Chapter XXI: Letter XXII: Miscellaneous Remarks on the Manners and Habits of the People (1)

_Jeffersonville, (Indiana,) Sep. 11, 1820._

In your letter of the 15th of May last, you mention your apprehension that I am living amongst a half civilized people. Perhaps this is partly occasioned by my having, in former letters, mentioned a considerable number of disagreeable incidents. {265} Matters of public notoriety always attract attention, while the more gratifying affairs of private life, as the most pleasant family scenes, the strictest integrity, and even acts of the most disinterested generosity, are, from their more frequent occurrence, omitted as less interesting. Hence it is, that the stories of travellers, however authentic they may be, and however amusing to their readers, are often more calculated to promote prejudices then to convey accurate information regarding society and morals. It is the energy and the tendency of public institutions that form the best index to national character.

I have at different times called your attention to the disadvantages here in respect of opportunities of education, and the influx of immoral strangers. In these respects the back-woods are mere colonies in comparison with the better state of society in the eastern country. Had I lived in Connecticut or Massachusetts, instead of Indiana, I might have met with fewer irregularities to relate. My acquaintance with many persons from the older communities of the Union, causes me to entertain the highest opinion of the attainments there, and convinces me that it would be nearly as unfair to collect the ingredients for forming the character of the British people in their foreign possessions, as it is to infer the state of American society from the habits and manners of people in new settlements. Adopting this view of the matter, it may be asked, in which of the British colonies is a thirty-sixth part of the soil set apart for the support of schools? which of them make their own laws, and appoint their own governors? or which has produced such an example of availing themselves of the lights of the age, as has the new State of Alabama, in rejecting usury laws.

{266} There is no course of conduct that would belie my feelings more than attempting to misrepresent the character of the American people. From the time of my first landing in the country till the present, I have enjoyed intercourse with people of eminence in society, and have uniformly met with the most polite receptions, and, on many occasions, with such marks of kindness that I can never have sufficient opportunities to requite. Names would be altogether uninteresting to you, but there are many here that I cannot recal to recollection without associating them with those of the personages whom I most admire, and of the friends whom I most esteem.

The American community is not, like that of Britain, divided or formed into classes by the distinctions of title and rank, neither does political party seem to form such a complete separation amongst men, and the unequal distribution of property operates much less. The effects of these conditions are, that the individuals who compose our society are less mutually repellent to one another than with you, and the distinctions formed here are of a more natural kind, such as those founded on public services and talents, and the more uninterrupted associations that proceed from the sympathies of human nature. I am almost of opinion that the more extended bonds of American society are much strengthened by universal suffrage, and the frequent recurrence of elections, for this reason, that the candidates having no boroughs to be treated with in the wholesale way, and the constituents being too numerous, and coming too often in the way, to admit of their being bought over, expectants are obliged to depend on their popularity, and do not find it their interest to repulse any one. It is only from these causes that I could attempt {267} to account for the affability of manners which are almost universal. The inhabitants of American towns are not, like some of the people of your cities, ignorant of the names of the persons who live in the nearest adjoining houses, or who perhaps enter by the same outer door, and the new settler in the woods is soon so well known, among a wide circle of neighbours, that almost any person, within ten miles of him, can direct the stranger to his residence. The civilities exchanged by people who meet on the roads, or in taverns, and the readiness amongst strangers to converse together, are matters of surprise to natives of Britain.

A short time ago I went on business to the residence of a gentleman of high military rank, who has made a distinguished figure in Indian warfare, in the late war on the Canadian frontier, and by his eloquence in Congress. His hospitality and the urbanity of his manners are not less conspicuous than his other great qualities. His house, from the numbers of his visitors, has a great resemblance to a tavern. He has on his property a great number of people who rent land _on shares_, (a term formerly explained to you.) When one of these tenants, or when almost any other stranger of respectable appearance, happens to come to his house about the time of dinner, he usually invites him to table. Amongst his party at dinner I observed an old man, who joined in conversation for about half an hour after the cloth was removed. On his rising to depart the host politely accompanied him to his horse. It was not till after mounting that the stranger intimated the object of his call.--“I have,” (said he,) “for a long time wished to see General ----, and now I am satisfied.” In the afternoon he walked over his farm, and gave directions to some people making hay, {268} and to others employed in a distillery, in which he uses the corn paid to him as rents. That article now sells at twenty-five cents per bushel, but when converted into spirits, it yields him at the rate of a dollar per bushel. In the evening two itinerants, a presbyterian preacher and his wife, arrived with an introduction from an acquaintance. After some conversation, the preacher performed worship in the family. In the morning, after breakfast, the General contributed a few dollars to the support of religion, and held the horses while the two travellers mounted. It would be of little use to multiply facts showing that people of the first consequence, in the free States of this country, do not keep numerous hordes of menials, and that they know how to help themselves, as the high price of labour might alone lead you to infer this as a consequence. I shall only relate an example in point. The gentleman with whom I board keeps a tavern; he is an officer who fought for the liberties of his country, during the revolutionary war, and is now adjutant-general of the militia of this State.[142] One morning I found him engaged in cleaning his own shoes, in the absence of a boy who usually does work of this kind for him.

