Departure from Pittsburgh—Autumnal Scenery—Georgetown—The unfortunate emigrant—Steubenville—Picturesque Scenery—Wheeling—Little Grave creek, and the Great Mound—Other Aboriginal remains—Marietta—Belpré settlement—Other ancient remains—Coal—Galliopolis—Ancient level of the alluvial forest—Misletoe—Aboriginal remains—Big Sandy creek and commencement of Cane-land—Corn-husking—Salt creek—Maysville—Organic remains—Cincinnati—Lawrenceburgh—The French emigrant—Vevay—Madison—Louisville—Prevalence of particular winds on the Ohio—Falls of the Ohio.

21ST.] To-day I left Pittsburgh in a skiff, which I purchased for six dollars, in order to proceed down the Ohio. I was fortunate enough to meet with a young man who had been accustomed to the management of a boat, and who, for the consideration of a passage and provision, undertook to be my pilot and assistant. We set out after 11 o’clock, and made 19 miles. Here we were overtaken by a thunder-storm, accompanied by very heavy rain, which continued during most part of the ensuing night. We had no choice, and therefore took up our abode for the night in the first cabin which we came to, built of logs, {21} containing a large family of both sexes, all housed in one room, and that not proof against the pouring rain. Provided, however, with provision and beds of our own we succeeded in rendering ourselves comfortable, and were pleased with the hospitable disposition of our landlord, who would scarcely permit any of his family to receive from us the moderate compensation which we offered.

22d.] At day-break we again betook ourselves to the voyage; but after proceeding about nine miles, the strong south-west wind forced us to a delay of several hours.

In this distance from Pittsburgh the Ohio meanders through a contracted alluvial flat, thickly settled, and backed with hills, which are often peaked and lofty, fringed, at this season, by a forest of the diversified, but dying hues of autumn. The water was extremely low, and we passed through several rapids, in which bare rocks presented themselves in such quantity, as to deny the passage of any thing but boats drawing 9 or 10 inches of water.

After proceeding about two miles below Beavertown⁠[18] we landed in the dark, and went to the tavern to which accident had directed us, but finding it crowded with people met together for merriment, we retired to a neighbouring hovel, in order to obtain rest and shelter from the weather, which was disagreeably cold. Our prospect of repose was soon, however, banished, as our cabin, being larger than the tavern, was selected for a dancing room, and here we were obliged to sit waking spectators of this riot till after one o’clock in the morning. The whiskey bottle was brought out to keep up the excitement, and, without the inconvenience and delay of using glasses, was passed pretty briskly from mouth to mouth, exempting neither age nor sex. Some of the young ladies also indulged in smoking as well as drinking of drams. Symptoms of riot and drunkenness at length stopped {22} the dancing, and we now anticipated the prospect of a little rest, but in this we were disappointed by the remaining of one of the company vanquished by liquor, who, after committing the most degrading nuisance, at intervals disturbed us with horrid gestures and imprecations for the remainder of the morning. On relating in the neighbourhood our adventure at this house, we were informed that this tavern was notorious for the assemblage of licentious persons.

23d.] After an hour or two of interrupted repose we again embarked, and found that there had been a slight fall of snow. The wind was still adverse, and so strong as perfectly to counteract the current; with some labour we got down to Georgetown,⁠[19] and warmed ourselves by a comfortable fire of coal. The tavern was very poorly accommodated, a mere cabin without furniture, of which its owner was from habit scarcely sensible. About two o’clock in the afternoon we again landed at a poor log-cabin to warm ourselves, and were very kindly welcomed by the matron of the house, who, without the benefit of education, seemed possessed of uncommon talents. I had read, in the first settlement of Kentucky, of remarkable instances of female intrepidity, brought forward by the exigencies of a residence on a dangerous frontier, and our hostess appeared to be equally an Amazon, modest, cool, and intrepid. I listened to her adventures with much interest. She and her husband, with a small family, had some years ago followed the tide of western emigration to the banks of the little Miami, near Cincinnati. Here, after a tedious and expensive journey, they had settled on a piece of alluvial land, and might probably have prospered, but for the dreadful effects of continued sickness (ague and bilious fever), which urged them to sacrifice every other interest for that of their emaciated offspring, and to ascend the Ohio in search of a situation which might afford them health. She pointed to some remains of decent furniture {23} which the cabin scarcely sheltered, saying, with an affectionate look at her poor children, “we once had a decent property, but now we have nothing left; emigration has ruined us!” With six children around her, and accompanied by another family, ascending the Ohio in a flat-boat, they were struck by a hurricane. She herself and one of her children had taken their regular turn at the oar, the master of the boat, who had also his family around him, became so far alarmed and confused as to quit his post in the midst of the danger which threatened instantly to overwhelm them, tremendous waves broke into the boat, which the affrighted steersman knew not how to avoid. This woman seized the helm which was abandoned, and by her skill and courage saved the boat and the families from imminent destruction.

