'Jgu ' ''ioks feiyjketfaujidxng t>f, a CoUegi bi.tfds Colony" o ILHI3IR2&IKF © From the library of ULRICH BONNELL PHILLIPS Son and historian of the Old South Professor of History at Yale J934 THE HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF the MISSISSIPPI VAL.L.EY TO which is appended A CONDENSED PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OP THE ATLANTIC UNITED STATES, AND THE WHOLE AMERICAN CONTINENT. Second Edition. By Timothy Flint, AUTHOR OP " RECOLLECTIONS OP THE LAST TEN YEARS IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY." ¦SALVE MAGNA PARENS.' IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. ©fttctnuatt, E- H- FLINT AND L. R. LINCOLN- Entered according to Act of Congress in the year eighteen hundred and thiny.one/ fey Timothy Fliht, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of Ohio. CINCINNATI. Presi of L. R. Lincoln, TO Joseph Peabody, Esq. SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS. Sib, I have ventured to inscribe this book with your name, for the following reasons. I wished to prove, that much as I have wandered, my heart and my affections have still had their stationary points. It is my pride to hope, amidst all the vicissitudes, through which I have passed, that the friends of my youth will be those of my age. Years in their flight will neve^hed the mildew of oblivion over kindnesses, which have marked every period of my intercourse with you. Those kindnesses are alike associated with the remembrance of scenes that have passed in the land of my birth, and in distant regions west of the Mississippi. To you and one other friend it is owing, that I ever appeared before the public. I know not, if the public will thank you, or if it ought. I feel, that I, at least, ought never to forget the kindness and munificence of the motive. While your keels plough every sea, bringing home the rich harvests of commerce, I have always known you the earnest and consistent friend of the sacred soil and the plough. This acquaintance with predilections, apparently so foreign from those, which have governed your pursuits in life, has added an induce ment to inscribe to you a book, which, while it presents a IV DEDICATION. brief sketch of all the great interests of our country, dwells with most detail upon the fertility of the American soil, and the uncounted millions of acres of its untilled and teeming wilderness, yet to be occupied by independent and happy yeomen. Fortunate as has been the general course of your career, since my first work was inscribed with your name, you have experienced a loss as severe, as can try the human heart, and have sustained it with a firmness of Christian philosophy, which proved that in the midst of prosperity you had not forgotten on what tenure we hold all the blessings of this mutable existence. May you continue to enjoy the luxury of doing good, in the tranquil repose of resignation in the midst of the children, that remain to you, rendering your age as happy, as your past life has been honorable and useful. With feelings of indelible gratitude and respect, I subscribe myself your friend and humble servant, Timothy Flint. \ CONTENTS OF VOL. I. Introduction. General features of the Mississippi Valley, 17. Face of the country, 18. ^Minerals, 29. Climate, 31. Diseases, 35. Trees and shrubs, 40. Vines and creepers, 50. Shrubs, 53. Herbs, grasses and flowering plants, 54. Medicinal plants, 57. Animals, 61. Birds, 69. Reptiles 74. Fishes, 79. Rivers, 86. Indians, or Aboriginal inhabitants, 103. Monuments, 126. Present population, 130. Na tional character of the western people, 135. Religious character of the western people, 141. Pursuits of the people, 147. Civil History, 159 . Settlement of Canada, Florida and Louisiana, 160. Character of the colonists, 161 . Settlements on the'Ohio and Monongahela, 162. Settlement of Tennessee and Kentucky, 163. Defeat of the Ken- tuckians at the Blue Licks, 164. Settlement of Ohio, 165. Invasion of Pensacola, 167. Massacre of the French at Natchez,167. Braddock's defeat, 168. Victory of Wolfe, capture of Fort Loudon, and close of the war, 168. War of the American revolution, 169. Peace, 170. Spanish treaty, 171. Indian* war, and peace, 171, Western insurrec tion, 172. Cession of Louisiana, 172. Burr's expedition, 173. First steam boat on the western waters, 173. Renewal of the Indian war, 173. Surrender of Detroit and Indian war in the south, 174 . Massacre of the Raisin, siege of Fort Meigs, defence of Fort Stephenson, victory of Perry, and defeat of General Proctor, 175. Death of Tecumseh, and in vasion of Louisiana by the British, 176. Battle of the eighth of January, 177. Peace, 178. State of the country, 178. Failure of banks, 179. Relief laws, 180. Establishment of a sound currency, 181. Immigra tion, 182. vi contents. Florida, 195. Climate 195. Productions, 196. Minerals, 199. Animals, 199. Birds and fish, 200.] Serpents, 201. Insects, Bays, Inlets and Sounds, 202. River, 203. Islands, Curiosities, Fountains, Lakes, and Springs, 204. Savages, Civil Divisions, and population, 206. Comparative advantages of immigration to Florida, and chief towns, 207. History, 211. Acres of marketable land , 212. Alabama, Civil divisions, and population, 213. Rivers 214. Face of the country, soil, &c. 215. Character of the population, 217. Semi naries, Climate, and Diseases, 218. Employment of the people, and chief towns, 219. County towns, and Constitution and laws, 222. Mississippi, Names of Counties, Population, and Face of the country, 223. Rivers, 224. Islands, Climate, 226. Indians, 228. Agricul* ture and pursuits of the people, 229. Attention to schools, Constitu tion, Chief towns, 230, History, 232. Louisiana. Parishes. Population by the census of 1830, 233. Face of the country, soil, &c. 234. Agriculture and productions, 238. Slaves, 243. Rivers and lakes, 245. Islands, 253. Bays, Prairies, 254. New Parishes, Fortifications, 257; Chief towns, 258. Roads and Canals, 268. Constitution and laws, 269. Character, 270. Religion, 272. Arkansas Territory, Civil divisions and population, 274. Face of the country, 274. Rivers, 275. Soil and productions, 279. Climate and salubrity, 281. Settlements, 281. Chief towns, 282. Indians, 283 History 283. Missouri, Civil divisions, and population, 285. Face of the country. Soil, 286. Productions, 288. Animals, 291. Agriculture, 292. Houses, &c. Climate, 293. Salubrity of the country, 295. Scenery, Roads, &c, 296. Minerals, Fossils, &c. 297.. Rivers, 300. Game, &c. Chief towns, 305. Constitution, Laws, &c. Manners, &c. 310. His tory, 312. Illinois, Civil divisions and population, 316. Face of the country, 318. Rivers, 322. Minerals, 325. Agriculture and Manufactures, Chief towns, 326. Diseases, &c. 328. Roads, Public improvements, Seminaries, &c. 328. Constitution and Laws, History, 329. Curiosi ties, 331. CONTENTS. Vll Tennessee, Civil divisions, Population, 333. Face of the country, 335. Earths, Fossils, and salts, 335. Climate and Productions, 336. Rivers, 337. Agriculture, produce, and manufactures, chief towns, 338. Natural curiosities, 340. Constitution, Schools, 342. History, 343. Kentucky, Civil Divisions, 343. Population, 346. Face of the country, 346. Rivers, 348. Minerals and mineral waters, 350. Agri culture and produce, 351. Chief towns, 352. Education, 359. Char acter, Manners, &c. 365. Religion, constitution and government, die. 366. Indiana, Civil divisions, 367. Population 369. Face of the country Soil, &c 369. Climate, &c. 371. Rivers, 372. Chief towns, Char acter of the country, in which they are situated, 374. Navigable waters, 382. Indians, 383 . Game and fish. Minerals and Fossils, Antiquities, Curiosities, 384. Roads and Canals, 385. Seminaries, 385. Con stitution and Government, 386.' History, 387. Revenue, 388. Ohio, Civil Divisions, 389. Population, 391. Face of the country, 391. Agricultural productious, 393. Rivers, 394. Minerals and mineral spring, 402. Climate, 403. Antiquities, 404. Increase of population, religion, 405. Trade and Manufactures, Colleges and Sem inaries, 406. Chief Towns, 408. Military positions, 420. Roads and Canals, 420. Militia, Penitentiary, Government, 421. West Pennsylvania, Population, Face of the country, Education, 423. Inhabitants, Chief Towns, 424. West Virginia, Face of the country, 430. Streams, Chief Towns, 431. Michigan, Civil divisions, Population, 433. Face of the country, Rivers, 443. Islands; 435. Indians, Climate, 436. Agriculture, Man ufactures, Exports, &c. 436. Chief Towns, 437. Government, His tory, 438. Sketches of the lakes and the river Niagara, 439. North- West Territory, Rivers, 446. Face of the country, Minerals, Climate, 447. Towns, 448. Vlll CONTENTS. Missouri Territory, Face of the country, 450. Mountains, 451. Rivers, 452. Climate, 454. Oregon Territory, 458. Rivers, Face of the country, 458. Temper ature, 459. Discovery of the country, Mexican States, 461. PREFACE. Had the author been aware, when he assumed this task, of the amount of labor and difficulty, in which it would involve him, he would have shrunk from it in dismay. But he had announced the work and made no inconsiderable progress in it, before a full view of the difficulties and discouragements opened upon him. One of the difficulties, and that by no means an inconsiderable one, was that of procuring materials for all that part of the work, which could not be supplied by his own personal observation. From a general consciousness of the western people, of the incompetence of most of those who have assumed to collect materials for works of this sort, and an unwillingness, that their names should stand, as authorities, it has happened, that they, who were most capable of fur nishing materials, have heard with indifference and neglect solicitations to furnish such materials. There seems to be but one sure and adequate avenue to such collection ; and that is, to travel from state to state, and from capital to capital, to make it in person. Such is the expense attending this mode, that very few, who belong to the proverbially poor fraternity of authors, can afford it. Such, also, is the length of time, necessary to complete 'such a tour, with the requisite deliberation and delay, that, owing to the rapid changes, effected in the scene by time , the first part of the sketch has become an inadequate representation, before the last is completed. Whatever be the industry, honesty of intention, and ability of the author of such a work, he must be content to prepare it under all these disadvantages, and identify his fortunes with a class of writers, whose writings upon similar subjects, however deserving, have rapidly passed into oblivion. In addi tion to these preliminary difficulties, the author had to encounter that of ill health, which, whether it be an allowed plea to enter, in palliation of defects, or not, is certainly a very great impediment in prosecuting works of this sort. At the same time, his hands have been filled with laborious Avocations of another kind. 2 X PREFACE. But it is unnecessary to dwell on these, and various other difficulties easy to name. The author had given a pledge, and 'put his hand to the plough? He felt, too, that he had some grounds, on which to assume such a work. He had devoted the best portion of twelve years to explor ing the Western country. He had remained one or more seasons in each of its great divisions. He had been familiar with Cincinnati, St. Louis, and New Orleans, the points most central to the information and resources of their respective divisions, and had resided in each of those capitals. He had traversed this great valley, in all its chief directions, in an em ployment, which had necessarily brought him in contact with all classes of its people, and all its aspects of society. He had had abundant com munications with its scholars and distinguished men. As an earnest lover of nature, he had contemplated nature in the West, in the original, and in all her phases. On foot, and alone, he had wandered beside her long and devious streams. He had been between two and three hundred days on the Mississippi and its tributary waters. He had published 'Recollections' of these journeyings) which had been received by the public with great kindness. His chief efforts, as an author, had been directed to bringing the people of the West acquainted with one another, and the beauty and resources of their own great country. He hopes, it will not be deemed assumption for him to say, that he has done something towards bringing about an intimacy of good feelings between the elder sister, whose fair domain is the east country, the fresh breeze, and the shores of the sea; and her younger sister, whose dotal portion is the western woods, and the fertile shores of the western streams. A kind of affectionate feeling for the country, where he has enjoyed, and suffered,, all that the human heart can be supposed capable of feeling on this side of the grave, which contains his children, his charities, and all those ties, which call forth aspirations for its well-being, after he shall be in the dust, enlisted his first purpose to commence this work. The general amenity of its aspect, its boundless woods and prairies, its long and devious streams, and its unparalleled advancement in population and improvement, filled his imagination. He had seen the country, in some sense, grow up under his eye. He saw the first steam boat, that descend ed the Mississippi. He had seen much of that transformation, as if of magic, which has converted the wilderness to fields and orchards. He has wished to transfer to others some of the impressions, which have been wrought on his own mind by witnessing those changes. Such were some of the motives, that impelled him to undertake this work. He has a distinct foresight of the views, which some will entertain, and express m reference to this work. But he can pronounce with perfect simplicity and confidence, that his least fears of criticism are from those PREFACE. Xi whose candor, experience and ability best qualify them to judge. At any rate, he will cheerfully suffer the sentence, whatever it may be, which the western people shall pass upon this work. To those, who have pre dicted, that he would draw too largely upon the language and the color ing of poetry and the imagination, he can only say, that it has been his first aim, to compress the greatest possible amount of useful information into the smallest compass. He has, therefore, rather to apprehend, that the intelligent will find it too statistical and laconic, too much abbrevi ated, and divested of detail. Something more than half the compass of this work is original, in the strictest sense of the word, the remarks and details being the fruit of his own observation or reflection. What has been suggested by the reading and observation of those, who have preceded him in labors of this kind> will be generally found, he thinks, to have been assimilated, to use a medi. cal term, and to have received in his mind the moulding of his own manner. But touching the matter obtained from other books, he claims no other merit, than that of being a laborious and faithful compiler. In some instances, where the thoughts could not be better, or more briefly expressed, the words of the original authors may have been used. He has referred to at least thirty volumes, and to those, who might feel disposed to suggest, that he has made a book from the labors of others, he would beg leave to remark, that, if they shall be pleased to think, that they have found the substance of all these volumes in this work, he shall consider it the highest encomium, they can pass upon it. He feels it to be a duty, once for all, to make the most frank and ample avowal of the sources, to which he has chiefly repaired for compilation. That works of history and geography must necessarily be prepared in this way, no person, at all acquainted with the nature of such writings, need be told. As well might a traveller presume to claim the fee-simple of all the country, which he has surveyed, a3 a historian and geographer expect to preclude those, who come after him, from making a proper use of his labors. If the former writers have seen accurately, and related faithfully, the latter ought to have the resemblance of declaring the same facts, with that variety only, which nature has enstamped upon the distinct elaborations of every individual mind. Those who have preceded him, have availed themselves of the observations of their predecessors. The author flatters himself, that his work, in its turn, will be consulted by those, who will come after him. As works of this sort become multi plied, voluminous and detailed, it becomes a duty to literature to abstract, abridge, and give, in synoptical views, the information that is spread through numerous volumes. So far from its being the tendency of a work of this kind to undervalue, and preclude the use of works, from Xii PREFACE. which it is compiled, he would hope, that adverting to the original works, by pointing to the sources of his information, would have the contrary effect of inducing those readers, who wish to view the subject in all its details and bearings, to repair to those works, and rescue them from oblivion. Many of them are works of great merit, and have undeservedly passed into disuse. He has not considered it necessary to give individual quotations, or to disfigure the margin with references and authorities. The reader ought to rely upon the fact, that nothing is here put down, which has not been previously weighed in the author's mind, and admitted, either as matter of his own observation, or on what he conceived to be the competent and credible testimony of others. Sometimes upon a particular point, he has adopted the phraseology of the author entire. At other times, he has adjusted the views of one author by another, endeavouring to settle a just medium from the result of his own observations. For the topographical and geographical parts, he has chiefly consulted the following authors, viz: Charlevoix, Volney, Bartram, Breckenridge, Darby, Stoddard, Atwater, Ohio and Mississippi Navigator, Dana, Emi grant's Guide, Long's Expeditions, Pike, Schoolcraft, Beck, successive extracts from Cincinnati Directories, and Woodruff's Engraving of the city, correspondence with Mr. Dunbar of Mississppi, Dr. McKay of Arkan sas, Judge Carr of St. Louis, Rev. M. Peers, and Professor Caldwell of Kentucky, Daniel Bryan, Esq. of Alexandria, and Messrs Lanier and Farnham of Indiana; beside short extracts from various correspondents and cotemporary Gazettes too numerous to specify. In reference to the second part of this work, it is from the obvious necessity of the case, more simply a work of compilation, than the former- He has indeed brought every item of his own personal observation to bear upon it. But that observation in any individual case must be limit ed. He could not name, if disposed, all the sources, from which he has sought and obtained information. For many facts he has relied on the authority of Mr. Worcester's excellent Gazetteer. The portions of the work, that treat of the country beyond the United States, have been chiefly drawn from Capt. Parry, Malte Brun, Humboldt, Breckenridge, and Bullock. But the intelligent reader will readily understand, that in the present state of our intelligence, touching the physical geography of Mexico and South America, Malte Brun has left little to be said after him. Of course he has been the authority chiefly followed. He regrets that other motives, than his own inclination, inculcated by experience have compelled him to omit the greater portions of the history of the western country, and replace it with more extended details of PREFACE. xiii statistical and physical geography, the points of absorbing interest about which emigrants to the great West are chiefly solicitous. He would have been amused, if an author were apt to be so amused by the criticisms elicited by his first edition. He desires to withdraw his hands from the scalding element of cotemporary history, while the parties are still on the stage. The manner and form must have been fashioned to the dictation of a thousand individuals to have pleased ; and what is worse, the emendation proposed by one would have been the most annoy ing blemish to another. He knows no remedy for the deluge of criticism, that inundates the land, but a callousness of patience equal to every proof. The reader knows better than himself, that it is a great evil to write a great book. Though he is desirous of perpetrating the very offence, there are but too many, with whom it is a more unpardonable fault, to write a good one. His former work met with a criticism equally generous, eloquent and just, in the North American Review, and a shorter but not less generous and happy notice in the New-York Evening Post, he has no doubt, from the pen of William Bryant, Esq., of whose laudatory notice, if any one were not proud, he would be more or less than man. He would have attributed something of the fervid and affectionate notice of that work, he presumes from the pen of his friend, Dr. Caldwell, to the partiality of a long and tried friendship, had he not been aware, that he holds even his partialities in severe subjection to his judgment. To Morgan Neville and Charles Hammond, Esqrs., he is indebted for much aid in furnishing books and documents on this and various similar occasions. It would be ungrateful in him to close without referring to the continued kindness of Henry Starr, Esq., who confers favors with so much ease and unconsciousness as, probably, to have forgotten, that he owes him this public expression of his gratitude. For the rest, every indulgent reader will overlook such errors of the press, as have occurred, when informed, that a considerable part of the work was carried through the press, while the author was laboring under severe indisposition. Cincinnati, January 1st, 1832. XIV POSTSCRIPT. The following extract from a communication from Mr. Neville to the author of this work, in reply to certain enquiries, gives a condensed and hasty account of the dreadful flood which has just spread destruction over an extent of rich and fertile country, of at least 1,000 miles. As it re cords an event almost simultaneous with the publication of the "Geogra phy," and which must form an important event in the history of the West, I have thought it not irrelevant to give it a place in the Preface. It will be of more convenient reference, than the columns of a newspaper. Cincinnati, February 29th, 1832. Sib, In reply to your interrogatory on the subject of the freshet, which at this moment presents such a scene of desolation and suffering, I can state that in my opinion such a flood has never happened since the settle ment of the Western Country. I was born on the banks of the Ohio, and my recollection extends back to a period when Cincinnati was but a village; and I am perfectly satisfied that I never saw the water so high by many feet. The Ohio, after having been frozen up and covered by the thickest ice which was ever witnessed in this city, during the whole of the month of December and part of January, broke up about the 6th of that month, doing incalculable damage throughout the whole course of this noble stream. From that period until about ten days since, there has been a succession of rains, which were sufficient to keep the river and its tribu taries at heights rather greater than ordinary ; on the 7th of this month the water commenced swelling with uncommon rapidity, with a settled rain, the wind at S. W., and the temperature such as to lead to the conclu sion, that the rain was as extensive as it was heavy. On Saturday night the 10th inst. it increased to a perfect storm. On Monday, 12th, the Ohio had gained the maximum of 1826, estimated the greatest.rise for the last 17 years. At this point it appeared to become stationary, and prob ably had commenced receding. A few hours produced a melancholy change; the river again advanced, and passing the old marks of 1815, and 1793, poured its flood through the aqueduct under Main street into Columbia. Shortly after, the river at the lower part of the town broke over the Levee, and joining the water rushing out of the aqueduct, pre sented the novel and distressing sight of a rapid river having Columbia street for its bed. At this time the merchants in Main street, between Front and Columbia, after ineffectually attempting to keep the water out of their cellars by clay embankments, yielded the contest and turned all their exertions to removing their goods from their cellars to their first floors. The merchants in Front street had been driven to this alternative a day or two before. The draymen now having nothing to do in their usual business, found ample employment in transporting business men and oth ers, attracted by curiosity, across Columbia street at the different cross streets, from Broadway down to the low ground at the west end of the town. In the mean time the river continued rising at a rate seldom wit nessed even when confined within its banks; the merchants in Front st. were forced to remove their property to the second stories — those on Main soon found it necessary to follow their example. Drays disappeared, and small crafts of various and novel construction took their place. It POSTSCRIPT. XV was then found that precautions for security had been postponed too long. Avast amount of merchandise and produce was destroyed before it could be raised to the second stories. The lower part of the town was completely inundated, and the small frame houses, which composed the greatest amount of buildings in that section of the city, were threatened with de struction. I have not yet understood how many have been destroyed, but in looking down upon them from Fourth street, I counted yesterday nearly 20 entirely upset. The call of humanity was obeyed before that of interest; labourers could not be had in sufficient numbers to assist the merchants, because they were engaged in removing hundreds of wretch ed families from the flood below. There were several steam boats in har bor, and the yawls of all found ample employment. The edge of the water below Race street presented scenes only equalled in cases of wide spread conflagrations, such as that at Fayetteville, last summer. Boats were constantly landing unfortunate families who, with their little prop erty, remained exposed to the weather until the city authorities could provide shelter and food. Finally, on Thursday the 16th inst. the work of desolation was consummated ; the water broke over the bank from Deer Creek bridge at the east end of the city, to Main street, turned, the current of Columbia street down, and laid the whole of the town lying between Lower Market or Second st. and the river, under water, except the large stores on the south side of Pearl and Market streets. The cellars of those, however were filled with water, which, with little variation, rose in them all to within an inch or two of the floors. I believe the cellars on the north side of these streets are partially filled with water also. The scene presented at this moment, and the revolution produced in the appearance of things can scarcely be believed by ourselves; it re- ~sembles more the extravagance of a dream, than reality. All that part of the town below Walnut street under water is occupied by private resi dences, and probably includes nearly one-third of the population of the city. Water, Front, and Columbia streets are distinguished by many ex cellent brick nouses ; the population is more dense than in any other portion of the town. When the water reached the first floor, the families remov ed up stairs, and those who were sufficiently provident to have fuel car ried up in time, have remained ever since, (now 4 days,) in their houses, surrounded by a sea in miniature; many, however, have abandoned their houses and taken up their residence at public houses, and with their friends on the hill. Notwithstanding this melancholy state of things, the mode of living is matter of amusement to many of the families thus surround ed. When misfortune cannot be avoided, there is a kind of instinctive philosophy in man, which makes us submit often with a good grace. Thousands of boats have sprung into existence, like Minerva, from the brain of the "Thunderer." The scene is absolutely Venetian. Every house has its boat, already called a gondola, in which the owners travel about on their necessary vocations ; visits are regularly made in this way. In passing down to a friend's house yesterday in his "craft," I passed two or three gondolas with young gentlemen in them, under the windows of their female acquaintances; I cannot say decidedly that they were breathing vows or wafting sighs to the ears of the laughing fair ones ; but I did observe wicker baskets drawn up by cords, which, on enquiry, I found to be filled with refreshments instead of billets. This employ- Xvi POSTSCRIPT. ment, if not so dangerous was doubtless equally useful as that of the old Knights Errant relieving imprisoned damsels from the castles of giants and magicians. The waters have commenced receding this day, the 19th inst. ; but the river falls slowly. The amount of damage, exclusive of the actual sus pension of all business, cannot be yet estimated; but it must be very consid erable. I have already heard of several individuals who have lost from 4 to 6,000 dollars in damaged goods; but the worst remains. We dread to see the state of the streets and cellars when the river subsides. It will be terrible, and unless the most vigorous measures be immediately taken, our beautiful and flourishing city will probably next summer be the thea tre of some malignant disease. This flood forms an Era in the history of the Valley of the Mississippi; it is probably four to five feet higher than any freshet which has happened since the first settlement of the country; and when we reflect that it has swept through a country well filled with towns and villages, and distin guished by fertile fields and rich settlements, for the distance of 900 miles, our anticipation must needs be most gloomy. The loss of life, we fear, must be great; the loss of property can never be calculated. The bottom ground plan of Cincinnati is as high, if not higher, than any other bottom situation of the river. Upon the whole, the citizens of Cincinnati will have cause to remember the winter of 1831-2. It was ushered in by a series of cold weather never witnessed before in this country, either for intenseness or duration, which closing the river and canal for six weeks, made fuel as dear and scarce as in the Atlantic cities. Next the Water Works was burnt down, which, in addition to the want of water, produced the necessity of establishing Volunteer Watches, to prevent further suffering from fires. And to con clude, we are now visited by a flood of a character which, 20 days ago, we would have considered as improbable, as a collision with the expected comet! The water, at its highest elevation, was 63 feet above low water mark. The velocity of the current six miles and a quarter per hour. HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. We do not intend in these introductory remarks, to enlarge upon so copious an article, as the geology of this valley. We reserve more particular observations for sectional heads of this subject. We dismiss it here, by observing that the valley itself is universally, of what geologists call secondary formation, with here and there boulders of granitic rock, out of place ; that the western slopes of the AUeghanies are generally of what is called the transition character; that the southern extremities of the lakes are transition, and the nothern granitic and primitive in their formation ; that the Rocky Mountains are, for the most part, primitive, until we approach the Gulf of Mexico, in the Mexican state of Texas, where the strata of rock again appear to be blue lime stone. Over all the immense valley between these limits, there are marks of recent formation, — apparent indications as Volney conjectured, that the country was once submerged, and has, not many ages since, emerged from under waters ; and that to casual inspection, the vallies, the bluffs and the hills, the regular lamina of stones, and strata of soil, the marine exuviae, and in short, all the physical aspects of the country wear the appearance of once having been the bed of seas, or fresh water lakes. From its character of recent formation, from the prevalence of lime stone everywhere, from the decomposition which it has undergone, and is constantly undergoing, from the considerable proportion of decomposed lime stone in the soil, probably results another general attribute of this valley — its character of uncommon fertility. We would not be understood to assert, that the country is every where alike fertile. It has its sterile sections. There are here, as elsewhere, infinite diversities of soil, from the richest alluvions, to the most miserable flint knobs ; from the tangled 3 18 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. cane brakes, to the poorest pine hills. There are, too, it is well known, towards the Rocky Mountains, wide belts, that have a surface of sterile sands, or only covered with a sparse vegetation of weeds and coarse grass. But of the country in general, the most cursory observer must have remarked, that, compared with lands, apparently of the same character in other regions, the lands here obviously show marks of singular fertility. The most ordinary, third rate, oak lands, will bring successive crops of wheat and maize, without any manuring, and with but little care of cultivation. The pine lands of the southern regions are in many places cultivated for years, without any attempts at manuring them. The same fact is visible in the manner, in which vegetation in this country resists drought. It is a proverb on the good lands, that if there be moisture enough to bring the corn to germinate, and come up, there will be a. crop if no more rain falls, until the harvest. We have a thousand times observed this crop, continuing to advance towards a fresh and vigorous maturity, under a pressure of drought, and a continuance of cloudless ardor of sun, that would have burned up and destroyed vegetation in the Atlantic country. We have supposed this fertility to arise, either from an uncommon proportion of vegetable matter in the soil ; from the saline impregnations mixed with the earth, as evidenced in the numberless licks, and springs of salt water, and the nitrous character of the soil, wherever, as in caves, or under buildings, it is sheltered from moisture ; or, as we have remarked, from the general diffusion of dissolved lime stone, and marly mixtures over the surface. In some way, spread by the waters, diffused through the soil, or the result of former decomposition, there is evidently much of the quickening and fertilizing power of lime mixed with the soil. Face or the Country, &c. Our prescribed limits will necessarily dictate brevity to us, in touching on this topic. The Alleghany moun tains, as is well known, stretch along in ridges, that run parallel to each other, with great uniformity. They form the eastern rampart of this great valley. The middle ridge appears to be generally the most elevated; to separate the water's of the Atlantic from those of the Missis sippi ; and gives name to the rest. Another of these ridges has the name of the Laurel ridge, from the number of laurels growing on its sides. Approaching these ridges, they are a sublime object, as seen in the distance. They rise before you, apparently an impassable barrier, their blue outlines pencilled, like clouds, on the sky, and their northern and southern extremities both running beyond the reach of vision. The ascent from the Atlantic side is generally more abrupt and precipitous, than on the descent towards the valley of the Mississippi. FACE OF THE COUNTRY. 19 The last western range exhibits, very strikingly, the regular distribution of the lamina of lime stone, and the uniformity of their dip, as though they had been laid, stratum upon stratum, by art. The composition is, for the most part, either lime stone, argillite, gray wacke, and combina tions of slaty matter with sulphate of iron; in short, those kinds of combinations, which occur between metaliferous lime stone, and inclined sand stone. Between the Alleghany mountain and the last western ridges, the tributaries of the Ohio begin to show themselves in the form of rivers. Their murmur is heard, as they rapidly roll along their rocky beds, breaking the stillness of the mountain forest ; and they often wind great distances, before they find their place of escape from the mountains. The scenery on one of the transits over the mountains has arrested the attention of most travellers. A turnpike road leads near, where the Loyalhanna has divided the Laurel ridge to its base. The view, that appertains to this chasm, is at once striking and sublime. A beautiful mountain stream, overhanging mountains, the breeze sweeping down the sloping forest, profound solitude, the screaming of the jay, and the dash of the river, rolling rapidly along its rocky bed, and its waters hidden under the shade of laurels, conspire to soothe and elevate the mind. After we descend the last mountain summit towards the valley, the country is still a succession of high hills, generally rounded smoothly down their declivities, and with more or less of table land on their summits. On the very tops of the Alleghanies we discover the indica tions of approach towards the region of coal. On the summits of the hills beyond the mountains, the eye not only_ traces it among the clay slate by the blackened surface of the road, but the sense of smell detects it in the atmosphere about the houses, and indicates, that in the midst of woods, it is the easiest fuel to procure. Its dark smoke streams from the funnel of the blacksmith's forge. Pittsburgh and ¦ Wheeling are blackened with its impalpable effluvia. Following the course of the Alleghanies, south of the Ohio, and along the foot of the ridges is generally a country of undulating and elevated swells, covered, while in its natural state, with a heavy forest. The country about Pittsburgh may be called hilly, though there are few hills so precipitous, as not to be susceptible of cultivation. — Through the Pennsylvania and Virginia sections of the Mississippi valley, you traverse hill beyond hill, generally with small and fertile vallies between them. Some of these hills have almost the character of mountains. They are for the most part, however, susceptible of good roads. 20 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. On the national road, as we descend the last mountain towards Brownsville, and the valley of the Monongahela, the eye takes in an horizon, as broad as it can reach, of hills, vallies, orchards, and pasture grounds of champaigne and rich country in the two states. The contrasts of the open pastures and fields, pencilled by a perfectly Straight line on the edge of the thick forests, and on the rounded summits of the hills, afford a delightful prospect The finest parts of the interior of New England will scarcely compare with this view. The same may be said of views of Tennessee and Kentucky, as we successively ap proach them, in coming over the mountains from North Carolina and Virginia. After we have left the immediate vicinity of the mountains, Kentucky is neither hilly, nor level, but has a general surface of delightful undulation. There are beautiful and extensive vallies, with only sufficient irregularity of surface to carry off the waters. Such is that charming valley, of which Lexington is the centre; and such is that, embracing the barrens of Green river. Tennessee is more generally hilly. The great ranges of the Alleghanies diverge into separate mountains in this state and divide it into two distinct sections, called East and West Tennessee. Keeping parallel with the mountains, and still advancing south, in Alabama the hills begin to subside, although the northern and western parts of this state may still be called mountainous. But, on entering this state, the features of the country begin manifestly to change. On the hills, instead of oaks and deciduous trees, we begin to hear the breeze in the tops of long leaved pines. We have a long succession of pine hills, and fertile vallies between them. We soon mark another very striking change in the landscape. In coming from the Ohio, we have seen the country, in a state of nature, universally covered with a thick forest, generally of deciduous trees, with here and there a rare holly tree, or other evergreen. We have afterwards traversed extensive pine forests of the black, or pitch pine, with tall straight trees, and the earth beneath them free from under brush, covered with grass, and almost entirely destitute of stones. In the rich alluvial vallies we remark a considerable portion of laurels. The forests preserve an unvarying verdure through the winter. We begin to notice these forests first giving place to the barrens, with a few sparse trees, arranged, as in an. orchard. These barrens are soon succeeded by prairies, or savannas, as they- are here called. The hills have subsided to extensive, level and grassy plains; and this order of landscape continues, until we meet the belt of pine forest, that skirts the gulf of Mexico. Its swampy and equable surface rises but little above the level of the gulf, and is separated from FACE OF THE COUNTRY. 21 it by a margin of sand, driven into heaps by the mutual incessant action of the wind and the sea. Beginning again on the north side of the Alleghany river, and descend ing that river between the north bank and the lakes, the first portion of the country is hilly ; but, as we descend towards the Ohio, the country, though in some places, particularly along the Muskingum, hilly, is generally only gently waving, and is on the whole more level than the south side of the Ohio. Approaching the lakes, the country becomes quite level ; and there are various places in the northern parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, near the lakes, where the country is so level, marshy and low, as in winter and spring to be covered with water from four inches to a foot in depth. The northeastern parts of Ohio may be considered hilly. In passing on the great road from Wheeling to Cincinnati, there are, indeed, near the Scioto, considerable plains. But the general aspect of the coun try presents fine elevations, often a league across, with rich table land on the summits, and the declivities susceptible of cultivation. For five or six miles from either bank of the Ohio, there are, almost universally high hills of a singular configuration, known by the name of the ' Ohio hills.' From the Scioto the aspect of the country is more level ; and on the waters of this river we begin to discover our approach to the wide prairies of the west. We open upon the fine, level Pickaway, or Piqua prairies, or plains; and thence through the northern parts of this state, advancing west, along the plains of Mad river, and into Indiana, prairies become more common in the same proportion, as we advance farther west. The general surface of the timbered country is more level. As we approach the Ohio, the forest is more dense and uniform, and that river, in its whole course, originally rolled through an unbroken forest. In Indiana the pro portion of prairie land is far greater, than in Ohio ; and in Illinois it has an immense disproportion over the timbered country. Back of Shawnee town, and between the waters of the Saline of the Ohio, and those of the Missis sippi, from the base of this level country springs up a singular chain of hills, which a recent traveller has seen fit to dignify with the name of mountains. The remainder of the state of Illinois may be for the most part designated, as a country of prairies and plains. Beyond the state of Illinois, advancing north on the east side of the Mississippi, pine hills, ponds, lakes, marshes and prairies alternate to the sources of that river. The plashy regions in that quarter are covered with thick wild rice, and there Providence has provided inexhaustible pasture for the countless numbers and varieties of wild water fowls, that migrate to these regions to fatten in the autumn, before their return to the south. Near Rock river of this region, we come upon the hills and swells of land 22 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. in that extensive district called the mineral country, where the ores of lead are so plentifully found. The surface of the country west of the Mississippi is generally much more level than east and south of it. There are bluffs, often high and pre cipitous, near the great water courses. Not far west of the Mississippi there is much country covered with flint knobs, singular hills of conical shape, that with a base of a mile in circumference often rise four or five hundred feet high, and are covered on their sides with fi,eche, or arrow stones, of a siliceous substance, not unlike flints, and used as substitutes for them. There are, as in the country between the St. Francis and White river, hills that might almost warrant the designation of mountains, appear ing to be continuations of the Alleghanies, whose spurs seem to cross the Mississippi in the Chickasaw bluffs, and to be continued to the west in the St. Francis hills. But the general surface of the country, between the Mississippi and the Rocky mountains, is comparatively speaking, a vast plain, probably, as we have remarked, the largest one on the globe. Except in the bluffs of the rivers, and on the flint knobs, it is, on the sur face free from stones, to an astonishing degree. The surface of prairie, a hundred leagues west of the Mississippi, is, probably, in comparison with the timbered country, in the proportion of twenty to one. The little timber, that is seen, occurs only on the skirts of water courses. As we recede from the margins of the Missouri, the Platte, the Yellowstone, Arkansas and Red rivers, the prairies become more dry, sterile, and desti tute not only of wood and water, but of all vegetation. Travellers wander for days in these desolate wastes, without having either wood or water in their horizon, over sandy deserts, scantily Covered with coarse grass and weeds. This is the appropriate range of the buffalo. In some parts, there are in fact, wastes of moving sand, like those of the African deserts. On the lower courses of the Missouri, St. Francis, White, Arkansas and Red rivers, we see extensive alluvions skirting their banks, of great and inexhaustible fertility. The alluvial prairies, too, in these regions teem with vegetation. But on their upper waters, as soon as we have re ceded from a narrow and fertile belt on their shores, the boundless waste of the prairies beyond, seems destined to be the last resort of buffalos, or the region of herds of domestic cattle, attended by migrating shepherds. Mountains. We have seen, that the general character of the Alle ghany ridges, is to stretch along in continued and parallel lines, the central ridge of which gives name to the rest. The spurs of these ridges, which in Kentucky, and particularly in Tennessee, under the names of the Bald, Iron, Laurel, Yellow, Unaka, Copper, Clinch, Powell's, Cumberland, &c. originate streams, diversify and give grandeur to the scenery in these MOUNTAINS. 23 states, are all in cultivated and populous regions, and will be described under the heads of the states, in which they lie. The cliffs and rocks, of which they are composed, bear, as we have remarked, the general character of transition formation ; and the strata have that lamellated regularity, and that uniformity of dip, or inclination, which have been scientifically described by geologists. These circumstances are so obvious and striking, as to produce even in unobservant eyes a degree of surprise. That immense range of lofty mountains, which gives rise to the long rivers, that wind through such a vast extent of prairies, and come into the Mississippi on the west side, in almost its whole course runs wide from the limits of cultivation, and the haunts of civilized man. — Their forma tion, character, and height are comparatively but little known, and present descriptions of them must necessarily be vague and general. They will for ages only attract the gaze and astonishment of wandering hunters, or occasionally a few enterprising travellers, that will scale their summits on their way to the Western sea. Now and then a savage, differently constituted from the rest, will pause on their snowy crags, be impressed with their sublimity, and think of the Great Spirit. The rest will con tinue to date their eras from the time, when they hunted on their eastern, or western declivities. It will be long, before the detached mountains, and the prominent peaks will be named, classed and described. It does not appear, that many of them rise above the region of perpetual ice. Though from the passage of Lewis and Clark over them, and the concur rent testimony of others, in the latitude of 47° north, immense quantities of snow are on their summits, between the Missouri and Columbia, in the months of June and July. They are seen, like a vast rampart, rising from the grassy plains, stretching from north to south. Sometimes their aspect is that of continued ranges, of a grayish color, rising into the blue of the atmosphere, above the region of the clouds. A great num ber are black, ragged and precipitous; and their bases strewn with immense boulders and fragments of rock, detached by earthquakes and time. From this iron bound and precipitous character, they probably received the appellation, ' Rocky mountains ' Whether any of them are volcanic, or not, is not certainly known. We have often seen large masses of pumice stone floating on the Missis-' sippi, and still oftener on the Missouri. These are generally of a reddish yellow, or flame color, and are among the largest and finest specimens of this kind of stone, that we have seen. Whether discharged from volcanic mountains, or, as others assert, from hills of burning coal, is not certainly known. Mica is abundantly carried along by the waters, that flow from these mountains. There can be no doubt, that these ancient and mag- 24 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. nificent piles are of primitive formation. They are much higher, more rugged, and have generally a more Alpine character, than the Allegha nies. They apparently stretch along at about the same distance from the Western sea, as the former from the Atlantic. The great rivers, that are discharged from their eastern and western declivities, wind still further between their interior and exterior ridges, in finding their passage through them. The Columbia, or Oregon on the west, and the Arkansas on the east, wind more than an hundred leagues, in search of a place of escape from the mountains. As on the Alleghanies, the rivers, that run in opposite directions from these mountains, generally have their sources near each other. In fol lowing the beds of these rivers up to their sources in the mountains, we find the easiest paths and the gentlest acclivities, by which to cross them. The character which they had gained, of being continuous, high, and every where alike rugged, and a barrier almost impassable, between the regions east and west of them, from the descriptions of the first adventur ers, who crossed them, seems now to have yielded to a very different impression. Various leaders of expeditions of trappers have crossed these mountains, in directions more southern, than those of Lewis and Clark. They affirm that they found none of those formidable, and almost insurmountable barriers, which undoubtedly exist on the route of those distinguished travellers. We have at this moment under our eye extracts from the journal of Mr. Ashley, the leader of an enter prising and powerful association for procuring furs, who has crossed these mountains at different points. This journal narrates the account of a passage over them, from the sources of the Platte to lake Bueneven- tura, on the western side. It asserts, that he found an easy passage even for loaded carriages ; with an ascent no where as sharp, as on the national road over the Cumberland mountains to Wheeling. He even asserts, that the acclivity was so gentle, as no where to have an ascent of more than three degrees; and that nature has provided not only a practicable, but a good road quite to the plains of the Columbia. The testimony of travellers seems to be uniform, that to the eye, indeed, the ranges are unbroken and continuous. But nature appears every where to have indicated her wish, that no part of the earth should be interdicted by unsocial barriers from communication with the rest. Through the loftiest and most continued ranges there are found chasms, natural bridges, ascents along the beds of rivers, and corresponding descents on the opposite side, that render a passage over them comparatively smooth and easy. We know not exactly on what ground travellers have classed this vast range into the divisions of the Rocky, Chepywan, and the Masserne GENERAL SURFACE. 25 mountains. The ranges at the sources of the Arkansas, and running thence towards the gulf of Mexico, have so commonly borne the latter name, that they will probably retain it. A single peak of this ridge, seen as a landmark for immense distances over the subjacent plains, has been called, and we think, ought for ever to retain the name of mount Pike. It is of incomparable grandeur in appearance, and has been dif ferently rated at from seven to ten thousand feet in height. On the ridges of this range the Colorado of the Pacific, the Rio del Norte x>f New Mexico, the Roche-jaune, or Yellowstone, of the Missouri, and the Arkansas and Red rivers of the Mississippi, that have their outlets at such immense distances from each other, have their sources. It will hence be easily inferred, that this is the highest land of this part of North America. Geographers have supposed, that it is a circumstance of course, that between all rivers, that have any length of course, there are ranges of hills, more or less elevated, separating the tributary waters of the one "river from the other. It is often, but by no means always so, in this valley. Many of the large rivers have no other separating ridge, than a high and marshy plain, that discharges, as has been remarked, its waters from one extremity into the one river, and from the other extremity into the other. But, as a general rule, in the medial regions of this valley, the considerable rivers are separated from each other by ranges of hills, more or less distinctly marked. In this region of plains, where a person may have been born, and travelled to New Orleans, and lived to old age without ever seeing an elevation, that deserved the name of mountain, these hills become respectable by comparison. These ranges of hills are most considerable in the mineral country in Missouri, between St. Francis and White river, in Arkansas territory, between Washita and Red river, and between the latter river and the Sabine. South and east of the Mississippi, there are considerable ridges of this character in the states of Mississippi and Alabama. These ranges of hills will be more properly noticed, under the description of the states and territories, where they respectively occur. The general surface of this valley may be classed under three distinct aspects ; the thickly timbered, the barrens, and the prairie country. In the first division, every traveller has remarked as soon as he descends to this valley, a grandeur in the form and size of the trees, a depth of verdure in the foliage, a magnificent prodigality of growth of every sort, that distinguishes this country from other regions. The trees are large, tall, and rise aloft, like columns, free from branches. In the rich lands they are generally wreathed with a drapery of ivy, bignonia, grape vines, or 4 26 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. other creepers. Intermingled with the foliage of the trees are the broad leaves of the grape vines, with trunks, sometimes as large as the human body. — Frequently these forests are as free from undergrowth, as an orchard. Sometimes the only shrub, that is seen among the trees, is the pawpaw, with its splendid foliage and graceful stems. In other places, especially in the richer alluvions of the south, beneath the trees, there are impenetrable cane brakes and tangle of brambles, briar vines, and every sort of weeds. These are the safe retreats of bears and panthers. This undergrowth universally indicates a rich soil The country denominated ' barrens,' has a very distinct and peculiar configuration. It is generally a country with a surface, undulating with gentle hills, of a particular form. They are long and uniform ridges. The soil is for the most part of a clayey texture, of a reddish or grayish color, and is covered with a tall coarse grass. In addition to a peculiar ity of feature, more easily felt, than described, the trees are generally very sparse, seldom large, or very small. They are chiefly of the different kinds of oaks ; and the barren trees have an appearance and configuration, appropriate to the soil they inhabit. The land never exceeds second rate in quality, and is more generally third rate. It is favorable, in the proper latitudes, to the growth of wheat and orchards. On the whole, this country has an aspect so peculiar and appropriate, that no person, at all used to this country, is in doubt for a moment, when he enters on the region of the barrens. There are large districts of this kind of country in Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama. They are common in Illinois and Missouri, and are seen with more or less frequency, over all the valley of the Mississippi. In this region, and in the hazle or bushy prairies, we most frequently see those singular cavities, called ' sink holes.' They are generally in the shape of funnels, or inverted cones, from ten to seventy feet in depth, and on the surface from sixty to three hundred feet in circumfe rence. There are generally willows, and other aquatic vegetation, at their sides and bottoms. The people here have their own theories, to account for these singular cavities; and as an earthquake is the agent most likely to seize on the imagination, and the most convenient one to solve inexplicable results, they have generally supposed them the work of earthquakes. Others have imagined them the huge wells, from which the domesticated mammoths, and the gigantic races of past generations quenched their thirst. There is little doubt, that they are caused by running waters, which find their way in the lime stone cavities, beneath the upper stratum of soil. We shall see elsewhere, that this stratum generally rests on a base of lime stone; and that between this and the sub-strata, there are often continuous cavities, as we see in the lime GENERAL SURFACE. 27 stone caverns; and that in these interstices between the different strata of rocks, brooks, and even considerable streams pursue uninterrupted courses under ground. The cause of these sink holes was probably a fissure in the super-stratum of lime stone. The friable soil above found its way through this fissure, and was washed away by the running waters beneath. In this manner a funnel shaped cavity would naturally be formed. In fact, the ear often distinguishes the sound of waters run ning beneath, at the bottom of these sink holes. The remaining, and by far the most extensive surface, is that of the prairies. Although they have no inconsiderable diversity of aspect, they may be classed under three general divisions; the healthy, or bushy, the alluvial, or wet, and the dry prairies. The healthy prairies seem to be of an intermediate character between the alluvial prairies and the barrens. They have springs covered with hazle and furzy bushes, small sassafras shrubs, with frequent grape vines, and in the summer with an infinite profusion of flowers, and the bushes are often overtopped with the common hop vine. Prairies of this description are very common in Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, and they alternate among the other prairies for a considerable distance towards the Rocky mountains. The dry prairies are for the most part destitute of springs, and of all vegetation, but weeds, flowering plants, and grass. To the eye they are so nearly level, and the roundings of their undulations, so gentle, that the eye, taking in a great surface at a single view, deems them a dead level. But the ravines, made by the water courses through them, sufficiently indicate, that their swells and declinations communicate a quick motion to the waters, that fall on them. This is by far the most extensive class of prairies. These are the plains, over which the buffalos range. These are the plains, without wood or water, in which the trav eller may wander for days, and see the horizon on every side sinking to contact with the grass. The alluvial, or wet prairies form the last and smallest division. They generally occur on the margins of the great water courses, although they are often found, with all their distinctive features, far from the point, where waters now run. They are generally basins, as regards the adjacent regions, and their outlines are marked by regular benches. They are for the most part of a black, deep, and very friable soil, and of exhaustless fertility. In the proper latitudes, they are the best soils for wheat and maize ; but are ordinarily too tender and loamy for the culti vated grasses. They rear their own native grasses, of astonishing height and luxuriance. An exact account of the size and rankness of the weeds, flowering plants and grass on the richer alluvial prairies of Illinois and Missouri, would seem to those, who have not seen them, an 28 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. idle exaggeration. Still more than the rolling prairies, they impress the eye as a dead level; but they still have their slight inclinations towards their benches, where their waters are arrested, and, carried off. But, from their immense amount of vegetation, and from the levelness of their surface, wherever they are considerably extensive, they have small ponds, plashes and bayous, which fill from the rivers, and from rains, and are only drained, during the intense heats of summer, by evaporation. These ponds in the alluvial prairies, that are connected with the rivers, when they overflow by bayous are filled, in the season of high waters, with fish of the various kinds. As the waters subside, and their connec ting courses with the river become dry, the fish are taken by cart loads among the tall grass, where the water is three or four feet deep. When the waters evaporate, during the heats of summer, the fish die; and although thousands of buzzards prey upon them, they become a source of pollution to the atmosphere. — Hence these prairies, beautiful as they seem to the eye, and extraordinary as is their fertility, are very unfavor able positions, in point of salubrity. Flocks of deer are seen scouring across these rich plains, or feeding peaceably with the domestic cattle. In the spring and autumn, innumerable flocks of water fowls are seen wheeling their flight about the lakes and ponds of these prairies. They find copious pasture in the oily seeds of the plants and grasses, that have seeded during the summer. During the months of vegetation, no adequate idea could be conveyed* by description of the number, forms, varieties, scents and hues of the flowering plants, and the various flowers of the richer prairies. In the barrens are four or five varieties of " ladies slippers,' of different and the most splendid colors. The violets, and the humbler and more mod-. est kinds of garden flowers, are not capable of competing with the rank growth of grass and weeds, that choke them on the surface. Some of the taller and hardier kinds of the liliaceous plants struggle for display, and rear themselves high enough to be seen. Most of the prairie flowers havertall and arrowy stems, and spiked or tassellated heads, and the flowers have great size, gaudiness and splendor, without much fragrance or delicacy. The most striking of these flowers we shall attempt to class and describe, in another place; only remarking here, that during the summer, the prairies present distinct successions of dominant hues, as the season advances. The prevalent color of the prairie flowers in spring is blueish purple; in midsummer red, with a considerable propor tion of yellow. In autumn the flowers are very large, many of them of the helianthus form, and] the prairie receives from them such a splendid coloring of yellow, as almost to present to the imagination an immense surface of gilding. MINERALS. 29 Minerals. There are diffused in the different positions of this valley the common proportions of minerals, oxides, neutral salts, fossils, and the different kinds of earths. Salt springs, as we shall have occasion elsewhere to remark, are found in a thousand places, in all proportions of saline impregnations, from water, that is merely brackish, to that, which is much salter than sea water. It is obvious to remark, the wise and benevolent provision of Providence for the population of the country, in thus providing, at such distances from the sea, an article so essential and indispensable to the comfort and subsistence of civilized man. Hence it results, that there is no point in this valley, far removed from the means of an easy and cheap supply of this necessary article. The cattle have dis covered this impregnation in innumerable licks. It is found in form like a hoar frost, in ' Salt prairie,' between the Osage and the Arkansas. Arkan sas and Red river are at times perceptibly brackish, from the quality of salt in solution in the water. Nitre is found almost pure, and is lixiviated from the earths in the lime stone caves, that abound in various places. Muriate of magnesia, or Epsom salts, is found in caves in Indiana. Sulphates of iron and alumine are found in greater proportions, than in most countries; and coperas and alum might be among the manufactures of this region. Carbonate of lime abounds, as we have seen, every where., Sulphate of lime, or gypsum, is found in various places. We have seen most beautiful specimens, striated with needles in stars, and when pulverized and prepared, of a snowy whiteness, — said to have been brought from the Kansas of the Missouri. Quarries of gypsum are affirmed to exist on the upper waters of the Mississippi, in Tennessee, and in various other places. That call fer the use of this material, which would alone lead to adequate search for it, has not yet been heard. It has not been required, or used in building, or the arts ; and such is the universal fertility of the soil, that it will be long, before it will be sought after, as a manure. But that time will come, and then, in this region of secondary formation, there can be no doubt, that a sufficiency of this article will be discovered for all the necessities of the country. On the waters of the Little Sioux of the Missouri, and on a branch of the St. Peters of the upper Mississippi, is found a beautiful species of indurated clay,— constituting a stone of the most singular appearance, commonly called ' pipe stone,' from the circumstance, that the savages in all these regions, quite to the western sea, make their pipes, and some times their other ornaments, of it. It is said to be cut from the quarry, almost with the ease of wood. It hardens in the air, and receives an exquisite polish of impalpable smoothness. It is nearly of the color of blood ; and is a beautiful article for monumental slabs, vases and require ments of that sort. If it be as abundant, and as easily procured, as has 30 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. been said, it will one day become an article of extensive use through fte country. For although marble abounds, this is a more beautiful material, than any marble that we have seen. It has been generally asserted, that an imaginary line of truce extends round the places, where this stone is found, within which the most hostile tribes pursue their business of cutting out stones for pipes in peace. We have seen frequent specimens of ores, said to be ores of cinabar. There are, unquestionably, abundant ores of copper and zinc. Copper, it is known, is not found so abundantly on the shores of lake Superior, as it was anticipated it would be. A vast number of specimens of copper ore are found in different points in this valley. Specimens of pure and mal leable copper have been shown to us ; one of which, said to have been found in Illinois, thirty miles east of St. Louis, weighed three pounds. There is a river of the upper Mississippi, forty miles above the mouth of the Mis souri, called by the French, ' Cuivre,' or Copper river, from trie supposed mines of copper on its banks. Ores of copper have been found at different points on the Illinois. Considerable quantities are smelted at Galena, dug with the ores of lead. Iron ore is abundant in too many places to be named. Ores of antimony and manganese are occasionally seen ; but the progress of the arts, and the circumstances of the country not having called for these articles, little note has been taken of the discoveries. Hunters and travellers have asserted, that gold dust is brought down to the Missouri by its upper waters, and has been seen on the sand bars at low water. Whether it be so, or whether the shining particles, which they undoubtedly saw, were only of mica or talc, is not known. On the ranges of the Rocky mountains, continued in Mexico, it is well known the pre cious metals abound. A great many mines of silver are wrought on the western spurs of the Masserne mountains, near Santa Fe. It is natural to infer, that the same ranges, when thoroughly explored on the eastern side, in the vicinity of the sources of the Yellowtone, Platte, Arkansas and Red rivers, will be also found to have their mines of silver and gold. It is at present asserted, that a silver mine has been recently discovered in Indiana. The only mines, that are yet wrought in this country, to any extent are those of iron and lead. Near Pittsburgh and on the Monongahela, in Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri, are manufactories of iron from native ores which we shall notice, when we speak of those states Lead ore is found in different points of this valley with more ease, and in greater abundance, perhaps, than in any other part of the world. The particular sections of country, where these ores are dug in greatest abundance, are in the county of Washington in Missouri, from twenty to fifty miles west of the Mississippi, on the waters of Big Creek, a river of the Maramec- CLIMATE. 81 and near Rock river, at Dubuque's mines, in the state of Illinois; and at Riviere du feve, improperly called Fever river, upon the upper Missis sippi. We shall naturally speak of the mines, when we treat of the states, in which they are found. Climate. In a country of such immense extent, the climate must necessarily be various. We must, of course, be brief on so copious a head. Between the sources of the Mississippi and Missouri, and the Gulf of Mexico, there is every variety of temperature, from that of the Arctic regions, to that, where flourish the olive and the sugar cane. We may, perhaps, obtain conceptions of some exactness, by inspecting our thermometrical tables of the tempei;ati}re at different points of the valley. We have resided through the season in the northern, middle and southern regions of it. We are confident, as a general fact, that the climate more exactly and uniformly corresponds to the latitude, than that of any other country. The amount of heat and cold, or the mean temperature through the'year, is greater or less, at any place, according as its position is more or less to the south. In ascending the Mississippi from New Orleans to to St. Louis, or Cincinnati, in the spring, we take a direction generally north. One of the swifter steam boats will considerably out-travel the progress of spring ; and from the region, where the foliage of the trees, and vegetation generally have unfolded into all their verdure, we find the foliage on the banks of the river gradually diminishing, as we ascend; and after we pass the mouth of the Ohio, we shall perhaps, see the buds on the trees but just beginning to swell. In descending the same river in the autumn, we observe this influence of the climate reversed in a most impressive manner. At Pittsburgh the trees are stripped of their leaves by frost. At Cincinnati nature is laying on the last mellow colors of autumn, and the leaves are beginning to fall. At Natchez the forests are still in the verdure of summer. We have noted this beauti fully graduated and inverted scale of the seasons, more than once, in ascending and descending these rivers. It is very obvious, why climate in this valley should so accurately cor respond to latitude. It is an immense basin, spreading from north to south. There are no ranges of mountains, spread across the valley in an eastern and western direction, to change the current or temperature of the winds, or to give a material difference of temperature to places, situ ated in the same latitude. Hence it is, that in traversing the country from south to north, we discover the diminution of temperature, as marked by that sensible and unerring thermometer, the vegetable creation, very accurately indicating the latitude of the place. 82 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. Mr. Jefferson has supposed, that in this valley the temperature is higher, than in the same parallels in the Atlantic country. Dr. Drake and others have successfully combated this idea. Mr. Jefferson asserts, that the reed cane, myegia macrosperma, and paroquets, are seen farther north on the Ohio and the Mississippi, than on the Atlantic shore, If it be so, the inference, drawn from these facts, might easily be shown to be erroneous, by showing, that their locality along these streams is fixed by other circumstances, than temperature. On the Tennessee, the cane, 'finding a congenial soil, and circumstances, on the banks of a river run ning from south to north, will spread its seeds along those banks to a Joint more northern, than its native residence. The immense numbers •of paroquets, that are seen on the. lower courses of the Mississippi, will naturally push their colonies far to the north on that river, where they ¦still find all circumstances, but temperature, the same; where there are old, large and hollow sycamore trees, the favorite haunts of this brilliant bird, furnishing it at once food, shelter and a home. /These regions, sheltered from the damp and cold northeastern gales of the Atlantic shores in the spring, will probably have that season milder and more forward, than in the corresponding latitudes of the Atlantic. J3ut in such a vast basin, inclining from north to south, and permeated in its whole extent by such a river, as the MssiSsippi, an atmosphere of the cold air of the elevated regions of the table lands at its sources wiH naturally be set in motion at times by atmospheric changes, and be pro pelled towards the south. The colder air will often rush down to Supply the vacuum, made by the rarefaction of southern temperature. Hence north and south winds,' — in other Words, winds up and down this Valley, frequently alternate, and, together with their collateral winds, the northeast and southwest, are the prevailing winds felt in the valley-. •Southern and southwestern gales predominate in the summer, and north» em and western in winter. Hence the winter is much more changeable, than that of the Atlantic country, frequently softening even in its north- em parts, from weather, in which the mercury stands below zero, to Weather of such mildness, as to invite people to sit at the open windows in January and February. In the medial regions of this country the winter commences about Christmas. The severest weather is ordinarily between that time and the second week in February. The common snows are from two to eight inches deep, and they seldom lie many days. We have, however, seen the snow at New Madrid, near 36° north, lie more than a fortnight. North of this mean region, as at Prairie du Chien, on the upper Mississippi, and the Council Bluffs, on the Missouri, that is to say, not far from the climate of New York and Albany, the snow does not fall as deep, as at CLIMATE. 33 those places or lie so long. The cold sometimes is severe, but oftener intermits, and is followed by mild, and even warm days. We may class four distinct climates, between the sources and the outlet of the Mississippi. The first, commencing at its sources, and ter minating at Prairie du Chien, corresponds pretty accurately to the climate between Montreal and Boston; with this difference, that the amount of snow falling in the former is much less, than in the latter region. The mean temperature of a year would be something higher on the Mississippi. The vegetables raised, the time of planting, and the modes of cultivating them, would, probably, be nearly the same. Vege tation will have nearly the same progress and periodical changes. The growing of gourd seed com, which demands an increase of temperature over that requisite for the com of the northern states to bring it to matu rity, is not planted in this region. The Irish potatoe is raised in this climate in the utmost perfection. Wheat and cultivated grasses succeed well. The apple and the pear tree require fostering, and southern exposr ure to bring fruit in perfection. The peach tree has still more the habits and/ the fragile delicacy of a southern stranger, and requires a sheltered declivity, with a southern exposure, to succeed at all. Five months in the year may be said to belong to the dominion of winter. For that length of time the cattle require shelter in the severe weather, and the still waters remain frozen. The next climate includes the opposite states of Missouri and Illinois, in their whole extent, or the country between 41° and 37°. Cattle, though much benefitted by sheltering, and often needing it, seldom receive it. It is not so favorable for cultivated grasses, as the preceding region. Gourd seed corn is the only kind extensively planted. The winter com mences with January, and ends with the second week in Febmary. The ice, in the still waters, after that time thaws. Wheat, the inhabitant of a variety of climates, is at home, as a native, in this. The persimon and the pawpaw are found in its whole extent. It is the favored region of the apple, the pear and the peach tree. Snows neither fall deep, nor lie long. The Irish potatoe succeeds to a certain extent, but not as well, as in the former climate; but this disadvantage is supplied by the sweet potatoe, which though not at home in this climate, with a little care in the culti vation, flourishes. The increased temperature of March and April, and the subsequent grandeur of vegetation indicate an approach towards a southern climate. The next climate extends from 37° to 31. Below 35°, in the rich allu vial soils, the apple tree begins to fail in bringing its fruit to perfection. We have never tasted apples worth eating, raised much below New Mad rid. Cotton, between this point and 33°, is raised, in favorable positions, 5 34 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. for home consumption ; but is seldom to be depended upon for a crop. Below 33° commences the proper climate for cotton, and it is the staple article of cultivation. Festoons of Jong moss hang from the trees, and darken the forests. The palmetto gives to the low alluvial grounds a grand and striking verdure. The muscadine grape, strongly designating climate, is first found here. — Laurel trees become common in the forest, retaining their foliage and their verdure through the winter. Wheat is no longer seen, as an article of cultivation. The fig tree brings its fruit to full maturity. Below this climate, to the gulf, is the region of the sugar cane and the sweet orange tree. It would be, if it were cultivated, the region of the olive. Snow is no longer seen to fall, except a few flakes in the coldest storms. The streams are never frozen. Winter is only marked by nights of white frosts, and days of northwest winds, which seldom last longer than three days in succession, and are followed by south winds and warm days. The trees are generally in leaf by the middle of February, and always by the first of March. Bats are hovering in the air during the night. Fireflies are seen by the middle of February. Early in March the forests are in blossom. The delightful white flowers of the cornus fiorida, and the brilliant red tufts of the Redbud, or cercis canadensis, are unfolded. The margins of the creeks and streams are perfumed with the meadow pink, or honeysuckle, yellow jessamine, and other fra grant flowers. During almost every night a thunder storm occurs. ¦Cotton and corn are planted from March to July. In these regions the summers are uniformly hot, although there are days, when the mercury Tises as high in New England, as in Louisiana. The heat, however, is more uniform and sustained, commences much earlier, and contin ues later. From February to September, thunder storms ^are com mon, often accompanied with severe thunder, and sometimes with gales, or tornadoes, in which the trees of the forest are prostrated in every direction, and the tract of country, which is covered with these fallen trees, is called a ' hurricane.' The depressing influence of the summer heat results from its long continuance, and equable and unre mitting tenor, rather than from the intensity of its ardor at any given time. It must, however, be admitted, that at all times the unclouded radiance of the vertical sun of this climate is extremely oppressive. Such are the summers and autumns of the southern division of this valley. The winters, in the whole extent of the country, are variable, passing rapidly from warm to cold, and the reverse. Near the Mississippi and where there is little to vary the general direction of the winds, they 'ordi narily blow three or four days from the north. In the northern and middle regions, the consequence is cold weather, frost, more or less severe and DISEASES. 35 perhaps storm, with snow and sleet. During these days the rivers are covered with ice. The opposite breeze alternates. There is immedi ately a bland and relaxing feeling in the atmosphere. It becomes warm; and the red-birds sing in these days, in January and February, as far north as Prairie du Chien. These abrupt and frequent transitions can hardly fail to have an unfavorable influence upon health. From 40° to 36° the rivers almost invariably freeze, for a longer or shorter period, through the winter. At St. Louis on the Mississippi, and at Cincin nati on the Ohio, in nearly the same parallels, between 38° and 39°, the two rivers are sometimes capable of being crossed on the ice for eight weeks together. Although the summers over all this valley must be admitted to be hot, yet the exemption of the country from mountains and impediments to the free course of the winds, and the circumstance, that the greater proportion of the country has a surface bare of forests, and, probably, other unexplained atmospheric agents, concur to create, during the sul try months, almost a constant breeze. It thence happens, that the air >on these wide prairies is rendered fresh, and the heats are tempered, in the same manner, as is felt on the ocean. There is a circumstance, pertaining to vegetation in the middle and southern regions of this country, that we have not seen noticed by other writers, but which we have often remarked with surprise ; and it is, that the same degree of heat in the spring does not advance vegetation as rapidly, as at the north. We have seen a brilliant sunj and felt the las situde of the warm spring days continued in succession, and yet have remarked the buds to remain apparently stationary, and the develope- ment of vegetation almost imperceptible. The same amount of heat at Quebec would have completely unfolded the foliage, and clothed the earth with verdure* Diseases. A satisfactory account of the diseases of this valley would occupy more space, than we have to bestow upon the subject, and could only be expected in treatises, professedly devoted to medicine. General remarks upon the subject can only be expected here. In such a variety of climates and exposures — in a country alternately covered in one point with the thickest forests, and in another spreading out into grassy plains — in one section having a very dry, and in another a very humid atmosphere — and having every degree of temperature, from that of the Arctic regions, to that of the West, Indies, there must necessarily be generated all the forms and varieties of disease, that spring simply from climate. Emigrants from the Atlantic country will always find it un- . — . . — ._, . ¦ ¦ ^— *For table of climate see appendix, table No. 1. 36 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. safe, to select their residence near stagnant waters and creeping bayous, on the rich and heavy timbered alluvions. Yet these, from their fertility, and the ease, with which they are brought into cultivation, are the points most frequently selected. The rich plains of the Scioto were the graves of the first settlers. They have long since been brought into cultivation, and have lost their character for insalubrity. A thousand places in the West, which were selected as residences by the first immigrants, on account of their fertility, and which were at first regarded as haunts of disease and mortality, have now a character for salubrity. On the lower courses of the Ohio, the Wabash, the Tennessee, the Mississippi, and its southern tributaries, — in short, wherever the bottoms are wide, the forests deep, the surface level, and sloping back from the river, the vegetation rank — wherever the rivers overflow, and leave stag nant waters, that are only carried off by evaporation — wherever there are ponds and lagoons in the bottoms, to catch and retain the rains and the overflow, it may be assumed, as a general maxim, that such positions will be unhealthy; and more or less so, as more or less of these circum stances concur. Wherever these causes of disease exist, there is no part of this valley, which has not a summer of sufficient heat and duration, to quicken these causes into fatal action. The very rich and extensive alluvial prairies of the upper Mississippi, and of the Illinois, which are covered with a prodigious growth of grass and weeds, generally contain marshy basins, small lakes and plashes, where the water from the bluffs and the high lands is caught and retained. They, will ordinarily prove unhealthy,— some think, more so, than the timbered country, — until these reservoirs of stagnant waters are all drained, and the surplus vegetation is burned off, or otherwise removed by the progress of vegetation. These places strike the eye delightfully, and their openness, and exposure to be swept by the winds, seem to pre clude them from the chance of sickliness. Their extraordinary fertility, and their being at once ready for the plough, hold out allurements to immigrants. But there appears to be in the great plan of Providence a scale, in which the advantages and disadvantages of human condition are balanced.— Where the lands are extremely fertile, it seems to be appended to them, as a drawback to that advantage, that they are gener ally sickly. Immigrants have scarcely ever paused long enough, or taken sufficient elements into the calculation, in selecting their residence, with a view to its salubrity. When the choice is to be made, they are often encumbered with families/and generally feel stinted both in time and money, and are in a hurry to commence operations for the provision of their families They are apt to give tob'little weight to the most important motive of" DISEASES. 37 a}], which ought to determine their election. A deep bottom, a fertile soil, a position on the margin of a boatable or navigable stream ; these are apt to be the determining elements of their choice. The heavy forest is levelled. A thousand trees moulder, about the cabin. The stagnant waters, that, while shielded from the action of the sun by the forest, had remained comparatively innoxious, exposed now to the burning rays of the sun, and rendered more deleterious by being filled with trunks and branches of decaying trees, and all kinds of putrid vege- tation, become laboratories of miasm, and emit on every side, the seeds of disease. — When we know, that such have been precisely the cireum- stances, in which a great portion of the immigrants to the Western country have fixed themselves in open cabins, that drink in the humid atmosphere of the night, through a hundred crevices, in a new and untried climate, under a higher temperature, under the influence of new diet and regimen, and, perhaps, under the depressing fatigue of severe labor and exposure ; need we wonder, that the country has acquired a general character of unhealthiness? There can be no doubt, that in the southern and middle regions of of this valley, the wide, level and heavy timbered alluvions are intrinsic ally more or less unhealthy. It cannot be disguised, that in these situations, the new resident is subject to bilious complaints, to remit- ting fevers, and more than all, to intermitting fever, or fever and ague. This complaint is the general scourge of the valley. It is an undoubted fact, explained in different ways, and by different theories, by the people, that even in the most unfavorable positions on the lower waters of the Ohio, or even the bayous of Arkansas, or Red river, the immigrant is not so much exposed, while his cabin is still under the shade of the unbroken forest. The most dangerous period is, after the trees have been levelled a year or two, and while they are still decaying' about the dwelling. This well known fact would seem to give plausibility to the doctrine, that these deep and grand forests feed their foliage with an atmosphere, that is adverse to the life of man; and that when the forests are cleared away, the miasm, the noxious air, that used to be absorbed and devoured by the redundant vegetation and foliage of the forests, and incorporated with its growth, thus detached and disengaged, inhaled by the new residents, becomes a source of disease. Another fact, in relation to the choice of a residence with a view to its salubrity, has been abundantly and unanswerably proved by experi ence. It is, that bluffs on the margins of wide bottoms and alluvial prairies are more unhealthy situations, than those, in the bottom or prairie, which they overlook. This fact has been amply demonstrated on the Ohio bottoms and bluffs, on the margins of the alluvial prairies of the upper 38 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. Mississippi, and, in short, wherever a high bluff overlooks a wide bottom. The inhabitants on the airy and beautiful bluffs that bound the noble prairies of the upper Mississippi, in an atmosphere, apparently so pure, as to preclude all causes of disease, are far more subject to fever and ague, than the people that inhabit below them on the level of the prairies. The same has been remarked of the Chickasaw bluffs, fort Pickering, or Memphis, fort Adams, Natchez, Baton Rouge, and the bluffs, generally, along the great water courses. Yet, though such is the uniform teaching of experience, so deceptive is the salubrious aspect of these airy hills, that swell above the dun and murky air, that seems to lie, like a mist over the wide bottoms below them, that most people, in choosing their residence will be guided by their senses, in opposition to their experience. We know not, whether the theory, by which this fact is explained, is a sound one or not. It is said that the miasm, or noxious air from putrid vegetation, and stagnant water in the swamps and bottoms, is specifically lighter, than atmospheric air; that, of course, it rises from the plains, and hovers over the summits of the bluffs, here finding its level of specific gravity; and that, were it colored, it would be seen overlaying the purer strata of air beneath it. The slopes of the Alleghanies, the interior of Ohio and Kentucky, of Tennessee and Indiana, where the forest is cleared away, and the land has been for a sufficient time under cultivation, is sufficiently remote From stagnant waters — the high prairies of Illinois and Missouri — the dry pine woods of the lower and southern country — parts of the plains of Opelousas and Attakapas — considerable portions of Alabama and Mississippi — and, generally, the open country towards the Rocky moun tains, may be considered as healthy, as any other country. As a general remark, the inhabitants of this valley are more subject to bilious com plaints, than those of the northern and middle Atlantic states; but, probably, not as much so, as those on the sea board of the southern Atlantic states.— Bilious symptoms, especially in the southern regions, are apt to be combined with all forms of disease. Intermitting fevers are common through all the country, as they were even in New England, in the earlier stages of its settlement, and while it was still covered with forests. It is seldom a severe disease; and in most instances readily yields to the universally established modes of treatment, by previous evacuations, and bark. Sometimes it becomes complicated with other diseases, and assumes a strongly bilious type ; and it is then a formidable disease; It is a well known symptom of this disorder, that it recurs at regular intervals. When the links of the associated chain of disease are formed, if the disorder be cured, it is apt to recur again. All indisposi tion is apt to take this form; and it has this advantage in security against DISEASES. 39 other diseases, that when a person has been for a considerable time sub ject to ague, whatever form of disease may happen to assail him, it ulti mately runs into the form of ague. But these agues, when often repeated, and long continued, gradually sap the constitution, and break down the powers of life. The person becomes enfeebled and dropsical. Maras mus, or what is called ' cachexy,' ensues. A very common result is, that enlargement of the spleen, vulgarly called ' an ague cake,' This form of disease is most perceptible in the southern parts of the valley. In the summer and autumnal months bilious fevers are apt to prevail, probably to a greater extent, than in the Atlantic country. But it is be lieved, they more generally assume the remittent or intermittent form ; that they are not so frequently attended with inflammatory symptoms, and that they more readily yield to medicine. The continued bilious fever of this country, as in other countries, is always a formidable disease. In the lower and southern country, in the heats of summer and autumn, when it prevails in towns and compact villages, it often assumes a malignant type. Prevention here, as- elsewhere, is found to be belter, than remedy ; and avoidance of exposure to night air, to rains, and the direct and continued influence of the sun, and strict temperance in eating and drinking, would no doubt, prevent many of these terrible diseases. Persons, especially, who are passing through the process of acclimation, ought not only to adopt this plan, but occasionally to take cathartics fol lowed by the use of bark. — The grand remedies of the western country, it is well known are calomel and bark. We have no doubt, that the great quantities of calomel, that are administered, equally by quacks and regu lar physicians, in adherence to a system, that has grown into a fashion, and which level all skill to the mechanical application of a certain number of grains of that medicine, will eventually yield to a more discriminating mode of practice. The present course of procedure is too often ruinous to the teeth, and even when the patient is cured, must tend to sap and break down the powers of life. From the variable character of the winters, and from other causes, rheumatism is a common complaint. Severe colds and pneumonic affections are apt to prevail inthe winter. There is but too much propriety in calling the two first months of autumn, in many places in the south, ' the sickly months.' But, as if to compensate for the prevalence of bilious affections, and the fever and ague, pulmonic consumption is a very uncommon disease, not often witnessed even in the northern regions of the country. Fifty persons fall victims to this terrible destroyer in the Atlantic country, to one, that dies of it here. It is a very trite, but true and important remark, that in proportion as the country becomes opened, cultivated and peopled, in proportion as the 40 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. redundance and rankness of natural vegetation is replaced by that of cultivation, the country becomes more healthy. We shall naturally re mark again on the peculiar features of disease, in particular sections of the country, when we treat of those sections. We shall only add in this place, that in the southern regions of this valley, the inhabitants are sub ject to a common and troublesome affection, called the 'bowel complaint.'1 It is particularly fatal to children. When it is prolonged to a chronic^ diarrhoea, it is sometimes fatal to adults. It is a very different complaint from that disorder which sometimes prevails in the Atlantic country, as a sweeping epidemic — the dysentery. The latter is an uncommon disorder in this region. Trees and Shrubs. It will not be expected, that we shall dwell on this subject, in relation to this country, as professed naturalists. We propose only to take popular views of the subject, which, after all, we suspect, are best understood, most interesting, and most useful. We re fer those, who wish to take more detailed and scientific views of this subject, to the writings of Bartrjm, Bradbury, Pursh, Michaux and Nuttali. The following is believed to be a tolerably ample and exact enumeration of the trees and shrubs, that are common to the Mississippi valley. The divisions of them according to climate will occur in the account of the regions, where they are found. In forming this catalogue, we have had to encounter the common difficulty of selecting the Linnsan names from conflicting authorities. It belongs to the foppery of the easy assumption of science in botany, as in geology, that different authors either create, or adopt different nomenclatures, as suits their fancy. We would prefer that nomeuclature by which the trees and shrubs have been longest known. It may be, that there are trees and shrubs known in this valley, which are not in cluded here. But it is believed, that few, if any, that are well or familiarly known, are omitted.* As respects the divisions of these trees, that belong to particular cliimtes, we may remark, that most of the oaks and hickories, and the cotton wood, are common to all the climates. The white, or Norwegian pine, is only found in the north, northweste-rn and northeastern regions. The cypress is not often found north of 36°. The long leaved pitch pine, and the laurel magnolia, are not often seen north of 33°. The live oak seldom extends north of 31°. On the Alleghany, on the waters of the upper Mississippi, between Rock nverand the falls of St. Anthony, and in some places on the Illinois, the Weymouth, or Norwegian pine— the white pine of New England— is * For table of trees, plants, &c. see Appendix, table No. II TREES AND SHRUBS. 41 found in all its beauty and perfection. It no where has a larger and taller shaft, or a more beautiful verdure of foliage, than on the Alleghany; and it is from the banks of this distant stream, and from its waters in the state of New York, that New Orleans is supplied with white pine plank of the greatest clearness and beauty. On the Gasconade, the Osage, and the southern rivers of the Missouri, in the mine country in Missouri, and from that point, to the upper waters of White river, and across to the Arkansas, the common short leaved pitch pine is abundant. It is tall, straight, and of a fine size for the saw mill. The cypress begins to be seen on the swampy and overflowed lands, near the mouth of the Ohio. It is, along with the swamp gum, the most common tree in the deep swamps from that point to the gulf of Mexico. It is in every respect a striking and singular tree. Under its deep shade arise a hundred curiously shaped knobs, called ' cypress knees.' They are regular, cone shaped protuberances, of different heights and circum ferences, not unlike tall and taper circular bee hives. We have often remarked a very small cypress sprig, that had started from the apex of one of these cypress knees; and we believe, that it will ultimately be found, that each one of the knees is the natural matrix of the tree. The tree itself always has a buttress, which has the exact appearance of an enlarged cypress knee. The noble trees rear their straight columns from a large, cone shaped buttress, whose circumference at the ground is, perhaps, three times that of the regular shaft of the tree. This cone rises from six to ten feet, with a regular and sharp taper, and from the apex of the cone towers the perpendicular column, with little taper, after it has left the cone, from sixty to eighty feet clear shaft. Very near its top, it begins to throw out multitudes of horizontal branches, which interlace with those of the adjoining trees, and when bare of leaves, have an air of desolation and death, more easily felt than described. In the season of vegetation, the leaves are short, fine, and of a verdure so deep, as almost to seem " brown, giving an indescribable air of funereal solemnity to this singular tree. A cypress forest, when viewed from the adjacent hills, with its num berless interlaced arms, covered with this dark brown foliage, has the aspect of a scaffolding of verdure in the air. It grows, too, in deep and sickly swamps, the haunts of fever, musquitos, moccasin snakes, alliga tors, and all loathsome and ferocious animals, that congregate far from the abodes of man, and seem to make common cause with nature against him. The cypress loves the deepest, most gloomy, inaccessible and in undated swamps ; and south of 33°, is generally found covered with the sable festoons of long moss, hanging, as it seems, a shroud of mourning wreaths almost to the ground. It seems to flourish best, where water 6 42 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. covers its roots for half the year. When it rises from eight or ten feet water of the overflow of rivers, the apex of its buttress is just on a level with the surface of the water. It is then, in many places, that they cut it. The negroes surround the tree in periogues and thus get at the trunk above the huge and hard buttress, and fall it with comparative ease. They cut off the strait shaft, as suits their purpose, and float it to the raft, or the nearest high grounds. Unpromising, as are the places and the circumstances of its growth, no tree of the country, where it is found, is so extensively useful. It is free from knots, is easily wrought, and makes excellent planks, shingles, and timber of all sorts. It is very durable, and incomparably the most valuable tree in the southern country of this valley. It is a fortunate circumstance, that it inhabits the most gloomy and inaccessible regions, which will not come into cul tivation for ages. It will of course have a better chance, not to share the fate of the most useful timber on the valuable uplands. The improvi dent axe soon renders timber difficult to be procured, in a country in the centre of forests. AU the cypress forests, however, that are easily acces sible, on the lower Mississippi, and its tributaries, have been stripped of their timber by the Mississippi lumberers, who have floated to New Or leans millions of feet of this timber, from the lands of the United States, and who have already created a scarcity of this species on the margin of the Mississippi. There are, however, in the vast swamps of the Missis sippi, Arkansas, Red river, and Florida, inexhaustible supplies of cypress still remaining. The next most useful tree of this region are the oaks of which there are enumerated in this valley twelve varieties,' and there are, probably, more than that number. The most important of these is the upland white oak. It is a larger and handsomer tree, than in the Atlantic country; but is less firm, hard and durable. The same may be said of the swamp white oak, quercus aquafica, which grows of a prodigious height, size and beauty. There is the black oak, with large and small leaves; the yellow oak, and the post oak, growing on cold, level, wet and clayey lands It receives its name from the durability of posts made of it in the ground It is said to be the most durable timber of the oak kind in the upper country, for boat and ship building. The overcup oak receives its vul gar name from the size of the cups of its acorns. The Spanish, willow, red and black oaksr have nothing particular to distinguish them The X'C ZrhhY ^ *** ** °f <** «""*» - *-* - South of 31°, in the lower country along the coast of Florida, extend ing into the mtenor from sixty to a hundred miles, and along the shore of Lotusiana, for half that depth, is the region of the live oak, quercus TREES AND SHRUBS. 48 stmpenirens. It is not a tall, but a spreading tree, with long lateral branches, looking, at a distance, like an immense spread umbrella. It is a tree, extremely hard, compact, and difficult to cut; and when green, is so heavy, as to sink in the water. It is almost incorruptible. The islands on the shore of the gulf furnish this tree in abundance. It is so difficult to cut down, to burn, or otherwise clear from the soil, that in those islands, which have recently begun to be in request, as sugar lands, this tree, elsewhere considered so valuable for ship timber, is regarded as an incumbrance. It is, valuable for its acorns, affording the finest range for swine. The value of this timber in ship building is well known. There are enumerated in this country ten or twelve varieties of the hickory. More than half of these we have not seen in the Atlantic country. One of these varieties, juglans amara, vel porcina, pignut hickory, is loaded with a nut, whose shell is softer, than an acom, and the meat to the pressure of the fingers yields a copious oil, of use in the finer kinds of painting. It is acrid, and bitter to the taste. The large walnut is a fruit of the size of a considerable apple, and is common in the middle regions of the valley. The peccan is found far up the Mississippi and Illinois, and thence to the gulf of Mexico. It is a tree of beautiful form and appearance, and the most useful of the whole class, except black walnut, for building and for rails. Its nut is long, cylindrical, and olive shaped, with a shell com paratively soft. The meat lies in two oblong lobes, is easily taken out entire, and excels all other nuts in delicacy of flavour. Unfortunately it soon becomes rancid, and is seldom carried to the Atlantic country, in its original perfection. Black locust, acacia triacanthos. This is a common and beautiful tree in the richer soils of the valley. It furnishes a durable and useful timber for rails, and other purposes, and is beginning to be much used in the construction of steam boats, and has been found both stronger and more durable, than any timber, that has been used for that purpose. The flowers of this tree yield an exquisite perfume. The white flowering locust differs in no respect from that of the north. The sugar maple is very abundant in the northern and middle regions of this valley. The process of obtaining sugar from the sap of this tree is sufficiently well known, and need not be here described. There are various districts, where an ample sufficiency of sugar might be made for the supply of a numerous population. In different parts of Ohio, Ken tucky, Tennessee, Illinois and Missouri, it is made, not only for consump tion, but for sale. The tree is of itself, apart from its uses, a most beau tiful one. It is one of the first, that puts on the livery of spring. The 44 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. season of making it is generally one of festivity and high holiday. We have tasted loaf sugar refined from it, which could in no way be distin guished from that, made from the cane. The cheapness of the latter kind, the abundance and excellence of its growth in the lower country, and the diminished expense of transporting it to the upper states, in consequence of the multiplication of steam boats, has diminished the de mand for what is called ' country sugar,' and the manufacture of it has decreased, since the use of steam boats. The black walnut, juglans nigra, is a splendid tree, and often grows to a great size. Its nuts much resemble those of the white walnut, or what is called 'butter nut' in the northern states. It is much used in the middle regions of the country, for ornamental finishing of houses, and cabinet furniture ; and when rubbed with a weak solution of nitric acid, can be distinguished from mahogany only by an experienced eye. The white walnut is abundant. An extract of the bark of this tree furnishes an useful and common cathartic. The sycamore, platanus occidentalis, is the king of the western forests. It flourishes alike in every part of the valley, that we have seen . It is the largest tree of our woods, and rises in the most graceful forms, with vast, spreading, lateral branches covered with bark of a brilliant white. These hundred, white arms of the sycamore, interlacing with the branches of the other forest trees, in the rich alluvions, where it delights to grow, adds one of the distinguishing traits of grandeur and beauty to the forest. A tree of this kind, near Marietta, measured fifteen feet and a half in diam eter. — We have seen one on the Big Miami, which we thought still larger. Judge Tucker, of Missouri, cut off a section of the hollow trunk of a syca more, and applied a roof to it, and fitted it up for a study. It was regu larly cylindrical and when fitted up with a stove, and other arrangements, made an ample and convenient apartment. We saw thisgigantic sec tion of a tree, conveyed on sleds prepared on purpose, and drawn by a sufficient number of oxen to its resting place. It is very common to see this beautiful tree, on the margin of rivers, from ten to fifteen feet in circumference. The yellow poplar, tulipifera liriodendron, is a most splendid tree, and next in size to the sycamore. It rears into the air a shaft of prodi gious height and size. It flowers with gaudy bell shaped cups, and the leaves are of beautiful forms. It is a very useful timber for plank and rails, and all the purposes of building, and splits with great ease. The cotton wood, populus deltoides, is, probably, more abundant on the lower courses of the Ohio, on the whole course of the Mississippi, Missouri, St. Francis, White river, Arkansas, and Red river, than any other free. It ,s a tree of the poplar class, and in appearance between TREES AND SHRUBS. 45 the Balm of Gilead and the Lombardy poplar. It is a noble and lofty forest tree, and sometimes vies with the sycamore itself for predomi nance in size and grandeur. It is of singular beauty, when its foliage is but partly unfolded in the spring. We have seen these trees, especially in the valley of Red river, twelve feet in diameter; and there are sin gle trees, that will make a thousand rails. When they are cut in the winter, the moment the axe penetrates the centre of the tree, there gushes out a stream of water, or sap; and a single tree will discharge gallons. On the sand bars and islands of the rivers, wherever the allu vial earth begins to deposite, there springs up a growth of cotton wood, the young trees standing so thick, as to render it difficult for a bird to fly among them, and having to a person passing at a little distance on the river, a singular appearance of regularity, as though they had been put out to ornament a pleasure ground. The popular name, ' cotton wood,' is derived from the circumstance, that soon after its foliage is unfolded, it flowers, and when the flowers fall, it scatters on the ground a downy matter, exactly resembling short, ginned cotton in feeling and appearance. Catalpa. Some have undertaken to say, that this is not a tree indige nous to the country. For our part, we have no question on the subject. We have seen, on the waters near the cape Girardeau, catalpas much older than the settlements of the whites in this valley. We have seen them, below the chalk banks on the eastern side of the Mississippi, of a very large size, and evidently of natural growth. It is a tree, beautiful from the great size and peculiar shape and deep green of its foliage. When in blossom, its rounded top- is a tuft of flowers of great beauty, and unequalled fragrance. One tree in full flower fills the atmosphere for a considerable circumference round it, with its delicious odors. For the gracefulness of its form, for the grandeur of its foliage, and the rich and ambrosial fragrance of its flowers, and for the length and various forms of its knife shaped, pendant seed capsules two feet in length, we have seen no ornamental tree, which in our view equals the catalpa. Magnolia grandiflora. Bartram and others, by overrating the beauty of this tree, have caused, that when strangers first behold it, their estima tion of it falls too low. It has been described, as a very large tree. We have seen it in Florida, where Bartram saw it. We have seen it in its more congenial position for full developement, the rich alluvions of Louisiana ; and we have never seen it compare with the sycamore, the cotton wood, or even the ash, in point of size. It is sometimes a tall tree; often graceful in form, but ordinarily a tree of fourth or fifth rate in point of comparative size in the forest, where it grows. Its bark is smooth, whitish, very thick, and something resembles that of the beech. The wood is soft, and for aught we know, useless. The leaves strongly 46 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. resemble those of the orange tree, except in being larger, thicker, and having a hoary yellowish down upon the under side. The upper side has a perfect verdure, and a feel of smoothness, as if it was oiled. The flowers are large, of a pure white, nearest resembling the northern jbond Jily, nymphea odorata, though not so beautiful; and are, ordinarily, about twice the size. The fragrance, is indeed, powerful, but rather offensive. We have felt, and we have heard others complain of feeling a sensation of faintness, in going into a room, where the chimney place was filled with these flowers. The tree continues to put forth flowers for two months in succession, and seldom displays many at a time. We think, few have been in habits of examining flowering trees more atten* tively, than ourselves, and we contemplated this tree for years in , the season of flowers. Instead of displaying, as has been represented, a cone of flowers, we have seldom seen a tree in flower, which did not require some attention and closeness of inspection to discover where the flowers were situated among the leaves. We have not been led to be* lieve, that others possessed the sense of smell more acutely, than ourselves. In advancing from points, where these trees were not, to the pine forest, on the water courses of which they are abundant, we have been warned of our approach to them by the sense of smell, at a distance of something more than half a mile; and we question, if any one ever perceived the fragrance much farther, except by the imagination. The magnolia is a striking tree, and an observer, who saw it for the first time, would remark it, as such.— But we have been unable to conceive, whence the, extrava-. gant misconceptions, respecting the size, number, fragrance and beauty of its flowers had their origin. There are six or seven varieties among the laurels of the magnolia tribe, some of which have smaller flowers, than those of the grand ifioraf but much more delicate and agreeably fragrant. A beautiful evergreen of this class is covered in autumn with berries of intense blackness, and we remarked them in great numbers about St. Francisvitle. The holly is a well known and beautiful tree of this class. But that one which has struck us, as being the handsomest of the family, is the laurel almond,, laurus cerasus vel Caroliniensis. It is not a large tree. Its leaves strongly resemble those of the peach; and it preserves a most pleasing green through the winter. Its flowers yield a delicious perfume. It grows in families of ten or fifteen trees in a cluster. Planters of taste in the valley of Red river, where it is common, select the place of their dwelling amidst a cluster of these trees. Bois d?arc; maclura aurantica— -bow wood— is a striking and beautiful tree, found on the upper courses of the Washita, the middle regions of Arkansas, and occasionally on the northern limits of Louisiana. It in- TREES AND SHRUBS. 47 habits a very limited region; and we do not know, that it is a native elsewhere. It has large and beautiful leaves, in form and appearance between those of the orange tree and catalpa; and, taken altogether, is a tree of extraordinary beauty. — It bears a large fruit, of most inviting appearance, and resembling a very large orange. Tempting as it is in aspect, it is the apple of Sodom to the taste. Most people cbnsider it the most splendid of all forest trees. We never saw it in the flowering Season. There is a solitary tree, growing in a garden in St. Louis. It Was there Sheltered by a wall; and we do not know, if it would flourish in a situation so northern, without protection of that kind. We remember to have seen one beautiful tree growing near NatchioCheS, apparently na* tive there. It is said, there it no other within a distance of many miles* The wood is as yellow as that of fustic, and yields a similar die. It is hard, heavy, durable, and So elastic, as to receive its French name from the1 the circumstance, that all the southwestern savages use it for bows. It is thought to be a wood more incorruptible, than live oak, mulberry, or even cedar. We were invited to visit the hulk of a steam boat, built above the raft on Red river, whose timbers were entirely of this wood.- China tree. This is a tree more cultivated in the southern regions of this valley, as an ornamental shade tree than any other; It has fine, long spiked leaves, eight or ten inches in length, set in corresponding pairs on each side of a stem two feet long. The verdure is of the most brilliant and deep shade in nature* In the flowering season, the top is1 one tuft of blossoms, in cOloT and fragrance resembling the lilac, except that the tufts are larger* It holds in flower a long time. It is a tree of the most rapid growth of any known in our country. These trees planted out in a village, in a few years completely embower it ; and from the intenseness of their verdure, they impart a delightful freshness to the landscape, in that sultry climate. After the leaves have fallen in- autumn, the tree is still covered with a profusion of reddish berries, of the size of haws, that give it the appearance, at a little distance, of remain-- ing in flower. Robins immigrate to this region in the latter part of winter, settle on these trees in great numbers, and feed on the berries* They possess an intoxicating, or narcotic quality;, and the robbins, sitting on the trees in a state of stupefaction, may be killed with a stick. The bark is said to be a powerful vermifuge. Dog wood, cornus fiorida. Redbud, cercis canadensis. These are both of an intermediate size, between shrubs and trees. The former has a beautiful, heart shaped and crimped leaf, and an umbrella shaped' top. It covers itself in spring with a profusion of brilliant white flowers,- and in autumn with berries of a fine scarlet. The latter is the first shrub that is seen in blossom on the Ohio. It is then a complete surface of 48 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. blossoms, resembling those of the peach tree, and a stranger would take it at that time, to be that tree. The shrubs are dispersed every where in the woods ; and in descending the Ohio early in the spring, these masses of brilliant flowers contrast delightfully with the general brown of the forest. The first time that the voyager descends this river, the redbud imparts a charm to the landscape, that he will never forget. These two are at once the most common and the most beautiful shrubs in the Mis sissippi valley. The dog wood, especially, is found every Where from Pittsburgh to the gulf of Mexico ; and, seen through the forests, in blos som, is far more conspicuous for its flowers than the magnolia. It has been asserted, that the dog wood belonged to the family of the quinqui nas. Its bark is certainly a powerful restorative, in cases of the ague. Pawpaw, annona triloba^ ficus Indicus. This, in our view, is the prince of wild fruit bearing shrubs. The leaves are long, of a rich appearance, and green, considerably resembling the smaller leaves of tobacco. The stem is straight, white, and of unrivalled beauty. In fact, we have seen no cultivated shrub so ornamental and graceful as the pawpaw. The fruit closely resembles a cucumber, having a more smooth and regular appearance. When ripe, it is of a rich yellow. There are generally from two to five in a cluster. A pawpaw shrub; hanging full of fruits, of a size and weight so disproportioned to the stem, and from under long and rich looking leaves of the same yellow with the ripened fruit, of an African luxuriance of growth, is to us one of the richest spectacles, that we have ever contemplated, in the array of the woods. — The fruit contains from two to six seeds, like those of the tamarind, except that they are double the size. The pulp of the fruit resembles egg custard in consistence and appearance. It has the same creamy feeling in the mouth, and unites the taste of eggs, cream, sugar and spice. It is a natural custard, too luscious for the relish of most people. The fruit is nutricious, and a great resource to the savages. So many whimsical and unexpected tastes are compounded in it, it is said, a person of the most hypochondriac temperament relaxes to a smile, when he tastes the pawpaw for the first time. Persimon, dyospyros Virginiana. From the body of this tree, which resembles that of a mazzard cherry, when pierced, exudes a copious gum, not unlike gum Arabic, in appearance. The leaves resemble those of a wild black cherry. The fruit is of the size of a common horse plumb When green, it is astonishingly astringent. It is only ripened by the frost of winter. There are varieties in its size, from low shrubs to considera ble trees. When the small blue persimon is thoroughly ripened it is even sweeter than the fig, and is a delicious fruit. If the best kinds TREES AND SHRUBS. 49 were cultivated, and purchased from beyond the seas, it would probably be much more known, and used, than it now is. Wild plumbs. The Chickasaw plumb is common from 34° to the gulf of Mexico. It is found in the greatest abundance, and ripens early in June. Prairie plumbs are most abundant in Illinois and Missouri, on the hazle prairies. They are of various sizes and flavors. Their general color is reddish, and their flavor tart. Some of them are large and delicious. For an experiment of the yield, two bushels were gath ered from one tree. In places they are found in inconceivable quanti ties, the surface of acres being red with them. The yellow Osage plumbs, of this class, when the better kinds are cultivated, are among the most delicious plumbs, we have eaten. So rich and delightful a fruit, and so easily cultivated, well deserves to be transplanted to the Atlantic country. Crab apple, pyrus coronaria. In the middle regions of the valley, on ¦prairies of a particular description, there are great tracts covered with an impenetrable mat of crab apple shrubs. The form, color and fragrance of the blossoms are precisely like the blossoms of the cultivated apple tree. When the southern breeze comes over a large tract of these shrubs in full blossom, it is charged with a concentrated fragrance almost too strong to be grateful. — They are useful as stocks, in which the culti vated apple and pear tree may be engrafted. — Their fruit, when properly prepared, makes the finest of cider; and the apple is much used, as a preserve. Mulberry. There are said to be two species in Ihe country; the white, and the black. We have never seen the white indigenous ; but have so often heard it asserted to exist, as a native, that we are compelled to credit it. — The common mulberry is the black, and it is found in every part of the valley, that we have seen. In some places, it constitutes no inconsiderable proportion of the timber. We have seen whole groves of small and young trees, apparently in the right stage to be useful for feeding the silk worm. Experience has demonstrated, that the worm thrives on these leaves, and that the product is of good quality. The wide diffusion, and the great prevalence of the mulberry, the general temperature of the valley, and the condition and habits of the people, -clearly indicate to them, that this country ought to devote itself exten sively to the making of silk. In this country of forests, and where there are such numbers and varieties of trees, we might select many other interesting ones for de scription ; perhaps some of them more so, than those, which we have here attempted to describe. The necessary brevity of our limits forbids our, enlarging. From Michaux we learn, that our trees are larger, taller, and more of them useful for timber, than those of Europe. The forest 7 50 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. has asageneralphysiognomy,anaspectofluxuriance .which *™jtes it to the most superficial observer, from that on the other side of the mountains. We may add, that the ^^^J"^ appear to be more numerous. We apprehend, that most of the trees of that region are found here, while a number of the trees here are peculiar to this valley. Trees of the same class here are inferior to those, that are tiiere, for the same uses, as timber. They are less tough, elastxc and durable. We may add, that the pine forests of the south contain count less millions of tall and straight pines, and would furnish, Without sensible diminution, masts and spars for all the navies in the world Vines and Cheepers. The common grape vine, vitis sylveslris, is diffused through all the climates. Nothing is so familiar to the eye of a traveller in this country, as soon as he enters on the richer lands, as to see vines, often of a prodigious size, that are perpendicularly attached * at the top branches, sixty or eighty feet from the ground; and at a great lateral distance from the trunk of the tree. It is a standing puzzle to a young man, first brought into these woods, to task his ingenuity, by putting him to account for the manner, in which a vine, perhaps nearly of the size of the human body, has been able to rear itself to such a height, There can be, however, no doubt, that the vine in this case is coeval with the tree; that the tree, as it grew, reared the vine; and that the vine receded from the trunk, with the projection of the lateral branches, until, in the lapse of time, this singular appearance is presented. In many places, half the trees in a bottom are covered with these vines. In the deep .forests, on the hills, in the barrens, in the hazle prairies, and in the pine woods, every form and size of the grape vine presents itself. We presume, there is no scientific and complete description and arrangement of these vines. The most obvious popular division follows. Winter grape, vitis hyemalis. This is the large vine, that so generally clings to the trees in the alluvial forests. The leaves are large, and of a fine rieh green ; intermediate, between the size of the leaves of the cultivated grape, and the fox grape. They climb to the top of the highest trees of the forest. Probably, not more than one in fifty of them bears any frrjitj at all. The fruit, when produced, is a small circular berry, not unlike the wild black cherry. It is austere, sour and unpleasant, until it has; been mellowed by the frosts of winter. But it is said, when fermented by those, who have experience in the practice, to make a tolerable wine. Summer grape, vitis astiva. We have never seen it in deep bottoms. It is found on the rolling barrens, and the hazle priaries. It has a larger leaf, than the former vine; and the wood of the vine is finely colored of VINES AND CREEPERS. 51 a blueish purple. The grape is more than twice the size of the winter grape, is ripe in the first month in autumn, and when matured under the full influence of the sun, is a pleasant fruit. It grows in the greatest abundance ; but is too dry a grape to be pressed for wine. June grape, vitis vernalis. This is a small, sweet grape, found on the islands of the upper Mississippi and Illinois, that ripens in June. We have seen the vine; but have never tasted the fruit. It is said to be the grape, of which the French, in the early periods of their establishment in this country, used to make wine. Various animals prey upon it; audit has almost disappeared from the country. Parsley leaved water grape, vitis aquatica. We have never seen this vine in bearing. Fox grape, vipis riparia, is of the same size, form and quality with the same species on the east side of the mountains. It is very uncommon. Muscadine grape, vitis verrucosa. This vine strongly designates climate. It is seldom seen north of 34° South of that it becomes abundant. It is found in the deep alluvial forests clinging to the tall trees. The vine is smooth, and of a fine olive green ; and the leaves are smaller, than those of the cultivated grape. The fruit grows in more sparse clusters, than those of other grapes. Like other fruits, they fall as they ripen, and furnish a rich treat to bears, and other animals, that feed on tbem. ¦ The grape is of the size of a plumb; of a fine, purple black; with a thick, tough skin, tasting not unlike the rind of an orange. The pulp is deliciously sweet, but is reputed unwholesome. Pine woods grape. In ignorance of its proper designation, we shall call it vitis humilior from its habit of creeping on the ground. It is agreed, that there are varieties of this fine grape, which from the frequent burning of the pine woods, is becoming uncommon. It is sur prising, how little curiosity has been excited, even where it grows, by this rich fruit. It has a slender, blueish purple vine, that runs on the ground among the grass. It ripens in the month of June; is large cone shaped, transparent, with four seeds, reddish purple ; and is a fine fruit for eating. On the sandy plains at the sources of Arkansas and red river, the gen tlemen of Long's expedition concur with hunters and travellers, in relating that they found large tracts of sand plain, from which grew a grape, which, we infer from the description, to be of the same species of the pine woods grape. They have described the clusters to be large and deli cious ; and that the sand, drifting about them, covers up the redundant vegetation, performing the best operation of pruning on the vine. The sun, too, strongly reflected from a surface of sand, must have a powerful influence to mature them. It is posssible, that some of the admiration, 52 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. which has been felt, in seeing such sterile tracts covered with these1 abundant and rich clusters, and the high zest, with which they were devoured, may have been owing to the surprise of finding such a phe nomenon in contrast with a white and moving sand, and eating the fruit under associations created by hunger and thirst. The universal diffusion of such numbers and varieties of the vine- would seem to indicate this valley to possess a natural aptitude for the cultivation of the vine. It would be an experiment, it would appear, well worth the trial, to engraft or bud every variety of the cultivated grape on the stocks of each of these native varieties.. It is possible, that the exotics might thus be at once acclimated; and it is not unlikely, that changes. might be produced in them favorable to their enduring the climate, and to their flavors and vinous properties. Bignonia radicans is a creeper, beautiful for its foliage and flowers. It has a vine of a grayish white color, and long and delicate spike shaped leaves in alternate sets. It climbs the largest tr.ees in preference, mounts to their summits, and displays a profusion of large, trumpet shaped flowers, of flame color. Planted near a house, in two or three seasons af single vine will cover a roof, throwing its fibrous and parasitic roots so. strongly under the shingles, as to detach them from the roof. Ivy. There are varieties of this creeper.. Every traveller in the rick alluvions has been impressed with the spectacles exhibited there, of the thousands of large and lofty columns of the cotton wood, wreathed. from the ground to the branches with an architectural drapery of this; deep verdure. We have seen huge trunks of dead trees so ornamented. It is one of those charms of nature, that never tire on the eye. It is. thus, that nature ornaments the pillars of her great temple, to fit it to inspire delight and adoration in the solitary worshipper. Supple-jack. We have first remarked this creeper in about latitude 35° The vine resembles that of the muscadine grape; but the olive color is deeper. It is well known to attach itself so strongly to the- shrub it entwines, as to cause those curious spiral curves Ind inner flattemngs, that give its singularity and value to the supple-jack cane. The foliage of the vine is an exact copy in miniature of that of the- China tree. Ths richness of its verdure, the impervious thickness of its dark green foliage, and the profusion of deep black berries with which it is covered, would render it a beautiful creeper with which-. to cover a pavilion, or a piazza. There is a creeper which we have not seen noticed by travellers or botanists, and which, indeed, we have not often seen ourselves, and then only on the margin of the Mississippi, between New Madrid and the mouth of the Arkansas. Its vine and foliage somewhat resemble. TINES AND CREEPERS. 53! those of the supple-jack. We never saw it climbing shrubs more than ten feet in height. The flowers were long and rich tufted wreaths, on small, flexile, twiny stems, and much resembling the purple blossoms of the pea. They were gathered for the garnishing of (be chimney places of the cabins ; and we have seen no flowers, that ex ceeded them in splendor and beauty. The rich alluvial districts of the lower country of the Mississippi and its tributaries are tangled with creepers, of various kinds, foliage and forms. Some of them are annual, and some perennial. Many of them, as far as our knowledge extends, are non-descripts. Cane, arundo gigantea, vel miegia macrosperma. — Some assert that, the low and bastard cane and the tall reed cane Tare the same species, and differ only in size and height. Others, and it is the prevalent opinion, assert, that they are varieties. Every one has seen this reed in the form, in which it is used for angling rods. It grows on the lower courses of the Mississippi, Arkansas and Red river, from fifteen to thirty feet in height. We have seen some, in these rich soils, that would almost vie in size Wnh the bamboo. The leaves are of a beautiful green — long, narrow and dagger shaped, not unlike those of Egyptian millet. It grows in equidis tant joints, perfectly strait, almost a compact mass; and to us, in winter especially, is the richest looking vegetation, that we have ever seen. The smallest sparrow would find it difficult to fly among it; and to see its ten thousand stems, rising almost contiguous to each other, and to look at the impervious roof of verdure, which it forms at its top, it has the aspect of being a solid layer of vegetation. A man could not make three miles in a day through a thick cane brake. It is the chosen resort of bears and panthers, which break it down, and make their way into it, as a retreat from man. It indicates a dry soil, above the inundation, and of the richest character. The ground is never in better preparation for maize, than after this prodigious mass of vegetation is first cut down, and burned.. When the cane has been cut, and is so dried, as that it will burn, it is an amusement of holiday to the negroes, to set fire to a cane brake, thus prepared. The rarefied air in the hollow compartments of the cane bursts them with a report, not much inferior to a discharge of musquetry; and the burning of a cane brake makes a noise as of a conflicting army, in which thousands of muskets are continually discharging. This beautiful vege- ble is generally asserted to have a life of five years, at the end of which period, if it has grown undisturbed, it produces an abundant crop of seed, with heads very like those of broom corn. The seeds are farinace ous, and said to be not much inferior to wheat, for which the Indians, and occasionally the first settlers, have substituted it. No prospect so 54 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. impressively shows the exuberant prodigality of nature, as a thick cane brake. Nothing affords such a rich and perennial range for cattle, sheep and horses. The butter, that is made from the cane pastures of this region, is of the finest kind. The seed easily vegetates in any rich soili It rises from the ground, like the richest asparagus, with a large succulent stem ; and it grows six feet high, before this succulency and tenderness harden to wood. No other vegetable furnishes a fodder so rich, or abund ant; nor, in our view, does any other agricultural project so strongly call for a triad, as the annual sowing of cane, in regions too far north for it to survive the winter. We suppose, this would be in latitude 39°. Gooseberry. All its varieties are seen indigenous in all parts of this: valley. It grows to a great height and size in the middle regions, and covers itself with fruit. We have seen in Missouri a gooseberry hedge, of a height, compactness, and thorny imperviousness, to turn all kinds of cattle. It would have the advantage of attaining its full size in three or four years. Privet. This beautiful ornamental shrub, too well known to need description, is indigenous to various parts of the valley. When clipped, it forms a compact wall of verdure, like the box, used for the same purposes at the north. Hazle bush. Immense tracts of the prairies are covered with this bush; and the nuts are fine and abundant. The whortleberry is not so common, as in the Atlantic country; butj where it does grow, is of great size. They are found in great abundance, and in full perfection, at the bases of the flint knobs, in the St. Francis country, and along the upper courses of White river. We have seldom seen the red raspberry; but it is said to grow of fine size and flavor, from the middle to the northern regions of the valley. Blackberries, high and creeping, are found in prodigious abundance, from the north to the south. The prairies, in many places, in the season, are red with fine. strawberries. For the rest, the fruit bearing shrubs and plants do not materially differ from those of the Atlantic country. With the exception of the strawberry and blackberry, they are not so common here, as there. Herbs, Grasses and Flowering Plants, The universal, indigenous grass of this country, in all its climates and extent, covering the millions of acres of the prairies, is what is commonly called prairie grass, poa pratensis. It grows equally in the forests and barrens, wherever there is an interval, sufficiently unshaded to admit its growth.— It is tall, coarse, and full of seeds at the top; and when ripe, is rather too wiry for fodder. It is cut for that purpose in September. If it were cut OP GRASSES AND PLANTS. 85 earlier, and before it had lost its succulence and tenderness, it would, probably, be excellent fodder. As it is, the prairies yield inexhaustible ¦quantities; and the towns and villages in the prairie regions are copious ly supplied. When young, and before it has thrown up its stems, it re sembles wheat in appearance. We have seen cattle, turned into the wheat fields in the spring, to eat down the redundant growth of wheat, feed on the grass along the margins of the fields in preference to the wheat. The only grass, that yields a fine, soft sward, is called blue grass, and is not unlike the common spear grass of New England. We are not satisfied, whether it be indigenous, or not. We have constantly observed it growing about deserted houses, and Indian villages. On the upper prairies of Illinois, it is said in many places to be displacing the prairie grass. It seems to be, like the robin-redbreast, attached to the abodes of civilized man. We have recently read, that in the wet prairies of Illinois and Indiana, the fowl meadow grass of New England was growing in abundance. Whether this be fact, or not, whoever would introduce this valuable grass to notice in the wet prairies of the West would be a benefactor to that tegion. The rush, equisetum hyemale, grows on bottoms, in grounds of an intermediate elevation, between those of the cane brake and the deep overflow. It is found, of a humbler growth, quite to the sources of the Mississippi. But it finds its full developement between 36° and 33°. We have travelled among this grass, a perfect mat, as high as the shoulders. Nothing can exceed the brilliance of its verdure, especially, when seen in winter, in contrast with the universal brown. Where it grows high and thick, it is difficult to make way through it ; and it has a disagreeable kind of rustling, which produces the sensation, that is called setting the teeth on edge. In northern regions its tubular stock is apt to fill with compact icicles. It is well known to be the favorite range of horses and cattle, and is devoured by them with more greediness, than even cane. Wben filled with ice, and thus swallowed, it produces a chill in the stomach of the cattle, that is apt to prove fatal. To the cattle and horse boats, that descend the Mississippi, it is an invaluable resource. The cattle and horses, pent up and immovable in these floating barns, for many days in succession, are turned loose, and find holiday pasture in this rich range. Pea vine. This is a small, fibrous vine, that covers the soil in the richer forest lands. It receives its name from the resemblance of its leaves and flowers to those of the cultivated pea. It is a rich and almost universal forest range for cattle; but when once eaten down, is not apt 56 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. to renew itself. Of course, it disappears in the vicinity of compa«t population. Swamp grass. This grass is found in low, wet and miry swamps, on hassocks elevated above the water. It is of the brightest verdure, remaining green through the frosts of winter. It seems to be the same grass, which grows in boggy meadows in New England. Its sharp edges, \vhen drawn rapidly through the fingers, cut them. In the middle regions of the valley, cattle are driven to these swamps, to subsist through the winter, Wild rice, zizania aquatica, vel fatuis avena. By the French, folles avoines. By the Indians, menomene. It is found in the greatest abund ance on the marshy margins of the northern lakes, and in the plashy waters on the upper courses of the Mississippi. It grows in those regions -on a vast extent of country. It is there, that the millions of migrating water fowls fatten, before they take their autumnal migration to the ^outh. It is there, too, that the northern savages, and the Canadian traders and hunters, find their annual supplies of grain. But for this resource, they could hardly exist. It is a tall, tubular, reedy, water*plant, not unlike the bastard cane. of the southern countries. It very accurate ly resembles the cane grass of the swamps and Savannas on the gulf of Mexico. It springs up from waters of six or seven feet in depth, where the bottom is soft and muddy. It rises nearly as high above the water. Its leaves and spikes, though much larger, resemble those of oats, from "which the French give it its name. Its culm is jointed, as large as the little finger; leaves broad, and linear, panicle more than a foot in length; the lower branches with spreading banen flowers, the upper with fertile and erect ones. The seeds are blackish, smooth narrow, cylindrical, "about three quarters of an inch long, deciduous. It is said to have been •discovered in the brooks of Massachusetts. When it is intended to be* preserved for grain, the spikes are bound together, to preserve them from •the ravages of birds and water fowls, that prey upon them in immense numbers. It thus has a chance to ripen. At the season for gathering it, •canoes are rowed among the grain. A blanket is spread upon them, and the grain is beaten upon the blankets. It is, perhaps, of all the cerea- Ha, except maize, the most prolific. It is astonishing, amidst all our eager and multiplied agricultural researches, that so little attention has been bestowed upon this interesting and valuable grain. It has scarcely been known, except by Canadian hunters and savages, that such a grain, the resource of a vast extent of country, existed. It surely ought to be ascertained if the drowned lands of the Atlantic country, and the immense marshes and stagnant lakes of the south, will grow it. It is a mistake, that it is found only in the northern regions of this valley. It grows in MEDICINAL PLANTS. 57 perfection on the lakes about Natchitoches, south of 32°; and might, probably, be cultivated in all climates of the valley. Though a hardy plant, it is subject to some of the accidents, that cause failure of the other grains. The grain has a long, slender hull, much resembling that of oats, except that it is longer and darker. In detaching this hull, the Indians use a process of drying, that, probably, in most instances destroys its germinating principle. Those, who have found this grain unpleasant, have, perhaps, eaten it, when smoked, and badly prepared. There is, probably, the same difference in quality, too, as in other grains. The grain, that we have eaten, was as white, as the common rice. Puddings made of it tasted to us, like those made of sago. Palmetto, chemcerops latanier. This is a perennial plant, strongly marking climate. It commences in the same regions with long moss,~- that is to say, about 33°. It throws up from a large root, so tough as to be cut with difficulty by an axe, and hard to be eradicated from the soil, large, fan shaped palms, of the most striking and vivid verdure, and ribbed with wonderful exactness. It indicates a deep swampy soil, and grows six feet in height— The infallible index of swampy, and southern climate, and having no resemblance to any plant, seen at the north, its foreign aspect, and its deep green unchanged by winter, when first seen by the immigrant from the north, with a surprise connected with rather unpleas ant associations, strongly reminds him, that he is a stranger, and in a new country. It is used by the savages, and the poorer Creoles, as thatch for their cabins; and from the tender shoots of the season, properly prepared, a very useful kind of summer hats, called palmetto hats, is manu factured, Medicinal Plants. On this head, but little is yet known of this country; and that little, except the most obvious points, falls within the proper limits of description by a physician. In a climate so various, a soil so prolific, and a flora so immense, as that of the prairies, where such an infinite variety of plants and flowers is renewed, and perishes every season, and in a country so fresh, it may be readily conceived, that the medicinal properties of but very few of the plants have been sufficiently experimented. Most of the medicinal plants of the Atlantic country are found here; and many, that are peculiar to this region. Varieties of the hop are natives of the country; and the hazle prairies have their clumps of hazle bushes often surmounted with the beautiful wreathings of the clusters of the common hop. Virginia snake root; a species of ipecacuanna, called Indian physic; American columbo; frasera Caroliniensis, a plant growing six feet high, and covering itself with brilliant flowers; thoroughwort, upatorittM 8 58 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. perfoliatum; ginseng; all the varieties of the mints; blood root, sangui- naria Canadensis; — these plants are commmon, and widely diffused. May apple, podophyllum peltatum, is a beautiful plant, that completely covers the ground, where it grows, with the freshest and most cheering verdure of spring. It has a handsome white blossom, and bears a fruit of the appearance and taste of a lemon. Its root is a powerful cathartic, and has been successfully introduced into medicine as a substitute for jalap. Seneka, polygala seneka; American senna, cassia, marilandica; poke, weed, phytollacca decandria, Oswego tea, monarda kalmiana; poison su mach, rhus vernix; solanum nigrum, or nightshade ; wakerobin, trillium cernuum; golden rod, solidago odora; missletoe, viscum album; hore- hound, &e,— are common. Strammony, strammonium datura, a poisonous weed, perniciously common through the western country. On the richest bottoms, it grows fifteen feet in height, and of a size and compactness, to prevent cattle from running among it. It has splendid flowers, and a great quantity of oily seeds. Its smell is nauseous; and it is a common, and annoying tenant of the villages on the alluvial margins of *i vers. In some places, no inconsiderable part of the labor on the highways is to cut up this weed from the roads, and outlots of the villages. Its popular name is jimson, — probably a corruption of Jamestown, the place, whence it is said to have been brought. It is used in medicine in spasmodic asthma. The next most common and annoying weed along the roads, especially in Louisiana, is a very tall plant, resembling cassia marilandica. It renders the paths, and the banks of the bayous in that region, almost impassable in autumn, until the cattle have trodden it down. Cockle burrs, in the same situations, are excessively annoying weeds, filling the outlots and uncultivated places to such a degree, that the burrs attach to the clothes of passengers, and mat the wool of sheep, running among them, with an inextricable tangle. Virginia snake root, aristolochia serpentaria; wormwood, artemisia, all the varieties; southern wood; wormseed; wild horehound, eupatorium pilosum, black henbane, hyoscyamus nigra; deadly nightshade, atropa- belladona; Indian tobacco, lobelia inflata; white horehound, marrubiwm] vulgare; balm, melissa officinalis; among the mints — pennyroyal, mentha pulegiium, growing to a great size; sarsaparilla, smilax; Carolina pink, spigelia marilandica; common nettle, urtica, every where annoying to the summer traveller in the woods; valerian officinalis, common on the Ohio; gentian; all the species of the violets; prairie wax weed, common in the prairies, from four to six feet high, when perforated, exuding a yellow, terebenthine wax of aromatic smell, and to which many virtues are ascribed by the settlers. MEDICINAL PLANTS. 59 We could easily swell this catalogue with the names of a hundred other plants, to which various and powerful medicinal virtues are ascribed by the people. We could add to it the herbs, which are cultivated, as medicinal. — We have merely attempted a brief outline of the most common indigenous medicinal plants of the valley. Almost every family has its panaceum, in some herb or plant, which that family has exclusively experimented. A rich harvest for experiment is yet reserved for the scientific botanist and physician. The common kinds of aquatic plants are found in the still and shallow waters of the swamps; particularly, a beautiful kind of water lily, highly fragrant, and bearing no resemblance to the nymphea odorata, which we have not seen here, but which is said to be found in the northern regions of the valley. A singular kind of aquatic vegetation, which has given rise to the fiction of floating islands of vegetation on these waters, is seen to cover great extents of shallow lakes and muddy bayous. It appears, indeed, to float on the water; and great* masses of it, no doubt, often are detached, and seen floating, as though there were no roots attached to the soil at the bottom. But we have examined it, and found its twiny stem of many yards in length, bound to the bottom by a thousand fibrous roots. It has a small, beautiful, elliptical leaf, and a diminutive, but delicate white flower. We have sailed, when the bow of the vessel made a furrow through fields of this curious plant. Under them fishes dart, alligators gambol, and, in the proper season, multi tudes of water fowls are seen, pattering their bills among these leaves. We have seen this plant designated by the name, pistia straiiotes. Among the flowering aquatic plants, there is one, that for magnificence and beauty stands unrivalled and alone. We have seen it on the middle and southern waters ; but of the greatest size and splendor on the bayous and lakes of the Arkansas. It has different popular names. The upper Indians call it panocco. It is designated by botanists by the name nymphea nelumbo. It rises from a root, resembling the large stump of a cabbage, and from depths in the water, from two or three to ten feet. It has an elliptical, smooth and verdant leaf, some of the largest being of the size of a parasol. These muddy bayous and stagnant waters are often so covered with the leaves, that the sandpiper walks abroad on the surface of them, without dipping her feet in the water.— The flowers are enlarged copies of the nymphea odorata, or New England pond lily. They have a cup of the same elegant conformation, and all the brilliant White and yellow of that flower. They want the ambrosial fragrance of the pond lily; and resemble in this respect, as they do in their size, the flowers of the laurel magnolia. On the whole, they are the largest and most beautiful flowers, ' that we have seen. They have their home in dead lakes, in the centre of cypress swamps. Musquitos swarm above- 60 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. Obscene fowls and carrion vultures wheel their flight over them. Alli gators swim among their roots; and moccasin snakes bask on their leaves. In such lonely and repulsive situations, under such circumstances, and for such spectators, is arrayed the most gaudy and brilliant display of flowers in the creation. In the capsule are embedded from four to six acorn shaped seeds, which the Indians roast, and eat, when green; or they are dried, and eaten, as nuts, or are pulverized into meal, and form a kind of bread. We have seen a large yellow flower on the arid bluffs of that high limestone wall, that runs, like a huge parapet, between St. Genevieve and Herculaneum, on the west bank of the Mississippi. The summit of this parapet has not Inore than two or three inches of soil, and is bare of all vegetation, but a sparse, seared grass. It was under the burning sun of July, when every thing, but these flowers, was scorched. The cup of the flower was nearly half the size of the common sunflower. It rose only four or five inches from the soil, and covered it, as with gilding} We have seen no description of this striking flower, nor have we seen it existing elsewhere. Missletoe, viscus alba. This is a parasitic plant, which attaches itself to the body and larger limbs of trees, — most frequently the syca* more and the elm. It is common on the trees along the banks of the Ohio, from Cincinnati to New Orleans. The bright green masses of this plant, with copious clusters of transparent, white berries, make a very singular appearance in winter, when seen clinging to the naked branches. This is the plant, to which the Druids were said to pay divine honors. The agglutinated slime of its berries is used for bird lime. Long moss, tillandsia usneoides. This parasitic and singular vegeta tion is first seen in company with the palmetto, about latitude 33°. It hangs down in festoons, like the twiny stems of weeping willow. It attaches itself of choice to the cypress, and, after that, to the acacia. These pendent wreaths often conceal the body of the tree, when bare of foliage, to such a degree, that little is seen, but a mass of moss. Waving in the wind, they attach themselves to the branches of other trees, and thus sometimes form curtains of moss, that darken the leafless forest ©f winter. They are in color of a darkish gray, and many yards in length. The moss bears a small, trumpet shaped flower, of peach blow color, and seeds still finer, than those of tobacco. — Associated, as it naturally is, with marshy and low alluvions, where it grows in the greatest profu sion, and with the idea of sickness, this dark drapery of the forest has an aspect of inexpressible gloom. It is, when fresh, a tolerable fodder for horses and cattle, and the deer feed upon it in winter,. It soon dies on dead trees. Prepared, something after the manner of water rotted ANIMALS. 61 hemp, the bark is decomposed, and the fibre remains, fine, black, strong, elastic, and apparantly incorruptible. In this state, in appea.rance and elasticity it resembles horse hair, and, like that, is used for mattresses. Most of the people in the lower country sleep on them, and they are be coming an article of commerce in the upper country. The Creoles make various articles of harnessing, as horse collars, and saddle stuffing, of this article. For these purposes, considerable quantities are exported to the upholsterers and carriage makers in the Atlantic country. To the eye of a naturalist, no doubt, the infinite varieties of plants and flowers in the forests and on the prairies, that distract the gaze of a common observer, and confound all his attempts to class them, may all have an easy arrangement, ' a local habitation and a name.' To another an attempt to class them would at first seem like numbering the drops of dew, that fall from them. The friable soil of the western country does- not naturally cover itself with the fine sward of the northern Atlantic country. It is the region of coarse grass, tall flowering! plants, with gaudy flowers ; and to an unpractised eye, presents a flora of great variety. We have not presumed to give the above, as any thing more than the sketch of a catalogue. Many of the barks of the trees of this Valley have medicinal qualities. The numbers, forms and gigantic heights of these weeds and plants are not among the least surprising curiosities to an observer of nature. The following are among the garden flowers, more particularly of the southern regions. Jessamines, white, cape, Armenian and yellow. Different kinds of sensitive plants, Spanish dagger. Primrose, Jonquils, white and yellow. Iris. Blue and yellow touch-me-not. Violets. Lilies. Roses, monthly, perpetual, moss, scarlet, white, Damascus, multiflora, bell. Honeysuckle, Woodbine. Flowering pomegranate. — Bamboo. Myrtle. Altheas white and red. Crape myrtle. Daffodil. These are the common flow ers, where they are not curious in choice, or varieties.'* Animals. We deem it useless to go into detail in the account of animals, which this country has in common with those east of the moun tains. We believe, that the catamount, a ferocious aninial formerly seen in New Hampshire and Maine, has not been seen west of the mountains; There is a much greater abundance, if not variety of the deer kind here. The milder winters, the deeper forests, the more luxuriant pastures, the greater abundance and variety of the nut and acorn bearing trees,- the more multiplied means of animal subsistence, would give reason to *For catalogue of plants and flowers, see Appendix, table No. III. 62 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. expect a greater profusion of game. Deer, from pairs to twenty together, are so common a sight, even in the settled country, as not to excite much surprise. — Bears, in the middle and settled regions of the valley, are not common; and a bear hunt is there a matter of novelty and excitement. But high en the Mississippi and Missouri, and on the lower courses of the latter river and its tributaries, in the deep cane brakes and swamps^ bears still breed, and range in security; and the planters take the frequent amusement of hunting them. We landed at the cabin of a settler, be tween White river and Arkansas, who showed the skins of twenty bears, which he had killed that season. In the northern part of Illinois, towards the sources of the Mississippi, and southwest of the Missouri, on the Osage, and other wooded streams in that direction, bears are still hunted for their skins and their oil. Bear's oil, which is very liquid, transparent, and, when not rancid, mild and agreeable to the taste, is in those regions extensively used, as a substitute for butter. The hunters ascend the streams at the proper season for liunting them, and pursue the bears in the depth of the wilderness. They remain for the summer season in the woods. Late in Autumn they return with bear skins, and the flesh cured, as smoked middlings of pork, and not unfrequently as fat. The oil is put into a periogue; and we have seen a hunter paddling one periogue, and having another lashed and balanced alongside full of oil. Venison is an important article of food, and of sale in most of the newer villages of the western country. The markets in the larger towns are sornetimes supplied with it. It furnishes one of the sub stantial elements in the subsistence of a back settler. Hunting the deer is the standing amusement of the southern planter. A night hunt seldom fails to furnish a number of these animals. In the northern regions, and about the sources of the Mississippi and Missouri, the elk takes the place of the deer. The moose is sometimes seen with the elk. In the vast prairies on the upper Mississippi, Missouri, Arkansas and Red river, and in all the space beyond a belt of a hundred leagues from.: white settlements, where they are not seen, and the Rocky mountains, the buffalo is the grand object of hunting and subsistence to the savages. The flesh is the chief article of food, not only of the Indians of those regions, but for the white hunters and trappers. The skins furnish their dress, and the couches, the seats, and the ornamental part of the furni ture of their cabins. Tanned and stretched on tent poles, and erected mneat, cone shaped tents, they shelter the savages in their distant migrations from their villages. The buffalo robes furnish one of their most important articles of commerce. Hunting the buffalo is a business of great solemnity, and one of the most important functions of savage life. ANIMALS. 63 Every person engaged in it, has his proper post of honor, and his point of concert with the rest. The Indians used to hunt with bows and arrows, but, are now commonly armed with yagers. The attack is generally on horseback. When the attacking party have approached the drove, the religious rites are renewed, and the cavalcade, in confidence of the aid of the Great Spirit, dashes upon them. To be successful, the horses must be both fleet, and well managed. It often happens, that the older and more daring animals turn, and make battle ; in which case there is danger to the horse of being gored, and of the rider to be slain. — The animal, in its agony and wrath, is terrible. Sometimes, when feathered with many arrows, or pierced with many balls it becomes a question, who has slain it. But there are so many witnesses, the wound, anong many, that was mortal, is so accurately known, and it is so vitil to their peace, that all this should be settled by precedent, that in the division of the spoil, disputes seldom occur. Every part of the animal is prepared in some way for use. A part is preserved fresh, for imnedi- ate use. The fat from the intestines is melted, skimmed, and put into bladders for future use, and proves an agreeable substitute for butter. A protuberance on the shoulders, called the ' hump,' is the choice part of the animal. The return of such a party from a successful hunt is a season of the highest savage holiday. The skins, inwrought into all the furni ture of their domestic establishment, so vital to their comfort, and the surplus furnishing their principal article of traffic, are entrusted for pre paration, as are all their more laborious kinds of drudgery, to the squasvs. This a very material part of Indian labor. The method of preparing- them is primitive and simple, but slow and laborious, and consists, prin cipally, in smoking, drying and rubbing them. When dressed, they are soft, pliant and durable. By the juice of some vegetable, supposed to be sanguinaria Canadensis, fixed by a process, known only to themselves, they paint lines, figures and devices on the buffalo skins, of a beautiful red color, that retains a durable brilliance, unchanged by the sun and air. Among these animals, as among domestic ones, there are the differ ences of size, age, and beauty and deformity, lean and fat. The males are eatable, only for a part of the year, and the cows are most sought for hunting, as an article of food. No wild animal has a more noble appear ance, than a full grown male buffalo. It has been said, that they are of the same species with domestic cattle. From the habits, as well as the appearance of the animal, we should think not. The color is generally of a brownish gray, and much of the wool, or hair, has the fineness of fur, and by the English is wrought into articles of a beautiful fabric, which is becoming an article of manufacture. They have burly heads, covered with shaggy wool; and the long and erect hair prevails to the termina- 64 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. tion of the hump beyond the fore shoulders. They have small and short horns, not more than four or five inches in length, and, compared with domestic cattle, small and fierce eyes; and, viewed all together, have rather a savage and outlandish appearance. But, in fact, they are the same mild animal with the domestic cattle ; are easily tamed and domes-- ticated; and the animals, that spring from the mixture of breeds, are said to unite the valuable properties of both. Their beef is generally preferred to that of the domestic ox. The range of this animal used to extend over all the valley. The eyes of the patriarchal ' residenters,' who first fiked themselves in the unbroken wilderness, as they relate, how they used to see countless numbers of these animals scouring the thickets, brighjen in the relation, and view the present order of things, which have driven these animals far to the west, with the regrets of hunters.. The -whites, wherever they have fixed themselves, have waged upon them a gratuitous war of extermination ; and these innocent, useful and noble animals instinctively fly their footsteps. They remain in the vicinity of' the savages, who kill no more of tfiem,than subsistence or profit requires. The white hunters have destroyed them for their tongues only. They still range from Red river of the north to the populous regions of Mexk co ;— but let the smallest settlement of whites be fixed in their vicinity, and (the animals soon interpose aline of an hundred leagues of demar-i cation between them and their enemies. On the northern waters of the Mississippi, and between that river and the lakes, the muskrat and otter are taken in great numbers for their furs. The flesh of the muskrat is prized in these regions, by the Indians as a delicacy. We have been present at these highly flavored repasts,, when the peculiar smell of the animal perfumed the cabin.. At the sources of the Mississippi, Missouri, Yellowstone, Platte, White, Arkansas and Red rivers, and on all their tributaries, that have courses in the1 Rocky mountains, the great object of pursuit, both by the hunters and trappers, white and savage, is the beaver. It is the chief source of gain to the savages; their dependence for their supply from the whites of arms, ammunition, blankets, strouding, traps, whiskey, and all objects of necessity and desire. To these lonely and sequestersed regions repair hundreds of white hunters, who hunt for subsistence, and trap for gain They make their way in companies of armed partnerships, fitted out, aa a kind of guerillas. Sometimes a pair of sworn friends hunt together. There are not a few, who repair alone to these solitary streams and mountains. Outlawry, avarice, necessity, and appetite for lawless and unrestrained and unwitnessed roving, constant exposure and danger, the absolute need of relying alone upon their own personal strength and resources, create a very singular compound of astonishing quickness of ANIMALS. 