The laws and the usages of America in respect of foreigners, reflect the highest honour on the country. The stranger is not only protected in his person and property on his first arrival, but it is in his power to become an elector, and eligible to situations of honour and trust. He may depend on being here esteemed according to his behaviour and usefulness, without regard to his former condition or his former country. I have in various instances seen men enjoying the benefits of the free institutions of the United States, and the respect of their neighbours, who, a few years ago, invaded {269} the country with British arms in their hands. You may contrast this liberality with the Alien laws, and with the spirit of the corporations and privileged orders of your country, and ask yourself, Who are the semi-barbarians? Who are the “half-civilized people?”

The comforts that I enjoy here are perhaps somewhat greater than you suppose. I board with a respectable family, the members of which do every thing in their power to render my situation agreeable. In our small town and neighbourhood, there is a considerable number of accomplished people, amongst whom I have much of that sort of enjoyment which consists in hearing elegant conversation, and the reciprocation of those little civilities and services that give a relish to social life. The situation of this place at an important point on the river, and on the line of an extensive communication by land, renders it a very considerable thoroughfare. This of itself, has been the means of making me extensively acquainted amongst the public characters of the State, and many interesting individuals from other parts. We have abundance of newspapers, some of which are judiciously conducted, and in which many excellent original articles are to be found; and all of them devote a part of their columns to the public occurrences of Britain. I occasionally read some of the latest publications from your country, and have frequent opportunities of seeing the Reviews, and Literary and Scientific Magazines. At short intervals, I have commonly letters from Scotland, and frequently communications from friends in different parts of this country. In short, were I discontented with the society amongst which I live, I might occasion a suspicion that I am unworthy of mixing in it.

FOOTNOTES:

[142] Henry P. Coburn was adjutant-general of Indiana from December, 1819, to December, 1822. A native of Massachusetts and graduate of Harvard College (1812), he came to Indiana in 1816 and practised law in the southern part of the state until 1820. In that year he was made clerk of the supreme court, holding the position until his death in 1852.--ED.

{270} LETTER XXIII

Passage from the Falls of the Ohio to Cincinnati--Drought--Banks--Militia--Journey to Lake Erie--Reading--Shakertown--Lebanon--Little Miami--Wood Pigeons--Insects--Clarkville and Leesburg--Greenfield and Oldtown--Large quantities of Grain raised by Individuals--The Great Sciota--Pickaway Plains--Wet Prairies--New Lancaster--Lebanon--Newark--Mount Vernon--Owl Creek--Clear Fork--Roads--Mansfield--Trucksville--Summit of the Country between the Ohio and Lake Erie--Munro--Sickness--The Great Prairie--The former Beach of Lake Erie--Bloomingtown--Bank--Mineral Strata--Portland--Venice--Sickness--Indians--Tavern Keepers--People.

_Portland, (Ohio,) Oct. 13, 1820._

I left the Falls of the Ohio on the 12th ult. and took my passage in a steam-boat which plies between that place and Cincinnati.--There was no other passing on the Ohio at that time, on account of the lowness of the water.

From the difference of time occupied in ascending and descending the river, it appeared that the mean velocity of the stream was reduced to one mile per hour. In several ripples, the deepest part of the channel measured only three feet. The vessel repeatedly ran aground, so that an anchor was put out, and it became necessary that every man on board should work at the capstane. The boat was the same in which I ascended the river in June last, and of which I noted down the dimensions in my letter of the 26th of that month. {271} She is here considered to be a small vessel, and the best for navigating the river in dry seasons. On computing the velocity of the water wheel, I found that the boat would move at the rate of 8¹⁄₂ miles per hour, supposing that it proceeded in the manner of wheel carriages, and that the actual velocity through still water was seven miles per hour. This gives a very good measure of the _vis inertiæ_ of the fluid.

We did not arrive at Cincinnati till the 15th, being obliged to stop during the night, as it was impossible to keep in the proper channel in the dark, at the present low stage of the river. The vessel returned downward nearly empty, to be laid up till the next rise of water.

The hills in the neighbourhood of Cincinnati, which were beautifully verdant in June last, are now withered to whiteness, by the scorching drought.[143]

The trade of Cincinnati continues to be dull. Two of the banks have given up business altogether, and two others are struggling for existence. Their money is 33¹⁄₂ and 60 per cent under par. One of these establishments has been in the habit of giving in exchange for its own notes, those of another paper shop at a considerable distance; when the paper so obtained is presented at the second, it is taken in exchange for the money of a third bank still farther off. At the third, the bills are exchanged for the money of the first. This is in reality making banks “_equally solvent with their neighbouring institutions_.” Some of the stockholders, {272} _who are themselves the debtors of the banks_, procure a part of the money, which is either much depreciated, or entirely sunk to satisfy for the same debts.

Females of a certain description are not to be seen in the streets of Cincinnati after dusk. This is attributed, not so much to police regulations, as to the boys, whose practice it is to chase them.

On the 23d, a regiment of Militia was reviewed. The state of discipline is so bad that every movement is accompanied with disorder. The time occupied in training is short, and the practice of privates electing their own officers is not considered conducive to subordination, especially in time of peace. They are, however, armed with good rifles, and are formidable troops in the woods.