24th.] The wind still south-west, but abating a little. We proceeded at 11, and about 18 miles from Steubenville, landed and took up our lodging on an island, with no other shelter than the canopy of heaven; but we slept comfortably, with our feet to a warm fire, according to Indian custom.

25th.] This evening we arrived at Steubenville,⁠[20] which appears to be a place of industry and manufacture. Two miles below the town we lodged in the cabin of a poor tenant farmer.

The banks of the river are exceedingly romantic, presenting lofty hills and perpendicular cliffs of not less than 300 feet elevation, every where covered or fringed with belts of trees in their autumnal foliage, of every bright and varying hue, more beautiful even than the richest verdure of summer. The uplands being calcareous are found to be exceedingly fertile, and we consequently perceive houses and fences on the summits of the loftiest hills which embosom the river. From 50 to 70 dollars per acre was demanded for these lands, which are better for wheat than the {24} alluvial soils. Flour was here four dollars per barrel, and beef six cents per pound.

26th.] This evening we arrived at Wheeling,⁠[21] consisting of a tolerably compact street of brick houses, with the usual accompaniment of stores, taverns, and mechanics. It is also the principal depot for the supply and commerce of the interior of this part of Virginia. A number of boats had been fitted out here this season, which could not navigate from Pittsburgh in consequence of the lowness of the water. At this place the great national road into the interior, from the city of Washington, comes in conjunction with that of Zanesville, Chillicothe, Columbus, and Cincinnati. At the northern extremity of the town there is a very productive bed of coal, and equally horizontal with that of Pittsburgh; its thickness is about six feet, and as it occurs beneath the limestone it must of course be considered as a second bed. Every where along the banks of the river, particularly at this low stage we perceive adventitious boulders and pebbles of sienite, which cannot have originated nearer than the mountains of Canada, situated beyond the lakes. Proceeding about four and a half miles from Wheeling, we took up our night’s residence at a cabin near to the outlet of M’Mahon’s creek.⁠[22]

27th.] To-day I again observed a bed of coal in the bank of the Ohio, worked beneath the limestone, situated nearly opposite to Little Grave creek.⁠[23] This superincumbent limestone does not appear to abound with organic remains, and is nearly horizontal, with a slight dip, perhaps 10°, to the south-east. Ten or 12 miles further, the same coal bed still bassets out from beneath the calcareous rock, and so near to the present low level of the river as not to admit of being worked at any other stage of the water. The shale (or bituminous slate clay) above and below the coal {25} is extremely superficial, being only a few inches in thickness, and interspersed with small masses of bitumen and reliquiæ which imitate charred wood, but are destitute of the characterizing cross grain.

At the mouth of Little Grave creek we landed, to view the famous mound,⁠[24] said to be 75 feet high. The ascent is extremely steep: it is indeed a pyramid, and of an elegant conic figure; at the summit there is a circular depression indicative of some excavation, and it is surrounded by a shallow ditch, across which, there are left two gateways. It appears to be elevated at about an angle of 60°, and the earth, as in many other similar monuments, has evidently been beaten down to resist the washing of rains. It is remarkably perfect and compleat, and would probably continue a monument as long as the walled pyramids of Egypt. Amongst other trees growing upon it, there was a white oak of not less than two centuries’ duration. In the immediate vicinity, there is likewise a small ditched circle with two entrances, and a smaller ditched mound.

At this place, I took in a young man going down to Big Sandy creek, who assisted in working his passage with us. At dark we landed on the Ohio shore, and lodged with a poor but hospitable resident.

28th.] Tired of the boat, I got out and walked 10 or 12 miles, on the Virginia side of the river. Many of the settlers here appear to be Yankees, from Vermont and Connecticut, and in prosperous circumstances. A mile and a half above Sistersville, and 35 from Marietta, in Virginia, there is a small aboriginal station, consisting of five or six low mounds, and a circle containing an area of about an acre.

