, in the state of Mississippi, the
difference between the lowest water and the highest inundation, is
generally sixteen feet. The nearer it approaches the gulph of Mexico,
the less is the flood. The water leaving its bed on the west side never
returns, but forms into lakes and marshes. On the east side they find
resistance from the high lands, that follow the meanderings of the
river. Above Natchez, the river inundates the lands for a space of
thirty miles. At Baton Rouge, the high lands take on a sudden a
south-eastern direction, while the river turns to the south-west, thus
leaving the waters to form the eastern swamps of Louisiana. It rises to
thirty feet at that place; whilst at New Orleans it scarcely attains the
height of twelve feet, and at the mouth no difference between a rise and
fall is perceptible. Whoever comes to the Mississippi with the
expectation of beholding a sea-like river flowing quietly along, will
find himself disappointed. The magnitude of this river does not consist
in its width but in its depth, and the immense quantity of water it
pours out into the sea. At the mouth of the Ohio it is a mile and a half
wide. This moderate breadth rather diminishes as it proceeds in its
course. At New Orleans, after receiving the waters of some great
tributary streams, it is not more than a mile in width, and in some
places three quarters of a mile. Its depth, however, continues to
increase; below the Ohio it is reckoned to be from thirty-five to fifty
feet deep. Below the Arkansas to Natchez, from 100 to 150. From Natchez
to New Orleans, from 150 to 250 feet. At its mouth, owing to the sand
bar at the Paliseter, the depth greatly diminishes, and it is well known
that vessels drawing eighteen feet of water can hardly enter the mouth
of the stream. The waters of the Mississippi are not clear at any period
of the year. This was the second time I saw it, when it was said to be
very low; still its waters were of a muddy turbid appearance. When
rising it changes to a muddy yellow. A glass filled with water from the
Mississippi, deposits in a quarter of an hour a mass of mud equal to one
tenth of the whole contents. But when clear, it is excellent for
drinking, and superior to any I have tasted. It is generally used by
those who inhabit its banks.