The last number of the Edinburgh Review, Peter’s Letters to his Kinsfolk,[144] _Blackwood’s Magazine_, and the Monastery,[145] are the current works of the day. When lately at Louisville, I found an acquaintance reading Ivanhoe; during my stay with him, which was only about an hour, two persons applied for a loan of the book. He told me that there were seven or eight copies of it in that town, and that they are no sooner read by one than they are lent to another. Two copies of the Monastery had just then arrived in town, and were, if possible, more in request than the former. The natives of Britain, in America, have the satisfaction of mixing with a people who are descended from the same ancestors, who speak the same language, who are instructed by the same standard books, who are amused by the same novels, and who sing the same songs.

In giving you details of my journey from the Ohio to Lake Erie, I shall confine myself almost {273} entirely to a transcript of notes taken by the way.[146]

On the 26th of September I left Cincinnati. My travelling equipment consisted of a light waggon, drawn by a Yankee mare. The animal was spirited, but at the same time docile, and obedient to the rein; and the roads, though rough in some parts, and covered with dust, were such as are in this country called good. The atmosphere was clear, without a single speck of cloud, and the temperature of the air agreeable. I got forward with a degree of ease and good spirit, that might well become a ride undertaken for pleasure.

Reading is a small town with a good tavern, twelve miles north-east of Cincinnati.[147]

I lodged for the night with a tavern-keeper, who has, within these four years past, cleared a good farm on which he lives. He is a penetrating and intelligent old man. Without being told, he was able to discover my native country, and attempted to make himself agreeable by dilating on the histories of Wallace and Bruce. His son, who is arrived at manhood, asked if Wallace was an American? The father is a native of the eastern country, and has had better opportunities of being educated than the son seems to have met with in this newly settled country. Closely adjoining to this place is Union or Shakertown,[148] the settlement of a remarkable society called Shakers, I suppose from dancing forming a principal part of their worship. They have established a community of goods, and prohibited marriage and the propagation of the species. Although this restriction is in general religiously observed, it is said that several of their daughters have been carried off from the settlement by young men of the neighbourhood. In the Session of 1810-1811, the legislature found it proper to interfere, in causing the society to provide for some families {274} that were deserted by their husbands. The people in the vicinity admit that the Shakers are characterized by sobriety, a peaceable disposition, (and, what appears to be surprising,) industry, frugality, and cleanliness.

_Sept. 27._ Passed through Lebanon,[149] a small town composed partly of brick houses. It is, however, the seat of justice for a county, and has a newspaper printing-office, and a bank. The number of two and four horse waggons which pass along the road would indicate much business; but a deduction is to be made for the smallness of the loads. Farmers were engaged in carrying home their crops of maize, or in piling them up in the fields, and some in preparing the ground for sowing their wheat. The orchards were nearly cleared of their fruit. Cyder is here made in considerable quantities.

The country between the two rivers Miamis is said to be one of the most fertile in America, but the part of it that I have seen is not the best watered. Many of the people have to draw water from wells for themselves and their cattle, happy at the present time, if the springs do not fail altogether.

Crossed the little Miami, a name that is now perfectly descriptive of the river.[150] The bottom land is rich, and the banks on both sides steep. On the top of the east bank the remains of an ancient fortification stand. The wall, which is about fourteen feet high, is overgrown with large timber, and incloses a considerable space of land.

Much of the road in the east side of the little Miami is over wet clay land. Logs are split, and laid side by side across the road, as a way for carriages. The jolting over these is disagreeable, and the progress slow. At this dry season, the soil would serve the purpose better, but would be impassable in wet weather.

{275} The woods abound in pigeons, a small species of fowls which migrates to the southward in winter, and return to the north in spring. Their numbers are so immense that they sometimes move in clouds, upwards of a mile in length. At the time when they are passing, the people have good sport in shooting them, as one flock frequently succeeds another before the gun can be reloaded. The parts of the woods where they roost, are distinguished by the trees having their branches broken off, and many of them deadened by the pressure of the myriads that alight upon them.

The number of grasshoppers is amazingly great. A swarm of them rises from amongst the grass or weeds, at every footstep of the pedestrian. Some large species are winged, and can fly to the distance of twelve, and even twenty yards. This remark applies to every part of America which I have seen. The country abounds with a multitude of insects, much diversified in species, colours, and habits. Wasps and hornets are extremely numerous. I have not suffered from mosquitoes in the degree that I had been taught to expect.

_Sept. 28._ Clarkville and Leesburg are two very small towns. Passed a young man who was lame, I believe, from a rheumatic affection, a complaint that is pretty frequent in this country, from the quick transitions in the temperature of the climate. This traveller told me that he was on his return from New Orleans, having gone down the river in the capacity of boatman, and that he had travelled most of the way homeward on foot. On my suggesting that he should remain with a farmer for a few days, where he might work at the harvest, a kind of labour which does not require much locomotion, he told me that he had applied to several, but they refused to give him employment.

{276} The road between Leesburg and Munro is over high ridges and deep ravines. The country here (Highland County) is allowed to be healthy, but a dense population must be accumulated before the natural obstacles to communication can be surmounted. The bridges here, as in other new settlements, are nothing more than two long trees thrown over the stream, about eight feet apart, with split or round pieces of timber laid across these, side by side. In the case of a deep ravine, the road is directly down the bank to the end of the bridge.

