1 : * 
 
 m 
 
GIFT OF 
 
TRAVELS 
 
 WESTWARD 
 
 ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS, 
 
 IN 
 
 THE STATES 
 
 OHIO, KENTUCKY, AND TENNESSEE, 
 
 IN THE YEAR 1802. 
 
 COVTAINII 
 
 ACCOUNTS RELATIVE TO THE PRESENT b ^E OF AGRICULTURE, AND THE 
 NATURAL PRODUCTIONS OF I HOSE DISTRICTS; TOGETHER WITH PARTI 
 CULARS OF THE COMMERCIAL. RELATIONS WHICH SUBSIST BETWEEN 
 THESE STATES, AND THOSE 10 THE EASTWARD OF THE MOUNTAINS, AND 
 OF LOWER LOUISIANA. 
 
 BY F. A. MICHAUX, M. D. 
 
 Member of the Society of Natural History of Paris , fyc. 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH. 
 
 I 
 
 . 
 
 . 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR RICHARD PHILLIPS, 6, NEW BRIDGE-STREET, 
 % Barnard & Sultzer, Water Lane, Fleet Street. 
 
 1805. 
 

 
 4* 
 
ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 f>. >;:< ; 
 
 ; j < , l : 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
 1 HE Public are already in possession of numerous books of 
 Travels in the United States, and many observations relative ta 
 those countries are likewise to be met with in various Works ; 
 so that the mass of information already acquired might appear 
 on superficial consideration to be sufficient, and to render any 
 additional account superfluous. The greater part of those Works, 
 however, relate almost exclusively to the United or Atlantic States : 
 and though some of them treat of those situated to the Westward 
 of the Allegany Mountains, yet they do so only in a slight or 
 extremely vague manner ; and from certain opinions which I enter 
 tained of those countries, I was induced to consider them as 
 far more interesting than is generally imagined. I therefore 
 proposed to myself, when an opportunity should occur, to travel 
 through them ; and in June 1 802, being at Philadelphia, I was 
 enabled to carry this design into execution. 
 
 The extent of my journey could not be less than two thousand 
 miles ; and I could not, consistently with the object which had 
 brought me for the second time into the United States, devote to it 
 a portion of time sufficient for collecting all the facts which 
 would obviously result from it. A year at least would have been 
 necessary to fulfil the intentions I had in view, by obtaining accu- 
 
 214878. 
 
IV ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 rate ideas, from ray own observations, of the progress of ve 
 getation. 
 
 This space of time would also have enabled me to procure 
 more extensive information relative to the commercial transac 
 tions which form an essential union between the Western 
 Countries and those of the United States and Lower Louisiana, 
 and relative to which I do not believe any thing has hitherto 
 been published. Hence my Tour ought not to be considered as 
 perfect. I trust, however, that with respect to the appearance 
 of those countries, the prosperity to which they have arrived in 
 modern times, and that of which they are yet susceptible, it 
 will be found to contain sufficient details to enable the reader to 
 alter any opinion he may have conceived to their disadvantage. 
 
 I must also observe, that when I undertook this journey, I 
 had no intention of giving publicity to my observations, and I 
 have consequently omitted the collection of a multitude of facts 
 which, however indifferent they may appear to the traveller, 
 often prove highly interesting on perusal; a circumstance of 
 which 1 had ample proof, while writing this short relation. 
 But, on the other hand, I have entered into details which will 
 perhaps to many persons appear trifling, though I think they 
 will be far otherwise to those who may henceforth visit the 
 countries in question ; because they form that kind of intelligence 
 which a traveller would first endeavour to obtain, relative to the 
 region which is the object of his journey, and of which few 
 productions treat in a satisfactory manner. 
 
Y, 
 . . /v 
 
 ~ 
 
 TRAVELS . 
 
 TO THE WESTVAfcD 
 
 . 
 
 OF 
 
 THE ALLEGANY 
 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 THE AUTHORS DEPARTURE FROM BOURDEAUX, AND 
 ARRIVAL AT CHARLESTON. REMARKS ON THE YELLOW 
 
 FEVER. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE TOWN OP 
 
 CHARLESTON. OBSERVATIONS ON SOME OF THE TREES 
 OF THE ANCIENT CONTINENT, CULTIVATED IN A BO 
 TANIC GARDEN NEAR THAT TOWN. 
 
 CHARLESTON, in South Carolina, being the first place of 
 my destination, I repaired to Bourdeaux, which is the French 
 port most nearly connected in its commercial intercourse with the 
 southern part of the United States, and from which vessels -are 
 continually sailing for different ports of North America. I there 
 fore embarked on the 25th of August, ISO I, on board the John 
 and Francis, commanded by the same captain with whom I had 
 returned to Europe several years before. 
 
 About a fortnight after our departure we were becalmed in 
 sight of the Azores Isles : we were lying nearest to those of St. 
 George and Graciosa; and could easily distinguish some of the 
 houses, which appeared to be built of stone, or whitewashed, 
 while the steep declivities of the soil were divided by hedges, 
 which probably formed the boundaries of private property. Most 
 of these isles contain a number of high hills, which take different 
 directions; and Behind which the summit of Pico, in a pyramidical 
 form, and as it were sloping towards the upper part, is seen 
 rising majestically above the clouds. At the time when we enjoyed 
 this sublime view, its grandeur was increased by the glowing 
 tinge imparted to the clouds by the rays of the setting sun : but a 
 slight breeze springing up, we were soon deprived of our prospect : 
 
 MIC II A UX.} B 
 
TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 the 9th of October 1801 we made the road of Charleston, 
 in company \v\ .11 two other vessels, one of which had quitted Bour- 
 deaux eighteen days, -and the otlier a month, before we sailed. 
 
 The pleasure, however, which we experienced from our safe 
 arrival, was soon diminished. The pilot informed us that the 
 yellow fever hnd prevailed for some time at Charleston, where 
 a great portion of the inhabitants had been carried off by 
 its ravages : this intelligence alarmed the passengers, who were 
 fourteen in number, and most of whom had relations or friends in 
 the town. We ha\l no sooner cast anchor, than those who had 
 not before resided in hot climates were conveyed by their friends 
 to the isle of | Sullivan. This isle is situated seven miles from 
 Charleston : its dry and barren soil is almost deprived of vege^ 
 tatif jut as it is exposed to the sea breezes, its air is fresh and 
 agi*,\ ie. For some time past, or since the bilious and inflam- 
 ma lory epidemic generally called the yellow fever has regularly 
 appeared every year at Charleston, a great number of the inha 
 bitants and planters who took refuge in the town in order to avoid 
 the intermittent fevers which attacked seven-tenths of the people 
 iu the country, have built many houses in this isle; in which they 
 reside from the first of July till the commencement of the frost, 
 which generally happens about the 15th of November. Some 
 persons on the island keep boarding-houses for the reception, of 
 those who have no establishments of their own. It has been 
 remarked, that strangers newly arrived from Europe or from the 
 states of North America, and who immediately land on this island, 
 are not attacked by the yellow fever. 
 
 Yet these considerations, however strong they might be, could 
 not induce me to pass an indefinite time in a place so destitute 
 and unpleasant; I therefore resisted the advice of my friends, 
 and remained in the town. But I nearly fell a victim to my 
 obstinacy; having, a few days afterwards, been attacked with the 
 first symptoms of that dreadful disease, from which 1 did not 
 recover till I had been three months a sufferer. 
 
 The yellow fever varies every year in point of intcnseness ; 
 and medical practitioners have not yet been able to determine the 
 characteristic signs by which, at its appearance, its degree of ma 
 lignity in summer may be discovered. The inhabitants of the 
 town are not so subject to its attacks as strangers, eight-tenths of 
 whom died in the year of my arrival ; and when the former are 
 attacked, it is always in a far smaller proportion. 
 
 It has been observed, that during the months of July, August, 
 September, and October, when this malady generally prevails, 
 the persons who absent themselves from Charleston only for a 
 few days, are, on their return, much more susceptible of its attacks 
 than those who have remained in the town. The inhabitants of 
 
OF THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS. 7 
 
 Upper Carolina (distant two or three hundred miles) who come 
 hither during this season jare as liable to take the fever as strangers, 
 and those of the environs of the town are not free from its ra 
 vages. Hence it appears, that during one-third of the year all 
 intercourse is nearly cut off between the town and the country. 
 The place is then supplied with provisions by the negroes alone,, 
 or the native inhabitants of the country, who are not attacked by 
 this disease. When, on my return from my tour in the western 
 districts, I repaired to Charleston in the month of October 
 180C, I did not meet in the most frequented road, for the space 
 of three hundred miles, a single traveller either on his way to 
 or returning from the town ; while at the houses where I stop 
 ped, they could not believe that my business could be of such im 
 portance as to induce me to repair thither in such a calamitous 
 season. 
 
 From the beginning of November, however, till the month of 
 May, the country makes a totally different appearance. Every 
 thing seems to have acquired new life: commerce, and the com 
 munications which were broken off, are all resumed; the roads 
 are covered with carts and waggons bringing from all quarters 
 the production of the interior; a concourse of coaches and ca 
 briolets drive about with rapidity, and keep up an incessant in 
 tercourse between the town and the houses in its vicinity, where 
 the owners pass a part of the winter season; in short, commercial 
 activity renders Charleston at this time as animated as, during the 
 summer, it is melancholy and deserted. 
 
 It is generally believed at Charleston, that the yellow fever 
 which every year prevails there as well as at Savannah, is similar 
 to that which appears in the colonies, and that it is not conta 
 gious ; but this opinion is not universally adopted in the northern 
 towns. It is a fact, that when this malady appears at New 
 York and Philadelphia, the inhabitants are as apt to take it as 
 strangers; and therefore they remove from their houses as soon 
 as they learn that their neighbours are attacked by it. But they 
 enjoy a very valuable advantage which those at Charleston do not 
 possess: and this is, that the country which surrounds Philadel 
 phia and New York is agreeable and salubrious; so that, on re 
 tiring to the distance of two or three miles, they remain in perfect 
 security, even when the disease prevails within those towns in its 
 greatest violence. 
 
 I have made this slight digression, in order to inform those 
 who may have to travel to the southern parts of the United States, 
 that they will be in great danger if they arrive in the months of 
 July, August, September, or October. I was, like many others, 
 of opinion, that the adoption of proper means to prevent the 
 effervescence of the blood, wou!4 be an infallible preservative 
 
TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 against this disease; but every year s experience proved to IDC*, 
 that those who had followed a kind of regimen proper for this 
 purpose, though such a method is undoubtedly the best, do not 
 always avoid the fate of such as are less abstemious. 
 
 Charleston is situated at the confluence of the rivers Ashley and 
 Cooper. The space of ground which it occupies is about a mile. 
 From the middle of the principal street we should j?c ceive both 
 these rivers, were not the view intercepted by a public edifice 
 built on the banks of the Cooper. It is on those of the Ashley 
 that we find the most populous and commercial part of the town. 
 Sections of quays project to a considerable distance into the 
 river, to facilitate the loading of merchant ships; these quays 
 are made of the trunks of the cabbage palm-tree;, fixed together, 
 and arranged in squares one above the other. Experience has 
 proved that the branches of these palm-trees, though of a very 
 spongy nature, remain under water a great number of years with 
 out going to decay; for which reason they are preferred, for 
 these kinds of constructions, to all other species of trees in the 
 .country. 
 
 The streets of Charleston are wide, but not paved : and the feet 
 of the passenger sink into the sand every time he is obliged to 
 quit the brick foot-paths attached to the houses. The rapid course 
 of the coaches and cabriolets, the number of which is proportion 
 ately much greater in this than in any other town in America, 
 continually reduces this moving sand, and attenuates it to such a 
 degree that the slightest wind fills the shops with its dust, and 
 renders the situation of pedestrians peculiarly disagreeable. At 
 certain distances the inhabitants are supplied, by pumps, with 
 water which is so brackish that it is truly astonishing how a 
 stranger can accustom himself to drink it. About seven-tenths 
 of the town consist of wooden buildings; the rest are of brick. 
 According to the last census, taken in 1803, its population, in 
 cluding strangers, amounted to 10,f)90 whites, and 9>050 slaves. 
 
 Travellers who may arrive at Charleston, or at the other towns 
 of the United States, will find no furnished houses or apartments 
 to let for their accommodation ; no tables d hote or cooks shops ; 
 but only boarding houses, where all their wants may be supplied. 
 In Carolina the charge at these establisments is from twelve to 
 twenty dollars per week ; which is excessive, and not proportionate 
 to the price of the articles which are provided. Beef, for in 
 stance, seldom costs more than sixpence per pound ; and vege 
 tables are dearer than meat. Besides the articles of consumption 
 furnished from the country, the port of Charleston is continually 
 filled with small vessels which arrive from Boston, Newport, 
 New York, and Philadelphia, sind from all the little intermediate 
 "harbour;?, bringing flour, salt-meat, potatoes, onions, carrots/ 
 
OF THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS. 9 
 
 fceet-j v, pples, oats, maize, and hay. Planks and timber also 
 form a considerable part of the importations; and though all 
 tnese productions are brought from a distance of nine or twelve 
 hundred miles, they are cheaper and of a better quality than 
 those of the surrounding country. 
 
 In winter the markets of Charleston are! supptiecf with sea-fish 
 alive ; which are brought from the northern parts of the United 
 States, in vessels so constructed that the sea-water is continually 
 renewed in them. The ships engaged in this commerce return 
 loaded with rice and cottons ; the greater part of which is re- 
 exported to Europe, the freight being always cheaper in the 
 Northern than in the Southern States. The wool and cotton 
 which remain in the North are more than sufficient for the supply 
 of the manufactures, which are but few in number \ and the ex 
 cess is distributed in the country parts, \vhere the women 1 make 
 it into gross articles of clothing for the use of their families. 
 
 Wood is very dear at Charleston: yet the forests, of which 
 even the extent is unknown, begin at six miles, and some parts at 
 a less distance, from the town; and the conveyance is facilitated 
 by the two rivers at the confluence of which it is situated. This 
 high price of wood arises from the scarcity of hands to cut it; 
 and a great number of individuals burn, from (zconomy, coals 
 which are brought from England! 
 
 As soon as I had recovered my health, I quitted Charleston; 
 and went to reside in a small habitation about ten miles from the 
 town, where my father had formed a botanic garden, and in which 
 he carefully collected and cultivated the plants which he found 
 during the long and tedious journeys that his ardent love of the 
 science induced him to make almost every year in various parts of 
 America. Always impressed with the desire of serving the nation 
 among whom he resided, he thought that the climate of North Ca 
 rolina might be favourable for the production of several useful ve 
 getables of the old continent, and he mentioned these in a memoir 
 which he read to the Agricultural Society of Charleston. Some 
 fortunate attempts had already confirmed him in his opinion, but 
 his return to Europe prevented the continuance of his exertions. 
 On my arrival in Carolina I found in this garden a line collection 
 of American trees and plants, which had resisted an almost total 
 neglect for four years. I likewise found a great number of the trees 
 of the old continent which had been planted by my father, and 
 some of which displayed the mest vigorous vegetation. I par 
 ticularly observed two Ginkgo biloba, planted only seven years 
 ago, and which were already upward of thirty feet high ; several 
 Sterculiaplatanifolia,\\\\ic\i had come to perfection and afforded 
 seed five or six years since ; and about a hundred and fifty Mimosa 
 
 MICHAUX.] C 
 
10 TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 illibrisin, the first stock of which came from Europe, and was 
 about ten inches in diameter. Before I returned to France I made 
 presents of several of these trees, which are mudi esteemed ort 
 account of their inagniiicent blossoms. At present the Agricul 
 tural Society of Carolina possess this garden: they intend to keep 
 it; and to cultivate in it the useful vegetables of the ancient con 
 tinent, which, from the similarity of the climate, promise to 
 afford the most favourable results. I employed the remainder of 
 the season ill making a collection of seeds to send to Europe ; 
 and the winter in visiting different parts of Lower or South Ca 
 rolina, as well as in reconnoitring the districts where in the fol~ 
 lowing year i hoped to procure several desirable species which I 
 had not been able to collect during the autumn. 
 
 I shall take this opportunity of observing that in North America, 
 perhaps more so than in Europe, there are plants which are pe 
 culiar to certain determinate spots ; hence it happens that one bo 
 tanist, notwithstanding all his zeal and activity, does not discover 
 them till after a search of several years ; while another, at a fortu 
 nate moment, will meet with them in his first excursion. I must 
 add, for the advantage of those who may be inclined to travel over 
 the southern parts of the United States with botanical views, that 
 the period of blossoming begins on the first of February ; and 
 that it will be necessary to arrive in the month of August in order 
 to collect the seeds of herbaceous plants, and by the first of Oc 
 tober for those of forest trees* 
 
 CHAP. If. 
 
 DEPARTURE FROM CHARLESTON FOR NEW YORK. BRIF.F 
 
 ACCOUNT OF THAT TOWN. BOTANICAL EXCURIONS" 
 
 TO NEW JERSEY. REMARKS ON THE QU ERG ITRO N OAK! 
 
 AND THE WALNUT-TREKS OF THAT COUNTRY. JOUR 
 NEY FROM NEW YORK TO PHILADELPHIA, AND RESI 
 DENCE THERE. 
 
 JlN the spring of 1802 1 left Charleston for New York, where 
 I arrived after a journey of six days. The intercourse is so active 
 between the Northern and the Southern States, that one frequently 
 finds at Charleston as many opportunities as can be desired for 
 going to the first-mentioned settlements. Several vessels have 
 apartments tastefully fitted up and conveniently arranged for the 
 reception of passengers; who every year proceed in great num 
 bers to reside in the northern parts of the United States dining 
 the sickly season, and return to Charleston in the November 
 following. The charge for the voyage is from |^j ty to fifty dollars. 
 
OF THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS. II 
 
 and its duration varies according to the seasons. The ordinary time 
 is ten days ; but it is sometimes much longer in consequence of 
 the violent adverse winds experienced in doubling Cape Hattrass. 
 
 New York, situated at the confluence of the North and East 
 rivers, is much nearer to the sea than Philadelphia. Its safe har 
 bour, which is easy of access in all seasons, gives it a great ad 
 vantage over the last-mentioned town; and continually promotes 
 its extent, riches, and population, which last is estimated at up 
 wards of fifty thousand souls, among whom are only a very small 
 number of negroes. The necessaries of life are not so dear here 
 as at Charleston, and the charge at the boarding-houses is from 
 eight to twelve dollars per week. 
 
 During my stay at New York I had frequent opportunities of 
 seeing doctor Hosack, professor of botany, who is a man of 
 considerable reputation. He was then occupied in forming a 
 botanic garden, in which he intended to give a regular course of 
 lectures on that science. This garden is several miles distant 
 from the town; its situation is well chosen, and convenient spots 
 have been selected for such plants as require particular manage 
 ment. Mr. Hosack is physician to the hospital and the prison; 
 and he permitted me to accompany him in one of his visits, by 
 which I had an opportunity of seeing those establishments. The 
 hospital is well situated ; the buildings are extensive, and the 
 wards large and airy. The beds, however, appeared to me 
 to be bad : they consisted of a very low couch, or frame, with a 
 border of scantling about four inches high ; a thin mattrass, or 
 rather a paillasse, rilled with oat-straw ; coarse brown blankets, 
 and a coverlet. The prison is remarkable for its good order and 
 arrangements, the regularity which prevails in it, and particularly 
 for the readiness of the prisoners to perform the tasks imposed 
 upon them. Some are occupied in shoe-making, and others in 
 manufacturing cut-nails. These nails, which are made by means 
 of a machine, have no points; and cannot be used for every kind 
 of work, like those manufactured by the ordinary process : many 
 people, however, prefer them for nailing the shingles with which 
 almost all the houses in the United States are covered. It is as 
 serted that these nails are not liable to the inconvenience .of quit 
 ting their holes, which often occurs with the other kinds; for on 
 the roofs of old houses there may be seen a great number of 
 nails which appear as if they had only been driven in half or 
 three-fourths of their length. 
 
 While 1 staid at New York 1 likewise made some botanical 
 excursions along the North River, into New Jersey. This part 
 of New Jersey is very unequal; the soil is bad and stony, to judge 
 from the corn which I saw growing on some of the farms, 
 l^arge lumps of roc|c, of a calcareous nature, and as if in a state of 
 
IS TRAVELS TO THE \VJJSTWARrV 
 
 decay, appeared at the surface of the soil on almost all the hil 
 locks. There are, nevertheless, several specirs of trees: and among 
 others, a variety of the red oak, the acorn of \Vhich is swelled at 
 the small end; the white oak, qucrcus alba; and in the different 
 species or varieties of the walnut-tree, the ju^lans tomentosa, or 
 mocker-nut, and the juglans minima, or pig-nut. In the lov/ 
 and moist parts, where the water remains almost all the year, 
 may be found the juglans hichery, or shell-barked hickery; and 
 the qutrcus prinus aqiiatica , which belongs to the series of pri* 
 nus, and is not mentioned in the " Histoire des Chines*" The 
 valleys are planted with ash and plane-trees, corn us Florida, pop 
 lars ; and particularly with qitercus tinctoria> or quercitron, 
 known in this country by the name of black-oak. 
 
 The quercitron oak is very common in all the Northern States, 
 and is likewise found to the westward of the Allegany mountains; 
 but it is scarce in the lower parts of the two Carol inas, and 
 Georgia. The leaves of the lower have a different form from 
 those of the upper branches, which latter are more deeply in 
 dented. Among the great number of species and varieties of 
 oaks, the leaves of which differ in their forms according to 
 their age, which often causes them to be con f oundcd, there are 
 characteristic signs by which the black oak may always be disr 
 tinguished. In all the other species, the stalk, the veins, and 
 the leaves themselves, are of a green more or less deep, and 
 towards autumn this colour changes to a red : on the contrary, 
 the stalk, the veins, and the leaves, of the quercitron, after the 
 spring, become yellowish, and as it were pulverulent; while the 
 yellow colour gradually grows deeper towards the approach o 
 winter. This remark is sufficient to jjrevent it from being mis 
 taken : but there is a more positive circumstance by which this 
 species may be distinguished in w inter, even when it has lost its 
 leaves; this is the bitter flavour of its bark, and the yellow co 
 lour acquired by the saliva on chewing it : 1 howevey thought I 
 could discover in the bark of the qucrcus chierea the same pro 
 perty; of which I informed Dr. Bancroft, who was at Charleston 
 in the winter of 1806. But in all cases no mistake can arise 
 respecting these two species of oak: for the latter only grows in 
 the most dry and barren parts of the Southern States ; it is rarely 
 more than four inches in diameter, and eighteen feet high, and 
 its leaves are lanceolated; while the quercitron attains the 
 height of eighty feet, and has very long leaves. 
 
 Among the species of acorns which I sent to Fiance from 
 the United States, were those of the quercitron oak ; which have 
 
 * History of the Oaks of North America, by A. Michaux : one vol. folio 
 witk plates, 1802. JLevrault, Paris. 
 
 
OF T HE ALL E G AN Y M ,U N T A I R S. J3> 
 
 abundantly in the nursery of Trianon. ., The species and 
 varieties of the walnut-tree indigenous in the United States, are 
 also very numerous, and might form the subject of an useful, 
 and interesting monography: but such a work would never be 
 accurate, unless the varied character of these trees were studied 
 for several years in the country where they grow. I have seea 
 some of the walnut-trees, which by their blossoms and leaves ap 
 peared to belong to the same species, but of which the nut, as 
 well as the shell, seemed to be a distinct kind. There were others 
 on the contrary, whose leaves and blosso.ms were absolutely dif 
 ferent, while their fruit was perfectly similar. It is true that there 
 are some, the blossoms and fruit of which present characters very 
 decisive ; but these form a very small portion of the number. 
 This multitude of varieties and species of walnut-trees is not 
 confined to the United States ; but prevail in every part of North- 
 America, from the northern extremity of the United States as far 
 as the Mississippi : an extent of more than two thousand four 
 hundred miles from north to south, and of fifteen hundred 
 from east to west. I brought home new walnuts of six 
 different species ; which have grown well, and appear not to have 
 been deteriorated by the change. 
 
 On the 8th of June 1802, I left New York for Philadel 
 phia. The distance is a hundred miles. Some of the stages or 
 public carriages perform this journey in a day, others in a day and 
 a half. The fare is five dollars each person. At the inns at 
 which the stages put up or stop, we pay a dollar for a dinner, 
 and half-a-dollar for breakfast or supper, and give the latter sum 
 also to the coachman. The space between the two towns is en 
 tirely cultivated, and the farms are contiguous to each other. 
 About nine miles from New York is Newark; a small but very 
 pretty town, situated in New Jersey. The fields which sur 
 round it are planted with apple trees, and the cyder made from 
 their fruit is considered to be the best in the United States. 
 Among the other small towns on the road, that of Trenton is 
 worthy of notice. Its situation on the Delaware, and the 
 fine fields which surround it render it a very agreeable place of 
 residence. 
 
 Philadelphia is situated on the Delaware, about a hundred and 
 twenty miles from the sea. It has hitherto been the largest and 
 most populous town in the United States ; and perhaps there is 
 not one on the continent of Europe which is built on so regular 
 a plan. Its streets intersect each other at -.right angles : they 
 are from forty-five to fifty feet wide ; except that in the middle, 
 which is double this width. In this street is the market ; which 
 is observable for its extent, and the extreme propriety with 
 which it is regulated. It stands in the centre of the town. The 
 
14 TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 streets are paved with brick, of which also they have vide foot 
 paths. Pumps are placed on each side, at the distance of about 
 fifty fathoms from each other, and furnish water in .abundance : 
 each of these is surmounted by a lamp. Several of the streets 
 contain Italian poplars planted along the paths; and which are of 
 a very fine size. 
 
 The population of Philadelphia is continually increasing : in 
 1749 it contained eleven thousand inhabitants, in 17&5 forty- 
 thousand, and at present they are calculated at seventy thousand. 
 The small number, of negroes that are here are free, and most of 
 them act as domestics. Provisions are rather dearer at Phila 
 delphia than at New York, so that the price of the boarding and 
 accommodations is from six to ten dollars per week. At Phila 
 delphia \vc never meet with a beggar : no man has the appearance 
 of misery ; and that afflicting sight, so common in the towns and 
 cities of Europe, is unknown in America. The propensity and 
 necessity for work, added to the scarcity of hands, the consequent 
 dearness of labour, the activity of commerce, and the indepen 
 dence which results from it, are the causes which militate against 
 the introduction of mendicity, in either the towns or the districts 
 of the country. 
 
 During my residence at Philadelphia, I was introduced to the 
 Rev. Dr. Collin, minister of the Swedish church, and president 
 of the Philosophical Society; Mr. John Vaughan, Messrs. Piles, 
 and John and W. Bertram. These different gentlemen had been 
 particularly intimate with my father, and I received from them 
 every mark of esteem and benevolence. Mr. Piles has a fine 
 cabinet of natural history : the legislature of Pennsylvania granted 
 him a pkce to keep it in, and th*> is the only recompcnce which 
 he has received for his exertions. He is continually employed in 
 enriching it, and increasing the number of his correspondents 
 Loth in Europe and in the most distant parts of the United States ; 
 but with the exception of a bison, I saw nothing in his collection 
 but what may be found in the Museum of Natural History at 
 Paris. 
 
 The absence of Mr. W. Hamilton deprived me of the advan-? 
 tage of seeing him ; but I went to visit his magnificent garden on 
 the banks of the Schuylkill, about four miles from Philadelphia, 
 His collection of exotic plants is very considerable, and particu 
 larly those from New Holland. All the trees and shrubs of the 
 United States, or at least those which are capable of passing the 
 winter in the open air at Philadelphia, are distributed to de-r 
 corate the bowers of an English garden. It is difficult to find a 
 site more agreeable than that of the residence of this gentleman, 
 
OF THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 fcEPARTURE FROM PHILADELPHIA FOR THE WESTERN 
 COUNTRIES. COMMUNICATIONS BY LAND IN THE U NITEI> 
 
 STATES. ARRIVAL AT LANCASTER. DESCRIPTION Ofr 
 
 THAT TOWN ANDITS ENVIRONS. COLUMBIA. PASSAGE 
 OF THE SUSQUEHANNA, YORK, DOVER, CARLISLE. AR 
 RIVAL AT SHIPPENSBURGH. REMARKS ON THE STATE 
 
 OF AGRICULTURE IN THE EXTENT OF THIS JOURNEY. 
 