The accommodations in Trinity are comfortable, and the tables are well
furnished, but the prices exorbitant. It cannot, however, be expected to
be otherwise, owing to the new settlers, whose anxiety never permits
them to neglect an opportunity of improving their means on their first
outset. We found this to be the case on all occasions. Whenever some of
our passengers made purchases of trifles, such as cigars, &c., they had
to pay five times as much as in Louisville. It is therefore advisable to
provide oneself with every thing, when travelling in these backwoods;
the generality of the settlers on these banks being needy adventurers,
partly foreigners, partly Kentuckians, who, with a capital of not quite
100 dollars, with which they purchase some goods in New Orleans, begin
their commercial career, and may be seen with both hands in their
pockets, their legs on the table or chimney-piece, and cigars in their
mouths, selling their goods for five hundred per cent above prime cost.
Towards the north on the banks of the Mississippi, the settlers are
generally Frenchmen, who now assume by degrees the American manners and
language. Many of them are wealthy store-keepers, merchants, and
farmers; but for the most part, however, a lightfooted kind of people,
who, from their fathers, have inherited frivolity, and from their
mothers, Indian women, uncleanliness. The towns of Kaskakia, Cahokia,
&c., as well as several villages up the Mississippi to the Prairie des
Chiens, owe their origin to them. The solid class of inhabitants live on
the big and little Wabash, and between these two rivers and the
Illinois. This is, no doubt, the finest part of the state, and one of
the most delightful countries on the face of the earth. It is mostly
inhabited by Americans and Englishmen. Agriculture, the breeding of
cattle, and improvements of every kind, are making rapid progress. The
settlements in Bond, Crawford, Edward's, Franklin, and White Counties,
are to be considered as forming the main substance of the state. A
number of elegant towns have arisen in the space of a few years: among
others, Vandalia, the capital, and for these three years past the seat
of government, with a state house and a projected university, for which
36,000 acres of land have been assigned. An excellent spirit is
acknowledged to prevail among the inhabitants of this district. Still,
however, the style of architecture--if the laying of logs or of bricks
upon each other deserves this name--the manners, the attempted
improvements, every thing announces a new land, which has only a few
years since started into political existence, and the settlers of which
do not yet evince any anxiety for the comforts of life. Illinois has now
80,000 inhabitants, 1500 of whom are people of colour; the rest are
Americans, English, French, and a German settlement about Vandalia. The
state was received into the Union in the year 1818. The constitution,
with a governor and a secretary at its head, resembles that of the state
of Ohio. In the year 1824, the question was again brought forward
concerning the possession of slaves: it was, however, negatived, and we
hope it will never be pressed upon the people. The state is much
indebted in every point to the late Mr. Birkbeck, who died too soon for
the welfare of his adopted country. He was considered as the father of
the state, and whenever he could gain over a useful citizen, he spared
no expense, and sacrificed a considerable part of his property in this
manner. The people of Illinois, in acknowledgment of his services, had
chosen him for secretary of the state, in which character he died in
1825. He was generally known under the name of Emperor of the Prairies,
from the vast extent of natural meadows belonging to his lands. It is to
be regretted, however, that Mr. Birkbeck was not acquainted with the
country about Trinity. His large capital and the number of hands who
joined him, would no doubt succeed in establishing a settlement here.
This will sooner or later take place, and will eventually render it one
of the finest towns in the United States, as the advantages of its
situation are incalculable. Illinois is, in point of commerce, more
advantageously situated than any of the Ohio states; being bounded on
the west by the river Mississippi, which forms the line between this
state and that of Missouri, to the east by the big Wabash, and to the
south by the Ohio, the river Illinois running through it with some
smaller rivers; thus affording it an open navigation to the north-west,
the west, the south, and the east. Towards the north the banks of the
Upper Mississippi form a range of hills which join the Illinois
mountains to the east, and lowering by degrees lose themselves in the
plains of lakes Huron and Michigan. The country is, on the whole, less
elevated than Indiana, and forms the last slope of the northern valley
of the Mississippi, the hills being intersected by a number of valleys,
plains, prairies, and marshes. The fertility of this state is
extraordinary, surpassing that of Indiana and Ohio. In beauty, variety
of scenery, and fertility, it may vie with the most celebrated
countries. Wheat thrives only on high land, the soil of the valleys
being too rich. Corn gives for every bushel a hundred. Tobacco planted
in Illinois, if well managed, is found to be superior to that of
Kentucky and Virginia. Rice and indigo grow wild, their cultivation
being neglected for want of hands. Pecans, a product of the West Indies,
grow in abundance in the native forests. This state having a temperate
climate, possesses many of the southern products. The timber is of
colossal magnitude. Sycamores and cotton trees of an immense height,
walnut, pecan trees, honey-locusts and maples, cover the surface of this
country, and are the surest indications of an exceedingly rich soil. The
most fertile parts of the state are the bottom lands along the
Mississippi, Illinois, and the big and little Wabash. The country is
complained of as being sickly. There is no doubt that a state which
abounds in rivers, marshes, and ponds, must be subject to epidemic
diseases, but the climate being temperate the fault lies very much with
the settlers and the inhabitants themselves. The settler who chooses for
his dwelling-house a spot on an eminence, and far from the marshes,
taking at the same time the necessary precautions in point of dress,
cleanliness, and the choice of victuals and beverage, may live without
fear in these countries. All agree in this opinion, and I have myself
experienced the correctness of it. The greatest part, however, of the
new comers and inhabitants live upon milk or stagnant water taken from
the first pond they meet with on their way, with a few slices of bacon.
Their wardrobe consists of a single shirt, which is worn till it falls
to pieces. It cannot, therefore, be matter of astonishment if agues and
bilious fevers spread over the country, and even in this case a quart of
corn brandy is their prescription. This being the general mode of
living, and we may add of dying, among the lower classes, disease must
necessarily spread its ravages with more rapidity.

CHAPTER VIII.

Excursion to St. Louis.--Face of the Country.--Sketch of the State of
Missouri.--Return to Trinity.