65 perception and a reckless confidence in their own prowess. We have seen more than one hunter of this cast incurably attached to a solitude of labor and danger, compared with which Robinson Crusoe's sojourn on his island was but a mere pastoral experiment. They furnish an impres sive proof that there is no mode of life intrinsically so repulsive and painful, but man may become reconciled to it by habit. A lonely hunter, cast upon the elements, with nothing but prairies and mountains in view, without bread or salt, and every hour in jeopardy from beasts and savages, amidst scenery and dangers, that would naturally tend to raise the heart to God, trusting to no divinity, but his knife and his gun, building all his plans for the future on his traps, regarding the footstep of man imprinted in the sand an object of calculating apprehension, and almost equally dreading the face of the white man and the savage, in situations thus lonely and exposed, braves the heat of summer and the. ices of winter, the grizzly bear, and robbers of his own race, and the savages, for years. When he has collected a sufficient number of packs of beaver, he falls a hollow tree, slides it into some full mountain stream, and paddjes down the thousand leagues of the Missouri, and is seen'bustling about the streets of St. Louis, to make bargains for his furs. There are very simple and obvious marks, by which to class these packs, according to their quality and value* The more northern the range of the animal, the more valuable is the fur; and in the same parallel, those that live in mountain streams are more valuable, than those that live on plains'. The. habits of this valuable and social animal are well known, and are the same in this region, as elsewhere. The packs are rated by the pound, and pass in many places, as a substitute for money. They are, in fact, the circulating medium of Canadian and Missouri hunters, coureurs du bois, and many tribes of savages. St. Louis is the centre of the fur trade in this valley. Gray, grizzly, or white bear, ursus arcticus. His range is on the upper courses of the Missouri, and its tributaries, and along the bases of the Rocky mountains. The brown bear, except under particular circum stances, does not face man. But this terrible animal, so far from fearing or flying, pursues him, having less fear of him, than any other beast of prey. Indian warriors, in their vaunting war songs, when they perform what is called ' striking the post,' or rating the bravery of their exploits, recount having slain one of these animals, as no mean exploit, and, in fact, as not inferior to having slain a human enemy. It is one of the largest and strongest animals of prey, being out of comparison larger, than the brown bear. Lewis and Clark give the dimensions of one, slain by their party towards the sources of the Missouri- ' It measured round the head three feet five inches; round the heck three feet eleven 9 ' . 66 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. inches; length eight feet seven inches and a half; round the fore leg one foot eleven inches; length of talons four inches and a half! The weight is sometimes nearly thirteen hundred pounds. Like the lion and the tiger on the African deserts^ he reigns, the ferocious tyrant of these solitudes. The Crow Indians and the Gros ventres, who live in the range of this animal, have lost many of their bravest warriors by him. The white hunters are shy of attacking him, except in companies; and1 many have been destroyed in the attempt. The skin of those in the more northern regions is very valuable. It is rated in value from thirty to fifty dollars. Fortunately he is not very swift; and as he usually ranges in the timbered regions, and, unlike the brown bear, does not climb, hunters fly him by mounting a tree. Panther, by the French called tigre, is a ferocious animal of the cat family. They range the forests, over all this valley. They are of the size of the largest dogs, of a darkish gray color, marked with black spots.- They are in shape much like the domestic cat, with short legs, large paws, and long talons. Their head, too, resembles that of a cat, with whiskers not quite so long in proportion. They purr in the same way when they are in good humor, and seem to have all the habits of the cat We have often heard their wild, nocturnal cry at the commencement of twilight in the forests. They are dangerous when wounded, and under particular circumstances have been known to attack a man. They conceal themselves among the branches of trees, and thence dart upon their prey.- They seldom fail to attack a child, should they meet him alone. In the country west of the lower Mississippi, there is sometimes seen an animal of this kind, but much larger, than the panther. We saw a skin of this animal, killed, we believe, not far from Natchez, and it was the size of a leopard's skin, and of a color, intermediate between the spots of the leopard and the stripes of the African tiger. — There has, probably,, been exaggeration,, as to the size and numbers of these animals, in the accounts, that have been published of them. But there can be no doubt, that an animal of the panther species, of great size and fierceness, ranges' these forests, probably, an occasional visitor from the Mexican regions: Wolf. There are two species that are common — the gray, largey forest wolf, and the prairie wolf. We should judge the former to be larger than the Atlantic wolf. We encountered an uncommonly large one, in the forests between Natchitoches and the Sabine. A very large dog could not be brought to advance towards him, and he sat and eyed us, at a few rods distance. The prairie wolf is of a lighter gray, and not more than half the size of the former. They have sharper noses, and a form more resembling that of a fox. They are bold, fierce, cunning and mischievous animals, ANIMALS. 67 and, in their bark and howl, not easily distinguished from the domestic dog. They sometimes travel in packs on the prairies. We have often heard their shrill and sharp bark by night, from a cabin on the prairies. It was evidently a note of defiance to the dogs of the house. The latter retreat towards the cabin, evidencing fear, and diminishing their bark to a whine, and finally pawing at the door for admission within. They are a most annoying scourge to the farmer, and, in fact, the greatest impedi ment to the raising of sheep on the prairies. All the American varieties of foxes, porcupines and rabbits are common; the latter so much so, as to be exceedingly annoying to gardens and young nurseries. They breed in vast numbers in the patches of hazles and vines, and skirt the prairies and barrens. Raccoons are very troublesome to com fields, and it is a sport, prepa ratory to more serious hunting, for boys to sally out, and take them by night. Woodchucks and oppossums abound, and are generally so fat, as not to be able to reach their burrows, if overtaken at a little distance from them. These animals are called by the French, 'cochons du bois? They scald off the hair, and dress them, as roasting pigs, and consider them a great delicacy. The singular formation of the oppossum is too well known, to need description; but they have one habit, that we have not seen described, They seem to be lazy, reckless and stupid animals; and prove, that the profoundest dissimmulation may consist with the greatest apparent stupidity. It is familiar to every one, who has often seen this animal, that when you come upon it, at any distance from its shelter, which is a hollow tree or log, instead of retreating for that shelter, it turns on its side, throws out its legs and settles its body, its eyes, and its features into the supineness of death. Observers have remarked, that the imitation is perfect in every part of the body, but the tail, and that this retains a living and elastic coil, that only appertains to life. Even the instinctive shrewdness of the dog is at fault; for he applies his nose to the animal, and turns it over, and passes it by as dead. This astonishing trait of the instinct, or reasoning of this sluggish animal, is transferred by a figure to men. In the common parlance of the country, any one, who counterfeits sickness, or dissembles strongly for a particu lar purpose, is said to be ' possuming ! * Squirrels. Gray, black, chesnut, and all the smaller varieties of this animal abound. There is no part of the valley, where they do not prey upon corn fields, adjacent to woods, in such a manner, as that in autumn, farmers will not consider it an object to furnish a boy with gun, powder and lead, on condition, that he will shoot only about their com fields. It is a cheering spectacle in autumn, to walk in the beech and hickory 68 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. bottoms, where you may often see, at one view, half a dozen of these active and proud little animals, flourishing their erect and spread tails, barking defiance at you, or each other, and skipping, as if by the aid of wings, from branch to branch. It is a fact, to which we can bear occular testi mony, that they cross rivers ; at some times swimming ; at other times on a chip, or piece of bark, raising and spreading their tails, by way of sail. It often happens to these, as to other inexperienced navigators, that they spread too much canvass, and are overset, and drowned. It is related, as having happened in the year 1811, that they emigrated from the north towards the south by thousands, and with a front of some regu larity, along the lower part of the state of Ohio, and the whole front of Indiana. Thousands were drowned, in attempting to cross the Ohio. The skunk is common, and is oftener met, than east ofthe mountains ; but in other respects is the same bold animal, and possessing the same reliance upon his peculiar kind of defence. Gopher, a species of mole, more than twice the size of the common field mole. It^burrows in the prairies; and there are immense tracts covered with the little hillocks, made by the earth which they havedug from their burrows. They have an exquisitely soft, fine fur, of cerulean color; and they have on each side of their jaws a pouch, or skinny bag, of considerable size, which is usually seen distended with the dirt, which they are transporting.from their holes. They prey on the bulbous roots of flowers, on potatoes, and other vegetables, and are particularly destructive to young orchards, killing the trees by gnawing off a com plete circle of bark round, the body, near the roots. The mounds which they raise, are serious impediments in the way of driving carts and carriages over the theatre of their operations. An animal confounded with this, but not the same, inhabits the shores along the gulf of Mexico, and is called the Salamander. It is of the size, and in some respects, the appearance of a common rat. It is never seen abroad by day. It is a fierce' and fighting little animal, when overtaken in its burrows, and the wound? inflicted with its teeth severe. Elk. Large flocks of these animals are found in the northern limits of the range of the buffalo. To our view, an elk is no more, than a very, large deer, something exceeding the height of a common horse. Their flesh has the same flavor, as common venison. Their habits are similar to those ofthe deer. In the country where they range, hunting them is an object with the Indians, only secondary to that of hunting the buffalo. We have never seen the moose in this country ; but it is found in the northern and northwestern regions. Antelope, a kind of mountain deer, seen bounding on the summits of the' highest and most precipitous hills at the sources of the Missouri. BIRDS. 69 They are described, as being very fleet and beautiful animals, and their flesh is preferred to that of the common deer. Timid as they are, their excessive curiosity lures them to their destruction. — They gaze upon man, until, as if charmed, they seem arrested to the spot, and in this way are sometimes killed. Mountain sheep, an animal, that, like the former, inhabits mountains, choosing for its range the most remote and inaccessible at the sources of the Missouri. They have horns of prodigious size ; and are rather larger, than the deer. They are covered with a wool, like fur, in some parts white, and in others brownish. Their range is so solitary, and difficult of access, that they are not often killed. Prairie dog, arctomys Ludoviciana. This animal has received its ab-. surd name from the supposed similarity of its peculiar cry, or note, to the barking of a dog. In other respects there is little resemblance to that animal. It is of reddish brown color, interspersed with some gray and black. The color ofthe underside ofthe body is not unlike that of the skunk. It has rather a wide and large head, short ears, black whis kers, and a sharp and compressed nose. It something exceeds twice the size of a common gray squirrel. One of them measured from the tip of the nose to the extremity ofthe tail nineteen inches. Like the beaver, they are social and gregarious, living on the dry prairies in large communities, some of which occupy a circuit of miles. They live in burrows ; and at the entrance, there is a mound, formed by the earth, which they bring up in the excavation. In whatever direction they move, they have well beaten highways, from which every impediment is carefully removed. There are several occupants, probably all ofthe same family, of one burrow. In mild weather they are seen sporting about, the mouths of -their habitations, and seem to have much of the sprightliness, activity, and spirit of defi ance, of the squirrel. At the apprehended approach of danger, they raise that peculiar bark, from which they have derived their name. On the nearer approach of danger, they relinquish their vaporing, and retreat to their dens. They are said seldom to require drink, and- to remain torpid in their burrows through the winter. When overtaken, away from its home, this little animal shows all the impotent fierceness of a small cur. But when taken, it easily domesticates, and becomes gentle and affec tionate.* Birds. This valley, embracing all the varieties ofthe climate ofthe country east of the mountains, might be supposed to have the same birds, and those birds the same habits. The former is true, and the latter is not. We have noted no birds in the Atlantic country, that we have not seen *Forcatalo£riiH of heastn. rpp Annonrlix, tableNo. IV. 70 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. here. We have many, that are not seen there ; and those, that are com mon to both regions, have not the same habits here, as there, We have no doubt, that cultivation and the habitancy of civilized men affect the habits, and even the residence of birds. There are many in the more populous and cultivated regions beyond the mountains, that seem to be* long to orchards and gardens, and that appear to exult and be at home only in the midst of fruit arbors, and groves reared by art and luxury. It is remarked in the more populous and cultivated districts ofthe West, that in proportion, as the wilderness disappears, and is replaced by apple, pear peach and plumb trees, and fruit gardens, the birds, which cheered the infancy ofthe immigrants, and whose notes are associated in recollection with the charms of youthful existence, and the tender remembrances of the natal spot, and a distant and forsaken country, are found among the recent orchards. Every immigrant, especially, who was reared in New England, remembers the magpie or boblink, the bird of half formed leaves, of planting, and the freshness of spring. — -He remembers to have heard them chattering in the woods, almost to tiresomeness. They are occa-. sionally seen in the middle and northern regions of this valley. They are seldom heard to sing, and are only known by the lover of nature, who hears in the air, as they pass over his head, the single note, which they utter at the East, when they are leaving that country. Some years since, in Missouri, we saw a number of the males gathered on a spray, in the midst of a low prairie, of a sunny morning, after a white frost. They were chat-. tering away in their accustomed style. But they did but half carry out the song, that we used to hear in the meadows of New England, leaving a painful break in the middle, and reminding us of the beauti ful passage in the psalms, touching the exiles on the streams of Babylon. Robin, turdus migratorius. The robin-redbreast in the northern Atlantic country is, more than any other, the bird of orchards and gardens, and is there almost identified with the domestic affections of man, This delightful bird, in many places protected from the gun by public feeling, sings there such an unpretending, and yet sweet song, that the inhabitants need not regret wanting the nightingale. In the West, this bird makes annual visits; and is seen in the autumn, the winter and spring, but never, at least in the southern parts of the valley, in the summer. Thousands winter in Louisiana, and perch by night in the thick cane brakes, and are killed with a stick. In the middle regions, they visit the country in the autumn, to feed on the berries of the spice wood, laurus bengoin. They are recently heard beginning to sing in the orchards. The thrasher, turdus rufus, the perwink, turdus fuscus, and the blue bird, are in numbers, habits and song, as at the north, except that the blue bird is heard every pleasant day through the winter. BIRDS. 71 The splendid plumage, the bold habits, and the shrill scream of the bluejay, are alike familiar to the woods of Canada and the Sabine. Mocking-bird, turdus Orpheus, vel polyglottus, is seen in the middle and southern Atlantic states ; but is far more frequent in this valley. Its gay, voluble and jerky note, imitating that of all other birds, and heard at all seasons of the year, renders it a delightful tenant of the southern woods; It breeds in thorn bushes, and among the arbors of the briar vines ; and delights to sit on the tops of chimneys, darting perpendicu larly, as if in a frolic, high into the air above, and descending by the same movement, singing its gayest strain, all the while. It is a bird of sober plumage, and from its delicate structure, rather difficult to rear in a cage* Redbird, cardinalis Virginiana. The range, frequency and habits of this most beautiful bird are the same with the former; Its note has but little range. We have not heard it sing more than five notes ; but its! whistle is clear, mellow and delightful. It appears not to regard orchards, or human habitancy, but pours its Song in the deep forests. The traveller is cheered, as he rides along the bottoms, especially in sunny mornings, after frosts in the winter, by hearing this song softening the' harsh screaming of the jay* The male, after moulting, is of a most brilliant scarlet, with a fine crest, and a bill ofthe appearance of ivory. Nightingale sparrow, /nngiZZa melodia, a very diminutive sparrow with plain plumage, but pours from its little throat a powerful song, like that of the nightingale. In the southern regions ofthe valley, like the mock' ing-bird, this bird sings through the warm nights of summer, except during the darkness and the dawn of morning. Goldfinch, turdus aurocapillus. We have doubted, if this were the same bird with that, so called, in the Atlantic country. It is not so- brilliant in plumage, and has not exactly the same whistle ; but is here a gay and cheering bird in appearance and note. It builds the same hang-' ing nest, with the bird, so called, at the north. Parroquet, psittacus Caroliniensis. These are birds of the parrot class, seen from latitude 40° to the gulf of Mexico. Their food is the fruit of the sycamore, and their retreat in the hollow of that tree. They are a very voracious bird, preying on apples, grapes, and figs, and all kinds of fruit. They fly in large flocks,, and are seen in greatest numbers before a storm, or a great change in the weather. They have hooked, ivory bills, a splendid mixture of burnished gilding and green on the heads, and their bodies are a soft, and yet brilliant green. Their cry, as they are flying,. is shrill and. discordant. They are said to perch, by hanging by their bill to a branch. When they are taken, they make battle, and their hooked bill pounces into the flesh of their enemy. They are very annoy" "72 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. ing to fruit orchards, "and in this respect a great scourge to the farmer, We have seen no bird of the size, with plumage so brilliant. They impart a singular magnificence to the forest prospect, as they are seen darting through the foliage, and among the white branches of the sycamore. Owls. A great many varieties of this bird are found here. Their hooting and screaming, in every variety of tone and sound, often imita ting the cry of human distress and laughter, and sometimes the shrieks of a babe, are heard over all this valley in the deep forests and bottoms. We have heard forty at a time on the lower courses of the Mississippi. Among the varieties of the hawk and eagle class, the bald eagle is often seen soaring above the cliffs, or the deep forests. Swans, geese, ducks of a great many kinds, herons, cormorants, pelicans and sand-hill cranes, are the common and well known migra ting water fowls of this country. — The noise of their countless flocks, as they journey through the air in ..the spring, to the sources of the great rivers and lakes, and in autumn, to the gulf of Mexico, is one of the most familiar sounds to the ear of an inhabitant of the West, and is one of his strongest and pleasantest associations with spring and autumn. The noise of migrating geese and ducks, at those periods, is also familiar to the ear of an Atlantic inhabitant. That of the swans, pelicans and cranes is peculiar to this valley. The swan is well known for its stateli- ness and brilliant white. Its migrating phalanxes arein perfectly regular forms, as are those of the geese. They sometimes join forces, and fly intermixed with each other. Their noise, on the wing, is like the distant sound of a trumpet. They are killed on the rice lakes at the north, in the summer, and in the gulf and its neighboring waters in the winter. The younger ones are as fine for the table, as geese. The older ones are coarse and tough. They are of use for their fine quills, feathers and downs Sand-hill crane, grus Canadensis, is a fine, stately bird, as majestic in the water, as a swan, and considerably taller; of a perfectly sleefe compact and oily plumage, of a fine grayish white color. They are seeg in countless numbers, and not being of sufficient use to be the pursuit ofthe gunner, they, probably, increase. We have seen in the prairie between the Missouri and Mississippi, at the point of junction, acres covered with them, in the spring and autumn. They seem, at a distance like immense droves of sheep. They migrate in company with the pelicans ; and it is an interesting spectacle, that during their migrationSj they are seen for days together, sailing back and forward in the upper regions of the air, apparently taking the amusement of flying evolutions, and uttering at the same time a deep cry, which is heard distinctly, When the flocks are so high in the air, as not to be seen, or only seen BIRDS. 73 when their white wings are discerned, as specks of snow, from their being in a particular position to the rays of the sun. The pelican is a singular water fowl, with an ivory bill, extremely white plumage, larger in appearance, but not so heavy, as a full grown Canadian goose. They frequent the lakes and the sand bars of the rivers, during their migrations, in inconceivable numbers. Flocks of them, reaching a mile in length, passing over the villages, are no unusual spectacle, Below their beak, or bill, they have a pouch, or bag, which will contain, it is said, two quarts. In the autumn, when associated with the swans, geese, brants, ducks, cranes and loons, on the sand bars of the rivers, from their incessant vociferousness, they are very annoying companions to the inmates of boats, who lie to, and wish to find sleep. This being a country of long rivers, of frequent lakes and bayous, and sluggish waters, and marshy inlets of the sea, on the gulf of Mexico, it would be expected, as is the fact, that it would be the home of vast numbers and varieties of water fowls. No waters on the globe show greater numbers and varieties,, than the gulf of Mexico. In the winter, when these fowls take shelter in the bayous, swamps and prairies of Louisiana, they are killed in great numbers by the French and Indians. Water fowls are abundant and cheap in all the markets, Their feathers and quills are an object of some importance in commerce. From the double annual migrations of the water fowls, the inhabitants of the middle regions of the valley have biennial harvests of them. Pigeons sometimes are seen in great flocks. Their social and grega rious habits incline them to roost together, and their places of resort are called ' pigeon roosts.'' In these places they settle on all the trees for a considerable distance round, in such numbers, as to break off the branches, Turkey, meleagris gallipavo. The wild turkey is a fine, large bird, of brilliant, blackish plumage. It breeds with the domestic one ; and when the latter is reared near the range of the former, it is sure to be enticed into the woods by it. In some places they are so numerous, as to be easily killed, beyond the wants of the people. We have seen more than an hundred driven from one corn field. The Indians, and the western sportsmen, learn a way to hunt them, by imitating the cry of their young. Partridge, tetrao perdix, the same bird, which is called quail in New England. They breed in great numbers in the settled regions, and, much as they are hunted, increase with the population. They are brought in great numbers to the markets"; and are not nnfrequently taken, as they are crossing the rivers, on the steam boats. One of the standing amuse ments of the country is to take them, by driving them into a net. 10 74 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. Pheasant is the same bird, which is called partridge in New England. It is not so common in this country, as in that. It is something more brilliant in its plumage.— Though not often seen, it is frequently heard drumming on the logs in the deep forests. Prairie hen, tetrao pratensis, is seen in great flocks in the prairies of Missouri and Illinois, in the autumn. It is rather larger, than the domes tic hen. In flight, it appears like the pheasant and pratridge, and is a beautiful bird. It lights on barns, and hovers about corn fields. When the corn is not gathered, until in the winter, as often happens in the West, flocks of these birds are apt to prey upon it. It is easily tamed and domesticated. The flesh has the flavor and color of the wild pigeon. Hunters assert, that there is another bird of the pheasant class, at the sources of the Missouri, of the size of a turkey. Humming-bird, trochilus* They are of two colors— olive and green. Reptiles* Animals of the serpent, turtle and frog class do not materially differ from those, of the same parallels in the Atlantic country* All the varieties of the rattle snake, crotalus horridus, are seen, in some places in pernicious abundance. The yellow rattle snake is the largest of the species. It is sometimes seen, as large as a man's leg, and from six to nine feet in length. A species of small rattle snake is sometimes seen in great numbers on the prairies. It is said, in the regions far to the west, to consort with prairie dogs, and to inhabit the same burrows. There is a very troublesome species, called snappers, or ground rattle snakes. They travel in the night, and frequent roads and house paths. The copper head is a terrible serpent, deemed to inflict a more dangep ous bite, than the rattle snake ; It inhabits the same region, but is not so common as the former. It has a dirty brown color; and when it has recently shed its skin, some parts of its body resemble burnished copper, whence it derives its name. It is of a smaller size than the rattle snake. Moccasin snake. There are three or four varieties of this serpent, inhabiting the southern country. The upland moccasin has many aspects in common with the rattle snake, but is a serpent still more repulsive in appearance. They are sometimes of great size; and their fang teeth are the largest and longest, that we have seen. They are most often seen basking among the bastard cane. The water moccasins, as their name imports, are water snakes. The largest variety resembles the water snake of the Atlantic country. It has a very large, flat head, and is thence called by the French, ' tete plat? It opens its upper jaw at right angles to the under one. It has aground colored, scaly back; and in REPTILES. 75 point of venom, it is classed with the rattle snake. There is another species of the moccasin, rarely seen out of the water, of a brilliant copper color, with annular, gray stripes, marking off compartments at equal distances. Brown viper, or hissing snake. It is of a dirty brown color, from six to eight inches long; with a body large in proportion, and terminating abruptly in a sharp tail. When angry, their backs change color, and their heads flatten, and dilate to twice the common extent, and their hiss is like that of a goose. They are extremely ugly animals ; and, though very diminutive, are supposed to be of the most venomous class. We confined one by a stick across its back, and it instantly bit itself in two or three places. We gave it liberty, and observed its movements. It soon became very much swollen, and died. Horn snake. Judge Bullit, of Arkansas, informed us, that he killed one of these serpents in his smoke house. He described the serpent, as of a moderate size, blackish color, and with a thorn in the tail, resembling that of a dunghill cock. From its movements, he judged it to be its weapon of defence. We have heard others, who have killed or seen this serpent, describe it. We have heard many of the common reports of its deadly venom, but never have known a single attested proof; and we consider them all entirely fabulous. We have neither the information, nor space, to enable us to be minute in our catalogue and description of these loathsome and dreaded reptiles. We have seen six or eight species, that we never saw in the Atlantic country ; and we consider the southern parts of this region more infested with serpents, than that. Perhaps we might except from this remark the southern Atlantic country. Wherever the population becomes dense, the swine prey upon them, and they quickly disappear. The most per - manent and dangerous resorts of these reptiles are near the bases of rocky and percipitous hills, about ledges and flint knobs, and, in the lower and southern country, along the bayous, and near those vast swamps, that can not be inhabited for ages. People are often bitten by these terrible animals. The pain is excruciating; and the person, that is badly bitten, swells, and soon becomes blind. The more venomous of the serpents themselves become blind, during the latter part of summer. They are then, of course, less apt to strike their aim; but their bite, at this period, is more dangerous. The people suppose this blindness occasioned by the absorption of their own poison into their system. Whether it be, that the numerous remedies, that are prescribed here, are really efficacious, or whether, as to us appears more probable, the bite of these venomous reptiles is not fatal, unless the poison is conveyed into some leading vein, from whatever cause it be, it so happens, that 76 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. few fatalities occur from this cause. We have seen great numbers, that have been bitten by rattle snakes, or copper heads, or moccasins; and we have never seen a fatal case. We read, indeed, of a most tragical occur rence, more horrible in the relation, than the ancient fiction of Laocoon. An immigrant family inadvertently fixed their cabin on the shelving declivity of a ledge, that proved a den of rattlesnakes. Warmed by the first fire on the hearth of the cabin, the terrible reptiles issued in numbers, and of course in rage, by night into the room, where the whole family slept. As happens in those cases, some slept on the floor, and some in beds. The reptiles spread in every part of the room, and mounted-on every bed. Children were stung in the arms of their parents, and in each other's arms. Imagination dares not dwell on the horrors of such a scene. Most of the family were bitten to death; and those, who escaped, finding the whole cabin occupied by these horrid tenants, hissing, and shaking their rattles, fled from the house by beating off the covering of the roof, and escaping in that direction. It would be impossible to enumerate all the remedies, that are pre scribed here, for the bite of these reptiles. It is a received maxim, that the application of volatile alkali, internally, and to the wound, neutralizes the poison, and is a certain cure. Of harmless serpents, this country has the usual varieties, — as the green, garter, chicken, and coach-whip snakes. We have often seen the glass snake, with a body of the most lustrous brilliance. A stroke across the back separates the body into a number of pieces. Each of these pieces preserves for some time the power of loco-motion, and continues to move. The people believe, that these pieces soon meet, and unite, and become as before the separation. Bull, or prairie snake, is one of great size, and horrid appearance. It is common on the prairies, lives in holes in the ground, and runs at the passing traveller with a loud hiss ; but if he stands, it instantly retreats to its hole. It is perfectly harmless ; though such is its size) boldness and formidable appearance, that it is long, before the resident in these regions gets over his horror of it. Lizzards, lacertm. Ugly animals of this kind are seen, in greater or less numbers, in all the climates. They are found under cotton logs, and are dug from the rich and muddy alluvions. These last are lazy and loathsome animals, and are called ' ground puppies.' We never saw any disposition in them to bite. Common small lizzards are frequent in the southern districts, running along the logs, and making just such a sound as the rattle snake, when he gives his warning. There are varieties of small camelions. They are apparently harmless animals; though when we have caught them, they showed every disposi- REPTILES. 77 tion to bite. They will change in half an hour to all the colors of the prism. Green seems to be their favorite color, and when on a green tree, that is their general hue. While in this color, the under part of their neck becomes a beautiful scarlet. Their throat swells, and they emit a sharp note, like that of one of the larger kinds of grasshoppers, when singing. We have placed them on a handkerchief, and they have gradu ally assumed all its colors. Placed on a black surface, they become brown; and they evidently suffer while under this color, as is manifested by uneasy movements, and by strong and quick palpitations, visible to the eye. They are very active and nimble animals, three or four inches in length. Scorpions are lizzards of a larger class, and flatter heads. They are animals of an ugly appearance, and are deemed very poisonous. We could not learn, however, that any person had been known to be bitten by them. When attacked, they show, indeed, the anger and the habits of serpents, vibrating a fiery and forked tongue, and biting with great fury at the stick, which arrests them. What is here called tarantula, is a huge kind of spider, estimated to inflict a dangerous bite. The copper colored centipede is of a cylindrical form, and oftentimes of the size and length of a man's finger. A family is said to have been poisoned, by taking tea, in which one of them had been inadvertently boiled. Alligator is the most terrible animal of this class. This large and powerful lizzard is first seen in numbers, in passing to the south, on the the Arkansas, — that is to say, a little north of 33° ; and this is its general northern limit across the valley. Vast numbers are seen in the slow streams andshallow lakes of Florida and Alabama; but they abound most on Red river, the Mississippi lakes, and the bayous west of that river. Forty have been seen at one time on a muddy bar of Red river. On these sleeping waters, the cry of a sucking pig on the banks will draw a shoal of them from their muddy retreats at the bottom. The largest measures something more than sixteen feet from the snout to the ex tremity of the tail. They have at times, especially before stormy weather, a singular roar, or bellow, not exactly, as Bartram has describ ed it, like distant thunder, — but more like the half suppressed roarings of a bull. When moving about on their customary vocations in the water, they seem like old logs in motion. In fine weather they doze in listlessness on the sandbars. Such is their recklessness, that they allow the people on the passing steam boats to come within a few paces of them. The ascent of a steam boat on an aligator stream, at the proper reason, is a continual discharge of rifles at them. A rifle ball will glance 78 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. from their bodies, unless they are hit in a particular direction and place» We witnessed the shots of a man, who killed them nine times in ten. They are not, like tortoises, and other amphibious animals, tenacious of' life, but bleed profusely, and immediately expire, when mortally wounded. They strike with their tails, coiled into the section of a circle; and this blow has great power. The animal stricken, is by the same blow pro pelled towards their mouth, to be devoured. Their strength of jaws is prodigious, and they are exceedingly voracious. They have large, ivory teeth, which contain a cavity, sufficiently large to hold a musket charge of powder, for which purpose they are commonly used by sportsmen. The animal, when slain, emits an intolerable smell of musk; and it is asserted, that its head contains a quantity of that drug. They will sometimes chase children, and would overtake them, were it not for their inability to make lateral movements. Having few joints in their body, and very short legs, they can not readily turn from a straight forward direction. Consequently, they, who understand their movements, avoid them without difficulty, by turning off at right angles, and leaving the- animal to move forward, under its impulse in that direction. Indeed,. they are by no means so dangerous, as they are commonly reputed to be.. It is said, they will attack a negro in the water, in preference to a white. But they are chiefly formidable to pigs, calves, and domestic animals of' that size. They are rather objects of terror from their size, strength, and ugly appearance, and from their large teeth and strong jaws, than from the actual injuries, which they have been known to inflict." The female deposits a great number of eggs, like a tortoise, in a hole on the sandbars, and leaves them to be hatched by the ardors of the sun upon the sand. When they are hatched, the turkey buzzards and the parents are said alike to prey upon them. Instinct prompts them for self preservation to plunge in the water. The skin of the alligator is valuable for the tanner. Tortoises. There are the usual varieties of the Atlantic country. The soft shelled mud-tortoise of the lakes about New Orleans, and west of the Mississippi, is said to be not much inferior to the West India sea turtle for the table. Epicures, who are dainty in their food, consider the flesh a great delicacy. The lower part of this valley is a land of lakes, marshes and swamps; and is of course, prolific in toads, frogs, and animals of that class. The bull frog, rana boans vel pipens. The deep notes of this animal are heard in great perfection in the swamps back of New Orleans. Murena siren is a very singular animal, as far as we know, undescribed by naturalists. It somewhat resembles the lamprey, and is nearly two feet in length. It seems intermediate between the fish and the lizzard PISHES. 79 class. It has two short legs, placed near the head, It is ampliibious, and penetrates the mud with the facility of crawfish. Crawfish. There are vast numbers of these small, fresh water -lobsters every where in the shallow waters and low grounds of this country. By penetrating the levee of the Mississippi, they have more than once made those little perforations that have imperceptibly enlarged to crevasses, by which the inundation of the river has been let in upon the country. In the pine barrens of Florida, Alabama and Mississippi, is found an animal, apparently of the tortoise class, commonly called a gouffre. It has a large and thick shell and burrows to a great depth in the ground. It is of prodigious power and strength, and resembles in many respects the loggerhead turtle. The ichthyology of the gulf of Mexico and its waters, of the Mississippi, and the waters west of it, and of the northern lakes and their waters, has not been scientifically explored. We are able only to give that ofthe Ohio and its waters, as explored and described by Mr. Rafin- esque. We remark, however, that the fishes of all the western waters ¦are very similar, and that the classes of this table include most of the fishes that are found in the waters of the Mississippi valley. Thoraic Fishes. Salmon perch, perca salmonea. A fine, spotted fish, from one to three feet long ; flesh white, tender and well flavored. Vulgar name, Ohio Salmon. Golden eyed perch, perca chrysops. Rock bass. An excellent table fish not often taken. Black dotted perch, perca nigro punctata. Black bass. Found on the lower waters of the Ohio. Bubbler amblodon. Buffalo perch. Found in all the waters of the Ohio. Its name is derived from the singular grunting noise, which it makes, a noise, which is familiar to every one, who has been much on the Ohio. It is a fine fish for the table, weighing from ten to thirty pounds. Dotted painted tail, calliurus punctatus. Bride perch, or painted tail. A small fish, from four to twelve inches long ; not very common in the Ohio. More common in the small tributaries. Gilded sun fish, ichthelis macrochira. A beautiful fish, three or four inches long. Common in the Ohio and its waters. Blue sun fish, ichthelis cyanella. Hardly so large, as the former. Red eye sun fish, ichthelis erythrops. Red eyes. — Length three to eight inches. Eared sun fish, ichthelis aurita. Sun fish. Length from three to twelve inches. y 80 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. Big eared sun fish, ichthelis megalotis. A fine small fish. Length from three to eight inches. Common in the waters of Kentucky. Vul gar name, red belly. River bass, lepomis. Common in the Ohio and its waters, and easily taken with the hook. Pale bass, lepomis pallida. Yellow bass. From four to ten inches. Streaked cheeks lepomis trifasciata. Yellow perch one of the best kinds of table fish. Length from one to two feet. Common in the Ohio and its waters. Brown bass, lepomis flexuolaris. Black perch. Length from one to two feet. Like the former a fine fish. Trout bass, lepomis salmonea. Brown trout. Length from' six to twenty-four inches. Delicate and white flesh. Spotted river bass, lepomis notata. Same vulgar name with the former, aud commonly considered the same fish. Differs from it in many respects. Sun fish river bass, lepomis ichtheloides. White bass. — Length from four to eight inches. Gold ring promoxis, promoxis annularis. Silver perch. Length from three to six inches. Red eye, aglocentrus. Green bass. A very beautful fish, from three to twelve inches long. White eyed barbot, pogostoma leucops. Bearded sun fish. A very beautiful fish, twelve inches long, and sometimes weighs a pound. Hog fish, etheostoma. Hog bass. Length from three to nine inches, Bass hog fish, etheostoma calliura, Minny bass. Fox tail hog fish, etheostoma Jlabelletta. Fox tail. Black hog fish, etheostoma nigra. Black minny. A very small fish. Blunt nose hog fish, etheostoma blennoides. A very singular looking, small fish. Common hog fish, etheostoma caprodes. Length from two to six inches. Abdominal Fishes. Ohio gold fish, dromolotus chrysocolor. Ohio shad. Length from twelve to eighteen inches. Is seen in the spring from Cincinnati to the falls of the Ohio. Spotted gizzard, dorostoma rotata. Hickory shad.— Length nine to ten inches. Ohio gold herring notemigonus auratus. Gold herring. Length from four to eight inches. Flesh tolerably good. False herring, hyodon. Herring. Five species. Not at all like the herring of the Atlantic waters. Tolerable fish for the table. FISHES. 81 Salmo, trout. This species is found on the upper waters of the Mis souri and the Ohio. The white fish of the lakes has been sometimes classed in this class, and has been said to be found on the head waters ofthe Wabash and the Miami. Alleghany trout, salmo Alleghaniensis. Found on the mountain brooks of the Alleghany and Monongahela, — Length eight inches. Fine for the table. Take the bait, like all this species with a spring. Black trout, salmo nigrescens. Rare species. Found on the waters of Laurel hill. Length six inches. Minny, minnulus. Bait fish. Of these diminutive fish, there are a vast number in the different waters of the Mississippi. Sixteen spe cies have been noted on the Ohio. The larger kinds of them bear the name of shiner. Gold head shiner, luxilus chrysocephalus. Gold chub. Length six inches. Kentucky shiner, luxilus KentucJciensis. Red tail. — Fine fish bait. Yellow shiner, luxius intcrruptus . Yellow chub . — Three inches in length . Big black chub, semotilus dorsalis. Big back minny. Length three to six inches. Big head chub, semotilus cephalus. Big mouth. Length from six to eight inches. Silver side fall fish, rutilvs pldgyrus . Silver side. — Length from four to six inches. Baiting fall fish, rutilus comprcssus. Length from two to four inches. Anomal fall fish, rutilus anomalus. Length three inches. Red minny, rutilus ruber. A beautiful, small, red fish, two inches in length. Black headed flat head. Length three inches. Ohio carp sucker. Length from one to three feet. Good for the table. Taken with the hook, seine or spear. Buffalo carp sucker . Found on the lower waters of the Ohio. Vul gar name, buffalo perch. One foot in length. One of the best fish for the table. Brown buffalo fish, catostomus babalns. One ofthe best fishes in the western waters, and found in all of them. Length from two to three feet, and weighing from ten to thirty pounds . Black buffalo fish, catostomus niger . Found in the lower waters of the Ohio and in the waters of the Mississippi. Sometimes weighs fifty pounds. Olive carp sucker. A variety of the former. Not so good for the table. Commonly 'called carp. 11 82 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. Sailing sucker, catostomus velifer. Skim back. Length from twelve to fifteen inches. Mud sucker, catostomus xanthopus. Length from six to ten inches, Flesh very soft. Black faced sucker, catostomus melanops. Black sucker. Length from four to six inches. Black back sucker, catostomus melanotus. Blue sucker. Length eight inches. Red tail sucker, catostomus erythrus. Red horse. — Length one foot. Kentucky sucker, catostomus flexuosus. Common sucker. Ten to twelve inches long. Bites at tire hook, and is fine for the table. Big mouthed sucker,, megastomus. Brown sucker. — Taken with the seine. Pittsburgh sucker, catostomus Duquesni. White sucker. Length fifteen to twenty inches. Found in the Ohio, near Pittsburgh. Good for the table. Long sucker, catostomus elongatus. Brown sucker. Length fifteen to twenty inches. Of the same quality, and found in the same waters with the former. Black suckrel, cycleptus nigrescens. Rarely seen in the Ohio and' Missouri. Fine for the table. Length two feet. Cat fish, pimelodus. This is the most common fish in all the western waters. Twelve species have already been noted in the Ohio. The vari eties are very numerous in the waters west of that river. They are without scales, and of all colors and sizes. Their mouths, when open, are circular. They are easily taken with a hook. They re ceive their English name from the noise which they make, when at rest, a noise very similar to the purring of a cat, and one of the most familiar to those, who are used to the western waters. Spotted cat fish, silurus maculosus. White cat fish. — Length from ona to three feet. Flesh good. Blue cat fish, pimelodus cerulescens. They have been taken, weighing about one hundred and fifty pounds. Silver cat fish, pimelodus argyrus. Clammy cat fish, pimelodus viscosus Clouded cat fish, pimelodus neculosus. Yellow cat fish, pimelodus caprius. Black cat fish, pimelodus melas. Yellow headed cat fish, pimelodus xanthocephalus. Mud cat fish, pimelodus limosus. Mud cat, pilodictis. Mud fish. Buries itself in the mud. Some- FISHES. 83 times weighs twenty pounds. Bites at the hook, and is good for the table. Yellowback, noturus fiava. Commonly confounded with the yellow cat fish; but is a different fish. Ohio toter, hypertelium macropterum. Length two or three inches. Makes itself a cell by surrounding its place with pebbles ; hence, from the Virginia word ' tote,' to carry, called a toter. Ohio ribband fish, sarchisus vittatus. Length from six to twelve inches Gar fish. Pike, esox. We have noted a great many species of pikes in the Ohio and Mississippi, and their waters. They are called pike, pickerel and jack fish; and perfectly resemble the fish of the same names in the Atlantic waters. The Indians of the Wabash and the Illinois call them pkcannau. They are of all sizes, from half a pound to twenty pounds. Esox vittatus, jack fish. White pickerel. Length sometimes five feet. Gar fish, lepiosteus. There are a great many varieties in the western country. The alligator gar is sometimes eight feet in length; and is strong, fierce, voracious, and formidable not only to the fish, which he devours by tribes, but even to men, who go into the water near him. Their scales will give fire with the steel. They are not used for the table; but whether this be owing to the difficulty of skinning them, or to the badness ofthe flesh, we know not. Duck bill gar fish, lepiosteus platostomus. Length sometimes four feet. Taken with the hook, or the spear; and is good for the table. White gar fish, lepiosteus albus. Length four to six feet. Resembles the pike in shape. Ohio gar fish, lepiosteus oxyeus. Length six feet. — Rarely seen ; and not good for the table. Long bill gar fish, lepiosteus longirostris. Length forty inches. Devil-jack-diamond fish, litholepis adamantinus. This is the monster ofthe Ohio. It is rarely seen as high, as the falls ofthe Ohio, and proba bly, lives in the Mississippi. Length from four to ten feet. One was caught, which weighed four hundred pounds. It is extremely voracious; and like the alligator gar fish, or lepiosteus ferox, its scales will give fire with the steel. Apodial Fishes. Broad tail eel, anguilla laticauda. Length from two to four feet. Black eel, anguilla atterima. Same length as the former; and fine for the table. Yellow bellied eel, anguilla xanthomelas. Length from two to three feet. 84 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. Yellow eel, anguilla lutea. Length two feet. This is the best ofthe species for the table. Atelosian Fishes. Sturgeon, acripenser. There are six species found in the Ohio. Spotted sturgeon, accipenser maculosus. Length two feet. Shovel fish sturgeon, accipenser platorynchnus. Shovel fish. Length two to three feet. Weight twenty pounds. Tolerable for the table. Fall sturgeon, accipenser serotimus. Length five to six feet. Indif ferent for the table. Ohio sturgeon, accipenser Ohioensis. Length three to four feet. Big mouth sturgeon, accipenser macrostoma. Length four feet. Good for the table. Very large mouth. Flat nose double fin, dinectus truncatus. Length two feet. Skin thick and leathery. Western spade fish, polyodon foltum, is not eaten. Length from one to three feet. Toothless paddle fish, platinostra cdentula. Length three to five feet, and sometimes weighs fifty pounds. Indifferent for the table. The spatula is cunei-form, eight to twelve inches long, and used for digging in the mud. Gourd fish sturgeon, accipenser laginarius. Gourd fish. Length two to three feet. Mississippi saw fish, pristis Mississippiensis- Length three to six feet. Twenty-six long sharp teeth on either side, in the form of a saw; and is commonly shown in museums. Spotted horn fish, proceros macculatus. Length two to three feet. Horn one fourth the length of the body • /- The fish of the western rivers are generally decried in comparison- with those of the Atlantic waters. The comparison has not been fairly instituted. The former are all, except those hereafter described, as be longing to the market of New Orleans, fish of fresh waters; the latter chiefly of the sea. Fresh water fish, in general, will not vie with those of the sea. The comparison being between the fresh water fish of the one country and the other, the latter are as good as the former. The shad and salmon of the Atlantic waters, it is true, are no where found ¦ though we have fish, that bear the same name. Those fine fish have their general habitancy in the sea. The trout of Louisiana and Florida is not the same with the fine fish of that name, that is taken in the cold mountain streams ofthe northern country of the Atlantic. It is a fish of the perch class, beautifully marked with golden stripes, and taking bait with a spring, like the trout. It weighs from one to four pounds. It is FISHES. 85 a fine flavored, solid fish for the table. No angling can compare with that of this fish in the clear pine wood streams of the southern divisions of this country: With fish bait, a barrel may be taken in a few hours. Cat fish of the Mississippi, silurus Mississippiensis, differs considera bly from that of the Ohio. It is often taken weighing over an hundred pounds. Buffalo of the Mississippi, bubalus Mississippiensis, is larger, and has a different appearance from that of the Ohio. They are taken in immense quantities in the meadows and lakes of the Mississippi, and greatly resemble the Atlantic shad. Perch, perca maculata, is a fine fish, weighing from three to £ve pounds. Bar fish, perca argentea, are taken with a hook. They go in shoals in the southern running waters. They weigh from one to three pounds, and are beautifully striped with brown and silver. Drum, rock fish, sheep's head, &c. are large and fine fish, taken in the lakes on the gulf of Mexico, that are partially mixed with salt water, and so saline, as not to be potable. They correspond in size to the cod and haddock of the Atlantic country; and are among the most common fish in the market of New Orleans. Spade, or shovel fish, platirostra edentula, a mud fish of the middle regions of the valley, found in muddy lakes. They weigh from ten to fifty pounds, are without scales, and have in advance of their mouths, a smooth, bony substance, much resembling an apothecary's spatula, from six inches to a foot in length, and two or three inches in width. Its use, apparently, is to turn up the mud in order to find subsistence. They are extremely fat, and are taken for their oil. We have never remarked this fish in any museum, although to us the most strange and whimsical looking fish, we have seen. The pike of these waters is precisely the same fish, as is taken with that name in the Atlantic streams. A fine fish of this species, called piccannau, is taken in the Illinois and the upper waters of the Wabash. , We have seen one instance of a horribly deformed animal, apparently intermediate between the class testudo, and fishes. It was in a water of the Washita, and we had not a fair opportunity to examine it. It is called toad fish; has a shell, like a tortoise; but has the other aspects of a fish. It is said to be sufficiently strong, to bear a man on its back ; and from the account of those, who have examined it, this animal must be a singu lar lusus natures. Alligator gar, a fish, shaped like a pike; but still longer, rounder and swifter. Its dart equals the flight of birds in rapidity. It has a long, round and pointed mouth, thick set with sharp teeth. Its body is covered 86 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. with scales of such a texture, as to be impenetrable by a rifle bullet, and, when dry, to make fire with steel. It is a fish of most outlandish appearance, weighing from fifty to two hundred pounds. It is a terrible and voracious animal, biting asunder whatever it can embrace in its long mouth; and is to us, who have seen it in waters, where we bathed, a far more formidable animal, than the alligator. It is, in fact, the shark of rivers. The fish of the gulf shore are of a very peculiar character,-s-berng taken in shallow lakes, principally composed of fresh water, but having outlets into the gulf, through which, when the wind blows strongly from the south, the sea water is forced to such a degree, as that they become salt, the fish possess an intermediate character, between those of fresh and salt water. Some of the kinds and sizes of the cat fish are fine for the table. The fishes of the Mississippi and its tributaries, generally, are tough, coarse, large and unsavory. The trout, so called, and the bar fish, are fine. The picannau, perch, and other fish of the Illinois, are represented, as excel lent; and in that river, they are taken in great abundance. A line, here called a ' trot line,' drawn across the mouth of the Illinois, where it enters the Mississippi, with hooks appended at regular distances, took five hun dred pounds in a night. We have taken in Big creek, a water of the Washita, seventy five trout in two hours with the hook. Except the trout, the small, yellow cat fish, the pike, the bar fish and the perch, the fish of the western waters are not much admired. Rivers. Under this head we propose to describe the Mississippi only, reserving our description of the other, western rivers, until we treat of the states and regions, in which they principally run. The Mississippi imparts a name and a character to the valley. It has been described with a frequency and minuteness, to give any new attempt at delineating it an air of triteness and repetition. But the very idea of this noble stream is invested with an interest and grandeur, which will cause, that a faithful account of it can never become trite, or tedious. It is, in some respects, the noblest river in the world,— draining a larger valley, and irrigating a more fertile region, and having, probably, a longer course, than any othef - stream. Contrary to the general analogy of very large rivers, it bends from north to south, and traverses no inconsiderable section of the globe. It commences in many branches, that rise, for the most part, in wild rice lakes; but it traverses no great distance, before it has become a broad stream. From its commencement, it carries a wide expanse of waters, with a current scarcely perceptible, along a marshy bed. At other times, its fishes are seen darting over a white sand, in waters almost as transpa- RIVERS . 87 rent as air. At other times, it is compressed to a narrow and rapid current between high and hoary lime stone bluffs. Having acquired in a course, following its meanders, of three hundred miles, a width of half a mile, and having formed its distinctive character, it precipitates its waters down the falls of St. Anthony. — Thence it glides, alternately through beautiful meadows and deep forosts, swelling in its advancing march with the tribute of an hundred streams. In its progress it receives a tributary, which of itself has a course of more than a thousand leagues, Thence it rolls its accumulated, turbid and sweeping mass of waters through continued forests, only broken here and there by the axe, in lonely grandeur to the sea. No thinking mind can contemplate this mighty and resistless wave, sweeping its proud course from point to point curving round its bends through the dark forests, without a feeling of sublimity. The hundred shores, laved by its waters ; the long course of its tributaries, some of which are already the abodes of cultivation, and others pursuing an immense course without a solitary dwelling of civil ized man on their banks ; the numerous tribes of savages, that now roam on its borders; the affecting and imperishable traces of generations, that are gone, leaving no other memorials of their existence, or materials for their history, than their tombs, that rise at frequent intervals along its banks; the dim, but glorious anticipations of the future; — these are subjects of contemplation, that can not but associate themselves with the view of this river. It rises in high table land ; though the country at its source has the aspect of a vast marshy valley. A medium of the different authorities, touching the point of its origin, gives it to be in latitude 47° 47'. Travel lers and authorities differ, too, in the name of the lake, or reservoir, where it is supposed to commence. Some name Turtle lake, and some Leech lake, as its source. The truth is, that in speaking of the source of the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Nile, and other great rivers, readers are only amused with fictions and names. Of a nameless number of tributaries, it would be impossible to say, which carried the most water or had the greatest length of course, or best merited the honor of being considered the parent stream. A great number of streams, rising in the same plateau, and interlocking with the waters of Red river, and the other streams of lake Winnipeck, unite to form the St. Peter's and the Mississippi. Different authorities assign to these rivers such different names, that we should rather perplex, than instruct our readers, by putting down names, as having more authority than others. The St* Peter's, the principal upper branch of the Mississippi, has been scientifi cally and faithfully explored by the gentlemen of Long's expedition. — The St. Peter's receives ten or twelve tributaries, some of them considera- 88 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. ble streams, before its junction with the Mississippi. The principal of these are called Spirit, Beaver, Yellow, Medicine, Red Wood, Aux Liards and Blue Earth rivers on the west side, and Miawakakong and Epervier from the east. The principal river of the west fork of the Mississippi is the river de Corbeau. The other fork, before its junction with the main river, receives Deer, Meadow, Swan and Savanna rivers. Below Cedar and Muddy rivers, between 45° and 46°, there are strong rapids. Between them and the falls are Crow and Rum rivers. With the common propensity of travellers to exaggerate, the falls of St. Anthony, until very recently, have been much overrated. Instead of the extravagant estimates of the first French writers, or the fall of fifty feet assigned to them by more modern authorities ; the real fall of the Mississippi here is between sixteen and seventeen feet of perpendicular descent. Though it has not the slightest claim to compare with that of Niagara in grandeur, it furnishes an impressive and beautiful spectacle in the loneliness of the desert. The adjoining scenery is of the most striking and romantic character; and as the traveller listens to the solemn roar of the falls, as it sinks into feeble echoes in the forests, a thrilling story is told him of the love and despair of a young Dacota Indian woman, who, goaded by jealousy towards her husband, who had taken another wife, placed her young children in a canoe, and chaunting the remembrances of love -and broken vows, precipitated herself and her infants down the falls. Indians are always romancers, if not poets. Their traditions say, that these ill-fated beings, together with their canoe. so perished, that no trace of them was seen. But they suppose, that her spirit wanders still near this spot, and that she is seen on sunny mornings,' carrying her babes in the accustomed manner bound to her bosom, and still mourning the inconstancy of her husband. Above the falls, the river has a width of five or six hundred yards. Immediately below, it contracts to a width of two hundred yards; and there is a strong rapid for a considerable distance below. Ninety miles below the falls, and between 44° and 45°, it receives Rapid and St. Croix rivers; the former from the west, and the latter from the east. The St. Croix is reputed to have a boatable course of two hundred miles, and rises in lakes not far from the waters of lake Superior. Near 44°, from the west comes in Cannon river, a tributary, which enters not far above the northern extremity of lake Pepin. This is no more, than an enlargement of the river. It is a beautiful sheet of water of some miles in length, and broadening in some places from one to three miles in width. Nearly at its lower extremity, it receives the Chippeway from the east,with a boatable course of about an hundred miles. Between lake Pepin and the parallel of 43°, come in three or RIVERS. 89 four inconsiderable rivers, of which Buffalo, Bluff and Black rivers, from the east, are the principal. Between 43° and 42° are Root, Upper Iaway and Yellow rivers from the west, and La Croix and Bad Axe rivers from the east. Ouisconsin river comes in, from the east, about the parallel of 48°, and near that very noted point on the river, Prairie du Chien. It is one of the most considerable tributaries above the Missouri. It has a boata ble course of more than two hundred miles, and interlocks by a very short portage with Fox river, that empties into Green bay of lake Michi gan. In its progress towards the Mississippi, this river receives nine or ten considerable streams. It is the liquid highway of passage for the Canadian traders, trappers and savages, from Mackinaw and the lakes to the immense regions of the Mississippi and MissourL A little below this, comes in Turkey river from the west, and La Mine from the east. It is so named, from its traversing the country of the Illinois lead mines. Lead ore is dug here, at Dubuque's, and other lead mines, particularly on Riviere du Fe ve, or Fever river, probably, with greater ease, and in more abundance, than in any other country. These mines are found on a range of hills, of which the Smoky mountains are the highest points. On the opposite side comes in Tete de MorL A range of hills, that stretches across the river towards the Missouri, is probably, all a country of lead mines; for we have seen beautiful specimens of lead ore, dug near the Missouri, where this range of hills strikes that river, A little below the parallel of 41°, comes in from the west the Wapisi- pinacon, a river of some magnitude and a considerable length of course. On the same side, a little lower down, comes in the Little Soutoux; and still lower, from the east comes in Rock river, a very considerable, limpid and beautiful river, celebrated for the purity of its waters, and the fineness of its fish. The lands in its vicinity are fertile. Among its principal tributaries are the Kishwake and Pektanons. Near the entrance of this river into the Mississippi is the United States' garrison, fort Armstrong. This river, like the Ouisconsin, has an easy communication by a portage with lake Michigan, and is considered boatable for a distance of two hundred and forty* miles. Below this river are long rapids and at low water, difficult for large boats to ascend. A little lower on this river, on the west side, comes in the Iaway, a stream of some magnitude. Below the parallel of 41°, come in from the eastern side two or three inconsiderable streams. Near 40°, on the west side, and in the state of Missouri, comes in the Des Moines, the largest tributary from the west above the Missouri. It receives itself a number of considerable streams, and enters the Mississippi by a mouth one hundred and fifty yards wide> It is supposed to have a boatable course of nearly three hundred miles; 12 90 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. and it waters a delightful country. On the opposite side, the waters, for a long distance, which rise near the Mississippi, flow into the Illinois. Between the Des Moines and the Illinois, come in from the west the Wacondah, Fabian, Jaustioni, Oahahah, or salt river, Bceuf, or Cuivre and Dardenne rivers. These rivers are from fifty to an hundred yards wide at their mouth, and have boatable courses of some length. In latitude 39°, comes in the Illinois from the east,-— a noble, broad and deep stream, nearly four hundred yards wide at its mouth, having a course of about four hundred miles, and boatable almost its whole distance. It is the most considerable tributary of tin: Mississippi above the Missouri, interlocking at some seasons of the ) ear, by one of its principal branches, the Des Plaines, with the Chicago of lake Michigan, without any portage. On this river, and some of the streams above, the peccan tree is found in its^utmost perfection. A little below 39°, from the west comes in the mighty Missouri, which, being both longer, and carrying more water, than the Mississippi, and imparting its own character to the united stream below, some have thought, ought to have given its name to the river from the junction. Below the Missouri, omitting the numberless and nameless small streams, that come in on either side, as we have omitted them above, we shall only notice those rivers, that from their magnitude, or other circum stances, deserve to be named. The first river of any importance, that enters the Mississippi on the west side, below the Missouri, is the Mar- amec, that comes in twenty miles below St. Louis, a little above the parallel of 38°. It is nearly two hundred yards wide at its mouth, and has a course by its meanders of two hundred miles. Nearly in 38°, comes in from the other side the Kaskaskia, that runs through a most fertile and beautiful country in Illinois. It is eighty yards wide at its mouth, and has a course of nearly two hundred miles, great part of which, at some seasons of the year, is boatable. On the opposite side, enter two or three inconsiderable streams below St. Gene vieve; on one of which is a saline, where considerable salt is made. Forty miles below Kaskaskia, comes in from the east Big Muddy. It is a con siderable stream, remarkable for having on its shores fine coal banks.— Three miles below, on the west side enters Apple creek, on which used to be a number of villages of Shawnees and Delawares. Between 36° and 37°, on the east side, comes in the magnificent Ohio, called by the French, 'La Belle Riviere? It is by far the largest eastern tributary of the Mississippi. At the junction, and for an hundred miles above, it is as wide, as the parent stream. From this junction, it is obvious, from the very long course of the Tennessee, that river running into the Ohio in a direction apparently parallel and opposite to the RIVERS. 91 Mississippi, that we can not expect to find any very important tributaries to the latter river, for a considerable distance below the mouth of Ohio, on that side. We find, in fact, that the Yazoo is the only river, that enters from the east, which deserves mention as a river of importance. Kaski- nompee, Reelfoot, Obian, Forked and Hatchy are inconsiderable streams, that enter from the east, between the Ohio and the Chickasaw bluffs. Wolf river is of more importance, has a considerable length of course, and is fifty yards wide at its mouth. On the west side, between 35° and 34°. enters the St. Francis. It is two hundred yards wide at its mouth, and has a comparative course of four hundred miles; three hundred of which, on one of its forks, are considered boatable. A little above 34°, enters White river, rising in the Black mountains, separating its waters from those of the Arkansas. It has a comparative course of twelve hundred miles, and enters by a mouth between three and four hundred yards wide. Thirty miles below, and between 34° and 33°, comes in the Arkansas, — next to the Missouri, the largest tributary from the west. It enters by a mouth five hundred yards wide. Its waters, when the river is full, are of a dark flame color; and its course, including its meanders, is commonly computed at two thousand five hundred miles. Between 33° and 32°, a little above the Walnut hills, in the state of Mississippi, enters from the east the Yazoo, a river, which rises in the country of the Indians, and passes through the state of Mississippi, entering by a mouth, between two and three hundred yards wide. Below the Yazoo, on the same side, bayou Pierre, Big Black, Cole's creek and Homochitto, enter the river. Eighty miles below Natchez, and a little above 31°, on the west side enters Red river, which, although not generally so wide, as the Arkansas, probably, has as long a course, and carries as much water. Immediately below the river, the Mississippi carries its greatest volume of water. Even above Red river, in high floods, water escapes from the Mississippi on the west side, in a great many places, which never returns; but not in quantity to carry off as much, as Red river brings in. A league and a half below Red river, on the same side, is seen the first important bayou, or efflux, that begins to diminish, and convey to the gulf of Mexico by its own separate channel, the surplus waters of the Mississippi. It is the Atchafalaya, which, beyond question, was the ancient bed, by which Red river made its way to the gulf, without mingling its waters with the Mississippi. In high waters, it is now supposed to take off as much, as Red river brings in. 92 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. Twenty leagues below, on the east side, comes in bayou Sarah, the only stream of any importance^ that enters below the outlet of Atchafa- laya. Thence the effluxes receive all the waters, that rise near the Mississippi, and are continually diminishing its volume of waters. The next efflux, below Atchafalaya, is bayou Manshac, or Ibberville,— an outlet from the east bank, a little below Baton Rouge, through which, in high waters, passes off a considerable mass, through lakes Maurepas, Ponchartrain and Borgne, to the gulf of Mexico. At no great distance below, on the west side, is another considerable efflux, bayou Plaquemine; and at some distance below bayou La Fourche, a still more considerable outlet. Thence to New Orleans, the banks of the river are unbroken, except by crevasses. Below that city, there is no outlet of any importance, between it and the four mouths, by which the Mississippi enters the gulf of Mexico. It runs but a little distance from its source, as we have remarked, before it becomes a considerable stream. Below the falls of St. Anthony, it broadens to half a mile in width ; and is a clear, placid and noble stream, with wide and fertile bottoms, for a long distance. A few miles below the river Des Moines,, is a long rapid of nine miles, which, for a considerable part of the summer, is a great impediment to the navigation. Below these rapids, the river assumes its medial width, and character from that point to the entrance of the Missouri. It is a still more beautiful river, than the Ohio, somewhat gentler in its current, a third wider, with broad and clean sandbars, except in the time of high waters, when they are all covered. At every little distance, there are islands; sometimes a number of them parallel, and broadening the stream to a great width. These islands, are many of them large, and have in the summer season an aspect of beauty, as they swell gently from the clear stream, — a vigor and grandeur of vegetation, which contribute much to the magnificence of the river. The sandbars, in the proper season) are the resort of innumerable swans, geese and water fowls. It is,in general, a full mile in width from bank to bank. For a considerable distance above the mouth of the Missouri, it has more than that width.. Altogether, it has, from its alternate bluffs and prairies, the calmness and transparency of its waters, the size and beauty of its trees, an aspect of amenity and magnificence, which perhaps, does not belong in the same extent to any other stream. Where it receives the Missouri, it is a mile and a half wide. The Missouri itself enters with a mouth not more than half a mile wide- The united stream below has thence, to the mouth of the Ohio, a medial width of little more than three quarters of a mile. This mighty tributary rivers. 93 seems rather to diminish, than increase its width; but it perceptibly alters its depth, its mass of waters, and, what is to be regretted, wholly changes its character. It is no longer the gentle, placid stream, with smooth shores and clean sandbars ; but has a furious and boiling current, a turbid and dangerous mass of sweeping waters, jagged and dilapidated shores, and, wherever its waters have receded, deposites of mud. It remains a sublime object of contemplation. The noble forest still rises along its banks. But its character of calm magnificence, that so delighted the eye above, is seen no more. From the falls of St. Anthony, its medial current is probably, less than two miles an hour, to the mouth of the Missouri ; and from one point to the other, except at the rapids of the De s Moines, there is four feet water in the channel at the lowest stages. Below the Missouri its rapidity should be rated considerably higher, than has been commonly done. Its medial rate of advance is perhaps four miles an hour. The bosom of the river is cov ered with prodigious boils, or swells, that rise with a whirling motion, and a convex surface, two or three rods in diameter, and no inconsider able noise, whirling a boat perceptibly from its track. In its course, accidental circumstances shift the impetus of its current, and propel it upon the point of an island, bend or sandbar. In these instances, it tears up the islands, removes the sandbars, and sweeps away the tender, alluvial soil of the bends, with all their trees, and deposites the spoils in another place. At the season of high waters, nothing is more familiar to the ear of the people on the river, than the deep crash of a land-slip, in which larger or smaller masses of the soil on the banks, with all the trees, are plunged into the stream. The circumstances, that change the aspect and current of the river, are denominated in the vocab ulary of the watermen, chutes, races, chains, sawyers, planters, points of islands, Wreck heaps and cypress bends. The divinity, most frequently invoked by boatmen, seems to have imparted his name oftener than any other to the dangerous places along the river. The ' Devil's' race paths, tea table, oven, &e. are places of difficult or hazardous navigation, that frequently occur. They are serious impediments to the navigation of this noble stream which is never navigated safely, except with great caution. On the immense wreck heaps, where masses of logs, like con siderable hills, are piled together, the numerous wrecks of boats, lying on their sides and summits, sufficiently attest the character of the river, and remain standing mementos to caution. Boats, propelled by steam power, which can be changed in a moment, to reverse the impulse and direction of the boat, are exactly calculated to obviate the dangers of this river. No person, who descends this river for the first time, receives clear and adequate ideas of its grandeur, and the amount of water which it 94 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. carries. If it be in the spring, when the river below the mouth of Ohio is generally over its banks, although the sheet of water, that is making its way to the gulf, is, perhaps thirty miles wide, yet finding its way through deep forests and swamps, that conceal all from the eye, no expanse of water is seen, but the width, that is curved out between the outline of woods on either bank; and it seldom exceeds, and oftener falls short of a mile. But when he sees, in descending the falls of St. Anthony, that it swallows up one river after another, with mouths, as wide as itself with out affecting its width at all ; when he sees it receiving in succession the mighty Missouri, the broad Ohio, St. Francis, White, Arkansas, and Red rivers, all of them of great depth, length and volume of water; swallowing up all, and retaining a volume, apparently unchanged,he begins to estimate rightly the increasing depths of current, that must roll on in its deep channel to the sea. Carried out of the Balize, and sailing with a good breeze for hours, he sees nothing on any side, but the white and turbid waters of the Mississippi, long after he is out of sight of land. Touching the features of the country through which it passes, from its source to the falls of St. Anthony, it moves alternately through wild rice lakes and swamps, by lime stone bluffs and craggy hills; occasionally through deep pine forests, and beautiful prairies; and the tenants on its borders are elk, buffalos, bears and deer, and the savages that pursue them. In this distance, there is not a civilized inhabitant on its shores if we except the establishments of Indian traders, and a garrison of the United States. Buffalos are seldom seen below these falls. Its alluvi ons become wide, fertile, and for the most part, heavily timbered. Like the Ohio, its bottoms and bluffs generally alternate. Its broad and placid current is often embarrassed with islands, which are generally rich alluvial lands, often containing from five hundred to a thousand acres, and abounding with wild turkies and other small game. For one hun dred miles above the mouth of the Missouri, it would be difficult for us to convey an idea of the beauty of the prairies, skirting this noble river. They impress the eye, as a perfect level; and are in summer cov ered with a luxuriant growth of grass and flowers, without a tree or a bush. We have made our way through them with difficulty on horseback through grass and flowers, as high as our head. At other times, we traversed hundreds of acres of a clean, short grass, of the character and appearance of the handsomest meadows, intended for the scythe. When this deep prairie skirts the river on one side, a heavy timbered bottom bounds it on the other. Generally from the slightest elevation on either side, the sweep ofthe bluffs, corresponding to the curves of the river, are seen in the distance, mixing with the blue ofthe sky. RIVERS. 95 Above the mouth of the Missouri, to the rapids of Des moines, the medial width of the bottom valley, in which the river rolls, measured from bluff to bluff, is not far from six miles. Below the mouth of the Missouri, to that of the Ohio, it is not far from eight miles. The last stone bluffs ofthe Mississippi are seen, in descending about thirty miles above the mouth of the Ohio. Below these, commences on the Missis sippi, as is seen on the Ohio for some distance above its mouth, the aspect of a timbered bottom on either side, boundless to the vision. Be low the mouth ofthe Ohio, the alluvion broadens from thirty to fifty miles in width; still expanding to the Balize, where it is, probably, three times that width. We express these widths in terms of doubt, because three fifths of the alluvion, below the mouth of the Ohio, is either dead swamp of cypress forest, or stagnant lakes, or creeping bayous, or impenetrable cane brakes, great part of it inundated; perhaps traversed in a straight direction from bluff to bluff, scarcely once in a year, and never explored except in cases of urgent necessity. The bluffs, too, are winding, swelling in one direction, and indented in another, and at least as ser pentine, as the course of the river. Between the mouth of the Ohio and St. Louis, on the west side of the , river, the bluffs are generally near it, seldom diverging from it more than two miles. They are, for the most part, perpendicular masses of lime stone; sometimes shooting up into towers and pinnacles, presenting as Mr. Jefferson well observed, at a distance, the aspect of the battlements and towers of an ancient city. Sometimes the river sweeps the bases of these perpendicular bluffs, as happens at the Cornice rocks and at the cliffs above St. Genevieve. They rise here, between two and three hun^ dred feet above the level ofthe river. There are many imposing specta cles of this sort, near the western bank of the Mississippi, in this distance. We may mention among them that gigantic mass of rocks forming a singular island in the river, called the ' Grand Tower; ' and the shot tower at Herculaneum. On the eastern side in this distance, the bluffs diverge to a considerable distance from the river, and bound the American bottom, leaving an allu vial belt, divided into nearly equal divisions of timbered lands, and smooth prairies. This belt has a medial width of six miles, and is noted for the uncommon fertility of the soil. The bluffs mark the boundary between this belt and the hills. They are as high and as perpendicular as the bluffs on the opposite side ofthe river; and, although generally at a distance of five or six miles from its present channel, they bear the same traces of attrition by the waters, the same stripes, marking the rising and falling of the river, which are seen on the opposite side. These 96 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. seem to be impressive indications, that the Mississippi once swept their bases. Opposite the mouth of the Missouri, the American bottom terminates, and the bluffs come in to the river. The bluffs'bound the eastern bank ofthe river thence to the mouth of the Illinois. From these bluffs we contemplate one of the most impressive and beautiful landscapes in the world. On the opposite side the mighty Missouri is seen, bringing its turbid and sweeping mass of waters at right angles to the Mississippi. The eye traces a long distance of the outline of the Missouri valley, bounded on either side with an indistinct and blue line of hills. Above it is the vast and most beautiful Mamelle prairie, dotted with green islands of wood, and skirted at the farthest ken of the eye with hills and forests. Above you, on the same shore, is the valley of the Illinois, itself bounded by hoary and magnificent bluffs of a peculiar character. The river brings in its creeping waters by a deep bed, that seems almost as straight as a canal. You have in view the valleys and bluffs of two noble streams, that join their waters to the Mississippi. You see the Missis-. sippi changed to a turbid and sweeping stream, with jagged and indent ed banks, below you. You see its calm and placid waters above the Missouri. On the opposite prairie, there are level meadows, wheat fields, corn fields, smokes ascending from houses and cabins, vast flocks of domes tic cattle, — distinct indications of agriculture and improvement blended with the grand features of nature. There are clumps of trees, lakes, ponds, and flocks of sea fowl, wheeling their flight over them; in short, whatever of grandeur, or beauty, nature can furnish to soothe, and to enrapture the beholder. From the mouth ofthe Ohio, the scene shifts, and .the bluffs are gene- Tally nearest the eastern shore; though on that shore there are often twenty miles between them and the river. They come quite in to the river, which washes their bases, at the Iron banks, the Chalk banks, the 'first, second and third Chickasaw bluffs, Memphis, the Walnut hills, Grand and Petit gulf, Natchez, Loftus' heights, St. Francisville and Baton Rouge. In all this distance, bluffs are only seen in one place on the west bank— the St. Francis hills. From the sources of the river to the mouth ofthe Missouri, the annual flood ordinarily commences in March, and does not subside until the last of May ; and - its medial height is fifteen feet. At the lowest stages, four feet of water may be found from the rapids of Des Moines to the mouth of the Missouri. Between that point and the mouth of the Ohio, there are six feet in the channel ofthe shallowest places at low water. and the annual inundation may be estimated at twenty-five feet. Between the mouth of the Ohio and the St. Francis, there are various shoal places, RIVERS. 97 where pilots are often perplexed to find a sufficient depth of water, when the river is low. Below that point, there is no difficulty for vessels of any draught, except to find the right channel. Below the mouth of the Ohio, the medial flood is fifty feet; the highest, sixty. Above Natchez, the flood begins to decline. At Baton Rouge, it seldom exceeds thirty feet; and at New Orleans, twelve. — Some have supposed this gradual diminution of the flood to result from the draining of the numerous effluxes of the river, that convey away such considerable portions of its waters, by separate channels to the sea. To this should be added, no doubt, the check, which the river at this distance begins to feel from the re-action of the sea, where this mighty mass of descending waters finds its level. Below the mouth of Ohio, in the season of inundation, to an observ ing spectator a very striking spectacle is presented. The river, as will elsewhere be observed, sweeps along in curves, or sections of circles, of an extent from six to twelve miles, measured from point to point. The sheet of water, that is visible between the forests on either side, is, as wo have remarked, not far from the medial width of a mile. On a calm spring morning, and under a bright sun, this sheet of water, to an eye, that takes in its gentle descending declivity, shines, like a mass of bur nished silver* Its edges are distinctly marked by a magnificent outline of cotton wood trees, generally of great size, and at this time of the' year, of the brightest verdure. On the convex, or bar side of the bend, there is generally a vigorous growth of willows, or young cotton wood trees of such astonishing regularity of appearance, that it always seems to the unpractised spectator, a work of art. The water stands among these trees, from ten to fifteen feet in height. Those brilliant birds, the black and red bird of this country, seem to delight to flit among these young groves, that are inundated to half their height. Nature is carrying on her most vigorous efforts of vegetation below. If there be wind or storm, the descending flat and keel boats immediately make for these groves, and plunge fearlessly, with all the headway they can command, among the trees. Should they be of half the size of the human body, struck fifteen feet from the ground, they readily bend before even a frail boat. — You descend the whole distance of a thousand miles to New Orleans, landing at night in fifteen feet water among the trees; but, probably, in no instance within twenty miles of the real shore, which is a bluff. The whole spectacle is that of a vast and magnificent forest, emerging from a lake, with its waters, indeed in a thousand places in descending motion. The experienced savage, or solitary voyager, paddles his canoe through the deep forests, from one bluff to the other. He finds bayous, by which one river communicates with the other. He moves, perhaps, along 13 98 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. the Mississippi forest into the mouth of White river. He ascends that river a few miles, and by the Grand Cut off moves down the forest into the Arkansas. From that river he finds many bayous, which communi cate readily with Washita and Red river; and from that river, by some one of its hundred bayous, he finds his way into the Atchafalaya and the Teche; and by that stream to the gulf of Mexico, reaching it more than twenty leagues west of the Mississippi. At that time, this is a river from thirty to an hundred miles wide, all overshadowed with forests, ex cept an interior strip of little more than a mile in width, where the eye reposes oil the open expanse of waters, visible between the trees. Each ofthe hundred rivers, that swell the Mississippi, at the time 6? high waters, is more or less turbid. The upper Mississippi is the most transparent of all of them in low water. But, during its floods, it brings down no inconsiderable portion of dark, slimy mud, suspended in its' waters. The mud ofthe Missouri is as copious, as the water can hold in suspension, — and is Whitish in color, much resembling water, in which' fresh ashes have been mixed.- The river below the Missouri assumes the color of that river. The Ohio brings in a flood, compared with the other,* of a greenish color. The mixing of the waters of the upper Mississippi with the Missouri, and afterwards of the united stream with the Ohio, affords an amusing spectacle. The water of the Ohio is not much" charged with earth, even at its inundation; but is still perceptibly turbid. The St. Francis and White rivers at their floods, are not much stained; The Arkansas, when high, is as turbid, and holds nearly as much mud in suspension, as the Missouri ; and its waters have a bright reddish color, almost that of flame. Its Indian name, Ozark, implies Yellow river.* Red river brings in a turbid mixture of the same thickness, but of a darker red. After it has received these two rivers, the Mississippi loses- something of its whiteness. The hills far up the Missouri, Arkansas and Red rivers are washing down. Pillars on their sides, of gigantic dimen sions, bright colors, and regular forms, where they have been composed of an indurated earth, or clay, that more strongly resisted the action of rains and descending waters, are left standing. We have seen and ad-" mired these mementos of the lapse of time, the changes, that our earth is undergoing, the washing of waters, and the influence of the elements.- Lewis and Clark speak of these remains of dilapidated hills far up the Missouri, where they appeared in their grandest dimensions. The Mississippi, then, may be considered, as constantly bearing be- neath its waters a tribute of the finest and most fertile vegetable soil, collected from an hundred shores, hills and mountains, and transported from distances of a thousand leagues. The marl of the Rocky moun tain, the clay ofthe Black mountains, the earth of the Alleghanies, the red loam, washed from the hills at the sources of the Arkansas and RIVERS. Utf Red rivers, are every year deposited in layers along the alluvion of the Mississippi ; or are washed into the gulf of Mexico. We can have little doubt, that this river once found its estuary not far below the present mouth ofthe Ohio. It was, probably, then thirty miles wide, and grew broader quite to the gulf — The alluvial country below, must then have been an arm of the sea. The different bluffs on its eastern shore, the Chickasaw bluffs, Natchez, and the other hills, whose bases the river now washes, were capes, that projected into this estuary. The banks of the river are evidently gaining in height above the inundation. The depos ites of earth, sand and slime are not as equal in their layers, as we might suppose; but might, perhaps, be assumed, as depositing a twelfth of an inch in the annual inundation. As soon as the descending mass of waters has swept over the banks, being comparatively destitute of current, and impeded, moreover, by trees and bushes, it begins to deposite" a sediment of that mud and sand, which were only held in suspension by the rapidity and agitation of the descending current. It must be obvious, that the sand and the coarser portion ofthe mixture of earth will subside first; and that near the banks of the river will be the most copious deposition. We find, in fact, the soil contiguous to the rivers most sandy. It becomes finer and more clayey, as we recede farther from the bank, until near the bluffs; and at the farthest distances from the river, the impalpable mixture gradually - subsides, forming a very stiff, black soil, called ' terre graisse? and hav ing a feeling, when wet, like lard or grease. Circumstances, such as eddies, and other impediments, resulting from the constant changes of the banks, may cause this earth in particular positions, to be deposited near the river. Where the banks have fallen in, and discovered the under strata of the soil, we often see layers of this earth directly on the shore. But the natural order of deposition is, first, the sand; next, the marl; and last of all, this impalpable clay, which would of course be longest held suspended, This order of deposition accounts, too, for another circumstance ap pertaining to the banks of this river, and all its lower tributaries, that do now, or did formerly, overflow their banks. It always creates surprise at first view to remark, that all these rivers have alluvions, Lthat are highest directly on the banks, and slope back like a natural glacis, towards the bluffs. There are a thousand points, between the mouth of Ohio and New Orleans, where, at the highest inundation, there is a narrow strip of land above the overflow ;-and it is directly on the bank. But the land slopes back, and subsides under the overflow; and is, perhaps, twenty feet under water at the bluffs. This deceptive appearance has induced a common opinion, that this river, its tributaries and bayous, in 100 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. their lower courses, run through their valleys on an elevated ridge, and occupy the highest part of their bottoms. The greater comparative ele vation on the banks notwithstanding, we have not the slightest doubt, that the path of the rivers is, in fact, the deepest part of their basin, and that the bed of the river is uniformly lower, than the lowest point ofthe alluvion at the base ofthe bluffs. One of the most striking peculiarities of this river, and of all its lower tributaries, has not often been a theme of observation, in describing it. It is the uniformity, of" its meanders, called in the phrase of the country, ' points and bends.' In many instances these curves are described with a precision, with which they would have been marked off by the sweep of a compass. The river sweeps round, perhaps, the half of a circle, and is precipitated 'from the point, in a current diagonally across its own channel, to another curve of the same regularity upon the opposite shore. In the bend is the deepest channel, the heaviest movement of waters, and what is called the thread of the current. Between this thread and the shore, there are generally counter currents, or eddies; and in the crumbling and tender alluvial soil, the river is generally making inroads upon its banks on the bend side. Opposite the bend there is always a sandbar, matched in the convexity of its conformation, to the concavity of the bend. Here it is, that the appearance of the young cotton wood groves have their most striking aspect. The trees rise from the shore, showing first the vigorous saplings of the present year; and then those of a date of two and three years ; and trees rising in regular gradation to the most ancient and lofty point of the forest. These curves are so regular on this, and all the rivers of the lower country, that the boatmen and Indians calculate distances by them ; and instead of the number of miles or leagues, they estimate their progress by the number of bends, they have passed. We have had occasion to remark this conformation, even on the upper' courses of the Mississippi and Missouri ; and that, too, where the curve seemed to have been scooped out of solid bluffs, of lime stone. These sinuosities are distinguished on the lower course of the Ohio, on the St. Francis and White rivers, and they are remarkable for their regularity on the Arkansas. The curves on Red river are regular, but they are sections of circles comparatively small; and the river is so extremely crooked from them, that its course is generally obstructed from view in a length of two or three miles. All the bayous and effluxes of the Mississippi, and of these rivers, show the same conformation in their courses. A Creole of the lower country would scarcely imagine, that a river could move on in any other line, than in curves, described first upon one bank, and then upon the other. RIVERS. 101 There must be, beyond doubt, a general law for this uniformity of conformation; and we have heard various demonstrations, that were intended to explain it, and to show, that a moving mass of waters, on the principal of such a moving force, ought to sweep a curve in one direction, be propelled from the point of that curve, and then sweep a similar one on the opposite shore. These demonstrations have appeared unsatisfactory to us. It has always seemed to us, that in a tender and alluvial soil, and under similar circumstances, a moving mass of water, cutting a course for itself, would take the direction of a right line. The common solution certainly is not the just one, that is to say, that the river finds an obstacle, which gives it a diagonal direction in the first instance; and that this law, once established, continues to act with uni formity, in producing this alternation of curves. The courses of all the western rivers, in creating points and bends, are far too uniform, to be produced by an accidental cause. It appears clear to us, that the devia tions from this rule are owing to accidental causes; but they are so unfrequent, that for the first three hundred miles on the Arkansas, we do not remember one ; and there are not more than three or four ' reaches,' as they are called, or deviations from this rule, in the Mississippi, where the river for a considerable distance preserves a strait course, between the mouth of the Ohio and the Balize. It follows from this disposition of the river, to take its direction in deep curves, and continually to wear them deeper, that, returning, as it were, on its track, it will often bring its points near to each other. It occurs more than once, that in moving round a curve of twenty-five or thirty miles, you will return so near the point, whence you started, that you can return back to that point in less than a mile. There are at present bends of this sort on the Missouri and the Mississippi, particularly at Tunica bend, where you move round a curve of thirty miles, and come back to the point, where you see through the trees, and at the distance of three quarters of a mile, the point, whence you departed. It might be inferred, that it would so happen, when the waters on the upper point of the bend approach so near those on the lower point, that in high waters a crevasse would be made across the point, or the simple weight of the descending current would burst itself a passage through. In this case, the river soon finds its main channel from point to point; an island is formed; and the river rushes through what is called the 'cut off,' with great velocity and power. Such is the ' Grand cut off,' that has been formed since we first descended the river. We now pass from one point to another, in half a mile, to a distance, which it formerly required twenty miles to reach. The ' cut off' at Fausse riviere, Yazoo, Homo- chitto and Point Coupee bends are of this sort. Tunica, no doubt, will 102 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. soon be of the number; and many other bends. Whereverthe trees are -cleared away from the banks by cultivation, the soil becomes of course more tender and yielding, and is easier perforated by the mass of moving waters. Nature is thus shortening the course of this long river. In process of time, the efforts of industry will yield their aid to the same result. When these changes take place, the mouth of the ancient course of the river becomes choked ; and long lakes are formed called 'fausses rivieres? which, at the season of high water might easily be mistaken for the river itself, were they not without current, and did they not soon cover them selves with those aquatic plants, that in these climates are always found on still waters. There are an infinite number of such bayous found on the lower courses of the Mississippi, Arkansas, and more than all, Red river, where they form such an inextricable net work, that in high waters it requires an experienced pilot to determine, which is the river, and which is the bayou. The thread of the main current is, as we have remarked, always near the bank of the bend; and the chief undermining of the banks is ordina* rily there. As soon as the floods of the river begin to subside, and the waters to sink within the banks, the main thread of the current, which had been diminished in its action on the bank, by the diffusion of its waters over the bank, as soon as they return within the channel, acts with augmented force, and by a more uniform action from the surface to the bottom upon the banks, softened and diluted by the recent overflow.—. Hence, immediately upon the subsiding of the river within its banks, is the time, when they are most apt to fall in. Then is the time, that we hear by night the deep crash of the trees, falling, and sinking in the flood, Then it is, that the land-slips carry in acres at a time; and it is then, that the narrow passages between islands become choked with trees, carried along by the current. With one remark more, we shall close this outline of the Mississippi; which, minute as it may have seemed, is but a brief sketch of the char- acter and circumstances of a river, which, described in detail, would occupy a volume. It is the most turbid river, and has the widest alluvial bottoms of any, with which we are acquainted. We may add, that it is* beyond all comparison the narrowest river, that we know, which carries eo much water. In width and show of surface, it will hardly compare with the St. Lawrence. We have no doubt, that it carries the greatest mass of water, according to its width, of any river on the globe. From the quantity of earth, which it holds in suspension in its descending waters, and which it is continually depositing along its banks, it will always be confined within a narrow and deep channel. Were it a clear stream, it ABORIGINES. 103 would soon scoop itself out a channel from bluff to bluff. In common with most of its great tributaries, it broadens as it ascends, being, as we have remarked, wider above the mouth of the Missouri, with scarce a tenth of its water, than it is at New Orleans. In the same manner, Arkansas and Red river are wider a thousand miles from their mouth, than they are at that point. As the western rivers approach their debouche; and increase their vojume of water, they narrow, and deepen their channel. Indians, or Aboriginal Inhabitants. Details of the Indians, that belong to the states and territories of this valley, will naturally be given under the accounts of them. — We mean here to bring, if it may be, into one group general views and outlines of the race, as we see it in all the" climates from the sources of the Mississippi to the gulf of Mexico.- Numerous and voluminous treatises have been Written upon the subject. We have read these treatises. We have long and attentively studied the Indian character; We have seen enough of that character, to be aware, that very few writers have done more than theorize, and declaim upon the subject. They have seldom brought to it the only true lights — =those of observation and experience. We ought to except from this remark, Charlevoix among the early, and the gentlemen of Long's expedition among the recent writers upon the Indians. The views of the latter, in particular, are calm, philosophical and just, as far as they go. They do not give us the fruit of preconceived prejudices, or theorizing harangues; and we refer those, who would take minute, interesting, and for the most part, just views of the character and condition of the western Indians,. to their narratives; The greater part of the Indians of the United States dwell in the limits* Of this valley. Within the bounds of Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mis sissippi and Tennessee, the southern Indians of this valley inhabit. These nations without mentioning their subdivisions, are the Seminoles, the Baton Rouges, the Creeks, or Muskogee, the Cherokees, Chactaws* and Chickasaws. The Creeks and Seminoles, before the late war Were powerful tribes. Their population and power received in that War a withering check. Many of the Chacktaws are incorporated with' the Quawpaws of Arkansas. About a third of the Cherokee nation has emigrated to the country on the Arkansas, between the Quawpaws and the Osages. Many of the Creeks, or Muskogee, have emigrated west of the Mississippi. All these Indians, that remain east of this river, have adopted more or less of cultivation, and the arts of civilized life. The Cherokees and Chacktaws, particularly the former, have been most successful in imitating the habits and institutions of the whites They 104 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. have looms, ploughs, blacksmiths' shops, slaves, enclosures, barns, taverns, brick dwellings in some instances, public roads, a census, a code of laws, civil divisions, and magistrates. — Their laws have very little of that delay, of which the whites complain; but are severe, energetic, and promptly administered. They have many municipal regulations, and singular customs; an amusing mixture of savage and civilized views, which afford a study of no common interest to the numerous travellers that are obliged to pass through their nations, on their way by land from New Orleans and the lower states of the Atlantic country. They have numerous taverns, at regular distances, not. much inferior to those in the adjacent country, inhabited by the Americans. Some of their planters have large enclosures, and fine stocks of cattle and horses ; and may be considered rich. We saw a Cherokee chief, who had a dozen slaves, fine teams, ploughs and looms, two or three wives, and twenty-seven living children, as he stated. His people were dressed, as are most of these people, in plain cotton cloths of respectable fabric. The cotton, the dyeing articles, the manufacturing, and the whole fabric, from beginning to end, were within themselves. There are a number of respectable missionary establishments in their limits ; and they begin to be deeply impressed with the importance of education. They have been making great efforts to establish a printing press in their country, and it is now in operation. In the northern parts of Ohio and Indiana, and near lakes Erie and Michigan, is an establishment of the Shawnese, — a tribe formerly so powerful, and now hastening to decay. There was an important mis sionary station among them, which is removed to Michigan territory, Ohio, that once contained such a numerous Indian population, is com puted at present to contain about two thousand, principally Shawnese. The Pottawatomies and Kickapoos, in Indiana and Illinois, are number ed, the former at two hundred and fifty, and the latter at six hundred, The Peorias, Kaskakias and Cahokias, that figured so much in the early French history of this country, are nearly extinct. The Wyandots, Chip- peways" and Winnebagos hunt farther to the northwest, and extend their range to Lake Superior. The Chippeways may be considered a patriar chal nation, of which many of the northern tribes are branches, and of whose language they speak dialects. There are other tribes so nearly extinct, that there are not now, perhaps six individuals to maintain the name. In ascending the Mississippi from St. Louis, we meet first with the Sacks, or as they call themselves, Saukies, and Foxes, or Reynards. They inhabit the country above and below Rock river, and claim the territory of the lead mines. The Iaways reside farther up the river, and ABORIGINES. 105 near the Des Moines. The Winnebagos, or Puants, inhabit from the Ouisconsin to Green bay on lake Michigan. — They have the reputation of being particularly false and treacherous. The Menomene, or Folles avoins, inhabit the Menomene to lake Michigan. Still higher on the Mississippi, and thence to the lakes, and thence to the country on the Missouri, and far up and down that river, wander the Sioux, or Dacotas. They are divided into six or seven tribes, with distinct names, given, as the French often fix appellations, from some poetical associations with natural objects. For instance, one of the most numer ous tribes, inhabiting a region of forests, is called Was-pa-tong, Gens des feuilles, or the people of leaves. Each of these tribes has its distinct badge, coat of arms, or what is called ' totem' among them. They occupy a vast range, are a very numerous people, and, like the Chippeways, the parent of various tribes, whose language, though radically the same with theirs, has in process of time receded so far from it, that the different tribes require an interpreter to converse together. The Dacotas are the Arabs of the West. Surveying the country west of the Mississippi, and commencing the survey below St. Louis, between that town and the mouth of the Ohio, there used to be a number of villages of Delawares and Shawnees; and with them were mixed a considerable number of renegadoes from the Creeks, and the Indians of the lower Mississippi. There were in all, three or four hundred souls. They left the country, by an arrangement with the government. They have allied themselves with the Cherokees of the Arkansas. In ascending- the Missouri, we first meet with the Osages, a powerful tribe who inhabit principally on the Osage river, and who spread them selves across the country to the Arkansas, and even to Red river. Ascending the Missouri, we find, as we advance, Ottoes, Missouries, Iaways, Kanzas, and Pawnees, divided into three bands — Grand Pawnees, Pawnee Republicans, and Pawnee Loups. After the Dacotas, or Sioux, they are, probably, the next most numerous people in this region. Still farther up, there are the Mandans, Puncahs, Omawhaws, Padoucas, La Plais, or Bald heads, and the Tetons. Still farther up, there are the Minnitarees, or Gros ventres, the Arrapahoe, the Crow, the Arricaree, the Snake, and the Black foot Indians. Some of these tribes inhabit, and hunt'occasionally on both sides of the Rocky mountains. On the Arkansas, the first tribe on its lower course is that of the Quawpaws with whom are incorporated many Chactaws. Still higher, we meet with the Osages. The Cherokees, who have migrated to this river, seem to be a point of union for the ancient Shawnese and Dela wares. The Indians on the Ohio, of these tribes, are immigrating to this 14 106 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. region. Above them are the Pawnees and Arrapahoes. At the sources of this river are often seen bands of the Mexican Indians, as the Com* manches and Appaches, who come down from their mountains, to hunt the buffalo and the elk on the adjacent plains. From New Orleans to Attakapas, and thence along Red river, are the remains of many of the ancient tribes of Louisiana, that will soon have no other memorial, than their names in the French histories of the country. These are the Natchez, the Appalachies, the Tensas, Alabamas, Pasca- goulas, Chetimaches, Biloxies, Tunicas, &e. Near the Sabine are a small number of Carancoahs, clearly cannibals. They are viewed with horror, and pursued with a spirit of extermination, by the adjacent Indians. Higher on Red river inhabit, and hunt occasionally, many of the tribes, which we have mentioned, as having their more permanent home on the Arkansas. The Cados are a tribe, that dwell chiefly on Red river, and hunt the buffalo on the prairies between it and Arkansas. We might continue to swell this catalogue with the names of tribes, that once existed, but are now extinct ; and others, of which there remain, perhaps, a few individuals. Population. Any exact estimates of the number of Indians, within the limits of the territory of the united States, must necessarily be wanting. The statistical tables rate them at one hundred and eighty thousand. We have before us a detailed table of the estimated numbers, of Indians in the Mississippi valley. These tables give the names of sixty tribes; some of them of barbarous orthography, and sufficiently wide from the sounds of the names, by which these tribes choose to call themselves. The whole number is estimated at one hundred and three thousand. This, if we do not include the Indians west of the Rocky mountains, of which we have no certain knowledge, is, probably, a large estimate. The gradual decrease and extinction of these tribes, one after the other, has been a theme of copious and melancholy reflection with benevolent and thinking men. By an easy transition, they have passed' to charging the cause, as a crime of the darkest die to the whites, and to our country. A prevalent fashion and theme of declamation have their date, and their period, in our country; and for the time, that they are in fashion, pass unquestioned. We have thought, the common, loose and bitter charges, which, in contemplating this subject, have been brought against our fathers and our country, ought at least to admit of question. We have always had individuals in our country, who would constantly avail themselves of the opportunity, to distribute among them the poison of ardent spirits. But our government, it must be admitted, ABORIGINES. 107 has practised towards them a steady and dignified moderation, and an untiring forbearance. Its provisions, to prevent the sale of whiskey among them, have been severe, and in general faithfully carried into effect. The strictness of our laws in this respect is one of the most incessant themes of complaint on their part; and the manner, in which we with hold whiskey from them, is considered by them, as the result of our covetousness. Our government is exerting a constant effort, to hold the tribes leashed in, and to prevent them from destroying one another. Had it been our policy to exterminate the race, as it has been taxed, nothing more would have been necessary, than to unkennel the savages, excite their jealousies, and stir up their revenge, and let them destroy each other. — But, on the contrary, it seems to have been the guiding maxim of the government, to do all practicable good, and to ward off all possi ble evil from this devoted and unhappy race. In the ancient states, in the legislative halls, on the floor of congress, from the pulpit and the press, it has been the favorite theme of eloquence, and the readiest passport to estimation for philanthropy and benevolence, to bring up the guilt of having destroyed the past race of this people, and of having possessed ourselves of their lands. One would think, it had been discovered, that the population, the improvements, and the social happiness of our great political edifice, ought never to have been erected in place of these habitations of ciuelty. Let us pity them. Let us practice forbearance to the end. Let us send to them instruction, Christianity and the arts. They are not the less objects of our pity, and of bur untiring benevolence, because the causes of their decay, and extinction are found in their own nature and character, and the un changeable order of things. It is as unchangeable, as the laws of nature, that savages should give place to civilized men, possessed of the strength, spirit and improvement of the social compact. We conceive, that it is not altogether owing either to the proximity of the whites, to ardent spirits, or small pox, that the Indian tribes are constantly diminishing. — The ten thousand mounds in this valley, the rude memorials of an im mensely numerous former population, but to our view no more civilized, than the present races, are proofs, that the country was depopulated, when white men first became acquainted with it. If we can infer nothing else from the mounds, we can clearly infer, that this country once had its millions. We dig up their pottery, where we make our corn fields. We dig up their bones, when we level these mounds. They were, beyond doubt, a very rude people, and very laborious. Where are they now? Their places are occupied by a race, who were depopulating in their turn, when our forefathers first saw the country. We have no^ other grounds, on which to charge them with the guilt of having destroyed 108 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. the generations, that are buried in these mounds, than the circumstance, that when we first knew them, they were engaged, as they are now, in constant and interminable wars with each other. Who of them owned the land, that we now inhabit ? The races, that lie buried and forgotten on these plains; or the tribes, that advanced to-day, to dispossess the present occupants, to be dispossessed in their turn by another race? We firmly believe, that all ideas of property in the lands, over which they roamed after game, or skulked in ambush, to kill one another, — all notions of a local property in these things, have been derived from seeing the value, which lands acquire from the occupancy of the whites. It is out of all question, that ages before they had seen white men, they were divided, as now, into an hundred petty tribes, engaged, as but for the interference of our government they would now be, in endless and exter minating wars, in which they dashed infants into the flames, drank the warm blood of their victim, or danced and yelled round the stake, where he was consuming, in the fire. If they found the country, that pleased them, full of game, and unoccupied, they fixed themselves there peace fully. . If occupied, they made upon the occupants a war of extermina tion. When their desires or caprices prompted them to wander to another region, they left nothing, but bark hovels, and a country, where game had become scarce, for one, where they could make new hovels of bark, and find game plenty. War was their amusement, prompted by their instinctive appetite. It is no crime of the present civilized races, that inhabit these regions, that their forefathers came over the sea, and enclosed lands, and cut down trees, where the Indians had hunted and fought. If they will not, and can not labor, and cultivate the land, and lead a municipal life, they are in the same predicament with a much greater number of drunkards,, idlers and disturbers of society, who are a charge and a burden upon it in all civilized communities. Like them, they ought to be treated with tenderness; to be enlightened and reclaimed, if possible; and, as far as may be, to be restrained from hurting us, and each other. But it is surely as unjust, as it is preposterous, to speak of the prevalence of our race over theirs, as an evil; and from a misjudging tenderness to them, do injustice to our own country, and the cause of human nature. They are evidently depopulating, not only in the proximity of our people, but in regions too remote, to be affected by our contiguity. Such is the case, as Pike and Long's exploring party, and the Spanish remark, in tribes so remote from our borders, as scarcely to have heard of our government. There are, however exceptions to this rule. The Cherokees and the Chactaws increase in the country east of the Missis sippi, almost in a ratio as great, as that of our people. It is earnestly ABORIGINES. 109 to be wished, that this standing and conclusive proof of the advantage of our habits over theirs, will not be without its impression upon the other tribes. Bu t it is much to he feared, that do what we may, all our schemes of benevolence to preserve them, as a distinct race, will prove abortive; and that they will soon be known only in history. As we have remarked some writers number sixty different tribes in this valley. They are scattered over an immense extent of country. They inhabit a great variety of climates.. They speak different langua ges. They live on different kinds of food. There are differences of stature; and tribes of savages larger and smaller, than the ordinary stat ure of whites. There are differences of character, sensibility, intellect, standards of opinion and morals, and very different usages ; and yet, take all the varieties of the races in the different climates into one view, and there is, probably, a greater physical and moral resemblance among them than is seen among the inhabitants of any other region on the globe. Persons, who have seen the Chippeways of the north, or the Cados ofthe south, have observed fair samples of the Indians over all this valley. In stature some tribes exceed, and some fall short of the medial stature of our people. The Dacotas, the Osages, and generally the savages of the middle regions of the Missouri, are something taller, than our people. The same may be observed of the Cherokees. The Shawnese and Dela- wares, and the Indians of the lakes and the upper Mississippi, appear to us to be shorter, than the whites. Their complexion is generally desig nated by the term, ''copper colored.' It does not convey an exact idea of the complexion of the ' red skins.' It is something darker than un tarnished copper, and perhaps nearer the color of well smoked bacon. We have seen full blooded Indians, both of the north and of the south, but more frequently in the latter climate, as black as ordinary negroes; But, though the dark tinge was as intense, there is a shade of difference which the eye catches, and language cannot, between the black visage, of such an Indian, and a negro. Take the tribes together, there is little difference between the complexion of the northern and southern Indians- The same unchangeable tinge is visible even in the new bom children. There is no part of their external appearance, that more strongly dis tinguishes them from all other people, than their hair. It is always, in all their tribes, and under all circumstances, and in each of the sexes, black, until changed by age. But contrary to all, that has been asserted on this subject, we have seen an hundred instances where they were gray. The hair is generally described by another term, which, perhaps, does not raise very distinct impressions. It is said to be lank. There is a peculiar aspect in an Indian tress, which only speaks to the eye. It hangs in knots which have a peculiar feeling; and looks, as though greased,, 110 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. which it probably is. It is much finer than the hair ofthe horse's mane but in other respects resembles it. In mixtures with the whites, this singular and characteristic appearance of the hair, described with diffi culty, but, when once seen, always remembered, remains distinctly visi ble to the third generation. They are generally erect, and of fine forms, with few instances of ano malous decrepitude and deformity. This, probably, results, partly from the manner, in which the children are reared, unswathed, unspoiled by indulgence and mismanagement of misguided fondness; but more, per haps, to the circumstance, that feeble children, weak from deformity or want of natural vigor, cannot endure the first hardships, with which nature salutes these frail beings on the threshold of existence. Nature cries aloud to them, as Volney has said it, l be strong, or die ;' and only the hardy and well formed survive. They have cleaner limbs, not so muscular, and bodies with less tendency to corpulence, than the whites. Corpulent Indians are very rare ; but we have seen two or three full blooded Indians as corpulent, as the best fed burghers of our cities. The legs, both of the male and the female, have a remarkable curve, still more distinguishable, than that of the negro. In walking, they are re markable for placing one foot in a right line before the other, and seldom turn their toes from that right line. In this way they instantly discover the track of their own people, as distinct from ours. They walk, too,. the one directly, behind the other, in what is called Indian file. We have- often seen the husband and wife, the mother and daughter, the father- and son ; and even two equal aged young men, walking together, engaged apparently, in earnest conversation ; but never advancing abreast. The- one is directly behind the other. Their senses are entire, acute, and there are few anomalies from the general analogy of human conformation. .;. The forehead is broad, and almost invariably retiring in a small de gree. We scarcely remember to have noticed a projecting forehead.' The nose is prominent, and the base of the nostrils has a remarkable expansion; and in the male it is more commonly aquiline, than otherwise. The lips are intermediate between the common thinness of the whites, and thickness of the negroes. The cheek bones are high, and marked ; and the face, in the line below the eyes, uncommonly wide, — and on this part of the face is strongly impressed the contour, that marks the Indian variety of the human countenance. The eyes are almost invariably black; but of a shade of blackness, very distinct from what we call such in the whites. We have the black eye of Italians and Spaniards, which has a color and expression ; unlike the black eye of the Indians. — There is some thing in their gait, too, apart from the crookedness of their legs; their dress, or their manner of placing their feet the one before the other,, ABORIGINES. Ill which enables us, at a great distance, to distinguish an advancing Indian from a white. The squaw has a distinctly female conformation, and a delicacy of rounding in the limbs, as distinct from the harsher and more muscu lar and brawny form ofthe male, still more strongly marked, than in our race. It seems a refutation, directly in point, of the system of those female philosophers, who have asserted, that the frailer form of the female was only owing to their want of exposure, and the early gymnastic habits of the male. It is notorious, that the squaws are the drudges, the ani mals of burden, among this race, from their infancy. But they have the female delicacy of limb, and contour of joint, and slenderness of hand and foot, notwithstanding as distinctly marked, as if they had been reared in indolence and luxury. The legs have the same curve with those of the male. We have scarcely seen an instance, where the female face was not broad and oval. The nose is flattened, scarcely ever aquiline, and for the most part resembles that of the negro. They have a much greater uniformity of face, in this respect than the male. The effluvia effused from their bodies, both male and female, when in high perspiration, has been often remarked by observers to be less disagree able, than that of other races, in similar circumstances. Some have supposed this to arise from their almost universal use of unguents from fragrant herbs ; others that they have a less copious and disagreeable perspiration. Be the cause what it may, all people, who have been much among the Indians, agree in the fact; In their moral habits, although no people on the globe will endure severer privations, will be more active, or travel farther, or hunt longer, or perform more incredible exploits of activity and daring, in their wars and in the chase, they must still be pronounced on the whole, a lazy people. They often pass from the extremes of travail and toil to the most perfect indolence. Like their dogs, they will scour their thickets all day in the chase ; and like them, as soon as their toils are suspended, they sink either to sleep, or a dozing and half unconscious existence. The history of the life of a warrior, is a history of these constant alterna- nations. But the idea of the steady and unremitting industry of the whites is intolerable to them. The history of the Indians, from the be ginning, is full of this fact. The Spaniards could never bring the Indians ofthe islands to the steady labors of agriculture. They have been a thousand times enslaved in North America; but the instance is scarcely on record, where an Indian, male or female, became a diligent slave. With them the stimulant effect of the chase, fostered by early training, and associated with the idea, that success in it confers the next honors to those of war, and is one of their means of existence; or the still higher 112 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. excitements of ambition and revenge; goading them to war, are the only adequate motives to overcome their natural indolence. Their excite ments removed, the vagrant propensities of a life without object or pur suit, are with them an overwhelming instinct, in opposition to daily and unremitting industry. Extreme avarice in those, who have become suc cessful cultivators, has supplied a motive of sufficient energy to induce them to mental exertion, in order to procure slaves. But wherever we have passed fields contiguous to Indian villages, the mean and miserable enclosures, the maize planted out of rows, and crowded together at une qual distances; in short, the whole appearance of their cultivation, was sufficiently indicative of Indian character, that labor, was their strange work, and that even their more industrious women and children were but poor and careless cultivators. In regard to their moral character and dispositions, their modes of existence, their domestic habits, their amiableness, or unamiableness,'dif- ferent writers have taken very different views. Some have extolled their condition, as comprising the highest felicity of human existence; and their manners and morals, as the utmost perfection of human nature., Such were the dreams of Rosseau ; and under the pen of Chataubriand, they were transformed into a kind of amiable and happy Arcadians. Volney described them from observation ; and the little, that he has said of them, shows great exactness, and depth of research, and describes more of the real character and condition, than whole volumes, written by •others. Heckewelder had lived with a particular tribe, — had identified his feelings, and almost his affections with them and their interests. Having a very narrow circle of observation, every thing in that circle became magnified out of proportion. Their dim, and probably fabulous traditions, were to him matter of sober history. His views of them do more credit to the benevolence of his heart, than to the discriminating powers of his mind; and are not exactly the data, on which a philosopher would form his opinions of the Indian character. About the character, scarcely any two writers have been agreed ; and we have accounts of them almost diametrically opposite. Charlevoix was one of the first observers ofthe savages of Canada and the "West. He saw them, too, under circumstances favorable for the developement of their real charac ter; before their manners were sophisticated, or altered by communica tion with the whites. He has given us, perhaps, the most faithful account of the savages, that has been given. It accords with the views, that they have presented to us, at the present day. On the whole, his picture is that of a race, taken as a whole, neither amiable, nor happy. We cannot expect to settle the collisions of opinion upon this point. The brevity -of our limits confines us to a few passing remarks. We shall give some ABORIGINES. 1 13 of their general traits, such as appear to us to be common to the race, and of which all, that have been extensively acquainted with Indian character and manners, will acknowledge the fidelity. As a race, they' have countenances, that are generally unjoyous, stern and ruminating. It is with them either gloomy taciturnity, or bacchana lian revel. When you hear Indians laughing, you may generally infer, that they are intoxicated. An Indian seldom jests ; generally speaks low, and under his breath; and loquacity is with him an indication of being a a trifling personage, and of deeds inversely less, as his words are more. Even the young men and the boys have a sullen, moody and thoughtful countenance; and seem to have little of that elastic gaiety, with which the benevolence of Providence has endowed the first days of the exist ence of most other beings. From this general remark, we ought, perhaps, to except the squaw, who shows some analogy of nature to the white female. She has quicker sensibilities, is more easily excited; and when out of sight of her husband, or her parents, to whom these things are mat ters of espionage and of after reprehension, she laughs and converses, and seems conscious of a pleasurable existence. The males evidently have not the quick sensibilities, the acute percep tions of most other races. They do not easily or readily sympathize with external nature. None but an overwhelming excitement can arouse them. They seem callous to all the passions, but rage. The instances, that have been given in such glowing colors, of their females having felt and displayed thepasssionof love towards individuals ofthe whites, with such devoted constancy, have, no doubt, existed. But they were excep- ' tions — anomalies from the general character. We have seen fathers in their cabins caressing their children ; but even their caressing was of their customary moody and stern character, and as if they were ashamed to do it. They are apparently a sullen, melancholy and musing race, who ap pear to have whatever they have of emotion, or excitement, on ordinary occasions going on in the inner man. . Every one has remarked, how little surprise* they express for whatever is new, strange, or striking. Their continual converse with woods, rocks and sterile deserts, with the roar of winds and storms, and the solitude and gloom ofthe wilderness; their apparent exile from social nature ; their alternations of satiety and hunger, their continual exposure to danger; their uncertain existence; their constant struggle with nature to maintain it; the little hold, which their affections seem to have upon life ; the wild, savage and hostile nature, that incessantly surrounds them ; — these circumstances seem to have impressed a steady and unalterable gloom upon their countenances. If there be, here and there among them, a young man, who feels the freshness and vivacity of youthful existence, and shows any thing of the 15 114 MISSISSIPPI VALLEV. gaiety and volatility of other animals in such circumstances, though otherwise born to distinction, he is denounced, as a trifling thing; and the silent and sullen young savage will naturally take the place of him. They seem to be born with an instinctive determination, to be, as much as possible, independent of nature and society, and to concentrate, as much as possible, within themselves an existence, which at any moment they seem willing to lay down. Their impassible fortitude and endurance of suffering, their contempt of pain and death, invest their character with a kind of moral grandeur. It is to be doubted, whether some part of this vaunted stoicism be not the result of a more than ordinary degree of physical insensibility. It has been said, with how much truth we know not, that in amputation and other surgical operations, their nerves do not shrink, or show the same tendency to spasm, with those of the whites. When the savage, to explain his insensibility to cold, called upon the white man to recollect how little .his own face was affected by it, in consequence of constant exposure, the savage added ' my body is all face.' This increasing in sensibility, transmitted from generation to generation, finally becomes inwrought with the whole web of animal nature, and the body of the savage at last approximates the insensibility of the hoofs of horses. Con sidering the necessary condition of savage existence, this temperament is the highest boon of Providence. Of course no ordinary stimulus excites them to action. Few of the common motives, excitements or endearments operate upon them at all. Most of the things, that move us, they either do not feel, or hold in proud disdain. The horrors of their dreadful warfare ; the infernal rage of their battles ; the demoniac fury of gratified revenge ; the alternations of hope and despair in their gambling, to which they are addicted, even beyond the whites; the brutal exhilara tion of drunkenness ; — these are their pleasurable excitements. - These are the things, that awaken them to a strong and joyous consciousness of existence. When these excitements arouse the imprisoned energies of their long and sullen meditations, it is like JEolus uncaging the whirl winds. The tomahawk flies with unpitying and unsparing fury; and the writhing of their victims inspires a horrible joy. Let the benevolent make every exertion to ameliorate their character and condition. Let Christianity arouse every effort to convey her pity, mercy and immortal hopes to their rugged bosoms. But surely it is preposterous to admire the savage character in the abstract. Let us never undervalue the com fort and security of municipal and civilized life ; nor the sensibilities, charities and endearments of our own homes. The happiness of savages, steeled against sympathy and feeling, at war with nature, with the elements, and with each other, can have no existence, except in the ABORIGINES. 1 15 visionary dreaming of those, who never contemplated their actual condition. It is curious to remark, that different as are their standards of opinion from ours, in the main they have much the same notion of a good and respectable man, that we have. If we mark the passion for military dis play among our race, and observe what point is assigned by common feeling, as well as history to military prowess, we shall hardly consider it a striking difference from our nature, that bravery and daring command the first place in their homage. Their whole training, from their first to their last hour, inculcates the maxim, that courage is every thing. But apart from these views, the traits of character, that entitle a man to the appellation of virtuous and good among us, have the same bearing upon the estimation of the Indians. In conversing with them, we are struck with surprise, to observe how widely and deeply the obligations of truth, constancy, honor, generosity and forbearance are felt and understood among them. It has been often observed by foreign writers, and the sentiment has been echoed by philosophers of our own country, that they were less subject to desire, and that the sexual propensities were weaker in their race, than in -ours ; and they have evidenced the want of beard in the males, as a physical proof. The Indians are as particular, as the Parisians, not to depart from their own modes and fashions. But we have occasionally seen a savage, who had the courage or the affectation to be singular, and such a person has a beard, that would not do discredit to an Oriental. It is well known, that one ofthe most general and trouble some employments of the young Indians is, to pull out the starting crop of beard with tweezers. We know not if their beard would grow natur ally as abundant, as that of the whites. But if it would not, it is un questionably owing to other causes, than want of natural vigor. Labor, a diet often meagre from necessity, exposure, and the indulgence of pas sions of a deeper character, as ambition, vindictiveness and the appetite for war, would probably weaken, if not extinguish, in whites, passions, which are fostered in indolence, plenty and repose. But when savages are placed in situations favorable to the developement and indulgence of animal desires, we have seen no indications that they are feebler, or less intense in them, than in the whites. When we look upon the wild and naked elements, upon which, in some sense, their children are cast; when we consider how unfavorable is their situation for rearing children, we are astonished, at seeing so many in their cabins. Of the squaws, that we have seen, of mature age, a very great proportion of them had their babe, either swinging in its bark cradle, suspended between two trees; or if the mother was travelling, hung to her back by the usual 116 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. strings, passed over her shoulders, compressed to her back by a bark cage, not unlike the shell of a tortoise. Its copper colored nose is seen peeping from this cage, like that of a tortoise from its shell; and even the infants seem to feel, that crying is to no purpose; and its note of grief is seldom heard. It is to be lamented, that the intercourse of the whites among them has been calculated to convey any impressions of them, rather than those of the philosophers, of whom we have spoken. Numberless fatal cases of jealousy are recorded of their young warriors, in reference to the deport ment of our people towards their women, while among them. The man ners of our people, in this intercourse, have too often been an outrage upon decency and humanity. ' There are but few tribes, among whom the passing American sojourner, if he have any respectability of appear ance, does not receive the offer of a daughter, or perhaps the wife of his host, as a temporary companion. Almost every American trader and resident among them has an Indian wife; and but too often, wives in the region, which they left. In Long's first expedition an instance of this sort is recorded, of the deep and devoted constancy of affection on the part of the young Indian wife, and thrilling proofs of the struggle be tween maternal and conjugal affection. The whole story is characteristic; and reflects as much honor upon the Indian wife and mother, as it does shame and contempt on the base and cold blooded perfidy of the American husband. In all the Indian tribes, they have contrived to emulate the most polished and civilized people in the extent of prostitution, practised among them; and the degraded subjects have the same estimation in the one country and the other. Unnatural vices, fornication and adultery prevail among many of the tribes, no doubt, to a great extent; but taking into view the opportunities in the solitude of the desert, the smallness of their socie ties, and the diminished influence of opinion, that results from it; taking into view, that they have no laws, but indefinite opinion, no religion, and no visible restraints, — the state of morals in these respects is far purer, than would naturally be expected. Instead of admiring, that these vices are practised among them, but, perhaps, not to a greater degree, than in civilized countries, it is to a thinking mind matter of astonishment, that there is so much decorum and restraint in these respects, as there is. We feel constrained, too, to place this decorum among themselves, and that astonishing delicacy, with which they deport themselves towards white females, that fall into their power, to a more honorable cause, than the destitution of passions. When we have passed various Indian tribes encamped near together, in company with ladies, we have observed the same manners, and the same indications of what was passing in their ABORIGINES. 117 minds, that we should expect to see in untrained and low people among ourselves ; nor have we ever believed for a moment, that the propen sities' of nature are not as strong, under similar circumstances, in them, as in us. There are different standards of morals among them, as there are among the white nations. With some tribes adultery is a venial offence; and in others it is punished with mutilation, death, or the handing over the degraded female to the males of the tribe. The instance of a young squaw, who is a mother before marriage, is a very uncommon occurrence ; nor have we as much faith, as others, in their adroitness at procuring abortion. In the case of a young Indian woman the fact of pregnancy could not be hidden. The modes of managing marriage are as various, as among the whites. If there be any prevalent custom among the tribes, it is, that the parents manage the matter; and the young warrior in the morning finds the squaw, elected by the parents, sitting in hisquarters, with whatever she is expected to bring, as a dowry, removed with her. It sometimes, but not often, happens, that he enters his dissent, and she returns with her baggage to her mother. It is an universal custom to marry as many wives, as the warrior or hunter pleases. This is an affair, accurately prescribed by custom. If a young hunter has been for a length of time very successful in hunting, like a rich Turk, he is authorized by opinion to take as many wives, as he has proved himself able to maintain. Jealousy in this case, and in all other cases, shows itself under the same forms, which it would naturally assume among our people. In Long's first expedition, we have a very amusing account of the manner, in which a wife deports herself, when her husband happens to manifest a greater fondness for another wife. Sometimes the favorite, to avoid her tongue, teeth and nails, flies with her husband to the campaign or hunt. At others, in dread of her life, she returns to her parents. When the two wives quarrel, whatever be the taciturnity of the husband, there is no want of words between the wives. The husband, squat on his hams, with his pipe in his mouth, and his head half covered, and his eyes half closed, effects to be dozing, while they rate each other. If the contest of words goes on to blows, as is often the case, he arises with the stern air of a judge, and parts them, with a manner, that indicates which is the favorite. The wives generally find one lodge too narrow for both to inhabit together. The Indian spends his time, perhaps, in equal portions between them. But if he happens to spend more time with the one than the other, when he returns to the neglected wife, she manifests her view of the case by kicking his dog, throwing his food on the ground, and admitting him with great frankness into her thoughts of him and his 118 MISSISSIPPI V ALLEY. favorite. The more our species arc studied, the more clearly it is found, that the human heart is every where the same. It is beyond all question, that some of the tribes now occasionally practise cannibalism ; and that before the new world was visited by the whites, it was a custom generally, if not universally prevalent among them. The imperceptible influence of the horror, with which this practise is regarded by the whites, has made its way among them; and, little as they are disposed to confess, that they are swayed by our opinions, the earnestness with which they deny the existence of the practise at present in their tribes, and with which they attempt to vindicate their ancestors from the charge, is an incontestible admission of the influence, which our opinions exercise over them. It would extend these remarks beyond our object, to give extensive and general details of Indian manners and modes of life. An important era with the youth of all the tribes is that, when they pass from minority to the duties and estimation of warriors and hunters. This period is celebrated with great solemnity. It is well known, that hunting is the serious business, and war the important amusement and pleasure of their lives. The manner, in which they conduct these pursuits, is sufficiently well known. Their modes of constructing their habitations vary, accord ing as they dwell in a country of forests or prairies, or northern or southern climate. Although in the very few instances, in which the savages have become cultivators in good earnest, they may have con structed good houses, the far greater portion aim at notiiing more, than the frailest and rudest cabin. Yet in the construction of these, there are the same differences, as are seen in the cabins of the, backwoods men, Some are extremely rude; and some are framed with ingenious and persevering reference to comfort and utility. The same differences are visible in the internal arrangement and keeping of the cabin. In most instances the interior is filthy and uncomfortable, beyond the endurance of any but a savage. We have been in others, where the neatly matted floor, or the earth covered with the fresh verdure of the palmetto, and the neatness of all the accompaniments, gave the scene such an air of com fort, as created a train of pleasant associations with the place. Like all ignorant people, unable to trace the relation between results and causes, they are beyond all other people superstitious. It may be laid down, as an universal trait of the Indian character. The warrior, who braves death a thousand times and in every form in the fury of battle, carries with him to the combat a little charmed bag of filthy and disgust ing ingredients, in which he places no little reliance, as security against the balls and arrows, that are fired upon him. They are much addicted to faith in dreams. One of the dreamers, the day before alert, confident* ABORIGINES. 119 and intrepid, awakes the next morning, subdued and timid. He paints one side of his face black. He subjects himself to the most rigorous abstinence and fasting. Nothing can induce him to indulge or taste food, until the interdict has passed away. He has dreamed an unfavora ble dream. Such astonishing hold have these dreams upon their mind, that a warrior has been known to assume the dress, the duties, the drudgery, and, what is infinitely more humiliating to an Indian, the estimation and standing of a squaw, in consequence of one of these dreams. This great tendency to superstition in an Indian mind furnishes strong inducements to ingenious and bold impostors among them, to assume the character of jugglers, quacks, medicine men and prophets. Our country had a terrible proof of the efficacy of this assumption, in the case of the ' Shawnee prophet,' and inferior men of the same character, during the late war. A chief among the savages of the Missouri exercised, through the influence of fear, a long and severe authority over Indians, by whom he was abhorred. He had a medicine bag of terrible efficacy ; and his enemies fell on his right hand and on his left. It was a received opinion in his tribe, that his wish had a withering and fatal influence on whom soever he directed it. After his death, his grand medicine was found to be arsenic. Every thing with them, of great efficacy and power, that is inexplica ble, is a ' medicine ; ' and the medicine men among them have the next degree of consideration to chiefs and noted warriors. We have conversed with Indians, who were atheists, and treated as fabulous all notions of the immortality of the soul ; and defended their opinions with as much ingenuity, as abandoned people of the lower orders among ourselves, who profess to hold the same opinions. But in some shape or form, almost all savages admit the being of a God. and the immortality of the soul. The Great Spirit is termed in many of their languages, ' Wahcon- dah? or Master of Life. Storm and thunder are manifestations of his wrath; and success in war and hunting, of his favor. Many of the tribes have forms of prayer, in the use of which they are regular and earnest, particularly when starting on expeditions of hunting or war. — Their prophets occasionally give out, that they have had communications with this Spirit, who has made himself visibly manifest to them, in the form of some bird or beast; and they paint their faces black, and observe great mystery on the occasion ; and thence derive their pretensions to proph ecy, and to be treated with the deference of ' medicine men.' Their notions of the condition of departed spirits are such, as we might expect from their character and condition. In some distant regions of a southern temperature, they place the home of the worthy departed in the country 120 . MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. of 'brave and free' spirits, who pass to that country of game and good cheer over a bridge, scarcely wider than a hair, suspended over a yawning gulf. They, who have firm hearts and feet, and unblenching counte- nanceSj-'-that is to say, who were good warriors in life, pass safely over the bridge; while the timid and trembling fall into the gulf below. Though they will sometimes talk of these matters with great earnest ness and apparent conviction, yet, we believe, of all people, that have been known on the earth, their thoughts, hopes and fears dwell the least on any thing beyond this life. It seems to be inexplicable to thenl, that any part of their conduct here can have any bearing upon their condition hereafter. If they can be comfortable, and gain their points in this life, they concern themselves very little about what will happen to them in the life to come. Of course adult savages have too often been found hopeless subjects, upon whom to bestow the pure and sublime truths of our gospel. ' The days of the Brainards and Elliots seem to have gone by; or the western and southern savages are more hopeless subjects for conversion, than those of the north. They have certainly been found utterly destitute .of the plastic docility of the Mexican and Peruvian Indians. Charlevoix has given, as a characteristic trait, of the Canadian and western savages of this day, one, that has been found equally appli cable to them at the present time. They listen with apparent docility and attention to our expositions of our religion, our faith, and our hopes; and assent to all, and admit, that this may all be true, in relation to indi viduals of our race. They relate in turn their own fables, their own dim and visionary notions of a God and hereafter ; and exact the same docility and complaisance to their creed, which they yielded to ours. In respect to the lesser morals, all savages in this region are hospitable. Even the enemy, whom they would have sought, and slain far from their cabins, who presents himself fearlessly there, claims, and receives their hospitality. They accord to the cabin hearth the honors and the sanctity of an asylum. A great number of instances are on record, of savages of hostile tribes, obnoxions to the most deadly revenge of particular war riors, presenting themselves on a sudden before those warriors, and offering their bosoms to the knife. This heroism often not only disarms revenge, but with admiration excites more generous feelings and brings about a peace between the contending tribes. That part of our charac ter, which they are the last to understand, is that when we have received in their villages the most ample hospitality, they, in returning the visit, should find, that our strangers lodged in taverns. We have not the same plenary faith in their tenacious remembrance of kindnesses, and the certainty of our dependence upon the constancy of their friendship. We consider them a treacherous people, easily swayed ABORIGINES. 121 from their purpose, paying their court to the divinity of good fortune, and always ready to side with the strongest. We should not rely upon their feelings of to-day, as any pledge for what they will be to-morrow. They are well known for their voraciousness of appetite. They endure hunger and thirst, as they do pain and death, with astonishing patience and constancy. When they kill a deer, a buffalo, or a bear, after a long abstinence, they will devour an enormous quantity of the flesh. Their fatal and devoted attachment to ardent spirits is matter of melancholy notoriety. In all their councils, and talks and conferences with the officers of the government, from lake Erie to the Rocky mountains, the first and the last request is ' whiskey.' This is the only point, upon which it is useless to appeal to the feelings of honor and shame in an Indian. Declaim, as we may, against the use of it; paint the ill effects of it, as strongly as we choose; speak with as much contempt as we may, of drunkards; their best and their bravest still clamor for whiskey. Schoolcraft gives us a characteristic anecdote to this effect. A noted Pottawattomie chief presented himself to the American agent at Chicago, as a good man, and a good friend to the Americans, and concluded with the usual request for whiskey. The reply was, that the agent did not give whiskey to good Indians ; that such neither asked for it, nor drank it, when offered; that it was bad Indians only, who asked for whiskey. The Indian replied with great quickness, in broken English, ' Me d n rascal.' All words would be thrown away in attempting to pourtray in just colors the effects of whiskey upon such a race. It is, indeed, the heaviest curse, that their intercourse with the whites has entailed upon them. Every obligation of duty, as philanthropists and Christians, imposes upon us all possible efforts to prevent the extirpation of the whole race; the inevitable consequence of their having free access to this liquid poison. We have adverted to the stern and rigorous prohibitions of the general government, and the fidelity with which they are generally carried into effect ; yet, in some way or other, wherever Americans have access, Indians have whiskey. It is understood, that the laws of the state governments and of the general government are not in concert upon this subject. It is matter of undoubted fact, that in the states, the Indians find much less difficulty in procuring whiskey, than in the territories; and of course intoxication is far more common. The duties of the states imperiously call upon them, to frame laws in unison with those of the general government, and to unite with that, to prevent these unhappy beings from exercising their suicide propensities. It has been inferred, because they make it a point, not to express as tonishment, or curiosity, in view of our improvements and arts, that they 16 122 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. have little curiosity; and because they seem to hold them in contempt and disdain, that they have nothing analogous to the cupidity, vanity, or pride ofthe whites. They are, unquestionably, a very proud race; and their pride induces them to affect indifference, and to hold those things in apparent contempt, which they are conscious they can not obtain. As regards their vanity, we have not often had the fortune to contemplate a young squaw at her toilette. But from the studied arrangement of her calico jacket, from the glaring circles of vermillion on her round face, from the artificial manner, in which her hair is clubbed, and from the time, which she occupies in completing these arrangements, we infer, that dress and personal ornament occupy the same portion of her thoughts that they do of the fashionable woman of civilized society. A young Indian warrior, is notoriously the most thorough going beau in the world. Broadway and Bond street, furnish no subjects, that will spend as much time, or endure as much crimping and confinement, to appear in full dress. We think, that we have observed such a character, constantly employed with his paints and his pocket glass for three full hours, laying on his paints, and arranging his tresses, and contemplating with visible satisfaction, from time to time, the progress of his attractions. The chiefs and warriors in full dress have one, two or three clasps of silver about their arms, generally jewels in their ears, and often in their nose ; and nothing is more common, than to see a thin, circular piece of silver, of the size of a dollar, hanging from their nose, a little below their upper lip. This ornament, so horribly inconvenient, seems to be one of the highest Indian taste. Painted porcupine quills are twirled in their hair. Tails of animals hang from the hair behind ; or from the point, where they were originally appended to the animal. A necklace of bears' or ali- gator's teeth, or claws ofthe bald eagle, or common red beads, or wanting these, a kind of rosary of red hawthorns, hangs about the neck. From the knees to the feet the legs are ornamented with great numbers of little perforated cylindrical pieces of silver or brass, that tinkle, as the person walks. If to all this, he add an American hat, and a soldier's coat of blue, faced with red, over the customary calico shirt, he steps firmly on the ground, to give to his tinklers a simultaneous noise, and apparently considers his person with as much complacency, as the human bosom can be supposed to feel. This is a very curtailed view of an Indian beau, and faithful, as far as it goes, to the description of almost every young Indian at a great public dance. So many faithful prints have recently been presented to the public of the Indian figure and costume, that most of those, who have not seen the living subject, have definite views of it The males for the most part wear leggins, sitting closely from the loins to the ancles generally of ABORIGINES. 123 smoke-tanned dear skin, sometimes of blue cloth. Those, who inhabit beyond the range of the buffalo, wear a blanket, thrown loosely over the shoulders ; and those, who live in the region of the buffalo, wear a dressed skin of that animal Their moccasins are ornamented with extreme care, with different colored porcupine quills, arranged in lines and compart ments. But in the sultry months, they are often seen with no other dress, than a piece of blue cloth, in the language of the country, ' stroud ing,' passed between the thighs, and brought round the loins. In regions contiguous to the whites, they have generally a calico shirt of the finest colors ; and they are particularly attached to a long calico dress, resem bling a morning gown. The women have a calico jacket, leggins, not much unlike those of the men, and wherever they can afford it, a blue broadcloth petticoat. We do not remember to have seen Indians either male or female, affect any other colors, than red or blue. The thick, -heavy, black tresses of hair are parted on the forehead, and skewered with a quill or thorn in a large club behind. They have various dances, to which they are extravagantly attached ; and which often have, as did the dances of the old time, a religious character. The aged council chiefs drum, and the young warriors dance with great vehemence, beating the ground with their feet. They pursue the business with a vigor, which causes the perspiration to pour from their bodies. They have the war, the council, the feast, and the dog dance; and tunes corresponding to the different objects. The tunes are very monotonous, running through only three or four notes, and con stantly recurring to the same strain. In most of the tribes, the women take no part in the song or dance. — Among some of the tribes, we have heard the women chime in on the last note. Incredible stories are related of the powers of their jugglers and moun tebanks. Many of their alleged feats never took place, except in the imaginations of the ignorant people, who related them. But they have undoubtedly, a rigidity of muscle, a callousness of nerve, and a contempt of pain and wounds, that enable them to achieve swallowing fire, putting knives and swords down their throats, and such like exploits with great success. To create admiration is of course a passion with them ; and this desire incites them to thought and study, in order to learn the mystic art of legerdemain, in which they certainly attain no inconsiderable pro ficiency. Their medicine men are a kind of jugglers; and there is much ceremony and affectation of mystery, in the preparing and administering their medicines. The most amusing part of this business is, that the scaramouch who has gone through all the ceremonies, and prepared the medicine, generally takes it himself. We have little faith in their 124 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. boasted acquaintance with remedies, from their own vegetable kingdom. We have remarked, that when they were near our settlements, their sick are in the habit of applying to our physicians. The Indian head is such, as we would suppose the craniologists would select, as finely moulded for intelligence. In this respect he would probably place them, as a race, beside the homo sapaiens Europmus. We have seen them in every position, to try native acuteness. We have taught their young. We consider them naturally a shrewd, intelligent people, with heads capable of the highest mental developement in every department of thought, in as great a degree, as our own race. They have, probably, as much curiosity, but a more stern perseverance in the effort to suppress it. The first time that they witness a steam boat, they never suppress the outward expression of their admiration, and their em phatic 'ugh!' Languages. It can not be expected, that we should dismiss this article, which with every effort to curtail it, has grown up under our hands, without remarking upon their languages. In all their dialects we sus pect, that, like the Chinese, their words were originally but of one syllable. — Every word, then, of more than one syllable, has been formed in the progress of advancing ideas among them, by a corresponding com bination of ideas. Having few abstractions among their ideas, and knowing and caring little about our complex combinations of thought, conversable wholly with tangible and visible matters, their expressions are paintings of sensible ideas with the coloring matter of woids. When ever we undertake to convey to them a connected chain of abstract ideas, they turn to us for a while with a complacent inclination of the head, and apply their hand to their ear, with the sign, so readily understood by all Indians to imply, that they are deaf. Their manner of numbering, evi dences the extreme simplicity of their language. We have requested of all the tribes, with which we have been conversant, their terms of numbering, as far as an hundred. In some the terms are simple as far as ten. In others six is five-one, seven five-two, and so on. Beyond ten they generally count by reduplication of the ten. This they perform by a mechanical arithmetic, intricate to explain, but readily apprehended by the eye. Some of the tribes are said to be perplexed in their attempts to number beyond an hundred. When the question turned upon any point, that involved great numbers, we have generally heard them avail them selves of an English word, the first, we believe, and the most universally understood by savages — heap ! We have read, that in some of their lan guages, there are subtleties of structure, and nice shades of divisions of time, in the tenses of their verbs, that transcend even the famed exact ness andfinish ofthe Greek. There is something inexplicable, it must be ABORIGINES. 