Chapter XVIII: Letter IV: Park House, Albion, Aug. 20, 1821 (7)

Pompions, or pumpkins, is another highly prized production of this country; they often grow to an immense size, and weigh from 40 to 60 lbs. I have heard of a single vine that, in 1818, grew a load of pumpkins. It grew in the Big Prairie, about 30 miles to the south of us, on some rotten chaff, where some wheat had been trodden out the year before. I find they do best where the ground is moved or very mellow to run on, as they strike root at every joint as they run. A load is forty bushels; I have never seen them measured, but I judge from the waggons I have seen them in. I last year sold three waggon loads, in the place, at four dollars {215} a-load. Cattle of all descriptions, pigs, and poultry, are fond of them; but all prefer the inside and seeds to the outside. They make good sauce and excellent pies, and are much eaten here; they are sliced and dried for winter use, for pies and sauce. They will keep till the frosts come, but will soon rot when frozen. At Major Phillips's, I once tasted some molasses made from them, and liked them very much, not being so sweet as the real molasses, but very pleasant flavoured.

Swede turnips but little known here; a person who resides at Birk's Prairie, sowed an acre in May, on a piece of land that had been in cultivation for two or three years; they are thin on the ground, but seem likely to be of a good size, notwithstanding the dryness of the season. They have been twice hoed, but were sown on one ploughing only.

Common turnips are sometimes sown after a crop of flax; the time of sowing the beginning of August, but many of the {216} Americans are very particular as to the age of the moon, in this and many other things; and if they should be put by in doing it, they will not do it that year, as many of them are very superstitious, having great faith with regard to the moon's age, &c. Hoeing turnips is not practised by them.

Broom-corn; the seed is much like the seed of crop-weed: it is planted in rows on the sides of corn-fields, and is frequently ploughed between. It resembles Indian corn, but is slighter. I have seen it upwards of ten feet high, the corn comes on the top of it, on long slender fibres that unite at the stalk. The corn is useful for poultry, and the stalks or fibres make excellent brooms, the same as carpet-brooms. I have a large quantity of it growing at Birk's Prairie. Many of the English have none; and as brooms are much wanted, I shall soon dispose of all I have to spare.

We have some uncommonly fine hops in the woods, and in some of the prairies; {217} we found them very convenient for making yeast. They are of the white-bine sort, like the grape-hop of England. I intend to plant a few hills in the spring, as I can get plenty from the woods; and I have saved a few seeds, to see if it will improve them or not. They usually grow on the sides of creeks, and on low rich bottoms that are not liable to be flooded, that is always on the best soil.

The wild flowers of the prairies are numerous, and many of them are beautiful; and there is a succession of them from April to October or November. Most of them are new to me, and as I am no botanist I can give but a poor description of them. I have noticed the following, but not exactly like those of England: sun-flowers, goldenrod, larkspurs, sweet-williams, pinks, lilies, blue cowslips, roses, briers, persicaries, and violets, white, blue, and yellow, but without scent.

My daughters brought some flower-seeds from England, but few of them grew; {218} some of them came up, but did not in general flourish. Stocks, sweet-peas, &c. were weak; on the contrary, princes-feathers and convolvulus grew stronger than in England. Mignonette grew, but not very strong, nor was the scent so fine or powerful; which, I believe, is generally the case with flowers in America: this I attribute to the heat of the climate. But the prairie-roses, balm, here called bergamot, and sassafras-wood, are exceptions, and have all powerful scents.

I have seen sun-flowers near twelve feet high, and I have heard in Ohio they plant them for the seed, from which they extract oil; and there are some in the prairies, from which turpentine distils, in the same manner as from fir-trees. I have also seen growing, in some gardens near us, a plant from which an oil may be extracted, like castor-oil. I had some marigold plants that came into blossom, of a very pale colour, and did not produce any seed.

{219} There are many small flowering shrubs that are new to me, in the woods and prairies.

The herbs I have met with are balm, horehound, pennyroyal, fennel, coriander, peppermint, and spearmint; but the last two are scarce; sage is extremely plentiful, but unlike English sage of any kind. I have not seen any thyme or wormwood.

The following trees and herbs are used in medicine--snake-root, gentian, genseng, Columbia-root, and sumach, and sassafras trees.

We found many morels in the spring, but the weather has been too dry for mushrooms, and I have seen but few.

Most of the weeds are new to me; and I believe to most of the Americans they are but little known, as this part of the country is almost as little known to the American settlers as to the European, and many of its productions differ from those to the eastward or southward. I have seen a few docks, sow-thistles, plaintain, dunghill-weed, {220} and water-pepper; but land in cultivation here is easily kept clear of weeds.

I have seen no sweet potatoes; but Irish, or common potatoes, grow tolerably in a wet season, but in a dry summer come to little. The early ones are planted in April, but those intended for winter use not till June; but neither will answer this season. In this year, at different times, I have planted about sixty rods, but I shall have but little more than the seed again. They are not so good here as in England; their present price is fifty-five cents a bushel, and not many to be procured for that. Last fall they were from thirty-three to fifty cents. Very few parsnips or carrots; but they are said to be good in a wet season. Indian corn ears, I have before said, are eaten as a vegetable.