The steam-boat, the Pioneer, having come up to Trinity the following
day, on its way to St. Louis, Mr. B. and I resolved to take a trip to
the latter place, as the best chance that offered to get away as soon as
possible. We started at ten o'clock in the morning, turned round the
fork, and ascended the muddy Mississippi. The first town we saw was
Hamburgh, on the Illinois side, consisting of nineteen frame dwellings
and cabins, and four stores. On the left, in the state of Missouri, is
Cape Girardeau. The settlement mostly consists of Frenchmen, and German
Redemptioners. The town has not a very inviting appearance. One hundred
and six miles above the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi, we landed
at St. Genevieve to take in wood. This town is the principal mart for
the Burton mines; it has a Catholic chapel, twenty stores, a printing
office, 250 houses, and 1600 inhabitants. Twenty-four miles farther up
the same side, is Herculaneum, with 300 inhabitants, a court-house,
and a printing office. The town had been laid out and peopled by
Kentuckians. There are several villages on the right and left bank, and
some good-looking farms. On the third day, at twelve o'clock, we reached
the town of St. Louis, 170 miles above the mouth of the Ohio, and
thirteen miles below the junction of the Mississippi, and the Missouri.
This town extends, in a truly picturesque situation, in 38° 33' north
latitude, and 12° 58' west longitude, for the length of two miles along
the river, in three parallel streets, rising one above the other in the
form of terraces, on a stratum of limestone. The houses are for the most
part built of this material, and surrounded with gardens. The number of
buildings amounts to 620, that of the inhabitants to 5000. Its principal
buildings are, a Catholic, and two Protestant churches, a branch bank
of the United States, and the bank of St. Louis, the courthouse, the
government-house, an academy, and a theatre; besides these, there are a
number of wholesale and retail stores, two printing offices, and an
abundance of coffee-shops, billiard-tables, and dancing-rooms. The trade
of St. Louis is not so extensive as that of Louisville, and less liable
to interruption, as the navigation is not impeded at any season of the
year, the Mississippi, being at all times navigable for the largest
vessels. An exception, indeed, occurred in 1802, when the Ohio and other
rivers were almost dried up. The inhabitants of St. Louis and of
Missouri, have therefore a never-failing channel for carrying their
produce to market. This they generally do, when the rivers which empty
themselves into the Mississippi, are so low that they have no
apprehension of finding any competition in New Orleans. Last year, the
market of New Orleans was almost exclusively supplied with produce from
St. Louis and Missouri. Eighty dollars was the general price for a
bullock, which at a later period would not have obtained twenty-five
dollars; flour was at eight dollars, whereas, two months afterwards,
abundance could be had for two and a half dollars. In the same
proportion they sold every other article. It is this circumstance which
contributes to the wealth of St. Louis, and of Missouri in general, to
the detriment, on the other hand, of the Ohio States, Kentucky, Indiana,
and Ohio. At the time of our arrival at St. Louis, there were in its
port, five steam vessels, and thirty-five other boats. St. Louis is a
sort of New Orleans on a smaller scale; in both places are to be found a
number of coffee-houses and dancing rooms. The French are seen engaged
in the same amusements and passions that formerly characterised the
creoles of Louisiana, with the exception, that the trade with the
Indians has given to the French backwoods-men of St. Louis, a rather
malicious and dishonest turn--a fault from which the creoles of
Louisiana are free, owing to the greater respectability of their
visitors and settlers, from Europe, and from the north of the Union. The
majority of the inhabitants of this town, as well as of the state,
consists of people descended from the French, of Kentuckians, and
foreigners of every description--Germans, Spaniards, Italians, Irish,
&c. Kentucky manners are fashionable. Not long before my arrival, there
occurred a specimen of this, in an open assault and duel between two
individuals in the public street. For the last five years, men of
property and respectability, attracted by the superior advantages of the
situation, have settled at St. Louis, and their example and influence
have been conducive of some good to public morals. The enterprising
spirit of the Americans is remarkable, even in this place and state.
Within the twenty-three years that have elapsed since the cession of
this country (part of the former Louisiana) to the Union, much more has
been achieved in every point of view, than during the sixty years
preceding, when it was in possession of France and Spain. Streets,
villages, settlements, towns, and farms, have sprung up in every
direction; the population has augmented from 20,000 to 84,000
inhabitants; and if they are not superior in wealth to their neighbours,
it is certainly to be attributed to their want of industry, and to
their passing the greater part of their time in grog-shops, or in
dancing-companies, according to the prevailing custom. Slavery, which is
introduced here, though so ill adapted to a northern state, contributes
not a little to the aristocratic notions of the people, the least of
whom, if he can call himself the master of one slave, would be ashamed
to put his hand to any work. Still there is more ready money among the
inhabitants, than in any of the western states, and prices are demanded
accordingly. Cattle that fetch in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana, ten
dollars per head, are sold in Missouri for twenty-five dollars, and so
in proportion. The country about St. Louis to the north, south, and
west, consists of prairies, extending fifteen miles in every direction,
with some very handsome farm houses, and numerous herds of cattle.
Though in the same degree of northern latitude as the city of
Washington, the climate is more severe, owing to the two rivers Missouri
and Mississippi, whose waters coming from northern countries greatly
contribute to cool the air. The cultivation of tobacco has not
succeeded, and the produce chiefly consists of wheat, corn and
cattle;--equally important is the profit from the lead mines, and
the fur trade. The most improved settlements are those along the
Mississippi, and on the Missouri they are beginning to be formed.