125 admitted, in the combinations and artificial structure of the language of a people of such extreme simplicity of thought. We profess to know little of the origin of these languages. We suspect, that a life might be spent in studying them in the closet to very little pur pose. The savages vary their meaning by the accent and intonation, which they give their words, still more than the French. We fear, that a printed page of Indian words, most carefully and accurately noted by the marks of accent and sound in our dictionaries, could hardly be read by an unpractised American so as to be intelligible to the Indian, whose language they purport to be. We suppose the Muskogee and Cherokee to be the patriarchel dialects of the south; the Chippeway and Dacota, of the Indians of the lakes and the upper Mississippi; and the Osage and Pawnee, of the Savages of Missouri, Arkansas and Red river. We should not forget, that they have a language of signs, — the Latin, or common language, by which all the tribes converse with each other. It is a trite maxim, that necessity is the mother of invention ; and it is inconceivable, except by those who have witnessed it, how copious and expressive a language they have formed with signs. In Long's first expedition a full and accurate vocabulary of this language is given. After all, that, which has struck us in contemplating the Indians with the most astonishment and admiration, is the invisible but universal energy of the operation and influence of an inexplicable law, which has, where it operates, a more certain and controlling power, than all the municipal and written laws of the whites united. There is despotic rule, without any hereditary or elected chief. There are chiefs with great power, who cannot tell when, where, or how they became such. There is perfect unanimity in a question involving the existence of a tribe, where every member belonged to the wild and fierce democracy of nature, and could dissent, without giving a reason. A case occurs, where it is prescribed by custom, that an individual should be punished with death. Escaped far from the control of his tribe, and as free as the winds, this invisible tie is about him; and he returns, and surrenders himself to justice. His accounts are not settled, and he is in debt; he requests delay, till he shall have accomplished his summer's hunt. He finishes it, pays his debt, and dies with a constancy, which has always been, in all views of Indian character, the theme of admiration. A serious question occurs in conclusion. What is the prospect of bringing to these rugged and comfortless beings, apparently the outcasts of nature and civilization, the moulding, the guidance and hopes of the Gospel? — The gloomy fact must be admitted, that but little has yet been done. Pious and devoted Catholic missionaries have carried their lives in their hands, have renounced all earthly hopes, and have lived and died 126 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. among them, to carry them the gospel. The Protestants have not been behind them in these labors of love. But after the lapse of more than a century, scarcely an adult savage can be found, west of the Mississippi, who will pronounce himself a Christian. There are many, that have crosses suspended from their necks, which they show, as they do their medals. They seem to think, that the profession of Christianity gives them additional claims upon us. While we were writing, some Appala- chy Indians applied to the judge of the district, where we resided, for redress. They spoke of the alleged outrage in terms of indignant feeling. 'Nous sommes baptises,'' we have been baptised, said they; and appeared to feel, as if this gave the outrage a greater enormity. We are sure, that if any effort can have marks of moral heroism, and noble ness of self-devotion beyond another, the self-devotion of missionaries among the savages is the noblest of all. Surely, if any men merit earnest wishes and prayers for their success, it must be those men, who have left the precincts of every thing, that is desirable in life, to go into these solitudes, and take in hand, these uniformed children of nature. There are some circumstances, which invest the present missionary efforts with stronger probabilities of success, than any, that have preceded them. The number of Indians, that are half breeds, or mixtures of the blood of the whites, is great, and continually increasing. These gener ally espouse, either from conviction, or from party feeling, the interest of civilization and Christianity. It is more universally, than it once was, a conviction, that Christianity is the religion of social and civilized man. Instead of relying much on the hope of the conversion of adult hunting and warrior savages, the effort is chiefly directed towards the young. Schools, the loom, the anvil, the plough, are sent to them. Amidst the comfort, stability and plenty of cultivation, they are to be imbued with a taste for our institutions, arts, industry- and religion, at the same time. — Every benevolent man will wish these efforts of benevo lence all possible success. Monuments. The tumuli, or mounds of the western country, are first seen on the southern shores of lake Erie. We trace them through the western parts of New York. We find them increasing in numbers and size in the state of Ohio. They are seen thence, with more or less frequency, over all the valley; and from Humboldt we learn, that mounds of a similar character abound in Mexico. If so much had not been already written upon the subject,, we should hold it idle to detain the reader a moment, in useless dissertation upon the question, by whom these mounds were formed, and for what purposes ? As every opinion on the point must rest entirely upon conjecture, without the slightest MONUMENTS. 127 rational element, on which to found it, we shall discover at once, that such dissertations could throw no certain light on the subject. Whether the mass of them was constructed for fortifications, observatories, tem ples, or tombs, it is hopeless to enquire. That some of them served for the last purpose, we have the conclusive evidence, that they abound in human bones. It has been often asserted, that some of the mounds are full of bones, that are perforated, as though the living subjects were slain in battle; and that the skeletons are heaped together in promiscuous confusion, as if buried after a conflict, without order or arrangement. The bones, which we have seen, were such, and so arranged, as might be expected in the common process of solemn and deliberate inhumation. The mounds show no more art, though infinitely more labor, than might be expected from the present Indians. They are mere erections of earth, exhibiting no other trace of skill, than that most of them are of regular forms, contained under circular or right lines. Iron tools were not used in the formation of them. Stone makes no part of them. Yet many of the squares and parallelograms make a much more conspicuous figure, after the lapse of unknown ages, than the defences of earth, thrown up on the Atlantic shore, during the revolutionary war. Some of them are said to be found on hills. We have seen none such. They are generally on fertile wooded bottoms, plains, or the richer allu vial prairies, where wild fruits, game and fish are abundant and at hand. The most dense ancient population existed precisely in the places where the most crowded future population will exist in the generations to come. The appearance of a series of mounds generally indicates the contiguity of rich and level lands, easy communications, fish, game, and the most favorable adjacent positions. The only circumstance, which strongly discredits their having been formed by the progenitors of the present Indians, is the immensity of the size of some of them, beyond what could be expected from the sparse population and the indolence of the present race. We know of no monuments, which they now raise for their dead, that might not be the work of a few people in a few days. We have seen mounds, which would require the labor of a thousand of the men employed on our canals, with all their mechanical aids, and the improved implements of their labor for months. We have, more than once, hesitated in view of one of these prodigious mounds, whether it were not really a natural hill. But they are uniformly so placed, in reference to the adjoining country, and their conformation is so unique and similar, that no eye hesitates long in referring them to the class of artificial erections. The largest, that has been discovered in the Ohio valley, as far as we know, is in the bottom of Grave creek, near its entrance into the Ohio, and fourteen miles below Wheeling. It is between 128 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. thirty and forty rods in circumference at its base, with a proportionate diameter. It is seventy feet in perpendicular height; and has a table area on its summit, which is sixty feet in diameter, in the centre of which is a great and regular concavity. A single white oak rises from this concavity, like a flag staff. The most numerous group of mounds, that we have seen, is near Cahokia, in the American bottom. There are said to be two hundred in all. The largest is on the banks of Cahokia creek. Its form is that of a parallelogram. Its circumference is commonly given at eight hundred yards, and its height at ninety feet. There is a terrace on the south side of it. The monks of La Trappe had a monastery adjoining- it, and their garden was on the terrace. They cultivated the mound. The earth could not have furnished them a place, more in keeping with their profession and avowed objects. In the midst of the American bottom, perhaps the most fertile spot on the globe, exerting its exhaust- less fertility only in the production of dense forest, or a useless luxuriance of weeds and flowers, all in view of their dwelling is a solitary prairie. A few dreaming men, vowed to perpetual silence, apparently belonging more to another world, than this, seat themselves on one of these lonely and inexplicable monuments of generations, that are now no more, in the midst of gigantic weeds, gaudy flowers, and rank grass. — No noise disturbs them, by day or night, but the chirping of the grasshopper, or the cry of wolves, or the hooting of owls. There are very interesting mounds near St. Louis, a little north of the town. Some of them have the aspect of enormous stacks. That one •of them, called the ' falling garden,' is generally pointed out, as a great curiosity .^-One of these mounds, and it was a very striking one, was •levelled in the centre of Chillicothe. In digging it down, it is said, there were removed cart loads of human bones. The town of Circleville, in Ohio, is principally laid out within the limits of a couple of contigu ous mounds ; the one circular, the other square. The town has its name from its position, chiefly in the circular mound. In this, and in many other mounds, the singular circumstance is said to exist, and by people, who live near them, and ought to know that, of which they affirm, that the earth, of which they are composed, is entirely distinct from that in the vicinity. It is of no avail to enquire, why the builders should have encountered the immense toil, to bring these hills of earth from another place? Our country has been described abroad, as sterile of moral interest. We have, it is said, no monuments, no ruins, none of the colossal remains ef temples, and baronial castles, and monkish towers; nothing to connect the imagination and the heart with the past; none of the dim recollec- POPULATION. 129 tions of times gone by, to associate the past with the future. We have not travelled in other lands. But in passing over our vast prairies, in viewing our noble and ancient forests, planted by nature, and nurtured only by ages; when we have seen the sun rising over a boundless plain, where the blue of the heavens in all directions touched, and mingled with the verdure of the flowers; when our thoughts have traversed rivers of a thousand leagues in length; when we have seen the ascending steam boat breasting the surge, and gleaming through the verdure of the trees; when we have imagined the happy multitudes, that from these shores will contemplate this scenery in days to come ; we have thought, that our great country might at least compare with any other, in the beauty of its natural scenery. When, on an uninhabited prairie, we have fallen at nightfall upon a group of these mounds, and have thought of the masses of human bones, that moulder beneath; when the .heart and the imagin ation evoke the busy multitudes, that here 'strutted through life's poor play,' and ask the phantoms who and what they were, and why they have left no memorials, but these mounds ; we have found ample scope for reflections and associations of the past with the future. We should not highly estimate the mind, or the heart ofthe man, who could behold these tombs of the prairies without deep thought. These regions bear ample testimonials of another sort, of a world gone by. Beside the human skeletons, found in the nitre caves, and at the Maramec, of which we shall have occasion to speak in another place, there are found at the licks, and, as habitancy and cultivation bring us more acquainted with what is concealed beneath the soil, over all the valley, masses of bones of animals of enormous size, to which the name of mammoth and megalonyx have been given. A ship's, cargo could easily be furnished. — The bones of animals of different classes, forms and sizes, from any that are now known to exist, and different, too, from the mammoth, are discovered inthe same places with these huge remains. While we are writing, they are exhibiting at New Orleans the bones of an animal, to which the mammoth itself must have been a pigmy, found near Plaquemine, on the Mississippi, below that city. — They have been asserted, and denied to be the bones of a whale. A diligent and unwea ried antiquarian, in the state of Ohio, affirms, that he has discovered, in laying open the earth in his geological examinations, the wood and tiie leaves of the bread-fruit tree, and other vegetable tropical remains. Whatever credit this opinion may receive, all admit, that every part of the Mississippi valley is marked with monuments of immense and inex plicable changes in the natural world, and of races of animals and men, that are now no more. 130 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. Present Population. The progress of the population of this coun try, as every one knows, is without any example or parallel in the records of other colonies, in ancient or modern times ; not excepting even the annals of the advancement of the Atlantic country. We can remember, when all this country, except the ancient French colonies in it, was an unknown and unpeopled wilderness. The first settlers encountered incredible hardships and dangers. But only open before Americans a fertile soil and a mild climate, and their native enterprise, fostered by the stimulant effect of freedom and mild laws, will overcome every im pediment. Sickness, solitude, mountains, the war hoop, the merciless tomahawk, wolves, panthers, and bears, dear and distant homes, forsaken forever, will come over their waking thoughts, and revisit their dreams in vain, to prevent the young, florid and unportioned pair from scaling remote mountains, descending long rivers, and finally selecting their spot in the forests, consecrating their solitary cabin with the dear and sacred name of home. The following synoptical view will show, in a few words, the astonish ing advance of this population. In 1790, the population of this valley, exclusive of the country west of the Mississippi, and of Florida, which were not then within our territorial limits, was estimated by enumeration, at little more than 100,000. In 1800, it was something short of 380,000. In 1810, it was short of a million. In 1820, including the population west of the Mississippi, rating the population of Florida at 20,000, and that of the parts of Pennsylvania and Virginia included in this valley at 300,000, and it will give the population of 1820 at 2,500;000. The present population may be rated at 4,000,000. It will be perceived that this is an increase, in more than a duplicate ratio in ten years. Some considerable allowance must be made, of course, for the flood of immigration, which can not reasonably be expected to set this way,, for the future as strongly as it has for the past. ' Ohio, with the largest and most dense population of any of the western states, has nearly double the number of inhabitants, by the census of 1830, which she had by that of 1820. — During that interval, her gain by immigration has scarcely equalled her loss by emigration ; and, of course, is simply that of natural increase. In the rapidity of this increase, we believe, this state not only exceeds any other in the west, but in the world. It is the good natured jest of all, who travel through the western states, that however productive in other harvests, they are still more so in an unequalled crop of flaxen headed children; and that 'this is the noble growth our realms supply.' We have a million more inhabitants, than the thirteen good old United States, when at the commencement of the revolutionary war, they threw POPULATION. 131 down the gauntlet in the face of the parent country, then the most powerful empire on the globe. Notwithstanding the impression, so generally entertained in the Atlan tic country, that this valley is universally unhealthy, and notwithstanding the necessary admission, that fever and ague is prevalent to a great and an annoying degree, the stubborn facts, above stated, demonstrate, beyond all possibility of denial, that no country is more propitious to increase by natural population. Wherever the means of easy, free and ample subsistence are provided, it is in the nature and order of human things, that population should increase rapidly. In such a country, though some parts of it should prove sickly, perseverance will ultimately triumph over even this impediment, the most formidable of all. In that fertile region, for the insalubrious districts are almost invariably those of the highest fertility, immigrants will arrive, become sickly, and discour aged; and, perhaps, return with an evil report of the country. In the productive and sickly sections of the south, allured by its rich products, and its exemption from winter, adventurers will successively arrive, fix themselves, become sickly, and it may be, die. Others, lusting for gain, and with that recklessness to the future, for wise ends awarded us by Providence, and undismayed by the fate of those, who have preceded them, will replace them. By culture, draining, the feeding of cattle, and the opening the country to the fever-banishing breeze, the atmosphere is found gradually to meliorate. The inhabitants, taught by experience and suffering, come by degrees to learn the climate, the diseases, and preven tives; and a race will finally stand, which will possess the adaptation to the country, which results from acclimation : and even these sections are found, in time, to have a degree of natural increase of population with the rest. Such has proved to be the steady advance of things in the sickliest points of the south. The rapidity of our increase in numbers multiplies the difficulties of subsistence, and stimulates and sharpens the swarming faculties and propensities in the parent hive, and will cause, that in due lapse of time and progress of things, every fertile quarter section in this valley will sustain its family. Another pleasant circumstance appended to this view is, that almost the entire population of the valley are cultivators of the soil. The in habitants of crowded towns and villages, the numerous artizans and laborers in manufactories, can neither be, as a mass, so healthy, so virtu ous, or happy, as free cultivators of the soil. The man, whose daily range of prospect is dusty streets, or smoky and dead brick walls, and whose views become limited by habit to the enclosure of these walls; who depends for his subsistence on the daily supplies of the market ; and whose motives to action are elicited by constant and hourly struggle 132 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. and competition with his fellows; will have the advantage in some points over the secluded tenant of a cabin, or a farm house. But still,, taking every thing into the calculation, we would choose to be the owner of half a section of land, and daily contemplate nature, as we tilted the soil, aided in that primitive and noble employment by our own vigorous chil dren. The dweller in towns and villages may have more of the air and tone of society, and his daughters may keep nearer to the changes of the fashions. But we have little doubt, that, in striking the balance of enjoyment, rthe latter will be found to be the happier man, and more likely to have a numerous and healthy family. The people of the West,, with very small deductions, are cultivators of the soil. All, that are neither idle, nor unable to labor, haye a rural abundance of the articles which the soil can furnish, far beyond the needs of the country; and it is one of our most prevalent complaints, that this abundance is far beyond the chances of profitable sale. Ohio, has, palpably, more of the northern propensity to form villages, and condense population, than any other of the western states. Of course, her people have a readier aptitude for an artizan's life, and a manufac turer's condition. We suppose, that at least half the manufacturers of the West inhabit the region, of which Pittsburgh and the state of Ohio are the centre. Her sons, too, have the New England aspiration to be come scholars, and professional tmen, and merchants and traders. Ken tucky and Ohio send abroad their circulating phalanxes of this kind of foragers, to compete with the Yankees for the professions and trade of the more western states. In Ohio this class bears by far the greatest proportion to the cultivators, of any part of the valley. Yet in Ohio, from the returns of the very accurate census of 1820 it appears, that out of a population of nearly 600,000, there were only 18,956 manu facturers, and 1,459 merchants and traders. Thus it appears, that nearly twenty-nine out of thirty of this whole population were engaged in agriculture. It would require a separate and distinct article, if we were to trace the influence of slavery upon population and improvement., This discussion too, would more properly fall under the head of an article, presenting a contrasted view of the condition and progress of the slave holding, comparing with the non-slave holding states. It is sufficient for our present purposes to remark, that with the exception of some districts that are particularly sickly, the blacks increase still more rapidly than the whites. From the general fertility of the soil, and the abundance with which it yields all the supplies of life; from the comparative rareness and small proportion of sterile, mountainous and marshy lands, that can not be easily POPULATION. 133 brought into cultivation ; no thinking mind can have failed to foresee, that this country must and will ultimately sustain a great and dense pop ulation of farmers. Taking into view soil, climate, and the means of easy communication, the most material and natural elements upon which to calculate, in regard to future increase of population, and no country can be found, which invites increase more strongly, than ours. In half a century, the settled parts of it will, probably, have become as healthy as any other country. In that lapse of time, it can hardly be sanguine to calculate, that by improving the navigation of the existing rivers, by the numerous canals which will be made, in aid of what nature has already done, in a region where there are no mountains, and few high hills, and no intermixture of refractory granite ; where the rivers, which rise almost in the same level, interlock, and then wind away in opposite directions; where, from these circumstances, and the absence of granite hills, canals can be made with comparative ease ; that the country will be permeated in every direction, either by steam boats, or sea vessels towed by them, or by transport conducted by rail-road power. No coun try, it is generally supposed here, can be found, which contains so great a proportion of cultivable and habitable land, compared with the whole extent of its surface. — Humboldt, so well qualified to judge by compari son, has pronounced it the largest valley in the world. It has a less pro portion of swamps, sterile plains, and uncultivable mountains, than any other region of the same extent. — When it shall have been inhabited as long as Massachusetts and Virginia, what limits can imagination assign to its population and improvement? No one can fail to have foreseen, at this time of the day, that the period is not far distant, when the greater mass of the population of our coun try will be on this side the mountains. We would not desire, in antici pation, to' vex the question, where the centre of our national government will then be ? We are connected already with the Atlantic country by noble roads. We shall shortly be connected with the Hudson, Delaware and Chesapeake bays, by navigable canals. A rail-road between Balti more and the Ohio is in rapid progress, and thousands have travelled on the first completed section. Our different physical conformation of country, and the moral circumstances of our condition, have assigned to us, as we think, agriculture, as our chief pursuit. Suppose manufac tures to flourish camong us to the utmost extent, which our most honest and earnest patriots could desire, and we should still, as we think, find ourselves bound by the ties of a thousand wants, to the country north and east of the mountains. The very difference Of our physical and moral character contributes to form a chain of mutual wants, holding us to that region by the indissoluble tie of mutual interest. At present, 134 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. the passage of the mountains, formerly estimated by the Atlantic people something like an India voyage, and not without its dangers, as well as its difficulties, is no more, than a trip of pleasure of two or three days. We shall soon be able to sail, at the writing desk, or asleep, from New Orleans, Fort Mandan, or Prairie du Chien, through the interior forests to the beautiful bay of New York. The time is not distant, when the travelled citizens of the other side the mountains will not be willing to admit, that he has not taken an autumnal or vernal trip of pleasure, or observation, from Pittsburgh to New Orleans. The landscape painter and the poet will come among us, to study and admire our forest, river and prairie scenery, and to imbibe new ideas, from contemplating the grandeur and^he freshness of our nature. For us, as a people, we look over the mountains, and connect our affections' with the parent country beyond, by the strong ties of natal attachment; for there, to the passing generation at least, was the place of their birth. There still live our fathers and our brethren. There are the graves of our ancestors ; and there are all the delightful and never forgotten remembrances of our infancy and our boyhood. We have- hitherto been connected to that country, by looking to it exclusively for fashions, models and literature. The connexion will remain, not as we hope, a slavish one; for duty, interest and self-respect imperiously call upon us to set up for ourselves, in these respects, as fast as possible But as younger members of the family, thrust into the woods, to give place to those, who had the rights of primogeniture, and obliged to find our subsistence by cutting down the trees, we have as yet had but little leisure to think of any thing, beyond the calls of necessity, and the cal culations of immediate interest and utility. As soon as we have the leisure for higher purposes, we shall be unworthy of our family alliance, if we do not immediately institute a friendly rivalry in these*' respects, which will be equally honorable and useful for each of the parties. We know our rights, and we are able to maintain them. It is only the little minded and puny, that allow themselves to indulge in a causeless and fretful jealousy. There must be a real, palpable and continued purpose to undervalue us, and curtail our rights, and arrest our advancement and prosperity, before we would allow ourselves to remember our great chain of mountains, and our world by itself. Our patriotism has been tam pered with, more than once, even in our infancy. We, came forth with honor from every trial. Every link of the golden, and, we h6pe, perpet ual chain of the union, will be grasped as firmly by the citizens of the West, as of the Atlantic. We flatter ourselves, that we have had un^ common chances to note the scale of the western thermometer, in this respect. We have every where seen and felt a spirit, which has given us NATIONAL CHARACTER. 135 the assurance of conviction, that the popularity of that demagogue would be blasted, and would wither forever, who should for a moment manifest the remotest incipient wish to touch the chain of this union with an un hallowed hand. The interests and affections of the western people hold to that, as strongly, and as proudly, to say no more, as those of the East, From time to time demagogues will spring up, and atrocious and unprin- cipalled editors will be found, to meditate any thing, — and to dare to inculcate, and write, and publish what they meditate. But the strength and virtue of the community will never bear them out. Wherever attempts may be made to disaffect, alienate and sever one section of this great union from the rest, may God avert the omen ! that attempt will not commence with us. They may reproach us with being rough, untrained, and backwoods men. But as a people we are strong for the union, and the whole union. Every true son of the West will join in the holiest aspirations, 'esto perpetua? May it last as long as the sun and moon shall endure'. National Character of the Western People. We shall remark upon the character of the French part of our population in describing Louisiana and Missouri, where the greater portion of that people is found. We shall remark upon the distinctive character of Kentucky, in giving the geography of that state. We only wish to catch here, if possible, the slight, but perceptible peculiarities of national character which our pecu liar circumstances and condition have imposed upon us. The people of this valley are as thorough a combination and mixture of the people of all- nations, characters, languages, conditions and opin ions, as can well be imagined. Scarcely a state in the Union, or a nation in Europe, but what has furnished us immigrants. Philosophers and noblemen have visited us from beyond the seas; some to study our natural history, or to contemplate a new people rising from the freshness .of nature, over the fertile ruins of a once submerged world ; or deluded 'here by the pastoral dreams of Rousseau, or Chateaubriand; or, in the sample of the savages to study man in a state of nature. The much greater proportion of the immigrants from Europe are of the poorer classes, who come here from hunger, poverty, oppression, and the grinding vassalage of crowded and miserable tenants of an aristocratic race, born to the inheritance of the soil, and all the comforts and hopes of present existence. They find themselves here with the joy of shipwrecked mariners, cast on the untenanted woods, and instantly become cheered with the invigorating hope of being able to build up a family and a for tune from new elements. 'The north has given to us, and the south has not kept bach' The puritan and the planter, the German and the 136 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. Irishman, the Briton and the Frenchman each with their peculiar prejudi ces and local attachments, and the complicated and inwoven tissue of sentiments, feelings and thoughts, that country, and kindred, and home, indelibly combine with the web of our youthful existence, have here set down beside each other. The merchant, mechanic and fanner, each with their peculiar prejudices and jealouses, have found themselves placed by necessity in the same society. Mr. Owen's grand engine of circum stances begins to play upon them. Men must cleave to their kind, and must be dependent upon each other. Pride and jealousy must give way to the natural yearnings of the human heart for society. They begin to rub off mutual prejudices. One takes a step, and then the other. They meet half way, and embrace ; and the society thus newly organized and constituted, is more liberal, enlarged, unprejudiced, and of course more affectionate and pleasant, than a society of people of unique birth and character, who bring all their early prejudices, as a common stockr to be transmitted as an inheritance in perpetuity. The rough, sturdy and simple habits of the backwoods men, living in that plenty, which depends only on God and nature, being the pre ponderating cast of character in the western country, have laid the stamina of independent thought and feeling deep in the breasts of this people. A nian accustomed only to the fascinating, bHt hollow inter course of the polished circles in the Atlantic cities, at first feels a painful revulsion, when mingled with this more simple race. But he soon be comes accustomed to the new order of things ; and if he have a heart to admire simplicity, truth and nature, begins to be pleased with it. He respects a people, where a poor, but honest man enters the most aris tocratic mansion with a feeling of ease and equality." It may readily be supposed, that among such an infinite variety of people, so recently thrown together, and scarcely yet amalgamated into one people, and in a country, where the institutions are almost as fresh and sim ple as the log houses, any very distinctive national character could hardly yet be predicated of the inhabitants. Every attentive observer, however, discriminates the immigrants from the different nations, and even from the different states of our own country. The people of Ohio and Indiana, for example, have a character somewhat distinct from that of the other western states. That of the former, especially, is moulded, as a very fair sample of the New England and New Jersey patterns. In the latter this character is blended, not merged with the manners, opinions and dialect of Kentucky. Illinois though a free state, has a clear preponde rance of Kentucky nationality. Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, the upper part of Alabama and Arkansas, have distinct manners in which the nationality of Kentucky is the ground color. The country still more south, peopled with large planters of cotton and sugar cane, with nume- NATIONAL CHARACTER. 137 rous gangs of slaves, have the peculiar manners, that have naturally grown out of their condition. On these states too, especially on Louisiana, we begin to discern the distinct impress and influence of French tempera ment and manners. These shades of difference are very distinctly visible to persons, who have been long and intimately acquainted with the people of the different regions, where they are marked. But young as the country is, variously constituted and combined, as are the elements of its population, there is already marked, and it is every year more fully developed, a distinctive character of the western people. A traveller from the Atlantic cities, and used only to their man ners, descending from Pittsburgh, or Wheeling, the Ohio and the Missis sippi in a steam boat of the larger class, will find on board, what may be considered fair samples, of all classes in our country, except the farmers. To become conversant with the younger representatives of the "yeomanry, he must acquaint himself with the crews of the descending flat boats. Sufficiently copious specimens of the merchants and traders, the artizans the large planters, the speculators, and last, though not least, the ladies, will be seen on board the different steam boats descending to New Orleans, or on their return voyage. The manners, so ascertained, will strike such a traveller as we have supposed, with as much novelty, distinctness, and we may add, if he be not bigoted and fastidious, with as much pleasure, saving the language, as though he had visited a country beyond the seas. The dialect is different. The enunciation is different. The peculiar and proverbial colloquy is different. The figures and illus- ' trations, used in common parlance, are strikingly different. We regret, that fidelity to our picture, that frankness and truth compel us to admit, that the frequency of profanity and strange curses is ordinarily an un pleasant element in the conversation. The speaking is more rapid. The manner has more appearance of earnestness and abruptness. The common comparisons and analogies are drawn from different views and relations of things. Of course he is every moment reminded, that he is a stranger among a people, vyhose modes of existence and ways of think ing are of a widely different character from those, in the midst of which he was reared. Although we have so often been described to this traveller, by the repulsive terms backwoods men, gougers, ruffians, demi-sayages, a strange mixture, in the slang phrase, of the ' hor.se and; the alligator,' we confidently hazard the opinion, that when a little accustomed tp the manners of the better class of people among us, he will institute a com parison between our people and his own, not unfavorable to us. There is evidently more ease and frankness, more readiness to meet a wish to form an acquaintance, sufficient tact, when to advance^and how far, 18 138 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. and where to pause in this effort; less holding back, less distrust, less feeling as if the address of a stranger were an insult, or a degradation. There is inculcated and practised on board the steam boats a courtesy to ladies, Which is delightful in its proper extent; but which is here, some1 times, apt to overstep the modesty of nature, in the affectation of a chivalrous deference, which Wouldbe considered misplaced, or ridiculous on the Atlantic shores. A series of acquaintances are readily and natur ally formed between fellow passengers, in their long descents to New Orleans, very unlike the cold, constrained, and almost repelling and hostile deportment of fellow passengers in the short stage and steam boat passages in the Atlantic country. They are very different from the intimacies of fellow passengers in crossing the Atlantic, and infinitely more pleasant. Putting out of the question ennui, sea sickness, and the constant rolling ofthe vessel, circumstances so unpropitious to the culti vation of pleasant intercourse, custom has prescribed a state and distance on shipboard, which cause, that cabin passengers often cross the ocean to gether, without acquiring any thing more than a speaking intimacy at the end of the voyage. Not so on these passages, where the boat glides steadily and swiftly along the verge of the fragrant willows. The green shores are always seen with the same coup d? ceil, that takes in the magni ficent and broad wave ofthe Mississippi. Refreshments come in from the shore. The passengers every day have their promenade. The claims of prescription on the score of wealth, family, office, and adventitious dis tinctions of every sort, are in a measure laid aside, or pass for nothing. The estimation, the worth and interest of a persoh are naturally tried oh his simple merits, his powers of conversation, his innate Civility, his capa*- cities to amuse, and his good feelings. The distinctive character of the western people may be traced in its minuter shades to a thousand causes, among which are not only their new modes of existence, the solitary lives which they, who are not inhabitants of towns, lead in remote and detached habitations, the greater part of the time, and the readier aptitude and zest, which they will naturally have, when thus brought together, as we have described above, to enjoy society; but it chiefly results from the unchangeable physical formation of the country. For instance, it has been remarked, that the inhabitants ofthe western country, when thrown upon the blue water, are sailors almost at once. Their long inland water courses, at once the channels of convey ance and communication, place them in primary nautical schools, train them to familiar acquaintance with all the methods of managing and propelling water crafts, and naturally conduct their thoughts from their interior forests, and their rural and secluded abodes, down to the ocean. The skill and facility, thus acquired, in being familiar with the move- NATIONAL CHARACTER. 139 ments ofthe canoe, the periogue and skiff, almost from the days of infan cy, give them the same dexterity and daring on the ocean, when they are at length wafted down to its tempestuous bosom, with those who were reared on the shores of that element. But an inhabitant of the Atlantic shore can have but a faint conception of the sublime emotions, with which a young man reared in the silence and seclusion of the western forests, first beholds the illimitable extent ofthe ' broad, flat sea.' Every intelli gent and gifted son of the West will be a poet for the first few hours of his sailing on the ocean, if sea sickness do not banish the visitings ofthe muse. Their forests and prairies concur with their inclinations and abundant leisure, to give them the spirit-stirring and adventurous habits of the chase. Their early training to leave the endearments and the maternal nursing of home, for an absence of three or four months, on voyages of constant exposure, and often of a length of more than five hundred leagues, will naturally tend to create a character, widely unlike the more shrinking, stationary and regular habits of the people of the older country. Multitudes, perhaps the majority of those in the middle walks of life in the Atlantic country, seldom extend their travels beyond their metropolis, or their chief mart. Every part of the middle and northern states is traversed in all directions by fine roads, on which are continually passing great numbers of stage coaches. Inthe West, all this is very dif ferent. There are roads, indeed, some of which nature, and but a veiy few, art, has rendered tolerably passable. But the passing on them, even in the most populous districts is limited. The passages are seldom more than from village to village, settlement to settlement, and for the most part subservient to arriving at the real roads, the great turnpikes of the West, her long rivers. These rivers, which bound or intersect every state in the West, are of a character entirely unlike most of those, which flow east of the moun tains. They are narrow, deep, and to a person used only to the rivers of the East, and judging them by comparison and by their width, of an in conceivable length of course. Their depth of water resulting from the narrowness of their channels, and the level and alluvial country, through which for the most part they flow, render them almost universally suscep tible of steam boat, or at least boat navigation. The instance of a young man of enterprise and standing, as a merchant, trader, planter, or even farmer, who has not made at least one trip to New Orleans, is uncommon From the upper and even middle western states, before the invention of steam boats, it was a voyage of long duration, and we may add, of more peril, than a voyage across the Atlantic. These rivers are still descended as before that invention, in boats of every description. In recently 140 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. making the descent from Pittsburgh to Natchez, in an uncommonly low stage of the waters, we noted between two and three hundred descending boats, of different descriptions, and of the larger class. The greater por tion, however, were flat and keel boats. Almost all the crews, that descend on these boats, return on steam boats. An ascending steam boat carries from one to three hundred passengers; and the average* trip from New Orleans to Louisville, or St. Louis, may be twelve days, and to Cincinnati thirteen. Every principal farmer, along the great water courses, builds a flat boat and'sends to New Orleans the produce of his farm in it. Thus a great proportion of the males of the West, of a relative standing and situation in life to be most likely to impress their opinions and manners upon society, have made this passage to New Or leans. They have passed through different states and regions, have been more or less conversant with men of different nations, languages and manners. They have experienced that expansion of mind, which can not fail to be produced by traversing long distances of country, and viewing different forms of nature and society. Each flat or keel boat, that has descended from Pittsburgh or the Missouri, to New Orleans, could pub lish a journal of no inconsiderable interest. The descent, if in autumn, has probably occupied fifty days. Until the boatmen had passed the mouth of the Ohio, they must have been in some sense amphibious ani mals continually getting into the water, to work their boat off shoals and Sandbars. The remainder of the descent was amidst all the dangers of sawyers, sandbars, snags^, storms, points of islands, wreck heaps, difficulty and danger Of landing, and a great many anomalous trials and dangers. The whole voyage is a scene of anxiety, exposure and labor. It follows, that the habits of the whole people of the West must as necessarily receive a peculiar bent and impulse, as those of Marblehead, Cape Cod, and Nantucket, in Massachusetts. The influence of these causes is already visibly impressed upon the manners and thoughts of the people. They are the manners of people accustomed, on going on board a steam boat, to see it fitted up with a glaring of splendor and display, perhaps not always in the best taste, but peculiarly calculated to captivate and dazzle the youthful eye. They come to this crowded scene of gaiety and splendor, this little moving city, from the solitudes of forests and prairies, and remote dwellings. They find themselves amidst a mass of people, male and female, dressed as much as their means will allow. There are cards, and wine, and novels, and young and gay people, and all conceivable artificial excitements, to stir up the youthful appetite for hilarity. When we consider what temptations these long and necessarily intimate associations present to minds, often not much regulated by religious discipline, training or example, to undue RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 141 gaiety, gallantry, intoxication and gambling, it is as surprising, as it is honorable to the character of the West, that these voyages are generally terminated in so much quietness, morality 'and friendship. It is true, the gay, the young, dashing and reckless spirits of the community are thus brought in contact, to act, and re-act upon each other and society. But there are always some graver spirits on the steam boats, whose presence inspires a certain degree of awe and re straint.— A keen sense of the necessity of strong and unvarying regula tions has created rigid rules, at least upon the better of them, for regulating the temporary intercourse on board ; and on the whole, there is an air of much more decorum and quietness, than could be inferred from knowing the circumstances of these temporary associations. In tracing the result of these effects, we discover, that the idea of distance is very different in the head of a west country man from the same idea, as entertained by the inhabitant of Lancaster in Pennsylvania, or Worcester in Massachusetts. The conversation of the former indicates, that his train of thinking is modelled by images drawn from great distances on long rivers, from extensive trips on steam boats, long absence from home, and familiarity with exposure, and the habit of looking danger and death in the face. Were it not foreign to the objects of this article, a thousand amusing examples could be given. The vocabulary of figures drawn from boats and steam boats, the phrases, metaphors, allusions, that grow out of the peculiar modes of life of this people, are at once amusing, singular and copious. The stump speech of a western aspirant for the favors of the people has a very appropriate garnish from this vocabulary, and compared with that of an Atlantic demagogue, would finely illustrate his peculiar modes of thinking. The point most to our purpose in these remarks is, to enquire what influence this, and other great operating causes have upon the character, manners and morals of the people? It must be admitted, that while these frequent trips up and down the river, and more than all to New Orleans, give to the young people, and those who impart authority, impulse and tone to fashion and opinion, an air of society, ease and confidence; the young are apt at the same time to imbibe from the con tagion of example, habits of extravagance, dissipation, and a rooted attachment to a wandering life. Religious Character op the Western People. An experiment is making in this vast country, which must ultimately contain so many millions of people, on the broadest scale on which it has ever been made, whether religion, as a national distinction of character, can be maintained 142 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. without any legislative aid, or even recognition by the government. If there be any reference to religion, in any of the constitutions and enact ments, in the western country; beyond the simple, occasional granting of a distinct incorporation, it manifests itself in a guarded jealousy of the interference of any religious feeling, or influence with the tenor of legislation. In most of the constitutions, ministers of the gospel are expressly interdicted from any office of profit or trust, in the gift of the people. In none of the enactments are there any provisions for the support of any form of worship whatever. But if it be inferred from this, that religion occupies little or no place in the thoughts of the people, that there are no forms of worship, and few ministers of the gospel, no inference can be wider from the fact. It is the settled political maxim of the West, that religion is a concern entirely between the conscience and God, and ought to be left solely to his guardianship and care. The people are generally averse to binding themselves by any previous legal obligation to a pastor for services stipulated to be performed. It is the general impression, that he ought to derive his support from voluntary contributions, after services performed, and uninfluenced by any antece dent contract or understanding. There are many towns and villages, where other modes prevail; but such is the general standing feeling o£ the West. Hence, except among the Catholics, there are very few settled pastors, in the sense in which that phrase is understood in New England and the, Atlantic cities. Most of the ministers, that are in some sense perma nent, discharge pastoral duties not only in their individual societies, but in a wide district about them. The range of duties, the emolument, the estimation, and in fact the whole condition of a western pastor, are widely different from an Atlantic minister. In each case, there are peculiar immunities, pleasures and inconveniences, growing out of the differences of condition. We do not undertake to balance the advanta ges in favor of either. It has been an hundred times represented, and in every form of intelligence, in the eastern religious publications, that there were few preachers in the country, and that whole wide districts had no religious instruction, or forms of worship whatever. We believe, from a survey, certainly very general, and we trust, faithful, that there are as many preachers, in proportion to the people, as there are in the Atlantic country. A circulating phalanx of Methodists, Baptists and Cumberland Presbyterians, of Atlantic missionaries, and of young eleves of the Catholic theological seminaries, from the redundant mass of unoccupied ministers, both in the Protestant and Catholic countries, pervades this great valley with its numerous detachments, from Pittsburgh, RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 143 the mountains, the lakes, and the Missouri, to the gulf of Mexico. They all pursue the interests of their several denominations in their own way, and generally in profound peace. It is true, a serious mind can not fail to observe with regret, the want Of the permanent and regular moral influence of settled religious institu tions. The regular ' church going bell,' to our ear, such a delightful peal on the sabbath, is not often heard in the western villages with the recurrence of that day; and there is something of tranquil sobriety, of elevated and just notions of morals, the influence of which is so imme diately perceived in a country, where regular worship prevails, that in the more unsettled districts of this country, is felt as a painful privation. But if we except Arkansas and Louisiana, there is every where else an abund ance of Some kind of preaching. The village papers on all sides contain printed notices, and written ones are affixed to the public places, notify ing what are called ' meetings.' A traveller in a clerical dress does not fail to be asked, at the public houses, where he stops, if he is a preacher, and if he wishes to notify a meeting. There are stationary preachers in the towns., particularly in Ohio. But in the rural congregations through the western country beyond Ohio, it is seldom that a minister is stationary for more than two months. A ministry of a year in one place may be considered beyond the common duration. Nine tenths of the religious instruction of the country is given by people, who itinerate, and who are, with very few exceptions, notwithstanding all that has been said to the contrary, men of great zeal and sanctity. These earnest men, who have little to expect from pecu niary support, and less from the prescribed reverence and influence, which can only appertain to a stated ministry, find, at once, that every thing depends upon the cultivation of popular talents. Zeal for the great cause, mixed, perhaps, imperceptibly, with a spice of earthly ambition, and the latent emulation and pride of our natures, and other motives, which uuconsciously influence, more or less, the most sincere and the most disinterested, the desire of distinction among their cotemporaries and their brethren, and a reaching struggle for the fascination of popularity, goad them on to study all the means and arts of winning the People. Travelling from month to month through dark forests, with such ample time and range for deep thought, as they amble slowly on horseback along their peregrinations, the men naturally acquire a pensive and romantic turn of thought and expression, as we think, favorable to eloquence. Hence the preaching is of a highly popular cast, and its first aim is to excite the feelings. — Hence, too, excitements, or in religious parlance 'awakenings,' are common in all this region. Living remote, and consigned the greater part of the time, to the musing loneliness of their condition in the square 144 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. clearing of the forest, or the prairie; when they congregate on these exciting occasions, society itself is a novelty, and an excitement. TM people are naturally more sensitive and enthusiastic, than in the older1 ; countries. A man of rude, boisterous, but native eloquence, rises among these children of the forest and simple nature, with his voice pitched Upon the tones, and his utterance thrilling with that awful theme, to which each string of the human heart every where responds; and while the woods echo his vehement declamations, his audience is alternately dis solved in tears, awed to profound feeling, or falling in spasms. This country opens a boundless theatre for strong, earnest and unlettered eloquence; and the preacher seldom has extensive influence, or usefulness Who does not possess some touch of this power. These excitements have been prevalent, within the two or three past years, in the. middle western states; chiefly in Tennessee, and for the most part Under the ministry of the Cumberland Presbyterians. Some times it influences a settlement, or a town ; and sometimes, as there, spreads over a state* The people assemble, as to an imposing spectacle. They pour from their woods, to hear the new preacher, whose fame has travelled before him. The preaching has a scenic effect. It is a theme of earnest discussion, reviewing, comparison, and intense interest. None, but one who has seen, can imagine the interest, excited in a district of country, perhaps, fifty miles in extent, by the awaited approach of the time for a camp meeting; and none, but one who has seen, can imagine how profoundly the preachers have understood what produces effect, and how Well they have practised upon it. Suppose the scene to be, where the most extensive excitements and the most frequent camp meetings have been, during the two" past years, in one of the beautiful and fertile valleys among the mountains of Tennessee. The notice has been circulated two or three months. On the appointed day, coaches, chaises, wagons, carts, people on horseback, and multitudes travelling from a distance on foot, wagons with provisions, mattresses, tents, and arrangements for the stay of a Week, are seen hurrying from every point towards the central spot. It is in the midst of a grove of those beautiful and lofty trees, natural to the vallies of Tennessee, in its deepest verdure, and beside a spring branch, for the requisite supply of water. The ambitious and wealthy are there, because in this region opinion is all-powerful; and they are there, either to extend their influence, or that their absence may not be noted, to diminish it. Aspirants for office are there, to electioneer, and gain popularity. Vast numbers are there from simple curiosity, and merely to enjoy a spectacle. The young and the beautiful are there, with mixed motives, which it were best not severely to scrutinize. Children are there, their young eyes glistening RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 145 with the intense interest of eager curiosity. The middle aged fathers and mothers of families are there, with the sober views of people, whose plans in life are fixed, and waiting calmly to hear. Men and women of hoary hairs are there, with such thoughts, it may be hoped, as their years invite. — Such is the congregation consisting of thousands. A host of preachers of different denominations are there, some in the earnest vigor and aspiring desires of youth, waiting an opportunity for display; others, who have proclaimed the gospel, as pilgrims of the cross, from the remotest north of our vast country to the shores of the Mexican gulf, and ready to utter the words, the feelings and the experience, which they have treasured up in a travelling ministry of fifty years, and whose accents, trembling with age, still more impressively than their words, an nounce, that they will soon travel, and preach no more on the earth, are there. Such are the preachers. The line of tents is pitched ; and the religious city grows up in a few hours under the trees, beside the stream. Lamps are hung in lines among the branches ; and the effect of their glare upon the surrounding forest is, as of magic. The scenery of the most brilliant theatre in the world is a painting only for children, compared with it. Meantime the multitudes, with the highest excitement of social feeling added to the general enthu siasm of expectation, pass from tent to tent, and interchange apostolic greetings and embraces, and talk of the coming solemnities. Their coffee and tea are prepared, and their supper is finished. By this time the moon, for they take thought, to appoint the meeting at the proper time of the moon, begins to show its disk above the dark summits of the mountains ; and a few stars are seen glimmering through the intervals of the branches. The whole constitutes a temple worthy of the grandeur of God. An old man, in a dress of the quaintest simplicity, ascends a platform, wipes the dust from his spectacles, and in a voice of suppressed emotion, gives out the hymn, of which the whole assembled multitude can recite the words, — and an air, in which every voice can join. We should deem poorly of the heart, that would not thrill, as the song is heard, like the 'sound of many waters,' echoing among the hills and mountains. Such are the scenes, the associations, and such the influence of external things upon a nature so ' fearfully and wonderfully' constituted, as ours, that little effort is necessary on such a theme as religion, urged at such a place, under such circumstances, to fill the heart and the eyes. The hoary orator talks of God, of eternity, a judgment to come, and all that is impressive 4beyond. He speaks of his ' experiences,' his toils and travels, his persecutions and welcomes, and how many he has seen in hope, in peace and triumph, gathered to their fathers; and when he speaks 19 146 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. of the short space that remains to him, his only regret is, that he can no more proclaim, in the silence of death, the mercies of his crucifM Redeemer. There is no need of the studied trick of oratory, to produce in such a place the deepest movements of the heart. No wonder, as the speaker pauses to dash the gathering moisture from his own eye, that his audi ence are dissolved in tears, or uttering the exclamations of penitence. Nor is it cause for admiration, that many, who poised themselves on an estimation of higher intellect, and a nobler insensibility, than the crowd, catch the infectious feeling, and become women and children in their turn; and though they 'came to mock, remain to pray.' Notwithstanding all, that has been said in derision of these spectacles, so common in this region, it can not be denied, that the influence on the whole, is salutary, and the general bearing upon the great interests of the community, good. It will be long, before a regular ministry can be generally supported, if ever. In place of that, nothing tends so strongly to supply the want of the influence, resulting from the constant duties of a stated ministry, as the recurrence of these explosions of feeling, which shake the moral world, and purify its atmosphere, until the accu mulating seeds of moral disease require a similar lustration again. Whatever be the cause, the effect is certain, that through the state of Tennessee, parts of Mississippi, Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, these excitements have produced a palpable change in the habits and manners of the people. The gambling and drinking shops are deserted : and the people, that used to congregate there, now go to the religious meetings. The Methodists, too, have done great and incaicu- . lable good. They are generally of a character, education and training, that prepare them for the elements, upon which they are destined to operate. They speak the dialect, understand the interests, and enter into the feelings of their audience. They exert a prodigious and incal culable bearing upon the rough backwoods men; and do good, where more polished, and trained ministers would preach without effect. No mind, but His, for whom they labor, can know, how many profane they have reclaimed, drunkards they have reformed, and wanderers they have brought home to God. The Baptists, too, and the missionaries from the Atlantic country,. seeing such a wide and open field before them, labor with great diligence and earnestness, operating generally upon another class of the commu nity. The Catholics are both numerous and zealous; and, perfectly united in spirit and interest, form a compact phalanx, and produce the effect of moral union. From their united exertions it happens,, that over PURSUITS OF THE PEOPLE. 147 all this country, among all the occasions for public gatherings, which, from their rareness excite the greater interest, religious meetings are by far the most numerous. That part of Pennsylvania and Virginia west of the mountains has a predominance of Presbyterians. The great state of Ohio is made up of such mixed elements, that it would be difficult to say, which of all the sects prevails. As a general characteristic, the people are strongly inclined to attend on some kind of religious worship. — Presbyterians and Baptists strive for the ascendency in Kentucky. Methodists and Cumberland Presbyterians are numerous. They, probably, have the ascendency in Tennessee, and they are making great efforts in Alabama and Mississippi. Methodists are the prevailing denomination in Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama. Catholics have an undisputed ascendency in Louisiana and Florida. They have many societies in Missouri and Illinois. They are prevalent in a portion of Kentucky, and have a respectable seminary at Bairdstown. Methodists, Presbyte rians and Catholics are the prevailing denominations of the West.* Pursuits of the People. Manufacturers, &c. Western Pennsyl vania is a manufacturing region, and along with Ohio, is the New England of the West. The people bring down the Alleghany, clear and fine pine plank ; delivering them along the whole course of the Ohio, and sending great quantities even to New Orleans. These pines, of which the houses in New Orleans are finished, waved over the streams of New York, and are despatched in rafts and flat boats, after being sawed into plank, from Oleanne point. From the Monongahela is sent the rye whiskey, which is so famous in the lower country. On the Youghiogheny and Mononga hela, at Connelsville on the former, and Brownsville on the latter, are important manufactories, chiefly of iron. Pittsburgh has been called the Birmingham of America; though that honor, is keenly disputed by her rival Cincinnati. There are numerous manufacturing towns in Ohio, of which, after Cincinnati, Zanesville and Steubenville are the chief. All this region, in numerous streams, calculated for water power, in a salu brious climate, in abundance of pit coal, in its position, and the genius and habits of its inhabitants, is naturally adapted to become a manufac turing country. • Materials for articles of prime necessity, as salt, iron and glass, exist in the most ample abundance. Pittsburgh, blackened with the smoke of pit coal, and one quarter of Cincinnati, throwing up columns of smoke from the steam factories, may be considered as great * For table of religious sects, see Appendix, table No. VI 148 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. manufacturing establishments. If we except the cordage, bale rope, bagging, and other articles of hempen fabric, manufactured in Kentucky, the chief part of the western manufactures originates in west Pennsyl vania and Ohio. There are some indications, that Indiana will possess a manufacturing spirit; and there are separate, incipient establishments of this kind, more or less considerable, in every state, but Louisiana and Mississippi. These manufactures consist of a great variety of articles of prime necessity, use and ornament. The principal are of iron, as castings of all sorts; and almost every article of ironmongery, that is manufactured in the world. This manufacture is carried on to an immense extent. Glass is manufactured in various places, at present, it is supposed, nearly to an amount, to supply the country. Manufactures in woollen and cotton, in pottery, in laboratories, as white and red lead, Prussian blue, and the colors generally, the acids and other chemical preparations, in steam power machinery, saddlery, wheel irons, wire drawing, buttons, knitting needles, silver plating, Morrocco leather, articles in brass and copper, hats, boots and shoes, breweries, tin, and other metals, cabinet work; in short, manufactures subservient to the arts, and to domestic subsistence, are carried on at various places in the western country with great spirit. Ohio has imbibed from her prototype, New England, manu facturing propensities; and we have heard it earnestly contested, that her capabilities for being a great manufacturing country, were even superior to those of New England. It is affirmed, that, taking the whole year into consideration, her climate is more favorable to health; and there can be no question, that in her abundance of fuel, pit coal, and iron and the .greater profusion of the raw material of manufactures in general, she has greatly the advantage. In the state of Kentucky, hemp is raised to a considerable extent; and m its different manufactures constitutes a material article in her exports. Salt is manufactured through all the western country in sufficient abun dance for home consumption. Shoes, hats and clothing, to a considerable extent, are yet imported from abroad into some of the western states. But as we have remarked, the far greater part ofthe people are farmers. In west Pensylvania and Virginia, in Ohio and Kentucky, in Indiana, Illi nois, Missouri, and a part of Tennessee, the same articles are grown, and sent abroad, to wit, flour, com and the small grains; pulse, potatoes, and the other vegetables; fruit, as apples, fresh and dried, dried peaches, and other preserved fruits; beef, pork, cheese, butter, poultry, venison hams, live cattle, hogs and horses. The greater part of the flour is sent from Ohio and Kentucky; though Indiana, Illinois and Missouri are following the example with great vigor. Wheat is grown with more ease in Illinois PURSUITS OF THE PEOPLE. 149 and Missouri than in the other states. Ohio has gone considerably into the culture of yellow tobacco. — Tobacco is one ofthe staples of Kentucky export. Cattle, hogs and horses are sent to New Orleans extensively from Illinois and Missouri, as are, also, lead and peltries. In Arkansas, part of Tennessee, all Alabama and Mississippi, cotton is the chief object of cultivation. Grains, and other materials of nutriment, are only raised in subservience to this culture. The cultivation of Louisiana, and a part of Florida, is divided between cotton and sugar. The cultivation in all the' states, except Ohio, Indiana and Illinois is chiefly performed by slaves, of whose character, habits and condition we have yet to treat. The farms in Ohio and Indiana are generally of moderate size, and thet;ultivators do not» materially differ in their habits from those of the northern Atlantic states. In Kentucky, Illinois and Missouri, they are more addicted to what is called 'cropping,1 that is, devoting the chief attention to the cultivation of one article. In all the states, save those, that cultivate cotton and sugar, they make, on an average, sixty bushels of maize to the acre: and the cultiva tion consists in ploughing two or three times between the rows, during the growing of the crop. From eighty to an hundred bushels are not an uncommon crop, and manuring is scarcely yet thought of in cul tivation. The good lands in Illinois and in Missouri yield from twenty five to thirty bushels of wheat to the acre. The cultivation is on prairie, or bottom land; and as the soil is friable, loose and perfectly free from stones, and on the prairies from every other obstruction, farming is not laborious and difficult, as in hard rough, and rocky grounds. The ease and abundance, with which all the articles of the country are produced, is one ofthe chief objects of complaint. The necessary result is, that they are raised in such abundance, as to glut the market at New Orleans, and used often not to bring enough to pay the expenses of transportation. All this has been recently so changed by the effects of our canals, the rapid influx of immigration, and the levelling tendency of the increas ed facilities of transport, that the price of western produce is fast approx imating the Atlantic value. A natural result of this order of things will be, that the west will soon export four times its former amount of flour, and other produce. From the cheapness of corn, and the abundance of ' mast,' as it is called, in the woods, hogs, too, are easily multiplied, far beyond the wants of the people. Pork is becoming one of the great staples of all the western states, except those, that grow cotton and sugar. Cincinnati is decidedly the largest pork market in the United States. Prodigious numbers of swine are slaughtered there, and the business of barrelling it, and curing bacon for exportation is one of the most important sources of 150 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. its trade. Cattle, and swine when carried to New Orleans command a fair price. Horses are an important and increasing article of export. Orchards north of 36° prosper, perhaps, better than in any other country;, and apples and cider are already important articles of exportation, and will soon be more so; for no where do apple trees grow with more ra pidity and beauty, and sooner and more amply load themselves with fruit. Venison and deer skins, honey and beeswax are commonly received in the country stores, in pay for goods. From Missouri, peltries,, furs and lead, from the Illinois mines, and from those in the Missouri mine region, are the chief articles of present export. The amount of export of these articles, together with the cotton and sugar of the southern country, and the prodigious quantities of whiskey from all the western states will be seen by recurrence to the table of exports.* Modes of conveyance to market. Water carriage, &c. From the northern and eastern parts of this valley, no inconsiderable amount of the produce and articles of the West finds its way to the eastern country by the canals and on the lakes. Cleveland and Sandusky, on lake Erie, are deriving importance from being places of shipment from Ohio over the lakes. The northern garrisons are beginning to be supplied with provi sions from Illinois and Missouri, By the way of Chicago and lake Michigan. Horses, cattle and swine to a large amount, are driven over the moun tains from Ohio and Kentucky. So early as 1813-14, in one year, four thousand and fifty five transport wagons were numbered from Philadel phia, to Pittsburgh. Many of them found a return load of articles of the West. Much of this transport, which has vastly increased since that time, now takes place on the great Pennsylvania canal, which wants the completion of an interval of no great distance among the mountains, to be an entire water communication between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh^ and the longest continued canal in the United States. The Ohio and Erie canal is nearly complete, and greatly adds to the facility of transport from the west to the east. Rail roads will concur to the same result; and when the contemplated rail-roads and canals sljall be in operation, the Western country will be placed more nearly on an equality with the sea-board, in regard to a market. At present, however, the greater part ofthe commercial intercourse of thecountry is yet with New Orleans, by the rivers and the Mississippi, in boats. These are so various in their kinds, and so curious in their con. struction, that it would be difficult to reduce them to specific classes and divisions. No form of water craft so whimsical, no shape so out- *See Appendix, table No. VII. PURSUITS OF THE PEOPLE. 151 landish, can well be imagined, but what, on descending from Pittsburgh to New Orleans, it may some where be seen lying to the shore, or floating on the river. The New York canal is generating monstrous conceptions of this sort ; and there will soon be a rivalry between the East and the West, which can create the most ingenious floating river monsters of passage and transport. The barge is of the size of an Atlantic schooner, with a raised and out landish looking deck. It had sails, masts and rigging not unlike a sea vessel, and carried from fifty to an hundred tons. It required twenty-five or thirty hands to work it up stream. On the lower courses of the Mis sissippi, when the wind did not serve, and the waters were high, it was worked up stream by the operation, that is called ' warping,' — a most laborious, slow and difficult mode of ascent, and in which six or eight miles a day was good progress. It consisted in having two yawls, the one in advance ofthe other, carrying out a warp of some hundred yards in length, making it fast to a tree, and then drawing the barge up to that tree by the warp. When that warp was coiled, the yawl in advance had another laid, and so on alternately. From ninety to an hundred days was a tolerable passage from New Orleans to Cincinnati. In this way the intercourse between Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville, Nashville, and St. Louis, for the more important purposes of commerce, was kept up with New Orleans. One need only read the journal of a barge on such an ascent, to comprehend the full value of the invention of steam boats. They are now gone into disuse, and we do not remember to have seen a barge for some years, except on the waters above the mouth Of the Ohio. The keel boat is of a long, slender and elegant form, and generally carries from fifteen to thirty tons. Its advantage is in its small draft of water, and the lightness of its construction. It is still used on the Ohio and upper Mississippi in low stages of water, and on all the boatable streams where steam boats do not yet run. Its propelling power is by oars, sails, setting poles, the cordelle, and when the waters are high, and the boat runs on the margin of the bushes, ' bush-whacking,' or pulling up by the bushes. Before the invention of steam boats, these boats were used in the proportion of six to one at the present time. The ferry flat is a scow-boat, and when used as a boat of descent for families, has a roof, or covering. These are sometimes, in the vernacu lar phrase, called ' sleds.' The Alleghany or Mackinaw skiff, is a covered skiff, carrying from six to ten tons ; and is much used on the Alleghany, the Illinois, and the rivers ofthe upper Mississippi and Missouri. Periogues are sometimes hollowed from one very large tree, or from the trunks of two trees united, and 'fitted with a plank rim. They carry from one to three 152 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. tons. There are common skiffs, canoes and ' dug-outs,' for the conve nience of crossing the rivers ; and a select company of a few travellers often descend in them to New Orleans. Hunters and Indians, and sometimes passengers, make long journeys of ascent of the rivers in them. Besides these, there are anomalous water crafts, that can hardly be reduced to any class, used as boats of passage or descent. We have seen flat boats, worked by a wheel, which was driven by the cattle, that were conveying to the New Orleans market. There are horse boats of various constructions, used for the most part as ferry boats ; but sometimes as boats of ascent. Two keel boats are connected by a platform. A pen holds the horses, which by circular movement propel wheels. We saw United States' troops ascending the Missouri by boats, propelled by tread wheels ; and we have, more than once, seen a boat moved rapidly up stream by wheels, after the steam boat construction, propelled by a man turning a crank. But the boats of passage and conveyance, that remain after the inven tion of steam boats, and are still important to those objects, are keel boats and flats. The flat boats are called, in the vernacular phrase, * Kentucky flats,' or ' broad horns.' They are simply an oblong ark, with a roof slightly curved from the centre to shed rain. They are gen erally about fifteen feet wide, and from fifty to eighty, and sometimes an hundred feet in length. The timbers of the bottom are massive beams; and they are intended to be of great strength; and to carry a burden of from two to four hundred barrels. Great numbers of cattle, hogs and horses are conveyed to market in them. We have seen family boats of this description, fitted up for the descent of families to the lower country, with a stove, comfortable apartments, beds, and arrangements for com modious habitancy. We see in them ladies, servants, cattle, horses, sheep, dogs and poultry, all floating, on the same bottom ; and on the roof die looms, ploughs, spinning wheels and domestic implements of the family. Much of the produce of the upper country, even after the invention of steam boats, continues to descend to New Orleans in Kentucky flats. They generally carry three hands; and perhaps a supernumerary fourth hand, a kind of supercargo. This boat, in the form of a parallelogram, lying flat and dead in the water, and with square timbers below its bottom planks, and carrying such a great weight, runs on a sandbar with a strong headway, and ploughs its timbers into the sand; and it is, of course, a work of extreme labor to get the boat afloat again. Its form and its weight render it difficult to give it a direction with any power of oars. Hence, in the shallow waters, it often gets around. When it has at length cleared the shallow waters, and gained the heavy current of PURSUITS OF THE PEOPLE. 153 the Mississippi, the landing such an unwieldly water craft, in such a current, is a matter of no little difficulty and danger. All the toil, and danger, and exposure, and moving accidents of this long and perilous voyage, are hidden, however, from the inhabitants, who contemplate the boats floating by their dwellings on beautiful spring mornings, when the verdant forest, the mild and delicious temperature of the air, the delightful azure of the sky of this country, the fine bottom ¦ on the one hand, and the romantic bluff on the other, the broad and smooth stream rolling calmly down the forest, and floating the boat gently forward, present delightful images and associations to the be holders. At this time there is no visible danger, or call for labor. The boat takes care of itself; and little do the beholders imagine, how differ ent a scene may be presented in half an hour. Meantime one of the hands scrapes a violin, and the others dance. Greetings, or rude defian ces, or trials of wit, or proffers of love to the girls on the shore, or saucy messages, are scattered between them and the spectators along the banks. The boat glides on, until it disappears behind the point of wood. At this moment, perhaps, the bugle, with which all the boats are provided, strikes up its note in the distance over the water. These scenes, and these notes, echoing from the bluffs of the beautiful Ohio, have a charm for the imagination, which although heard a thousand times re peated, at all hours and in all positions, present the image of a tempting and charming youthful existence, that naturally inspires a wish to be a boatman. No wonder, that to the young, who are reared in these remote regions, with that restless curiosity, which is fostered by solitude and silence, and who witness scenes like this so frequently, the severe and unremit ting labors of agriculture, performed directly in the view of such specta cles, should become tasteless and irksome. No wonder, that the young, along the banks ofthe great streams, should detest the labors of the field, and embrace every opportunity, either openly, or, if minors, covertly to escape, and devote themselves to the pernicious employment of boating. In this view we may account for the detestation of the inhabitants, along these great streams, of steam boats, which are continually diminishing the number of all other boats and boatmen, and which have already with drawn, probably ten thousand from that employment. We have seen, what is the character of this employment, notwithstanding all its seduc tions. In no employment do the hands so soon wear out. It is compar- tively but a few years, since these waters have been navigated in any way. Yet at every bend, and every high point of the rivers, where you go on shore for a moment, you may expect to see the narrow mound, and the rude mouument, and the coarse memorial carved on an adjoining tree by 20 154 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. brother boatmen, to mark the spot, where an exhausted boatman yielded his breath and was buried. The bayou at New Madrid has an extensive and fine eddy, into which boats float, almost without exertion, and land in a remarkably fine harbor. It may be fairly considered the central point, or the chief merid ian of boats in the Mississippi valley. This bayou generally brings up the descending and ascending boats ; and this is an excellent point of observation, from which to contemplate their aspect, the character of boat ing and the descriptions and the amount of produce from the upper country. You can here take an imaginary voyage to the falls of St. An thony, or Missouri ; to the lead mines of Rock river, or to Chichago of lake Michigan; to Tippicanoe of the Wabash, Orleannepoint of the Allegha ny, Brownsville of the Monongahela, the Saline of the Kenhawa, or the mountains, round whose bases winds the Tennessee; or, if you choose, you may take the cheap and rapid journey of thought along the courses of an hundred other rivers ; and in the lapse of a few days' residence in the spring, at this point, you may see boats, which have arrived here from all these imagined places. One hundred boats have landed here in a day. — The boisterous gaiety of the hands, the congratulations of acquaintances, who have met here from immense distances, the moving picture of life on board the boats, in the numerous animals, large and small, which they carry, their different ladings, the evidence of the increasing agriculture above, and, more than all, the immense distances, which they have already traversed, afford a copious fund of meditation. In one place there are boats loaded with pine plank, from the pine forests of the southwest of New York. In another quarter there are numerous boats with the 'Yan kee notions' of Ohio. In another quarter are landed together the boats of ' old Kentucky,' with their whiskey, hemp, tobacco, bagging and bale rope ; with all the articles of the produce of their soil. From Tennes see there are the Same articles, together with boats loaded with bales of cotton. From Illinois and Missouri, cattle, horses, and the general pro duce of the western country, together with peltry and lead from Missouri. Some boats are loaded with corn in bulk and in the ear. Others with barrels of apples and potatoes, and great quantities of dried apples and peaches. Others have loads of cider, that has been strengthened by boiling, or freez ing. Other boats are loaded with furniture, tools, domestic and agricultural implements; in short, the numerous products ofthe ingenuity, specula tion, manufacture and agriculture of the whole upper country of the West. They have come from regions, thousands of miles apart. They have floated to a common point of union. — The surface of the boats cover some acres. Dunghill fowls are fluttering over the roofs, as invari able appendages. The piercing note of the chanticleer is heard. — The PURSUITS OF THE PUOPLE. 155 cattle low. The horses trample, as in their stables. The swine utter the cries of fighting with each other. The turkeys gobble. The dogs of an hundred regions become acquainted. The boatmen travel about from boat to boat, make inquiries and acquaintances, agree to ' lash boats,' as it is called, and form alliances to yield mutual assistance to each other on the way to New Orleans. After an hour or two passed in this way, they spring-on shore, to ' raise the wind' in the village. If they tarry all night, as is generally the case, it is well for the people of the town, if they do not become riotous in the course of the evening; in which case, strong measures are adopted, and the proceedings on both sides are summary and decisive. With the first dawn all is bustle and motion ; and amidst shouts, and trampling of cattle, and barking of dogs, and crowing of the dunghill fowls, the fleet is in a half an hour all under way ; and when the sun rises, nothing is seen, but the broad stream rolling on as before. These boats unite once more at Natchez and New Orleans ; and although they live on the same river, it is improbable that they will ever meet again on the earth. In passing below, we often see a number of boats lashed, and floating together. In travelling over the roofs of the floating town, you have a considerable walk. These associations have various objects. Boats so united, as is well known, float considerably faster. Perhaps the object is to barter,, and obtain supplies. Perhaps it is to kill beef, or pork, for fresh provisions. Apples, cider, nuts, dried fruit, whiskey, cider, peach brandy, and drams, are retailed ; and the concern is for a while one of great merriment and good will. Unforeseen moral storms arise; and the partnership, which began in a frolic, ends in a quarrel. The aggrieved discharge a few mutual volleys of the compliments, usu ally interchanged on such occasions, unlash, and each one manages his boat in his own way. The order of things in the western country naturally fosters a propensity for a floating life on the water. The inhabitants will ultimately become as famous, as the Chinese, for having their habitancy in boats. In time of high waters at the mouth of the Ohio, we were on board an immensely large flat boat, on which was ' kept a town,' which had figured in the papers, as a place, that bade fair to rival the ancient metropolis of the Delta and the Nile. — The tavern, the retail and dram shops, together with the inhabitants, and no small number of very merry customers, floated on the same bottom. We have seen a large tinner's establishment floating down the Mississippi. It was a respectable manufactory; and the articles were sold wholesale and retail. There were three apart ments, and a number of hands. When they had mended all the tin, and vended all, that they could sell in one place, they floated on to another. 156 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. A piece goods store united with a bookstore is no uncommon establish ment. We have heard of a large floating blacksmith's establishment; and of another, in which it was contemplated to work a trip hammer. Besides the numerous periogues, or singular looking Spanish and French trading retail boats, commonly called ' chicken thieves,' which scour the rivers within an hundred leagues of New Orleans, there are on all the waters ofthe West retail trading boats. They are often fitted up with no inconsiderable ingenuity and show. The goods are fancifully arranged on shelves. The delicate hands of the vender would bear a comparison with those ofthe spruce clerk behind our city counters. Eveiy considera ble landing place on the waters of the Ohio and the Mississippi has in the spring a number of stationary and inhabited boats, lying by at the shores. They are too often dram shops, and resorts of all kinds of bad company. A severe inquiry ought to be instituted at all these points, respecting the inmates and practices of these floating mansions of iniquity. There is no portion of the globe, where the invention of steam boats should be so highly appreciated, as in the valley of the Mississippi. This invention deserves to be estimated the most memorable era ofthe West; and the name of the inventor ought to be handed down with glory to the generations to come. No triumph of art over the obstacles of nature has ever been so complete. But for this invention, this valley might have sustained a nation of farmers and planters ; and the comforts, the arts, refinements and intelligence of the day would have made their way slowly from New Orleans to the lakes, the sources of the Mississippi, and the* Rocky mountains. Thousands of boatmen would have been slowly and laboriously warping, and rowing, and poling, and cordelling their boats, in a three months trip up these mighty and long streams, which are now ascended by steam boats in ten days. It may be safely asserted, that in many respects, the improvements of fifty years without steam boats, were brought to this country in five years after their invention. The dis tant points of the Ohio and the Mississippi used to be separated by distances and obstacles of transit more formidable, in the passing, than the Atlantic. These points are now brought into juxtaposition. Distances on the rivers are not indeed annihilated ; but they are diminished to about an eighth of their former extent; and their difficulties and dangers are reduced even more than that. All the advantages of long rivers, such as variety of soil, climate, productions, remain divested of all the disadvantages of distance and difficulty of ascent. The day that com memorates this invention, should be a holiday of interest, only second to that, which gave birth to the nation. It is, perhaps, necessary to have something of the experience, which we have had, of the slowness, difficulty and danger of propelling boats PURSUITS OF THE PEOPLE. 157 against the current of these long rivers, fully to estimate the advantages of this invention. — We have ascended the Mississippi in this way for fifty days in succession. We have had but too much of the same kind of experience on the other streams. We considered ten miles a day, as good progress. It is now refreshing, and it imparts a feeling of energy and power to the beholder, to see the large and beautiful steam boats scud ding up the eddies, as though on the wing. When they have run out the eddy, and strike the current, it is a still more noble spectacle. The foam bursts in a sheet quite over the deck. The boat quivers for a moment with the concussion; and then, as though she had collected energy, and vanquished her enemy, she resumes her stately march, and mounts against the current five or six miles an hour. We have travelled ten days together between New Orleans and Louisville, more than an hundred miles in a day against the stream. The difficulty of ascending used to be the only one, that was dreaded in the anticipation of a voyage of this kind. This difficulty has now disappeared, and the only one, that remains, is to furnish money for the trip. Even the expense, con sidering the luxury of the fare, and accommodation, is more moderate, than could be expected. A family in Pittsburgh wishes to make a social visit to a kindred family on Red river. The trip, as matters now stand, is but two thousand miles. Servants, baggage, or ' plunder,' as the phrase is, the family and the family dog, cat and parrot, all go together. In twelve days they reach the point proposed. Even the return is but a short voyage. Surely we must resist strong temptations, if we do not become a social people. You are invited to a breakfast at seventy miles distance. You go on board the passing steam boat, and are transported, during the night, so as to go out in the morning, and reach your appointment. The day will probably come, when the inhabitants of the warm and sickly regions of the lower points of the Mississippi will take their periodical migrations to the north, with the geese and swans, and with them return to the south in the autumn. We have compared the most beautiful steam boats of the Atlantic waters with those of the Mississippi ; and we have seen none, which in splendor and striking effect upon the eye, and the luxury and comfort of accommodation, surpass the Washington, Philadelphia, Lady of the Lake, 'Florida, and some others, on these waters. We have been amused in observing an Atlantic stranger, who had heard us described by the phrase 'backwoods men,' taking his first survey of such a steam boat. If there be any ground of complaint, it is, that so much gorgeousness offends good taste, and seems to be in opposition to that social ease and comfort, which one would desire in such a place. Certainly, there can be no comparison between the comfort of the passage from Cincinnati to New 158 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. Orleans in such a steam boat, and a voyage at sea. The barren and boundless expanse of waters soon tires upon every eye, but a seaman's; And then there are storms, and the necessity of fastening the tables, and of holding to something, to keep in bed. There is the insupportable nausea of sea sickness, and there is danger. Here you aie always near the shore, always see the green earth; can always eat, write and study undisturbed. You can always obtain cream, fowls, vegetables, fruit, fresh meat, and wild game, in their season, from the shore. A stranger to this mode of travelling would find it difficult to describe his impressions upon descending the Mississippi for the first time in one of these steam boats, which we have named. He contemplates the pro digious construction, with its double tiers of cabins, and its separate establishment for the ladies, and its commodious arrangements for the deck passengers and the servants. Over head, about him, and below him, all is life and movement. He contemplates, the splendor of the cabin, its beautiful finishing of the richest woods, its rich carpeting, its mirrors and fine furniture, its sliding tables, its bar room, and all its arrangements for the accommodation of a hundred cabin passengers. The fare is sumptuous, and every thing in a style of splendor, order and quiet, far exceeding most city taverns. You read, converse, walk, or sleep, as you choose. You are not burdened by the restraint of useless ceremony. The varied and verdant scenery shifts about you. The trees, the green islands,, the houses on the shore, every thing has an appearance, as by enchantment, of moving past you. The river fowl, with their white and extended lines, are wheeling their flight above you. The sky is bright. The river is dotted with boats above, beside, and below you. You hear the echo of their bugle reverberating from the woods. Behind the wooded point you see the ascending column of smoke, rising over the trees, which announces, that another steam boat is approaching you. The moving pageant glides through a narrow passage, between an island, thick set with young cotton woods, so even, so beautiful, and regular, that they seem to have been planted for a pleasure ground, and the main shore. As you shoot out again into the broad stream, you come in view of a plantation, with all its busy and cheerful accompaniments. At other times you are sweeping along for many leagues together, where either shore is a boundless and pathless wilderness. A contrast is thus strongly forced upon the mind, of the highest improvement and the latest pre-emi nent invention of art with the most lonely aspect of a grand but desolate nature, — the most striking and complete assemblage of splendor and comfort, the cheerfulness of a floating hotel, which carries, perhaps, hundreds of guests, with a wild and uninhabited forest, it may be an hun dred miles in width, the abode only of bears, owls and noxious animals CIVIL HISTORY. 159 The Mississippi may be fairly considered, as the grand trunk of water communication, and the Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, Wliite, Arkansas and Red rivers, the main arteries. Each of these again has its own system of circulation. To the lakes, and the immense distances of the highest boatable waters of the Alleghany, Monongahela, Kenhawa, Cumberland, Tennessee, Yazoo, Mississippi, Missouri, Arkansas and Red rivers, add communications with all the shores and rivers of the northern lakes, the gulf of St. Lawrence, and the Atlantic sea board by the Ohio and Erie canal, and the Pennsylvania canal ; and the numerous connexions of all the western boatable waters by canals, to which these will naturally give birth, and we may safely assert, that this valley is a sample entirely by itself on our globe of the ease and extent of inland water communications. New Orleans can not have less than 40,000 miles of interior navigation on all her lakes, bayous, and hundreds of boatable streams; without taking into view the added extent of the northern lakes, which will be connected with her by the Ohio canal. For water communication she has no rival nor compeer ; and she may be justly denominated the queen of rivers. The whole western country is as strongly marked off from any other region by the number and extent of its navigable waters, as it is by the greater magnitude of its valley. We annex the subjoined table, as a complete list of the names and the tonnage of the steam boats at present on the western waters.* Civil History. Our plan only admits a very brief summary of the more prominent points of those events, which may be supposed to have had a direct bearing upon the progress of the West. It will touch upon the discovery and settlement of Florida, and the country on the Missis sippi ; the first settlement of the eastern extremity of the valley by the western extension of Pennsylvania and Virginia over the mountains; the first settlement of Tennessee and Kentucky ; those incidents in the war of the revolution, that occurred in the West; the settlement of Ohio; the Indian war, which ensued Upon that settlement; the successive admission of the western states into the union; the first use of steam boats; the events of the late war, which happened in the west; and its subsequent improvement and prosperity. The first discovery and settlement of the country west of the Missis sippi was by a Spanish squadron from Cuba, commanded by Ponce de Leon, in 1512. Successive Spanish adventurers visited the country, allured by the hope of finding a visionary spring, which was to sustain those, who drank of it in perpetual youth ; or the same harvest of golden *See Appendix, table No. VIII. 160 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. treasures with their countrymen in Mexico and Peru. The country, though not fertile, abounded in fish and game, and with tribes of fierce savages. Vasquez, Narvaez, and Soto successively visited, and surveyed the country. The French commenced a small settlement near St. Au gustine, in 1564. It was cruelly destroyed by the Spaniards. The establishment, which they left in place of it, was in turn destroyed by the French. The settlement of Canada commenced in 1608, and speedily became a strong and populous colony. The honor of having discovered the Mississippi, is claimed both by the Spanish and the French. Marquette and Joliette, two French missioners in 1763 were probably the first Europeans, who exploied the river. La Salle, a year or two afterwards, followed their track from Canada, built a vessel called the Griffin on the lake, with which he crossed those lonely waters ; descended the Missis sippi ; and by his more extended survey, his greater enterprize, his adven tures and misfortunes, identified his name with the Mississippi, as its discoverer. The Spanish made various unsuccessful efforts to form establishments in Florida. They renewed those efforts, until they founded a feeble colony in East Florida; and gradually extended their settlements from St. Augustine to Pensacola in West Florida. They had been in undis turbed possession of that country more than fifty years, before the French began to settle the Illinois country. Not long afterwards, they de scended the Mississippi, and formed settlements at Biloxi and Mobile in Florida. It was some time afterwards, that they founded St, Genevieve and St. Louis on the west shore of the Mississippi. The Illinois colony followed the chase in close intimacy with the Indians. They learned to cultivate maize from them; and in their exceedingly fertile country soon introduced the cultivation of wheat. The first French settlement on the lower Mississippi, that acquired importance, was that made at New Orleans, in 1717, which became the germ of the respectable colony of Louisiana. The early periods of Florida and Louisiana are marked only by the customary incidents of commencing establishments in the American wilderness. Settlements were commenced, and abandoned. Frequent quarrels occurred with the Indians made a universal feature of these, in common with all other similar beginnings. When France and Spain were at war as happened more than once during these annals, these remote colonies uniformly felt the effects. Expeditions against each other were fitted out, accompcnied by all the Indians, they could enlist under their standard. The first settlers ot Illinois, and Missouri were chiefly hunters from Canada, addicted to the woods. Louisiana was peopled by immigrants CIVIL HISTORY. 161 directly from France, many of whom were persons of rank and family. These military adventurers, in a remote country, and in want of wives were sometimes supplied by young ladies selected in the parent country without much discrimination, sent over the sea, and married in mass the first night of their arrival. The Spanish province of Florida derived its chief importance from its proximity to Cuba. Cooler and healthier than the burning climate of Havanna, it was considered a retreat from that city ; and beside, occa sionally furnished it with provisions. Various circumstances concurred to give slavery an early and extensive introduction into Louisiana. Agriculture, though among the last objects contemplated by the inhabi tants, was forced upon them by circumstances. Apparently ignorant of the exhaustless fertility of the soil, the French for a long time imported their provisions from the parent country, or the Spanish colonies. Wars and the occasional suspension of their intercourse with France taught them the necessity of securing a less precarious subsistence from the soil. Illinois early sent down flour to Louisiana. The culture of rice was introduced with great success, to which were afterwards added cotton and sugar. The last important article was first cultivated in 1751, from cane brought from Hispaniola. It was abandoned, and effectually re sumed in 1794 by Etienne Bor6, a planter fron Illinois. Different enumerations of the inhabitants gave results as follow. In 1769 the population of upper and lower Louisiana was 13,538 ; and of New Orleans 3,190. In 1785, 32,114; New Orleans 4,980; in 1788, 42,611; New Orleans 5,338; in 1810, by the census taken by order of the American government, Louisiana alone contained 76,566 ; and New Orleans 24,552. Could we present the picture of the pursuits and manners of the colonists of the Mississippi and Florida, in the commencing periods of their history, it would be striking from its freshness and simplicity. The French in particular were remarkable for a talent of ingratiating them selves with the savages; and for an easy amalgamation with them; at first from natural courtesy, which soon became a real inclination and a habit. The soil was fertile, the climate mild, and the chase inexhaustible. Their choice of selection in a forest or prairie extended over eight hun dred leagues ; unlike other European immigrants, who generally preferred to settle themselves at a distance from each other, for the sake of range for their domestic animals, the French manifested propensities both vagrant and social, and each in the highest degree. Their villages, though a hundred leagues from each other, were built with such narrow streets, that the villagers, could carry on their voluble conversations across the way. It gratified their national ambition to maintain a prepondera- 21 162 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. ting influence among the savage tribes. The pursuit of the young men Was to ascend the long rivers for furs and peltries, and to negotiate marriages. When they returned, dances and copious narratives of their adventures and exploits signalized their holiday of repose. Such is an outline of the modes of existence of the French in these early times in Kaskaskias, Cahokia, Vincennes, St. Genevieve, St. Louis, St. Charles, the Post of Arkansas, Natchitoches, and Natchez. At New Orleans there was always a certain number of people of fashion, a kind of court, a theatre, and the semblance of more polished, but pro bably less happy amusements. Many of the inhabitants were people of family, and the leading men military characters. The first settlers of Louisiana were probably of higher rank, than those of any other colony in North America, if we except Mexico. The lower classes had their dogs and guns, and Indian beauties ; and to accommodate their vagrant propensities, there were rivers of a thou sand leagues to ascend. An unexplored and unbounded forest full of game opened sufficient scope to their imagination and enterprise. It was perhaps a fortunate trait in their character, certainly an amiable one, that they were so easy in forming associations with the savages, the only com panions, they could expect in these remote deserts, where they heard from France seldom more than once in a year. Their descendants, who inhabit these regions, speak of their fathers as a favored race of mortals, and of those times, as a golden age. From New Orleans and Mobile the exports were considerable, consist ing of cotton, indigo, peltry, furs, hides, tallow, pitch, tar, ship timber and other raw materials. The coast above New Orleans was already beginning to be that highly cultivated district, which it has since become. The agriculture and exports went on steadily advancing, during all its political changes and transfers. The settlements of the Mississippi valley began in its southwest and northeast extremities, the one point two thousand miles remote from the other. From these points, the population gradually extended, until they met in the centre. Pittsburgh, at first occupied by the French, and called Duquesne, and afterwards Fort Pitt, may be considered the hive, or parental stock of the Anglo American settlements in the western country, which have out numbered the population of the much more ancient French settlements of Illinois and Louisiana, in the proportion of fifty to one. There were a few sparse settlements on the upper waters ofthe Ohio and Monongahela, as early as 1750. These settlements were made under the sanction of the English Ohio company, expressly with the purpose to restrain the French encroachments in that quarter. In pursuance of their plan CIVIL HISTORY. 163 to connect their settlements in Canada and Louisiana, they had estab lished a fort at the junction of the Alleghany and Monongahela. In ^763 this establishment fell into the hands of the English,and its name was changed from fort Duquesne to Fort Pitt. The convenience and importance of its position soon attracted a considerable number of inhab itants. Red Stone, now Brownsville, began the settlements on the Monongahela. These two towns were the nucleus of the establishments in West Pennsylvania and Virginia. As early as 1750, the French had established some small posts on the Alabama, Tombigbee and Tennessee rivers. In 1757, the English built fort Loudon on the north bank of the Little Tennessee, near the mouth of Tellico river. The object was to secure the fertile valley of the Ten nessee against the occupation of the French, as an asylum for American immigrants ; and to defend the frontier settlements against the invasions ofthe savages. In 1760, this fort was taken by the Cherokees; and three hundred men, women and children were slain, and all the anglo American inhabitants of Tennessee destroyed. In 1761 colonel Grant led a strong force into the Cherokee country, chastised the savages, and compelled them to sue for peace. From that time immigrants from Pennsylvania and Virginia began to find their way into the country, and to name the mountains and rivers. These hunters and adventurers broadened the circle of population, and gradually pene trated into the interior of East Tennessee. The first settlement of Tennessee and Kentucky were nearly cotempo- raneous. The name of the famous Daniel Boone is identified with the discovery and settlement of both. Kentucky was first explored by Finley from North Carolina in 1767. Finley, Boone, Harrod and Logan are among the conspicuous names of the hardy primitive adventurers into this fertile wilderness. Sevier, Tipton and Blount hold the same rank among the precursors in the settlement of Tennessee. Few colonies have existed, that can produce annals of deeper interest. than those which record the origin and progress of these states. The patriarchal pioneers of these backwoodsmen, were people of a peculiai and remarkable order, trained by circumstances to a character, which united force, hardihood, and energy in an astonishing degree. Opinion has generally invested them with a predominance of rough traits, and rustic habits approximating the character of the Indians. They were in fact as much distinguished by an ample basis of gentlemanly character. and chivalrous notions of honor and justice, as for strength, firmness and bravery. There is an indescribable charm in becoming intimately acquainted with these noble founders of the empire of the west, from their first fix- 164 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. ing their families in the selected spot in the forest, through their conflicts with the Indians, the difficulties incident to solitude, distance from all social comforts, and exposure to all the dangers of a strange climate; until their cabins are replaced by houses, and their houses by mansions; until their stations are converted to villages and the villages to towns; and until these sparse beginnings in the unexplored wilderness full of savages and wild beasts become powerful states. Imagination would recoil from the dreary uniformity of these early annals, in recording Indian assaults, burnings, murders, and all the ruthless manifestations of unpi ty ing and unsparing savage vengeance, were not the picture relieved by the reckless heroism of the undaunted spirits, that put a strong and cheerful hand to the first improvements, every moment surrounded by these savages. Four counties were constituted by law in Kentucky in 1783. Boons- borough, Harrodsburg, Limestone, now Maysville, Louisville, and Lexington were among the earliest and most conspicuous foundations in Kentucky. Knoxville and Nashville sustain the same relation to the early history of Tennessee, the former being settled in 1782, and the latter in 1784. Among the records of Indian assault and revenge the severest disaster in the history of the settlement of Kentucky is that of the defeat of the Kentuckians at the Blue Licks in 1782, in which sixty- one were slain and eight made prisoners. The first newspaper printed in Kentucky was printed at Lexington August 1787. As early as 1785, the people of Kentucky began to discuss the expe diency of becoming an independent state. No little difficulty occurred in settling the preliminary arrangements, and obtaining the unqualified assent of Virginia, the parent state. In pursuing measures to become an independent state, Tennessee found more difficulty than Kentucky. Beside the same opposition from North Carolina, as Kentucky encountered from Virginia, the people were divided among themselves. A portion of the inhabitants, who wished to establish a state independent'of the consent of North Carolina, the parent state, constituted themselves into a republic called Frankland, After an inefficient war of words with the authorities of North Carolina, and after some blood had been spilt in the cause, the new republic was merged in the state of Tennessee, which was admitted into the union in 1796. The annals of East and West Tennessee, present a dreary series of Indian murders, sometimes of individuals, sometimes of whole fami lies down to as late a period, as three or four years after the establish-- ment of the federal government. Imagination can scarcely realize, that in this great and powerful state, now so prominent a member of the con federacy, the Indian war whoop and the shrieks of assailed women and CIVIL HISTORY. 165 children were heard, and the blaze of houses and settlements, which the Indians had fired, were seen, after the year 1790, and in districts, where Indians are now as seldom seen, as in Washington or Philadelphia. The first Tennessee newspaper was printed at Rogersville, in November 1791. It was called the Knoxville Gazette. The most prominent trait of character in the people of these two states from the commencement was a sturdy spirit of independence, and the most vigilantjealousy of their rights. These traits were abundantly put forth in their discussions with their parent states, touching the question of their separation; in the guarded manner in which they weighed the extent, the right and influeuce of federal jurisdiction, and in their extreme suspicion, touching the manner, in which congress vindi» cated their claims to the free navigation of the Mississippi. The commencement of the great state of Ohio, at present the fourth in point of size in the Union, and completing the chain of population be tween the eastern and western divisions of the settled portion of this valley, was of still more recent date. The progress of this great state has no parallel in the history of colonies, in point of advancement in na tional wealth, population, strength and improvement of every kind. Forty years since, it was in the occupation of savages. It now numbers a million of inhabitants, a hundred and thirty thousand militia, two canals, one over three hundred miles in length, one considerable and rapidly advancing city, a great number of towns, and a hundred populous villa ges. Handsome houses are springing up every year. Large manufac turing establishments, are constantly arising, emulating the same order of things in the Atlantic country. A mass of farmers is spread over the whole state, rich in rural abundance, in simplicity of manners, and the materials of genuine independence. Of its schools, colleges, manufacto ries and national improvements, any state, however advanced in im provement, might be proud. All this progress has been from an innate principle of vigor, without the forcing aid of speculation, opulence, or power; and is a triumph so recently won from the forest, that on all sides we still see the remains of the original trees in the fields. The order of settlement in this state, as if fashioned from that of the Mississippi valley, commenced almost at the same time in its eastern and western extremities. As France claims the paternity of the settle ments along the course of the Mississippi, and North Carolina and Vir ginia, of Kentucky and Tennessee, Ohio may be considered the offspring of New England and New Jersey. The famous wagon which carried out the first settlers from Massachusetts to Ohio, started in 1788. General Putnam and Dr. Cutler may be estimated the pioneers of the settle ment of Marietta. 166 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. Judge Symmes, with a number of settlers from New York, New Jer sey and and western Pennsylvania commenced the settlement between the two Miamies, as the point, which is now Columbia, in November 1789. Fort Washington was established on the present site of Cincinnati in the same year. This establishment was the germ of the town, which was originally called Losantiville. Ludlow, Filson, Denman and Patter son were the original purchasers ofthe town plat. In 1789 the settlement numbered twenty log cabins, two marriages were celebrated, and the first child was born. The first court was organized in 1790, and the name of the place changed to Cincinnati. The settlements, thus commenced at Marietta and Cincinnati, rapidly extended on every side, until checked by the Indian war in 1791. From that period commenced the same gloomy and uniform series of Indian massacres, assaults and burnings, that signalized the beginnings of all the American settlements. The disastrous campaign of General St. Clair for a while arrested the progress of the settlements. Many of the inhabitants of Cincinnati were killed in that campaign, and many other settlers moved for security into Kentucky, which had attained a compact ness of population to be fearless of Indian assault. The glorious cam paign of Wayne succeeded; and an end was put to this sanguinary warfare in 1795. From this time, there was a rush of immigration towards the Ohio valley. The wonderful tale of western exuberance once more circulated with effect along the whole range of the Atlantic country. It was no longer counterbalanced by the dread of the Indian scalping knife. All the great roads of approach to the western country were crowded with adventurers directing their course towards the land of promise; and fleets of boats were continually floating them down the Ohio. The settlements diverged from Marietta on the one hand, and Cincinnati on the other towards the height of land between the Ohio and the lakes. Connecticut Reserve was settled chiefly from Connecticut. The ex traordinary fertility of the Scioto valley early attracted inhabitants. The country on the Great Miami, from Cincinnati to Dayton, and thence to Urbanna soon became populous ; and the great outline of the state of Ohio rapidly filled with inhabitants, and the noiseless and powerful march of industry transformed the silence of the forest to cultivation, farms, villages and towns. The first territorial legislature met at Cincinnati in 1799. Repre sentatives from Detroit and Kaskaskias, eight hundred miles apart, were present. The act of Congress admitting Ohio into the union, was passed in 1801; and in 1803, the present constitution of the state went into operation. CIVIL HISTORY. 167 It should have seemed, that this vast country of forests and prairies in the interior of the continent, so recently and sparsely settled, ought to have avoided the horrors of war. Such has not been its fortune. Beside its constant exposure, in all directions, to the covert ambush and the fierce assault of the savages, its shores have been abundantly stained with the blood of men of our own race, brought here by the cupidity and revenge of corrupt princes, separated from it by an ocean; and who received, and inflicted death in these remote regions for causes, in which they had no personal concern. We shall present some of the more important military events, that have occurred in the west, in the unpretending form of annals. War existing between France and Spain, Pensacola was invaded by a French expedition, aided by four hundred Indians, in 1719. Two vessels of war invested it by sea. The Spanish governor surrendered on condition, that the garrison should be transported to Havanna. It was re-taken the same year by a Spanish fleet. The general massacre of the French at Natchez by the Indians hap pened November 1729. Never was vengeance so complete. The town was crowded with people assembled to witness a great savage festival. The garrison was filled with warriors introduced without suspicion. At a given signal the massacre commenced. Of seven hundred people scarcely enough were left to carry the tidings. The settlements on the Yazoo and Washita shared the same fate. The French retaliated this massacre by nearly extirpating the whole nation of the Natchez. A remnant of this people took shelter with the Chickasaws, and were demanded by the French . The Chickasaws, in alliance with the English, refused to yield them. Bienville led a French expedition from Mobile against them, which was aided by an auxiliary French force from Illinois. Both the invading forces were defeated by the Chickasaws. Another expedition by the same officer with a greater force, was equally un successful. In pursuance of their plan, to surround the English colonies on the Atlantic sea board by a line of posts connected by water communica tions, from the gulf of St. Lawrence to the gulf of Mexico, the French, with equal energy and ingenuity had arranged a chain of posts, portages, roads and alliances with the Indians, which kept up an easy and unbroken connection between Canada and Louisiana. It was drawn, as a bow string, directly in the rear of the whole English colonial line of settle ments. It was an important part of this chain, to add to it a communi cation between lake Erie and the Ohio. For this purpose, the French established a fort on a water of the Alleghany river, intermediate between lake Erie and the Ohio. The connection was completed by the erection 168 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. of Fort Duquesne at the point, where the junction of the Alleghany and Monongahela forms the Ohio, the present site of Pittsburgh. General Braddock, with a considerable body of regular troops, aided by a force of provincials under General Washington, was ordered to cross the Alleghany mountains, and attack this fort. Obstinately attached to the regularity of European tactics, against the advice of men experienced in Indian warfare, the British general marched in the depth of the forest, into an ambush of French and Indians concealed among the trees. A masked and murderous fire was opened upon them from behind the treesi In vain he charged an invisible enemy with the bayonet. He was mortally wounded, his force defeated, and the greater portion slain. Here Gen eral Washington developed the first traits of his military character. Two horses were killed under him, and four balls passed through his coat. Calm and self possessed, the shield of providence seemed to be cast over him. It was owing to his skill and management, that any part of Brad- dock's force was saved. At this time the eventful victory of Wolfe upon the heights of Abraham settled the momentous question, which of the nations, France or England, should have the ascendency in the future destinies of this continent. Never were more eventful consequences decided by the issue of one combat. But the French, though subdued in Canada, still retained the ascend ency of their influence over the savages. Instigated by them, the Chero kees slaughtered the English settlers and traders upon the frontiers of the Carolinas. The provincials, to the number of twfelve hundred, marched into the country of the Cherokees, and inflicted an ample vengeance. The Indians in their turn attacked Fort Loudon in Tennessee. It surrendered to them; and they violated the convention, by a ruthless and indiscriminate murder of men, women and children. Some of the males were burned at a slow fire, into which their children were thrown ; and the mothers were carried into a captivity worse than death. The war between Great Britain, France and Spain closed in 1763; Canada was ceded to Great Britain, and Louisiana to Spain. The Span ish commenced their rule in that country by an act of wanton ahd gratu itous cruelty, executing six distinguished Louisianians, who had opposed the Spanish occupation of the government, and sending six others to the dungeons of Havanna. By this treaty Floridi had been ceded by Spain to the English. A British regiment, descending the Mississippi, to take possession of the ceded territory, was attacked by the Tunica Indians, .near the site of Fort Adams; Major Loftus, the commander, was killed, and most of the CIVIL HISTORY. 169 regiment slain. This disaster is commemorated by giving his name to the conspicuous heights on the Mississippi, where he fell. An interval of nine years of peace, as regarded the quarrels of the different European colonists, succeeded. During this peace, the western Indians, if they did not share it, were in some degree restrained in the extent of their assaults and ravages; and the western forests and prairies were peopling in silence by Europeans, or their descendants. At the close of this interval, commenced the war of the American revolution. The French and Spanish, in these remote colonies, were soon drawn into the contest. The Spanish, as the allies of the French, made their first effort against the British Colony of Florida, their ancient possession. Galvez, the Spanish governor of Louisiana, assailed Baton Rouge with two thousand three hundred men, aided by battering cannon. The British garrison of five hundred men was obliged to surrender. Flushed by this success, in 1780 he fitted out a naval expedition against Mobile, which also surrendered to his forces. A formidable Spanish fleet, with twelve thousand troops on board, soon after sailed from Cuba, to attempt the recapture of the whole province of Florida ; and, although the fleet experienced the most signal disasters from sickness and storms, Pensacola was taken from the British, and the whole province was conquered. Upper Louisiana was little affected by this war, until near its close. In 1780 an expedition of English and Indians from Canada by way of the lakes assailed the peaceful French establishments in Missouri. St. Louis was taken, sixty of the inhabitants slain, and thirty made prisoners. The French of that vicinity still distinguish that disastrous event by the era of Vannee du coup. They were delivered from their invaders by a respectable force under the command of the gallant American General Clark. The expedition under this veteran commander had been fitted out chiefly by Virginia, and ordered into these distant regions to repel the invasion of the English and Indians as far as possible from her frontiers, which were supposed to be the whole western country. General Clark descended the Ohio with a regiment of infantry and a troop of cavalry. Part of his force marched by land from Louisville, and in the endurance of incredible hardships, advanced through the swamps and ices of the drowned lands of the Wabash, and met the other part of the force, that had made its way down the Ohio and up the Wabash by water, before Vincennes, which was in possession of a considerable British force. That force, completely sur prised, surrendered at discretion, and suffered a severe retaliation for 22 HO MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. their cruelties. General Clark unkennelled the savages from their lurk ing places in these quarters, and carried the American standard in triumph to the Mississippi. The invading forces sent from Canada against St. Louis, shrunk from conflict with the American General, dis persed and made their way back as they could, to Canada. In 1780 on the mountains, that separate North Carolina from Tennes see, was' fought the gallant battle of King's Mountain, in which the backwoods men of Kentucky and Tennessee had so glorious a share. Few actions on record have been more fiercely contested. The British repeatedly charged the mountaineers with fixed bayonets. Ferguson, the British commander, was slain. The enemy left one hundred and fifty on the field; six hundred aud ten were made prisoners, and fifteen hun dred stand of arms were taken. Only four hundred and forty of the foe escaped. Colonels McDowell, Cambeil, Shelby, Sevier, in a word, every soldier and officer gained in that battle imperishable honor. No victory could have had a more auspicious influence upon the incipient settlements in Kentucky and Tennessee. The peace of 1783 left the country on the Ohio and Mississippi free from all other conflicts, but the unremitting hostility of the savages. Relieved from one form of apprehension, the western settlers soon met another. Tho right to navigate the Mississippi, the great wes tern canal of export and import, was refused to the Americans by the Spanish authorities of Louisiana. This became a fruitful source of dispute and re-crimination. The inhabitants of Kentucky and Tennes see, jealous of their rights, and not satisfied with the efforts of Congress to procure them redress, seemed strongly disposed to take justice into their own hands. There appears to have been no less than five distinct parties among them at this time. The first advocated an independent government in the west, and a commercial treaty with Spain. The second proposed to annex Kentucky to Louisiana. This party was fostered by Spanish intrigue and gold. The third proposed to make war with Spain, and seize Louisiana. A fourth party sustained the American confederation, and proposed to extort the free navigation of the Mississippi by the menace of an invasion of Louisiana. The fifth wished Louisiana to return under French sway, and that Kentucky should make part of it. The fires of discord between these parties were fanned by the English, Spanish and French, according to their respective views. But a new element of political influence was beginning to be felt. It was the course, alike wise, firm and conciliating, of the federal government, which shortly merged all these interests in the overwhelming preponderance of genuine CIVIL HISTORY. 171 American loyalty. The Spanish treaty of 1795 was the result, which, after a series of altercations and difficulties by the Spanish commissioner, went into quiet effect in 1798. The western Indians had generally taken part with Great Britain in the war of the revolution. Alarmed at the Good of immigration, which poured into the western country on the return of peace, they still kept up the war on their own account. The southern Indians, under McGillivsay, were quieted by a treaty; but the northern Indians stubbornly resisted all efforts at pacification. General Harmar was sent against them with a considerable force. Some hard fighting with doubt ful success succeeded. Next year General St. Clair was sent against them, with a still larger force. The Indians attacked him, November 1792, not far from the Miami villages. A severe and fatal battle for the Americans ensued. They were completely routed, and more than six hundred men, including thirty eight officers slain. The wounded, many of whom died, exceeded two hundred and sixty. It was the severest disaster, which had befallen the American arms in the west. It gave new extent and energy to the scalping knife. In the investigation of this bloody affair, which took place before Congress, it was proved, that between 1783 and 1790, fifteen hundred inhabitants of Kentucky had been massacred, or made prisoners by the Indians; and an equal number on the frontiers of Pennsylvania and Virginia, and that one hundred and twenty persons had been killed, or made prisoners, a number of whom had been burned at the stake, during thirty days, in which the Indians were proposing to make a treaty. This disaster and these representations effectually aroused the people. General Wayne was sent against the Indians. His collected force ex ceeded three thousand men. He attacked the combined Indians, and gained a memorable and complete victory. The fugitives took shelter under the guns of a British fort. General Wayne justly treated the commander of the fort, and the traders sheltered in it, who had obviously supplied the Indians with arms, provisions and amunition, with very little ceremony, burning their stores and their corn, and driving them to the security of the range of their own guns. In August 1792, a general treaty with the Indians was concluded, and the desolating horrors of Indiaii warfare were brought to an end. This peace, so auspicious to the progress of the West, was soon followed by internal dissentions. The first extention of the federal Jway was regarded with suspicion in various parts of the union. Congress had passed a law imposing duties on spirits distilled in the United States: This law was peculiarly obnoxious to the people of west Pennsylvania. A decided and systematic opposition to government was organized! 172 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. Civil processes instituted under that government were resisted. The marshal at Pittsburgh and General Neville, in whose house he took shelter, were seized, and otherwise treated with violence, to escape which, they made their retreat down the Ohio. The government conducted with deliberate firmness. After all efforts at conciliation had been exhausted, a strong force was sent over the mountains commanded by the Governors of Virginia, Pennsylvania and -New Jersey. The unanimity of the nation, and the greatness of the force prevented the effusion of blood. The insurgents submitted with out resistance. A few were arrested, and one person, who had rendered himself peculiarly obnoxious by his violence, escaped. The western country meanwhile continued to fill with immigrants with a rapidity unparalleled in the annals of any other country. The wood man's axe was heard in innumerable places in the forest. Commencing towns and villages sprung up among the deadened trees on every side. The surplus produce of the west began to descend the Ohio and Missis sippi, in all the whimsical varieties of boats, that float on those streams. At frequent intervals occasional murders of the people on the frontiers continued to occur, and keep alive the smothered feelings of hatred and revenge, which existed between the two races. But the flood of immi gration still continued to flow on, unchecked by these local causes of alarm. War raged again in Europe. France, Spain and England preyed upon our commerce. Spain, beside joining in the general plunder, shut the port of New Orleans against us. Twelve regiments were added to our army. Three of the old regiments were ordered to a point near the mouth of the Ohio, and other demonstrations of a purpose to redress our wrongs by force were made. Early in the administration of Jefferson, Spain restored us the right of deposit at New Orleans, and informed us at the same time, that she had, by a treaty of 1801, ceded Louisiana to the government of France, which had become a republic. A French army which had been appointed avowedly for the purpose of occupying Louisiana, was blockaded in a Dutch port by a British squadron. France wanted money, more than colonies, which she had no navy to occupy or defend; and by the treaty of April 1803, in consideration of fifteen millions of dollars, she ceded Louisiana to the United States. The immense valley of the Mississippi, in iJn whole extent, became ours, opening a new era to the West, which we trust will be dear to freedom as long as the Mississippi shall roll to the sea. The famous expedition of Burr occurred in 1806-7. He descended the Mississippi early in January of the latter year with fourteen boats, CIVIL HISTORY. 173 and from eighty to one hundred men. Being apprised, that his move ments were viewed with suspicion, he gave bonds to the authorities of the Mississippi territory, which, however, he soon left, and a reward of two thousand dollars was offered for his apprehension. The professed Object of this mad expedition was to occupy and settle a large purchase of lands on the Washita. His real purpose, founded on erroneous views of the disloyalty of the West, was probably, to detach it from the confederacy, and establish an empire for himself. Some persons were arrested, as accomplices with Burr, among whom were Bollman and Ogden. Burr himself was after wards tried, and acquitted. The year 1812 was memorable, as the era of the first successful use of steam boats on the western waters. At the commencement of the winter the steam boat New Orleans, carrying between three and four hundred tons, descended from Pittsburgh to New Orleans in two hundred and fifty-nine hours. The first experiment was extremely fortunate, and, comparing this passage with that of seventy-five days for the descent of a flat boat from the same place, presented the advantages of steam navi gation in strong contrast. Every reflecting person could easily divine, what an immense bearing this wonderful invention of steam boats would have upon the future growth and prosperity of the West. The census of •1810 gave the West nearly a million of inhabitants, about eight times the number of 1799. It has been seen, that our commerce had been plundered by England, •France and Spain. Our political relations with the two former powers had been for some time on a precarious footing. It was a question dis cussed in Congress with no little asperity, on which of these powers we should make war, to redress our wrongs. It was ultimately determined to select England, as having inflicted the most palpable injuries, and as being most accessible in her colonial possessions. For some time her ancient influence with the Indians on our northern and western frontiers had been gathering strength against us. The long suppressed flame burst forth at length in the battle of Tippicanoe. At the close of 1811 the former scenes of savage assault and murder along the frontier settlements were renewed with incessant incursions and the murder of whole fami lies. Beside the usual instigation and influence of British traders the famous Shawnese prophet appealed to their bloody superstitions to incite them to general league against us. Generals Harrison and Boyd marched against them with some militia and a regiment of regular troops. In thirty days they arrived in the vicinity ofthe prophet's town. Soon afterwards, diey weie attacked in the night by the Indians. It was a scene of confusion and blood. But the prompt and judicious movements of general Harri- 174 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. . son and the gallant charge of the regular troops, soon cleared the camp of the assailants. In this hurried and bloody affair the Americans lost 188 men killed and wounded. Among the slain were some officers of great bravery and merit. The Indian loss was supposed have been equal.' In June 1812, war was declared by the United States against Great Britain. An army of 2500 men, consisting of regulars and Ohio volun teers collected at Detroit under the command of General Hull. After a series of skirmishes honorable to Colonels Cass and Miller, General Hull surrendered his whole force, Detroit and the territory of Michigan to the British General Brock. Never was event more prolific of shame, dis grace and disaster. The Indians were at once on the alert in hostility to our country from the lakes to the gulf of Mexico. Colonel Newman of the Georgia volun teers distinguished himself in a desperate and gallant struggle with the Seminole Indians on the Georgia frontier. About this time the Creeks and Seminoles assaulted and took Fort Mimms on the Tensa in Mississippi. It was commanded by Major Beasly with 150 men. Three hundred persons, more than half women and children were massacred. Never was savage cruelty more atrocious and unsparing. But seventeen persons escaped. General Jackson, nobly sustained by Generals Coffee and Carroll, was ordered into the Creek country. Encountering disaffection, desertion, want of provisions, and innumerable difficulties of every sort, he succeeded in defeating and humbling them to the sure submission of fear and inability of further an noyance. The victories over the Creeks were named from the places, where the battles were fought, Tallushatchee, Talladega, Emuckfaw, and Tahopeka. The last victory was most terribly decisive. The Indians left 557 dead ; and only four men, along with 300 women and children were taken prisoners. Humanity recoils from the contemplation of the misery and ruin inflicted upon this fierce and deluded people. But it must be remembered, that they had been incurring this severe reckoning by cruelties and murders for twenty years, crowned with the horrors of Fort Mimms. The meed of unshrinking perseverance, the most cool and determined bravery, unflinching patriotism, and able management in the prosecution of this war must be awarded to General Jackson. Meanwhile, after the fall of Detroit, savage vengeance raged with un relenting fury along the whole lake frontier. Various successful incur sions were made in retaliation, in which the Indians in their turn experienced deserved chastisement. But the united forces of the Brit ish and Indians, were successful in defeating general Winchester, who was captured with some of his officers in the early part of the action. After a severe engagement, the remainder of the American troops, CIVIL HISTORY. 175 between five and six hundred, surrendered. The Indians violated the terms of the surrender, and a general and horrible massacre ensued, to the perpetual infamy of General Proctor, and his forces, who conducted on this occasion, with little more humanity and good faith, than the savages themselves. This bloody affair is known in the west by the name ofthe ' massacre of the Raisin.' During the memorable siege of Fort Meigs by the British and Indians, the besiegers were assailed by Colonel Dudley who arrived, commanding a brigade of Kentucky recruits. The enemy fled, and the ardor of these brave men carried them too far in the pursuit. They fell into an ambus cade, and suffered severely. A sortie from the Fort, intended as a diversion, in favor of the Kentucky force, was assailed by four times its number; and would have been cut off, but for the gallantry of lieutenant Gwynne, who opportunely charged the Indians, and saved the detach ment. The siege was soon after raised. The American loss, during the thirteen days, which it lasted, was 270 killed and wounded. At this time Major Croghan gained imperishable honor by his intrepid defence of Fort Stephenson. With only 160 men he was besieged by 500 regulars and 700 Indians under the command of general Proctor. After an unavailing attempt to storm the Fort, the besiegers decamped,. having lost 150 men in the attempt. The brilliant and complete victory of the gallant Perry over the Brit ish fleet on lake Erie ensued, and gave the American cause the inestima ble advantage of the complete command of the lake. The striking array of a British and American fleet was seen from the shores of Ohio, round ing to the shore to transport the American troops to the invasion of the Canadian shore. These troops were landed from sixteen vessels and one thousand boats in perfect order a league below Maiden. It was an incident equally novel, cheering and impressive. Maiden and Amherts- burg were successively occupied. The savages were unkennelled from their dens, where they had been retained, and unleashed; and where they had returned, and treasured their horrid trophies of human scalps. Scarcely a volunteer entered these odious places, but had suffered in his person, property, relations or friends by the assaults and massacres here instigated. To show the strongest possible contrast to the deportment of the enemy at the Raisin, private property, houses and persons were spared, not excepting the house ofthe renegado, Colonel Elliot. An engagement followed between the American army commanded by General Harrison, and the British and Indians under General Proctor and Tecumseh. The American mounted troops dashed through the ene my's centre, producing the immediate surrender of 472 men and their officers. General Proctor escaped by the speed of bis horse. 176 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. The Indians contested the battle with much more pertinacity, than- their British allies. The renowned Tecumseh put forth all his powers; but after a fierce contest, the savages were defeated; and Tecumseh was slain, it is commonly reported by Colonel Johnson, in personal contest. Among the singular trophies of this victory were several pieces of brass cannon, which had been taken from Burgoyne at Saratoga, surrendered by General Hull with Detroit, and now returned to the Americans again. No event in this war had been so directly auspicious to the western country, as this victory. Michigan was recovered ; and the British force in upper Canada broken down. The spirit and confidence of the north ern savages were quelled; and the people along the wide western frontier- were relieved from their apprehensions, and returned in security and- peace to their accustomed habitations. Scarcely had the Creeks been brought to terms in the south, before the southern people were alarmed with the more formidable apprehensions of British invasion. General Jackson marched with his forces to Pensa cola, which was already in the occupation of the British. The British failed in an obstinate naval attack upon Fort Bowyer in Mobile bay; and- were defeated with the loss of 230 men killed and wounded. The British forces then retired to Pensacola. That town and Barran cas were assaulted, and taken, and the British completely dislodged from all the posts upon that shore. From these achievements General Jackson marched to New Orleans, and put forth all his energy and decision in collecting forces, and placing Louisiana in the best possible state of defence. A well contested engagement took place between an attack of British barges, and the small American naval force, of gun boats near the Rigo- let or pass from lake Borgne into lake Ponchartrain. The bravery of the Americans was never more honorably conspicuous; though the American gun boats were captured by an overwhelming force. The British loss in the action far exceeded ours. The British army, which had been hovering on the gulf shore, 'debark ed safely at Bayou Bienvenu, fifteen miles southeast of New Orleans. General Jackson resolved to give them battle. His recent recruits from the upper country were promptly on the field of battle. Commodore Patterson in the schooner Caroline opened a destructive fire upon them. After a warm action, necessarily involved in much confusion from the late hour, in which it was commenced, and from the ignorance of both forces of the ground, and of each others positions, the British thrice assailed, and beaten, retired a mile. Satisfied with the omen, and this first result of what the British had to expect from us, and aware that the CIVIL HISTORY. 177 British were double our numbers, General Jackson recalled his troops to their position. Our loss was 139 killed and wounded, and 74 pris oners. The lulled, wounded and prisoners of the enemy amounted to 400. Soon after, we had the misfortune to lose the schooner, which had so severely annoyed the British. Fortunately before the great battle ofthe eighth of January, the long expected reinforcement from Kentucky, amounting to 2250 men, arrived at our camp. The eighth of January dawned, and the British commenced upon our line one of the most obstinate attacks on military record. They were defeated with prodigious slaughter. Their killed, wounded and prisoners exceeded 2600 men. Although the British had been success ful in an attack upon the American troops on the opposite bank of the river, compelling the American force under General Morgan to retreat, having lost their Generals Packingham, Gibbs and Keane, they felt no disposition longer to contest the possession of a soil, that had been so fatal to them, and soon after embarked in their fleet. It may well be supposed that a scene of exultation, past the power of words to describe, ensued in the camp, and in New Orleans. The brave troops of the west returned to their homes covered with imperishable honors, to hand down the story of their achievements to their children. In making this glorious defence ofthe shores ofthe gulf of Mexico, and in gaining these victories, General Jackson was obliged to resort to the strong measures of military decision and promptness. We have not space, in which to array the innumerable difficulties, he had to encoun ter from a country, but recently accustomed to American rule, peopled to a considerable degree with inhabitants of another language and na tion, the want of arms, the numercial weakness of his force, and his great distance from adequate reinforcements and supplies. The brevity of our sketch accords with our inclination in excluding us from any dis cussion of the necessity of many of the measures, to which he had resorted; and from questioning the grounds of a reaction of public feel ing, which occurred on the return of tranquillity. His conduct in proclaiming martial law, and suspending the privilege of habeas corpus, removing some suspected citizens, and punishing some deserters with the last rigor of martial law, underwent a severe investigation, at the time, an investigation which subsequent circumstances have renewed with in creased asperity. At this day, however different may be the estimate of the political character of general Jackson, no one can fail to do justice to his wisdom, bravery and good conduct in the prosecution of this campaign. No one can fail to admit, that the emergencies of the case called for such a general, and that weak and vacillating measures could scarcely have failed 23 178 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. to have lost the country. On the 13th ofthe month, peace was officially announced in the camp. On the 24th, General Jackson was prosecuted for contempt of court at the suit of Judge Hall, and was cast in a fine of a thousand dollars. General feeling in view of the sentence was mani fested by the citizens. It was proposed to give publicity to that feeling by paying the fine by voluntary contribution. It was no sooner meditated than done. So numerous were the citizens, who desired to contribute, that the entire sum was raised in a few minutes. The general, under standing what was agitated, sought the marshal, paid the fine, and avoided an obligation, which his feelings would not allow him to incur. Previous to breaking up his camp, he issued an impressive and affec tionate address to his brave companions in arms, and was soon on his way to his home. Grateful and affectionate honors awaited him every where, and most of all at home, where he was welcomed by a reception from his fellow citizens, that must have been more delightful, than all his previous triumphs. The close of the war, as might be expected produced a general pacifi cation of the savages on our whole frontier. It was obvious to intellects less vigorous than theirs, that if they had the worst of the contest, when aided by all the power of Britain and the countenance of the Spanish, they could have little hope, of continuing the contest with us single handed. Profound peace was soon restored to all our borders, from the northeast to the southwest frontier. The tide of immigration which had been arrested during the war, set more strongly towards the western country for having been so long kept back. Shoals of immigrants were seen on all the great roads leading in that direction. Oleanne, Pittsburgh, Brownsville, Wheeling, Nashville, Cincinnati, and St. Louis overflowed with them. Ohio and Indiana beheld thousands of new cabins spring up in their forests. On the borders of the solitary prairies of Illinois and Missouri, smokes were seen streaming aloft from the dwellings of recent settlers. The settlements which had been broken up during the war, were re-peopled, and many immigrants returned again to the very cabins, which they had occupied before the war. Boon's-lick and Salt river, in Missouri, were the grand points of immigration, as were the Sangama and the upper courses of the Kaskaskias, in Illinois. In the south, Ala bama filled with new habitations, and the current, not arrested by the Mississippi, set over its banks, to White river, Arkansas, and Louisiana, west of that river. The wandering prcpensity of the American people carried hundreds even beyond our territorial limits into the Spanish country. — Wagons, servants, cattle, sheep, swine, horses, and dogs, were seen passing with the settlers, bound to immense distances up the long rivers. To fix an hundred miles from another settler was deemed no in convenience. CIVIL HISTORY. 179 This flood of immigrants of course increased the amount of transport, and gave new impulse to enterprise of every sort. Lands rose above their value, and speculation in them became a raging epidemic. Money, put in circulation by the sale of lands, abounded in the country. Town making, steam boat building, — in short, every species of speculation was carried to a ruinous excess. Mercantile importations filled the country with foreign goods. Therewere no reasonable foundations to the schemes and no limits to the extravagance of the people. To give a more fatal extension and efficacy to the mania of speculation, banks were multiplied in all the little towns and villages of the West, whose spurious paper, not predicated on banking principles, nor based upon capital, answered the turn of speculation, as long as the excitement of confidence lasted. The consequence of all this was, that lands rose to double and triple their natural value, and were bought up by speculators. One good effect re sulted from the general mischief. Improvements, which would never have been contemplated, in another state of things, multiplied. Towns were built up with good and permanent houses. In three years from the close of the war, things had received a new face along the great water courses, and in all the favorable points ofthe interior. New states and territories grew out of this order of things, like the prophet's gourd. In building up legislation and municipal order, the scramble of strangers recently brought in contiguity, for the new offices, introduced much bustle and quarrelling. All the legislators were not Solons. A great many 'forward and plunging young men, whose only qualifications for their great work, were vanity and confidence, composed the legislatures. Of course a thousand monstrous projects were hatched. The teaching of the past history and experience, were not the guides of these confident legislators. The evils, that soon resulted from such legislation, gradually worked their own cure. The people were slow to learn ; but in most of the states and territories, after taking lessons for two or three years, they did learn ; and returned to the safeand ancient track of history, example and experience. Meanwhile, this unnatural state of things could not last long. The tide began to ebb, and things to settle to their natural level. The first indication of this change was, the failure ofthe banks, at first as rare oc currences ; but these failures soon become so numerous and common, that the paper, except of the banks of Louisiana, Mississippi, and a very few of the interior banks, became as useless as any other wrapping paper. We have not the data for calculating the amount of loss in the western country ; and patience and moderation of feeling would fail us, in con templating the enormous mischiefs of legislative swindling. An incon ceivable quantity of paper perished, not in the hands of the speculators, 180 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. and those, who had been efficient in generating it; for they foresaw the approaching ruin, and passed the spurious paper away, before the bubble of confidence, on which it was predicated, burst. It finally rested, and perished in the hands of farmers and mechanics, — the honest and the useful members of the community, who had fairly earned the value of the money. May it be a perpetual warning to the legislatures of the West, not to allow demagogues to trifle with their interests, in the introduction of banking schemes based upon any other foundation, than solid capital. A more enormous engine of mishief and dishonesty never was introduced into a community. Lands experienced almost a perpendicular fall. Immigration was suspended. Money ceased to flow into the country from that source. The depreciated money of the country banks was no longer received in payment. The merchants had sold out on credit the immense amount of goods, which they had brought into the country, and the debtors had no means of payment left to enable them to make remittances. All the specie of the country made its way to the Atlantic country, to pay for the goods, imported thence. Credit was at an end, and universal distress pre vailed. In some of the states, after some experiments of quackery, the legislatures began to consult experience, and desisted from violent polit ical remedies, which in the end are sure to aggravate the disease. In other legislatures, where they had not yet learned, that bills made by an engraver, and signed by a president and cashier of a bank with a name, are not necessarily money, they passed laws, whimsically called relief laws, apparently from the misery and confusion, they created. And there was a new deluge of bank paper in a new form to remedy the dis tress, occasioned by the failure of the old. In Kentucky, Illinois, and Missouri, the legislatures plunged deepest into the abyss of relief laws, Loan offices emitted money on the faith of the state, pledged for its redemption. It was soon in the hands of speculators, purchased at a fourth of its nominal value. It was directly ascertained, that the remedy was worse than the disease. This evil was longest persisted in, where it would have been supposed, it would be relinquished first, in Kentucky the common mother of the western states, opulent, enlightened, and teeming with men of education and intelligence. So it will ever be, when the rash and presuming legislate, and predicate their schemes on wild theory, and not on the sure teaching of age, tried wisdom, experience, and the analogy of the past. Were we to descend to the details of state events, and the charac ter of state legislation, volumes would be necessary. Mercantile, mine ral, and fur associations were formed and pursued with spirit. Different exploring expeditions, ordered by the government, added to the general CIVIL HISTORY. 181 and topographical knowledge of the country. An hundred new towns have grown to consequence, and the catalogue of proper names has been ransacked to find names for them. Steam boats have been increased to such numbers, that there are now more than two hundred on our waters. Our militia is gradually acquiring efficiency and organization. It is, probably, as numerous, in proportion to our population, as that of the Atlantic states. In some of the states, the system is lax, or the laws badly enforced; for the militia is neither regularly organized, trained or armed. A levy, en masse, in the state of Ohio would probably bring to the field more fighting men, in proportion to the population, than in any other of the United States. Owing to its recent settlement, few of the inhabitants are past the age for bearing arms. Males immigrate in greater numbers, than females ; and from these circumstances, there is a large proportion of men capable of bearing arms. In furnishing a remedy for the incalculable mischief and misery occa sioned by universal want of confidence in the local banks, and bank paper, the only currency suited to the wants of the West, no influence was felt to be so prompt and salutary, as the establishment of branches of the bank of the United States among us. It would be easy to show, that local and state banks, however they may meet the necessities of commerce, when established in large commercial towns, with extensive capital always promptly convertible into specie, and however they may be adequate to furnish a sound currency for a narrow circle in their immediate vicinity, are not suited to the position, and the extensive, distant, commercial relations of the West. Although this country abundantly possessed that, for which money and bank paper stand as the representatives, our distance from the emporiums of commerce on the sea board, and their dear bought experience of the former worthlessness of our banks forbade reasonable expectation, that our local paper could be received, as a sound currency beyond the immediate vicinity of its issue. In this establishment was provided a banking system, much better adapted to the wants of an interior country, than of the maritime capi tals, enabling the people to obtain loans commensurate with their estab lished credit, and to find in the post office the medium of sure and prompt remittance of a circulation every where uniform, and enabling the remotest western dealer to remit to the most distant Atlantic town, and to receive remittances at his writing desk. Western travellers, too, rapidly increasing in numbers, passing to the remotest points, were relieved from the intolerable annoyance of dealing with a broker at the interval of every hundred miles, and continual altercations at taverns and stage offices, as often reminded, that a citizen in one district was a stranger in another of the same country. 182 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. Between the general failure of the western banks and the operation of this system, western dealers were driven to the extremely burdensome and precarious resource of specie in their foreign transactions. Business and trade were brought to a dead pause. Words would be unavailing to convey an idea of the embarrassment and distress occasioned by this order of things. The evils were spread along a course of two thousand miles ; and were experienced in the remote cabins, as well as the towns, and villages on the rivers. Though of an efficacy to create much misery, they were so concealed from the public eye and ear, as to create little sympathy or commiseration for the sufferers. It will be well if history and remembrance preserve these salutary lessons, as solemn warnings to prevent the recurrence of a similar bank mania for the future. The result of a sound and uniform currency was seen in the restora tion of business and credit; and commerce sprung up, like a Phoenix, from its ashes. Shapeless and mean looking villages became towns; and the towns in neatness and beauty began to compare with those in the Atlantic country. The best evidence of the change, wrought by this order of things is, that produce and every species of vendible property rose to double and triple its value, during the season of general embarrass ment. Since then, the progress of the West in improvement and pros perity has been as rapid, as her citizens could reasonably desire. Immigration. Before entering upon a topographical description of the states and territories, we deem it right to dwell a little on the circum stances connected with emigration. In a country, an immense proportion of which is yet wilderness, containing a hundred thousand log cabins, and annually receiving twice that number of immigrants, a sketch of the circumstances, under which they remove, and make their beginnings in the forest, cannot be without its interest or utility. This work, having for its chief object the physical features and circumstances of the West, seems to call for such an outline, which we draw entirely from our own observation and experience. Nor will an intelligent enquirer turn away from a view of these rustic touches, when calling to mind, that all, which any part of our country can show of elegance, power -end improvement, was cradled in similar beginnings; and that it was by these arts, that our whole country became what it is ; that the transition from cabins to man sions, and from settlements to cities has taken place under our own observation; and that the germs, which we are describing, promise to evolve a vast and flourishing empire, to which imagination may hardly assign bounds. Still less will they be indifferent to the patriot and phi lanthropist, if we furnish evidence, that no human condition is more susceptible of plenty, independence, and the best enjoyments, which the IMMIGRATION. 