29th.] Twenty-six miles above Marietta, on the Virginia side, on the estate of Mr. Cohen, there was on the platform of the third, or most ancient alluvial bottom, a large, but low mound, grown over with brambles; and, at the distance of about a quarter of a {26} mile below, a small square embankment containing near an acre, with only one or two openings or entrances.

Most part of the afternoon, I continued walking along the Ohio bank, and observed, as I have done for near 30 miles above, the alluvial lands to be more extensive, occupying often both banks of the river, and a sensible diminution in the elevation of the hills. The bottoms here abound with elm, and there are also extensive and undrainable tracts covered with beech.

30th.] At day break, we again betook ourselves to our laborious journey, which, in consequence of the adverse wind, was nearly as toilsome as a voyage up, in place of down the stream; in addition to which, we had also to encounter the severe and benumbing effects of frost. We passed Marietta,⁠[25] remarkable for its aboriginal remains, and in the evening, encamped on the beach of the river, but did not rest very comfortably, in consequence of the cold.

31.] Passed Belpré⁠[26] settlement, an extensive portion of fertile alluvial land, and thickly settled. All the prevailing rock here, for some distance, is a massive sandstone, either brownish, greenish, or grayish, fine grained and micaceous, and occasionally exposing something like impressions of alcyonites, but appearing in no place indicative of coal. This evening we lodged at a house, four miles above the mouth of Shade river, where the bottoms are extensive and fertile. In a rocky situation, I found abundance of the Seymeria macrophylla, near six feet in height; also a new species of Aster, in full bloom, at this advanced season.

November 1st.] We proceeded about 19 miles without any material hindrance, when the south-west wind, which had so constantly opposed our descent, blew up a thunder-storm with rain, which detained us for the remainder of the day. Below Marietta, the {27} alluvial lands become still more extensive, and appear to be held at a price considerably above their real value by speculators, who thus prevent the population from accumulating. We scarcely, indeed, see any thing in this quarter but the miserable log cabins of tenants so poor and ill provided, even with the common necessaries of life, that, had we not taken the precaution of providing ourselves with provision, we must often have had either to fast, or sit down to nothing better than mush and milk; which, though an agreeable, is not a sufficiently nourishing diet for a traveller.

In descending the river, we uniformly find rapid water along the islands and bars; a circumstance appearing to indicate the former union of such islands with the land. Nearly all the sugar here made use of by the inhabitants, is obtained from the maple (Acer saccharinum), which, by more careful management, might be refined equal to muscovado.

2d.] We were again detained a considerable part of the day by the contrary wind, and, during the delay, fell in with a descending family, which had passed us the preceding day. In a short time after meeting, two hounds belonging to our companion, which had been let loose in the woods, chased a buck to the river: my companion and the old migratory hunter instantly launched the skiff in the pursuit, and succeeded in shooting the unfortunate deer in the water; a method commonly resorted to in this country, where the chase is more a matter of necessity than amusement.

3d.] This morning I walked up the right bank of the river, to view an aboriginal station, said to be situated on the present estate of Mr. Warf, on Park’s bottom; but, on proceeding about two miles through an enswamped beech forest, I relinquished the undertaking, finding it to be more than three miles above Mill creek, which I had crossed the preceding day. {28} I understood that this work was a circular embankment, including an area of three or four acres; and in the vicinity of which, were several inconsiderable mounds. Beech woods, flanked by elevated cliffs, still continued for four miles on the Virginia side, to Le Tart’s rapids,⁠[27] where the boat was to wait my arrival. On the way I found abundance of the Dracocephalum cordifolium with long slolons like ground ivy, also Hesperis pinnatifida, but I was more particularly gratified in finding the Tilia heterophylla. Nothing is here more abundant than the Stylophorum (Chelidonium. Mich.). This evening, we were 16 miles above Galiopolis;⁠[28]

4th.] About 11 miles from which, I observed a bed of coal, now worked on the bank of the river, some distance above the base of a high cliff, and overlaid by a massive micaceous sandstone, constituting the main body of the hill, and, as usual, horizontally stratified. Beneath the coal appeared a laminated limestone. Not many miles from hence, nitre is also obtained in caves.