Small beans, of the kidney kind, are cultivated by the Americans; they are generally planted to climb on the corn, and are of many sorts, and different colours. There are some dwarf ones, {221} called bunch-beans, and they all appear to do better than in England. I brought some scarlet-runners, and some dwarf ones with me; the climate appears too warm for the former, the latter succeeded much better. Beans and vegetables require to be planted thinner here than in England, that the earth may be moved between them, as they then receive much more benefit from the heavy dews of this country than when the ground is hard. Here are a few Indian peas in growth, leaf and blossom, much like a kidney-bean; the pods are very long, and contain from nine to sixteen peas in each; but they resemble but little either peas or beans. I had a very few given me; and when first planted they grew but slowly, but afterwards rapidly.

Cabbages grow well; the Americans plant a large backward sort, and make but one sowing and planting out in a year. In the fall they dig them up and bury them in the ground, or rather, they plant them underneath {222} it; as they dig a deep trench, and set a row of cabbages with their roots in it, then, bending the outward leaves over the top of the cabbage, cover them with earth, and thus preserve them, in the most severe frosts of this country. I believe, the great heat of the sun in the day, falling on the frozen vegetables, is the principal cause of their dying, as it completely scorches every thing that is green. Broad-beans fail in a great measure; they may sometimes succeed, but, I believe, the seed again is the usual crop.

Onions are two years coming to perfection; the first year they are sown very thick, and the next they are transplanted, at about eight inches apart, when they grow to a middling size. Prairie onions are common in moist situations, and are very good early in the spring, but soon get hard; the root is very small. As they come up early in the spring before other vegetables, cows eat them with great {223} avidity, and it gives their milk and butter a disagreeable flavour; this lasts for two or three weeks.

Shalots grow to great perfection, and are planted by the Americans in preference to onions.

I have a few asparagus plants that look well; I have heard they succeed admirably more to the eastward. Here the plants are all young. Squashes are a sort of gourd frequently boiled for sauce, and much relished by many. There are a variety of gourds, but, I believe, of little use, except one sort, which has a hard rind or shell, which serves for many uses; as bottles, pans, ladles, and tunnels. Their form is round, tapering off towards the tail. By cutting off the end next the tail, a bottle is formed; the pulp and seeds may be easily shaken or washed out, and the top being flat, it will stand upright. By cutting off the neck, a pan or jar is made. By cutting a slice from one side it makes a ladle, much used to lade water with, and to drink out {224} of; and, lastly, by cutting off the top, and the end of the neck near the tail, a tunnel is formed: they hold water well, and will last a considerable time.

Cucumbers grow well, and, I believe, are more wholesome than in England, and far more productive.

Parsley and radishes thrive; and, I believe, lettuce, but I have seen but few of them; horse-raddish is very scarce. Capsicum is cultivated for seasoning soups, &c.

The woods round the prairies are not so thick, nor the timber so large, as on the river bottoms, but they contain a great variety of trees; viz. oak of many sorts, as, white, black, red, post, swamp, laurel, pin, Spanish, and blackjack, and some others; three kinds of hiccory; two of ash; two of elm; two of maple; black-walnut, cherry, sycamore, persimon, gum, hack-berry, cotton-wood, mulberry, serve, honey-locust, sassafras, dog-wood, crab, &c. On the creek bottoms, coffee-berry, poplar, pecan, white walnut, &c. &c. The undergrowth {225} in the woods is, hazel, spice-wood, red-bud, haws, sumach, plum, and brambles. Willows grow on the water-courses.

The woods and prairies produce many fruits; some of them excellent, others but indifferent: I will briefly describe them. The grape-vines run over the tallest trees in a very extraordinary manner, sometimes reaching from the ground to the boughs of trees forty or fifty feet high, without touching the bodies of the trees. I suppose they must have first fixed to the boughs when the trees were very young, and continued growing with them; otherwise I cannot think how they could reach so great a height without support. These vines are of so strong a nature, that I have frequently seen them fixed on a high sweep to draw water from wells, some of them 30 feet deep, and they seem to answer as well as a rope. This method of drawing water is common with the Americans near us, and is the same that is practised by the market-gardeners in the neighbourhood of London. {226} There are several sorts of grapes, but not in general very good; soon after our arrival we found some, nearly dried to raisins, good eating, and we used some for tarts and sweet-sauce. I suppose they would make wine, with sugar; but I do not know that any one has tried the experiment. Pomegranates grow on a vine much like a cucumber, the size of an orange or rather larger: a beautiful fruit, of a yellow or orange colour, of a most fragrant smell, but I have never tasted one; they are said to be most delicious when preserved. There are many sorts of sweet melons, and much difference of size in the various kinds. I have only noticed musk, of a large size; and nutmeg, a smaller one; and a small pale-coloured melon of a rich taste; but there are other sorts with which I am unacquainted. Watermelons are also in great plenty, of vast size; some, I suppose, weigh twenty pounds: they are more like pumpkins, in outward appearance, than melons; they are round or oblong, generally green, {227} or a green and whitish colour on the outside, and white or pale on the inside, with many black seeds in them; very juicy; in flavour, like a rich water; not sweet and mawkish, but cool and pleasant. After people are accustomed to them, they generally prefer them to sweet melons; they are considered extremely wholesome in warm climates, as they quench thirst, and are not feverish.