183 'earth can offer, than that of the tenants of log cabins, who turn the soil, which share never furrowed before. To the cabin dwellers themselves, who live amidst what we describe, such sketches may be gratuitous. But we hope, they will have interest with another class of readers, who have ideas as indistinct of the modes and contrivances of a settler on the virgin soil, as those of the colonists of the Greeks in Asia Minor, or the Romans in Spain, Gaul, and Africa. With what intense interest should we now read the diary of one of the first settlers at Plymouth, Jamestown, or Mexico, giving the diurnal details of his progress in building, enclosing, and advancing from the first necessity of a shelter from the elements, to comfort, convenience and elegance ! The mind delights to trace mighty streams to their fountains ; and the power, improvement and splendor of states to the germ of their inception. How few traces, by which to gratify this interest, remain. To the greater number of even western readers a faithful picture of the primitive habitations of the country, and the result of the first efforts of agriculture presents a view of things already gone by. Our ideas of the first cabins of the Puritans at Plymouth, their first planting and garden ing, their first social intercourse and festivities, by which they solaced their solitude and privations, are but dim and uncertain imaginings. Even these memorials of the beginnings of the French in Illinois and Louisiana are fast perishing unrecorded from vision and memory. But the chief utility, which we hope from the following sketch, is to enable the reader, who contemplates becoming an immigrant, to acquaint himself in advance with some of the circumstances of his undertaking, and to anticipate what he may be called to do, enjoy, or suffer. We Would be glad to furnish him with some elements, on which to settle the expediency of immigration in advance ; by showing him in con trast some of its intrinsic advantages and disadvantages. If a just balance could be struck between the actual enjoyment of those, who live, and die in the old settled portions of the country, and those, who emi grate, and settle in the wilderness, every actual immigrant will admit, that it would be far from being an abstract discussion of the nature and chances of happiness. The advantnges and disadvantages of emigration in the abstract are partly physical, partly moral. The inducements to it arise, with most of our actions, from mixed motives. The greater part of the European emigrants, particularly the Germans, flying from poverty and oppression, come to the West with the unmixed motives to become free land holders, and to purchase cheap and rich lands. But the case is otherwise with the far greater portion of those, who emigrate from the old states of our own country. Imagination exercises more influence even upon minds 184 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. the most uneducated, than we are ready to suppose. There is no person, about to place himself in a remote and untried position, but will find on examination, that the new scene, viewed in anticipation, is in vested with a coloring of the imagination, that has a powerful bearing upon his thoughts and determinations. What mind ever contemplated the project of moving from the old settlements over the Alleghany moun tains, and selecting a home in the West, without forming pictures of new woods and streams, new animals and vegetables, new configurations of scenery, new aspects of men and new forms of society, novelty in the most settled mental associations with the phenomena of nature, winds, clouds, rains, snows, thunder, and all the accidents of climate, new hopes, in a word, of chasing down, in a new and far country, that phantom of our desires, always pursued in things without us, and never found except within us, happiness? After the long vexed question whether to remove or not, is settled, by consulting friends, travellers and books, the next step is to select the route, and arrange the preparations for it. The universality and cheapness of steam boat and canal passage and transport, have caused, that more than half the whole number of immigrants now arrive in the West by water. This remark applies to nine tenths of those that come from Europe and the northern states. They thus escape much of the expense, slowness, inconvenience and danger of the ancient cumbrous and tire some journey in wagons. They no longer experience the former vexations of incessant altercation with landlords, mutual charges of dishonesty, discomfort from new modes of speech and reckoning money, from breaking down carriages and wearing out horses. But the steam boats and canal boats have their disadvantages. Cast per haps for the first time among a mixed company of strangers, the bashful mother and the uneasy and curious children present an ample specimen of their domestic training; and how much they have profited by that universal education, about which every one talks. But though they may mutually annoy, and be annoyed, their curiosity is constantly excited, and gratified ; their hunger abundantly appeased; and they occasionally form pleasant intimacies with their fellow travellers. If travelling be a mode of enjoyment, these unsated and unhackneyed travellers probably find, on the whole, a balance of enjoyment in favor of the journey of immigration. y The chances are still more favorable for the immigrants from Virginia, the two Carolinas and Georgia, who, from their habits and relative posi tion, still immigrate, after the ancient fashion, in the southern wagon. This is a vehicle almost unknown at the north, strong, comfortable, commodious, containing not only a movable kitchen , but provisions and immigration. 185 beds. Drawn by four or six horses, it subserves all the various intentions of house, shelter and transport; and is, in fact, the southern ship of the forests and prairies. The: horses, that convey the wagon, are large and powerful animals, followed by servants, cattle, sheep, swine, dogs, the whole forming a primitive caravan not unworthy of ancient days, and the plains of Mamre. The procession moves on with power in its dust, putting to shame and uncomfortable feelings of comparison the northern familyjWith their slight wagon, jaded horses and subdued, though jealous countenances. Their vehicle stops; and they scan the strong southern hulk; with its chimes of bells, its fat black drivers and its long train of concomitants, until they have swept by. Perhaps more than half the northern immigrants arrive at present by 4 way of the New York canal and lake Erie. If their destination be the upper waters of the Wabash, they debark at Sandusky, and continue their route without approaching the Ohio. The greater number make their way from the lake to the Ohio, either by the Erie and Ohio, or the Dayton canal. From all points, except those west of the Guyandot route and the national road, when they arrive at the Ohio, or its navigable waters, the greater number of the families 'take water.' Emigrants from Pennsylvania will henceforward reach the Ohio on the great Pennsylvania canal, and will 'take water' at Pittsburgh. If bound to Indiana, Illinois or Missouri, they build, or purchase a family boat. Many of these boats are comfortably fitted up, and are neither inconvenient, nor unpleasant floating houses. Two or three families sometimes fit up a large boat in partnership, purchase an ' Ohio pilot,' a book that professes to instruct them in the mysteries of navigating the Ohio ; and if the Ohio be mode rately high, and the weather pleasant, this voyage, unattended with either difficulty or danger, is ordinarily a trip of pleasure. We need hardly {, add, that a great number of the wealthier emigrant families take passage in a steam boat. While the southerner finds the autumnal and vernal season on the Ohio too cool, to the northerner it is temperate and delightful. When the first wreaths of morning mist are rolled away from the stream by the bright sun, disclosing the ancient woods, the hoary bluffs, and the graceful curves and windings of the long line of channel above and below, the rich alluvial belt and the fine orchards on its shores, the descending voy agers must be destitute of the common perceptions of the beautiful, if they do not enjoy the voyage, and find the Ohio, in the French phrase, La belle riviere. After the immigrants have arrived at Cincinnati, Lexington, Nashville, St. Louis, or St. Charles, in the vicinity of the points, where they had anticipated to fix themselves, a preliminary difficulty, and one of 24 186 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. difficult solution is, to determine to what quarter to repair. All the towns swarm with speculating companies and land agents; and the chance is, that the first inquiries for information in this perplexity will be addressed to them, or to persons who have a common understanding and interest with them. The published information, too, comes directly or indirectly from them, in furtherance of their views. One advises to the Wabash, and points on the map to the rich lands, fine mill seats, navigable streams and growing towns in their vicinity. Another presents a still more alluring picture of the lands in some part of Illinois, Missouri, the region west of the lakes, and the lead mines. Another tempts him with Wliite River, Arkansas, Red River, Opelousas, and Attakapas, the rich crops of cotton and sugar, and the escape from winter, which they offer. Still another company has its nets set in all the points, where immigrants congregate, blazoning all the advantages of Texas, and the Mexican country. In Cincinnati, more than in any other town, there are generally precursors from all points of the compass, to select lands for companies, that are to follow. There are such here at present both from Europe and New England; and we read advertisements, that a thousand persons are shortly to meet at St. Louis to form a company to cross the Rocky Mountains, with a view to select settlements on the Oregon. When this slow and perplexing process of balancing, comparing and fluctuating between the choice of rivers, districts, climates and advanta ges, is fixed, after determination has vibrated backwards and forwards according to the persuasion and eloquence of the last adviser, until the purpose of the immigrant is fixed, the northern settler is generally borne to the point of debarkation, nearest his selected spot, by water. He thence hires the transport of his family and movables to the spot; though not a few northern emigrants move all the distance in wagons. The whole number from the north far exceeds that from the south. But they drop, in noiseless quietness, into their position, and the rapidity of their progress in settling a country is only presented by the startling results of the census. The southern settlers who immigrate to Missouri and the country south west of the Mississippi, by their show of wagons, flocks and numbers create observation, and are counted quite as numerous, as they are. Ten wagons are often seen in company. It is a fair allowance, that a hundred cattle, beside swine, horses and sheep, and six negroes accompany each. The train, with the tinkling of an hundred bells, and the negroes, wearing the delighted expression of a holiday suspension from labor in their countenances, forming one group, and the family slowly moving forward, forming another, as the whole is seen advancing along the plains, it presents a pleasing and picturesque spectacle. IMMIGRANTS. 187 They make arrangements at night fall to halt at a spring, where there is wood and water, and a green sward for encampment. The dogs raise their accustomed domestic baying. The teams are unharnessed, and the cattle and horses turned loose into the grass. The blacks are busy in spreading the cheerful table in the wilderness, and preparing the supper, to which the appetite of fatigue gives zest. They talk over the incidents of the past day, and anticipate those of the morrow. If wolves and owls are heard in the distance, these desert sounds serve to render the contrast of their society and security more sensible. In this order they plunge deeper and deeper into the forest or prairie, until they have found the place of their rest. The position for a cabin generally selected by the western settlers is a gentle eminence near a spring, or what is called a branch, central to a spacious tract of fertile land. Such spots are generally occupied by tulip and black walnut trees, intermixed with the beautiful cornus forida and red bud, the most striking flowering shrubs of the western forest. Springs burst forth in the intervals between the high and low grounds. The brilliant red bird seen flitting among the shrubs, or perched on a tree, in its mellow whistle seems welcoming the immigrant to his new abode. Flocks of paroquets are glittering among the trees, and gray squirrels are skipping from branch to branch. The chanticleer rings his echoing note among the woods, and the domestic sounds and the baying of the dogs produce a strange cheerfulness, as heard in the midst of trees, where no habitation is seen. Pleasing reflections and happy associations are naturally connected with the contemplation of these beginnings of social toil in the wilderness. In the midst of these solitary and primeval scenes the patient and labori ous father fixes his family. In a few days a comfortable cabin and other out buildings are erected. The first year gives a plentiful crop of corn, and common and sweet potatoes, melons, squashes, turnips and other garden vegetables. The next year a field of wheat is added, and lines of thrifty apple trees show among the deadened trees. If the immigrant possess any (ouch of horticultural taste, the finer kinds of pear, plum, cherry, peach, nectarine and apricot trees are found in the garden. In ten years the log buildings will all have disappeared, the shrub and forest trees will be gone. The arcadian aspect of humble and retired abundance and comfort will have given place to a brick house, or a planted frame house, with fences and out buildings very like those, that surround abodes in the olden countries. It is a wise arrangement of providence, that different minds are endowed with different tastes and predilections, that lead some to choose the town, others manufactures, and the village callings. It seems to us that no 188 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. condition, in itself considered, promises more comfort, and tends more to virtue and independence, than that of these western yeomen, with their numerous, healthy and happy children about them; with the ample abundance of their granaries ; their habitation surrounded by orchards, the branches of which must be propped to sustain their fruit, beside their beautiful streams and cool beach woods, and the prospect of settling each of their children on similar farms directly around them. Their manners may have something of the roughness imparted by living in solitude among the trees; but it is kindly, hospitable, frank, and associa ted with the traits, that constitute the stability of our republic. We apprehend, such farmers would hardly be willing to exchange this plenty, and this range of their simple domains, their well filled granaries, and their droves of domestic animals for any mode of life, that a town can offer. No order of things presents so palpable a view of the onward march of American institutions as this. The greater portion of these immigrants, beside their wives, a few benches and chairs, a bible and a gun, com menced with little more than their hands. Their education for the most part, extended no farther than reading and writing, and their aspirations had never strayed beyond the desire of making a farm. But a sense of relative consequence is fostered by their growing possessions, and by perceiving towns, counties, offices and candidates springing up around them. One becomes a justice of peace, another a county judge and another a member of the legislative assembly. Each one assumes some municipal function, pertaining to schools, the settlement of a minister, the making of roads, bridges, and public works. A sense of responsibility to public opinion, self respect, and a due estimation of character and correct deportment are the consequence. This pleasant view of the commencement and progress of an immi grant is the external one. Unhappily there is another point of view, from which we may learn something what has been passing in his mind, during this physical onward progress. All the members of the establishment have been a hundred times afflicted with that gloomy train of feeling, for which we have no better name, than home sickness. All the vivid perceptions of enjoyment of the forsaken place are keenly remembered, the sorrows overlooked, or forgotten. The distant birth place, the remembrance of years, that are gone, returning to memory amidst the actual struggles of forming a new establishment, an effort full of severe labor, living in a new world, making acquaintance with a new nature, competing with strangers, always seeming to uneducated people, as they did to the ancients, as enemies, these contrasts of the present with the mellowed visions of immigration. 189 memory all tend to bitterness. We never understand, how many invisi ble ties of habit we sever in leaving our country, until we find ourselves in a strange land. The old pursuits, and ways of passing time, of which we took little note, as they passed, where there are new forms of society, new institutions, new ways of managing every thing, that belongs to the social edifice, in a word, a complete change of the whole circle of associ ations feelings and habits, come over the mind, like a cloud. The immigrant, in the pride of his remembrances, begins to extol the country, he has left, its inhabitants, laws, institutions. The listener has an equal stock of opposite prejudices. The pride of the one wounds the pride of the other. The weakness of human nature is never more obvious, than in these meetings of neighbors in a new countiy, each fierce and loud in extolling his own country, and detracting from all others in the comparison. These narrow and vile prejudices spread from family to family, and create little clans political, social, religious, hating, and hated. No generous project for a school, church, library, or public insti tution, on a broad and equal scale, can prosper, amidst such an order of things. It is a sufficient reason, that one clan proposes it, for another to oppose it. All this springs from one of the deepest instincts of our nature, a love of country, which, like a transplanted tree, in removing has too many fibres broken off, to flourish at once in a new soil. The immi grant meets with sickness, misfortune, disaster. There are peculiar strings in the constitution of human nature, which incline him to repine, and imagine, that the same things would not have befallen him in his former abode. He even finds the vegetables, fruits, and meats, though appa rently finer, less savory and nutritive, than those of the old country. Under the pressure of such illusions, many an immigrant has forsaken his cabin, returned to his parent country, found this mockery of his fancies playing at cross purposes with him, and showing him an aban doned paradise in the western woods, and father land the country of penury and disaster. A second removal, perhaps, instructs him, that most of the causes of our dissatisfaction and disgust, that we imagine have their origin in external things, really exist in the mind. To the emigrants from towns and villages in the Atlantic country, ffiough they may have thought little of religious institutions at home, the absence of the church with its spire, and its sounds of the church- going bell, of the village bustle, and the prating of the village tavern are felt, as serious privations. The religious discourses so boisterous and vehement, and in a tone and phrase so different from the calm tenor of what he used to hear, at first produce a painful revulsion not wholly unmixed with disgust. He finds no longer those little circles of com pany, into which he used to drop, to relax a leisure hour, which, it may 190 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. be, were not much prized in the enjoyment; but are now felt, as a serious want. Nothing shocks him so much, as to see his neighbor sicken, and die, unsolaced by the voice of religious instruction and prayer, and carried to his long home without funeral services. These are some of the circumstances, that, in the new settlements, call up the tender recol lections of a forsaken home to embitter the present. These are the dark sides of the picture of immigration. But there is, perhaps less romance in the American character, than in that of any other people; and every thing in our institutions tends to banish the little, that remains. We are a people to estimate vendible and tangible realities. Imaginary and unreal sorrows and disgusts gradually yield before an estimate of the value of abundance and independence. More than half the inhabitants of the western country still dwell in cabins; and to those who know, how much general contentment with their lot, moral. and sturdy hardihood, guileless honesty, and blitheness ofheart these humble establishments generally contain, they bring associations of re pose and abstraction from ambitious and artificial wants, and present on the whole, a balance of real and homefclt comfort and enjoyment. The first business is to clear away the trees from the spot where the house is to stand. The general construction of a west country cabin is after the following fashion. Straight trees are felled of a size, that a common team can draw, or as the phrase is ' snake,' them to the intended spot. The common form of a larger cabin is that, called a ' double cabin;' that is, two square pens with an open space between, connected by a roof above and a floor below, so as to form a parallelogram of nearly triple the length of its depth. In the open space the family take their meals during the pleasant weather; and it serves the threefold purpose of kitchen, lumber room, and dining room. The logs, of which it is composed, are notched on to one another, in the form of a square. The roof is covered with thin splits of oak, not unlike staves. Sometimes they are made of ash, and in the lower country of cypress, and they are called clap boards. Instead of being nailed, they are generally confined in their place by heavy tim bers, laid at right angles across them. This gives the roof of a log house an unique and shaggy appearance. But if the clap boards have been carefully prepared from good timber they form a roof sufficiently imper vious to common rains. The floors are made from short and thick plank, split from yellow poplar, cotton wood, black walnut, and sometimes oak. They are confined with wooden pins, and are technically called ' pun cheons.' The southern people, and generally the more wealthy immigrants ad vance in the first instance to the luxury of having the logs hewed on the inside, and the puncheon floor hewed, and planed, in which case it he- immigration. 191 comes a very comfortable and neat floor. The next step is to build the chimney, which is constructed after the French, or American fashion. The French mode is a smaller quadrangular chimney, laid up with smaller splits. The American fashion is to make a much larger aperture, laid up with splits of great size and weight. In both forms it tapers upwards, like a pyramid. The interstices are filled with a thick coating of clay, and the outside plastered with clay mortar, prepared with chopped straw, or hay, and in the lower country with long moss. The hearth is made with clay mortar, or, where it can be found, sand stones, as the common lime stone does not stand the fire. The interstices of the logs in the room are first ' chincked ;' that is to say, small blocks and pieces of wood in regular forms are driven between the intervals, made by laying the logs over each other, so as to form a kind of a coarse lathing to hold the mortar. The doors are made of plank, split in the manner mentioned before, from fresh cut timber; and they are hung after an ingenious fashion on large wooden hinges, and fastened with a substantial wooden latch. The windows are square apertures, cut through the logs, and are closed during the cooler nights and the inclement weather by wooden shutters. The kitchen and the negro quarters, if the establishment have slaves, are sepa rate buildings, prepared after the same fashion; but with less care, except in the article of the closeness of their roofs. The grange, stable and corn houses are all of similar materials, varied in their construction to answer their appropriate purposes. About ten buildings of this sort make up the establishment of a farmer with three or four free hands, or half a dozen slaves. The field, in which the cabin is built, is generally a square or oblong enclosure, of which the buildings are the centre, if the owner be from the south; or in the centre of one side ofthe square, if from the north. If the soil be not alluvial, a table area of rich upland, indicated to be such by its peculiar growth of timber, is selected for the spot. Nine tenths of the habitations in the upper western states are placed near springs, which supply the family with water. The settlers on the prairies, for the most part, fix their habitations in the edges of the wood, that skirts the prairie, and generally obtain their water from wells. The inhabitants of the lower country, on the contrary, except in the state of Mississippi, where springs are common, chiefly supply themselves with water from cisterns filled by rain. If the settlers have slaves, the trees are carefully cleared away, by cutting them down near the ground. That part of the timber, which cannot be used either for rails, or the construction of the buildings, is burned, and a clearing is thus made for a considerable space round the cabin. In the remaining portion of the field, the trees undergo an *^2 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. operation, called by the northern people ' girdling,' and by the southern ' deadening.' That is, a circle is cut, two or three feet from the ground, quite through the bark of the tree, so as completely to divide the vessels, which carry on the progress of circulation. Some species oftreesareso tenacious of life, as to throw out leaves, after having suffered this operation. But they seldom have foliage, after the first year. The smaller trees are all cut down; and the accumulated spoils of vegetable decay are burned together; and the ashes contribute to the great fertility of the virgin soil. If the field contain timber for rails, the object is to cut as much as possible on the clearing; thus advancing the double purpose of clearing away the trees, and preparing the rails, so as to require the least possible distance of removal. An experienced hand will split from an hundred to an hundred and fifty rails in a day. Such is the convenience of finding them on the ground to be fenced, that Kentucky planters and the southern people generally prefer timbered land to prairie; notwithstanding the circumstance, so unsightly and in convenient to a northern man, of dead trees, stumps, and roots, which, strewed in every direction over his field, even the southern planter finds a great preliminary impediment in the way of cultivation. The northern people prefer to settle on the prairie land, where it can be had in con venient positions. The rails are laid zigzag, one length running nearly at right angles to the other. This in west country phrase, is ' worm fence,' and in the northern dialect ' Virginia fence.' The rails are large and heavy, and to turn the wild cattle and horses of the country, require to be laid ten rails or six feet in height. The smaller roots and the underbrush are cleared from the ground by a sharp hoe, known by the name ' grubbing hoe? This implement, with a cross cut saw, a whip saw, a hand saw, axes, a broad axe, an adze, an auger, a hammer, nails, and an iron tool to split clap boards, constitute the indispensable apparatus for a backwoodsman. The smoke house, spring house, and other common appendages of such an establishment it is unnecessary to describe ; for they are the same as in the establishment of the farmers in the middle and southern Atlantic states. A peach orchard is generally the first object in raising fruit; because it is easily made, and begins to bear the second or third year. Apple orchards with all good farmers are early objects of attention. The culti vation of the more delicate garden fruits is generally an object of after attention, if at all. Maize is planted the first year without ploughing. Afterwards the plough becomes necessary. Turnips, sweet potatoes, pumpkins and melons flourish remarkably on the virgin soil. It is a pleasant spectacle, to see with what luxuriance the apple tree advances, IMMIGRATION. 193 South of 33° the fig tree is substituted for the apple tree. If the log buildings were made of good and durable materials, they remain comfort able dwellings seven or eight years. By this time in the ordinary prog ress of successful farming, the owner replaces them by a house of stone, brick, or frame work ; and the object is to have the second house as large, and showy, as the first was rustic and rude. A volume of details, touching the progress of such establishments, might be added. But this brief, though faithful outline of commencing establishments in the woods aims to record an order of things, that is passing away under our eyes, and which will soon be found only in history. It is impossible to satisfy the inquiries, that are constantly making, particularly by European emigrants, touching the exact cost of these improvements, and the requisite provisions, cattle and horses, necessary for a commencement. All these things vary, not only according to quality as elsewhere, but according to nearness or remoteness from set tlements, according to the abundance or scarceness ofthe article; in fact, are liable to greater irregularities of price, than in the old settlements. Labor has found its level, and costs nearly the same in the new, as in the old states. The average expense of log houses may, perhaps, be rated at fifty dollars, when built on contract. Clearing, grubbing and enclosing timbered land, so as to prepare it for a crop, costs from six to twelve dollars an acre, according to the heaviness and hardness of the timber, and the ease of splitting rails. The prairie land has a very tough green sward, and costs three dollars an acre to be well ploughed the first time. Lands under good improvement are generally worth from six to ten dollars an acre ; and all are aware, that the government price of wild lands, after the first auction sales, is one dollar and twenty five cents an sere. The most affectionate counsel, we would give an immigrant, after an acquaintance with all districts of the western country of sixteen years, and after having seen, and felt no small part of all, we have attempted to record, would be to regard the salubrity ofthe spot selected, as a consid eration of more importance, than its fertility, or vicinity to a market; to supply himself with a good manual of domestic medicine, if such a man ual is to be found; still more, to obtain simple and precise notions ofthe more obvious aspects of disease, an acquisition worth a hundred times its cost, and more than all to a backwoodsman; to have a lancet, and suffi cient experience and firmness of hand to open a vein; to have a small, but well labelled and well supplied medicine chest; aud to be, after all^ very cautious about either taking, or administering its contents, reserv ing them for emergencies, and for a choice of evils; to depend for health on temperance, moderation in all things, a careful conformity in food and 25 194 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. dress to circumstances and the climate; and above all, let him observe a rigid and undeviating abstinence from that loathsome and murderous western poison, whiskey, which may be pronounced the prevalent miasm ofthe country. Let every immigrant learn the mystery, and provide the materials to make good beer. Let every immigrant during the season of acclimation, especially the sultry months, take medicine by, way of pre vention, twice or thrice, with abstinence from labor a day or two after wards. Let him have a Bible for a constant counsellor and a few good books for instruction and amusement. Let him have the dignity and good sense to train his family religiously; and not to be blown about by every wind of doctrine in religion, politics or opinions. Let his rifle rust, and let the game, unless it come in his way, live on. Let him cul tivate a garden of choice fruit, as well as a fine orchard. Let him keep bees ; for their management unites pleasure and 'profit. Let him pre pare for silk making on a small and gradual scale. Let him cultivate grapes by way of experiment. Let him banish unreal wants; and learn the master secret of self possession, and be content with such things, as he has ; aware that every position in life has advantages and trials. Let him assure himself that if an independent farmer cannot be happy no man can. Let him magnify bis calling, respect himself, envy no one, and raise to the Author of all good constant arpirations of thankfulness, as he eats the bread of peace and privacy. FLORIDA. Length 550 miles. Mean breadth 120 miles. Between 25 and 31° N, latitude, and 80 and 92° W. longitude from London. Under its former owners, it was separated into two political divisions, whose geographical limits were strongly marked by nature ; to wit, East and West Florida, At the southern extent of East Florida, there is a long and narrow penin sula, running a great distance into the sea, and marking the eastern boundary of the gulf of Mexico. It extends northwardly to Alabama and Georgia, east to Georgia, south to the gulf of Mexico; and west to the river Appalachicola, between 80 and 85° W. longitude from London, and 25 and 31° N. latitude. West Florida extends from the limits of East Florida, with the same northern boundaries to the river Perdido, which divides it on the west from Alabama. — This division has ceased to exist, and the two Floridas constitute one government. By the treaty of cession from Spain, it has become an integral part of the American republic, and will, soon have a sufficient population to claim admission into the union of the states. Climate. This may be considered in some respects a tropical climate. The northern belt, indeed, which lies along the southern limits of Georgia and Alabama, partakes of the cooler temperature of those states, and seems to be beyond the range of the proper cultivation ofthe Otaheite and African sugar cane. The ribband cane will, probably, flourish in this division. The regular rangeof the thermometer throughout the Floridas, from June to the autumnal equinox, is between 84 and 88° Fahrenheit. It sometimes rises above 100°; but this range occurs as seldom, as in the adjoining states. The mercury, probably, ranges lower through the summer, than in the interior of Alabama and Georgia. Even in winter, the influence of the unclouded and vertical sun is always uncomfortable. In the peninsular parts, there are sometimes slight frosts, but water never freezes. The most delicate orange trees bear fruit in full perfection, and the fruit is remarkably delicious. There is generally a sky of mild azure, southern breezes, and an air of great purity. But the evening air 190 FLORIDA, is particularly humid, and the dews excessive. Early in winter the rainy season commences. In February and March, there are thunder storms by night, followed by clear and beautiful days. In June, the sultry sea son commences, and terminates with the autumnal equinox. But, take the climate altogether, there is not, perhaps, on the globe a more delight ful one, between the months of October and June. The peninsular parts, being near the tropics, have a higher temperature, than WestFlorida, which is occasionally fanned by Canadian breezes, that sweep the Missis sippi valley. — The peninsula is subject to tornadoes, like the West In dies. On the Atlantic side of Florida, the eastern, and in West Florida the western trade winds prevail. But in West Florida, after severe thun der storms, northern breezes alternate through the summer. About the time of the autumnal equinox, hurricanes and destructive gales some times occur. In the northern parts the influence of the cold breezes from the northern regions, which are covered with snow, are sensibly felt; and then ice forms on the northern exposures of buildings. There are, in particular seasons, indications of considerable humidity over all the- country. Though there are never heats and humidity to cause sugar andi salt to melt, as some writers have asserted. Perhaps there is no point in the Floridas, where humidity is more manifest, than about St. Augustine; yet in Spanish times, the citizens of Havanna used to resort there, dur ing the sickly months for health, as a kind of Montpelier, and perhaps no southern place at present is found more congenial to the constitution of the people of the United States. The same sudden variations of tempe rature are felt here, especially in the winter, that constitute so distinct a feature in the climate of all the south-western parts of the United States. The thermometer sometimes ranges 30° in a single winter day. — North ern people would never conceive, except by inspection, how long fires are comfortable, and how great a portion of the year requires them, in a climate, where rivers never skim with ice. From June to October, the frequent rains, and the unremitting heat are apt to generate the fevers of southern climates, especially in the vicinity of ponds and marshes. Where fields are flooded for rice, and indigo plantations are made, it is invaria bly sickly. On the other hand, it may be safely asserted, that the dis tricts of Florida, remote from marshes, swamps, and stagnant waters, are healthy. The ever verdant pine forests cover a great extent of this country, and these in the mind of an inhabitant, of the south are ever ss- sociated with the idea of health. At least two thirds of this country are covered with this timber. Productions. The vegetable kingdom in Florida has a greater variety than any other part of the United States. In the comparatively richer soils, in the hammock lands, on the river courses, and the richer swamps noth- FLORIDA . 197 ing can exceed the luxuriance and grandeur of the shrubs and trees. The pine forest is almost boundless and inexhaustible ; and the pines are of an extraordinary height and beauty. — What is called wliite cedar and cypress, abound in the vast swamps, and this timber grows of great size Live oaks are frequent, and the tree developes itself here in full perfection. Our government commenced a plantation of ( this invaluable species of tree at Deer Point, in which, in the year 1829, upwards of 76,000 were growing in a flourishing condition. The secretary of the navy proposed to abandon the cultivation, thinking that the country could never want live oak, when it is indigenous from St. Marys to the Sabine. But there is reason to believe, that the amount of live oak in Florida and Louisiana has been much overrated. Experience has proved, that they are easily cultivated. Groves of these majestic trees are often seen in different parts of Florida, open, and arranged in regular forms surpassing the beauty ofthe famous parks of the English mansions; probably the plan tations of a former generation, of whose civilization and taste these trees are noble memorials. A large, detached live oak, seen at a distance on the verge of a savanna, or on the shore of a river, spreading like an immense umbrella, its head of such perfect verdure, and so beautifully rounded, is a splendid object on the landscape. The cabbage palm chamia- rops palmetto, is common. This superb tree sometimes raises a clear shaft eighty feet high. The timber resists the gulf worm. Hats, baskets and mats are manufactured from the leaves. The young head at the stem is edible and nutritive. Wild animals feed on the berries. It is not seen west of St. Andrews Bay. The deep swamps present the cus tomary spectacle of innumerable cypress columns, rising from immense buttresses, with interlaced arms, at their summit, showing the aspect of a canopy of verdure reared upon pillars. On the hammock lands the beautiful dog wood trees spread their horizontal branches, and interweav ing them with each other, form a fine deep shade, which completely excludes the sun, and suppresses the growth of all kinds of vegetation under them ; presenting in some places, for miles together a smooth' shaven lawn, and an impervious shade. Here is the beautiful pawpaw, with a stem perfectly straight, smooth and silver colored, and with a conical top of splendid foliage always green, and fruit of the richest ap pearance. Titi is a shrub filling the southern swamps, as the elder does* at the north. It flowers in masses of white ornamental blossoms and singular strings of covered seeds, that hang on the bushes till winter. Five or six species of pine are found here. The southern extremity of the peninsula of Florida is very rocky. Instead of the trees and shrubs,' which are found in the rest of the country, it is covered with Mastic'' lignuravitaB, gum elemy, ovino, wild fig and mangrove. 198 FLORIDA. There are many traces of ruined towers, desolated Indian villages, indications of former habitancy, and much more cultivation, than is now seen in the country. Wherever these traces of former population are observed are those groves of lime, orange, peach and fig trees, that are spoken of by travellers, as having been found here indigenous to the soil. Wild grape vines abound. Myriea odorata, or candle berry laurel is common. From the berries of this shrub is prepared an excellent kind Of wax for candles. It is not unlike the bay berry of the north, except that the shrub is taller, and the berries larger. Among the flowers is the magnificent Hybiscus, which, though an herbaceous and annual plant, grows to the height of ten feet, branching regularly in the form of a sharp cone, and is covered with large, expanded and crimson flowers, which unfold in succession during all the summer months. Tillandsia usneo- ides, long moss, or Spanish beard is common here, and has the same appearance as will be hereafter described in Louisiana. It hangs down in festoons, sometimes ten or fifteen feet in length, like the pendent stems of the weeping willow. Waved by the wind, it catches from branch to branch, and sometimes fills the interval between the trees, as a curtain, It has a long trumpet shaped flower, and seeds so fine, as to be hardly visible. These seeds undoubtedly fix in the bark of the trees; and this parasitic plant there finds its appropriate soil. It will not grow on a dead tree, Cattle, deer and horses feed on it, while it is fresh. When properly rotted, and prepared, which is done much after the manner, in which hemp is prepared, it is an admirable article for mattresses, and stuffing for cushions, saddles, coach seats, and the like. The fibre when properly prepared, is elastic and incorruptible, and in many respects resembles horse hair, both in appearance and use. The Spanish and natives use it for horse collars, coarse harnessing and ropes. The low savannas are covered, like the prairies of the upper country, with a prodigious growth of grass and flowers. In the swamps, the cane brakes are of great height and thickness, and the rushes, and other meadow plants grow to an uncommon size. Some of the reed canes are seen from thirty to forty feet in height. The lakes and creeping bayous, especially in summer, are covered with a most curious growth of aquatic plants, called by botanists, pistia stratiotes. They somewhat resemble the vegetable, commonly called house leek, and have a beautiful elliptical leaf. It is commonly, but not correctly reported to vegetate on the surface of the water. When the roots of thousands of these plants have twined together, so as to form a large and compact surface, the mass is often drifted by the wind, or current, to a considerable distance. This is the appearance, no doubt, which has given origin to the story of floating islands in the waters of this country. This singular and beautiful FLORIDA. 199 vegetation, spreads a verdant plain over the waters, for a great extent. — Under it the fishes dart, and the alligators pursue their unwieldy gambols, and multitudes of water fowls are seen paltering their bills among the leaves. The herbarium, though exceedingly rich, and diversified, is not materially different from that, to be described hereafter. The cultivated vegetables are maize, beans, potatoes, especially sweet potatoes, it being an admirable country for that fine vegetable, pumpkins, melons, rice, and a variety of esculent roots, particularly a species* of arum, which is much cultivated in the maritime parts, and has a large turnip shaped root, resembling, when roasted, or boiled, a yam in taste. The pistache is a kind of nut in pods, growing in the ground, abund antly in sandy land, much cultivated both by the Seminoles and Ameri cans. It is baked or roasted in the shell, and is used by confectioners, as a sweet meat. > Tobacco, cotton, indigo, rice and the sugar cane will be the principal articles of culture. The African and Otaheite cane flourish remarkably well in the southern parts, on the hammock and rich lands, and planters are beginning to turn their attention very much to the cultivation of this article. The coffee tree has been tried on the peninsula; and coffee caa unquestionably be raised there; but whether of a kind, or in quantities to justify cultivation, has not yet been sufficiently experimented. The olive has been sufficiently tried to piove, that it flourishes, and bears well. A species of Cactus is common, on which the Cochineal fly feeds ; and this will probably become an important article of manufacture. ; A species of cabinet wood of great beauty grows here, which they eall bastard mahogany. It is probably the Laurus Borbonia. > Minerals. The country is not rich in this department, although it is affirmed, that several kinds of precious stones have been found here, as amethysts, turquoises, and lapis lazuli. Ochres of different colors, pit coal and iron ore are abundant. We have seen beautiful aggregations of little circular nodules of marine petrifactions, and splendid specimens of coral and marine shells found on the shores of the gulf. On MusquitD river, there is a warm mineral spring, pouring out like many other springs of the country, a vast volume of water sufficiently large to fill, a basin, in which large boats may float. The water is'sulphureous, and is esteemed efficacious in rheumatic, and other affections. It is remarkably' pellucid, and filled with fishes. ; , Animals. There are prairie and common wolves, wild cats, panthers, foxes, rabbits, many beautiful kinds of squirrels, raccoons, Mexican oppossums and wqodchucks. The common brown bear is yet seen in the swamps. It is a fine grazing country, and grass abounds in the open pine woods and savannas, and the swamps furnish inexhaustible supplies 200 FLORIDA. of winter range. Thus it is an admirable country for raising stock. The rearing of cattle and horses, in times past, has been the chief employ ment of the small planters. They number their cattle by hundreds, and sometimes by thousands. There are immense droves of deer, and this is the paradise of hunters, though in many places the Indians complain of the scarcity of game. Wolves sometimes assemble in great numbers, and when united or single, are always formidable enemies to the folds •and vacheries of the planters. Bears have been killed here of six hundred pounds weight. The inhabitants esteem their flesh a great luxtiry. Birds. The ornithology of Florida is probably the richest in North America. There are here immense numbers and varieties of water fowls, especially during the winter, and in the sleeping inlets on the shores of the gulf, on the bayous and creeks. In the woods and stationary through the winter are vultures, hawks, rooks, jays, parroquets, woodpeckers, pigeons, turkeys, herons, cranes, curlews, cormorants, pelicans, plovers, blue birds, mockirig birds, red birds, and a great variety of the sparrow tribe. The dog wood groves are the resort of vast numbers af the small and singing birds. Among the remarkable birds, are the snake birds, a species of cormorant of great beauty. The robin Ted breast stays the whole year in Florida. The red spar- Tow is a beautiful variety of the species found here. The crane, grus Pratensis., is found here in immense numbers. By some their flesh is valued as much as that of the turkey. The crying bird is a pelican, remarkable for singular plumage, and its harsh cry. The wood pelican is nearly three feet high, and is seen stalking along the marshes, with his long, crooked beak, resting, like a scythe, upon his breast. The painted vulture is one of the curious birds seen on the Savannas, gorging on the serpents, frogs and lizzards roasted by the periodical burning of the grass plains. The great Savanna crane, when standing erect, is nearly five feet high. They fly in squadrons, and have a singular uniformity of flying, and alighting. A striking feature of this country is the number, variety and splendor of the birds, especially those of the aquatic species. Fish. The coasts, sounds and inlets abound in excellont fish; and the inland lakes and rivers are stored with such multitudes of them, as can not be adequately conceived, except by those, who have seen them. They are geuerally of the same kinds, that we have named under this head, in our previous remarks upon the Mississippi Valley. We may observe in general, that the fish of this region, especially on the sea coast, are fine. The fish, here called the sun-fish, is the same with the trout of Louisiana. It is an excellent fish, and no angling can exceed it. It takes the bait with a spring. What is a matter of curiosity, FLORIDA. 201 to all the recent settlers in the country, is the multitudes of fish, that are seen at the mouths of the immense springs, that burst forth from the ground, of a size at once to form considerable rivers. When the channel of these subterranean streams is struck, by perforating the earth at any distance from the fountain, the hook, thrown in at the perforation, is eagerly taken by the fish, and fine angling may be had, as if fishing in a well. The most common kinds arc the sun fish, cat fish, silver, or white bream, and the black, or blue bream, stingray, scale flounders, spotted bass, sheep's head, drum, shad, &c. Oysters, and other shell fish are excellent and abundant. Alligators and alligator gars are the common enemies of the finny tribes, and they here feed, and fatten on the fish.— The swamps, lakes and inlets so abundantly stored with fish, frogs, insects, and every kind of small animals, that constitute the natural food of alligators, would lead us to expect, to find this animal in great num bers. There are all the varieties of lizzards, that we have enumerated, as belonging to the Western country in general. The lakes and rivers abound in tortoises. The great, soft shelled fresh water tortoise, when of a large size, has been found weighing fifty pounds, and is esteemed by epicures, delicious food. The gopher is a curious kind of land tortoise, and is by many prized for the table. There are vast numbers and varieties of frogs, and the music of the Rana boans, or bull frog is heard in con cert with the cry of the Spanish whip-poor-will, the croaking of tortoises, and the innumerable peepings and gruntings of the amphibipus animals and reptiles of the lakes and marshes. Serpents. They are for the mest part the same as have been described already under this head. Here is seen the ribband snake, of a clear vermilion color, variegated with transverse zones of dark brown. It is found about old buildings and is harmless. Here, also, is the chicken snake, swift, slender, long and harmless. Its prey is chickens. — The mud asp is a serpent, that lives in the muddy creeks, of a livid color, and easily mistaken for an eel. Persons incautiously wading in the mud have been bitten, and the bite has proved mortal. The coach whip snake inhabits the pine barrens. It exactly resembles a coach whip with a black handle, but is perfectly harmless. The bull snake is common on the savannas. It is a large, fierce and venomous looking snake, uttering, when irritated, a loud hissing noise; but its bite is harmless. The coach whip snake is common. It is an animal of beautiful colors, six feet long, and as slender, as a walking stick. — The glass snake, which we have described elsewhere, is seen here. Red and black toads are common. The house frog indicates rain, by being uncommonly noisy, before it happens. The little green garden frog changes color, like the camelioh; and its note exactly imitates the barking of a puppy. Indeed so great is 26 202 FLORIDA. the number and variety of these reptiles, that it is the standing jest, when speaking of Florida, to say, that every acre will yield forty bushels of frogs, and alligators enough to fence it. Insects. Incredible numbers of the small insects, called ephemera?, cover the surfaces of the lakes and rivers, supplying abundant food for the birds, frogs, and fishes. Clouds of the gaudiest butterflies hover among the shrubs and flowers. Gnats and musquitos, as might be expected in such a country, are extremely frequent and annoying, especi ally about the rice and indigo plantations, being ordinarily found in greatest numbers, where it is most unhealthy. On the open, dry savannas they are neither so frequent, nor troublesome; and they decrease in num bers, as cultivation advances. The jigger, red bug and musquito are most annoying. Bays, Inlets and Sounds. From the uncommon levelness of the country on the sea shore, and from the numerous rivers, that intersect it, there is no part of the world, that for the same extent has so many inlets, sounds, narrow passes of water between islands, and communications of one point of the shore with another, by an inland channel. The whole coast is almost a continued line of these sounds; and it is beyond a doubt, that at a comparatively small expense, a canal communicating with the sea, in an hundred places, might be made from New Orleans to the river St. Marys. From this river to the Sabine, and we may add, through Texas, almost every river, that enters the gulf just before its entrance, spreads into a broad lake, communicating with the sea, and the water is partially salt. From one of these lakes to another, there is often a wide natural canal, with from four to six feet water. Those on the shores of Florida are too numerous to mention with particularity. Perdido bay, divi ding Alabama fiom Florida, is thirty miles long, and from two to six broad. Pensacola bay is thirty miles long, and from four to seven wide. It receives the rivers Escambia, Yellow, Cold water, Black water, and Cedar creek. The bay of Pensacola affords the best harbor on the whole gulf shore. Bayou Texas enters from the north, a mile above Pensacola, and is four miles long, and a fourth of a mile wide. Bayou Mulatto enters the east side of Escambia bay. St. Rosa sound connects the bays of Pensacola and Chactawhatchee. This is a charming sheet of water, forty miles long, and from one and a half to two miles wide. A narrow peninsula divides Pensacola bay from this sound, for thirty miles. It yields five feet water in its whole length. Chactawhatchee bay is forty miles long, and from seven to fifteen wide. It receives a number of creeks, is much affected by storms, and was formerly the seat of a profitable fishery. St. Andrews' bay is protected by a number of small islands, receives some navigable creeksj has deen water, is twelve miles Ions, and five miles wide. St. FLORIDA. 203 Joseph's bay is twenty miles long, and seven miles wide. Appalachicola is twelve miles long, and from four to six miles wide. Ocklockney is is twelve miles long, and two broad. Appalachy bay is a circular inden tation, in which is the port of St. Marks, the nearest point to Tallapassee the seat of Government. Histahatchee offers a safe harbor for small vessels. Vacassa bay is the eastern-most bay in west Florida. Rivers. The rivers, that have courses of considerable length rise in the high lands of Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. St. Marys is a very considerable stream, that falls into the Atlantic, by a broad mouth. It is for a long way the separating line between Florida and Georgia. St. Johns, a very considerable river, rises in the centre of the peninsula, and flowing with a gentle current northwardly, broadens to a wide chan nel, and passes through several lakes, the largest of which is St. George, twenty miles long, and twelve broad, and falls into the sea forty miles south of St. George. It has been navigated by the steam boat George Washington, the first that ever floated on the waters of Florida. She took the inland passage from Savannah, and arrived at Jacksonville on the St. Johns in thirty four hours. Indian river has a course from north to south, and empties into the gulf. Most of the rivers, that fall into the gulf, have their sources in Georgia. — The most important of these is Appalachicola, which divides East from West Florida. It is formed by the junction of two considerable rivers, that rise in the subsiding Appal achian ridges in Georgia, the Flint and the Chattabochy. It is the longest, largest and most important river in Florida, and falls into Appalachy bay. The small river, St. Marks, empties into the same bay. Escambia is a considerable river, and empties into Pensacola bay. Perdido, which forms the boundary between Florida and Alabama, falls into the gulf four leagues west of Pensacola bay. There are, also, the Nassau, St. Nicholas, Ocklockney, Corelia, St. Pedro, Charlotte, Hillsborough, Su- waney, Vilchees, Conecuh, Alaqua, Chactawhatchee, Econfina, Oscilla, Acheenahatchee, Chatahatchee, Histahatchee, and various others, which rise in Florida, and at different points fall into the gulf. There are a great number of rivers, not here enumerated, that rise in the pine forests, have considerable courses, and fall into arms and inlets of the gulf. The country is as yet scarcely susceptible of accurate topographical informa tion, and is so intersected with rivers, and accommodated with inlets, and the soil is so level, and the communications from one point to another by water so easy that there is no place in the territory at any considera ble distance from water communication. The entrances to most of the rivers have a bar, that unfits them for the navigation of vessels drawing much water. Most of these rivers are susceptible of considerable extent 204 FLORIDA. of schooner navigation, and they are generally capable of steam boat navigation. Islands. The sea islands on the Florida shore arc not of much im portance. St. Rosa island is a long and narrow slip parallel to the coast, between St. Rosa bay and Pensacola. The Tortugas are a group of islands, opposite the southern-most point of East Florida. They are covered with Mangrove bushes, and extend from north-east to south-west. Anastatia is opposite to St. Augustine, and divided from the main land by a narrow channel, and is twenty-five miles in length. They are covered with pine trees and sand banks, and have a sterile soil. On the West Florida shore are Hummoch, Crooked, St. Vincent's, St. George's, Dog, and James' islands. Curiosities. These consist in a great many natural caverns, sinking rivers, great springs and natural bridges. Among the caverns, the most remarkable are Arch Cave, and Ladies Cave. The first descends under a vast lime stone rock. At a considerable depth in the earth, a cavern opens, one hundred feet wide, and fifty feet high. From this leads off a kind of gotliic arch for a long distance, at the end of which is a running stream twenty feet wide, and five feet deep. Beyond this is a hall one hundred feet long, with columns and stalactites. This cave has been explored four hundred yards. It abounds in sparry crystalliza tions, The Ladies Cave is still more spacious. This, too, has its galle ries, chambers, domes, sparry columns, and its cold and deep river winding through its dark passages. Two miles from this cave is the natural bridge over Chapola river. The Econfina river passes under a natural bridge. The antiquities of West Florida, as great roads, cause ways, forts and other indications of former habitancy, are striking and inexplicable curiosities. None are more so, than the regular and noble plantations andavenues of live oaks. In the vicinity of Tallahassee a small pond was recently formed by the sinking of the earth, which fell, with all its trees, with a tremendous crash. The sink is perpendicular, and fifty feet deep before we arrive at the water, the depth of which is not ascertained. Fountains, Lakes and Springs. There seems to be over all this country, a substratum of soft stones at equal depths, which is cavernous, and admits numberless subterranean brooks and streams to have their courses far under the ground. In places they burst out in the form of those vast boiling springs, which form rivers at a short distance from their outlets, and by their frequency, their singular forms, the transpa rency of their waters, and the multitude of their fishes, constitute one of the most striking curiosities of the country. Among an hundred, which FLORIDA. 205 might be named, and which have created the vulgar impression, that there is every where a prodigious cavern beneath the surface of the whole country, the most remarkable is that, twelve miles from Tallahasse, which is the source of Wakulla river. — It is of a size to be boatable immediately below the fountain. A mile below its source the channel becomes so impeded with flags, rushes and river weeds, that a boat can scarcely be propelled through them. Suddenly this immense spring breaks upon the eye, of a circular form, and in extent, like a little lake. The water is almost as pellucid, as air. It has been sounded with a line of two hundred and fifty fathoms, before bottom was found. From its almost unfathomable depth, from the asrial transparency of its waters, and per haps also from the admixture of sulphuret of lime, which it holds in solution, it has a cerulean tinge, like that, which every voyager lias ad mired in the waters of the gulf. To a person placed in a skiff, in the centre of this splendid fountain basin, the appearance of the mild azure vault above and the transparent depth below, on which the floating clouds and the blue concave above are painted, and repeated with an indescriba ble softness, create a kind of pleasing dizziness, and a novel train of sensations, among which the most distinguishable is a feeling, as if sus pended between two firmaments. The impression only ceases, when the boat approaches the edge of the basin near enough, to enable you to perceive the outlines of the neighboring trees pictured on the margin of the basin. It has been asserted, that lime stone water in its utmost purity has less refractive powers for light, than free stone water. The water, probably, from the presence of the sulphuret of lime, is slightly nauseous to the taste. Beautiful hammock lands rise from the northern acclivity of this basin. It was the site of the English factory in former days. Here resided the famous Ambrister. The force, which throws up this vast mass of waters from its subterranean fountains, may be imagined, when we see this pellucid water swelling up from the depths, as though it were a cauldron of boiling water. It is twelve miles from St. Marks, and twenty from the ocean. Mickasucke Lake, fifteen miles north-east from Tallahassee, is twelve miles long. On its shores many of the old Indian fields are covered with peach trees. Lake Jackson, north-west from Tallahassee, is eight miles long, and three broad. The richest lands in the country are on its borders. Lake lamony, fourteen miles north of Tallahasse, is eight miles long, and three broad. It is noted for the abundance of its fish. Old Tallahasse Lake is near the seat of Government. Chefixico's old town was on its south shore. Inundation lake is newly formed by the inundation of the Chapola. Though deep, the forests arc still standing in it, and it is twenty miles long, and seven broad. 206 FLORIDA. The Brig Spring of Chapola throws out a considerable river from between- the high rocks on its shores. The Chapola river is almost wholly form ed from large springs. The Big Spring of Chactawatchee is the chief source of that river. The Waucissa spring discharges a very considera ble stream. Savages. The Seminoles were once a numerous and powerful tribe, as were also the Baton Rouges, or Red Sticks. Their numbers were much reduced by the terrible but deserved chastisement which they re ceived during the late war. Numerous small tribes, and divisions of tribes, and congregated bodies of refugees from different foreign tribes are dispersed in the forests and savannas of this country. They used to find in the spontaneous production of the soil, and in the abundance of fish and game, a superfluity of subsistence. The Indians of this region are an alert, active and athletic people, fond of war, of gay, volatile, and joyous dispositions, and the merriest of sav ages. They have the common propensity for intoxication and gambling. They are active and expert hunters; and, by the sale of bear, deer, pan ther and wolf skins, horses and cattle, bees wax, honey, venison and such articles generally, as are the fruit of the chase, they procure their clothing, and such things as are called for by their habits of life. Civil divisions. Since the cession of this country to the United States, the immigration to the country has been very considerable. The country has been divided into counties, judicial and military districts; and all the benefits of American institutions are peaceably diffused over its whole surface. The present number of inhabitants in both Floridas, is 34,725. They are as thoroughly mixed, as any community in the United States, comprising emigrants from all foreign countries, and from every American state; and among the Creoles, there are all possible admixtures of African and Indian blood. The greater proportion ofthe inhabitants are very poor, and too great a part of the recent immigrants are merely adventurers. The greater number of the ancient inhabitants lead a kind of pastoral life, and subsist by rearing cattle. A few of the planters are opulent, and have good houses with piazzas, and every addition that can easily be devised to court the breeze. They live a solitary life, in remote forests, or savannas. But abounding in fish, cattle and game, they have all the necessaries of life without labor or difficulty; and the unbounded hospitality which they practise, is at once an easy and delightful virtue. Nothing can be more grateful to the summer traveller, oppressed with hunger, thirst and heat, and wearied with the sad uniformity of the wide pine forests, and savannas, than the cordial though rude welcome, the patriarchal simplicity, the frank hospitality, and the surrender of time, slaves, and every thing that the house affords, to his comfort, than he re- FLORIDA. 207 ceives here. Some portions of this region have interest with the thinking traveller, from another circumstance. The many mounds, that are me morials of ages and races forever lost to tradition and history, are here mixed with the melancholy ruins of considerable villages, that rise among the orange groves, and manifest, that there was once, even here, a nume rous population of civilized beings. The amusements of the people are a compound of Spanish, French and American manners. Florida is divided into Walton, Escambia, Washington, Jackson, Gads den, Leon, Jefferson, Fayette, and some other new counties. Comparative advantages of immigration to Florida. This country was in some points of view an invaluable acquisition to the United States. It was necessary to the'rounding, and completing the area of our surface, that no foreign power should possess a territory surrounded by our own. It was necessary for the possession of its harbors, and its immense line of coast. It was invaluable for its inexhaustible supplies of ship timber. As an agricultural country, it must be confessed, a great part of it is sterile. The level pine forest lands will bring one or two crops of corn without manure; and will, probably be cultivated to a certain extent with indigo. The drier lands of this sort are admirable for sweet potatoes, and on the whole better, with the requisite cultivation, and manuring, for gardens, than soils, naturally more fertile. There are considerable bodies of excellent land, distributed at wide intervals over all the country. But a small proportion of these are, what are demoninated first rate. Some parts, probably, offer equal advantages for the cultivation of sugar with the sugar lands of Louisiana. Cochineal, it is supposed, will be made to advantage, and it may be, coffee. It offers superior maritime advantages of every sort; abounds in the materials of ship building; and in its rich and inexhaustible fisheries, and its supply of oysters, and sea fowl has its own peculiar advantages. The immigrant, who sought to enrich him self by cultivation alone, would, probably, make his way to the richer soils, west of the Mississippi. But, if taken as a whole, it is more sterile than the country along the Mississippi, it feels the refreshing coolness of the sea breeze, and the trade winds, and, it is beyond a doubt, more healthy. — Nature has her own way of balancing advantages and disadvan tages, over the globe; and a Florida planter finds sufficient reasons, on comparing his country with others, to be satisfied with his lot. Chief Towns. St. Augustine is the chief town of East Florida, and the most populous in the country. It is situated on the Atlantic coast, .thirty miles below the mouth of St. Johns, about two miles within the bar, opposite the inlet, and at the neck of a peninsula, in north latitude 29° 4§'.— The bars at the entrance of the inlet have from eight to ten feet 208 FLORIDA. water. The town is built of an oblong form, divided by four streets, that cut each other at right angles, fortified by bastions, and surrounded by a ditch, and is defended by a castle, called Fort St. John. The river St. Marks, flows through the harbor, and divides the town from the island. The streets are generally so narrow, as scarcely to permit two carriages to pass each other. To balance this inconvenience, the houses have a terrace foundation, which, being shaded, renders walking in the sultry days agreeable. The houses are generally built of a free stone, peculiar to the country. This rock is obtained from the adjacent island, and is formed of concrete sea shells. The external walls are plastered, and have a handsome and durable appearance. They are not more than two stories high, with thick walls, spacious entries, large doors, windows and balconies, and commonly a large and beautiful garden attached to them. On entering this ancient looking town from the sea, the castle of Fort St. Mark has an imposing effect upon the eye. It is a fort forty feet high, and in the modern style of military architecture. It commands the entrance of the harbor and is of a regular quadrangular form with four bastions, a wide ditch, and sixty heavy cannon, and is capable of contain ing one thousand men. It is on a point of land between the conflux of Matanzas creek, and St. Sebastian's, and forms a landscape of great pic turesque beauty, with its interspersed groves of orange trees, and flower and kitchen gardens. Although the soil about St. Augustine is so sandy as to give it the appearance of being sterile, yet it is far from being un productive. It brings two crops of maize in a year; and garden vegeta bles grow in great perfection. — The orange and lemon grow as if they were indigenous, of a greater size, it is affirmed, than in Spain or Portu gal. One tree has been found to produce four thousand oranges. The harbor would be one of the best, were it not for the bar at its entrance, which prevents the approach of large vessels. There is a light house on the island, and some gardens, and orange and date trees. From this island are taken taken the stones, of which the town is built, and here commen ces the northern limit of that remarkable quarry of stone, that skirts the southern shore of Florida. The population of St. Augustine now con sists of between 4 and 5,000 inhabitants. Near this town grows the palm or date tree. Its branches attract notice from their singular beauty, and constant rustling, like aspen leaves, as well as the peculiarity ofthe under branches, which serve for ladders, by which to ascend the tree. The fruit in form resembles the largest acorn, and is covered with a thin, transpa rent, yellowish membrane, containing a soft saccharine pulp, of a some what vinous flavor, in which is enclosed an oblong, hard kernel. When ripe, it affords an agreeable nourishment. The olive has already become FLORIDA. 209 naturalized to the soil. Some have asserted, that cocca trees would succeed in the southern parts of the peninsula. Pensacola, fifty miles from Mobile, is the capital of West Florida. It is situated on a bay of the same name, in north 33° 32' and in longitude 10° 18' from Washington. The shore is low and sandy; but the town is built on a gentle ascent. It is, like St. Augustine, built in an oblong form, and is nearly a mile in length. Small vessels only can come quite to the town. But the bay affords one of the most safe and capacious harbors in all the gulf of Mexico. It has been selected by our govern ment, as a naval station and depot, for which its harbor, and the advan tage of fine ship timber in the neighborhood, and its relative position admirably fit it. A stream of fresh water runs through the town, and its! market is well supplied with beef, garden vegetables and fish. Oysters, tur tles and gophers are important items in the supplies of food, and espe cially sea fowls. It was an old and decaying town, when it came under the American government. At that period it received that impulse of increase and prosperity, which has uniformly been the result of coming under the American government. A number of new and handsome brick houses were built. Numerous adventurers flocked to the place drawn thither by its natural advantages, and its reputation for uncommon salubrity. In the fatal autumn of 1822, the yellow fever visited this placo in common with many other towns on the gulf. Extreme negligence in the police of the town is supposed to have caused it. Confidence in its fancied exemption from that terrible malady was destroyed; and it again declined. It is, unquestionably, a salubrious position, and it is believed, that its natural advantages, added to those, which result from its being a naval position, will restore its proper degree of estimation and import ance. Its supplies are now in a considerable degree from New Orleans. Of course it is a place something more expensive than that city. One of its inconveniences is a very sandy position; and the inhabitants are said to acquire a general gait, as if continually walking in a sand, that gave way under their feet. At present it contains a very respectable society, though the aspect of the town is rather unpleasant. It contains nearly three thousand inhabitants. St. Marks is an inconsiderable sea port nine miles from Tallahasse, and is the nearest navigable point to that place. Tallahasse has been selected, as rthe seat of government for the territory of Florida. The reasons, which determined the governor and commissioners to fix on this place, as the metropolis, were its central position, fertility of soil, and the reputation, it had acquired among the Spanish and Indians of being uncommonly salubrious. The po sition was fixed upon for the seat, of Government in 1824, It was ares have been reserved for 27 210 FLORIDA. the purpose of public buildings. The precincts of the town encircle a beautifully undulating country. It was immediately incorporated1 as a city. In two years from the first building, the number of whites and blacks were supposed to amount to 800. Some respectable houses were built, but the principal part ofthe habitations are temporary log buildings* The forest is falling on all sides, and it is daily acquiring more and more the appearance of a town. The amount of the sales of the lots was 24,000 dollars. That sum was appropriated for the erection of a territo.r rial capitol. The materials for building are good and abundant. There are already a number of stores, taverns, and shops of all the customary mechanics, with a full proportion of lawyers and doctors, and 200 houses, A printing press, has been established, from which issues the ' Florida Intelligencer.' The Florida mahogony, that grows in the vicinity, is scarcely inferior to that, brought from Honduras. There are fine situa-r tions for mill seats in the vicinity, and great scope for industry and enter-! prise of every sort. Post roads have been opened to Georgia, St Marks, St, Augustine and Pensacola ; and bridges and ferries so established, that travelling is comparatively safe and easy. Immigrants may now arrive at this place from any direction, without being obliged to sleep out of a house. In consequence of the sudden influx, articles at first were very high. Yet the neighborhood abounds in game, fish and water fowl, Venison and wild, turkeys are constantly offered for sale by the Indians, Trout and sun fish are taken in the immediate vicinity. At St. Marks, in the neighboring tide waters, sheep's head, and other sea fish, and oysters. abound. The country around is high and rolling. This place is only three miles north of the elevated chain of rolling hills, which, for a great distance, bound the shores of the Mexican gulf. Thence to the sea, the land is low and level, and abounds in the long leafed pine. There are many lakes not far distant. The most important among them are Brad ford's and Jackson's. The latter is a clear and beautiful sheet of water, fifteen miles long, and one and a half wide. This lake has risen, within the last year, six or seven feet. It must have had a subterranean outlet, which seems now partially stopped. It was but a small and shallow pond in the time of General Jackson's campaign. The soil about this town is a mixture of loam, sand and clay. The growth in the dry grounds is oak, hickory and pine. But wild cherry, gum, ash, dog wood, mahogony and magnolia abound. The climate, as far as experience goes, is very healthy, The common summer elevation of the mercury is not high. The range is between 88° in summer and 24° in winter. The heat is moderated by a sea breeze. The dews are heavy. Where the soil is sufficiently rich, the climate is adapted to the sugar cane, and it will be a country for the growing of sugar. Vessels come from New Orleans to St, Marks, in three or four days. The remarkable ' big spring' of the rive? Wakulla is twelve mjt^s distant. FLORIDA. 211 When the contemplated canal shall have been completed, and the re-^ sources of the country developed, few places present more attractions to immigrants. Quincy and Magnolia are thriving villages. Counties and Chief Towns beside those already mentioned. Alachua, Dell; Duval, Jacksonville ; Escambia, Pensacola; Hamilton, Miccotown; Jackson, Marianna; Jefferson, Monticello; Leon, Tallahassee; 896 miles from Washington; Madison, Hickstoicn; Monro, Key West; Moschefoj Tomoka; Nassau, Fcrdinanda; St. Johns, St. Augustine, 841 from Washington, 292 S. E. from Tallahassee; Walton, Aliqua; Washington, Holme's Valley. History. The English aver that Florida was discovered, in 1497, by Sebastian Cabot. In 1524, the first effectual settlement was made in the country. In 1528, an expedition was undertaken to the country, by Pamphilo de Narvaez, with 400 men, from the island of Cuba. He at tempted to penetrate the interior of the country, and was never heard of more. In 1538, the country was entirely subdued by Ferdinand de Soto, one of the bravest officers in the Spanish service. But the savages were numerous, fierce and brave ; and it cost the Spanish a long and bloody struggle before they were able to establish themselves in the country. In 1564, the French began to establish themselves, and to form little settle ments along the shore, and from the facility, with which they have always gained the good will of the savages, they become at once powerful and troublesome to the Spaniards. Their settlements were seldom of an ag ricultural character. They generally took part with the natives, and ad dicted themselves to hunting. The Spanish sent a fleet against them, and destroyed their settlements. In 1597, the French made severe reprisals demolishing all the forts, erected by the Spaniards, and murdering all the colonists, whom they found in the country. From this time the French neglected their establishments in this part of the country, and the Spanish continued from time to time, to make petty establishments here. In 1586, St. Augustine was attacked and pillaged by Sir Francis Drake. In 1665, it was entered, and plundered by Captain Davis at the head of a body of bucanneers. In 1702, Colonel More at the head of 500 Eng lish and 700 Indians, marched from Carolina to the walls of St. Augustine, and laid close siege to it for three months. The Spaniards, having sent a squadron to the relief of the garrison, he raised the siege, and made a precipitate retreat. When the British established the first colony in Georgia, in 1733, the Spaniards became apprehensive of a new attack upon Florida, and not without reason ; for in 1740, an expedition was fitted out against St. Augustine by Oglethorpe. But the Spanish com mander, having received timely notice of the intended attack, made such additions to the strength of the garrison, and used such other artificial defences, as that the English were compelled after sustaining considera- 212 FLORIDA. ble loss to abandon the siege. In 1763, Florida was ceded to Great Britain, in exchange for Havanna. She received Florida, as an equiva lent for that very important acquisition. By the encouragement, which the government gave to agriculture, numbers of colonists poured in from every part ofthe British islands, and from all the countries in Europe; and this may be considered, as the most prosperous period of the country, as regarded its future prospects. — In the year 1781, while Great, Britain was exerting all her powers to reduce her revolted colonies, a well concerted attack by the Spaniards, re-conquered the country, and brought it under its ancient regime, and it was guaranteed to them by the peace of 1783. It remained in their possession, forming one of the three governments, which composed the captain-generalship of the island of Cuba. In 1810, the inhabitants of that part of West Florida, which now composes part of the states of Alabama and Louisiana, in concert with the American au thorities, renounced the government of Spain, and attached themselves to the United States. The revolution was effected without bloodshed. It is said that they hesitated about the propriety of setting up an independent government, and that they sent delegates to our government, to treat respecting the terms of reception. The country, so seceding, came peaceably under our government, and has so remained ever since. We know little of the interior history of this country, while under the Spanish regime. St. Augustine, Pensacola and St. Marks were the only places of much importance. The country supplied Havanna with cattle and horses; and furnished an occasional retreat to the inhabitants of that city during the sickly season. They had the customary Spanish engines of government, a priest, a calaboza, a commandant and a file of soldiers. History redeems but little from the silence of such a government, as it respects knowledge of the character and deportment ofthe officers, or the condition of the people. The materials of such annals, if any exist, are in the archives at Havanna. Meantime our government had heavy and well grounded claims on the Spanish government for spoliations committed on our commerce. These claims, as also settling definitely the territorial line of jurisdiction between the United States and New Mexico, made the basis of a treaty, by which the Spanish ceded to us the entire country. The treaty was made a law in 1820; and it then became a territory of the United States, and has since advanced with that steady progress in population and prosperity, which has marked every country, that has thus been added to our government. It is supposed, there are seven millions of acres in the coffee region of Florida; eight millions of sugar land; and nine millions of cotton and grain land; making twenty-four million acres of marketable land. ALABAMA. Length, 280 miles. Breadth, 160 miles ; containing 46,000 square miles. Between 30° 12' and 35° N. latitude; and between 8° and 11° 30' W. longitude from Washington. Bounded North by Tennessee; East by Georgia; South by Florida, and West by the state of Mississippi. civil divisions. Counties. Autauga, Baldwin, Blount, Bibb, Butler, Clarke, Conecuh, Covington, Dallas, Decatur, Franklin, Fayette, Greene, Henry, Jackson, Jefferson, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Lowndes, Madison, Maren go, Marion, Mobile, Monroe, Morgan, Montgomery, Perry, Pickens, Pike, Shelby, St. Clair, Tuscaloosa, Washington, Wilcox, and Walker. Population. No part of the western country has had a more rapid increase of population, than this state. In 1800, that portion of the present state of Mississippi, which is now Alabama, had only 2,000 inhabitants. In 1810, it contained 10,00. In 1820, it numbered 127,000. By the census of 1830, 199.221 free whites and 1 12,625 slaves. Total, 31 1,846. This state rises by regular belts, or terraces from the gulf of Mexico. The lower belt is low, level, and has many swamps and savannas, and the prevailing timber is pine. The northern belt is pleasantly undulating. Tennessee valley, though a deep alluvial country, is in fact high table land, and there are few table countries, which excel this part of the state in fertility, mildness of climate, and pleasantness of position. This valley is separated from that of the Alabama by hills of such lofty and precipitous character, as generally to merit the name of mountains. Some of these peaks tower 3,000 feet above the level of the gulf. One chain runs from Ross, on Tennessee river, between the Coosa and Black 214 ALABAMA. Warrior, giving rise to the head waters of Cahawba. Another separates the streams of the gulf from those, that fall into the Tennessee. Another range divides between the waters of the Black Warrior, and Tombigbee. Rivers. The Chatahochy separates this state from Georgia, and not far below the limits of that state, unites with Flint river, to form the Appalachicola of Florida.— The Tennessee curves from the north-east to the north-west corner of the state near its northern line. A line of hills with a curve, corresponding with that of the Tennessee, runs at a distance of between fifty and eighty miles from that river, giving rise to numerous streams, that flow from one declivity north to the Tennessee, and from the other south, to the waters of the Alabrma and Tombigbee. Into Tennessee flow Watts' river, Turkey creek, Poplar creek, Occochapa and many smaller streams. These rivers reach the Tennessee either at the Muscle Shoals, or near them. It is proposed to unite the waters of the Tennessee with the upper waters of the Tombigbee by a canal, which shall cross Bear creek of the Tennessee, and the line of hills, that sepa rates the waters of that river from those of Tombigbee, and unite the the canal with an upper and boatable branch of that river. Mobile river is formed by the junction of Alabama and Tombigbee, and is so called up to the point, where these rivers unite at Fort Mimms. It enters Mobile bay by two mouths. The Alabama is the eastern branch of the Mobile, and is itself formed from the junction of the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers. The Tallapoosa rises in the Alleghany ridges in Georgia, where it is called Occafusky, and receives a number of tribu taries in the Indian country. It passes over considerable falls, before it gives its waters to the Alabama. — The Tallapoosa rises in the same ridges, and pursues a somewhat longer course to the south-west. Both are rapid streams, run through the Creek country, and are not boatable to any considerable distance above their junction. — From this junctiorf the Alabama receives a number of small streams from the east, bends towards the west and receives the Cahawba. It is navigable by sea vessels to Fort Claiborne. It is one of the finest rivers of the southern country, and navigable for steam boats of the largest class, for a great distance. A number ply constantly on it. They transport 130,000 bales of cotton to Mobile. When the title of the lands of the Creek Indians shall have become vested in the United States, and the beautiful country on the head waters of this river settled by whites, it is probable, that Montgom ery, situated midway between Mobile, and the highest points of steam navigation on this river, will become one of the most important towns in the state. The Tombigbee rises in the ridges, that separate between its waters and those of the Tennessee, in the northern parts of the state; and receives some of its western b/cuiclius from a range, that ALABAMA. 215 diverges from the Tennessee hills, and runs south along the middle of the state of Mississippi. It receives, in its progress, many considerable streams from the state of Mississippi on the west. It meanders through the Indian country, and a tract purchased by French immigrants. Eighty miles above St. Stephen's, it is swelled by the accession of the Black Warrior, to which place small sea vessels ascend. In moderate stages of the water, it affords steam boat navigation to Tuscaloosa. — Both these rivers are extremely favorable to boat navigation ; and during the higher stages of water, a number of steam boats are constantly moving through the dark forests and rich alluvions of these fine rivers. Yellow, Chactaw and Pea rivers rise in this state, and pass into Florida, as does also the Conecuh, a considerable river, that rises in the interior, and find its way to the sea through that country. The Tensa is a branch, or enlargement of Mobile river, before it enters Mobile bay. The Perdido separates this state from Florida, as the Pascagoula on the west does from the state of Mississippi. Escambia rises near Fort Claiborne, and running a south wardly course, unites with the Conecuh, and forms Escambia bay above Pensacola. Face of the country, soil, (Sec. The following was considered by the purchasing immigrants a very accurate and faithful general delineation of the qualities of the soil. It is chiefly extracted from the published accounts of the United States' surveyor in that district; and has the advantage of having been the result of actual inspection. The general shape of the state is that of a well defined parallelogram. The only undefined line is the southern one. From this line another parallelogram is formed, extending between Florida and the state of Mississippi. It includes Mobile bay. This was once part of West Florida, and was necessary to this state, to enable it to communicate with the gulf of Mexico. Except the alluvions on Mobile river, the soil is generally a pine barren. In Mobile bay are the islands Dauphin, Massacre and Petit Bois. Mobile bay is a deep and commodious entrance into the interior. Dauphin island is of a triangular shape, and five miles in length. The ship channel is between Dauphin, island, and Mobile point. There is another pass, called Pass au Heron, which has but six feet water over its bar. Taking the state, as a whole, the northern parts, near Tennessee, are generally hilly and precipitous. At the northern commencement of this belt, it is mountainous, and a continuation of the Alleghany hills. The central interior region is generally waving hills. As we approach within fifty or sixty miles of Florida, the swamps are, for the most part, timber ed with cypress and gum trees, and some loblolly pines; and the uplands with long leafed pine. These pine swells and levels have a very thin soil; but generally having a substratum of clay, contain within themselves a 216 ALABAMA. principle of fertility, which, when cultivation shall be advanced, and population sufficiently compact, will not fail to be called forth. At present, they bear, without manuring, two or three crops of maize, and perhaps one or two of small cotton. But in the present order of things, while there are sufficient extents of rich lands, the pine barrens will be held in little estimation; and they probably, include more than one half the surface of the state. Among the pine woods grows rank grass, furnishing fine and inexhaustible summer range. The alluvions on the Alabama and Tombigbee are generally wide, and for the most part first rate lands. Some affirm, that they are equal to the lands on the Missis sippi. When these lands came into the market in the land office, the rash and grasping spirit of land speculation raised them to an inordinate price, which proved, in many instances, ruinous to the purchasers. In some cases, these lands in a state of nature, sold as high as fifty dollars an acre. The alluvial soils on the margins of the streams generally are fertile and productive. The hammock lands rank at the head of the second rate lands, and their fertility is of long duration. — They consti tute an intermediate belt between the bottoms and pine ridges. They generally have a slope, like a glacis. In the first rate lands no pines are to be seen. In second rate lands pines are intermixed with dog wood, hickory and oak. Wherever the high table grounds are seen covered with oaks, dog wood trees, and the pawpaw intermixed, the soil is sure to be fine. The French immigrants are sanguine in the belief, that the slopes and hammocks of this state would afford eligible soils and situa tions for vineyards. It will be an omen for good for the country in gen eral, and for this state in particular, if they prosper in attempting to rear the vine and the olive. Experience has abundantly demonstrated, that the great bulk of American farmers are little disposed to speculative agriculture. — They prefer to fix their attention upon com, cotton, tobac co, beef and pork. Along the southern limits of the state the soil is thin, and the unvarying verdure of the pine, tires by its uniformity. On the head waters of the Escambia, and Conecuh, the soil and climate are favorable to the sugar cane; ahd here are seen those groves of orange trees, of which travellers have spoken with so much delight, affirming them to be indigenous. They were, beyond question, the growth of seeds scattered from orange groves, originally cultivated by Spaniards in Florida. In the lower parts of the state, as we approach Florida, the swamps become more and more extensive. Cypress lands are abundant On the alluvial grounds, which are not inundated, is large and rank cane. Be low the Tombigbee, the river is apt to inundate the bottoms and swamps, and the musquitos are excessively annoying. As we ascend into the ALABAMA. 217 central parts of the state, the lands become high and broken, and pine is less frequent. Oak, hickory and poplar are there the prevailing growth. The most extensive bodies of good land, and those, which are at present most populous, are between the Alabama and Tombigbee, the bottoms of the Tallapoosa and the Black Warrior. Passing over the ridge, that separates the waters of the Conecuh from those of the Alabama, there is an extensive body of rich land. On the head waters of Lime Stone creek, there is also a fine body of land. A considerable distance above the junction of the Coosa and Tallapoosa, there is a country of fine swells of land, watered with frequent springs of pure water. The land is heavily timbered with those kinds of trees, that indicate a rich soil. — ¦ It is inhabited by the Creek Indians, Character of the population. This state was originally a part of the Mississippi territory. It has acquired population with great rapidity, and already far exceeds in numbers the state, from which it was taken. Few states have had so great an increase* This was owing in part to its contiguity to Georgia, and its proximity to the Carolinas ; and its having fresh and fertile lands, and yet being in other, respects? as regards soil, climate, and situation, very similar to those states. Immi-, grants from the land of pine and cypress forests, love to see these trees in the new regions, to which they transplant themselves. Public opinion had estimated this country, as more than commonly healthy, for its climate. That part of it, lying south of the Tennessee ridge, has great facilities of communication with the sea. The southern planters ordina rily do not covet a country, which admits a very dense population. They love space, in which to move themselves. They prefer those extensive pine barrens, in which there is such inexhaustible range for cattle, and which will not, for a long time admit a dense population. At the same time, they desire at intervals rich alluvial soils of thick cane brake, the proper soil for cotton. Alabama furnished them, in these respects, all they could wish. It was much healthier, than the maratime parts of the Carolinas; and at the same time had a soil better adapted to cotton. This may account for the great immigration from the Carolinas and Georgia, and for that surprising increase in the population, which we have already noted in the table of civil divisions. " The people in this state have a general character for order, quietness, a regard for religion, schools, and. social and moral institutions; more decided than could have been expected, taking into view the recent origin of the state.— They speak, and think of , themselves,- in reference to the states further. south and west, with no-j small degree of assumption in the comparison. There are many opulent- planters with large numbers of slaves; and they possess the characteristic hospitality of these people 28 218 ALABAMA. every where. They have not formed a character, as a state. They have few religious, literary or other institutions. But they are developing a character, which will lead to respectable and numerous foundations of this kind. Travellers have been favorably impressed with the charac teristics of hospitality, quietness and good order, which they generally witnessed. The people begin to be alive to the vital interests of schools and education. The usual appropriations of lands for colleges and schools have been made by congress for this state. From the compa- tively high price of lands, these appropriations must ultimately constitute a respectable fund. Seminaries. Alabama contains three colleges; The Catholic college near Mobile, the Methodist college at Lagrange, a respectable institution, and Alabama college at Tuscaloosa. This last is an amply endowed institution. One of the buildings is magnificent. Great exertions have been made to purchase a respectable library and philosophical apparatus, and in point of pofessorships and other appointments to place it on a footing with the most respectable institutions of the kind. Climate. The climate of this state, taken together, is favorable to, health, compared with the southern country generally in the same paral lels. The lower part of it is constantly fanned, during the summer heats, by the trade wind breezes. There can hardly be said to be such a season, as winter, and yet the summers are not hotter, than they are many degrees more to the north. The duration of the summer heats is indeed debilitating, and the direct rays of the summer's sun oppressive. But strangers from the north in the shade, and in the current of air, seldom suffer from the heat. In the northern parts of the state still waters often freeze. In the southern parts they seldom see much snow or ice. Cattle require no shelter during the winter. Maize is planted early in March. In the 31st degree of latitude the thermometer stands in spring water at 69° which is- nearly the mean temperature of the year. A series of thermometrical operations for a year give the following result. The warmest part of the warmest day in April gave 82°. — Mean heat of July of the same year 86°. Coldest day in January 54°. Coldest day in February 43°. Warmest day in March 85°. Same year the trees in the swamps, where vegetation is most tardy, were in full leaf the 2d of April ; peach blossoms gone; April 12th peas in pod; peaches of the size of a hazlenut; fig trees in leaf; green peas at table, May 2d; strawberries ripe; May 16th mulberries, dewberries, and whortleberries ripe; May 15th cucumbers in perfection ; June 29th roasting corn at table. Diseases. In point of health this climate takes its character from situation and local circumstances. The prevailing diseases of. the cooler months are those of the class termed cachexy. The diseases of the warm ALABAMA. 219 months are generally bilious. Where the powerful southern sun brings the swamp miasm into action, diseases follow of course, and none but negroes, and those acclimated, can safely reside in the low grounds on the banks of the rivers, and near the inundated swamps. — The yellow fever has seldom been seen, except in Mobile. In the high land regions, far from swamps, creeks and stagnant waters, in the districts of hills, springs, and pine forests, the country may be pronounced salubrious, and the planters from the sickly country generally retire to such places, to spend the summer'. Employment of the people. Cotton is the grand staple of Alabama. The glowing of this article has increased in this state in a ratio even greater, than that of the population. Among the cotton raising states, this now takes a very high rank. Sugar, rice and tobacco are also cul tivated. Many of the people about Mobile are shepherds, and have droves of cattle, numbering from 500 to 1,000. Swine are raised with great ease, where they can be guarded from their enemies, wolves, panth ers and alligators. The small breed of Indian horses, or Spanish tackies, as they are called, are ugly, but hardy and strong, and are better than the handsomer horses for service. The country trade of the lower part of Alabama is to Mobile, Blakely and Pensacola. Considerable amounts of pitch, tar, turpentine and lumber are exported. The cotton used to be carried to New Orleans. Mobile has become a port of great export for cotton. This country, so near Havanna, has great advantages for navigation. Sea vessels proceed up the Alabama to a considerable distance. The northern parts of Alabama, situated in the Tennessee valley, are compelled to send their produce by a very circuitous route, down the Tennessee, the Ohio and Mississippi, where it arrives, after a passage, of 1,600 miles. At starting, it can not be more than five hun dred miles from the gulf. There is little hazard in asserting, that the intelligent and opulent people, in the beautiful and fertile valley of the Tennessee, will canal the ridges, that rise between them and the waters of the Alabama, and will unite themselves with the gulf by that fine river. Chief Towns. Mobile is the only town of any great importance in the lower part of the state. It lies on the west side of Mobile bay on an elevated plain, in latitude 30° 40'. It is situated considerably above the overflow of the river, in a dry and pleasant situation. Access to it is rendered somewhat difficult to vessels by a swampy island oppo site the town. But when once they have entered, they are perfectly secure from winds, storms and enemies; and can come directly to the town. It lias swampy lands and stagnant waters back?of it, and near i t a sterile country of pine woods. From these causes, though it had been one of the earliest settled towns in the country, it never became, under 220 ALABAMA. the Spanish and French regime, more than a military post. Under the government of the United States, it has received a new impulse of pros perity. But a few years since, little cotton was raised in the whole country connected with Mobile ; and none was exported directly from this place.' It is now a great shipping port, for cotton; and a large num ber of square rigged vessels take their freight from this city. There is no other port, perhaps, in the United States of the same size, that has so large an amount of export. After New Orleans and Charleston, it is the largest cotton port in the country. It is enlivened, too, by the coming and departing of many steam boats, that ply on the noble river above the city. In addition to the great number of packet schooners, that sail between this place and New Orleans, some by the lake, and some by the Mississippi, there is now a steam boat communication between the two cities, by the way of lake Ponchartrain. Of course, except during the sickly months, it is a place of great activity and business. Chiefly destroyed, not long since, by a destructive fire, it has been rapidly and handsomely rebuilt of brick. It contains 2000 free whites, and 1500 slaves and free blacks ; total, 3,500. The public buildings are a court house and a jail; four churches, one for Roman Catholics, one for Epis copalians, one for Presbyterians, and one for Methodists. A Roman Catholic college is erecting at Spring Hill, six miles from the city. It exported, 1831, 110,000 bags of cotton. It has the disadvantage 6f a shallow harbor, which is moreover growing shallower by the sand depos ited by the rivers. The most fatal impediment to the advancement of this town is its acknowledged character for sickness. Advantage has been taken of this circumstance, to commence the town of Blakely, on the eastern and opposite side of the bay, and at ten miles distance. The site is free from contiguous swamps. It stands on the Tensa, the largest branch of the Mobile, which yields deeper water, and has a harbor of easier access, than Mobile. The situation is open, high, and dry, and it has cool and limpid springs of water, and superior advantages of commu nication with the country by good roads. It has improved considerably, and its founders were sanguine, that it would speedily eclipse Mobile. But that ancient town had, what is called in the west country phrase, 'the start,' and sustains its pre-eminence, as a commercial depot, not withstanding its frequent and destructive ravages from yellow fever and fires. Mobile is 1033 miles from Washington, and 226 S. from Tusca loosa. St. Stephens is on the Tombigbee 120 from Mobile, and at the head of schooner navigation. It is a considerable village with stone houses; but notwithstanding a favorable position in the midst of a fine country, wears the aspect of decay. ALABAMA. 221 Cahawba has been, until recently, the political metropolis, and is sit uated at the junction of the Cahawba with the Alabama. County courts are held here, and an office for the sale of public lands. The circum stance of its having been the metropolis gave it a rapid growth. It has a considerable number of handsome buildings, intermixed, according to the common fashion of new towns, with a great many temporary log buildings. Florida, Claiborne, Dumfries, Jackson, Coffeeville, Demopo- lis, and Columbia are incipient, and some of them thriving villages. Tuscaloosa at the falls of the Black Warrior is permanently fixed, as the political metropolis, and is a town of rapid growth. Its situation 500 miles from Mobile, is elevated,' level and beautiful. It contains two thousand inhabitants. Many of the buildings are of brick and handsome. The public buildings are a superb state house, a court house and jail; four churches, one for Presbyterians, one for Episcopalians, one for Bap tists, and one for Methodists. This town is the seat of the new and handsome buildings of Alabama college. Beautiful stone for buildings is found in the vicinity, and mineral coal of the best quality abounds in the banks of the Black Warrior. Salt works from water recently discovT ered are in successful operation. Tuscaloosa is 858 miles from Wash ington. Montgomery, the shire town of the county of that name, is pleasantly situated on the west bank of the Albania, opposite the Big Bend, two hundred miles east of Mobile, and the same distance west of Milledge- ville in Georgia. The public buildings are a court house and jail, one church for Presbyterians, and one for Methodists; and a theatre. It con tains eight hundred inhabitants. It is surrounded by a fertile soil, rapidly settling with rich planters, chiefly from the Carolinas and Georgia, and promises to become a place of much commercial importance. Washington, Selma and Claiborne, and other towns on the Alabama, are inconsidera ble villages. Thirty miles higher on the same river is Kelleysville, a thriving village. Eagleville is principally inhabited by French emigrants, who calculated to cultivate the olive and the vine. Montgomery is 859 miles from Washington, and 119 from Tuscaloosa. The beautiful and fertile valley of Tennessee has a very different conformation and its communications, by a long and circuitous route with the Mississippi and New Orleans. This valley has a number of large and flourishing villages of its own. The largest of these is Huntsville, a handsome and thriving town, situated ten or fifteen miles north of the Tennessee, and fifty from the Muscle Shoals. The country about it is extremely fertile. It is principally built of brick, with some spacious, and very handsome buildings, a presbyterian church, a baptist and two methodist places of worship, a handsome court house, and- other 222 ALABAMA. public buildings. One of those large and beautiful springs, that are so common in this region, furnishes the town with water by machinery put in motion by its own current. Florence is the next town in point of size, and in a commercial view more important than the other. It is situated on the north side of the Tennessee, at the foot of the Muscle Shoals. When the river is in a good stage of water, steam boats of the largest size can come up to this place. It has in this way a great and increasing intercourse with New Orleans. It has about 1,400 inhabitants, a very handsome courthouse, and a hotel in city style. It has also a presbyterian church. Tuscumbia is the next place in size and importance. It is situated on the south side ofthe river near a mile from its banks, and five miles from Florence. It has several handsome buildings and a thousand inhabi tants. Russelville is also a new town of some importance. A considerable degree of munificence has been manifested by the peo ple of this state, in their appropriations for schools, roads, bridges, canals and other works of public utility. — An appropriation of 5 per cent, of of the net proceeds of all the of public lands in the state has been provid ed for these objects. — A rail road has been commenced at Tuscumbia, which is intended to connect with some point of the Tennessee above Muscle Shoals; and a convention recently called, to deliberate upon in ternal improvements expedient for the state, have recommended a rail roal or canal communication between the valley the Tennessee, and the navigable waters of North Carolina. General Jackson's military road, between lake Ponchartrain and Florence in this state, runs almost in a right line 330 miles. If fully completed, and kept in good repair, it would be ofthe greatest national utility. There are two or three canals in con templation. There is no point, where one seems to be more called for> than between the waters of the Tennessee and Alabama. County Towns. Washington, Centreville, Bluntsville, Greenville, Clarksville, Sparta, Fayette, Erie, Columbia, Bellfonte, Elktbn, Moul- ton, Athens, Lowndes, Linden, Pikeville, Somerville, Pickensville, Pike, Ashville, Shelbyville, Walker, Washington, Canton. Constitution and Laws. They have the common features of those ofthe other states. The legislative body is styled ' the assembly.' The senators are elected for a triennial, and the representative for an annual term. The governor serves two years, and is eligible only four years out of six. The judiciary consists of a supreme and circuit court, together with sub ordinate courts appointed by the legislature. The judges are appointed by the legislature, and hold their offices during good behavior. All persons over twenty-one years, and citizens ofthe United are electors. MISSISSIPPI. This state is not far from 300 miles in average length, and 160 in average breadth. Between 30° and 34° N. latitude; and 11° and 14° W. longitude from Washington. — It contains 28,000,000 acres. Bounded on the North by Tennessee; East by Alabama; South by the gulf of Mex ico and Louisiana,- West by Louisiana and the Mississippi. CIVIL DIVISIONS. Natmes of the Counties. — Adams, Natchez City, Amite, Jackson, Jef ferson, Lawrence, Marion, Monroe, Perry, Pike, Warren, Wilkinson, Wayne, Yazoo,Madison. Population. Free whites 42,176. Slaves 32,814. Total 97,865. Face of the country. There are a number of distinct ranges of hills, of moderate elevation, in this state, beside a singular succession of eminences, that show conspicuously, in descending the Mississippi. Some of the bases of these hills are washed by this river. They are the Walnut Hills, Grand Gulf, Natchez, White Cliffs, and Loftus' Heights. In other places, they appear near the river, or in the distance, as at Petite Gulf, Villa Gayosa and Pine Ridge. Two of these ranges divide the state nearly in its whole extent, and separate it into sectional divisions. In advancing from the bottoms of the Mississippi, there is every where, at a greater, or less distance from the river, an appearance of bluffs, which, when mounted, spread out into a kind of table surface, waving pleasantly; but in many instances, the richest table lands have precipitous benches, which expose the land, to what is technically called by the agriculturalists ' washing.' This is a misfortune, to which the richest lands in this state are most subjected. 224 Mississippi. Pine Ridge is a singular elevation. It approaches within a mile of the Mississippi, and is a high belt of pine land, like an island in the midst of surrounding rich land, timbered with hard woods. We know of no pine so near the Mississippi, except in one place, in the county of Cape Gira- deau in Missouri, for a distance of 1,700 miles. In the northern section of the state, inhabited by the Cherokees, and Chactaws, the land rises into regular and pleasant undulations. The soil is deep, black, and rich, presenting in a state of nature the singular appearance of hills covered with high cane brake. — From their precipitous character, these fertile and pleasant hills are subject to the general inconvenience of washing. The country, inhabited, by the Chickasaws, north-west of the Yazoo is also of a surface, charmingly variegated with swells, and vallies of great fer tility, and abounding in fine springs. The White Cliffs are just below Catharine's Creek. — Loftus' Heights are a few miles lower on the river. They are 150 feet high. In the strata of this hill are seen the last stones, that are discovered on descend ing the Mississippi. They are visible only in low stages of water. They are of the class, commonly called breccia, cemented with pebbles aftd other matters into a mass, apparently of recent formation. There is probably, no state in the union, and few countries in the world of a more pleasantly diversified surface, more happily distributed into hills and vallies, than the surface of this state. Rivers. The Mississippi washes the western shore of this state for a distance, following its meanders of nearly seven hundred miles. The right line of the Mississippi shore is less than half that distance. But the river is here remarkably circuitous, often curving round seven or eight leagues, and almost returning back on its course. The greater part of this long line of river coast, unfortunately, is inundated swamp, very thinly inhabited, except by wood cutters for the steam boats, and seldom seen by any other, than people travelling on the river. There is here and there a position so high, as to be capable of being occupied, as a plantation. But these uncommon elevations soon slope back to the cypress swamps. The Yazoo is the most considerable river, whose course is wholly in this state. It rises in the Chickasaw country, in latitude 34° 28', near the limits of Tennessee, and its head waters almost communicate with those of Tombigbee. From- its source it runs a north-west course, re ceiving the Busha Yalo, the Tallahatchee, Lappataba, Buffalo Creek, and a number of less considerable streams, and by a mouth 100 yards wide, falls into the Mississippi, twelve miles above the Walnut hills. Its course is through a high, pleasant and salubrious country, chiefly however, Mississippi. 225 claimed and inhabited by Indians. They inhabit the country, by the course of the river 150 miles from its mouth. It is generally boatable by large boats fifty miles; and in the higher stages of the water, to the Bu- sha Yalo, the missionary station. There is fine building stone on this river, in positions favorable for conveyance to Now Orleans, being the nearest to that city of any on the waters of the Mississippi. It is ' backed up,' as the phrase is, by the Mississippi, in high stages of water, or inun dated by its own rise for a number of miles from its mouth. Twelve miles above its mouth are the Yazoo hills, and four miles higher the site of fort St. Peter, where was an ancient French settlement, destroyed in 1729, by the Yazoo Indians, a nation, which in its turn, has long since since been extinct. On this river and the country which it waters, was the scene of the famous Yazoo speculation, which will be long and bit terly remembered by certain unfortunate speculators ; and forgotten, as soon as may, be by certain corporate bodies, concerned in the sale. Big Black, or Lousa Chitto, 40 yards wide at its mouth, enters the Mississippi,. just above the Grand Gulf. Measuring its meanders, it has a course of two hundred miles. It rises between the head waters of the Yazoo and Pearl rivers, and interlocks with the boatable waters of the latter stream. It is navigable, in moderate stages ofthe water, fifty miles. — The hills of this river approach near the Mississippi. At some distance up this river, where the high lands appear upon both sides, some New England adven turers, headed by General Putnam, selected a place for a town. It was in 1773, when this region was supposed to appertain to West Florida. The soil is fine and the situation eligible. There is stone for building; and the place seems to have been judiciously selected. Homochitto is a large stream, having half the comparative length of Big Black. It me anders in a south-west course to the Mississippi it is formed by two principal forks. A few miles, before it enters the Mississippi, it passes through a lake. It traverses a fertile and well settled country of opulent- planters. Like the Yazoo, it is inundated for a long distance above its mouth. Bayou Pierre, Cole's Creek,' Fairchild's Creek, and St. Catharine's Creek enters the Mississppi in succession below Big Black. They have short courses, but generally a fine soil adjacent to their waters. On Bayou Pierre is the important settlement and village of Gibson Port. Buffalo Creek enters the Mississippi a little above the heights of fort Adams. Here at Loftus' Heights, commences a chain of hills, which stretches northeastwardly from the Mississippi, and separates the waters of Bogue Chitto and Amite from those of Homochitto and Buffalo. On the southern side of these ridges, the waters flow into the Amite and lake Ponchartrain, and on the northern into the Mississippi. 29 226 Mississippi. The Amite meanders from its source in these hills to the Ibbevville, or Bayou Manshac, an efflux of the Mississippi. The Amite unites with this Bayou forty miles above lake Maurepas, The Amite traverses a pleasant, productive, and well settled country, generally timbered with hard woods and having fine springs. Pearl river is next to the Yazoo, the most important river, that has its whole course in this state. It rises almost in the centre of the state, be tween the two parallel ranges of hills, that divide it into sections. A number of branches unite to form the main river, which is afterwards in creased by the Chunka, and other streams. It passes by Monticello and Jackson, and through a country generally fertile, healthy and pleasant until it touches the eastern boundary of Louisiana, after which it receives the Bogue Lousa and Bogue Chitto, and thence, running between this state and Louisiana, it enters the rigolets between lake Ponchartrain and Borgne. The lands watered are for the most part fertile, though it sometimes traverses the sterile region of pine woods. Some legislative efforts have been made, to improve the navigation of this stream, which derives importance, from its being one of the chief points of communica tion between this state, and the Gulf of Mexico. The Pascagoula rises in latitude 33°, and preserves a course parallel to the Tombigbee. It has a length of 250 miles.^- Vessels of considerable draught ascend it to Leaf River. It receives in its course a great number of tributary streams, of which Chickasaw, Leaf, Dog and Tacothamba are the principal. It has some fertile alluvions and hammock lands, but traverses, for the most part a region of pine country, sterile, but well watered, healthy, and afford ing in its timber, and its conveniences for navigation, a compensation for its want of fertility. At its moutb, it broadens into an open bay, on which, at the town of its own name, is ^a retreat of resort for the inhab itants of New Orleans, during the sickly months. Islands. Those of the Mississippi are low and inundated. The islands in the gulf, within six leagues of the front of the state, belong to it. They are eight, or nine in number, of which Ship and Horn islands are the chief^-They are generally sterile and covered with pines and grass. Climate. This state, excepting a small tract, which fronts upon the gulf, constitutes a belt lying between the wheat and the sugar cane regions, in other words the climate appropriate to cotton. This is the region, where, in the humid places, the long moss is seen attaching itself to the tree. . The latanier, or palmetto, in the brightness of its winter verdure, gives tropical features to the landscape. — Alligators are seen in the stag nant waters, The family of laurels begins to be more numerous; and the Laurel Magnolia shows itself among them. Southern shrubs and Mississippi. 227 flowers to one, coming from the north, present the aspect Of a new Cli mate. It is unfortunate' for this state, that its western front, bordering on the Mississippi, is so much exposed to inundation ; and that from the same circumstance most of the streams, that enter the Mississippi, are uninhabitable for some distance from their mottth. At present in de' scending the river, the traveller looks in vain, along this Very extended front, for the palpable evidence of the opulence for which this state is so deservedly celebrated. He sees a few singular bluffs rising in succes sion, sometimes at long intervals, from a dreary wilderness of inundated swamp. The river on this front, having much higher inundations, than lower down, it may be long, before the people here Will levee the rich alluvions,, as they have done in the state below. But when it is done, an immense body of the most fertile soil will be redeemed from inunda tion ; and the state will gain as much in salubrity, as in opulence. Even as it is, the greater portion of the surface of the state is Waving hills, and thej whole amount of inundated lands is less, than in either of the other southern divisions of this valley. Compared with Louisiana, its waters have the same fishes, and in win ter and spring the Same varieties of water fowls, and birds of beautiful plumage and song; and its forests and prairies, for this state too, has its prairies, the same varieties of trees and flowering shrubs and plants, with very few exceptions, as that state, and they will be described un der the head of that state. In health it has decidedly the advantage. In that state, most of the planters cultivate the deep river and bayou allu vions, and stagnant waters are more abundant. In this state, where the planters are fixed remote from stagnant waters, which in such a southern climate, must always be more or less destructive to health, and have ac cess to pure spring water, there is, perhaps, no part of the United States, where the inhabitants enjoy better health. The summers, indeed, are long, and the heat sustained, and sometimes intense; and during the last of summer and first of autumn, the people in the healthy districts are subject to bilious attacks, sometimes slight, and sometimes severe. But in return, they are in a great measure free from pulmonary and catarrhal affections, which are so common and fatal in the more northern regions of the United States. From the centre of this state to its southern front, its climate compares pretty accurately with that of'-sOutii Alabama', Georgia, the northern belt of Florida,' and Louisiana. Fsiom October to June, no climate can be more delightful. It has, indeed, in winter a marked advantage over that of the regions just mentioned. It is some what less subject to the frequent and drenching rains of Florida and Lou isiana. The people in general are healthy, and in travelling through the state, we see countenances tanned and browned by frequent exposure 228 Mississippi. to a southern sun; but at the same time indicating vigorous and cheerful health. Indians. The principal tribes in this state are the Chactaws and 'Chickasaws. The numbers of the former tribe are rated at 20,000, and >the latter at nearly 4,000. They are at present in a semi-savage state, and exhibit the interesting spectacle of a people, intermediate between the hunter's and the civilized state. A curious compound of character Tesults from this order of things. Most of their ancient instincts and babits may still be traced amidst the changes, introduced by agriculture and municipal regulations. Many of them have good houses, slaves, -enclosures and cattle. They have ploughs, looms and blacksmiths' shops, in operation, and are beginning to acquaint themselves with the coarser ¦mechanic arts. They have also commenced the adoption of our laws and modes of judicature. An Indian denominated squire and judge, becomes at once an important personage, and these titles answer instead of a cocked hat, a red coat and a medal. The different religious denom inations in the United States have made a great and persevering effort to convey to them the blessings of education and Christianity. The princi pal missionary station, under the patronage of the American board for foreign missions, in this state is at Elliot, on the Yalo Busha creek, 40 miles above its junction with the Yazoo, and 145 from the Walnut Hills on the Mississippi. There are a number cf subordinate stations con nected with this principal one. Each station constitutes a kind of reli gious family within itself, and has its minister, instructors, male and female, its farmer, or agricultural overseer, and its chief artizans. They are all supposed to be religious characters. Schools for the reception of Indian pupils constitute a main part of their plan, and on the wisest pre mises, they calculate, by showing in their own society and example the influence of christian order and discipline, and by sedulous instruc tion of children, to communicate education and the rudiments of Chris tianity at the same time, by precept and example ; and by showing in their own well cultivated fields the best modes of agriculture, and by training their youthful pupils in the labors of the field, at once to inspire them with the requisite patience, industry and love of agriculture, to qualify them for commencing a new and an agricultural life. They witness a growing attention of the Indians to the municipal and christian modes of life in the increased number of their pupils, which, from the last reports, appear to be very considerable. They have large fields • good houses, mechanic shops, regular worship ; and the praises of God and the Redeemer, in the sweet and cultivated strains of church music, resound in these ancient forests, instead of the war and death song of the savages. The plan and the whole system are entirely novel in the Mississippi. 229 annals of christian exertion. It is a kind of protestant monastic estab lishment, with modifications suited to the more practical views of that •church, and constitutes, a most interesting and striking feature in the missionary exertions of the present day. — All good minds must be dis posed to wish them every degree of success. They have a fine country, fertile soil, hills, springs, prairies, copses, beautiful scenery, and a mild -climate, which has hitheito proved as salubrious, as they could have anticipated ; and their prospects for the future are encouraging. They are to a certain degree patronised, and aided by the government of the United States. Agriculture and pursuits of tlie people. All the kinds of grains, fruits and vegetables, that can be cultivated in Alabama, can also be grown here. The sugar cane has hitherto been attempted only on its southern frontier. The sweet orange is raised on the lower waters of Pascagoula and Pearl rivers. The live oak, too, is only seen in this part •of the state. In the middle regions, figs, grapes of all sorts, tobacco, •maize, sweet potatoes, rice, indigo squashes, melons, plums, peaches and various other vegetables and fruits come to full perfection. The castor bean, or Palma Christi, and the benne plant are sometimes raised. In the high and midland regions, it is affirmed, that apples and pears arrive at tolerable perfection. This state, being on the southern verge of the •medial climate, is a country, where a great variety of the articles of the north and the south may be expected to come to maturity. Cotton is the grand staple, and grows in perfection in all parts of the stale. It is, perhaps, too exclusively the object of thought, attention and cultivation. In the early part of the season the conversation turns upon the point, how the crop stands; that is, whether it has germinated, and remained in a healthy and vigorous state 1 The next object of anxi ety is, whether it takes, as the phrase is, ' the rot;' then about the favora- blencss of the season for picking; then the state of the gins, and the amount bailed.- — The last and most interesting of all is the price, it is 'likely to bear. In .the halcyon days, when cotton brought 28 and 30 •cents per pound, there were planters, who had thirty and forty thousand dollars a year, as the income of their crop. In those times some of the ¦planters secured independent fortunes, and many of them became afflu ent. Even at the present very reduced prices, no planters in the United States have better incomes, in proportion to their capital and hands, than those of this state. The number of working hands on a plantation varies from 20 to 200. It is but recently, that the inhabitants have been much in habits of travelling out of of their own state. They are for the most part a plain, simple, industrious, hospitable and respectable people, accustomed to a retired life in the interior of the country. They are 230 Mississippi. generally, and honorably, with some few exceptions, kind and indulgent masters to their slaves. A few, who have acquired fortunes without much previous education, or refinement, and measuring their own know ledge, acquirements and importance only by their intercourse with their slaves, are astonished, when they go abroad to find, that there are other requisites, in order to be sought after, and introduced to the best circles, than the possession of money and slaves. Attention to schools, religion, fyc. The same appropriations for pub lic works and for education are made in this state, as in Alabama. The benefits of a common school education are not so extensively enjoyed in any of the southern states of this valley, as could be wished. The whole business is generally managed by subscription, and voluntary association. Where this is the case, and where there is no direct inter ference of the legislature, to compel the people to educate their children, many of the reckless and inconsiderate will allow them to grow up with out any education. There are ample public funds for the endowment of schools; and there is a growing sense of the importance of schools on the public mind. A seminary, entitled ' Jefferson college,' is incorporated at Washington near Natchez. It ranks with the academies of the Atlantic country. Another institution, called a college/is incorporated at Shield- borough, and there are flourishing public schools at Natchez, Wood ville and Monticello. Constitution. In every principal feature the same, as that of Alabama* Chief Towns. Monticello, the capital of Lawrence county, and re cently of the state, is a pleasant and flourishing village on the west bank of Pearl river. Gibson Port, at the head of navigation on Bayou Pierre, is situated in the centre of a rich country, and is a village of considera ble importance. Greenville, Woodville and Winchester are flourishing villages. Shieldsborough is situated on the west side of the bay of St, Louis. It is swept by the cool breezes of the gulf, and, though it has not always been exempt from the ravages of yellow fever, is a famed resort for the inhabitants of New Orleans, during the sickly months. Jackson, near the head of Pearl river, and on a site lately acquired from the Chactaw Indians, has been selected, as the permanent seat of government for the state. It is a central, healthy and pleasant position, and the circumstance of its being the political metropolis, will soon cause it to become a place of importance. Warrenton, below the Walnut Hills, is a considerable village on the banks of the Mississippi, from which are exported large quantities of cotton. Vicksburgh, just below the commencement ofthe Walnut Hills, is one of -the many towns in the western country, which have been the growth of but a few years. It is not more than five, or six years, old, Mississippi. 231 and it is now a considerable village, with a number of stores, lawyers and physicians. It has a printing press and a journal. Many boats are always lying in the harbor, and it sends off a great amount of cotton. Steam boats regularly ply between this place and New Orleans. It is a most singular position for a town, on the shelving declivity of high hills, and the houses are scattered in groups on the terraces. Natchez is by far the largest town in the state, and is incorporated as a city. It is romantically situated on the east bank of the Mississippi, on a very high bluff, 280 miles above New Orleans. The river business is transacted at the division of the town which is called 'under the hill,' a repulsive place, and unhappily, but too often the resort of all that is vile, from the upper and lower country. Great numbers of boats are alwaya lying here, and the place is filled with boatmen, mulattos, houses of ill fame, and their wretched tenants, in short, the refuse of the human race. There are, however, very respectable merchants resident 'under the hill.' The upper town is situated on the summit of a bluff, 300 feet above the common level of the river, from which there is a prospect of the cultivat ed margin of the Mississippi in Concordia, on the opposite shore ; and the eye traverses the boundless and level surfaces of the cypress swampa beyond. On the eastern side, the country is waving, rich and beautiful; the eminences presenting open woods covered with grape vinesj and here and there neat country houses. The town itself is quiet; the streets broad; some of the public buildings handsome; and the whole has the appearance of comfort and opulence. It is the principal town in this region for the shipment of cotton, with bales of which, at the proper season of the year, the streets are almost barricaded. Some opulent planters reside here, and there is a respectable and polished society. — The physicians and lawyers are distinguished in their profession, and there is no inconsiderable attention to literature. A very numerous population from the contiguous country makes its purchases here, and it is a place of great trade for its size. The people are noted for opulence and hospitality. Frorh the heights in this city they show you the site of Fort Rosalie, the' scene of the wild, but splendid and af fecting romance of Attala. There is a Presbyterian, an Episcopal, a Roman Catholic, a Baptist, and Methodist church here, and the people show a great, and for the southern country, an uncommon attention to the ordinances of worship and religion. The court house makes a re spectable appearance. Notwithstanding the cleanliness, elevation, and apparent purity of the atmosphere of this town, it has been often visited With yellow fever. To this circumstance it is undoubtedly owing, that its population does not advance, as might be expected, from its beautiful position. It contains not far from 3,000 inhabitants.— 232 Mississippi. Steam boats are constantly coming to this place, or departing from it, and the arriving and departing gun is heard at all hours of the day and of the night; and as they are seen sweeping along the majestic river, they add greatly to the grandeur and interest of the scenery of this town. Washington is a pleasant and healthy village five miles in the interior from Natchez, and is a resort as a place of retirement from that town when sickly. It is the seat of Jefferson college, which is an institution with considerable endowments, that under its present respectable teach ers, promises to become a seminary of importance. History. Greater part of this state originally was occupied by the Chactaws and other Indians. Their title has been chiefly extinguished by purchased cessions of lands. The state, by a recent enactment, lias- extended its political jurisdiction over them, and declared them subject to its laws. Mississippi was admitted into the union in 1817. By a recent enact ment it has abolished a former law, which prohibited the location of a Branch Bank of the United States in this State. Near Natchez were the central villages of the interesting nation of Natchez Indians, now extinct, Question about the territorial right to this region was long the apple of discord between the Spanish and the French, the Spanish and English, and between the government of the former, and that of the United States. Alabama was recently taken from it. LOUISIANA. Length, 240 miles. Breadth, 210, containing 48,220 square miles. Between 29° and 33° 30' N. latitude, and 12° and 17° 3' W. longitude. Bounded east by Mississippi state, and the Gulf of Mexico, and by the river Mississippi from 31° to 33°, and thence by the parallel of 31° to Pearl river; thence by that stream to its mouth ; South by the gulf of Mexico; West by the river Sabine, which separates it from the Mexican States, and following that river to the parallel of 32°, thence due North to 33°, thence due east to the Mississippi. CIVIL DIVISIONS. Names of the Parishes. Ascension, (parish,) Assumption, (do.) Avoyelles, (do.) Baton Rouge, (east,) (do.) Baton Rouge, (west,) (do.) Claiborne, (do.) Concordia, (do.) Ibberville, (do.) Lafourche, (interior,) (do.) Natchitoches, New Orleans, (city,) New Orleans, (parish,) Cata houla, (do.) Opelousas, (county,) Plaquemine, (parish,) Point Coupee, (county,) Rapides, (parish,) St. Bernard, (do.) St. Charles, (do.) St. Helena, (do.) St. James, (do.) St. John Baptiste, (do.) St. Tammany, (do.) Washington, (do.) Washita, (do.) Population, by the census of 1830. Free whites, 89,191. Slaves, 109,631. Total, 215,575. The most populous parts of the state, after New Orleans, are the coast, Feliciana, Attakpasas, and Opelousas, and the Parish of Rapides, and Natchitoches. In 1785, what is now the state of Louisiana, contained, under the Spanish government, 27,283 inhabitants. In 1810, it being then the Territory of Orleans, under the American government, it contained 75,556, of which 34,660 were slaves. In 1820, 153,407. This shows a very rapid increase in population. It nearly tripled in 17 years, pro ceeding 1810. It more than doubled between 1810 and 1820. Extra ordinary as this ratio of increase is, it is by no means in proportion to that of many other of the western states. 30 234 LOUISIANA. No state in the union has a greater body5 of first rate land; though, nine tenths of the good alluvial district, from the delta of the Mississippi to the mouth of Red River, is either annually overflowed, or perpetually covered with shallow lakes forever steaming miasm into the atmosphere.. Were the same labor and expense, which have been bestowed in digging for gold in the gold districts of the South, applied in draining and canal- ling this vast dismal and noxious swamp, the avails of reclaimed sugar and rice lands, would not only yield a hundred times the profit, but New Orleans would become as healthy as any other town in the same latitude,. and the centre of a more productive agriculture, and possessing easie? water communications with it, than any other city in the world. The question, why the state, which has waste lands, as fertile as any in the western country, an agriculture unquestionably the richest, and un rivalled advantages of access to the sea, and of internal water communi cations, does not people faster, may be answered by the assignment of various causes. The country has universally, abroad, the reputation of being sickly, by impressions founded on -exaggerated reports, not at all warranted by facts. New Orleans has been repeatedly desolated, it is, true, by the yellow fever ; and public opinion has, probably,, identified the sickliness of the whole country with that of that city. It cannot be denied, that there are parts of this state which are intrinsically sickly; and that there is much land, and that of the richest character, in the immediate vicinity of immense marshes, lakes, and stagnant waters, the contiguity of which must necessarily be noxious to health. Neither can it be denied, that a country which has such an undue proportion- of slaves is unfavorably situated for advancing in population. Another impedi ment may be found in the difficulty of adjusting the numerous and con flicting land claims. It has thus happened, that neither the claimants, nor congress could bring them into market for want of adjustment. — Large claims to the finest portions of land in the state have not yet been adjudicated by Congress ; and purchasers have not felt secure in the titles of the claimants. A country, too, settled by opulent planters, is unfa vorably situated for increase in population. It is discouraging to a free holder, with his naked hands, or a small force, to sit down beside a planter with an hundred working hands. It is natural, that the 'petit paysan' should imagine that he sees contempt in the deportment of his wealthy neighbor towards him. But notwithstanding all these adverse circum stances, this state is making steady advances in population. Face of the country, soil, S$c. Three quarters of the state are with out an elevation, that can be properly called a hill. The pine woods generally have a surface of a very particular character, rising into fine swells, with table surfaces on the summit, and vallies from 30 to 40 feet LOUISIANA. 235 deep. But they are without any particular range, and like the waves of a high and regular sea. The alluvial soil is level, and the swamps, which are the only inundated alluvions, are dead flats. The vast prairies which constitute a large portion of the surface of the state, have, in a remarkable degree, all the distinctive aspects of prairies. To the eye they seem as level as the still surface of a lake. They are, except the quaking prairies, higher and dryer than the savannas of Florida. A range of hills commences in gentle elevations in Opelousas, rises gradually, and diverges towards the Sabine. In the vicinity of Natchitoches it preserves a distance, intermediate between the Sabine and Red River, and con tinues to increase in elevation to the western parts of the state. Seen from the Pine Hills above Natchitoches, they have in the distance, the blue outline of a range of mountains. Another line of hills, not far from Alexandria, commences on the north side of Red River, and sepa rating between the waters of that river and Dudgemony, unites with an other line of hills, that bound the alluvions of the Washita, as bluffs, gradually diverging from that river, as they pass beyond the western limits of the state. The new and remote parish taken from Natchitoches, called Claiborne, or Allen's Settlement, is a high and rolling country >— There are considerable hills beyond the Mississippi alluvions, east of that river. But, generally speaking, Louisiana is one immense plain, divided into pine woods, prairies, alluvions, swamps, and hickory and oak lands. The pine woods are generally rolling; sometimes, but not often, level. They have almost invariably a poor soil, sufficiently described in our ac count of Florida and Alabama. They possess the same character here, except, that creeks are more common, with more extensive and somewhat richer bottoms ; and there is, perhaps, a greater proportion of laurels, oaks and hickories among the pines. The greater proportion of the prairies is second rate land. Some of those west of Opelousas, and be tween Washita and Red River are even sterile. Some parts of the prai ries of Opelousas are of great fertility, and those of Attakapas still more so. As a general fact, they are more level than those of the upper coun try. A large belt of these prairies, near the gulf, is low, marshy, and in rainy weather inundated. A very considerable extent of them has a cold clayey soil, with a hard pan near the surface. In other places the soil is of inky blackness, and disposed in the hot and dry season to crack in fissures, of a size to admit a man's arm. The bottoms are generally rich, but in very different degrees. Those of the Mississippi and Red River, and the bayous connected with those streams, are more fertile and productive than the streams west of them, and between them and the Sabine. The fertility of the richer bottoms of the Mississippi and Red River is sufficiently attested by the prodigious 236 LOUISIANA. growth of the timber, the luxuriance, size and rankness of the cane, and the cotton, the tangle of vines and creepers, the astonishing size of the weeds, and the strength of vegetation in general. We have measured a fig tree, and a sumach, both ordinarily considered as shrubs, which were larger than a man's body. The richness of the articles of cultivation is sufficiently well known. The cotton on fresh lands of the richest quality grows to the size of a considerable shrub. The districts of Louisiana, which have the richest soils, are the follow ing: — 1st. The island of New Orleans. This is so denominated in geography, and correctly. Not far below Baton Rouge, a bayou, or efflux, called Manshac, or Ibberville makes out from the Mississippi, which, in its course, receives other waters, until swollen to a considerable river, it falls into Lake Maurepas. That again is connected by a narrow gorge with Lake Ponchartrain, and that by the rigolets with Lake Borgne and the Gulf. The Mississippi insulates it on the other side. Consequently, the island of New Orleans is a narrow strip of land, stretching between this range of lakes and the river. About one-third of the average width of this strip is under cultivation. The other two-thirds are swamp. Its front is the eastern bank of the Mississippi ; and its rear is this bayou and this line of lakes. The bayou Manshac, which completes the insular character of this tract, is narrow, and is seldom seen by persons descend ing the Mississippi. This tract is the finest part of that rich country, called the coast. The coast is that part of the bottom of the Mississippi, which commences with the first cultivation above the Balize, that is to say, about 40 miles below New Orleans and 150 above. This belt on each side of the river is secured by an embankment, called a levee, from 6 to 8 feet in height, and sufficiently broad, for the most part, to furnish a fine high way. The river, in ordinary inundations, would cover the greater part of this belt from two to six feet in depth. It is from one to two miles in width, and perhaps a richer tract of land of the same extent cannot be found on the globe. The levee extends something higher on the west than on the east side of the river. Above the levee on the east bank of the river are the parishes of Baton Rouge, and East and West Feliciana. The latter parish received its name from its pleasant surface of fertile hills and vallies, and its union of de sirable circumstances for a planting country. This parish presents a spectacle very uncommon in this country, hills that are covered with laur els and forest trees, that denote the richest soil. Here are some of the richest planters and best plantations in the state. Bayou Sarah, the point of shipment for this region, sends great quantities of cotton to New Orleans. Some of the plantations on this bayou have from 5 to 800 acres under cultivation, worked by a large number of hands. LOUISIANA. 237 West of the Mississippi, the Bayous Lafourche and Plaquemine, effluxes or outlets from the Mississippi, have the same conformation of banks, and the same qualities of soil with the parent stream; and, where not inundated, are equally fertile. The sugar cane thrives as well upon their banks. No inconsiderable portion of Attakapas is of great fertility, as are smaller portions of Opelousas, which is, however, more generally adapted to become a grazing country. The Teche, which meanders through Opelousas and Attakapas has generally a very fertile alluvion, the lower courses of which are embellished with 'fine plantations of sugar cane. On the Atchafalaya the lands are rich, but too generally inundated. The Courtableau, running through Opelousas, has probably as rich a soil as is to be found in that parish. Approaching Red River from Opelousas, by Bayou Boeuf, we find on that bayou a soil, which some consider the richest cotton land in Louisiana, Bayou Rouge has also a fine soil, though it is as yet principally in a state of nature. — Bayou Robert, still nearer to Red River, is of extraordinary fertility, and the cane brake along its bank is of astonishing luxuriance. Bayou Rapide, which gives name to the parish, through which it runs, is a beau tiful tract of land; and the belt on either bank is laid out along its whole course in fine cotton plantations. The bottoms of Red River are well known as possessing extraordinary fertility ; and the lower courses of this river constitute the paradise of cotton planters. The color of the soil is of a darkish red, and appears to derive its great fertility from a portion of salt intimately mixed with it, and from its peculiar friability. It derives its red colour from red oxide of iron. It is a wide and deep valley, covered, while in a state of nature, with a dark and heavy forest. Its soil has been accumulating for un known ages from the spoils of the Mexican mountains, and the vast prairies, through which it rolls in its upper courses. All the bayous of Red River, and they are numerous almost beyond computation, partake of the character of the main river. The parish of Natchitoches has its plantations on the bank of Red River, and its divisions; for the river run sin this parish for a considerable distance in three parallel divisions. A vast body of rich alluvial lands, on the river above Natchitoches, is yet covered by unadjudicated claims, or belongs to the United States. The lands on the Washita are black, like those on the Mississippi. The alluvions on the lower courses of this river furnish an admirable soil for cotton, and all productions that require the same climate. The finest lands on this river are covered by the un adjudicated claims of the Baron de Bastrop, Maison Rouge, and Winter. These claims are of great extent; and the lands, generally first rate. These are the districts in Louisiana most noted for possessing first rate 238 LOUISIANA. lands. But in this level region, wholly free from mountains, and precipi tous hills, and sterile heaths, there occur even in the pine woods and the poorest prairies, tracts, that in other parts of the United States would be called comparatively fertile Agriculture and productions. Wheat and rye do not flourish here. The culture of these grains has been attempted, and it is said with suc cess in Allen's settlement in the north-west angle of the state. But in general the stalks grow too rapidly, and lodge, before they come to matu rity. Barley and oats succeed well. — The latter are generally mowed for fodder at the latter end of April. Maize grows luxuriantly on the alluvions and rich lands. But although this fine crop has a wonderful luxuriance of growth, it is more congenial to the climates of Kentucky, Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois, or the cooler climates ofthe middle states. In the south it grows with such rapidity, and is pushed forward so fast by the soil and climate, that it does not rear a stalk of equal size and firmness, with that attained in the' former climates. — Nevertheless, fifty, sixty, and even seventy bushels to the acre are not uncommon crops. Forty-five bushels may be assumed as the medium crop of the maize lands in this state. The sweet potatoe, convulvidus batatas, in the sandy soils of this state ¦attains its utmost perfection. We have seen one, which weighed nine pounds. They' are of different species ; but all extremely" nutritive, and raised with great ease and abundance. They are the • favorite food of the blacks, and constitute an excellent nutriment for all classes. The Irish potatoe is raised with more difficulty, and is not cultivated ex cept for eating in the early part of the summer; and for some cause not yet explained, can not be preserved through the year. The usual garden vegetables are cultivated in abundance; though some, as for instance, cabbages do not grow as fine, as at the north. The •asparagus is indifferent. — Onions do not grow the first year to any size. Small onions of the preceding year are placed in the ground for setts. The pumpkin and the melon tribe flourish in this climate. All the nor thern fruits come to perfection, with the exception of apples. The apple tree covers itself with blossoms and fruit, which, before it ripens, begins to show a black speck, rots, and falls. Figs ofthe different kinds grow in the greatest abundance, and from descriptions of the tree in the east ern continent, we should suppose, that it here attains its largest size. They might be raised in great abundance for exportation. All that is necessary for raising this delicious fruit, is to put a slip of the tree in ground. It is astonishing, that such a fruit which grows almost sponta neously, is hardly ^ raised, except on a few farms, even for summer eating. LOUISIANA. 239' Below Point Coupee on the coast, on the lower courses of the Teche, Lafourche, Plaquemine, and along the whole shore of the gulf, that is to say in the region of the sugar cane, the orange tree, sweet and bitter, flourishes, and the fruit is of the finest quality. Previous to 1822 oranges. were lying under the trees, as the apples at the north. A severe frost that winter, destroyed the trees in this state quite to the ground. The roots have thrown out new trees, which are again in a bearing state. The olive would undoubtedly flourish. It is believed, that there are a few trees in bearing in the state. The cultivated vine, vitis vinifera, flourishes, and an abundance of fine fruit is offered in the markets. Wild grapes as the summer, winter, fox, muscadine and pine wood's grape abound. Berries are neither so common, nor so good, as at the north. Persimons and pawpaws and a variety of haws and wild fruit are common in the woods. It would carry us beyond our object, to describe the wild and cultivat ed flowering shrubs, which flourish in this region of flowers. The jessamine, the althea and rose class are the most common. The multi flora is a running vine, which attains an inconceivable luxuriance. ' Two or three summers only are necessary, completely to envelope a building with this grateful verdure, and these abundant flowers. China, Catalpa, and sycamore are the most common ornamental trees. The abundance of mulberry trees seems to invite the making of silk, in a climate similar to those, where it is made in the greatest quantities in the old world. Agriculture is in its infancy, and in a state of roughness adapted only to the labor of negroes ; and has for its object only to obtain the greatest amount of the staple crop. A great number of rich fruits and valuable productions, congenial to such a soil and climate, have been en tirely unattempted. Experiments, except in regard to the selection of the best kinds of cotton, and the best mode of growing it, or the kind of cane that is most productive, have not been commenced. One or two spirited individuals have recently attempted to awaken attention to the cultivation of the tea plant. Benne, which yields an oil, like that of olives, succeeds well. Indigo was formerly a prime object of attention with the planters. The cultivation has been of late in a great measure abandoned. The rice is remarkably fair, and yields abundantly. There are great extents of land, favorable for the cultivation of the upland rice; and no limits can be assigned to the amount, that might be raised ; but the grand staples being more profitable, little more is raised, than for home consumption, in a country, where an immense extent of swamps might be profitably devoted to that article. The land brings tobacco of the finest quality. That, which is cultivated in the vicinity of Natchito- 240 LOUISIANA. ches, is said to equal that of Cuba. But the culture is not deemed so profitable, as that of the great staples. The cotton, cultivated here, is an annual plant, growing in the rich lands more than six feet high, and the larger stalks of the size sf a man's arm, throwing out a number of branches, on which form large and beau tiful whitish yellow blossoms. A cotton field in flower is a most gaudy and brilliant spectacle. On the cups of the flower form balls, or coccoons, or as they are here called forms, in which grow three or four elliptical seeds, four times as large as a wheat kernel, and of an oily consistency. The cotton is the down, with which oily seeds are generally enveloped in the conservative provision of nature. The planting is from March to the middle of May, in drill rows, six feet apart. Much more is planted, than is expected to stand. It is thinned carefully, and ploughs in the form of scrapers, are used to clean out the weeds. In September the process of picking commences; and is renewed two or three times, as successive stages of forms ripen. The weather admits of this operation with comfort to the hands, until the season calls for the clearing, and burning the old stocks, in order to commence ploughing for a new crop, This is one ofthe advantages, that it is crop, which furnishes employment for the hands, during every period of the year. The cotton in the seed undergoes an operation, called ginning, by which the down is detached from the seeds, and blown away, while the seeds fall by their own weight. It is then packed in bales, which are pressed and ready for exportation. The kinds of cotton cultivated are Louisiana, green seed, or Tennes see, and recently Mexican cotton. The green seed is not of so fine a staple, but is less subject to the destructive malady, called the rot. The Mexican is both of a finer staple, yields more abundantly, and has not hitherto suffered from rot. It is gettipg into common adoption, and tne importation of seed from Tampico and Vera Cruz is becoming a consid erable business. Sea island cotton grows well on grounds, that have been exhausted by the continued cultivation of the other kinds. All the spe cies exhaust the soil ; and the seeds, which accumulate in prodigious quantities around the gins, furnish an admirable manure for the exhausted soil. The rot is a disease, from which the balls, that begin to form after flowering, moulder and fall. No series of properly conducted experi ments has been made, to ascertain the causes, or to furnish a remedy against this disease. The causes are inexplicable from any thing yet known upon the subject, In some seasons it is much severer than others, New lands are less subject to it than old; and hitherto the Mexican least of all the species. Sugar cane is a very rich and abundant article ofthe growth of Louis- ana, raised chiefly on the coast, the shore of the gulf, the bayous, Teche, LOUISIANA. 241 Lafourche, and Plaquemine, and some parts of Attakapas, south of 31°» It is propagated by laying cuttings or slips of the cane, horizontally in furrows in the latter part of February. The shoots start from eyes of the joints of the slip. When grown, it resembles the rankest broom corn, or perhaps more nearly Egyptian millet. At maturity it resembles, ex cept the spikes or tassels, that species of maize, called at the north, Caro lina corn. When it is cut for the mill, or expressing the saccharine sap, they cut off something more than a foot from the top for slips for plant ing. The rows in the rich lands are planted six foot apart. It requires the richest soil, the vegetable mould of which should be at least a foot deep; There are three or four varieties, or species, as the African, the Otaheite the West Indian, and the Ribband cane. The Otaheite grows luxuriantly, and ripens considerably earlier than the West Indian; but is said to con tain saccharine matter, in comparison with the other, only as two to three; The Ribband cane is a new and beautiful species, so called from perpen dicular and parallel stripes, that have on the stalk the appearance of rib bands. We have seen it of uncommon size and weight, and it is said to be highly charged with saccharine juice. Its grand advantage over the other kinds is, that it does not require so long a season for ripening; as either ofthe other kinds, by some weeks. It can, probably, be raised tWo degrees farther north, than any other kind, yet attempted, and after it is cut, it does not become spoiled from acidity as soon as the other spe cies. They are making trials of this cane in Opelousas, on Red river, and about Natchez. It is not unlikely, that it will naturalize to the cli mate, considerably north even of those points. Cane is understood to be productive in China, where the frost is much more severe, than in any places, where it has been attempted in this country. When the habits of plants, in undergoing the process of acclimation, are better understood, it may be, that this rich species of cultivation will be extended to points, , where it has not yet been even in contemplation. The disadvantage of the Ribband cane is that it has a harder rind, or bark, than the other kinds, and will require rollers for grinding it driven by steam power. The sugar cane is a very hardy plant, not liable to the diseases either of indigo, or cotton. It is cultivated much in the same way with maize. It ripens, according to the season, it experiences. Rains retard, and drpught accellerates its maturity. The abundance of the crop depends upon the number of the joints that ripen, before the frost, so as to have the proper saccharine juice to granulate the sugar. A slight frost favors that fermentation, which is necessary to the formation of sugar from the sap. A severe frost at once destroys the vegetation of the cane. The cane lies a short time, after it is cut, to favor this fermentation. It is then passed between two iron cylinders, by which the cane is crushed', 31 242 LOUISIANA. and the sap is forced out by expression. It flows into boilers, and the process is simply that of evaporation by boiling. The crop, while in growth, has great beauty of appearance. The sap is so rich in the stalk ofthe cane, as to have almost the gummy consistence of syrup, and sugar exists there as nearly in a concrete state, as it can be in solution. An acre properly tended will yield a hogshead of 1,200 pounds for a common crop. It was formerly a question in this state, which was the most profitable crop, this, or cotton ? From accurate tables, giving the number of hands, the amount of expenditures, and the average value of product from each, from a number of years in succession, it appears, that sugar was the most productive crop, even when cotton bore a much better price than at pres ent. The cultivation of the cane is diminishing in the islands. That of cotton seems to be every where increasing. There is a vast amount of sugar lands, not brought into cultivation. We do not as yet grow by any means enough for our own consumption. There seems to be every inducement then, to extend this cultivation in Louisiana, and it is an omen for good, that the planters over all the state are turning their at tention to this species of culture. No cultivation in our country yields so rich a harvest. — But the work is admitted to be severe for the hands, requiring, after it is commenced, to be pushed night and day. It is deemed a more severe and wearing task to work this crop, than that of cotton. It has been a general impression even in this state, where the true state ofthe case ought to be understood, that sugar could not be made to profit, unless the planter had a large force and capital, and could rear expensive houses and machinery. This im pression has hitherto deterred small planters from attempting to cultivate the cane. But it has been found by experience, that sugar can be made to profit with as small a capital, as is required for commencing a cotton plantation. Louisiana produces an average crop annually of more than 100,000 hogsheads of sugar, and five million gallons of molasses. Whatever gen eral views may be taken of the tariff, it cannot but be admitted on all hands, that the grand result of this cultivation is owing to the protecting duty on sugar; and that this individual branch of agriculture has become in some measure identified with the prosperity of the union in general and the West in particular. Such is a sketch of the agriculture of Louisiana, It is the most pro ductive, according to the number of hands employed, and acres worked, in the United States. No country, perhaps, Cuba excepted, with the same population, exports of its own growth, articles of more value than Louisiana. LOUISIANA. 243 Slaves. As this states contains a greater number of slaves, in propor tion to its population, than any other in the western country, we shall bring into one compass all the general remarks, which we shall make upon the aspect and character of slavery in the Mississippi valley. It will be seen, from the table of population, that considerably more than one half of the whole population of this state are slaves. Formerly they did not increase in this state, and required importations from abroad, to keep up the number. But, since experience and humanity have dictated more rational and humane modes of managing the sick and the children, by car rying them during the sickly months, to the same places of healthy re' tirement, to which their masters retire, they are found to increase as rapidly here, as they do elsewhere. It is well known, that under favorable circumstances, they are more prolific than the whites. Reflecting minds cannot but view with apprehension the remote consequences of this order of things. It is not among the objects of this work to discuss the moral character of slavery, or to contemplate the subject in any of its abstract bearings. We can pronounce, from what we consider a thorough knowledge of the subject, that the condition of the slaves here, the treatment, which they receive, and the character of their masters have been much misrepresent ed in the non-slave-holding states. We pretend to none, but historical knowledge of the state of things, which has existed here in past time. At present we are persuaded, there are but few of those brutal and cruel masters, which the greatest portion ofthe planters were formerly suppos ed to be. The masters now study popularity with their slaves. If there must be the odium of severity, it is thrown upon the overseer, who becomes a kind of scape goat to bear away the offences of the master. There is now no part of the slave-holding country in the south-west; where it would not be a deep stain upon the moral character to be generally reputed -a cruel master. In many plantations no punishment is inflicted except after a trial by a jury, composed ofthe fellow servants ofthe party accus ed. Festival prizes and rewards are instituted, as stimulants to exertion, and compensations for superior accomplishments of labor. They are gen erally well fed, and clothed, and that not by an arbitrary award, which might vary with the feelings of the master; but by periodical apportiorV ment like the distributed rations of soldiers, of what has been experimented to be sufficient to render them comfortable. Considerable attention-is paid to their quarters, and most of them comfortably lodged and housed. Nor are they destitute, as has been supposed, of any legal protection, coming between them and the cupidity and cruelty of their masters.--™- The ' codenoir' of Louisiana is a curious collection of statutes, drawn partly from French and Spanish law and usage, and partly from the cu> 244 LOUISIANA. toms of the islands, and usages, which have grown out of the peculiar circumstances of Louisiana, while a colony. It has the aspect, it must be admitted, of being formed rather for the advantage of the master, than the servant, for it prescribes an unlimited homage and obedience to the former. It makes a misdemeanor on his part towards his master a very different offence, from a wanton abuse of power towards the servant. But at the same time, it defines crimes, that the master can commit, in relation to the slave, and prescribes the mode of trial, and the kind and degree of punishment. It constitutes unnecessary correction, maiming, and murder, punishable offences in a master. It is very minute in pre scribing the number of hours, which the master may lawfully exact to be employed in labor, and the number of hours, which he must allow his slave for meal times and for rest. It prescribes the time and extent of his holidays. In short it settles with minuteness and detail the whole circle of relations between master and slave, defining and prescribing what the former may, and may not, exact of the latter. Yet after all these minute provisions, the slave finds the chief alleviation of his hard condition, and his best security against cruel treatment, and his most valid bond for kind and proper deportment towards him, in the increasing light, humanity and force of public opinion. That the slave is, also, in the general circumstances of his condition, as happy as this relation will admit of his being, is an unquestionable fact. That he seldom performs as much labor, or performs it as well, as a free man, proves all in regard to the value of those motives, which free dom only can supply, which can be desired. In all the better managed plantations, the mode of building the quarters is fixed. The arrange ment ofthe little village has a fashion, by which it is settled. Interest, if not humanity, [has defined the amount of food and rest, necessary for their health; and there is in a large and respectable plantation as much precision in the rules, as much exactness in the times of going to sleep, awakening, going to labor, and resting before and after meals, as in a garrison under military discipline, or in a ship of war. A bell gives all the signals. Every slave at the assigned hour in the morning, is forth coming to his labor, or his case is reported, either as one of idleness, obstinacy, or sickness, in which case he is sent to the hospital, and there he is attended by a physician, who for the most part, has a yearly salary for attending to all the sick of the plantation. The union of physical force, directed by one will, is now well understood to have a much greater effect upon the amount of labor, which a number of hands, so managed, can bring about, than the same force directed by as many wills as there are hands. Hence it happens, that while one free man, circumstances being the same, will perform more labor than one slave, one hundred LOUISIANA. 