The wind still continued against us, and with considerable labour we got five miles below Galiopolis, at which and Point Pleasant⁠[29] there are several mounds and aboriginal remains.⁠[30]

5th.] This evening we had proceeded about 26 miles below Galiopolis. Yesterday and to-day, I remarked, parallel with the present level of the river, and often surmounted by a lofty and friable bank of earth, beds of leaves compressed and blackened, giving out ferruginous matter to the water which oozed through them. On examination, they proved to be the same kind of foliage as that of the trees which compose the present alluvial forest; as platanus, beech, oak, poplar, &c.

About Steubenville I observed the first occurrence {29} of misletoe (the Viscum verticillatum of the West Indies), which now appears very prevalent and conspicuous. The fruit of the popaw (Porcelia triloba) here comes to perfection, and is rich and finely flavoured, while above, and in a few localities where it exists in Pennsylvania, it is scarcely eatable.

I was again informed of the existence of aboriginal mounds and entrenchments on the fertile alluvial lands called Messer’s Bottom, which are of several miles extent, commencing almost immediately below Galiopolis on the Virginia side, but after several unsuccessful inquiries, the ignorance and supineness of the settlers, though numerous, prevented me from discovering them.

6th.] We proceeded about nine miles, and were as usual prevented from continuing further by the reiterated violence of the pertinacious south-west wind, accompanied by a haze, which made every object appear as if enveloped in smoke.

7th.] This evening, we passed the mouth of Big Sandy creek, the boundary of Kentucky. Near to this line commences the first appearance of the cane (Arundinaria macrosperma), which seems to indicate some difference in the climate and soil. The settlements are here remote, the people poor, and along the river not so characteristically hospitable as in the interior of Kentucky. Landing rather late, we took up our lodging where there happened to be a corn-husking, and were kept awake with idle merriment and riot till past midnight. Some of the party, or rather of the two national parties, got up and harangued to a judge, like so many lawyers, on some political argument, and other topics, in a boisterous and illiberal style, but without coming to blows. Is this a relic of Indian customs?

The corn-fields, at this season of the year, are so overrun with cuckold-burs (Xanthium strumarium), and the seeds of different species of Bidens or Spanish-needles, {30} as to prove extremely troublesome to woollen clothes, and to the domestic cattle, which are loaded with them in tormenting abundance. In consequence of these weeds, the fleece of the sheep is scarcely worth the trouble of shearing. The best remedy for checking the growth of these noxious plants, would be to plow them in about the time of flowering, which would exterminate them, and improve the crop of corn.

The people here, living upon exigencies, and given to rambling about instead of attending to their farms, are very poor and uncomfortable in every respect; but few of them possess the land on which they live. Having spent every thing in unsuccessful migration, and voluntarily exiling themselves from their connections in society, they begin to discover, when too late, that industry would have afforded that comfort and independence which they in vain seek in the solitudes of an unhealthy wilderness. We found it almost impossible to purchase any kind of provision, even butter or bacon, nothing appearing to be cultivated scarcely but corn and a little wheat.

I was again informed of the existence of aboriginal remains in the vicinity of the place where we arrived this evening.

8th.] We were delayed nearly the whole of the day by the usual adverse wind.

9th.] To-day, however, we were fortunate enough, at last, to obtain the breeze in our favour, and proceeded about 28 miles, encamping three miles below the town of Portsmouth.⁠[31]

10th.] The wind still continuing in our favour, accompanied by a considerable current, we proceeded about 32 miles, and encamped 12 miles below Salt creek, and 17 above Maysville.⁠[32] In this course the river appears very meandering, and from Portsmouth, the hills, which are considerable, come up diagonally to the margin of the river and present serrated {31} or conic summits. At the lowest stage of the water we perceive horizontal ledges of calcareous rock filled with terebratulites, &c. The salt at Adamsville appears to be made from water issuing out of the alluvial argillaceous soil near to the outlet of Salt Creek, but in many parts of the Western country coring for salt water is frequently continued some hundreds of feet, (sometimes as much as 400 feet) below the surface, through calcareous and sand-stone rocks, and occasionally through beds of coal.

11th.] We proceeded seven miles below the thriving town of Maysville, formerly called Limestone from the rock in its neighbourhood, and experienced heavy rains during the whole day, which in our open skiff proved very unpleasant, and, to augment our uncomfortable situation, we encamped at a late hour on a very disagreeable muddy shore, where it was not possible to kindle a fire.