 J. N the States of Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Ohio, is com 
 prised that vast extent of land known in America by the name of 
 the Western Country. Nearly all, the Europeans who have pub 
 lished observations on the United States, have Contented them 
 selves with remarking, according to the common report, that 
 these countries are very fertile ; but they have not entered into 
 any particulars respecting them. It is true, that before arriving 
 at these new establishments we are obliged to traverse a consi 
 derable extent of uninhabited tracks ; and that the journies are 
 long and difficult, and atford nothing of interest which might tend 
 to delineate the manners of the people who inhabit the towns or 
 other places : but as the natural history, and particularly the ve 
 getable productions and the state of agriculture, in those districts, 
 formed the principal objects of my enquiries, 1 was under the ne 
 cessity of travelling at a distance from those parts which are best 
 known, and passing my time in such as have been but slightly 
 mentioned. I therefore made a journey to these distant coun 
 tries ; and had nearly two thousand miles to travel before I could 
 return to Charleston, where 1 was absolutely obliged to be by the 
 1st of October. 1 expected iudeed that my journey would ine 
 vitably be impeded by various obstacles of a local nature, which 
 it would be impossible to foresee or prevent: these considera 
 tions, however, did not induce me to change my determination, 
 and I fixed my departure from Philadelphia for the 27th of June 
 1802. As I had no wish to travel slowly, to make observation* 
 \vhich had already been repeated by various travellers, I resolved 
 to proceed m the most expeditious manner to Pittsburgh, situated 
 at the head of the Ohio ; and at Philadelphia 1 took the stuge 
 which went to Shippensburgh, by way of Lancaster, York, aiui 
 Carlisle. Shippensburgh is one hundred and forty miles from 
 Philadelphia, and is the most distant place on this road to which 
 one can travel by the public carriages. 
 
 Till the year 1 802, the stages which went from Philadelphia 
 proceeded southwards only as far as Petersburg!! in Virginia, 
 uiiich is about three hundred miles from Philadelphia; but ja. 
 
Ifr TllAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 the spring of tliat year a new line of communication was esta* 
 bUshed between that town and Charleston. The journey re 
 quires fifteen days: the distance is about six hundred and fifty 
 miles, and the price is fifty dollars. There are likewise stages 
 between Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, as well as be- 
 tw< en Charleston and Savannah in Georgia; so that we have the 
 convenience of public conveyance from Boston to Savannah, the 
 distance of which is one thousand two hundred miles. 
 
 1 reached Lancaster, which is sixty-six miles from Philadelphia, 
 on the afternoon of my departure. The turnpike-roads are kept 
 in good order, by means of tolls collected at certain distances. 
 In this space the houses are nearly all within sight one of ano 
 ther, and each owner has an inclosure. Throughout the United 
 States the cultivated lands are all inclosed, to secure them from 
 the ravages of afl kinds of cattle; which, for the greater part of 
 the year, are left by every proprietor in the woods that are for 
 this purpose common to them alL In the vicinity of the towns 
 these inclosures are made with stakes, placed at the distance of ten 
 or twelve feet from each other, and perforated with five mortises 
 at the space of eight or nine inches ; in which are fitted branches 
 of trees unstripped of their bark, of a proper length, and about 
 four or five inches in diameter. This mode of inclosing is most 
 proper and economical, because it saves the wood, which is very 
 dear in the environs of the large northern towns ; but in the in 
 terior parts and the southern states, the inclosures are made of 
 pieces of wood of an equal length, placed one above another in 
 an angular form, and supported by their ends, which arc crossed 
 and intertwined together. The inclosures are generally seven feet 
 high. In the lower parts of Carolina they are made of pine; but 
 in the rest of the country, and in the whole of the north, they are 
 of oak or chesnut. When they are kept in good order they last 
 about five-ami- twenty years. 
 
 The country before we arrive at Lancaster is very fertile ; 
 t^e fields are covered with corn, rye, and oats, the fine growth of 
 tvhifch is a proof that the soil is better than between New York 
 and Philadelphia. The inns on the road are very numerous, 
 and at almost all of them the people speak German. My travel 
 ling companions, who were always thirsty, caused the stage to 
 stop at every inn that they might drink some glasses of grog. 
 This liquor is in general use in the United States : it consists of 
 a mixture of brandy or rum and water, the proportions of which 
 depend upon the taste of the person who drinks it. 
 
 Lancaster is situated in a fertile and well-cultivated plain. 
 The town is built on a regular plan ; and the houses, which are 
 two stories high, are of brick. The two principal streets have, 
 like those at Philadelphia, footpaths and pumps. The popula 
 tion amounts to about four thousand individuals, almost all of 
 
OF THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS. 17 
 
 whom are of German origin, and profess different religions. Each 
 <sect has its particular church. That of the Roman Catholics 
 is most numerous. The inhabitants are mostly gunsmiths, hat- 
 makers, sadlers, and coopers, but amongst them are a few tan 
 ners. The gunsmiths of Lancaster have long had the repui 
 of being good manufacturers of rifle-guns, which are ihe only kind 
 used by the inhabitants in the interior of the country, as well as 
 by the Indian nations on. the frontiers of the United States. 
 
 At Lancaster 1 formed acquaintance with Mr. Muhlenberg, the 
 Lutheran minister, who for twenty years has devoted his attention 
 to the science of botany, lie shewed me the manuscript of a 
 .Flora Lancastricnsis, in which the number of species described 
 already amount to upwards of twelve hundred, a hundred ;md 
 twenty-five of which are of grasses; this is the class which he 
 most esteems. Mr. Muhlenberg is very communicative, and 
 keeps up a regular correspondence with Mr. VVildenow and 
 Dr. Smith. L found here Mr. W. Hamilton, whose magiiilicent 
 garden at Philadelphia 1 have already mentioned. 
 
 O the *J17 th of June, I left Lancaster for ShippensburgH ; 
 there were only four of us in the stage, which was capable of hold 
 ing twelve persons. Columbia, situated on the Susquehanah, is 
 the tirst town you arrive at; it contains about fifty unconnected 
 houses, almost all of which are built of wood : at this place the 
 turnpike-road terminates. 
 
 Jt will not be useless to observe here, that in the United State! 
 they frequently give the name of town to an assemblage of six or 
 eight houses; and that their manner of building is not every 
 \vhere alike. At Philadelphia the houses are of brick ; but in 
 the other towns, and even in the fields which surround them, the 
 half, and frequently the whole of the houses are of shingles ; while 
 between seventy and eighty miles from the sea, in the Middle and 
 Southern States, but particularly in those that lie to the westward 
 of the Allcgany mountains, seven tenths of the inhabitants live in 
 log-houses. These are made of the trunks of trees from I 
 to thirty feet long, and about four or five inches in d ir>. 
 placed one above the other, and supported by being dove-; 
 at the ends. The roof is constructed of pieces of the same length, 
 as those that form the shell of the house, but they are not so heavy, 
 and are gradually drawn together on each side : these limbs sup 
 port the covering of shingles, which are fastened by means of 
 small wooden pegs. Two doors, which often serve instead of win 
 dows, are. made by sawing away a part of the trunks that form the 
 body of the house : the chimney, which is always situai.d at one 
 of the angles, is likewise made of the trunks of trees, of a conve 
 nient length. The back, which is of potter s clav, about six 
 inches thick, separates the lire from the wooden wall ; but not- 
 
 MJCllAL X.] D 
 
18 TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 withstanding this slight precaution, the accident of fire very sel* 
 d.. a happens in these houses. The space between the trunks of 
 trees is tilled with clay, but in such a slovenly manner, that the 
 light is perceptible on every, side ; hence these hovels are very cold 
 in winter, notwithstanding the great quantity of wood that is 
 burnt in them. 
 
 The doors move on wooden hinges, very few of which have 
 locks ; and at night they only push them to, or fasten them with a 
 wooden pin. Two men will build one of these houses in four or 
 five days, without the use of nails or other iron-work. Two 
 large beds serve for the whole family ; and in summer the children 
 often sleep on the ground, wrapt in a coverlet. The floor, which 
 is planked, is raised about two feet above the surface of the soil. 
 They use feather-beds, and not mattresses ; sheep being very 
 scarce in these parts, wool is deav, and is reserved only for 
 making stockings. The clothes of the family are hung round the 
 room, or suspended upon a long pole placed across it. 
 
 At Columbia, the Su.squehanah is a quarter of a rnile wide. 
 We crossed it in a small ferry-boat ; and at this time its water 
 was so shallow, that we could easily perceive the bottom. On 
 the banks of this river are a number of high hills, and the middle 
 contains a variety of wooded isles, which appear to divide it into 
 several branches: some of them are, at the utmost, only ve or 
 six acres long, and yet they are as elevated as the neighbouring 
 hillocs. "Their irregularity and singular forms, render this spot 
 picturesque and truly remarkable, particularly at the period when 
 I saw it, the trees being then in full leaf. 
 
 About a mile from the Susquehanah I observed the slnnona 
 triloba, the fruit of which is very good, though insipid : when at 
 maturity it is the size of alien s egg. Mr. Muhlenberg told me, 
 that this shrub grows in the environs of Philadelphia. 
 
 Twelve miles from Columbia is York, a small and well-built 
 town, the houses of which are connected, and almost all of 
 brick. The number of inhabitants is reckoned at eighteen hun 
 dred. They are chiefly of German origin, and do not speak 
 English. Six miles beyond York we passed through Dover, 
 which consists of about thirty log-houses, built on both sides of 
 the road ; and the stage stopped at one Macolegan s, who keeps a 
 miserable inn about fifteen miles from York. This day we only 
 travelled thirty-eight miles. 
 
 Taverns or inns are very numerous throughout the United 
 States, but particularly in the small towns; every where, how 
 ever, except in the large towns and their environs, they are of a 
 wretched description, though they never fail to afford brandy, 
 rum, and whiskey. These articles are considered of the first im 
 portance ; so that the profits of those who keep inns, arise chiefly 
 
OF THfe AttEGANY MOUNTAINS. 1 
 
 from the sale of liquors, for which there is a great demand. Tra 
 vellers generally wait till the family hour to take their meals: they 
 are served for breakfast with bad tea, still worse coffee, and 
 small slices of fried bacon, to which are sometimes added eggs. 
 and a broiled chicken. For dinner they give you a piece of salt 
 beef, roast chickens, and rum and water for beverage. In the 
 evening there is coffee, tea, and ham. There are always several 
 beds in one chamber; clean sheets are a great rarity, and fortu 
 nate is the traveller who arrives on the day when they are changed; 
 but this is a point on which an American gives himself little 
 concern. 
 
 On the 28th of June we arrived betimes at Carlisle, which is 
 fifty-four miles distant from Lancaster. It contains about two 
 hundred houses, some of which are of brick, and several shops. 
 In the latter, which are often met with in the interior parts of 
 the country, arc sold mercery, hardware, groceries, &c. and the 
 purchaser is always presented with something to drink! The 
 owners of these warehouses also buy from, or barter with, the 
 inhabitants of the country, for the produce of their farms, which 
 they afterwards send to the sea-ports. 
 
 From Macolegans inn to Carlisle, the country is bad, irre 
 gular, and hilly; consequently the habitations on the road are few, 
 and are between two and three miles from each other ; but out of 
 the road they are still farther distant. The white, red, and quer- 
 citrou oaks, chesnut, and maples, are the principal trees which 
 constitute the forests in these parts. On the summits of the hills 
 I observed the Qttcrcus Banisteri. From Carlisle to Shippens- 
 burgh, the country continues mountainous, and is thinly inhabit 
 ed, the soil being of a very indifferent nature. 
 
 There are only a few houses to be met with on the road, and 
 their miserable appearance sufficiently indicates, that the circum 
 stances of the inhabitants are far from easy, and that the produce 
 of their agricultural labours is at most only sufficient for their sub 
 sistence. 
 
 The stage stopped at Shippensburgh, at the house of Colonel 
 Ripey, who keeps a good inn, known by the sign of the General 
 Washington. He is very obliging to travellers who alight at his 
 house, when on their jonrney to the Western Country. Shippens- 
 burgh contains scarcely seventy houses. Its chief trade is in 
 meal of different kinds. At the time I was there, the barrel of 
 flour, weighing 196lb. sold for five dollars. 
 
 From Shippensburgh to Pittsburgh, the distance is 1 70 miles ; 
 and the stages not going farther, you are obliged to perform the 
 rest of the journey on foot, or to purchase a horse, of which there 
 are always many for sale ; but the country-people are such cheats, 
 that they always make you pay double the value for them; and on 
 
 D a 
 
CO TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 arriving: at Pittsburgh, you are obliged to dispose of them for half 
 what they cost. I was inclined, from motives of economy, to 
 travel the rest of the way on foot; but from some remarks which, 
 were made to me, I thought proper to join with an American of 
 ficer, who had travelled with me in the stage, and was likewise 
 going to Pittsburgh; we therefore bought a horse between us, 
 on which we rode thither bv turns. 
 
 CHAP. IV. , , 
 
 DEPARTURE FROM SHIPPENSBURGH FO.R STRASBURGH. 
 
 PASSAGE OF THE BLUE RIDGES. NEW SPECIES OF RHO- 
 
 DODENDRUM. PASSAGE OF THE RI V ER J UN 1 AT A. USE 
 
 OF THE CONES OF THE MAGNOLIA ACUM1NATA. ARRI 
 VAL AT BEDFORD COURT-HOUSE. EXCESSES COMMITTED 
 
 BY THE INHABITANTS OF THESE COUNTRIES. DEPAR 
 TURE FROM BEDFORD. PASSAGE OF THE ALLEGANY 
 
 RIDGE AND LAUREL-HILL. ARRIVAL AT WEST LIBERTY- 
 TOWN. 
 
 o 
 
 N the 30th of June, in the morning, we left Shippensburgh, 
 and arrived by noon at Strasburgh, a distance of about ten miles. 
 This town, which does not contain more than forty log-houses, is 
 situated at the foot of the first chain of the Blue Ridges. The 
 country through which we had passed on our way, though uneven, 
 was better than that which leads to it : it contained many houses, 
 and was tolerably well cultivated. After having taken a little rest 
 at Strasburgh, we continued our journey notwithstanding the heat, 
 which was excessive, and ascended the lirst ridge by an extremely 
 rough and stony road. With much difficulty we attained the sum 
 mit in three quarters of an hour, and then passed two other ridges, 
 which were equally high as the iirst, and which took the same di 
 rection. These three ridges form two small vallies, which contain 
 a ftfKv houses that are built about mid-way ; and in the second, 
 which is rather more extensive, stands Fenetsburgh, consisting 
 of about thirty houses, built on both sides of the road, and having 
 about twenty plantations or farms in the vicinity. Each of these 
 contains from two to three hundred acres of wood-land, of which, 
 in general, not more than seven or eight are in a state of cultiva 
 tion, and very seldom more than twenty or twenty-five* The 
 want of hand;* and the limited means of encouragement are serious 
 obstacles to the progress of agriculture. In this part of Pennsyl 
 vania, every individual is satisfied with cultivating as much land as 
 is necessary for the support of his family* and according as it is 
 more or less numerous, the cultivated portions are more or less 
 extensive. Hence it follows, that the more children a man ha* 
 
OF THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS. 
 
 are capable of assisting him in his agricultural labours, the 
 more he is enabled to live at his ease ; and this is one of the pi m^ 
 cipal causes of the rapid progress which has taken place in die 
 population of the United States. 
 
 On this day we only travelled twenty-six miles, and put up for 
 the night at Fort Littleton, about six miles from Strasburgh, at a 
 very good inn kept by Colonel Bird. Between Shippensburgh 
 and this place, the mountains are very stony, and the soil i$ of a 
 bad kind; so that the trees it produces, are stinted in their 
 growth, particularly the white oak, which is found on the sum 
 mit, and the Kaltnia tatifolia, which occupies all the exposed 
 situations. 
 
 The next day we departed early in the morning, in order to 
 proceed to Bedford Court- House. From Fort Littleton to the 
 river Juniata, we met with but few habitations; here nothing 
 but ridges succeed each other,, the intervals of which are occu 
 pied by a number of hillocs. When on the top of the highest 
 of these ridges, the inequality of this crowd of mountains, co 
 vered by continual forests, which extend over the country, and 
 beyond which no habitation can be perceived, presents a picture 
 resembling the sea after a storm. 
 
 About two miles before we come to the river Juniata, the 
 road divides into two branches, which are reunited at that river. 
 The right branch leads over the heights, and the left, which we 
 followed, appeared to have been, or perhaps still is, the bed of 
 a deep stream, the steep banks of which are extremely swampy. 
 These banks are covered with Andromeda, Paccinium, and 
 more particularly a species of Rhododendram, the flowers of 
 which are perfectly white. The threads of the stamina are also 
 white, and one third shorter than the corolla; the anthers are of 
 a pale pink, and the leaves are smaller and more obtuse, than 
 those of the Rhododendrum maximum. These remarkable dif 
 ferences may perhaps shew it to be a distinct species. I have 
 since met with this beautiful shrub in the mountains of Iforth 
 Carolina. Its seed was then ripe, and I brought some of it to 
 France, where it has been cultivated with success. At this 
 place the river Juniata was only from thirty to forty fathoms 
 wide; its water was remarkably low, and we forded over; but, 
 during the greater part of the year, it is usual to cross in a ferry 
 boat. Its banks are high, and well covered with verdure. The 
 Magnolia acuminata is very common here, and is known by 
 the name of i the Cucumber-tree. The inhabitants of the back 
 settlements of Pennsylvania, of Virginia, and also of the Western 
 Countries, on meeting with the fruit, when green, infuse it in 
 whiskey, which thus acquires a strong bitterness* This bitter is 
 much cteemed iu the country, as a remedy for iutennitteat 
 
TRAVELS TO THE WEStVTARD 
 
 fevers ; but its use would certainly be less general, if, possessing 
 the same properties, it were made with water only. 
 
 From the place where we crossed the river Juniata, to Bedford 
 Court-house, the country, though every where uneven, is better 
 and more fully inhabited, than that through which we passed 
 from Shippensburgh. The houses, though seldom in sight of 
 each other, are sufficiently near to impart a more animated ap 
 pearance to the scene. On the approach of night, we arrived at 
 .Bedford, and took up our lodging at a tavern, the master of which 
 was known to the American officer with whom I travelled. 
 The house was spacious, and one story high, which is unusual 
 in these parts. The day of our arrival was a day of rejoicing to 
 the peasantry, who had assembled at this little town to celebrate 
 the suppression of the tax on the whiskey distilleries, a tax of 
 some importance, which had much irritated them against Adams/ 
 the former President. The inns, and particularly the one in which 
 we lodged, were full of drinkers, who made an intolerable uproar, 
 and committed such horrible excesses, as it is scarcely possible 
 to conceive. The rooms, the stairs, and the yard, were covered 
 with men dead-drunk, and those who were yet capable of speak 
 ing, expressed themselves in accents of fury and rage. A passion 
 for spirituous liquors is one of the traits which characterise the 
 peasantry of the interior of the United States. This passion is 
 so strong, that they frequently quit their houses to get drunk at 
 ihe taverns; and if they had liquor at home, I do not believe that 
 there are ten in a hundred who could resist the temptation of 
 drinking as long as it lasted. In summer, however, their common 
 beverage is water or milk. They care little for cider, which 
 they consider as too mild ; and their dislike to this salutary and 
 agreeable beverage is the more to be regretted, as it might be 
 obtained at a trifling expence; for apple-trees of every kind are 
 abundant, and arrive at great perfection in this country. In both 
 the eastern and western parts of the Allegany mountains, I have 
 observed lofty trees, produced from pips, which bore apples from 
 eight to nine inches in circumference. 
 
 At Bedford there are scarcely more than a hundred and 
 twenty houses, of which some are constructed of brick, and others 
 of shingles. This little town, like all those which have been 
 built on this road, trades in grain, which, with salted provisions:, 
 are the only articles of exportation from these parts. During 
 the war occasioned by the French Revolution, the inhabitants ob 
 tained greater advantages by sending their grain, &Cc. to Pittsburgh, 
 whence they were conveyed by the Ohio and the Mississippi to 
 New Orleans, there to be embarked for the Antilles, than by 
 sending those articles to Philadelphia or Baltimore. Notwith 
 standing this, it is reckoned but two hundred miles from Bedford 
 
OF THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS. S 
 
 to Philadelphia, and a hundred and fifty miles from Bedford to 
 Baltimore, on a well-frequented road ; whilst the distance from 
 Bedford to New Orleans is known to be two thousand two hun 
 dred miles, viz. u hundred rniles by land to Pittsburgh and two 
 thousand one hundred miles., by water, from Pittsburgh to the 
 mouth of the Mississippi. Thus we perceive that the naviga 
 tion of the Ohio and of the Mississippi is easy, and of light x- 
 pence, since it compensates for the enormous difference which 
 exists between the two distances. The situation of New Orleans 
 relative to the Antilles, insures great advantages to this town, 
 over all the eastern parts of the United States; and in proportion 
 as the new States of the West increase in population, New Or 
 leans will become the centre of an immense commerce. Other 
 tacts also occur in support of this observation. 
 
 The next day, the 1st of July, we quitted Bedford early in the 
 morning. The heat was excessive ; the ridges which we inces 
 santly had to climb, and the little mountains which are between 
 them, rendered travelling very laborious ; so that we this day 
 advanced only twenty-six miles. Four miles from Bedford, the 
 road divides ; we turned to the left, and stopped to breakfast at 
 the house of a miller who keeps an inn. \Ve there found a man 
 lying on the ground, wrapped up in a blanket, who the night be 
 fore had been bitten by a rattle-snake. The first symptoms which 
 appeared, an hour after the accident, were violent vomitings, 
 almost immediately succeeded bp a high fever. At the time when 
 I saw him, his leg and thigh were prodigiously swelled, his re 
 spiration was extremely difficult, and his face was bloated, re 
 sembling those whom I have had occasion to see at the hospital, 
 afflicted with the hydrophobia. I asked him some questions, but 
 his senses w r ere so entirely absorbed, that it was impossible to 
 obtain any answer : I however learned from the people of the 
 house, that, immediately after the bite, they had applied the juice 
 of some plants to the wound, until the arrival of the doctor, who 
 lived at the distance of fifteen or twenty miles. In America, 1 
 have known several persons to whom the same accident has hap 
 pened; those who did not die in consequence of it have ever 
 since remained valetudinarians, and are remarkably susceptible of 
 affections arising from the changes of the atmosphere. The 
 plants which are used against the bite of the rattle-snake are very 
 numerous, and are almost all of them drawn from the different 
 species of succory. In this mountainous part of Pennsylvania, 
 there are great numbers of rattle-snakes, many of which we 
 found killed on the road. In hot and dry weather, they come 
 from beneath the rocks, and conceal themselves in places which 
 contain water. 
 
 On the same day, we crossed the ridge wh ich more particu- 
 
4 TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 larly takes its name of Mount Allegany from the All egany riclge. 
 \Ve ascended by a road extremely steep, and covered with enor 
 mous stories. After a laborious march of two hours, we arrived 
 at the summit. It is really surprising, that travelling vehicles 
 surmount so easily, and with so few accidents, this multitude of 
 high hilis or ridges, which succeed each other without inter 
 ruption from Shippensburgh to Pittsburgh, and the intervals of 
 which are occupied by hills of inferior elevation. 
 
 Allegany ridge is the highest link of Pennsylvania : on its top 
 vie found two common log-houses, which are about three miles 
 distant from each other, and which serve for inns. The rest of 
 tjie country is inhabited ; but these were the only houses that we 
 met with on the road from Bedford. We stopped at the second, 
 which is kept by a man named Chatlers,. and which, for its situa 
 tion, is well supplied; for dinner we obtained some slices of fried 
 ham and venison, with cakes of wheat-Hour, baked on a dish be 
 fore the fire. 
 
 Notwithstanding a heavy rain, we slept this night at Stanley 
 town, a small town, which; like ail those in this part of Pennsyl 
 vania, is built on a hill. It is composed of fifty houses, half of 
 which are log-houses, with some taverns and two or three ware 
 houses, the merchandize of which is obtained from Philadelphia. 
 The distance from Chatlers s is seven miles, and the intermediate 
 country is remarkably fertile. Here are some very lofty trees: 
 those in the wood are the white, red, aud the nuercitron, or lemon 
 oak, the beech, the tulip-tree, and the Maguvlia a&umnata. 
 
 The horse that we bought at Shippensburgh, and which we 
 mounted by turns, was extremely fatigued, and we made no 
 greater progress than if we had been constantly on foot. Not 
 withstanding this, the American officer with whom i travelled; 
 was anxious to reach Pittsburgh, in order to be present at ihe 
 festival of the 4th of July, in commemoration oi American 
 independence. For the purpose of gaining a day, he hired a 
 horse nt Stanley town, with which we went over Laurel-hill, 
 an extent of four miles. The direction of this ridge was pa 
 rallel with those which we had left behind ; the wood that covers 
 it is of a more bushy description, and the vegetation wears a 
 more cheerful aspect. The name which has been given to this 
 mountain is without doubt derived from the great quantity of 
 Kalmia latifolia (from eight to ten feet in height,) by which 
 the open parts are exclusively occupied, while the banks of the 
 rivers are lined with the Rhododend*Mn maximum ; for both the 
 Rhododendrum and the Kalmia latifolia obtain from the inha 
 bitants the general appellation of Laurel. By some, the latter 
 shrub is called the Calico tree; the leaves of .which, it is said, arc 
 a deadly poison, to sheep, which perish almost immediately after 
 
OF THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS. .,> 
 
 eating them. At the foot of Laurel Hill commences the valley 
 of Ligonier, in which is situated, a quarter of a mile from the 
 mountains, West Liberty-Town, composed of about twenty log- 
 houses. The soil of this valley appears to be very fertile. It is 
 near this place that the French, when masters of Canada, built 
 Tort Ligonier; all that part of the United Slates, which lies 
 to the westward of the Allegany mountains, having been depend 
 ent on Canada or Louisiana. 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 DEPARTURE FROM \VEST LIBERTY-TOWN TO THE MOUN 
 TAINS, IN SEARCH OF A SHRUB SUPPOSED TO YIELD 
 OIL OF A SUPERIOR QUALITY. - NEW SPECIES OF 
 AZALEA. - VALLEY OF LIGONIER. - COAL MINES. - 
 CREENSBURGH. ARRIVAL AT PITTSBURGH. 
 
 N my way to Lancaster, Mr. W. Hamilton had told me, 
 that at a short distance from West Liberty-Town, near the resi 
 dence of one Patrick Archibald, there was a shrub, the fruit of 
 which, he had been informed, yielded an excellent oil. Some 
 persons had also heard of it at New-York and Philadelphia, and 
 had conceived the hope that, extensively cultivated, it might 
 become of general utility. It thus appeared desirable to dis 
 cover a plant, which, to the advantages of the olive, united that 
 of sustaining the cold of the most northern countries. Im 
 pressed with this idea, 1 left my travelling companion and 
 proceeded among the mountains in search of that shrub. Two 
 miles from West Liberty-Town, I passed Proboss Furnace, a 
 foundery established by a Frenchman from Alsace, who manu 
 factures brass cauldrons of every description. The largest, 
 which contain fifty gallons, are sent to Kentucky and Tenessee, 
 where they are used in the manufacture of salt by evaporation. 
 The others, which are much smaller, are used for domestic 
 purposes. At the fouudcry, they explained to me the road 
 M ! hi *h I should pursue; notwithstanding which 1 could not 
 avoid deviating, for there are a number of paths, more or less 
 agreeing with my directions, which lead to the respective houses, 
 that are scattered about the wood ; but ever} where, the inha 
 bitants obligingly set me right, and I at length arrived, the 
 same night, at Patrick Archibald s, who made no difficulty in 
 receiving me, when I apprised him of the cause of my visit. 
 This man, who keeps a mill, might easily procure himself belter 
 accommodation ; he lives, however, in a common log-house, 
 \vith only one room, from twenty-four to thirty feet in length, 
 and on all sides exuosed to the weather, Four large bed.", two 
 
 M1CHAUX,] 
 
 * j 
 
6 TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 of which being low, stand under the others during the day, and 
 are drawn into the middle of the chamber at night, receive the 
 whole of the family, consisting of six persons, and sometimes of 
 strangers who come to obtain a night s lodging. This manner of 
 living would in Europe indicate poverty; but not so in these 
 countries ; for, in an extent of more than two thousand miles 
 which I have travelled, there is not a family but is possessed of 
 milk, butter, smoked or salt meat, and maize, for their food; 
 even the poorest man has one or more horses, and it is very 
 seldom that a person visits his neighbour on foot. On the day 
 after my arrival, I explored the wood, and in my first excursion, 
 I found the shrub which was the object of my research. I 
 knew it to be the same which my father had discovered fifteen 
 years before, in the mountains of South Carolina, but which, 
 notwithstanding his care, he could not bring to perfection in his 
 garden near Charleston. Mr. W. Hamilton, who had also re 
 ceived some seeds and cuttings of it, from that part of Pennsyl 
 vania where I then was, had not been more successful. The seed 
 so quickly turns rancid, that in a few days it loses its germi- 
 native property, and acquires an extraordinary acridity. This 
 shrub, which seldom rises above five feet, is diacious. It grows 
 exclusively among the mountains, and is only found in cool and 
 shady places, where the soil is very fertile. Its roots, which are 
 of a citron colour, do not branch out, but extend horizontally to 
 a great distance, giving birth to suckers, which seldom rise above 
 eighteen inches. The roots and the barks w hen bruised, emit an 
 unpleasant odour. I directed my host to gather half a bushel 
 of the seed, and to send it to Mr. W. Hamilton, informing him 
 what precautions to take for its preservation until it should reach 
 him. On the banks of the creek on which Archibald s mill is 
 built, and by the side of the stream in its vicinity, grows a species 
 of Azalea, which was then in full blossom. It rises from twelve 
 to fifteen feet. Its flowers are perfectly white, and larger than 
 those of the other known species, sending forth the sweetest 
 scent. The Azalea coccinea, the flower of which is of a nas-r 
 turtium colour, grows on the tops of mountains, and blossoms 
 two mouths earlier. 
 