Persimon is a fruit many people are fond of; it is something like a medlar. Papaws, or pawpaws, grow in clusters of three or four on a shrub 20 feet high; the fruit is three inches long and about an inch thick; in shape something like a cucumber, of a yellow colour; in flavour something like a pine, but not so rich. Strawberries nearly the same as scarlets, excellent, and in some places in great abundance. We one day gathered more than a peck of beautiful strawberries in my orchard, and we got a great many at other times: they made excellent pies. Raspberries are small and {228} dry. Cherries grow in bunches, the same as currants, very small and bitter. May-apple is a yearly plant, of only two leaves; the stalk one foot high; the fruit the size of a small apple, of a straw-colour, with some small seeds; very pleasant tasted. Plums are mostly small and sour; but there are some whose flavour resembles that of a gooseberry. I have before remarked on the excellence of the blackberries. The elderberries are fine, but generally eaten by the birds as soon as coloured. Pecan is a sort of walnut, said to be the finest nut in this country. White-walnut, or butter-nut, and black-walnut, are not so good as the English walnut. Hazel-nuts are in vast quantities; the shells hard, but the kernels good. I have some earth-nuts growing in my garden; the green of them something like clover, or rather lucern; they blow with a small yellow blossom: I planted them in rows, and earthed them like potatoes; they have two kernels inclosed in a husk, about one inch long, and as large round.

{229} Fruit, and all other trees, are of much more rapid growth here than in England. There are not many orchards yet planted, and none of them yet come to bear much, as the oldest settlement round the prairies has not been made more than four years. I planted, in March and April, a hundred and twenty apple, twenty-five peach, and eight cherry trees; the summer having been so dry, it has killed many of my apple and cherry trees, but my peach-trees are all alive. I suppose, I have about hundred live trees. I have some peach-trees, two years old, to put out in the autumn.

Having thus fulfilled my promise, by a brief description of the animal and vegetable productions, I will now mention a few particulars respecting the land. The soil is a light vegetable mould, of no great depth in general; the under soil is a fat loam or clay, of considerable depth, that retains moisture, and prevents the land from burning. The land is easy of culture, much more so than any I was ever accustomed {230} to, and dry enough to plough in a day after heavy rain; this is the case with most of the land round the prairies. Prairie land is hard to break up the first time, and requires four horses to do it effectually, it being so full of strong roots; in particular, one, called red-root, that runs a great deal: and, in moist places, there is a small shrub, named white-root, which must be grubbed up before it can be ploughed; and sometimes there is a little brushwood, of different sorts, to clear off. Land planted with corn is attended with some trouble the first year of breaking it up, as the furrows are too tough to work with a plough, but it is managed with a hoe. When it has been thoroughly broken up, in a wet or dry season, it will work well; but it is injurious to work it in very wet weather. The land differs, in several particulars, from any I ever saw before: if used with wheel-carriages, in wet weather, it retains no sign of ruts for any length of time; and, although the soil is light, it is firm to walk on; as it contains but {231} little sand, and that little of so fine a grain, as scarce to be found to grit, if handled ever so closely.

The roads are all natural roads, yet always free from ruts, and perfectly smooth when dry. I have heard the land round us is much like some in Lincolnshire; but of this I cannot judge, as I never was there. I never found any land in Surry that hoed or dug so light as this does, when it has once been well broken up. The colour of it is rather brown, but much blacker when wet; and in appearance it bears the most resemblance to peat-mould, of any soil I ever saw in England.

Many of the people here have been extensive travellers; and to have resided in three or four states, and several places in each state, is not uncommon. A man, who boarded a short time at my house, said, he was born in Old Virginia; that he removed, with his father, over the mountains into New Virginia, but left his father before he was twenty; that he married, and took up {232} his abode in the wild parts of South Carolina, and built a cabin, the first in that part of Carolina. People settling round him, he sold his land, and removed into Kentucky; and on the land he disposed of in Carolina, a town soon sprang up of 300 houses and seven large stores. In Kentucky he staid some years; but settlers arriving and seating themselves near him, he again moved off into the wild part of Indiana, near Rockport, where he now resides; but expressed a wish to come into the Illinois, as, he said, the country round him was not healthy for cattle.