The farmers along the river for many miles down appear to be in thriving circumstances. Their houses are very decent in external appearance, but so badly finished and furnished that many of the rooms are unoccupied, or merely serve the purposes of a barn, and the family are commonly found living in the kitchen. Most of these ostentatious shells of frame houses are the work of the New-England settlers, who are very industrious, and not without more or less of their usual economy and sagacity.

12th.] We were again retarded by the south-west wind. The shore on which we landed was thickly strewed with fragments of calcareous rock filled with terebratulites, alcyonites, flustras, encrinal vertebrae, &c. &c. Some specimens which I here collected of the encrinal vertebrae were coated with a cellular epidermis, in appearance resembling a millepore; they are also remarkably dichotomous. In one of the calcareous fragments which I broke occurred the Trilobites paradoxus.

{32} The wind abating, we passed down to Augusta,⁠[33] and with our emigrant companions encamped on the opposite shore. Here the insolence of my companion rendered our separation absolutely necessary. It is to be regretted, that so many of those wandering New-Englanders (who, like the Jews in Europe, are to be met with in every part of the union), should prove so disgraceful to their country. My impression now was, that this young man was a refugee from justice or deserved infamy, and in all probability I narrowly escaped being robbed.

13th.] To-day I arrived at Cincinnati,⁠[34] and was again gratified by the company of my friend Doctor I. Drake,⁠[35] one of the most scientific men west of the Alleghany mountains.

The town appeared to have improved much, both in appearance and population, since my last visit; it is, indeed, by far the most agreeable and flourishing of all the western towns. Here I had the good fortune, through Dr. D., to be introduced to Mr. H. Glenn, lately sutler to the garrison of Arkansa; from whom I had the pleasure to learn something more explicit concerning the probable progress of my intended journey.

A medical college was, I understood, about to be established in Cincinnati. Dr. D., who delivered a very appropriate introductory oration, will, probably, be the principal of the institution. But such undertakings are yet rather premature, and the student would derive many exclusive advantages by acquiring a medical education in the universities already established.

17th.] About 12 o’clock I left Cincinnati in my skiff, and was accidentally joined by two strangers going to Lawrenceburgh,⁠[36] 25 miles distant, where we arrived this evening. This is a neat and thriving town, situated near the estuary of the Great Miami, and on the line of the state of Indiana.

{33} 18th.] I departed at day-break, but, after descending five miles, discovered my gun had been forgotten at the tavern where I lodged. The day was dismal and cloudy, with showers of snow and gales of wind, undissembled winter. In the evening I arrived at a little town called the Rising Sun,⁠[37] from its tavern, 13 miles below Lawrenceburgh.

19th.] A fine morning and but little wind.—I now continued alone to navigate the Ohio, which is here exceedingly crooked. The alluvial lands are extensive, with the hills low, and the rock, as usual, calcareous and filled with organic impressions. I descended about 30 miles, and lodged with a very polite and hospitable Frenchman, three miles above the Swiss⁠[38] towns of Vevay and Ghent. He informed me that he had emigrated the last summer from Grenoble, and had purchased land here at the rate of 10 dollars per acre, including the house and improvements which he occupied. He complained how much he had been deceived in his expectations, and that if he was home again, and possessed of his present experience, he would never have emigrated. He did not give a very favourable account of the settlement of Vevay, and he and others, particularly a Swiss whom I called upon, informed me that the wine here attempted to be made was of an inferior quality. It sold at 25 cents the bottle, but soon became too sour to drink, and that instead of obtaining the northern vines for cultivation, as those around Paris, they had all along attended to the southern varieties. So the vineyards of Vevay, if not better supported, will probably soon be transformed into corn-fields. The wine which they have produced is chiefly claret, sometimes bordering on the quality of Burgundy, for the preservation of which their heated cabins, destitute of cellars, are not at all adapted; we do not, however, perceive any obstacle to the distillation of brandy, which could be disposed of with great facility and profit. The quantity of {34} wine said to be yielded to the acre, is about 500 gallons, which, if saleable, ought to produce a considerable emolument, and materially benefit the country, by diminishing the foreign demand. Several gentlemen of science, wealth, and patriotism in Kentucky and Mississippi Territory, are now also beginning to devote their attention to this important and neglected subject, and are commencing by the cultivation of improved varieties of the native species of vine, which promise, above those of Europe, every requisite of fertility, hardihood, and improved flavour.