 The valley of Ligonier is fertile, producing wheat, rye, and 
 oats. Some of the inhabitants plant maize on the tops of the 
 mountains ; but the country being too cold, it does not succeed 
 well, the sun only appearing on this spot for three quarters of 
 an hour after it rises. Hemp and flax are also cultivated here, 
 each inhabitant raising a sufficient quantity for the wants of his 
 family. All the women spin and weave, and it is they who make 
 to*- clothes for themselves and their families. The price of land 
 is from one to two dollars per aero. The taxes are very light, 
 
OF THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS. 27 
 
 and there is no cause for complaint. In this part of the United 
 States, as in all mountainous countries, the air is very healthful. 
 1 have seen old men, upwards of seventy-five years of age, which 
 is very uncommon in the Atlantic States that are situated to the 
 south of Pennsylvania. During my journey in this county, the 
 measles were very prevalent. At the solicitation of my host, I 
 visited several of his relations and friends, who had been attacked 
 by this disorder, and found them all drinking whiskey to excite 
 perspiration. 1 recommended a decoction of viscid elm leaves, 
 adding a spoonful of vinegar, and an ounce of maple sugar, to 
 each quart. The country being rather poor, and the population 
 small, medical men are seldom to be met with; and, if the case 
 be urgent, they must be sent for at the distance of five and twenty 
 or thirty miles. 
 
 I left Archibald s on the 4th of July, and proceeded to 
 Greensburgh, a distance of eleven miles. Almost immediately 
 on quitting the house, [ had to ascend Chesnut Ridge, a steep 
 hill, the summit of which, for an extent of two miles^, exhibits a 
 dry and barren soil, where nothing grows but a few stinted white 
 oaks, and shoots of rhesnut; but on approaching Greensburgh, 
 the face of the country changes^ . the soil becomes better, and the 
 houses, though surrounded by wood, are nearer to each other 
 than those in the valley of Ligonier. The larger houses com 
 monly consist of two rooms. The superior cultivation of the 
 land, and preservation of the inclosures, indicate this to be a 
 German settlement, or canton: every thing has the appearance of 
 ease, the result of assiduity and labour. These settlers assist 
 each other in the harvest : they form alliances together, speak 
 only in the German tongue, and retain as much as possible, the 
 manners of their European ancestors. They live much better 
 than the Americans who are descendants of the English, Scotch, 
 and Irish. They are less addicted to the use of .spirituous liquors, 
 and have not like them, that unsettled disposition, which fre 
 quently, from the slightest motives, induces them to wander 
 hundreds of miles in the hope of meeting with a more fertile 
 soil. 
 
 Before I arrived at Greensburgh, I observed some parts of 
 the forest consisting exclusively of white oaks (quercus alba), 
 the foliage of which was of a more delicate green, agreeably 
 bordering on other trees of a deeper colour. A mile from 
 the town, and on the banks of a deep ravine, I perceived some 
 certain indications of a mine of sea-coal. I learned, at Greens 
 burgh and at Pittsburgh, that this substance was so common, 
 and so easily to be procured, that many of the inhabitants burnt 
 it from economy. Wood is not scarce, for the whole country is 
 covered with it; but labour is so extremely dear, that there i? 
 
28 TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 not a landholder at Pittsburgh who would not dispose of a cord 
 of wood for half the sum which must be paid for coals, on con 
 dition that the purchaser would travel a mile to fell the trees, 
 cut them up, and carry them home. 
 
 Greensburgh contains about a hundred houses. This town 
 is built on the top of a hill, on the road from Philadelphia to 
 Pittsburgh. On part of the road are seen numbers of emigrants* 
 who are going to settle near the Lakes. The soil of the environs 
 is fertile; and the inhabitants, who are of German origin, suc 
 cessfully cultivate wheat, rye, and oats, which they export to 
 Pittsburgh. 
 
 I lodged at the Seven Stars, a good inn, kept by a man named 
 Erbach. Here 1 met a traveller who had come from the State 
 of Vermont,, and who slept in the same room with me. Without 
 explaining our motives for travelling, we communicated to each 
 other our remarks on the countries through which we had passed, 
 He had come six hundred miles from the place of his residence, 
 and I had come four hundred from New-York. He proposed 
 that we should proceed together as far as Pittsburgh. 1 ob 
 served that 1 was on foot, and assigned my reasons for itr be 
 cause in America it is very unusual to travel in this manner, 
 the poorest inhabitant always having one or more horses. 
 
 From Greehsbuigh to Pittsburgh the distance is computed to 
 be thirty-two miles, over a very mountainous road: to avoid the 
 heat, and to accelerate my progress, I set out at four o clock hi 
 the morning. I had no difficulty in leaving the house, the door 
 being only on the latch; at the inns of small towns, on the con 
 trary, great care is taken to lock the doors of the stables, for 
 horse-stealers are not uncommon in certain parts of the United 
 States. This is one of the accidents to which travellers are 
 most liable, particularly in the Southern States, and in the West 
 ern parts, where they are sometimes obliged to sleep in the 
 woods. They often steal them from the inhabitants, which is 
 extremely easy, as during a part of the. year, the horses live in 
 die forests, and in spring they go several miles distant from 
 the house; but, on the slightest indication of the route which 
 the thief has taken, the sufferer pursues him to the utmost, and 
 . Sometimes succeeds in taking him ; in that case he confines him- 
 iu the prison of the county where he takes him; or, what is very 
 usual, kills him on the spot. In the different States, the laws 
 against horse-stealing are extremely severe, and the motive for 
 {his severity appears to be the facility with which in this country 
 the crime is committed. 
 
 I had proceeded fifteen miles, when I was rejoined by the 
 American traveller whom I had met the night before at Greens- 
 fcurgh. Though on korseUack, he had the politeness to slacken 
 
O F TH A L LEG A NY M <MJ NT A I tf h . 9 
 
 his pace, and I accompanied him to Pittsburgh. This second 
 interview made us more fully acquainted, lie informed me 
 that it was his intention to descend the Ohio ; and as 1 had the 
 same view, 1 conceived a wish to make the journey with him, 
 the more willingly as he was not a lover of whiskey 5 foiyeom- 
 pelled by the heat to make frequent stoppages at the mils, which 
 are sufficiently numerous on the road, 1 observed that he drank 
 only a little of that liquor with water, and that he preferred sour 
 milk when he could obtain it. In this respect, he was very 
 different from the American officer with whom I had travelled 
 all the way from Shippensbnrgh. 
 
 Nineteen miles from Greensburgh, to the left, we found a 
 road which cuts off about three miles, but which is only pass-able 
 for people on foot or on horseback ; we followed it, and, after 
 half an hour s progress, we perceived the river Monongahela, by 
 the side of which we kept till within a small distance from 
 Pittsburgh. A heavy shower obliged us to take shelter in a 
 house about two hundred yards from the river. The master, 
 finding us to be strangers, informed us that this was the place 
 where, in the Seven Years* War, the French completely defeated 
 General Braddock; he pointed out to us several trees which 
 had been damaged by the balls, and the injury of which was 
 3till apparent. 
 
 We arrived tolerably early at Pittsburgh, and I went to lodge 
 with a Frenchman, named Marie, who keeps a good inn. 1 was 
 the more pleased at my arrival, as I begun to be tired of travel 
 ling in so mountainous a country ; for, in an extent of a hundred 
 and eighty miles which I had traversed almost wholly on foot,. 
 a\id during the greatest heats, 1 do not believe that I went a 
 hundred vards on level ground. 
 
 CHAFFER VI. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PITTSBURGH. COMMENCE OF THIS 
 TOWN A N THE A I) JACK NT COUNTRY WITH NEW- 
 ORLEANS. CONSTRUCTION OF VESSELS OF HEAVY 
 
 BURDEN. DESCRIPTION OF THE RIVERS MONONGA 
 HELA. AND ALLT/.GANY. TOWNS WHICH ARE SI- 
 
 TUATEI> ON" THEIR B A N K-3.~- -AG KI C ULTttUE. MAPLE- 
 SUGAR. 
 
 JlLTTS BURGH is situated Bear the conflax of the rivers 
 Monongahela and Allegaiiy, the junction of which forms that 
 of the Ohio. The level ground on which il is built is not more 
 than from forty to fifty acres in extent. It is a triangle, the 
 side * vf which are coiiiiaetf, on all parts* either by the bed 
 
30 TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 the two rivers, or by the mountains. The houses are mostly 
 of brick; and may be computed at about four hundred, the greater 
 number of which are built on the Monongahela, and on that 
 side is the most commercial part of the to\vn. As many of the 
 houses are not contiguous, but separated by considerable 
 spaces, the entire surface of the angle is occupied, aud they have 
 already begun to build on the sides of the high hills which com 
 mand the town. It was at the upper part of the angle, that the 
 French constructed Fort Duquesne, but which has been en 
 tirely destroyed, nothing remaining but the vestiges of the 
 fosses which surrounded it. We here enjoy a delightful view pro 
 duced by the perspective of the three rivers, the banks of which 
 are shaded by forests, particularly those of the Ohio, which ex- 
 tends in a right line, and permits the eye to follow its course to a 
 considerable distance. 
 
 The air of Pittsburgh and its neighbourhood is very healthful ; 
 intermittent fevers, so common in the Southern States, are here 
 unknown; nor are the inhabitants tormented with musquitoes 
 during the summer. Here also they live one third cheaper 
 than at Philadelphia. Pittsburgh contains two printing-offices, 
 each of which publishes two newspapers per week. 
 
 Pittsburgh has long been considered by the American Go 
 vernment as the key of the Western Countries. It was from 
 thence that the Federal forces were sent against the Indians, who 
 opposed the first establishment of the Americans in Kentucky 
 and on the banks of the Ohio. But now that the Indian nations 
 have been driven back to a great distance, and deprived of the 
 power of annoying the inhabitants, even in the remotest parts 
 of the interior; and the -Western Countries having also acquired 
 a vast population, there is at Pittsburgh only a weak garrison, 
 in palisaded barracks, contiguous to the town, on the bank of 
 the river Allegany. 
 
 But though this town has lost its importance as a military 
 post, it has acquired more in point of commerce. It is the 
 depot of merchandize from Philadelphia and Baltimore, sent 
 thither at the commencement of spring and autumn, to supply 
 the States of the Ohio and Kentucky, and of the Settlement of 
 Natches. Through these towns, in the course of last war, 
 they communicated also with New-Orleans, sending their goods 
 down the Ohio and Mississippi. 
 
 The conveyance of merchandize from Philadelphia to Pitts 
 burgh, is performed in large covered waggons, drawn by four 
 horses, harnessed two a-breast. The price of the carriage varies 
 according to the season ; but seldom exceeds six dollars per 
 crct. The distance is computed to be three hundred miles from 
 Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, and the carriers perform the journey 
 
Otf THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS* Si 
 
 in twenty or four and twenty days. The charge of conveyance is 
 not high, for the waggons generally return empty ; sometimes, 
 however, they bring skins, which come from the Illinois, or from 
 Ginseng, and which are commonly met with in that part of Penn 
 sylvania. 
 
 Pittsburgh is not only the depository of the merchandize of 
 Philadelphia and Baltimore, for the Western Countries, but also 
 of numerous settlements that are formed on the Monongahela 
 and the Allegany. The territorial produce of these countries finds 
 an easy and advantageous channel through the Ohio and the 
 Mississippi. Grain, hams, and bacon, are the principal articles 
 which are sent to New-Orleans, whence they are re- exported to 
 the Antilles. Bar-iron, coarse linen cloths, bottles made at 
 Pittsburgh, brandy, whiskey, and butter in casks, are also ex 
 ported for the consumption of Louisiana. Great part of these 
 stores come from Redstone, a small but commercial town, 
 situated on the Monongahela, at the distance of fifty-five miles 
 beyond Pittsburgh. These united advantages have, in the course 
 of ten years, increased the population and value of property 
 in this town in a ten-fold degree, and continue to assist its 
 growth, which daily becomes more rapid. Most of the mer 
 chants who are established at Pittsburgh and its environs, are 
 either partners or factors of commercial houses in Philadelphia. 
 Their agents at New-Orleans dispose of as much goods as they 
 can for ready money ; or they take cotton, indigo, and clayed 
 sugar, the produce of Lower Louisiana, in exchange. These 
 they forward by sea to the houses in Philadelphia and Bal 
 timore, whence they come by land to Pittsburgh and its neigh 
 bourhood, where most of them reside. Notwithstanding the 
 length of the passage from New-Orleans to either of these ports, 
 is from five and twenty to thirty days, and that then they have 
 to make a journey by land of three hundred miles to return to 
 Pittsburgh, they prefer that way, because it is less laborious 
 than the return by land from New-Orleans to Pittsburgh ; tins 
 last distance being from fourteen to fifteen hundred miles. Ktif: 
 when the vessels are bound only for Limeston, in Kentucky, or 
 for Cincinnati, in the State of the Ohio, the conductors return 
 by land, thus making a journey of from four to five hundred 
 miles, 
 
 The navigation of the Ohio and of the Mississippi is so much 
 used, that the distance from Pittsburgh to New-Orleans, is as 
 certained with sufficient exactness, and has been setrled at 2100 
 miles. Merchant vessels in spring, generally allow forty-five, or 
 fifty days to perform this passage ; but two or three persons in a 
 pirogue, or Indian bark,, may accomplish it in twenty, or five an d 
 twenty days. 
 
t TRAVELS TO THE 
 
 \\ hat many people are perhaps ignorant of in Europe is, that* 
 nt Pittsburgh, and on the Ohio, arc constructed vessels of heavy 
 burden. One of the principal docks is on the Monongahela, -at 
 the distance of 400 yards beyond the extremity of the town. The 
 sorts of timber used in their construction are, the white oak, 
 querciis alba ; theredo dk,quercus rubra; the black oak, quercus 
 tinctoria ; a species of walnut tree, jitglans pignut; cherry tree, 
 cerasus virginiana; and a species of pine, which is employed as 
 well for the masts, as for those parts of the ship which require 
 a lighter wood. All these woods growing uear, the expences of 
 building are here considerably less than in the ports of the 
 Atlantic States. The ropes are manufactured at Redstone and 
 at Lexington, where two fine rope-walks have been established, 
 \vhich also furnish rigging for the ships that are built at Marietta 
 and Louisville. On my passage to Pittsburgh, in the month of 
 July 1802, there were on the stocks, a ship of three masts *, 
 of 250 tons, and a galliot of 90, which were on the point 
 of being finished. In the following spring, they were to go 
 down to New-Orleans, freighted with the productions of the 
 country, performing a passage of about 733 leagues, before 
 they arrive at the ocean. From what follows, there is no doubt 
 but that they might equally construct vessels at the distance of 
 200 leagues above the mouth of/ the Missouri, of fifty from 
 that of the river Illinois, and even in the Mississippi, and at 200 
 above the fall of these rivers; that is to say, at GoO leagues 
 from the sea ; for their Bed, in the space alluded to, is as deep as 
 that .>f the Ohio, at Pittsburgh, and it would be erroneous to 
 ;.ppose that the countries through which these rivers pass, may 
 aiot, ere long, be so peopled as to render them capable of similar 
 undertakings. The rapid population of the three new Western 
 States, under circumstances infinitely less favourable, strengthens 
 this assertion. These states, which thirty years ago contained 
 scarcely 3000 inhabitants, now possess more than 40,000 ; and, 
 among all the habitations, which on the road are seldom at a 
 greater distance than four or five miles, it is very rare to meet 
 with one, even among ihe most flourishing, where one might 
 not confidently enquire of the proprietor, whence he had emi 
 grated ; or, alter the manner of the Americans, From what 
 part of the world did you come? as if these vast and fertile 
 regions ought to fee considered as the central point, and the 
 common country of all the inhabitants of the globe. Now, 
 it* we reflect on these rapid and astonishing improvements, what 
 expectations may not be formed, of the high degree of pro- 
 
 * Since my return, I have been informed that this ship, culled the Pitts* 
 burgh, had arrived at Philadelphia. 
 
OF THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS. 
 
 Sperity to which the western countries may be raised, and of the 
 new progress which the commerce, population, and culture of 
 these parts will make, by the uniting of Louisiana to the Ameri 
 can territory? 
 
 The river Monongahela rises in Virginia, at the foot of Laure 
 Hill, which forms part of the chain of the Allegany mountains; 
 turning immediately to the west, it passes into Pennsylvania; and, 
 before it joins the Allegany, it receives in its course the rivers 
 Cheat and Youghiogheny, which come from the south-south 
 east. The territory watered by this river is extremely fertile ; 
 and the settlements which have been formed on its banks are 
 nearly contiguous. At Morgan-Town it begins to be naviga 
 ble. This town, consisting of sixty houses, is situated on the 
 right bank, at the distance of 107 miles from its mouth. Of 
 all the little towns on the Monongahela, trade flourishes most 
 in those of New Geneva and Redstone. The first has a glass 
 house, solely for the manufacture of bottles, which are exported 
 to the western countries. In the second, which contains 500 
 inhabitants, there are flour-mills, a rope-walk, and a paper-ma 
 nufactory. At this town, a number of emigrants, from the East 
 ern States, embark for those of the West. Here, also, they 
 build large bouts, called Kentucky boats, which are used in the 
 Kentucky trade. At Elizabeth -Town, situated on the same 
 river, twenty-three miles from Pittsburgh, similar boats are 
 likewise constructed; and from that place, they launched The 
 Monongahela Farmer, a trading vessel of two hundred tons 
 burden. 
 
 The Allegany rises at the distance of fifteen or twenty miles 
 from lake Eri ; and is enlarged in its progress by the French 
 Creek, and other little rivers still less considerable. The Alle 
 gany begins to be navigable two hundred miles from Pittsburgh. 
 The banks of this river are fertile; and the inhabitants, who have 
 there formed settlements, as well as those on the Monongahela, 
 export the produce of their culture by the way of t .ie Ohio and 
 the Mississippi. On the side of this river, some small towns are 
 now building, the most considerable of which are Meadville, si 
 tuated at the distance of two hundred and thirtv-iive miles from 
 Pittsburgh; Franklin, at two hundred; and Freeport, at only 
 one hundred. Neither of these at present contains more than 
 forty or fifty houses. 
 
 Whatever may be the state of the weather, the waters of the 
 Allegany are clear and transparent; those of the Monongahela, 
 on the contrary, become turbid after it has rained for some days 
 in that part of the Allegany mountains where it derives its source. 
 
 The maple-sugar tree is very common in all that part of Penn 
 sylvania which is watered by the Monongahela and the Allegany, 
 
 MICHAUX.] F 
 
34 TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 This tree mostly delights in cold, wet, and mountainous coun 
 tries, and its sap abounds in proportion to the severity of the 
 winter. The sugar \\hichisextracted from it, is of as dark a 
 colour as that of ciayed-sugar after the first baking ; it is sold in 
 loaves of six, eight, and ten pounds, at the rate of fourteen sols 
 or seven pence per pound. The inhabitants manufacture it only 
 for their own consumption: most of them take tea and coffee 
 every day, but they only use that sugar which is obtained by 
 the iirst evaporation of the sap; as, on account of the great ex- 
 pence which would attend the process, no person is employed in 
 refininir it. 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 THE OHIO. NAVIGATION OF THAT RIVER. MR. 9. 
 
 CRAFT. OBJECT OF HIS JOURNEY. INFORMATION 
 
 RESPECTING THE STATE OF VERMONT. 
 
 JL HE Ohio, formed by the junction of the rivers Mononga- 
 hela and Allegany, appears to be rather a continuance of the 
 former than of the latter, which only obliquely arrives at the 
 conflux. To Pittsburgh, the Ohio may be about two hundred 
 fathoms wid*. The course of this immense and magnificent 
 river, for about iive and twenty miles, is directed to the north 
 west; it then gradually turns to the west-south-west; follows 
 that course for a space of five hundred miles, turns from thence 
 to the south-west for a hundred and sixty miles; then to the 
 west for two hundred and seventy-six; and at length falls into 
 the Mississippi, in a south-east direction, in the latitude of 36, 
 46 , one thousand one hundred miles from Pittsburgh, and at 
 nearly the same distance from New Orleans. This river is 
 extremely tortuous; so much so, that in descending it, we 
 frequently appear to be going in a direction opposite to that 
 which was proposed to be taken. Its width varies from four 
 hundred to two thousand yards. The islands which it meets iu 
 i f s course are extremely numerous ; in an extent of from three 
 hundred and seventy-five to three hundred and ninety miles, 1 
 counted nearly fifty. Some contain only a few acres ; others are 
 more than a mile in length. Their banks are not very high, 
 and they must consequently be subject to inundations. These 
 islands greatly impede navigation during the summer. The 
 sand which the river curries with it, forms, at the head of each 
 of them, a considerable land-fall ; and, in that season, the 
 channel is so contracted from the want of water, that the ft w 
 boats, even of moderate size, which then hazard a descent, fre 
 quently run aground, and are with much difficulty again set 
 
OF THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS. 35 
 
 afloat ; but at all times there is sufficient water for a canoe or 
 a skiff. As these boats are very light, when they touch the 
 high grounds, they can easily be raised or pushed forward, till 
 they reach a part where there is more water. It is only then 
 in spring and autumn that the Ohio is navigable, at least to 
 Limestone, a distance of four hundred and twenty-rive miles 
 from Pittsburgh ; for, beyond that, it is open at all times. In 
 these two seasons, the waters are so high, that vessels of three 
 hundred tons burden, conducted by men well acquainted with 
 the river, may go down in perfect safety. The spring season 
 commences in February, and lasts for three months ; that of 
 the autumn begins in October, and continues only till the 1st 
 of December. These periods, however, are hastened or re 
 tarded, according as the summer happens to be more or less 
 rainy, or as the rivers thaw sooner or Jater. it sometimes hap 
 pens too, that in the course of the summer an abundance of rain 
 falls in the Allegany mountains, which suddenly swells the Ohio. 
 A descent may then be made with perfect safety ; but no de- 
 pendance should be placed on such circumstances. 
 
 The banks of the Ohio are high and firm ; and its course is 
 free from that crowd of obstacles which renders the navigation 
 of the Mississippi difficult, and often dangerous, without very 
 able conductors. On the Ohio, vessels may proceed without 
 danger during the night; but, on the Mississippi, prudence re 
 quires that they should stop every night, at least from the mouth 
 of the Ohio to Natches, for a space of nearly seven hundred and 
 lifty miles. 
 
 The rapidity of the current of the Ohio is very great in spring, 
 and, in that season, rowing is not necessary ; the excess of mo 
 tion which that process would give the boats, would rather im 
 pede, than facilitate their progress, by turning them out of the 
 current, or by throwing them on a point of some island, where 
 they might be entangled among rotten trees, that are sometimes 
 collected together, half under water, and from which it is not easy 
 to get disengaged. They should therefore be left to the current, 
 which is always strong enough to carry them with great celerity, 
 and which is alwaps most rapid in the middle of the channel. The 
 extreme rapidity of the Ohio induces the builders to give a pecu 
 liar form to the boats which are employed in its navigation; this 
 form is not calculated to accelerate their progress, but to render 
 them subordinate to the swiftness of the eurrent. All the boats 
 which are used in the Kentucky and Mississippi trade, as well as 
 those that convey the families from the Eastern to the Western 
 States, are constructed in the same manner. Their shape is that 
 of a square, more or less lengthened, the sides of which are raised 
 about four feet and a half above the water ; their length is frorn 
 
 F 2 
 
36 TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 fifteen to fifty feet; and their width, ten, twelve, and fifteen feet ; 
 the two extremities of which are not sloped like those of common 
 boat?. A little deck, made of slate, like those of houses, covers 
 one end of the boat. Under this deck they pass the night, anc} 
 seek shelter when it rains. I was alone, by the side of the 
 Monongfrhela, yvhen I first saw, at a distance, five or six of these 
 boats, which were going down the river. I could not conceive* 
 what such large square boxes could be, which seemed aban 
 doned to the current, presenting alternately their ends, their 
 sides, and even their angles. As they advanced, I heard a con 
 tused noise, without distinguishing any thing, on account of the 
 height of the sides. On ascending the banks of the river, I 
 perceived in these boats several families, bringing with them 
 their horses, cows, fowls, dismounted carts, ploughs, harness, 
 beds, instruments of husbandry ; in short, all the furniture, requi 
 site for house-keeping, agriculture, and the management of a. 
 farm. These people had thus abandoned themselves to the 
 water for several hundred miles, probably without knowing 
 where they might stop, to exercise their industry, and to enjoy 
 in -peace the fruit of their labours, under one of the mildest go 
 vernments in the world. 
 
 I remained ten days at Pittsburgh; during which I frequently 
 saw M. le Chevalier Dubac, an old French officer, who, com 
 pelled by the events of the Revolution to quit France, went to 
 live at Scioto, but soon changed his residence, and settled at 
 Pittsburgh, where he engaged in commerce. He possesses a 
 very correct knowledge of the western countries, and is perfectly 
 acquainted with the navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi, hav 
 ing made several voyages to New Orleans. To the small number 
 of his countrymen who resort to these parts, he gives, with all 
 possible politeness, such directions as rnay facilitate their voyage, 
 and prevent the accidents which might befal them. 
 
 During my stay at Pittsburgh, I was particularly intimate with 
 my travelling companion, Mr. Samuel Craft, an inhabitant of the 
 State of Vermont, whom I had met, for the first time, at 
 Greensbuvgh. Among other things, 1 learned from him, that, 
 in that State, and those which are contiguous, the expenses in- 
 . curred by the clearing of the land are always defrayed by the 
 produce of the pot-ush, which is obtained from the ashes of the 
 trees that are burnt; and that there are people who will under 
 take this clearance or grubbing up, on the sole condition of hav 
 ing the pot-ash. This kind of management, indeed, is not pre 
 valent in the rest of North America; for, in all the States to 
 the eastward of New York, and in those of the west, the trees 
 are burnt at an entire loss : yet it is true, that the inhabitants of 
 .New England, properly so called, which comprehends all the 
 States to the eastward of New York, are known to be, of all the 
 
OF THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS. 37 
 
 Americans,, the most enterprising, the most industrious, and 
 above all, those who are best acquainted with domestic economy. 
 Mr. Craft now informed me, that the motive of his journey 
 was to ascertain from actual observation, whether all that had 
 been reported of the salubrity and extraordinary fertility of the 
 banks of the river Yazous was correct ; and, in that case, to 
 obtain for himself and some friends several thousand acres of 
 land, and to come there and settle with some families of mo 
 derate competence, in his neighbourhood. His intention of emi 
 grating to a country so distant, was founded, in one respect, on 
 the length of the winters, which, in the State of Vermont, are 
 as severe as in Canada, and repress the exertions of the inhabitants 
 for more than a third of the year ; and in another, on account of 
 the small value of the produce of the country. On the contrary, in 
 the districts which are watered by the river Yazous*, the tempe 
 rature of the climate, and the fertility of the soil, permit the cul 
 tivation of cotton, indigo, and tobacco , the produce of which 
 is much more lucrative than that of the northern part of the 
 United States, and of which the sale is certain, by its exporta 
 tion to New Orleans, whither you may go and return by the 
 river, in less than a fortnight. 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 DEPARTURE FROM PITTSBURGH FOR KENTUCKY ; JOUR- 
 
 KEY BY LAND AS FAR AS WHEELING. - STATE OF AGRI 
 CULTURE ON THAT ROAD. WEST-LIBERTY-TOWN IN 
 
 \ I UG I N I A .- WH E ELI N G. 
 
 R. Craft and I agreed to go together as far as Kentucky, by 
 the Ohio ; preferring that way, though longer by a hundred and 
 forty miles, than by land, which is more expensive. 13ut as 
 at that season, the waters were at the lowest, to gain time, and 
 to avoid a considerable winding of the river, on quitting Pitts 
 burgh, we were advised to embark at Wheeling, a little town si 
 tuated on the Ohio, eighty miles lower, following the course oF 
 the river, but a much less distance by land. On the 14th of 
 July, at night, we set out on foot, and crossed the Monongahela, 
 at John s Ferry, situated on the opposite bank, at the bottom of 
 Coal-hill, a very high hill, which, on this side, extends along 
 the river a considerable way. 
 
 After travelling for about a mile and a half, close along the 
 banks of the Ohio, we entered a wood, and retired to rest in an 
 execrable inn, on Charter Creek, where there v/as only one bed 
 allotted for travellers. When several persons meet together, 
 
 * The river Yazous falls into the Mississippi, between the thirty-second 
 and thirty-third degree of north latitude. 
 
S3 TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 those wlio arrive last, lie on the floor, wrapped in their coverlet, 
 which they always carry with them, when they undertake ajour- 
 ncyinto the distant parts of the United States. 
 