A person who lives in Birks' Prairie, who has been there four years, and who has planted a small orchard, had a few apples last year, the first he ever grew, although he had planted six orchards before the present one. His wife says she has had twelve children, but never had two born in one house; and does not remember how many houses they have inhabited since they were married: yet they think they are now fixed {233} for life; but several of their sons are gone to the Red River, 700 miles to the south-west. Since I have been here, I have travelled more than I ever did in the same space of time in England. In a journey I took to Palmyra, to record my own and my sons cattle-marks, I saw a muster of Edwards' county militia, near Bonpas bridge. They amounted to several hundred men, under the command of Colonel Jourdan; there were five or six companies, but much the largest one was from our township, under Captain Cadwalleder Jones. The militia, at this muster, did not cut a very warlike appearance, being all drest in their customary clothes, except some of the officers, who had uniforms. They all find their own arms, mostly rifles; a few had fowling-pieces, and a very few only sticks. There are four musters, besides this general yearly one, of the whole county. Captain Jones's company mustered in the English Prairie, on the 1st of April, upwards of one hundred strong, from a township, where, {234} four years before, there were not six families in the whole township.

I have been several times to Shawneetown, and in these journeys I have lodged at the houses of a clergyman, a judge, a colonel, a justice, and a captain. First, at the Reverend S. Slocum's, a clergyman and justice; next, at Major Pomeroy's, late a judge in the state of Indiana; at Captain, now Major Phillips's; and lastly, at Colonel Williams's, a native of Wales, but he left it when an infant, with his father. He is a colonel in the militia.

In February, accompanied by my wife and two gentlemen from the English Prairie, I paid a visit to Harmonie. We set out late in the day, and only reached Bonpas that night; here we found the waters of the Big Wabash so much out we could not get to the ferry, but were told we might go to another, 10 miles lower down the river. This we did, by passing a slue, or bayou (that is, where the water breaks out over a low place, and again enters the river several {235} miles lower down), on a drift-wood bridge, formed of fallen trees and drifted together; our horses swimming the bayou: two of the horses ran away, as soon as they were over the bayou, and obliged our companions to walk three or four miles before they could catch them. Mrs. W. and myself were well loaded with their saddles, bridles, great coats, blankets, and saddle-bags. We caught their horses near the ferry, and passed the Big Wabash, in the ferry-boat, and had a watery road to Harmonie, which we reached at dark. In passing some woods, we saw some sugar-maple trees that were tapped, with the liquor then running into some troughs; we dismounted, and had a good draught or two of the liquor; it was pleasant-tasted.

Harmonie belongs to a society of Germans, here called Dutch, under the direction of Mr. Rapp. This society first took its rise in Germany, but being opposed by the Lutheran clergy, they emigrated to America, and settled in Pennsylvania; but {236} removed to this place, in Indiana, five or six years since. Here they have purchased some hundred acres of land: much is now cleared, but a great deal still remains in a state of nature. This society now consists of upwards of eight hundred members; they carry on many branches of business; amongst which are carpenters, wheelwrights, smiths, tanners, saddlers and harness-makers, shoe-makers, linen and woollen manufacturers, curriers; distilleries, malt and brew-houses, two water-mills, and one steam one.

They have planted a considerable number of acres with apple and peach trees; and several acres of vineyards, from which they make a small quantity of wine, not of the best quality. They have 2000 sheep, and a large quantity of stock of every description. Their store-goods are of very considerable value, and report estimates their property at 1,000,000 of dollars: this belongs to the society in general, as they have all things in common, like the Apostles; {237} and their society is said to be formed on that part of Scripture. Each lives at his own house; but all dine at the same hour, and, I believe, all take their meals in the same manner. Most of them only speak German, and divine service is performed in that language: the Reverend George Rapp is their priest; but their business is carried on in the name of his son Mr. Frederick Rapp; all accompts being made in the name of F. Rapp only. Many of the buildings are of logs; but there are some good brick houses, and a neat frame-church painted white, with a large clock. There are many brick-buildings going on; and the log-cabins are so placed, that they will serve for outhouses to the new brick-houses. Each cabin has a small garden to it; most of them are in good order, much more so than American gardens generally are. I understand brick-houses are built for those to whom the lot falls, without any regard to persons; with the exception of Mr. Rapp, who has a {238} large one. The tavern, stores, and a few others, are also brick.