_Sept. 29._ Greenfield and Oldtown are two small towns. The former has made considerable progress of late. The woods were assuming the colours of autumn. This change was accelerated by slight frosts which occurred on two mornings, about the time of the equinox. The sugar-maple, the dogwood, and the beech, were the most forward.

I remained for the night with an old tavern-keeper, who had been a soldier in the revolutionary service. He is proprietor of a good farm, which is occupied by his son-in-law, who, last year, raised nine hundred bushels, including corn and wheat, by his individual exertions. I had previously heard of a negro from Kentucky, who, in the same year, settled on a prairie near Vincennes, and there raised a thousand bushels of corn. The last of these quantities may be assumed as a full maximum of the produce that may be raised by one man, even where great fertility of soil, industry, and health, conspire together. But as this quantity of grain would now sell for only two hundred and fifty dollars, without deducting the expense of carrying it to market, or allowing any thing for the provender of a horse, while the wages of a labourer may be {277} now fairly stated at three hundred and fifty dollars for a year, it is evident that farmers, from such a small return, cannot hire the labour of other people.

On the 30th I crossed the Great Sciota, a river that is great indeed in times of wet weather; but the ford, which is at the head of a stream, was not then more than eight or nine inches deep. The river, notwithstanding, retains a grandeur that is not unbecoming its name. The stream is broad, covering nearly the whole of its capacious bed. The water is limpid, and the banks are covered with a growth of stupendous sycamores and other large trees.

Pickaway Plains consist of flat land.[151] The clear part is a prairie, entirely destitute of trees, and is about seven miles long and five broad. To a European, who has been upwards of two years immersed in the woods, such a clear space is truly exhilarating. It was while proceeding along a fine smooth road, at a brisk trot, that I suddenly discovered I was making my _entrée_ into the plain.--The air was still, clear, and admitted of the most distinct vision, so that I could see a distant blue ridge of high land, which I supposed to be in Kentucky. After having advanced about half a mile into the open space, I observed a long cloud of dust over the road. The fore part of this train seemed at my horse’s feet, and under my vehicle, and the other end of it was in that part of the wood from whence I emerged. Possibly a native of the American woods might be more surprised on his first entering a prairie than I was, but I have a doubt whether his sensations would be as pleasant as mine _were_.

The soil is of a dark coloured earth, apparently mixed with a large portion of vegetable matter, and {278} lies on a gravelly subsoil. When extremely rich lands are spoken of in this part of the country, they are apt to be compared with Pickaway. The inhabitants of the plain are occasionally visited by agues.

I believe that I have not heretofore mentioned any particulars respecting the dust of the roads of this country. The clothes of travellers are frequently covered with it, and it passes through the smallest crevices, into trunks and packing boxes. This may probably arise from the heat of the climate, which dries the mud very much, or from the fine division of the earthy particles, and perhaps from the abundance of vegetable matters intermixed.

I lodged at a tavern about two miles west of New Lancaster. The landlord removed from Pennsylvania to this neighbourhood about twenty years ago. The site of the house in which he now lives, is the third that he has cleared of the timber with his own hands, since his arrival. His buildings and farm, by their neatness, bespeak his industry, and he seems to enjoy the comforts of affluence as the reward of his labours. In the neighbourhood of this place are some high ridges of a coarse-grained sandstone, with some small pine trees on their summits. The lower lands are rich. The landlord showed me a pumpkin that weighed a hundred and sixty pounds.

_Monday, Oct. 2._ On the morning of this day, and on the afternoon of the 30th ultimo, I passed through several low prairies of small size; the soil is of a black vegetable matter, that is somewhat bituminous, and appears to be imperfectly decomposed. Some chinks of two or three inches wide, that are to be seen in the surface, show, that at other seasons of the year, this ground is wet. Except for the heat of the climate, it is probable that {279} these prairies would have been mosses similar to the peat earth of Europe.

New Lancaster is a county town,[152] with a court-house and a bank. The situation is pleasant, and the town contains some good brick houses. Neatness and comfort are apparent there.

Lebanon is a small place, situated on high ground. It is entirely built of wood. Several persons affirmed to me, that the ague is not prevalent in this place.

Newark[153] is a county town of a pleasant aspect. Some parts of the lands adjoining are moist, and naturally fitted for being converted into meadows. Good iron is made in the neighbourhood, and sold at four cents per pound. There was a young man in the tavern there, who said, that he had come directly from Philadelphia, and that he had seen a considerable number of families on their journey to the eastward, after finding themselves dissatisfied with their prospects in the western country.

On the evening of the 2d and on the 3d, much rain fell. On the 4th, I resumed my journey.--I observed much land well adapted for meadow, and a few small patches actually occupied in that way; and noticed that the ground in general yields more grass, and has preserved its verdure better than that in the lower parts of the State. I halted for the night at Mount Vernon,[154] which is another county town, and the place of the Owl Creek Bank, well known among the paper manufactories of this country.

Owl Creek is one of the head waters of Muskingum River, and is a copious stream of clear water. It is crossed by a large wooden bridge, and turns an extensive mill, which is in sight of the road.