 On the following day we travelled 28 miles, and stopped at the 
 iioti.se of one Patterson. On this road, the dwellings are two or 
 three miles distant from each other ; and they are here more nu 
 merous than in the interior of the country ; a circumstance 
 which is also observable on all the roads which cross these regions. 
 The inhabitants of this part of Pennsylvania are extremely regular 
 in their morals, and very religious ; we saw in some places insu 
 lated churches in the woods, and, in others, pulpits tor preaching 
 placed under large oaks. Patterson has a pretty considerable 
 farm, and a good corn-mill erected on a small river : he sends 
 his flour to New Orleans. Rivers and creeks are of rare oc 
 currence in this part of Virginia, so that they are obliged to have 
 recourse to mills turned by horses ; but the riour thus obtained 
 is consumed in the country, as it does not here constitute an ai ti 
 de of commerce. No one has thought of building wind-mills , 
 notwithstanding there are, on the tops of some hills, tolerably 
 clear and extensive spots, which would be convenient for that, 
 purpose. 
 
 On the iGth of July, we arrived at Wheeling, extremely fa 
 tigued ; we were on foot, and the heat was intense : our walk 
 was rendered more difficult by the nature of the country, which 
 is covered with hills that lie very close together, and whose .sum 
 mits camwt be attained in less than twenty or twenty-live minutes. 
 Six miles from Patterson s house, appears the line of demarca 
 tion, which separates Pennsylvania from Virginia, and which in 
 tersects the road at a right angle. This line is formed by large 
 frees, which have been felled on the emincncies, from 30 to 40 
 feet in breadth. Twelve miles before we reach \Vheeling, we 
 j -.asscd \Yest- Liberty-Town ; a small place, consisting of KX) 
 houses* and/built on a hill. Dwellings are numerous in its vici- 
 nitv : and the soil here, though unequal, is fertile. Its produce 
 is various ; yielding from 15 to 20 bushels of corn per acre, when 
 it is perfectly cleared ; and affording only from ]Q to 1.5, when 
 the operation has not been completely performed ; that is, when 
 there are, several stumps of trees remaining ; for, when a spot of 
 ground is about to be cleared, they begin with felling the trees at 
 the distance of two feet from the earth, and afterwards gradually 
 remove the stocks. It is worthy of remark, that the inhabitants 
 give only one ploughing, that they use i>o manure, and that they 
 never suffer the land to lie fallow. The rent of these lands is re 
 gulated by their quality. The best, in the proportion of twenty or 
 twenty-five acres cleared in a lot of two or three hundred, are not 
 \vorth more than from three to four dollars per acre : the taxes to 
 wljch they are subject, me from one to two sou* an acre. Hands 
 

 vfFC* Of THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS. 3$) 
 
 being scarce, labour is very dear, and bears no proportion to the 
 price of the productions: hence it follows, that in all the Middle and 
 Southern States, about titty miles from the sea-shore, every pro 
 prietor clears only a little more than he can cultivate with his 
 family, or with the mutual aid of some neighbours. This applies 
 particularly to the Western Countries, where each individual can 
 easily procure land, and is stimulated to labour by the incompa 
 rable fertility of the soil. 
 
 A mile and a half from West- Liberty-Town, the road passes 
 through a narrow valley, four miles in length, the lofty banks of 
 which are iu some places live and twenty or thirty feet in height ; 
 and discover horizontal strata of sea-roal, from five to six feet ia 
 thickness. This mineral is very common in all this part of Penn 
 sylvania and Virginia ; but, J=s this country is only a continued 
 forest, audits population is thin, considering its immense extent, 
 these mines are not worked. They might be opened with advan 
 tage, if they we ; re situated m the Eastern States ; where sea- 
 coal, imported from England, is burnt in the great towns, 012 
 , account of the extreme clearness of \\ocxl. 
 
 The trees which grow in ti is valley, lie very closely together -" 
 their diameter is very great ; and they are in more variety thaii 
 in the countries I had hithertc crossed. These indications of 011 
 uncommonly fertile soil are observable in all those vnllies where, 
 as in the present, there run la ge streams or creeks which fall in 
 to the Ohio ; and the land of which partakes much of the nature 
 of the tlats bordering on that iver, while it presents nearly the 
 same productions. 
 
 Wheeling, which stands on>ne of the lofty banks of the Ohio, 
 has only been erected about tvelve years. At present there, are 
 computed to be about sixty-si? houses built with shingles ; which, 
 as in ail the rising towns iivthi United States, are separated one 
 from another by an interval oi several fathoms. This little town 
 is confined by along ridge, fnm one hundred and eighty to two 
 hundred fathoms in height, aid the base of which is only about 
 two hundred fathoms distant fom the river. In this intervening- 
 space the houses are erected they form only one slreet, in the 
 centre of which passes the roai, tint follows the course of the river 
 upwards of two hundred miles It contains from twelve to fifteen 
 shops, well supplied ; whithe the inhabitants., who are settled for 
 twenty miles round, resort to pirchase provisions. This small town 
 also participates in the export rade, carried on by Pittsburgh with 
 the Western Countries. May merchants of Philadelphia pre 
 fer sending their cornmoditis hither, though the distance is 
 greater by upwards of a day sjourney, than to the former place . 
 but this trifling inconveniencds amply compensated bv the bene 
 fit derived from avoiding the lag circuit which the Ohio takes af- 
 
4O TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 ter it leaves Pittsburgh ; where the very numerous shallows and 
 slowness of the current during summer, impede navigation. 
 
 We resided at Wheeling in the house of Captain Reymer, who 
 keeps a tavern, known by the sign of the Waggon, and who takes 
 boarders at the rate of two dollars a week. This price is to him 
 a very good one, provisions being cheap in the country : a dozen 
 fowls cost only a dollar ; and the quintal of flour sold at that 
 time for no more than one dollar, and a half. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 DEPARTURE FROM WHEELING FOR M A RIETT A . PROSPECT 
 ON THE BANKS OF THE OHIO. NATURE OFTHli FORESTS. 
 - EXTRAORDINARY SIZE Of SOME TREES. 
 
 N the ISth of July, in the morning, we purchased a piro 
 gue or canoe, about twenty-four feet long, eighteen inches wide, 
 and as many in depth. These caioes are always made of the 
 single trunk of a tree. The pine and tulip-tree are employed for 
 this purpose preferably to any otfyr, their wood being lighter. 
 These canoes are too narrow to w>rk easily with an oar, and are 
 moved forward by means of a padjlle, or with a pole, in shallow 
 water. Being sometimes obliged^ in prefer to shorten our jour 
 ney, to leave the shady banks of tjie river, and go into the mid 
 dle, or to pass from one point td another ; in consequence of 
 being exposed to the inconvenience of a burning sun, we^covered 
 our canoe, for one quarter of its Ijngth, with a piece of canvass 
 stretched on two hoops. In less (han three quarters of an hour, 
 all our arrangements were made fcjr continuing our voyage. We 
 were, however, compelled to defej* our departure till the after 
 noon, that we might attend to ou} supply of bread, which tra 
 vellers are liable to want on this rcfite ; because the inhabitants, 
 who reside at a distance from 4 cn other on the banks of the 
 
 river, are themselves often scantil) 
 is therefore proper to take precau 
 
 to renew one s stock in the little tc.vns that occur on the way. 
 ix clock i h 
 
 We left Wheeling at six o clock 
 
 supplied with provisions. It 
 on previous to departing, and 
 
 the evening. We made twelve 
 
 miles that evening, and stopped foijthe night on the right bank of 
 
 the Ohio, which forms the boundi 
 nated the territory North West o 
 present admitted into the Union, 
 
 the Ohio. Although we had adnnced only twelve miles, we 
 \vere nevertheless fatigued, less fimi paddling continually, than 
 
 from remaining constantly in a sitt 
 Our canoe, the bottom of which 
 
 to keep that position: the slightet motion would have exposed 
 
 y of the government, denomi- 
 the Ohio, and which is at 
 ider the name of the State of 
 
 g posture, with extended legs, 
 as very narrow, compelled 
 
OF THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS. 41 
 
 us to upset. At the expiration of a few days, however, custom 
 caused these incouveniencies to disappear, and we proceeded on 
 our journey with comparative ease and comfort. 
 
 VVe were three days and a half on our way to Marietta, which 
 is 100 miles distant from Wheeling. Our second day s progress 
 was 30 miles; the third, 40; and on the morning of the fourth 
 day, we reached that small town which is situated at the mouth 
 of the Great Muskingum. On the first day, being entirely oc 
 cupied with this mode of travelling, which to us was altogether 
 novel, and did not appear to me a very safe one, I did not carry 
 my observations to any extent ; but, on the succeeding day, being 
 more accustomed to such a method of navigation, I noticed with 
 greater tranquillity, from our canoe, the prospect afforded by the 
 banks of that noble river. 
 
 On leaving Pittsburgh, the Ohio flows between two ridges or 
 lofty hills, nearly of the same height, which we thought to be 
 from 150 to 200 fathoms : occasionally their summits appeared to 
 be irregular ; on the contrary, at other times, they seemed to be 
 perfectly level. These ridges continue, uninterruptedly, for the 
 space of a few miles, when there is a small interval observable, 
 that sometimes affords a passage to the rivers which fall into the 
 Ohio; but, most commonly, another hill, of equal height, arises 
 at a small distance from the spot where the preceding eminence 
 has terminated. These ridges also extend through a space of 
 about three hundred miles ; and, from our canoe we could ob 
 serve them with various degrees of distinctness, in proportion 
 as they were more or less remote from the banks of the river. 
 Their direction is parallel to the chain of the Allegany Moun 
 tains ; and, notwithstanding they are sometimes distant from these 
 from 80 to 100 miles, and from that to the extent of one or two 
 hundred, yet they cannot but be considered as a continuation of 
 these mountains. The whole of that part of Virginia which is 
 situated on the left bank of the Ohio, is extremely mountainous, 
 covered with forests, and thinly peopled : such at least is the 
 account given me by the inhabitants of the banks of the Ohio, 
 who go every winter to hunt wild bears in these desert regions. 
 The name of River s- Bottoms , and also of Flat-Bottoms, is 
 given to the flat spots of land covered with wood, which are 
 comprised between the foot of the hills just mentioned, and the 
 banks of the river ; and which are sometimes from five to six 
 miles in breadth. Most of the large and small rivers that fall into 
 the Ohio have similar liiver s-Bottoms; which, as well as those 
 here spoken of, are easy to cultivate, but by no means equal in 
 point of fertility to the banks of the Ohio. The soil is a genuine 
 vegetable mould, formed by the thick bed of leaves with which 
 the land i.sannuully loaded, and which is speedily converted into 
 
 M 1 C Ii A U X .] G 
 
42 TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 earth by the moisture prevailing in these thick forests. But 
 what adds still more to the depth of these successive strata of 
 vegetable soil, is the vast trunks of trees, that have fallen by age^ 
 with which the ground is every where strewed, and which are ra 
 pidly decaying. For upwards of a thousand leagues of the coun 
 tries through which 1 have passed at different times in North 
 America, 1 do not recollect to have seen one, which could be 
 compared to this for the vegetative power of the forests. The 
 finest grounds of Kentucky, and of that part of Tennessee, that lie 
 beyond the mountains of Cumberland, afford equally abundant 
 quantities ; but the trees there do not attain so considerable a 
 thickness and height as on the banks of the Ohio. Thirty-six 
 miles before we reached Marietta, we stopped at the house of an 
 inhabitant of the right bank ; who shewed us a plane tree, the 
 Platanits occidentalis, the trunk of which was, to the height of 
 two feet, tumefied in a wonderful manner: we measured it four 
 feet above the surface of the earth, and found it forty- seven feet 
 in circumference. It appeared to preserve the same dimension 
 to the height of fifteen or twenty feet; when it divided itself 
 into several branches of a proportionable size. Nothing ex 
 ternally announced this tree to be hollow; I ascertained this cir 
 cumstance as far as it was possible, by striking it in several places 
 with a log. Our host informed us, that, if we would pass the 
 day with him, he would shew us trees of equal size in other parts 
 of the wood, at the distance of two or three miles from the river. 
 This fact coniirnis the observation made by my father, when tra 
 velling in these districts, that the tulip-tree and plane-tree are 
 the only trees in North America which attain so great a diameter. 
 " Fifteen miles," said he, " above the river Muskingum, in a 
 small island of the Ohio, there is a plane-tree, the P/atanus 
 occidffltalis, the circumference of which, at the height of five 
 feet from the earth, where the stem is most uniform, is forty feet 
 four inches, which makes about thirteen feet in diameter. Twenty 
 years before I passed it, General Washington had measured this 
 identical tree, and found it nearly of the same dimensions. I 
 have also measured plane-trees in Kentucky, but I observed them 
 to be ojnly from fifteen to sixteen feet in circumference. This, 
 tree grows in moist situations. 
 
 " The largest tree in North America, next to the plane, is the 
 tulip-tree, Liriodtndron tulipifcra, denominated Poplar by the 
 Americans of the Western Countries. It is sometimes fifteen, 
 sixteen, and even eighteen feet in diameter. Kentucky is the 
 native country of the tulip-.tree ; between Beard-town and Loui 
 siana, we saw a few spots in the woods, which consist of that 
 tree alone. The soil is argillaceous and moist, but never inun 
 dated." 
 
OF THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAIN S. 43 
 
 The trees usually found in the forests on the banks of the Ohio, 
 are the plane-tree, Platanus occidental!* ; the tulip-tree ; the 
 beech-tree; the Magnolia acuminata ; the Celtis Occident a lt^ 
 the Acacia; the sugar-maple; the red-maple; the Populm ni- 
 gra ; and several species of walnut-trees. The most common 
 shrubs are, the Annona triloba ; the Euonimus lat/jblius ; and 
 the Lauras benzoin. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 ^ -^ 
 
 MARIETTA. SHIP-BUILDING. DEPARTURE FOR GALLI- 
 
 POLI. MEETING WITH A KENTUCKY BOAT.- POINT 
 
 PLEASANT. THE GREAT KENHAWAY. 
 
 M 
 
 ARIETTA, the chief of the settlements of the New- 
 Continent, in the State of the Ohio, is situated on the left bank 
 of the Great Muskingum, at its conflux with the Ohio. This 
 town, which fifteen years since was not in existence, is already 
 composed of two hundred houses, some of which are bit ill of 
 bricks, but most of them are constructed only with planks ; 
 Almost all of them front the Ohio. The hills, which line that 
 Hver from Pittsburgh, appear at Marietta at some distance 
 from its banks, and leave a pretty considerable tract of level 
 ground, which will facilitate in every respect the enlargement 
 of that town on a regular plan, and will enable its inhabitants 
 to make the most beneficial and agreeable arrangements ; while 
 it will not have the inconvenience of Pittsburgh; which is con 
 tracted by the lofty hills that surround it. 
 
 The inhabitants of Marietta first formed the idea of ex 
 porting directly to the Antilles the produce of the country, in 
 a vessel built in their town, which they sent to Jamaica* The 
 success which attended this first experiment, excited such a 
 spirit of enterprise among the inhabitants of this part of the 
 Western Countries, that new ships were launched at Pittsburgh 
 and Louisville, and dispatched directly for the islands, or for 
 New York and Philadelphia. The docks of Marietta are situ 
 ated iu the vicinity of the town, on the Great M uskiugum. At 
 the time I passed them, there were three brigs building, one of 
 which was 220 tons burthen. The work was superintended by 
 master-builders who had come from Boston. 
 
 The river Muskingum has its source near Lake Erie : it is 
 navigable only for 250 miles from its disemboguing itself into 
 the Ohio, where it is sixty fathoms in width. The country through 
 which it flows, and especially its banks, are fertile* Houses 
 appear for 200 miles above Marietta. 
 
 At a small distance from this town, we saw the remains of 
 
44 TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 some ancient earthen works, supposed formerly to have been 
 thrown up by the Indians as fortifications. When they were 
 found, they were covered with trees of the same nature as those 
 of the neighbouring forests, some of which were even more than 
 three feet in diameter. These trees have been felled, and the 
 soil is at present almost entirely cultivated with maize. 
 
 Major-general S. Hart, whose son I knew at Marietta, has 
 given in the Columbia Magazine, for 1787, vol. 1. page 9, 
 a plan and very minute description of these ancient Indian 
 works, a translation of which is inserted in the Travels in 
 Upper Pensylvania. That officer, who was of distinguished 
 merit, fell in the celebrated battle which General Sinclair lost, 
 in 1791, near Lake Erie, against the united Natives. During 
 my residence at Marietta, General Sinclair was governor of 
 the State of the Ohio, which office he has held since the ad 
 mission of that State to the Union. His excellency, who had 
 come from Pittsburgh, and was going to Chillicoth, alighted 
 at the tavern where I lodged. As Ire travelled in an old ca 
 briolet; and without any attendant, he did not at first strike my 
 attention. In the United States, the men who are called by 
 the desire of their fellow citizens to discharge important func 
 tion?, do not change their customs ; they continue to reside in 
 their o\vn mansions, and to live in the same manner as private 
 individuals, without exhibiting more ostentation, or incurring any 
 additional expense. The emoluments attached to this office, 
 vary in every State : South Carolina, one of the .richest in the 
 Union, gives its Governor 4,280 dollars ; while the Governor 
 of Kentucky receives only 12 or 1500. The inhabitants of 
 the State of the Ohio differ in their opinion concerning the 
 political conduct of General Sinclair. With regard to talents, 
 he has the reputation of being a better lawyer than a soldier. 
 
 On the evening of my departure, I met at Marietta a French 
 man who is settled on the banks of the Great Muskingum, 18 
 miles above that town. 1 much regretted that I could not ac 
 cept ihe invitation he gave me of paying him a visit at his own 
 house ; as it would have enabled me to extend my observations 
 on this part of the western district. 
 
 On the 21st of July we left Marietta for Gallipoli, which 
 is one hundred miles distant ; whither we arrived after four 
 days navigation. The inhabitants of the country, by letting 
 themselves drift during the night, complete this passage 
 in three days, and even in two and a half. From the calcu 
 lation we made, the mere motion of the stream was a mile 
 and a half in an hour : in those places where the water is very 
 cleeg, it i? scarcely perceptible; but as one approaches the 
 
OF THE ALLEGAXY MOUNTAIN S. 45 
 
 islands, which, as I have already mentioned, are wry numerous,- 
 the bed of the river becomes more shallow, so that there i* 
 often not a foot of water out of the channel. \\ hmi \ve ad 
 vance towards these shallows, the rapidity of the current be 
 comes extreme, the canoe is carried along with the velocity of 
 an arrow, and it is only in proportion as we recede from the 
 islands that the bed increases in depth, and the current is less 
 rapid. 
 
 On the day of our departure, we joined, towards evening, a 
 Kentucky boat, bound for Cincinnati. This boat was 40 feet 
 in length by 15 in breadth, and was laden with bar-iron and 
 brass kettles. There was also on board a family of emigrants, 
 consisting of the father, mother, and seven children, who carried 
 with them all their furniture and implements of agriculture. 
 The conductors, three in number, permitted us without diffi 
 culty, to lash our canoe to their boat, and to pass the night with 
 them. By this expedient we proposed to expedite our journey, 
 by not stopping during the night, as we had hitherto done 
 every evening; and we hoped to spend the night in a more 
 tranquil manner than the preceding, during which we had been 
 cruelly tormented with fleas, with which most of the houses 
 were filled, where we had longed since the moment of oar 
 embarking. But our hope was frustrated; for, so far were 
 we from being more fortunate, that we were more than ever 
 incommoded by them. In the course of my voyage, I have 
 experienced this unpleasant circumstance only on the banks of 
 the Ohio. 
 
 We were preparing to part about two o clock in the morn 
 ing, when the boat ran aground. In this situation we couid 
 not desert our hosts, who had entertained us with their best, and 
 who had even made us partake, with much cordiality, of a wild 
 turkey, which they had killed in the evening on the banks of the 
 river. We went into the water with our conductors ; and, by 
 means of some large poles, which served us as levers, we at length 
 succeeded in setting the boat afloat, after two hours laborious 
 efforts. 
 
 During this night, we passed the mouth of the Little Ken- 
 haway, which, after watering this part of Virginia, falls into the 
 Ohio, on its left bank. The shores of the Little Keutiaway 
 are inhabited only from 15 to 18 miles from its mouth ; the 
 remainder of the country is so mountainous, that settlements 
 will not for a long time be formed there. Five miles before 
 we reached the mouth of this small river, and on the right bank 
 of the Ohio, is situated Belle-pre, where there are at present 
 reckoned only twelve houses : but the settlements established 
 in its vicinity are rapidly increasing. This information vva 
 
46 TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 given us in a house,, where we halted after we had left the con 
 ductors of the Kentucky-boat above-mentioned. 
 
 On the 23d of July, at 10 o clock in the morning, we disco 
 vered Point Pleasant; which is situated a little above the 
 mouth of the Great Kenhaway, at the extremity of a point 
 fornied by the left bank of that river, which projects nearly in 
 a straight line into the middle of the Ohio. This spot is the 
 more agreeable, as, four miles before we arrive there, the Ohio, 
 which is about 400 fathoms broad, retains that breadth through- 
 .out its course, and runs in a perfectly straight direction. Its 
 .sloping banks, which rise from twenty-five to forty feet in 
 height, are covered, as in the remainder of its course, with 
 willows, Fifteen or eighteen feet high ; and the pendant branches 
 and foliage of which, being of a tine green colour, form an 
 agreeable contrast with that of the sugar and red-maples, and 
 of the oaks which stand immediately above. These, in their 
 turn, arepvertopped by the plane-trees, tulip-trees, beeches, and 
 the magnolia, of still more .elevated growth, whose large and 
 thick branches, in consequence of their greater expansion, spread 
 over the banks, entirely covering the trees beneath them, and 
 also extending much farther over the river. This arrangement 
 of nature, which prevails on each bank, presents on every side 
 a regular arch ; the image of which, being reflected by the crystal 
 waters, greatly adorns this magnificent prospect. 
 
 The Ohio, at Marietta, presents a landscape nearly similar ; 
 perhaps even more picturesque, from the appearance of the 
 Louses of that small town, which may be seen at the distance 
 of five or six miles ; and which, as you ascend, seems to stand 
 in the middle of the river. 
 
 The Great Kenawayv which is better know n in this country 
 by the present name, than under that of New River, given to 
 it in some maps, takes its rise at the foot of the Yellow Moun 
 tain in Tennessee ; but the body of its waters is supplied from 
 part of the Allegany mountains. The falls and rapids, which 
 occur very frequently in this river, through a course of more 
 than four hundred miles, will for a long time impede the export 
 ation, by means of the Ohio and Mississippi, of the commodi 
 ties of that part of Virginia which it waters. Its banks are in* 
 babited, but not to so great an extent as those of the Ohio. 
 
OF THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS, 47 
 
 CHAP. XL 
 
 GALLIPOLI. STATE OF THE FRENCH COLONY OF SCTOTO, 
 -ALEXANDRIA, AT THE MOUTH OF THE GREAT SCIOTQ. 
 ARRIVAL AT LIMESTONE., IN KENTUCKY, 
 
 -T OUR miles below Point Pleasant, on the right bank of tins 
 Ohio, is situated Gallipoli ; a spot, at which have assembled 
 nearly one fourth of the French, \vho in 1789 and 1790 left 
 their country to form a colony on the Scioto ; but they were 
 not able to take possession of the lands which they had so dearly 
 purchased, till they had remained fifteen months at Alexandria, 
 in Virginia, during the war that then prevailed with the Natives, 
 They had even nearly been deprived of this territory from the 
 disputes which arose between the Company of the Scioto and 
 that of the Ohio, of whom the former had in the first instance 
 bought the land ; but scarcely had they arrived on the soil 
 which belonged to them, before war was renewed between the 
 Americans and the Indians, and completed the ruin of these 
 unfortunate colonists. There is no doubt, that, from their de 
 solate state in the midst of the forests, they would all have been 
 massacred, notwithstanding the kind of predilection which the 
 Indian nations in the vicinity of Canada and Louisiana have for 
 the French : hence, as long as they took no active part in this 
 war, they were not disturbed ; but the American army having 
 obtained a decisive advantage near the mouth of the Great 
 Kenhaway, and crossed the Ohio, the inhabitants of Gallipoli 
 joined them. From this time they no longer received mercy, 
 and could not leave the boundaries of their village ; for two 
 of therq, who had gone to only twice the distance of a musket- 
 shot from their residence, were seized by the natives, when one- 
 was killed and scalped, and the other made prisoner, and car 
 ried into the interior of the country. At the time of my arrival 
 at Gallipoli, they had just received some account from this man, 
 which stated, that he gained a comfortable subsistence by mend-* 
 ing guns, and practising his trade of a goldsmith in the village 
 yvhere he resided : so that he expressed no wish of returning to 
 his countrymen. 
 
 The war being at an end, Congress, in order to indemnify 
 these unfortunate Frenchmen for the successive losses they had 
 sustained, gave them twenty thousand acres of land, situated 
 between the small rivers Sandy and Sciofo, seventy-live miles 
 below Gallipoli : this portion of territory was divided at the rpte 
 
4$ TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 of two hundred and ten acres for each head of a family. Those 
 individuals who did not possess sufficient courage to proceed a 
 second time with no other aid than that of their children, into 
 the midst of the wood, for the purpose of felling, burning, and 
 rooting out trees, which are often more than four feet in dia 
 meter, sold their portions either to the Americans or to more 
 enterprising Frenchmen ; so that only thirty families established 
 themselves in these new possessions. In the course of three or 
 four years, they succeeded by incessant labour in forming de 
 cent establishments, where, in consequence of the extreme fer 
 tility of the soil, they now have abundance of articles of the tirst 
 necessity. 
 
 Gallipoli, which is built on the banks of the Ohio, contains 
 about seventy log-houses, more than half of which are unin 
 habited and fallen to ruin, the others are still occupied by French 
 families, who live in a miserable manner, as only two of them 
 appear to be in easy circumstances : one keeps an inn, and 
 distils brandy from peaches, which he sends to Kentucky, where 
 it is sold to much advantage : and the other was M. Burau, 
 from Paris, who gave me a -kind reception, though L was un 
 known to him. Nothing can exceed the activity of this 
 Frenchman, who is obliged from the nature of his profession, 
 to travel continually on the banks of the Ohio, and to make 
 once or twice every year a journey of four or five hundred miles 
 through the woods to the towns which lie beyond the Allegany 
 mountains. I learned from him, that intermittent fevers, which 
 formerly were very calamitous to the inhabitants of Gallipoli, 
 had not appeared during the last three years ; but about a dozen 
 of the inhabitants, who had removed to New Orleans, with a 
 view of bettering their condition, had nearly all died the first 
 year of their arrival. 
 
 On the 2.5 tb July, we left Gallipoli for Alexandria, which in 
 104 miles further, and which we reached in three days and a 
 half. This town is built at the mouth of the Great Sciolo, 
 and in an angle formed by the right bank of that river with the 
 north-west shore of the Ohio. Though the plan of Alexandria 
 had been drawn up for several years, yet no person could be 
 induced to reside on that spot : L nd at present the number of 
 houses is not more than twenty, while most of these are built 
 vvitii logs. Its position, however, is very favourable with respect 
 U> the numerous establishments that have been formed beyond 
 this new town on the great Scioto, the banks of which are lower, 
 more dry, and, it is said, nearly as fertile as those of the Ohio. 
 The., population might be greater, if the inhabitants were not 
 very autumn liable to intermittent fevers, which are extremely 
 severe, and do not leave them until the approach of winter. 
 
OF THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS. 49 
 
 This country is more unhealthy thari any in the vast Stats of 
 the Ohio. The scat of Govern me at at this new Stit-j i-- t 
 Chillicoth r a town containing about one hundred and fifty uou j, 
 and situated sixty miles from the mouth of the great Scioto. 
 A newspaper is published in this town once a week. 
 
 At Alexandria and in the other small towns of tha Westeril 
 Countries, which stand in a very rich soil, the spice between 
 each house is entirely covered with Stramonium. This dan 
 gerous and bad-smelling plant thrives in a surprising degree 
 in every spot, where the soil has been cultivated for twelve or 
 lifteen years; and notwithstanding all the exertions of the inha 
 bitants, it seems to increase in quantity every year. It is sup 
 posed to have first appeared at James-Town, in Virginia,, 
 whence it derives its name of James-Weed. Travellers u;e 
 its leaves for covering the wounds on the backs of their horses, 
 that arise from the friction of the saddle. 
 
 The petty mullein is the next European plant which 1 found 
 in great abundance, though in less quantities than the Stra- 
 monium. It is vary common on the road leading from Phila 
 delphia to Lancaster, but less so beyond that town, and I never 
 found it on the other side of the Allegany mountains. 
 
 Oil the first of A|w4J we arrived at Limestone, in Kentucky, 
 fifty miles beyond Alexandria, and here my journey along the 
 Ohio was at end. We had travelled three hundred and forty- 
 eight miles in a canoe from Wheeling, and were ten days on 
 the passage, during which we were obliged to paddle incessantly, 
 on account of the slowness of the current. This labour, so 
 painful to those who are not accustomed to it, was to us still 
 more irksome on account of the excessive heat : we also suffered 
 much from thirst, not being able to drink without landing at 
 the inns on the banks of the river ; for during summer the 
 water of the Ohio acquires such a degree of heat, that it is 
 not drinkable till it has been kept in the shade for twenty-four 
 hours. This extraordinary warmth of the water arises on one 
 hand from the extreme heat of the climate at this season, and 
 on the other from the slowness of the current. 
 