The next day the tavern-keeper showed us the manufactories, distilleries, malt and brew-houses, steam, corn, and fulling mills; also a large barn, in which was a powerful eight-horse threshing-machine, with a winnowing one attached to it, so that the grain was cleaned at one operation. Many men were employed putting up the wheat and taking away the straw. Near the barn there was a capacious granary, that would contain some thousand quarters of grain. We saw more than fifty women and girls breaking flax in the streets, and all seemed fully employed. They are a most industrious people; but the greater part of them are not very enlightened. We staid two nights, and on the third morning set out for the prairies; one of the gentlemen, who accompanied us to Harmonie, we left there; and on our return a fine journey we had of it. As the water had risen much, we could {239} not reach the ferry by the same road we went by, but were forced to climb a steep hill much over-run by brush-wood; nor was the descent on the other side much better. We reached and passed the ferry: here we found the water had risen so much, as to have carried away the drift-wood bridge we had crossed in our road out, so that we could not proceed home that way. We then had the choice of returning to Harmonie, and remaining there till the water abated, which might be a fortnight or more; or agree with the ferryman to take us and our horses, nine miles down the river, and land us on the side of a pond, below the bayou, and just above another that there runs out of the river and continues out some miles. For this the man demanded eight dollars, and with this extravagant demand we were under the necessity of complying. We proceeded briskly down the river, and soon reached the entrance of the pond; where we found some large trees stumped down to keep back the fish. It took us two hours {240} to move the trees before we could enter the pond; but we at length got in, and rowed up above the bayou; where we landed, and proceeded through a wild country for some miles. We passed many small slues, and an hour after sunset reached the house of Major Phillips, only five miles west of Harmonie; but, I think, we made thirty miles of it, as we left Harmonie at eight o'clock in the morning. Here we slept, and the next day reached home, having only twenty-two miles to go. In March I visited it a second, and in May a third time, when I took a nearer road; the water was now low; it was not any where deep enough to swim my horse, but in two places nearly so.

The Wabash, at the ferry, is, I think, as wide as the Thames at London Bridge. In my two journeys I saw a great number of wild-ducks and pigeons on the banks of the Wabash; although a bad shot, I think if I had had a gun, I could have killed a great many. I was much pleased with the appearance of the gardens at this season, {241} at Harmonie. They were in excellent order, and filled with a variety of vegetables and fruit-trees; and some of them contained some beautiful flowers. Among the fruit-trees, I observed wild plum-trees grafted with prunes.

In July, I went again, and crossed the Big Wabash, by a new ferry, near the mouth of the Bonpas. The land on the Indiana side is extremely low, and I went four miles through the woods, before I saw a house, or any kind of cultivation. Some cane, an evergreen, grew the greater part of the way; it is the only evergreen in this part of the State, save mistletoe; but I have heard there are pines in the north of the Illinois. I saw in these wilds numbers of turkeys. As I approached Harmonie, I met their plow-teams, sixteen in number, just entering a field of wheat-stubble; I was much pleased with their appearance, all the horses looking well; nor did I see one blemish in the thirty-two horses.

I took a look at their vineyards; part {242} of the vines were trained on frames, and part tied up to small poles; there was a good show of grapes on many of them. The vineyards are on a steep hill, and planted round the hill, so as to have several different aspects. Trees are laid to keep the earth from washing down. The paths between the trees are sown with blue-grass.

As I returned from the vineyards to the town, I met their milch-cows going out to field; I counted eighty-seven, most of them were but indifferent cows, with a few good ones mixed with them. The dress of the Harmonites is uncommonly plain, mostly of their own manufacturing. The men wear jackets and pantaloons, with coarse hats. The women a kind of jacket and petticoat, with a particular kind of skull-cap, and a straw hat made peculiarly flat.

There is a hat-manufactory, both of fur and wool hats; they also make their straw ones. As this society do not marry, I suppose they must depend on emigration from Germany to keep up their number; as the {243} Americans are not likely to join them, as most of them regard them with jealousy, on account of their engrossing most of the business of this part of the country.

I will now give a slight and very brief sketch of the American character; but in speaking of our American neighbours, it must be recollected, that the greater part of them are backwoodsmen. Mr. Collins, of whom I bought some land, behaved in the most honourable manner, for which I shall ever respect him. Mr. Anderson, of whom I purchased my other farm, I never saw; Mr. Birkbeck transacting the business while I was at Shawneetown. My family have several American neighbours at Birks' Prairie, from whom they have received the most friendly treatment; and those with whom I have had dealings, have been uniformly civil and obliging. As we live at the entrance of Wanborough, we have frequently the first offer of game and other provisions brought for sale, and whether we buy or not, we never receive the {244} slightest incivility from them. In selling, they always take care to ask enough, as they can fall their price with a good grace; in short, they are Jews in this respect, nor are they very punctual in their payments.

Most of them are well acquainted with law, and fond of it on the most trifling occasions: I have known a law-suit brought for a piggin or pail, of the value of 25 cents. (1_s._ 1½_d._) Another failing in their character is drunkenness; and they are extremely quarrelsome when intoxicated. Many of them are sometimes truly industrious, and at other times excessively idle. Numbers of them can turn their hands to many things, having been accustomed to do for themselves in small societies. They are a most determined set of republicans, well versed in politics, and thoroughly independent. A man who has only half a shirt, and without shoes and stockings, is as independent as the first man in the States; and interests himself in the choice of men to serve his country, as much as the {245} highest man in it, and often from as pure motives,--the general good, without any private views of his own. Most of them are from the south, from North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee; and though now living in a free State, they retain many of the prejudices they imbibed in infancy, and still hold negroes in the utmost contempt; not allowing them to be of the same species of themselves, but look on _negers_, as they call them, and Indians, as an inferior race of beings, and treat them as such.