20th.] To-day I passed the rising town of Madison,⁠[39] and the outlet of Kentucky river.—The sun was setting when I arrived, and just served to disclose the beauty of the surrounding scenery. On one side of the river rose a lofty fasçade of calcareous rocks, fretted like net-work; on the opposite extended the low alluvial lands of Kentucky, thickly lined with an almost unbroken rank of tall poplars, (Populus angulisans,) resembling a magnificent vista planted by the hand of man.

21st.] Late in the evening I arrived at Bethlehem, a miserable little hamlet in speculation, containing about half a dozen houses.

22d.] To-day I came within 11 miles of Louisville, and lodged with a hospitable and industrious Irishman, who had emigrated from Belfast about 17 years ago.

23d.] At length I arrived at the large and flourishing town of Louisville, but recently a wilderness. Labour and provision rated here much above the value which they commonly bore in the state and the surrounding country. The markets were very negligently supplied, and at prices little inferior to those of New Orleans. In fact, the vortex of speculation, this commercial gambling, absorbed the solid interests of the western states, and destroyed all mercantile confidence. The whole country was overrun with banks, which neither deserved confidence nor credit. Not a note in Kentucky {35} commanded specie, the capital was altogether fictitious, and ought to have been secured by every species of property possessed by the stockholders. A more ruinous and fraudulent system of exchange was never devised in any Christian country; it is truly a novelty to see a whole community, at least the wealthy part of it, conspiring in a common system of public fraud.

The love of luxury, without the means of obtaining it, has proved the bane of these still rude settlements of agriculturists, naturally poor in money by reason of their remoteness from the emporium of commerce, and their neglect of manufactures. When one heard a farmer demand a price for his produce in Kentucky, equal nearly to that of Philadelphia, we might be certain that he expected payment in depreciated paper.

A stranger who descends the Ohio at this season of emigration, cannot but be struck with the jarring vortex of heterogeneous population amidst which he is embarked, all searching for some better country, which ever lies to the west, as Eden did to the east. Amongst the crowd are also those, who, destitute of the means or inclination of obtaining an honest livelihood, are forced into desperate means for subsistence.

In my descent from Pittsburgh to Louisville, I found the wind, excepting about two days, constantly blowing up the river. The north-west or south-west winds, in fact, continue almost three quarters of the year. The deep valley which the river has excavated forms a vortex, into which the rarified air of the land rushes for equilibrium. The south-west wind is uniformly, at this season of the year, attended with a dense and bluish atmosphere, charged with vapours, which appear like smoke, and sometimes accumulate so as to obscure the land.

I was detained at Louisville until the 7th of December, {36} trying various means of descending the river. The lowness of the water prevented the descent of the steamboats, and the price of passage to Natchez was now no less than 50 dollars. Wearied by delay, I at length concluded to purchase a flat-boat, and freighted it nearly at my own cost, which, for an inexperienced traveller, was certainly an act of imprudence, as the destruction of the boat, which frequently happens, would probably have plunged me into penury and distress.

The wealth and population of Louisville⁠[40] are evidently on the increase, and a canal is now proposed, to obviate the difficulty of navigating by the Falls.

I perceive no material variation in the soil or river scenery. The surface is deeply undulated, fertile, and much sunk into circular depressions or water-swallows. The rock is all calcareous, but destitute of coal, or indeed any kind of overlaying stratum in this neighbourhood.

The Falls, at this stage of the water, roar in terrific grandeur; the descending surges resemble the foaming billows of the sea, and do not now admit the passage of vessels drawing more than 12 inches of water, though at other seasons there is a sufficiency for the largest boats on either side of the island which divides the falls. The calcareous ledge over which the water thus pours is nearly as horizontal as a floor, and filled with the reliquiæ of terebratulites, caryophillites, corallines, encrinites, &c. It also contains an unusual portion of pyrites, illinitions of blende ore of zinc, and a bluish green pulverulent substance, which is perhaps an ore of copper, or an oxide of nickel. Wood in a state of petrifaction has been discovered near the island which divides the cataract, and that in considerable quantity. The steam-boats, which ascend as far as Shippingsport,⁠[41] below the Falls, are of no less than 3 to 500 tons burthen, and are handsomely fitted up for {37} the accommodation of passengers. Sometimes they descend to New Orleans in eight or ten days, affording a facility of communication heretofore unprecedented.