245 slaves will accomplish more on one plantation, than so many hired free men, acting at their own discretion. Hence, too, it is, that such a prodi gious quantity of cotton and sugar is made here, in proportion to the number of laboring hands. All the process of agriculture are managed by system. Every thing goes straightforward. There is no pulling down to-day the scheme of yesterday, and the whole amount of force is directed by the teaching of experience to the best result. If we could lay out of the question, the intrinsic evils ofthe case, that would be a cheering sight, which is presented by a large Louisiana plan tation. The fields are as level, and as regular in their figures, as gardens. They sometimes contain 3 or 400 acres in one enclosure; and we have seen from a dozen to twenty ploughs all making their straight furrows through a field, a mile in depth, with a regularity, which, it would be supposed, could only be obtained by a line. The plough is generally worked by a single mule, and guided by a singe hand, who cheers the long course of his furrow with a song. Rivers. East of the Mississippi fall into that river Bayou Sarah, and one or two other small streams. Into the efflux, or Bayou Manshac, or Ibberville, as it passes from the Mississippi to Lake Maurepas, fall the Amite, and some other inconsiderable streams. The Ticfah fall into Lake Maurepas. The Tangipao falls into Lake Ponchartrain, as do Chiffuncte and Bonfouca. Pearl river divides between this state and Mississippi, and falls into the rigolets, near Pearlington. None of them except Pearl River, which has been already described, have courses of more than 70 or 80 miles, and they are navigable by schooners to a con siderable distance from the lake. They rise in the state of Mississippi. Chiffuncte affords the best harbor on the lake. The effluxes on the west side of the river, in ascending, are, first, the Bayou Lafourche; next Plaquemine; and the last Atchafalaya, or as it is universally pronounced Chaffklio. Lafourche breaks out from the Mississippi at Donaldsonville, 90 miles above New Orleans, and takino- a south-east course, finds its separate channel to the gulf of Mexico, about 50 miles west of the Balize. The Plaquemine, still further up, carries out at times a great and sweeping body of water from the Mississippi. After running some distance through a very rich tract of country, it unites with the Atchafalaya in one broad stream, which, before it passes into the gulf, receives the Teche, a stream which passes through the fertile plains of Opelousas and Attakapas. The Mississippi pursues a very direct course through this state to the sea. It recently cut itself a passage across the point of the bend opposite the mouth of Red River, thereby diminishing the distance between Natchez and New Orleans 30 miles. The same thing must shortly occur 246 LOUISIANA. at Tunica Bend, both of which will reduce the water distance between these towns from 300 to 200 miles. By another 'cut off in the vicinity of the Chickasaw Bluffs, the distance has been shortened between Natchez and the mouth of the Ohio. In this way, nature and human effort com bining, this noble river in no great length of time, will be made to flow in a right line, or reach, as the Mississippi phrase is, to the gulf. At a very little distance below the mouth of Red River, the Atchafa laya breaks out from the west bank with an outlet, apparently of the same width with Red River, and it is supposed, carrying off from the Mississippi as much water, as Red River brings in. It has such a position to the bend of the Mississippi, as that immense masses of drift wood and timber, passing down that river, are swept into this outlet. This accum ulating mass soon meets with obstructions, and is jammed together into a raft, which rises and falls with the rising and falling of the Bayou. A considerable vegetation of shrubs and flowering plants has been formed on the surface of this floating timber; and a man might pass directly over this vast mass of waters, without knowing when he was crossing it. The raft is eight or ten miles in extent, and is supposed to contain a mass of more than two million cords of wood and timber. The medial width of the Bayou is little more than 200 yards. It has a winding course, traverses many points of the compass, and receives the water ofthe Mis sissippi overflow at a different place in its course. Its length, before it falls into the gulf, measuring its meanders, is nearly 200 miles, and- its comparative course 130. The Teche commences in Opelousas, receiving a great number of 6treams, that rise in the prairies. It winds through Opelousas and Atta kapas, and meets the tide at New Iberia, to which point it is navigable, the Teche having 8 feet on its bar, and 20 feet within. It flows about 45 miles further, before it is lost in the Atchafalaya, which it enters by a mouth 200 yards wide. It has a course, computing its meanderings, of ISO or 190 miles. West of the Teche are the Vermillion, Courtableau, Calcasiu, and Sabine, streams of considerable importance, beside a very great number of smaller streams, which rise, except the Sabine, in the woods on the south-western parts ofthe state, and thence emerge into the prairies, and unite either with the streams above named, or fall into the lakes, which skirt all this front of the state. Indeed, the whole boundary of Opelousas and Attakapas on the gulf, is a chain of lakes, some larger, and some smaller, and almost innumerable. The margin ofthe sea shore, for some distance back into the country, is a dead level, and below the tides, which are created by a strong south wind, in which case the sea throws its waters over great extents of these marshy plains. When the rivers reach the LOUISIANA. 247 lakes and the vicinity of the gulf, they communicate with the lakes by many mouths, and by each other with numberless lateral communications; so that the connections of the lakes and the streams form an immense tis sue of net work, and the numbers of boatable communications are only known to the inhabitants in their vicinity, who have been long, and inti mately acquainted with the country. We may remark in'passing, that the soil on the Atchafalaya is red like that of Red River. From the width of the Bayou, and its vicinity, we in fer, that it was once the channel of Red River, by which that river pursued its own independent course to the gulf, without mingling iU waters with those of the Mississippi. The soil on the banks of the Teche is red, and shows, also, that ii once had some connection with Red River. Its alluvions have many points of resemblance to those of that river. Like them, these also, are of exhaustless fertily. They are settled, in their whole extent, until they become so low as to be subject to inundation. Except the coast above New Orleans, it presents the largest and compactest settlement in the state. It is remarked of this stream, that it presents manifest indica tions of having once been the channel of a much greater volume of water, than it carries at present. The channel grows broader and deeper beyond the Fusilier, for an hundred miles. At the former place it is 50 yards wide, and at low water three feet deep. When it enters the Atcha falaya, its channel is 100 yards wide, and it has twenty feet water. Between the two points it has received no water to account for this en largement. Bayou Boeuf and Cocodri, rising near Red River in the Pine Hills, wind through a very fertile alluvion, and unite in Opelousas, to form the Courtableau, which waters the richest part of Opelousas. Vermillion, Mermentau, and Courtableau all rise near each other, in level table lands near the centre of Opelousas. Each of them have valuable lands lying on their banks. We can do no more, in conformity with our limits, than give same of the names ofthe more conspicuous bayous, that go to form those which we have mentioned, and which wind in different directions through the vast prairies, between the Atchafalaya and the Sabine. In this distance we cross the Derbane, Waushka, Tensa, Fusilier, Carrion, Cocodri Bayou Cane, Bayou Mellet, Petit Anse, Bayou Sale, Bayou Nezpique, Plaque mine, Brule, Queue Tortue, Bayou Chicot, Bayou Grand Louis, Lacasine, Carrion Crow, and a great number of streams of less importance, that are properly streams of the prairies. Below the open prairies, there are a number of Bayous, that belong to the Atchafalaya, and the Plaquemine; such as the Gros Tete, Bayon 248 LOUISIANA. Maringouin, Bayou Mansir, an efflux from the Mississippi, Grand and Petit Caillou, Bayou Peau de Chevruill, Bayou Large, and many others. Near a singular hill between Opelousas and Avoyelles rise the Bayous Rouge and Petite Prairie. They run through a rich soil, and au im mensely deep and heavy forest. Bayou Rouge is a circular hill, rising from a great extent of adjacent level and swampy lands, and which, but for its extent might be taken for an Indian mound. The small and wretched remains ofthe Tunica tribe of Indians reside here. This tribe at a distant period, was desolated by a massacre, perpetrated on them by the Natchez Indians. Here, intermediate between Red River and the gulf, and isolated from savage and social man, intercourse with whom has been alike ruinous to them, by inundated swamps and deep and pathless forests, they dwell in solitude. Before we proceed to describe the two great rivers of Louisiana, Red River and the Washita, whose tracts lead us into the interior, we propose to name the principal lakes of Louisiana, as the larger of them either communicates directly with the gulf, or lie in its vicinity. Lake Maure pas, Ponchartrain, and Borgne form an extended chain east ofthe Missis sippi. Lake Maurepas is of a circular form, and is comparatively small. It communicates with lake Ponchartrain by a narrow pass. Lake Pon chartrain is 40 miles long and 28 wide. It communicates by two narrow passes, called rigolets, with lake Borgne, which is 35 miles long and 12 wide. These lakes, though navigated by a great number of small vessels, principally schooners, are shallow, except in a channel through their centre. Lake Borgne has seldom more than six feet water, except in this channel. When the wind rises, these shallow lakes are subject to what is called a ground swell, and their navigation is dangerous. The lakes west of the Mississippi, along the shores of the gulf, and between Red River and Washita, are too numerous for us to enumerate. A complete catalogue, embracing them all, large and small, would swell the number to hundreds. The chief of them are Baralaria, Attaka pas, Prune, Salt Water, Green, Grand, Mermentau, Calcasiu, and Sabine on the gulf, ; nd Long, Catahoola, Iatt, Saline, Natchitoches, Spanish, Black, Bistineau, Bodau, Pisquota, and many smaller ones between Washita and Red River, and Red River and the Sabine; and Concordia, Homochitto, and Providence lakes belonging to the Mississippi. West of that river are also the smaller lakes, Chittimaches, Natchez, Des Islets, Levy, Little Lake, Palourd, Quacha, Ronde, St. John, and St. Joseph. Some of these lakes are many miles in extent, and others are little larger than the collection of water, called ponds at the north. That some of them are of recent origin is proved by the fact, that in the midst of them are vast extents of water, out of which rise thousands LOUISIANA. 249 of deep cypress trees, still standing erect, where boats pass, and fish are taken in the driest seasons. As you approach these lakes, which abound in fish, through the deep forests, which skirt them, you are warned of your approach to them by observing the trees shrouded in a deeper drapery of long moss. They have generally on their shores a skirt of rich soil, resembling an alluvion. Sabine. This river rises in Texas, in latitude 32° 30' and flows south wardly, entering this state at its south-west angle, in the parish of Natch itoches. Thence it forms the dividing line between Louisiana and the states of Mexico. It has a course of 400 miles; and in high stages of its waters, when the obstructions of small timber rafts are cleared out of it, is susceptible of good steam boat navigation, as high as the great crossing on the road from Natchitoches to the Spanish country. In low stages of water it has but four feet water over the bar at its mouth. — Like the other rivers of this state, it broadens into a wide lake before it enters the gulf. It enters it through a vast and solitary prairie of un common sterility, uncheered by the distant view of vessels, or^any traces of social existence. A few wandering savages are sometimes seen diminished to moving atoms. The wild deer browses unmolested; and the sea fowls scream unterrified by the report of the gun. The prairie is as illimitable by the eye, as the ocean, on which it borders. — Its wide alluvion contains lands only of second rate quality. It waters the most hilly parts of the state. Among those hills there are frequent streams, some lakes and ponds, and oftentimes small strips of good second rate land. This stream derives its chief consequence from its position, as the line of separation between the United States and Mexico. Washita. This large river rises in the Masserne mountains, in the Territory of Arkansas, in latitude 34°. North Fork, Washita Fork, and South Fork unite to form the main river, which, after flowing something more than 100 miles, receives from the north, Hot Spring Fork. Eight leagues below, it receives the Cado, and the same distance lower down, the Little Missouri. The Saline rises at no great distance from the Hot Springs, and after a winding course of 150 miles, flows into the Washita just above the limits of this state. The Bayou Barthelemy rises ten leagues south of the Sabine, and joins the Washita a league above Fort Miro. The Chaudron comes in froni the south, and the Boeuf and the* Macon having its head waters in Providence lake, from the north. The latter, with some small streams united to it, forms the Tensa. On the other side comes in Catahoola, or Little River. Of this river, the Dugdemony is a principal branch. Little River, in its course, passes through Catahoola lake, and uniting with the Tensa in a deep swampy 32 250 LOUISIANA. forest, forms Black River, which, soon after the junction, mixes its waten with Red River. The soil of the alluvions of Washita, in its lower courses, is black and extremely fertile. Its upper waters run through a mountainous region the description of which naturally falls under the head of Arkansas Territory. The lower waters of this river rise in the Pine Hills, anc have on their banks second rate land, until a short distance from theii union with the main river, when the soil becomes of the same qualitj with that of the main river. On the alluvions and bayous are already i great number of fine cotton plantations; and there is an extent of rich unoccupied cotton lands for a much greater number still. The natura productions of this river, and its waters in this state, are considered nc way inferior to those of the best parts of the Mississippi, and are tht same, with the exception of the sugar cane, which is not known to have been attempted on its waters. Red River. This is one of the most considerable tributaries of the Mississippi. Its width of channel, in its lower courses, does by no means correspond to its length of course, or the immense mass of waters, which it rolls to its parent stream. But in high waters, when it has arrived within 3 or 400 miles of that river, it is often divided into two or three parallel channels, and a line of bayous and lakes connected with it, takes up its superabundant waters, and they are a considerable time in filling; and prevent the river from displaying its breadth and amount of waters, as it does in the high lands 500 miles above, where the whole river flows through high lands in one broad stream. It takes its rise in a chain of hills near Santa Fe, in New Mexico, called, we know not by what authority, the Caous Mountains. In its upper courses it receives Blue River, and False Washita. It winds through a region of prairies, on which feed droves of buffaloes, cattle, and wild horses. In these regions it receives a great many considerable tributaries, the names of which have not yet been given. Between the Pawnee and the state of Louisiana it receives Kimichie, Vasseux, and Little River, from the north. From the south enter the Bois d'Arc, and Little River of the south. The Bodcau, Dacheet^Black Lake, and Saline Rivers enter Red River after it enters Louisiana. There are fine tracts of land on the Dacheet and Saline. — Wells are sunk in a salt plain, near the Saline, from which considerable quantities of salt are made. Black Lake River is a considerable stream, on the banks of which, among the hills, are found great varieties of petrifactions of every sort. Lake Bistineau communicates with Red River. Petrifactions abound on its shores, and this remote and romantic sheet of water has some of the most delightful scenery on its shores. LOUISIANA. 251 Through the greater amount of its course, Red River winds through immense prairies of a red soil covered with grass and vines, that bear delicious grapes. On its banks is the favorite range of the buffaloe, and other game, peculiar to the vast western oceans of prairies. About thirty leagues above Natchitoches, commences the Raft, which is nothing more than an broad swampy expansion of the alluvion of the river to the width of 20 or 30 miles. The river, spreading here into a vast number of channels, frequently shallow of course, has been for ages clogging with a compact mass of timber, and fallen trees wafted from the upper regions. Between these masses the river has a channel, sometimes lost in a lake; and found by following the outlet of that lake back to the parent channel. There is no stage of the water, in which a keel boat with an experienced pilot may not make its way through the raft. We have seen a considerable steam boat, which was built above the raft, and floated through it in an unfinished state. The river is blocked up by this immense mass of timber for a length, on its meanders, of between 60 and 70 miles. There are places where the water can be seen in motion under the logs. In other places, the whole width of the river may be crossed on horseback, and boats only make their way, in passing these places, by following the inlet of a lake, and coasting it to its outlet, and thus finding the channel again. Weeds, flowering shrubs, and Small willows have taken root upon the surface of this timber, and flourish above the waters. But in all these places the courses of the river, its outline, and its bends are distinctly marked by a margin of forest trees, which grow here on the banks in the same manner, as they do where the channel is open. It is an impediment of incalculable injury to the navigation of this noble river, and the immense extent of fine country above it. There is, probably, no part of the United States where the unoccupied lands have higher claims, from soil, climate, intermixture of prairies and timbered lands, position, and every inducement to population, than the country between the Raft and Kimichie. This country would be settled with greater rapidity, were it not for the obstruction which this raft opposes to the navigation of the river. The state has made an effort to have it removed. Accurate surveys of it have been made, and the General Government has made an appropriation for this purpose. The river above the Raft becomes broad, deep, and navigable for steam boats in moderate stages of the water 1,000 miles towards the mountains. Below the Raft, as we have remarked, the river divides itself into many channels, and fills such a number of bayous and lakes, that lie parallel to the river, that the bare enumeration of their names would carry us beyond 252 LOUISIANA. our object. The valley of this very interesting river has a width of three or four miles, as high as the Kimichie, or, as it is commonly called Kiamesia, nearly a thousand miles from its mouth, following its meanders. It broadens, as it slopes towards the Mississippi, and has, for a long distance from its mouth, a valley from six to eighteen miles in width. Of all the broad and fertile alluvions of the Mississippi streams, no one exceeds this. It compares in many more points with the famous Nile, than the Mississippi, to which that river has so often been likened. — . Cotton is at present the staple article of the growth of its lower course. Sugar cane is at this time in an extensive scale of experiment, and will, probably, hereafter be raised in abundance; and the broad and frtile plains of this river as far as Natchitoches, will be converted into sugar plantations. The alluvions of Rapide, Coteille, Boeuf, Robert, Rigolet Bon Dieu, Aux Cannes, and the other waters of the lower parts of the river, in fact of all its waters, as far as 32°, seem to be peculiarly fitted for this Cultivation , This valley spreads from east to west, instead of north and south, like the Mississippi. The immense masses of cold water which that river brings down from the northern regions, must sensibly affect the temperature of the air on its banks. In descending from Red River to New Orleans, we have observed, that vegetation in the spring was more than% week in advance of that on the Mississppi, although farther to the south. We believe, that cane will thrive as well on this river in 31°, as it does on the Mississippi in 30°. All the chief streams of the river have the same soil and character with the main river. Indeed the lands on Bayou Rapide, Robert, and Boeuf, are supposed to be richer than those of the main river. It is considered the best land for cotton in the United States. It is of a reddish tinge, mellow, friable, slightly impreg nated with salt, and brings forward in great luxuriance all the vegetation, that is proper to its climate. Its indigo and tobacco are considered the best in Louisiana. It is deemed unnecessary to enumerate the trees, shrubs and vines, that are common to the valley of this river and the Washita. We have already included them in our general remarks upon the trees of the western country. We shall only remark, that the greater part, which belong properly to the northern and middle regions of the country, are also found here. We except the chesnut, although the chincapin, a species of the chesnut, grows here. It wants the orange and the live oak of the more southern parts of the state. The laurel tribe is very abundant, as are the oaks and hickories. In the eastern division of Opelousas, forty different species of trees have been found growing within the space of a few miles. The live oak seems to indicate^thataswe advance west in the LOUISIANA. 253 same parallel, the temperature diminishes. In the western parts of the state it retires to the south, and is no where found so far north as the vicinity of Mobile. Islands. East of the Mississippi, and fronting this state, there are a number of islands, along the shore of the gulf, the largest of which is called Chandeleur. They are all small, covered with pine and sand heaps. Some of them are inhabited, and rendered fertile by the industry of their owners. Those that lie off the shore of Lake Borgne are considered uncommonly healthy ; and some of the inhabitants survive to extreme old age. West of the Mississippi, the principal islands along the gulf shore are Barataria, the noted resort of Lafitte's piratical squadron, Thomas', La Croix, and Ascension Islands. The soil of these islands is generally of the richest character. They are covered with a dense forest of live oaks and other trees, and abound in deer, turkeys, and other game. Millions of sea fowls, at the proper seasons, frequent the inlets and bays contiguous to them, and oysters and fish are in the greatest abundance, and of the most excellent quality. Thomas' Island is acquiring reputation as a resort for health. From the purity of the air of the gulf, and the cool breeze of the trade winds, and the opportunities of sea bathing, and the refreshing verdure of the island, it would be a delightful summer residence, were it not for the annoyance of its myriads of musquitos. As it is, it is a charming place in which to pass the winter. These islands have come in demand, since the recent discovery, that their soil and climate are peculiarly favorable to the cultivation of the sugar cane. They will soon be covered with that kind of cultivation. Although there are extensive marshes between them and the high grounds of Attakapas, yet as these marshes are situated north ofthe islands, and as the summer winds blow almost invariably from the south, they have all the chances for being salubrious, that they would have, if they were wholly removed from marshes. Thomas' island is connected with the main land by- a cause way. There is an astonishing peculiarity apper taining to this, and most of the islands along this shorei Rising from the sea in the midst of a marsh, skirted by an immense prairie, as level almost as the gulf, and elevated but a few feet above its surface, the islands rise like bluff hills, and have an elevation rated differently from twenty to one hundred feet above the sea, and above the prairies in the vicinity. The singularity of the appearance, which they present from this circumstance, can only be readily conceived by one, who has seen the country. To find the cause of this elevation, and to account for it on geological prin ciples, has furnished new employment for geologists. 254 LOUISIANA. Beside the uea islands, there are many lake and marsh islands on this shore, some of them of considerable extent. Sicily Island, between Ca tahoola and Natchez is not only a body of fine soil, but from its position and appearance, presents an aspect of great interest. In the midst of a vast swamp, and insulated by marshes and bayous, and in the season of high waters by the overflow of the Mississippi, a large body ofthe richest alluvial land, entirely above the highest floods, rises like a glacis to bluffs of pine woods, and we see their ever verdant tops waving above the vast surrounding morass. On this island are some of the best planta tions in the parish of Catahoola. Bays. We have seen that the shores of the gulf are generally low. They are especially so along the front of this state. Vast extents of marsh and trembling prairie interpose between the sea and the cultivable lands. The lakes, inlets and sounds are connected by an inextricable tissue of communications and passes accessible by vessels and baycraft, are impossible to be known except by pilots, perfectly acquainted with the waters. Hence the security afforded to small piratical vessels, command ed by men, who could guide them by sinuous and narrow channels, where none, but the most experienced pilots could follow them. The shore is indented by numberless small bays, very few of them affording sufficient water to shelter vessels. Berwick's Bay is the only one, that has any considerable extent. Prairies. A very great proportion ofthe surface, of this state is covered with prairies. Almost all these prairies are connected, and form, like the waters of the Mississippi, a family, through which the connection of of all the branches may be traced. The prairies, that are included un der the general name of Attakapas, are the first, that occur west of the Mississippi. The parish of Attakapas is situated in these prairies. The name implies ' man eater? in the language of the savages, who formerly inhabited it, and who are reported to have been cannibals. It is an im mense plain of grass, spreading from the Atchafalaya on the north to the gulf on the south. Being open to the gulf, it is generally fanned by the refreshing breezes of that sea. Its aspect of extreme fertility, its bound less plain of grass, its cheering views, its dim verdant outline, mingling with the blue of the sky, white houses seen in the distance, innu merable cattle and horses grazing on the plain, or reposing here and there under the shade of its wooded points have an indescribable pleasant ness to the traveller, who has been toiling on his way through the tangle, the swamps, and along stagnant lakes, and the dark and deep forest of the Mississippi bottom. All at once he leaves the stifling air, the musquitoes, the rank cane, the annoying nettles, and the dark brown LOUISIANA. 255 •shade, and emerges in this noble and cheerful plain, and feels the cool and salubrious breeze of the gulf. At first he finds it almost painful to dilate that vision, which has so long been confined in the forest, to the contemplation of the boundless prospect, before him. He sees, spread ¦out under his eye, an immense tract of beautiful country, containing in 1820, more than 1*2,000 people, all subsisting by agriculture. Advancing west, he passes from this to Opelousas prairie, still larger than the other, and computed to contain nearly 8,000 square miles. It is divided by bayous, wooded grounds, points and bends, and other natural boundaries, into a number of prairies, which have separate names and marks of distinction. Taken in its whole extent, it is bounded by the Attakapas prairie on the east, pine woods and hills on the north, the Sabine on the west, and the gulf on the south. The soil, though in many •places very fertile, is in general less so, than the former. It atones for that deficiency by being more salubrious, being generally deemed the healthiest region in the state. There are here very considerable cotton plantations, and some of indigo; and the parish, which bears its name, is one of the most populous in the state. The people of the former are devoted to the growth of the sugar cane. This is the centre of the land of shepherds. The greater number of the people are chiefly devoted to that employment, and they number their cattle by thousands. Bellevue prairie is partly in Opelousas, partly in Attakapas. It affords, as its name imports, a delightful prospect. It is watered on its western limits by Bayou Queue Tortue, Plaquemine Brule, Bayou Melet, Prairie Grand Chevruil, Laurent, Alabama, Wikoffs', Le Melles', Avoyelles', Merom, or Marom Grand prairie. Calcasiu and Sabine prairies are names, that designate the different forms, shapes and openings of this continuous line of prairies, as it stretches along the settlements from the Plaquemine to the Sabine. Some of them, as Opelousas, are of immense extent. That of the Sabine is boundless to the vision. Calcasiu is seventy miles long by twenty wide. They are generally so level, as to strike the eye as a perfect plain. They have, however, slight swells and declinations, sufficient to carry the water from them. Though after long rains they are extremely wet, and immense tracts are covered with water. They have a gentle and imperceptible slope towards the gulf, and generally terminate, before they Teach the shore, in wet marshes, into which, when the south wind blows, the sea is driven. These marshes are covered with a luxuriant growth of tall, reedy grass, called cane grass. In various parts of these prairies, there are islands of timbered lands. They generally have an ap pearance of such regularity and beauty, that a stranger is with difficulty 256 LOUISIANA. convinced, that they are not clumps of trees, planted out in circular, square, or triangular forms for the beauty of their appearance. It would be impossible to convey to one, who has not felt it, an idea of the effect produced by one of these circular clumps of trees, seeming a kind of tower of verdure, rising from an ocean of grass. Wherever a bayou, or a stream crosses the prairie, it is marked with a fringe of timber, which strikes the eye of an observer, like the lines of trees in landscape painting. At the points of these prairies, and wherever the streams and bayous cross tiiem, the soil is rich. But they become of a thinner and more sterile soil, as we advance towards the Sabine. Attakapas is the first and most fertile, and that ofthe Sabine the last and the most sterile. On the skirts even of the poorer prairies, near water courses and abundant winter range, there is a sparse population quite to the Sabine. The situations are generally selected with a view to their being favorable for the raising of cattle. There are a few cotton plantations beyond Opelousas prairie. But most of the people subsist by raising cattle and horses. Some years since, three men of this region numbered above 15,000 head of horned cattle, and 2,000 horses and mules. Some of the situations on these lonely, but delightful prairies, have been selected with such refer ence to beauty and prospect, that we question if any in Arcadia surpass ed them. They raise sheep, the mutton of which is excellent; but the wool coarse. Many of the horses are of the Andalusian and Numidian breed; and the cattle sleek, slender, elegantly formed, and spirited in their movements. They are driven to New Orleans for a market. Many of the inhabitants are French, clad in leather, abounding with milk and honey, often opulent, but clinging to the simplicity of pastoral life from habit and inclination. The traveller looks round upon thousands of cattle, and a rustic abundance of every thing, appertaining to a shepherd's life; and is welcomed with a genuine hospitality, accompanied with French urbanity. It has been observed, that in advancing towards these_ sequestered re gions the traveller from New Orleans observes a decrease of luxury and refinement, corresponding to his advance on his journey, evidencing a similitude of inverted history. He travels through all the different stages of refinement, from the luxury of that showy and expensive city, to the mansions ofthe opulent and rural planters of Attakapas, the petits paysans beyond, and the Arcadian habitations of the French planters near the Sabine. Avoyelles prairie has a very narrow front on Red river, is rich and alluvial in point of soil, and of moderate extent, being seldom more than LOUISIANA. 257 three or four miles wide. It runs back from Red river a considerable distance, and constitutes the parish, the name of which it bears. It is in habited by cotton planters and people who subsist by raising cattle. They are principally French. Catahoola prairie, on Catahoola or Little river and the Washita has in many respects a resemblance to that of Avoyelles. This prairie, togeuV er with Sicily island, constitutes the chief part of the parish of Catahoola. There are also, very extensive prairies between Washita and Red river. They spread in a line, which meanders, like the course of the rivers, through the wooded country, until they connect themselves with the im mense grassy plains on the upper courses of these rivers. They are generally second or third rate land, for the most part uninhabited, and many of them as yet without a name. Three new parishes have been recently created by the legislature. The parish of Plaquemine is situated north of lake Borgne, west of New Or leans, and is bounded on the southeast by the gulf of Mexico. The greater part of its surface is swampy. It produces all the articles of cul ture in Louisiana; but sugar is the staple. The parish of Orleans includes the city. Chef Menteur, Rigolets, Bayou Bienvenu, Bayou Gentilly and Bayou St. Johns, are all in this parish, and are famous in the history of the late war. Lake Ponchartrain, lake Borgne,Barartaria bay in the Gulf of Mexico, Caminda bay, lake Des islets, lake Rond, Little lake and Quacha lake are in the limits of this parish. Sugar, and after that, cotton are the staples. Along the coast there are groves of orange trees, and the fig is extensively raised. In this parish are the greater part of the defences, that are intended to fortify the city of New Orleans against the attack of a foreign foe. The chief fortifications are on those points, by which the British approached the city during the late war. Extensive fortifications of brick have been erected at Petits Coquil- les, Chief Menteur and Bayou Bienvenu, the two former guarding the passes of the Rigolets, between lake Borgne and lake Ponchartrain, and the latter the approach from lake Borgne towards New Orleans. A great work, to mount 120 cannon is erected at Plaquemine on the Mississippi. These works, fall not far short of the expense of two million dollars. Fort St. Johns, at the entrance ofthe Bayou St. Johns into lake Ponchartrain, is well situated for the defence of the pass. It is an ancient establishment of the former regime. The guns are of vast calibre; but they appear to be scaled, and the walls have a ruinous aspect. These points of defence have been selected with great judgment, and have been fortified with so much care, that it is supposed no enemy could ever again approach the city by the same passes, through which it was approached by the British, in the past war. New Orleans, the key of the Mississippi valley, and the depot of its agriculture and commerce, is 33 258 LOUISIANA. already a city of immense importance, and is every year becoming more so. This city has strong natural defences, in its position and its climate. It is now strongly defended by artificial fortifications. But, after all,'the best defence of this, and of all other cities, is the vigilant and patriotic energy ofthe masses of free men, who can now by steam boats be brought down to its defence in a few days from the remotest points of the west. It is not, to be forgotten, that by the same conveyance, an enemy might also be brought against it. Of the other parishes we may remark in general, that as far up the Mis sissippi, as the parish of Baton Rouge on the east side, and Point Coupee on the west, the cultivation of sugar cane is the chief pursuit. The same may be said of Plaquemine, Lafourche and Attakapas. The staple article ofthe western parishes beyond is cotton. — The parishes north of lake Ponchartrain, which formerly made a part of Florida, with the ex ception of some few tracts, and the alluvions of Pearl river and Bogue Chitto, have a sterile soil. They raise large flocks of cattle, and send great quantities of lumber to New Orleans, together with pitch, tar, tur pentine, and charcoal. They burn great quantities of lime from the beds of shells, which cover whole tracts near the lakes; and they send sand from the beaches of the lakes, for covering the pavements of New Orleans. They have, also, for some years past, manufactured bricks to a great amount, and transported them across the lake. They have a great number of schooners, that ply on the lakes in this and other employments. The people, engaged in this extensive business, find the heavy tolls demanded on the canal a great impediment in the way of the profit of this trade. The country, generally, is covered with open pine woods, and has small tracts of second rate land interspersed among them. It is valuable, from its inexhaustible supplies of timber, and wood for the New Or leans market. Chief Towns. New Orleans, the commercial capital of the state, and the. emporium of western commerce, is situated on the east shore of the Mississippi in a bend so deep and sinuous, that the sun rises to the inhabitants ofthe city from the opposite shore, in north latitude 29° 57 ; and in 90° 8' west longitude from Greenwich; and in 13° 9' from Wash ington, 105 miles by the meanders of the river from the Balize, and 90 miles in a direct line; not far from 1,000 miles below the mouth ofthe Ohio; and a little more than 1,200 below the mouth of the Missouri. It is nearly intermediate between Boston and Mexico, although the pas sage from New Orleans to Vera Cruz is much shorter by sea, than to Boston. It consists of the old city, propeily so called, which is built in the form of a parallelogram, of which the longer sides are 1,320 yards in length, and the shorter, or the depth of the city towards the swamp, 700 LOUISIANA. 259 yards. Above the city are the suburbs St. Mary, and Annunciation. Below the city are the suburbs Marigny, Daunois, and Declouif. These are called Fauxbourgs. Between the city and the Bnyou St. John are the villages St. Claude and St. Johnsburg. Whoever will look at its position on the map, will see at once its unrivalled advantages of position, for a commercial capital. Accessible quickly, and at all times by large ships from the sea, its long distance above it, and the sinuosities of the river give it uncommon capabilities of defence from foreign annoyance. It has probably twice as much extent of boat navigation above it, as any other city on the globe. Taking the length of all the tributaries of the Mississippi, that are navigable, and actually navigated by steam boats, it is not extravagant to say, that the sum would exceed 20,000 miles; and these waters penetrate the most fertile soils, and pass through the pleas- antest climates. Its advantages of communication with the country, immediately adjacent to it, have been overlooked, in comparison with those of its relation to the upper country. But even in these respects it is unrivalled. By the basin of the canal, and the Bayou St. John it commu nicates with lake Ponchartrain, and the connected lakes ; with the oppo site Florida shore, with Mobile, Pensacola, and the whole gulf shore, east and west. Not a few vessels, clear from the basin for the Atlantic and Mexican ports. The basin is scarcely distant a quarter of a mile from the ship landing on the Mississippi. A person on the basin wharf can see the masts ofthe vessels, lying on the shore of the levee, and yet a vessel sailing from the Basin, would have to sail through the lakes along the gulf shore, and up the Mississippi, some hundreds of miles, to arrive at so little distance from her former position. Even the commerce and ship ping of the basin would be sufficient for the support of a considerable city. There is an incorporation, to connect the lake with the Mississippi by a canal, directly from the one to the other. A most necessary and impor tant canal is, also contemplated, for connecting Attakapas with the city. Nature has almost completed the line of communication. At present the Bayous Plaquemine and Lafourche furnish that communication. Although steam boats run between Opelousas and Attakapas by these routes and the Teche, yet the mouths of these Bayous are liable to be choaked with timber, and the navigation is generally attended with some difficulty, and is moreover circuitous. There are so many communica tions by water between New Orleans and the lower parts Of Louisiana, accessible by the smaller boats, that all of them are only known to people, who have been in habits for a long time, of exploring them, for the sake of finding new and shorter routes to their destination. Viewed from the harbor on a sunny day, no city offers a more striking panoramic view. It envelopes the beholder something in the form of a 260 LOUISIANA. crescent. An area of many acres covered with all the grotesque variety of flat boats, keel boats, and water crafts of every description, that have floated from all points of the valley above, lines the upper part of the shore. Steam boats rounding to, or sweeping away cast their long hori zontal streams of smoke behind them. Sloops, schooners, brigs, and ships occupy the wharves, arranged below each other, in the order of their size, showing a forest of masts. The foreign aspect of the stuccoed houses in the city proper, the massive buildings of the Fauxbourg St, Mary, the bustle and movement on every side, all seen at one view in the bright coloring of the brilliant sun and sky of the climate, present a splendid spectacle. The wooden buildings, of which the city was formerly in a great mea sure composed, have given place to buildings of brick. The city, prop erly so called, and the Fauxbourg St. Mary are compactly, and substan^ tially built. In the city, the French and Spanish styles of building pre dominate. The houses are stuccoed externally, and this stucco, of a white or yellow color, strikes the eye more pleasantly, than the dull and sombre red of brick. There can be no question, but the American mode of building is more commodious, solid, and durable; but the latter mode has the preference, in its general effect upon the eye. To an American viewing them for the first time, there is something fantastic and unique in the appearance of the city streets, which wears a resem blance to European French and Spanish towns, rather than American, The Fauxbourg St. Mary, and many other parts of the city are built after the American fashion, and have nothing in their appearance, different from an Atlantic town. The city contains six complete squares; each square having a front of 319 feet in length. Each square is divided into 12 lots. Few of the streets, except Canal street, are more than 40 feet wide. The names of the principal streets are Levee, Cbartres, Royal, Burgundy, Dauphine, Toulouse, &c. The public buildings are the Town House, at the north west corner of Chartres and St. Peter's streets; the Hospital, standing in the suburb St. Mary, opposite the square, between Dauphine and Bur gundy streets ; the Cathedral church of St. Louis, in front of Orleans street, upon Chartres street ; the Convent of Ursuline nuns, upon Ursuline street, between Levee and Chartres streets; the Barracks, upon Garrison and Levee streets; the Custom House, in front of the square, between Canal and Levee streets; the Market House, upon the Levee, in front of the square, between St. Anne and Du Maine streets; Orleans Bank, upon Conti, between Chartres and Royal streets; Louisiana Bank, upon Royal, between Conti and St. Louis streets ; Planter's Bank, south-west corner of Conti and Royal streets; Government House, north-west LOUISIANA. 261 corner of Levee and Toulouse streets; District Court of the United States, between Du Maine and Phillippe streets ; and (he Water Works on Levee street, in front of the square, between Ursuline and St. Philip streets. A very large and splendid building is fitted up for the State Bank. The French Theatre is in the city and the American in the Fauxbourg'St. Mary. The Presbyterian church is also in this Fauxbourg. The Cathedral stands at the head of a spacious square, 400 feet [from the river. The building is of brick, extending 90 feet on the street, and 120 back of it. The roof is covered, as are most of the French and Spanish houses, with hollow tile, and is supported by ten plastered brick columns. It has four towers, of which one contains two bells. It has an organ, and is finished within with great massiveness and simplicity. It is an imposing fabric, and the interior seems calculated to excite religious feeling. Under its stone pavements are deposited the illustrious dead. In niches and recesses are the figures of the saints, in their ap propriate dress, and with those pale and unearthly countenances, which are so much in keeping with the common ideas entertained of them. — The walls are so thick, that though in the very centre of business, you hear only a confused whisper within, and are almost as still as in the centre of a forest. You go but a few paces from the crowds that are pressing along Levee street, and from the rattle of carriages that are stationed near this place, and you find yourself in a kind of vaulted apartment, and in perfect stillness. The tapers are burning, and some few are always kneeling within in silent prayer. Images of death, of the invisible world, and of eternity, surround you. The dead sleep under your feet. You are in the midst of life, and yet there reigns here a per petual tranquility. A new Catholic church has been recently erected. The Presbyterian church is of brick, and is a very large and handsome building. The Episcopal church is small, but light and neat in its struc ture. The Mariner's church is a respectable building, not yet completed. The prison and the French theatre are very large, and externally disagree able buildings, though the coup d?a,il of the view, in the interior of the French theatre is very brilliant. The American theatre, in the Fauxbourg St. Mary, is a neat and commodious building. The Charity Hospital, though not a very beautiful building, has a moral beauty of the highest order. It is, probably! one of the most efficient and useful charities in the country. New Orleans is exposed to greater varieties of human misery, vice, disease, and want, than any other American town. Here misery and disease find a home, clean apartments, faithful nursing, and excellent medical attendance. Under this roof more miserable objects have been sheltered, more have been dismissed cured, and more have been carried to their long home, than from any other hospital among us. 262 LOUISIANA. The College is a respectable building, and has had ample endowments - but has done little as yet for the literature of the country. There is a convent of Ursuline nuns, who receive day scholars and boarders for the various branches of rudimental education. The Female Orphan Asylum is a most interesting charity, dating its efficient operations from the benevolent donations of the late Mr. Poydras. It has commonly 70 or 80 destitute female children, under sober and discreet instructresses, all plainly and neatly clad, and constantly occupied, either in acquiring the rudiments of education, or of needle work. They are dressed in plain uniforms, and worship part of the Sabbath day in the Catholic, and part in the Protestant church. An institution of a similar character ' for boys, and endowed also by the benevolent Poydras, is now in operation. There are a number of other charitable institutions in this city of respectable character ; and when the epidemic, yellow fever, visits it, the manner in which the inhabitants bestow charity, nursing, shelter, and medical aid to the sick is worthy of all praise. A Library, for the use of the poorer reading young men of the city, has been instituted, and in the extent of her efficient and useful charities, New Orleans is not far behind her Atlantic sisters. There are fewer churches in the city, than in any other town of the same size in the United States. There are but three Catholic places of worship, one Presbyterian, one Episcopalian, a Mariners church, a Baptist and a Methodist place ofworship. Very littk^observance of the Sabbath, as northern people estimate it, is seen in this city. It is well known, that the forms of the Catholic worship do not forbid amuse ments on the Sabbath. No city in the United States contains such a variety of inhabitants from every state in -the Union, and from every nation in Europe ; and there are not a few from the Spanish country, and the islands. There is an aston ishing contrast of manners, language and complexion. One half the population is black or colored. The French population probably as yet predominates over the American. Among the Americans, the inhabitants of the city of New York seem to have the greater number, and there is more intercourse between New Orleans and New York, than any other American city. The intercourse with Havana and Vera Cruz is' great, and constantly increasing. The French display in this city, as elsewhere, their characteristic urbanity and politeness, and are the same gay, amiable, dancing, spectacle- loving people, that they are found to be in every other place. There is, no doubt, much gambling and dissipation practised, and different licensed gambling houses pay a large tax for their licenses. Much has been said abroad touching the profligacy of manners and morals here. Amidst such a multitude, composed in a great measure of the low people of all LOUISIANA. 263 nations, there must be much debauchery and low vice. But all the dis gusting forms of vice, debauchery and drunkenness are assorted together in their own place. Each man has an elective attraction to men of his own standing and order. Much has been said abroad, in regard to the unhealthiness of this city, and the danger of a residence here for an unacclimated person, has been exaggerated. This circumstance, more than all others, has retarded the increase of this city. Unhappily, when the dog star is in the sky, there is but too much probability, that the epidemic will sweep the place with the besom of destruction. Hundreds of the unacclimated poor from the north, and more than all from Ireland, fall victims to it. The supply of the excellent water of the Mississippi, by the water works now in operation, is very inadequate. It is contemplated to extend the means of supply. No city in the Union can be furnished more cheaply and easily. Were the supply equal to washing the streets in every direc tion, it would tend more to the preservation of the public health, in all probability, than any other conservative means that could be employed; and it is matter of surprise, that such a simple and obvious measure has not already been adopted. It is believed, that every street, which has the least inclination of descent, might be kept clean by the healthy water of the Mississippi at a less expense, than is requisite for watering Cincinnati. Very great improvements have been recently made, and are constantly making, in paving the city, in removing the wooden sewers, and replacing them by those of stone. The low places, where the water used to stagnate, are drained, or filled up. Tracts of swamp about the town are draining, or filling up; and this work, constantly pursued, will, probably, contribute more to the salubrity of the city, than all the other efforts to this end united. The commerce of this city is immense, and constantly increasing. — There have been counted in the harbor, 1,500 flat boats at a time. Steam boats are coming and departing every hour; and it is not uncommon to see 50 lying in the harbor at a time. A forest of masts is constantly seen along the levee, except in the sultry months. There are often 5 or 6,000 boatmen from the upper country here; and it is not uncommon to see 40 vessels advertised for Liverpool and Havre. No place in the United States has so much activity and bustle of commerce, crowded into so small a space in the months of February and March. During the season of bringing in the cotton crop, whole streets are barricaded with cotton bales. The amount of domestic exports from this city exceeds twelve millions of dollars a year, being greater than that of any other city of the Union, except New York, and nearly equalling that. The greatest items that make this amount, are sugar and cotton. 264 LOUISIANA. It is believed, that it will not be long, before the great and opulent city of New Orleans will, commence, on a scale commensurate with her re-> sources and enterprise, a system of reclaiming the immense swamps, in the midst of which she is placed, by navigable canals. Notwithstanding the disadvantage of being reported unhealthy, few towns in the United States increase with greater rapidity, Within the last three years, a thousand houses have been added to its buildings, prin cipally fronting along the river in the Fauxbourg St. Mary, most of them massive and commodious. The recently finished rail road from Rampart street to Lake Ponchartrain is not only in itself a noble and useful work; but has essentially tended to reclaim from the swamp a considerable tract in the rear of the city. A Bank has recently been created, with a capital of 4,000,000 dollars, which, as the condition of the charter, is to make a canal from a point on the river above the city to the lake. There are five Banks in the city, with a capital of more than ten millions of dollars ; and it is advancing in all points of opulence, ornament, utility, and comfort in a progress of honorable competition with the other principal American cities. The Rail Road is four and a half miles long, perfectly straight, and its ascent and descent only 16 inches. The avenue on which the roadruns, is 150 feet wide. The eye at either extremity traverses its whole length. Standing on the shore of the Mississippi, the vessels sailing through the lake are seen at the end of the avenue of trees, through which the road is cut. An artificial harbor and breakwater are constructing on the lake at the extremity of the road. The facilities of getting a passage from this city either to Europe, Mexico, the Atlantic cities, or the interior, are very great. You need seldom remain many days without an opportunity to embark in any direction. Steam boats are constantly advertising for Louisville, and all the different points on the waters ofthe Mississippi and Ohio; and a passage in the beautiful steam boats, that now ply on these waters, is both rapid, cheap, and delightful. The market ordinarily is cheap and abundant ; and by seizing the oppor tunities, the articles of life may be had as cheap as in any other town in the United States. Corn, potatoes, pork, and Hour are sometimes so low, as scarcely to pay the cost of transport from the upper country. The productions of all climes find their way hither; and for fruits and vegetables, few places can exceed it. On a pleasant March morning, perhaps half the city is seen in the market. Thecrowd covershalfa milein extent. The negroes, mulattoes, French, Spanish, and Germans are all crying their several articles in their several tongues. In the midst of a confusion of languages, like that of Babel, 'un picalion, un pkalion? 'tOTJISIANA'i 265 is the most distinguishable tune. The census of 1830 gives this city 48,456 inhabitants; but there are times in the year, when it contains perhaps 60,000. This city necessarily exercises a very great moral influence over all the western country. There is no distinguished merchant, planter, or fanner, in the Mississippi valley, but what has made at least one trip to this place. Here they witness acting at the French and American theatres'. Here they go to inspect, if not to take part in the pursuits of the 'roulette, and temple of fortune.' Here they come from the remote and isolated points of the west to see the 'city lions,'' and learn the ways of men in great towns ; and they necessarily carry back an impression, from what they have seen and heard. It is of inconceivable importance to the western country, tiiat New Orleans should be enlightened, moral, and religious. It has a numerous and respectable corps of professional men, and issues a considerable number of well edited papers. The police of the city is at once mild and energetic. Notwithstanding the multifarious character of the people, collected from every country and climate, notwithstanding the multitude of boatmen and sailors, not withstanding the mass of people, that rushes along its streets, is of the most incongruous materials, there are fewer broils and quarrels here, than in almost any other city. The municipal and criminal courts are prompt in administering justice; and larcenies and broils are effectually punished without any just grounds of complaint about the 'law's delay.' On the whole the morals of those people, who profess to have any degree of self-respect, are not behind those of the other cities of the Union. New Orleans is 1203 miles from Washington, 832 from St. Louis^, 1634 from Boston, and 1428 from New York. Donaldsonville, on the west side of the Mississippi, at the efflux of Lafourche, 90 miles above New Orleans, has a number of houses, and has been selected by the Legislature, as the place for the future political cap ital of the state. Baton Rouge is on the east side of the Mississippi, 140 miles above New Orleans. It is pleasantly situated on the last bluff that is seen on descending the river. The site is 30 or 40 feet abovp the highest overflow of the river. This bluff rises from the river by a gentle and gradual swell. The United States barracks here are built in a fine style, and are supposed to be among the handsomest and most commodious of that kind of works. From the esplanade the prospect is delightful, including a great extent of the coast, with its handsomest houses and rich cultivation below, and commanding an extensive view over the back country at the east. The village is tolerably compact, and has a number of neat houses. The town itself, especially in the months when the greatest verdure prevails, when seen from a steam boat in the river, rising 34 266 LOUISIANA. with such a fine swell from the banks, and with its singularly shaped French and Spanish houses, and its green squares, looks like a finely painted landscape. Its population is rated at 1,200. St. Francisville is a considerable village, situated on the eastern shore of the river, and on a bluff a mile from its banks-; is 160 miles above New Orleans. It is a thriving village of nearly the same size with Baton Rouge. /,. weekly paper is printed here, and Bayou Sarah, by which the town communicates with the Mississippi, is a noted stopping place for descending boats, and great quantities of cotton are shipped from it. — At a considerable distance west of this town is Jackson, in a healthy position in the Pine Woods, which is the seat of an incipient college. On the opposite shore is Point Coupee, a wealthy French settlement. Here the levee commences, and extends thence to New Orleans. Here lived and died Mr. Poydras, celebrated for his wealth and benevolence. He endowed, as we have remarked, asylums in New Orleans, and left many other charitable donations; and among others, the proceeds of a very considerable property to be distributed in marriage portions to a number of poor girls in the parish of Point Coupee, and in the adjoining parishes. Galveztown is situated on Bayou Manshac, or Ibberville, not far from where it enters lake Ponchartrain. At the mouth of the Tangipao is the Village of Springfield. Madisonville is a small village on the Chiffuncte, two miles from the north shore of lake Ponchartrain. It is a place of considerable summer resort from New Orleans, during the sickly months. There are a number of handsome houses of accommodation for such per sons. A navy yard was attempted by the government on this river, a few miles above this village. Covington is a considerable village, seven miles above, on the Bogue Falaya, a branch of the Chiffuncte. It is the seat of justice for the parish of St. Tammany, and is the head of schooner navigation on the river. Considerable cotton is shipped from this place. General Jackson's Road, reaching from lake Ponchartrain to Nashville, passes through this place Like Madisonville, it is a place of resort for the citizens of New Orleans during the sickly season. Opelousas, the seat of justice for the parish of that name, is a rising village in the midst of a respectable and compact settlement, 270 miles northwest from New Orleans. A weekly gazette is issued from this place. St. Martinsville, on the west side of the Teche, is surrounded by a settlement of opulent planters. New Iberia is also on the west side of the Teche, and being at the head of schooner navigation, in a rich and flourishing country, must eventually become a place of importance. Alexandria, on Red River, 70 miles from the Mississippi, and 150 from the mouth of the river by its meanders, is situated on the south bank LOUISIANA. 267 of the river, a half a mile below the fall, at the mouth of Bayou Rapide. It is central to the rich cotton planting country of Bayous Rapide, Robert, and Bceuf. It is the seat of justice for the parish, has a Bank, issues a weekly paper, has a number of stores, and respectable attornies and physicians The site of the town is a beautiful plain, and the village is embosomed in China and other ornamental trees. Vast quantities of cotton are exported from this place. Natchitoches is 80 miles above Alexandria, by the meanders of the river, and something more than 60 by land. The river is here divided into two parallel branches, and the town is on the south bank of the southern branch. It is the last town of any size, towards the south western frontier of the United States, and is nearly 50 miles east of the Sabine, to which there is a good road from this place. The Spanish trade, for a considerable distance into the interior of the Mexican States, centres here; and it is the great thorough-fare for people going to, and returning from those states. The trade from them is chiefly in bars of silver, and horses and mules. We send them in return, manufactured goods, groceries, spirits and tobacco. It is a very old town, having been established an hundred years ago. There are many French and Spanish houses, and a considerable number of Spaniards still inhabit it.— r- It is a village considerably larger than . Alexandria. The population is American, French, and Spanish; and has a sprinkling of Indian with it; and there is a singular mixture of all these races visible in the common people. There are many respectable families here; and the opulent planters have houses in the town, for the sake of society. The people are excessively fond of balls and dancing. It has a pleasant society, and a weekly newspaper, in French and English. The relations of this place with the immense country on the river above, and with the interior of the Spanish country, must necessarily be extended. It is at present a growing place, and will one day become the largest town in this country, except New Orleans. It is beautifully situated on the shore of the river, and extends back to the pine bluffs, on which there are already some handsome houses. It is at the head of steam boat navigation. This place has experienced the successive regimes of the savages, the Spanish,- French, and Americans, and has had its war dances, fandangoes, French balls, and American frolics. The traces of the ancient grave yard are almost erased. Indians, Spanish, French, Americans, Catholics and Protestants, lie here in mingled confusion. Two or three leagues west of this town is the ancient Spanish town of Adayes. We can see no where in the United States so fair a sample of an ancient Spanish town, as this. The houses are of the construction of an hundred years ago. A little old church, with thr.ee or four bells, some 26S LOUISIANA. of them cracked, and some coarse paintings give the church an air, in keeping with the town. The inhabitants are all Spanish. Beyond this is the deep gully, called the Rio Hondo, which marked the limits of the Spanish claims east of the Sabine. Half way between Natchitoches and the Sabine is Cantonment Jessup, where are stationed two companies of United States' soldiers. The station is lonely, but pleasant and healthful. The water from the esplanade runs from its western slope into the Sabine, and from the other into Red River. This region being the last point towards the Mexican country, it is not strange, that it should be the resort of desperate and wicked adventurers, who fly from debt, poverty, the laws and a guilty conscience. Many- lawless characters centre in it. On Bayou Bceuf there is a small village called Cheneyville. The town of Monroe is the seat of justice for the parish of Washita, and is situated on that river, as is also Harrisonville, the seat of justice for the parish of Catahoola. Monroe is about 80 miles north of Alexandria, in the centre of a rich cotton country, and has a weekly gazette. Roads and Canals. We have already mentioned the canal Carondelet, which connects the city of New Orleans with lake Ponchartrain by the bayou St. John. It is two miles long and perfectly straight. Where it ter minates at the north of the city, there is a convenient basin, excavated entirely by art, and sufficiently large to hold a great number of vessels. It was dug at a great expense. Immense labor and expense were necessary to render the Bayou navigable, and especially its outlet to the lake, or what is called 'the pickets ;' where a formerly impassable bar has been deepened, and prevented from forming again by the waves and the currents, by piles driven into the sand, and extended <\ considerable distance into the lake, A provision in the charter of this corporation allows them to extend the canal to the Mississippi. It is proposed to connect the Mississippi, by Attakapas, by a canal, and there is no country in the world, where nature has done more towards forming natural canals, which a little labor and expense would complete by artificial extensions. A great number of B-yous only need to have the timber cleared out of them, to be navigable by steam boats. There are a corporation and funds provided for rendering Bayou Bceuf navigable by steam boats to Red River. It would require no great arti ficial labor to connect this Bayou with the Teche, and furnish steamboat navigation through Opelousas. The country is so level, and the water eourses. so interlocked by n'-.ture, that little more is necessary for this, in most instances, than the digging a broad and navigable ditch. At the same time, hat troispoit is thus rendered easy, the country is drained,, swamps are reclaimed, and health is as much subserved, as utility.. LOUISIANA. 269 When this state shall once have imbibed the spirit and feeling of the northern and middle states upon this subject, almost every cotton planter in the country will be able to ship his cotton on board a steam boat directly from his gin. The country being level, the roads, that generally run or* the margins of the rivers and bayous, are for the most part good. ' When the roads diverge to any distance from the bayous and rivers, they soon touch the swampy soil, and in wet weather are intolerably deep, muddy, and heavy. Constitution and Laws. The Constitution varies little from that of the other western states. The state senators are elected for four years, one-fourth vacating their seats annually. They must possess an estate of 1,000 dollars in the parish, for which they are chosen. The represen tatives have a biennial term, and must possess 500 dollars worth of prop erty in the parish to be eligible. The governor is chosen for four years ; and is ineligible for the succeeding term. His duties are the same as in the other states, and his salary 7,000 dollars a year. The j udiciary powers are vested in a supreme and circuit court, together with a municipal court called the parish court. The salaries are ample. The elective franchise belongs to every free white man of twenty-one years and upwards, who has had a residence of six months in the parish, and who has paid taxes. The code of laws adopted by this state is not what is called the 'common law,' which is the rule of judicial proceedings in all the other states, but the civil law, adopted with some modifications from the judicial canons of France and Spain. So much of the common law is interwoven with it as has been adopted by express statute, and the criminal code is for the most part regulated by it. All the laws of the civil code purport to be written, and they are principally selected from that stupendous mass of legal maxims and edicts, called the Justinian code. Parishes in this state nearly correspond to counties in the other states; and the parish judge under the civil code, and according to the judicial arrangements of this state, is one of the most responsible and important judicial function^ aries. It would be rather amusing than useful to go into much detail, respect ing the modes of administering justice under the French and Spanish regime. The commandant, or governor-general, was at the head of the judiciary and military departments. His code was the Roman law, or that of the Indies; and he represented the king. The department of finance was administered by an officer, called the intendant general. The office of jn-ocureur general was one of high consequence; and had an analogy to that of our prosecuting attornies. But of all the tribunals of the Spanish in their colonies, the most important and popular was the cdbildo,. Teh cabildos awarded the decisions in common civil suits, and were a WO LOUISIANA. kind of general conservators of the peace. Subordinate ministers of justice' to them were alcaides, regidors, syndics, and registers. Subordinate to the department-of finance were the contadors, treasurer, inteventor, auditor and assessor. Most of these offices were venal, or acquired by purchase. The processes were simple, but rigorous, and summary; and many of their maxims of law were founded in the highest wisdom and equity. From whatever cause it happened, the yoke of their government always sat easy on the neck of the Anglo-Americans, who lived under it, and still speak of Spanish times as the golden age. Crimes were rare. — The forefathers of the present race of Creoles were a mild and peaceable race, as are their descendents at the present day. The ancient inhabitants. attached more importance to a criminal prosecution, and felt more keenly the shame of conviction, than the inhabitants of the present day. — Summary justice, the. terror of the Mexican mines, or the dungeons of , Havanna had their share in producing this spirit of submissive quietness and subordination. The penal laws were not more sanguinary, than those ef most of the states of our Union. Only four crimes were declared capital. Persons sentenced to death, for the commission of those crimes, often remained long in the prisons of Cuba, either through the lenity or caution of the officers of justice. The code, under which Governor O'Reilly administered justice, is a most singular specimen cf jurispru dence. Among the most frequent crimes against which it provides, are crimes of lust commited by priests, or professed religious, and the heaviest punishments those annexed to those crimes. There are enum erated some amusing cases, in which pecuniary mulcts are substituted for corporeal punishment, in instances of conviction for these crimes. Character. If any distinct national character can be predicated of the people of this state, it will apply with the same shades of di 16 363 1471 ' 1108 22 Trigg, 13 318 1294 976 24 Union, 8 252 923 691 31 Warren, 13 405 2291 1886 31 Washington, 34 907 4119 3212 26 Wayne, 9 307 2350 2043 34 Whitely, 7 195 1086 891 28 Woodford, 23 666 1812 1146 29 Total, 1131| 31834|139142|10732Si Name of County. Am't. now Average Cost of educa Average in Pay of Teachers, paid for price of ting all at come of upposing 40 pupils education. tuition. this rate. Teachers. to a School. Adair, 22591 $7 75cts. $14105 $173 $310 Allen, 2178 7 50 10170 181 300 Anderson, 2480 8 20 7757 275 328 Barren, 5608 8 40 27064 275 336 Bath, 3281 7 25 14514 219 290 Boone, 5136 8 57 16754 270 342 Bourbon, 12134 9 73 29377 253 389 Bracken. 2360 7 25 11505 197 290 Brackenridge, 3452 8 63 14800 216 345 Bullitt, Butler, 1289 8 15 6259 184 326 Calloway, 2084 8 51 11760 190 340 Campbell, 3188 7 03 18390 187 281 Casey, 872 6 92 7985 145 276 Caldwell, 4276 9 46 17330 267 378 Christian, 6093 9 76 22779 304 390 Clarke, 6383 7 88 19093 304 315 Clay, 540 10 59 10155 120 423 Cumberland, 2044 8 48 17002 227 339 Daviess , 2140 9 34 9984 238 373 Edmondson, 744 12 00 8724 372 480 Estill, Fayette, 11467 10 22 29893 300 408 Fleming, 6192 7 12 27554 221 284 Floyd, 1208 8 00 10456 201 320 Franklin, 4632 9 56 15573 289 382 Gallatin, 3167 8 03 12992 226 321 Garrard,. 3945 8 59 19765 197 353 Grant, 2105 7 11 5801 234 284 Graves^ 1020 10 00 6450 255 400 Grayson, 2140 8 49 9169 267 339 Greene, 3314 10 07 28780 237 402 Greenup, 2418 8 95 13791 268 352 Hancock,. 814 9 46 3093 271 378 Hardin, 6372 I 9 19 29720 277 367 KENTUCKY. 363 Name of County. \* Vm't.nowj Average i Uost of educat- Average , Pay of Teachers, paid for price of ng all at this income of supposing 40 pupils education., tuition. | rate. Teachers. to a School. Harlan,Harrison, $642 7373 $10 03cs| 8 82 $84351 26460 $214 307 $401 352 Hart, 13S1 8 90 | 12210| 230 356 Henderson, 2896 11 09 12786 241 443 Henry, 4557 7 51 18932 198 300 Hickman, 1112 8 75 11103 222 350 Hopkins, 2240 8 62 13679 172 844 Jefferson, Jessamine, 4416 8 49 15188 452 339 Knox, 103S 9 18 10134 259 367 Laurel, 328 8 00 4656 164 320 Lawrence, 1346 7 52 8452 149 300 Lewis, 1686 6 97 9515 187 278 Lincoln, 4896 9 11 18475 203 364 Livingston , Logan, 5046 12 91 30093 315 516 Mason, 11089 9 57 29475 284 382 Madison, 8197 7 77 26775 310 McCracken, 248 Meade, 1984 7 75 6944 248 310 Mercer, 9737 9 33 32104 250 373 Monroe, 1976 7 84 11626 282 313 Montgomery, 4251 7 71 16545 283 308 Morgan, Muhlenburgh, 1900 7 36 9185 156 294 Nelson, 8320 10 31 29610 362 412 Nicholas, ' 4435 7 26 15826 277 290 Ohio, 1485 8 84 9909 212 353 Oldham, 3689 8 27 16407 217 330 Owen, 2108 7 05 10348 175 282 Pendleton, 2379 7 48 7674 297 299 Perry, 498 9 58 9503 162 383 Pike, 464 8 75 6868 155 350 Pulaski, 4038 6 74 16432 175 269 Rock Castle, 1200 8 28 6491 177 331 Russell, 224 8 00 7408 224 320 Scott, 7288 10 56 26664 404 422 Shelby, 8852 7 86 29113 206 314 Simpson, 3613 9 19 13031 301 367 Spencer, 2176 7 71 11904 181 308 Todd, 3724 10 25 15077 233 410 Trigg, 3053 9 81 12694 228 392 Union, 2470 9 80 9045 308 392 Warren, 3112 7 68 17594 239 307 Washington, 8551 9 42 38800 251 376 Wayne, 2650 8 63 20380 294 345 Whitely, 1433 7 35 7882 204 294 Woodford, 7376 11 08 20036 321 443 364 KENTUCKY. Curiosities, Sfc. Among the antiquities of this state are great numbers of those Indian mounds, that are found over all the western country. When this country was first discovered, great numbers of human bodies in a state of entire preservation were found in a cave near Lexington. The pioneers of the settlements in this country did not attach much conse quence to skeletons ; and none of them remain. The bodies that were found inthe Saltpetre cave, have been examined by thousands. They were considerably smaller than the men of our times. The teeth and nails did not seem to intimate the shrinking of the flesh from them, in the desic cating process, by which they had been preserved. The teeth were separated by considerable intervals ; and were long, white, and sharp. In an ancient mound on Caney Fork of Cumberland River, four feet below the surface, a vessel was found, of which it would be difficult to convey an adequate idea, without an engraving. It consisted of three heads, joined together at the back part of them near the top, by a stem, or handle, which rises above the heads about three inches. The stem is hollow, six inches in circumference at the top, increasing in size, as it descends. These heads are all of the same dimensions, being about four inches from the apex to the chin. The face at the eyes is three inches broad, decreasing in breadth all the way to the chin. Most persons have supposed, that they are fac similes of the Tartar countenance. They do not so strike us. Neither does their model appear to have been any thing like the present Indian countenance. The faces are remarkable for their fullness, and evince no inconsiderable skill in the moulder. It is of the common earthen fabric, of the pottery generally found about the mounds. In another mound, within twenty miles of Lexington, were found nine very large and beautiful marine shells of the murex class, and perfectly similar in their general contour to those, called conch shells. They have all the freshness of those found on the shores of the sea. This state, like Tennessee, abounds in lime stone caves, of an extent and grandeur, to which the famous cave at Antiparos will hold no comparison. There are numberless caves, sinks and precipices, that in any other country woirid be regarded, as curiosities. They are sources of wealth in many instances to their proprietors. No earth, in any country has been found more strongly impregnated with nitre. It is affirmed, that fifty pounds of crude nitre have been extracted from an hundred pounds ofthe earth. During the late war, 400,000 pounds a year were manufactured from this earth in this state ; and probably as great an amount of gun powder. We have already mentioned, as striking curiosities, the prodigious depths, in which many of the rivers in this state run, which are worn through strata of solid lime stone. The caves, the sink holes, the gulfs, and the deeply excavated beds of the rivers, afford a continual source of KENTUCKY. 365 curiosity and astonishment to travellers, who are not thoroughly used to this country. Character, Manners, Sec. The people of this state have a character as strongly marked by nationality, as those of any state of the union. It is a character extremely difficult to describe, although all the shades of it are strongly marked to the eye of a person, who has been long acquainted with them. They are not only unique in their manners, but in their origin. They are scions from a noble stock, the descendants from affluent and respectable planters from Virginia and North Carolina. They are in that condition in life, which is, perhaps, best calculated to develope high mindedness and self respect. They have a distinct and striking moral physiognomy, an enthusiasm, a vivacity and ardor of character, courage, frankness and generosity, that have been developed with the peculiar circumstances, under which they have been placed. They have a delight ful frankness of hospitality, which renders a sojourn among them exceedingly pleasant to a stranger. Their language, the very amusmg dialect of the common people, their opinions and modes of thinking, from various circumstances, have been very extensively communicated, and impressed upon the general character of the people of the West. Their bravery has been evinced in field and forest from Louisiana to Canada. Their enthusiasm of character is very observable, in the ardor with which all classes of people express themselves, in reference to their favorite views and opinions. All their feelings tend to extremes. It is not alto gether in burlesque, that they are described as boastful, and accustorned to assume to themselves the pride of having the best horse, dog, gun, wife, statesmen, and country. Their fearless ardor and frankness and ^elf- confidence, become to their young men, in other parts of the West, in competition for place and precedence as a good star. When a Kentnck- ian presents himself in another state, as a candidate for an office, in com petition with a candidate from another state, other circumstances being equal, the Kentuckian carries it. — Wherever the Kentuckian travels he earnestly and affectionately remembers his native hills and plains His thoughts as incessantly turn towards home, as those of the Swiss. He invokes the genius of his country in trouble, danger, and solitude. It is to him the home of plenty, beauty, greatness and every thing that he de sires, or respects. This nationality never deserts him. No country will bear a comparison with his country; no people with his people. The English are said to go into battle with a song about roast beef in their mouths. When the Kentuckian encounters dangers of battle, or any kind, when he is even on board a foundering ship, his last exclamation is, * hurrah for old Kentucky.' 366 KENTUCKY. Religion. The prevailing denominations are baptists, presbyterians, meth odists, Cumberland presbyterians and seceders. The people manifest their excitable and ardent character upon this as upon all other subjects. They have an insatiable curiosity to hear new preachers, and an extreme eager ness for novelty. Religious excitements are common, and carried to the highest point of emotion. Religion, in some form, seems to be generally respected; and there is scarcely a village, or a populous settlement in the state, that has not one, or more, favorite preachers. It would be difficult to say, which is the predominant denomination, that of the baptists, meth odists, or presbyterians. But notwithstanding the marked enthusiasm of the character of this people, notwithstanding they are much addicted to bitter political disputation, notwithstanding all the collisions from op posing parties and clans, as a state, the people have uniformly distinguish ed themselves for religious order, quiet and tolerance. Constitution, Government, Sec. The legislative power is divided as usuil. The senators are elected for four years and the representatives for one. A person to be eligible as a senator, must be thirty-five years of age, a citizen of the United States, must have resided six years in the state, and one year in the district for which he is chosen. A representa tive must be twenty-four years of age, a citizen ofthe United States, must have resided in the state two years, and in the district one. The governer is elected for four years, and is eligible four years out of eleven. He must be thirty years of age, a citizen of the United States, and must have resided in the state two years, and in the district one. He has a qualified negative upon the proceedings of the assembly, has a pardoning power, and makes appointments with the consent of the senate. The judiciary consists in a supreme court, and in such inferior courts as the assembly may appoint, and the judges retain their offices during good behaviour. Every free white male citizen of the age of twenty-one, who has resided in the state two years, or one year in the distrct is entitled to the elective franchise. INDIANA, Length, 250. Breadth, 150 miles. Between 37° 47' and 41° 50' N. latitude , and 7° 45' and 1 1° W. longitude. Bounded north by Michigan Territory and lake. West by the state of Illinois. South by the Ohio, which divides it from Kentucky ; East by the state of Ohio. CIVIL DIVISIONS. Counties. Allen,Bartholomew, Boone, Carroll,Cass,Clark, Clay, Clinton, Crawford,Daviess, Dearborn, Delaware, Decatur,Dubois, Elkhart, Fayette,Floyd, Fountain, Franklin, Gibson, Greene, Grant, Chief Towns. Port Wayne, Columbus, Delphi, Logansport, Charlestown, Bowling Green, Fredonia, W ashington, Lawrenceburgh, Greensburgh, Barbersville, Connersville, New Albany, Covington, Brookville, Princeton, Bloomfield, 368 INDIANA. Hamilton, Noblesville, Hancock, Harrison, Corydon, Henry, New Castle, Hendricks^ Danville, Jackson, Brownstown, Jefferson, Madison, Jennings, Vernon, Johnson, Franklin, Knox, Vincennes, Lawrence, Bedford, Madison, Andersontown, Marion, Indianapolis, Martin, Mount Pleasant, Monroe, Bloomington, Montgomery, Crawfordsville, Morgan, Martinsville, Orange , Pavli, Owen, Spencer, Parke, Rockville, Perry, Rome, Pike, Petersburgh, Posey, Mt. Vernon & Harmony, Putnam, Green Castle, Randolph, Winchester, Ripley, Versailles, Rush, Rushville, Scott, Lexington, Shelby, Shelbyville, Spencer, Rockport, St. Joseph, Sullivan, Merom, Switzerland, Vevay, Tippicanoe, Lafayette, Union , Liberty, Vanderburgh, Evansville, Vermillion, Newport, Vigo, Terrehaule, Wabash, Warren, Warrich, Booneville, Washington, Salem, Wayne. Centreville ,& Richmond. INDIANA. 369 The whole of this state belongs to the valley of the Ohio, or lake Michigan. It is the first of the states, in advancing from the west, east, and north, where nature seems to have divided the surface between prairie and wood land. The greater proportion of this state is a timbered country. Here, too, we first find the number and manners of northern people predominating among the immigrants. Here we first discover, in most places, a clear ascendency of New England dialect, manners, and population. Here, too, we note the natural tendency of this order of things, and this class of immigrants rapidly, and yet silently filling the country with inhabitants. Missouri and Illinois have occupied a greater space in public estimation, in newspaper description, and in general notoriety. The immigration to these states have been with four or six horse wagons, large droves of cattle, considerable numbers of negroes, and composed of immigrants, who had name, and were heads of families, when they removed, and whose immigration was accompanied with a certain degree of eclat. The acquisition of a few families was attended with circumstances, which gave it public notoriety. The settling of this state has been generally of a different character, and for the most part of young men, either unmarried or without families. It has been noiseless and unnoticed. But the difference of the result strikes us with surprise. While the population of neither of these states has reached 150,000, the population of this state, at this time, is supposed to exceed 400,000, though the total given by the census is 344,000, — of these 65,359 are free white male inhabitants over 21 years. The number of voters in 1825, was 36,977, and of paupers 217. Face of the Country, Soil, Sec. The south front is skirted with the usual belt of river hills, bluffs and knobs, known by the name of 'Ohio hills.' They occupy a greater or less distance from the river; some times leaving between it and their base a bottom of two or three miles in width; and sometimes, and for no inconsiderable length of the southern boundary, they tower directly from the waters of the Ohio, and have a thousand aspects of grandeur and beauty, often rising higher than 300 feet above the level of the river. The eye of the southern traveller, ascending the Ohio, which has been used to rest on bottoms boundless to vision, on swamps, and regions without a rock or a hill in the scenery, never tires, in surveying these beautiful bluffs, especially in the spring, when their declivities are crimsoned with the red bud, or whitened with the brilliant blossoms of the dog wood, or rendered verdant with the beautiful May apple. A range of knobs, stretching from the Ohio to White River of the Wa bash, forms the limits of the table lands, that separate the waters of the 47 370 INDIANA. Ohio from those of White River. North ofthe Wabash, between Tippi canoe and Ouitanon, the Wabash hills are precipitous, and a considerable extent of country is rough and broken. There are in different parts of the state, large extents of country, that may be pronounced hilly. Such is the south front of the state to a considerable distance from the Ohio. There are not such extensive plains in this state, as in Illinois. Nor are there any hills to vie with those back of Shawneetown. But with some few exceptions, the greater proportion of this state may be pronounced one vast level. To particularize the level tracts would be to describe three fifths of the state. The prairies here, as elsewhere, are uniformly level. The wide extent of country, watered by White River, is generally level. The prairies have the usual distinction of high and low, swampy and alluvial. For a wide extent on the north front ofthe state, between the Wabash and lake Michigan the country is generally an extended plain, alternately prairie and timbered land, with a great proportion of swampy lands, and small lakes and ponds. The prairies are no ways dif ferent from those of Illinois; alike rich, level, and covered with grass and flowering plants. Some like those of Illinois and Missouri, are broader than can be measured by the eye. Their divisions are marked off where ever streams cross them by belts of timbered land. All the rivers of this state have remarkably wide alluvions. Every traveller has spoken with admiration of the beauty and fertility of the prairies along the course of the Wabash, particularly of those in the vicinity of Fort Harrison. Com petent judges prefer the prairies on this part of the river, both for beauty and fertilty to those of the Illinois, and the Upper Mississippi. Perhaps no part of the western world can show greater extents of rich land in one body, than that portion of White River country, of which Indianapolis is the centre. Judging of Indiana, from travelling through the south front from 12 to 20 miles from the Ohio,we should not, probably, compare it with Ohio or Illinois. But now, when the greater part of the territory is pur chased of the Indians, and all is surveyed, and well understood, it is found that this state possesses as large a proportion of first rate lands, as any in the western country. With some few exceptions of wide prairies, the divisions of timbered and prairie lands are more happily balanced, than in other parts of the western country. Many rich prairies are long and nar row, so that the whole can be taken up, and timber be easily accessible by all the settlers. There are hundreds of prairies only large enough for a few farms. Even in the large prairies are those beautiful islands of timbered land, which form such a striking feature in the western prairies. The great extents of fertile land, the happy distribution of rivers and springs may be one cause of the unexampled rapidity, with which this state has INDIANA. 371 peopled. AnotheT reason may be, that being a non-slaveholding state, and next in position beyond Ohio, it was happily situated to arrest the tide of immigration, that set beyond Ohio, after that state was filled. We add a few remarks in a single view, upon the qualities of the soil, on the several rivers, and near the towns, which we shall describe. The forest trees, shrubs, plants and grasses do not materially differ from those of Illinois and Missouri. There is one specific difference, that should be noted. There is a much greater proportion of beech timber, which in creases so much, as we advance east, than in Ohio, it is clearly the princi pal kind of timber. This state is equally fertile in corn, rye, oats, barley, wheat and the cereal gramina in general. Vast extents of the richer prai ries and bot^JTte are too rich for wheat, until the natural wild luxuriance in the soil has been reduced by cropping. Upland rice has been attempt ed with success. Some of the warm and sheltered vallies have yielded, in favorable years, considerable crops of cotton. No country can exceed this in its adaptedness for rearing the finest fruits and fruit bearing shrubs. Wild berries in many places are abundant ; and on some of the prairies the strawberries are large and fine. It is affirmed that in the northern parts in the low prairies whole tracts are covered with the beautiful fowl- meadow grass poa pratensis, of the north. It is a certain fact, that wherever the Indians or the French have inhabited long enough to destroy the natural prairie grass, which, it is well known, is soon eradicated, by being pastured by the domestic animals, that surround a farmer's barn, this grass is replaced by the blue grass ofthe western country, which fur nishes not only a beautiful sward, but covers the earth with a mat of rich fodder, not unlike the second crop, which is cut in the northern states, as the most valuable kind of hay. For all the objects of farming, and raising grain, flour, hemp, tobacco, cattle, sheep, swine, horses and generally the articles of the northern and middle states, immigrants could not desire a better country, than may be found in Indiana. In the rich bottoms in the southern parts, the reed cane, and uncommonly large ginseng are abun dant. Climate, Sec. Little need be said upon this head, for this state, situated in nearly the same parallels with Illinois and Missouri, has much the same temperature. That part of it which is contiguous to lake Michigan, is more subject to copious rains; and being otherwise low and marshy, much of the land is too wet for cultivation. Some have described the country and climate near lake Michigan as productive and delightful. For a considerable distance from the lake, sand heaps covered with a few stinted junipers, and swept by the gales of the lake, give no promise of a fine country or climate. But beyond the influence of the lake 372 INDIANA. breeze, the climate is cool, mild and temperate. The state, in general, is somewhat less exposed to the extremes of heat and cold, than Illinois. In point of salubrity, we can do no more than repeat the remarks, which have so often been found applicable to the western country in general, and which from the nature of things must apply to all countries. The high and rolling regions of this state are as healthy as the same kinds of land in the other parts of the United States. The wet prairies, swampy lands, and tracts contiguous to small lakes and ponds, and inun dated bottoms, intersected by bayous, generate fever and ague, and autumnal fevers, and impart a bilious tendency to all the disorders of the country. The beautiful prairies above Vincennes, on the Wabash, in the neighborhood of Fort Harrison and Tippicanoe, are found to have some balance against their fertility, beauty of appearance, and the ease with which they are cultivated, in their insalubrity. That the settlers in general, have found this state, taken as a whole, favorable to health, the astonishing increase of the population bears ample testimony. The winters are mild, compared with those of New England or Penn sylvania. Winter commences in its severity about Christmas, and lasts seldom more than six weeks. During this time in most seasons, the rivers, that have not very rapid currents, are frozen. Though winters occur, in which the Wabash cannot be crossed upon the ice. About the middle of February, the severity of winter is past. In the northern parts of the state, snow sometimes, though rarely, falls a foot and a half in depth. In the middle and southern parts, it seldom falls more than six inches. Peach trees are generally in blossom early in March. The forests begin to be green from the 5th to the 15th of April. Vast num bers of flowering shrubs are in full flower, before they are in leaf, which gives an inexpressible charm to the eariy appearance of spring. Vegeta tion is liable to be injured both by early and late frosts. Rivers. The southern shore of this state is washed by the Ohio, from the mouth of the Big Miami to that of the Wabash, a distance of nearly 500 miles, by the meanders of the river. We reserve a description of this noble stream for our account of the state of Ohio. Between the Miami and the Wabash, the following considerable streams, together with many small ones, enter the Ohio. Tanner's Creek falls in two miles below Lawrenceburgh, and has a course of 30 miles. Loughery s Creek enters 11 miles below the Miami, and is 40 miles in length. Indian Creek, called by the Swiss, in remembrance of a stream in their native country, Venoge, bounds the Swiss settlements on the south, and enters the Ohio eight miles below the point opposite to Kentucky River. Wyandot, Big Blue, Little Blue, Anderson's River, Pigeon and Beaver INDIANA. 373 Creeks enter in the order in which we have mentioned them, as we descend the Ohio. In descending this distance, we discover the degp chasm through the banks of the Ohio, where a great many smaller streams enter. Many of these streams, at some distance from the Ohio, afford mill seats. We may therefore remark, that the south front of Indiana is well watered. The Wabash is the chief river of this state; and after the Tennessee one of the most considerable tributaries of the Ohio. It glides through the central parts of the state, and by its extensive branches waters a vast extent of it. One of the main branches heads near Fort St. Mary's, in Darke county, Ohio. The next considerable branch called Little River, heads seven miles south of Fort Wayne , and enters the Wabash, eighty miles below St. Mary 's Portage. The next is Massassineway, which also heads in Ohio, between Forts Greenville and Recovery ; iand joins it a league and a half below the mouth of Little River. Eel River, another branch, rises in ponds and lakes, eighteen miles west of Fort Wayne, and joins the Wabash, eight miles below the mouth of the Massassineway. Rejoicing, Mascontin, Ouitanon, and Deche are inconsiderable tributaries. White River enters the Wabash from the eastern side, sixteen miles below Vincennes. It is the most considerable tributary of the Wabash; and one ofthe most important rivers in the state. It waters a great extent of very fertile country, in a lateral direction to the main stream. Its head waters interlock with the waters of the Miami. Its principal tribu taries are Driftwood Branch, Muddy Fork, and Tea-kettle Branch. Little River, St. Mary's, Rock River, and Pomme, are inconsiderable tributaries, that enter from the eastern side. It receives a great number of considerable tributaries from the west. Richard's Creek and Rock River enter above Tippicanoe. This stream has acquired lasting fame by the bloody action which was fought upon its banks, between the United States' troops, under General Harrison, and the Wabash savages in November, 1811. It originates from many branches in ponds and lakes, which, like that at the source of the Plein of the Illinois, discharge at one extremity into the waters of the Wabash, and at the other into the Maumee of the lakes. Before the battle of Tippicanoe the Indians had fields in high cultivation along the banks of this river. Below this river from the west, enter in succession, Pine, Redwood, Rejoicing, Little Vermillion, Erabliere, Dachette and Brouette Rivers, which are inconsid erable streams, that head in the state of Illinois* White Water is a branch of the Big Miami, and a very interesting river. It rises near Fort Greenville, in Ohio. Not far from its source it crosses into this state, and in its devious course, waters a large extent of fertile country. The West Fork unites with it at Brookville, 30 miles above its entrance into the Miami. This beautiful stream is supposed to water 374 INDIANA. nearly a million acres of land. It abounds in fine fish, and surpasses the other rivers of tfje country in the unusual transparency of waters. It has its sources in copious hill springs, and its waters are uncommonly cold. The people in its vicinity have an idea that its waters are too much want ing in specific gravity, or too little buoyant, for ordinary swimmers to trust themselves to bathe in it. The northern front of the state, bordering on the territory of Michigan, and the lake of that name, is watered copiously by rivers, that empty into that lake and lake Erie. The principal of these are the St. Joseph ofthe Maumee of the lakes, and its numerous branches, the river Raisin of lake Erie, BlackRiver of lake Michigan with its numerous branches; Chemin, Big and Little Kenomic, all of that lake, and Theakiki, Kickapoo, Plein, and the Vermillion of Illinois. These numerous rivers generally have short courses, and carry large volumes of water. Most of them originate in ponds and lakes, of which an hundred exist along the northern frontier. Many have the peculiar character of such waters in this region, that is to say, a position on an elevated plateau, from one extremity of which the waters discharge into the lakes, and from the other into the waters of the Mississippi. Although this state has not so great an extent of inland navigation as Illinois, the amount of that navigation is very great. Many of its waters interlock with those of the Illinois. It possesses the whole extent of the noble Wabash, and White River, and its numerous boatable branches. By these large marshy ponds, which at once discharge into lake Michigan and Erie on the one hand, and the gulf of Mexico on the other, with a small expense of money and labor, the lakes will be united by canals with the Ohio and Illinois. A navigable canal already connects the White Water by the Big Miami with the Ohio, at Cincinnati. This state so rapidly becoming populous, is the younger sister of Ohio, and will soon dispute the point of population and importance. It will ere long emulate ^the enterprise, the canals and great public works of its model. By the lakes the northern frontier is already connected with Canada and New York. The whole extent of the inland navigation may be fairly rated at 5,000 miles. Chief Towns. Character of the country in which they are situated. The tabular view of county towns presents the names of the most con siderable villages in this state. To mention, in detail, all that have really attained some degree of consequence, would only furnish a barren cata logue of names. We will mention the chief of those on the Ohio, ui descending order, beginning with Lawrenceburgh, on the south-eastern angle of the state. INDIANA. 375 This town, the seat of justice for the county of Dearborn, stands on the north bank of the Ohio, 23 miles below Cincinnati, and two miles below the Big Miami, the eastern limit of the state. It is in the centre of a rich bottom. The ancient village was built on the first bottom, which was frequently exposed to inundation. It was not uncommon for the water to rise four or five feet above the foundations of the houses, in which case the inhabitants removed to the upper story, and drove their domestic animals to the hills. Visits and tea parties were projected in the inundated town, and the vehicles of transport skiffs and periogues. The period of the flood, from ancient custom, and the suspension of all the customary pursuits, became a time of carnival. The floods, instead of creating disease, wash the surface of the earth, carry off vegetable and animal matter, and are supposed to be rather conducive to health than otherwise. The old town, built on the first bank, had been stationary for many years. New Lawrenceburgh has been recently built on the second bank, and on elevated ground, formed by the bank of Tanner's Creek. Since the commencement of this town few places have made more rapid progress. Many of the new houses are handsome ; and some of them make a handsome show from the river. Its position, in relation to the river, the rich adjacent country, and the Big Miami, is highly eligible. It has a number of respectable commencing manufactories, and promises to be a large town. It contains 1,000 inhabitants. Aurora is a new village, at the mouth of Hogan Creek, four miles below, on the Ohio. It contains between 60 and 70 dwellings. Rising Sun, 13 miles below Lawrenceburgh, occupies a beautiful position on the Ohio, and is a village something larger than Aurora. Vevay, the seat of justice for Switzerland county, is situated 8 miles above the point, opposite the mouth of Kentucky River, and 45 miles below Cincinnati. It contains between 2 and 300 houses, a court house, jail, academy, printing office, from which issues a weekly journal, a branch of the Bank of Indiana, and some other public buildings. This inter esting town was commenced in 1804, by 30 Swiss families, to whom the United States made a grant, under favorable stipulations, of a considera ble tract of land, to patronize the cultivation of the vine. The patriarch of this colony was a Swiss gentleman, of the name of J. J. Dufour, who continued an intelligent friend to the town. The colony soon received considerable accessions from the mountains of Switzerland. In grateful remembrance of their native hills, and to create in the bosom of their adopted country tender associations with their ancient country, they named their stream Venoge, and their town Vevay. Messrs. Dufour, Morerod, Bettens, Siebenthal, and others, commenced the cultivation of the grape on a large scale. This cultivation has gone on steadily in- 376 INDIANA. creasing. An hundred experiments have been since commenced in dif ferent points of the West. But this still remains the largest vineyard in the United States. We have witnessed nothing in our country, in the department of gardening and cultivation, which can compare with the richness of this vineyard, in the autumn, when the clusters are in maturity. Words feebly paint such a spectacle. The horn of plenty seems to have been emptied in the production of this rich fruit. We principally remarked the blue or Cape grape and the Madeira grape. The wine of the former has been preferred to the Claret of Bordeaux. The fruit tends to become loo succulent and abundant. It is now sup posed that some of our native grapes, will more easily acclimate, and make a better wine. These amiable and industrious people are constantly profiting by experience. This species of agriculture already yields them a better profit than any other practised in our country. They are every year improving on the vintage of the past. They are the simple and interesting inhabitants that we might expect, from the prepossessions of early reading, to find from the vine clad hills of Switzerland. They are mostly protestants, and happily compound the vivacity of the French with the industry of the Germans. Like the former they love gaiety and dancing. Like the latter they easily fall in with the spirit of our institutions, love our country and its laws, intermarry with our people, and are in all respects a most amiable people. There is a considerable num ber of professional men in Vevay, a public library, a literary society, and many of the comforts and improvements of a town. Mr. Dufour has distinguished himself by agricultural publications, particularly upon the culture of the vine. This industrious people have created some manu factures, peculiar to themselves, particularly that of straw bonnets. The position of the town is fortunate, in relation to the back country, and the other interior large towns. Madison, the most populous, and one of the pleasantest and most thriving towns in the state; is situated on the Ohio, nearly equi-distant between Louisville and Cincinnati, and was commenced in 1811. In 1829 between 40 and 50 brick buildings, many of them three stories, were added to the town; and the promise of future progress is equally great. Its position on the Ohio is peculiarly favorable, it being the point of the river nearest to Indianapolis, 84 miles from it, and the landing place for the imports from the Ohio to a number of the newly settled and thriving counties. Besides churches and public buildings, it has 25 dry good's stores, many of them transacting an extensive business. A line of stages passes through it. It has two printing offices, and issues a respectable weekly gazef te. It has an insurance company, and expects a branch of the United States Bank. It does a large business in exports of INDIANA. 377 the produce of the country, and is particularly noted for the quantity of pork barrelled here. It contains 2,000 inhabitants. New London, ten miles lower on the river, and Charlestown, 29 miles lower, and two miles back from the Ohio, are small villages. The land about the latter town was a grant of gratitude from Virginia to the brave General Clark and his soldiers, for their achievements at the close of the revolutionary war. Jeffersonville is situated just above the falls of Ohio. The town of Louisville on the opposite shore, and the beautiful and rich country beyond, together with the broad and rapid river, forming whitening sheets and cascades from shore to shore, the display of steam boats, added to the high banks, the neat village, and the noble woods on the north bank, unite to render the scenery of this village uncommonly rich and diversified. It is a considerable and handsome village with some houses, that have a show of magnificence. It has a land office, a post office, a printing office, and some other public buildings. It was contemplated to canal the falls on this side of the river; and a company with a large capital was incor porated by the legislature. In 1819, the work was commenced, but has not been prosecuted with the success that was hoped. The completion of the canal on the opposite side will, probably, merge this project, by rendering it useless. One of the principal chutes of the river, in low water, is near this shore ; and experienced pilots, appointed by the state, are always in readiness to conduct boats over the falls. Clarksville is a small village just below this place. New Albany, the seat of justice for Floyd county, is four and a half miles below Jeffersonville. The front street is three quarters of a mile in length, and makes a respectable appearance from the river. Many steam boats, that cannot pass the falls, are laid up for repair at this place, dur ing the summer. It has a convenient ship yard for building steam boats, and is a thriving and busy village, containing 1,900 inhabitants. Fredonia, Leavenworth, Rockport, and Evansville occur, as we descend the Ohio. The last is a village of some consequence. It is the landing place for immigrants, descending the Ohio, for the Wabash. It is at the mouth of Big Pigeon Creek, 54 miles south of Vincennes, and 45 above the mouth of the Wabash. Being about half way between the falls of Ohio and the mouth, it is a noted stopping place for steam boats. Corydon, the seat of justice for the county of Harrison, was for a con siderable time the political metropolis of this state. It is distant 23 miles from Jeffersonville, and 13 from the Ohio, and is situated in the forks of Indian Creek. North of the town, spreads an extensive region of barrens, full of sink holes and lime stone caves. 48 378 INDIANA. Salem, on a small branch of Blue River, 34 miles north of Corydon, is a flourishing county town, containing more than 100 houses. Brownstown, Paoli, and Washington, are inferior county towns. The following towns are on the Wabash as we descend the^ river. Above Tippicanoe is the old French post of Ouitanon, at the head of boatable navigation on the river, in the centre of what was recently the country of the savages. Its origin dates back nearly one hundred years. The in habitants are a mixture of French and Indian blood. Merom is on a high bluff of the Wabash, opposite La Motte Prairie, in Illinois,.and is in the centre of rich and beautiful prairies. It has peopled with great rapidity. Terre Haute is situated two miles below Fort Harrison, as its name im ports, on a high bank of the Wabash. It is a growing and important village. Shaker Town, 15 miles above Vincennes, contains a community of the industrious people called Shakers, and exhibits the marks of order and neatness, that so universally characterize this people. Vincennes is, after Kaskaskia, the oldest place in the western world. It was settled in 1735 by French emigrants from Canada. They feed themselves here in a beautiful, rich, and isolated spot, in the midst of the deserts. For an age they had little intercourse with any other people than savages. Their interests, pursuits and feelings were identified with them. Their descendants are reclaimed from their savage propensities; and have the characteristic vivacity and politeness of the French people. It is 150 miles above the mouth of the Wabash; and 54 from the nearest point of the Ohio. It has improved rapidly of late; and contains 300 houses, a brick court house and hotel, a jail, a respectable building for an Academy, a Roman Catholic and a Presbyterian church, land office, post office,, two printing offices, from one of which is issued a respectable gazette, a bank, and some other public buildings, and 1,500 inhabitants. It is situated contiguous to a beautiful prairie, 5,000 acres of which are cultivated as a common field, after the ancient French customs. It was for a long lime the seat of the territorial government, and still has as much trade as any other place in the state. The plat of the town is level, and laid off with regularity. The houses have extensive gardens, crowded after the French fashion with fruit trees. It is accessible, for the greater part of the year, by steam boats; and is a place of extensive supply of merchandise to the interior of the state. Volney, who visited this place not long after the establishment of the Federal Government, gives a graphic and faithful account of the appearance of this place, and the adjoining country, the French inhabitants and their manners. At the same time he presents a revolting picture of the manner in which the Americans had treated them. Perhaps he had not learned that Vincennes INDIANA. 379 had been for a long time a nest of savages, from which they fitted out their murderous expeditions ; and that it was natural that the Kentuckians who had suffered much from them, should retaliate upon the people who had harbored them. He represents them, subsequently, to have been cheated out of their lands by the Americans, and their ignorance so profound, that little more than half their number could read or write; and he avers that he could instantly distinguish them, when mixed with the Americans, by their meagre and tanned faces, and their look of poverty and desolation. However just this picture may have been in 179G, it is reversed now. Most of the inhabitants have an air of ease and affluence; and Vincennes furnishes a pleasant and respectable society. Harmony is fifty-four miles below Vincennes, and something more than one hundred by water above the mouth of the Wabash on the east bank of the river, 16 miles from the nearest point of the Ohio, on a rich and heavily timbered plateau, or second bottom. It is high, healthy, has a fertile soil, and is in the vicinity of small and rich prairies, and is a pleasant and well chosen position. It was first settled in 1814, by a re ligious sect of Germans, denominated Harmonites. They were emigrants from Germany, and settled first on Beaver Creek in Pennsylvania. They moved in a body, consisting of 800 souls, to this place. Their spiritual and temporal leader was George Rapp, and all the lands and possessions were held in his name. Their society seems to have been a kind of inter mediate sect between the Shakers and Moravians. They held their property in common. Their regulations were extremely strict and severe. In their order, industry, neatness, and perfect subordination, they resem bled the Shakers. They soon erected from 80 to 100 large and substantial buildings. Their lands were laid off with the most perfect regularity, and were as right angled and square as compass could make them. They were wonderfully successful here, as they had been in other places, in converting a wilderness into a garden in a short time. They had even the luxury of a botanic garden and a green house. Their great house of assembly, with its wings and appendages, was nearly 100 feet square. Here they lived, and labored in common, and in profound peace. But from some cause, their eyes were turned from the rich fields and the wide prairies, and the more southern and temperate climate of the Wabash towards Beaver Creek, the place where they had first settled. While they were under the influence of these yearnings, the leader of a new sect came upon them. This was no other than Robert Owen of New Lanark, in Scotland, a professed philosopher of a new schoolj who advo cated new principles, and took new views of society. He denominated his theory, 'The Social System.' He was opulent, and disposed to make a grand experiment of his principles on the prairies of the Wabash, and 380 INDIANA. purchased the land and village of Mr. Rapp, for 190,000 dollars. In a short time there were admitted to the new establishment from seven to eight hundred persons. They danced all together, one night in every week, and had a concert of music in another. The Sabbath was occupied in the delivery and hearing of philosophical lectures. Two of Mr. Owen's sons, and, Mr. M'Clure joined him from Scotland . The society at New Harmony, as the place was called, excited a great deal of remark in every part of the United States. Great numbers of distinguished men in all the walks of life wrote to the society, making enquiries, respecting its prospects, and rules; and expressing a desire, at some future time to join it. Mr. Owen remained at New Harmony, little more than a year ; in which time he made a voyage to Europe. The fourth of July, 1826, he promulgated his famous declaration of ' mental independence.' The society had begun to moulder before this time. He has left New Harmony, and ' the social system' is abandoned. It is to be hoped, that this beautifuL village, which has been the theatre of such singular and opposite experiments, will again flourish. BrookviUe is a decaying village, in the forks of the beautiful White Water. It was noted for the number and enterprize of its mechanics and manufacturers. A number of its public and private buildings are of brick, and respectable.' It has grist mills, saw mills, carding machines, a printing office and numbers of the common mechanic shops, where the usual articles of city manufacture are made. The surrounding country is finely timbered and watered. The soil is rich and productive; and has acquired reputation for the excellence of its tobacco. From some cause, notwithstanding all these advantages, it has declined. The number of houses exceeds one hundred. Harrison is situated on the north shore of White Water, eight miles from its mouth, eighteen north-east of BrookviUe, and in the centre of an excellent body of land. The village is divided between the jurisdic tion of Ohio and Indiana. In the rich and extensive bottoms, that surround this village, are found great numbers of Indian mounds. They contain quantities of human bones, in all stages of decay. Indian axes, vases, and implements of war and domestic use, abound in them. In the bottom of most of them are found brands, coal and ashes; indications, from which antiquarians have inferred, that they were places of sacrifice, and that the victims were human. Richmond is a thriving town of 1,500 inhabitants. Indianapolis is situated on the west bank of White River, in the centre of one of the most extensive and fertile bodies of land in the western world ; nearly central to the state, and at a point accessible by steam boats, in common stages of the Wabash. No river in America according to its size and extent, waters greater bodies of fertile land, than White River. INDIANA. 381 The country is settling about this town with unexampled rapidity. But a few years since, it was a solid and deep forest, where the surprised traveller now sees the buildings of a metropolis, compact streets andsquares of brick buildings, respectable public buildings, manufactories, mechanic shops, printing offices, business and bustle. Such is the present aspect- of Indianapolis, which contains two hundred houses, and 1,200 inhabit ants. It will, probably, become one of the largest towns between Cincinnati and the Mississippi. In the recently settled parts of the state, have sprung up a number of new towns, with compact streets and handsome houses, within four or five years. The most considerable of these are Logansport, Terre Haute, Rockville, Crawfordsville, and La Fayette. This last town is now the head of navigation on the Wabash. At the point designated by the commissioners for the termination of the Wabash and Erie canal, 66 miles below La Fayette, is the famous battle ground of Tippicanoe at the mouth of that river. It exhibits the most beautiful scenery. The breast-works of the American army are still visible. The hottest point of the fight is indicated by the masses of bones of the horses that were killed. General Tipton, who at the age of eighteen years distinguished himself in that battle, is the present owner of the site, and has enclosed it with a view to consecrating the memory of that event. The increase of population in this state, since the year 1820, has been unexampled, even in the annals of western progress. The inhabitants then amounted to 147,000. The census of 1830 gives it 344,000 This census did not include any but resident persons. Great numbers of immigrants were in the state at the time it was taken, and were not included in it. The tide of immigration was stronger at no period, than last autumn. The number of inhabitants at this time, exceeds 400,000. The principal influx of this population has been to the country on the Upper Wabash, forming the counties of Warren, Fountain, Tippicanoe, Madison, Hancock, Clay, Caroll, Cass, Clinton, and Boone. These counties send four Senators and eight representatives to the General Assembly. The inhabitants are distinguished for their progress in making farms and towns, and their intelligence and respectability. Nearly half the counties have been constituted within the last five years. The soil of the Upper Wabash is of the richest quality, being black, deep, friable and extremely productive. Over the whole extent we meet with fertile and beautifully undulating prairies. Unlike those farther west, some of them have small hills of considerable elevation with groves on their summits, presenting delightful prospects to the eye. The productiveness of these prairies is surprising. The face of the country is undergoing an astonishing change, which seems the work of 382 INDIANA. enchantment. Three or four years ago it had only been trodden by savages or the animals of the wilderness. We now see not only luxuriant forests, numerous flocks, herds and commencing orchards, and gardens, but neat and substantial brick houses. In consequence of the great change produced by the opening of the New York canal, and the canal connecting Lake Erie with Ontario, the north front of Indiana along Lake Michigan, which, a few years since, was regarded as a kind of terminating point of habitancy in the desert, has begun to be viewed as a maratime shorej and the most important front ofthe state. Navigable waters. Their extent has been rated at 2,500 miles. We have given an estimate of twice that amount. When we take into view the whole northern lakes, and all their shores, traversed at present by steam boats, this estimate will be found moderate. The boatable waters, beside the lakes, consist of the long extent of the Ohio, washing the southern shore, the Wabash and its waters, Petoka, Blue River, St. Joseph, White Water, Rocky River, Pomme, Massisineway, Eel River, Little River, Panther Creek, Elkhorn, St. Joseph of Lake Michigan, Great and Little Kenomic, Chemin, Chicago, Kickapoo, Theakiki, part of Fox, Plein and Illinois. The distance from Chicago, to New Orleans is 1680, and to Buffalo 800 miles. In regard to the facility of communication between the Ohio and Mississippi, and the lakes, we have already noted the great number of lakes and ponds, that from one extremity communicate with those rivers; and from the other, with Lake Erie and Michigan. More than 20 of these portages have been practised. Among the first, we name that between St. Marys, and Little River of the Wabash. By this the French formerly communicated with their posts on the Wabash. The second is a short portage, between Chicago and the Kickapoo of the Illinois. In high spring waters, boats pass by this route from the lake to the river. The third is the distance of a league between the north branch of the Big Miami, and the south branch of the Maumee. By this communication canoes have passed from the Ohio to Lake Erie. Another communication is a kind of natural canal at Loramier's Fort, connecting the Miami and the Maumee, which is practicable for boats in high waters. There is another similar connection between Hudson River of Ltike Erie, and Grand River of Lake Michigan. The Muskingum of the Ohio commu nicates in spring floods with the Cuyahoga of Lake Erie. There is a portage of four miles, between the St. Joseph of Lake Michigan, and Theakiki, of two miles between the Theakiki and the great Kenomic, of half a mile between the Great and Little Kenomic; of three miles between Chicago and Plein, and numerous other communication* INDIANA. 383 between the rivers of the Wabash and Lake Michigan, too numerous to mention. The river Chicago empties into Lake Michigan, near the territorial limits of Indiana and Illinois. Its harbor is the south-western extremity of that lake. Fort Dearborn, where the bloody tragedy of September, 1815, was enacted by the Indians, in the massacre of its garrison, was, until recently, a military post of the United States. It has lately been abandoned. At the mouth of this river is the only harbor on the lake for a great distance ; and when ever a canal shall unite the Illinois with the lake, it will become a place of great commercial importance. Indians. Until recently, they owned the greater part of the fertile lands in this state. Most of these lands have lately been purchased of them by treaty. The names of the tribes, as they used to be, convey little idea of their present position and numbers. Great numbers have emigrated far to the west, on White River and Arkansas. Others have strayed into Canada, or towards the sources of the Mississippi, and their deserted places are rapidly filling with the habitations of white men. Their names, as they used to be, are Mascontins, Piankashaws, Kicka- poos, Delawares, Miamies, Shawnees, Weeas, Ouitanons, Eel Rivers and Pottawattomies. Their present numbers can not exceed four or five thousand souls. It is an unquestionable evidence of the fertility of the country in the interior of Indiana, that it was once the seat of the most dense Indian population in the western country. The Indians invariably fixed in greatest numbers, where the soil was fertile, the country healthy, and the means of transport on water courses easy and extensive. Such countries abounded in fish and game, and such was the' country in question. The Indians in this country were invaded, in 1791, by Gen. Wilkinson. He destroyed their principal town. It contained 120 houses, eighty of which were roofed with shingles. The gardens and improve ments about it were delightful. There was a tavern with cellars, bar, public and private rooms ; and the whole indicated no small degree of order and civilization. The prophet's town, destroyed by Gen. Harrison in November, 1811, was a considerable place. The Miamies possess a reservation near Logan's Fort, of 36 miles square of land, of the finest quality. Their numbers are 1,150. Beside their rich lands, they have an annuity of 25,000 dollars, which, with their possessions, render them wealthy. Near the Kankakee Ponds north of the Wabash, reside the Pottawattomies, who are more numerous than the Miamies. These Indians, in 1826 ceded lands to the United States, for the purpose of causing a road to be constructed from Lake Michigan by way of Indian apolis to the Ohio. Congress confirmed the grant, and the road has been laid out, and rendered passable. 384 INDIANA. Game and Fish. The interior and northern parts of this state are abundantly stocked with game. Bears, and especially deer, are common. Wild turkeys have been supposed by some, to abound as much on the waters of White River, as they do in the settled regions. Hundreds are sometimes driven from one corn field. Prairie hens, partridges and grouse abound on the prairies, and in some seasons, wild pigeons are seen here in countless numbers. Where they roost, the limbs of the trees are broken off in all directions by their numbers. Venomous snakes and noxious reptiles are sometimes seen, especially in the vicinity of ledges of rocks. The rattle snake and the copper head are the most numerous and dangerous. The streams, and especially those that communicate with Lake Michigan, are abundant in fish of the best qualities. The number and excellence of the fish, and the ease, with which they are taken, are circumstances of real importance and advantage to the first settlers, and help to sustain them, until they are enabled to subsist by the avails of cultivation.Minerals and Fossils. There are salt springs in different parts of the state. We do not know, that any of them are worked to much extent. The salt has hitherto been chiefly brought from the United States' Saline, back of Shawneetown, or from the Salines of Kenhawa. Stone coal of the best quality is found in various places. Native copper has been discovered in small masses, in the northern parts of the state. Iron ore is also found in some places. But in general it is a country too level to be a mineral one. Although from the first settlement of the country, it has been asserted, that there is a silver mine near Ouitanon. Antiquities. This state once possessed a numerous Indian population. Their mounds, sepulchres, ruined villages, the sward of blue grass, which indicates in times nearer, or remote, the position of an Indian village, their implements of war and agriculture, dug up by the spade, or turned up by the plough, strike us on all sides, as we travel through this state. They can not but excite deep and serious thoughts in a reflecting mind. French traditions relate, that an exterminating battle took place in a spot, which is now designated by two or three small mounds, near where Fort Harrison now stands. The battle was fought between the Indians of the Mississippi, and of the Wabash. The prize of conquest was the lands, which were adjacent to the field of battle. A thousand warriors fought on each side. The contest commenced with the sun, and was fought with all the barbarity and desperation of Indian bravery. The Wabash warriors were victorious with seven survivors; and the vanquished came off with only five. Curiosities. Like Alabama and Tennessee, this state abounds with subterranean wonders, in the form of caves. Many have been explored, INDIANA. 385 and some of them have been described. One of them is extensively known in the western country by the name of 'the Epsom salts cave? It. is not very far from Jeffersonville. When first discovered, the salts were represented as being some inches deep on the floor. The interior of this cave possesses the usual domes and chambers of extensive caverns, through which the visitant gropes a distance of a mile and a quarter to the ' pillar,' which is a splendid column, 15 feet in diameter, and 25 feet high, regularly reeded from top to bottom. Near it are smaller pillars of the same appearance. The salt in question is, sometimes found in lumps varying from one to ten pounds. The floor and walls are covered with it in the form of a frost, which when removed, is speedily reproduced. The earth yields from four to 20 pounds to the bushel ; and the product is said to be of the best quality. Nitre is also found in the cave in great abundance, and sulphate of lime, or plaister of paris. Roads and Canals. We have seen that the state has laid out and rendered passable a road from Lake Michigan to the Ohio The national road is laid out, and some part of it made through the state from * east to west, passing through Indianopolis, The common roads are in good passable condition during the summer. But in winter, and especially during rainy weather, they are excessively deep and heavy. Regular ferries are now established across the the rivers at all the import ant points of travel. The project of a rail road from the Ohio to Lake Michigan has been discussed. None of the western states, from the the configuration, to which we have adverted, possess greater facilities of making canals; as great numbers of the small lakes communicate at present with the Ohio and Mississippi from one extremity, and with Lake Michigan from the other, and require only, that the communications should be deepened to become natural canals. A canal has been projected by the state, after a long discussion of two or three legislative sessions, entitled the Wabash and Erie Canal. It is intended to connect by the Big Miami, and the Dayton Canal, with Lake Erie. Funds have been provided for making it; but, owing to some division of opinion respecting the comparative utility of canals and rail roads, the excavation has not yet been commenced. Seminaries. Indiana College at Bloomington, commenced in 1828. As early as 1804, the then territorial government of Indiana incorporated what was called the university of Vincennes. A brick building was erected, and the university figured for some years in the statutes of legislation. When the territory became a state, a township of land to be selected by the president of the United States, was appropriated to this institution, in addition to the township already owned. The new town- 49 <®*f INDIANA. *J^p. was selected by the president, near Bloomington. The original title of. the cpllege was changed, and the brick edifice sold. It then took the name of Indiana College. In 1829 it received an efficient organiza tion under a learned president, with two professors aud a tutor. The number of students is about 60. The seat of the college is a delightful Village central to a healthful and fertile country. A thorough classical education is imparted, at an expense as moderate, as in any other similar seminary injure union. Hanover Academy was established at Hanover, six miles below Madison 0$ the, Ohio, in 1827. It is chiefly intended as a Presbyterian theological schppl, and is under the care of the Presbytery of Indiana. It has an endowment inland, and thp system of manual labor is contemplated. It is intended that |he expenses of board and tuition shall be but thirty ^pilars a year. .It has ^2 .students, 18 of whom are preparing for the ministry. Some other institutions of education exist, called academies; and. high schools are in. contemplation in different parts of this rapidly advancing state. ,¦ Ahistorical society has recently been formed, the object of which, is to investigate the antiquities of the country, and preserve the materials for the annals and history of the state. A respectable librarv has already been collected, and the society bids fair to be efficient in furnishing documents ,of practical utility in furthering its objects. That spirit of regard for schools, religious societies and institutions, connected with .them, which has so honorably distinguished the commenc ing legislation of Ohio, has displayed itself in this state. There are districts, no doubt, where people have but just made beginnings, and are more anxious about carrying on the first operations of making a new establishment, than educating their children. But it ought to be recorded to the honor of the people, that among the first public works in an incip ient village, is, a school house, and among the first associations, that for establishing a school. Schools are established in all the considerable towns and villages in the state. In many of the more compact there is a reading instTt ' t"d 3 S'°CiaI Jibrary' The sPirit of en(luiry> resulting.from our free matio" 10DS' -'S pervading the countrv, and a thirst for all kinds of infor- ¦wter statUDIVerSa1' This state wi" soon take a hiSh plaCe mmg ^ intellectual*? * P°mt °f P°Pulation- Jt is hoPed that her advancem correspondinniPr0Veinent' a"d SOcial and reliSious institutions willbein Constitution and r 10n" in 1816. The const0"*™"^' This State was admitted int0 the Um°n other western states S 't!0" d°eS BOt differ essentially from that ofthe form than the rest Th *' d°6S d'ffer' h is in havinS a more ^^ 6 *OWnor,« elected for three years; and is INDIANA. 387 «ligible six years out of nine. The judiciary is composed of a1 supferhe and circuit courts. The judges of the supreme court are appointed by the governor, 'and have appellate jurisdiction. The circuit coiirts are to be held by one judge and two associates — the former to be appointed by the legislature, and the latter by the people; all to be held for the term of seven ' yeais. All free white males, of twenty-one ' years and upwards, of the 'United States, are admittedlto the elective'franchise. History. The country, on the Wabash Was early visited by French traders, or hunters1 from Canada. The settlement ' of Vincennes, , dates back as far as 1702.' "She first settlement was composed of 'sbidiers'of Louis XIV. They were, for more th'an an age almost separated from the rest of mankind; and had, in many respects1, assimilated with the savages, with whom they' intermarried. In the time of the American revolution, they manifested a disposition so unequivocally favorable to if, that the general government ceded to them a tract of land about Vincennes, at the close of that war. The sparse population in this then wilderness, suffered severely from the savages, until the peace, which was restored by the treaty at Greenville. The Indians still owned the greater portion of the territorial surface. In the year 181 1, in consequence of their depredations and murders, a military force was sent against them ; and they were defea ted, and compelled to sue for peace. The bloody battle of Tippicanoe has already been mentioned. Since the peace they have been quiet, and have ceded the greater part of their lands to the United States. In 1801, Indi ana was erected into a territorial government. During the late war the tide of immigration was almost completely arrested. Many of the settle ments were broken tip by the savages. Immediately on the termination of that war, the tide set strongly again, through Ohio, to this state; and population poured in upon the woods and prairies. It has since been filling up with almost unexampled rapidity. It suffered severely along with the other western states by the change of times, that ocurred after the close of the war. The same foolish, or iniquitous system of spurious banks, or relief laws, was adopted here as inthe state farther west ; and with the same results. The bank of New Lexington was a notorious scheme of iniquity; and was one ofthe first bubbles, that burst in this young community. Though the people did not immediately take warning, they were among the first, that discarded all the ridiculous temporizing expedients of relief, and restored a sound circulation. If we could prevent a scenic map of this state, exhibiting its present con dition, it would present us a gr and and interesting view of deep forests, wide and flowering prairies, dotted with thousands of log cabins; and in the villages, brick houses rising beside them. We should see chasms cut 388 INDIANA. put of the forests in all directions. We should note thousands of dead trees surrounding the incipient establishments. On the edges of the prai ries, we should remark cabins, or houses, sending up their . smokes. We should see vast droves of cattle, ruminating in the vicinity of these estab lishments in the shade. There would be a singular blending of nature and art; and to give interest to the scene, the bark hovels of the Indians, in many places, would remain intermixed with the habitations of the whites. But the most pleasing part of the picture would be to see inde pendent and respectable yeoman presiding over thesegreat changes. The young children would be seen playing about the rustic establishments; full feci and, happy, sure presages of the numbers,, healthfulness and inde,- pendenceof the coming generation- The revenue of the state for 1831 is 103,432 dollars; the expenditure is 37,765. Deduct the canal and Indianopolis fund 28,164 ; and there will remain a balance in the treasury in favor ofthe state. OHIO. Length, 210 miles. Mean breadth, 200 miles, containing 40,000 square miles, and 25,000,000 acres. Between 38° 30' and 41° 19' N. latitude ; and between 3° 31' and 7° 41' West from Washington. Bounded on the North by the territory of Michigan, ,and Lake Erie; East by Pennsylvania, South-east by Virginia, from which it is separated by the Ohio ; South by the Ohio, which separates it from Virginia and Kentucky ; and West by Indiana. CIVIL DIVISIONS. Counties. County Towns. Distances from Columbus. Adams, West Union, 101 miles. Allen, Wassahkonnetta, 110 Ashtabula, Jefferson, 191 Athens, Athens, 73 Belmont, St. Clairsville, 124 Brown, Georgetown, 104 Butler, Hamilton, 101 Champaign, Urbana, 50 Clarke, Springfield, 43 Clermont, Batavia, 109 Clinton, Wilmington, 67 Columbiana, New Lisbon, 152 Coshocton, Coshocton, 84 Crawford, Bucyrus, 69 Cuyahoga, Cleaveland, 138 Drake, Greenville, 103 Delaware, Delaware, 23 Fairfield, Lancaster, 28 390 OHIO. Fayette, Washington, C. H- 45 Franklin, Columbus, Gallia, Galliopolis, 108 Geauga, Claridon, 157 Greene, Xenia, 57 Guernsey, Cambridge, 83 Hamilton, Cincinnati, 112 Hancock, Findlay, 114 Hardin, Hardy, 66 Harrison, Cadte, 124 Henry, Damascus, 161 Highland, Hillsboro, 74 Hocking, Logan, 47 Holmes, Millersburgh, 80 Huron, Norwalk, 113 Jackson, Jackson, C. H. 74 Jefferson, Steubenville, 149 Knox, Mount Vernon, 45 Lawrence, Burlington, 135 Licking, Newark, 34 Logan, Bellefontaine, 62 Lorain, Elysia, 130 Madison, London, 27 Marion, Marion, 47 Medina, Medina, C. H. 111 Meigs, Chester, 94 Mercer Saint Mary's, 111 Miami, Troy, 78 Monroe, Woodsfield, 140 Montgomery, Dayton, 66 Morgan, McConnelsville, 70 Muskingum, Zanesville, 59 Paulding, Perry, Somerset, 46 Pickaway, Circleville, 26 Pike, Piketon, 65 Portage, Ravenna, 127 Preble, Eaton, 02 Putnam, Sugar Grove, 148 Richland, Mansfield, 71 Ross, Chillicothe, 45 Sandusky, Lower Sandusky, 103 ohio. 391 Scioto, Portsmouth, 91 Seneca, Tiffin, 85 Shelby, Sidney, 86 Stark, Canton, 116 Trumbull, Warren, 157 Tuscarawas, New Philadelphia, 107 Union, Marysville, 37 Van Wert, Willshire, 146 Warren, Lebanon, 83 Washington, Marietta, 106 Wayne, W coster, 86 Williams, Defiance, 175 Wood, Perrysburgh, 135 The census of 1830, gives the population of this state as follows : whites, 928,093. Other persons, 9,586. Total, 937,679. Face of the country. There is, probably, no where in the world a body of land, of the same extent, of which a greater proportion is susceptible of cultivation. It may be considered a surface of table land, sloping in one direction towards the Ohio, and in the other, towards Lake Erie. The northern belt has great tracts of wet and marshy soil. They are, however, excellent, and in positions that render them easy to be drained. They are covered with forests, and when cleared, and drained, will not make the least valuable parts of the state. There are extensive bodies of lands heavily timbered in a state of nature, which are as level as prairies. The most fertile part of the state is between the two Miamies. On the upper courses of the Miamies, Muskingum and Scioto, are rich and extensive prairies, divided into wet and dry prairies, of which the latter only are at present susceptible of cultivation. The forest trees are the same as in Kentucky and Indiana, except, that the peccan tree, which is common on the waters of the Wabash, is not often found here. The forests are deep, but in the richest soils, the trees are rather distinguishable for their straight- ness, than their size.. A considerable part of the eastern and south eastern divisions is hilly; in some places rising into fine cultivable swells; and in other places into hills, too broken and precipitous to admit cultivation. The most marshy parts are found on the table lands, the highest in the state. But nine-tenths of the surface are suscep tible of cultivation, and are already, or are rapidly becoming a thickly settled country of moderate sized freeholds. One remark may convey a general idea of the forest. It is, as in Indiana and Illinois, composed almost entirely of deciduous trees, with few evergreens, or terebinthine trees, if we except some few cypress trees. On its whole wide surface, is scarcely any land so hilly, sterile, or marshy, as, with moderate labor, 392 OHro. may not be subdued, drained and cultivatedy The whole region seems to •have invited a hardy and numerous body of freeholders to select themselves moderate, and nearly equal sized farms, and to intersperse them over its surface. In respect to the smallness of the farms, the number, equality, and compactness of the population, not confined, as farther west, to the water courses, but diffused over the whole state, it compares very accurately with New England. To an eye that could contemplate the whole region from an elevated point, it would even yet exhibit a great proportion of unbroken forest, , only here and there chequered with farms. Yet in the county towns, and better settled districts, any spectacle, that collects the multi tude, a training, an ordination, an election, or the commencement of any great public work, causes a rush from the woods and the forests, which, like the tenanted trees ofthe poets inthe olden time, seem to have given birth for the occasion to crowds of men, women and children, pouring towards the point of attraction. There are vast tracts of country that are actually alluvial, and in fact the greater part has an alluvial aspect, as though it had not long since emerged from the waters. It has been asserted, and commonly believed, that springs dry up, and fail, as a new country becomes settled. Many of the oldest and most intelligent settlers , resolutely deny the assertion, and affirm the direct contrary; declaring, that the streams in general are more flush in the cleared and settled country, than they were when it was an unbroken forest. In proof, they point out many streams, which then became dry in summer, and now yield sufficient water to turn mills, through the season. This is one of those disputable, points which is apt to be settled differently according to the experience and opinions of the party. It certainly involves one of the most interesting questions in relation to the influence of cultivation upon climate, a question which ought to have been more elucidated by the settling ofthe western country, than any other; but which has hitherto been discussed in a desultory and unsatisfying manner. Forests are supposed to condense vapors, and attract clouds. Clearing them away gives more free scope to the winds, and tends to equalize atmospheric action. Cultivation renders the surface ofthe soil more compact, and retentive of moisture; and we incline to the opinion, that the western streams are fuller and more lasting, since the cutting down of the forests, and that the Ohio and Mississippi carry more water, than formerly. But the experience of almost every old settler warrants the fact, that innumerable springs have failed since the cutting down ofthe forests, that shaded the hills, whence they sprung. This partial result may, however, be more than counter- ohio. 393 balanced by a general change in atmospheric action, consequent upon opening vast surfaces of the forest to the influence of the' sun and air. The forest of this state is generally deep and heavy. The prevalent kinds of trees are, the different species of oak, white, red and black, burr and overcup; three or four species of ash, white, blue and black; yellow and white poplar; all the different species of hickories, especially black and white walnut; three species of elm, hackberry, buck-eye, linn, and coffee tree. White maple is common, and sugar maple of great beauty, almost universal. Beech, however, is the most common timber. The undergrowth is spicebush, dogwood, iron wood, horn beam, black haWj pawpaw, different species of thorn, and wild plum. Unimproved land rates from two to eight dollars per acre, according to situation and quality; improved land, from five to twenty dollars, according to the improvement, situation and quality. Agricultural productions. Every production common to the climate is raised here in great abundance. Without having the appearance of be ing as rich, as the lands in some parts of Illinois and Missouri, the soil, in this part ofthe Mississippi valley, is found by experiment to be remarka bly productive. To be able to judge of the extent and power of vegeta tion, one must reside in the state through the summer, and observe with what luxuriance and rapidity the vegetable creation is pushed on, how rapidly the vines, grain, and fruits grow, and what a depth of verdure the forest assumes. Indian corn is the staple of the grains, and is no where raised more easily, or in greater abundance. On rich alluvial soils 110 bushels have been produced from an acre ; though fifty may be consider ed an average crop. The state generally has a fine soil for wheat. Rye, barley, oats, spelts, buckwheat, and all the grains are raised in great abundance and perfection. Melons, squashes, pumpkins, the pulses, gar den vegetables, both bulbous and tap rooted, as potatoes, onions, beets, car rots, parsnips, and generally garden and culinary vegetables are raised in great perfection. The soil, being more stiff, clayey j and fitted to retain moisture, than the soils farther west, makes the best gardens. We have no where seen so fine asparagus in the west, as in the markets of this state. Fruits of all kinds are raised in the greatest profusion ; and apples are as plenty in the cultivated parts of the state, as in any part of the Atlantic country. The markets are amply supplied with pears, peaches* plums, cherries, gooseberries, strawberries, and cultivated grapes. ¦ In a few years this state will take place of any in the Union, in the abundance and excellence of its fruits of all kinds. From the fulness and richness of tiie clusters of cultivated grapes, it is clear, that this ought to be a country of vineyards, The Germans have already made a few establish- v 50 394 OHIO. meqts of the kind, with entire success. Apricots, nectarines, and quinces, succeed;, and this state is the appropriate empire of Pomona. Re cently, tobacco has been 'added to the articles cultivated. The quality and flavor are such as to warrant the expectation, that it will shortly be a principal article of export. Yellow tobacco, which bears a price so much higher, than any other kind, has been found to prosper remarkably. Hemp is an article of cultivation in some parts of the state. Agricultural im provement, however, proceeds with slow pace. The people, generally, are not at all given to experiment; and continue to farm in the old and beaten routine. No part of the western country calls more imperiously for agricultural improvement; for this state begins to be thickly settled, and naturally to invite efforts to improve the cultivation. Intelligent and patriotic men are making great exertions to introduce the cultivation of the vine, and mulberry ; that wine and silk may be added to the articles of production. These states, that are so far from a foreign market, and whose bulky articles are so expensive in transportation, ought to use eve ry exertion to introduce a cultivation, that would have more value in a smaller compass. Besides trees, shrubs, and vines, this state produces a great abundance of indigenous productions, that are useful in medicine. We may mention actea racemosa, squaw root, Virginia snake root, In dian turnip, ginseng, which is dug in considerable quantities, as an arti cle of commerce, Colombo, lobelia, valerian, blood root, or sanguinaria canadensis, and various other herbaceous medicinal plants. Rivers. Under this head we shall describe the noble and beautiful river, that gives name to the state. If the Mississippi has more grandeur, the Ohio has clearly more beauty. If the Mississippi rolls along its angry and sweeping waters with more majesty, the Ohio far exceeds it in its calm, unbroken course, which seldom endangers the boats on its bosom, except there be mismanagement, or storms. No river in the world rolls for the same distance such an uniform, smooth and peaceful current. Its bluffs and bottoms have a singular configuration of amenity, or grandeur. Sometimes lofty bluffs, 300 feet in height, impend the river and cast their grand shadows into the transparent waters. On the other side are fine bottoms, generally above the overflow, and covered with beautiful forest trees, among which rises the venerable sycamore, the king ofthe forests; and throws its white arms, over the other trees. Whoever has descended this noble river in spring, when its banks are full, and the beautiful red bud, and cornus Florida, deck the declivities of the bluffs, and are seen at intervals in the bottoms; or in the autumn, when the leaves are all » turning yellow, will readily allow the appropriateness of the French name ' la belle riviere.' Ohio. 395 It is a river formed by the junction of the Alleghany and Monongahela at Pittsburgh. The highest sources of the Alleghany river, are in Potter county, Pennsylvania, twelve miles to the eastward of Coudersport, where they interlock with the head waters of Genessee river, and the east and west branches of the Susquehannah. From Coudersport it holds a north westwardly course twenty miles, during which it is augmented by several streams, and then enters the state of New York. Three miles above the New York line, it receives Orway Creek, a considerable stream from the east, and five miles farther, Oil Creek from the north ; and then passes the settlement of Hamilton. It thence holds a west course fifteen miles, and receives the Tunuanguanta Creek from the south. Here it bends to the north seven miles, and receives Greatvalley Creek from the north. It thence bends to the southwest, and after a course of twenty-five miles, passes again into the state of Pennsylvania, and winding southwest re ceives the Connewongo from the north, at the town of Warren. It thence holds a west course seven miles, and receives the waters of Brokenstraw Creek, from the west. It thence curves southwest thirty miles, and re ceives the Teonista, from the east. Twenty miles farther west, it receives Oil Creek from the north; and seven miles farther French Creek, from the north west. By this stream it has a communication with Lake Erie. It now assumes a south-east course, and thirty miles farther receives the waters of Toby's Creek, an important stream, which extends 100 miles into the interior of Pennsylvania. Retaining the same course thirty miles, it receives Red Bank and Mahoning Creeks. Passing Kittanning and Crooked Creek, twenty-four miles farther, it receives the waters of the Kiskiminitas. This river is formed by the junction ofthe Conemaugh and Loyalhanria Rivers, which rise near the Alleghany mountains, 100 miles distant. Below this point the Alleghany continues a south-west course, about thirty-five miles, and reaches Pittsburgh, where it unites with the Monongahela. The former river, though it has not a volume apparently wider than the other, is by far the most important tributary of the Ohio; It has a swift sweeping and rapid current; and often a rocky bottom, whence huge rocks rise to the surface of the water. When it is full in the spring, flat and keel boats descend it rapidly, and without danger. It has been navigated by steam boats ; but is one of the most ¦ difficult currents to stem, which that kind of boats has yet attempted to vanquish. Monongahela River, the other important branch of the Ohio, rises in Virginia, seventy miles north-west of Morgantown. Twelve miles north ofMorgantown, it passes into Pennsylvania; and a few miles farther receives the waters of Cheat River from the east. Seventy miles farther it receives the waters of the Youghiogeny River, or as it is commonly 396 OHIO. called the Yough, the most important branch of the Monongahela, rising near the upper waters ofthe Potomac, separated only by a spur of the mountains. From the western declivity of these mountains, both this and the main river receive a great accession of mountain streams. The united stream has now become broad and majestic. It flows in a north-west course to Pittsburgh, and where it unites with the Alleghany, is more than 400 yards wide. The Ohio at the junction is something more than 600 yards wide, and immediately assumes that broad, placid and beautiful aspect, which it maintains to its junction with the Mississip pi. The Monongahela traverses a rich and well settled country, noted for its whiskey, flour, iron and manufactures. The banks are often bold and. high bluffs, and in some places the country is hilly. In good stages of. the water, it is boatable by large boats 100 miles from its mouth. There are few more rural, picturesqe, and delightful tracts of country in the United States, than that on this river. The Ohio, from its commencement, affords most delightful prospects. Rivers of romantic and beautiful character come in, almost at equal distances, as lateral canals. Its bottoms are of extraordinary depth and fertility; generally high and dry, and for the most part healthy; while the configuration ofthe country on the banks has all that grandeur, softness, or variety, still changing and recurring in such combinations, as are requisite to destroy a monotonous effect. For thirty, miles below Pitts burgh its course is north-west. It then slowly turns to the west south-west, and pursues that general direction 500 miles. Thence south-west 170 miles. Thence westward 280 miles. Thence south-west 170 miles, through that low and swampy country, in which it finds the Mississippi. Between Pittsburgh and the mouth, it is diversified with 100 considerable islands, besides a greater number of tow-heads, and sand bars, which in low stages of the water, greatly impede navigation. Some of these islands are of exquisite beauty, and afford most lovely situations for retired farms. The passages between them, and the sand bars at their head are among the difficulties of the navigation of this river. The order of the entrance of the creeks and rivers, as we descend, is as follows: Chartier's Creek, 4 miles below Pittsburgh, from the south. Big Beaver, 30 miles, from the north. Little Beaver, 42 miles below, from the north. Mill Creek, 43, from the south. Big Yellow Creek 54 miles, from the north. Crookton's Run, 62, from the north. King's Creek, 66, from the south. Wills' Creek, 71, from the north. Harman's Creek, 72, from the south. One mile below this creek is the large and flourishing town of Steubenville. Indian Cross Creek, 75 miles, north. Virginia, Cross Creek, 76 miles, south. Indian Short Creek, 87 miles. Virginia Short Creek, opposite on the south. Wheeling Creek, 96 miles, south. Just OHIO. 397 above this creek is the commercial and important town of Wheeling. McMahon's Creek, south, 100 miles. Little Grave Creek, south, 108- Big Grave Creek, north. Fish Creek, south, 123. Fishing Creek, south, 137. Stony Creek, north, 162. Little Muskingum, north, 179. Muskingum, north, 183. At the mouth of this river is the considerable town of Marietta. Little Kenhawa, south, 197. Little Hockhocking, north, 204. Big Hockhocking, north, 210. Shade River, north, 221. Little Sandy, south, 227. Big Sandy, south, 231. Great Kenhawa, south, 283. On this large and important stream are the most extensive salt works in the western country. Little Guyandotte, south, 307. Big Guyandotte, south, 327. Great Sandy, south, 341. Little Sandy, south, 364. Little Scioto, north, 380. Big Scioto, north, 390. This is a very important river of Ohio. On its banks are extremely rich lands. The political metropolis, Columbus, issituated on it. A little above its mouth is the considerable village of Portsmouth. The great Erie Canal is to enter the Ohio, near the mouth of this river. The former capital of Ohio, Chillicotbe, is also on its banks. Turkey Creek, north, 395. Coneconeque, south, 404. Stout's Run, north, 418. Brush Creek, south, 421. Sycamore Creek, south, 424. Crooked Creek, south, 444. Lime Stone Creek, south, 452. Just below this creek is the large and important town of Maysville, one of the oldest and most accustomed landings on the Ohio. Eagle Creek, north, 462. Straight Creek, north, 468. Bracken Creek, south, 472. Bull Skin Creek, north, 479. Bear Creek, north, 488. Big Indian Creek, north, 492. Muddy Creek, north, 503. Little Miami River, north, 516. Crawfish Creek, north, 519. Deer Creek , north, 523. Licking River, south, 524. This is an im portant river of Kentucky, entering the Ohio between Newport and Covington, and opposite Cincinnati. Mill Creek, north, 526. Great Miami, north, 551. Laughery's Creek, north, 562. Gunpowder Creek, south, 575. Big Bone Lick Creek, south, 583. Kentucky River, south, 629. Six miles above this, on the opposite shore, is Vevay, and the beautiful Swiss vineyards. Little Kentucky River, south, 628. Bear Grass Creek, south, 706. Just below this creek is the important and commercial town of Louisville, and the only considerable impediment in the navigation of the Ohio from its commencement to its mouth. This impediment is a ledge of rocks, extending across the Ohio, constituting a considerable extent of rapids, called 'the Falls of Ohio.' A canal round these falls, on the Kentucky side of the river, a work of immense mag nitude and utility, is completed. Salt River, south , 730. Falling Spring, south, 751. Indian, or Wyandot Creek, north, 775. Big Blue River, north, 792. Hardin's Creek, south, 818. Anderson's River, north, 851. Blackford Creek, south, 864. Green River, south, 925. This is an im- 398 OHIO. portant river of Kentucky. Pigeon Creek, north, 935. Highland Creek, south, 993. Wabash, north, 1,003. This is a large, beautiful, and important river of Indiana. Saline River, north, 1,021. Not far above this creek is Shawneetown, a considerable village of Illinois. Great quantities of salt are manufactured on this creek. Grand Pierre Creek, north, 1,049. Cumberland River, south, 1,071. This is a very import ant river of Tennessee and Kentucky. Tennessee, south, 1,084. This is by far the largest, and most important tributary of the Ohio. It waters considerable extents of Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky. Cash River, north, 1,120. Mouth of the Ohio, 1,132. It should be observed, that the distances, as noted by the present steam boat navigators, make the whole distance from Pittsburgh to the mouth, fall short of 1,000 miles. It is true, the distances have seemed much shorter, since they have been measured by the rapid course of the steam boats. But we apprehend, when measured by the convex side of the bends of the river, the former measurement will be found nearer the exact truth, than the latter. We may add, that we have not included in the above enumeration more than half the number of breaks through the banks of the Ohio, by the entrance of creeks. We have mentioned, however, the greater number of those, that preserve running water through the summer. Of the above, the following are important rivers, and all navigable, in moderate or high stages of water, by steam boats for considerable distances, viz: Muskingum, Great Kenhawa, Big Sandy, Scioto, Great Miami, Kentucky, Green, Wabash, Cumberland and Tennessee. The three last are important in the order of their standing. The Ohio at Pittsburgh is 600 yards wide. At Cincinnati, which may be considered its mean width, it is not much more. Below the Cumber land its average width is 1,000 yards. Its valley is deep, and heavily timbered, and has no where the slightest indication of prairie. It varies from two to ten miles in width. It is bounded in its whole course by bluffs, sometimes towering sublimely from the shores of the river, and sometimes receding two or three miles. Beyond the immediate verge of the bottom is a singular line of hills, more or less precipitous, stretching from five to ten miles from the banks. They are known on the Ohio by the familiar appellation of the 'Ohio hills.' Different estimates have been made of the rapidity of its current. This rapidity being continually varying, it would be difficult to assign any very exact estimate. It is found, according to the different stages of the water, to vary between one and three miles. In the lowest stages of the water in the autumn, a floating substance would, probably, not advance a mile an hour. It is subject to extreme elevations and depressions. The average range between high and low water, is fifty feet. Its lowest stage is in Septem- OHIO. 399 her; and its highest in March. But it is subject to sudden and very considerable rises through the year. It has been known to rise twelve feet in a night. When these sudden elevations take place, at the breaking up of the ice, a scene of desolation sometimes occurs ; and boats and every thing in its course are carried away by the accumulated power of the ice and the water. Its average descent in a mile, is not far from six inches. At Cincinnati, the surface ofthe river at low water, is supposed to be 130 feet below the level of Lake Erie; and 430 above that of the tide water of the Atlantic. Between Pittsburgh and the mouth, it makes three and a half degrees of southing in latitude. The average time of the suspension of its navigation by ice, is five weeks. One half of the remainder of the year, on an average it is navigable by large steam boats in its whole course. The other half it can be navigated easily only by steam boats of a small draft of water. Since the Louisville and Portland Canal has been completed, steam boats of small draft can descend at all times from Pittsburgh to the Mississippi. Flat and keel boats descend the river at all seasons; but in periods of low water with frequent ground ings on the sand bars, and. the necessity of often unloading to get the boat off. It would be difficult to decide when the Ohio has the most beautiful appearance, in the spring, when it rolls along between full banks, or in the autumn, when between the ripples it is calm and still, with broad and clean sand bars; or in the ripples, where its transparent waters glide rapidly over the pebbly and shelly bottom, showing every thing, as through the transparency of air. The Ohio, and all its tributaries cannot have less than 5,000 miles of boatable waters ; and taking all circumstances into consideration, few rivers in the world can vie with it either in utility, or beauty. The Great Miami is the next largest and most interesting river of this state. It rises between 40° and 41° N. latitude, and interlocks with the Massissineway of the Wabash, and the St. Mary's and Au Glaize, branches of the Maumee, and the Scioto. It flows in a strong, but generally smooth and unbroken current, and has a valley of uncommon width and fertility, though sometimes subject to inundation. From the west it receives Loramie's Creek, which enters it 100 miles above its mouth ; and Still Water, 50 miles below, and White Water, 7 miles above its junction with the Ohio. Its principal eastern branch is Mad River, which rises in the northern part of Logan county, traversing that county and Clark, and the north-west corner of Green county. Its general direction is south west: and the country through which it runs is singularly fertile and beautiful. The length of its course is something more than 50 miles. It enters the Miami just above the town of Dayton, and receives its name 400 OHIO. from its furious and broken current. The chief branches of Mad River are East Fork and King's Creek. Little Miami rises in the, south-west corner of Madison county, and in a south-west direction traverses Clark, Green, Warren and Hamilton counties; and joins the Ohio seven miles above Cincinnati. It is not of much importance as a navigable stream ; but from the fertility of the lands on its borders, and its numerous mill seats, it is a river of great utility. There are nearly 50 mills on it; some of them paper mills, and other mills of importance. Its principal branches are East Branch, Shawnee, Obannon, Turtle, Todd's Fork, Cssar's and Massie's Creeks on the eastern side; and Goose and Beaver Creek on the west. An hundred miles from its mouth, it has singular rapids, where the river in no great distance falls 200 feet. The stream is here compressed to ten yards in width. Tha country between the Great and Little Miami is generally finely watered, healthy, pleasant and fertile ; and may be considered the garden of the state. Its commercial intercourse is with Cincinnati. In advancing towards the east from the Little Miami, we cross Big Indian Creek, White Oak, Straight, Eagle, Bull Skin, Brush, and Turkey Creeks. The Scioto is a considerable river of the Ohio ; and has its whole course in this state. It rises in a morass north of Logan county. Its general direction is south-east, and its whole course little short of 200 miles. It enters the Ohio by a mouth 150 yards wide, and is navigable, in good stages of the water, 130 miles. Its principal branches are Whet- Stone, Big Walnut, Lower Walnut, and Salt Creeks, from the east, and Paint, Deer, Darby, Mill and Baker's Creeks, from the west. Not far above Columbus, on the bank, is an inexhaustible quarry of free stone, or marble, of a beautiful grayish color. There are rich and beautiful prai ries on this river; and its valley is uncommonly wide and fertile. When it was first settled it proved to be extremely sickly. In the progress of cultivation that character has passed away; and the Scioto country is now among the most fertile, eligible, and pleasant parts of the state. Colum bus, the political capital of the state, and Chillicothe, which was until recently so, are on this river; and there are many pleasant villages, and much well settled country on it and its Waters. The country between the Scioto and the Muskingum is watered by the Great Hockhocking and its waters. It enters the Ohio 150 miles above the mouth of the Scioto, and is navigable for boats to Athens, 40 miles from its mouth. It has a deep and still, but narrow channel. Near its source, 7 miles north of Lancaster, is a romantic cascade of 40 feet perpendicular. It has a number of mills erected on it. Its chief tribu taries are Rush, Sunday, Monday, Margaret's and Federal Creeks. ohiO, 401 The Muskingum rises near the sources of the Cuyahoga of lake Erie in the southern part of Connecticut Reserve. Its course is remarkably sinuous; but its general direction is southwardly. It traverses Stark, Tuscarawas, Coshocton, Muskingum, Morgan and Washington counties, and enters the Ohio at Marietta, by a mouth 250 yards wide. It is boatable, in good stages of the water, to Coshocton, 100 miles by the course of the river. Small crafts ascend it to a portage of one mile to the boatable waters of Cuyahoga of lake Erie. There are considerable falls in the river at Zanesville, which afford sites for many mill seats. Some parts of the course of the Muskingum are through a hilly country. The principal branches are Licking, White Woman's, Willis', Wolf, Coal, Olive, Green, Meigs, Salt, Jonathan, Wakatomka, Still Water, Sugar, Coneter, Nimishillen, and Indian Creeks. Above Coshocton the river itself is generally called Tuscarawas. In the intervals of the precipitous country along this river, the lands are fine; and the country is remarkable for health. Several considerable creeks enter the Ohio, between the Muskingum and the Pennsylvania line, such as Pawpaw, Little Muskingum, Indian, Wheeling, Captina, Stony, and Sunfish. These are the principal rivers that enter the Ohio and its waters. But the fable lands of this state have a general inclination either to the Ohio, or to lake Erie; and a number of considerable rivers run from the northern belt of this table land into lake Erie. The principal of these is the Maumee. The Maumee rises in the north-eastern angle of the state of Indiana ; and flows in a north-eastern direction across the north-western borders of the state of Ohio into the western extremity of lake Erie. It is navigable 33 miles from its mouth. The navigation is there obstructed by shoals and rapids. It is a broad, deep stream, with an average width from 150 to 200 yards, and is formed by the confluence of the St. Joseph's, St. Mary's and the Great and Little Au Glaize. This important river has a course of 100 miles. Fort Meigs, a fortification of much note in the late war, is on this river. It has a valuable fishery, and its banks, in the season of vegetation, are remarkable for the luxuriance of their verdure. The St. Joseph's of this river heads in Indiana, is a considerable stream, and boatable 50 miles. The St. Mary's, another of its branches, has a long course of boatable navigation. The Au Glaize is a considerable stream, that passes through the Indian country , and falls into the Maumee at Fort Winchester, 50 miles below Fort Wayne. Touissaint River enters the lake 20 miles east of the Maumee. It may rather be considered an arm of the lake than a river . It rises in the prairie, has no perceptible current, and is choked with wild rice, aquatic plants, and grass. In summer it abounds with wild fowls. Otters and muskrats are trapped 51 402 ohio. in great numbers by the Indians on it. Portage is an inconsiderable river heading not far from Urbana. Like most of the rivers, that rise in these level lands, and fall into the lake, it has very little current, and is 150 yards wide at its mouth. The Sandusky rises in the western limits of Richland county, and runs in a general north-west direction, 90 miles to the lake. It is more rapid than the other lake streams; but yet affords good navigation. Its chief branches are Tyemochtee, Honey, and Wolf Creeks, Between this river and the Scioto, is a portage of only four miles. It has been proposed to canal this portage. There are fine bodies of land on the banks of this stream. Huron falls into the lake by a mouth 50 yards wide. Its comparative course is 30 miles. Rocky River is a stream of considerable importance. The lands on its banks are fine, and it has a rich and thriving settlerrlent. Cuyahoga rises in the central parts of Geauga county, and passes through Portage and Cuyahoga counties, entering the lake at Cleaveland. Its whole course is 60 miles, greater part of which distance it is boatable. Above where it is boatable it has valuable mill seats. Cleaveland, which has become a place of importance, is at its mouth. Chagrin, Grand, Ashtabula, and Coneaught are considerable streams, that rise near the lake, run northwardly, and fall into it. Ohio is the country of hills and vales, delightfully irrigated with springs, brooks, and rivers of every class and size. There are more than an hundred streams not here enumerated, which, for seven months in the year, carry a consid erable mass of waters. A remark, applicable to the whole western coun try, applies to this state, that a great number of considerable streams during the winter months, disappear before the evaporating ardors of the summer's sun. Minerals, and Mineral Springs. In the eastern and north-eastern divisions of this state, on the Muskingum, Hockhocking and Scioto, min eral coal abounds, and it has an extensive and rich coal region. It is in the greatest abundance, and of the best quality. It so happens, that in the same region are found the greatest bodies of iron ore. Nature seems to have furnished the industrious people of this state with every possible facility for important and staple manufactures. Limestone, marble, and free stone, in strata easy to quarry, near the surface, and admirably adapt ed to building and public works, abound. The useful earths and fossils are in abundance. Specimens of gypsum are procured from Sandusky bay. Salt springs are common. In some the water contains almost as much salt as that of the sea. The most important manufactures of this article are in Muskingum, Morgan, Jackson, and Gallia counties. Nearly hal a million bushels are manufactured in the state. Those springs ohio. 403 whose waters are drunk as medicinal, are most of them more or less im pregnated with muriate of soda. The Yellow Springs, the most accustomed watering place, after Har- rodsburgh Springs, in the western country, are situated near the falls of the Miami, 63 miles from Cincinnati, and 18 from Dayton, intermediate between the pretty towns of Xenia and Springfield, and on the height of the table land of the state. The elevated position, the grand and roman tic scenery, and the cool and salubrious air probably contribute as much to the restoration of invalids, as the waters, which are, however, strongly charged with iron in solution. The hotel displays a front with a collon- ade of 200 feet, with a number of beautiful cottages parallel with the main building. The clearing is cut out of the solid mass of forest, leaving trees and openings, as beauty of scenery and shade require. From this elevation, and these sumptuous erections of art, the eye sweeps the an cient forests, over Indiana, towards the Ohio and the lakes, arrested only by the horizon. The falls of the Little Miami, Pompey's Pillar, the Blue Hole, and many other romantic spectacles in this region of grand and puntain scenery impart to this watering place all the charms that the ,, *" nature would require; and heighten the contrast of the luxury of the accoi.. ,. . , , „ . . -r * , „ , , Nations provided for visitants. Lovers of the picturesque affirm, that neiu. ,„,,.,„. ,. „ , ¦ ,, , . , 'he Bedford Springs of Pennsylvania, nor the watering places of the mounts „ ,.. . . ,". , . , , ., . . - - of Virginia, surpass this place in grandeur, or equal it in amenity of pros^ Climate. Climate here rema,. .. . , ,., , rt., , , -'.lv corresponds to latitude. Utner elements, that operate upon the resu f j • • „ „ , -ore elevation and proximity to waters, or distance from them. Tb<>. clinic c ¦ i ,u ' . . ""*-- for instance, along the immediate valley of the Ohio is more equabh anc ^perat than in lhe middle and table lands of the stale; and the difference g.eater, than can be attributed merely to difference of latitude. The central parts of the state are in the same latitude with Philadelphia. The mean temperature of the year at Philadelphia was found to be 53°. In the same vear the mean temperature of Ohio was 55°. As we recede from the Ohio the temperature diminishes in a greater ratio than that of the latitude. The prevalent and warm winds are those that blow from the gulf, and up the valley of the Mississippi. The cold breezes come charged with the cold of Canada and the lakes. In that part of the state that slopes to the south, the snow neither falls deep, nor lies long. But in Connecticut Reserve, and in the points that slope towards the lakes, they have deep and durable snows; and sleighing and sledding are practicable a consid erable length of time. It is a great inconvenience in this climate, that during the winter months the transitions from warm to cold, and there- verse are frequent and violent. Thaws and frosts are the result, and the 404 OHIO. soil, being deep and clayey, the travelling is muddy and uncomfortable. The winters are sometimes considerably severe, and the Ohio has been crossed at Cincinnati for nine weeks. Oftentimes they are mild, and can scarcely be said to be more than a prolongation of autumn and spring. Winter seldom commences in severity until Christmas, and its severity is generally mitigated early in February. Vegetation, which is the most certain and accurate thermometer, indicates a temperature of greater mildness in the season, than in the corresponding latitudes in the Atlantic. The heat of the summer in the Ohio valley is uniformly oppressive, but does not commence early, nor continue late in the season. The heat of summer abates as early in the autumn, as in the more northern latitudes in the Atlantic country. The autumns are almost uniformly temperate, dry, and beautiful; and nothing can exceed them for health and pleasant ness. No where in the world is the grand autumnal painting of the forests in the decay of vegetation, seen in more beauty than in the beech forests of Ohio. The richness of the fading colours, and the effect of the mingling hues, baffles all description. A great farming community like that of Ohio, could scarcely desire abetter climate for themselves, theji- cattle and stock of all kinds; or one, in which a man can work p1 with comfort a greater number of days in the year. tf^iect The Antiquities. We have space to add but little upon,*1-. .' „ ... most remarkable are at Worthington, Granville^ ^.