Those of whom I purchased my farms, and some others, are moved off to the Red River, 700 miles to the south-west, and, as I have said before, many of our neighbours are true backwoodsmen, always fond of moving: there are others, who wish to sell their land, with its improvements, to go to the Sagamond river, 150 miles towards the north-west. This river runs into the Illinois river, and the country near it is highly spoken of, as to soil, timber, and water. {246} They have but few diversions amongst them except hunting and shooting, here both called hunting; they use rifles, and many of them are excellent shots. In this employment or amusement, they spend much of their time, and depend partly on what they kill in making a livelihood.

I will now mention something of the religion of this part of the United States. At Albion, there is a place of worship in part of the market-house, in which divine service is performed every Sunday in the forenoon; prayers and a sermon are read by one of the inhabitants. I twice attended; the service was from the church of England, with some variations: I think they style themselves Unitarians. At Wanborough, a Baptist held meetings at his own house, but few of the inhabitants attended them. An American of the Methodist persuasion, who resides near Wanborough, holds meetings at his house; but none of the English, and but few of the Americans ever frequent them. Many {247} people wished for a place of worship; but being of different religions, it was some time before there was one established; but in April 1820, it was agreed to have public worship at Wanborough; and on Sunday, the 25th of April, divine service was first held in a log-cabin, that was built for a school-room. Prayers from the service of the church of England, with a few omissions, were read by one of the inhabitants, and a sermon by another. This meeting was well attended, and has been continued every Sunday, in the forenoon, at eleven o'clock; and those of the church of England and Quakers both frequent it. It was proposed to erect a brick meetinghouse, and a subscription was set on foot, in May, but falling short of the estimate, it was agreed to continue the use of the present room, till a sufficient sum can be collected for a brick one. There is a piece of ground set apart for a burial-ground, and several persons have been interred in it; three since I have been here.

{248} There have been four or five weddings, and five or six births, so that the English have rather increased, exclusive of new arrivals from Europe.

At Albion there have been several marriages, births, and deaths.

The Americans most commonly bury their dead near the place where they die, and erect a small pale fence round the grave, to prevent its being disturbed. I believe it is seldom they have any service read over them, except the Methodists, who have prayers at their funerals.

As there is no church established by law, of course there are no tithes. I was much struck at Baltimore, to find in what harmony people of different religions lived together, and I have since had no reason to alter my opinion. I have had much conversation with Baptists, Methodists, and Quakers. They all expressed much charity for those of other sects, although most of them seemed to have a high opinion of their own.

I will now give a few of my reasons for {249} my fixing in the Illinois. I set out with the intention of visiting it, and had my luggage with me. In my journey, from Baltimore to Wheeling, I saw but few places I should like to settle at, till near Wheeling. I was much pleased with the country a few miles above it, but that being in a slave State, I could not think of settling there; besides, the land was taken up: this was the case with many of the most desirable situations on the Ohio river; and I had no opportunity of seeing the interior of the States of Ohio and Indiana, but, I understood, much of the best parts of them were occupied.

When I reached the Prairies, I was greatly pleased to find myself in an open country, with a great deal of pretty good land for sale, at a low rate, and not very distant from water-carriage: and having the offer of some of the first selected quarter-sections, at a small advance of price, in an extremely healthy situation, containing both wood and prairie, with {250} some of it brought into cultivation, I took a situation much to my satisfaction, and still remain well pleased with it.

Our land is not so rich, nor the timber so large as on the river-bottoms; but it will bear as good wheat, corn, and grass, as a person would wish; besides having that great advantage, health. It is true we are not so well watered as in some situations, yet through an unusually dry and hot summer, our stock have found plenty of water, in some creeks, about a mile below us, and have done uncommonly well. Our having plenty of open prairie-land, for pasture or breaking up, is, in my estimation, far preferable to clearing of woodland, which is attended with much trouble and expence. Had I removed to the west side of this State, on the Mississippi river, I might, perhaps, have found as good or better land, and nearer water-carriage; but, by all accounts, not so favourable to health. Then the expence of getting my luggage there would have been considerable, and I should, {251} most probably, have been surrounded by total strangers: it is true, I knew but few at the prairies, but I had heard of many of them; and here my family were not quite in the midst of people they had never seen or heard of, as they would have been, in almost every other part of America.

There is an English settlement in Indiana, about ten miles back from Evansville, I have heard, better watered, and nearer markets than we are; but it is in the woods, and the land is inferior to ours. This is the account I have received of it, but I know nothing, only from the report of those who had no interest in either settlement. I have no personal knowledge of Mr. Hornbrook, or Mr. Maidlow, the heads of that settlement; and should any person see my account of this part of the country and come to America, I would advise him to see both settlements before he fixed in either. But I do not invite any one to leave England and come hither; for, although well pleased with the exchange of countries myself, another {252} might not be so. And many Englishmen, if they were to come here, would be much disappointed, as there is no want of tradesmen. A man with some property, and a large family, may, perhaps, do better here than in England; and a person with a considerable property might here lay the foundation of a noble fortune for his descendants, provided he laid out his money with caution, and lived on a moderate establishment. But this is not the country for fine gentlemen, or those who live in a grand style, nor for tradesmen at present; but hard-working people, who are sober, may do well, and settle their families in a plain way.