{280} On the 5th, I travelled over some high, rugged land, where chesnut trees are numerous and of a large size. The presence of this kind of timber, is understood to be an indication of the poverty of the soil on which it grows; but it is valued principally on account of its resisting the effects of the weather for a great length of time. In the afternoon a heavy shower of rain fell, which obliged me to stop at a tavern at the Clear Fork, which is only fifteen miles from Mount Vernon.

The Clear Fork is another head branch of Muskingum River, and has a plentiful run of water. It seems that the river Ohio derives the greater part of its waters, in dry seasons, from the springs which rise in the high lands at a considerable distance from it. I have, at various times, observed that most of the streams that originate in the lower country are either entirely dried up, or are very small runs in summer, while the tributaries in the higher parts of the country run copiously. This fact is corroborated by the present superior verdure of the high country, in showing, that the quantity of rain is greater than in the lower parts. A lower temperature, and the intermixture of breezes from the valleys of the Mississippi and the Ohio, with those from the lakes and the river St. Lawrence, are to be inferred as the most probable causes.

_Oct. 6._ Between the Clear Fork and Mansfield (9¹⁄₂ miles) the ground is hilly, and part of it, like that travelled over on the 5th, abounding with chesnut trees. Except for the strength and spirit of my horse, I had not succeeded in carrying my baggage over this rugged part of the country. The roads are not laid out under proper supervision, but pass over steep land, or round the fences of inclosed fields, at the will of interested persons. {281} They calculate badly, however, who disregard utility.

Mansfield is another county town,[155] and is favoured as the seat of a bank. I lodged at Trucksville, a new town, consisting of about half a dozen of frame-houses. The lands of the neighbourhood appeared excellent.

On the 7th, I passed through a part of the country with a surface which is gently undulated. The little intervales seem to be nearly horizontal in their bottoms. This, with the woods that obstruct the view everywhere, imposes the aspect of a low flat country, an illusion that I could only dispel by recollecting that throughout my journey I had travelled in a direction contrary to the motion of the rivers, and by observing that the waters run in different directions, part towards the Ohio, and part towards Lake Erie.

It might be difficult to form a conception of any topographical inquiry more interesting to the State of Ohio, and some other parts, than the structure and conditions of the high grounds which separate between the waters of the river Ohio and Lake Erie. It remains to be ascertained, whether a sufficient quantity of water can be found for supplying the summit level of the contemplated canal between the river and the lake, and through what point in the ridge the lowest, or otherwise most eligible line may be drawn. When the first of these questions is solved, it will be easy to say whether New Orleans or New York will be the future emporium of this part of the country. I believe the only specific information on the subject, that has been published, is in a paper by Governor Brown,[156] of the State of Ohio, who has repeatedly recommended that the legislature should pass an act for causing the necessary surveys to be made, {282} but without effect. It is curious that it was the legislature of the same State (Ohio) that, a few years ago, made an overture to the Congress, for ascertaining whether it is practicable to make a canal between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean.

The country between New Lancaster and the heads of the waters that fall into Lake Erie (about a hundred miles) is high, fertile, well watered, and comparatively exempt from the endemical sicknesses which annoy the inhabitants of lower lands.

The country over which I travelled on the 8th, is intermixed with flat lands. The great holes and ruts in the roads showed that they are occasionally drenched with water. If my olfactory organs did not deceive me, the air was somewhat tainted.

At Munro, a small branch of Huron River, I had some difficulty in procuring breakfast. All the family in the tavern were either sick, or so much emaciated by recent disease, that they were scarcely able to do any thing. Every person in the town, old and young, had been attacked, two individuals being only excepted. For two years past, the place has been more unhealthy than formerly; and the people believe that the change has been occasioned by the erection of a mill-dam in the creek. The surmise is probably just, as the dam is now dry, and both the mud and vegetable matters are exposed to the heat and consequent decomposition, evolving hydrogen gas, which is understood to be deleterious.

At the distance of about fourteen miles from Portland, the road enters the great prairie that stretches along the south side of the lake. It is covered with coarse grass, of a luxuriant growth, and an immense variety of weeds. Some slight eminences are wooded, and resemble islands or {283} peninsulas in the plain. In passing along, I perceived openings which seemed to extend to the distance of twelve or fourteen miles.

For several miles the road is over a ridge, sixty or eighty feet in breadth, about eight feet higher than the plain, and five or six feet higher than the flat ground immediately to the southward. This ridge or step runs in a winding line, forming a convexity towards the lake, where it crosses the higher parts of the prairie, and recedes to the southward, forming a concave curve round hollows in the ground, thus preserving a horizontal position. A doubt of this having been once the margin of the lake can scarcely be entertained.

The ridge just mentioned is dry and of a gravelly soil. It is preferred by the settlers for the sites of their houses. Some patches of the prairie are inclosed by worn fences, and produce large crops of maize. Cattle range in the prairies, and are larger and fatter than those reared by the Ohio River. A few stacks of coarse natural hay stand on the ground that produced them.