^ "^ do'megtic opolis Paint Creek, Circleville, and on the. Ynhabitants, who, probably, utensils, pottery, vases and tnnketa^ ^^ The instruments of reared them, are found in and a^^^ . . -,-,-„ «u„* a,™ ,.,,1 ' ,. .^jg, and give clear indications that they cul- their warfare are discovered '. f , ,, f ., j..lrmin tivated the horrid ^ shedding human blood Most of the human bones, which *6 dug in great quantities from the mounds, mou de on exposure to *» air. The skulls in most instances remain, and gieat number* are shown in the museums. They evidence a surprising variety in the retreat of the facial angle of the skulls. It is affirmed, that marks of iron tools are found upon the wood dug up from considerable depths, below the surface of the prairies. A sword is preserved, as a curiosity, which is said to have been enclosed in the wood of the roots of a tree which could not have been less than 500 years old. We have not seen this sword; but we have seen a diminutive iron horse shoe, dug up at a depth of 25 feet below the surface, in graduating the street near the mansion of Judge Burnet, in Cincinnati. It was smaller than the kind of shoe, required for the smallest kind of asses. A number of the nails were in it, and the erosion by rust was such as might be expected to result from the oxidation of 500 years. Many of the mounds are com posed of different earths from that, which is found in their vicinity. It 405 is the most inexplicable of all the mysterious c^msta™* connected , i , iL -if *!.„„„ ;_-nense structures, some of with these mounds, that the material of these ir- > . ,, i , c .1 „„xicl men tor some time in the which would require the labor of a thou" , ,, , , ,. r - distance. 1 here is no conceiv- erection, should have been brought frorr ' , ,, , • , the mounds rest, should not have able motive why the earth, on whi<-. . .,,.,,', , , - „ . . ^n imagine the builders to have had in subserved all purposes, that we ° , ., , scrupulous care the Jews throw a little of view. We know with wr , . . ¦ . i 'u ° graves of their friends. Possibly this e nlie mounds, from a distance, may have reference to rans . ^iurances, like those of the Jews. We have elsewhere a ec lns fle jnost remarkable mounds at Circleville. Engravings of its ,'iay be seen in books, that treat professedly upon this subject. ^Population. By the census of 1820 there were 130,460 men, over 18 years, capable of bearing arms. At the same time 110,991 persons were engaged in agriculture; 18,956 in manufactures, and 1,459 in commerce or merchandize. There were 3,495 foreigners, not naturalized. No colony in history has ever shown a greater natural increase in population. No country can show a greater number of young children, in proportion to the whole number of the inhabitants. Among the obvious causes of this great increase may be mentioned the circumstance of there being no slavery allowed in Ohio. The climate is, unquestionably, healthy. The state is divided into moderately sized freeholds. Most of the people are engaged in the healthy and vigorous pursuits of agriculture. The soil yields, in the greatest profusion, all that is necessary for healthy and comfortable subsistence. Whatever be the cause, the multitudes o f children, that are seen about the farm houses in the country, and that fill the streets of the villages and towns, do not fail to excite the remark of every passing traveller. Religion. In our table of religious denominations, see appendix, we have given general views of the comparative numbers of the different religious denominations. There are numbers of all the known existing sects. But the Presbyterians and Methodists are the prevalent denomin. ations. The Shakers and Tunkers have establishments in this state. German Lutherans exist in considerable numbers. Most people are desirous of being thought to belong to some religious denomination- It is affirme I by a gentleman, well known for his researches into the anti" quities of this state, that there is a greater number of professors of rel'gion, in proportion to the whole number of the people, than in any state in the Union. There are a vast number of religious societies; but there is not a great number, that have regularly established pasters. The custom of itenerating preaching, as a supply, is very prevalent. The people are generally a quiet, orderly, peaceable, moral and industrious race. Suicide, excesses, murders in affray, and instances of deliberate 406 OHIO. and atrocious cruelty, _ „ , ., , ™™u • . ¦ ui T rare; and the general moral character of the people is highly respectau, l lne In a country so fresh, muc^ , e , ... , .i,D f.„ 3 . i, tste for embellishment or improvement in the fine arts; cannot be reasonabi . „ i "' nt t *u- ¦ i. ¦¦ "expected. From New England and New Jersey this state inherits a pa*, c . ° na r ., .• .,, . ,,.,,,, .ui tor sacred music; and societies for the promotion of this delightful scieiK ' BU^'«nes of New England music masters find annual^ C,0mmOn- A Vast numbw There appears, also, to be a general taste fo^T"4 ln fh<31V Vocation- manifested in seeing in great numbers of the farm ,. mus'c; as is rude harps and other home manufactured instruments u. .ca ins' passing the detached dwellings of the Ohio farmers in the winterS.1C' . n we generally hear the interior cheered with some kind of music. A^nSs' for ornament, and those arts, which embellish society and existence, is evidently increasing. On anniversaries, the people are addicted to showj parade and splendor. There is a fondness for a large and stately house. Gardening is studied in many places ; and Cincinnati shows a number <$ gardens, that will vie with almost any in the United States. An idea of the means of diffusing information may be gathered from the fact, that more than 80 newspapers are printed in the state, and that it has 504 post offices. Trade and Manufactures. This state, more populous than any other inthe West, and possessing in many respects manufacturing capabilities, has taken precedence of all the rest in manufactures. Cotton yarn, cloth and woollen goods, are already manufactured to a considerable extent. Cincinnati contains a great mass of intelligent and enterprising manu facturers. Steubenville, Zanesville, Chillicothe, Dayton, and many other ofthe young and rising towns are commencing manufactures with great spirit. In 1810, the manufactures of the state amounted to nearly two millions of dollars. At present .they must amount to triple that sum. From a single township 175 tons of cheese worth 20,000 •dollars was exported in one year. The whole amount of taxable property is rated at sixty-two million dollars. Colleges and Seminaries. In a laudable zeal to advance science and education, it is a question, if this and the other western states have not been too fond of multiplying colleges, or small institutions so called, built upon principles naturally tending to rouse a spirit of unworthy emu lation, to the neglect of respectable common schools, efficient high schools, and one or two universities with endowments, library, apparatus and professorships to furnish to the means of a finished classical educa tion, yet a desideratum in the western country. While the most enlight ened nations in Europe are content with three or four universities, we have at least 50 colleges in the western country. ohio. 407 Ohio, preceding all her sister states in the manifestation of an enlight ened zeal to advance education, has not been behind them in chartering colleges. Miami university is situated in Oxford, near the western extremity of Ohio, and 40 miles north-west from Cincinnati. It has an academical department and a preparatory school. It has one spacious building, and others appropriated to boarders, a competent number of professors, and about 80 students in all the departments. The position is healthy, and tuition cheap. It has consequently became* a considerable resort of students from other states. The annual income of its funds is about 2,500 dollars. Ohio university at Athens has respectable endowments and buildings and ordinarily a number of students not much inferior to that of the Miami institution. Its endowments consist of two townships of land. Kenyon college at Gambier, an episcopal institution, has arisen in the midst of what was recently a orest in the central parts of the state It has one magnificent building, and others of less magnitude with ample funds and endowments, amounting to 50,000 dollars and 140 students. The Western Reserve college at Hudson has been recently established in the north-eastern division of the state. Connected with it is an academy, in which are 30 students. The manual labor plan is in exper iment here. Franklin college at New Athens is in successful operation. A commo dious building sufficient to accommodate 140 students has just been completed. The Worthington Reformed Medical College at Worthington has a considerable number of medical students. Two rival medical colleges at Cincinnati have recently been merged in one, which has one spacious building, and another of equal beauty and extent erecting. In buildings, library, apparatus and professorships it is highly respectable, and has had on an average 100 medical students. The Lane Theological seminary has recently been organized, two miles distant from Cincinnati. It is under the care ofthe Presbyterian church and lias been endowed with funds estimated at 30,000 dollars. The position is healthy and delightful, and the number of the students in creasing. There are 15 or 20 academies, and as each session of the legislature incorporates new ones, we cannot be precise in imparting information upon this subject. An academical institute of some celebrity exists at Marietta. An academy, not long since incorporated at Urbana, has a large number of pupils. There are academies at Barton, New Lisbon, 408 OHIO. Steubenville, Cadiz, Union, Galliopolis, Chillicothe, and Dayton. A very respectable High School has recently been organized at Cincinnati. The first introduction of the New England system of common schools in the western country was in Ohio, and dates in 1825. By different amendatory enactments it has acquired a degree of form and consistency, and the thoughts and usages of the people are growing to a gradual adaptation to it. The example, it is hoped, will be followed by the other western states and the foundation laid for unspeakable blessings to the generations to come. By this act the trustees of every incorporated township are required to divide it into a suitable number of school districts) the prudential concerns of which are to be managed by three school directors, a clerk and treasurer. The funds for this vast system arise from various sources besides the easy tax of one mill upon a dollar, constituting a large and growing revenue. It was at first found discord1? ant with the habits and likings of portions of the population. This odium of prejudice is wearing away, and the system is going into efficient and noiseless operation. In Cincinnati alone it has provided instruction for 3,000 children, in well organized schools, many of whom, but for this provision, would probably have grown into life without a common school education. A general interest in literature is making visible progress in this great state. An asylum for the deaf and dumb has been established at Columbus, which promises much to that suffering class of the population' Chief Towns, This state possesses over 100 considerable villages. Of many we have space but for little more than the names. Cincinnati, the chief town of this state, and next to New Orleans of the western country, is situated on the north shore of the Ohio, nearly in the south-west angle of the State. Its position is a beautiful vale 12 miles in circumference, created by an elliptical sweep of Ohio hills. Those of them, that have not been laid bare by the unsparing axe, are beautifully wooded to their summits; and by the swell and indentation of their waving outline present the most graceful and charming forms. From the summit of any of these hills, the town spreads a panoramic map of exquisite painting. The eye traces every street, with its smokes, fixtures and moving life, from which all the roughness of inception, softened by distance, disappears. The noble establishments, the handsome mansions, the extending masses of buildings, the numerous manufactures propelling their columns of black smoke aloft, the boat yards, the bustling inhabitants with the hundred teams and drays, the Ohio winding along the southern limit, and itself enlivened by passing crafts, and stately steam boats, rounding to the shore, or departing from it, the villages of Newport and Covington with their showy houses and manufactures oifio. 409 on the Kentucky bank of the Ohio, taken together, offer such a picture bf beauty, wealth, progress and fresh advance, as few landscapes in any Country can surpass. Its first settlement was in 1789,' but it was not Until 1808, that a considerable part of the present town plot that surrounded Fort Washington, and belonged to the government, was sold in lots. A more elegible position for a town can scarcely be imagined. The Chief area consists of two parallel plains, the one elevated 60 feet above the other, and descending to it by a gentle and graduated slope, affording admirable facilities for washing the town by every considerable rain, and sloping it to the eye in the graceful form of an amphitheatre, and at the Same time furnishing it with every pleasing variety of site for building. One of the chief beauties of this city is obvious to every eye, which, however, we have not seen recorded. The streets crossing each other at right angles, and being straight and uninterrupted, present vistas bounded by the wooded acclivities of the surrounding hills. By a well known optical illusion, these swelling hill-sides, seen through a vista,- narrowing in apparent width, in proportion to its distance from the eye, fill the angle of vision, and preclude the perception of any distance between the termi nation of the street and the commencement of the hills. In consequence, through whatever street the beholder looks, it seems to be closed by a gate of verdure, and to terminate in a forest. Seven of the streets are 66 feet wide, and 396 apart, intersected by streets of the same width and distance at right angles. One entire square, and the fraction of another, are reserved in central parts of the city for public buildings. The city buildings cover an irregular area nearest the form of a parallelagram. The central parts are compactly built with houses and stores, that would ornament any town. The most showy quarters are Main, Broadway, and Fourth street westward from its inter section with Main. Pearl street nearly completed, leading from the lower Market to Walnut street, is composed of uniform buildings', termii nated by a magnificent Hotel, five stories high, ami will add greatly to the beauty of that part of the city. The public buildings are a Court house, jail, four market houses, One of them 500 feet in length, the Bazaar, U. S. Branch Bank, the Cincinnati College, the Catholic Athenaeum, the Medical College, for which a second spacious and commodious building is erecting, the Mechanics Institute, Theatre, and a second one erecting, two Museums, the Hospital and Lunatic Asylum, and the Woodward High School in the progress of erection. Some other public buildings are in contemplation. Beside these, there are 24 churches, great and small. Of these the Second Presbyterian church is the handsomest, the exterior being of agreeable architecture, and the interior decidedly beautiful. The Unita- 410 ohio rian chureh is a singularly neat one. The interior of the Catholic church is striking. The first and third Presyterian churches are spacious buildings, as the new Methodist church will be, when completed. A very neat Baptist church is nearly completed. Some of the other churches make a respectable appearance. There are many fine blocks of stores on Front and Main streets, and the eye is arrested by many beautiful private habitations. Architec tural taste is daily becoming more enlightened and agreeable. The dull red of the brick walls is giving way to more pleasing shades between white and green; and a beautiful stucco imitating marble and granite is getting into fashion. The number of substantial buildings added annu ally to the city for three years past averages 450. It has already become a great manufacturing town, and is constantly becoming more so. Our limits preclude details ; but all the substantial manufactures known in our country are carried on to a greater or lessj" extent. The manufactures in iron are veTy great, particularly in the article of heavy castings, and all sorts of machinery driven by steam.1 Of such establishments there are 9 or 10, and some of them on a great River, lat. 48°. ) May. Martha's River to 1 Stone Wall Creek, lat. > 47° 15', ) June. Stone Wall Creek ) to falls of Missouri, lat. > 47° 15', ) July. Falls to Philosophy j River, lat 45°, \ Aug. Philosophy River to} the head waters of Colum-) bia River, lat. 44°, 1 62 62 38 36 38 4080 82 76 90 91 32 12 —45 —40 —18 — 2 24 28 35 52 31 47 34 0 31 11 28 Prevailing winds. S. E. & S. W. N. W. & S. E. N.W.&S.E. N.W.N. W. N. W. &. S. N. E. &, S. E. 49 N.W.S.&W. 52 56 6557 S.W. s.w. s. w. s.w. N. B. — Signifies below Zero. GENERAL REMARKS. September 23. The air remarkably dry. October 5. Slight frost. 18. Hard frost. 27. Went into winter quar ters at Fort Mandan. November 9. Strong frost. 13. Much drifting ice. 30. Indians cross the river on the ice. December 5. Excessive N. W. wind. 7. River closed. 28. Strong wind. January 3. Snow 9 inches deep. 8. Snow 10 inches. 19. Ice 3 feet thick on the most rapid part of the river. March 2. River partially open. 26. Ice broke up and descended in immense shoals. 30. Ice floating in great quantities. April 1. A fine shower of rain, the first since the 15th of September.— The air dry and remarkably pure. April 4. Hard gales ; scarcely any timber to shelter the country, and the winds blow with astonishing violence. April 7. Left Fort Mandan. April 11. Vegetation appears. 18. A heavy dew, the first since the 15th of September. 21. White frost. May 2. Violent wind; snow and vegetation intermixed. May 4. Snow disappeared- 9. Choke cherry in bloom. May 18. Wild rose in bloom. 23. Strawberries in bloom. May 26. The air warm, fine and dry. 456 MISSOURI TERRITORY. June 27. Thunder, lightning, and hail so large that one stone was 7 inches in circumference, and weighed 3 ounces. July 6. Rain, thunder, and hail; a blackbird killed by the latter. July 7. Near the sources of Missouri. 21. A sudden cold caused a difference of 59° in the thermometer in 8 hours. At Council Bluffs, in the summer of 1820, the greatest heat was 105°, and the winter's cold 22° below Zero. Same year at St. Peters, 98° heat, and 30° below Zero cold. This country is part of the purchase of Louisiana, and has been ex plored by Lewis and Clark, by Pike , and the gentlemen of Long's expe dition. We have gleaned information, also, from hunters and trappers, who have traversed it in all directions, and who have lived long in it. It is inhabited by various tribes of Indians, of whom the Sioux are the most numerous. The whole number is estimated between 130,000 and 140,000. Much important information, touching the south-west part of this vast region, has been recently afforded by Mr. James C. Pattie , who passed 7 years, in trapping, on the upper waters of the Arkansas, Platte, Yellow Stone, and other waters of the Mississippi, on the Helay of Rio del Norte, a river before unexplored by white people, and which he ascended from its junction with the Del Norte to its head source. He crossed the Rocky Mountains in various points, and a number of times. Most of the peaks were found covered with perpetual snow. He descended the Rio Colo rado, or Red River of California, from its source to its junction with the Pacific. It is a large river, with a course, by its curves, of more than 1,000 miles; and in many of its characteristics, particularly in the extent of its alluvion, it resembles the Mississippi. It waters a beautiful and interesting country, on which not a vestige of civilized habitancy exists. Its whole course is through forests and prairies, and undescribed tribes of naked savages. He visited a salt hill not far from the sources of the Platte, and loaded mules with the salt, for Santa Fe. He discovered in the uninhabited country, ores of iron, copper, and silver in great abund ance ; a great variety of useful fossils, and a country altogether of a most interesting character. OREGON TERRITORY. Tins Territory has been so named in the Congressional discussions that have taken place in reference to the country. It is a country of vast extent. Its southern limits are clearly defined in our late treaty with Spain, being on the 42d parallel to the Pacific. Our limits to the north west are yet in question with those of Russia, which claims to the 51st parallel. Our limits with Great Britain are the 49th parallel. It has, therefore, the British and Russian possessions on the north ; the Pacific on the west ; the Mexican dominions on the south, and the Territories of Arkansas and Missouri on the east; and may be assumed as stretching between 41° and 49° N. latitude, and 34° and 48° W. longitude. The stupendous ridges of the Rocky Mountains, which we have already de scribed, bound this country on the east. The waters that rise in the west ern declivities of these mountains flow into the Columbia, the Multnomah and the lake Bueneventura. Most of the elevated summits of the moun tains are above the limits of perpetual congelation. Beyond the mountains the country descends by regular belts, in the form of immense terraces, or descending plains, disposed regularly, the one below the other. Be yond the first plain, and between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific is another extensive and high chain of mountains, in which are the great falls of the Columbia. Still west of these, and running parallel with the coast, and at the distance of 150 miles, is the third and last chain. The peaks of all these chains are covered with perpetual snow. The highest peaks have been named Mount Baker, Mount Regnier, Mount St. Helens, Mount Hood, and Mount Jefferson. 58 458 OREGON TERRITORY. The only rivers explored in this region are the Columbia and its branched This noble river has its head waters near those of the Missouri. It collects its tribute for a wide extent along the western dividing ridges of the Rocky Mountains. Immediately upon emerging from these mountains, it has become a broad and deep stream. Having received Clark's and Lewis* Rivers, each large streams from the east, it is already 960 yards wide. It there forms a great southern bend, and breaks through the second chain of mountains. One hundred and thirty-six miles below are the great falls, where the river descends in one rapid 57 feet. Below these falls it winds first to the north-west, and then to the south-west, and passes through the third chain of mountains; where it is again compressed to the width of 150 yards. Below this rapid, at 180 miles from the sea, it meets the tide, beyond which it has a broad estuary to the sea. Sixty miles below the rapids, Multnomah, a very large and unexplored tributary falls in from the north-east. The mouth of the river is in 46° 24', and the tide there rises eight and a half feet. The Columbia and its tributaries abound in the finest salmon, which seem in fact to constitute the chief article of food of the savages west of the Rocky Mountains. Seals and other aquatic animals are taken in this river in great numbers; and the skins, shipped to China, constitute the chief article of trade from this great river. A number of the head streams of the Missouri interlock with the waters of this river, as Wisdom River, with Clark's of the Co lumbia; and Jefferson ofthe Missouri with Lewis' of the Columbia. Clark's River has a course, between 2 and 300 miles in length, before it unites with the Columbia. Lewis' River is a large and long tributary of the Columbia. In its course, it receives North Fork and Kooskooskee,; and after winding 600 miles, falls into the Columbia from the east by a mouth 250 yards wide. The geological character of this country is little known; but the west- em declivities of these mountains are presumed to be primitive and granitic. The country must have an abrupt slope to the Pacific, descend ing as much in 600 miles to the west, as it does in 1,500 to the east The summits of these mountains of course are sterile, being ragged rocks, and covered with snow the greater part of the year. But among these mountains there are sheltered and fertile vallies. The timber in the mountains is pine, spruce, fir, and the other terebinthines. The terrace plains below generally have a fine soil, but are very deficient in timber. The prairies, like those on the eastern sides of these mountains, are cov ered with grass, and a profusion of most beautiful flowers. Among the prairie plants are two or three kinds of edible roots, which furnish vege table food to the savages, as an aid to the great proportion of salmon which they devour. Wild sage is also an abundant herb. It grows of a size OREGON TERRITORY. 459 and height to be like a small tree; and on these extensive plains is one of the principal articles of fuel. The sea shore for a considerable distance into the interior, is skirted with deep and thick forests of evergreens, such as pine and hemlock. On the whole, it is believed that few countries on the earth have a more fertile soil, and agreeable climate, than those of this region west of the Rocky Mountains. Baron Langsdorf has given us a very delightful and apparently just and discriminating account of the countries belonging to the Missions of St. Peter and St. Paul, in the Mexican country, bounding on the southern limits of this country. The mildness of the climate is surprising. Sheltered on the north by protect ing ridges of mountains, and the breezes from the west being softened by coming over immense extents of sea, the climate is as mild as it is in the country east of these mountains four or five degrees south of that point. Langsdorf describes these countries, extending to our southern limit, as the country of oranges and figs, of verdure, health, and fertility. We scarcely remember to have seen more sober pictures of a more desira ble country, than those drawn by him of that region. They correspond with the accounts of Lewis and Clark and other travellers, who have ex plored that country. When these intelligent and intrepid travellers left the country in March, and in the latitude of Montreal, the prairies were in blossom, and the forwardness of the season seems to have corresponded with that of North Carolina at the same time. It is true the winters are rainy, and some parts of them severe. The following table will serve to convey clear ideas of the temperature of these regions: TABLE OF THE WINDS, AND REMARKS ON THE WEATHER BETWEEN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS AND PACIFIC OCEAN. Month. Place. N.1N.W. N.E. E. S.E. S. S.W. W. Sept. 1806. From Dividing Ridge) to Canoe Camp, ) 4 9 6 2 9 Oct. Canoe Camp to Tide Water, 2 8 4 12 Nov. Shores of the Pacific, ! 4 8 1 15 2 Dec. do. 4 2 5 20 Jan. do. 1 6 2 4 2 15' 1 Feb. do. 5 3 20 March 20 do. 1 6 1 8 4 11 April. To outlet of Kooskooskee ) River, \ May. To Quasnash Flatts, 4 5 4 1 2 2 If 1111 7 June. To Traveller's Rest, 21 8 1 To July 8. To Dividing Ridge, 2 I 6 460 OREGON TERRITORY. REMARKS. September. Fair 19 days, rain 7, gnow 4 days. October. Fair 24 days, rain 5, cloudy 2. November. Fair 7 days, rain 17, cloudy 6. December. Fair 3 days, rain 27, cloudy 1. January. Fair 7 days, rain 19, cloudy 3, snow 2. January. The loss of the thermometer sincerely regretted. The parties confident that the climate is much warmer than in the same parallel of latitude on the Atlantic Ocean. There has been only one slight white frost since the 7th of November. ''We have seen no ice, and the weather is so warm that we are obliged to cure our meat with smoke and fire to save it." 12. The wind from any quarter off the land, or along the north west coast, causes the air to become cooler. 14. Weather perfectly temperate. Never experienced so warm a winter as the present. 25. It is now perceptibly colder than it has been this winter. 28. Pretty keen frost. The coldest night of the season. February. Fair 6, rain 16, cloudy 5, snow 1 day. 8. The feeling of the air indicated that the rigor of the winter had passed. 24, Quite warm. March. Fair 8, rain 16, cloudy 7. 1. So warm that fire was unnecessary. 13. Plants began to appear above ground. 15. Plants put forth their leaves. 25. Gooseberry bushes in leaf. 26. Humming birds appear. 30. Grass 16 inches high in river bottoms. April. Fair 20, rain 7, cloudy 3 days. 6, Cotton wood in leaf. 12! Vegetation is rapidly progressing in the bottoms, though the snow reaches within a mile of the base of the mountains at the Rapids of Columbia. May. Fair 19, rain 5, cloudy 6, snow 1. • 3. An increase of snow in the mountains last evening 10. Weather cold with a heavy fall of snow. 22. The air remarkably dry and pure. 27. The snow has disappeared on the high plains, and seerrs to be diminishing fast on the spurs and lower regions of the Rocky Mountains. June. Fair 20, cloudy 5, rain 5. 2. A great rise in the river in consequence of themelting of the snow in the mountains. 3. River at its greatest height. 5. The wild rose in bloom. 6. The vining honey-suckle in bloom. 22. Strawberries ripe at Quashnash Flatts.' July to 8. Fair 6, rain 2 days. , . 5. A dew this morning; the nights cool; the musquitoes trouble- .some. OREGON TERRITORY. 461 6. In the open plain there was a violent wind from the north west, accompanied by hard rain. 8. A heavy shower, accompanied by hard rain from the south west. This country was first discovered by the Spaniards. In 1791, Captain Gray, of the ship Columbia, of Boston, entered the river, and from his ship it received its name. It was occasionally entered by navigators after wards. In 1805, Lewis and Clark descended this river from the moun tains to the Pacific, and spent the winter on its shore. They returned by the same river to the mountains ; and most of the exact information that we have of the country is from them. For some years a settlement of fur traders, called Astoria, has existed here. The chief intercourse of this place is with China. The question of settling this delightful country permanently, has been more than once debated in Congress. Were such settlements authorized and rendered secure by the requisite military establishments, there can be no doubt but it would receive large accessions of immigrants. The number of Indians of the different tribes is estimated at 140,000. A company is understood to be now forming, of emigrants principally from New England, who intend to assemble at St. Louis, ascend the Missouri, and cross the mountains to the plains of the Oregon. Settle ments to a considerable extent already exist on this river. Many of the settlers are understood to be British within the territorial limits of the United States. They have great stocks of cattle, sheep, and horses. On a stream that enters the Oregon not far from the Great Falls, they have mills, and admirable water privileges for an indefinite number. It is con fidently believed, that no part of the territory of the United States, in point of soil, climate, and commercial advantages, holds out stronger in ducements to emigrants than this country. As the Mexican States of Texas, Coahuila and Sonora, bound the country, admitted by the treaty of the cession of Florida, to belong to the United States in its whole extent, from the upper waters of Arkansas and Red River to the Gulf of California, it is presumed that a sketch of those States will not be unacceptable in this place It is well known that Texas has already received a very considerable proportion of its present population in emigrants from the United States. The body of trappers and traders from Missouri across the prairies to Santa Fe in New Mexico, is numerous and increasing. The trade has received a regular form, and has already had a very sensible effect upon the growth of the town of Santa Fe, and the adjoining country. Many of these traders have formed connections, and intermarriages, and have found homes there. Santa Fe may be considered, in some sense, an 402 OREGON TERRITORY. American town, the stores being filled with American goods, and the streets with American people. The Americans have explored the whole country from the sources of the Rio del Norte to its mouth, in search of furs, and in pursuit of a lucrative traffic. There are few of the towns of New Mexico, in which more or less of them are not to be found. Constantly oppressed by the ignorant, miserable, bigotted, petty despots of these semi-barbarous regions, who assume to be republican rulers of an amicable sister republic, the United States emigrants, like the Jews, multiply and thrive under the extortions and cruelties practised upon them, Never was a more vivid and artless picture of these oppressions present ed, than in the recently published journal of James O. Pattie of seven years wanderings and imprisonments among these people. Having per sonally explored all portions of the country to Rio del Norte, and thence to the Pacific, we consider his narrative the most exact, as well as inter esting account of timt country, that has yet been published. He has reversed many previous impressions in regard to its sterility and destitu tion of rains. Copious rains are noted in his journal, as events of fre quent occurrence. In Texas and in Sonora he speaks with enthusiasm of the verdure and fertility of the country, in his diurnal movements. He is seldom out of sight of mountain-peaks, white with perpetual snow. His sketches of the Mexican people, of their superstitious devotion to the ceremonials of their church, of their amusements, and bull baiting are fresh and graphic, presenting these singular semi-barbarians in a new light. He describes the tribes of the Umeds, Eiotaro, and Nabahoes, with a considerable degree of detail, as he traversed their whole extent of country, and met them, both in battle and in friendship. He describes them as of uncommon stature, and the finest forms; and most of them, both males and females, entirely naked. Their arms were bows and arrows, the arrows of reed, headed with flint, and the bows rendered elastic by adding buffalo bones to the tough wood. These are the savages that ocoupy the country along the course of Red River of California. In travelling from the estuary of that uninhabited river to the Catholic missions of California, he passed over an immense sand plain totally destitute of all herbage but the prickly pear. Here he and his party were near perishing of thirst. At length they reached a lake; but its waters were Salter than those of the sea. White bears, white wolves, antelopes, and mountain sheep were the animals they most frequently met. White bears, in numbers and of a ferocity never before adequately described, render trapping and hunting in these regions a perilous employment, even were there no savages to encounter. • His description of the country along the Gulf of California, occupied by the Catholic Missions, is of great interest and freshness. It corres. OREGON TERRITORY. 463 ponds, in most particulars, with the account of the country given by Langsdorf in his voyages and travels. Mr. Pattie visited each one ofthe Missionary stations, having been liberated from a long and painful im prisonment in San Diego, on the express condition that he should vaccin ate all the inhabitants of the several missions. He describes the country as one of the most charming and delightful of which the imagination can form an idea. The missions are situated along a wide belt of plain of the richest soil, literally covered with sheep, cattle, horses, and domestic animals. The missions are surrounded with beautiful vineyards, yielding pleasant and- generous wine, and all the fruits of the temperate, and most of those of the tropical climates. He travelled along this extensive plain from mission to mission, directly on the verge of the sea shore, viewing, on one hand, the expanse of the Pacific, and the whales, sea lions, and other monstrous water dwellers performing their unwieldy gambols ; and on the other hand, mountains white with snow, from which innumerable cool streams descended to irrigate the fields. The names of the missions are San Diego, San Luis, the largest and handsomest of the whole, St. John the Baptist, St. Gabriel, St. Ferdinand, St. Bueneventura, St. Barbara, Santa Cruz, St. Enos, St. Luis Obispes, St. Michael, St. John Capistrano, La Solada, San Carlos, St. Anthony, and San Francisco. In these places he vaccinated 22,000 persons, the greater portion of them converted Indians, the condition of whom he represents to be very similar to that of our slaves. They are carefully watched, to prevent their escape to their native forests. When the husbands and fathers of the females are absent, the holy fathers lock them up at night, and preserve the key. These missions number their cattle, sheep, horses and mules by tens of thousands. Though in a trop ical climate, the temperature was uniformly cool and delightful. The fathers have procured for themselves, by the aid of these thousands of converted Indians, the most delightful abodes in the world. Their apartments were sumptuously furnished. Their tables were spread with plate, and an ample supply of the most delicious wines; and they have had the good fortune to have secured for themselves a paradise in these solitary regions, as a prelibation of the rewards reserved for them here after, for their labors in converting the heathens. This country is contig uous, and these people will be the nearest whites to our settlements in the Oregon Territory. Mr. Austin, formerly a citizen of the United States, has settled, under the auspices of the Mexican government, a considerable colony, composed almost entirely of emigrants from the United States, on the Brassosand Colorado, rivers of Texas. The town of San Felipe de Austin has a compact street of some length, publishes a gazette, has a number of 464 OREGON TERRITORY. attornies and physicians, and a respectable school. Small vessels come up to this town, which is 40 or 50 miles above the mouth of the river. The eastern border of Texas about the Iyish Bayou is chiefly settled with Americans. St. Antonio and Nachodoches are the only considera ble villages of the interior. Nachodoches is 60 miles west of the Sabine, and contains about 490 inhabitants. St. Ant°nio is 1,300 miles further south-west, on the head waters of the river St. Antonio, in 29° 50' N. latitude, and contains between 2 and 3,000 inhabitants. Trinityjs a considerable stream of Texas, running parallel with the Sabine, and 150 miles west of it. The next important river is the Brassos, which has a course of between 4 and 500 miles. The Colorado is a river stillTurther west, of about the same length and course. Two hundred miles further west is the Rio del Norte, which has a course, including its windings, of 1,600 miles. END OF VOLUME I. THE UNITED STATES THE OTHER DIVISIONS THE AMERICAN CONTINENT By Timothy Flint, AUTHOR OF " RECOLLECTIONS OF THE LAST TEN YEAR3 IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY." 'SALVE MAGNA PARENS.' IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. II. CCfticmnatf: E H. FLINT AND L- R. LINCOLN 1832. ADVERTISEMENT TO VOLUME SECOND. It will be sufficiently obvious, that the preceding physical geography of the Valley of the Mississippi, modified to meet the recent changes occasioned by its rapidly increasing population, originally made the chief part of an entire work, intended simply for readers, who wished to acquaint themselves with that vast country, constituting the greater por tion of the surface of the United States; and at no distant period to con tain the greater part of our entire population. It was objected to the Original work, that it was too sectional. In attempting to obviate that objection, a brief view is here presented of the United States, of each one of the Atlantic States, and of the whole continent of America from the latest and most approved authorities. Our object has been to find a way, if we could} between the unsatisfactory dryness of a mere abridgement, and the prolixity of uninteresting detail ; in a word to present all the important and interesting information, touching our country and conti nent, that could be compressed into the limits of our pages. Entered according to Act of Congress in the year eightero hundred and thirty oiie by Timothy Fmnt in the Clerk's office of the District Court of Ohio. CINCINNATI. Press of L. R. Lincoln. BRIEF GENERAL VIEW UNITED STATES. The United States are bounded N. by British America ; E. by the Atlantic Ocean; S. by the Mexican Republic; W. by the Pacific Ocean. The length of the line of the sea coast, from Passamaquoddy to the Sabine, is about 2800 miles. The northern line from Nova Scotia to the Pacific is more than 3000. The present number of states is 24; Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Con necticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Tennessee, Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi, and Lou isiana. There are three organized territories, that send delegates to Congress; that is, Michigan, Arkansas, and Florida. These will shortly become states, increasing the number to 27. Beside these, there is the North Western Territory, between Michigan, and the Mississippi ; at present in cluded in the limits of Michigan ; but very remote from it, considerably settled, and soon to become an organized territory; the preliminary steps for that purpose having already been taken by congress. West of the Mississippi, and Northwest of the state of Missouri is the Missouri Territory, as yet unorganized, having few civilized inhabitants, except hunters and trappers; extending from the Mississippi and Missouri, * BRIEF GENERAL VIEW west and northwest, to the Rocky Mountains, South of White River, and west of the Territory of Arkansas, spreads another immense territory of prairies, bounded south by the Mexican Republic, west by the Rocky Mountains, north by the Territory of Missouri, and east by the Territory of Arkansas. The Territory of Oregon, as yet unorganized, but contain ing a considerable number of actual American settlers, includes the country belonging to the United States, between the territorial limits of the Mexican Republic, in California, on the south, the Pacific Ocean on the west, the country claimed by Great Britain on the Northwest Coast on the north, and the Rocky Mountains on the east. Beside these, there is the District of Columbia, containing the seat of the general govern ment, and under the jurisdiction and legislation of that government. This vast, country spreads from 49° to 24° 20' N. L ; and from 10° E. L. to 48° 25' W. L. from Washington; comprising an area of more than 2,000,000 square miles. No government exercises territorial jurisdiction over so much extent of compact surface, except that of Russia. The United States are divided either by physical landmarks, or by dis tinct climates and productions, into northern, middle and southern, and eastern and western states. The northern states include New England, or all the states east of Hudson River. The middle states include all the states between Hudson River on the east, and Potomac on the south and west; including, west of the Alleghany Mountains, Ohio, Kentucky, In diana, Illinois, and Missouri. The southern states include the country south and west of these limits. Mountains. The United States are physically divided by two great, and two lesser chains, of mountains. The two great chains are the Alle ghanies and the Rocky Mountains. The lesser chains are the Green and the Ozark Mountains. The Green Mountains stretch from Canada through Vermont, and Connecticut to Long Island Sound. The Allegha nies commence in two continuous and parallel ridges in New York; be come three parallel ridges in Pennsylvania; and preserving this conform ation, stretch through Virginia and the southern states to the Gulf of Mexico. The Ozark Mountains commence near the Warm Springs, in the Territory of Arkansas, and stretch northwardly along the sources of White River and St. Francis; and pass through the state of Missouri in the mine country. The Rocky Mountains preserve a general distance of about 1,200 miles in a right line west of the Alleghanies. They rise in the Mexican Republic, and stretch northwardly on the western boundary ofthe Mississippi Valley ; and running parallel with the Mississippi on the east, and the Pacific Ocean on the west they terminate in the arctic re gions of British America. Groups of isolated and detached mountains spring up near these grand ranges, which to common observation, seem OF THE UNITED STATES. 5 independent ; but which are easily traced, by the eye of the geologist, as connected branches of these ranges. The Rocky Mountains are by far the longest, loftiest and broadest belt of these chains, showing numerous peaks of a much higher elevation, than has generally been assigned to them, many of them being above the region of perpetual congelation. From one point in this range, and at no great distance from each other, are the head sources of the southwestern branches of the Missouri, Co lumbia, the great lake and river Bueneventura, the Yellow Stone, Platte, Arkansas, Red River of the Mississippi, Rio del Norte, and Colorado, or Red River of California, recently explored from its head springs to its junction with the Pacific in the gulf of California by James O. Pattie. Lakes. See Michigan Territory and Canada. Rivers. For those that belong to the Mississippi Valley, see Western States. The chief rivers of the Atlantic States, as we pass from north to south, are Kennebec, Connecticut, Hudson, Delaware, Susquehannah, Potomac, Roanoke, Pcdce, Santee, Savannah and Chattahouchy. Of these the Susquehannah is the largest. Geology and physical aspect. The northern division of the Atlantic belt of the United States is primitive in formation, and abounds in rock of granitic character. Towards the Alleghany Ridges is a belt on either side of them of transition character. We have seen, that the western valley is of secondary formation. The Atlantic country is a long belt of a gentle and equable slope from the foot of the Alleghany Ridges to the sea. It is subdivided into a long and narrow line of soil of sandy char acter, apparently won from the sea; or alluvial, and of a more fertile character, the formation of rivers. This belt extends from the sea shore to the upper limits of the tide waters. It is, for the most part, an ex tended plain. The next division stretches from the sandy belt to the foot of the Alleghany Ridges. It is of a loamy and more fertile soil, pleasantly variegated by hill and dale, and comprises the more wealthy and productive agricultural division of the Atlantic country. Climate. To pursue the details of this article would alone require a volume. The United States embrace every variety of temperature from the cold sea air of Passamaquoddy to the dry, elastic and severe tem perature of the White and Green Mountains; softening through all the degrees of Fahrenheit's scale to the climate congenial to the olive, sugar cane, and sweet orange. The variableness ofthe climate has generally been overcharged. The range ofthe mercury in the thermometer is indeed great and sudden ; sometimes amounting to 25 and 30 degrees in a day. This rapid mutability of temperature, probably, produces a beneficial correspon ding flexibility of constitution. The American people, from some cause, are more excitable, and rapid in muscular movement, than the European 6 BRIEF GENERAL VIEW Sto- k, from which they are derived. Many of our wealthier invalids cross the Atlantic, for the benefit of climate; generally, it is believ ed to a disadvantage. There can be no doubt, that every species of mal ady, and physical infirmity, upon which climate operates, may find in the wide and strong diversities of climate, furnished by some portion of our vast country, all the alleviation, which can be reasonably hoped from this source. The best, as well as the most favorable judges of American cli mate, are those, who have longest experimented the widest range of foreign climates. Our country and climate, in configuration, character and productions, correspond more nearly to that of China, than any other; and are probably, as favorable to population, comfortable occupation in the open air, and longevity, as those of countries much more vaunted in these respects. Soil. The Atlantic country has every variety of soil, from the poorest to the best. The sandy belt, from the river estuaries to the head of tide waters, is principally a thin and meagre, though a warm soil; and is ca pable of great fertility from artificial cultivation. The belt between this and the mountains is variegated, though generally fertile and loamy. We trace this belt through the western part of New York, the middle region of Pennsylvania and Maryland; a more pleasant, fertile, and pro ductive country, than which could scarcely be desired. This belt is warm ed, and enriched by dissolved lime stone intermixed with the soil. The estuary belt of New England, is narrow; and, almost immediately from the sea, it swells into hills indented with innumerable vallies, furnishing charming landscapes, and a productive, though generally hard and rugged soil. Productions. An infinite variety of plants, shrubs and trees are indi genous to this wide country. In New England, and as far south, as Vir ginia, the roost common fruits are apples and pears. Contrary to the general impression at the south, cultivated grapes and the silk mulberry succeed perfectly well, as far north as Boston. The peccan and catalpa will undoubtedly, naturalize there. Peaches do not succeed well north of New Hampshire. The common garden fruits are abundantly raised in this whole extent. Maize and rye are the chief grains cultivated north and east of the Hudson; maize and wheat in the middle states; tobacco and cotton in the southern states ofthe Mississippi Valley. The sweet potatoe, with care in the cultivation, is raised in abundance and of excel lent quality in New Jersey. Articles of Export. In Maine, lumber, vessels, butter, cheese, beef and pork. New Hampshire is chiefly a grazing state. Having but a very narrow line of sea coast, her facilities for the lumber trade are com paratively small. Vermont is famed for the finest beef, and the richest OF THE UNITED STATES. ' grazing in the United States. Since its connection with New York by the Champlain canal, Vermont has come in for a share in the lumber business. Massachusetts furnishes the general products of New England, together with a great amount of salted and pickled fish, the product of her extensive fisheries. She has, also, a natural aptitude for various sorts of manufactures, being the greatest manufacturing state in the union. The middle states add to the productions of New England wheat and flour. From the southern Atlantic States the chief exports are to bacco and cotton: and from the Southern States of the Mississippi Valley sugar and cotton. Since the home trade of the United States has be come one of the most important elements of our prosperity, our foreign trade has not advanced in a ratio so great, as in past periods. The ex porting states rank in the following order; New York, Louisiana, Massa chusetts, Pennsylvania, South Carolina; and the whole amount generally ranges from 60 to 70 millions of dollars. In 1829 it was 72,558,671 dollars. Chief Towns will be noted under the head of their states. They rank in the following order; New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Boston, New Orleans, Charleston, Cincinnati. Canals are bisecting the country in every direction. So strong has the impulse of the public mind recently become, in the direction of mak ing canals and rail roads, that timid legislators have shrunk from these enterprises; as fearful, that the spirit was running beyond the limits of sound calculation. But the community is daily becoming enlightened upon the subject, by the sure and unerring teaching of experience. If some great calamity do not arrest the onward progress of our country, fifty years will not elapse, before wagons drawn by animal power will gener ally have given place to canal boats, or rail-road cars impelled by steam; and the whole country will be chequered by canals and rail-roads, as it how is by the bad and deep common roads of the country. Details in re gard to the names, number and extent of the canals, will be presented hereafter in a tabular view. There are not far from 1500 miles of canal now in actual use, and 500 miles more are laid out, as in actual progress towards completion. Of these the longest and most important, in com plete operation, is the New York and Erie canal, 360 miles in length. The canal connecting Philadelphia with Pittsburgh, in a continuous chain of a number of different canals, will comprise when completed, an extent of between 3 and 400 miles, being by far the longest in the United States. The Ohio and Erie Canal is a stupendous work 306 miles in extent, uniting the waters of Lake Erie with the Ohio. The Chesapeake and Ohio canal, now in progress, is intended to unite the waters ofthe Potomac at Washington city with the Ohio river, and Pennsyvania canal BRIEF GENERAL VIEW at Pittsburgh. Of thirty canals in operation, or progress, these are the most important. Rail Roads though less experimented, are becoming common objects of contemplation. One for a short distance in Quincy in Massachusetts conveys granite from the quarry to tide waters. One from the summit of Mauch Chunk coal hill, connecting it with a branch of the Pennsylvania Canal, is in successful operation. A rail road is constructing at Charles ton, South Carolina. One is completed connecting Albany with Sche nectady in New York. A rail road connects New Orleans, with lake Ponchartrain. One of gigantic features is in progress, and two consid erable sections of it finished, to pass from the Chesapeake to the Ohio. Loco-motive rail cars have been driven upon this with a speed and facil ity to justify all the reasonable expectations, that have been raised by accounts of their success in England. Others are commencing in points too numerous to mention. A project still more Herculean, than any yet commenced, has excited much attention in New York. It proposes to make a rail way from that city over the Alleghany mountains, through the states of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, to the Mississippi. Rail roads, though growing into public favor, from their rapidity of transport, and the great effect of the power applied upon them, together with the advantage that they are not liable like canals, to be impeded by frost, are still in comparison with canals, matters of question, in regard to their compara tive cheapness and utility. These projects would have seemed visionary and chimerical, had not many works, which were viewed, but a few years since, equally so, been carried into execution, with results outstripping the most sanguine calcu lations. It has been discovered, as a new demonstration in political economy, that such works, if wisely executed, enrich instead of impover ishing a country. Nothing but physical impossibilities, are beyond the sober hopes of a great and growing people, whose national wealth is accu mulating, and whose physical resources, are constantly developing by new discoveries of the materials necessary to bring those resources into play. The number of miles of canal and rail road, which will be in use, when the public works of this sort, now under contract, shall be completed, will exceed 4200 miles. Population advances with a steady step with these improvements; or rather they are the scale by which its advance may be measured. Fresh, cheap and abundant lands together with the protection and encourage ment of free institutions are the natural elements of a rapid increase of population. Instead of any other attempt at illustrating our increase, we present the following view of it, as presented by the census of different years. In 1790, it was 3,929,827. In 1800, 5,305,925. In 1810, OF THE UNITED STATES. 9 7,289,314. In 1820,9,638,131. In 1830, 12,856,487. Ofthispopu lation, the greatest amount on a given space is found in New England, particularly in Massachusetts and Connecticut; if we except a parallelo gram of equally dense, or greater population, extending westwardly from the Delaware to the Susquehannah, 70 miles in length, and 60 miles in breadth. Massachusetts has 72 persons upon each square mile of its sur face. Some of the western states have not more than one person, on an average, in the same extent. Schools. The noble and truly republican system of free schools exists in New England, and in Ohio. It is extending its influence in all the horthern and middle States. New York has devised another plan of gen eral education, of great efficiency and sustained with a munificence, in which this great state stands alone. Schools supported by private con tribution, seminaries, academies, high schools for both sexes, lyceums, medical, law and theological schools are springing Up with each new session of the legislatures. Assuming the number of children taught in the different schools in New York, as a basis, we may calculate the number of actual pupils in the United States at one million. Another million are as yet untaught. There are 50 incorporated colleges in the United States; and in New England and New York 229 incorporated acade mies. Supposing this division ofthe union to contain half of those in the United States, there will be a total of 458. The standard of the requisite character and qualifications of instructors has been elevated by the great and laudable exertions of associations of teachers. The school books are of a higher and more instructive stamp. In no depart ment of the improvements of the age has more been done, than in the cause of general education; and in none does more yet remain to be done. Our institutions can never be based on the right foundation, until the whole community receive a substantial and virtuous education. Religion is left to the voluntary choice of the people, no sect being favored by the laws beyond another, it being an essential principle in the national and state governments, that legislation may of right interfere in the concerns of public worship only so far, as to protect every individual in the unmolested exercise of that of his choice. Hence all the sects of Christianity are abundantly represented in our country. The methodists are, probably, the most numerous denomination. The rpresbyterians, congregationalists, baptists, episcopalians, and Roman Catholics, proba bly, rank, in point of numbers, in the order, in which they are here men tioned. The Cumberland presbyterians and Christians are growing denominations. There are nearly 10,000 fixed congregations of the dif ferent denominations. The income of the different religious, charitable, missionary, bible, tract, education and Sunday school societies is about Vor. If 2 10 BRIEF GENERAL VIEW 500,000 dollars annually. There are 25 theological seminaries, in which young gentlemen of the different denominations are trained for their respective ministries, from which between 2 and 300 are annually graduated. Military Force. Beside an organized militia of about a million, the General Government keeps up a small standing army, distributed in sta tions along the sea board, and the extensive frontier. The remotest posts are at St. Peters on the Upper Mississippi, at the Council Bluffs on the Missouri, at Kiamesia, or Kimichie, on Red River, and at Cantonment Jessup not far from the Sabine. The naval force consists of 7 ships of the line, 10 frigates, 15 sloops of war, and 7 armed schooners, and is as powerful and efficient a force, measured by the number of guns, as can be shown by any country. In 1829 the whole tonnage of the United States shipping was 1,741,391. The same year there was freighted from the United States 133,000 tons of foreign shipping. One-fourth of the shipping is owned in Massachusetts; and the next largest amounts in New York. Maryland and , Pennsylvania rank next in order^ as ship- owning states. Revenue — Has been chiefly derived hitherto from customs, or duties paid by merchants on goods imported, and from the sales of public lands. It is in common years, not far from $25,000,000. This amount, in the ordinary and peaceable progress of the government, exceeds the expendi tures, and the interest of the national debt, leaving a considerable unap propriated balance in the national treasury. The national debt, in the present course of things, will be extinguished in a few years. It has already become, in anticipation, a question of congressional discussion, in what manner the surplus remainder shall be appropriated, after the national debt shall have been liquidated. Federal Constitution- This instrument contains the compact of our national confederation. It guarantees religious and political freedom; and is probably the most simple and well digested eharter of political liberty, that was ever penned. This instrument is too well known to require us to give any thing more than some of its prominent features. The legislative power is vested in Congress, composed of a Senate and House of Representatives. The judicial power is in the Supreme and Circuit Courts, presided over by judges appointed during good behavior. The executive authority is in the President. Each state furnishes two Senators; and Representatives in number and ratio as follows: they are chosen by the people biennially, each state being entitled to a number proportionate to its population, in a ratio in the states, which do not admit slavery of 1 to every 40,000 souls ; and in the states where there are slaves of 1 for every 40,000 of the free population, and one for every OF THE UNITED STATES. 11 66,666 of the slaves. The relative proportions of the representation are settled every tenth year, immediately after taking the census. It is an unfortunate fact, that the purest efforts of abstract reason and wisdom cannot be divested of the taint of the passions. This instru ment, devised by as enlightened men and as pure patriots as have lived, is still a human production, and could not exercise a prophetic ken, to settle questions growing out of relations which no foresight could have foreseen. It has become as the apple of discord, a question, how far it grants powers by construction ? where its power terminates, and that of the state constitutions commence? And what umpire shall determine what are infractions of its authority? And how the penalties of those infractions shall be inflicted ? No community has existed that could fairly trace a greater amount of political prosperity and happiness to a charter of government, than the United States to the operation of the federal constitution. Every patriot will carry it by acclamations, to which all but Catalines, and those who delight in political storms for the plunder of the wrecks, will respond — esto perpetual Aborigines. From the apparent incompatibility of the Indian char acter with the modes and requirements of civilized life, this ill-fated race is every where wasting away, when brought in contact with people of municipal and industrious habits. The whole number existing at present within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States, more probably falls short of 300,000, than exceeds that number. Of this number half reside east and half west of the Rocky Mountains. The most humane exertions have constantly been in operation, on the part of the General Government, to preserve the race from extinction, by severe provisions to prevent their obtaining ardent spirits, and by unwearied efforts to train them to the the arts and agriculture, and' to impart to them the blessings of education and Christianity. Under the system adopted by the government, 140 agents and sub- agents, interpreters and mechanics are employed among the different Indian tribes, to carry these purposes into effect; and the President is authorized to cause the stores of the licensed traders to be searched, and if ardent spirits are found among the articles for sale, the whole goods are forfeited to the government. The whole number of Indian schools established among them, partly by charitable associations of the different religious denominations, and partly by pecuniary aid from the government, is 44. The government bestows upon the maintenance of these schools, about $10,000 annually. The whole number of Indian children receiving instruction, amounts to 1,500. 12 BRIEF GENERAL VIEW Public Lands. The greatest portion of the unoccupied lands of the United States constitute the national domain, and is the property of the United States. The property of these lands has been acquired by the United States by cession of the individual States, by acknowledged ter ritorial jurisdiction, by purchase or cession from foreign states, and by the extinction of the Indian title to them. The officers of the Land Office are a Register, and Receiver of public monies. The lands are surveyed before they are offered for sale, and are divided into townships six miles square, which are subdivided into 36 sections, each a mile square, and containing 640 acres. These are again subdi vided into half, quarter, and half-quarter sections, the smallest tracts sold by the government. The credit system is abolished, and the terms of sale are cash previous to the entry, or government deed. The lands are first exposed to sale at auction, by proclamation of the President. The highest bidder at this sale failing to pay, the tract is offered again, and the failing bidder is declared incapable of purchasing at the sales. The rninimum price of land is one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre. Lands forfeited for non-payment must be offered first at public sale. Choice tracts and favorite positions command good prices at the public sales. But the greater portion of the lands remain unsold, after the public sales, and are entered at private sale. Those lands for which $1 25 are not offered, remain unsold, and the property of the United States. Salt springs and lead mines are reserved from this sale; but may be leased by the President. One section of 640 acres is reserved in every township for literary purposes. In cases of different applications, at private sale, for the same tract, the highest bidder is to have the preference. By this admirable system all the townships and subdivisions are in regular mathe matical forms, precluding the fruitful source of litigation, arising from the uncertainty of butts and bounds, in forms with curve, meandering, or zigzag lines. Those forms so universal in the farms of the old set tlements, are not only difficult matters of adjustment between contiguous owners, and exceedingly inconvenient for fencing, but are unsightly and offensive to the eye. It is inconceivable that the beautiful square forms of the present land system should not have been suggested to the first settlers of the United States. The land sales unite three essential objects, the right of selection by the highest bidder at the public sales, extreme cheapness at the private sales, and a title of a clearness and unquestionable surety commensurate with the stability of the government. The convenience and excellence of this system constitute an essential element in the rapid population of the new states. OF THE UNITED STATES. 13 Public Debt. In 1830 the unfunded debt amounted to $40,729,000; and the whole national debt to $48,566,406; and at the ratio of redemp tion, in seven preceding years, will all be paid in 1834. Appropriations. The whole amount of appropriations, in the year 1830, for the current expenses of the year, was $13,528,845. This, of course, does not include the appropriations of former years for the pay ment of the public debt, and various instalments due from the govern ment, amounting to $12,315,245 — making the total estimated expendi tures of the year $25,844,090. Manufactures. Under this head we only mention in this place the two recent establishments of the cutton and woollen manufactures. There are 400 cotton factories in New England, and 280 in the remaining por tion of the United States; 680 in all. Of these 135 are in Massachu setts; 110 in Rhode Island; 80 in Connecticut; and 50 in New Hamp shire. It is calculated, that 32,000,000 lbs. of wool were manufactured in the United States in 1829, giving full or partial employment to 100,000 persons. General Remarks. The Canal and Rail Road system has already presented the resources of our great country in an entirely new aspect. The rich and the poor of the northern cities, instead of banishing the inclemency of winter by fuel from the forests of Maine, rafted down the rivers, and shipped over a stormy sea, are warmed by coal dug from moun tains in the interior of Pennsylvania, which, a few years since, could not have been transported to New York or Boston for four times its value. It is now, in those places, a cheaper fuel than wood. The cities are building up with stone and marble from remote points of the interior where, according to the former modes of transport, they would have re mained forever unmoved. The wood cutter of the shores of Lake Erie finds in its forests cabinet woods for the city of London. The northern shores of Ohio send their cherry, black walnut, and maple timber to the interior of Massachusetts. The rugged mountains of the Alleghanies along the path of the Pennsylvania Canal, will send their vast piles of nature-hewn cubic blocks of beautiful white sand stone to build up the streets of Philadelphia. Every month is disclosing discoveries of minerals, the precious metals the important and useful fossils, pit coal, beautiful marbles, quarries of building stone, clays and earths for porcelain, and an exhaustless abundance of ores of iron and lead, and salt springs, evincing that a country, originally pronounced destitute in these respects, compared with the mother country, is singularly rich and fortunate, possessing, in great abundance those materials, hidden in the earth, which are essential ele> ments in developing national wealth and power. 14 BRIEF GENERAt VIEW A wide belt, commencing on the southern slopes of the mountainous country in Virginia, and running thence through North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia into the highlands of Alabama, inhabited by the Creeks and Cherokees, has been discovered within a few years to be rich in ores of gold. It is found, too, in lumps of native gold. Some of the largest masses of native gold that have ever been discovered, have been found here. This extensive belt is covered with thousands of miners and ad- venturers. Great amounts of gold are already furnished to the national mint, and this region may hereafter vie in productiveness with the mines of Mexico and Peru. Whether these mines will be a national resource and advantage, is an experiment that remains to be tested. In Missouri, Illinois, and the new Territory of Huron are as rich lead mines as the world can offer. The northern parts of the latter territory abound, also, in copper. The great proportion of the American people are farmers, comparing with the total of those engaged in all other pursuits, as five to one. The number of merchants at present engaged in com merce is about 80,000. Of these, in proportion to the whole population, Michigan Territory furnishes the largest proportion, from the number of persons engaged in the fur trade, the trade on the lakes, and as trapping woodsmen. Massachusetts has the greatest proportion of any one ofthe States, and Louisiana the next largest relative proportion. The number of manufacturers amounts to nearly 500,000. The number of farmers exceed 2,000,000, The means of information possessed by the people of the United States may be inferred from the fact, that more than 1,500 periodicals, chiefly newspapers, are circulated in every town and village, from Maine to the Sabine, being a greater number of periodicals than circulates in any other country. Of the character of these periodicals it is unnecessary to speak. In a perfectly free country, it is a misfortune inseparable from freedom, that ignorance and deception, and the passions will speak along With truth. But where truth is left perfectly free to combat error, the balance must always incline to the aid of the diffusion of useful informa tion and truth. From this immense number of papers and periodicals, it follows, that every body is, or assumes to be a politician and legislator. The dispatch of the mails over more than 100,000 miles of post roads is rapid; and the best proof of the security of mail conveyance is, that the conveyance of money is safe, The official catalogue of the post offices is a considerable volume, showing some thousands of post offices. The people of the United States ought to be a nation of orators. From the session of congress to that of each state legislature, every constituent assembly, every one of the almost innumerable meetings of the people furnishes a call for public speaking. More voice and breath are expended OF THE UNITED STATES. 15 in this way by the people of the Union, in proportion to their numbers, than in any other country. Tediousness, prolixity, and an unsparing superfluity of words are evils generated by this order of things. But While it gives birth to multitudes of windy, inane and impudent dema gogues, it forms at the same time an uncommon proportion of the com munity to fluent and graceful public jmeaking. The tendency of the age in general, and of our country in particular, is to achieve great works by corporate associations. Men have learned that their individual power is increased by making a part of corporate power. It is an age of associations for literary and charitable purposes. The vocabulary of terms has been exhausted to find names for the nu merous societies that have sprung up within the few past years. Among them every philanthropist will notice with pleasure those that have been formed for the suppression of intemperance, for the advancement of edu cation, and for the melioration of the condition of the poor. A more striking illustration of the tendency of such societies, and which is worth a volume of declamation on the subject, cannot be given, than is furnish ed by the fact, that in the single city of Boston, within 30 years past, there have been collected, chiefly by these associations, for charitable purposes, $1,809,045. In regard to the general appearance of the United States, New Eng land is dotted in every direction with neat and populous villages. All the great manufacturing establishments collect villages round them; as effects of course. Lowell, Waltham, and Pawtucket may serve as strik ing examples. Every hill side opens to view these noble erections, and gladdens the eye with the spires of churches. New York, in its whole extent, especially the western part, offers a sample of this order of things particularly to those, who can remember, when the country on the line of the canal, and the beautiful country of the small lakes was all a continu ous and unbroken forest. Rochester rises, a proud index of the aston ishing changes wrought in this country in a few years. Pennsylvania and Ohio have not fallen behind,, in this march of im provement. Many neat, new, and cheerful looking villages are won from the forest every two or three years. The prodigious extent of travel, for business or pleasure, establishing an intercourse of kindness between the remote points ofthe union, have more than kept pace with the improve ment of roads, canals, steam boats, hotels, carriages, and every thing connected with transport and travel. This order of things is visibly less perceptible in the slave states, than the free states; and least of all in the Atlantic states south of the Potomac. In proceeding in this direction, it is distincly seen, that* the influence of slavery is adverse to great national works, to neat and flourishing villages, and compactness of an industrious 16 BRIEF GENERAL VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES. and intelligent population. Villages and church spires become rare objects. Isolated mansions arise at great distances from each other, sur rounded by the singular contrast of negro hovels. These mansions, it is true, are generally the abodes of the most sensitive honor, intelligence, and hospitality. But the contrast of the hovels and the mansion can never cease to be a painful spectacle to the eye. The Colonization society is calling the public attention to the gradual and ultimate removal of this evil, acknowledged by every one to be of portentous aspect, It could be wished, that writers and declaimers upon the subject of the evils of slavery had been in all cases sensible and sober men of temperate minds and a kind spirit; and in fact, that they had been always honest men. Angry and unsparing declamation and appeals to the vindictive feelings of the unthinking in the free states are not the true remedies for an order of things, which commenced in the germ of our country's growth, and has grown up with it, as a chronic malady, to be cured by slow and gentle remedies; and only to be successfully treated by humane and temperate minded men, who see things as they are. The grand remedy, as it seems to us, is to be expected in the increasing light and humanity of the age. At some distant period, the entire extinction of slavery will arrive, as a certain result of the tendency of the age towards purer reason and more enlightened views of liberty. The voice of the Peace society is beginning to be heard in the land- It is making great and laudable, apd we will hope ultimately successful exertions to inculcate Peace on earth and good will to men. On the whole, it is believed, that no country contains so great a pro portion of educated, well housed, fed and clothed population, living in so much freedom and content, as the people of the United States. Atlantic states. MAINE. The states east of Hudson's river and New York are called New Eng* land, and comprise Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. We commence with Maine , constitut ing the north east extremity of the United States. It lies between 43° 5' and 48° 3* N. L. and 6° and 10° 8' E. L. from Washington. It em braces an area of 32,000 square miles. It is bounded N . and E. by lower Canada and New Brunswick; S. by the Atlantic ; W. by New Hampshire. The soil is generally level and clayey along the sea shore, and moderately fertile. In the interior, and on the banks of the rivers it is fine. The face of the country gradually becomes elevated, as we ascend from the coast. Towards the Canada frontier, it becomes rugged and mountain ous. Agamenticus, an isolated mountain of considerable height, and a noted land mark for mariners, rises in York. Climate is severe, with five months of decided winter; but it is com paratively uniform, and very salubrious. Productions are wheat, Indian corn, rye, barley, grass, pulse, potatoes of the best kind, fine pasturage, and the products of pasturage, immense amounts of timber, masts and spars, staves, boards and plank, wood and lumber. Most of the sea ports of Massachusetts east of Cape Cod are furnished with their chief fuel from this state, and its lumber is exported to all foreign parts, that admit our lumber. The climate, though severe, is so uniform, that the productions are of a class, that could not be ex pected from its temperature. Apple trees, for example, flourish in the interior ; and there are fine orchards of this fruit, and more especially of pear trees. Among the wild fruits are gooseberries, currrants, wild plums, cherries and grapes and the greatest abundance of cranberries. The ex tensive strand of sea coast is supplied by the waves with vast quantities of rock weed, which is an excellent manure. The alluvion of Kennebec Vol. II. 3 ever-1 18 ATLANTIC STATE.S. is both fertile and delightful. ' Noble forests of the terebinthines, greens, spruces, firs, and pines spread over the state, wherever the lum berer's or the Cultivator's axe has not been plied. The birch and beech forests are exceedingly deep and heavy, and the long line of coast, the numerous bays, and navigable waters give these forests a value, which they have in no other portions of the forest country of the United States. Harbors. This state has a greater extent of sea coast, and more good harbors, than any other in the union; and in point of amount of tonnage of shipping owned, ranks the fourth among the maritime states. The counties are as follows. York, York; Cumberland, Portland; Lincoln, Wiscasset; Hancock, Castine; Washington, Machias; Oxford, Paris; Kennebec Augusta; Somerset, Norridgewock; Waldo, Belfast; Penob scot, Bangor. Population in 1820, 298, 335. In 1830, 399,468. Bays — Are Casco, Penobscot, Frenchman's and Passamaquoddy. Rivers. St. Croix, Penobscot, Kennebec, Androscoggin, Saco, Pis- cataqua, and many smaller streams. Lakes. -Umbagog and Moose head are the largest. In the northern parts of the state, which are almost unexplored forest, there are a great many lakes, which are as yet but partially known. Deep clear ponds, from two to five or six miles in circumference, abound in the inte rior, and afford the finest fresh water fish. Immense supplies of sea fish are furnished by the numerous bays and inlets on the sea shore. The salmon and shad of the larger streams are, also, in their season a great resource to the inhabitants. Manufactures. The avails exceed 3,000*000 dollars and are increasing. Towns. Portland, the capital, is a neat and handsomely built town on a peninsula projecting into Casco Bay and is 115 miles N. E. from Boston. Its noble safe and capacious harbor is seldom frozen. Its public buildings are ten houses for public worship, a state house, court house, alms house, market house, town house, two banks, an insurance office and an academy. There are a number of fine boarding schools^ and private and common schools, a town library, and one for apprentices. A stone light house, 70 feet high, marks the entrance of the harbor. It is defended by two forts, and beautified by a conspicuous observatory on the pinnacle of Mount Joy. Its relative position to the surrounding country is fine. A canal was projected, some years since, which by an excavation of five or six miles, would give this town a command of water communications of 40 or 50 miles with the interior. The principal ex ports are lumber, fish, beef and butter. It is the eighth town in the United States in the amount of its shipping, owning nearly 40,000 tons- It is a wealthy, handsome and growing place. In 1820 it contained 8,520 inhabitants, and in 1830, 12,601. Bath on the west bank ATLANTIC STATES. 19 ofthe Kennebec, 16 miles from the sea, owns considerable shipping, and is a place of importance, Brunswick, Wiscasset, Hallowell, Augusta, York, Casco, Machias, Bangor and Waterville are considerable towns. Brunswick is on the Androscoggin; Wiscasset, on the Sheepscot; and both Hallowell and Augusta on the Kennebec. These towns are favora bly situated for foreign trade. The state abounds in sea ports. A number of fine islands along the coast give the inhabitants the advantage of an interior and protected navigation. Population. At the close of the late war, the advance of this state was at a pause. Many of the inhabitants, in discouragement, either emi grated, or were preparing to emigrate. But, possessing the essential elements of population, fertile, fresh and cheap lands, and beside, having peculiar advantages for maritime trade, and easy and numerous commu nications with the interior by large and fine rivers and bays, possessing an excellent soil for hay and pasturage, a salubrious climate, and an ad venturous and hardy population, it soon resumed its advancing progress. The natural aptitude of the American people for communications with the sea impelled settlers to this region. The gain, since the last census, is out of proportion greater than any other New England state, being 101,138. The pursuits of a great portion of the people are maritime, and their home on the blue water. The vessels of its mariners are in every sea. The sailors are noted for the reckless daring, with which they commit themselves to small sloops of 30 or 40 tons, to encounter the- most remote and stormy seas. They have a habit of affirming, that they have learned their little crafts the science of finding their own way amidst the billows- These are the mariners, who in lumber vessels, manned with two hands, and sometimes with a single one, dash away to the West Indies, before they are profoundly acquainted with the occult science of trigonometry, and logarithmic tables, and of whom it is humorously said, that they throw shingles overboard at intervals, as they pass out, by which to find their way back again. Education. Bowdoin college in Brunswick is a flourishing institution, rich in funds, with respectable endowments and buildings, and a library of 5000 volumes. Theological seminaries are established at Bangor, and Waterville; and lycecms at Hallowell and Gardiner. There are twenty two incorporated academies; and town schools and common schools are diffused, with the New England spirit, over all the towns, villages and settlements of the state. Religion. In this new state, as happens throughout our eountry in similar circumstances, the several denominations have emulated each other in efforts to impress an ascendant influence upon the young community. 20 ATLANTIC STATES. There are nearly 400 established religious societies, among which the congregationalists are at present most numerous. Government. Maine was united with Massachusetts, under the name of the District of Maine, until 1820, when the union was amicably dis solved, and Maine was received into the union. General Aspect. A panorama of this extensive state would show three fourths of its surface covered with a dark and deep forest of birch, beech, and evergreens. A wide belt along the sea shore, and the navigable inlets and rivers, and waters, upon which rafts can float, would be seen denuded of their forests. The cleared squares cut out of the forest would be seen diminishing, as we advance towards the north, until we reach a wide and unbroken forest. Numberless transparent ponds would be seen, dotting almost every township. Far in the interior we should see the peculiar class of interior New England husbandmen, like the people of the west clearing their lands; and in the spring making maple sugar and relying solely on agriculture for subsistence. We should see the adven turous mariners spreading their sails on every sea. Innumerable wood vessels from other states would be seen approaching her shores, to pay their tithe for the privilege of carrying her fuel over the stormy sea, that rolls a tide upon some portion of her shores of 40 feet in height. Her lime, the most beautiful in the country, would be seen transported to the shores of Maryland and Virginia. Rich and productive lead mines, re cently discovered, would be seen increasing her commercial resources. If overhung, for a considerable portion of the year, with a leaden and in clement sky, the inhabitants the while, would be seen gaily sliding over their snowy surface in sleighs, breasting the keen air with a spirit, that finds elasticity and vigor in triumphing over the rigor of nature. NEW HAMPSHIRE. Bounded by Maine E.; Lower Canada N., Massachusetts S. and S.E. for a distance of 18 miles by the Atlantic. Area, 10,000 square miles. Between 42° 42' and 45° 14' N. L.; and 4° 29' and 6° 19' E- L. from Washington. Its shape is an open fan with the handle to the north. Divisions. Rockingham, Portsmouth; Merrimack, Concord; Strafford, Dover, Gilmantown; Hillsborough, Amherst; Cheshire, Keene, Charles town, Walpole; Grafton, Hanover; Haverhill, Plymouth Coos, Lancas ter; Sullivan, Newport. Population in 1820 244,161. In 1830, 269, 533. ATLANTIC STATES. 21 Aspect. A narrow, sandy plain, indented with small sea inlets, skirts the line of coast. At no great distance, the country rises into hills and mountains. New Hampshire may be justly designated the state of hills. The highest peaks of the sublime range of the White Mountains are more elevated, than any other mountains in the United States, except those ofthe Rocky Mountains. Monadnock, Moose hillock, Kearsarge, Sunnapee, and Ossipee are high, interior, detached mountains. The number of mountains and hills gives the state a harsh and rough as pect; and the immense masses of granite rising upon all sides have pro cured for it the appellation ofthe granite state. But many ofthe vallies are beautifully green, sheltered and fertile. The rivers, in particular, have rich, alluvial bottoms . Those of the Connecticut may be given, as a sample. The soil, though often encumbered with stones, has a good degree of fertility, and is particularly fine for pasturage. The country originally was heavily timbered, and in the interior are still considerable extents of forest country. There are extensive plains of a warm, light, sandy and peculiar soil, resembling, when cleared, the poorer of the high western prairies, covered in their natural state with white pine and called pine plains. The climate is healthy. The lakes and rivers are ordina rily frozen four months in the year. Winter commences in November, and terminates in April. It is chiefly an agricultural state. Of late years, however, the people have begun to appropriate their frequent and permanent water power to manufacturing purposes. Beside domestic manufactures to a great extent, this state has large manufactures of iron, woollen and cotton. There are 40 establishments of cotton and woollen, 10 of paper, and a number of iron in Franconia, and other places. Glass is also manufactured. Great manufacturing establishments have arisen at Dover, Exeter, Peterborough, Franconia, and Durham. New Ipswich, Keene, Milford, and Walpole are also towns which possess manufacturing establishments to a considerable extent. The manufactures of this state, in 1810, exceeded $5,000,000. They must have more than doubled in value since. Lakes. Winnipissiogee is a romantic and beautiful sheet of water in the centre of the state, 23 miles in length. It is sprinkled with numerous islands, and abounds in the finest kinds of fresh water fish. Umbagog lake lies partly in this state, and partly in Maine. Squam, Ossipee, Sunnapee, and Newfound lakes, are considerable collections of water. Rivers. The Connecticut separates the western shore of the state from Vermont. Merrimac, Piscataqua, Androscoggin and Saco, all con siderable rivers, rise in this state. Piscataqua has almost its whole course in the state. The smaller rivers are Upper and Lower Ammonoosuc, 22- ATLANTIC STATES. Sugar, Ashuelot, Margallaway, and Nashua. The smaller mill streams are exceedingly numerous and beautiful. Towns. Portsmouth, on the south bank of the Piscataqua, threemile. from its junction with- the sea. hasone of the safest and most commodio" harbors m the United States. It is never frozen, is strongly defen^ two forts, and might easily be rendered impregnable. A light house on Great Island indicates the entrance to it, and the largest ships can come to the wharves. It is distant 56 miles north-east from Boston. It is the only sea port m the state. Its position is pleasant and salubrious, and the greater part of the town, having been rebuilt from a fire some years since, is very handsomely built. It contains 8 houses for public worship, among which the Episcopal church is distinguished for its size and beauty. The other public buildings are a court house, jail, alms house, academy, athenieum, two market houses, town hall, custom house, an insurance office, and five banks. A very handsome bridge across the Piscataqua connects it with Kittery in Maine. On Navy Island, in the river, is the United States Ship Yard, with all the requisite appurtenances for building ships of war. Two 74 gun ships have already been built here. The town possesses over 25,000 tons of shipping. Many valuable prizes were brought into this harbor during the late war. It has a fine market, more particularly for fish, and it differs from any other New England town in the circumstance, that many females bring articles to market, descending the Piscataqua in skiffs. In 1820 the population was 7,327. In 1830, 8>036. Exeter is a handsome village, 15 miles south-west of Portsmouth. Small sea vessels ascend to it, it being at the head of tide water on Exeter River. It contains a number of public buildings, and three churches, and is the seat of very considerable manufactures. Phillips' Exeter Academy in this place is one of the most ancient, opulent and useful institutions in the United States, having many of the advantages and endowments of a college. Concord, situated on both sides of the Merrimac, central to the slate, and 63 miles north north-west from Boston, is the political metropolis, and the seat of government. The compact part of the village contains one neat street two miles in length, in which are a magnificent state- house, and a state prison, both of stone. There are a number of other public buildings. Two bridges connect the chief village with the village on the opposite bank of the river. It issues three gazettes, and is a place of large and growing business, and contains about 3,000 inhabitants. It has a boatable communication with Boston by the river, and by Middlesex. Canal connecting with it. ATLANTIC STATES. 23 Hanover, Haverhill, Charlestown, and Walpole are large and neat vil lages on the Connecticut; as are Keene and Amherst in the interior. Dover is a large manufacturing village on the west bank of the Piscataqua. The river Cocheco flows through it, having great falls affording admirable water privileges. It is the seat of extensive cotton factories, and of some iron works. It has grown to rapid consequence since it has become the seat of such extensive manufactories. It has a number of public build ings, and is a place of increasing importance. Literary Institutions. Dartmouth College ranks as the third literary institution in New England. Its endowments, library and philosophical apparatus are respectable, and it has a medical school of deserved repu tation attached to it. Phillips' Exeter Academy, of which we have spoken, has funds to the amount of $80,000. There are a great number of less considerably endowed academies, and the primary and other schools are on the general footing of the New England system. Character of the Population. The inhabitants are a healthy, tall, robust,industrious, well informed and enterprising people, frugal, religious, and jealous of their rights. The prevailing religious denominations are Congregationalists and Baptists. Commerce. Cheese, butter, beef and pork; lumber, linen, beside man ufactures, are the chief articles of export. Much of the agricultural products go by the Middlesex Canal to Boston. Natural Curiosities. The White Mountains afford scenery inexpressi bly grand, being of Alpine elevation, and deriving their name from being generally white with snow. The lovers of nature come to these wild retreats from great distances, to contemplate the varied aspects of these sublime peaks, to hear the roar of the mountain winds, and the tumble of their ice-formed torrents. The Notch, or Gap, is a striking object of curiosity. The riv.er Saco sweeps by itj forming splendid cascades. An affecting moral interest has been associated with this wild spot. In 1825 a slide, or earth avalanche, irt a night of storms, buried a whole family residing here, that had been alarmed by the crashing of its first disrup tion, and who, in attempting to fly from its path, were arrested, and buried under the superincumbent mass. The panorama of New Hampshire would exhibit many mountain peaks, innumerable granite-covered hills, much grand scenery, and not a little, especially on the shores of the Connecticut, of surpassing fertility, amen ity and beauty. The living part of the picture would show as hardy a race of agriculturists as the world can offer, breasting with the same spirit of defiance the storms and sleets of winter, and the fervors of the dog- day sun. The winter Sabbath would present the sleighs gliding over the snow, bearing the families to the village church. During the long winter 24 *" ATLANTIC STATES. evenings, when the wind howls, and the snow storm pours along, we should see .these families around the blazing hearth, the mother arid daughters occupied in the quiet domestic occupations, and the favorite readerofthe family, in a tone between recitation and harangue, reading aloud from the hardly earned book or gazette. VERMONT. Bounded north by Lower Canada, east by New Hampshire, south by Massachusetts, west by New York. Between 42° 42' and 45° N. latitude and 3° 39' and 5° 31' E. longitude. It contains 10^200 square miles. It resembles a fan, with its handle towards the south; Civil Divisions. Bennington, Bennington; Windham, Brattleboro'; Rutland* Rutland; Windsor, Windsor; Addison, MidAlebury; Chitten den, Burlington; Franklin, St. Albans; Orange, Newbury; Caledonia, Danville; Essex, Guildhall; Orleans, Derby; Washington, Monteplier; Grand Isle, Alburgh. Population, in 1 820, 235,764. In 1830, 280,679. Physical Aspect- Charmingly picturesque, no country showing greater variety of hill, dale, declivity, green, wooded mountain peaks, roaring torrents, subsiding into cool, mountain, trout streams, than the Green Mountains, which run in a broad mountain belt through the whole state from north to south. The highest peaks of this Chain are Killington Peak, Camel's Rump, andvMansfield Mountain. Ascutney is a detached mountain, showing to great advantage from Windsor. These peaks have an elevation of from 3 to 4,000 feet. This chain, stretching north and south in a line interminable to the eye, makes a majestic appearance seen in the distance, as we approach the mountains either from the east or the west side. The .western declivities are the most precipitous, and are clothed with a dark forest of evergreens. From the perennial verdure of the terebinthine forests, the range and the state have obtained their name. Forests — Are heavily timbered with pine, hemlock, larch, birch, beach, maple, ash, elm, and white walnut, here known by the name of butternut. Productions. Maize, barley, rye, oats, potatoes, pulse, grass and fruits prosper here; and wheat on the west side of the mountains, the soil being fine, with small extents excepted* even on the mountain sides and summits. Dark, rich and loamy* and admirably calculated to sustain drought, it affords the finest pasturage of any state in the Union. The world cannot offer finer beef than is fed on the rich, white clover pastures of Vermont, and the butter and cheese are universally known for theit excellence. ATLANTIC STATES. 25 Climate. The winter is shorter than in New Hampshire, though it is more exposed to sudden alternations and extremes of heat and cold. The snow on the north sides of the mountains falls deep and lies long. The winter commences with December, and ends with March. Character of the Population. The Green mountaineers, the Scotch of the United States, are remarkable for their strength and robustness of body, and acuteness of mind. They are a determined, adventurous, wan dering people, little afflicted with the malady of bashfulness, and are found in all the other states as immigrants. The uneducated are dis tinguished by a peculiar dialect, and mode of pronouncing particular words. Their first remove is ordinarily to the north parts of New York, whence they pass, after a short stay, to the States south and west; Rivers. The Connecticut forms the eastern boundary of the state. It has been recently ascended to the shores of this state by steam boats. Onion River passes through Montpelier, the capital, into Lake Champlain, at Burlington. Otter Creek is a considerable branch of Onion River. Lamoile and Missique are considerable streams north of Onion River. Many smaller rivers rise in the Green Mountains, and assuming in their course a charmingly romantic character, discharge east into the Connec ticut, or west into Lake Champlain. The whole state abounds in streams of a size to drive mills and manufactories. Lakes. Lake Champlain, between the west shore of this state and New York, is a beautiful sheet of water 128 miles long, and from 1 to 20 wide. It discharges, at its northern extremity, by the river Sorel into the St* Lawrence. It contains upwards of 60 islands, of which Motte and North and South Hero are of considerable size. Beside the rivers which flow into it from the Green Mountains, it receives the Chazy Saranac, Sable, Bouquet, and Wood rivers from New York, on the western shore. Burlington, Plattsburg, St. Albans, and Whitehall are the most considerable towns on its shores. The Champlain Canal connects it with Hudson River, and the New York and Erie Canal. It is navigated by a number of steam boats and lake vessels, lying extremely convenient to facilitate the commerce of the state both with New York and Montreal. Memphremagog is a considerable lake 25 miles long, and 3 broad, lying partly in Vermont and partly in Canada, receiving a number of streams from this state, and communicating by the St. Francis with the St. Lawrence. Towns. This state is entirely interior. Yet the system of internal improvements, the Champlain Canal, and the lake vessels and steam boats have in some sense brought it in contiguity with the sea. Montpelier, on Onion River, in a position nearly central to the state, is the political, metropolis. It is 120 miles S. E. from Montreal, 160 N. W. from Boston, 26 ATLANTIC^ STATES. and 150 N. E. from. Albany. It contains, beside the state house, anom. ber of public buildings, and respectable manufacturing establishments The population is about 3,000. Bennington, beautifully situated in the south west angle of the state is a neat village, containing about the same number of inhabitants with' the preceding, and is rendered memorable as the site of the glorioiB; Victory of Gen. Stark over a detachment of British and Hessians from the army of Gen. Burgoyne, 1777. Windsor is a large and handsomely built village on Connecticut River, containing a number of respectable public buildings, and private edifices, and about the same number of in habitants with the two preceding towns. Middlebury, on Onion River is a thriving town, the seat of various important manufactures, especially of marble. Here is Middlebury College, the most considerable seminary of learningin the state. Burlington is a handsome town on the shoieof Lake Champlain, at the mouth of Onion River, and is a port of entry. It is 100 miles S. of Montreal, and 198 N. W. of Boston. It containsa number of public buildings, of which the most conspicuous is the college edifice of the University of Vermont, a building 160 feet by 75, and 4 stories high. The falls of Onion River at this place furnish power for a number of flourishing manufactories. Nothing can exceed the romantic beauty of the position of the college, elevated 245 feet above the surface of the lake. Two beautiful churches ornament the places A number of lake vessels are owned here, and steam boats are frequently arriving and departing. This is one of the wealthiest and most flourishing towns in the state. Population not far from 3,000. St. Albans, in the north-west angle of the state, is also a considerable village on Lake Champlain, containing about 2,000 inhabitants. There are many other neat villages, dispersed over this state; and great numbers of handsome private dwellings in all directions indicate the opulence ana taste of the possessors. Religious Character. Similar to that of Maine and New Hampshire. The Congregationalists are the prevalent denominations. Literature. There are two colleges, one at Middlebury, the other at Burlington. There are also 20 incorporated academies. Free schools and social libraries are dispersed over the state. The people possess the traits of independence and inquisitiveness, that generally cbaractenze mountaineers. A child arrived at the age for those acquirements, who could not read and write, would be regarded, as we look upon the misfor tune of an insane person or an idiot. Exports— Are beef, butter, cheese and pork of the first quality, pot and pearl ashes, lumber and marble. Part of the lumber goes by canal to Albany, and part down the lake to Montreal. Much of the trade that ATLANTIC STATES. 27 sed to go to Boston and Hartford is now drawn by the Champlain Canal !» New York. This canal has been of incalculable advantage to the .ate. Among the natural curiosities of this state are many of those caves, hich are common in all mountainous regions of lime stone formation. 'he state abounds in beautiful cascades of streams rushing down the activities of the mountains. A panorama of Vermont would show, in immer, the most picturesque state in the Union, presenting countless mountain, glen, and valley prospects of indescribable beauty. Nine- snths of the active and robust mountaineers would be seen engaged in le healthful and satisfying pursuits of husbandry. Many delightful wellings would be seen perched on the hills, or sheltered in the vallies. .1 point of the entireness of its democratic character, it would compare ith Ohio, showing as much of the sensitive and proud claims of a pure emocracy, as any other state in the Union. Population no where advances with greater rapidity. But the state, ,ot being large, and much of its surface occupied by mountains, the rable lands have long since been chiefly taken up. Hence the enter- rising descendants of the mountaineers feel an early propensity for ange, and wander away to furnish tithes of immigration to western New rork, and all the states of the west. MASSACHUSETTS, Is bounded N. by Vermont and New Hampshire, E. by the Atlantic, thode Island and Connecticut, W. by New York; between 41° 23' and ¦3° 52' N. L. and 3° 33' and 7° 10' E. L. from Washington. It is 190 niles long, by 90 broad, and contains 7,500 square miles. Civil Divisions. Barnstable, Barnstable; Berkshire, Lenox; Bristol, Taunton; Dukes, Edgartown; Essex, Salem, Newburyport, Ipswich; rranklin, Greenfield; Hampden, Springfield; Hampshire, Northampton; Middlesex, Cambridge, Concord; Nantucket, Nantucket; Norfolk, Ded- \am; Plymouth, Plymouth; Suffolk, Boston; Worcester, Worcester. — 'opulation in 1820, 523,287. In 1830, 610,014 Aspect. A surface pleasantly undulating with hills and vallies. To- vards its western front it is crossed in its whole width, by the ,chain of the jreen Mountains. The south-eastern parts of the state, from Cape Cod ilongthe southern front to Connecticut, are sandy. A belt from the sea ihore, extending 20 miles into the interior, is naturally fertile only at ntprvals; but has been rendered so by industry and a careful agriculture. 28 ATLANTIC STATES. But in the interior of the state, the soil, for the most part, is strong, and adapted either to grazing or tillage. The agriculture is generally more scientific than in any other state. The average produce is 30 bushels of maize, 30 of barley, 15 of rye, and 200 of potatoes to an acre. Oxen are chiefly used for the plough and draught. The breeds of domestic animals have been much improved by agricultural societies. This state is the most densely peopled, and the most opulent, in proportion to its num bers, and its inhabitants most amply supplied with the means of a common and finished education of any state in the Union. Common schools are established by law over the whole state. Every town containing 150 families is compelled by law to support a grammar school, and it is deemed a moral offence in a parent not to send his children to school. In no other known community is the education of the whole people considered so entirely a matter within the purview of the law, as in this. Great atten tion is paid to the character and capability of the instructors, among whom a high and noble spirit of emulation exists, descending in double measures to the pupils. The number of academies , high schools, semi naries, and lyceums established by incorporation, is too great to be par ticularized. In no other existing community is education more univer sally diffused. Harvard university is the oldest and most amply endowed literary in stitution in the United States. It is situated in Cambridge, three miles from the centre of Boston, on an extensive and beautiful plain. The enclosure ofthe square is with great taste surrounded with young trees. Among the spacious buildings enclosed in the square, one is singular for its extent and noble simplicity of structure being built of massive gran ite. The buildings, library and philosophical apparatus are of the most respectable class, the library containing about 30,000 volumes. A bo tanical garden is attached to the establishment. Twenty professors are connected with the institution. A law, medical and theological school are appended to its academical advantages. Taken together, this univer sity must be classed at the head ofthe literary institutions of the new World. The average of the students, in all the departments, is between three and four hundred. It is a remarkable trait in the character of this institution, that it was founded in 20 years from the first settlement of New England. William's College, and Amherst College in the interior of the state are both important institutions, called for by the rapid improve- ment ofthe western parts of the state. The Andover Theological semi nary is richly endowed, and, in point of buildings and professorships, takes rank of all others in the country. Phillips' academy is the most distinguished among the academies. ATLANTIC STATES. 29 Religion. The prevalent denomination is that of congregationalists, divided into trinitarians and unitarians. Methodists, baptists and episco palians are also numerous. There are about 700 fixed congregations in the state. Mountains. The Green Mountains range through the central parts of the state from north to south. These mountains, in their whole extent abound in noble elevations, dark green forests, pleasant and sheltered vallies, and an infinite variety of impressive scenery. The mountains show in great beauty from Northampton. Wachuset in Princeton, a de tached mountain, is a striking feature in the scenery of the adjacent country. The principal range of the Green Mountains bears the name of Hoosac. The highest peaks are Saddle, Takonnac, Mount Tom, Mount Holyoke, and Toby. Rivers. Massachusetts has no large rivers, wholly within her bounds'. The Merrimac passes out of New Hampshire into the northern division of the state, emptying into the sea at Newburyport. The Connecticut, in traversing it from north to south, nearly bisects the state. The Housato nic, Charles and Ipswich, Neponset and Taunton, though they have short courses, are pleasant streams. Indeed no country of the same ex tent can show a greater number of clear, quick, sandstone streams, than this state. Bays. The deep bay between Cape Ann, and Cape Cod, which has given name to the state, has caused it to have been formerly known in the other states by the name of the Bay State. Cape Ann bounds it on the north, and Cape Cod, a very long , sandy, narrow elbow running a great distance into the sea, on the south. The adventurous mariners of this long sand bar may with as much propriety, as the people of any other dis trict, be said to have their home upon the sea. Chief Towns- Boston, the metropolis of the state and of New England, is an ancient, opulent, and beautiful city, built at the head of Massachu^ setts' Bay, on a peninsula connected with the main land by a narrow neck joining it to Roxbury. Being chiefly built on a hill swelling from the surrounding water, it presents an imposing aspect to the beholder, from whatever quarter it is approached. It has a capacious, safe and commor dious harbor, in which 500 vessels may ride at anchor, while the entrance is so narrow, as scarcely to admit two ships abreast. It is strongly defended by Fort Independence and Warren; and is dotted with a great number of islands; affording in summer beautiful verdure, pasturage and retreats for parties of pleasure. In regard to the extent of its shipping and the amount of its tonnage, it is the second city in the United States, It contains 155 streets, and 80 wharves and quays. The number of 30 ATLANTIC STATES. public buildings amounts to 40; and the churches, many of them noble edifices of stone, to about the same number. No aspect of the city is more striking, than the numerous and tall spires of the churches. Among the conspicuous buildings is the state house, built on the most elevated ground in the city, with a front of 173 feet, and a depth of 61. The building is surmounted with a circular dome and lantern 160 feet from the foundation. Our country offers no city scenery to equal that from this elevation. Foreigners have compared it to the view of the Bay of Naples; and the most splendid city scenery in Europe. The new mar ket 536 feet in length, is the most noble building of the kind in the United States. The Massachusetts General Hospital is a beautiful build ing. Both of these are of Chelmsford granite; as is the Tremont House, containing 180 apartments, and being the! most sumptuous hotel in the United States. Most of the new churches, and noble streets, and more opulent mansions of this city are ofthe same material. The long, high, and massive.ranges of buildings of this enduring and beautiful stone give the handsomer parts of the city a most imposing appearance. Tremont Theatre, the new Court House, and Trinity church are among the noble granite erections. A number of the private mansions are sumptuous; and the internal finishing and furnishing in a style of great richness and splendor. We have not space to enlarge even upon that feature ofthe city, which constitutes its richest and proudest ornament, its literary and charitable institutions. Its schools, in which 7,500 children are instructed, perhaps* deserve to take rank of all others. The Boston Athenaeum is a noble monument of the literary munificence of this place. Its select library contains about 25 ,000 volumes. Beside this, there are other libraries, the largest of which is the Boston library, containing about 10,000 volumes. The lyceum of this city was among the first establishments of the kind in the country. The periodicals amount to about 40; among which some have an established and well earned reputation. The numerous, long, and magnificent bridges, connecting the city with the mainland,, one of which is between three and four thousand feet in length, are appendages that give this town an appearance unlike any other in the union. Noth ing can be mOre beautiful in a dark night, than these numerous, long, straight parallel lines of > illumination furnished by the lamps over the water. More capital is concentered in this opulent city, than in any other American town of its size. Its money transactions are carried on by 18 banks. Chantrey's noble statue of Washington is placed in an apartment prepared for this purpose, in the state house. The common, fronted on one side by a double row of noble trees, called the mall, contains 44 ATLANTIC STATES. 31 acres, and presents on one side splendid water views; and on the other sumptuous and magnificent dwellings, among which Collonade Row makes a conspicuous figure. Beautiful villages surround this city in all directions; and are seen in the distance from the summit ofthe state house, like a continued city. More than 20 spires, beside those ofthe city, can be counted. Though the size ofthe city proper does not compare with New York or Philadel phia, the environs of no other American town will vie with it, in point of numerous and compact villages, high cultivation, display of taste and opulence, and especially in the show of the numerous and magnificent country villas, belonging to the citizens. The eye wanders over the bay dotted with green islands, and whitened with sails, takes in the city array of public buildings and spires, and the sumptuous massive granite estab lishments, and the white villages beyond surmounted with their spires; and is lost in the distant show of towns, cultivation and embellishment. Among the most interesting points of view beyond the city is Charles town, itself showing as a city; its consecrated heights, associated with all, that is affecting in revolutionary remembrances, the rising granite column that crowns Bunker hill, the noble navy yard, the dark moral shading cast upon the picture by the penitentiary; and beyond, the unostentatious canal, with its slow moving boats opening to the mind more than meets the eye. As a contrast to the business, life and bustle in this direction, the spacious halls of the university show among their trees, still further in the distance, in that repose and stillness, that belong to literary leisure, and the quiet efforts of thought. The mill dam bridge and basins constitute a magnificent work, and contribute, with the genius of the people, to render Boston a manufactur ing place. It is distinguished among others for the beauty and excel lence of its manufactures in glass. Wool and cotton cards and paper hangings are important items in her manufactures; and as a publishing place, in the number and beauty of the books, printed here, this city stands deservedly preeminent. In another place we have touched upon the results of her charitable and humane institutions. For the beauty of her mansions, for her monuments of taste and literature, for her religious and humane institutions, for the munificence of her charities, and for the ample hospitality of her enlightened citizens, the metropolis of New En gland will be the city admired, and gratefully remembered by the stranger. It is distant 300 miles S. E. from Montreal, and 300 N. E. from Phila delphia. 42° 22' N. L. Population in 1820, 43, 298. In 1830, 61,392. Charlestown is connected with Boston by Charlestown Bridge; and seen at a little distance, to the eye makes a part of Boston; as it does in fact to all other than municipal purposes. Among its public buildings is 32 ATLANTIC! STATES. the United States Navy Yard, in its dry dock and general appurtenances a noble national monument; the State prison a structure of massive granite, the marine hospital, a hospital for the insane, some handsome churches, and the Bunker Hill monument, on which six courses of stone, amounting to 14,000 tons, are laid. Into the harbor enters the Middlesex Canal, connecting it with the interior of New Hampshire by the Merrimac. Bunker, Breed, and Cobble Hills, identified with the most affecting re collections of the incipient revolutionary struggle, are in this town. Itis a port of entry in connection with Boston, and has considerable shipping and trade. Population in 1820, 6,591. In 1830, 8,783. Roxbury, Dorchester, Milton, Cambridge, WatertoWn, Medford, Chelsea and Lynn are villages, some of them large enough to be classed as towns, in the younger and less settled states, all in the immediate vicinity of Boston. Salem, 13 miles N. E. from Boston, is built on a projection of land between two arms of the sea, called North and South Rivers. The site is a level and handsome plain. Providence has recently outstripped itin population. But in point of commercial wealth and importance it con tinues to be the second town, as it is, next to Plymouth, the oldest town in New England. A bridge 1,500 feet long connects it with the populous town of Beverly, and a shorter one with South Salem. It has 16 public buildings, among which is one of the most interesting museums in the United States, amply stored with foreign curiosities; and an athensum containing 5,000 volumes. It has 12 or 13 churches, some of them are spacious buildings, and most of them are ornamented with spires. From Gallows Hill in this town, an affecting monument of the horrible delu sion of witchcraft, 16 or 17 spires rise upon the eye. This prevalence of spires imparts a beauty and a host of associations to a northern town, that we regret to say, grow rarer objects in the towns farther south. The town is handsomely built, and some of the residences indicate taste and opu lence. In 1821 this town owned 23,046 tons or shipping. It was for many years the centre of tiie East India trade of New England, There are living here 160 persons, who as masters and supercargoes of ships, have doubled the Capes of Good Hope and Horn. These persons are known by the cant appellation of Old Salts. Most of the adult males of this town have encountered the gales of all seas, and consider the deep as their har vest and home. A simple and noble hospitality characterize this inter esting town ; and there are merchants here, who, in enterprise opulence and the noble use of riches, might claim kindred with the princely Antonio of Rialto. A beautiful common of ten acres, surrounded with trees, constituting a public walk, ornaments the town. The entrance to its harbor is indicated by a light house, and defended by two forts. It contains 18 public and 58 private schools; and in its humane, charitable ATLANTIC STATES. 33 and literary institutions, sustains an honorable competition with the capi- ital. A Mill Dam Company, on the plan of that of Boston and Rox bury, has been incorporated in this town, which will contain, it is contem plated, power for 40 mills ; and which, it is hoped, will give a new impulse to the energies of this ancient and opulent town. Marblehead, 4i miles S. E. of this place on a rocky point projecting into the sea, is, like Salem, a town subsisting exclusively by maritime pur suits, being tiie most largely engaged in the fishing business of any other town in the United States. In 1818 it employed in the fisheries 103 vessels. It suffered as severely in the revolutionary war, as any other town in the Union; and at the close of the late war 500 of its mariners we're in foreign prisons. It contains 5 places of public worship. The inhahit- ants are noted for their generous and reckless readiness to jeopard their lives at the call of war or the dangers of the sea. The population in 1820 was 5,630. In 1830, 5,182, being one of the very few towns that shows a diminution of its numbers since the preceding census. Being equally remarkable for its salubrity, and the prolific increase of its in habitants, this, circumstance must be accounted for by its losses from emigration. Beverly, N. E. of Salem, and connected with it by a long bridge, is a populous, wealthy and mercantile town, containing 4 churches, and being, like Marblehead, largely engaged in the fisheries. The population is between 4 and 5,000. Newburyport is a handsomely built town on the south bank of the Merrimac, 3 miles from the mouth, and 32 N. E. from Boston. It contains 6 public buildings, and 7 houses for public worship. It has a respectable amount of shipping and fpreign commerce, and is largely engaged in the fisheries. Ship building is carried on here to a considerable extent. Its churches, adorned with tall and handsome spires, give it a striking appear ance as it is approached. Population in 1820, 6,852. In 1830, 6,275, showing a diminution of its numbers, since the preceding census. Gloucester, 16 miles N. E. from Salem, is a sea port with considerable shipping, 6 churches, and between 6 and 7,000 inhabitants. New Bedford, situated on the estuary of Accushnet River emptying into Buzzard's Bay, has a safe and convenient harbor, and a large amount of shipping. Besides considerable foreign commerce this town is largely concerned in the whale fishery, and the fisheries of cod on the grand banks. It contains 5 or 6 houses of public worship, and is a wealthy and thriving town. Population in 1830, 7,592. It is situated 52 miles S. of Boston. Nantucket is, in many respects, the most striking and singular town in America. It is situated on an island, 24 miles from the main land, 15 miles long, and on an average 8 miles broad. The island Vol. II. 5 34 ATLANTIC STATES. is occupied in common by the inhabitants of this town, who pasture 3 or 400 cows, and feed 1,400 sheep upon it. But their grand pasturage is in the South Seas, at the other extremity of the globe ; and the instrument with which they dispatch the unwieldy animals, that have been fattening for them in the pathless depths, is the harpoon. Though they have some respectable manufactories, the whaling business is the grand occupation of the inhabitants. They have not far from 50 ships employed in this business. Most of these vessels, in their fearful pursuit, double Cape Horn.' The crews are trained to become a sort of men fish ; and in killing the huge sea monsters they encounter perils, and accustom them selves to enterprizes, that are hardly dreamed of by the peaceful agricul turist of the interior. The town contains 2 banks, 2 insurance offices, a woollen factory, 30 spermaceti works, and 5 houses for public worship. The Friends con stitute a considerable proportion of the population. Population in 1820, 7,266. It is 120 miles S. E. from Boston. Plymouth, the hive of the puritan pilgrims, and the oldest town in New England is situated on the sea, 36 miles S. E. from Boston. It contains a considerable amount of shipping employed in foreign trade and the fish eries. Beside the public buildings, it contains 4 churches, and not far from 5,000 inhabitants. Lowell, near the Merrimac, 12 miles N. of Boston, is next to Pitts burgh, the largest manufacturing town in the United States. We can well remember coming over the site, when it was an uninhabited and sterile plain. The first erection was in 1813. In 1818 it began to flourish. The water power is convenient, immense and unfailing. In 1828 twoand a half millions of dollars were invested in new factories. The number of persons employed was 1,600. The factories were built in compact streets. About that time this, in common with other similar establishments, experienced great depression, from which it has since entirely recovered, [t contains a number of churches and public build ings, and has had the most rapid growth of any town in the state. In 1830 it contained 6,478 inhabitants. Worcester is a beautiful interior town, 40 miles S. W. from Boston. It contains a number of spacious public buildings, 3 churches, and one street more than a mile in length, handsomely built, some of the houses having an appearance of splendor. It contains a number of considera ble manufacturing establishments ; and since the Blackstone Canal has connected it with Providence and the sea, it has shown the rapid advance which has resulted from similar causes elsewhere. As a fact, illustrating the results of the canal system, it is stated, that cabinet work was man ufactured' here from timber which grew on the lake shore of Ohio- ATLANTIC STATES. 35 Springfield is a large and handsome village on the east side of the Con necticut, 28 miles N. of Hartford, and 88 S. W. from Boston, containing a number of public buildings and manufactories, 2 public libraries, and a great number of elegant bouses. The United States arsenal a'little east of the village, makes an imposing show. A capital U. S. manufactory of small arms is situated about a mile from the arsenal, employing a number of mills-and work shops, and about 250 hands, who manufac ture about 18,000 muskets a year. Northampton is a charmingly situated village on the West bank ofthe Connecticut, 95 miles west of Boston. It contains a number of public handsome buildings and is noted for two fine hotels; and for being a place of great resort for travellers, from the romantic beauty of the country in the vicinity. A charming stream passes through the centre of the town, on which are manufactories. Round Hill school in this town, under the care of Messrs. Bancroft and Cogswell has gained great reputation. There is a noted lead mine, visited as a curiosity near this town. Waltham is known as the seat of a great manufacturing establishment like that at Lowell. Cambridge the seat of Harvard University, is a quiet and beautiful village. Lynn, famous for its charming resort for sea air and scenery in the peninsula of Nahant, and its immense manufacture of shoes, contains 6,130 inhabitants, chiefly occupied in that pursuit. Taunton, a large and beautiful manufacturing village on Taunton River, near Rhode Island, contains 5,798 inhabitants. Andover is an opulent agricultural town, 20 miles north of Boston, and contains two large par ishes. The south parish has a number of manufacturing establish ments. The theological seminary in this place is richly endowed. Its buildings comprise four dwelling houses for the officers, and three spacious public edifices. The library contains over 5,000 volumes and there are four theological professors. The number of students ranges from 120 to 150. Phillips' academy we have already noted, as one of the oldest and best endowed academies in the United States. Thirty beautiful villages more might be named, containing their white streets, their spires and literary institutions, and at least twenty towns more, in which there are large manufacturing establishments. Among the hand some villages are a number not here specified on Connecticut River, a stream, which in its whole course, from its sources to its estuary, flows by more handsome towns, than any other in the United States. Among those in Massachusetts, wo mention Northfield, Deerfield, Hatfield and Hadley, as samples of many more. Concord, 16 miles northwest from Boston is a large and neat village, and noted for being the place, where the British were first attatcked on the day of Lexington Battle. Among the considerable manufacturing towns not before mentioned, are Fitch- 36 ATLANTIC STATES. burg and Milbury in the county of Worcester, Bridgewater and Middlebo- rough famous for their manufactures of iron, Leominister, Mendon, Troy, Leicester, and various other places too numerous to mention. Islands. We have mentioned Nantucket. Martha's Vineyard is a considerable island west of Nantucket, which along with the Elizabeth Island, constitutes Duke's county. Roads and Canals. Turnpikes too numerous to mention intersect the country in every direction. Middlesex canal connecting the Merri mac with Boston harbor, is 28 miles in length; and is noted for having been the first work of the kind of any consequence attempted in the country. The canal round South Hadley Falls, is 712 rods long; but the greater part of the cut being through a solid rock, in some places 40 feet in thickness, it is a work of great magnitude. Blackstone Canal connecting Worcester with Providence, is 40 miles long. It is in con templation to continue this through the interior to Fitchburg. A rail road is in contemplation from Boston to Hudson's River. Various other public works, both canals and rail roads, have been discussed, and some have passed to the more definite shape of having the stock taken. Productions. Every thing that the northern states furnish, and much, that it not indigenous to the climate, has been naturalized by horticultural care and skill. It is particularly noted for producing great quantities of the finest fruit. It shares the greater portion of the Bank ¦ and whale fisheries in the United States. This pursuit employs many thousands of hands, furnishes one of the most important items in these parts of the United States, and trains vast numbers of the most experi enced and intrepid mariners in the world. The ships of this great mari time state spread their sails in every sea. Her manufacturing establish ments are too numerous to specify. Her cotton factories employ a vast number of hands and a great amount of capital. A proof of the result of these great establishments may be found in the fact, that twenty years since the cheap cottons of the United States were imported from India. This state now sends her manufactured cottons there, and finds the trade lucrative. Since the manufacturing system has prevailed, this state has rapidly increased in population; and the increase of the bustle of business may be inferred from the fact, that the number of stage coaches, that pass to and from Boston, has tripled. As an example of its industry more than a million pairs of shoes have been manufactured in Lynn in a single year. History. This state and Virginia are the nursing mothers of the At lantic States. The English people, who emigrated in 1620 to the dreary and snowy wilderness of Plymouth strand were called puritans. The contest for our independence began at Lexington eleven miles N. W. of Boston. On a plain stone column, near the church on the public square, ATLANTIC STATES- 37 is the simple and affecting inscription of the names of the first victims of the struggle. No state in the union has left a more indelible impress of her enterprize, education, institutions and character on the whole eountry, and on all countries, where the American flag is unfurled, than Massachusetts. RHODE ISLAND. Length, 40 miles. Breadth, 29. Contains 1350 square miles. Bounded N. and E. by Massachusetts; S.. by the Atlantic; W. by Con necticut. Between 41° 22' and 42° 3' N. L. and 5° 7' and 5° 54' E. L. from Washington. Counties. Bristol, Bristol, Kent, E. Greenwich; Newport, Newport; Providence, Providence; Washington, S- Kingston. Population in 1820, 83,059. In 1830, 97,210. In point of area, this is by far the smallest state in the union. Physical Aspect. Along the sea shore of the main land much of the soil is sterile. Rhode Island, which gives name to the state, has a fine soil, is all under high cultivation, and in the warm months presents a most delightful verdure. The climate, especially of this beautiful island is highly salubrious. Rivers, Bays, and Islands. The courses of the rivers are short. They are Pavvtucket, Providence, Pawtuxet, Pawcatuc, and Wood River. Narraganset Bay stretches from Point Seaconnet on the mainland to Point Judith on the west ; being 35 miles long, and embosoming many islands. Rhode Island, the chief of them, is 15 miles long by an average of three and a half wide. Cannonicut, Prudence, Patience, Hope, Dyer's, Hog, and Block Islands lie farther west in the Bay. There are few finer sheets of water in the~world, furnishing richer and more inter esting views of sea scenery, and of towns and spires along the curving shore, than the steam-boat passage from Providence up Long Island Sound to New York. Productions. The same as in Massachusetts ; except, that being fur ther south, parts of the state, particularly the insular portions Would yield fruits and productions, that require a milder climate. The islands, and the Narraganset country are celebrated for their fertility and their fine sheep, cattle, butter and cheese. The remainder ofthe state has a thin soil, in some parts rocky and sterile. Iron and copper ores are found in the state; and it abounds in lime stone. Anthracite coal has 38 ATLANTIC STATES. been discovered in the island, that gives the state its name. The shores, bay and harbors abound in the finest fish. Chief Towns. Providence is situated about a mile from the mouth of the Pawtucket on both sides of it and connected by a bridge over it. Its position is a pleasant one, though on the sharp acclivities of hills. It possesses a fine harbor for ships of almost any burden ; and its commerce is extensive and rapidly increasing, its shipping amounting to 25,000 tons. It contains 15 or 16 public buildings among which the buildings of Brown University, and the arcade, a magnificent structure, are the most conspicuous. It has 12 churches for the different denominations. Two of the congregational churches, and a baptist and episcopalian church are remarkable for their beauty. The numerous and respectable manufactories ofthe city and Pawtucket are, what has given this city its impulse towards prosperity. Few towns have increased more rapidly within the last ten years. Another element of this increase has been its connection with the interior of Massachusetts by the Blackstone canal. Brown University is a respectable and flourishing institution. There are two college edifices, one 150 by 46 feet, and 4 stories high, with wings; and the other 120 by 40 feet. The position of these buildings on a noble elevation is charming. The government of the university is composed of 36 trustees, of whom the president and 21 others must be baptists. The other members of the board are shared among the different denomi nations, of whom 5 must be friends. This is a most impressive example of the real liberality of the age ! Such, according to this charter, must be the components of this corporation, be the spirit of the age what it may ! This notwithstanding, it is well provided with the customary ap purtenances of such seminaries, and has proved an efficient and useful institution. The friend's boarding school in this city is a noble establish ment. Every aspect of this thriving and beautiful town indicates cheerful activity. It is a noted town of steam boat embarkation up the sound for New York for the numerous travellers from the maritime coun try north of it. It is 40 miles S. W. of Boston. Its population in 1820, was 11,767. In 1830, 17,832, showing a more rapid growth than any other town in New England, with the exception of Lowell, and consitut- ing it in population the second town in that division of the country. The flourishing town of Pawtucket lies partly in this state, in what is called North Providence ; and partly in Massachusetts. It is noted for the number and extent of its manufactories, and the thriving village, that has grown up about them. These factories are at the charming cas cade of Pawtucket River. Five or six public buildings, two banks, ten or twelve cotton factories, and as many other factories have here been the ATLANTIC STATES. 39 growth of a few years. The whirling of the mills, the dashing of the water, and the activity of the village, altogether constitute a spectacle of great interest. Population about 4,000. Newport, which shares the seat of government alternately with Provi dence, is situated in the southern extremity of Rhode Island, 30 miles S. of Providence. Its harbor for spaciousness, depth, safety and ease of access, has few superior to it in the United States. The town is large and pleasant, and delightfully situated on a lovely island, with a fine cli mate, a favorite, accustomed, and almost prescribed resort for strangers from the West Indies, and the south of the United States, for spending the summer months. Yet it has an air of antiquity and decay. It is strongly defended by three forts on the seaboard, and is the seat of a military hospital of the United States. Fort Adams is one of the most important fortresses in the U. S. coast line of defence. The poor house of this city is remarkable for the cheapness, efficiency, and hu manity of the establishment. Rent is uncommonly cheap, and the fish market is the most cheap, luxurious and abundant perhaps in the world. It has 9 or 1 0 public buildings, 1 1 churches, and in 1820 contained 7,319 inhabitants. In 1830, 8,010. Bristol is a neat commercial town, with a good harbor, and owning considerable shipping, 36 miles S. W. of Boston, and 153 of Providence. It has a number of public buildings, 4 churches and about 3,000 inhabit ants. Warren, South Kingston, East Greenwich, Smithfield, Pawtucket and Warwich are the other considerable villages. The last named town contains 5,529 inhabitants. The state has 10 incorporated academies, and not far from 300 primary schools. This is the more honorable to it, as public schools are not sup ported by law as in the other New England States. Baptists are the most numerous religious denomination, and next to them Friends. There are 100 fixed congregations in the state. The exports of this state in 1829 were $'322,166. The tonnage was 43,406 tons. By the census of 1820, 6,091 persons were engaged in manufactures, chiefly of cotton. The value of manufactured goods was $4,329,000. It must now amount to $10,000,000. CONNECTICUT. Is bounded N. by Massachusetts, E. by Rhode Island, S. by Long Isl and Sound, W. by New York. Between 41° and 41° 2' N. L. and 3° 16' and 5° ll'E. L. from Washington. Length 88 miles ; average breadth 40 ATLANTIC STATES. 53 miles. Contains 4,664 square miles. The counties are Fairfield, Fairfield, Danbury; Hartford, Hartford; Litchfield, Litchfield; Middle sex, Middletown; New Haven, New Haven; New London, New London, Nonoich; Tolland, Tolland; Windham, Windham. Population in 1820, 275,24S. In 1830,297,711. Physical Aspect. There are some beautiful narrow plains along the rivers. The general surface is strongly undulating. Some portions of the surface are rugged. The Green Mountain range passing through this state into the sea, it has a number of mountains, though none of but modera'te elevation. The soil is generally rich. Almost the whole sur face is under small stone enclosures, an index, we may remark in passing, of New England husbandry in general. The face of the country is chequered by a vast number of roads. Productions. Every thing indicates a numerous and industrious pop ulation, and a great effort to extract all that is practicable from the soil. The point, in which the productions of this state differ from those of the other New England States, is in more abundant orchards, and in greater care and skill in the preparation of what is known abroad by the name. of Goshen butter and cheese. The exports are chiefly to the West In dies, and among the products common to the other New England States, the industrious people have gained a reputation abroad for the great amount of onions raised for exportation. The state owns 60,859 tons of shipping engaged in foreign trade; and the value of the exports in 1829 was $521,545. Rivers. This state receives its name from the Connecticut, which runs through the state from north to south. This river rises near Canada in New Hampshire, and after a course of 410 miles through a most charm ing alluvial border in its whole length rendered cheerful by a succession of beautiful villages, it empties into Long Island Sound between Say- brook and Lime. It is navigable for considerable vessels to Middleton; for vessels of 8 feet draft to Hartford, 50 miles from its mouth; and for steam boats to Bath, New Hampshire, 250 miles higher. There are 6 considerable falls in the river, of which the most remarkable are Bellows Falls at Walpole. These falls have been overcome by means of locks and dams. The elevation overcome by these artificial means is 200 feet. The other considerable streams are Housatonic, Thames, and Naugatuck. Religion. There are 460 fixed religious societies, of which about half are Congregationalists, inclining in their church government more to the forms of Presbyterianism, than the same churches in the other New England states. ATLANTIC STATES. 41 Literature. Yale College ranks as the second literary institution in the United States. It is situated on a level square, in the centre of the charming city of New Haven. The centre of this square is occupied by public buildings; and the college buildings, 8 in number, range on one of the sides. The square is shaded with rows of elms; and, though in the midst of a busy and bustling town, wears the aspect of a repose, that befits the meditative retreats of students. The united resources of the libraries furnish about 10,000 volumes. The philosophical and chemical apparatus is excellent and complete. The faculty consists of a president, 10 professors, and 5 tutors. The whole number of students in 1829, divided among the departments of law, medicine, theology and the aca demic course, Was 496. Of this number, the college students made 269. Of high schools, seminaries and academies, there are 34 ; of which a school in New Haven, under the care of Messrs. DWight, on the plan of the Round Hill School at Northampton, has much reputation^ There is an asylum for the deaf and dumb at Hartford, Which, under the superin- tendance of Mr. Gallaudet, and Mr. Le Clerc, a pupil of the famous Abbe Sicard, as assistant, has gained high estimation among the lovers of humanity. The system of general education and free schools, is here carried to its utmost extent; and what gives it efficiency is a fund of nearly two millions of dollars, the interest of which* appropriated exclu sively to the support of schools, enables parents to give their children a gratuitious education. Manufactures. The ingenuity and industry of the people of this state in this line, has a reputation coextensive with the union. From the humber of articles which they send abroad, known in the south and west by the name of yankee notions, especially tin-ware, wooden clocks, and a certain species of books, made especially to sell in particular regions of the country, many a pleasant knavery has been ascribed to them, of Which the enterprising and respectable travelling merchants were wholly harmless. Their manufactures consist of cotton and woollen goods, tin-ware, glass, paper, shoes, clocks, buttons, fire arms, and many other products of their ingenuity. In many of the squares of the villages are heaps of the cuttings of tin, not unlike the parings of leather in the town of Lynn. Towns. New Haven and Hartford are alternately the seats of the state government. But New Haven is the largest city in the state. Its posi tion is on the head of a. bay of Long Island Sound. The area is an extensive plain, bounded on the north by magnificent stone bluffs, 3 or 400 feet high. Two streams of water mark its eastern and western extremities. A square in the centre is laid out as a public ground. It is shaded with trees, kept neat, and is of a dry and absorbing soil, so as Vol. II. 6 42 ATLANTIC STATES. to be generally free from the inconveniencies of muddiness. On this square are the public buildings, the college edifices, and four churches. Taken all together, there is no square in the union to compare with the beauty of this. Three of these churches are very handsome buildings, particularly the Episcopal church. The streets are regular, the squares rectangular, and the town, though the houses are notlofty,and many of them of wood, presents a singularly pleasant and cheerful aspect. The burial ground in the north-west part of the city particularly elicits the interest of strangers. The quiet and narrow city of remembrances in the midst of the city of the living is laid out with exquisite taste, and has often been compared to the famous cemetery of the Pere la Chaise, in Paris. It would be to the credit of our country, if such regard to the monu mental abodes of the remains of our fathers was more common. The long wharf is longer than the famous one so called in Boston. It is the largest maritime port in the state, and owns considerable shipping. The city contains 18 public buildings in all. Among the singular ones, is an observatory, after the model of the tower of the winds at Athens. The old state house, which was an indifferent building, has given place to a new and handsome one. Many of the recent erections are handsome structures of brick and stone. It is 34 miles S. W. of Hartford, and 76 N. E. from New York. Its population in 1820 was 8,327. In 1830, 10,180. Hartford is situated on the west bank of the Connecticut, 50 miles from its estuary. Small vessels ascend the river to this city. It is central to a rich and populous country. It contains 9 public build ings, among which the state house makes the most conspicuous figure, and 9 churches. One of the Congregational churches is a spacious and elegant building. The asylum of the deaf and dumb, a mile west of the town, on Tower Hill, is a building creating striking interest The retreat for the insane, a little south of the town, is a spacious stone building, 150 by 50 feet, with extensive grounds for the unfortu nate patients. Washington Episcopal College has two spacious stone buildings. Montevideo, the seat of Daniel Wadsworth, Esq., perched on a mountain 9 miles distant, adds to the beauty of the panorama of this city. Hartford has a respectable amount of commerce, and numerous manufactures. Considerable of printing and publishing is done here. It is 100 miles S. W. of Boston. Population in 1820, 6,901. In 1830, 9,789. New London, a port of entry on the Thames, 3 miles from its mouth, owns considerable shipping, contains 5 public buildings, 4 churches, and about 4,000 inhabitants. Middletown, 15 miles S. of Hartford, and on the same side of the Connecticut, is a charmingly situated place, with considerable trade and ATLANTIC STATES. 43 manufactures. It shows a large amount of the shipping of the state, as the shipping of Hartford is registered here. It has a number of public buildings, 4 churches in the town, and 3 others in the vicinity. Popula tion in 1830, 6,S92. — Norwich is a considerable place, at the head of the navigation on the Thames, with a number of public buildings, and 6 houses of public worship. It consists of three distinct villages, embo somed in a romantic vale. Population about 4,000. All the foremen- tioned neat and flourishing towns in this state, by a strange and rather ludicrous perversion of language, are written cities. What might be fairly called a town, dwindles in the thought to a village, when the name city is applied to it. The United States have but five towns, that can with any propriety be called cities. Beside the cities, East Hartford, opposite that city, on the E. bank of the Connecticut, has respectable manufactures. The other considerable towns are Bridgeport, Stonington, Litchfield, Fairfield, Danbury, Wind ham, Wethersfield, Stonington, Windsor, East Windsor, Suffield, Enfield, Hadham, Derby, Milford, Stamford, and Tolland. Roads, Canals, Sec. In this industrious and populous state, the roads are numerous and fine, and many of them turnpikes. The Hampshire and Hampden canal extends from Northampton, on the Connecticut, to the southern limit of Massachusetts, where it takes the name of Farm- ington canal, and passes through Connecticut to New Haven. The en tire length is 56 miles. Manners. The people are generally tall, muscular, and robust, and noted for their strong attachment to their native state, their ancient puri tanical customs, and a religious faith and observance of the strictest sort. Though they emigrate extensively, they longer remain in their foreign abode a peculiar people, than the emigrants from any other of the New England states. The heir loom of the puritans has descended rather to Connecticut, than Massachusetts. To New Connecticut, in Ohio, a tract in the N. E. extremity of that state, 120 miles by 52 in extent, they have transferred Connecticut strictness, industry, and the church-building and church-going spirit. No person, in becoming acquainted with that coun try, can fail to observe what a fair transcript it is of the original copy. Minerals, Fossils, Sec Iron ore is smelted and wrought to a consid erable extent. Copper mines have been discovered in different places. There is a lead mine near Middletown. Marble is wrought to a con siderable extent. Porcelain clay and black lead are found, and cobalt is discovered in Chatham. The dark red Connecticut freestone is found in abundance in different places. It is quarried with great ease, and hardens in the air; and has an imposing, though rather gloomy aspect, when constituting a large building. 44 ATLANTIC STATES. NEW YORK, Is the most northern of the middle states, and the most populous state in the union. It is bounded N. by lake Ontario, the St. Lawrence and Lower Canada"; E. by Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut ; S. by the Atlantic, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, W. by Pennsylvania, Lake Erie, and the Niagara. Between 39° 45' and 45° N. L; and 2° 51' W, and 5° E. L. from Washington. Length 310 miles. Breadth 304. Containing 47,000 square miles, Counties. Chief Towns. Albany, Albany. Alleghany, Angelica- Broome, Binghampton. Cattaraugus, Ellicottsville. Cayuga, Auburn. Chautauque, Mayville. Chenango, Norwich. Clinton, Pittsburgh. Columbia, Hudson. Cortlandt, Cortlandtville. Delaware, Delhi. Dutchess, Poughkeepsie. Erie, Buffalo. Essex, Elizabethtown- Franklin, Malone. Genessee, Batavia. Greene, Cattskill. Hamilton, Wells. Herkimer, Herkimer. Jefferson, Watcrtown. Kings, Flatbush. Lewis, Martinsburgh. Livingston, Geneseo. Madison, Morrisville. Monroe, Rochester. Montgomery, Johnstown. New York, New- York. Niagara, Lockport. Population in 1820, 1,372,812. Counties. Chief Towns. Oneida, Rome. Onandago, Onondaga. Ontario, Canandaigua. Orange, Newburgh and Goshen. Orleans, Gaines. Oswego, Oswego. Otsego, Cooperstown. Putnam, Carmel. Queen's. N. Hempsted, Rensselaer, Troy- Richmond, Richmond. Rockland, Clarkstown. St. Lawrence, Ogdensburgh. Saratoga, Ballston. Schenectady, Schenectady. Schoharie, Schoharie- Seneca, Ovid, Waterloo. Steuben, Bath. Suffolk, Suffolk C. H. Sullivan, Monticello, Tioga, Elmira, Owego. Tompkins, Ithaca. Ulster, Kingston. Warren, Caldwell. Washington, Salem, Sandy-Hill. Wayne, Lyons, Palmyra. Westchester, Bedford. Yates, Penn Yann. In 1830, 1,913,505. ATLANTIC STATES. 