 I had fixed on the first of October for my return to Charleston, 
 and had nearly a thousand miles to travel by land before I could 
 reach it, as I intended to pass through the State of Tennessee, 
 v.hich would make a great addition to my journey. Being 
 pressed for time, I therefore abandoned the project I had formed 
 of going down the Ohio as far as the falls, and left Mr. Samuel 
 Craft, who continued his voyage alone in a canoe to Louisville, 
 whence, after descending the Ohio and Mississippi, he intended 
 to go up the river of the Yazous to Natches, and afterwards to 
 n turn by land to the State of Vermont, where he expected to 
 
 MICHAUX."] 11 
 
50 TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 be about the fifteenth of November following, after having, 
 performed in six months a journey of nearly four thousand miles. 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 
 OF THE FISH AND SHELLS OF THE OHIO. INHABI 
 TANTS OF THE BANKS OF THAT RIVER. AGRICUL 
 TURE AND AMERICAN EMIGRATION. COMMERCIAL 
 
 INTERCOURSE OF THIS FART OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 THE 
 
 shores of the Ohio, though from twenty to sixty feet 
 in height, scarcely contain any stony substances after leaving 
 Pittsburgh ; and with the exception of large detached blocks 
 of a grey colour and friable texture, which may be observed 
 from ten to twelve miles below "Wheeling, the rest appears to 
 be only a simple vegetable earth. It is but a few miles before 
 reaching Limestone, that you observe a bank of calcareous 
 stone, the great thickness of which clearly shews, that it is of 
 a considerable extent. 
 
 Two kinds of flints, round and of a middling size r are very 
 abundant in the bed of the Ohio, particularly near the islands, 
 where they have been accumulated by the force of the current ; 
 some arc of a deep colour and split easily ; others smaller and 
 less numerous, are of a white quartz, but rather opaque. 
 
 In the Ohio, as well as in the Aliegany, the Monongahela, 
 and other rivers in the West Country, there is an abundance of 
 mullet from two to five inches long ; they are not eaten, but 
 the mother of pearl which they afford, being very thick, is 
 made into sleeve-buttons. I saw some of these at Lexington, 
 which were as fine as those made from the same substance in 
 Europe. The new species which I have mentioned has been 
 defined by M. JBose, Vnio Ohiotensis. 
 
 The Ohio abounds in fish of different .sorts, but the most 
 common is the Cat-jhh or Silurus Felis : they are taken by the 
 line, though some often weigh a hundred pounds. The first fold 
 of the upper fin of this fish is a pointed substance, very strong 
 and sharp, and which it employs for killing others of a less size : 
 its mode of attack is by swimming some inches below its object, 
 and then, by rising suddenly, it pierces it several times in the 
 belly, a circumstance which we twice had occasion to observe 
 during our navigation. 
 
 in the years 1796 and 1797, the banks of the Ohio were so, 
 thinly inhabited, that there was scarcely thirty families in the 
 space of four hundred miles, but since that time emigrants from 
 the mountainous countries of Pennsylvania and Virginia, have 
 srrlved in great numbers in these fertile districts, and the habl- 
 
OF THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS. 51 
 
 tations have so much encreased, that they are now not more 
 than from one to three miles distant, whilst some of them may 
 even be perceived from the middle of the river. 
 
 The inhabitants in these quarters, chiefly employ their time 
 in hunting the stag or the bear, the skins -of which they sell; but 
 their propensity for this kind of life prevents them from culti 
 vating the land, so that their new possessions are not in a state 
 of improvement : each family has from one to four hundred 
 acres of land, though not more than eight or ten are cultivated : 
 nevertheless,, the produce derived from this smali portion, together 
 with the milk of their cows, is more than sufficient for the sub 
 sistence of the family, which is always numerous, for scarcely 
 any man has less than six or seven children. Their houses are 
 built on the banks of the river, and almost always in beautiful 
 situations ; but the way in which they are constructed, bears no 
 analogy to the charming spots on which they stand, as they are 
 nothing but miserable log-houses without windows, and so small, 
 that two beds take up almost their whole internal space. Two 
 men can with ease build one of these houses in less than three 
 days, while their w r retched appearance would seem to indicate 
 an uncommon scarcity of wood, though in countries covered 
 with forests. The inhabitants on the banks of the Ohio receive 
 without hesitation any travellers who demand their hospitality, 
 and afford them shelter, that is, they permit them to sleep upon 
 the floor in their own clothes. In these houses may be procured 
 maize-bread, smoked bacon, milk and butter, but seldom any 
 thing more : thus the expence for food is here as well as in all 
 the Western Countries only a trivial consideration. 
 
 Maize is almost the only grain to the culture of which they 
 devote themselves ; and though they are still far from perfection 
 as agriculturists, yet the soil, notwithstanding it is full of roots, 
 is so fertile, that the stalks of this grain grow to the height of 
 eleven or twelve feet, while the produce per acre is annually 
 from twenty-live to thirty quintals or hundred weight. During 
 the first three years of cultivation, the corn grows too strongly 
 and sheds its grain before the ears are ripe, in consequence of 
 which the land is seldom sown till after it has lain fallow for 
 four or five years, and been deprived during that time of its 
 numerous roots and suckers. / The Americans of the interior 
 parts, cultivate wheat from motives of speculation rather than 
 for their own consumption, as they send the flour to the sea 
 ports ;) for nine-tenths of the inhabitants eat no other bread but 
 that of maize, of which they make loaves that weigh eight or 
 ten "pounds, and bake them in portable ovens ; or they form 
 small cakes of this flour, which they cook upon a small 
 board before the fire. This bread is generally eaten hot> 
 
 ii 2 
 
52 TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 and is not vcyy palatable to those who are unaccustomed to its 
 use. 
 
 r l he only fruit tree at present cultivated in this country is 
 tl at of the peach, which, though no attention whatever is paid 
 to it, grows so vigorously, that it bears fruit in the third year. 
 
 The price of the best lands on the banks of the Ohio, docs 
 not exceed three dollars per acre, and on the left bank, in the 
 Stales of Kentucky and Virginia, they are even cheaper. The 
 two banks of the Ohio not having been inhabited more than 
 eigt t or nine years, which is the case with those of the smaller 
 rivers th?t empty themselves into it, the Americans who have 
 come to reside there, have but a small participation in the trade 
 by the Mississippi, which consists of hams, smoked bacon, 
 brandy distilled from corn and peaches, barrelled beer, hemp, 
 skins, and some kinds of flour ; they also send cattle to the 
 Atlantic States. Some itinerant merchants, who procure com 
 modities at Pittsburgh and Wheeling, and who go up and down 
 the river in canoes, bring them mercery goods, and particularly 
 tea and coffee, for which they take their produce in exchange. 
 More than one half of those who inhabit the banks of the Ohio 
 were the earliest inhabitants, or, as they are called in the United 
 States, the first settlers : they are a wandering horde of people, 
 who are never satisfied with the soil which they have once 
 cultivated, but, under pretext of finding better land, a more 
 healthful climate or more abundant chace, are always going 
 farther, and establishing themselves in the vicinity of the savage 
 nations, whom they brave even in their own country. The bad 
 faith which they exhibit towards them gives rise to continual 
 quarrels, and often produces sanguinary wars. 
 
 Before arriving at Marietta, we met with one of these settlers, 
 who resided in the environs of JVheeling, and who being likewise 
 on his way down the Ohio, we travelled with him for ten days. 
 He was alone in a canoe about eighteen or twenty feet long, 
 by twelve or fifteen inches wide, and was going to visit the 
 banks of the Missouri, which are inhabited by Americans, about 
 a hundred and fifty miles from its mouth. The excellent quality 
 of tie land, which is reckoned more fertile than that on the 
 Ohio, and which the Spanish Government then caused to be 
 distributed gratis, together with the multitude of beavers, elks, 
 and particularly of bisons, were the motives that induced him 
 to emigrate to those distant countries, whence, after finding a 
 convenient spot for his residence, he intended to return to the 
 Ohio to fetch his family, and by which is voyage would amount 
 to fourteen or fifteen bundled miles His costume, like that of 
 all the American hunters, consisted of a round jacket with 
 sleeves, a pair of pantuioons, xind a large woollen belt of a red 
 
OF THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS. 53 
 
 or yellow colour : bis hunting-implements were a carbine, a 
 tomahawk or small hatchet, which the Indians use for cutting 
 wood, or killing their nemies, two snares for beavers-, and a large 
 dirk hanging from his belt ; a cloak or coverlet was all his 
 baggage. Every evening he landed on the banks of the 
 river, where he made a lire, and passed the night ; and when he 
 thought the place favourable for hunting, he went into the woods 
 for several days together : the produce of the chace afforded him 
 the means of subsistence, and by the sale of the skins he procured 
 supplies of ammunition. Such were the first inhabitants of 
 Kentucky and Tennessee, of which only a few now remain. It was 
 they who began to cultivate these fertile regions, after taking them 
 from the savages, who disputed their possession of them with the 
 most sanguinary violence for a period of five or six years ; but 
 their long familiarity with a wandering and idle life, prevented the 
 new comers from enjoying the fruit of their labours in profiting by 
 the extraordinary price which those lands soon attained; they emi 
 grated into countries still more distant, where they formed new 
 establishments. The same conduct will, probably, be pursued 
 by those who now reside on the banks of the Ohio ; for the 
 same propensity which led them thither, will cause them to 
 emigrate still farther. These will be succeeded by new emi 
 grants from the Atlantic States, who will also abandon their 
 lands to go in search of a milder temperature and a more fertile 
 soil. The last comers, instead of log-houses, with which the 
 present inhabitants are contented, will probably build their resi 
 dences of planks, cultivate a greater quantity of land, and by 
 perseverance render their new possessions more valuable by rais 
 ing maize, wheat, tobacco, and hemp : the peaceable enjoyment 
 of their property will be secured by their numerous population ; 
 they will rear abundance of cattle in their rich and delightful 
 meadows, while an advantageous sale for the products of the 
 country, will always arise from their conveyance by the Ohio. 
 
 The situation of this river being the best of any in the United 
 States, must cause it to be considered as the centre of commerce 
 between the United and the Western States, as it is by its means 
 that the latter receive the manufactured articles with which 
 Europe, India, and the Antilles, supply the former ; while it is 
 the only medium of communication that is opened to the ocean, 
 for exporting the goods afforded by the vast and fertile part of 
 the United States comprised between the Allegany mountains, the 
 lakes, and the left bank of the Mississippi. 
 
TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 CHAP. XFIL 
 
 LIMESTONE. ROAD FROM LIMESTONE TO LEXINGTON. 
 
 W A S H I N-GTON . S A LT-PlTS OF MAYS-LICK . M I L LE S- 
 
 BUHCH. PARIS. 
 
 , which is built on the left bank of the Ohio, 
 Contains only between thirty and forty houses constructed of 
 planks. This little town, which was begun rather more than 
 fifteen years ago, might apparently have acquired a greater 
 extent, as it was fora long time the spot at which ail the 
 emigrants stopped when travelling from the Northern States 
 by way of Pittsburgh, and it is still the staple of all the 
 merchandize sent to Kentucky from Philadelphia and Balti 
 more. 
 
 Travellers "who arrive at Limestone by water find it difficult 
 to hire horses to continue their journey, as there are scarcely 
 any but what are for sale ; and 1 believe the inhabitants, as well 
 as those of Shippensburgh, know how to turn this circumstance 
 to their advantage. As f intended to stay some time at Lex 
 ington, and afterwards to pursue a more agreeable route, I deter 
 mined to travel on foot, and left my portmanteau with the master 
 of the inn at which I put up, who undertook for a dollar to 
 procure me conveyance to Lexington, for which place I set off 
 on the same day. The distance from Limestone to Lexington 
 is sixty-rive miles, which I travelled in two days and a half. 
 The first town on the way is \Yashington, at a distance of four 
 miles ; it is much larger than Limestone, as it contains about 
 two hundred houses all built of planks and on both sides of the 
 road. Trade is here very active, and consists principally of 
 irieal, which is exported to New Orleans. There are in 
 the environs some very fine houses, which have well cul 
 tivated lands attached to them, and which are as well inclosed 
 as those in Virginia and Pennsylvania. 1 proceeded seven 
 miles the first evening, and the next day arrived at Spring 
 field, consisting only of five or six houses, but amongst which 
 are two spacious and well built taverns, where the inhabitants of 
 the environs assemble. I went hence through Mays-Lick, 
 where there is a salt pit, and at which 1 stopped to examine the 
 process employed in these parts for the extraction of salt. The 
 \veils which afford the saline water are about twenty feet deep, 
 and are only from fifty to sixty fathoms distant from the river 
 Salt Lick, the water of which is brackish in summer. They use 
 brass caldrons for the evaporation, which contain about twenty- 
 
OT THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS. 5,> 
 
 five gallons, and which are similar in their form to those used in 
 France for making lye : they place ten or twelve of these in a 
 tow, over a trench four feet deep, and of a width proportionate 
 to their diameter, so that their sides rest on the banks of the 
 trench, while the spaces between the caldrons are imperfectly 
 stopped by a few handfuls of clay. The fuel which is cut in 
 billets about three feet in length, is thrown in at one of the 
 extremities of the trench. These sort of furnaces have no claim. 
 to economy, as they consume a prodigious quantity of wood : 
 I niude this remark to the people who were employed in the 1 
 process : bat they answered that they did not know of any butter 
 process; and must continue to follow it till some people from tist* 
 old country (meaning the Europeans) arrived to teach them 
 better. The dear ness of manual labour, in the cutting and con 
 veyance of -wood,, and the few saline particles which the water 
 holds in solution, are circumstances that cause the salt to be 
 always at a high price, as it sold at about four dollars the quintal. 
 This, however, induces many persons to search for saline springs,. 
 which are generally found in the parts denominated Licks, ami 
 whither the bisons, elks, and stags, which were in Kentucky 
 before the arrival of the Europeans, used to go in hundreds to 
 lick tiie saline particles with which the soil is impregnated. 
 There are in this State as well as in that of Tennessee, a number 
 of quacks, who by means of a wand of hazel nut-tree 
 pretend to be able to discover saline and fresh springs; but they 
 are only consulted by the least enlightened part of the inhabi 
 tants, and even these do not demand their assistance, till some 
 circumstances have induced them to dig in a spot of ground 
 where they suppose one of these springs to run. 
 
 The country over which you pass, ten miles before arriving at. 
 Mays-Lick, and eight miles beyond it, contains no habitation. 
 The soil is dry and barren ; and the road is covered with large flat 
 calcareous stones, whiph are of a blue colour inside, and the 
 edges of which are round. The only trees observable, are the 
 white oak (Quercus alba}, and walnut (Juglans hicken/}, the 
 stunted size and bad appearance of which sufficiently indicate 
 the sterility of the soil, which is, doubtless, caused by the salt 
 mines it contains. 
 
 Erom Mays- Lick, I proceeded to Millesburgh, which con 
 tains about fifty houses, and whither I went to visit M. Savary, 
 who was particularly intimate with my father : he is one of the 
 greatest landed proprietors in these countries, as he possesses up 
 wards of eighty thousand acres, as well in Virginia as in Kentucky 
 and Tennessee. The taxes he pays, though trivial in themselves, 
 are burdensome to him, as he iinds it difficult at present to sell 
 any portion of his property, because the emigration from the 
 
TRAVELS TO THE WESTWAKD 
 
 Eastern States having taken another direction, people seldom 
 come towards Kentucky. 
 
 Near Millesburgh runs a small river, about five or MX fathoms 
 wido ; on \\hich sawing-mills are established. The water was so 
 low at the time of my arrival, that I crossed it on large calca 
 reous stones, which partly form its bed, and which were then 
 above the water. In winter, on the contrary, it rises to such 3 
 degree, that it can only be passed by a bridge, raised upwards of 
 twenty-five feet. The bridges thrown over the small rivers and 
 creeks that are frequently met with in the interior of the coun 
 try, particularly in the Eastern States, all consist of the trunks 
 of trees, not bound together, but placed across by the side of 
 each other : these bridges are not supported, and when travelling 
 on horseback, it is always prudent to descend, and walk over. 
 Before arriving at Lexington, I passed through Paris, the chief 
 place in the comity of Bourbon. This small town, which, in 
 J79 v contained only eighteen houses, now has upwards of 150, 
 nearly the half of which are of brick : it stands in the middle of 
 an agieeable and extensive plain, and is watered by a small river, 
 on which are several corn-mills. Every thing here announces the* 
 competency of the inhabitants ; seven or eight of them were 
 drinking whiskey at a very good inn, at which we stopped, to 
 avoid the excessive heat. After answering a number of questions 
 respecting the object of my journey, one of them engaged me 
 To dine with him, for the express purpose of introducing me to 
 a countryman who had lately arrived from Bengal. 1 yielded 
 to his solicitations, and met with a Frenchman, who had lelt 
 Calcutta for the purpose of settling in Kentucky : he had taken 
 up his residence at Paris, and followed the profession of a 
 schoolmaster. 
 
 CHAP. XIV. 
 
 LEXINGTON. ITS MANUFACTURES, COMMERCE, &.C. 
 
 JL/EXINGT0N, the chief place of the county of La 
 i ; a\(. ite, is situated in the middle of a cleared spot, containing 
 about three hundred acres, surrounded with wood, like all the 
 other small towns of the United States which are not in the vi 
 cinity of the sea. This town is built upon a regular plan ; and 
 its streets, which are sufh cu ntly large, intersect each other at 
 right angles. The want of pavements renders them very dh;ty in 
 winter, or at any time when it rains. The houses, most of -which 
 are of brick, are dispersed over a space of from eighty to one 
 hundreo/ acres, with the exception of those that form the main 
 street, where they are contiguous to each other, This town "was 
 
OF THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS. 5? 
 
 founded in 1780, and is the oldest, as well as the largest, of the 
 three New Western States ; it contains about three thousand inha* 
 bitants. Frankfort, the seat of the government of Kentucky, 
 which is twenty-four miles distant, is not so populous; a cir 
 cumstance that may be attributed to the rapid increase of Lex 
 ington, in consequence of its position in the centre of one of the 
 most fertile parts of the country, comprised in a kind of semi 
 circle, which is here formed by the Kentucky river. 
 
 There are at Lexington two printing-houses, in each of which 
 a newspaper is published twice a week. Part of the paper is 
 made in the country, and is about one-third dearer than in France : 
 that used for writing is imported from England, and comes by 
 Philadelphia and Baltimore. Two fine rope- walks, which are 
 always employed, supply rigging for the vessels that are built on 
 the Ohio. On the banks of the small river that runs near the 
 town, are several tan-yards, the produce of which is sufficient 
 for the inhabitants. At the door of one of these establishments, 
 I observed some very strong hides, of a yellow colour, which 
 had been tanned with the bark of the Quercitron Oak ; by which 
 I ascertained that this tree grows in Kentucky, though I did not 
 meet with it between Limestone and Lexington, owing, proba- 
 bly, to the sterility of the soil. 
 
 The want of hands in this country is a stimulus to the industry 
 of the inhabitants. While I was at Lexington, one of them ob 
 tained a patent for a new machine for making nails, which was 
 more complete than that employed in the prisons of New York 
 and Philadelphia; and another had specified one for pounding 
 and cleaning hemp, and sawing wood and stone. This machine, 
 which is moved by a horse, or a current of water, he declared 
 to be capable of bruising and cleaning eight thousand pounds of 
 hemp per day. 
 
 The manufactories of Lexington are well supported ; and 
 their owners are even supposed to be in good circumstances, 
 notwithstanding the extreme dearness of manual labour: ihis 
 arises from the preference given by the inhabitants to agricultural 
 pursuits, who, preferring the assistance of their children in their 
 exertions, refuse to bind them to useful trades. The following 
 comparison will more clearly shew the scarcity of artisans in the 
 Western States. At Charleston, in Carolina, and at Savannah, 
 in Georgia, white journeymen carpenters, joiners, masons, smiths, 
 taylors, shoe-makers, &c. gain two dollars per day, and can live 
 for less than six per week. At New York and Philadelphia a 
 man earns but one dollar, and his expences cost him four per 
 week. At Marietta, Lexington, and Nashville, in Tennessee, 
 the same artisans gain from a dollar to one and a half per day : 
 while the produce of one day s labour is sufficient for a week s 
 
 MICHAUX.J I 
 
,58 TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 subsistence. Another example will tend to shew the low price of 
 articles of the first necessity in the Western States. While I 
 w as at Lexington, the sum 1 paid for my board was reckoned as 
 high as any in the town, and 1 was abundantly supplied for two 
 dollars a week. It is said, that a man may live equally cheap in 
 the State of New England, which comprises Connecticut, Mas- 
 sachusets, and New Hampshire; but the price of manual labour 
 is not so high in those parts, and is therefore more upon an 
 equality, than that of provisions. 
 
 Independently of the manufactories established at Lexington, 
 there are also in the country several establishments for common 
 earthenware ; and one or two powder-mills, the produce of 
 which, except a small quantity that is exported to Upper Caro 
 lina and Lower Louisiana, is consumed in the vicinity. The sul 
 phur is received from Philadelphia ; and the salt-petre is made 
 in the country : the soils which afford the lixivia being taken 
 from the grottos or caverns in the declivities of the high hilly 
 that are found in the most mountainous parts of this State. The 
 land here is extremely rich in nitrous particles, which is evidently 
 owing to the calcareous rock in which all these excavations are 
 formed, as well as to the vegetable substances, which have been 
 accidentally propelled within them ; a circumstance which seems 
 to shew, that the assimilation of animal substances is not abso 
 lutely necessary, even in the formation of artificial nitre-beds, in 
 order to produce a higher degree of nitrification. Salt-petre of 
 the first evaporation is sold for the eighth of a dollar per pound ; 
 but in various specimens which I saw, L could not observe any 
 indication of sea -salt. The processes followed in these works are 
 as defective as those in the manufacture of salt ; but I here speak 
 only of what relates to the extraction of salt-petre, not having 
 seen the powder-mills. 1 shall conclude with observing, that of 
 all the Atlantic States, it is only in Kentucky and Tennessee that 
 sait-petre is made. 
 
 The merchants of Lexington nearly monopolize the commerce 
 of Kentucky. They receive their merchandize from Philadel 
 phia and Baltimore, in thirty-live or forty days ; the total charge 
 for conveyance is from seven to eight dollars per quintal. Seven 
 tenths of the manufactured articles consumed in Kentucky, as 
 well as in the rest of the United States, are imported from Eng 
 land; and principally consist of coarse and fine hardware, cutlery, 
 nulls, tin-ware, drapery, mercery, drugs, and china. Muslins, 
 nankeens, tea, &c. are imported directly from India, by American 
 *hips ; and they derive from the Antilles, coffee and sugar, of 
 different qualities; for it is only the lower class of inhabitants 
 \\ ho use that produced by the maple. 
 
 The French merchandizes that are received in these coun- 
 

 OF THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS. 59 
 
 trie s, consist merely of taffetas, silk stockings, brandies, and mill 
 stones, which last are conveyed into the country, notwithstanding 
 their considerable weight and the distance of their passage. 
 
 From Lexington the various merchandizes pass to the interior 
 of the State, and what remains is sent by land to Tennessee. 
 The merchants can easily make a considerable profit ; for on 
 the one hand they generally receive a year s credit from the 
 commercial houses of Philadelphia and Baltimore, and on the 
 other, as they are not very numerous, they can fix in their own 
 favour the course of exchange for the territorial productions, 
 which they barter for merchandize, more particularly because, 
 from the extreme scarcity of cash, most of their transactions 
 are by ,vyay of exchange/. The merchants, however, adopt every 
 method for gaining all the money in circulation, and there are 
 some Cases, in which they will not sell certain kinds of merchan 
 dize except for specie, or for such productions as have an inevi 
 table sale ; amongst which may be reckoned hemp and home 
 spun linen. The payments in produce consequently always 
 bear a difference of fifteen or twenty per cent, in favour of the 
 merchants : all the cash collected by commerce is sent by land 
 on horseback to Philadelphia ; and 1 have seen convoys of from 
 fifteen to twenty horses laden with money, though the distance 
 from Lexington to Philadelphia by the Pennsylvanian road is 
 about 6.50 miles. The difficulty of conveyance causes the bank 
 notes of the United States to be circulated to some extent, but 
 the country people refuse to receive thern^ lest they should take 
 such as are forged. 
 
 During my residence at Lexington, I frequently saw Dr. Sj 
 Brown, a physician from Virginia, who has; obtained considerable 
 reputation in these districts, as well as several Frenchmen, who 
 are settled here, and to whom 1 had letters of introduction. 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 
 JOURNEY FROM LEXIN GTON. CULTIVATION OF THE 
 VINE AT KENTUCKY. - PASSAGE OF THE 1UVEKS KEN^ 
 TUCKY AND DtCK. DEPARTURE FOR NASHVILLE. 
 MULDER-HILL. - PASSAGE OF GREEN RIVER. 
 
 N the 10th .of August, 1 left Lexington for Nashville in the 
 State of Tennessee ; and as the establishment for naturalising the 
 vine in Kentucky was only a few miles out of my road, I was 
 induced to proceed thither. There is no American who does 
 not take a lively interest in all attempts of this kind, and several 
 individuals in the Atlantic States have spoken largely to me of 
 the success which has attended their exertions. As French 
 
 i 2 
 
60 TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 wines form one of the principal articles of trade with America, 
 J wished to ascertain as much as possible the degree of pros 
 perity to which this establishment had attained^, though from the 
 indifferent manner in which I had heard the country described, 
 I was previously convinced, that the first attempts had not been 
 very successful. 
 
 About fourteen miles from Lexington, I left the road to 
 Hickman-Ferry, and turning to the left, lost myself amongst the 
 woods, so that I did not reach the vineyard till evening, when 
 I was well received by M. Dufour, its manager, who invited 
 me to pass the night and the following day with him, which 
 I accepted. 
 
 There prevails in the United States a degree of public spirit, 
 which induces individuals to adopt any project that may tend 
 to enrich the country by agriculture and commerce. That of 
 naturalising the vine at Kentucky was readily embraced, and se 
 veral individuals formed the design of carrying it into execution : 
 they agreed to deposit a capital of 10,000 dollars, which was 
 divided into 200 shares of 50 dollars each. The stock being 
 soon filled, and Dufour, the head of a small Swiss colony who 
 had established themselves at Kentucky, for seven or eight years, 
 and who had projected the enterprise, was engaged to find a. 
 proper soil, to procure vine plants, and to make every necessary 
 arrangement for ensuring success to the enterprise. The spot 
 which he selected and cleared is situated on the river Kentucky, 
 twenty miles from Lexington : the soil is excellent, and the vine 
 is planted on a very steep hilloc, having a southern aspect, while 
 its base is 200 fathoms from the river. 
 
 M. Dufour had formed an idea of going to France for the 
 purpose of procuring vine-plants, and with this view he went 
 to New York ; but either the war or some other circumstance 
 prevented him from sailing, and he merely collected in that 
 town and Philadelphia a number of roots of every species he 
 could find in the gardens of individuals. He thus made a col 
 lection of 25 different kinds, which he conveyed to Kentucky 
 and planted : but his exertions were unsuccessful, as he could 
 only raise four or five varieties, amongst which were two, that 
 he called Burgundy and Madeira ; while the former of these 
 does not flourish, as the grape always decays before it arrives 
 at maturity. When I saw them, the bunches were scarce and 
 meagre, the grain small, and every thing seemed to shew that 
 the vintage of this year would not be greater than those which 
 preceded it. The stocks of Madeira, on the contrary, afforded 
 some hopes ; for of nearly 500, one-third was loaded with very 
 tine bunches. These vines do not occupy more than six acres 
 of land, and they are planted and fixed with props the saint- as 
 
OF THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS. C\ 
 
 in the environs of Paris. The vicinity of the woods, however, 
 gives rise to the depredations of a species of bird, which from 
 the nature of the countrv it is difficult to avoid. 
 
 During my stay with M. Durbur, I asked him in what part 
 of Kentucky the numerous emigrants from our country in 
 179^ and 1794, had taken up their residence; he said, that 
 though a great number of Swiss had formed the project of 
 coming hither, they had at the time of their journey changed 
 their minds, and that the whole colony consisted merely of his 
 family and a few friends, not exceeding eleven persons alto 
 gether. 
 
 On the second day after my arrival I left the vineyard, and, 
 to save ground, M. Dufotir offered to conduct me through the 
 woods to Hickman- Ferry ; where a passage is made over the river 
 Kentucky. I accepted his proposition ; and though the distance 
 was only four miles, we were travelling four hours, as we were 
 frequently obliged to alight to climb or descend very steep 
 hills. The low grounds near the river are covered with nothing 
 but fine plane trees ; and it is worthy of remark, that the inha 
 bitants are averse from living in their vicinity, because they believe 
 that the down with which the bottom of the leaves is covered 
 HI spring, and which falls off in the summer, is a pre-disposing 
 cause of consumption, by producing an insensible but continued 
 irritation of the lungs. At this season the water of the Kentucky 
 is so low at Hickman-Fcrry, that the river may be forded. 
 