Missouri was received into the Union in 1821, and is, with the exception
of Virginia, the largest state of the Union, its area exceeding 60,000
square miles. To the north and west it borders on the Missouri
territory; towards the east the Mississippi is the boundary between this
state, Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee; the Arkansas territory lies to
the south. It extends from 36° to 40° 25' north latitude, and from 12°
50' to 18° 10' west longitude. The country forms an elevated plain,
sloping considerably to the south, where it is crossed by the Ozark
mountains. Marshes and mountains prevail more in the southern parts,
high plains in the northern. Along the Mississippi and Missouri, the
bottom lands are generally extremely fertile. The soils, however, cannot
be altogether compared with that of Illinois. The possession of slaves
is allowed by the constitution of this state, and their number amounts
to 10,000; that of the rest of the inhabitants to 70,000. The form of
government approaches very nearly that of Kentucky. We remained one day
at St. Louis, and returned in the steam-boat, General Brown, to Trinity,
where we took on board the ladies and some new passengers, returning
from thence to the Mississippi. We passed several small islands, and a
large one (Wolf's Island), and landed at New Madrid at midnight, for the
purpose of taking in wood. This place is the seat of justice for the
county of the same name; it has, however, no court-house, and is a
rather wretched looking place, containing about thirty log and shattered
farm houses, with 180 inhabitants, Spaniards, French, and Italians. The
two stores being open, we visited them. They were but poorly provided,
having about a dozen cotton handkerchiefs, one barrel of whiskey, and a
heap of furs. Two Indians were stretched on the ground before the door,
and in a sound sleep, with their guns by their side. The Mississippi is
continually encroaching upon the town, and has already swept away many
intended streets, as the inhabitants say, obliging them to move back to
their no small disappointment. The surrounding country is highly
fertile, and in the rear of the town there are several well cultivated
cotton and rice plantations. A rich plain stretches along to the west,
behind New Madrid, as far as the waters of Sherrimack.

CHAPTER IX.

The State of Tennessee.--Steam-boats on the Mississippi.--Flat-boats.