45 Physical Aspect. This state takes rank in the confederacy of the union, not only in population, but extent, wealth, great public works, and its interesting physical configuration. It spreads through the- whole breadth of the republic, and while one extremity feels, along the great length of Long Island, the sea breeze, and boasts the bustle, opulence and splendor of the American Tyre, the other extremity sees towns rising among Indian wigwams, along the shores of the vast lakes, and on one of the noblest and at the same time wildest streams of the globe. New York is an epitome of all configurations of surface, all varieties of lake and river scenery, and all conditions of man, from the sumptuous dwellers of Pearl street to the emigrant daubing his log cabin with clay. Granite, slate, and lime stone hills, charming vallies, extensive plains of gently rolling surface, rugged elevations and lofty mountains alternate with streams, cascades, ponds, and beautiful lakes of all dimen sions, from the calm and transparent amenity of Skeneateles, to the inland seas of Erie and Ontario. Islands- Long Island is, as its name imports, a long but narrow island, extending east from the city of New York 150 miles, forming a curve parallel to the mainland shore, and leaving a broad and beautiful sheet of water, not unlike a wide river between, called Long Island Sound. It contains 3 counties. The south border is a long belt of sand. The northern has a good soil. Its chief towns are Brooklyn, Jamaica, Sagharbor and Flatbush. Staten island is 18 miles long, and from 5 to 8 broad, and is separated from Long Island by the Narrows, and from New Jersey by a strait, called Staten Island Sound. Manhatan Island, on which the city of New York stands, has already been de scribed. In the maritime belt of the state the soil is sandy ; in the middle charmingly undulating; and in the western and southern divisions re markable level, rich, and inclining to alluvial formation. The state has a great proportion of first rate land. The richest lands are on the Mohawk, the Chenango, Genessee and Black rivers ; between Seneca and Cayuga lakes, and generally the western parts ofthe state. Mountains. Cattskill, and Cattsberg mountains belong to the con formation of the Green Mountains ; and may be considered the connect ing ridges between them and the Alleghanies. Rivers and Lakes. The Delaware rises in this state among the Cattskill Mountains, and pursues a southern course to Pennsylvania. The Hudson is a noble river, whose whole course is in this state. It rises in the heights between lake Champlain and St. Lawrence, and pursuing a generally southern course between 3 and 400 miles, meets the, tide more than 150 miles from it mouth. It empties into New York Bay, and 46 ATLANTIC STATES. is navigable for ships as high as Hudson, 130 miles above New York- and for sloops to Albany and Troy 25 or 30 miles farther. Niagara River, which has already been described, as one of the largest and most interesting rivers in the world, forms a part of the northern boundary of the state. The Mohawk, a principal branch of the Hudson, rises north of Utica, and after a course of more than 100 miles in a rich alluvial valley, joins, the Hudson near Lansingburg. Genessee, Oswego and Black are impor tant rivers, that rise in the interior ofthe state, and fall into lake Ontario. Seneca is the outlet of the small beautiful lakes, which we meet in ad vancing towards the great northern chain. Oswegatcliie, Grass, Racket and St. Regis, discharge into the St. Lawrence Cataraugus Creek is a river of lake Champlain. The Susquehannah rises in this state, and passes into Pennsylvania. The Alleghany of the Ohio collects its head waters in the southwest angle of this state, and passes through its noble pine for ests into Pennsylvania. The Tioga and Chenango fall into the Susque hannah. The Tonnewanta is a stream made subsidiary to the great northern canal. Beside these, there are 50 streams that would be con spicuous in a state of smaller dimensions, and where the configuration was on a less gigantic scale. We have mentioned Champlain, Ontario and Erie, the great lakes, that bound this state on the north. Lake George is a most romantic and beautiful sheet of water, 37 miles long, and from one to 7 broad, pure, transparent, full of fish, and dotted with islands, having for the outer rim of its basin a line of lofry mountains bounding its whole extent. Lake Canandaigua is 15 miles long by one broad. Seneca is 35 miles long by an average of one and a half to 3 broad. Crooked lake is 20 miles by a mile and a quarter . Cayuga lake is 36 miles long by one and a half broad- Owasco lake is 11 miles long and one broad. Skeneateles, affording scenery of exquisite beauty, is 14 miles long by one broad. Onondaga is 9 miles long by one broad. There are great numbers of smaller ones. These charming sheets of water spread in a general direction from north to south. They abound in fine fish, and no summer scenery can surpass that of this lake country in beauty. The ancients would have peopled every one of them with Naiads and nymphs. Still more; they are nav igable, and already connected by lateral cuts some of many miles in length, with the great New York canal. Canals. This state has taken precedence of all others in the number and extent of its canals, and the immense distances brought by them into water communication. The Champlain and Hudson Canal connectsLake Champlain with Hudson River, and is sixty-four miles in length- The Hudson and Erie Canal connects Lake Erie with Hudson River, and is ATLANTIC STATES. 47 three hundred and sixty-two miles in length. The Hudson and Delaware Canal leaves the Hudson at Kingston, and is continued to the Dela ware in Pennsylvania, and along that river seventeen miles up the Lacka waxen, to the coal mines in Wayne county, Pennsylvania, and is 64 miles in length. Morris Canal commences at the mouth of the Hud son, opposite New York, passes through the state of New Jersey to the Delaware opposite Easton in Pennsylvania, where it connects with the Lehigh, and opens a passage for the Lehigh coal to New York. The Oswego Canal leaves the Grand Canal at Syracuse, and connects that canal with Lake Ontario, by aside cut 38 miles in length. The whole interior chain of the smaller lakes that have been mentioned, is by different contrivances connected by water communication with the Grand Canal. Watering Places, Mineral Waters. Those of Saratoga and Ballston are most visited of any in the United States. The Ballston Springs are situated in a valley formed by a small creek. There are a great number of springs, the strongest and most sparkling waters of which were obtained in 1827, by boring 227 feet deep. The principal efficacy of the water consists in a chemical union of chalybeate and saline properties, held in solution, and rendered brisk and pungent by uncommon quantities of carbonic acid gas. Saratoga Springs are 7 miles from Ballston. The most frequented springs here are called Congress Spring and Flat Rock Spring. A large and compact village has grown up at Saratoga in consequence of the immense summerresort to these places from all parts ofthe United States, the West Indies and Canada. There are many noble hotels and board' ing houses at both places. The opulent, the young, beautiful and gay repair to them in the summer, because fashion has prescribed the indis pensable necessity of frequently making summer excursions to these waters. Fifty coaches often arrive, during the season of the waters, in a day. Balls, parties, concerts and excursions are the modes of passing the time. During the same period the feeble, nervous, exhausted sub jects of violation of the laws of our nature, the sick, and the dying come here and are seen about the springs, exhibiting one of the most affecting contrasts of young, gay, and unthinking fashionables with the decaying remnants of humanity, that can any where be seen. Saratoga Springs are 32 miles N. of Albany, and Ballston 28 miles N. of the same place. New Lebanon Springs, 29 miles E. of Albany, are visited for bathing, for their cool and elevated position, and the grand and romantic scenery of the Green Mountains, on the western declivity of which they are situated. Here also crowds of fashionables resort, during the sultry months; and there are excellent arrangements for their accommodation and comfort. Curiosities. Would our limits allow, a volume might be given under this head. From New York to Niagara the whole distance along North 48 ATLANTIC STATES. River, up the canal, and thence to the lakes, is the land of mountains, lakes, caverns, cascades, and scenes of moral interest, as consecrated to memory, and identified with impressive events in history. Niagara Falls, the noblest cascade in the world, we have already described. Cohoes is a fine fall in the Mohawk of 70 feet perpendicular descent. The cascade is situated near the stage route from Albany to Schenectady. The Little Falls of the Mohawk, in view of which the great canal runs, present most beautiful scenery. Glen's Falls of the Hudson, and the falls on Genesee and Salmon River furnish a very impressive cascade. These and many other cascades in this country of great rivers and frequent lakes would be grand spectacles, had not most of the spectators witnessed Niagara Falls, a scene to efface the interest of all minor spectacles. A lime stone cav ern of vast dimensions, with its falls, columns, and stalactites, exists on the banks of Black Elver, opposite Watertown. Productions. The forest treesjhat love an alluvial soil, are common in the western divisions of the state, and attain a great size. Beside the grains cultivated in the states east of this, wheat is the staple of New1 York. Genesee flour, unknown before the existence of the great canal, in New England, is now the flour of general consumption there. It is a fine country for grass, pasture, fruits, maize, and all the productions of the northern states. Among the mineral products are iron and lead ores in different places; gypsum, lime stone, marble, slate, porcelain clay, and most of the fossils. The richest salt springs existing in any country are found in various places, particularly at Salina. Petroleum is found in different places, and springs of hydrogen gas. Exports — Of articles too numerous to particularize, amounted, in 1828 to $22,777,649. Climate. In a country of such extent no general view can be given. The northern division has a severe climate. The lake division has a more uniform temperature, with deep snows. The maritime part has a milder air than New England. The S. W. division of the state is also comparatively mild. Natives. Onondaga was the central region, round which, in the forest periods, the famous Five Nations were congregated. A remnant of these races still exists, possessing extensive reservations of land. The specta cle of the red people in their forest costume, is even yet not an uncommon one in Albany, and still less so in Rochester. Chief Towns. But a sketch only of this extensive article can be given. New York, the most populous city in the Union, and the mercantile capi tal Of the United States, is situated on Manhattan Island, 14 J miles long and from two miles to half a mile broad, at the confluence of Hudson and East Rivers, on a bav of unrivalled beautv. Thp hnrhm is extensive, ATLANTIC STATES. 49 deep, safe, not subject to be frozen, and has every requisite for commercial facility and advantages that could be desired. It embosoms several islands, among which the conspicuous ones, Governor's, Bedlow's, and Ellis' are fortified, and bristled with numerous cannon. On the E. it is defended from storms by Long Island, and on the W. by Staten Island and .New Jersey shore. The ship passage from the harbor to Newark Bay, on the New Jersey side, is by the Kills, to the Atlantic by the Nar rows, and by Long Island Sound. The shipping owned here, in 1816, amounted to nearly 300,000 tons. In 1829 it was 355,534 tons. The duties on goods imported here have ranged in common years from seven to eight millions of dollars. The appearance of the city of New York is unique. There is a visible cast of mercantile opulence, and an aspect rather more sombre than in the gay and uniform streets of Philadelphia. There is, however, nothing in the United States to compare with the imposing effect of Broadway, a street nearly bisecting the city, and extending to the central and higher parts of it from one extremity to the other; being 3 miles in length, 80 feet wide, and generally built up with massive and noble buildings. Next to this in beauty and importance are Wall street, Pearl street, Green wich street, Water street, and the Bowery. The public buildings exceed 50 in number, and in magnificence those of any other American city. The mercantile public buildings are chiefly on Wall street, the centre of banking and brokerage business. Pearl street contains the most important mercantile establishments. Broadway is the chief street for retail business. Mean wooden habitations, for merly common in the city have almost disappeared, giving place to spa cious and massive brick buildings. The Battery is an extensive public ground in the southern part of the island. Castle Garden is a much frequented public resort. The Park is a beautiful common in front of the City Hall, containing 6 acres, and is finely shaded with trees. We have space only to glance at some of the most conspicuous public build ings and objects of interest. The most striking of these in the most showy part of the city is City Hall of white marble, 216 feet in length, by 105 in breadth. It is in an open square, detached, and in a position to give its imposing aspect full effect. It contains the police office and municipal court-rooms, and the Common Council chamber ornamented with portraits of distinguished revolutionary characters. The NeW York Exchange, fronting Wall street, between William and Pearl streets, is also of white marble. It is adorned with marble columns in front, of a single block, and contains the Exchange, Post Office, Commercial Read ing Rooms, insurance offices, and offices of daily papers. The cupola commands a noble view of the city, and is surmounted with a telegraph, 7 50 ATLANTIC STATES. by which ship arrivals are announced at the distance of more than 30 miles from the city. The New York Institution is of brick, 260 feet by 44, and is appro priated to associations of literature and the fine arts, such as the literary and Philosophical Society, the Historical Society with its library, the American Academy of Fine Arts, with its paintings, the New York Lyceum of Natural History with its collections, and the American Museum with its curiosities. The University is in a central point. The building is of stone 200 feet in length, and 3 stories high- The state prison in the eastern part of the city, is 204 feet in length, by 200 in depth, and is built of free stone. The alms house is still further east. It is an enclosure containing the work house and penitentiary. The dimensions of the first are 320 by 50 feet, the next 200 by 25, and the third 250 by 50. Chatham Theatre and the Bowery Theatre are con spicuous buildings. St. Paul's church, containing the monument and remains of Gen. Montgomery, and Trinity Church are spacious episco palian churches, both in conspicuous points on Broadway. St. John's church in Hudson Square, one of the finest in the city , has the tallest spire in New York. The Medical College is a large and conspicuous edifice. The establishment is amply endowed, and generally contains from 2 to 300 medical students. The following are all spacious public buildings: Clinton Hall, the Bible Society's Depositary, the American Tract Society's buildings, both in Nassau street, the Arcade, and the Arcade Baths, the New York Baths, the Public Marine Bath, the Manhattan Water Works, the exhibition room of the National Academy of the arts of Design, Rutger's Medical College and Public School, Masonic Hall, Orphan Asylum, Fever Hospital, House of Refuge for juvenile delinquents* Lunatic Asylum, the City Hotel, the Mansion House, the National Hotel, the Franklin House, Tammany Hall, and many other spacious hotels. The city has 10 market houses, 14 or 15 banks, between 20 and 30 insurance offices, over 100 houses of public worship, of which those of Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Dutch Reformed and Methodists are the most numerous. There are 8 spacious buildings appropriated to public schools, valued with their furniture at $150,000. The High School of this city is an interesting institution, and the largest establishment of the kind in the United States. There are a number of public libraries. The Sunday Schools and Infant Schools are efficient and useful establish ments. As this is by far the largest importing town in the United States, the stores of course display the greatest show of splendid foreign and domes tic goods of every description. Fashion and splendour and sumptuous- ness, and all the inventions of luxury, aud all the enticements to gpecla- ATLANTIC STATES. 51 cles, and all the temptations to dissipation naturally concentrate, where there is most commerce and wealth, and the most numerous concourse of people. The fair and the fashionable promenade Broadway, to see, and be seen ; and here fashion may be noted in its broadest visible as sumption, its most hideous distortions, and its most painful imprisonment ; and by watching the passing current of life on fine days for promenading, quiet, sensible and reflecting young persons cannot fail to receive lessons adverse to affectation, grimace, and the extremes of the prevalent mode of the week. Such successive masses of immigrants are constantly arriving from foreign countries, and such multitudes of adventurers of all descriptions consort here, and great cities always congregate such numbers of poor and abandoned people, that it cannot but be understood, that there must be much immorality and dissipation. Commensurate efforts are made to neutralize and heal the evil. The religious, moral, and humane institu tions are numerous, and of the most active and energetic character. It ( issues a great number of respectable periodical publications. New York is situated 210 miles S. W. of Boston, 90 N. E. of Philadelphia, and 227 N. E. of Washington— 40° 43' N. L. Population in 1820, 123,706. In 1830, 213,470. Albany, the political metropolis, is situated on the west bank of the Hudson, 150 miles from New York, and has a position equally convenient for communication with that city, and a vast interior country. Most of the ancient Dutch buildings, which formerly gave it such a grotesque aspect, have disappeared. It is now neatly and in some parts handsomely built. It contains 10 public buildings. The capitol, built upon the upper portion of the city , has an elevated position. It is 115 feet in length, and 90 in breadth. The academy, directly north of it, is a spa cious and showy building. The Farmer's and Mechanic's Bank and the Albany Bank, at the bottom of State street, are of white marble. The Museum is a handsome building in South Market street. State street, in its whole length, is remarkably wide, and shows to great advantage. The number of churches is 16, of which 6 are of stone, 7 of brick, and 3 of wood. Three of them are very handsome, and others are spacious. Canal Wharf and quay are of great length, and striking show of business and bustle. Few cities present a more beautiful prospect than Albany, when seen from the public square, or the summit of the capitol. The city slopes from the public square to the river, like the sides of an amphi theatre. Two or three of its noble mansions embowered in trees, give it the appearance of having forests in its limits. Sloops and steam boats arrive here from New York in great numbers, and there is seldom a day in which three or four passages do not offer, in steam boats departing to and 52 ATLANTIC STATES. from New York. Its canal communications with Lake Champlain, the northern lakes, and the Ohio valley give it unrivalled advantages of this sort. More stages daily arrive and depart from this city, than any other of the size in the Union. Its literary, humane, and religious institutions are of a very respectable class, and it issues 6 or 7 periodical publications. It is situated 164 miles W. of Boston, and 230 S. of Montreal. Its pop- . Ulation in 1820 was 12,630. In 1630, 24,216, having nearly doubled its population in ten years. A more emphatic illustration of the tendency of the canal system could not be given. Rochester, at the falls of Genessee, 7 miles from Lake Ontario, is the third town in point of population in this state, and has had the most sud den growth of any town in America. In 1812 it was one wide and deep forest. In 1818 it contained 1,049. In 1820, 1,502. In 1825, 5,271. In 1827, 10,818. In 1830, 13,836. Parts of the town are very hand somely built. There are 7 respectable public buildings and 12 churches. Thirteen large flour mills with 52 run of stones can annually make 342,000 barrels of flour. Fifteen million feet of lumber are sawed or rafted here/ There are a number of factories and mechanical establish ments, some on a large scale. The water power is almost inexhaustible. The acqueduct over the Genessee at this place is one of the most gigantic works on the canal line. At the northern extremity of the town the Genessee falls 90 feet. At Carthage, two miles distant, it falls 70 feet Still another noble cascade of the Genessee close by this town will be long remembered as the place where the famous Patch made his last leap. Merchandise to and from Lake Ontario forwarded from this town is raised or lowered down this great and steep descent of the Genessee by means of an inclined plane, the descending weight raising a lighter one. It is in contemplation to cut a canal from this town to Olean on the Alleghany, a distance of 110 miles, which would bring this place indirect water communication with Pittsburgh and the Ohio. Troy, on the E. bank of the Hudson, 6 miles N. of Albany, and 156 N. of New York, is the next largest city in the state to Rochester. Sloops and steam boats navigate the Hudson to this place. In the imme diate vicinity are many fine mill seats, on which are erected extensive manufactories. It contains 7 public buildings, and 6 houses for public worship. The state of Massachusetts has surveyed a canal route to this place. A rail road over the same route has also been in contemplation. The Van Rensselaer school in this city has acquired a high reputation. The students deliver mutual lectures, and make extensive excursions, with a view to personal inspection of the objects of their studies in the natural sciences. Any person over 18, certifying that his acquisitions are of a certain extent, and that he is of good moral character, can obtain ATLANTIC STATES. 53 a gratuitous education. An academy for young ladies conducted by Mrs. Willard, has also obtained advantageous notoriety. Mount Ida, a ro mantic hill near this place, gives rise to the water falls of Poesten's Kill and Wynant's Kill, where the chief manufacturing establishments are erected. Population in 1820, 5,294. In 1830, 11,405. This shows a gain of considerably more than double the- population of the preceding census. Schenectady is situated on the S. E. bank of the Mohawk, 15 miles N. W. of Albany. It contains a number of public buildings, and 5 or 6 churches . It is an ancient and respectable town, and is united to the opposite bank of the Mohawk by an elegant bridge, nearly 1,000 feet in length. Union College in this place, is one of the most respectable seminaries in the state. The building consists of two college edifices and two boarding houses. The college is opulent in endowments, and in 1828, 79 students graduated from this institution. Population supposed to be about 5,000. Utica is situated on the S. bank of the Mohawk, 93 miles N. W. from Albany, and nearly bisected by the great canal. It is a large and showy town, with the usual number of public buildings, and 8 churches. It is on the position of the once celebrated Fort Schuyler, and in the midst of a fertile and charming country, It is a noted point of union for arriving and departing stages. This town has gained its importance by being favorably situated, in regard to commerce and agricultural wealth. Pop ulation in 1820, 2,972. In 1830, 8,323, having almost tripled its popu lation since the last census. Buffalo is situated at the eastern extremity of Lake Erie, on Buffalo Creek. The harbor would be fine, but for a shoal at the mouth, which the United States' government are in progress of removing. This obsta cle overcome, it has 14 feet water, and is secure from storms. From 60 to 70 vessels, including steam boats, trade with this place. It is the grand point of communication between the Atlantic and the lakes. By the great canal it communicates with New York ; by the Welland and Rideau Canals with Lake Ontario and Montreal; and by Lake Erie and the Erie and Ohio Canal with the Ohio and Mississippi valley. Its business is direct with all the vast extent of the upper lakes, and no inland town in America has greater advantages. It is situated on a beautiful terrace plain, affording charming views of the lake, and is in the vicinity of a pleasant and fertile country. Atlantic strangers, who have connected associations of savage nature, aetween Georgia and Florida. Alatamaha is a broad and deep stream \s/ith many branches. The principal of these are the Oconee and pcmulgee. The Apulcuhee is a principal branch of the Oconee. The Little Ocmulgee is a branch of the Ocmulgee. After the junction >f the Oconee and Ocmulgee, the majestic Alatamaha flows one hundred i.niles further through the forests, and finds its estuary in Alatamaha Sound. There are 14 feet water over the bar, and the Oconee branch is lavigable for boats of 30 tons to Milledgeville, the metropolis, 300 miles rom the sea. Ohoopee is an important branch of the Alatamaha, which las a course of 100 miles. Satilla River empties into the Atlantic be tween St. Symons and the Cumberland Islands. The rivers of Georgia 'that rise in the Mississippi valley have been already noticed. T Islands. In front of the broad belt of salt marsh, that skirts the sea shore, is a chain of islands of great value for their capability of yielding W island cotton, and for being retreats, during the sickly months, for the low country planters. The names of the principal islands follow : Tybee, Ossaw, Ossabaw, St. Catharine's, Cumberland, Jekyl, Sapelo, and St. Symon's. Chief Towns. Savannah, the commercial capital, is situated on the west bank of the Savannah, 17 miles from its estuary, 118 miles S. W. from Charleston, and 658 S. W. from Washington. Its position is a low sandy plain. It was formerly built of wood, and insalubrious from its' marshy surface and contiguity to rice swamps. It has suffered severely from fires, and the parts destroyed have been handsomely rebuilt. The rice swamps in the immediate vicinity are no longer inundated, and the health of the city is since much improved. It contains 12 public build ings and 8 churches. The Presbyterian church is an elegant and spacious edifice of stone. The Exchange is a large building 5 stories high. The Academy' is partly of brick and partly of stone, 180 feet front, 60 feet Vc TT A 106 ATLANTIC STATES. wide, and 3 stories high. There are 10 public squares planted with trees among which the beautiful China trees are conspicuous. It is a place of very great trade, and has exported over 120,000 bales of cotton, beside large amounts of rice and tobacco, in a year. It is defended by two forts and the entrance to the river indicated by a light house on Tybee Island, In 1820, 463 buildings were destroyed by fire, valued at $4,000,000, Population, in 1820, 7,523, of whom nearly half were slaves. In 1830 7,473. Augusta is a handsome town on the west bank of the Savannah, 127 miles above Savannah. It is laid out with great regularity. It is hand somely built, and chiefly of brick. Being midway between the upperand lower country, it is a central emporium of business. It contains 8 pub lic buildings and 5 churches. The public buildings are spacious, anil many of the private houses elegant. No town has more business accord ing to its size. It is a great depot of cotton and tobacco, brought down from the upper country. It communicates with Savannah by steam boats. It has suffered, as well as Savannah, severely by fires— but is at present flourishing. It is 73 miles S. W. of Columbia, and 138 N. W. of Char leston. Population in 1820,4,000. In 1830, 6,696. Milledgeville is situated on the W. bank of the Oconee, 300 miles, by the curves of the river, from the sea. Though in the upper country, it is near the borders of the low country. Its situation is elevated and pleas ant, and central to a fertile and populous country. The state house, ar senal, and penitentiary, are all large and conspicuous buildings.' It con tains some other public buildings, 2 or 3 churches, and about 3/100 in habitants. It is 87 miles S.W. from Augusta, and 170 N.W. from Savannah. Athens, on the west bank of the Oconee, is the seat of the Universitfj of Georgia. The names of the other principal villages follow: Waynes- borough, Louisville, Georgetown, Warrenton, Dublin, Sandersville, Sparta, Eatonton, Greensburgh, Madison, Jefferson, Clarksborough, Watkinsville, Marion, Clinton, Monticello, Sunbury, Darien, and St. Mary's. Minerals. Near Milledgeville is a bed of yellow ochre, Mineral springs are found in different parts of the country. Copper ores, and the greatest abundance of iron ore have been discovered. The gold region extends in a broad belt through this state. The discoveries have been numerous and productive in the Cherokee country; and collisions ot a serious character have ensued between miners claiming to dig under the authority of the Cherokees, the State, and the United States. Many have supposed that gold would be found more abundantly in the highlands ot Georgia and Alabama, than in the eastern section of the gold region. ATLANTIC STATES. 107 » Religion. The aspect of the religious character and denominations of his state differs little from that of South Carolina. The Baptists and Methodists are the prevalent denominations. s General Remarks. This state, in common with South Carolina, has .dopted a tone of querulousness complaining of poverty and depression. !,Phe teaching of political economy, in regard to its bearing upon the slave states, indicates alike to them all new views respecting personal labor. The children of the wealthier planters should be taught, that industry is Ifeiot dishonor; and should be trained to become sufficient to themselves.' ¦.Retrenchment, economy, and the raising and manufacturing every thing, that domestic industry can supply, which is requisite for the wants of a |)lantation,are duties imperiously prescribed by their circumstances. The ?iugar cane bids fair to succeed, as a new species of cultivation. In the , emote periods of the colonial history of Georgia, the manufacture of silk j )n a considerable scale, was practiced with entire success. A single acre ,n the cultivation of the native grape yielded, on experiment, $160 nett ^profit from the sale of the wine. An abundant crop of indigo, of an ex cellent quality, can be grown in almost every part of the state. Its inte rior and western parts are peculiarly favorable to manufactures. With ^tnines both of iron and gold, the extent and resources of which can only be measured by the imagination, and being one of the largest states, in regard to extent of surface and capabilities, ^Georgia has within herself .all the elements for becoming one of the first states in the Union. Wis- Bom, dignity, moderation and forbearance in her councils are alone re» quisite to produce the desired result. DANISH POSSESSIONS NORTH AMERICA. GREENLAND. Position. Greenland was long accounted a part of our continent, but is now supposed t© be an immense island. The most advanced post of I the Danes towards the north pole is Uppernavitch in 72° 30'; and the most southern in 64° 10'. Ships have not been known to have doubled ¦ its northern extremity. Davis' Straits to the west separate it from Amer ica. Its southern extremity is Cape Farewell. Climate. Situated altogether in the polar circle, this country has ' long winter nights, and short summer days. The flitting glimmer ofthe Aurora Borealis softens the horror of these polar nights. Eight tenths of the year it is subject to the empire of frost. The contiguous ocean is covered either with fields of ice, prodigious icebergs, or mountains of ice, that are of immense size, rise many hundred feet in the air, brilliant with all the colors of the bow, and having their moveable bases fixed as deep in the ocean. In winter the breath emitted returns in a little cloud of hoar frost, the mercury becomes stationary, and congealed through all the se vere weather. The inhabitants of these dreary regions can know nothing of our vernal airs, and soft south breezes. We cannot imagine, how people can endure this period of frost and intense cold, passed in dark ness and storms. But the goodness ofthe Creator is shown, in rendering the people of all lands satisfied with their condition. The terror of the Greenlanders is, lest the inhabitants of more southern countries should immigrate among them, and deprive them of their fancied paradise. Soil and country. Icy Peak, an enormous mass of ice, rises near the mouth of a river, and diffuses such a brilliancy through the air, that it is seen at the distance of more than 30 miles. The country along the sea shore presents rugged masses of rock interspersed with huge blocks ot ice, indicating the conflict of chaos and winter. The interior is covered with a chain of innumerable mountains, most of which are unexplored' DANISH POSSESSIONS. 109 Coal and various minerals and useful and beautiful fossils have been dis covered here. Smoke of Ice. This arises from the crevices of marine ice. The rare occurrence of rain, the small quantity of snow, and the intense degree of cold produced by the northeast wind lead us to suppose, that the north east parts of Greenland constitute a great Archipelago, encumbered with perpetual ice which for many centuries has been piled together by the winds and currents. Animals. Hares, reindeer, white bears, foxes and large dogs, that howl instead of barking, and are employed by the Greenlanders, in draw- in" their sledges, comprise the animals of this Country Immense flocks of sea fowl frequent the rivers and shores. The rivers abound in salmon and the seas in turbots and herrings. It is a curious fact, that those ani mals, whose blood is of the temperature of the sea, are found in greatest numbers under these icy fields and mountains. The inhabitants of North Greenland pursue the whale— and those of South Greenland the seal. The flesh of the animals is their chief food. The skins of the seals serve them for clothing, and as the material for their boats. Their tendons are used for thread, their bladders, as bottles, their fat sometimes as butter, and at other times, as tallow, and their blood is considered by the Green- lander the richest broth. Exports. In value from 50 to 100,000 rix dollars. Natives. They are of a low stature, have black hair, small eyes, a flat face, and a yellowish brown skin, evidently assimilating them to the Es quimaux. Language. It is remarkable for its copiousness, and regular grammat ical forms. Its inflections vare as numerous and as varied as the Greek. The women employ words and inflections, which none, but themselves, are permitted to use. The Greenlanders call themselves Innouk, or brother; their national name Kalalit, and their country Kalalit Nonnet. Implements and canoes. They make use of the bladder of the sea dog, distended with wind, and attached to the javelin, with which they strike the whale. The animal, when wounded, feels this bag of wind constantly dragging him upwards to the surface. Their boats resemble a box formed of little branches, and covered on every side with the skin of the sea dog. They are 12 feet long and a foot and a half wide. In the middle of the upper surface, there is a hole, surrounded by a wood en hoop, with a skin attached to it, which admits its being drawn round the body, like a purse by a thong. Supplied with a single oar, which is very thin, three or four feet long, and broader at the two sides, the boatT man, paddling rapidly to the right and left, advances in a straight line across the waves, in the midst of the tumult of a tempest, little more 110 DANISH POSSESSIONS. fearful of the surges than the whales. The billows dash over him. He shakes off the water, like a sea-fowl. He is capsized — but not being ex actly disposed to live under the water, with a dextrous movement of his oar he rights himself, and becomes the companion and rival ofthe whales, Character. Is an undefinable mixture of good and bad. They are ardently attached to their country and its customs, and of course adverse to the Danish system of civilization, which they charge with having brought spirituous liquors among them. They look with abhorrence up- on public punishments, and think it enough to load the malefactor, with reproach. Religion. The Moravians have had great success, of late years, in converting this people. These benevolent men endured every thing, to train themselves to sustain the climate and modes of life of these people. By these labors a certain degree of civilization has been introduced among them. They have learned to make barrels and boats, and to comprehend the use of money. The divinities of the pagan Greenlanders were Torn- garsook, and a malevolent goddess without a name, who inhabited a pal ace at the bottom of the sea, guarded by terrific sea dogs. They believed in a paradise, where the soul, in a state of happy indolence, was nourish ed with the heads of sea dogs. Their priests were called Angekok, and their enchanters Iliseets. The Danes have encountered incredible sacrifices and dangers in this region of winter and storms to christianize this people. Population, Towns. The Danish establishments are Uppernavich, Umanak, Godhavn, Jacob'shavn, Holsteinborg, Sukerstoppen, Gothaab, Friderickshaab and Julian'shaab. The largest of the Moravian establish ments is called Lichtenau. In 1802 the population amounted to 5,122 souls. Vaccination has been introduced among them, and will secure them hereafter from the terrible ravages of the small pox, These people wander along a coast of 900 miles. But neither the Danes or Greenland ers have yet passed the icy chain of mountains, which cut off their intercourse with the interior, ICELAND, Must after all be considered, as included in the western continent. It was known seven centuries before Columbus. It is a land of prodigies. Subterranean fires burst through the frozen soil, and boiling springs shoot up their fountains amidst eternal snows. The people are free, and in this rude and strange country feel the strong impulses of poetry. The extent of the country i3 4,500 square leagues. DANISH POSSESSIONS. Ill Rocks, Mountains. The whole country is little more, than a chain of immense rocks, covered with snow, while fire burns forever within their subterranean caverns. Various fossils and shining stones and lavas are found here. Volcanoes. Twelve are known in this island. The most celebrated is Mount Hecla, 4,800 feet above the level ofthe sea. The volcanoes of Scaptefell made themselves known, in 1783, by terrific phenomena. The river Skapt-Aa was filled with pumice stones and lava. A fertile district was instantly changed to a desert. Sulphureous exhalations and clouds of cinders spread over the whole island, and an epidemic was the conse quence. Immediately before this eruption, a volcanic island arose out of the sea, and shortly after sunk again, and its place was no more known. Hot Springs. Some are tepid, and are called baths; others throw up boiling water with great noise, and are called Hverer or caldrons. The most remarkable is Geyser near Skalholt, in the centre of a plain, and surrounded by 40 smaller springs. The mouth of this spring is 19 feet in diameter, and its basin 39 feet. The column is thrown up from 88 to 92 feet high. It is surrounded by a dense smoke, and falls back upon itself in spray. The lately discovered spring Strok rivals Geyser. Its aperture is smaller, but it presents a better defined surface, is thrown up with greater power, to a higher elevation, and disperses in the air, like artificial fountains. Two other springs near rise, and fall alternately. The whole of this strange valley is filled with springs, and surrounded with lava and pumice stone. In these springs the pagan ancestors of the inhabitants were baptized, and the present Icelanders cook their food; and employ them for various purposes. The cows, that drink of these waters, give an extraordinary quantity of milk. They have many mineral springs, to which they give the name of beer springs. Fossils. Among the most curious is a heavy inflammable substance, called in Icelandic Surturbrand, which burns with a flame. Another kind of rmineral wood, heavier than coal, burns without flame, and con tains chalcedony in its transverse fissures. A great variety of minerals is found here, together with marble, lime, plaster, porcelain, clay, bole, onyx, agate, jasper, sulphur and slate. Under your feet you see and the clay constantly bubbling up, and hear the din of waters boiling, hissing in the interior of the mountain, while a hot vapor hovers above the surface, from which columns, of muddy water frequently shoot into the air. Air, Climate. Through the air, which is filled with icy particles, the sun and moon often show double. The Aurora Borealis reflects a thou sand different colors. Every where the magic illusion of mirage creates phantom seas, and imaginary shores. The ordinary climate would be 112 DANISH POSSESSIONS. sufficiently temperate, to admit the cultivation of wheat, were it not that the floating ice sometimes fixes between the northern and southern prom ontories. A frightful degree of cold is the consequence. Vegetation is entirely destroyed, and famine and despair settle upon those mountains, which are heated in vain by subterranean fires. Out of 100 years, 43 were of this character, and 14 years of famine. In 1784 and 1785, when intense cold succeeded volcanic eruptions, 9,000 persons, one-fifth of the whole population, perished, with a great portion of the sheep, horses, and horned cattle. Vegetation. A species of wild wheat, called Melur, affords good flour. The lichen Icelandicus, and several other species of lichen, a great num ber of antiscorbutic roots, and even marine plants are used as food Iceland produces an immense quantity of wild berries of excellent flavor. Gardening is practised over all the country. Cauliflowers do not succeed, and potatoes have made but small progress. In former time the vales of the south of the island were covered with extensive forests. But they have been improvidently destroyed. A few birch woods, and many bushes remain. But the wood which the earth denies them is furnished by the ocean. The immense quantity of thick trunks of pines, firs, and other trees, which are thrown upon the northern coast of Iceland, espe cially upon North Cape, and Cape Langaness,is one of the most astonish- < ing phenomenan in nature. It comes floating down upon them in an abundance to be greater than the demand of the people. Domestic Animals. The oxen and cows are without horns. The sheep have two and sometimes three, with long wool, and are very large. There are 400,000 sheep, and 40,000 horned cattle upon the island. Pasturage would be their true riches, if they would attend to it. The reindeer has been imported and thrives. The foxes yield most beautiful furs. The white bear sometimes floats upon their shores on the ice. Among many sea fowls is the duck, that yields the eider down. Fish. Their shores and rivers offer these riches in an abundance, from which they profit little. The salmon, trout, barbel, and other excellent fish swim in their waters unmolested. Eels abound, but the inhabitants are afraid to eat them, fancying them the young of the great sea serpent, which, according to the mythology of Odin, encircles the whole earth. The Icelanders pretend to have seen him lifting his head above the sea upon their solitary shores. Herrings swarm upon the coast, — but it is only recently that the natives have learned the use of the net. Small whales, sea calves, sea dogs, and cod, are the common objects of their fishery. Divisions, Towns. Iceland is divided into four divisions, correspond ing to the four cardinal points. Skalholt and Holum were formerly towns DANISH POSSESSIONS. .1.13 that were seats of dioceses. They now constitute but one. Reikiavik is the capital, and formerly contained 100 houses. Besestadr is the seat of an academy with a library of 1,500 volumes, no doubt the most north ern library in the world. Commerce. The exports are fish, train oil, meat, tallow, butter, hides, eider down, wqol, worsted thread, and coarse woollens. In 1806 they amounted to 191,235 rix dollars, and the importations to 167,205.. Inhabitants. Are of moderate stature, not strong, seldom have a nu merous offspring, and want industry. But they are honest, benevolent, faithful, obliging, and hospitable. The men fish and tend their flocks. The women cure the fish, cook, sew, and spin. They have some manu factures in woollen. They are so attached to their country that they im agine they can be happy no where else. They are naturally disposed to piety. Their domestic amusements are reading history and poetry. One ofthe men gives his hand to a woman, and they sing couplets alternately, the rest occasionally joining in the chorus. They are fond of chess. Their dress is neat and decent. They live more plentifully than formerly. They have literary societies, which have published memoirs. There are many public libraries among them. Every Icelander knows how to write and calculate. Wine, coffee, and spices are not unknown among them. Such is the colony of the Scandinavians, placed between the ice of the poles, and the flames of the abyss. SPITSBERGEN. To the north of Iceland three large islands and a group of smaller ones have received this name. On the eastern peninsula of this, group, the Dutch whalers formerly had an establishment, called Sweeriiiburg. The mountains, crowned with snow, flanked with glaciers, and probably composed of red granite, shoot up in portentous brilliance to a'-great height, and are seen far off over the sea. The deep silence increases' the mysterious horror of the approaching navigator. Yet even here .'nature has its annual resurrection, and a summer day of five months, followed by a night as long of winter. Towards the noon of this long day, the heat penetrates a little into the frozen earth, expanding a few" flowers. Here among the marine forests of the Fuci the whales roll tlieIrTen6rm6us bodies of fat, which the whalers. pursue to the regions "of "eternal ice. Here beneath the mountainsof ice they take their gambols ari^d their jbyes. Here the sea dogs dry their brown furs on the ice. Here the' sea morse displays his enormous tusks of ivory. Here, too, is his mortal enemy, V„» it 15 114 DANISH POSSESSIONS. the sea unicorn. Here the whale is pursued, and sometimes destroyed by the sword fish. Among these shapeless and colossal monsters, is seen swimming in the waves, or floating on the ice, the ferocious and terrible polar bear, the enemy alike of all, pursuing every thing that has life, de vouring every animal that he encounters; and then, growling with satiated delight, he seats himself on his trophy of carcasses and bones. Whale Fishery. There have been in these seas 400 large whaling ves sels at a time. In 46 years the Dutch caught 32,000 whales, the whale bone and oil of which were worth £14,000,000 sterling. The whales are diminishing. Sea morses are still abundant. The skin is of use for suspending carriages, and its teeth are more precious than those of the elephant. The horn of tHe sea unicorn was once an object of supersti tious veneration, as a medicine. A margrave of Bareuth accepted one in payment of a sum of 60,000 rix dollars. Here, too, is procured from a species of whale the substance improperly called spermaceti. Count less millions of herrings, of more real value than all the rest,rswarm in these seas. Floating Wood. Here, as upon the shores of the other northern countries, are floated down immense quantities of drift wood. Not only pines and larches, and Siberian cedars accumulate, but even, strange as it may seem, Pernambuco and Campeachy woods, probably brought hither by the gulf stream. NEW SIBERIA— RUSSIAN AMERICA. Extends from Cape Prince of Wales, at Behring's Straits, 65°, to Portlock Harbor, 58°. This country interposes between the immense desolate regions of the British North- West Fur Company, and the terri tory of the United States on the Columbia or Oregon. The Aleutian Islands, lying between the continent of Asia and America, properly be long to this division, though in physical geography, rather to the former continent. We shall omit them here, and speak only of the Russian ter ritories on the American continent. Physical Aspect. This country presents a most savage and gloomy appearance. The hills are clothed with pines and birches. Above them rise naked mountains, covered with eternal ices, from which often roll down with frightful noise, and carrying ruin in their path, enormous ava lanches, that fill the vallies, and dam up the rivers. When these masses roll into the sea, the affrightened navigator far off hears the echo of the concussion, and, in the rising and sinking of the waves, feels the effect DANISH POSSESSIONS. 115 dashing his vessel to and fro. Between these mountains and the sea the soil is black, and might seem to promise fertility. The country is covered with great extents of spongy morasses, the soil of which seems firm, but into which the traveller sinks. The pine tree obtains its full develope ment here, but the other trees are stinted and dwarfish. On this coast the sea is rapidly gaining upon the land. Natives. They are more numerous than might be expected, and are not unlike the tribes of the opposite coast, with whom, however, they are at war. The savages, dependent upon the Russians, are computed at 50,000. There are no large rivers in this region. On Behring's Bay the Russians have a small fort. Their chief establishment, New Archangel, is two degrees farther south , in a milder climate. About this place grow large pines and American cedars, and a great variety of berries. Fish is abundant and delicious, and rye and barley succeed. The Kalougians, the chief tribe on this coast, are numerous and warlike. These people possess fire arms, forge iron and copper, work a kind of tapestry, and weave baskets and hats with great neatness and taste. Commerce of the Russians. The furs obtained are chiefly those of the sea wolf and the sea. otter. The latter animals have become rare. From the interior they obtain of the Indians fox skins, blue, black, and gray. Parties of Russian hunters have already crossed the Rocky Mountains. The Russian Company has the large capital of £260,000. The chief seat of this company is at Irkutsk in Siberia. BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN NORTH AMERICA. NEW BRITAIN. Under this name is comprehended the immense and dreary country, extending from the Canadian lakes to the north-west "coast and Hudson's Bay. This bay divides the country into two great divisions, eastern and western. The eastern comprises Labrador, and East Maine, and the western New North and New South Wales. Physical Aspect. Rivers. This dreary country is intersected with rivers, lakes, and marshes, to a greater extent than any other country with which we are acquainted. Some of the rivers roll into the unknown seas of the north, others into Hudson's Bay. Among the former are Athapescow and Ounjigah, or Peace River. The former loses itself in Lake Athapescow. Slave River empties itself into Slave Lake. Out of this lake issues McKenzie's River, which empties into the Arctic Sea. The adventurous Franklin has surveyed 600 miles of this coast. In this region of perpetual winter, in 67° 30', he found Esquimaux, diminutive and cowardly, and every where the denizens of polar rigor. Slave Lake is 300 miles long, interspersed with islands, which are covered with trees resembling the mulberry. The lakes and rivers in this region join to form one mighty stream, extending 1,800 miles in length, and resembling the magnificent rivers of Siberia. Copper-Mine and Churchill Rivers empty, the one into the Arctic Sea, and the other into Hudson's Bay. Two considerable rivers unite to form Saschaschawin, which falls into Lake Winnipeek. This lake receives, also, the Assiniboil and Red River, and discharges itself into Hudson's Bay, by the great rivers Nelson and Severn. Lake Winnipeek is 18 miles broad by 100 long. Itsbanksare shaded by the sugar maple and white poplar. BRITISH POSSESSIONS. 117 Climate. Such is the severity of winter here, that even in 57° the lakes freeze 8 feet thick. Brandy congeals. The rocks split with a noise like that of the loudest artillery, and the shattered fragments fly to an astonishing distance. The temperature is capricious, and the changes sudden. The aurora borealis sheds a light sometimes equal to that of a full moon. Soil. Barrenness and desolation spread on every side. The sea is open only from the commencement of July to the end of September. Even then the navigator is not free from the dangers of encountering ice bergs. Fish. Hudson's Bay affords but few fish. But the most northern lakes abound in the best kinds, such as sturgeon, pike, trout, and salmon. The shores are inhabited by infinite numbers of aquatic fowls. About Lake Winnipeek wild rice is abundant, the favorite food of these tenants of the streams. Franklin found that the Copper-Mine River, even at its entrance into the Polar Sea, yielded an abundance of fine fish, although there were none in the sea adjoining. Animals. These are the buffalo, reindeer, musk-ox, fallow deer, bea ver, wolf, foxes of different colors, catamount, wild cat, white, black, and brown bears, wolverene, otter, raccoon, muskrat, mink, pine martin, er mine, porcupine, hare, varieties of squirrels, mice, &c. Vegetation. There is a great abundance of berry-bearing shrubs, gooseberries, whortleberries, and culinary herbs. In some parts of the country the terebinthines are common, and other trees obtain a consider able size. On Red River different kinds of culture succeed well. Trade. Is shared by two Companies, the Hudson's Bay, and North- West Company. The first exports, annually, to the amount of £16,000, and imports £30,000. The other company has been more enterprising, and has extended its efforts to the Pacific, and the Arctic Sea. The limits of the companies being undefined, they have come in collision. Lord Selkirk. In these remote regions Lord Selkirk settled a very interesting colony, which also had its collisions with the fur companies, which were afterwards happily adjusted. The industrious and moral Scotch of this nobleman's colony, succeeded in raising fine wheat and potatoes. Lord Selkirk has since deceased, and this interesting colony is dispersed. Natives. The Esquimaux spread over the country from Gulf Welcome to Behring's Straits. Their huts have been met with as far north as 76°. Little, squat, feeble, the complexion of these polar men has little of the copper color of the other American aborigines, and is rather of a dirty, reddish yellow. Their huts are circular, covered with 'deer skins, and entered by creeping on the belly, Yet these feeble and simple beings 118 BRITISH POSSESSIONS. have been taught by necessity many inventions, which do honor to human nature. They make a snow house in a few hours, exceedingly com fortable. Some of the tribes are wholly ignorant of boats and canoes. Many circumstances indicate them to be a peculiar race of people. They seem to be wholly destitute of religious ideas. Some of the tribes have canoes made of the skin of the sea calf, with which they sail with amaz ing swiftness. They work a gray and porous stone into neat pitchers and kettles. The Chippeways are the enemies of the Esquimaux, and have in their turn to contend with the Knisteneaux. The Chippeways are a much higher order of beings than the Esquimaux. They hold them selves to be descended from a dog. They figure the Creator by a bird, whose eyes lighten , and whose voice thunders. All the northern In dians regard woman as a beast of burden, and their own peculiar coun tenance and configuration as the highest style of beauty. Murder is rare among them. The perpetrator of this crime is abandoned by parents and friends to wandering isolation. Whenever he is seen issuing from his concealment, the abhorrent and general cry is 'there goes the murderer!' Knisteneaux Indians. Are the handsomest Indians of the north. They inhabit from the Lake of the Mountains, on the north, to the Can adian lakes of the south, and from Hudson's Bay on the east, to Lake Winnipeek on the west. They hold conjugal chastity of little account, and offer their wives to strangers; but are otherwise, when not corrupted by the use of ardent spirits, mild, honest, generous and hospitable. They believe the fogs, which cover their marshes, to be the spirits of their de ceased companions. LABRADOR, Is a triangular peninsula, bounded east by Davis' Straits; south by Canada and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Thus removed from the Arctic circle, we might expect to find it partaking of the temperature of the milder climates. But it is to the full as frozen, as the countries just described. It is constantly enveloped in fog. A family of the natives was seen herein a cavern hollowed out of snow; the excavation seven feet high, twelve in diameter, and shaped like an oven. A plate of ice form ed the door; a lamp lighted and warmed the interior; at a little distance was a snow kitchen. The inmates reclined on skins. The surface of the country is a mass of mountains and rocks, interspersed with innume rable lakes and rivers. These abound with the best kinds of fish. The bears combine near the cataracts to catch the salmon, that are impeded BRITISH POSSESSIONS. 119 in their attempts to ascend. These voracious animals swallow them with greediness. Some of the bears pursue them 200 paces under water, while the indolent remainder sit and seem to enjoy the spectacle. The country swarms with beavers and reindeer. The interior is more mild, has vallies, trees, wild cellery and other plants. The eider duck fre quents the eastern coast. The beautiful spar of Labrador is well known. Moravians. Have founded three Missionary settlements, Nain, Okkak and Hoffenthal. The heathen Esquimaux sometimes put their widows and orphans to death, to save them from the more dreadful death of fam ine. The Missionaries besides teaching them many other useful things, built a magazine, in which each of the natives might deposit his useless stores, prevailing on them to set apart a tenth for widows and orphans. This is the true way to convert a savage people, by showing them the palpable fruits of the Gospel. Icy Archipelago, north of these countries, has been vainly attempted to be explored by various adventurous navigators. Icebergs, fields of ice, or stationary ice have always barred all interior access to these frightful regions. The history of those numerous navigators, who ha,ve attempted this terrible passage, is that ofthe utmost daring of the human mind, and the utmost suffering, that human nature can sustain. The country still farther north, and between Labrador and Greenland, has been called North Devon by Capt. Parry. He has named the islands of this new archipelago, Cornwallis, Griffith, Somerville, Brown, Low- ther, Garrat, Baker, Davy, Young, Bathurst, By am, Morton, Sabine and Melville. Cornwallis, Bathurst and Melville are the largest. The lat ter is between 74° 25' and 75° 50' ; 240 by one hundred miles. It is a dreary country of ice and mosses and stratified sandstone . Some vege tation, however is seen. Reindeers, hares, and musk oxen, come here, during the short summer, and innumerable tribes and varieties of water fowl. The deserted huts of Esquimaux are also noted here. Feb. 20, 1820, the mercury stood below cypher in Fahr. The common phenom ena of polar meteorology are seen. The needle of the compass, approach ing the pole scarcely traverses. BRITISH AMERICA, Comprehends Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Lower Canada and Upper Canada. It lies south of the countries just described, and north the United States. These are of regions settled by the whites. The immense and dreary coutry of New Britain, upon which we have touched, is peopled almost entirely by Indians. 120 BRITISH POSSESSIONS. NEWFOUNDLAND This large island, 380 miles in length, shuts up the northern entrance into the St. Lawrence. Ths perpetual fogs, that hover over it, are pro bably, evaporations from the warm current of the gulf stream. Productions, Climate. The island is generally barren. It furnishes however, trees and shrubs sufficient for curing the fish. The gladesocca- sionally afford pasturage. Wolves, deer, foxes, and bears are amongthe animals. The rivers abound in salmon, and other fish, otters, beaveis, and other amphibious animals. Banks. Fish. This island is chiefly important, on account of its con tiguity to the immense fisheries on the banks. These are Grand bank 100 miles south east ofthe island, and Green bank east of the islands 270 by 120 miles in extent. These banks, are, probably, deposites by the sand lirought down from the tropics by the gulf stream, which also, bears down tinder its bosom countless millions, of the animals, on which the fish feed. The temperature ofthe water is mild, too, and the motion comparatively gentle. The fishing season begins in April, and ends in October, At this time there are generally 400 ships, and thousands of small crafts here. ; The business is lucrative; dangerous, and an admirable nursery for our hardy and adventurous seamen, and furnishes one ofthe considerable ele ments of our trade. Many English and French vessels are here in company. Every part of the process from taking the hungry animals from the water, to curing the fish and delivering it in all parts of the world, is specific, and employs its appropriate process. The English and French dry their fish on the island. We bring great portions of ours pickled to our own ports, and dry them there, particularly at Marblehead, Gloucester^ and Beverly. A great number of acres around those towns are covered with -the flakes or scaffolds on which the fish are dried. A vessel with twelve men usually takes from 20, to 50,000 fish. The whole employment not only rears thousands of men to consider the sea their home, and storms their element; but many other thousands are employed in the business, o which this gives birth; and our share of the proceeds in good years amounts to some millions of dollars. Nothing can be more unique, than ¦the modes of life of these men, whose abode is on the sea. j are hale, healthy, honest, intrepid, and of reckless cheerfulness, o character. Dog. The animal of this kind, called Newfoundland dog,is remark able for its great size, fine, glossy hair, and capacity for swimming. has probably been the mixed breed of the dog and the wolf- A a ' rate, the species was not known, when the country was first settled. BRITISH POSSESSIONS 121 Population; Inhabitants. This island has recently doubled its inhab itants. St. Johns, Placentia and Bonavisla are considerable places, as suming in their embellishments an European aspect. St. Johns, the capital, contained, before the great fire, 12,000 inhabitants. The whole population may amount to 75, or 80,000, chiefly catholics. NOVA SCOTIA. Is a narrow peninsula 300 miles long, from southwest to northeast. Bounded N. W. by New Brunswick, W. by the bay of Fundy, and N. by the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and in other points by the Atlantic Ocean. It was settled by a colony of 300 English, in 1749. In its early periods the colony suffered much from the French and Indians. Climate. Though severe, the winter never closes the harbors with ice. Like the adjoining countries, it is subject to gloomy and un wholesome fogs; but has a short summer as warm, as that ofthe north of Europe. The country, though generally rugged and mountainous, has recently made no inconsiderable progress in agriculture. Vast marshes have been drained. Wheat, rye, hemp, flax, and especially the finest pota toes are raised. The gooseberry and raspberry grow in great perfection. I Trees. Oaks attain a considerable size; but the chief timber trees are pine and fir. The birch and the larch also flourish. The chief ex ports are fish, timber, potatoes, and plaster of Paris. Game, wild fowl, and the finest fish abound. I Chief Towns. Halifax has one of the best kind of harbors. It is strongly fortified, and contains from 15 to 20,000 inhabitants. It is the residence of the Governor General of all the British American provinces, the chief naval station, the seat of a court of admiralty, where a number of ships of the line and armed vessels are always lying, either stationed here or for repairs. A considerable number of troops are also in garrison, who, with the naval officers, give it the air of a military place. It is sit uated to be in some measure the key to the Atlantic shore, and in our conflicts with the English, has been a place of great annoyance to our ships and seamen. Annapolis, on the Bay of Fundy, opposite Halifax* has also a fine harbor. Shelburne, on the south side of Port Rose has 9 or 10,000 inhabitants. Vol. II. 16 122 BRITISH POSSESSIONS. CAPE BRETON. Is separated from Nova Scotia by the Strait of Canso. It has a severe and tempestuous climate, subject, like the other countries in these seas to fogs. The soil is unfruitful, though oaks of very great size are found here. In the forests a partridge of surpassing beauty is seen. Cultiva tion would succeed, and the island abounds in mineral coal near the sur face. Louisburgh is on the south-east coast of this island, and .was once a place of great importance. The taking this town from the French chiefly by New England troops, under Sir William Popperell, forms no unimpor tant passage in the annals of our history. It is now unfortified, and much diminished in importance. PRINCE EDWARD'S ISLAND. Is near the northern shore of Nova Scotia, and 100 miles in extent. Charlottetown is a considerable village. ANTICOSTI. Ninmy by twenty miles, is covered with rocks, and has no harbor. NEW BRUNSWICK. Is bounded N. by Lower Canada, E. by the Gulf of St. Lawrence, S. E. and S. by Nova Scotia and the Bay of Fundy, and W. by Maine. St. Johns is a large and deep river, abounding with fish, sea wolves, and sturgeon. Its banks are verdant, lined with lofty trees and fertilized with annual inundations. It affords an easy communication to the inhab itants with Quebec. The exports, timber, fish, and furs, occupy 101 ships The coribou, moose, catamount, bear, and other Canadian ani mals are seen here. Population. Towns. The natives are almost extinct. The white inhabitants amount to 150,000. Frederickton, on the river St. Johns, is the chief town. St. Johns, or St. Ann, also on St. Johns, contauis8,000 BRITISH POSSESSIONS. 123 inhabitants. The country was originally settled by German troops in the service of Great Britain, and hence it was called New Brunswick. The coast is indented with a great number of deep and important bays. GASPEE. Is a high and mountainous country, lying between the river St. Law rence and Chaleur Bay. Its native inhabitants differed much from the other Indians, and had some traditions of Christianity among them. — They must have received them from the apostles of Greenland, in 1121. LOWER CANADA. Is divided by the great river St. Lawrence, and is bounded N. by New Britain, E. by the Gulf of St. Lawrence, S. E. and S. by New Brunswick, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York, S. W. and W. by Upper Canada. Divisions. Are counties, townships, seigniories, and parishes. Rivers. The St. Lawrence is the second river in North America. In point of width and depth, below Ontario it exceeds the Mississippi. It begins to collect its waters in the unknown deserts of the North- West, and moves on, accumulating water through all the great chain of Cana dian lakes. Where itissues from Lake Erie it is called Niagara. It rushes down the sublime precipice of Niagara falls, and is lost in Lake Ontario. That lake disembogues through the romantic channels of the thousand islands, and is thence called St. Lawrence. From this point the scenery along the river is exceedingly romantic and picturesque. Numerous villages show, as the points are doubled. The houses seem placed on the waters, and the tin covered steeples glitter through the trees. The scenery varies at every advancing league. It is from two miles to a league in breadth, before it reaches Montreal. Below Quebec it is of such immense width, that its banks are haidly discernible from one shore to the other. Ottawa is the next considerable river. It is a broad, deep, and beau tiful stream, passing over many romantic cascades, before it mingles its waters with the St. Lawrence near Montreal. The Sorel is the outlet of Lake Champlain. The St. Francis empties through the south bank of the St. Lawrence between Montreal and Quebec. The Chandiere also empties into the south side of the river, near Quebec. 124 BRITISH POSSESSIONS. Montmorency Cascade. This stream twice forces itself a passage between the rocks, not far from the St. Lawrence. Its rapidity is con stantly accumulating in power, as it gradually contracts to the breadth of 100 feet, when at length it falls, almost perpendicularly, in white clouds of rolling foam, from its rock, down a descent 246 feet. The spray is so divided, as to assume the appearance of snow, or hoar frost, before it settles into the abyss below. Soil and Climate. Though a high, this is not a hilly country. The extremes of heat and cold are excessive. The range ofthe thermometer of Fahr. is from 102° above Zero, to 36° below. Frost commences early in October. Snow storms begin with the next month; and the snow con tinues to accumulate till spring. The faces of the persons walking in the streets of Quebec frequently freeze from the driving sleet and snow. Europeans cannot long endure the open air at this season. Boisterous winds heap the snow into moderate sized hills. By mid-winter the weather generally settles into a severe still cold, with a clear blue sky. The sur face of the wide and rapid St . Lawrence becomes a mass of floating ice. The lesser rivers are completely frozen over; and thus furnished with glassy bridges, the sleighs and sledges flit over the icy surface in every direction . The breaking up of the iceis accompanied with noise as loud as artillery, and the sweeping masses of ice carry away roots, trees and soil with them, as they dash against the shore . A stranger to this climate is surprised to see the earth covered with snow one day, and in a few subsequent days to note the verdure of high spring. Here the empireof summer and winter is confounded. Agriculture. The extensive chain of farms along the St. Lawrence, narrow in front, and from half a mile to a mile in width, has the appear ance of one immense town. Cornfields, pastures, clusters of trees, snow-white cottages, and ornamented churches show through the rich foliage on the banks. The view thence rises to lofty mountains, and is lengthened out to interminable forests. Wheat, pulse, grain, hay and even tobacco are cultivated to a considerable extent. The soil improves progressively, as we ascend the St. Lawrence to Upper Canada, which may be termed a fertile country. But agriculture is little understood. The inhabitants use little manure, and plough shallow. Of course their grain is diminutive, and the soil soon exhausted. They do not give them selves much trouble about gardens, orchards or fruit. Strawberries and raspberries are produced in perfection and abundance. Melons grow and ripen well; but apples, pears and peaches are not common below Mon treal. Many of the plants resemble those of the Arctic regions. Wild rice, zizania aquatica, grows in the still waters. Forests cover the coun try, but the trees are dwarfish, compared with those of the United State*. BRITISH POSSESSIONS. 125 The terebinthines and evergreens and firs are large, numerous and varied. The sugar maple and the birch are common. The naval timber is inferior. The beautiful mountain ash is abundant. Animals. The elk, fallow deer, bear, fox, martin, catamount, ferret, weasel, hare, grey and red squirrel are found here. The northern regions furnish plenty of buffaloes, moose and wolves. Otters, beavers, and muskrats are taken for their furs in the lakes and marshes. Few rivers can be compared with the St. Lawrence, for the number, variety and ex cellence of its fish. The rattlesnake, and some other noxious reptiles are, also, seen on its banks. The wild pigeon, grouse ptarmigan, pheas ant, or drumming partridge, and quail are seen here. The humming bird of this country is the smallest of the species, that is known. Metals. Are not found in abundance; though iron, copper and lead might be smelted from ores discovered in this region. Chief Towns. Quebec is on the north bank of the St. Lawrence, where the river St. Charles unites with it, 350 miles from the sea. The town is naturally divided into the upper and lower town. The upper town is built on a high, precipitous rock, 345 feet above the lower, and is, from its position, and natural fortifications, the strongest military for tress in America, and considered almost impregnable. The lower town is situated at the base of this rock, far below the upper, which seems an eagle's perch, to the inhabitants below. The population in 1S00 amount ed to 12,000. A traveller approaching the city is dazzled with the glittering of the tinned spires, and is apt to form too high an opinion of the extent and beauty of the city. The lower town is dirty and unpleas ant. The French parish church, the college, the chapel of the seminary, the barracks, the convents, the hotel dieu, the castle of St. Louis, the es planade battery, the citadel, the subterranean passage, and Brock's batte ry are the principal buildings and works of art in the city, that arrest the attention of a stranger. The plains of Abraham show a battle ground of intense interest, where, in one of the fiercest battles ever fought, Wolfe fell after a victory, which secured the possession of all the northern divi sion of North America to the English. The brave Montcalm also fell in the battle, and was buried in the chasm made by the bursting of a bomb, that killed him. In this city, in a struggle still more interesting to us, fell the brave and lamented Montgomery. Various points of splendid scenery and spots fertile in moral interest are visited in this interesting city and vicinity by the numerous tourists and strangers from every part ofthe United States, who now make this ci'y a point in the excursion from Niagara falls to Boston. It has numerous and the most easy communica tions with the country above and below by the beautiful steam boats, that ply on the St. Lawrence. The distance between it and Montreal, 122 BRITISH POSSESSIONS. 180 miles has teen passed in a steam boat in 20 hours and 40 minutes In 1825 it contained 22,000 inhabitants. . Montreal is built upon an island of the same name in the St. Law rence, 32 miles long, and at its centre 2 miles in width, at a point in the river just below the junction of ths Ottawa. The river is here 2 miles wide, and capable of being ascended by vessels of any burden, although 500 miles from the sea. It is ISO miles south west of Quebec, and 300 north of New York. The town has a beautiful position, and shows to great advantage. The mountain, from which it has its name, rises on the left ofthe city, and seems placed there, like a rampart to defend itfrom the blasts of winter. A thick forest covers the greater part of it; though a few neatly built houses show their roofs from the midst ofthe mountain groves. The new cathedral is, probably, the largest church in America. Its front is 255 feet, and its width 134. There are five public entran ces, and the interior will conveniently contain 10,000 persons. There are seven altars, and the eastern window over the high altar is 64 by 32 feet. The circuit of this vast edifice is 1,125 feet. It is built of hewn stone from the mountain. The college is the next most conspicu ous building extending in front with the wings 220 feet. It containson an average 300 students. This is a catholic institution. There are 18 or 20 public buildings. The French style of building, the number of lofty spires and towers and the glittering tin covering ofthe roofs give the city a majestic and imposing appearance at a distance. The popula tion, by a census in 1825, was 24,000, and is now supposed to amount to 30,000, having advanced much more rapidly than Quebec. The chief article of its commerce is furs. It is the emporium ofthe north west Company; and of the trade between Canada and the United States. This company employs 2,000 "factors, coureurs du bois, and hunters; as enterprising people of the kind, as are to be found inthe world. The clerks are chiefly adventurous Scotchmen, forced by penury to encounter the cold and dangers of the dreary and interminable deserts of the North West. Three Rivers. Is situated between Quebec and Montreal, with a pop ulation of 2,000. Sorel was built by American loyalists, in 1787, and contains 200 souls. There are many other considerable villages. Commerce. The exports of commerce are furs, lumber, potash, flour, pork, and timber. Population. In 1814, was 335,000 chiefly French and Roman Cath olics. The number is now, probably increased to 600,000. The French colonists are said to have originally emigrated from Normandy. They are a people known not only here, but in the north west and south west country, from the pacific to the mouth of the Mississippi, by very BRITISH POSSESSIONS. 127 peculiar traits. They are gay, satisfied with a little, attached to their re ligion and native country. With moderate inducements, they will under take long journies, and encounter inconceivable dangers and hardships. In the management of periogues and canoes, on the lakes and long streams, they have no rivals. They are remarkably ingenious in finishing their own domestic implements. The countenance ofthe Canadian is long and thin — his complexion sun-burnt and swarthy, and inclining to wards that of the Indian; his eyes black and lively, with lank and meagre cheeks, a sharp and prominent chin, and such easy and polite manners, as though he had always lived in the great world, rather than amidst un inhabited forests. Their intercourse with each other is to the last degree affectionate; and a French Canadian village constitutes one family. They are sober, marry young, and have numerous families. Their cheerfulness, whether in prosperity or adversity, is inexhaustible, and more valuable to them, than all the boasted attainments of philosophy. Amusements. Society. In winter, clothed in tanned skins, with a woollen capote, the head piece of which serves instead of a hat, their dress is that of the Russians. Their social intercourse is that of the age of Louis XIV th. As soon as the penance of their long lent is ended, their feasting begins. The friends and relatives assemble. Turkies, pies, joints of beef, pork and mutton, tureens of soup, thickened milk, fish, fowl and all the fruits, that can be procured, decorate the board. Coffee is introduced. — The violin is heard, and these gay and simple people are the most inveterate dancers in the world. Their dress, especially that ofthe ladies, is gaudy: and the morning shines in upon their unfinished hilarity. These people are called ' habitans,' and they are generally in comfortable competence, though extremely illiterate. The ' Quebec Mercury,' lately, gravely proposed the establishment of a seminary for the instruction of those members of their parliament, that could neither read nor write. Government. All the advantages ofthe English constitution and laws have been progressively extended to them. Two houses of parliament, a legislative council and a house of assembly are appointed for legislation, which requires the sanction ofthe king. Upper and lower Canada unite in forming the assembly. Voters must be possessed of a domicile, five pounds income, and must have paid not less than ten pounds an nual rent. The assemblies are quadriennial, and dissolved without day, at the will of the governor. The executive is a governor, lieutenant governor and 17 members ofthe council. Revenue. Expenses. The civil list, £45,000, maintenance of clergy, presents to the Indians, and military defence in all £500,000. The ex- 128 BRITISH POSSESSIONS. ports are increasing. In 1810, 661 vessels were employed; 143,893 tons, exports £1,500,000 imports £1,050,000. Military importance. Canada is the chief link in the chain of British possessions in North America, and the only formidable rival of the United States in these regions. Savages chiefly belong to the province of Upper Canada. History. Too copious an article to be here discussed. Quebec was among the first settled places in North America . In 1759 it passed from the dominion of the French to that of the English. In our revolutionary war an attempt was made, unsuccessfully, to conquer it from the British. In the late war the frontiers of Upper and Lower Canada were the chief scene of its operations. UPPER CANADA, Is peninsulated by the Ottawa, lakes Ontario, Erie, and Huron; and separated from the United States by the St. Lawrence on the east, south, and west. Bounded N. E. by Lower Canada and Ottawa River, and N. W. by New Britain. Divisions. Districts, counties, and townships. Population is advancing with great rapidity. It has hitherto been con fined to the St. Lawrence and the shores of the lakes, but is now diffused over all the interior. New towns are extending in the fertile forest, some of which, in rapidity of increase, vie with those of the U. States. Great extents of fertile land are yet unoccupied, and the parent country is furnishing every facility for transporting to these forests her surplus population; great numbers of whom, however, finally make their way to the United States; while we in turn furnish many emigrants particularly our free blacks of color, for this country. At present it is probable the number of inhabitants equals that in the lower province. Upper and Lower Canada taken together by a recent census, are found to contain a million inhabitants, 2 Catholic establishments, 200 curates and missionaries, and 1 Episcopal Bishop of the Church of England, with 250 inferior clergy. The Scotch Kirk in Canada contains 10 min isters. Not more than one of five of the whole population can read. Immense numbers of people have recently emigrated to this country; and great districts of Upper Canada are peopling with the same rapidity as the Western Country of the United States. The forests in all direc tions are levelling, and large and compact villages grow up in two or three years from the building the first habitation: BRITISH POSSESSIONS 129 Rivers. Besides the numerous rivers that fill into the lakes, the great rivers St. Lawrence and Ottawa roll along the two frontiers of this country. By these and the lakes it has as many advantages of inland water intercommunication, as any other country in the world, with the exception of the United States. Soil and Productions. The soil in this great peninsula is generally a vegetable mould, quickened by mixtures of pulverized lime. Many of the water courses have rich alluvial banks. The country is fertile in wheat, grain, fruits, and generally the productions of the north partcf the United States. Excellent peaches, pears, apples, and plums are raised, and great quantities of maple sugar are made in some districts. Climate. The southern parts are temperate, compared with the other British provinces. The northern shore of Lake Erie compares more nearly with Philadelphia than Quebec. Animals. The same as described in the other British provinces, with these of the northern parts of the United Slates. The fish are of the greatest excellence and abundance, and the resort of sea fowls to the lakes during the summer is immense. Towns. York, on the north shore of Lake Ontario, is the metropolis. It has a fine harbor, is a neat and growing town, and has between 3 and 4,000 inhabitants. Kingston, situated at the outlet of the St. Lawrence from Lake Ontario, is a handsome and thriving town with 2,501 inhabit ants. Niagara is a considerable village at the entrance of Niagara into Lake Ontario, and contains 108 houses. Queenstown is 7 miles above on the Niagara. It contains a beautiful monument to General Brock, who fell here in the late war. Chippeway, a league above Niagara falls, is famous in the history of the late war. Fort Erie is at the outlet of Ni agara from Lake Erie. Maiden and Sandwich are on the strait, connect ing Lake St. Clair with Lake Erie. The catalogue might easily be in creased by giving the names of fifty new and considerable villages. Lakes. Exclusive of the great lakes which have been already noticed, there is a Canadian chain of smaller lakes, stretching north of them. Simcoe. Shallow, Rice, and Nepissing are the chief. Like the great lakes, they are the summer resort of immense numbers of water fowls, that come to thein to feed upon the wild rice, with which they abound. Quinti Bay, an arm of Lake Ontario, 70 miles long, affords fine naviga tion. The foreign tiade of this vast country has hitherto passed almost entirely by Montreal and Quebec. At least 4C0 vessels, including steam boats, already navigate the northern lakes; and although the navigation and commerce are divided between two countries, the necessities of busi ness, and the sense of the utility of mutual accommodation to thecom- Vol. II. 17 130 BRITISH POSSESSIONS. mon interest has brought about an understanding of a good decree of amity and concurrence between the Canadians and Americans. , Canals. The Welland Canal commences near the mouth of Grand River on Lake Erie, 40 miles N. W. of Buffalo. It connects Lake Erie and Lake Ontario by canal navigation, overcoming all the descent of Niagara Falls, and Niagara River between the two lakes. It admits ves sels of 125 tons, being wider and deeper than any other canal in the country, except the Delaware and Chesapeake. The elevation overcome by the locks is 320 feet. The canal required prodigious excavations, in some places through solid stone. The 'Ravine Locks' are said to be the most striking canal spectacle to be seen in America. It is 38 miles in length, and through it large schooners have already ascended from the New York shore of Ontario to the Ohio shore of Erie. The Rideau Canal is intended to effect a navigable communication between Lake Ontario and the river Ottawa. The next object is to secure the transport of military stores by an interior route less exposed to American assault, than that along the lakes. A line of frontier fortresses is to be built in aid of this object; the whole estimated to cost between five and six millions of dollars. This, like the forementioned canal, is a prodig ious undertaking, carried over hills and rivers and through morasses, These vast works have wrought the same results as in the United States, Towns have grown up along the line of their course, even before they were completed, as by enchantment. Among the many examples that. might be cited, Bytown, at the junction of the canal with Ottawa, was a solid wilderness in 1826. In 1827 it contained a market, a school house, 4 churches and 2000 inhabitants. Magnificent roads and bridges are con structed; and these triumphs over nature in her wildest regions of Canadian forests, cascades, vast rivers, and precipices, have brought to view rivers and lakes, the existence of which, previous to them, were hardly known. The Rideau Canal is a work of greater expense than the Welland Canal, and about the same length. MEXICAN REPUBLIC, Passing from the British possessions in North America, over the wide extent of our own republic, the first country we meet, south and west of the United States, is the Mexican Republic, a country of deep interest to us in every point of view. It is one of the largest and most beautiful countries on the globe. The inhabitants had long been servile colonists of a great but declining nation, whose boast it used to be, that the sun never went down upon her dominions. The vast regions of Mexico and New Mexico comprehend all the countries inhabited by descendants ofthe Spaniards, and by their conquered and converted Indian subjects, and the independent aboriginal Indians, from the territories of the United States E. and N. to the Pacific Ocean ; and across the Isthmus of Darien to the Atlantic; and thence down the Gulf of Mexico to the territory of the United States again. The various states of this' immense country have passed through a succession of revolutionary contests with the parent country. The Spanish authority has been totally annihilated ; and although their condition is far from seeming to be a settled one, and they continue to be afflicted with intestine commotions, having designated their govern ment a republic, they have a claim to be geographically described as sUch. Physical Aspect. This great country comprises all the varieties of soil, climate and temperature on our globe. Immense level tropical plains, covered with a gigantic growth of evergreen vegetation from the shrub to the loftiest trees in the, world; table elevations on tropical moun tains, where perpetual spring prevails, and where productions of the tropics grow side by side with those of the temperate climates ; mountain summits covered with unmelting snows, or throwing up volcanic fires, immense prairies clothed with ever verdant grass, and feeding innumera ble herds of buffaloes and wild cattle and horses; vast tracts of sandy desert, scorched with a cloudless sun and moistened with no rain; other regions, where periodical rains deluge the country for weeks in succes sion, such'are the contrasts of this strange Country. African heats ara 132 MEXICAN REPUBLIC. contiguous to Arctic snows; the wheats and fruits of the United States to the banana, cccoa and pine apple of the tropics. In one district no- thing is raised except ty artificial irrigation. In another the rankve»e- tation is thrown up by the richest soil, and a leeking humiditv. Ancient and deep forests untouched by the axe, groves of mahogany and logwood the palm and guava rear their columns on the plains. In another, mountains whose summits were never pressed by mortal foot, pour f:om their cone- shaped funnels into the elevated and frosty atmosphere the flame and lava of never quenched internal fires. It is a scene of continual wonders strong contrasts, and sublime contemplations, whether we view the gran deur of the vegetable kingdom, or 1he diversity of the animal races, par ticularly the splendor and variety of the birds, the beauty and sublimity of the scenery, or the grandeur of the almost numberless mountain peaks. The Federal Government is composed of a great number of stales, which send representatives to the general congress at Mexico. Northern Provinces. Sq. Miles. Pop, in 1803. Chief Towns, Old California, 55,880 9,000 Loreto. New California, 16,278 15,600 Monterey. Sonora, 146,635 121,400 Arinpe. Durango, 129,247 159,700 Durango. New Mexico, 43,731 40,200 Santa Fe. San Luis Potosi, 263,109 334,900 St. Luis Potosi, 654,880 680,800 Southern Provinces. Sq. Miles. Pop.in 1803. Chief Towns. Guadalaxara, 73,638 630,500 Guadalaxara. Zacatecas, 1S,039 153,300 Zacatecas. Guanaxuato, 6,878 517,300 Guanaxuato. Valladolid, 28,396 376,400 Valladolid. Mexico, 45,401 1,511,800 Mexico. Puebla, 20,651 813,300 Puebla. Vera Cruz, 31,720 156,000 Vera Cruz. Oaxaca, 34,664 534,800 Oaxaca. Yucatan or Merida, 45,7S4 465,800 Merida, Northern provinces. 302,561 654,880 5,159,200 680,800 Grand Total, 957,441 5,840,000 The present population is rated at 8,000,000. MEXICAN REPUBLIC. 138 Divisions. Two thirds ofthe Mexican republic are under the temperate, and the remaining third under the torrid zone. The first division com prehends the states of St. Leon, and St. Andero, Durango, Sonora. Co- ahuik, Texas and New Mexico. But the remaining tropical regions, from a variety of causes, enjoy for the greater part, a cool, rather than a torrid temperature. The interior of New Mexico and New Biscay forms an immense elevated plateau, from 6,500 to 8,200 feet above the level of the sea. Consequently, these regions extend from the delightful tempe rature ofthe city of Mexico to the regions of eternal ice and snow. This plateau may be classed into four divisions The lower division is adapt ed to the sugar cane, the banana, pine apple, and agave. The second is appropriate to cotton and plants, that require the same temperature. The third produces the wheat and apples of the United States. The last is only adapted to alpine cultivation. 3Iountains. They are called in this country Cordillera. They are so numerous, and of such an infinite diversity of forms, that this summary cannot notice all the ranges. No doubt, they might be traced to families, or classes of mountains, belonging to a succession of ranges, with a certain degree of parallelism. The most noted chains are the Sierra of the Andes, the Sierra Madre, and the Sierra Membre. In Gualimala these chains bristle with such frequent volcanic summits that volcanic mountains in Mexico are no curiosity. Popoca-Tepetl, or the smoking mountain is nearly 18,000 feet high. Iztacci-Huatl or ihe white woman, is 16,000 feet high, Citlal-Tepetl, or starry mountain, is 17, 697 feet high. Perote is 13,633 feet high. Columns of smoke, and frequent explosions ascend ing from them, however noted and sublime phenomena in other countries, are here too common to be remarked, as occurrences, that excite wonder terror and remembrance. Some of these mountains are granitic, and some porphyritic in structure. The mountain, called by the natives Cit lal-Tepetl, or starry mountain, is so called on account of the luminous exhalations that rise from its crator and play round its summit, which is covered with eternal snow. The sides of these colossal furnaces of the internal fires of nature, are often crowned with magnificent forests of ce dar and pine. In 1759 the plains of Jorulla, on the shores of the Pacific, experienced one ofthe most tremendous catastrophes, that the surface of our globe has ever witnessed. In a single night a volcano arose from the earth, 1494 feet high, with more than 2,000 apertures, which still con tinue to throw up smoke. Messrs. Humboldt and Bonpland descended into the burning crater ofthe largest, 288 feet in depth. The adventure was most daring and dangerous. They found the air strongly charged with carbonic acid . 134 MEXICAN REPUBLIC. Mines. Every reader knows, that those of the precious roetais ar, generally found among mountains; and that this is the country of sil ver and gold. The annual produce, in ordinary years, used seldom Io fall below $22,000,000 of silver. The gold is found in little straw-like frag ments and veins. The richest mine, in its yield of native silver, is Barto- pilas in New Biscay. In most of them, the metal is extracted from red black, muriafed and sulphuretted ores of silver. In south America ths chief mines are found on the summits of the Andes, in the regions of per petual frost and ice. In Mexico, on the contrary, the richest, such as those of Guanaxuato, Zacatecas, Tasco, and Real dc Monte are found between 5,500, and 6.500 feet high. The climate is delightful, and the vicinity abounds with forests, and every facility to work the mines to advantage. A catalogue of the names of 50 mines might easily be given, extending from Santa Fe, at the sources ofthe Rio del Norte, to the Pacific. Rivers. Nature, as if satisfied with her ample bestowment of mineral and vegetable riches, has denied to this beautiful country the numerous and useful rivers of the United States. Scarcely a navigable stream is found in this vast country; and but two, that would be deemed worthy of name in the United States. These are the Rio Bravo del Norte, and Rio Colorado. Innumerable torrents pour clown from the mountains. The-' smaller streams are Rio Huasaculaco and Alvarado south east of Vera Cruz; the Rio de Montezuma in the valley of Mexico, Rio de Panuco in the same vale, Rio de Zacatala, and the Rio St. Jago, the largest of the whole, formed by the union of the Leorma and Las Taxas. Lakes. The great lake of Chapala, in New Gallicia, covers nearly 160 square leagues. The lakes of the valley cf Mexico, and the lake of Pazcuasco in the intendency of Valladolid are among the most pictur esque spots in the world. Lakes Mexitlan and Parras in New Biscay, and Nicaragua are large collections of water. Circumstances give this last peculiar interest. This lake is situated on the Isthmus of Darien, almost equidistant between the two Oceans, Atlantic and Pacific; and is reported to have tides. There have been a hundred different projects to canal this lake from the two extremities, and thus unite these two oceans by a canal of 70 or 80 miles in extent; and thus save a passage round Cape Horn of more than 10,000 miles. But on a full survey of the elevation of this lake above the two seas, the difficulties of digging a ship channel, and constructing the necessary locks up such lofty heights, and the pestilential autumnal air of the river St. John, by which this lake communicates with the Atlantic, the Span ish government deemed the project impracticable, and forbade any one to MEXICAN REPUBLIC. 135 resume it on pain of death. Since the country has been revolutionized, the subject has been resuscitated. The isthmus of Tehuantepec presents the two rivers Huasacualco and Chimilapa, which empty, the one into the one ocean, and the other into the other. A canal of 8 leagues, at furthest would unite these two rivers, and bring the oceans into communication. The Andes at this point have disappeared, and tiie elevation ofthe canal above the two seas would be moderate. Harbors. It will te seen, that this republic has an immense extent of sea coast on both oceans. But there are few good harbors. Most of the rivers are obstructed by bars at their mouth. Violent storms, for consid erable portions ofthe year, render the coast inaccessible. The Los Nor- tes blow from the autumnal to the vernal equinox, and render the coast unsafe of approach. In another part of the year the papagayd and Te huantepec winds render the roadsteds dangerous. But these circum stances, unfavorable to the navigation, are fortunate to Ihe republic in another point of view as affording protection against hostile fleets. Climate. The country is divided into the tierras Calientes, that is to say hot countries, that produce sugar, indigo, cotton, bananas, and pine apples in abundance. In low and marshy positions in these countries unacclimated persons, in particular seasons, are subject to what is here called vomito prieto, black vomit, or yellow fever. Acapulco, Papagayo 'and Peregrino are places of this description, on the Pacific; and Tainpico on the Gulf of Mexico. The next climate under the tropics is at an elevation from 4 to 5,000 feet. The temperature seldom varies more than 8 or 9 degrees. Intense heat and excessive cold are equally unknown. The countries of this de scription are called Tierras templadas, temperate countries. The oak is a native tree in this climate; and the yellow fever seldom prevails in Mex ico, in the region where the oak is a native. This is the delicious climate of Xalapa, Tasco, Chilpaningo, and of Mexico still more elevated. The air is cool and salubrious, and the fruits and productions rich and pre cious. But every earthly good has its appendant evil. These regions . lie in the ordinary height of the clouds, which float at the same altitude in the subjacent plains, and envelope these charming and elevated abodes in frequent and dense fogs. The third belt is the Tierras Frias, or cold countries, higher than 7,200 above the level of the ocean. Even in the city of Mexico, in the centre of the tropics, the mercury has been seen, though rarely, to fall below the freezing point. The mountains that raise their summits far above these elevations, to the height of 12,000 feet, are always white with snow, Periodical rains. In the equinoxial regions of Mexico, and as far a» 'iS<- N. only two eea^ns tire known, the rainy and the dry. The rainy 1S6 MEXICAN REPUBLIC. commences in June or July, and ends in September or October. The ralins begin in the low countries, and gradually extend to the elevated regions, descending in unremitting torrents, accompanied, frequently with thunder and lightning. At the elevation of tetween 6 and 7,000 feet snow and sleet often fall with ths rain. Beyond 26° north, the ground at this elevation is frequently whitened with snowf But such snows are earnestly wished. They are deemed salubrious, and exceed ingly beneficial to the wheat and pasture. New Mexico. The vast district of this country /formerly known by the name of New Mexico, has peculiar claims upon the interest and attention of1 our i.itizens, as bounding for vast distances upon the territory ofthe U.jStates and sustaining a great and increasing trade with some of the Western Slates. Under 1he ancient Spanish regime, it was designated by the term Provincias Internas. It has a very variable and unequal climate. The summers are sultry, and in the elevated regions the winter is unremitting and often severe. On the whole, the interior of all this vast country suffers much from aridity, and the want of the shelter of trees. Muriates of soda and lime, and nitrate of potash and other Saline substances encrust the soil so as to bid defiance to cultivation. This chemical annoyance is extending its injurious effects in a manner inexpli cable. Happily, this incrustation and aridity are confined to the most elevated plains. A great part of the vast republic, situated neither too high nor too low, may be classed with the most fertile countries in the world. The lower declivity of the Cordilleras and the heat and humiditv of the coasts, favoring the putrefaction of a prodigious mass of organic -sub stance, display a grandeur of vegetation inconceivable, except to those, who have seen it, and prove a cause of fatal diseases to unacclimated strangers. As a general fact, great humidity, insalubrity, and fertility are found together. Yet on the whole the greater portion of this beautiful country may be considered, as among the healthiest regions in the world; the dry atmosphere being singularly favorable to longevity. Even at Vera Cruz, while the black vomit sweeps away unacclimated strangers, the natives and persons used to the climate enjoy the most perfect health, and live to extreme old age. Vegetable productions. We can only select the names of a few from thousands. In this conntry, where all climates run into each other, all classes of trees and plants might be expected to be found. Inthe low and maritime regions, admiration is excited by the number, the vari ety and the grandeur of the native forests, and in the mountainous regions by the infinite diversity of the plants and flowering shrubs. The mahog any, the logwood and nicaragua trees are among the cabinet and dye woods. The pepper and cocoa trees are among the native fruits. The MEXICAN REPUBLIC. 137 oak is not found below 6600 feet of elevation. Pines spread from the elevation of 5700 to 12,300 feet. Edible Plants. Among these the banana deserves the first place. Three species are common. Two are indigenous. The third was brought from Africa. A single cluster of these fruits often contains from 160 to 180 lbs. of fruit. An area of 120 square yards will produce 4,000 lbs., while the same extent will scarce produce 30 lbs. of wheat and 150 of potatoes. The manioc is cultivated in the same region; and with maize forms the principal nourishment both of animals and men, in temperatures too cool for the banana. The European grains are grown abundantly in the temperate regions. The sweet potatoe and the yam are more common in the warmer regions. The country produces indigenous varieties of the cherry tree, apple tree, walnut, mulberry and strawberry. Most European fruits flourish in the greatest perfection. The maguey, a species ofthe agave, furnishes the most profitable culti vation known in the world. It produces a vinous drink, of which the in habitants of Mexico drink enormous quantities. The fibres of the maguey furnish hemp and paper, and its thorns are used for pins and nails. The cultivation of the sugar cane is increasing. The best indigo and cocoa are produced in Guatimala. The cultivation of this latter tree is exceedingly profitable. Nor does the earth produce a more useful tree except the bread fruit tree. The nuts of the cocoa are of such prime necessity in Mexico, that they pass for small money. Our term chocolate", made from this nut, is derived from the Mexican chocolatl. The nopal, or cactus cochinilifer, upon which the insect, that produces cochineal feeds, is Taised on a large scale in Oaxaca. The jalap of medicine grows in the region of Xalapa, from which it derives its name. Vanilla imparting its delightful and spicy flavor to chocolate is cultivated. Here, also are produced the balsams of Copaivi and Tolu. Honduras and Cam- peachy are covered with forests of mahogony and logwood. A species of arum yields a black dye. Guiacum, sassafras and tamarind trees are abundant in these fertile countries. In the low lands are found wild ananas; and inthe rich rocky soils different species of the aloe, and euphorbia. This country has yielded to flower gardens the most rich and splendid flowers. Zoology. It is very imperfectly known. Along with most of the an imals common in the United States, is the coendou, the conepalt wease., the apaxa, or Mexican stag, and a new species of striped squirrel. A species of wolf dogs is entirely without hair; and another species without voice, which, in consequence of being eaten as animal food, is almost entirely destroyed. The bison and musk ox are found in immense Vol. II. 18 138 MEXICAN REPUBLIC. droves in the plains of New Mexico. The reindeer of that country are so large and strong, as to be used in some places as beasts of draught. The prairie dog is a native of the countries near the Rio del Norte. The antelope and mountain sheep are found in California. The jaguar, and the cougar, which are fierce animals, bearing a resemblance to the tiger and lion of Asia and Africa, are seen in Guatimala, and the hot regions of Mexico. Hernandez says, that the Mexican miztli resembles the lion without his mane. Mexico is the country of large and splendid birds, abounding in them, as Africa does in beasts. Domestic, European animals have multiplied in an incredible degree. Innumerable droves of wild horses scour over the plains of New Mexico. Inconceivable numbers of mules are raised. The trade between Mexico and Vera Cruz alone employs 70,000. There are families that possess from 50,000 to 100,000 oxen, cows, and horses, and others with droves of sheep equally numerous. Population. It is well known, that Mexico has been in a state of revolution, and of civil and intestine commotion for many years. A. greater degree of freedom, the removal of monopolies and interdicts, the higher excitements of newly created motives and hopes, the new scope1 opened to enterprise by free institutions must, necessarily, be highly favo rable to increase of population; and must tend rapidly to repair the wastes of civil wars, massacres, and assassinations. All things consid ered, and taking the basis of former increase, and the diminution ofthe wars and troubles of the revolution, as elements, the population may be safely rated at 8,000,000. The great impediments in the way ofthe in crease of population, are the ravages ofthe small pox, which will soon be laid out of the calculation, as vaccination has been successfully introduced into the country. The next impediment is a pestilence peculiar to the climate, and only incident to the Indian race, called Matlazahuatl. When it prevails, it is sweeping, like the. plague, and carries dismay and death into the healthy interior regions of the high plateau. Happily, it shows itself only at long intervals. Famine sometimes prevails in this abundant and fertile country. Of all people, the Indians are most indolent and improvident. They seldom accumulate more than suffices for subsistence from week to week. Thou sands of the poorer classes are employed in the operations of mining. Consequently the occurrence of a dry season, or a frost produces a fam ine, followed too frequently by epidemic diseases. In 1804, a frost in August destroyed the maize; and so severe a famine ensued, that more than 300,000 people perished in consequence of the subsequent famine and disease. In the revolutionary movements, 46,000 are calculated to MEXICAN REPUBLIC. 139 have perished in battle; but those, who so fall, always constitute but a small portion of the mortality, that is necessarily connected with their death. The population is divided into four great classes, subdivided into eight castes. 1. Aboriginal Americans. 2. Spaniards born in Europe. 3. Cre oles born in America. 4. Negroes, slaves and descendants of negroes- 5. Mixed classes, metis. 6. The offspring of whites and Indians. 7. Mu- lattoes, the offspring of Whites and Negroes. 8. Zambos the mixture of Indians and Negroes. The Indians are copper colored, like those of the United States. They possess great muscular strength, and an almost entire exemption from personal deformity ; and generally live to a great age. They are super- stitiously devoted to the ceremonial of the Catholic church. Every one has remarked their astonishing aptitude to carving and painting. They seem extremely destitute of fancy and imagination. Their songs and dances have a tinge of melancholy. Tlisir taste for flowers is carried to a passion; and the Indian shop-keeper seats himself amidst an entrench- ;menl of verdure, and decks bis shop with the most beautiful flowers. The unsubdued Indians on the borders of New Mexico differ little from those of the United States. The Spanish from Old Spain called gauchupines formerly enjoyed all the high offices and consideration. Since the revolution, many of them have perished. The remainder are subject to penalties and confiscations. The country born descendants of the Spanish are called Creoles. The descendants of the Spanish of the Canary Islands, who are numerous, are called Islenos. The natives of mixed blood comprehend two millions and a half. All the shades of this intermixture are expressed by parti cular words, incorporated with the language. The child of a white and an Indian is called Metis. The complexion is almost a perfect white. He has a scanty beard, and small hands and feet, and a particular obli quity of the eyes. The offspring of the Whites and the Negroes are noted for the violence of their passions, and their volubility of speech. The descendants of Negroes and Indians are called China, or Chinese. The union of a white with a female Mulatto originates the caste of quar- teroons. When a female Quarteroon marries a white the offspring is cal led Quinteroon. The children of a white and a quarteroon are consid ered of pure blood. Those mixtures, by which the child becomes dark er than the mother, are called Saltra-Alras, or Back-Steps. These distinctions of caste enter into self-estimation, and standing in society. Innumerable quarrels and litigations grow out of these distinc tions, and the qualifications or disqualifications annexed to them. It frequently happens, that those, suspected of having mixed blood, claim 140 MEXICAN REPUBLIC. in the courts declarations, that they are whites. Rich and dark colored Mulattoes contrive to get themselves whitened, as the phrase is. When the applicant is, palpably, dark to the eye, the sentence of the court sim ply states, that such or such a one may consider himself white. There are no hot tropical countries, where there are so few negro slaves. There are not more than 10,000 in the whole country; the greater part of whom arc confined to Vera Cruz, Acapulco, and the hot country in their vicinity. There are, also, considerable numbers of slaves made by taking prisoners from the independent Indians in the Mexican conflicts with them. The slaves are generally well treated, and are pro. tected by the laws. There is, comparatively, little other than free labor, and the laws have made provision for the complete emancipation of all children born after a certain period. Languages. More than twenty original languages were spoken in Mexico. The Creoles and the greater portion of the mixed races speak and write Spanish. The native languages are famous for terminations in tli, tla, til, atl, &c. Many of the words consist of eleven syllables. The complication and richness of the grammatical forms seem -to prove the high original intelligence of those, who inverted, or methodized them. Topography. New California borders the coast of the Pacific Ocean from Port San Francisco to the settlement of San Diego. The sky here, though often foggy and humid, is extremely mild. This pictur esque country displays on every side magnificent forests, or verdant savannas, where the herds of deer and elks of enormous size graze un disturbed. The soil is fertile. The vine, olive and wheat prosper. In 1802 the missions were 18, and the permanent cultivators 15,560. San Francisco, the most northern presidio, is situated upon a bay of the same name, into which the Rio San Felipe, which rises in lake Tim- panogas, enters. Wheat here, with very little care, yields thirty-five for one. Beautiful forests of oak, intermingled with winding prairies, give the country the appearance of an artificial park. Monterey is the seat of government. The aspect of the country is charming, and the inhab itants enjoy a perpetual spring. Santa Barbara is situated on a pass, between the continent and two or three small islands. The mission of San Bueneventura is a fertile district, but sometimes exposed to severe droughts. Vancouver saw in the gardens of the missionaries, apples, pears, figs, oranges, grapes, pomegranates, two species of bananas, cocoa nuts, sugar canes, indigo plants, and several leguminous vegetables. Old California, or the peninsula of California, is bounded S. and W. by the Pacific, the gulf of California, and the Vermilion sea on the coast. Its climate is hot and dry. The sky, of a deep azure, is seldom obscured by clouds. The soil is arid, and the cylindrical cactus is often the only MEXICAN REPUBLIC. 141 vegetable, that relieves the barrenness of the waste. Where there is moisture and a vegetable mould, grains and fruits multiply in a most astonishing manner, and the vines yield a generous wine, like that of the Canaries. The sheep are large, and yield a very fine wool. A great number of wild quadrupeds are named, and a great and beautiful variety of birds. The pearls, that are fished on this coast, are irregular in figure, but have a beautiful water. There are gold and silver mines; but they are not much worked for want of materials. Native salt is abundantly collected on the plains. The inhabitants may amount to 9,000, and are dispersed over a country larger than England. Loretto is the chief town. The inhabitants of all classes may amount to 1,009. The Indians of these countries were an extremely degraded race. The Jesuits began the task of their conversion, in 1698. The wise fathers collected these wandering tribes, and formed them into a stationary and cultivating people, who built houses, and erected chapels amidst the rocks and brambles. Here the fathers diffused order, peace and plenty among their numerous subjects. They were banished by an unjust and impolitic decree. The Franciscans have succeeded them in the mission. Their simple dwellings have a picturesque appearance. The converted natives are treated with gentleness and affection. New Mexico includes all the country between California and Louisi ana. A narrow belt of country along the Rio del Norte is thinly peopled. The town of Santa Fe contains 5000, Albuquerque 6000, and Taos as many inhabitants. The population consists of poor colonists, whose scattered hamlets are frequently ravaged by the powerful and fierce tribes of Indians, that surround them. Their principal subsistence is by tend ing their cattle and flocks. They live in walled towns, built as fortresses to defend them from sudden attacks of the Indians. The houses and walls are built of unburnt bricks in continued ranges in the form of a hollow square. The soil is fertile, but the rains are so unfrequent, that the cultivation succeeds only by artificial irrigation. The environs of the Passo del Norte produce delicious grapes and generous wines. Many of the inhabitants number their cattle, horses aud mules by thousands. The plains are naked of trees, while the mountains are covered with forests, among the trees of which pines are predominant. Antelopes, mountain sheep and buffaloes are abundant in this region. There are salt springs, and numerous mines of silver. The people of the United States carry on an extensive trade with this country, chiefly by the way of the Council Bluffs on the Missouri and Santa Fe in New Mexico. The mountains at the sources of the Arkansas are sublime elevations above the point of congelation. Many of them have table summits. That the soil is underlaid with strata of calcareous rock is attested by a 142 MEXICAN REPUBLIC. most singular phenomenon. In 1752, the bed of the Rio del Norte he came dry for an extent of 150 leagues. It had sunk, and passed through subterraneous chasms, and so continued to flow for some weeks, when, no doubt, the chasm became choaked, and the river resumed its former course. The town of Matamoras containing 8 or 10,000 inhabitants, is near its mouth. Savages. Among the numerous tribes, that inhabit New Mexico, the Appaches and the Commanches are the most numerous and important. They hunt, fight and almost live on horse-back. They are exceedingly formidable enemies to the stationary population, and the shock of their charge on horse-back is represented, as being irresistible, at least by their opponents the timid colonists. Some of the tribes, that inhabit the Col orado, that flows into the gulf of California, are represented'to have con siderable towns. A more recent traveller, who descended the river from its sources to its mouth, describes thara, as barbarous and naked. Arispe, the chief town of Sonora, contains 7,000 inhabitants, and Cinaloa, cap ital of the province of the same name, 10,000. In this province are rich mines. Culiacan, capital of the province of the same name, contains 11,000 inhabitants. Durango is the chief town of New Biscay, and contains 12,000 inhabitants, with some splendid edifices. The country abounds in silver mines. Batopilas and Cosigirachui and Chihuahua are considerable towns, containing from 8 to 10,000 inhabitants. Monclova and Santa Rosa are neat towns in the province of Coahuila. Monterey in New Leon is a considerable place. On the upper courses of the Rio del Norte the country is dry, and seldom visited with rains. The greater part of the cultivation is carried on by irrigation. In Texas San Antonio is the most important town. Nacogdoches, once a village of some impor tance, has suffered from the troubles of the country, and is in ruins. San Felipe de Austin is the chief town of Mr. Austin's interesting settlement on the Brassos. The lower slope of this country, towards the gulf, has deep forests along the water courses, and much resembles the south wes tern part of Louisiana. This province is chiefly peopled with adventur ers from the United States. Potosi is the chief town of the province of the same name, and contains 12,000 inhabitants. One of the richest mines in the world, that of Real de Catorce, is near this city. Zacatecas, chief town of a province of the same name, contains 33,000 inhabitants, and exceedingly rich mines are in its mountainous district. Guadalax ara contains a university, is a bishop's see, and has 30,000 inhabitants. Compostella is the chief town of a district abounding in cocoa nut trees. Tonala and Purification are towns in the south of New Gallicia. Their districts are famous for sugar and Cochineal. Cape Corrientes is a cele brated promontory on the coast, where the winds seem to disperse, and MEXICAN REPUBLIC. 143 change the direction of their courses. The port of San Bias is surrounded by deep and beautiful forests, which furnish ship timber; but is almost unin habited from its lowness, and its extreme insalubrity. The intendencies of Guanaxuato and Valladolid are picturesque countries with volcanic mountains. The richest silver mines in Mexico are near Guanaxuato. This town is rich, and flourishing, containing 70,000 inhabitants. The mine of the Count de Valenciana, in 1804, had been dug 1960 feet per pendicular, making it .the deepest cut known in the world. Valladolid has a delicious climate, is a pretty town, and contains 18,000 inhabitants. The intendency of Mexico is a rich and delicious country, abounding with mountains, some of them volcanic, and containing mines and pre cious stones. The level country is replenished with the most delicious fruits, anise seed, sugar and cochineal. A remarkable curiosity in this piovince is the Ponte Dios, or bridge of God, a rock, under which the water has hollowed itself a canal. The waters have here cut deep and foam ing courses, over which, at a vast distance above them, the traveller cros ses by bridges suspended by ropes of the agave. On the very ridge of the great Mexican plateau, a chain of porphyritic mountains encloses an elliptical valley, the general level of which is 6700 above the sea. Five lakes fill the middle of this valley. The ancient city of Mexico stood north of the united lakes of Xochimilco and Chalco, and to the east of lake Tezcuco. Much of the marshy ground, that sur rounded the ancient city, has been drained, or filled up. A canal, dug at a prodigious expense, under the mountains, contributes still farther to drain it. The houses are built on piles; and the ground is still soft, and by no means firm. The streets, though wide, are badly paved. The houses in this strange and rich vale on the summits of mountains, are as magnificent and unique, as the position. They are spacious, and built of porphyry and amygdaloid. Many of the palaces and private mansions have an imposing show, and glitter with metalic riches. The cathedral is perhaps, the richest in the world. Altars, candle-sticks and images of the saints are of colossal size, and solid silver, and ornamented with precious stones. Palaces, mansions of great families, beautiful fountains and extensive squares adorn the interior of this city. Near the suburbs, to the north, is the alameda, or chief promenade. Round this walk flows a rivulet forming a fine square, in the centre of which is a fountain, with a basin. Eight alleys of trees terminate here, in the form of an altar. The detestable Inquisition, finally abolished by the ex-emperor Iturbide, was near this square. This city, in the centre ofthe country, is the seat of an immense com merce between Vera Cruz on the gulf, and Aoapulco on the Pacific. The shops glitter with the abundance of gold, silver and jewels. This superb 144 MEXICAN REPUBLIC. city is inhabited by 161,000 people, and is the centre of more scientific establishments, than any other town in Spanish America. The botanical garden, the school of mines, tiie Academy of the fine arts, and the poly- technique school are noble establishments. Excellent draughtsmen, painters and sculptors have been produced in them. The environs pre sent a scene of pleasure without a parallel elsewhere in America. Hun dreds of canoes on the Canal Chalcho, full of Indians, sitting under awn ings, having their heads crowned with the gaudiest flowers, with each a musician on the stern playing the guitar, and some of the party singing, or dancing, present a scene of innocent mirth. The people of the city are given to gambling and pleasure. The floating gardens on the lakes, where flowers and vegetables used to be cultivated, are diminishing. The most important arts are here yet in their infancy. Saws driven by water, or hand, are unknown and their planks are hewed out with the broad axe. The ascent to the table plain, en which this city is built, is of immense height, and so steep as to require 19 mules to draw the beam of a steam engine up the steeper parts ofthe ascent. It is astonishing, that no such thing as a rail road to this city has yet been constructed. A noble road ofthe common kind has been not long since completed. Most of the monuments ofthe ancient grandeur of this country have disappeared from about the present city. Some grand memorials of the empire of Montezuma still remain. To the north east of the city are the ancient temples of the sun and moon. They are pyramidal in figure, and the former measures at its base 645 feet, and is 175 feet high. That of the moon is somewhat smaller. They are incased by a thick wall of stone. Queretaro is north east of Mexico, has 40,000 inhabitants, and is one of the handsomest cities ofthe new world. Zacatala and Acapulco are un der a burning sky on the shores ofthe Pacific. Puebla is an intendency, very populous and well cultivated, and its chief town, called Puebla de los Angelos, or the angels, is the fourth town in Spanish America, in comparative importance, containing 68,000 inhabit ants. Cholula contains 16,000 souls. Tezcuco contains splendid an cient remains, and 5,000 inhabitants. At Atlisco the traveller is shown an enormous cypress 73 feet in circumference. Vera Cruz is a beautiful town, and the centre of the foreign trade of Mexico. Its position is exceedingly unpleasant, being surrounded by arid sands, or ill drained marshes. The climate is hot and unhealthy; and the only water, fit for drinking, is collected in cisterns. The harbor is insecure and of difficult access. It is often desolated with yellow fever; and yet the position is so important to commence, that 16,000 people in habit this disagreeable position. It is the seat of an immense trade. The MEXICAN REPUBLIC. 145 inhabitants often repair, for coolness, health, and the beauties of nature, to the delicious town of Xalapa, situated among the shelving declivities ofthe mountains. This town derives its name from the medicinal root called Jalap, growing near it. The province of Tabasco is thickly wooded, abounding with the Mexican tiger, and when cultivated, is fer tile. Tehuantepec has a harbor on the Pacific, with noble ancient ruins at Mitzla in its vicinity. Yucatan has a healthy, though a hot and dry climate, abounding with dye woods, and in ambergris. The coasts are covered with forests of mangrove, and impenetrable hedges of Althea and Camwood. In the dry seasons, the people obtain their drinking water from an incision in the wild pines. Merida, the chief town, contains 10,000 inhabitants. The English cut logwood and mahogany here, and have some small colonies on the coast. Guatimala extends along the Pacific. The plains are exceedingly fertile. Maize brings 300 for one; and the country produces the finest indigo. In the forests are many ani mals imperfectly known, and many non descript balsamic shrubs. Silver mines and volcanoes abound, and the country is more subject, than any other known, to earthquakes. The ancient city of Guatimala was sunk in 1777. Never was earthquake accompanied with more terrific and destructive phenomena. The sea rose from its bed. One volcano poured out boiling water, and another waves of blazing lava. Eight thousand families were swallowed up in a moment. The spot is now indicated only by a frightful desert. The new town is built four leagues from the old one. Fine cocoa, cotton and figs are produced here. Chiapa is a cheerful town, inhabited by 4,000 families of Indians. The capital of the singular province of Vera Paz is Koban. It rains here nine months in the year. Great numbers of the trees and shrubs yield different balsamic resins. Dragon's blood is produced among them. Reed canes 100 feet in length are found, and of such a thickness, that from one knot to anoth er 251bs. of water were contained. The bees of this region make an uncommonly liquid honey. Among the wild animals is the Tapir with teeth longer thffn those of the wild boar, with which, it is affirmed, the ani mal can cut down a tree. Its skin is six fingers thick, and when dried resists every kind of weapon. The province of Honduras is little known. To the west it contains the little Spanish towns of Caymagua and Truxillo. In a lake, near the latter there are said to be floating islands with large trees on them. Caverns have been hollowed out by the waters under several of the mountains. The musquetoe coast is properly so named from the intolerable annoyance of the insects of that name. Some years since, there were exported by the English from this country 800,000 feet mahogony, 200,000 lbs of Sarsapa- rilla, and 10,000 lbs. of tortoise shell, beside tiger and deer skins. 19 146 MEXICAN REPUBLIC. Nicaragua is a large and important province. The lake of the same name has several beautiful islands, on one of which is a volcano, which continually burns. This great lake discharges into the Atlantic by the river St. Johns, on which there are a great many inconsiderable falls. Towards the outlet of the river, the shore is marshy and pestilential, and the Indians numerous, and perfidious. It is well known, that by this river, and through this lake, it has been proposed to unite the Atlantic and Pacific ocean by a canal. This province is not known to have any mines, but is exceedingly fruitful in all the common productions of tropical cli mates. Leon, the capital, is situated on a lake, that discharges into Ni caragua. Its harbor is at a distance on the south sea. The palmtrees grow, here to a colossal size. Nicaragua, Granada and Xeres are the other considerable towns. Little is known of them. Costa Rica, or the rich coast, is so called in derision, as having no mines. But it is in fact rich in nature's picturesque scenery, noble woods, a fertile soil, and rich pastures. Cattle and swine swarm in them. In the gulf of Salinas is found the muscle yielding the rich purple, proba bly, the ancient purple, the dye of which was supposed to be lost. The capital, Carthago, is a flourishing town in the interior. Nicoya is a port on the Pacific, where vessels are built, and refitted The caoutchoue or India rubber is a well known production of this country. Veragua is a province still less known, than the former. It has be longed at one time to the government of Guatimala, and at another to that of Terra Firma. It is covered with mountains, forests, and pasture grounds. It has silver mines, that are not wrought. The capital is San Yago. The descendants of Columbus in the female line bear the title of dukes of Veragua. History. Our plan allows no place for detail under this head. Under the empire of Montezuma and Guatimozin, the Mexican empire had cities, towns, temples— a police — the art of working in gold, silver and copper, a kind of printing — and no small measures of barbaric splendor along with many traces of art and civilization. The empire was con quered by Cortes with a few Spaniards. That of the Spaniards arose upon the ruins of the Mexican dynasty. Stretching over an immense extent, embracing a greater variety of soil, climate and position than any other country— more of nature's wealth, and more of the factitious and false wealth of the precious metals, than could be found elsewhere on the globe, their establishments extended among the mountains, valleys and plains of this immense country in silence, and hidden from the world. Nothing hindered it from becoming one of the most populous and pow erful empires in the world, but the bigotry ofthe religion— the ignorance and mutual jealousies ofthe population, and the odious monopolies and SOUTH AMERICA. 147 interdictions of a fanatic narrow minded government. The revolutions ofthe United States and of ths old world gradually and imperceptibly began to operate in Mexico. The assumption of the crown of Spain by a brother of Napoleon, who was not recognized in the new world, facili tated revolutionary movements. The revolution here was effected with less bloodshed, than in South America. After a variety of revolutionary movements, Iturbide by military usurpation proclaimed himself empe ror of Mexico. His imperial sway was of short date. He was banished the country, and a government was established on a model very similar to that of the United States. The ancient provinces and intendencies form states, that are represented in-general congress at Mexico, in a legislature modelled after ours. The chief officer of the government is called president. The last place, which Spain held in the country, was the castle of St. John d' Ulloa, commanding the coast of Vera Cruz. There has been a recent and bloody revolution, the chief scene of which was the capital. Order is restored; but there is a general persuasion not only abroad, but in the country itself, that the institutions of this country are as yet unsettled. It is cause for regret, that one of the most extensive and beautiful positions of the globe, calling itself free, should not have the stability and quiet of real freedom- The great evils to be banished from this fair country are the twin monsters ignorance and bigotry. South Asierica is the richest, healthiest, most picturesque, and ex cepting Africa, the most extensive peninsula on the globe. Of the two Americas the northern division ought to be called Columbia, and the country now under consideration simply America. This vast country contains 100,000 square leagues. Its greatest length from Point Galli- anas in Terra Firma, in 12° N. L. to Terra del Fuego in 56° S. L. is nearly 5,000 miles. Its greatest breadth from Cape St. Roque in Brazil to Cape Froward in Patagonia, is 4,800 miles. General Aspect. In this wonderful country rivers roll through an ex tent of 4,000 miles, and are so broad, that the eye cannot reach from one shore to the other. In one point are seen mountain-summits above the clouds, white with snows, that never melt; while their bases rear the ba nana and pine apple. In a day a man can pass through all climates, from that of the equator to that of Nova Zembla. In other places volcanoes, too numerous to be classed, throw out smoke and flames. Still in other places, are vast and deep forests abounding in all the grand flowering and gigantic vegetation of tropical climates, which spread an immense extent, that has never yet resounded with the wood cutter's hatchet. Nature here shows herself alternately in unexampled magnificence, beauty sublimity, power and terror. To the west spreads an immense chain of 148 SOUTH AMERICA. mountains with a plateau 12,000 feet above the sea. East of thisisa belt of plains and marshes three times as broad, penetrated by immense rivers with their innumerable branches. To the east is another chain of moun tains less elevated, than the western. Descendants of the Spaniards occupy the western chain and belt, and the Portuguese the eastern. Thus South America is arranged into two great political divisions. Rivers. The Amazon has undisputed claims to be the first on the globe in length, breadth and depth. Its sources are in the Andes. One of its chief branches is the Ucayal. This stream is formed by the Mara- nori and Apurimac. The other branch is the Lauricocha, or High Mara- non. From San Joaquin d'Omaguas, the united stream rolls its broad wave over an immense plain, to which great numbers of rivers bring down their tribute from the mountains. The Napo, Yupura, Parana, Chuchivara Yutay and Puruz would be viewed, as great rivers in any other country. Along with the great Rio Negro from Terra Firma, they are all swallowed up in the Amazon. This prodigious river is known by authors and in poetry by the names Orellana or Maranon. But the bet ter name is that here given, which had its origin from a supposed notion of women on its banks, who were clad in arms, and considered the males, as the women are viewed in other countries . The Madeira is another wide branch of this river. The Topayos and Xingu , also, empty them selves into it. But Araguay ought to be considered an independent out let, united to the Amazon by a branch of communication. In its upper courses, this river varies from two to three miles in width, and its depth exceeds 100 fathoms. Below the Xingu, the eye cannot discern the op posite bank. The tide is felt 'between 7 and 8 hundred miles from the sea. At the mouth the conflict between the waves of the sea and the force of this mighty stream produces a violent and dangerous ripple. The second river of the country, and far surpassing in breadth and depth any other in the world, except the Amazon, is the La Plata, or sil ver river. Its chief branch is the Parana. This river has a grand cata ract not/ar from the town of Guayra. From the north the Parana re ceives the Paraguay. The Paraguay receives the Pilcomaya, a great river rising in the vicinity of Potosi. The La Plata receives, also, the Vermejo and Salado from the Andes, and the Uraguay from the Brazils. Its ma jestic course is to the full as broad, as the Amazon ; and its estuary ex ceeds the British channel in breadth. The Oronoco, though not equal ling either of these, is a vast river. It rises in the lake Ypava in 5° 5' N. L. It passes through the great lake Parima. From this lake it issues by fwo mouths, and receives the Guyavari, and several other rivers and falls into the sea, after a course of nearly 1,000 miles. When it meets the sea, its green colored waves strongly contrast with the blue ofthe ocean. SOUTH AMERICA. 149 The stream, formed by this river along the gulf of Paria, is a place of most formidable navigation, and it is so swift, that vessels require a fresh breeze to stem it. The aspect of the outlet of this immense river con vinced Columbus, that such a body of fresh water £ould only issue from a continent. Here it was, while feeling the refreshing land breeze, charged with the aromatic fragrance of a boundless wilderness of flowers, and contemplating the etherial mildness of the sky, that the famous dis coverer imagined himself near the garden of Eden, and that the Oronoco was one of the four great rivers, mentioned in the scriptures, as issuing fromParadise. Among the numerous cataracts of this river, baron Hum boldt distinguishes two, the Maypures and Astures, as extremely grand and picturesque. Between the Oronoco and the Amazon, there is a sin gular communication, by means ofthe Casiquiare. Innumerable smaller streams water this vast country. South America, like Africa, contains both rivers and lakes, that have no known outlet. Such is the lake Titiaca, connected with the lake des Angelos. In Tucuman, and south west of Buenos Ayres, there is an immense level chain furrowed by torrents and little lakes, which lose themselves in the sands and lagoons. Mountains. The Andes derive their name from the Peruvian word anti, implying copper. These mountains commence on the coast ofthe Pacific, ten or twelve leagues from the shore. Near Potosi and lake Til" " iaca, the chain is 180 miles broad. Near Quito under the equator are the loftiest summits of this chain, which until some travellers have recently pronounced the Himalaya in Thibet highest, were universally accounted the loftiest on our globe. At Popayan this great belt terminates, and di vides into a number of distinct chains. The Sierra Nevada de Merida has a height of 14,000 feet; the Silla de Caraccas 13,896 feet. Chimbora- zo in Quito has generally been reckoned at 24,000 feet in height, and is higher than mount Etna would be if piled on the summit of St. Gothard. Cayambe, Antisana and Cotopaxi the next highest summits exceed 19,000 feet. The natives assert, that Capa Urcu, at present an extin guished volcano, was once higher than Chimborazo. After a continued eruption of eight years, the high cone fell in, and the volcano was extin guished. Near Cuzco, Ilimani and Cucurana shoot up their summits above the clouds. The Andes of Chili are not less lofty, than those of Peru, and volca noes are still more numerous. The most frequented pass of these moun tains is the Paramo de Guanacas. But baron Humboldt preferred that of Quindiu between Hagua and Carthago. He first crossed a vast and deep forest, generally requiring ten or twelve days to traverse. Not a cabin is met in all this extent. The pathway over the mountain is not more 150 SOUTH AMERICA. than one or two feet in breadth ; and resembles a hollow gallery open to the sky. The Quebradas are immense rents, dividing the mass of the Andes, and breaking the continuity of the chain, which they traverse. Moun tains of a great size might be swallowed up in these almost fathomless ravines, which seem so many peninsulas on the bosom of an aerial ocean. It is at the bottom of these Quebradas, that the eye of the terrified travel ler can best comprehend the gigantic magnificence of these mountains. Through these natural gates, the great rivers find a passage to theseai The greater part ofthe population of these countries is concentrated on the plateaus of these prodigious mountains. Here the traveller looks round on what seems to be a wide plain, or a deep valley. He forgets, that the villages of these mountaineers, these pastures covered with lamas and sheep, these orchards fenced with quickset hedges, these luxuriant fields occupy a position suspended in the high regions of the atmosphere, and can hardly bring himself to believe, that this habitable region is more elevated above the neighboring Pacific, than the summit of the Pyrenees is above the Mediterranean. Antisana, a village at the base of the moun tain of that name, is the highest inhabited spot in our world, being 13,500 feet above the sea. The structure of these mountains is gener ally granite at the base, and ths crests are covered with porphyries, and when there are volcanoes, with obsidian and amygdaloid. Temperature. In the torrid zone the lower limit of perpetual snow is 14,760 feet. In the temperate zone it is from 6 to 10,000 feet. The temperature is a regular and constant warmth, like a perpetual spring. Accordingly a journey from the summit of the Andes to the sea, or vice versa has a medicinal operation upon the frame sufficient to produce the most important changes. But living constantly in either of these un changeable zones has a tendency to enervate both body and mind by its monotonous tranquility. Summer, spring, and winter are here seated on three distinct thrones, which they never quit. The palm, the Canana and pine apple, together with the most brilliant and fragrant flowers in habit the region at the base of these mountains. A single vaiiety ofthe palm is found from 5,400 to 8,700 feet high. Above that commences the belt of the arborescent fern, and the cinchona, the bark of which is such a precious remedy in fevers. Between 3 and 4,000 feet is a most rich and abundant turf, with various beautiful plants and flowers and mosses, that are always green. A broad belt, from 6 to 12,000 feet, is the region of Alpine plants. This is the country of grasses. In the distance it has the appearance of a gilded carpet. Above this belt to that of perpetual snow only lichens cover the rocks. The banana, jatropha, maize, cocoa, sugar cane and indigo grow in the region of the palm. Coffee and cotton SOUTH AMERICA. 151 extend across this region into that in which wheat grows. This is found in full perfection at 4,500 feet. Barley from that to 6,000. It is however, between 6 and 9,000 feet high, that the various European grains are chiefly cultivated. The chief mines of the Andes are higher than those of Mexico, and are generally, above the region of perpetual snow, away from cultivation and wood, and of course are not so much wrought, as the former. Animals. In the hot region we find the sloth, the terrible boa serpent the crocodile, and the cavia hides themsslves in the marshes. The Tanaya Crax and paroquet mingle the brilliance of their plumage with that of the flowers and leaves. The howlings of the alouates are heard, and the sapajou, or marmoset monkeys are seen. The Yaguar, the Felix concolor and the black tiger strive to satiate their sanguinary appetite. Innumerable musquitos sting, and termites and ants annoy the inhabit ants; and the oestrus punctures the flesh, and deposits its eggs in the body. Still higher are the tapir, sus tajassu, and the felix pardalis ; and the pulex is more numerous and annoying, than lower down. Still higher we find the tiger cat, and the bear; and the fleas are here exceedingly troublesome. From 9 to 12,000 feet is seen a small species of lion, known by the name 'Pouma, the lesser bear with a white forehead, and some of the weasel tribe. In the region of the grasses, from 12 to 15,000 feet, feed innume rable herds of lamas, vicunas and pacos. In this region culture and gardening cease, and man dwells in the midst of numerous flocks of lamas, sheep, and oxen, which sometimes stray away into the regions of perpetual snow and perish. Some lichens grow under the perpetual snow. Above all, above even the solitary mountaineer in the midst of his flocks is seen the prodigious condor. They have been observed sail ing through the air at the immense height of 21,100 feet. Caraccas. New Grenada, Quito. These countries have been called Terra Firma and Castile d'or. At preseut they comprehend the provin ces or states of Varaguas, Panama and Darien. New Grenada Caraccas, Maracaibo, Merida Truxillo, Varinas, Spanish Guiana and Cumana and the island of Margarita belong to this general division. This country has been the scene of recent and desolating revolutionary wars. According to the difference of the level and elevation of Caraccas, pre vails either perpetual spring or perpetual summer. The rainy and dry season completely divide the year. The rainy commences in November, and lasts till April. During the dry season, the rains are less frequent; sometimes even none. The country is much exposed to earthquakes. Mines of gold and copper are found; but, owing to the recent troubles, not much worked. The pearl fishery on the coast is now in consequence of the late troubles, nearly abandoned. The forests would supply to a 152 SOUTH AMERIGA. settled and active government inexhaustible supplies of ship and building timber. Dyeing and cabinet woods abound. Cinchona and sarsaparilla are collected. The lake of Maracaibo furnishes mineral pitch in abun dance, used for calking ships. The lake is 210 by 90 miles; and the in habitants prefer living on islands in the lake to a residence on its arid and unhealthy shores. The water of the lake is fresh, though it commu nicates with the sea, and is of easy and safe navigation. The lake Valencia is a more attractive sheet of water. Its banks have an agreeable tempe rature from the luxuriant vegetation on their shores. Being 40 miles long by one broad, it receives the water of twenty rivers, and has no visi ble outlet. Between it and the sea is a belt of mountains six leagues in width. The territories of Carracas are every where well watered, and furnish abundant facilities for irrigation. In some places the river inundates the country, during the rainy season. The northern vallies are the most productive, because there heat and moisture are most equally combined. The southern parts produce pasture, which rears cattle, mules and horses. Cocoa, indigo, cotton and sugar might be produced in great abundance. Caraccas, the capital, before the last earthquake, contained 42,000 inhabitants. The valley in which it is situated, is un even, and is watered by four small rivers; nevertheless it has handsome streets and well built houses. Being on an elevation of 3,000 feet, it enjoys a perpetual spring. La Guayra, 15 miles distant, is the port. The sea is here as boisterous, as the air is hot and unhealthy. Porto Cavallo in the middle of marshes and an insalubrious air, has some trade. Valen cia, half a league from the lake of the same name, is a flourishing place, in the midst of a fertile and salubrious plain. Coro an ancient capital, is built near the sea on a dry and arid level. Cumana has 28,000 inhabit ants, and is situated on an arid, flat and sandy shore, where the air is salu brious, though burning hot. Like the other town, it is always in dread of earthquakes. New Barcelona is a dirty town in the midst of an unculti vated, but fertile country. Maracaibo, the seat of government, is built on a sandy plain, on the left bank of the lake of the same name, 6 leagues from the sea. The air though excessively hot, is not unhealthy. The country houses are at Gibraltar, on the opposite ^shore of the lake. At the upper end of the lake is Merida in the midst of a well cultivated district. Truxillo, once a magnificent town, was ravaged by the bucca- niers. In the isle of Margarita is the town of Ascension, formerly cele brated for its pearl fishery; and still more for its abundance and variety of fish. Population. Before the late revolution, it was rated at near a million. The people present nearly the same mixtures, as in Mexico. The Span ish immigrants prefer a country of mines to one of agriculture, however SOUTH AMERICA. 153 rich. Hence this country has not become populous, in proportion to its fertility. A small colony of French and Irish lead a patriarchal life under the shade of their cocoa trees on the promontory of Paria. The Zambos, or descendants of Indians and negroes, are the scourge of some parts of this country by their numbers and hostility. Spanish Guiana extends more than 1,200 miles from the mouths of the Oronoco to Brazil. It is between 3 and 400 miles broad. The population is sparse. The missionaries, before the revolution, had 20 or 30,000 Indians under them. It is a very fertile country, and watered by 300 branches of the Oronqco. Situated very favorably for commerce, it will one day become a country of great importance. Angostura is the chief town. In this important point, communicating by so many navigable rivers both with the Oronoco and the Amazon, the English have established some military posts, on islands. at the mouth of the river, where they cultivated an alliance of the savages, and secured for themselves the monopoly of the cabinet and dye woods of the country. On the upper country of the Oronoco, between 3° and 4° N. L. is seen the astonishing phenomenon of the ' black waters.' The waters of the Atabaco, Temi, Tuainini and Guiainia is of a coffee color. Under the shade of the palm forests, it becomes deep black. In transparent ves sels, it shows of a golden yellow, in which the image of the southern con stellations is reflected with great brilliancy. In the black rivers there are no alligators, nor fish, fewer musquetoes, and a cooler and healthier air. They are supposed to derive their colors from a solution of carburet of hydrogen from the multitude of vegetables that cover the soil, through which they flow. Llanos. In Guiana and New Granada are seen' these astonishing de serts. Over an extent of more than a thousand square leagues, the burning soil no where varies more than a few inches in level. The sand, like a vast sea, exhibits curious phenomena of refraction and mirage. The traveller is guided only by the stars, or a solitary palm trunk seen at an immense distance. These plains*change their appearance twice every year. At one time they are as bare, as the Lybian deserts ;. and at an other they are covered with a verdant turf, like the steppes of Tartary. They have begun to rear cattle on these immense plains, and notwith standing the alternate danger of the dry season, and the inundation of the rainy, the cattle multiply to an amazing extent. These plains are surrounded by savage and frightful solitudes. Forests of impenetrable thickness cover the humid country between the Oronoco and the Amazon. Immense masses of granite contract the beds ofthe rivers. The forests and mountains incessantly resound with the deafening noise of cataracts, the roaring of beasts of prey, and the hollow howling of the bearded Vol. II. 20 154 SOUTH AMERICA. monkey, which prognosticates rain. The alligator stretching himself on a sand bank, and the boa, concealing in the mud his enormous coils anx iously await their prey, or repose themselves after carnage. New Grenada. Under this head we include not only the country properly so called, but the provinces of Panama and Darien. Quito con tains the provinces of Quito, Macas, Quixos, and Juan de Bracamoras. Guyaquil is also subject to the same country, and contains Santa Fe de Bogota, and Antioquia, Santa Martha, and Carthagena, San Juan de los Llanos, and Popayan, Raposo. Barbacoas and Choco, Beriquete, Novita and Roposo. New Grenada contains the greatest diversity of climate; and is temperate, and even cold and frosty, but very healthy on the ele- ¦vated lands. The air is burning, suffocating, and pestilential on the sea shore; and in some ofthe deep vallies ofthe interior. At Carthagena and iGuyaquil, the yellow fever is endemic. The town of Honda, though ele vated 900 feet above the sea, has an atmosphere excessively hot. This is on the river Magdalena. The river Cauca is obstructed by rapids. From Honda to Santa Fe the roads are dangerous through deep forests of oak, Melastome, and Cinchona. The unvarying nature of the climate in each belt, the want of an agreeable succession of the seasons, perhaps, also the frequent volcanic explosions have hindered the country from be coming populous. The cocoa of Guyaquil is in great estimation. Cy press, firs, juniper, the passion flower tree, the bambusas and the wax palm are common. Cotton, tobacco, and sugar are abundant. The in habitants make use of the expressed juice of the Uvilla instead of ink. It is a blue liquid, more indestructible, than the best ink of Europe. Coal is found at an elevation of 7,680. Platina is met with at Choco and Barbacoas. Choco is rich in gold dust. A piece of gold was found there, thatweiged 25 lbs. The country, also, contains extensive and rich veins of silver. At Muzo in the valley of Tunca are the principal eme rald mines of Peru. Small diamonds, are also found here. Sulphuret ted mercury is discovered in some of the gold mines. Chief Towns. Santa Fe de Bogota is the seat of government, and of a university. It contains 30,000 inhabitants, many churches and magnifi cent houses, and five superb bridges. The air is constantly temperate. The grains of Europe here produce abundant crops. Near this place in the Rio de Bogota is the cataract of Tequendama. The river, before it Teaches the leap is 270 feet wide ; but at the cascade itself it narrows to between 30, or 40 feet. But still there is presented in the driest seasons * surface of 756 square feet. At two leaps the river rushes down 530 feet. There is no where in the world another so large a body of Water that has a fall to compare with it. Rainbows glitter with the most brilliant colors. An immense cloud of vapor rises, which may be dis- SOUTH AMERICA. 155 tinguished at a distance of 15 miles. This vapor, condensed in mois ture, conduces to the exceeding fertility of the vale of Bogota. The people of Santa Fe say, in describing this fall, that the TequeTadama is so high, that the water leaps at one fall from the cold region Tierra Frict to the hot region Tierra culiente. There is an astonishing natural bridge at the vale of Icononzo. The arch is 47 feet long by 41 broad, and the1 bridge is 317 feet above the level ofthe torrent, that has pierced its way under the rocks, probably, by the agency of an earthquake! Porto Bello on the Atlantic, and Panama on the Pacific, were formerly more flourish ing towns, than at present. The precious metals, that now find their way abroad from Buenos Ayres, used to be shipped from these places. Although they are situated on two oceans, they are not more than 35; or 40 miles in a right line apart. The luxuriance of the vegetation is surprising. But the climate is exceedingly insalubrious. In the nar rowest part of the isthmus, it is only eight leagues from sea to sea. But the rocky and rugged nature of the soil, probably inteiiposes insurmount-' able obstacle to a canal. Carthagena on the Atlantic is now oneof thes chief towns. It has 25,000 inhabitants, a bishop's see, a university, and a deep and safe harbor. The country is fertile in the highest degree; but the air exceedingly insalubrious. To avoid the extremely hot air of; summer, unacclimated persons take shelter in the village of Turbaco,- surrounded by limpid springs, cooled by the refreshing and deep shade of colossal trees, and 900 feet above the sea. Various splendid trees, plants' and flowers adorn the vicinity; and not far from this place, are the cele brated air volcanoes. They issue from 18 or 20 volcanoes from 20 to 25 feet high. These cones are filled with water, and every 18 or 20 seconds a vast quantity of air, and sometimes mud is ejected with great force. The air is found to be azotic gas of a pure quality. Santa Martha hasjan excellent harbor, and a healthy situation. The district, to which it be longs, is fertile, and has mines of gold and silver, and' salt spring* Rio de la Hacha was formerly enriched by being the chief seat of the1 pearl- fishery. Popayan is an important town Containing 20^000 inhabitants; chiefly mulattoes. Near it rise two volcanoes covered with snow. Fastb- is a town situated at the foot of a terrible volcano, and surrounded1 by forests and marshes. It is a high table plain in a region almost too elevated and cold for vegetation. The inhabitants are surrounded by ever steaming sulphur pits, and can raise little beside potatoes. When thisf crop fails, they eat the trunk of a small tree called Achupallo-. The bear of the Andes feeds upon the same, and the inhabitants and' the bears there- come in conflict for their food.' The province of Choco would be richer in the fertility of its hills* and the excellence of its cocoa, than its mines, if human industry- were not 156 SOUTH AMERICA. interdicted by its cloudy and burning climate. Dark forests, thick clouds, howling winds the roar of thunder, perpetual torrents dashing between bristling rocks, the hollow groans of the waves, torn by tempests, the howling of wolves, the roaring of tigers, the hissing of enormous snakes, crawling under the humid grass of the marshes, and with their vast coils encircling the trunks of the trees, innumerable insects, engendered by the heat and stagnant air — Such is the picture, which M. Marmontel draws of this country. Gorgona and the Pearl islands in the bay of Choco are more inhabitable. Quito, the ancient capital of the second Peruvian monarchy is cele brated for its manufactures. It is situated nearly 10,000 feet above the level of the sea, and too high for the region of perpetual spring. The atmosphere is chilly and lowering, and the climate rather severe. In 1797, an earthquake overwhelmed this province and in a moment destroyed 40,000 people. Since that time earthquakes have been continually re peated. Yet the population, 60 or 70,000 in number, breathes gaiety, luxury and pleasure on this earth heaving under their feet. Guyaquil is a sea port, with a dock-yard and abundance of ship tim ber in its vicinity. It contains 18 or 20,000 inhabitants, and is a port of interchange between the productions of Mexico, and those of Chili and Peru. The provinces of Quixos and Macas in 2° S. L. have their winter from April to September, The vast province of Maynas extends along the Amazon. It contains a very few Spanish establishments — the prin cipal one is San Joaquin de Omaguas. Ibarra, between 50 and 60 miles from Quito, contains 12,000 inhabi tants with considerable manufactories. Otavola, S. W, of this place) contains from 18 to 20,000 inhabitants. The district of Quito is noted for its large caves, the excellence of its cocoa, the variety and beauty of its cabinet woods, and the terribly efficacious poison of the Manzanillo tree, under which, if a person sleep, sickness and death would ensue in consequence. The caoban is a beautiful species of mahogany. The ebony is a very large tree and yields a wood of a deep black, while the porsilde nearly resembles ivory. The Guayacan is a green wood. The bark of the Caoutchouc is used for mattrasses, curtains or sails. There is a wood, that petrifies in a few months, to a degree of hardness, that, it is asserted, pieces of it are used for gun flints. There are bees here, which make their nests under ground, from which great quantities of wax are extracted. Fine thread is made in great quantities from the leaf of the Aloe. There is, also, a tree from which a rich purple dye is extracted. There is, probably, no place on the earth where the vegetable kingdom is richer than in Quito, SOUTH AMERICA. 157 Volcanoes. Pinchina is, probably, the greatest volcano on the globe. The mouth of the crater is circular, and nearly a league in circumference. The inferior, when not on fire, is deep black. The tops of several mountains are seen inside of it. Their summits are 300 fathoms deep in the centre. The crater is probably on a level with the city of Quito. Cotopaxi is the highest of the volcanoes of the Andes, and the most de structive in its eruptions. In 1758 flames arose 2,700 feet above its summit. The roaring was heard at a town on the Magdalena, a distance of 600 miles. The sky continued as dark as night, after noon day. An other eruption occasioned destructive torrents of melted snow. M. Hum boldt heard the roarings of this volcano, 150 miles in a right line, like the repeated discharges of artillery. The group of the Gallipagos, of which 22 islands are known, is situa ted 5 or 600 miles from this coast. They are directly beneath the equa tor, and contain volcanic peaks. The Cactus and Aloe cover their sides, and a deep and black mould furnishes the nutriment of large trees. Flamingoes and turtle doves fill the air, and enormous turtles cover the shore. No trace of mortal foot, save that of the crews of ships occasion ally touching them, seems ever to have left its print on the soil. Peru. This country is penetrated by two chains of the Andes nearly parallel to each other. The one is called the Cordillera of the coast. The other is the central chain. Lower Peru is situated between the coast Cordillera and the sea, sloping from the one line to the other. The soil suffers from excessive aridity. Neither rain or thunder are known. The only fertile lands are those capable of irrigation. Nothing can exceed the fertility and beauty of such plains. The climate is remarkable for its mildness. The mercury seldom falls below 60°, and seldom rises above 86°. Upper Peru is between these two ridges. It is covered with rocks and mountains, with some fertile vallies. This region contains the richest veins of silver in the world. The longevity of the inhabitants of this region is proverbial. Interior Peru slopes in an eastern direction towards the banks of the Ucayal, and Maranon. The inhabitants denominate it Montana Reale. This country is as humid, as the other division is dry.. The forests are charmingly verdant, but subject to the draw back of inundations, marsh es, noxious reptiles, and innumerable insects. Peru is thinly peopled and not much adapted to become an agricultural country. There are neither roads nor canals. All conveyance is by packing on mules . Hence the fragrant gums, the medicinal plants, the precious woods, the musk nut, and the Peruvian cinnamon, the oil, cocoa, cotton, and silk will not pay the expense of transporting them to the coast. So much Cinchona has 158 SOUTH AMERICA been exported, however, as to have given the article the name of Peruvi an bark. But it is chiefly for its precious metals, that Peru is celebrated; abound ing in them to such a degree, as to be the figurative term for wealth. A projecting portion of Mount Ilimani gave way near La Paz, and a piece of gold was detached from it, that weighed 50 lbs. Most of the gold obtained at present is by washing the sands. The richest silver mines are those of Pasco, near Laurichocha. They furnish, annually, two mil lions of dollars. They are elevated over 13,000 feet above the level of the sea. The next richest mines are those of Chota, Fuentestiana, Cam- olacha, and Pumpa de Navar. Guanca Velica, not far S. W. from Lima, yields quicksilver. Tin, lead and copper mines abound. None, but the wretched Indians, can support working in these cold, damp mines, on such miserable provisions, as the snowy regions furnish. The business of mining is shared between three classes, the speculatores, the habilitadores, and the rescatiri. The ex ports of Peru consist of gold, silver, wine, brandy, pimento, cinchona, salt, vicunna wool, and coarse woollen goods. Towns. Lima is situated on the broad and fertile vale of the Rimac, and commands a view of the whole vale with the Andes in the distance' The Rimac flows beneath its walls. The form of the city is triangular, and it extends two miles in length. It is surrounded with walls fortified with bastions. The streets are clean, well paved, and cross each other at right angles. They are watered, and cleansed by aqueducts from the river. There are 355 streets. The houses of the rich have gardens attached to them, watered by canals from the Rimac. It is the seat of an university, and has many churches, convents and hospitals. It is the seat of government, and the chief tribunals. The prison, fhe Archbish op's Palace and Cathedral form the greater part of the side of the great square. They now have coffee houses and a theatre. But the people are still fond of bull fights and gambling, and superstition, bigotry and, vice prevail. The inhabitants are computed at 54,000. Cuzco is nearly equal in extent to Lima. It contains 32,000 inhabi tants, three fourths of Indian extract. Several of the ancient Peruvian monuments remain. The stones in one of these buildings are so immense, and so well joined, as to excite astonishment, how the work could have been done by a people not acquainted with masonry. The better build ings are of stone, among which churches and convents are most conspi cuous. The Dominican monastery occupies the site of the ancient temple of the sun. The residence of the virgins of the sun has been converted into a dwelling for the nuns of Cuzco. Priera and Lambay- eque are considerable towns. Each contains 8 or 9,000 inhabitants. SOUTH AMERICA. 159 Canetis, Parta, and Arica are, also, places of some importance. At Cax- amarca in upper Peru are shown the ruins of the palaces, where the last of the Incas was strangled by order of Pizarro. The population exceeds 12,000. Huanco, Pasco, Frontera, Atanjauja and Guanca Velica are towns of importance in Upper Peru. The latter town is elevated more than 12,000 feet above the sea; and though near the equator, rain, snow and sleet frequently fall in the same day. Santa Barbara is still higher, being between 14 and 15,000 feet high. The materials for building in this town are unlike those of any other. The water of a warm spring is cooled; and the calcareous matter, held in solution, falls during the pro cess. The sediment is put into vases, which shape it, and it gradually hardens into stone. Guamarga has 26,000 inhabitants, and a favorable position, but is unhealthy. The inhabitants of Condomora are affected, during thunder storms with sensations, as if stung by insects, produced, probably, by a high state of electricity. Arequipa is situated 6 or 700 miles S. E. of Lima; it is a large and well built city, watered by the Chile, with 24,000 inhabitants. The lake Titiaca is 240 miles in circumference, and subject to violent storms, that rush down from the Andes. La Plata in Southern Peru, has its name from a silver mine near it. It contains 15y000 inhabitants. La Paz has a mild and salubrious climate, with snowy mountains in the immediate vicinity. Its population is num bered at 20,000. Potosi, famous for its silver mines, once contained 160,000 souls. The population is now dwindled to 30,000. The discovery of these rich mines is described by tradition, as follows. An Indian named Diego Fluasco pursued a vicunna on the mountain hard by. To prevent himself from falling, he seized a shrub. It gave way with a quantity of turf at tached, and disclosed to the astonished Indian a large mass of silver. He entrusted the secret to a slave, who disclosed it. Oropesa is the chief town of a district, called from its fertility the granary of Peru. Farija is the capital of a country abounding in grain and wine. Atocama is a small town capital of a province of the same name. Santa Cruz de la Sierra is a considerable town and capital of a large province of the same name. We have no space for details of the empire of the Peruvians over thrown by Pizarro. Mango Capac, according to their traditions, was the founder of their worship and civil polity. They, certainly, had reached very considerable degrees of civilization, before the arrival of the Spaniards. They had built a road from Quito to Cuzco nearly 1500 miles. Another of equal length, in the lower parts of the country, ex tended from the centre to the remotest parts of the empire. The ascent 160 SOUTH AMERICA. of hills was graduated by mounds. Granaries were built at equal dis tances, and charitable houses were ever open to the weary traveller. Tem ples, fortresses and canals varied and improved the aspect of the country. Some ancient monuments were adorned with gold to the value of several million dollars. Under the empire of the Spanish, they have become indolent, and addicted to drunkenness; but rigid observers of the rules and ceremonies of the Romish church. Since the conquest of Peru, they have much decreased in numbers. Intoxication has been exceedingly fatal among them. And the small pox formerly carried off immense numbers, before the introduction of vaccination. The most recent in formation, before the revolution, gave to Peru, in all its extent, including Quito, Tucuman and Buenos Ayres, 3,500,000 souls. As instances of the extreme longevity in this country, there were eight individuals in Caxamarca, the youngest of whom was 114, and the eldest 147 years. A Spanish creole deceased, aged 144 years, and seven months. The various savage tribes, that roam over the more unsettled parts of these vast countries, like the Indians of North America, have various langua ges and customs. They generally admit the immortality of the soul, and believe in a metempsychosis, and receive with strong incredulity the doctrine of eternal punishment in hell. The Sustillo, or paper insect of the Pampantico and the banks of the upper Uallaga is a great curiosity. It lives exclusively on the leaves of the Pacol. The paper which they make, varies according to the quantity and quality of their food. A yard and a half of this paper was carried to Madrid. It is superior in thickness and durability to the best sort, that is made in China. A Jesuit informs, that he had written several letters on this kind of paper. Chili, Paraguay, Terra Magellanica, or Patagonia. Precipices and snow-covererl mountains form a boundary between Chili and Peru. The climate is mild and salubrious; the natives health ful and robust. The coast consists of a narrow beach, abruptly termi nated by lofty hills. Their ridges have a fertile table plain, watered by many streams and covered, occasionally with orchards, vineyards and meadows. However hot the days, the nights are delightfully cool. Rain seldom falls, except between July and August; and the number of days, in which it falls, does not exceed twenty in a year. In the central parts of Chili, thunder showers happen in the winter, and lightning is remarka bly vivid and terrific. Like Peru, it is subject to earthquakes, which counterbalance its fertility and fine climate. The volcanoes of the An des, burning in the midst of snows, heighten the sublimity of the natural scenery. Gold and silver mines are discovered in the Andes. There are whole hills of magnetic iron ore. Vegetation is of surprising grandeur SOUTH AMERICA. 