 I stopped a few minutes at the inn, where the boat is kept for 
 passing at high water ; and while they were feeding my horse, 
 I went down to the river side to make my remarks. The banks 
 consist of an enormous mass of perpendicular calcareous stone, 
 about 15O feet in height, and which from top to bottom bear 
 evident marks of the action of the water. A large and long street, 
 the houses of which stand in a right line, will afford a good idea 
 of the channel of this small river at Hickman-Ferry : it swells 
 prodigiously in spring and autumn, at which seasons its water 
 rises in a few days from 60 to 70 feet. 
 
 At this inn I met with an inhabitant, who resided sixty miles 
 farther : this man, with whom 1 entered into conversation, and 
 who appeared to me to be in easy circumstances, pressed me 
 hard to pass a week with his family ; and as he supposed, that 
 1 was in search of land on which I might form an establishment, 
 tfiis being the object of most persons who visit Kentucky, he 
 offered to point out such as would suit me, from the desire, as 
 he expressed himself, of having for a neighbour an inhabitant of 
 the old country. In this State, however, as well as in Tennessee, 
 I was often obliged to refuse similar propositions from unknown 
 individuals, whom I met with in the taverns, or from whom I 
 
J TRAVELS TO THE 
 
 demanded a lodging* and who always invited me fco pass $ome 
 days amongst them. 
 
 About a mile from Kentucky 1 left the road to Panville, and 
 took that which Jeads, to Ijarjod s-Burgh, iii order to visit 
 General Adair ; and after crossing Dick s river, .whose banks 
 are covered with Virginian cedars, as well qs jjvith the blacjt 
 oak and hickcry walnut-tree, I. reached, his estate. , The General 
 was absent when 1 arrived, J3iit his lady, received me in the most 
 obliging manner, and during, live or six days I remained with : her, 
 was shewn every mark of attention and kindness* 
 
 A large and convenient mansion, a great number of black 
 domestics and several, carriages announced the, opulence of the 
 General, who, as is well known, is not always in America : his 
 Louse is situated near .Harrod s-Burgh, in Mercer county, and 
 is surrounded by vast fields of maize and magnificent orchards 
 of peach-trees. The soil is uncpmmpnly fei;tijg, as is evident 
 from the thickness of the stacks, their extraordinary, height and the 
 abundance of their prodiice,, which annually amounts .to thirty-* 
 five or forty quintals of grain per, acre. The .great, mass of the 
 neighbouring forests is. composed of the same species of trees 
 that grow in the most fertile districts, such as the Gleitsc hia, 
 three species of Acanthos,, Cuilandina divica, JJhnus ^isQOsq^ 
 Morus rubra, Corylus, and Annona trilob.a ; while the surface 
 of the soil in a circumference of several miles is perfectly rlat, a 
 circumstance very unusual in this country. 
 
 As i was obliged to continue my journey without delay, 1 did 
 wot accept the invitation of Mrs. Adair, who pressed me to stay 
 till her. husband returned, and I accordingly set off on the COth 
 of August for Nashville. The first day 1 travelled twenty-four 
 miles and .slept at the house, of one Hayes, who keeps a good 
 inn fifty miles from Lexington. The second day I made twenty- 
 five miles and stopt at Skeggs inn, ten miles before you reach 
 Mulder-Hill, a high- and-, steep elevation in the ; form of an am 
 phitheatre. 1 ascended it on foot; and from its summit the 
 country that I had passed, appeared like an immense valley 
 covered with forests, and the limits of which were on the right 
 and left farther than the eye could reach; while the tops of the 
 trees, which seemed to touch each other, resembled a field of 
 pombre verdure, in which no habitation was perceptible. The 
 profound tranquillity which prevails in these woods, the absence 
 of every dangerous animal, and the security which the inhabitants 
 enjoy, are circumstances that are seldom to be met \\ith in other 
 countries. 
 
 The inn kept by Skeggs, at which 1 stopped after quitting 
 .Mulder^Hill, was the worst house 1 had met with between) 
 LirnesroiK- and Nashville: it contained iso kind of provision and 
 
OF THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS. 63 
 
 I was obliged to sleep on the floor in my great-coat, without 
 being able to obtain any thing for supper. As there was no 
 stable at this inn, I was obliged to put my horse in an orchard 
 of peaches, which served him for food; the enclosures of this 
 orchard were demolished, and for fear he should escape in the 
 night, I fixed a bell on his neck, an article with which travellers 
 who pass through the woods, are obliged to provide themselves 
 for a similar purpose. The peach-trees were in a state of 
 maturity, and 1 perceived that my horse had been eating all night, 
 and had consumed a great quantity of fruit from three or four 
 trees, the branches of which were bent by their weight to the 
 ground. 
 
 Eight miles from Skeggs , I forded Green River, which 
 empties itfelf into the Ohio, after some long sinuosities, and runs 
 across a narrow valley. At the part where I passed, there were 
 scarcely three feet water in a breadth of from fifteen to twenty 
 fathoms ; but in the spring, the only period at which it is navi 
 gable, the water rises to eighteen feet. On quitting the river, 
 I again met with the rdad, which winds for two miles through 
 that part of the valley that lies on the right bank. The soil of 
 these low grounds is a muddy earth extremely fertile, in which 
 grow, exclusively from all other species of trees, several beeches 
 of a great height and a proportionate diameter, and which are 
 deprived of their branches to the height of twenty-five feet from 
 the ground. The soil occupied by these trees, is considered by 
 the inhabitants as the most difficult to clear. 
 
 CHAP. XVI. 
 
 PASSAGE OP THE BARRENS. APPEARANCE OF THE 
 
 HOUSES ON THE ROADS WHICH CROSS THEM, WITH 
 SOME ACCOUNTS OP THE PLANTS IN THEIR VICINITY. 
 ARRIVAL AT NASHVILLE. 
 
 X\.BOUT ten miles from Green River runs Little Barren, a 
 small river from thirty to forty feet wide. The soil in its envi 
 rons is dry and steril, and only produces a few Virginian cedars, 
 some double-leaved pines and black oaks. On leaving this, 
 place, the Barrens or meadows of Kentucky begin : on the first 
 day I travelled thirteen miles across the meadows, and stopt at 
 the house of one Williamson, near Bears-Wallow. 
 
 The next day, before I began my journey, 1 wished to give 
 my horse some water, and my host informed me, that I should 
 tind a spring \vith>which his family was supplied at about a quar 
 ter of a mile from the house, i, however, lost my way, and 
 after a rapid ride of two hours, I discovered a house in a narrow 
 
04 TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 and deep valley, where I learnt, that I had wandered a grerft 
 distance from the road, and that I must necessarily return to the 
 place from whence 1 set out. The mistress of the house in- 
 ibrmed me, that she had resided in these Barrens for three years, 
 and that for eighteen months she had not seen a single person : 
 that, tired with living in so insulated a manner, her husband had 
 set off two months ago to seek for other lands near the mouth 
 of the Ohio. Such was the pretext for the removal of this 
 family, which would be the third they had made since they 
 quitted the Buck Settlements of Virginia. A girl fourteen years 
 old and two children much younger, were the only society of 
 this w oman; and her house was abundantly supplied with maize 
 and the produce of the dairy. 
 
 This part of the Barrens was exactly similar to that I had 
 passed on the preceding day, and I found in a hole in the shape 
 of a funnel, a spring, from which I was an hour drawing half a 
 pail-full of water for my horse. The time thus employed, to 
 gether with what I had lost by going out of my way, as well as 
 the great heat of the weather, obliged me to shorten my journey, 
 and I passed the night at Dripping-Spring, about nine miles 
 from Bears-Wallow. The next day, the 26th, i travelled twenty- 
 eight miles, and stopped at the house of Jacob Kesley, of the 
 sect of the Dunkers, whom I recognised by his long beard. Ten 
 miles from Dripping-Spring, I forded Big-Barrens River, the 
 banks of which are covered with wood for nearly three miles, 
 while the bed appeared to be one third larger than Green-River. 
 As I was about to cross in the ferry boat, a barge laden with 
 salt arrived from St. Genevieve, a French village on the right 
 bank of the Mississippi, a hundred miles above the mouth of 
 the Ohio. 
 
 The house of my host was as badly furnished as those at which 
 I had lately stopt, and 1 was obliged to sleep on the floor. Most 
 of the inhabitants of this part of Kentucky have very lately 
 settled here, and are only well supplied with maize and forage. 
 
 On the 27th of August, early in the morning, 1 again pursued 
 my journey, and at a distance of thirteen miles crossed the line 
 that separates the State of Tennessee from that of Kentucky, 
 There also the Barrens terminate, and to my great satisfaction I 
 re-entered the woods ; for nothing is more tedious than the dull 
 uniformity of those immense meadows, where you meet with 
 no living animal except abundance of partridges, the Perdix 
 Marilanda. 
 
 The first house I found in Tennessee was that of a man called 
 Cheeks, of whom I formed no great opinion from his conver 
 sation with seven or eight neighbours with whom he was drinking 
 bumpers of whiskey. Fearing that 1 should be witness to some ^ 
 
OF THE ALLEGAN MOUNTAINS. 5 
 
 sanguinary transactions, which, amongst the inhabitants of these? 
 countries, are often the result of intoxication, 1 quitted his inn, 
 and took up my lodging three miles farther, with an honest land 
 lord, whose house was well supplied, and in which the son of the 
 late Duke of Orleans had resided some years before. The fol 
 lowing day, after journeying twenty-seven miles, I arrived at 
 Nashville. 
 
 The Barrens, or meadows of Kentucky, comprise an extent of 
 sixty or seventy miles in length, by fifty to sixty in width ; and 
 from the signification of this word, I expected to cross a barren 
 space, producing only some occasional plants. I was confirmed 
 in my opinion by what the inhabitants said of these meadows, 
 before I reached them; as they told me, I should probably 
 perish with heat and thirst, and that I should not find a single 
 shady spot throughout the whole distance ; for most of the 
 Americans, who live amongst the woods, cannot conceive that 
 there are districts entirely open, and still less, that any persons 
 can reside on them. Instead, however, of finding such a coun 
 try as had been described to me, [ was agreeably surprised to 
 meet with a beautiful meadow, the abundant grass of which was 
 from two to three feet high, and afforded excellent food for 
 cattle : amongst it I saw a great variety of plants, but particu 
 larly the Gerardia jlavct, or gall of the eartji, the Gnaphalluni 
 dioicum, or white plantain, and the Rudbekia purpurea. I ob 
 served, that the roots of this last-mentioned plant possessed 
 to a certain degree the acrid taste of the leaves of the Spi- 
 lanihus oleracea. When I crossed these meadows, the time 
 of blowing was over with three-fourths of the plants ; but the 
 period of maturity of most of the seeds -and grasses had not yet 
 arrived ; I, however, collected and sent to France upwards of 
 ninety species, 
 
 In some parts of these meadows I observed several species of 
 wild climbing vines, but particularly that called by the inhabi 
 tants summer-grapes. The bunches were tolerably large ; and 
 the grapes of as good a quality as those that grow in the environs 
 of Paris, with the exception, that they are not quite so compact, 
 
 It appears to me, that the attempts made at Kentucky for cul 
 tivating the vine would have been more successful on the Barrens, 
 the soil of which seems more fit for this kind of cultivation than 
 that of the banks of the Kentucky, which, though richer, is ren 
 dered too moist by the nature of the country, and the vicinity of 
 the forests. 
 
 The Barrens are circumscribed by a skirting of wood, from 
 two to three miles in breadth ; the trees of which it is composed 
 are dear planted) that is thinly, and at a farther distance from each 
 other, the nearer they are to the meadow. On the side of Tennes- 
 
 M1CHAUX.] K 
 
66 TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD , 
 
 see, this skirting is exclusively formed by post-oaks (Quercus oltu- 
 siloba), the wood of which being very hard and permanent, is pre 
 ferable to any other kind for making enclosures. I also perceived 
 here and there in the meadow some black oaks (Quercus nigra), 
 and walnut-trees (Juglans hicktry), about twelve or fifteen feet 
 high, which composed some small bowers of wood, butwhichwere 
 always so distant from each other, as not in any degree to circum 
 scribe the view. The surface of these meadows is in general 
 very even ; towards Dripping-Spring only, I observed a high and 
 long hillock, containing a few trees, and interspersed with enor 
 mous pieces of rock. 
 
 It appears that the Barrens contain a great number of sub 
 terraneous caverns, some of which are very near the surface. 
 A short time before I arrived, an ebullition had taken place on 
 the road, near Bears Wallow, beneath the feet of a traveller,, who 
 only escaped by the merest chance. One may easily conceive 
 the danger of such accidents, in a country where the houses are 
 so distant from each other, and where perhaps a traveller is not 
 seen once in a fortnight. 
 
 There may also be seen, in these meadows, a number of wide 
 holes, in the shape of a funnel, and the breadth of which varies 
 in proportion to their depth, from fifteen to thirty feet. In some 
 of these holes, above five or six feet from the bottom, runs a 
 small thread of water, which loses itself in a crevice at the base. 
 These kind of springs are never dry, a circumstance which in 
 duces emigrants to reside wherever they are found ; for, except 
 the river Big-Barren, I did not observe in these plains the smallest 
 rivulet or creek. 1 have heard, that some attempts have been 
 made to dig wells, but I cannot pretend to say what success 
 attended them. From the above observations, however, it will be 
 evident, that the want of water, and of wood for enclosures, 
 will for a long time prove an obstacle to the increase of the 
 establishments in this part of Kentucky. The hitter of these in- 
 conveniencies might, however, be avoided, by changing the pre 
 sent manner of enclosing lands for that of live hedges, in which 
 the Gledltschia triacanthos, one of the most common trees in 
 the country, might be employed with success. The Barrens are 
 at present but thinly peopled in proportion to their extent ; for, 
 on the road where the houses are nearest together, there were 
 but eighteen in the space of seventy miles. 
 
 Some inhabitants divide the lands of the Barrens into three 
 classes, according to their quality, and, in their opinion, the 
 middling class is the largest. In that which I crossed, the soil 
 was yellowish, and rather gravelly, and appeared very fit for the 
 cultivation of wheat ; maize, however, is almost the only kind of 
 grain that is raised. Most of the emigrants who come to, settle 
 
OF THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS. 6? 
 
 in the country, travel along the skirts of the wood lately men 
 tioned, or by the rivers Little and Big Barren, on account of the 
 advantage of the meadows in that quarter, for the pasturage of 
 cattle, and of which the inhabitants who reside in the most fer 
 tile of the wooded cantons, are in a greet degree deprived, by 
 reason of the paucity of grasses. 
 
 Every year, in March or April, the inhabitants set fire to the 
 grass, which at this period is dry ; because its extreme length 
 would for a fortnight or three weeks prevent the cattle from ob 
 taining the new crop that begins to shoot. This custom is, how 
 ever, generally condemned, and with reason ; for the firing being 
 made too early, the new grass is deprived of its protection 
 against the spring-frosts, by which its vegetation is retarded. 
 This custom of burning the meadows was formerly practised by 
 the natives, who came to hunt in these districts, and is still 
 adopted by them in the other parts of North America. Their 
 object for setting fire to the grass, was to attract the stags, bisons, 
 &c. to the burnt parts, by which they could perceive them at a 
 distance. It is only by actual observation, that the smallest idea 
 can be formed of these dreadful conflagrations. The flames,, 
 which generally fill a line several miles in extent, are sometimes 
 propelled by the wind with such rapidity, that men on horseback 
 have not unfrequently been overtaken and destroyed by their vio 
 lence. The American hunters, and the Savages, preserve themselves 
 from this danger by a method as simple as it is ingenious. They 
 quickly set fire to the part of the meadow in which they stand, 
 and afterwards retire to the burnt spot, where the flames which 
 threatened them have ceased for want of aliment. 
 
 CHAP. XVII. 
 
 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON KENTUCKY. NATURE OF ITS 
 
 SOIL. FIRST ESTABLISHMENT IN THAT STATE. SMALL 
 
 SECURITY FOR THE PROPERTY OF SETTL ERS. POPULA 
 TION. 
 
 THE 
 
 E State of Kentucky is situated between il6 30 and 39 
 SO lat. and between 28 and 29 of long. Its boundaries are, to 
 the N. W. the Ohio for an extent of about seven hundred and 
 sixty miles ; to the E. Virginia, and to the S. the State of Ten 
 nessee. It is separated from Virginia by Sandy-River, and the 
 Laurel-hills, one of the principal chains of the Allegany Moun 
 tains. The extreme length of this State is about four hundred 
 miles ; and its greatest width nearly two hundred. This vast ex 
 tent appears to rest upon a base of calcareous stone, covered by 
 a stratum of vegetable mould, which varies in its composition, 
 
 K S 
 
68 TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 and is from several inches to ten and even fifteen feet thick. The 
 limits of the immense stone-bank have not yet been accurately as 
 certained ; but its thickness must be very considerable, from the 
 appearance it exhibits at the rivers, the banks of which, particu 
 larly those of Kentucky and Dick-Rivers, rise in some parts 
 perpendicularly to the height of three hundred feet, in which 
 space nothing but this stone is perceptible. The soil of the Ken 
 tucky, though irregular, is not hilly, except in some few parts 
 near the Ohio, and on the side of Virginia. Calcareous stone, and 
 abivndant mines of unexplored coal, are the only mineral sub 
 stances observable. Iron mines are scarce, and, as far as I can 
 recollect, one only is worked, which is by no means sufficient for 
 the wants of the country. 
 
 Kentucky and Green Rivers, the two largest in this State, 
 empty themselves into the Ohio, after a course of three hundred 
 miles ; their water is so low in summer, that they may be forded 
 a hundred and fifty miles from their mouth ; but in winter and 
 spring they are subject to such a great and sudden increase, that 
 the water of the Kentucky, for instance, rises forty feet in twenty- 
 four hours. This variation is still more striking in the secondary 
 rivers, which empty themselves into it ; for these, though often 
 from ten to fifteen fathoms wide, contain so little water in summer 
 that almost all of them can be passed in that season without 
 wetting one s feet ; and the thread of water that winds over the 
 bed of calcareous rock, is then reduced to the depth of only a few 
 Inches. Hence the Kentucky may be considered as a vast basin, 
 which, inn, pendently of the natural flowing of its water through 
 the channel of the rivers, lets a great quantity escape through in 
 ternal apertures. The Atlantic part of the United States affords 
 in this respect a perfect contrast to the Kentucky ; for, after pass 
 ing the Allegany Mountains, you can find no trace of calcareous 
 stone; while the great and small rivers, however distant may be their 
 sources, sustain no other alteration in the bulk of their water than 
 what results from the proportion of rain that may fall in a season ; 
 and the springs, which are very numerous, afford water in abund 
 ance. This remark is particularly applicable to those Southern 
 States with which I am well acquainted. 
 
 From the succinct idea which 1 have given of Kentucky, it is 
 easy to conceive, that the inhabitants are exposed in summer to 
 the very serious inconvenience of a want of water ; though we 
 must except those establishments that are in the vicinity of the 
 great rivers, or their principal streams. Hence it results, that 
 many portions of land, even of the most fertile kind, are not cul 
 tivated ; and their owners cannot get rid of them without great 
 difficulty, because the emigrants will not make purchases without 
 having an accurate knowledge of all local advantages. 
 
OF THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS, $$ 
 
 Of the three States to the west of the Alleganys, Kentucky 
 was the tirst that was peopled. This country was discovered in 
 1770, by some Virginian hunters ; and the favourable account* 
 which they gave of it, induced others to go there, though nq 
 establishment was formed in it before 1780. At that period] 
 this vast country was not occupied by any Indian nation ; they 
 came to hunt in it : but all with one consent carried on a war oi 
 extermination against those who attempted to settle ; from which 
 circumstance, it acquired the name of Kentucky, which, in the 
 native language, signifies " the, Land of Blood" When the 
 Whites appeared, the Natives exhibited a still greater opposition 
 to their settling; they for a long time carried death and desolation 
 through those districts; and, according to their custom, put their 
 prisoners to death with the most cruel torments. In this state 
 things continued till 1783, at which time the population of the 
 Americans having become so strong, that they could penetrate to 
 the centre of the establishments, the natives were reduced t 
 waylay their enemies on the road ; besides which, they were at 
 that time abandoned by the English at Canada, who had animated 
 and supported them during the war. 
 
 In 1783, the Americans began to open carriage-roads in the 
 interior of the country ; for till this period they had only paths 
 for foot-passengers and those on horseback. As late as 1788, the 
 Virginia road was the only one taken by emigrants who went 
 from the Eastern States to Kentucky : they first proceeded to 
 Brockhouse, situated in Holstein, to the west of the mountains; 
 and as the Government of the United States did not afford them 
 any escort, they waited at this place till they had collected in 
 sufficient numbers to pass in safety the Wilderness, an uninha 
 bited space of one hundred and thirty miles in length, which it 
 was necessary to travel through before they could arrive at Crab- 
 Orchard, the first post occupied by the Whites. The enthusiasm 
 for emigrating to Kentucky was then carried to such an extent in 
 the United States, that in some years twenty thousand emigrants 
 proceeded thither, and many of whom were so eager to go, that 
 if they could not meet with a ready sale for the lands they pre 
 viously possessed, they abandoned them. This influx of new co 
 lonists soon increased the price of land in Kentucky; insomuch, 
 that from four or five pence per acre, they suddenly rose to eight 
 or nine shillings. Knavery did not fail to profit from this specu 
 lation ; and a number of illicit means were employed for selling the 
 lands to advantage. False plans were even made, in which they 
 traced rivers, favourable for the establishment of mills and other 
 purposes, and thus many ideal lots, from five hundred to a hun 
 dred thousand acres, were sold in all parts of Europe, as well as 
 
70 THAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 Ai the great towns of the United States. In 1792, Kentucky, 
 from the amount of its population, was admitted into the Union. 
 In 1?82, the number of inhabitants in Kentucky did not exceed 
 three thousand ; but in 1790, it amounted to one hundred thou 
 sand; and in the general census of 1800, it is computed at two 
 hundred and twenty thousand. At the time of my journey to 
 Lexington, in August, 1802, they calculated its population to 
 amount to two hundred and fifty thousand ; including about two 
 thousand negro-slaves. Hence in this State, where perhaps there 
 cannot be found ten individuals twenty-live years of age, who were 
 fcorn there, the number of inhabitants is already as great as in 
 seven of the old States, while there are only two whose popula 
 tion is twice as numerous. This rapid increase might have been 
 much greater but for one particular circumstance, which pre 
 vents emigration to those districts : 1 allude to the difficulty of 
 establishing claims to landed property : for of all the States of 
 the Union, it is in this that such claims are most the subject of 
 controversy. I never stopped at the house of a single inhabitant, 
 who did not appear convinced of the validity of his own title, 
 \\ hile he doubted that of his neighbour. Amongst the numer 
 ous causes which have produced this incredible confusion in pro 
 perty, the principal may be considered the ignorance of the land- 
 surveyors, or rather the difficulty they at first experienced in the 
 pursuit of their operations. The continual state of war in which 
 this country was then involved, often obliged them to suspend 
 their labours, to avoid being shot by the natives, who espied them 
 in the woods. The danger they incurred was extreme ; for it is 
 well known, that a savage often goes fifty leagues to kill a single 
 enemy ; that he remains for several days together in a hollow tree 
 to surprise him ; and when he has succeeded, he takes off his scalp, 
 and returns with the same rapidity. From this state of things it 
 results, that not only the same lot has been measured several 
 times over by different surveyors, but that it has often been di 
 vided by different lines, describing such and such portions of a 
 lot to depend upon others adjacent; which in their turn have been 
 subjected to the same misapplication with regard to others in 
 their vicinity. Jn short, there are lots of a thousand acres, in 
 which every hundred is the subject of contest. The military 
 rights are, however, considered as more secure. But one re 
 markable circumstance is, that many of the inhabitants rind a 
 guarantee for their property in this confusion; for the law being 
 particularly favourable to agriculture, has decreed, that the clear 
 ing and amelioration of the land shall be reimbursed by the person 
 who may succeed in ejecting the first occupier; and as the esti 
 mation, *)h account of the extreme scarcity of hands, is always 
 
OF THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS. 71 
 
 made in favour of cultivators, it follows that many people are 
 not inclined to improve their possessions, lest they should sustain 
 a considerable loss, and be in their turns expelled by others, 
 who may attack them at a moment when they least expect it. 
 This uncertainty, with respect to landed property, is an inex 
 haustible source of long and expensive law-suits, by which the 
 attornies gain considerable advantage. 
 
 CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 OF THE DISTINCTION OF THE LANDS. TREES PRODUCED 
 ON THEM. ANIMALS PECULIAR TO KENTUCKY. 
 
 1 N Kentucky, as well as in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the 
 Carolina?, the lands are divided into three classes, relative to their 
 fertility : in Kentucky they rank in the second class such lands as 
 are to the east of the mountains, placed in the first; and in -the 
 third, such as in Georgia and South Carolina would be found in the 
 second. I do not, however, pretend to say, that in the Eastern 
 States there are not lands as fertile as those in the West, but they 
 are scarce, and are seldom met with along the rivers and in the 
 vallies. In both these States the fertility of the land is appre 
 ciated by the different kinds of trees it produces; so that, where 
 a lot is offered for sale, it is usual to specify the trees which 
 grow on different parts : though this rule has an exception with 
 respect to the Barrens, which are very fertile, and contain black 
 oaks and Juglans hickery, while in the forests these trees indicate 
 the most sterile soil. 
 
 In all the fertile parts, covered with forests, the soil is entirely 
 deprived of grasses, a few plants grow only here and there ; and 
 the trees are always so distant, that a stag may be perceived at a 
 distance of a hundred, or a hundred and fifty fathoms. 
 
 Although the Ginseng is not a plant peculiar to Kentucky, it is 
 tolerably abundant, and as well as the Panax cinque folia, is 
 found in all parts of America, from Lower Canada to Georgia; 
 it may also be met with in the environs of New York and Phila 
 delphia, but it is so scarce, that the inhabitants do not take the 
 trouble to seek for it. It grows on the declivities of mountains 
 in fresh and constantly shaded spots, where the soil is richest. 
 A man can scarcely draw in one day more than eight or nine 
 pounds of fresh roots, which are always less than an inch in dia 
 meter, even after fifteen years growth, if the number of im 
 pressions may be relied on that may be observed on the upper 
 part of the neck of the root, and which are produced by the 
 stalks that annually succeed . The form of the root is generally 
 elliptic; and when it is bifurcated,, which is not often, one of the 
 
72 TRAVELS TO TIfE WESTWARD 
 
 divisions is much thicker and longer than the other. The seeds, 
 which are of a striking red colour, and attached together,, come 
 to maturity between the 15th September and the 1st October. 
 
 The Ginseng was first discovered in Canada, by a French mis 
 sionary, \vho, when he was convinced that this plant was the same 
 as that which grows in Tartary, and the root of which is held in 
 such high esteem by the Chinese, made it an orjject of com 
 merce with China. For some time after the discovery, this root 
 was sold for its weight in gold; but a commerce so advantageous, 
 could not be of long duration. The Ginseng exported from Ame 
 rica was so badly prepared, that it fell to a common price, and 
 at one time almost ceased. In Chinese Tartary the cultivation of 
 Ginseng belongs exclusively to the Emperor : its harvest begins in 
 autumn and continues the whole winter, in which season the root at 
 tains the highest perfection ; and, by a very simple process, they give 
 it a semi-transparency. In the United States, on the contrary, they 
 begin to collect it in spring, and stop at the commencement of 
 winter. Its root, which is then soft and watery, grows wrinkled 
 by desiccation, but afterwards becomes extremely hard, and at 
 length loses a third of its bulk, and nearly half its weight. 
 Within the last four or five years, the trade of this root with China 
 seems to have acquired additional activity, and the quantity ex 
 ported thither may probably exceed thirty thousand pounds. Some 
 persons have even begun to imitate the Chinese methods of ren 
 dering it transparent; and the Ginseng, thus prepared, is bought 
 by the merchants of Philadelphia from the manufactures at 
 Kentucky, at six or seven dollars per Ib. and is re-sold by them 
 at Canton, at from fifty to a hundred dollars according to the 
 quality of the roots. At all events, the profit of this trade must 
 be very considerable, since there are people in Kentucky, who 
 themselves export it to China. 
 
 In Kentucky, and the Western Countries, there may be seeii 
 the same animals, which exist to the east of the mountains, and 
 even in Canada ; but shortly after the establishment of the Euro 
 peans, some species disappeared entirely, particularly the Elks 
 and Bisons : the latter, however, were more common there than 
 in any other part of North America, in consequence of the un 
 inhabited state of the country, the quantity of canes and wild 
 peas, which supplied them abundantly with food, and the licfcsor 
 salt-grounds already mentioned. Their number was then so con 
 siderable, that they might be seen in companies from 150 to 200, 
 while they were so daring, or so little accustomed to timidity, that 
 they did not fear the approach of the hunters, who often killed them 
 for the mere sake of their tongues, which are considered as a great 
 delicacy. When four years old, these animals weigh from twelve 
 to fourteen hundred weight ; and their flesh is said to be preferable 
 
OF THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS. 73 
 
 to that of the ox: at present they are scarcely to be seen from 
 the Ohio to the river of the Illinois, as they have nearly all passed 
 the right bank of the Mississippi. 
 