Bloomingtown is a town consisting of about ten houses, and is situated on a sandy eminence in the edge of the prairie:--a small place, but deserving of notice from its abortive Bank. A company was formed, plates engraved, and the bank notes brought to the spot. At the time when this happened, the people had just become jealous of unchartered banks. The company applied to the Legislature of the State for a charter, which was refused. The bankers not venturing to sign the pictures, but unwilling to lose the expense of manufacturing them, sold them by auction. They were afterwards subscribed by a fictitious president and cashier, and fraudulently put into circulation.

{284} Near the lake the shell limestone appears. This seems to be the base on which the strata of the higher country rests. The higher country, near Pittsburg, the Muskingum, and Sciota rivers, the Silver-Creek hills, and the high land, over which I have recently come, has strata of sandstone, slate-clay, bituminous shale, and, in various places, coal.

Portland is a town situated on the shore of the indenture in the south-western extremity of Lake Erie, called Sandusky Bay.[157] It is only three years since it was founded, and contains thirty dwelling houses, four warehouses, and has four temporary wharfs. At present the trade is in salt, brought from Onondago in New York State, and in imported goods. There is a boat at one of the wharfs, which carries ten and a half tons; it was built in Connecticut, and was carried by land over several portages in the way; and I have been told that there is a vessel of fifty feet keel on the lake, that was carried over the same obstructions, which lie between Hudson River and Lake Erie. A steam-boat which sails between Detroit and Buffalo touches at this place.

Portland has had a share of the sickness of the season, a number of persons being now confined to bed, and many meagre convalescents are to be seen walking about the street. In addition to the fevers and the ague, so prevalent, some have been afflicted by an influenza, and are wearing shades over their faces on account of sore eyes.

Venice is another new town, which stands about three miles farther west the bay. It has more houses than Portland, but has now only one family in it, a mortal sickness having carried off a considerable part of the population, which caused the survivors to desert the place. The bay no doubt contributes {285} to disease, as the water is shallow, and out of the course of the principal current of the lake, and produces grasses and confervæ that are washed ashore in times of wind, and emit a disagreeable effluvia.

Although I have been in the country possessed by the Indians during the two last days of my journey, I did not happen to see any of these people by the way. Since coming to Portland, I have seen a few of them in town. One party had brought for sale a few pots of honey, which they had taken out of hollow trees, and some mats, fabricated from dyed rushes, which were beautifully divided into compartments of different colours. Most of them were clothed with a piece of blanket wrapped round them, and with leather mocasins, or shoes, on their feet, and the habiliments of others approached very near to the form of clothing worn by civilized people. Some of the men are sprightly and well formed in their persons, displaying an energy and frankness in their countenances which indicate the absence of suspicion and fear.

My journey has been, on the whole, more pleasant than I could have anticipated. The principal obstructions in the way were the stumps and roots of trees, which obliged me to drive with much caution, and often restricted my horse to a walk. At taverns I sometimes found that the landlord was from home, and that no hostler was kept, and found it necessary to feed and water my horse, and to yoke or unyoke as occasion required; but every landlord that I met with acted in an obliging manner, and of some of them I conceived the most favourable opinion.

In the last hundred and fifty miles which I travelled, I met with few travellers, but several {286} of these few were well dressed and polite men. I have also seen some elegant ladies by the way. Indeed, I have often seen among the inhabitants of the log-houses of America, females with dresses composed of the muslins of Britain, the silks of India, and the crapes of China. During the journey just detailed, I must confess that I never saw a people more exclusively devoted to agriculture, and proportionally fewer idle men lounging in taverns, than I did in the more populous parts of the country. The most disagreeable quality that I discovered, was the inquisitive dispositions of some of them.--“What are you loaded with?” was reiterated almost every day; and, “Where are you going? Where are you come from? Are you pedling? Is it goods or plunder that you have got?”[158] were also questions asked. In justice to them, I must say, that they do not seem to be sensible of the indecorum of such conduct; and I believe that when similar interrogations are put to them, they answer without hesitation.

FOOTNOTES:

[143] Dr. Drake, who is a native of the western country, after noticing the effects of a dry summer, adds, “But, fortunately, such extraordinary droughts occur too seldom, and are too limited in their extent, to be regarded as any great calamity.”--_Picture of Cincinnati_, p. 105.--FLINT.

[144] A series of lively sketches of Edinburgh society by John Gibson Lockhart (1794-1854), published in _Blackwood’s Magazine_ during 1819.--ED.

[145] Scott’s novel, _The Monastery_, was published in 1820.--ED.

[146] In order to view the country, Flint pursued a singular route from Cincinnati to Lake Erie. His course was through Warren, Clinton, Highland, Ross, Pickaway, Fairfield, Licking, Knox, Richland, Huron, and Erie counties. The principal points touched were Lebanon in Warren, Lancaster in Fairfield, Newark in Licking, and Mansfield in Richland. He reached Lake Erie at the present Huron, at the mouth of Huron River. His roundabout tour brought him through some of the very best portions of the state.--ED.

[147] Reading was first settled in 1794 by Abraham Voorhees, who laid out the town four years later. It was for some time called Voorheestown, but rechristened out of compliment to some of the early settlers who came from Reading, Pennsylvania.--ED.