On the 7th August we had an election in this county, for the following offices, (in conjunction with Wayne county, formerly part of Edwards county):[147]--one member of congress, one member of the senate, and two members of the assembly of the State of Illinois; one sheriff, three county commissioners, and a coroner for Edwards county.

[147] Wayne County was formed in 1819 from the western part of Edwards County.--ED.

{253} The State of Illinois returns one member to congress, but it is supposed it will shortly return two; the number of the members depending on the population of the State. There were two candidates for congress, namely, Daniel P. Cooke, the present member, and Mr. K. Kane;[148] as Mr. Cooke had given general satisfaction, it is supposed Mr. Kane did not expect to come in at this election, but that he might be known at another, as a second member to congress. As the counties are divided into districts, there is an election in each district, all held on the same day. In ours there were 168 people who voted, but not all for every office. Mr. Cooke had 136 votes, Mr. Kane 18; so there remained 14 who did not vote for a member of congress. Here every person, who has attained the age of 21 years, has a vote; and there can be no perjury, as there is no oath required. All strangers or emigrants from Europe, or elsewhere, have a vote, if resident six months before the election. There was but {254} one vote refused, and that was of a person under age.

[148] Daniel P. Cook (1793-1827) was a native of Kentucky. He began to practice law in Kaskaskia in 1815, and three years later was appointed judge of the western district of the state. Elected to Congress in 1820, he served until 1826, when he was defeated by the Jackson party.

Elisha Kent Kane was also a lawyer of Kaskaskia, having removed thither from New York in 1814. He was appointed secretary of state (1818), and elected to the United States senate (1824). He died in Washington (1835), near the expiration of his second term.--ED.

Three judges are appointed by the magistrate to receive the votes, which each person delivers in writing to the judges, who have two assistants to record the names of the voters, as they deliver in their lists, as the voters do not sign their names to the lists. When a list is delivered to the judges, it is folded up and put into a locked box, by a hole in the lid, and there remains till six o'clock in the evening, when the election closes; and afterwards the box is opened, and the votes are counted up.

There were three candidates for the senate, seven or eight for the assembly, and the same number for county commissioners, two for sheriff, also two for coroner.

The voters for a member of congress are from all the counties of the state of Illinois; but for the senate and assembly, from the counties of Edwards and Wayne only; and for county commissioners, sheriff, and coroner, from Edwards county {255} only; Wayne county choosing its own coroner, &c.

I think there are about twelve districts in Wayne and Edwards county where elections were held. I was present, in the evening, at the opening of the box and counting up the votes. The two assistants to the judges had each a paper with the names of the several candidates written thereon, one of the judges took out a list, and proclaimed aloud the names of the candidates mentioned therein, and then delivered the list to the other judges, who retained the same. And the assistants each entered the votes against the name of the candidate voted for, in the following form:--

"D. P. Cooke: Congress.[149]

[149] Mr. Cooke's votes, as marked above, answer to thirty-five.--WOODS.

When a vote is told out, one of the assistants calls out "One," "two," "three," "four," or "tally," and so continues till the whole number is counted out. When the box that contains the lists is empty, the {256} number of names of the voters kept by the assistants is compared with the lists, to see if they agree. And then all the lists, and one of the papers with the candidates' names, and the number of voters, are again locked up in the box, and kept by the judges in case of a scrutiny. But the other papers with the names of the voters, &c. are sent to the county seat; where all the districts send their lists, and from these a general one is made out, and those candidates who have the highest number of votes are elected to their respective trusts.

The election was held at the house of Allen Emerson, Esq., a mile west of Wanborough, in an arm of Birks' Prairie.

One unpleasant circumstance is the paper currency of this part of the United States, and it requires some experience to know what notes to take. The paper money is of two kinds, called land-office and current money; land-office money is bank paper that will pass at the land-office, but this money frequently changes. Current-money {257} is bank-paper that will pass in trade, but is not payable at the land-office, and is often from 10 to 20 per cent. below the value of land-office money. It is common to make a price according to the sort of money to be paid, and there are some articles in most stores that are only sold for land-office money.

The United States bank notes and silver are mostly sought for, as the credit of that bank is better than that of any other, and they will sometimes bear a premium of two per cent. above the price of silver, as notes are more convenient to send to the eastern states to pay for merchandise, &c.

But there are many people who prefer silver, and I find I can purchase many articles a great deal more reasonable with silver than with the best paper money.

I have never yet lost but one dollar-note, nor have I discounted a single one. Discounting of notes is called shearing, and is sometimes much practised.