161 The mountain forests are full of lofty trees. All the fruits of Europe and a great many aromatic shrubs grow in the vallies. In no country in America has the culture of the grape ever succeeded so well. There are incredible numbers of odoriferous shrubs and plants; and the cedars of the Andes are compared to those of Lebanon. Every thing of wood that belonged to a chapel 60 feet long, was made from one colossal tree. The olive tree grows nine feet in circumference. The apples are remarkable for their size, and of the great number of kinds of peaches, one sort weighs 16 ounces. There are also many plants and shrubs, useful in dying. Animals. Molina describes 36 classes of quadrupeds, that are Vfelige- nous to fhis country. Towns. The province of Copiapo is 100 leagues in extent, Copiapo, 12 leagues from the sea, has a population of 12,000. The streets of Coquimbo are shaded with myrtle trees. Quillota is in a fertile valley on the banks of the Aconcagua. Valparaiso is. the chief town. It is a flour^ ishing and rich place. Santiago has wide and well paved streets. There are a number of respectable public buildings. Before the revolution, the inhabitants amounted to 50,000. They are gay and hospitable ; there, as elsewhere in South America, music and dancing are the favorite amuse ments. Petrorca, celebrated for its gold mines, is situated above the re gion of perpetual snow. Talca is the chief town of a district abounding in wine, corn and cattle. In the province of Purchacay the fertility in corn and wine is very great. A fat ox is sold for four crowns; and the price of a sheep is less than a dollar. New Conception is in the valley of Mocha. The population exceeds 12,000. The island of Chiloe is the chief of a group of 47. The population of the whole island is 25,000. The capital is San Juan de Castro. The whole group is subject to earth* quakes. The two islands of Juan Fernandez are 800 miles from the coast of Chili. The chief has mountains, woods and fertile vallies and is a resting place for ships. Two persons, whose adventures gave rise to the novel of Robinson Crusoe, resided on one of them. Alexander Selkirk, being left there by his fellow sailors, subsisted five years by hunting. The other, a Musquito Indian, was abandoned by buccanneers. Cuyo is separated from the rest of the country by the Andes, and is for that reason called Transmontano. It is only recently, that its mines of silver and gold have been wrought. It is not a very fertile country. Some parts are parched with heat, and others blasted with Cold. A re markable species of cocoa palm is not uncommon, in the vallies. The centre of its trunk is so soft, that the inhabitants use it for making'.cloth, which, if it be not very fine, is at least strong and flexible. Vol. II. 21 162 SOUTH AMERICA. The province of Tucuman, a country little frequented, lies to the north east of Cuyo. The Andes penetrate it in the north, and the rest is one immense plain. Many of the rivers, that water the country, spread into lagoons, and are lost. The country abounds in fossil salt. Salt petre is abundantly collected on the plains. The climate is considered salubrious. The forests abound with wild animals and swarms of wild bees. The Aramos weaves on the trees a beautiful silver colored silk. The Quebracho tree is so hard, that the axe sometimes breaks in cutting it. The products are corn, wine and cattle. One valley fattens 60,000 mules for the fair. The chief town is Cordova. San Felipe and Jujui are inconsiderable places. A few villages are scattered over these im mense plains. The people live a moral and arcadian life. The whole country, watered by the La Plata, has generally been called Paraguay. The vallies of Chaco west of that river are impregnated with salt and nitre. These plains are sometimes covered with moving sands, or rendered unwholesome by marshes, where the smaller rivers are lost. The Uraguay flows down lofty and steep mountains, before it reaches the sea. It is more than 3 miles broad 400 miles from the sea. The country, to which Buenos Ayres is central, is fertile, but almost destitute of wood. Its sandy soil is mixed with a rich, black mould. To the south the pampas are boundless to the vision. Not a shrub, not a marine plant is seen, in travelling long distances. In 1530, horses and oxen were imported into the country. They now cover the plains in a wild state. Sometimes 10,000 are seen in a single herd. The horses are dark sorrel, easily broken, and no ways inferior to the common horse. The oxen and cattle are of a number of varieties, and are as useful to the inhabitants, as camels to Arabs, or reindeer to the Laplanders. They supply almost every thing, in the circle of their wants. Dragon's blood, cinchona, nux vomica, and vanilla are common productions of the coun try. The pomegranate, peach, fig, orange, and a variety of palms flourish. The matte, or paraguay tea, is made from the leaves of a species of ilex. If the laborers are not supplied with this tea, they refuse to work the mines. Paraguay tea is more used in those countries than Chinese in England. Two million dollars worth are sold in South America. An infusion of the leaves and twigs is drunk through a glass or silver tube. Different kinds of apes are seen in the woods. The Armadillo burrows in the forests. The guazou is a new species of wild deer. The Jaguar, Felis Pardalis, and the Erva aie species of the tiger cat seen here. Towns. There no large towns in Paraguay. Ascension is on the east ern bank of the Paraguay, 18 miles from the first mouth of the Pilconiayo. The population may amount to 6 or 8000 inhabitants. Curaguaty and SOUTH AMERICA. 163 Neembuco contain, the one 2,250, and the other 1,800 souls. The par ishes consist, for the most part, of country houses in the vicinity of a church or chapel. In the year 1804, the population was less than 100,000 souls. The government is divided into three districts. The first is that of Corientes, and the missions between the Parana and Uraguay. The second Uraguay between that river and the Rio Negro and the ocean. The vegetable productions of all these colonies are valuable. Sugar succeeds remarkably. Ship timber, dye woods and the vegetables com mon in the Brazils, are found here. The population has been calculated from 50 to 60,000, including the civilized Indians and savages. The Guaranis extended their settlements to these remote regions. The Char- mas long and bravely defended the banks of the La Plata against the Europeans. They are a silent stern people, who do not practise the uni versal Indian amusement of dancing. Towns. Monte Video has its name from a mountain near the town. It is situated on the La Plata, sixty miles from its mouth. The population is, perhaps, 20,000. Maldonado is a place of some importance on the same side of the river. Missions. The catholic missions of Paraguay have been the theme of eloquence, of history and song. The Jesuits were certainly enlight' ened and humane ; and no parallel to their missionary success is recorded in history. On these beautiful, but remote and unfrequented plains they had gathered a hundred thousand from these ignorant, wandering and fierce tribes, who lived under their sway, paying them a homage bordering on adoration. They were baptized, learned the decalogue, and a form of prayer. They spun and wove the cloth, they wore. But the Jesuits were banished. Part of their country was ceded to the Portuguese. They are now reduced to less than half their former number. Towns. Buenos Ayres was so named on account of the salubrity of its climate. It is on a plain, on the south bank of the La Plata 210 miles from its mouth. The town is fortified, and the streets broad and well paved. But the harbor road is exposed to the winds, and full of rocks and shallows. Meats are very cheap, though living is not so. Two fowls cost as much as an ox. This town is the great outlet from the interior ; and of the produce of Chili and Peru. The population amounts to 60,000 souls. It has been computed, that the shepherds of these plains tend twelve millions of oxen. But in this delicious climate, and on this luxuriant soil, the people degenerate to demi-savages, and are ignorant, indolent and miserable. They live in mud cottages, and gam ing is their predominant passion. A pasturage of five square leagues is not thought a large pasture farm. They are always on horse-back, and are strong and healthy, attaining often to extreme old age. They are 164 SOUTH AMERICA. brave, and fearless of danger, and reckless of life. Often they form themselves into guerrilla bands of banditti, and subsist by plunder, carrying off the women from Buenos Ayres, who frequently show no dis position to return. The Guachos of Buenos Ayres and the Guasos of Chili make admirable soldiers; and when led by able officers, no Euro peans can withstand them. At Mendoza there are extensive vineyards, where excellent wine is made. The population is rated at 13,000. San Juan at 8,000, San Luis at 2,500, and Cordova at 10,000. The country south of Valdivia and Buenos Ayres is thinly peopled by independent tribes. The country between Biobio and Valdivia, in the fertility of its soil, the abundance of its springs, and the temperature of its climate, is even more delightful, than that of Chili. The river Biobio rises in the Cordillera, and enters the sea six miles west of Conception. It is a wide and deep stream. The Araucanian Indians, who possess these countries, have remained invincible and independent. The Spanish have even cel ebrated their heroism in Epic poems. The province of Tuya is situated south of Buenos Ayres, between the two rivers Saladillo and Hucuque. It is covered with marshes and small lakes. It is probable, that the pam pas extend from Tucuman to 40° S. L. The Colorado and Negro rise in the Chilian Andes, and flow through these vast and unknown regions* The Indians are as expert horsemen, as the Tartars. The Comarca De- perta is placed on the Spanish maps from 40° to 45° S. L. Patagonia. It seems now to be generally admitted, that the Indians, who inhabit the storm beaten shores of Patagonia, are of gigantic size. Their mean height, it is said, varies from six to seven feet. They have had little communication with other people, and have adhered to their immemorial customs, and rude fare. The climate of Patagonia is more rude and stormy, than in the same latitudes north of the equator. Three vast oceans detach it from the rest of the world. Winds and opposite currents here meet in conflict. It is traversed by a broad belt of moun tains. The atmosphere on the east of this belt is unclouded and serene, and the soil generally sterile. West of them, the country is covered with forests, and subject to incessant rains. Birches and other trees of north ern climates are common. Herds of wild oxen are seen in the interior. Tho Armadillo and a species of Jaguar have been observed on the coast. Straits of Magellan. They were discovered by a navigator, whose name they bear, in 1519. The length of the strait is 450 miles, and the breadth varies from two to fifteen leagues. The country near Port Fam ine on these straits, notwithstanding its ill omened name, abounds in game, and produces different sorts of fruit. Lofty trees are not uncom mon. The Archipelago of Toledo is situated farther to the north, and the largest island upon it is Madre de Dios. To the south of Patagonia, SOUTH AMERICA. 165 there is a number of cold, barren and mountainous islands. , Volcanoes, which cannot melt, -brighten, and illumine the perpetual snow in these dismal regions. The country on the southern shores of the strait, was called Terra del Fuego, from the circumstance, that the Spanish when they discovered the country saw fires un its shores. Narrow channels, strong currents and boisterous winds render it dangerous to enter this desolate labyrinth. Phoci Sport in the bays, or repose their unwieldy bodies in the sand. Flocks of penguins and other antarctic fowls consort here. Most ships now double Cape Horn, as affording an easier and safer passage to the Pacific. Towards the Atlantic ocean, a rich verdure decks the vallies, and use ful animals are found in the woods and pastures. The Indians are so excessively dirty, that travellers can with difficulty distingush the color of their skin. The Falkland islands are three hundred miles eastward of these straits. They are destitute of trees, but covered with a long grass, in which bask the sea lions, sea calves and sea wolves. The Spaniards left cattle there, which increased rapidly. Georgia, situated 1,200 miles from Cape Horn, is a dreary and frozen country. New South Shetland, and another chain of islands in 62° S. L. were discov ered in 1820. The ground is sterile, and the hills and rocks covered with snow. The sea abounds with seals, and other animals common to the Atlantic regions. History. The regime of the Spaniards in this vast country was ex ceedingly rigid and oppressive. Trading with foreigners was punished with death. No native born Americans were entrusted with any places of trust or importance. Individuals were imprisoned for instructing the poor. A viceroy gave offence, by establishing a naval school. Whole tribes of Indians perished by working in the mines. The troubles in old Spain under the regime of Bonaparte first roused the inhabitants of Spanish America to a sense of their condition and their strength. A se dition, broke out in Venezuela in 1797. The authority of Bonaparte, or his brother, was never recognized. The independence of that state was declared in Tucuman in 1816. The South American countries had long and severe;Struggles with the royalists. In 1818 the best troops of Spain were annihilated by San Martin on the plains of Maipo. The freedom of South America has been dated from that victory. The rights of the people were purchased by blood, toil, exposure and sacrifices of property, and of every kind. Slavery, after a limited period, is to cease. The mita and tribute money are, also, abolished. Liberty of the press was enacted. Public measures have been adopted for the advancement of a general system of common school education. The censorship ofthe jjpress has been abolished. The New Testament in Hr.ar.Uh has been dis- 166 SOUTH AMERICA. tributed among the people. There can be no more arbitrary and illegal imprisonments, nor opening of letters, nor violation of the private sanctu ary of the dwelling house. Monopolies are abolished, and trial by jury will, probably soon be adopted ; and it is hoped, that religious freedom will shortly make apart of their institutions. Government. The electors are chosen by the people on a fixed ratjo ofthe population, and the members of Congress are taken from the elec toral assemblies. The legislative forms, bodies, officers and chiefs are modelled much after the pattern of the United States. Bolivar, who was long the master spirit of Spanish South America, was styled Liberador, and the powers entrusted to him were in a measure despotic. He has de ceased leaving history uncertain whether to class him among. deliverers or usurpers. In regard to the question, whether they will be able to defend their in dependence, no country on the globe is so strongly fortified by nature against invasion. The immense mountains are impregnable barriers, where in a healthy air the inhabitants have only to guard their defiles, and cause the armies of their invaders to waste away with sickness on the scorching and humid plains. The river Plate has its peculiar difficulties,; of ascent; and the eastern coast of Mexico is inaccessible to a hostile fleet. The inhabitants enjoy the blessings of plenty, industry and wealth. Private property is held sacred ; and these blessings have the zest of being entirely new. The inhabitants are easily trained to become good sold iers, and in many of their battles with their invaders, and with each other, have fought with great gallantry, The population of the Republic of Co lombia is rated at 2,500,000, and the annual revenue at something more than. £,000,000 dollars. Brazil. The boundaries of this immense country are still in question. It stretches almost from the Amazon to the La Plata, and Guyana and the Atlantic are the northern boundaries. The Atlantic bounds it on the east. On the south it comes to a point. On the west it is bounded by Peruand Buenos Ayres. It constitutes two fifths of all South America, and a ter ritory ten times larger than France. Inhabitants. The population is reputed to amount to four millions, and is chiefly confined to the coast, and the mining districts. Soil. The maritime districts consist, for the most part of clay covered with a rich mould. Great part of the country is of extraordinary and in exhaustible fertility. On the northern coast is the great chain of Itiapaba mountains. The Marcella forms an interior range. In the very centre of South America are the immense plains and heights of Parexis, cover ed with sand and a light earth, and resembling at a distance the waves of, s stormy sea. Yet the streams Madera, Topayos, Xingu, Jaura, Sypo- SOUTH AMERICA. 167 toba, and Cuioba descend in different directions from this arid ridge, to feed the Amazon, the Paraguay and their tributaries. Most of these rivers roll auriferous sands, and at the sources of the Paraguay is a bed of diamonds. Different salines and salt lakes in the interior supply great quantities of salt. The Paraguay, in its long and mighty course forms by its inundations the great lake Xarayes. The noble cataract of the Parana constitutes a most sublime spectacle. The spectator observes six rainbows rising above each other, and the atmosphere is circumfused with the vapor. The coast adjoining the mouth of the Amazon and To- cantins is low and marshy. Many of the streams are precipitous torrents during the rainy season, and completely disappear in the dry. The Ma- ranhao, Rio Grande and Pariaba are important rivers. The Rio Grande de San Pedro is broad near the sea; but has not a long course. Climate. In a country so extensive, and so diversified by eleva tions the climate must be various. The regions along the streams, and near the elevated plains and mountains are delightful for-their tempe rature. San Paulo is a town 12,000 feet above the level of the sea and has all the charms of a tropical climate, without any of the inconveniences^ of excessive heat. Large tracts of the table lands are of this character. The wast wind, passing into the interior, over swamps and marshes, is considered unhealthy, But the fragrance of the aromatic plants in the woods partly corrects this unheajlhfulness. The rainy season commen- ' ces in March, and sometimes in February. The north wind blows with little remission, during the dry months. The soil of. the mountains is then parched. The nights are cool, and hoar frosts are net uncommon. During the sultriest season, the air along the coast is tempered by the refreshing sea breezes. Dews are excessive. At Rio Janeiro in 1781J the heat averaged by Fahrenheit, 72°. There fell 42 inches of rain/ The cloudless days were 112. The cloudy days without rain were 133; and the days of rain were 120. There were thunder storms, during 77 days, and dense mists during 43. Minerals, precious stones, Sfc- The chief diamond district in Brazil is that of Cerro de Frio, a territory ofthe loftiest and most rugged mouh- tains in Brazil, and in extent 16 leagues from north to south by 8 from east to west. The precious stones found there were considered brijjht crystals, and used as card counters. They were sold to the Dutch be fore their value was known. In 20 years 1,000 ounces were imported into Europe from Brazil. So great an amount in so short a timeydi- minished their value, and caused them to be sent from Brazil to India, instead of being imported from that country, as formerly. Cerro de.Frio has few attractions for settlers. Sterile mountains and desert plains in form the traveller that he is in the diamond district. Between 1801 and 168 SOUTH AMERICA. 1806 the diamonds imported from Brazil to Lisbon weighed 115671 carats. A great amount was, no doubt, sent abroad clandestinely, and many were circulated privately, through the country, and received instead of money. They differ in weight from a grain to 17 carats. If a slave find one weighing 17i carats, he is crowned with flowers, and manumit ted. Topazes of different colors, and chrysoberyls, susceptible of a most beautiful polish, are found in this country. There are gold mines in the vicinity of St. Paulo, and Villa Rica, but they have not yet been much worked. Most of the gold from this country is supplied by washing tho soil. A bowl full is washed in less than a quarter of an hour, and yields on an average 16 pence worth of gold. A fifth part goes to the crown. Humboldt supposes that the annual value does not exceed five millions of piastres. Plants. This country, as might be expected, is extremely rich in tropical plants. The tribe of the palms is numerous and splendid. Sev eral of these kinds are more lofty and splendid than even those of India, No words can reach the richness and splendor of many of the fruit and flowering trees. Some flower many times in a year. The Lecythis ol laria grows in the woods of S. Yoao Baptista to the height of 100 feet. Its summit is covered with rose coloured leaves, and white blossoms. Its, nuts are as large as a cannon ball ; and it is not safe to remain underihe trees when these nuts are falling. The Indians eat the seeds roasted as a substitute for bread. A writer of the country affirms that no country possesses so excellent wood for ship building. A merchant ship may be had in Brazil for half the sum it costs in Europe. The trade of Bahia and several other sea ports consists chiefly in ship building. The royal navy of Portugal consists chiefly of Brazilian timber. There is an end less variety and profusion in the species of trees and plants, compared with those of more northern countries. But the trees are easily blown up by the wind; and being of an immense length, destroy many others in their fall. There are many dyeing woods and vegetables in Brazil. The famous Brazil wood is of three species, mirim, rozado, and Brazilletlo. Cassada is the principal nourishment of the inhabitants. Ignames, rice, wheat and maize are, also cultivated. Maize yields 200 for 1. Each plant of the mandioca produces from 6 to 12 pounds of bread. The marobi yields a great quantity of oil. Melons, gourds, and bananas abound. Lemons, guavos, and different kinds of oranges grow along the coast. From the fruit of the mangaba they make an agreeable beverage. Pine apples grow abundantly in some provinces. The culture of sugar, coffee, cotton, and indigo has of late years made considerable progress. The finest tobacco is cultivated in some parts of the country. The banks of SOUTH AMERICA. 169 the rivers are covered with immense forests of cocoa trees, and the ten drils of vanilla are seen clinging, like ivy, round the highest branches; The country produces different sorts of pepper, the wild cinnamon, and the Brazilian cassia. The country is, also, prolific in medicinal plants. All the quadrupeds common to Peru are found here; and a number of others that are peculiar to this region. Various species of apes are seen in the woods. The vampyre bat fixes on the jugular vein of animals, and is supposed to lull the pain of its bite by flapping its wings, all the time it sucks the blood. Two species of sloths inhabit the country, and of all lands under the sun, Brazil has the largestand gaudiest butterflies. Birds. The Brazilian birds are distinguished for the variety and splen dor of their plumage. The red, blue, and green parrots frequent the tops of the trees. The gallinaceous and pigeon tribes haunt the woods. Ori oles, manakins, and orioles resound their songs through the forest. The toucan is prized for its feathers, which are lemon, blight red, and black in different parts of the body. The different specie3 of humming birds are more numerous than in any other country in America. There are ten species of wild bees, most of which produce honey of an aromatic flavor. Cochineal might be produced in abundance. A species of mil- rex is found on the coast of St. Catherine's, of the size of a nut, which yields a color at first yellow, but on exposure to the air a rich crimson, supposed to be identical with the purple of the ancients. Departments. Brazil is divided into nine governments, called capitan- ias, as follow: Rio Janeiro, Para, Maranhao, Pernambuco, Bahia, Sail Paulo, Mattogrosso, Goyaz, andJVIinas Geraes. The primate of Brazil holds the highest ecclesiastical office. There are two supreme courts of justice, one at Bahia ; the other at Rio Janeiro. There are also 24 comarcas, in_ which are established subordinate courts. Chief Towns. Rio Janeiro has been called by some writers Saint Sebastian. This town has an excellent harbor, defended by the castle of Santa Cruz. The hills in the vicinity are adorned with houses, churches or convents. The entrance to the harbor is confined by several islands, adorned with houses. The beautiful bay is a great ornament to the town. Its calm and transparent waters reflect on all sides the images Of steep rocks, thick forests, churches and houses. The most remarkable public buildings are the convents of St. Antonio and St. Theresa, the ancient college of the Jesuits, and the church of Nossa Senhora di Gloria . The town is well supplied with water by an aqueduct. In 1817 it contained 1 10,000 inhabitants. It has been recently rated to contain 200,000. It is very favorably situated for trade with every quarter of the globe. Its exports are numerous, rich, abundant, and under an enlighten ed administration it would be a great mart for the most distant countries. Vol H. 22 170 SOUTH AMERICA. Rio Grande, the most southern captaincy, is watered by many rivers with well wooded banks ; and some of them are rich in gold. Numerous flocks of ostriches wander in the plains, and the forests abound in game. If a better system of agriculture were established, Rio Grande mi»ht soon become the granary of the kingdom. Rio Grande, the chief town, is a city of importance. The island of St. Catharine is embellished by beautiful scenery of rocks and woods. Refreshing breezes temper the solstitial heats. The soil in the interior is of extraordinary fertility. An exuberant profusion of flowers indicates a genial climate. The jessamine and the rose are in bloom through the year. The delightful vale of Picada is thickly studded with white cottages in the midst of orange groves, and coffee planta tions. The plain of Con-it iva, perhaps the richest in the world, has been con nected with the ocean, by a road made across a lofty ridge of mountains, 4,000 feet above the level of the sea. Rio Janeiro and San Paulo are supplied with cattle, horses and mules from this fertile district. The best rice in Brazil is raised in the district of Santos. A paved road has been made from Santos, the port town, to San Paulo in the interior. It is cut in many places through solid rocks, and in others along theedge of precipices. Fine springs form romantic cascades in the midst of the rocks. The traveller ascends under arbours of shade, and half way up the ascent looks down upon the clouds. The summit of the mountain is 6,000 feet above the level of the sea, which, though 20 miles distant, 'seems to wash the base. On this mountain, in a wide plain, is situated the city of San Paulo, with a climate the most delightful in the world. Its streets are broad and clean; and its population, with its dependent parishes, 30,000. The in habitants are famous for ornamenting their gardens; and the ladies are equally renowned for their beauty and sprightliness. The term Panlista is one of compliment to a lady, as implying that she looks as if she might be an inhabitant of that city. The people are noted for their spirit, en terprize and patriotism. The population of Minas Geraes has been rated at half a million. The country, though almost unexplored, is rich in agricultural products of almost every sort. The grape yields a delicious wine; but the people in the gold and diamond districts neglect their vines, and drink water. Many of the trees are adapted for dyeing and tanning. The adracanth is here of the best quality, and the sugar cane grows in its wild state. Villa Rica, the chief town, has been improved of late years. It is well supplied with water, and its principal street is half a league in length. From its elevated situation, it happens that the thermometer seldom. SOUTH AMERICA. 171 reaches above 82° in the shade, and its range is between this point and 48°. The population amounts to 20,000 souls. The capitania of Goycz, on aceount of its inland situation, is seldom visited. Its rivers are well stocked with fish, and its woods abound with game. But the inhabitants are scattered over a vast extent of country. Some of the mines are rich in gold. The diamonds are larger though not of so pure a water as those of Cerro del Frio. Cotton is cultivated near the frontiers. Villa Boa, the chief town, is built in a low situation on the banks of the Vermelho. The government of Bahia stretches along the coast. The soil is prin cipally a rich vegetable mould, is watered by many streams, and well ad apted to the cultivation of the sugar cane. Its tobacco, coffee and rice are famous. The beautiful Brazil wood, growing here, is equal to that from Pernambuco. San Salvador de Bahia, the chief city, is nearly four miles in length, from north to south. The lower part of the town inhab ited chiefly by mechanics and tradesmen, is considered unhealthy. The wealthy inhabit the higher part, nearly 600 feet above the level of the sea. The population has been estimated at 18,000 souls, of which colored people constitute, perhaps, two-thirds. The city is 'well built. The chief occupation of the people consists in ship building. The town is better supplied with provisions than Rio Janeiro. Oranges, water melons, pine apples, and different sorls of fruit are plentiful throughout the dis trict. The excessive heat of the climate is moderated by the sea breeze and by the circumstance of the shortness of the days, and the equality of the nights. The government of Pernambuco is famed for its dye woods, vanilla, cocoa, rice and sugar. Its cotton was a long time considered the best in the world. The lower part of the city is built on two islands, and is called Recif, or Pernambuco. The other part, built on an eminence three miles distant, has received the name Olinda. The population of the two towns amounts to 65,000 souls. Piauhy is 400 miles from noith to south, and 70 in medium breadth. Gold, iron. and lead have been discovered in this district. The province has been more recently termed Maranham, and is important for the value of its productions. Annato, capsicum, pimento, ginger, and the best fruits of Europe grow in great abundance throughout the province. The chief town, Maranham, contains 30,000 inhabitants, Grand Para and Rio Negro form the largest government in Brazil, ex* tending 800 miles from east to west, and 400 in breadth. Grand Para, the chief town, is sometimes called Belem. The population amounts to 20,000 inhabitants, who are poor and destitute of employment. - The capitania of Mattogrosso abounds with forests of wild cocoa trees, and 172 SOUTH AMERICA. the different kinds of wood, which grow in the lower parts of Brazil. Small pieces of gold are collected from the beds of .the rivers. The city of Cuiabu is the chief town, and is situated on a river of that name 240 miles from its junction with the Paraguay. The papulation amounts to 30,000, and is well supplied with fish, fruits and all sorts of vegetables. Natives. Various tribes are scattered over this immense country. They are strong, and well made and of the usual copper complexion. They are represented by the Portuguese, as being mostly cannibals. The Jesuits had multitudes of these wandering savages completely subjected to their rule. The Guarini is a- language very generally known by the natives. But there are fifty-One dialects, spoken by different tribes of the interior that have no affinity with the Guarini. Government. This country at present takes the proud name of an empire, The two crowns of Portugal and Brazil are separated. A revo lution has recently induced the emperor to abdicate his crown; and the government is in an unsettled state. There are even hopes, that it will throw off its miserable pageant of an emperor, and become like the other American states, a republic. This country, independently of its military resources, which are respectable, might be a great state, both on account of its position, and the extent and fertility of its soil. Its population, like that of Russia, or the United States, might be doubled in a few years. But before this can be effected, this naturally fine country must have a Czar Peter, or free institutions. It has been hitherto bowed down under a yoke of iron. Guiana is bounded on the south by the Amazon, on the west by the Rio Negro, and on the north and north-west by the Orinoco and the At lantic ocean. The coast is low, and at several leagues from the shore, subject to inundation. On these low grounds grow the mangrove, in which the water remains stagnant. The marshes and fens are covered with reeds, and afford resorts to innumerable wild fowls, and caymans, or crocodiles. No calcareous rocks have hitherto been observed in this country. The highest inland mountains are not more than 1,800 feet above the level of the sea. The mouths of the rivers are broad and shal low. At a distance in the interior they abound in cascades. No fewer than thirty-eight have been counted on the Essequibo. They are obser ved, also, on the Demarara, Oyapok, Maroni, Berbice, Corentins, Sina- mari and the Arouri. Seasons. The dry season lasts from the end of July to November; and the rainy season corresponds to the winter months in Europe. The most violent rains sometimes fall in January and February. The weather is dry and agreeable, during the month of March and the beginning of May. April and the latter part of May are subject to continual rains. SOUTH AMERICA. 173 The climate is not liable to the excessive heat of the East Indies, Africa or the West Indies. The winds, passing over a vast extent of ocean, temper the sultriness and the oppressive heats. Europeans affirm, that the morning and evening brerfzes are cold in many parts of the interior. Diseases. Guiana, has, perhaps, been thought more sickly, than it really is. The climate is certainly humid, and the air rendered insalu brious by thick woods and uncultivated lands. It is supposed, that the cutting down the trees is unfavorable to the health uf the first colonists. Tertian and quartan agues, though common, are not dangerous. Epi demic diseases are rare. Inundations. This country is subject to' annual overflow of the rivers. Quadrupeds are forced to take refuge en the highest trees; lizards, agoutis, and pecaris quit their watery dens, and remain on the branches. Aquatic birds spring upon the trees, to avoid the cayman and serpents that infest the temporary lakes. The first forsake their ordinary food, and live on the fruits and berries of the shrubs, through which they swim. The crab is found upon the trees, and the oyster multiplies in the forest. The Indian, who surveys from his canoe this confusion of earth and sea, suspends his hammock on an elevated branch, and sleeps without fear in the midst of the danger. Oranges, lemons, the guava, the laurus persea, the Sapota, the amiona, and other fruits grow in the cultivated lands, all the year. The wild fruits bear but once in a year. The most remarkable of these are the grenadilla, and the different species of the palms. The mango and other East Indian plants thrive in Guiana; but the fruits of Europe, with the exception of the grape, fig and pome granate, are not adapted to the climate. Three species of the coffee tree were found here indigenous. The Arabian was afterwards added. The country produces in abundance, cloves, cinnamon and different sorts of pepper. The cocoa tree in some places grows spontaneously. Indigo and vanilla are indigenous to the soil. Manioc and cassada are consider ed the most important alimentary plants. The potato, the igname, two kinds of millet and the tayove are also very nutritive. Medicinal plants. The quassia wood is brought from this country. Various other medicinal vegetables abound. The country is, also, equal ly prolific in poisonous vegetables. The duncane is said to occasion in stant death. The Indians dip their arrows in a solution of the bark of the woorari tree. A negro woman, whose skin had been grazed by one of these arrows, expired in a short time, and her infant, though not wounded, lost its life from sucking her breast. Forest trees. The bananas and mangles are soft and porous. Some of the trees are susceptible of a fine polish, though it is difficult to cut tiiem, on account of their excessive hardness. Various kinds of beauti 174 SOUTH AMERICA. ful cabinet woods are found in the forests, which abound in varied and romantic scenery. Great varieties of flowering creepers and shrubs dif fuse fragrance through the air. Parasitical plants in many places render the forests impassable. The simira yields a rich crimson dye. The largest canoes are made from the wild cotton tree. Quadrupeds. The same as those of Brazil and Paraguay. The red tiger of Surinam is less than the jaguar, but resembles it in habits, and is equally ferocious. The tiger cat is a beautiful animal, not much larger than, the domestic cat, and is lively, mischevious, and untameable. There are two speciey of the ant bear. One of the species is almost 8 feet in length, attacks the jaguar; and seldom leaves its hold without destroying it. The dog crab frequents the sea shore, and uses its feet very dexter ously in drawing shell fish out of their cavities. There are many spe cies of monkeys in Guiana. The guata is considered to be a striking resemblance to man, or rather to an Indian old woman. Three species of deer are indigenous. The agouti and paca are considered the best game in Guiana. Thecabiai is an amphibious animal, armed with strong tusks, and covered with bristles. The peccary, or mexican hog, has an orifice on his back, containing a fetid liquor, not unlike musk, The coati-monda is a great destroyer of poultry, and is said to be as cunning as a fox. The vampyre bat is the most destructive in the country. The boa, or as it is called in the language of the country aboma, is a large amphibious snake forty feet in length, and four'or five in circumference. It is indifferent, as to its prey, and destroys, when hungry, any animal, that comes within its reach. The negroes consider it excellent food, and its fat is converted into oil. The rattle snake and dipsas are the Most noxious reptiles in Guiana. The sting of the latter is not always fatal, but produces fever, acccompanicd with excessive thirst whence its name. Guiana is infested with serpents, lizards and cayman. Of the fresh water fish the pacoun and aymara are said to be the best. The warapper has been found on the trees. It feeds on them, during the inundations, and remains entangled among the branches, when the waters have sub sided. The Dutch settlements of Essequibo, Demarara and Berbice form, what has been called British Guiana, which is inhabited by 9,000 whites, and 80,000 negroes. The harbor ofthe city of Essequibo, though situated at the confluence of two large rivers, has not been hitherto considered of much importance. Most of the settlers reside on the banks ofthe river, near the plantations. Since the thick woods have been cut down, the refreshing sea breeze is not obstructed in its course, ar.d the climate is milder and more salubrious, than that of Surinam. SOUTH AMERICA. 175 Demarara is the most flourishing ofthe British settlements in Guiana. The population of Straboek, the capital, amounts to 10,000 souls, Many of the inhabitants are very wealthy, and the people still retain several Dutch customs, Foreign commodities are very dear. A guinea is frequently given for a pound of tea. New Amsterdam, the chief town, in the colony of Berbice, is situated on the river of the same name The marshy ground extends two or three leagues into the interior, and the land is supposed to be better adapted for cocoa and coffee, than for sugar plan tations. The fine colony of Surinam is still in the hands of the Dutch; and is, perhaps, the best monument of that industrious people. No part of the West Indies is so extensively, or so well cultivated. Parimarabo, the chief town, is built on the right side of the beautiful river Surinam. The streets are lined with orange, shaddock, tamarind and lemon trees, which appear in bloom, while their branches at the same time are weighed down with fruit. The walks are covered with gravel and sea shells. The houses are sumptuously furnished, The number of whites in Surinam amounts to 10,000; the negroes to 80,000, and the exports to£100,000 sterling. The Dutch and British settlements, in Guiana present a vast plain, covered with plantations, or enamelled with rich verdure, bounded on cneside by a dark ridge of impenetrable forests, and bounded on the other by the azure billows of the ccean. The garden between the sea and the desert is intersected by a great many streams confined by dikes, and separated from each other by excellent roads or navigable canals. The revolted negroes have established many petty republics in the inte rior. Although they go naked they live in abundance. They make their butter from the fat ofthe palm tree-worm, and extract good oil from the pistachio nut. They are expert huntsman and fishermen, and under stand the art of curing their provisions. They obtain salt from the ashes ofthe palm, and when a sufficiency cannot be procured, season their food with red pepper. The palm tree furnishes them with plenty of wine. Their fields are'eovered with rice, manioc, ignames and plantains. The Manicole supplies them with all the materials, from which their huts are constituted. Their cups are made from the calubash tree, and a sort of net work, woven by an insect, furnished them with their hats. The nebees, so common in the forests, are converted into cordage. They kindle a fire by rubbing two pieces of hard wood, which they call bi-bi, together. Can dles are made of their tallow, and their oil is burnt in lamps. The nu merous swarms of wild bees, with which their country abounds, yield them plenty of wax aud honey. Such are these simple republics of negroes, reduced in other respects to a state of nature. 176 WEST INDIES. France has never derived any advantage from its colony in Guiana. Cayenne, from its position, and the thickness of the surrounding woods and the depth of its marshes, is almost inaccessible. The whole num ber of whites in the colony amounted to 2,000, and the remainder ofthe inhabitants to 18 or 20,000. The exports, however have been tripled since 1789. Indians. A great many tribes inhabit the deep forests of the interior. They are affectionate, hospitable and simple in their manners to each other, but fierce and warlike to strangers, and unconquerable in their efforts to retain their independence. In the interior of this country was the fabu lous El Dorado of adventurers, about the )'ear 1540. West Indies, or Colombian Archipelago. This is a numerous group of islands, that stretch in the form of an arch, or bow, between the two Amer ican continents. They have been called Antilles from the Latin ante in- sulas. They are often called Carribees, and by the North Americans the West Indies. They extend from the gulf of Florida to that of Vene zuela, and are divided into the greater and less Antilles, and sometimes into the windward and leeward islands. Cuba, Jamaica, St. Domingo, and Porto Rico are the great Antilles. A remarkable current, called the gulf stream, sets through this group of islands. It passes from the gulf of Florida, like a swift river, immensely broad, with most singular ripples, in calm weather, along its points of contact with the still waters. Af ter passing from this chain of islands, it diverges from the American con- tinent, increasing in breadth as it diminishes in velocity. The waters of the gulf are warmer, than those of the still ocean. This sea is generally in a profound calm, whence the Spaniards call it the Ladies sea, and the water is then so transparent, that the mariner can discern fish and coral at 60 fathoms below the surface. The ship seems to float in air, and the spectator is often seized with vertigo, while he be holds through the chrystaline fluid submarine groves, and shining or monstrous fishes darting among them; or beautiful shells glittering among tufts of fucus and sea weed. Fresh water springs issue from the sea on both sides ofthe channel between Yurcatanand Cuba. They rush with such violence from the deep, that it is dangerous for small vessels to approach thence. Boats have been dashed to pieces by the violence of the surges that ensue. The seamen sometimes here draw their supplies of fresh water from the bottom of the ocean. Humboldt says, that some ofthe fish in these springs have never been found in the saltwater. There are mountains on all the larger islands of this Archipelago. The highest are on the west of St. Domingo, the east of Cuba and the north of Jamaica. Volcanoes have been observed in Gaudaloupe, and some other WEST INDIES. 177 islands. Their general geological feature is abrupt transition from moun tains to plains, marked by steep and craggy rocks. Coral and madrepore rocks are common on the different coasts. Cuba and the Bahamas are surrounded by labyrinths of low rocks, several of which are covered with palm trees. These islands are generally situated under the tropic of Cancer, and there is very little difference in the climate; so that the observations touching one of them will generally apply to the whole. The periodical rains, which give birth to the spring of the country, commence in May, and the brown of vegetation changes to a deep verdure. The periodical rains fall about noon, and cause a luxuriant vegetation. The medium standing of the thermometer is 78° Fahr. These showers are followed by the splendor of tropical summer. The sky is nearly cloudless, and the heat would be almost insupportable, but for the sea breeze. The moon emits a light, by which a person can see to read the smallest print by night. The thermometer now often rises above 90°, and suffocating calms announce the re-approach of the great periodical rains. Fiery clouds are seen in the atmosphere, and the mountains seem nearer, than at other times. The rains fall in torrents. It is said, that 87 inches fell in one year. Iron rusts rapidly; humidity is great, and the inhabitants live in a kind of vapor bath. The climate is then relaxing, unwholesome and dangerous to a European. Putrid and yellow fever ensues, as some say from miasm, and others whimsically affirm from lunar influence. It is now generally believed not to be contagious, and less dangerous on elevated, than marshy districts. The temperate zone of the Antilles commences at 1,400 feet above the level of the sea. The mountains at an elevation of 4000 feet are subject to mists and rains. Animals. Most of the wild animals indigenous to this climate are of a smaller size. The scorpion is found only in the large islands. Negroes are sometimes exposed to the murderous bite of the cayman or crocodile. Parrots of various species glitter in the woods, and innumerable aquatic birds congregate on the shores. Humming birds, darting along the bright flowers, vie in their plumage with the flowers, the emerald and ruby. All the tropical plants, shrubs and trees are natives of this climate. A canoe made from a single trunk of a cotton tree, has been known to contain a hundred persons ; and the leaf of one species of palm will shade five or six men. The palmetto, or mountain cabbage tree, grows 200 feet high, and its verdant summit trembles from the slightest breeze. A splendid variety of the noblest trees graces the plantations. Lemon, orange and. pomegranate trees perfume the air with the aroma of their flowers; while their branches are loaded with fruit. The apple, peach and grape ripen Vol. II. 23 178 WEST INDIES. in the mountains. The date, sapota, sapotilla, mammee, rose apple, gua- va, mange, different species of spondias and annonas, and most of the oriental tropical fruits ripen on the sultry plains. We should not have space to enumerate the splendid varieties of flow ering shrubs, opuntias, thistles and lianes. The polypodium arboreum, at a distance, might be mistaken for the palm tree, on account of its lofty trunk, and the broad leaves on its summit. Lignumvitae wintera-canela, cinchona caribea, wild vanilla, aloes, arnatto, and pimento are all either indigenous, or cultivated here. The igname and potato, manioc and angola peas are the food of the negroes. Sugar cane of the various spe cies is the well known, and most abundant production of these islands. No conflagration is more rapid, or alarming than a fire in a dry cane field, which frequently occurs. Two varieties of the cotton, the green seed, and the small seed are the most common kinds cultivated. The coffee of the country is a native of Arabia Felix. It seldom bears before the third season; sometimes not till the sixth. It never lasts more than 30 years, and frequently decays, before that time. A single plant produces from one to four pounds. Inhabitants. The Charibs, represented so fierce, and indomitable and the mild and timid races, first seen by Columbus, are nearly all ex tinct. The following may serve as a table of the present population. < Square Miles. Whites. Blacks. Whole Pop. Cuba, 54,000 234,000 198,000 432,000 Hayti, 28,000 650,000 650,000 Jamaica, 6,000 40,000 350,000 390,000 Porto Rico, 4,140 94,000 6,000 100,000 Guadaloupe, 670 13,000 8S,000 101,000 Martinico, 260 10,000 78,000 88,000 Barbadoes, 166 16,000 65,000 81,000 Antigua, 93 2,100 33,000 35,100 Santa Cruz, 100 3,000 30,000 33,000 St. Christopher, 70 4,000 26,000 30,000 Dominica, 291 1,600 25,000 26,600 Trinidad, 1,600 2,000 23,000 25,000 Grenada, 109 1,100 20,000 21,100 St. Eustatia, 20 5,000 15,000 20,000 Tobago, 140 900 15,000 15,900 St. Vincent, 131 1,500 13,500 15,000 St. Lucia, 220 2,400 11,700 14,100 WEST INDIES. 179 Margarita, 350 8,000 6,000 14,000 The Bahamas, 5,000 . 3,000 11,000 14,000 Nevis, 20 1,000 10,000 11,000 Montserrat, 47 1,000 10,000 11,000 Total, 443,000 1,683,000 2,126,000 Cuba is the largest and most important of these islands. It commands the windward passage, as well as the entrance into the gulfs of Mexico and Florida , and is called with reason the key of the West Indies. It is 700 miles in length, and on a medium 70 in breadth. It is equal in size to Great Britain. Its population is rated at 750,000, though we have reason to think, it exceeds that number. A small belt of the island only has yet been cultivated. A chain of mountains, not very lofty, extends through the whole island. The soil is exceedingly fertile; the climate more temperate, than most of the other islands; and Cuba is justly considered the healthiest and most fruitful settlement in the Antilles. It is, probably? the richest island, all things considered, in the world. Gold was formerly found in the island, and copper and iron abound. It is famed, also, for mineral waters, and salt springs. Its chief wealth is derived from its ex. tensive sugar plantations. Coffee is its next most important product. Its |obacco is the best in the world. It abounds in trees, among which are many fitted for ship timber. Bees have multiplied to a great extent. Cattle, as in New Spain, have become wild in the woods, and are killed for their hides and tallow. The people are active and enterprising, and the revenue, formerly reckoned at 2,000,000 of piastres, is now much more than double that sum. The military force, chiefly militia, consists of 20,000, most of whom are ill disciplined. Havanna, the capital of the island, is on the north coast, and was founded by Velasquez in the sixteenth century. Its population is rated at 70,000, and from that to 100,000. The largest fleet may ride in its fine harbor; but the entrance into it is narrow, and one ship only can pass in at a time. Two forts, one of them the famous Moro castle, de fend it. The city contains many fine buildings, and especially some no ble and splendid churches, and is by far the largest mercantile port in Spanish America, having always a great show of vessels from all quar ters of the world. Puerto del Principe, situated in the midst of rich savannas, contained thirty years ago 20,000 inhabitants. St. Yago was formerly the chief town of the island. Matanzas is a place of consider. able and growing importance. La Vega and Trinidad may each contain 5,000 inhabitants. The exports of Havanna have been estimated at $20,000,000 a year. 180 WEST INDIES. Jamaica, although the third of the Antilles, in point of size, has been ren dered by English industry the first in point of consequence. It is 150 miles long, by CO broad, and towards its extremities much narrower, resem bling an ellipse. The Blue Mountains extend from one extremity of the island to the other. They are rugged, with naked rocks heaped together by earth quakes. From the rocks spring up lofty trees and evergreens. Cascades, fed by a thousand mountain rills, rush down the hills, emerging from the deep and verdant forest, and add to the beauty and freshness of the land scape. From the summits of the hills most splendid views are afforded of the distant sugar plantations. The soil of the savannas is rich, and affords excellent pasturage for cattle. The mountains near Spanish Town are resorted to on account of their mineral waters. Lead is the only metal which has hitherto been discovered in Jamaica. The lowlands in this island are decidedly unhealthy, on account of heat and humidity. The morning sea breeze renders the climate less oppressive, and the re freshing air of the mountains is salutary to invalids. The summit of the highest mountain is 7,800 feet above the level of the sea. Sugar is the great staple of this island, and although much more abundant in some seasons than in others, is more uniform than in the other islands. But the colonists of late have directed their attention much to the cultivation of cotton. Pimento and ginger are among the products. The finest mahogany abounds. The soap tree is common. The bread fruit tree has been transplanted here, and all the tropical fruits and productions come to maturity. Jamaica contains three counties, Middlesex, Surry, and Cornwall. The government is composed of the legislative assembly, and a governor and council appointed by the King. Port Royal, once the capital of the island, was destroyed by a tremendous earthquake. Kingston, the pres ent capital of Jamaica, contains 30,000 inhabitants. Many of the houses in the upper part of the town are spacious, although, like others in these islands and the neighboring continent, they consist only of one story. St. Jago de la Vega, or Spanish Town, at no great distance from Kings ton, is still the seat of government. Its population exceeds 6,000 souls. In 1815 the whole population amounted to 360,000 souls, of whom 15,000 were mulattoes, and 30,000 of European origin. Thus the blacks were in a ratio to the whites of more than ten to one. The staple exports in the same year consisted of 119,000 hogsheads of sugar, 53,000 puncheons of rum, and 27,360,000 pounds of sugar. Many of the planters are immensely rich. St. Domingo, or Hayti. Columbus gave to this island the name of Hispaniola, or Little Spain. It extends 330 miles from east to west, and WEST INDIES. 181 140 from north to south. The centre of the island is marked by the lofty mountains of Ciboa, consisting of three chains. Most of these summits admit of cultivation, and are comparatively healthy. The low and mar shy grounds are exceedingly unhealthy to European constitutions. The stormy season lasts from April to November. The soil is well adapted to all kinds of cultivation proper to the climate. Gold and silver, and the other metals and fossils used to be found here. A very large lump of native gold was found in the mountains ; and the Maroon negroes still carry on an inconsiderable trade in gold dust. Before the late revolution the Spanish part of the island contained 100,000 inhabitants, 30,000 of whom were slaves, and they worked 200,000 oxen. San Domingo was the first town founded by Europeans in America. In the Cathedral of this city are deposited, in two leaden coffins, the ashes of Christopher Columbus and his brother. Hence issued the expeditions that conquered Mexico and Peru, and performed the other Spanish ex ploits upon the two American continents . The other principal towns in the Spanish part of the island are San Yago and La Vega. The French formerly possessed in this island an extent of territory equal to 1,700 square leagues. We may judge of the former value of ,this colony to France, when we are informed that on 121 square leagues the value of the staples raised was supposed to be worth, in France, £7,487,375. At that time there were in this part of the island 450,000 negroes. Cape Francois has been denominated Cape Henry by the Negro King Christophe. Every one has read of the terrible revolution, in which the negroes and mulattoes in turn desolated this island, in throw ing off the yoke of their former masters. The whole island is now under stood to be united under one head. The colored people have established schools and sound political regulations, and have managed with great wisdom and discretion of policy, and have given unquestionable proofs . that they are capable of self-government. The government carries on trade with the Americans, English, and Danes ; and possesses a well dis ciplined army, and efficient revenues, and is supposed to be rapidly grow ing in wealth and political power. Porto Rico, situated eastward of Hispaniola, is the next island in the chain of the Antilles. It is 120 miles in length by 40 in breadth. Its mountains are not so high as those of St. Domingo. Herds of wild dogs roaming on the mountains, are supposed to be remains of the same race that the Spaniards employed in hunting down the natives. The wide savannas, in the interior and near the northern coast, are fertile . Many cascades in the mountains add to the beauty of these healthier districts. The low lands are unhealthy during the rainy season. But the land is fruitful, and well watered with numerous rivulets. Gold was formerly 182 WEST INDIES. found in considerable abundance. Excellent timber, ginger, sugar, cof fee, cotton, flax, hides, and the different kinds of incense so much used in Catholic countries, are among the productions of the island. Its mules are very valuable, and it carries on a very considerable trade in to bacco, salt, rice, maize, cassia, oranges, gourds, and melons. The capi tal, St. Juan cle Porto Rico, is built on a small island on the northern coast. It has a convenient harbor, and is a town of considerable import ance. Aguadilla is a place comparatively salubrious. San Germano is inhabited by the ancient and rich families. A few years since the popu lation of the island, slaves and freemen, amounted to 31,000. It has remained firmly loyal to the King of Spain. Bahamas are separated from the continent by the Gulf of Florida, be tween which and these isles sweeps the broad and rapid current of the gulf stream. What has been called the old channel divides them from Cuba. Their number exceeds 500. Many of them are no more than barren rocks. But 12 of the most populous and fertile contain 13,000 inhabitants. The larger islands are fertile, and the soil not unlike that of the Carolinas. The slaves are used with great humanity. Cotton, in digo, tortoise shell, ambergris, mahogany, logwood, and different kinds of fruit are exported from these islands. In time of war these islands are situated favorably for the entanglement of prize vessels, and these laby rinths of shoals and rocks at all times bring up vast numbers of wrecks. Turk's Island is owned by the English, and is famous for its salt. The Virgin Islands of this group were so named by Columbus, in honor of the eleven thousand virgins of the Romish ritual. Santa Cruz belongs to the Danes, whose industry, wisdom, and good policy have rendered their possessions in these seas of great value. St. Thomas is also an important commercial station. The two islands are supposed to contain from 36 to 40 square leagues, with a population of 1,000 souls to each square league. The nett revenue amounts to 100,000 rix dollars. Some of the plantations are supposed to be worth £60,000. The storehouses are loaded with merchandise, brought from Europe and America. Christianstadt is the capital of Santa Cruz. The small isl and of St. John is fertile, and comparatively healthy. There are said to be 71,459 acres of good land in the Danish islands, of which 32,014 are in sugar plantations, and 1,358 in cotton. The sugar is of the finest quality, and the rum equal to that of Jamaica. Anguilla, or Snakes island, so called from its long and crooked form, belongs to the English. The inhabitants raise maize and cattle, and make considersble salt. It is ten leagues long by three in average breadth. WEST INDIES. 183 St. Martin's, belongs partly Io the French, and partly to the Dutch. Its chief revenue arises from its salt. Many of the settlers are of English origin. St. Bartholomew belongs to Sweden. It lies between St. Christopher, Anguilla and St. Eustatia. Gustavia is the chief town. The exports consist of cassia, tamarinds and sassafras. St. Eustatia is about two leagues long by one in breadth, and belongs to the Dutch. The population on this small spot, amounts to nearly 12,000, including slaves. Saba, adjoining St. Eustatia, is twelve miles in circumference, and is difficult of access, except for small vessels. On the hills in this island is an agreeable valley, watered by frequent showers, which render it in the highest degreee fertile. The climate is healthy, and the Dutch affirm, that the European women retain their complexions longer, than in any other of the West India islands. The following islands all belong to the British. • Antigua is seven leagues long by as many in breadth, ircontains 59,838 acres, of which 34,000 are pasturage, or sugar plantations. This island has recently been fortified, and has become of importance. The inhabitants amount to 40,000, of whom 38,000 are slaves. The chief town is St. John, in which resides the English governor of the Leeward islands. The exports, which consist of sugar, ginger and tobacco, are very variable, as regards quantity. In 1788, no rain fell for seven months, and the inhabitants would all have perished of famine, had they not been supplied from abroad. Barbuda is 12 leagues north of Antigua, and contains 1,500 inhabitants. The air is so salubrious, that it is a resort for invalids. Turtles are found on the shore, and deer and different sorts of game in the woods. St. Christopher's is 42 miles in circumference. It affords the finest sugar land of any in the West Indies. It contains 28,000 souls, and the proportion of freemen to slaves is as 1 to 13. Nevis and Montserat are two small, and very fertile adjacent islands. Guadaloupe consists of two small islands, separated by a narrow chan nel. Grand Terre is 6 leagues long by 14 in breadth; and Basse Terre is 15 leagues long by 14 broad. Three small islands, Desiderade on the east, Marie Galante on the southeast, and Isles des Saintes on the south, are subject to the governor of Gaudaloupe. All these islands contain 334,142 acres, and 159,000 souls. There are several volcanic moun tains in Basse-Terre, of which one only emits clouds of smoke. Basse Terre is agreeably diversified by hills, woods, gardens, and enclosures, which form a striking contrast with the marshy and sterile land on the •astern island. There is a warm spring near Goave, whose temperature 184 WEST INDIES. is sufficient to boil eggs. The bees in this island are black, and their honey of a purple color. Basse Terre, the chief town, is adorned with many fine buildings, foun tains and public gardens. Point a Petre, the metropolis of Grand Terre. is unhealthy, from the contiguity of marshes; but it has one ofthe finest harbors in the West Indies. Desirade is famed for its cotton. Coffee and sugar are cultivated on the hills of Marie, Galante. Dominica so called by Columbus, from being discovered on the Sabbath, is situated between Gaudeloupe and Martinico. The soil is well adapted for the growth of coffee. The hills, from which several rivers descend, are cover ed with the finest woods in the West Indies. On account of its import ance, this island has been raised to a distinct government. The staples are maize, cotton, cocoa and tobacco. Martinico, formerly the most important French island in these seas, now belongs to the British. The extent of cultivable surface is about 212,142 acres. It has many steep mountains and rugged rocks. Pitou de Corbet is the highest. The loftiest and most abundant palm trees are near its summit. This island is better supplied with water, and less sub ject to hurricanes, than Gaudeloupe. The productions of both islands are nearly the same. Its population is estimated about 100,000. Port Royal, the chief town, has a spacious harbor. St. Peter's town, in this island, is the most commercial town in the lesser Antilles, and contains 30,000 in habitants. St. Lucia has a fertile soil , but a warm and unhealthy climate. It has a population of 20,000 souls. Garenage is the best sea port in St. Lucia. Thirty sail of the line might there be sheltered from hurricanes. The town is small, and unhealthy. St. Vincents, south of St. Lucia, is remarkable for its fertility, and produces a great quantity of sugar and in digo. The bread tree, brought from Otaheite, has here succeeded en tirely. In 1812, there was an eruption of one of the volcanic mountains of this island. The eastern coast is peopled by the black Caribees, a race descended from the aborigines, and fugitive negroes. The English population amounts to 23,000, chiefly slaves. Kingston is the residence of the governor, whose jurisdiction extends over several of the adjacent islands. The Grenadines are a group of contiguous islands, united to each other by a ridge of calcareous rocks, that appear to have been form ed by marine insects. Cariacon and Isle Ronde are the principal. They are small, but fertile and well cultivated. Grenada is situated near the Grenadines, and contains 31,272 souls. A lake on the summit of a central mountain is the source of many rivers, that adorn and fertilize the island. Hurricanes are little known. At this island terminates the chain of the antilles. Barbadoes, Tobago and Trinidad form a distinct group. WEST INDIES. 185 Barbadoes, is the easternmost island in the West Indies. It is 21 miles long, and 14 broad, and of great fertility. The population is cal culated at 90,000. The governor resides at Bridgetown, the chief town in Barbadoes. This harbor is nearer the eastern continent, than any other in the Antilles. Tobago is 8 leagues Northeast from Trinidad. The chain of mountains on these islands, from its geological formation, is supposed to be a con tinuation of the mountains of Cumana. The position of Tobago gives it great importance, and it might become highly productive. The finest fruits of the tropics grow here. Fine figs and guavas, ananas, nutmegs, gumcopal, and five different sorts of pepper are among its productions A harbor on the east, and another on the west coast are sheltered from ev ery wind. The population amounts to 18,000. Trinidad lies between Tobago and South America. This island is 65 miles from east to west, and 50 from north to south. It produces sugar, coffee, cocoa, woad, tobacco, indigp, ginger, a variety of fine fruits, maize and cedar wood. There is a remarkable bituminous lake, situated on the western coast. It is 80 feet above the sea, and three leagues in cir cumference. Small islands, covered with plants and shrubs, arise from its bosom, and often disappear. The bituminous matter of this lake is used for naval purposes instead of pitch. Trinidad is important from its fertility, its extent and position, which commands the Oronoco, and the Dragon's mouth, the narrow passage between it and the mainland, from which it appears to have been torn by some convulsion of nature. St. Joseph deOuma, the nominal capital, is only a village, and consists of 2 or 300 neatly built houses. Chagacamus, the greatest sea port, contains 28,000 inhabitants. From the size and fertility of Trinidad, it has been sup posed, that it might produce more sugar, than the whole ofthe leeward islands. It possesses, also, with Tobago the advantage of being out of the ordinary reach of hurricanes. The foregoing islands are all under the dominion of Great Britain. The Dutch own three islands on the coast of South America. The most considerable is Curacoa 12 leagues long and 3 broad. The land is arid and sterile; and there is but one well in the island, the water from which is sold at a high price. On this light and rocky soil the Dutch have planted sugar cane and tobacco. The salt Works yield a consid erable revenue. But the wealth of the island depends on its contra band trade. Williamstead the capital, is one of the neatest towns in the West Indies. The public buildings are magnificent, and the private houses commodious. The clean streets remind the traveller, that he is in a Dutch town- The port of Curacoa is spacious. The inhabitants of the island amount to 12,890. The great proportion Ss in the Other V„ rx 24 186 WEST INDIES. West India islands, are slaves. The colonists of Bonair and Aruba, two small adjacent islands, employ themselves chiefly in raising cattle. The trade, which has been carried on in this great Archipelago, above described, has tended more to advance the industry, and extend tho commerce of those European countries, which have been connected with these islands, than all the gold and silver of the two Americas. Before the abolition of the slave trade, the British introduced 20,000 slaves, annually, into their colonies. The value of sugar, annually imported into England, is valued at £7,083,265. 1,200,000 puncheons of rum are annually distilled in the British islands. In 1804, that country obtained from the Antilles 20,529,878 lbs. of cotton. This immense wealth is, however, the price of blood. Notwithstanding the increase of humanity in the laws, and in the planters, the excessive mortality of the miserable slaves shows the nature of their condition. In their native Africa they rapidly multiply, although that climate is more humid and unhealthy, than that of these islands. Interest, it will be easily seen, will tend to impel the planters to do every thing for tire preservation of their slaves. But the misery of exile, servitude, and all the bodily torments, to which they are exposed, will continue to shorten their existence ; and the race in all these islands is constantly on the decrease. There is no way to supply the deficiency, but the revolting and unchristian enormity of fresh importaf ions. The negroes, it has been affirmed, are stubborn and revengeful, not to be subdued by mild treatment, but to be driven by the lash. They are, in fact, ignorant, docile, gentle, patient and submissive. Cruel men, malefactors and outcasts from Europe, have been raised to be their over seers, and have treated them as beasts of burden. Spanish writers have seriously maintained, that the negroes and indians have no souls; and there is too much reason to believe, that such reasonings have led to the treatment, they have received. There must be laws to protect the slaves from outrage. They must be rendered capable of acquiring property- Marriage must be rendered a valid and sacred tie, to prevent the vile disease and misery of their present condition. Their children must be educated, and gradually brought within reach ofthe guidance and hopes of Christianity. Then they might have reason to regard life with cheer fulness and hops, and love; and industriously to cultivate the soil, they have so long watered with their tears. The following most impressive and graphic account of a bright rooming, and of a hurricane in the Antilles is copied entire from Malte Brun, In order to make our readers better acquainted with this country, we shall attempt to describe a morning in the Antilles. For this purpose, WEST INDIES. 187 let us watch the moment, when the sun, appearing through a serene atmosphere, illumines with her rays the summits of the mountains, and gilds the leaves of the plantain and orange trees. The plants are spread over with gossamer of fine and transparent silk, or geinmed with dew drops, and the vivid hues of industrious insects, reflecting unnumbered tints from the rays of the sun. The aspect of the richly cultivated valleys is different, but not less pleasing; the whole of nature teems with the most varied productions. It. often happens, after the sun has dissi pated the mist above the crystal expanse of the ocean, that the scene is changed by an optical illusion. The spectator observes sometimes a sand-bank rising out of the deep, or distant canoes in the red clouds, floating in an aerial sea, while their shadows at the same time aie accu rately delineated below them. This phenomenon, to which the French have given the name of mirage, is not uncommon in equatorial climates. Europeans may admire the views in this archipelago, during the cool temperature of the morning; the lofty mountains are adorned with thick foliage; the hills, from their summits to the very borders of the sea, are fringed with plants of never fading verdure; the mills and sugar-works near them are obscured by their branches or buried in their shade. The appearance of the vallies is remarkable; to form even an imperfect idea of it, we must group together the palm tree, the cocoa nut and mountain cabbage with the tamarind, the orange and the waning plumes ofthe bamboo cane. On these plains we may observe the bushy oleander, all the varieties of the Jerusalem thorn and African rose, the bright scarlet ofthe cordium, bowers of jessamine and grenadilla vines, and the silver and silky leaves of the portlandia. Fields of sugar cane, the houses of the planters, the huts of the negroes, and the distant coast lined with ships, add to the beauty of a West Indian land-scape. At sunrise, when no breeze ripples the surface ofthe ocean, it is frequently so transparent, that one can perceive, as if there were no intervening medium, the channel of the water, and observe the shell-fish scattered on the rocks, and the medusoe reposing on the sand. A hurricane is generally preceded by an awful stillness ofthe elements} the air becomes close and heavy, the sun is red, and the stars at night seem unusually large. Frequent changes take place in the thermometer which sometimes rises from 80° to 90°. Dtnkness extends over the earth; the higher regions gleam with lightning. The impending storm is first observed on the sea. Foaming mountain waves rise suddenly from its clear and motionless surface. The wind rages with unrestrained fury; its noise may be compared to the distant thunder. The rain descends in torrents, shrubs, and lofty trees are borne down, by the mountain streams, the rivers overflow their banks, and 186 WEST INDIES. submerge the plains. Terror and consternation seem to pervade the whole of animated nature, land birds are driven into the ocean, and those, whose aliment is the sea, seek for refuge in the woods. The frighted beasts of the field herd together, or roam in vain for a place of shelter. It is not a contest of two opposite winds, or a roaring ocean, that shakes the earth; all the elements are thrown into confusion, the equilibrium ofthe atmosphere seems, as if it were destroyed; and nature appears to hasten to her ancient chaos. Scenes of desolation have been disclosed in these islands by the morning sun-^-uprooted trees, branches shivered from their trunks, the roofs of the houses have been strewed over the land. The planter is sometimes unable to distinguish the place of his former possessions. Fertile vallies may be changed in a few hours into dreary wastes, covered with the carcasses of domestic animals, and the fowls of heaven, APPENDIX. Area of the country watered by the principal rivers and branches in the United States. Missouri Territory, j - Missouri,Arkansas Territory, - Louisiana, f - North-West Territory, i Illinois, T\\ - Indiana, \% Ohio, Pennsylvania, \ New York, T£j Maryland, T^ Virginia, f Kentucky, North Carolina, T'T Tennessee,South Carolina, TiT Georgia, ^ Alabama, ± Mississippi, i Square Miles. 698,000 60,300 121,000 36,000 72,000 58,310 34,940 30,800 14,650 - 460 110 25,60039,000 900 41,300 200 - 380 7,250 22,670 Total, Valley of the Missouri, Valley of the Mississippi above the mouth of Ohio, Valley of the Ohio and its waters, Valley of the Mississippi and its waters, below the mouth of Ohio, 1,263,870 674,000 225,000 205,000 290,000 1,394,000 190 appendix. Missouri, from its source to its junction with the Yellow Stone, - - - 680 Do. to its junction with the Mississippi, - - 1370 2050 Mississippi Proper, from its source to its junction with the Missouri, ... . 750 Alleghany River, the higest source of the Ohio, to its junction with the Monongahela, - 200 Do, to is junction with the Mississppi, 680 880 Mississippi, from the junction with the Missouri to its outlet, 910 Greatest length of the Mississippi from its outlet to highest point of the Missouri, - - 2960 Do. to the highest point of Mississippi Proper, - 1690 Do. to the highest point of the Ohio, - - 1790 TRIBUTARY STREAMS. Of the Missouri — Yellow Stone, - - 582 ¦ La Platte, - 790 Kansas, - - 630 Osage, - - 480 Of Ohio — Monongahela, ... 120 Cumberland, - - - 400 Tennessee, - - - 470 Of Mississippi, below Missouri — White River, - - 470 Arkansas, - 1380 Red River, . - 1080 APPENDIX. 191 TABLE NO. T. METEOROLOGICAL TABLE, 1 Sacket's Prairie des C( >uncil Harbor. Detroit. Chiens. Bluffs. 43 55N 42 30N. 42 36 N. 41 31 N. 100E. 548 W 14 38 N. 19 45 W. 18 IN. || 1820. H. L. M H. L. M H. L. M H. L. M Jan. 30 12 23 44 4 ¦24 40 —22 9 Feb. 57 0 32 42 2 17 71 —8 30 March 84 9 33 81 0 32 70 0 34 April 74 22 48 82 88 41 88 12 57 94 24 38 May 70 22 52 81 34 53 90 39 61 90 50 69 June 84 50 65 86 51 70 99 ¦50 75 99 55 74 1820. July 87 58 73 92 65 69 90 54 74 97 58 75 Aug. 85 54 71 94 62 75 94 54 72 105 59 75 Sept. 87 44 00 92 47 71 90 32 84 92 42 88 Oct. 76 30 52 74 30 51 70 20 14 80 22 47 Nov. 60 20 41 60 24 40 80 —6 33 59 —4 34 Dec. 58 9 26 48 6 27 33 —14 16 50 —5 18 Mean of the 48° 6' 47° 4' inc omplete 49° 2' year. Signifies below zero 192 APPENDIX. W CO < E- ?J O Oa oi-j o Pi o ww B ¦£ GO W « CO SiHC40e60irtHO(ONfflW t-GOCDGMO*NCOraOGOCDaO -^(NCJCNJCO^ricOcO "t^>-~t~ODgoCT.^aoanao>^co S c2moo g -S 00 « W O -< «oiCO HM«t-l— )-- -1 — ' 'w i— 1 oj IN CN>^-(?^00»O*C»D-r* IO -^ttOWOMOO* ffl CIBrHW Hj O i-l 00 nr «> CO Vj HhVTI'lBraOffllNcsoBr- a-*fTfTjt>rscooo^oo»— tomco >— I 0$ ,-h H^>iOCOCClO>flWW MtD«BUU(Er'^OJTji(N(BJ)i-G co co tpNfjQcamgigiNain s|2o^ f-o™~* CO HOOrH i— a: (— c- O O CD Oi 3i >r> o j> n m n in in co KTficoaocccDGtjTrc^aiCDtNo cOcoco*-^GOQ-s?-~E~aDm^ca CO O o!mrt(o 00 0 CO ID c .?OOOC«HlB5)inoitOIN U U^i-^cOCDi^r^o-iO'sai^ao^cO 00o in "S3 ta. 1819. 39 30N. 428W. ^ th w Tf ,n « ^ ^ N fo ,o Tf m CO 0 iflID ,OraiO«)\IHD01tDH10UIM jHHH«W»n(Dlfl^WWH KcotocDdocoonooosori'viNin .Zfe HOojQJCDiOTinicajinoi^ 0 >Difl Zane ville 1819 39 59 4 58 ,Ol/JO^(MOr.Or.inOCO J rt rt r^ ^ -^ Ift lft IO ^H O) ^) burgh. 1820. 4032N. 2 46 W. h co in oi o so <5C»^ -noio *-l CD CM -cr "CT" CD (- *- *^ ^ CO ID Tt< CO 0* 0 ID ,03ii00 M i— < ,-H fM CO -rH lO CO CO T* -rH CO r» MCdNfi-ilN 33 -* co m co O d Q) OJ tO (N 'J5 OS OS 00 OD J— CO -* Q..J2 c — ¦ 3 The highest, lowest, and mean heat for each month, at different sitaa- tions, will be shown by the following table : Note. — N. stands for North latitude, E. for East longitude and' W. for West longitude, H. for highest, L. for lowest, and M for mean tem perature. APPENDIX. 193 METEOROLOGICAL TABLE. Fernan- For N . Or- Baton Camp dina. Fl. Scott. leans. Rouge Ripley 1820; 1S20. 1820. 1820. 1820. 30 45 N. 30 43 N. 30 00N. 30 38 N. 31 18 N.- 437W. 7 23W. 13 10W. 1514W.) 1650W. H L M 14 L M H L M H L M H L M Jan. 79 35 55 74 32 55 Feb. 78 50 83 72 31 61 78 51 34 March 70 50 04 78 38 66 78 32 31 April 85 45 72 S!J 44 68 78 5S 73 36 42 70 37 55 76 May 36 Si 74 88 56 74 37 72 7£ 30 36 75 98 54 76 June 97 67 78 91 5C 76 91 72 88 34 30 91 32 57|78 July 37 71 30 01 30 79 3C '0 32 30 70 /£ 93 72 81 Aug. 88 70 70 !)2 6S 80 32 78 35 32 74 93 94 65'82 Sept. 37 73 80 30 85 75 36 71 81 38 34 77 32 56,77 Oct. 35 50 89 89 00 70 34 45 35 88 40 57 85j48|66 Nov. 76 43 0-1 78140 00 75 39 57 84 30 81 84 3260 Dec. 75 50 61 84|32 59 77 39 60 76|40 60 79 28|53 Mean of he year 7 1° V I6 8° 7' 1 '' 1 P icolete m- ii P icolet* m- incomjplete* METEOROLOGICAL TABLE; Jan. Feb.MarchAprilMayJuneJuly Aug.Se.pt.Oct, Nov. Dec. Gen. Mean. Average at 52J60 4250 52 62 — ' S? o 2 Eh s S ¦a a e o n " . <-< O a3 re £> £ 5 0 3 Maine New Hampshire MassachusettsRhode Island Connecticut VermontN. District of New York S. District of New York 34,03 i 19,438 40,615 6,731 19,021 21,689 118,609 39,526 28,746 17,590 33,054 5,788 17,89119.410 103,663 33,686 25,536 16,800 34,605 5,403 17,77317.596 88',844 29,945 22,410 14,873 32,868 5,354 16,519 15,805 74,176 27,763 35,028 21,147 58,431 .. 8,425 26,181 24,200 124,787 51,728 176,515 26,89468,37952,483 Total of New York New Jersey E. District of Pennsylvania W. District of Pennsylvania lt>8,135 25,07360,744 56,376 137,349 21.209 50,321 45,656 95,980 4,091 19,439 26,402 25,394 118,7b9 19,736 45,11537,476 101,939 17,132 41,321 33,030 Total of Pennsylvania Delaware Maryland E. District of Virginia W. District of Virginia 117,120 4,747 23,732 33,156 32,625 82,591 3,932 17,888 22,532 20,763 74,351 3,179 15,77219,81317,118 120,862 5,509 29,390 33,2S2 27,543 Total of Virginia North Carolina South Carolina GeorgiaN. District of Alabama S. District of Aabama 65,781 48,662 25,13133,011 9,455 13,300 51,796 35,97320,267 23,586 6,7378,760 43,29531,171 16,492 18,679 5,231 6,905 36,93125,582 13,962 15,098 4,3055,194 60,825 39,17422,16626,688 7,039 10,308 Total of Alabama MississippiE. District of Louisiana W. District of Louisiana 22,755 7,9225,017 2,859 15,497 5,566 4,1872,199 12,136 4,5813,339 1,891 5,230 11,788 24,431 36,219 34,515 62,260 9,4993,6832,850 1,478 17,347 7,2157,435 3,027 Tp62 14,074 30,643 Total of Louisiana E. District of Tennessee W. District of Tennesse 7,876 19,606 40,046 6,386 14,733 30,591 4,3289,598 19,927 Total of Tennessee KentuckyOhio 59,60254,22896,364 45,32441,294 74,813 29,52529,288 51,160 44,717 45,384 81,016 Amount carried forward S89,717l724,049|625,227l539,258|887,626| iS fe § "I £ 51 « 00 V«i «=i *CC SJ ^* w e ?« 8 'S sr CTt--^,I>i> I— l rH r— CO i— < rl CT "# OS — <^s CT C/J CD O 0O OS -.fiaum Japun ptic ',(U[gu> jo C3in-wo«giora i-iCOCOCOt^COmOS oo ao i> ct ao cd t-^t- ¦XinSts japun pus AiuaAOSjo cnouCO^HODTTMCOCD t~ in OL> p-^CT,CO,03 CT^CT^in" C0"CT"i>"CT -.{1U3A9S aapiin puu iJjYISJO CT O tp O CO CT — ' G Tjtaoomcos^o iS_ CS, CT ,T^ ¦*_ H r-J_ j> iniooi-tioior-co <-> l- CT CO OS CT m ao c » tp co gj iq -* m co co co in in CT i-i — i CT © CT O^CT ct"co"co i-i CO o o c i> co in- CT CO,as,i>l-H I— t Hj CO CO Tt* CO -^ CT i-l r* CO CO CT r-H t^ CO CO CO r-H <2 o o ui ct in os cs co ao CD CT CT ¦* i> r-1 CD ¦CH CD rH CT O -* CO as i— i o os ct CD ,-i CT T* r* ¦*„^J,'-„CT CO CT r-i r-i CD r- i-i GO CT CS i-" CT CT ¦* — CO •* CD ¦* i- — C5 CT CO -* ,t~ o co in i— < co co "^oo,1^, ^s, j> ¦** i> O i-i -T1 CO CS 00 CD cs,o o,i> OS in"co co" ct in — i co co co ec cs CD CO CT X) japun pun ^fljij JO 7Pion^c(no ct o ct m in io t^ -q< CT CT,0,i-^ap,0_CT,!N, 3s*" i>" m" ct" i>" t-~ cs" i-." i-i CT i-i OJ IQ IO rtiooo m io j>"in ct' CT CD 00 ra iecSf-H CT,lO,i> in i-rco"ao'cD" CD us CT CD in -* itfi ao os ct CO,CD^CO Tf i-h o"in"in"i-rCT" m in u.' an f co m -^ in co «rt •¦flJB japun pun jfl-oj jo " -.fljoj japuu line AjJiMliO CO CO CO O.' T CD CO OB Tfll-H-Tl— IO— I O i-i in^aocp_incc^-^r-^in^ ¦**" ©" co"" co" i-«" o" oT oT p-l "H CT .i i— * -^i i— ' CD CO CO co oo o o in os i— I t- os i-i CT H co ct o c? CO •- CO CO O^O^-T^Osofr-^CcfoS CO O i-H CO CO £-- CO Tfi i— I i— i in"oo'"cs'CT'co OS CT CD CO I> Tjl t>aot-coco-^CTO x> CT.i-i ao i-h co p* os in_ t--^ •*_ co^ -s^ c-^ os, i-^ i-r^TifTin co""o cs co" CT i-i co fHi-ir-re (/J ™ O .— H co CO .-i •* CT f-^i-; ho, t-^CT"CT Uf r- 1 ^P CO !t- OS CO CT OS i-i O O CT CT,CT,OjrCC>eo"ao"cTi(a' ¦-1 CT r* O CT OS O 03 oo m co m co 0,03,1— i Tt4 OS co co co^-^irj" CT i-i i-i cd co as co co o — i •* m ct CT CO as co CT CO CT CT TT* CO 00 CT OS f~ os in ao co co o i>,CT ecTotT i-i ou CO CO ¦* ,-T ' ct m m t~ t^ co CO CO CT CT i> os os ao las CT CT pCT co,co_ - in'in JS O CT on X) *- l> o in CT i> o co O ao 1— l CT CC CO CS ct OS,l-H, o"oo" CT o i—i iin co in ct i-^o ¦>, J> pJ" to ¦-i co ¦>* [co ^r os oo co eo, in eo"e»CT ¦* 216 APPENDIX. AGGRE. — FREL MALES. States a:no Tekkitomes. o to > a .. ° V w Bit. a o > CJ e « O s 3 . 1 >. "1c > * QJ ^ OJ —^ ¦ C M e ,8 ¦ O 3 j39,258 17,976 7,7755,465 1,277 1,553 170 245 356 18 vaT 1,521 3° Amount brought forward IndianaIllinois - - - Missouri Arkansas MichiganE. District of Florida W. District of Florida Middle District of Florida S. District of Florida 88»,717 39,775 18,88213,50t 3,011 3,036 441 55( £23 18 28,863 12,747 9,624 2,0222'31t 32635564( 12 1,3331,681 625'227 22,923 10,033 7,464 1,6281,624 261273 467 14 887,626 27,67', 14,706 11,151 2,83*4,033 47ft684 952 8t Total of Florida District of Columbia l,t><& 2,345 972,1.4 1,01£ 1,474 2,1/1 2,705 ' Total of Ihe U. States /»X,63i 671,08!? c.70,614 FEMALES Maine New H.impshire - Massachusettsllhode Island ConnecticutVermont N. District of New-York S. District of New-York b2,45f. 18,506 39,516 6,626 18,24P 21,326 113,755 37,926 151,681 23,95157,95554,127 11 2, WE 4,646 22.35531,405 30,99f •zi,mi 16,800 34,504 5,641 16,937 18,633 100,075 32,949 24,07b 15.584 33i366 5,209 16,574 16,877 85,712 29,616 ^52,33B 14,846 34,463 5,577 15,985 15.776 75,251 30,024 35,5»3 : 24,485 60,427 „9,207 26,516 25,167 116,804 51,636 Total of New- York - New Jersey E. District of Pennsylvania W. District of Pennsylvania 133,024 20,48148,48144,388 115,328 18,248 43,563 36,422 105,2/5 16,792 43,793 32,856 168,442 25,839 66,990 48,433 Total of Pennsylvania DelawareMarylandE. District of Virginia W. District of Virginia t)2,S69 4,012 18,692 25,3912'S590 49,981 34,247 19,044 22,648 79,985 3,652 17,327 22,333 19,591 41,u24 28,792 15,631 17.847 76,649 3,3S0 18,021 22,474 18,036 115,423 5,474 27,245 35,28S 23,771 62,l5t 41,22£21,868 24,005 Total of Virginia North Carolina South Carolina - Georgia - 62,404 42,785 23,727 30,971 40,510 27,616 15,13316,517 Amount carried forward j 867,443|792,066 688,660l652,31U|101,»ai) ArrnrsDix. 217 GATE— Continued. WHITE PERSONS. MALES. "3 •o . -e s *• •> — £*<2 5c c 3 = i, a "6 = 5 go . ^ ° £ ~ S'H » -a 5-3 0* el o5 O 3 » 5 o ~~ O = ,5-S = O 5 ¦a a o « ^ 5*ff 450,4ft 546,725 }l/,5ol 128, /0. o5,72i lo,5U8 | 1,9*4, 25 j 17,94£ 10,34f 6,04! 3.181 1,483 242 1 44 10 8,932 4,63! 2,85f 1,164 3se 90 6 4 7,40: 3,64( 1,92 937 341 58 14 2 1,81'. 87f 43£ 2Lt 6 li 1 2,55'. l,22t 66( 26< Gi 2, 4 1 42c 19( 9C 4'. or t 481 216 15" 72 if ] 1 1 547 31: 165 66 2t 4 1 75 3, le P oT l,53t 43i ¦ 194 10 2 1 1,917 1,186 5C3 246 7' 25 2 1 274 oy.',f>„b »6y,3/( i30,5ol M"J,91( 5\13 15,y45 1.9J3 F KM A LES. 2.',3>i2 14,133 9,351) 5,92rf 2,388 9J9 13. 3 16,703 11,908 8,12fc 5,837 3,033 1,101 170 6 . 3i,184 28,691 18,453 12,919 7,177 2,512 335 2 5,752 4,025 2,828 1,942 1,054 373 44 18,034 13,003 9,345 6,703 3.735 1,229 153 3 18,257 11,035 7,157 4,723 2,081' 058 87 5 72,857 45,245 23,545 15,429 6,282 1,711 201 14 31,819 l'\175 11,833 7,109 3,215 957 104 4 104,o70 o*,420 33yiuB 2Z,oM »,4y/ 2,888 305 18 16,633 11,004 7,308 4,717 2,137 584 63 2 41,00/ 28,236 18,834 9,73/ 4,292 1,155 132 13 28,56' 17,938 11,0*5 6,231 2,700 877 104 7 20 6^,j/o 44,2.22 2/,/49 16,018 0,992 •a,U32 238 3,183 2,017 1,400 627 233 58 4 1 18,616 10,812 6,985 3,833 1,543 432 65 17 21,706 14,047 9,293 5,195 2,297 620 138 13 14,978 9,706 6,137 lj,43l) 3,580 1,552 471 55 13 28 38,j8. Z6, JoS 8,//6 3,849 l.j.ii lacs 24,704 16,455 10,857 5,944 2,470 767 152 23 13,431 8,43"/ 5,455 2,928 1,178 35 i 79 19 13,386 8,438 5,086 2,381 985 239 63 22 170 145,15j J0S,4o2 175,0^2 hti.Hll 4t». i.o2 15,u^7 2,091 Vn i II - XV 218 APPENDIX. AGGRE FREE FEMALES. States and Territories. 1 ° -3 i g o § ¦3 = ~~ v g £ £¦=H 0 3 Amount brought forward N. District of Alabama S. District of Alabama 367,443 S,94G 12,171 792,066 6,447 8.3S0 888,630 4,930 6,167 652,310 4,403 5,543 101,890 6,325 8,137 Total of Alabama MississippiE. District of Louisiana W. District of Louisiana 21,121 7,3245.0122,681 14,827 5,254 4,0382,150 11,09/ 4164, 3,410 1,734 9,946 3.C72 3,14£ 1,552 14,463 5,235 4,692 2,246 "6^940 14,801 23,057 Total of Louisiana E. District of Tennessee - W. District of Tennessee 7,673 18,121 37,22" 6,188 14,022 29,275 43,2bt/ 39,51571.855 27,428 12,222 9,042 1,894 2,054 290 352600 c 5.144 11,051 22,594 4,701 10,09C 20,587 Total of Tennessee - KentuckyOhio ... Indiana IllinoisMissouri ArkansasMichigan E. District of Florida W. District of Florida - Middle District of Florida S. District of Florida 55,346 50,701 89,766 37,451 17,411 12,531 2,782 2,727 432 502 858 15 33,64532.34159,501 20,848 9,2206,789 1,4951,776 283 262 441 12 30,67729,63852,77S 18,013 8,211 5,777 1,226 1,431 22B 27fi 407 11 42,85841,579 75,442 28,170 12.279 8,854 2,009 2,512 38039S 635 24 1,447 2,867 '915,682 Total of Florida - District of Columbia i,807 2,182 1,251 1,648 9a i 1,839 >39,083 923 1,843 597,713 Total oflheU. States 920,104 751,648 APPENDIX. 219 GATE— Continued. WHITE PERSONS. FKMALES. ¦c 1 •a "O . >— 415,153 o3 ¦a . St «-•§ OS £,~ii c '3 ¦ ;b5 = ,S>3 « s O 3 a « . - 5 ^ i» ° £ III o II P a 9 ft ¦° a. 21 o a 17C 283,452 175,022 105,877 49,162 15,027 2,U91 3,654 2,130 1,183 578 183 67 16 7 4,878 2,591 1,541 774 248 75 12 3 8,532 4,721 2,724 1,352 431 142 28 10 3,094 1,729 1,001 457 150 32 7 2 2,935 1,598 853 504 172 63 13 1 1,276 696 '404 160 48 15 4 4',20c 2,294 1,257 664 220 76 17 1 7,941 5,156 3,313 1,775 756 224 47 14 15,59! 10,121 5,9259,238 2,744 1,055 315 53 13 23,54:0 15,277 4,519 1,811 539 100 27 23,763 15,361 9,525 5,349 2,202 576 95 11 43,769 27,461 15,790 8,214 2,909 721 8S 8 15,045 8,794 4,540 2,175 815 202 28 2 6,758 3,701 2,021 799 268 71 12 1 5,122 2,715 1,476 773 229 58 8 2 1,089 526 299 108 32 6 3 1,393 723 385 138 37 8 5 215 143 60 38 16 3 2 231 139 83 24 15 4 2 391 198 100 40 14 2 1 11 4 4 1 1 848 484 247 101 45 10 5 1,751 987 603 250 84 30 4 555,585 355,425 222,928 130,866 5n,034 17,572 2,484 234 220 APPENDIX. GENERAL AGGRE- SLAVES. MALI'S. States and Territories. — <*. u o (U til 1 « 51 i c =- 3 O 3 V. <£ i-S g" oi C fc-i . o « = I <_ ¦= 3 o » 2 Maine New Hampshire - Massachusetts Rhode Island Connecticut VermontN. District of N. Y. S. District of N. Y. l 3 22 6 1 1 1 4 Total of New- York New-JerseyE- District of Penn . W. District of Penn. 3 4 7 13 b 10 44 4l8-. 856 17.75:. 60,0yl 8,835 1 396 17 e 379 4 1 261 4 2 1 Total of Pennsylvania Delaware MarylandE. District of Virginia W. District of Virginia 574 17,878 74,118 9,843 « "io"co ©~oi"co jCDJW © "bi"oi"co cji Under'ten years of age. ¦-— CO 00 CO Oi M- OS Oi Oi cs CO CS -~f © © c ifr- © o © CO 10 MM MM MM 00 o CO i-1 00 CO CO © MlM > ¦fr co ta CO MM M tO to MM O CD MM ifr MM CO W 1 cc ee ifr- OS 00 CO © CO mm tn vIQDOOlfrlfr 00 © ta eo so CD ifr- Ot to 1 ta 05 Oos r3. ?aa •2.a 8 TZt attendix. GENERAL AGGRE. SLAVES. 1 MALES. ¦States ASB TERRITORIES. O to — r; 1°& a o 5 >. <2 M c . i> — P — :-*' O ?. 180,74a 80 2,052 393 9 481498 882 11 ^ 3 O 3 <^ a > o ¦:~, o • « s s O 3 11 2|o - "171 2 41 1 amnt. brought forward. Indiana - Illinois - Missouri - ArkansasMichigan E. District of Florida W. District of Florida M. District of Florida S. District of Florida 344,737 103 4,858 850 2 627 588 1,301 7 305,021 120 4,292 812 5 5SS 602 1,275 17 2,482 944 3i3,-J7o 118,36U 49 917 187 1 289 231423 5 40,875 7 196 48 1 935277 2 Total of Florida District of Columbia 2,501 794 353,845 1,830 542 SJ4S375 224 114 3 _718 Tntal of the U. States 185,054 118,996 41,458 MALE FRES COLORED Maine New Hampshire - Massachusetts Rhode Island ConnecticutVermontN. District of N. Y. S. District of N. Y. 165 64 804 330 1,022 125 1,578 4.141 174 73 888 501 1,127 114 1,607 4,490 0,097 3,247 4,229 1,041 "VTO 2,260 6,101 5,250 884 116 63 728 314 779 78 1,208 3,890 109 48 635 241624 63 810 2,6943,505 1,192 2 336 '485 5640 321 150 313 48 374993 11 5 3 2 11 11 Total of New-York. New Jersey E- District of Penn- W. District of Penn. 5,717 3,035 4,047 1,140 4,898 1,449 3,392 625 1,367 571 897 212 22 4 24 6 Total of Pennsylvania Delaware MarylandE. District of Virginia W. District of Virginia 5,1872,621 8,311 7,111 1,115 8,226 3,427 1,315 368 4,017 1,300 4,016 3,033 499 ~~ 3,537 1,408 622 221 2,801 1,182 4,1582,299 408 "27697 1,059 424 185 1,109 499 2,285 1,461 258 30 13 4924 3 27 22 1911 211 Total of Virginia North Carolina - South Carolina - Georgia - 6,134 2,981 957 354 1,719 695333 117 Amount carried forwd. 38,/o7 38, 00 *»¦ to (0 m Oi © CO to m o2 ©' © © CO Oi -Q Oi M rfi © <( GC CO Oi ffr M W o © -a to a. mm oi tO © ifr MM H u. <— MM to MM *. cc CL Of ten, and !fr© CO MM |— 1 to Oi 10 CO © Oi GO o © CD O CO © Mi C0M©CO~i©00iO CO © tO © © M ^ four. to-1 MM ifr CO Ol m *. 00 m Oi ifr M M GC© MM to MM or Of twenty-lour © to OtOM to to M) (71 O M- fO e-i en r-i M; llnrly-si-c. tol M- ' MM =1 CO tO ifr M to tO M cc CO M cc Of thirty-six. 1 Oil M Ol M to ifr- oo ai m -J ifr tO M (/ © 00 © CO © ^> M> -J 03 m tO m CD CO an J under fifty five. 1 CC 00 ifr- ^» cc i— 00 CO © to CO CO m ©M-303lfr.OI OSM©00CDMMM CO MM rn ifc. © Ol 00 MCOOn-t. © ja r > fc— 1 ifr M, M— to M tO MmI 1 — 1 MM r-i © Of f.ftv-flvr, < MM K w -3 © tO'^t'Vf ifr- "©1 MM CO OI -.1 CO ifr- ifr- to 00 ifr MM MM to -J and under cue ft ifr tO CO M to ifr 00 00 CO CO GO M Ol ).- MMOlt0©0UOlOi . to -J ^J - MM 1 £ ¦s & 3 3 Offifty-five ind under le hundred. f one hun dred, and upwards . TOTAL. & c o a O °1 o O 33,337 30,403 27,690 20,397 11,143 283 9,107,751 51 48 SO 22 15 2 125,781 189 158 93 67 37 4 183,425 243 206 126 89 52 6 309,206 72 52 47 49 17 136,806 i'" 2,216 2,401 1,724 1,265 657 25 155,318 " 427 338 208 134 99 3 60,257 2,643 2,739 1,932 1,399 756 28 215,575 - 346 269 166 112 87 1 196,374 393 343 207 163 105 5 488,448 739 612 373 275 192 6 684,822 639 497 357 389 358 17 688,844 1,559 1,554 788 613 241 5 937,679 587 553 284 235 106 5 341,582 309 231 124 110 49 1 157,575 75 60 45 61 30 2 140,084 17 13 10 7 6 30,383 20 36 27 16 3 31,260 5S 53 36 21 23 8,953 71 65 23 34 21 1 9,478 2 2 3 1 15,777 12 16 7 6 4 517 ; 144 136 69 62 46 1 34,725 865 1,033 682 564 366 7 39,858 47,347 48,125 32,504 24,266 13,36£ 361 12,856,154 | Vol. II. 30 ^b APPENDIX. AGGRE WHITE PERSONS, included States and TERKiTORrEs. Who are deaf and dumb, under 14 yeara of age. Who are df. i Who are df, and dumb of and dumb.of the age of 14 25 and up- and under 25 wards. -— — MaineNew Hampshire Massachusetts Rhode Island Connecticut VermontN. District of N. Y. S. District of N. Y. 64 33 57 3 44 37 195 77 62 55 69 30 151 58 202 113 61 48 144 22 100 54 188 55 Total of New- York. New-Jersey E- District of Pennsylvania W. District of Pennsylvania 272 64 116 94 315 71 148106 243 71 153 95 Total of Pennsylvania DelawareMarylandE. District of Virginia W. District of Virginia 210 9 47 67 60 254 10 32 62 64 248 11 53 96 73 Total of Virginia North Carolina South Carolina Georgia N. District ofAlabama S. District ofAlabama 127 696152 11 32 126 65 51 48 1213 169 60 60 47 8 8 16 7 11 10 Total of Alabama Mississippi - E. District of Louisiana W. District of Louisiana 43 12 74 25 10 7 6 Total of Louisiana E. District of Tennessee W. District of Tennessee 11 17 46 63 92 161 13 19 44 63 109164 1,781 21 15 39 Total of Tennessee. KentuckyOhio - 5482 121 Amount carried forward 1,531 1,692 APPENDIX. 227 GA TE — Continued in the foregoing. SLAVES AND COLORED PERSONS, included n the foregoing Aliens — Who are deaf Who are deaf Who are deaf Who are blind. Who are Foreigners and dumb, and dumb, of and dumb, of blind. not under four. the age of the age of naturalized teen years of burteen, and twenty-five age. under 25. Sf upwards. 157 2,83 J 2 5 117 401 ) 4 3 5 241 8,73. 3 3 2 4 61 1,111 ) 2 1 1 8 192 1,50' 7 2 2 4 49 3,421 ) 1 1 488 29.12' 7 4 3 4 15 222 22,78 3 4 6 7 26 660 52,20 7 8 9 11 41 176 3,37 7 6 3 9 22 236 9.21 8 9 11 9 17 207 6,14 7 3 4 11 443 15,36 5 12 15 9 28 18 31 3 4 4 12 156 4,83 3 28 30 24 117 214 35 S 40 35 32 401 160 39 9 12 7 6 44 374 75 6 52 42 38 445 215 20 6 25 27 27 157 99 49 8 9 27 31 129 143 8 S 36 19 11 119 30 2 0 4 4 2 12 40 5 3 7 3 5 30 70 7 3 11 7 7 42 25 8 2 1 8 2 28 31 1,58 0 4 4 8 65 7 12 D 4 1 1 15 . 38 1,70 D 8 5 9 80 90 5 6 3 1 13 87 6 5 10 9 3 28 177 12 1 13 10 3 41 156 17 3 12 25 5 78 251 5,52 i 4 1 4 3,866 103,31 3 225 241 200 1,364 228 APPENDIX. GENERAL AGGRE- WHITE PEOPLE included Who are Who are Who are States and Territories. deaf and deaf and deaf and dumb, under dumb, of 14 dumb, of 25 14 years of and under and upwards age. 25. Amount brought forward 1,531 1,781 1,692 Indiana 54 50 _ Illinois 22 24 18 Missouri 17 7 9 Arkansas 5 2 1 Michigan 5 5 3 E. District of Florida 1 - 2 W. District of Florida 1 2 Middle District of Florida - S. District of Florida Total of Florida 2 4 District of Columbia 4 5 3 Total of the U. States 1,640 1,874 1,730 RECAPITULATION exhibiting tl w general aggregate of each FREE WHITE I •ERSONS. Males under 5 years of age _ 972,194 of 5 and under 10 782,637 of 10 and under 15 671,688 of 15 and under 20 575,614 of 20 and under 30 - 952,902 of 30 and under 40 592,596 of 40 and under 50 - 369,370 of 50 and under 60 230,500 of 60 and under 70 134,910 of 70 and under 80 58,136 of 80 and under 90 15,945 of 90 and under 100 1,993 of 100 and upwards 274 5,358,769 APPENDIX. 229 GATE— Continued. SLAVES AND COLORED PERSONS, in the foregoing. included in the foregoing. Who are Aliens — Who are deaf Who are deaf Who are deaf blind. Foreigners not and dumb un and dumb, of and dumb, of Who are naturalized. der fourteen the age of 14 the age of 25 blind. years of age. and under 25. and upwards. 3*866 103,316 "225 241 200 1*364 72 280 1 2 36 447 3 28 155 1 2 7 8 8 5 2 4 1,453 8 2 8 2 106 1 1 1 6 1 11 96 1 1 2 3 221 1 2 3 16 14 637 1 2 8 3,983 106,544 232 247 205 1,402 description of persons in the United States. FREE WHITE PERSONS. Fbmaies under 5 years of age • 920,104 of 5 and under 10 751,649 of 10 and under 15 639*063 of 15 and under 20 - 597,713 of 20 and under 30 915,662 of 30 and under 40 555,565 of 40 and under 50 355,425 of 50 and under 60 222,928 of 60 and under 70 130,866 of 70 and under 80 58,034 of 80 and under 90 17,572 of 90 and under 100 2,484 of 100 and upwards 234 5,167,299 T< ital number of free whil es 10,526,058 Vol. II. 31 230 APPENDIX. RECAPITULATION continued. SLAVES. Males under 10 years of age 353,845 of 10 and under 24 313,676 of 24 and under 36 - - - 185,654- k of 36 arid under 55 118,996 of 55 and under 100 41,456 of 100 and upwards 718 1,014,345 Females under 10 years of age 347,566 of 10 and under 24 - - 308,793 of 24 and under 36 186,082 of 36 and under 55 111,753 of 55 and under 100 - 41,422 of 100 and upwards 668 966,284 Total numher of slaves 2,010,62? FREE COLORED PERSONS. Males under 10 years 48,737 of 10 and under 24 43,126 of 24 and under 36 27,629 of 30 and under 55 - 22,262 of 55 and under 100 11,475 of 100 and' upwards 266 < 153,495 Females under 10 years of age 47,347 of 10 and under 24 48,125 of 24 and under 36 32,504 of 36 and under 55 24,266 of 55 arid under 100 - 13,369 of 100 and upwards 361 165,972 Total number of free colored 379,467 Total aggregate 12,856,154 White persons included in the foregoing — Who are deaf and dumb, under fourteen years of age - 1,640 Do. do. of fourteen and under twenty -five 1,874 Do. do. of twenty-five and upwards - 1,730 Who are blind 3,983 Aliens. Foreigners not naturalized 106,544 Slaves and colored persons included in the foregoing — Who are deaf and dumb, under fourteen years of age -. 232 Do. do. of fourteen and under 25 247 Do- do. of twenty-five and upwards 205 Who are blind .... 1,402 APPENDIX. 231 Table Cou-niies, I. MAINE. of the Counties and County Towns. Cumberland Hancock t«Kennebec Lincoln ^OxfordH-'lPenobscot Somerset WaldoWashington York Total Top. 1820. 17,856 40,150 46,843 27,104 .13,870 21,787 22,253 12,744 46.283 298,335 Pop. 1830. 60,113 24,347 52,49157,181 35,21731,530 35,788 29,790 21,29551,710 3"99462 County Towns. Portland CastineAustjsta ( Wiscasset Knox ) 2,156 Macdonough ) Schuyler ) 1,309 Gallatin. 7.407 Peoria ( 1,309 Green 7^664 Putnam \ Hamilton 2,620 Perry 1,215 Hancock 484 Pike 2,393 Jackson 1,827 Pope 3,223 APPENDIX. 253 Illinois continued. Counties Population 1830. Counties. Population 1830. Randolph 4,436 Wabash 2,709 St. Clair 7,092 Warren 307 Sangamon 12,960 Washington 1,674 Shelby 2,973 Wayne 2,562 Tazewell 4,716 White 6,091 Union 3,239 Total 157,575 Vermillion 5,836 of whom 746 are slaves. XXD7. MISSOURI. Table of the Counties. Boone 8,889 Montgomery 3,900 Callaway 6,102 New Madrid 2,351 Cape Girardeau 7,430 Perry 3,377 Chariton 1,776 Pike 6,122 Clay 5,342 Ralls 4,346 Cole 3,006 Randolph 2,962 Cooper 6,019 Ray 2,657 Crawford 1,709 St. Charles 4,322 Franklin 3,848 St. Francois 2,386 Gasconade 1,548 St. Genevieve 2,182 Howard 10,844 St. Louis 14,907 Jackson 2,822 Saline 2,893 Jefferson 2,586 Scott 2,136 Lafayette 2,921 Washington 6,797 Lincoln 4,060 Wayne 3,254 Madison 2,371 Marion 4,839 Total 140 Monroe Population i Of whom 24,990 are slaves if St. Louis. [n 1820 4,598 In 1830 5,852 XXV. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. Counties. Population Chief Towns. Population. * Alexandria 9,608 Alexandria 1810. 1820. 1830. Washington 30,250 Washington Washington 8,208 13,247 Alexandria 7,227 8,218 18,827 8,263 Total 39,858 Georgetown 4,948 7,360 8441 XXVI. FLORID A TERRITORY. Table of t he Counties. | Escambia 3,386 r Alachu 2,204 West Jackson ) F.adt Duvall 1,970 Florida. Walton \ 6,092 J1., { Mosquito Florlda- | Nassau 1 St. Johns 733 ! ^Washingt 3n ) 1,511 ' Gadsen Hamilton 4,894 2,535 Middle 553 S. Florida. Monroe 517 Jefferson 3,312 Florida Leon 6,493 Total 34,723 .Madison 525 Of whom 15,510 are slaves 36 254 APPENDIX. XXVII. MICHIGAN TERRITORY. Table of the Counties, 1830. Counties. Population. Counties. Population BerrienCass Jackson Lenawee Macomb Michilimackinac Monroe 323 928 1,491 2,414 877 3,187 OaklandSt. Clair St. Joseph Van Buren Washtenaw WayneDetroit, city Counties west of Lake Michigan. Brown 964 Chippewa 625 Crawford 692 Of whom 27 are slaves. Iowa Total 4,910 1,115 1,313 5 4,042 4,565 2,222 XXVIH. ARKANSAS TERRITORY. Table of the Counties. Arkansas 1,423 Lawrence Chicot 1,165 Miller Clark 1,369 Monroe Conway 982 Phillips Crawford 2,440 Pope Crittenden 1,272 Pulaski Hempstead 2,507 St. Francis Hot, or Warm Springs 458 Sevier Independence 2,032 Union Izard 1,266 Washington Jackson 333 Jefferson 772 Lafayette 748 Of whom 2,806 358 461 1,152 1,483 2,395 1,505 636 640 2,181 Total 30,383 MISCELLANEOUS STATISTICAL TABLE. Executive of the General Government. President and Vice-President of the United States. Salary of the former, $25,000 per annum ; of the latter $5,000. The president must be 35 years of age, 14 years a resident in the U. S. and a natural born citizen, or a citizen at the time ofthe adoption ofthe constitution. The vice-president is elected at the same time and manner, and for the same term, as the president. He is ex'ojfcio president of the senate ; and in case of the death of the pres ident, takes his place, until the next term. At the last election there were 261 electors. There have been 7 different presidents, and as many vice presidents. The legislature of the general government consists of a Senate and House of Representatives. The present number of senators is 48. The pay both for senators and representatives, is 8 dollars a day; and 8 dollars for every 20 miles travel, going and returning. The present number of representatives is 213. The present census, on the existing ratio, will increase the number to more than 250. The Judiciary of the U. S. consists in one supreme court, and such subordinate courts as congress shall from time to time appoint. The judges of the supreme and inferior court, hold their offices during good behaviour. The present supreme court consists of one chief justice, and six associate justices. Salary of the chief justice, $5,000 and of the others $4,500 each. Attorney General, salary $3,500. The district court consists of 30 judges, distributed in the several states, each having an attorney, marshal and clerk, as constituent officers ofthe court. The government having very extended relations, and acting over a vast surface, has a numerous corps of officers of departments ; marshals, clerks, and the like. The officers of the army, now in commission, are 560 ; of the navy about 1000, and ofthe marine corps 50; 22 ships of war are in commission, and 16 in ordinary. Five ships of the line and six frigates are now building. The militia of the United States amounts to 1,200,000. Extent of the U. S. 2,257, 374 square miles. Of canals there are about 3,000 miles in operation, in progress, or survey. Of rail- road, the extent made or making, is 1,403 miles. Number of post offices in 1831, 8,610. Extent of post roads in 1830, 115,176 miles. We have 60 literary institutions, chartered as colleges, the names of which are given under their proper heads, in the body of this work, The number of academies and high schools amount to between six and seven hundred. The pupils in all the schools in the U. S. amount to 256 APPENDIX. about 1,200,000. Of periodicals there are circulated about 1,550. Of religious societies there are about 14,000 fixed congregations, and 10,000 settled ministers. Advancing in the same ratio of population, as between the census of 1820, and 1830 the U. S. will contain 35 mil lions of people, of which the valley of the Mississippi will contain more than half. The tides along the coast of the U. S. diminish, as we advance from Maine shore towards Florida. On the Bay of Fundy they rise 40 feet. In the centre of the interior curve of Cape Cod, they rise 18 feet, and on the opposite convex land of the cape, about 9 feet. They thence diminish along the open shore from 9 to 8 and 7 feet, until we pass Cape Fiorida into the gulf of Mexico, where the tide on the open shore is not more, on an average, than 4 feet. The annual mean temper ature of Maine is about 43° Faht. of the centre of Pennsylvania 55°; Cincinnati 54°; St. Louis on the Mississippi 55°; New-York harbor 52° Newport, Rhode Island 51°; Baltimore 53°; Richmond Virginia 56°; Washington D. C. 56°; Charleston harbor 60°; St. Augustine 72°; Pensacola 68°; New Orleans 79°; Fort Howard, southern extremity of Green Bay 44°: Prairie du Chien 45°; Council Bluffs on the Mis souri 50°. Lake Erie is 565 feet above the level of the Atlantic; Pitts burgh 800; Cincinnati 350; Louisville 343; mouth of the Ohio 321. Highest spring source of the Alleghanies 2,509. Foot of the the Rocky Mountains, at the sources of the Yellow Stone 1 ,870. Middle course of the Illinois 401 ; Ouisconsin River 1,161 ; Prairie du Chien 580; Lake Superior 641. The prevalent winds in the northern states of the Atlantic slope are W. and N. W. In the valley of the Mississippi S. W. Thunder storms in the U. S. generally form in the W. and N. W. and pass off to the E. This general rule has many exceptions. They often descend the Ohio, passing over Cincinnati and Louisville from the E. to the W. They very commonly ascend the valley of Red River from S. E. to N. W. It is a singular fact, that along the whole Atlantic sea shore, those disagreeable and fierce storms, called N. E. storms, commence in the S. W. and travel with a rotatory motion, horizontal to the horizon, in other words as whirl winds, from the S. W. to N. E. at the rate of about 30 miles an hour. Violent blows, called hurricanes, sweeping forests and buildings from their course, seldom many miles in length, and often less than a half a mile in width, are common, especially in summer, in all parts of the U. S. They are most frequent in the Mississippi valley. Their distinctive ravages are seen in a thousand places. The prostrate forest in their path is technically called a hurricane tract. These gales also move in a rota tory progress, sometimes ascending wholly above the forests, and then descending again with the same unsparing fury. The U. S. have all the temperatures, that can be requisite for any class of invalids, between the sea breezes of Maine, the mountain breezes of New Hampshire, the climate of the Council Bluffs, Charleston, St. Au gustine, New Orleans, or the portion of Cape Florida South of 28°, and beyond the reach of either snow or frost. The U. S. possess every species of useful building stone and marble in unlimited abundance — all the valuable fossils — particularly the great est profusion of fossil coal. It has the most ample amount of all the important metals, except platina, tin and mercury. These metals have no where been discovered in such abundance, as to have become of any APPENDIX. 257 utility. Cleveland and Silliman, I know not on what authority, have assigned the greatest abundance of the ores of Mercury to the northern shores of the lakes. We do not recollect to have seen the fact mentioned by Schoolcraft, Long or other mineralogists, worthy of credit. We hold this important fact, if it be one, in entire doubt. Future observation will, no doubt, bring to light these metals in the widest extent of our terri tory. The number of signers of American Independence was 56, of whom Pennsylvania furnished 9, the greatest number from any one state. Vir ginia furnished 7, and Massachusetts 5. The continental army, in 1783, consisted of a commander in chief, 15 major generals, and 21 brigadier generals. The number of continental troops furnished by the different states, during the revolutionary war, was 231,931. The militia called out amounted to 56,163. Ofthe continental troops, Massachusetts furnish ed 67,907, that is to say, more than double the number of any other state in the Union. There were 15 different presidents of congress, during the revolutionary war. The free inhabitants of the free states amount to 6,913,615; leaving to the slave states 5,942,792 Synopsis of the political statistics of the states in their order. Maine settled 1620,1652 under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. Purchased by that colony, 1677. Remained under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, by the name of the District of Maine, until 1820, when it became an independent state. Constitution went into operation in 1820. The legislative body is entitled the Legislature of Maine. It is vested in a sen ate and house of representatives, elected annually by the people on the second Monday of September. The number of Representatives cannot be less than 100, nor more that 200. A town with 1500 inhabitants sends one representative. No town can send more than 7. Number of Senators cannot be less than 70, nor more than 31. The legislature meets at Augusta. Governor elected annually by the people. A council of 7 is elected annually by the joint ballot of the Senate and Representatives. The right of suffrage is granted to all persons over 21, but paupers, persons under guardianship, and persons not taxed. A residence of 3 months preceding the election gives the right of- suffrage. The judicial power is vested in a Supreme Judicial court, and courts, that may be established by the legislature from time to time. The salary of the Gov ernor $1,500 per annum. The members of the Senate and house of Representatives $2 per day. Banks 19. Whole capital $2,175,000, exclusive ofthe U. S. Bank. Sends 7 Representatives to Congress, and will be entitled to 2 or 3 additional members, by the ratio of the present census. Post offices 397. This is the 12th state in the union, in point of members. New Hampshire. First settled 1623. Belonged alternately to the Royal government to Massachusetts and New- York. Constitution estab-. lished 1784. The legislative power, called the General court of New Hampshire, is in a Senate and House of Representatives. 150 voters send a representative and 300 additional voters a second. The members and the officers of the executive power are chosen annually by the people. m' ¦-".-.. .". ... "..,.;:. Iu~hi :: suffrage belongs to all 258 APPENDIX. male inhabitants of 21 years, but paupers and persons not taxed at their own request. A Superior Court and Court of Common Pleas compose the judiciary. The judges hold their places, during good behavior, till the age of 70. Salary of governor $1,200 per annum. Banks 21. Capital $2,102, 756, exclusive of the U. S. Bank. Sends 6 Representatives to Congress. 255 post offices. This is the 17th state in the union, in point of members. Vermont. First settlements in 1724; 1749. Claimed by New Hamp shire and New- York. Constitution formed 1777, entered the union 1791. The general assembly of the state of Vermont is the legislative power, composed of a single body, a House of Representatives, elected annually. One member is sent from every town. Montpelier is the place of meeting The officers of the executive power are chosen annually. Every man of 21 years, having resided one year preceding the election in the state, who is quiet and peaceable, has the right of suffrage. A supreme and county courts constitute the judiciary; all the officers being elected annually by the general assembly. A council of censors, composed of 13, is chosen every 7 years, to see if the laws are duly executed. Sala ry governor $1000 per anum. Banks 10. Capital $1,050,000, exclu sive of the U. S. Bank. Sends 5 Representatives to Congress. 253 Post offices. This is the 18th state in the union, in point of members. Massachusetts. First settlements 1620, 1628. The two settle ments remained under separate governments, until 1685 — 6 when they were united under the royal government. The constitution was formed 1780. The legislative power is styled The General court of Massachu setts, and composed of a Senate and House of Representatives, elected anriually, one for 150 voters, and another for an additional 225. Senate is composed of 40 members. The governor is elected annually. The General Court meets at Boston. Residence of one year in the common wealth, and six calendar months in the district, and paying a state or county tax within the two years preceding the election, constitutes a person 21 years of age a voter. The judiciary is a Supreme court and court of Common Pleas. Salary governor $3,666 67 per annum. Banks 66. Capital $20,420,000, exclusive of the United States Bank. Sends 13 Representatives to Congress. Post Offices 425. This is the ninth state in the Union in point of numbers. Rhode Island. First settlements, 1636, 1638. Chartered 1644. Rechartered 1666, by Charles II., which charter is the basis of its pres ent government. Unlike all the other states, it has no written constitution. The legislative power is a General Assembly, composed of Senate and House of Representatives, which consists of 72 members, elected from the towns semi-annually ; and the Senate of 10. The latter are chosen annually. The Governor is elected annually. The General Assembly meets four times in a year at different towns. Judges are appointed an nually by the General Assembly. Judges of the Courts of Common Pleas have no salaries, but are paid by entries. Salary Governor $400. Banks 47. Capital $6,098,307, exclusive of the United States Bank. Sends two Representatives to Congress. Post Offices 41. This is the twenty-third state i" iU"TT_:— ' ' ' " APPENDIX. 259 Connecticut. First settlements 1635, 1638. Chartered 1665. The charter was suspended, and restored, and formed the basis of the govern ment till 1818, when a constitution was formed. A Senate and House of Representatives form the General Assembly. The members of the latter are chosen by the different towns, and are 208 in number. The Sena tors must not fall below 18, nor exceed 24. All the officers of govern ment are elected annually. The General Assembly meets once a year, alternately at Hartford and New Haven. A residence of six months, the holding a freehold estate valued yearly at $7, or having performed military duty for one year, paying taxes for one year, and a good moral character, qualify a voter. A supreme court of errors, a superior court, " and such inferior courts as may be created from time to time, compose the judiciary. The Judges are appointed by the General Assembly, and hold their offices during good behaviour, till the age of 70. No one is compelled to join in, or support religious worship ; but when united to any society, may be obliged to pay bis portion of its expenses. Salary Governor $1,100. Banks 13. Capital, exclusive of the United States Bank, $4,033,000. Sends 6 Representatives to Congress. 222 Post Offices. This is the sixteenth state in the Union, in point of numbers. New York. First settlement 1614. Colonial government 1629. Passed from the Dutch to the English, 1664. 1673 returned to the Dutch for a few months, and then to the English. Constitution formed, 1777. A Senate of 32 members, and an Assembly of 128 elected annually from the legislature. Senators elected by districts, and Representatives by counties, in proportion to the population. The executive offices are chosen every two years. The legislature meets at Albany. The right of suffrage belongs to every white male citizen of the age of 21, who has resided one year in the state, and six months In his oWn county. A man of color cannot vote unless he possess an unincumbered freehold estate, valued at $250. The Judges are appointed by the Governor, with the consent of the Senate. The Chancellor and Justices of the Supreme and Circuit Courts hold their offices during good behaviour, or until the age of 60. The Judges of the County Courts are appointed for five years. Salary Governor $4,000. Banks 44. Capital $24,969,600, exclusive of the United States Bank. Some other Banks are either in contempla tion, or operation. Sends 34 Representatives to Congress. Post Offices 1,462. This is the first state in the Union in point of numbers. New Jersey contained a few families, 1665. In 1676 divided into two provinces, one under royal government, and the other dependent on New York. East Jersey was transferred to William Penn and eleven associates, 1632. In 1702 both provinces united under the government of New York, till 1738, when a separate government was instituted. William Temple Franklin, a son of Dr. Franklin, was the last royal gov ernor. Constitution formed 1776. The Governor, Legislative Council and General Assembly compose the Legislature. The Legislative Coun cil and General Assembly are elected annually. The former is composed of 14, and the latter of 50. The Legislature meets at Trenton annually. The Governor is chosen by the Council and Assembly at their first meet ing after the election. The Governor is President of the Council, which elects a VicePresident from itself. The Governor and Council form a court 260 APPENDIX. of Appeals, as the last resort in all law causes, and possess the power of pardoning criminals, after condemnation. All persons of full age, worth £25 proclamation money, having resided one year in the county where they vote, have the right of suffrage. By succeeding acts, it is deter mined, that paying a tax is equivalent to the former requisition, and that females and negroes are prohibited from voting. The Judges of the Superior and Inferior Courts are appointed by the Legislature, the former for 7 years, and the latter for 5. Both may be re-appointed. Salary Governor, $2,000. Banks 18. Capital $5,075,000. Sends 6 Repre sentatives to Congress. Post Offices 242. This is the fourteenth state in the Union, in point of numbers. Pennsylvania. First settlement, 1682. Governed by deputies of tfce proprietors, till 1776, when the Constitution was formed. A Senate and House of Representatives form the General Assembly. The Represen tatives are elected annually, being proportionate in number to that of the taxable inhabitants. The Senate consists of 33 members, and the House of Representatives 100. The Senators are chosen for four years, one and one-fourth being elected at the same time with the Representatives, The Governor is elected for 3 years, and may hold his office 9 out of 12. The Assembly meets at Harrisburgh. The Judiciary is a Supreme Court, Courts of Oyer and Terminer, and goal-delivery Courts of Com mon Pleas, an Orphan's Court, a Court of Quarter Sessions, &c. The Judges are appointed by the Governor, and hold their offices during good behaviour. The right of suffrage belongs to every freeman of the age of 21, who has resided two years in the state, and paid a tax six months before the election. Governor's salary $4,000. Banks 31. Capital $10,310,333 84. Sends 26 Representatives to Congress. 961 Post Offices. This is the second state in the Union, in point of numbers. Delaware. First settlement 1627. From the Swedes and Fins, it passed into the hands ofthe Dutch, and then into those of the English, with New York. 1682 was granted to Wm. Penn, and included in the gov ernment of Pennsylvania. 1701 Delaware withdrew from Pennsylva nia, and a constitution was formed 1776. The General Assembly con sists of a Senate and House of Representatives. The members of the latter are elected annually, 7 from each county, amounting in all to 21. The Governor is chosen every 3 years, and he is ineligible for the three years which succeed. Three of the Senators are elected annually. The General Assembly meets at Dover. A residence of 2 years previous to the election, and paying a state or county tax constitutes all white free men aged 21 voters. The judiciary is composed of a Court of Chancery a Supreme Court, court of Common Picas, &,c. The officers hold their places during good behaviour. Salary Governor $1,333,33. Sendsone Representative to Congress. Banks 4. Capital $1,050,000. 36 Post offices. This is the 24th state in the union, in point of numbers. Maryland. First settlement 1634. 1776 constitution formed. The legislature is styled the General Assembly of Maryland, and is composed of a senate of 15 members and a House of Delegates of 80. Each county furnishes 4 of the latter. They are elected annually, and the Senate every fifth year, 9 from the Western, and 6 from the Eastern shore. The APPENDIX. 261 ' Governor is elected annually, and is eligible 3 years out of 7. The Gen eral Assembly meets at Annapolis. A council of 5 form the executive with the Governor. Every white freeman above the age of 21, having resided 12 months in the state, or 6 in the county, is qualified to vote. The chancellor and judges are nominated by the Governor and appointed by the council, and hold their offices during good behaviour. Salary of Governor $2,666. Banks 14. Capital $9,450,000. Sends 9 Repre sentatives to Congress. Post offices 221. This is the eleventh state in the union in point of numbers. Virginia. First settlement 1607. Constitution 1776. It was amended in 1829, and as it now stands. The General Assembly is com posed of a Senate and House of Delegates. The number of members in the latter is 134 chosen annually. The Senate has 32 members elected every four years, one and a fourth vacating their seats every year. Voters for all places of trust honor or profit are given viva voce. The execu tive is in the hands of the Governor who is chosen for 3 years, and in eligible for the next term. There is a council of state of 3. The judges ofthe Supreme Court of Appeals and the Superior courts are appointed by the General Assembly, and hold their offices during good behaviour, or till they are removed by a concurrent vote of the Assembly. Owning a freehold ofthe value of 25 dollars, or an interest in one to that amount, or possessions equivalent to this, or having been a housekeeper and head of a family for 12 months, and paid taxes, constitutes a free white man of 21 a voter. Salary of Governor $3,333 33 cents. There are three banks with branches amounting in all to 16, and 1 in Wheeling. Whole Capital $5,607,000, exclusive ofthe U.S. Bank. Sends 22 Repre sentatives to Congress. Post offices 778. This is the third state in the union in point of numbers. North Carolina. First settlement about the middle of the 17th cen tury. 1727 became a distinct province. Constitution formed 1776. A Senate and House of Commons constitute the General Assembly, both chosen annually by the people. Each county furnishes 1 senator and 2 members ofthe House of Commons and one ofthe latter from each of 6 large towns. The Governor is the chief executive officer, is elected an nually by the 2 houses, and eligible for one term of 3 years out of six. The judges of the Supreme and Superior courts are appointed by the assembly, and hold their offices during good behavior. All freemen aged 21, who have resided in the state 12 months immediately preceding the election, are entitled to vote for members ofthe House of Commons; but to vote for a senator, the possession of a freehold of fifty acres of land is required. Assembly meets annually at Raleigh. Salary of Governor $2,000. Banks 3 with their branches. Capital exclusive of the U. S. bank $3,200,000. Sends 13 Representatives to Congress. Post offices 470. This is the fifth state in the union in point of numbers. South Carolina. First Settlement about 1663. Constitution formed 1775. The legislative power is in a Senate and House of Representa tives. 45 members compose the senate. They are elected by districts for 4 years. Half are chosen biennially. The Representatives are 124 Vot.. TT. 37 262 APPENDIX. in number, and apportioned according to the white inhabitants and taxa tion. Elected for 2 years. A governor holds the executive power for the term of 2 years, and is then ineligible for 4. The assembly meets annually at Columbia. The chancellor and judges are appointed by the Senate and House of Representatives and hold their offices, during good behavior. Every free white male of trie age of 21, who has resided in the state two years, previous to the election, and possessing a freehold of50 acres, or town lot, or resided in the district, in which he offers his vote, six months before the election, and having paid tax of 3 shillings sterling in support of the governor, is qualified to vote. Salary of Governor 3,900 dollars. Banks 4, and the state bank with 3 branches. Capital exclusive of the U. S. bank $4,631,833. Sends 9 Representatives to Congress. 278 Post offices. This is the tenth state in the union, in point of numbers. Georgia. First settlement 1733. Of the states belonging to the union at the time of the declaration of independence, this was the last settled. Constitution formed 1777. The legislative power is the General Assembly composed of a Senate and House of Representatives. The members of both are chosen annually. A county furnishes one senator and Reps, in proportion to population, including three and one fifth ofthe people of color. A Governor elected by the people for two years, holds the executive power. The Assembly meets at Milledgeville. All citi zens of 21 years, who have paid required taxes, and resided 6 months in the county, are allowed to vote. The judicial power is a superior court, and such inferior ones, as may be established by the legislature. The superior judges, are elected by the legislature for 3 years, and the infe rior quadrennially by the people. The clerks biennially. Salary of Governor $3,000. Banks 10, beside branches; capital $5,882,349, exclu sive of the United States Bank. Post offices 251. Sends 57 Repre sentatives to congress. This is the sixth state in the union, in point of numbers. Ohio. First settlement 1788. 1789 territorial government; 1802 independent state; constitution. The legislative power is vested in the General Assembly composed of a Senate and House of Representatives. The latter are chosen annually, apportioned among the voters according to the number of the voters. The number cannot exceed 72, nor fall short of 36. Senate elected biennially in proportion to the number of voters. The number cannot be less than a third, nor more than half that of the Representatives. The Governor holds the executive power, and is elect ed by the people for two years. The Assembly meets at Columbus. Residence of one year, immediately preceding the election, and paying or being charged with a state and county tax, constitutes every white citizen of 21 a voter. The judiciary is a supreme court, courts of common pleas, &c." The judges are elected by both houses for seven years. Salary of Governor $1,200. Banks 12 exclusive ofthe United States Bank. Capital not ascertained. Sends 14 Representatives to congress. Post offices 702. This is the fourth state in the union in point of numbers. Michigan. First settlement 1670. 1805 territorial government un der the U.S. 1812 taken by the British under General Brock. 1813 APPENDIX. 263 recovered by the United States. The legislative council is composed of 13 members, elected for 2 years. Judges 4. Salary of Governor $2,000 Banks 2. Capital not specified. Sends one delegate to congress. Post offices 79. Kentucky- First settlement 1775. Apart of Virginia, until 1790. 1790 Constitution formed. Admitted into the Union 1792. A senate and House of Representatives compose the legislative power. It is called the General Assembly. 100 is the highest number of Representatives allowed and 58 the lowest. Elected annually, and apportioned every 4 years among the electors. Senators elected for 4 years, one fourth part chosen annually. They cannot exceed 38, or fall short of 24. A gov ernor holds the executive power, chosen for 4 years, and ineligible for the succeeding 7. Elected by the people vive voce. The assembly meets at Frankfort. Every male free white citizen of 21, having resided in the state two years or in the district one year next preceding the election is qualified to vote. The judiciary is a court of appeals and inferior courts. These officers hold their places during good behavior. Salary Governor $2,.00O. Banks 2 exclusive ofthe United States Bank. Capital not spe cified. Post Offices 322. Sends 12 Representatives to congress. This is the 6th state in the Union, in point of numbers. Indiana; First settlement near the commencement of the present century. Territorial government, 1800. Constitution formed and ad mitted into the union 1816. The legislative authority is a Senate and House rof Representatives, which compose a General assembly. The Senators are chosen for 3 years, and the Representatives annually. The latter cannot exceed 100, nor fall short of 36. The former must not be less, than one third, nor more than one half the number of Representa tives. The members of both houses are apportioned among the voters. The Governor is chosen for 3 years, and may be once reelected, The Assembly meets at Indianopolis. The right of suffrage belongs to all free male citizens of 21, who have resided one year in the state im mediately previous to the election. The judiciary consists of a supreme court, circuit courts, and inferior courts. The supreme judges are ap pointed by the Governor with the consent of the Senate; those of the circuit court by the legislature, and the associate judges by the people, Salary of Governor 1,000. Sends 3 Representatives to congress. Post offices 218. This is the 13th state in the Union in point of numbers. Illinois. First settlement in the latter part of the 17th century. Passed from France to Great Britain, 1763. Settlements began by the citizens of the United States about 1800. Territorial government 1809. 1818 constitution formed, and admitted into the Uuion. The legislative authority is vested in a General assembly. Composed of a Senate and House of Representatives until the inhabitants shall amount to 100,000, the number of Representatives is confined within 36 and 27, and the Senators must be not less than one third, nor more than one half the number of Representatives. The governor is the executive power, and chosen for 4 years, ineligible for the succeding term. The Representa tives are chosen annually, and the Senators every four years. The As sembly meets every second year at Vandalia. The requisitions for a voter are the same as in mo3t of the other states, except that only six 264 APPENDIX. months previous residence is necessary. A supreme court and inferior -courts constitute the judiciary. The judges are appointed by the General Assembly, and hold their offices during good behavior. Salary of Governor $1,000. Post offices 217. Illinois sends one Representative to congress This is the 20th state in the Union, in point of numbers. Missouri. First settlements 1764. 1804 separated from the rest of Louisiana, and 1820 constitution formed, and 1821, admitted into the Union. A Senate and House of Representatives form a General Assem bly. One Representative at least from each county, but the whole number may not exceed 100. The Senators are elected for four years, the seats of half being vacated every two years . Limited between 14 and 33. Chosen by districts, and apportioned among the voters. The Governor is the executive officer, elected for four years, and ineligible for the four succeeding. The Assembly meets every second year at the city of Jeffer son. A voter must be twenty one, have resided in the state one year be fore the election, and 3 months in the county. The judiciary is a Supreme court, chancery circuit courts, &c. The judges are appointed by the Governor with the Senate, and hold their offices during good behavior, until the age of 65. Salary, Governor $1,500. No bank, but that of the United States. Post offices, 99. Sends one Representative to Con gress. Missouri is the 21st, state in the Uuion in point of numbers. Tennessee. First settlement between 1765 and 70. Included in North Carolina, till 1790. 1796 Constitution formed and admitted into the Union. A General Assembly composed of a Senate and House of Representatives composes legislative power. The members of both houses are elected biennially The number of Representatives is sixty. They are apportioned among the voters. The Senate can not be less than one third, nor more than half the number of Repre sentatives. A Governor is the executive officer, elected at the same time, and for the same term with the members of the Assembly. Eligible 6 years in 8. The Assembly meets at Nashville biennially. Every free man of 21, owning a freehold in the county; also any freeman, who has been an inhabitant of any county in the state 6 months next preceding the election is entitled to vote. The judiciary is composed of such supe rior and inferior judges, as the legislature may establish, appointed by both houses. They hold their offices during good behavior. Salary of Governor 2,000 dollars. The United States has a bank at Nashville. Sends 9 Representatives to congress. Post offices 350. This is the 7th state in the Union, in point of numbers. Arkansas Territory. Separated from Missouri, and made independent, 1819. The legislative council is composed of 5 members. The House of Representatives composed of 23 members, are elected biennially. Judges 4. Salary Governor $2,000. Sends 1 delegate to Congress. Post Offices 52. The following specific and important information, touching the settled regions of this interesting and little known Territory, was received too late for insertion under its appropriate head. The writer, Dr. McKay, has been, from the early periods of the settlement of that country, one of its intelligent and respectable citizens, personally acquainted with the country he describes. No apology is deemed necessary for introducing such direct, tangible and important infflrmafipti hem jffljh" form of a note. APPENDIX. 265 'When this territory was constituted in 1819, a separate government, it constituted only 5 counties, viz: Arkansas, Lawrence, Pulaski, Clarke, and Hempstead. The old counties have been "clipped," and new ones formed by every session of the legislature since, until the number has in creased to 23. Arkansas, Phillips, Crittenden, St. Francis, Monroe and Chicot form the eastern judicial district; Pulaski, Conway, Pope, Craw ford, the western ; Hot Spring, Clark, Hempstead, Miller, Lafayette, Se vier, and Union, the southern; Independence, Lawrence, Jackson, Izard and Washington, the northern. With regard to the water courses, I barely know the names of the most important, such as Arkansas, White, St. Francis, Washita, and Red River, with their branches. The principal branches of the Arkansas, are the Pawnee, Canadian, or Main, Arkansas, Verdigris, Grand, or Six Bull, and the Illinois. The latter rises near Six Bull, and runs a southern course through the country, now occupied by the Cherokee Indians. It is a clear, swift and beautiful stream, about 150 yards in width, and empties into the Arkansas on the north shore, about 40 miles below the junction of Verdigris and Grand River, which are only half a mile distant from each other at their points of entrance. The Verdigris is the upper branch. Both this and Grand River come in from the north, rising in the Osage country. The next stream of any size is the Poto, coming from the south, and emptying into the Arkansas at Fort Smith. The above mentioned branches all belong to the country assigned to the Indi ans. Crawford county joins the Choctaw and Cherokee line on the W. Washington county lies N. of Crawford, and is bounded on the N. by the Missouri line. The county seat is Fayetteville. Lee's Creek rises in this county. It is a fine, rapid stream, affording good mill seats, and discharges its waters into the Arkansas on the N. about 8 miles below Fort Smith. This county is the best watered in the territory. It abounds in the finest springs, bursting from the limestone, and often running off in bold streams sufficient to turn a mill. It is very hilly, and in many places there are precipices from 1 to 300 feet in height. Some of the main branches of White River traverse" it. Pope county is next in descending the Arkansas. It has no streams of any importance, except Illinois Creek, on the N., and Pettijohn,onthe S. Neither of these are navigable for any distance, Conway succeeds Pope, and has no stream of note, except Cadron Creek, which empties into Arkansas from the N., and is navigable for a short distance from its mouth. The county seat is Harrisburgh. Pulaski joins Conway, and is also destitute of large streams. Little Rock is the county seat, and the seat of the territorial government. It is situated on the S. bank of the Arkansas, about 250 miles by water, and about 140 by land from the Mississippi. The position is high and commanding, itscending gradually from the river for one mile and a half. There are no public buildings ex cept a wooden jail and court house; but among the private buildings there are several handsome erections of brick and wood. The town is spread over a considerable extent of ground, and contains 5 dry goods stores, besides groceries and other shops. It is a place of considerable trade, and promises to become a town of consequence. The smaller steam boats are able to reach this point at all seasons. Jefferson county lies below, and E. of Pulaski. No streams of note are found in it, ex-* cept Plum Bayou, a branch of the Arkansas, putting out on the N. side, 266 appendix. and running such a course, as to form an island between itself and the Arkansas of 30 miles in length, and from 4 to 8 or 10 in width. The county seat has no name but Pine Bluff. This is the first high land seen in ascending the Arkansas. Arkansas county touches Jefferson. Its principal streams are Bayou Meteau, which rises in Pulaski county, and runs a S. E. course of about 100 miles, emptying into the Arkansas on the N. about 8 miles above the Post, by land, and 20 by water, and the river Aux Grues, or Crane River, which also rises in Pulaski, and taking an eastwardly course, discharges itself into White River about 15 miles from the mouth of the latter. These two streams run along opposite sides of the Big Prairie, which appears to be the dividing ridge between the waters of the Arkansas and White River. This county reaches to the Mississippi. Crittenden county touches the Missouri line and extends to island No. 63, 1 think. Lawrence joins it on the W. Phillips on the S. and the Mississippi on the East. Some of the head branches of the St. Francis pass through the western part of it. The seat of justice is situ ated at the upper end of a bend of the Mississippi, about 17 miles above Memphis. This county contains large bodies of first rate land; but like all those, which border on the Mississippi, it is cut up by lakes marshes and the overflow of that river. Phillips is south of the latter, East of Monroe and St. Francis, and north of Arkansas. Its streams are St. Francis River, and Big Creek. The St. Francis is about 200 yards wide at its mouth, and affords a considerable length of navigation. Big Creek rises in the high lands back of this river, and runs an eastwardly course, emptying into the Mississippi about 20 miles below the St. Fran cis. It would admit of navigation for a short distance. This county has large bodies of excellent land. Helena, the seat of justice, is situated on the West bank of the Mississippi, about 5 miles below the mouth of the St. Francis. Here is the only point of high land, that comes into the Mississippi on its west side, in its whole course from the mouth of the Ohio to the Gulf of Mexico. Chicot county is south of Arkansas, east of Union and Pulaski, and north of the Louisiana line. It contains some good land, but is injured by lakes, marshes and overflow. Villemont is the county town, situated on the west bank ofthe Mississippi, formerly call ed Point Chicot. Monroe is west of Phillips, north of Arkansas, south of St. Francis and east of Independence. Its streams are White River and Cachee. The former forms its southern limit, and divides it from Ar kansas county. Cachee rises in marshy grounds, and runs south and empties into White river, about 50 miles above its mouth. I know of no name for its seat of justice. Such is the mania for speculation in town making, that the seat of justice, particularly in the new counties, changes every session of the legislature. The country is less broken in this county, than in those on the Mississippi, and contains large quanti ties of fine land for tillage. St. Francis county is west of Phillips, south ofMonroe.east of Jackson, and north of Lawrence and Crittenden. St. Francis, and\Languile, an inconsiderable stream entering the latter on the S. side are its chief streams. iSoil and face of the country much the same as Monroe. Independence is north of Pulaski and Conway, west of Monroe, south of Lawrence, and east of Pope and Izard. It comprises a variety of soil, from the richest bottom lands to the most barren hills. The face ofthe country at a distance from water courses is very much broken with APPENDIX. 267 hills, covered with rocks — limestone abounds. But the low lands along the streams are not exceeded in the country in richness of soil. It is finely watered by numerous streams, among which are White River and its tributaries, viz. Little Red, Strawberry and Black rivers. Batesville situ ated on White River, and on the main road leading through the territory from St. Louis to Texas, is the seat of justice. Jackson is east of Inde pendence, south of Pulaski, west of St. Francis and north of Lawrence. It contains but few inhabitants, and resembles Independence in the face of the country. Lawrence is N. of Independence and Jackson, east of Izard, west of Crittenden and south of the Missouri line. Face ofthe country, soil, &c. same as Independence. Its streams are the Black River and its tributaries, Spring and Current River. Black River is navigable to Jackson, the seat of justice, and empties into White River about 17 miles below Batesville. Steam boats have ascended White River to Batesville; and it is presumed, that small steamers may ascend Black River to Jackson. Above these points, the streams become too rocky and rapid to admit of safe navigation. Jackson is also on the road leading from St Louis to Texas. Izard is north of Pope, east of Washington west of Lawrence, and south of the Missouri line. Some branches of White River pass through it. The staple productions of these counties at present are cotton and corn. A considerable quantity of beef and pork is also exported from them. Little attention has been paid to the raising of small grain, although wheat and other grain grows well. Want of proper mills prevent their cultivation to any extent. With regard to the mineral and fossils of the part of the country, of which I have been speaking, I know little. An abundance of stone coal is found, and it is known, that there is iron ore in some places. Hot Spring county is bounded N. by Pulaski and Conway, E. by Union, S. by Clark, and W. by Pope. The surface of this county is uneven, mountainous and rocky, and has but a small portion of land fit for culti vation. Notwithstanding its poor soil, it has some advantages over most of the other counties in the Territory. The springs, from which it takes its name, are becoming much noticed, and of late years have been visited by persons from all the Western States for health, during the summer months. They have, in my opinion, no medical efficacy, separate from that of an equal temperature of increased heat. A salutary effect has been produced in most cases of chronic rheumatism. I have known in dividuals who have suffered contractions of their limbs from this afflict ing and painful disease, completely relieved by bathing in these waters for some length of time. The water appears to contain as little foreign mixture, as the purest springs of the north; and is as limpid. In the neighborhood of the springs is an excellent quarry of whetstone, said by judges to be equal to the Turkey stone. This county contains large quantities of iron ore, some of which is highly magnetic. The springs issue from the foot of two opposite hills of nearly equal elevation, of between 4 and 500 feet. The valley runs from north to south. A small stream passes through it. Upon reaching the springs, it is so much enlarg ed, as to afford sufficient water to turn a mill. On the east side of the valley about 30 springs boil up, the water of which will harden an egg in 15 minutes. But one comes from the western side. The creek empties into the Washita, about 7 miles south of the springs. Clark county is joined S. by Hempstead, W. by Crawford, N. by Hot Spring, and E. by Union. It is quite hilly, and affords a considerable 268 APPENDIX. proportion of good land, and is well watered, as the Washita and two of its branches run through it. The names of the branches are the Little Missouri and the Fourche Cado, which empties into it on the S. side, a few miles above the entrance of. the Little Missouri. They both come in on the same side, and bear a N. E. course. The road, of which I have spoken, leading from St. Louis to Texas, passes directly through this county. Very little attention has been paid to the subject of minerals in this region. Some salt -is made. The seat of justice has been moved almost every session of the legislature. In fact it has been so constantly on the move, that we can hardly find a resting place, or name, for it. Hempstead is S. of Clark, E. of Miller and Sevier, N. of the Mexican line, and W. of Lafayette. A great proportion of this county is good land. The face of the country is beautifully diversified with gentle swells and vallies. On the highest ridges are found great qnantities of muscle shells of a very large size. But it is not abundant in streams. There are some springs of good water, but they are not plenty. -The only navigable stream is Red River; and to reach this county by means of it, the Great Raft must be passed. The bois d'arc, yellow, or Indian bow wood, grows abundantly, and to a considerable size here. The Little Missouri runs through the northern part of it. The seat of justice is Washington. Sevier is S. and W. of Hempstead, N. of the Mexican line, and E. of Miller. No water courses of note, except Red River. Face of the country much like Hempstead. Considerable quantities of salt have been made in it. Miller is W. of Crawford, E. of the Choctaw eastern boundary line, and N. of the Mexican line. Red River is the only navigable stream. The northern parts are hilly; but near the banks of Red River, there is some very good land. Rio Micha, a considerable stream, runs through the western part of it. The mouth of this stream is the point where the eastern boundary line intersects Red River. Sevier is S. of the Louisiana line and Red River, W. of Hempstead, and E. and N. of Union and Clark. It is tolerably level, and a great portion of it first rate soil, but not well watered. The only navigable stream is Red River. There is a large savanna, or prairie, called Prairie Long, in it, running E. and W. for a considerable distance, parallel with Red River. Union joins the Louisiana line on the S. E., Chicot on the E. Clark and Hempstead S.; and. Jefferson N. The character of the soil of this county is various. It presents hills, swamps, and a portion of first rate land. The Washita runs through it, and in it receives Saline Creek, a beautiful, clear and rapid stream from the N. W. Seat of justice Corea Fabre. I have aimed, in the foregoing sketch, to come as near the truth, as possible. Descriptions have been given of detached portions of this ter ritory, greatly overrating its advantages. Persons have visited it upon the strength of these" representations, and being disappointed, their esti mate has fallen as much too low, as it had been raised before too high. I have neither added nor diminished, concealed any disadvantages, nor blazoned any advantages. I am aware, that the prejudice, originating as I have mentioned, has had a tendency, for some years, to keep the terri* tory in the back ground. The exports of the territory of Arkansas are cotton, corn, beef hides, peltries, live cattle, cypress timber, plank, &c. APPENDIX. 269 Alabama. First settlement, long before it contained many civilized inhabitants. Since 1810 the increase of population has been rapid. Territorial government 1817. Constitution 1819. Admitted into the Union 1820. The legislative power is similar to that of Tennessee. The Representatives are elected annually, and in proportion to the pop ulation. They cannot exceed 100 nor fall short of 60. The Senators are chosen for three years, one-third every year. The Senators cannot be less than one-fourth, nor more than one-third of the number of Rep resentatives. The executive power rests with the Governor, elected for two years, and eligible four years out of six. The Assembly meets at Tuscaloosa. Every white male citizen of 21, having resided one year in the state, and the last three months in the county or town, is qualified to vote. The judiciary is a supreme court, circuit courts, &c. The judges, after 1833, are to be elected by both Houses every six years. Salary Governor $2,000. Banks 2. Capital $1,186,927 09, exclusive of the United States Bank. Sends 3 Representatives to Congress. Post Of fices 169. This is the 15th state in the Union, in point of numbers. Mississippi. First settlement 1716. Ceded to the English. Terri torial government, 1798. An independent state 1817. Constitution same year. A Senate and House of Representatives form the General Assembly. The Representatives are elected annually, in the ratio of one to every 3,000 white inhabitants. When the inhabitants exceed 80,000 the Representatives cannot be less than 36, nor more than 100. The Senators elected for three years, one-third chosen annually. Their num ber is limited between one-fourth and one-third of that of the Represen tatives. The Governor is the executive officer, elected for two years. The General Assembly meets at Jackson annually. The qualifications of a voter are being 21 years of age, residence of 6 months in the coun ty, being enrolled in the militia, and paying taxes. The judiciary is a supreme and inferior courts, &c. The judges are elected by the General Assembly, and hold their offices during good behavior, till the age of 65. Salary Governor $2,500. Bank of the state at Natchez has 3 branches, and a capital of $1,000,000. Sends 1 Representative to Congress. Post Offices 108. This is the twenty-second state in the Union, in point of numbers. The following notices of the state of Mississippi, from Mr. Dunbar, were received subsequently to the publication of the Geography of that state, in the 1st volume of this work. In following an incompetent guide some mistakes crept into that work, in regard to the names and number of the counties. This information, in reference to the interior of a state, about which less is known, perhaps, than the interior of any state in the Union, is deemed too important to be omitted, though some parts of it may have been anticipated. 'The state of Mississippi is divided into 26 counties. The principal town is Natchez, Adams county, containing 2,790 inhabitants, of which 1,447 are slaves and free colored persons. That part of the town, called "under the hill" is one of the most noted places, in the view of boatmen, on the whole course of the Mississippi; and was formerly the scene of more profligacy and outrage, than, perhaps, any other place in the United States. But, owing to the establishment of a vigilant and severe system of police, and to the decrease of trade by flat boats, it has become comparatively a sober place. Almost all the Vol. II. 38 270 APPENDIX. produce business of the upper country is carried on there by our most respectable merchants in that line. It contains 4 churches, the Presby terian, which is a very handsome edifice, the Episcopal also showing taste in the architecture, and a Methodist and Baptist church, one of which is of brick. A Masonic Hall is situated on the principal street, and pre sents a specimen of good architectural taste. There are 3 Banks in Natchez; the Branch Bank of the United States, the Planter's Bank, a new institution, created at our last session, and the Bant of the State of Mississippi, dating its commencement in the year 1811. It has branches at Woodville, Port Gibson, and Vicksburgh. Fort Rosalie, commanding a view of the Mississippi, near this place, is strongly identified with the early history of our state, and the cruel wars which ended in the extermination of that gallant tribe of Indians, whose name Was given to our town. The health of Natchez is uniformly good, except when the epidemic yellow fever visits us. Its first appearance was in 1817, since which we have been repeatedly scourged by it; though we have escaped it the two last years. The disease has always been of a particularly malignant character here. The next town in point of population, is Port Gibson, in Claiborne county, which contains 1,500 inhabitants. It is a place of considerable business, and is situated on Bayou Pierre, about 10 miles from its de- bouche into the Mississippi. It is navigable to this point only in high water; and much of the business is carried on through a small town situated on a point of the Mississippi, called the Grand Gulf. It is some times very unhealthy, owing, probably, to the vicinity of extensive swamps. Vicksburgh is in Warren county, and is a flourishing town of recent ori gin, sustained by an extensive and rich back country, and by being the only convenient site for a town for many miles above and below. Still further up is Manchester, in Yazoo county, on the river Yazoo, a small town, but rapidly increasing. The contiguous county is very fertile, producing large crops of cotton, which are shipped from Manchester on steam boats, which reach that place in high water without difficulty. Memphis is considered at present as included within the territorial limits of Tennessee, though we lay claim to it; and a resolution of our legislature has empowered the executive to appoint a commissioner on our part, to determine at what point the 35° of latitude, our northern bound ary, crosses the Mississippi. The result will soon be known. As to our seat of government, Jackson, in Hinds county, the less said about it, the better. It is on Pearl River, which is not navigable to that point, except in the extreme of high water. The surrounding country is the picture of sterility. The public buildings are mere temporary struc tures, and it contains few inhabitants, beside the officers of government. The necessity of removing the seat of government to a more eligible po sition is so apparent, that no new appropriation will'be made for buildings, which would soon be abandoned. Clinton, in the same county, is a pleasant little village, a place of resort in the summer for its salubrity, and for drinking the waters of its sulphur spring. Woodville, in Wilkin son county, is a handsome village, containing about 800 inhabitants, and being the seat of justice for the county. If a projected rail road, to con nect it with St. Francisville in Louisiana, should be completed, it will become a place of commercial importance. The population of our state, according to the returns of the marshal, is 136,806. Free white males APPENDIX. 271 38,497. Females 32,121. Total 70,618. Male slaves 33,072. Fe male 32,587. Total Slaves 65,659. Free colored males 292. Females 237. Total of free colored persons 529. In the appointment of Rep resentatives to Congress, our population will therefore be rated at 110,330 ; and we are therefore entitled to another vote on the floor of Congress. Louisiana. First settlement 1699. Purchased by the United States 1803. 1804 set apart, as the Territory of Orleans. Admitted into the Union 1812. Constitution same year. A Senate and House of Rep resentatives form the legislative power, styled the General Assembly. The Representatives cannot exceed 50, nor fall short of 25, and are ap portioned according to the number of electors, as ascertained by enumer ation every 4 years. The state is divided into 16 senatorial districts, each of which furnishes one Senator. They are elected for 4 years, half chosen every two years. A Governor is the executive, elected for 4 years. The people vote for Governor at the same time with the Representatives and Senators. The two Houses then elect one of the two candidates elected by the people. The Assembly meets annually at. Donaldsonville. Every white citizen of 21, who has resided one year in the county next preceding the election, and paid a state tax within 6 months preceding, is entitled to vote. A supreme court and inferior courts constitute the judiciary. The judges are appointed by the Governor with the Senate, and hold their offices during good behaviour. Salary Governor $7,500. Banks 4. One of them has 5 branches.; Whole capital $8,500,000, ex clusive of the United States Bank. Sends 3 Representatives to Congress. Post Offices 63. Louisiana is the nineteenth state in the Union, in point of numbers- Florida. Conquered by the Spaniards 1739. Ceded to Great Britain 1763, and divided into E. and W. Florida. 1781 recovered by Spain. 1821 ceded by Spain to the United States. 1822 two divisions united under one government, called the Territory of Florida. Legislative council composed of 16 members, meets at Tallahassee. Judges 4. Salary Governor $2,500. Capital of the Bank of Florida $600,000. Post Offices 38. Sends 1 Delegate to Congress. District of Columbia. Ceded to the United States 1790, and is under the immediate government of Congress. The City of Washington within the district became the seat of the United States Government, 1800. The Congress of the United States meets here every year on the first Monday in December, and the Supreme Court of the United States annually on the second Monday in January. Banks in the District 13, exclusive of the United States Bank. Post Offices 3. CONTENTS OF VOL. II. Brief General View of the United States, 3; Mountains, 4; Lakes, Rivers, Geology, and Physical Aspect, Climate, 5 ; Soil, Productions, Articles of Export, 6 ; Rank of Chief Towns, 7 ; Canals and Rail Roads, 7; Schools, Religion, 9; Military Force, Revenue, Federal Constitution, 10; Aborigines, 11; Public Lands, 12; Public Debt, Appropriations, Manufactures, General Remarks, 13. Atlantic States. Maine, General Aspect, Climate, Productions, 17; Harbors, Bays, Population, Rivers, Lakes, Manufactures, Towns, 18; Education, Religion, 19; Government, Panoramic View, 20. New Hampshire, Divisions, Population, 20; Aspect, Lakes, Rivers, 21 ; Towns, 22 ; LiteTary Institutions, Character of the Population, Rivers, Lakes, Towns, 25; Religious Character, Literature, Exports, 26. Massachusetts, Divisions, Population, Aspect, 27; Education, 28; Religion, Mountains, Rivers, Bays, Chief Towns, 29; Islands, Roads and Canals, Productions, History, 36. Rhode Island, Counties, Population, Physical Aspect, Rivers, Bays and Islands, Productions, 37; Chief Towns, 38; Exports, 39. Connecticut, 39; Divisions, Population, Physical Aspect, Productions, Rivers, Religion, 40; Literature, Manufactures, Towns, 41 ; Roads and ¦Canals, &c, Manners, Minerals and Fossils, 43. contents. 273 New York, Divisions, Population, 44; Physical Aspect, Islands, Mountains, Rivers and Lakes, 45 ; Canals, 46 ; Watering Places, Mineral Waters, 47; Productions, Exports, Climate, Natives, Chief Towns, 48; Scenery, 55; Education, 56; General Statistics, Manufactures, 57. New Jersey, Physical Aspect, Rivers, Divisions, Population, Climate, Products, 58; Manufactures, Religious Denominations, Literature, 59 ; Chief Towns, 60; Roads and Canals, 61. Pennsylvania, 61 ; Divisions, Population, Physical Aspect, 62; Soil, and Productions, Religion, Rivers, 63; Canals and Rail Roads, 64; Manufactures, Education, 65; Chief Towns, 66. Delaware, Physical Aspect, Divisions, Population, Shipping, Manufac tures and Commerce, 71 ; Canals, Literature, Religion, Chief Towns, 72; History, 73. Maryland, Divisions, Population, Physical Aspect, 73 ; Productions, Rivers, Climate, 74; Religion, Literature, Exports, Roads and Canals, 75; Chief Towns, 77; Manners of the People, 79. District of Columbia, Divisions, Population, Towns, 79. Virginia, 81; Divisions, 82; Population, Physical Aspect, Rivers, 82 ; Productions, Minerals and Fossils, 84; Canals, Climate, Curiosities, 86; Religion, 87; Education, Exports, Chief Towns, 88; Character and Manners, 90. North Carolina, Divisions, Population, Physical Aspect, 91; Soil and Productions, Minerals, Rivers, 92; Climate, Chief Towns, 93 ; Educa tion, Roads and Canals, General Remarks, 95. South Carolina, Divisions, Population, Physical Aspect, 98; Climate, Productions, 97 ; Minerals, Rivers, 98 ; Exports, Literature, Chief Towns, 99; Roads and Canals, Religion, General Remarks, 101. Georgia, Divisions, 102; Population, Physical Aspect, Climate, 102; Productions, Exports, Canals and Internal [mprovements, Education, 274 contents. Natives, 104; Rivers, Islands, Chief Towns, 105; Minerals, 106; Re ligion, General Remarks, 107. Danish Possessions in North America, Position, Climate, Soil and Coun try, 108; Smoke of Ice, Animals, Exports, Natives, Language, Imple ments and Canoes, 109; Character, Religion, Population, Towns, 110. Iceland, 110; Rocks, Mountains, Volcanoes, Hot Springs, Fossils, Air, Climate, 111; Vegetation, Domestic Animals, Fish, Divisions, Towns, 112; Commerce, Inhabitants, 113. Spitsbergen, 113; Whale Fishery, Floating Wood, 114. New Siberia, Russian America, Physical Aspect ,114; Natives, Com merce of the Russians, 115. British Possessions in North America, Physical Aspect, Rivers, 116; Climate, Soil, Fish, Animals, Vegetation, Trade, Lord Selkirk, Natives, 117; Knisteneaux Indians, 118. Labrador, 118; Moravians, Icy Archipelago, 119. British America, 119; New Foundland, Productions, Climate, Banks, Fish, Dog, 120; Population, Inhabitants, 121. Nova Scotia, Climate, Trees, Chief Towns, 121; Cape Breton, Prince Edward's Island, and Anticosti, 122; New Brunswick, St. John's River, Population, Towns, 122; Gaspee, 123. Lower Canada, Divisions, Rivers, 123; Montmorency Cascade, Soil and Climate, Agriculture, 124; Animals, Metals, Chief Towns, 125;, Commerce, Population, t126; Amusements, Society, Government, Revenue, Expenses, 127; Military Importance, Savages, History, 128. Upper Canada, Divisions, Population, 128; Rivers, Soil and Produc tions, Climate, Animals, Towns, Lakes, 129; Canals, 130. contents. 275 Mexican Republic, Physical Aspect, 131; Provinces, Square Miles, Population, Chief Towns, 132; Divisions, Mountains, 132; Mines Riv ers, Lakes, 134; Harbors, Climate, Periodical Rains, 135; New Mexico Vegetable Productions, 136; Edible Plants, 137; Zoology, 137; Popu lation, 138; Languages, Topography, 140; Savages, 142; Provinces Chief Towns, and Mines, 142; History, 146. South America, General Aspect, 147; Rivers, 148; Mountains, 149- Temperature, 150; Animals, Caraccas, 151; Population, 152; Spanish Guiana, Chief Towns, Black Waters, Llanos, 153; New Grenada Chief Towns, 154; Volcanoes, The Gallipagos, Peru, 157; Mines Towns, 158; Population and Character of the Inhabitants, 159; Paper Insect, 160; Chili, Paraguay, Terra Magellanica or Patagonia, 160; Aspect of Chili, and Productions, 160; Animals, 161 ; Towns, 161 ; Cuyo,161; Tucuman, 162; Paraguay, 162; Towns, 162; Monte Video, Missions, Buenos Ayres, 163; Adjacent Provinces, 164; Patagonia, Straits of Magellan, 164; History, 165; Government, 166; Brazil, In habitants, Soil, 166; Climate, Minerals, Precious Stones, &c. 167; Plants, 168; Birds, Departments, Chief Towns, 169; Rio Grande, St. Catherine, Plain of Corritiva, District of Santos, San Paulo, Minas Geraes, 170; Goyez, Bahia, Pernaiibuco, Piau by, Grand Para and Rio Negro, 171; Natives, Government, Inundations, Medicinal Plants, Foiest Trees, 173; Quadrupeds, 174 Essequibo, Demarava and Berbice, 175; Cayenne, Indians, 176. 174; Surinam, Revolted Negroes, Sinta West Indies or Columbian Archipl; ants, Population, 178; Cuba, 179: Porto Rico, 181 ; Bahamas, 182 tin's, St. Bartholomew, St. Eustatia loupe, 183; Martinico, Barbadoes, 185; Bonair and Aruba, 186, Tradeoff Antilles, 188. Guiana, Seasons, 172; Diseases, ago, 176; Animals, 177; Inhabit- Jamaica, 180; St. Domingo, 180; Cruz, Anguilla, 182; St. Mar- Antigua, St. Christopher's, Guada- Tobago, Trinidad, 185; Curacoa, the West Indies ; Morning in the and branches in the United States, Trees common to Louisiana, 195 Appendix, 189; Area of the cou try watered by the principal rivers 89; Meteorological Table, 191; pra of Louisville, 196; Cryptoga- mia, 204; Flora of Nachitoches, 20& List of the Animals of the Mis sissippi Valley, 207 ; Catalogue of litis most commonly seen between the Lakes and the Sabine, 208; Religlus Denominations in the Western Onnnirv. 209? Religious Denominates in the United States,210; Ex- 276 CONTENTS. ports from Cincinnati and New Orleans, 211; Steam Boats, on the West ern Waters; Prices of passage from different points, 212; Military Posts and Arsenals, 212; Census ofthe United States for 1830 ; Number of free white males, 214 ; Free white females, 216; Male slaves, 220, Fe male slaves, 221 ; Free colored males, 222; Free colored females, 223; White persons included in the foregoing who are deaf and dumb or blind, or aliens, or foreigners not naturalized, 226; Slaves and colored persons included in the foregoing, who are deaf or dumb, or blind, 227 ; Recap itulation exhibiting the general aggregate of each description of persons in the United States. Population of the Counties and County Towns ofthe different States, according to the census of 1830, 231 ; Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, 231; Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, 232 ; New- York, 233 ; New Jersey, 231; Pennsylvania, 235; Delaware, Maryland, 236; Vir ginia, 237; North Carolina, 240; South Carolina, 241; Georgia, 242; Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, 244; Tennessee, 245 ; Kentucky 247; Ohio, 250; Indiana, 251; Illinois, 252; Missouri, 253; District of Co lumbia, Florida Territory, 253; Michigan Territory, Arkansas Territory' 254. Miscellaneous Statistical Table, 255. Synopsis of the Political Sta tistics of the states in their order, Miine, New Hampshire, 257 ; Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, 258 ; Connecticut, New- York, New-Jersey, 259 Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, 260; Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, 261 ; Georgia, Ohic, Michigan 262; Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, 263; Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas Territory, Note containing specific and important information relative to the latter, 264; Alabama, Mississippi, Note containing impcrtant information with regard to the latter, 269; Louisiana, Florida, Diarict of Columbia, 271. 9002 00527 7950