 The only species of animals which are still common in the 
 country, are the deer, bear, wolf, red and grey fox, wild cat, 
 racoon, opossum, and three or four kinds of squirrels. 
 
 The animal that the Americans call the wild cat, is the Felis 
 Lynx, or the lynx of Canada; it is only a variety, and some 
 authors have erroneously asserted, that the real wild cat, which 
 is considered as the stock of the domestic animal of that name, 
 existed in the United States, or more to the northward. 
 
 The racoon, or Ursun /of or, is about the size of a fox, though 
 not quite so high, and rather thicker. If taken young, it is easily 
 tamed, and stays in the houses, where it catches mice in the 
 night. The name of lotor, which means washer, is very appro 
 priate for this animal, as it prefers hollow trees that grow on 
 the banks of creeks, or rivulets that run through the swamps, 
 and in these places it is generally found. This animal is very 
 common in the Southern and Western States, as well as in the 
 inore distant parts of Pennsylvania and Virginia; it commits 
 great devastation in the fields of maize, by climbing on the stalks, 
 laying them by its weight, and nibbling the ears; the inhabitants 
 hunt it with dogs during the night, as it rarely makes its appear 
 ance in the day-time. Its skin is esteemed throughout the United 
 States for making hats, and sells at the rate of about twenty-four 
 French sous or lOd. a piece. 
 
 The squirrels are likewise a great pest to the owners of corn 
 fields. The Sciurus Carolinianus is of a grey colour, ami rather 
 larger than that of Europe; while their numbers are so conside 
 rable, that the inhabitants are obliged, three or four times a day, 
 to send their children round the corn-fields to scare them. At 
 the slightest noise they issue out by dozens, and take refuge iu 
 the trees, whence they descend the instant the enemy has passed. 
 Like the bears of North America, they emigrate on the approach 
 of winter; at which time they appear in Kentucky in such great 
 numbers, that the inhabitants are obliged to unite in order to 
 expel them. This kind of hunting is sometimes considered as 
 au excursion of pleasure; persons generally go two together, 
 and in one morning- often kill from thirty to forty. A single 
 individual, on the contrary, can with difficulty kill any; for the 
 squirrel, fixing himself on the trunk of the tree, turns succes 
 sively in opposition to the hunter, so that the latter cannot hit 
 him. I once attended a large party of this kind; where, for 
 dinner, which generally takes place in a part of the wood pre 
 viously agreed on, they had roasted upwards of sixty of these 
 
 M1CHAUX.] L 
 
74 TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 animals. Their flesh is white, and very good ; and this manner 
 of dressing it is preferable to any other. 
 
 Wild turkies, which begin to be very scarce in the Southern 
 States, are still very numerous in those of the West. In the 
 parts that are least inhabited they arc so fearless, that they may 
 be shot with a pistol; in the Eastern States, on the contrary, 
 and particularly in the environs of the sea-ports, they can only 
 be approached with difficulty: they are not alarmed at a noise, 
 but they have a very penetrating sight, and the moment they 
 perceive a hunter they flee with such rapidity, that for some 
 minutes a dog cannot come up with them ; and when they find 
 themselves on the point of being taken, they frequently escape 
 by taking to the wing. These birds generally harbour in the 
 swamps, and along the rivers and creeks, whence they come out 
 only in the morning and evening. They roost on the tops of the 
 highest trees, where, notwithstanding llieir size, it is not easy to 
 discover them. When they are not disturbed, they return to the 
 same trees for several weeks together. 
 
 To the westward of the Missisippi, in a space of more than 
 eight hundred leagues, there is only this one species of wild tur 
 key to be met with : they are larger than those raised in the poul 
 try-yards of France. In autumn and winter they feed principally 
 on chesnuts and acorns; and, in those seasons when killed, they 
 often weigh from 3<> to 40lb. The variety of domestic or 
 English turkeys came originally from this species of wild turkey : 
 and, when it is not crossed with the common species, it preserves 
 the primitive colour of its plumage, as well as that of its feet, 
 which are of a deep red. 
 
 CHAP. XIX. 
 
 or THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF CULTURE IN KENTUCKY. 
 - EXPORTS OF TERRITORIAL PRODUCTS. PEAC- 
 TREES. - TAXES. 
 
 the State. of Kentucky, as well as in the Middle and South 
 ern States, nearly all the inhabitants, who live in the woods, cul 
 tivate their own lauds, from which they never obtain more than 
 the twentieth, thirtieth, or even the fortieth part of what they 
 might produce. They assist each other at the time of harvest; 
 and some who are in more easy circumstances, employ negro- 
 -lavcs in the cultivation of their grounds. 
 
 Jn this State they raise tobacco, hemp, maize, and wheat , but 
 the cultivation of cotton is precarious, on account of the early 
 frosts. Those who form establishments here, always begin b}* 
 
OF THE ALtEGANY MOUNTAINS. 7^ 
 
 the culture of maize ; the soil in lands of the first class bring 
 so luxurious, that the corn is shed before it comes to an ear. 
 The following is the process adapted. After opening furrows, 
 by means of the plough, at about three feet from each other, 
 they are intersected transversely by others at an equal distance, 
 and seven or eight seeds are dropt at each point of intersection. 
 If they all come forth, only two or three of the roots are suffered 
 to remain, aprecaution which is necessary to favour the progress 
 of vegetation. In the course of the season much labour is re- 
 
 O 
 
 quired todestroy the weeds, which grow uncommonly abundant; 
 and towards the middle of the summer, the leaves of the lower 
 part of the stalk begin to dry, as do the others upwards in suc 
 cession. As this desiccation takes place, the leaves are carefully 
 carried off and preserved as winter-fodder for horses, which they 
 prefer to the best hay. 
 
 In lands of the first class, maize grows to the height of ten 
 or eleven feet ; and on an average gives from forty to fifty Eng 
 lish bushels per acre, though in more abundant years it frequently 
 produces from sixty to sixty-five ; and even in the third year of 
 its cultivation, on some particular spots, it has afforded a hun 
 dred bushels. The bushel, which weighs between 50 and oolb. 
 never sells for more than a quarter of a dollar, and sometimes 
 does not fetch even half that price. The plough employed here, 
 as well as in all the Middle and Southern States, is light, with 
 out wheels, and drawn by horses. 
 
 The culture of wheat is also of great importance. In 1802, 
 the harvest of this grain was so abundant in Kentucky, that when 
 I was at Lexington, it sold for only a quarter of a dollar per 
 bushel, which very low price was attributed rather to the peace 
 that prevailed in Europe, than to the excessive produce of the 
 harvest. 
 
 The culture of tobacco is also considerable ; and great quan 
 tities are exported. Kye is almost entirely employed for the dis 
 tillation of whiskey; and oats are chiefly usec^as food for horses. 
 Hemp is a considerable article of exportation, and flax is culti 
 vated by many of the inhabitants, whe make it into linen for the 
 use of their families, and barter the surplus for articles imported 
 from Europe. 
 
 The Americans pay little attention to the culture of fruit-trees; 
 and those hitherto planted by the inhabitants of Kentucky, con 
 sist only of peaches and apples, the former of which are very 
 numerous, and arrive at the greatest perfection: there are five or 
 six species, some of which are early and others late; and their 
 pulp is white, red, and yellow. They are of an oval form, 
 larger than those of France, and grow to perfection from kernels 
 without either being grafted or cut. They shoot so vig 
 
76 TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 that after the fourth year they are at their full size : the inhabi* 
 (ants generally plant them round their houses, though some have 
 c rchards of these trees, amongst which they turn their hogs, 
 about two months before the fruit comes to maturity : these ani 
 mals voraciously devour the peaches, which fall in great num 
 bers, and break the stone for the purpose of eating the kernel. 
 From the immense quantity of peaches that are grown, they dis 
 til brandy, which they export and consume. A few of the in 
 habitants only have alembics; the others carry their peaches to 
 the houses of the former, where they are distilled; and the own 
 ers of the stills receive a portion of the produce for their trouble. 
 This peach-brandy is sold for a dollar per gallon. 
 
 In Kentucky the taxes are divided in the following manner; 
 they pay a poll-tax, equal to forty French sous, for every white ; 
 thirteen for every negro ; six for each horse ; fifty-two for a 
 hundred acres of land of the first class, whether cultivated or 
 not ; thirty-five for a hundred acres of the second class ; and 
 thirteen for the same quantity of the third class. Though the 
 taxes are very moderate, and nobody complains of them, yet a 
 great number of the contributors are always behind in their pay* 
 mentSj as is evident from the repeated advertisements of the col 
 lectors, which I saw stuck up in different parts of the town of 
 Lexington; and I understand, that a similar difficulty in obtaining 
 the taxes, prevails in all the Eastern States. 
 
 CHAP. XX. 
 
 ACCOUNT OF THE MANNERS OF THE INHABITANTS 
 
 OF KENTUCKY. HOUSES AND CATTLE. NECESSITY OF 
 
 GIVING THEM SALT. OF THE WILD HORSES TAKEN IN 
 
 THE PLAINS OF NEW MEXICO. EXPORTATION OF SALT 
 PROVISIONS. 
 
 JL OR some time the inhabitants s of Kentucky have devoted 
 their attention to the breeding of horses ; and by this lucrative 
 branch of trade, they have turned to much advantage their super? 
 abundant quantity of maize, oats, and other fodder. Virginia, 
 of all the States in the Union, is considered as having the finest 
 saddle and carriage-horses, from which originally came those that 
 now exist in this country, as they were brought hither by the emi 
 grants from Virginia. Their number increases daily, as nearly 
 all the inhabitants endeavour to improve their breeds; and they 
 attach so much importance to this improvement, that the own 
 ers of fine stallions receive from fifteen to twenty dollars for 
 covering a single mare. Many of these stallions, as 1 have been 
 assured, though they come from Virginia, are imported from 
 
OP THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS. 77 
 
 England, and are remarkable for their fine legs, well-propor 
 tioned head, and elegant figure. But the inhabitants make no 
 attempts to improve the breeds of their working-horses, which 
 are small and lean, and in every respect inferior to those used for 
 the same purpose in France. 
 
 Some individuals pretend to understand the diseases of horses; 
 frut I never met with one who had any regular ideas of the veteri 
 nary art, so necessary to be known in a breeding country, and 
 which has attained such great perfection in England and France. 
 In Kentucky, as well as in the Middle and Southern States, the 
 grain generally given to the horses is maize, which is considered 
 twice as nutritive as oats, though they are sometimes given to 
 gether. In this State they do not fix rations for the animals, but 
 till the manger with maize, which they eat at pleasure, retire from 
 the stable to their pasture, and return when they please. They 
 are not tied up, and yet they almost always return to the spot 
 they are first placed in. The stables are nothing but log-houses, 
 open on evey side to the air, as the space between the trunks of 
 the trees is not filled up with clay. 
 
 The Southern States, and particularly South Carolina, are the 
 principal marts for the tine horses from Kentucky. Their owners 
 take them in troops of fifteen, twenty, and thirty together, to 
 wards the commencement of winter, at which time they have 
 nothing to dread from the yellow fever. The journey from the 
 environs of Lexington to Charlestown wes made in eighteen or 
 twenty days; arid this distance, which is about seven hundred 
 miles, causes a difference of from twenty-rive to thirtv per cent, 
 in the price of the animals A line saddle-horse at Kentucky 
 costs from 130 to 140 dollars. 
 
 During my residence in this State, 1 had an opportunity of 
 seeing the wild horses that are taken on the plains of New 
 Mexico, and which are descended from those formerly intro 
 duced by the Spaniards. The hunters catch them by means of 
 domesticated horses, with which, as they run faster, they come 
 near enough to entangle the wild : they are then brought to New 
 Orleans and Natches, where they are gold for about fifty dollars 
 a piece, and are sometimes bought by the conductors of the boats, 
 tvho return overland to Kentucky. The two which I saw and 
 tried were of a roan colour, of a middle size, haying u bad and 
 thick head, arid disproportionate neck, with heavy limbs and thin 
 hair. These horses trot excessively uneasy, are very capricious, 
 and hard to hold in by the bridle, which they often contrive to 
 slip, and then make their escape. 
 
 The number of horned cattle in Kentucky is very considera 
 ble ; and I often observed from forty to fifty in the same stable. 
 Those that form an article of commerce are bought lean, and 
 
75 TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 conveyed in droves from two hundred to three hundred, by the- 
 river Povomuok, to Virginia, where they are sold to the graziers, 
 who fatten them for the markets of Baltimore and Philadelphia. 
 The price of a good milch-cow at Kentucky, is from ten to 
 twelve dollars; milk forms the principal food of the inhabitants; 
 and the butter which they do not consume, is barrelled and ex- 
 ported to the Antilles. 
 
 They have very few sheep ; for though I probably travelled 
 more than two hundred miles in this State, I only saw them on 
 tour farms : their flesh is not much esteemed, and their wool is 
 of the same quality as that of the sheep in the Eastern States. 
 The greatest number of these animals is reared at Rhode-island. 
 
 Of all domestic animals hogs are the most nemerous. There 
 is scarcely any individual without them, while many persons have 
 from fifty to two hundred. These animals never quit the forests, 
 but always find in them the means of subsistence, particularly in 
 autumn and winter. They become extremely wild, and go about 
 in herds. When attacked by a dog, or any other animal, they 
 unite and form a circle for their defence. They have a thick 
 body, small tail, short legs, and erect ears. Every settler knows 
 those which belongs to him, bv his particular manner of cutting 
 
 O * - l ^ 
 
 their ears. They sometimes go to the very extremity of the forests, 
 and do not return for several months ; but they are accustomed 
 to come from time to time to the residences of their owners, by 
 the enticement of a little maize. It is surprising that in so vast 
 a country, covered with woods, so thinly peopled in proportion 
 to its great extent, and where there are so few injurious animals, 
 the hogs have not increased to such a degree as to become entirely 
 Mild. 
 
 [q all. the Western States, as well as in those to the east of the 
 AUeguoy Mountains, at a distance of two hundred miles from 
 the .sen, it is necessary to give salt to the cattle ; for without it, 
 whatever food is given to them, they will not fatten, and it is so 
 important to them, that they come to the house-door, every week 
 or fortnight, in quest of it, and will spend whole hours in licking 
 the manger on which a few particles have been sprinkled. This 
 desire is most evident amongst the horses, perhaps because salt 
 is most frequently given to them. 
 
 Salt provisions are another important article of commerce in 
 Kentucky. The quantity exported, in the first six months of the 
 year 1SO 2, is stated to have been two hundred and seventy-two 
 thousand weight of smoked pork or bacon, and two thousand 
 four hundred and eighty-five barrels of pickled pork. 
 
 Notwithstanding the superabundance of grain raised in this 
 country, there is scarcely an individual who rears poultry. This 
 branch of domestic economy would not, however, be attended with 
 
OF THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAIN S. 79 
 
 K 
 
 any -expencc^ but would provide an agreeable van-alien in their 
 food. Two principal causes, however, seem lo prevent it: the 
 lirst is, that the use of salted meats, to which the cutaneous disea 
 ses, so frequent among them, may be attributed, gives them a 
 distaste for this sort of provisions, which they, perhaps, find too 
 insipid; the second is, that the fields of maize, which are usually 
 contiguous to the houses, would be exposed to great devastations, 
 the iuciosurcti with which they are surround-ed being only calcula 
 ted to keep out the cattle and pigs. 
 
 The inhabitants of Kentucky, as has been already mentioned, 
 almost all originally came from \ irginia, and particularly from 
 the most remote parts of that State, and, with the exception of 
 the lawyers, physicians, and a few of the citizens, who have re 
 ceived an education suitable to their pro tensions, in the towns on 
 the Atlantic, they retain the mamifcrs of the Virginians. They 
 carry a passion for gaming and spirituous -liquors to excess, and 
 sanguinary quarrels are frequently the consequence. They meet 
 often at the taverns, particularly during the sitting of the courts 
 of justice, when they pass whole days in them. Horses tind law 
 suits are the usual subjects of their conversation. When a tra 
 veller arrives, h,is horse it valued as soon as they can perceive him. 
 If he stop, they offer him a glass of whiskey, and a multitude of 
 questions follow, such as, Where did you come from? \V hither 
 are you going ? What is your name? Where do you reside ? Your 
 profession ? Have the inhabitants of the country you have passed 
 through any fevers? &c. These questions, which are repeated a 
 thousand times in the course of a long journey, at length become 
 tiresome ; but, with a little address, it is easy to stop them. They 
 have, however, no other motive for them but that curiosity so 
 natural to persons living retired in the midst of woods, and who 
 scarcely evdr see a stranger. They are never inrluencrd by sus 
 picion ; for, from whatever part of the world a stranger comes to 
 the United States, he may enter all the sea-ports and principal 
 towns, remain in them, or travel, as long as he pleases, through 
 everv part of the country, without any public officer inquiring 
 who he is, or what are his reasons for travelling. 
 
 The inhabitants of Kentucky are very willing to give strangers 
 the information they require respecting the? country in which they 
 reside, and which they consider as the best part of the United 
 States; as that in which the soil is most fertile, the climate most 
 salubrious> and where all who have come to settle, were led by 
 the love of liberty and independence. In their houses they are 
 decent and hospitable; and, in the course of my journey, I pre 
 ferred lodging with them, rather than in the taverns, where the 
 accommodation is frequently worse and much dearer. 
 
8O TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 The women seldoip interfere in the labours of the field : they 
 remain at home, assiduously engaged with domestic cares, or 
 employed in spinning hemp or cotton. This labour alone is 
 considerable, for there are few houses in which there are not 
 four or live children. 
 
 .Among the different sects which exist in Kentucky, those of 
 the Methodists and Anabaptists are the most nemerous. Re 
 ligious enthusiasm has, within the last seven or eight years, ac* 
 quired a new degree of strength in these regions; for, independ 
 ently of the Sundays, which are scrupulously observed, they 
 meet, during the summer, in the course of the week, to hear 
 sermons, which last for several days in succession, These meet 
 ings, which often consist of two or three thousand persons, who 
 come from ten or twelve miles round, take place in the woods. 
 Every person brings his own provisions, and they pass the night 
 round fires. The ministers are very vehement in their discourses; 
 and frequently, in the middle of their sermons, many of the con 
 gregation become frantic, and fall down inspired, exclaiming, 
 Glory f Glory / It is chiefly, however, among the women that 
 these absurdities take place. They are then taken from among 
 the crowd, and put under a tree, where they lie supine for a long 
 time, uttering deep groans. 
 
 At some of these assemblies as many as two hundred will fall 
 in this manner, so that a number of others are required to help 
 them. While I was at Lexington, i attended one of these meet 
 ings. The better-informed people differ from the opinion of the 
 multitude with respect to this species of extacy ; and thus they 
 frequently draw upon themselves the appellation of bad folks. 
 But this is the extent of their intolerance ; for when they return 
 from the sermon, religion seldom forms a subject of conversation, 
 Although divided into different sects, they live in the greatest 
 harmony, and when an alliance is projected between families, 
 difference of religion never causes any impediment: the husband 
 and wife follow the worship they approve; as do their children, 
 when they have arrived at maturity, without the least opposition 
 from their parents. 
 
 Throughout the Western Country, the children are punctually 
 .-cut to school, to learn reading, writing, and the elements of 
 arithmetic. These schools are supported at the expence of the 
 inhabitants, ; who procure masters as soon as the population and 
 their means enable them: it is therefore very uncommon to meet 
 with an American who is unable to read and write. On the 
 Ohio, and in the Barrens, however, where the settlements are 
 very widely dispersed, the inhabitants have not yet been able to 
 procure this advantage. 
 
OF THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS. 81 
 
 CHAP. XXL 
 
 NASHVILLE. - ITS COMMERCIAL RELATIONS. - INFORMA 
 TION RELATIVE TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE 
 NATCHES. 
 
 ASHVILLE, the principal and the oldest town of this part 
 ok Tennessee, is situated on the river Cumberland, the banks of 
 M hich, in this place, consist of a mass of limestone, upwards 
 of sixty feet in height. With the exception of seven or eight 
 brick nouses, the remainder, consiting of about 120, are built 
 with planks, and dispersed over a space of 2,3 or 30 acres, in a 
 spot where the rock is almost entirely bare. Water can be 
 obtained only by making a very long circuit to reach the river 
 side, or by descending a very steep and dangerous path. While 
 I was there, one of the inhabitants was endeavouring to perforate 
 the rock to make a well, but he had not dug may feet, aud the 
 great hardness of the stone rendered the work long and difficult. 
 
 Although this small town has been built fifteen or sixteen 
 years, it does not contain any manufactory or public establish 
 ment. There is, however, a printing-office, \vhich publishes a 
 newspaper once a week. A college, for the endowment of which 
 some rents and other revenues are appropriated ; it is still in its 
 infancy, only seven or eight young men being yet assembled, 
 under one professor. 
 
 In this town the price of labour rs higher than at Lexington, 
 and there is a similar disproportion between this price and that 
 of provisions. Here are twelve or fifteen stores, which are sup 
 plied either from Baltimore or Philadelphia ; but they appear to 
 be worse provided than those at Lexington, and the goods, 
 though dearer, were of an inferior quality. This high price is 
 partly to be attributed to the expence of conveyance, which is 
 more considerable, on account of the greater distance which the 
 boats for Tennessee have to make on the Ohio : for, after pass 
 ing Limestone, the place of landing for Kentucky, and which is 
 425 miles from Pittsburgh, they have to make a farther naviga 
 tion of 619 miles to the mouth of the river Cumberland, and 
 ] 80 miles up that river, to reach Nashville ; which makes the 
 total distance from Philadelphia 1521 miles, 1200 of which are 
 by water. Several of the traders get their commodities from 
 New Orleans, whence the boats proceed up the Mississippi, 
 Ohio, and Cumberland. This last distance is 124:3 miles ; that 
 is to say, a 1 000 miles from New Orleans to the mouth of the 
 
 M1CHADX.] M 
 
82 TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 Ohio; thence, 63 miles to that of the Cumberland, and 180 
 miles on this river to reach Nashville. 
 
 Very few planters undertake the exportation of their own pro 
 duce, which consists principally of cotton : but they sell it to the 
 merchants of Nashville, who send it by the river to New Orleans, 
 whence it is forwarded to New York or Philadelphia, or exported 
 directly to Europe. These merchants, like those of Lexington, 
 do not always pay money for the cotton which they buy, but 
 oblige the planters to take goods in exchange, which makes a 
 considerable increase to their profits. Much of it is also sent by 
 land into Kentucky, for the supply of individuals. 
 
 On my journey in 1802, they were sending cotton by the Ohio 
 to Pittsburgh, for the first time, to be afterwards distributed 
 through the back parts of Pennsylvania and Virginia. I met the 
 boats loaded with it near Marietta, which were pushed along the 
 river with a pole, and went about twenty miles a day. Thus 
 those parts of the Western States which are farthest asunder, are 
 cemented by a commercial intercourse, of which cotton is the 
 basis, and the Ohio the link of communication ; while the result 
 of this intercourse will give a greater degree of prosperity to this 
 part of Tennessee, and secure to its inhabitants very superior 
 advantages over those of Kentucky and the Ohio, the territorial 
 productions of which are not of a nature to meet with a great 
 sale either at home or in the neighbouring countries. 
 
 I had a letter from Dr. Brown, of Lexington, for Mr. W. P. 
 Anderson, a gentleman of the law, at Nashville, who received 
 me in the most obliging manner. 
 
 The inhabitants have an easy and unceremonious deportment. 
 On the day of my arrival, I had hardly dismounted when some of 
 them, who happened to be at the tavern where I stopped, invited 
 me to visit them at their own houses. 
 
 Such of the inhabitants of the Western Country as go to New 
 Orleans by the river, on their commercial concerns, and return 
 by land, pass through Nashville, which is the first town they ar 
 rive at after leaving Natchcs. The distance between them is six 
 hundred miles, and is entirely uninhabited ; they are therefore* 
 obliged to carry provisions on horseback for the whole journey. 
 It is true, they pass through two or three of the villages of the 
 Chicasavv Indians ; but, instead of being able to procure any 
 thing in them, the Savages are so ill supplied themselves, that it 
 is often difficult to avoid being obliged to divide with them what 
 the travellers have. Several persons, who have travelled this road, 
 informed me that, for a distance of four or five hundred miles 
 from Natches, the country is very even ; the soil sandy, partly 
 covered with pines, and not well adapted for any kind of culture ; 
 but that the banks of the Tennessee river are, on the contrary, 
 
OF THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS. 83 
 
 exceedingly fertile, and even superior to the richest districts of 
 Kentucky and Tennessee. 
 
 The settlement of Natches, which is known by the name of 
 Mississippi Territory, daily becomes more prosperous, not 
 withstanding the insalubrity of the climate, which is so great, 
 that three-fourths of the inhabitants are annually affected, during 
 the summer and autumn, with intermitting fevers : the great 
 profit, however, arising from the culture of the long-woolled 
 cotton, draws thither a number of emigrants, and the popula 
 tion already amounts to five thousand Whites and three thousand 
 Negroes. 
 
 The road leading to Natches was of late only a path, winding 
 through those immense forests ; but the Federal Government 
 has just ordered a new one, which is on the point of being 
 completed, and which will be one of the finest in the United 
 States, as well for its breadth, as for the solidity of the bridges 
 built over the small rivers which cross it. To these advantages, 
 it will add that of being shorter than the other by nearly a 
 hundred miles. 
 
 CHAP. XX1L 
 
 DEPARTURE FOR KNOXVILLE.-- ARRIVAL AT FORT BLOUNT. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ON THE DESICCATION OF THE RIVERS 
 
 DURING THE SUMMER. HOUSES ON THIS ROAD. FER 
 TILITY OF THE SOlt. EXCURSIONS IN A CANOE ON 
 
 CUMBERLAND RIVER. 
 
 o 
 
 N, the 5th of September I left Nashville, to proceed to 
 Knoxvillc, with Mr. Fisk, who was sent by the State of Ten 
 nessee to determine, in conceit with the commissioners from Vir 
 ginia, the boundaries between the two states in a more accurate 
 manner. On the 9th we arrived at Fort Blouut, which is built 
 on the river Cumberland, seventy miles from Nashville. On the 
 road we stopped with different friends of Mr. Fisk ; and, among 
 others, with General Smith, one of the oldest inhabitants of this 
 country, where he has resided sixteen or seventeen years. Ame 
 rica is indebted to him for the best map of this State, which is 
 given in the Geographical Atlas, published at Philadelphia.- 
 He acknowledged, however, that this map, w r hich has been 
 some years drawn up, is in many respects imperfect. The 
 general has a fine estate, on which he cultivates maize and cotton; 
 and a well- constructed distillery, where he makes peach-brandy, 
 which lie sells for a dollar per gallon. He employs his leisure 
 in chemistry. 
 
 During our journey we also visited General Winchester, \vlio 
 
84 TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 was finishing a stone house, of an elegant kind for the country* 
 it contains four large rooms on the ground-floor, a first floor, and 
 an attic story. The carpenters had been brought from Balti 
 more, a distance of near 700 miles. The stone is of a calca 
 reous nature ; and there is not any other kind in this part of 
 Tennessee, except the rounded flints which are found in the beds 
 of some of the rivers, and originate in the mountainous districts, 
 whence they are conveyed by the strength of the torrents. Few 
 of the inhabitants, however, build in this way, on account of 
 the price of labour, masons being still more difficult to procure 
 than carpenters. 
 
 Near the General s house runs a river of forty or fifty feet in 
 breadth, which we crossed almost with dry feet. Its banks, in 
 eome places, are upwards of twenty-five feet in height, and the 
 bottom of its bed is formed by one single channel, furrowed with 
 smaller ones, three or four lines* broad, by as many in depth. 
 The small quantity of water which it at this time contained, 
 trickled through these furrows ; but in the winter the waters are 
 so abundant, that, by means of a sluice, a sufficient quantity is 
 diverted from it to turn a mill, which stands upwards of thirty 
 feet in height. We had already passed several of these rivers, 
 which we could step over, but on which, in the winter, ferry 
 boats are necessary. 
 
 A few miles from General Winchester s, and out of the road, 
 is a small town, which has been built some years; the name of 
 Cairo has since been given to it, in commemoration of the cap 
 ture of Cairo by the French. 
 
 Between Nashville and Fort Blount, the plantations, though 
 always in the midst of the woods, are, however, so near each 
 other on the road, that it is very uncommon not to see one in 
 every two or three miles. The inhabitants reside in good log- 
 houses ; most of them have Negroes, and they appear to live 
 happy, and quite secure from want. In all this tract the soil is 
 slightly unequal, but sometimes entirely level, in general excel 
 lent; and the forests are very beautiful. This extreme ferti 
 lity is, however, particularly observable about fifty miles from 
 Nashville, and a few miles before arriving at Major Dixon s, at 
 Dixon s Spring, where 1 stopped a day and a half. Considerable 
 portions of the forests in the environs, are filled with the reeds 
 or cams of which i have already spoken, and which grow so- 
 close that a man concealed amongst them cannot be perceived at 
 ten or fifteen feet distance. Their bushy foliage forms a mass 
 of verdure which relieves the eye in the midst of these solitary 
 and silent forests. 1 have already mentioned that, in proportion 
 
 * Tin s is one of the new-fancied French terms in geometry, which Ve 
 know not how to translate or explain. 
 