As I have before described the boundaries {258} of the state of Illinois, and mentioned most of the rivers in it, I will now attempt to show you our situation with regard to other places; but having no map of the Illinois, I shall place them according to the best accounts I have heard of them, but I do not pretend to be exact as to distances, &c. I have, however, been more particular on the east side of the state, as that shows our situation with regard to the Wabash rivers, and also our road to Shawneetown on the Ohio, to Harmonie and Princetown in the state of Indiana. And northward, by Palmyra, the seat of justice for Edward's county, to Vincennes in Indiana. My map should extend much further to the left or west side, as Kaskaskai town is upwards of 100 miles west, and Coffee Island only 18 miles east of Wanbro'; but the country between Wanbro' and Kaskaskai is but little settled, and much of it is prairie or open land.

Kaskaskai is at present the seat of the legislature of Illinois; but its next meeting {259} is expected to be at the town of Vandalia,[150] on the Ochka river, as being a more central situation; that place, or rather spot of land, was fixed on for the seat of government, for the Illinois, two years ago. The country near it was then a wilderness, with a single cabin inhabited by a person of the name of Vandalia. A town is now laid out, and much building begun. The town lots sell very high. One thousand dollars and upwards for the best lots of only a few rods of land.

[150] As in the case of Columbus and Indianapolis, the legislature fixed upon a site in the wilderness for the seat of government. Vandalia, situated on the mail route between Vincennes and St. Louis, and about seventy miles from the latter city, was laid out in 1819 under the authority of the state. It remained the capital until 1840.--ED.

Vandalia, by the Ochka, Kaskaskai, and Mississippi rivers, has a water communication with New Orleans, the grand outlet of all the western country.

I will now mention a few of the places of most note at present, and those reported likely to rise into notice.

Kaskaskai is at this time of most consequence in the state, and is said to be situated in the richest spot of land in the United States, called the American Bottom, but is said to be unhealthy; and the {260} removing the seat of government to Vandalia has much checked the growth of the town. It has a land-office for the sale of public land: it is six miles in a direct line from the Mississippi river. A road from it runs through the state of Illinois, to Vincennes in Indiana: this lies higher than it is placed in my map.

The inhabitants are many of them of French origin, as it was first settled by the French from Lower Canada. There are also several villages on the Mississippi river, that were also settled by the French many years ago; and the inhabitants still speak the French language, and profess the Roman Catholic religion. But within the last ten years, many Americans are settled amongst them, and the English language begins to be spoken.

By an order of congress a road is to be surveyed from Wheeling, on the Ohio, through the states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, to the mouth of the Illinois river, or near it, and to the town of St. Louis on {261} the Missouri river.[151] This road is expected to pass by or near to Cincinnatti, Vincennes, and Vandalia, and to go about 30 miles north of the English Prairie.

[151] This was the extension of the National Road. In 1820, Congress appropriated $10,000 for laying out the road from Wheeling to a point on the Mississippi River between St. Louis and the mouth of the Illinois. Construction was begun in 1825, the road being completed to Columbus in 1833, and to the Indiana line in 1838. The last congressional appropriation was made in the last-mentioned year; when Indiana and Illinois received the road from the government it was not finished, although graded and bridged as far as Vandalia. In the former state it was completed by 1850, but was never completed in the latter.--ED.

Shawneetown, I have noticed before, as a place likely to be of some consideration, notwithstanding its low situation.

Golconda is a town, on the Ohio river, upwards of 30 miles below Shawneetown; said to be a thriving place, as many people cross the Ohio from the lower parts of the states of Kentucky and Tennessee, for St. Louis, and the Missouri states.

America is a new town, near the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers; being out of the reach of the floods, and in a good situation for trade; it is a rising place, and people are fast settling at it.

Edwardsville, near the Mississippi river, has a land-office. I never heard the place highly spoken of.[152]

[152] Golconda is a small town on Lusk Creek, about eight miles above the mouth of the Ohio.

America, a few miles farther up the Ohio, was laid out (1818) by a land company. Its situation back from the river proved to be a disadvantage instead of an advantage. In 1821 the Ohio was unusually low and boats could not land near the settlement; this, together with an epidemic of cholera which occurred the same year, dealt a death blow to the prospects of the place.

For Edwardsville, see Flint's _Letters_, volume ix of our series, note 92.--ED.

Carmi, on the Little Wabash, is an unhealthy place, and so is Newhaven, a few miles further down the same river; and, I {262} believe, most low situations on sluggish streams are so.

Palmyra, though placed on a high sandy bank of the Wabash, a county town, and settled six years since, does not contain more than twelve houses, and not more than half of them inhabited, owing to its being so unhealthy; this arises from some rocks that lie in the bed of the river, some distance below it, and by thus penning the water back it becomes stagnant. I saw a man who said he came there six years before, with several others; that most of them were taken ill soon after their arrival; that they then removed about three miles into the fork, between the Wabash and White rivers, but their illness increasing, they returned to Palmyra, and continued there for twelve months, during which time most of his family continued very unwell; he then removed with them into a prairie, a few miles to the north, where he had remained ever since; where they recovered, and continued in good health.