[148] The Kentucky religious awakening of 1800, spreading into southern Ohio, caused such a state of religious excitement that the Shakers of New Lebanon, New York, thinking it a profitable field in which to plant their doctrines, sent three missionaries to Warren County in 1805. They found many converts among the excited people, and Union Village, or Shakertown, soon sprang up. They were called Shakers not so much from the dancing, as from the handshaking, head shaking, and other bodily contortions in their religious exercises.--ED.

[149] The four proprietors, who were also the only settlers on the site of Lebanon, laid out the town in 1802. Becoming the county seat of Warren County, it thereafter grew rapidly, and in 1809 was chosen as the site for Miami University.--ED.

[150] The road crossed the Little Miami near the border line between Warren and Green counties.--ED.

[151] For the Pickaway Plains, see Cuming’s _Tour_, volume iv of our series, note 143.--ED.

[152] For the early history of Lancaster, see Cuming’s _Tour_, volume iv of our series, note 145.--ED.

[153] Newark was settled and laid out in 1802 by William Schenck, of Newark, New Jersey. In the fall of that year a considerable colony came from Pennsylvania. It was incorporated in 1826.--ED.

[154] Mt. Vernon, the seat of Knox County, was laid out in 1805, and named after Washington’s home on the Potomac, its early settlers having come from Virginia and Maryland.--ED.

[155] James Hedges, a government surveyor, laid out the town of Mansfield in 1808, naming it in honor of Colonel Jared Mansfield, surveyor-general of the United States. In 1820 it contained about 250 inhabitants.--ED.

[156] Ethan Allen Brown was elected governor of Ohio in 1818. He resigned his office to accept a seat in the United States senate.--ED.

[157] For the early history of Portland, see Buttrick’s _Voyages_, volume viii of our series, note 34.--ED.

[158] Plunder is a cant term used in the western country, signifying travelling baggage.--FLINT.

{287} LETTER XXIV[159]

Passage on Lake Erie--Presque Isle--Buffalo--The Falls of Niagara--Kingston--Youngstown--Newark--Passage on Lake Ontario--Scotch Settlement in Upper Canada--Descend the River St. Lawrence--Thousand Islands--Brokeville--Prescott-Ogdensburgh--Rapids--St. Regis--Lake St. Francis--Falls--Cotu-du-Lac--The Cedar Falls and Village--Lake St. Louis--La Chine--Cachnewaga--Montreal--Passage down the St. Lawrence--Sorel--Lake St. Peter’s--Trois Rivieres--Settlements in Lower Canada--The Falls of Richelieu--Quebec--Heights of Abraham--Lorete--Indians--Remarks on the People--Lumber Trade--Government--Climate.

_Quebec, Nov. 9, 1820._

Since writing my last letter to you I have removed from the head of Lake Erie to this place--a very considerable distance; but as I proceeded most of the way by water, I had very little communication with the shore, and very scanty means of making myself acquainted with the country.[160]

On the 14th I went on board the American steam-boat _Walk-in-the-Water_, a fine vessel of 330 tons burden, with two masts, and rigged, for taking advantage of the winds in the manner of sea-craft.[161] The interior of this vessel is elegant, and the entertainment is luxurious. There were twelve cabin passengers of genteel appearance and polite manners, and about an equal number of persons in the steerage; the whole indicating a degree {288} of intercourse and refinement which I did not expect to see on Lake Erie. The southern bank only was in sight. It is low, and many cleared patches were to be seen at intervals amongst the woods. Probably the time is not far distant when the anticipation of Campbell will be realized,

“There shall the flocks on thymy pasture stray,
And shepherds dance at summer’s op’ning day;
Each wand’ring genius of the lonely glen
Shall start to view the glittering haunts of men.”

There are numerous islands in the lake, which are all covered with a growth of timber, and were then beautifully variegated with the tints of the season. These are the islands in which rattle-snakes and other reptiles are said to be so numerous that it is dangerous to land on them.

During the afternoon, and a part of the night, we experienced the most severe gale that our mariners had felt on the lake. The swell rose to a great height, and occasionally immersed one of the wheels deeply, while the other was almost entirely out of the water, causing the vessel to heave and flounce very disagreeably. Most of the passengers were affected by the same kind of sickness, similar to that which prevails at sea.

_Nov. 15._ We continued in sight of the United States side of the lake, but without enjoying a single peep of the Canadian shore. The summit of the country between the lake and the Ohio was in sight. It is high land, but what may be called a flat ridge of the most evenly contour, without any pointed hills or conspicuous prominences. Land birds perched on the rigging. The water appeared to be green, showing that its depth is considerable. In some parts it has been sounded and found to be thirty-five fathoms deep. Altogether, {289} the lake presents much of the phenomena of the ocean.

Erie, formerly called Presque Isle, is a small town. Before this place, the British squadron captured during the late war, is sunk for preservation. Some of our people who went ashore here, were told that a schooner with eight men was lost in the storm of the preceding night.

The numbers of water-fowl seen in the lake is truly astonishing. These migrate to the southward in the winter.

Late on the evening of the 16th, we anchored off Buffalo, and on the morning of the 17th dropped two miles down the river, to Black Rock.