OF THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS. 
 
 as new habitations are formed, these reeds disappear, because 
 the cattle prefer their leaves to every other species of vegetable, 
 and destroy them more by breaking the stems of the plants than 
 by browzing their tops. The pigs also contribute to their de 
 struction, by turning up the earth in search of the young- roots. 
 
 Fort Blount was constructed about eighteen years ago, to pro 
 tect the emigrants, who at that time came to settle in Cumber 
 land, against the Savages, who made incessant war upon them, 
 to drive them back ; but a peace having been concluded, and the 
 population being now greatly increased, they are unable to do 
 them any further injury, and the fort has been destroyed. At 
 present there is only one good plantation on this spot, which be 
 longs to Captain Sampson, with whom Mr. Fisk usually resides. 
 During the two days we stopped with him, I made excursions 
 for several miles on the river Cumberland, in a canoe. This 
 method of examining natural productions, always in greatest va 
 riety on the banks of rivers, is more convenient than any other, 
 especially when, as in this case, the river is confined between 
 enormous rocks, so steep that a man on foot cannot approach 
 them without great difficulty. In these excursions I enriched my 
 collection with the seeds of several trees and plants peculiar to the 
 country, and with various other subjects of natural history. 
 
 CHAP7XXI1I. 
 
 DEPARTURE FROM FORT BLOUNT FOR WEST-POINT, ACROSS 
 THE DESERT. BOTANICAL EXCURSIONS ON ROARING 
 RIVER. APPEARANCE OF THE BANKS OF THIS RIVER. - 
 SALINE PRODUCTS FOUND THERE. ^CHEROKEE INDIANS. 
 - ARRIVAL AT KN"OXVILLE. 
 
 the llth of September we went from Fort Blount to 
 Blackborn s, whose residence, situated fifteen miles from this 
 fort, is the last possessed by the Whites before reaching the line 
 which separates the territory of the United States from that of 
 the Cherokee Indians. As far as West-Point, on the Clinch, 
 this boundary is an uninhabited country, eighty miles in breadth, 
 bearing the name of the Wilderness, and of which the moun 
 tains of Cumberland occupy a considerable portion. Mr. Fisk 
 being obliged to attend the court of justice, which was held some 
 miles farther, in the county of Jackson, we postponed crossing 
 the Wilderness for a few days ; and I took the opportunity of his 
 absence to visit Roaring River, one of the branches of the Cum 
 berland. This river, which is from ten to fifteen fathoms in 
 breadth, receives its name from the confused noise heard for 
 upwards of a mile, and occasioned by the falls of the water, pro 
 duced by the sudden depression of its bed r which consists of 
 
86 TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 large flat stones, contiguous to each other. These fails, six,, 
 eight, or ten feet in height, are so close, that several of them 
 occur in a space of fifty or a hundred fathoms. Large stones, 
 live or six feet in diameter, and perfectly round, are seen lying in 
 the middle of the river, without a possibility of ascertaining how 
 they could get there. 
 
 The right bank of Roaring River is, in some places, eighty 
 or a hundred feet in height, and, at this elevation, is overtopped 
 by rocks, which project fifteen or twenty feet, and cover thick 
 beds of horizontal ferruginous schistus. The laminae of these 
 have so little adhesion, and are so friable, that, on the slightest 
 touch, they break off in pieces of a foot long, and fall sponta 
 neously to powder, by which means deep excavations are at 
 length formed under the rocks. On the plates of schistus 
 least exposed to the action of the water and the light, a kind of 
 white efflorescence appears, of an extreme tenuity, and greatly 
 resembling snow. 
 
 There are on the banks of this river, and in other parts of 
 Cumberland, many deep caverns, in which are found masses of 
 an aluminous substance, so near the degree of purity required 
 for the operations of dying, that the inhabitants collect it for 
 their own use, and also export it to Kentucky. They cut it in 
 pieces with a hatchet; but none of them are acquainted with 
 the processes employed on the old continent for preparing the 
 different substances, as they are met with in commerce. 
 
 Several large rivulets, after meandering through the forests^, 
 terminate on the steep banks of this river, whence they rush 
 with violence into it, forming magnificent cascades of several 
 fathoms in breadth. The permanent humidity produced here 
 by these cascades facilitates the growth of a multitude of plants, 
 which grow among the thick moss spread over the rock, and 
 form a very beautiful extent of verdure. These various circum 
 stances render the sides of Roaring River extremely cool, and 
 give them an appearance totally different from those of the other 
 rivers which I had hitherto passed. 
 
 Major Russel, with whom I went to lodge after leaving 
 Blackborn, and where I was rejoined by Mr. Fisk, supplied us 
 with provisions for our two days journey through the territory of 
 the Cherokees. Notwithstanding the good understanding now sub 
 sisting between the Whites and these Indians, it is always prudent 
 to form a company of five or six to cross their country. How 
 ever, as we were far from the usual place of rendezvous, at which 
 travellers wait, we determined to set off alone, and arrived 
 safely at West- Point. The country is very mountainous, and.we 
 were unable to go further than forty-five miles on the first day, 
 though we did not stop till midnight. We encamped near a small 
 river where there was plenty of grass, and, after having made a 
 
OF THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS. 87 
 
 fire, lay down in our blankets, watching alternately, to enable 
 our horses to graze more at large, being apprehensive of the Sa 
 vages, who sometimes steal them. 
 
 On the second day we met a party of eight or ten Indians, 
 who were in quest of summer-grapes, and chinquapins, a spe 
 cies of small chesnuty superior in taste to those of Europe. 
 As we were not above twenty miles from the West-Point, we 
 gave them the remainder of our provisions, which was very pleas-- 
 ing to them. To them bread is a great luxury, their common 
 food being only deer s flesh roasted. 
 
 The road across this part of the Indian territory passes over 
 the Cumberland mountains : it is as wide and as even as those in 
 the environs of Philadelphia, on account of the great number of 
 emigrants who travel over it, in their way to the western country. 
 Forty miles from Nashville we met some wealthy emigrants, tra 
 velling in a carriage, followed by their Negroes on foot, who had 
 passed it without any accident. Small boards painted black, and 
 nailed against the trees, at every third mile, show travellers how 
 far they have gone. 
 
 In this part of Tennessee the forests are composed of all the 
 species of trees which belong to the mountainous districts of 
 North America, such as oaks, maples, and walnuts. Pines also 
 abound in places where the soil is inferior. But what appeared 
 to me very extraordinary was, to see parts of the woods, several 
 miles in extent, where all the pines, which amounted to, at least, 
 a tii th of the other trees, had died in the preceding year, and 
 still retained their withered leaves. I was unable to discover the 
 causes of this singular phenomenon : I only learned that it occurs 
 every fifteen or twenty years. 
 
 The following trait will give an idea of the atrocious character 
 of some of the American settlers on the frontiers. One of 
 them, in the neighbourhood of Fort Biount, had lost ahorse, 
 which had strayed from his house, and gone a considerable dis 
 tance into the Indian territory. A fortnight after, it was brought 
 back by two of the Cherokees: they were not fifty paces from 
 the house, when this man, on perceiving them, shot one of 
 them dead; the other took to flight, and carried the news to his 
 countrymen. The murderer was put in prison, but was released 
 in a short time, for want of proof of his crime, though he re 
 mained convicted in the public opinion. All the time he was 
 kept in prison the Indians suspended the eftects of their resent 
 ment, in the hope that the death of their countryman would be 
 avenged ; but, scarcely were they informed of his enlargement, 
 when they killed a White at more than L">0 miles from the place 
 where the first murder had been committed. It has always been 
 found impracticable to make the Indians, of whatsoever nation, 
 
S8 TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 comprehend, that chastisement should only be inflicted on the 
 guilty: they believe that the murder of one or several of their 
 nation, must be avenged by the death of an equal number of 
 individuals belonging to the nation of him who occasioned the 
 loss of their people. This is a. custom which it is impossible to 
 make them renounce, particularly if the murdered person be 
 longed to a family of distinction; for, among the Creeks and 
 Cherokees, there exists a class superior to the commonalty of the 
 nation. These Indians are above the middle size, well propor 
 tioned; and rather fleshy, considering the compulsory fasts they 
 frequently endure when hunting. The rifle is the only lire-arms 
 they make use of; but they are very expert with it, and kill at a 
 great distance. The common dress of the men consists of an 
 European shirt, which they leave loose, and of a piece of blue 
 cloth, half an ell in length, which serves them for breeches: they 
 pass it between their thighs, and fasten the two eftds to their 
 girdle, before and behind. They wear long gaiters and shoes, 
 or socks, of prepared deer s skin. On particular occasions some 
 of them appear in a coat, waistcoat, and hat, but not breeches: 
 the natives of North America have never been able to adopt this 
 part of our dress. They leave only one tuft of hair on the top 
 of their heads, formed into several tresses, which hang down the 
 sides of their faces, and very frequently the ends are decorated 
 with feathers, or small pipes of silver. A great number of them 
 perforate the gristle of the nose to put rings into it, and cut their 
 ears, which are lengthened to tvvt) or three inches by means of 
 pieces of lead hung to them, when they are very young. They 
 paint their faces red, blue, or black. 
 
 A man s shirt, and a short petticoat, form the dress of the 
 women, who also wear gaiters and socks of deer s skin : they 
 permit all their hair to grow, which, like that of the men, is 
 of a jet blacky bat they do not pierce the nose, or cut the ears. 
 In winter both men and women wrap themselves in a woollen 
 blanket, to protect them from the cold. 
 
 1 learnt at West-Point, from several people who make frequent 
 journies among the Cherokees, that for some years past they have 
 attended to the cultivation of their lands, and have made great 
 progress. Some of them have good plantations, and also negro 
 slaves. Several of the women spin, and weave cotton stuffs. 
 The Federal Government devotes a sum annually to supply them 
 with agricultural and other implements. 
 
OF*THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS. 
 
 CHAP. XXIV? 
 
 K VOX VILLE.-- COMMERCIAL RELATIONS. TREES GROWING 
 
 IN ITS ENVIRONS. CONVERSION OF SOME PARTS OF THE 
 
 MEADOWS INTO FORESTS. GREENSVILLE. ARRIVAL AT 
 
 JONESBOROUG1I. 
 
 K: 
 
 .NOXVTLLE, the seat of government of the State of Ten 
 nessee, is situated on the river Holston, which, at this place, is 
 1.50 fathoms in width. The houses, in number about -200, are 
 almost all of wood. Although it has been built eighteen or 
 twenty years, this little town has not yet any kind of establish 
 ment or manufactory, except some tanneries. Cam.merce, 
 however, is brisker here than at Nashville. The stores, of 
 which there are fifteen or twenty, are also better provided. 
 The merchants obtain their supplies by land, from Phila 
 delphia, Baltimore, and Richmond, in Virginia, and, in 
 return, send, by the same channel, the productions of the 
 country, which they buy from the farmers, or take in ex 
 change for their goods. Baltimore and Richmond are the 
 towns with which they have the greatest dealings. The 
 price of carriage from Baltimore is six or seven dollars the 
 quintal. It is reckoned 500 miles from this town to Knox- 
 ville; 640 to Philadelphia; and 420 to Richmond. 
 
 They also send flour, cotton, and lime, to New Orleans, 
 by the river Tennessee; but this method is not much used, 
 the navigation of this river being very much interrupted, 
 in two different places, by shoals and rocks. It is reckoned 
 about GOO miles from Knoxville to the confluence of the 
 Tennessee into the Ohio, and 38 miles from thence to that 
 of the Ohio, into the Mississippi. 
 
 We stopped at Knoxville, atHnynes s, who keeps the best 
 tavern, the sign of the General Washington. Travellers, 
 with their horses, are accommodated here at the rate of a 
 dollar per day. On the 17th of September I took my leave 
 of Mr. Fisk, and travelled towards Jonesborough, 100 miles 
 from Knoxville, and at the bottom of the high mountains 
 which separate North Carolina from the State of Tennessee. 
 
 I crossed the river Holston at Macby, fifteen miles from 
 Knoxville : here the soil becomes better, and the plantations 
 are nearer together, although still so distant as not to be 
 within sight of each other. At a short distance from Macby, 
 the road, for the space of a mile or two, runs beside a cop. 
 pice, very thickly set with trees, the largest clumps being 
 twenty or twenty-five feet across. I had never seen any part 
 
 MlCilAUX.j N 
 
QO TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 of a forest in a similar state; and I made this observation to 
 the inhabitants of the country, who informed me that 
 this spot was formerly part of a barren, or meadow, which 
 had become naturally re-covered with wood within the last 
 twelve or fifteen years, since the custom of setting fire to 
 them, as is practised in all the Southern States, had been 
 discontinued. This circumstance seems to prove, that the 
 extensive meadows of Kentucky and Tennessee owe their 
 origin to some conflagration, which had consumed the 
 forests, and that they are preserved in that state by the cus 
 tom, which still prevails, of setting fire to them annually. 
 When on these occasions chance preserves any spots of them 
 for a few years from the ravages of the flames, the trees 
 spring up again; but, being extremely close, the fire, 
 which at length catches them, burns them completely, and 
 again reduces them to the state of meadows. Hence it may 
 be concluded that, in these countries, the meadows must 
 continually encroach upon the forests; and, in all proba 
 bility, this was the case in Upper Louisiana and New Mex 
 ico, which are only vast plains, to which the savages set 
 fire annually, and where there is not any tree to be met 
 with. 
 
 On the first day I stopped in a place where the majority 
 of the inhabitants were Quakers, who had come fifteen or 
 eighteen years before from Pennsylvania. The one with 
 whom I lodged had a good plantation, and his log-house 
 was divided into two apartments, which is very uncommon 
 in this country. Some very fine apple-trees were planted 
 round the house, which, although raised from seeds, pro 
 duced fruit of an extraordinary size and excellent quality: 
 this is another proof how well these countries are adapted 
 for the culture of fruit-trees. Here, as in Kentucky, the 
 preference is given to the peach, on account of the brandy 
 made from it. At my hosts I met with two families of 
 emigrants, consisting together of ten or twelve persons, 
 who were going to settle in Tennessee. Their torn gar 
 ments, and the bad plight of the children, who followed 
 bare looted, and in their shirts, were indications of their 
 poverty; a very uncommon occurrence in the United States. 
 The riches of the inhabitants of the Western Country do 
 not, however, consist in money ; for I am well convinced 
 that a tenth of them ?do not possess a single dollar: but 
 each man lives on his own freehold, and derives from it an 
 abundance of every necessary of^j life; and the money 
 arising from the sail of a horse or a few cows, is always 
 more than sufficient to procure him all those secondary 
 articles, which come from the English manufactories. 
 
OF THE ALLE&ANY MOUNTAINS. gl 
 
 On the following day I passed near an iron-work, situated 
 thirty miles from Knoxville, and stopped a short time to 
 take a specimen of the ore. The iron obtained from it is 
 said to he of an excellent quality. At this place the road 
 divides into two branches, both leading to Jonesborough; 
 but, as I was desirous of seeing the banks of the river 
 Nolachuky, celebrated in this country for their fertility, I 
 took that to the right. Six or seven miles from the iron 
 work, small rock crystals are found on the road; they are 
 two or three lines in length, and beautifully transparent. 
 The faces of the- pyramids, which terminate the two ex 
 tremities of the prism, are parallel and equal: they are 
 uncombined, and disseminated in a reddish, slightly ar 
 gillaceous land. In less than ten minutes I collected forty 
 of them. 
 
 On the 21st I arrived at Greenville, which does not con 
 tain more than forty houses, buiit of squared beams, ar 
 ranged like the trunks of trees of the log houses. From 
 hence to Jonesborough is twenty-five miles. In the inter 
 val the country is rather hilly ; the soil is more adapted to 
 the culture of wheat than of maize; and the houses on the 
 road are at a distance of about three miles from each other. 
 
 Jonesborough, the last town in Tennessee, contains 
 about 150 houses, built of planks, and standing on both 
 sides of the road. The place contains four or five stores, 
 and the merchants who keep them trade with Baltimore and 
 Richmond. Every article of English manufacture is sold 
 very dear here, as well as at Knoxville. A newspaper, in 
 large folio, is published here once a week. Indeed papers 
 are hitherto the only works which have been printed in 
 those towns or villages lying to the westward -of the Alle- 
 ganies, where printing-offices are established. 
 
 CHAP. XXV. 
 
 REMARKS ON THE FIRST ESTABLISHMENTS TO THE WEST 
 OF TENNESSEE, AND ON THE TREES PECULIAR TO THAT 
 COUNTRY. 
 
 IT 
 
 was in the year 1780 that the Whites first attempted to 
 cross the Cumberland Mountains, and to settle in the en 
 virons of Nashville; but the emigrants did not arrive in 
 great numbers before 1789. For several years they were 
 obliged to maintain a sanguinary war with the Cherokee 
 Indians; and, as lately as 179o, the establishments of 
 Holstou and Kentucky had no intercourse with those in 
 
 N 2 
 
9- TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 Cumberland, except by caravans, in order tbat they might 
 cross the extensive uninhabited country between them in 
 safety; but, for five or six years, since, peace has been 
 made with the natives, the communication between these 
 countries is perfectly established; and, although not much 
 frequented, it may be travelled with as great security as any 
 part of the Atlantic States. 
 
 This country having been peopled since Kentucky, 
 measures were taken from the first to avoid the great con 
 fusion which exists with respect to the rights of property in 
 the latter State: consequently, the titles here are considered 
 as more valid, and much less liable to be disputed. This 
 reason, the extraordinary fertility of the soil, and a milder 
 temperature^ are cogent motives which attract the emi 
 grants from the Atlantic States, rather to West Tennessee 
 than to Kentucky. The number of inhabitants is estimated 
 at 30,000, and 5000 or 6000 Negro slaves. 
 
 With very few exceptions, the different species of trees 
 and shrubs which constitute the mass of the forests, are the 
 same as those I saw in the most fertile parts of Kentucky. 
 The Gleditsia tricanthos, honey locust, is, however, more 
 common here : the Indians made their bows of the wood of 
 it before they adopted fire-arms. 
 
 A tree is found, more particularly in these forests, which, 
 in the form of its fruit, and the position of its leaves, ap 
 pears to have a great resemblance to the Sophorftjaponica, 
 with the wood of which the Chinese dye their silk yellow. 
 My father, who discovered this tree in 1796, thought it 
 might be employed for the same use, and become an im 
 portant article of commerce to the country. Several per 
 sons being anxious to know if it were possible to fix the 
 beautiful yellow colour which its wood communicates to 
 water by simple cold infusion, I took the opportunity of 
 my residence at Nashville to send 20lb. weight of it to New 
 York, one half of which was to be delivered to Dr. Mitch- 
 ill, professor of chemistry, and the other to be forwarded 
 to Paris. This tree seldom grows higher than forty feet, 
 and thrives best on the Knobs, a species of little hills, the 
 soil of which is very rich. ome of the inhabitants have 
 remarked that there is not any tree in the country which 
 yields such an abundance of sap in the spring. The quan 
 tity it furnishes even exceeds that of the sugar-maple, al 
 though the latter is double its size. The time of my resi 
 dence at Nashville being that of the maturity of the seeds 
 of this tree, I collected a small quantity, and brought them 
 with me : they have almost all come up. Some of the 
 stems are already twelve or fifteen inches in height. 
 
OF THE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS. <J5 
 
 West Tennessee* is less salubrious than Holston or Ken 
 tucky. A warmer and more humid temperature occasions 
 intermitting fevers in the summer. Tiie emigrants, in the 
 first year of their establishment, and even travellers, are 
 also, at this season, subject to an exanthematic affection, 
 which makes them suffer severely, for ten or twelve days, 
 from the extreme itching produced by a multiplicity of 
 pimples, which first appear on the abdomen, and after 
 wards on the shoulders, arms, and thighs. This indispo 
 sition, with which I was attacked before I reached Fort 
 Blount, yielded to a cooling regimen and to bathing, which 
 I practised for several days in Cumberland and Roaring 
 Rivers. The name given to this disease in the-country is 
 the Tennessee itch. 
 
 CHAP. XXVI. 
 
 OF THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF CULTURE IN WEST TEN 
 NESSEE, AND PARTICULARLY OF THAT OF COTTON. 
 
 MODE OF TAKING LANDS BY SOME EMIGRANTS. 
 
 W**fv*& ffitci 
 E3T Tennessee, or Cumberland, being in a more 
 southern latitude than Kentucky, admits of the culture of 
 cotton; consequentlyHhe inhabitants attend almost wholly 
 to it, and do not cultivate much grain, hemp, or tobacco, 
 beyond their own consumption. 
 
 The soil, which is fat and loamy, appears to be a recent 
 decomposition of vegetable substances; and therefore seems, 
 at present, less suitable for the growth of wheat than 
 maize: the crops of this grain are as abundant as in Ken 
 tucky: its stems also grow to the height of eleven or twelve 
 feet, and the ears, which appear at six or seven feet above 
 the ground, are nine or ten inches long, and have a pro 
 portionate bulk. It is cultivated in the same manner, and 
 used for the same purposes. 
 
 The crows, which are a real scourge to the Atlantic 
 States, where, at three different periods, they ravage the 
 fields of maize, and frequently render it necessary for them, 
 to be replanted as often, have not yet been seen in Ten 
 nessee. 
 
 The grey rats of Europe also have not yet penetrated 
 into Cumberland. They follow the establishments of the 
 Whites in these distant regions, and make their appear 
 ance in a few years after the country has been inhabited. 
 At first, they show themselves in the small towns, whence 
 they spread into, the plantations dispersed through the woods. 
 
 f fhe culture of cotton is infinitely more lucrative than 
 
 
 
$4 TRAVELS TO THE WESTWARD 
 
 that of wheat or tobacco. It is calculated that one 
 who has no other employment, is able to cultivate eight or 
 nine acres; but the opening of the capsules taking place 
 very rapidly, when it is ripe, it would not be possible for 
 him to pick it up by himself. A man and woman, with 
 two or three children, may, however, easily cultivate 
 four acres, independently of the maize necessary for their 
 subsistence, and calculating on a crop of 350lb. per acre, 
 which, considering the extreme fertility of the soil, is very 
 moderate, there will be a product of 14cwt. of cotton, 
 freed from the seed. At the rate of eighteen dollars the 
 quintal, the lowest price to which it fell at the time of the 
 last peace, when I was in the country, it amounts to 252 
 dollars, from which, deducting 40 for the expence of cul 
 ture, there is a net produce of 212 dollars: while the same 
 number of acres, planted with maize, or sown with wheat, 
 would onty give 50 dollars. 
 
 The species of cotton cultivated here is rather in higher 
 estimation than that which is called g?*een-seed cotton, of 
 which it is only a slight variety. 
 
 The price of the best land does not yet exceed five dollars 
 an acre in the environs of Nashville, and, at thirty or 
 forty miles from that town, it is not worth more than 
 three: a plantation completely formed, containing 200 
 or 300 acres, fifteen or twenty of which are cleared, to 
 gether with a log-house, may be purchased at this price. 
 The taxes are also lower in this State than in Kentucky, 
 
 Among the emigrants who annually come from the east 
 ward to Tennessee, there are always some who have not 
 the means of purchasing lands, but they find no difficulty 
 in hiring them} the speculators, who are possessed of se 
 veral thousand acres, not being displeased at getting a few 
 settlers on their estates, which induces others to come into 
 their neighbourhood; for the speculations inland, in the 
 States of Kentucky and Tennessee, are only advantageous 
 to those residing on the spot, and who, on the arrival of 
 emigrants, can succeed in making them stop upon their 
 possessions, which soon augments their value. 1 he terms 
 on which they let them, are, to clear and inclose eight or 
 nine acres, to build a log-house, and to pay the proprietor 
 eight or ten bushels of maize for each acre cleared. These 
 agreements are made for six or eight years. By the second 
 year the value of 200 acres of land, adjoining to such a 
 new establishment, rises 30 percent.; and this estate is pur 
 chased in preference by a new emigrant, who is sure of 
 gathering, in the first year of his arrival, as much grain as 
 is requisite for the wants of his family and his cattle. 
 
OF TtfE ALLEGANY MOUNTAINS 
 
 CHAP. XXV II. 
 
 OF EAST TRNNESSEE, OK HOLSTON. CULTURES, &C. 
 
 AST Tennessee, or Holston, is situated between the 
 highest part of the Allegany and Cumberland Mountains : 
 in length, it comprises an extent of nearly a hundred and 
 forty miles; the principal differences between it and West 
 Tennessee are, that the lime-stone appears to lie deeper; 
 that the beds of it, which form the mass inclined to the 
 horizon, are divided at small intervals by strata of quartz; 
 and, finally, that the country is watered by a great num- 
 ,ber of small rivers, descending from the neighbouring 
 mountains, which cross it in all directions. The best land 
 is on their banks. 
 
 Maize also forms one of the principal branches of cul 
 ture here, but it seldom grows to a greater height than 
 seven or eight feet, and thirty bushels per acre is considered 
 as a very good crop. The nature of the soil, which is 
 rather stony, seems better adapted to the growth of wheat, 
 rye, and oats, which are, consequently, cultivated more 
 here than in Cumberland. Cotton is not grown in any 
 quantity, on account of the cold, which sets in very early, 
 It may be inferred from what has been said, that Holston 
 is in every respect inferior in fertility to Cumberland and 
 Kentucky. 
 
 To turn the superabundance of their grain to advantage, 
 the inhabitants breed a great number of cattle, which they 
 send a distance of 500 miles to the maritime towns of the 
 central and Southern States. Very few of these animals 
 are lost in their passage, although they have a great num 
 ber of rivers to cross, and the country is nearly an uninter 
 rupted forest, added to which they are extremely wild, 
 from being accustomed to the woods. 
 
 This part of Tennessee began to be inhabited in 1775, 
 and its population has increased so much, that, at this 
 time, the number of its inhabitants is estimated at 70,000, 
 including three or four thousand Negro slaves. 
 
 What has been said of the manners of the inhabitants of 
 Kentucky, will, in a great degree, apply to those of Ten 
 nessee, since, like the first, they came originally from 
 Virginia and North Carolina: but, hitherto, the inhabi 
 tants of Tennessee do not enjoy that degree of affluence 
 which is found among those of Kentucky. They appear 
 also to be less religious, although they are very strict m 
 their observance of Sunday. 
 
9(3 TRAVELS TO THE 
 
 CHAP. XXVIII. 
 
 MGR G A N-TO W N. S AL A M ANDER. BR ATl-HU NTT N G . D E- 
 
 PARTURE FOR, AND ARRIVAL AT CHARLESTON. 
 
 V./N the 21st September I left Jonesborough, to cross the 
 Allcganys, into North Carolina; and after a tedious jour 
 ney of 600 miles, during which I stopped a week at Daven 
 port s Plantation on Doe River, I reached Morgan-town 
 on the 5lh October. There is yet no certainty as to the 
 real height of the Ailegany Mountains, nor do they produce 
 any ore, except abundance of iron. In the mountainous 
 part of Pennsylvania and Virginia the laud is of a bad 
 quality; but here it is rich and fertile. 
 
 The inhabitants of these parts are very expert hunters, 
 particularly of bears, whose skins they sell, and subsist 
 upon the flesh, the fat of which is used instead of oil. A 
 fine skin fetches from a dollar and a half to two dollars. 
 The black-bear lives upon roots, acorns, Sec. for which he 
 ascends the trees; but in summer, when sucli food is 
 scarce, he will attack pigs, and even men. A species of 
 salamander is found in the torrents, which is about two 
 feet long, and is called by the inhabitants the Alligator of 
 the Mountains. 
 
 Morgan-town, which is 250 miles from Charleston, con 
 tains only about .50 houses, built of planks, and is inha 
 bited principally by working people. Columbia is about 
 half way between the above-mentioned places, and its cli 
 mate is very unhealthy. 
 
 In the general census of the United States, published in 
 3800, the population of North Carolina, including the 
 Negro slaves, is stated to be 478,000 inhabitants ; that of 
 Georgia, lf>3,000; and that of South Carolina, 346,000. 
 Not having had an opportunity of seeing the particular 
 accounts of the first two States, I am unacquainted with 
 the proportion found in them between the Whites and the 
 Blacks, and the difference between the population of the 
 low and high country; but an idea of it may be formed 
 from the census of South Carolina, in which the numbers 
 are, in the low country, including the city of Charleston, 
 36,000 Whites and 100,000 Negroes; and in the high coun- 
 trv, 163,000 Whites and 46,000 Negroes. 
 
 "I arrived at Charleston on the 18th of October, 
 1802, three months and a half after my departure from 
 Philadelphia. I remained in Carolina until the 1st of 
 March 1803, at which time I embarked for France, on 
 board of the same vessel that had brought me to America 
 riahteen mouths before ; and I arrived at Bourdeaux on 
 the 26th March. 
 
 END OF l 
 

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