We had now passed the western extremity of Kentucky, and had the state
of Tennessee on our left. The eastern banks of the Mississippi, viz. on
the Tennessee side, are throughout lower than the western or Missouri
shores; presenting a series of marshes from which cypress trees and
canebrack seem just emerging, lining them for hundreds of miles to the
southward. Farther eastward, towards the rivers Tennessee and
Cumberland, the soil is overgrown with sugar-maples, sycamore trees,
walnuts, and honey-locusts; the mountains with white and live oak and
hickory. The eastern part of the state resembles North Carolina. The
middle part is by far the best. Cotton and tobacco are staple articles.
Rice is cultivated with success. Hemp is not considered of the same
quality as the Kentuckian, the climate being too warm. The tropical
fruits, such as figs, thrive well; chesnuts are superior to those of the
other states. Melons, peaches, and apples, are abundant. Tennessee is
considered altogether a rich and fertile land. The inhabitants are
liberal, noble hearted, and noted for their good conduct towards
strangers. Several foreigners settled in the state, have attained a high
degree of wealth and prosperity. There is no state in the Union where
slavery has had less pernicious effects upon the character of the
people. The inhabitants are mostly descendants of emigrants from North
Carolina, and their hospitality is without bounds. This state extends,
in an oblong square, from the shores of the Mississippi towards Virginia
and North Carolina, in 35° to 36° 30' north latitude, and 4° 26' to 13°
5' west longitude. It is bounded on the east by Virginia and North
Carolina; on the south by Georgia, Albania, and Mississippi; on the west
by the river Mississippi, and on the north by Kentucky, comprising
altogether 40,000 square miles. East Tennessee partakes more of the
sandy character of North Carolina. West Tennessee of the marshes of the
Mississippi valley. Its principal rivers are the Cumberland and
Tennessee, with the Mississippi on the west, where however, with the
exception of some very small settlements, there are no improvements of
any kind. The canal proposed by Governor Troup, of Georgia, to Governor
Carrott, of Tennessee, which is to bring this state into immediate
connection with the Atlantic, will have a very beneficial effect, these
two rivers being navigable for steam-boats only during three months in
the year, and New Orleans being the only market for Tennessee.
Notwithstanding its straitened commerce, the state is rapidly improving,
and several of its towns, though not large are yet very elegant. The
chief wealth of the state, however, consists in the plantations, and the
farmer and planter live in a style, which at least in point of eating,
cannot be exceeded by the wealthiest nobleman in any country. Among the
towns of the state, Nashville holds the first rank. This town occupies a
commanding situation, on a solid cliff of rocks on the south side of
the Cumberland, 200 feet above the level of the banks. The river is
navigable here during three months in the year for steam-boats of 300
tons burthen. Besides the court-house, three churches, two banks,
including a branch bank of the United States, three printing offices,
and a great number of wholesale and retail merchants, there is the seat
of the district court for the western part of Tennessee. Several
literary institutions, such as Cumberland college, a ladies' school, and
reading-room with a public library, are evident proofs of a liberal
spirit. This spirit is combined with unbounded hospitality. There is a
number of houses, such as those of Governor Carrott, Major General
Jackson, &c., where every respectable stranger is welcome, and may be
sure of meeting with a select company. The surrounding country is
beautiful, cotton plantations lining the banks of the river, and
extending in every direction hither. The wealthier inhabitants generally
retire during the summer months, from the stifling heats prevailing
on the barren rocks upon which Nashville stands. Knoxville in
east Tennessee, with 400 houses and 2,500 inhabitants, is of less
importance; it is the seat of the supreme district court for east
Tennessee, and has a bank, a college, and two churches. The country
about Knoxville is far inferior to that round Nashville. The capital of
Tennessee, Murfreesborough, has 1500 inhabitants, with a state-house, a
bank, two printing-offices, &c. It communicates by water with Nashville,
through Stonecreek. The situation seems not to be very judiciously
chosen for a chief town. This was the state of things four years
ago, when I passed through the place; but doubtless it has since
proportionably increased. Our company being on this occasion of a less
mixed, and a less troublesome character, we sailed down the majestic
father of rivers, with minds well disposed to acknowledge our
obligations to Mr. Fulton, for his happy idea of applying the power of
steam to navigation. The settlers of the Mississippi valley, are in duty
bound to raise a monument to the memory of a man, who has effected in
their mode of conveyance so adventurous, and so successful a change. Not
ten years have elapsed since the inhabitants of the west were used to
toil like beasts of burden, in order to ascend the stream for a
distance of ten or fifteen miles a day; and when in 1802, some boats
belonging to Mr. R., of Nashville, arrived from New Orleans in
eighty-seven days, this passage was considered the _ne plus ultra_ of
quick travelling by water, and was instantly made known throughout the
Union. A passenger now performs the same voyage in five days, sitting
all the while in a comfortable state-room, which in point of fitting-up
vies with the most elegant parlours, writing letters, or reading the
newspapers, and if tired of these occupations, paying visits to the
ladies, if he be permitted to do so; or otherwise pacing the deck, where
his less fortunate fellow passengers are hanging in hammocks--an
indication to many of what may be their future state. There is certainly
not any nation that can boast of a greater disposition for travelling,
than Brother Jonathan; and there is again nobody more at home than he,
whether in a tavern, or on board a vessel; as he is in the habit of
considering a tavern, a vessel, or a steam-boat, as a kind of public
property. Yet on board a vessel, or a steam-boat, he is very tractable.
The great difference of fare between a cabin and a deck passage, from
Louisville to New Orleans, being for the former forty dollars, and for
the latter eight dollars, contributes to establish a distinction in this
assemblage of people, placing those who are found too light in the upper
house, and the more weighty in the lower. The first have to find
themselves, the others are provided with every thing in a manner which
shows that private institutions for the benefit of the public, are
certainly more patronised here than in most other countries. If the
pecuniary resources of the citizen of the United States do not reach a
very low ebb, he will certainly choose the cabin, his pride forbidding
him to mix with the rabble, though the expence may fall too heavy upon
him. That economical refinement which the French evince on these
occasions, is not to be seen in America. When I proceeded four months
ago from Havre to Rouen, in the Duchess of Angouleme steam-boat, among
the 100 passengers who were on board, more than fifty well-looking
people were seen unpacking their bundles, and regaling themselves with
their contents--bread, chicken, cutlets, wine, &c., &c., a frugality
which will hardly be found to contribute to the improvement of a spirit
of enterprise. The Americans would be ashamed of this kind of parsimony,
which must ever impede all public undertakings. Owing to this cause, the
American steam-boats are in point of elegance superior to those of other
nations; and none but the English are able to compete with them. The
furniture, carpets, beds, &c., are throughout elegant, and in good
condition. Some of the new steam-boats are provided with small rooms,
each containing two births, which passengers may use for their
accommodation in shaving, dressing, &c. The general regulations are
suspended above the side board in a gilt frame, and are as binding as a
law. They prohibit speaking to the pilot during the passage--visiting
the ladies' state-room, without their consent--lying down upon the bed
with shoes or boots on--smoking cigars in the state-room--and playing at
cards after ten o'clock. The first transgression is punished with a
fine; if repeated, the transgressor is sent ashore. The fare is
excellent, and the breakfasts, dinners, and suppers, are provided with
such a multiplicity of dishes, and even dainties, as would satisfy the
most refined appetite. The beverage consists of rum, gin, brandy,
claret, to be taken at pleasure during meals; but out of that time they
are to be paid for. Distressing accidents will of course occasionally
occur; the last of this kind was of a truly heart-rending nature: it
happened four years ago, above Walnut-hills, in the steam-boat
Tennessee. The night was tempestuous, the rain fell in torrents, and the
captain, instead of landing and waiting until the weather cleared up,
lost his senses, and ran on a sawyer[C]. The steam-boat was not sixty
feet distant from the bank, which could not be distinguished, and she
went down in a few seconds, together with 110 passengers, save a few who
by accident reached the shore. Since that time, although steam-boats
have sunk, no such loss of lives has occurred. This, however, is not to
be compared with the hardships, the toils, the loss of health and life,
to which the navigators of flat and keel-boats were formerly, and are
still exposed, when going down the Mississippi. Nothing more uncouth
than these flat-boats was ever sent forth from the hands of a carpenter.
They are built of rude timber and planks, sixty feet in length, and
twenty-five feet in breadth, and so unmanageable, that only the strong
arm of a backwoodsman can keep them from running upon planters[D],
sawyers, wooden-islands, and all the Scyllas and Charybdes, that are to
be met with on the voyage. We found numbers of them along the Ohio,
detained by low water; and from St. Louis down to New Orleans, sometimes
fifteen, twenty, and thirty together. Their uncouth appearance, the
boisterous and fierce manners of their crews, the immense distance they
have already proceeded, make them truly objects of interest. One of
these flat-boats is from the Upper Ohio, laden with pine-boards, planks,
rye, whisky, flour; close to it, another from the falls of the Ohio,
with corn in the ear and bulk, apples, peaches; a third, with hemp,
tobacco, and cotton. In the fourth you may find horses regularly stabled
together; in the next, cattle from the mouth of the Missouri; a sixth
will have hogs, poultry, turkeys; and in a seventh you see peeping out
of the holes, the woolly heads of slaves transported from Virginia and
Kentucky, to the human flesh mart at New Orleans. They have come
thousands of miles, and still have to proceed a thousand more, before
they arrive at their place of destination.