Buffalo is a thriving town in the State of New York. Coaches pass from thence to Albany, which is on the route to the city of New York. When the great canal between Hudson River and New York is completed, Buffalo must become a place of considerable importance.[162]

The New York canal is a work not only interesting to a large portion of the United States, but also to Upper Canada. Already ninety miles of the line is completed and in operation, and the continuance of the present exertions must in a short time finish the whole. Should the government of Britain continue to neglect the improvement of the inland navigation of Canada, and persist in excluding the colonies from the advantages of a free trade, and give their grain a nominal preference in the British market, while that market is in reality shut against it, a new interest must arise in the upper province. England may still give Canadian lands gratis, and garrison the frontier posts with an idle soldiery, but she cannot shut the eyes of her subjects against the facilities to be derived {290} from an uninterrupted navigation to the port of New York, which is free to the flags of all nations, and open to the sea at every season of the year.

Opposite to Buffalo is Port Erie, on the Canadian side of the river,--pleasant situation, but apparently without any thing like the bustle that animates the southern shore.

At Black Rock, the river Niagara is about a mile in breadth, and runs at the rate of eight knots per minute, and its greatest depth is said to be about ten fathoms.[163] The lake, forming an extensive reservoir, greatly equalizes the discharge of water, particularly as this river is without the floods that characterize most other streams.

One of the passengers on board the steam-boat, a Captain of the United States army, on his way to Fort Niagara, agreed to travel along with me. We hired a two-horse waggon to carry ourselves and baggage. The actual portage to the falls of Niagara is only seven miles; but as we found that there was no boat in readiness to sail from Black Rock, we resolved to proceed the whole way by land, which is thirty-four miles. The gentleman with whom I travelled was on his return from Green Bay, an inlet of Lake Michigan, where he had gone with some soldiers who were banished to that place. Green Bay is a place of exile, so far removed from the other settlements of the United States, that culprits have it not in their power to escape from thence.

Our journey down the southern bank of the river was extremely pleasant. The banks are low {291} and verdant to the water’s edge, and the margin, in most parts, forming fine curves, smooth as if finished by art. The islands are also low and covered with luxuriant timber. It is the extent of water-prospect, bounded in every direction by woods, that constitutes the grandeur of this part. At the lower extremity of Grand Island, the sheet of water seems to be about three miles broad. The soil is good, and yields better pasturage and hay than the lands of the more southern parts of the continent. A happy compensation for the severity of the northern winter.

On approaching within two or three miles of the falls, a cloud of spray is to be seen rising 600 or 700 feet into the air. At that distance, the noise of the waters has something like the effect of a strong wind among the trees of a forest.

Immediately above the precipice, there is an island beautifully wooded, with a mixture of white cedars and other evergreen trees, which divides the river into two unequal parts, leaving the principal channel toward the Canadian shore. The head of this island, and the beach of the United States side of the river, are connected by a rude wooden bridge, which must have been constructed with great difficulty, as the bottom is of rock, and the water runs with great velocity. On both sides of the island the declivity is great, and the furious stream is broken at intervals by falling over shelving rocks. The division of the rapids toward the Canadian side, would have been remarked as highly interesting, had it been situated somewhere else than immediately adjoining to the great falls of Niagara.

The stranger, on arriving at the point of land close at the head of the cataract, and that juts over {292} the tremendous abyss, is in a moment arrested by the awful grandeur of the scene, or if he is at all inclined to motion, it is to recede from the precipice. The sight of an immense volume of water poured over a perpendicular cliff, situated almost under his feet,[164] into the chasm below, and the thundering noise, are calculated to excite a degree of astonishment that borders on dismay.

The part of the river which passes between the island and the south-easterly shore, falls over the abrupt edge of a precipice that has a few small gaps in it; the water discharged is necessarily deep in these, and forms green columns, which descend twenty or thirty feet before they assume the whiteness that is uniform over other parts of the sheet that here spends its fury on a heap of large blocks which have been undermined and detached from the rocks above. A vast body of dense spray deflected from those large masses of stone, flies off horizontally, and in every other direction, and completely obscures the bottom of the fall, and a considerable portion of the chasm adjoining.

The chasm, from the falls downward, is bounded on both sides by perpendicular cliffs. After descending seventy or eighty feet by a wooden stair, the way to the water’s edge is down a steep foot-slope, amongst large blocks of stone, and small trees of white cedar which line the banks, and add much to the beauty of this grand ravine.

A small skiff is kept for the convenience of those who would have a view of the falls from below. Sailing here sometimes exposes the traveller to {293} have his clothes wet from the falling vapours, the waters being so much agitated; but as the commotion is nothing more than the heavings of an eddy that comes into contact with the stream, no danger whatever is to be apprehended, and I am apt to believe that few visitors will forego the pleasure of crossing at this place.

It was not till I got afloat on the river that I obtained a comprehensive view of the whole cataract. The part between the island and the north-western shore, forms a hollow curve that is called the Horse-shoe Bend. It is in the inmost recess of this bay that the greatest quantity of water is precipitated, and from this part the most deep toned sounds seemed to proceed. The great body of water which dashes from the summit of the Horse-shoe Bend, is evidenced by the majestic curve that the liquid forms, where it rolls over the top of the rock, and by the green colour that it retains till the vast column is concealed by the waters which rise in revulsion from the vortex below. It is also over the Horse-shoe Bend, that the vapour ascends in the thickest cloud, and to the greatest height.