[C] Sawyers are bodies of trees fixed in the river, which yield to the
pressure of the current, disappearing and appearing by turns above
water, like the rotatory motion of the saw-mill, from which they have
derived their name. They sometimes point up the stream, sometimes in the
contrary direction. A steam-boat running on a sawyer, cannot escape
destruction.

[D] Planters are large bodies of trees, firmly fixed by their roots to
the bottom of the river, in a perpendicular manner, and rising no more
than a foot above the surface at low water. They are so firmly rooted,
as to be unmoved by the shock of steam-boats running upon them.

CHAPTER X.

  Scenery along the Mississippi.--Hopefield.--St. Helena.--Arkansas
  Territory.--Spanish Moss.--Vixburgh.

We pursued our course at the rate of ten miles an hour, passing the
Chickasaw Bluffs, Memphis, a small settlement on the Tennessee side, and
a number of smaller and larger islands, from two to six miles in length,
but seldom more than one in breadth. The sediment of the Mississippi is
continually forming new sand banks, at the same time that its
irresistible power carries away old ones. That river was, as I have
already mentioned, very low, and the numerous sand banks on both sides
contracted its channel into a bed scarcely more than half a mile broad.
On these banks numberless flocks of wild ducks, geese, cranes, swans,
and pelicans, stationed themselves in rows, extending sometimes a mile
in length. As soon as the steam boat approaches, dashing through the