Part 16

{147} On the 27th of August I set off very early in the morning; and about thirteen miles from Mr. Kesley’s I crossed the line that separates the State of Tennessea from that of Kentucky. There also terminates the Barrens; and to my great satisfaction I got into the woods.[46] Nothing can be more tiresome than the doleful uniformity of these immense meadows where there is nobody to be met with; and where, except a great number of partridges, we neither see nor hear any species of living beings, and are still more isolated than in the middle of the forests.

The first plantation that I reached on entering Tennessea belonged to a person of the name of Checks, of whom I entertained a very indifferent opinion, by the conversation that he was holding with seven or eight of his neighbours, with whom he was drinking whiskey. Fearing lest I should witness some murdering scene or other, which among the inhabitants of this part of the country is frequently the end of intoxication, produced by this kind of spirits, I quickly took my leave, and put up at an inn about three miles farther off, where I found every accommodation. The late Duke of Orleans’ son lodged at this house a few years before.[47] On the {148} day following I arrived at Nasheville, after having travelled twenty-seven miles.

The Barrens, or Kentucky Meadows, comprise an extent from sixty to seventy miles in length, by sixty miles in breadth. According to the signification of this word, I conceived I should have had to cross over a naked space, sown here and there with a few plants. I was confirmed in my opinion by that which some of the country people had given me of these meadows before I reached them. They told me that in this season I should perish with heat and thirst, and that I should not find the least shade the whole of the way, as the major part of the Americans who live in the woods have not the least idea that there is any part of the country entirely open, and still less that they could inhabit it. Instead of finding a country as it had been depicted to me, I was agreeably surprised to see a beautiful meadow, where the grass was from two to three feet high. Amidst these pasture lands I discovered a great variety of plants, among which were the _gerardia flava_, or gall of the earth; the _gnaphalium dioicum_, or white plantain; and the _rudbekia purpurea_. I observed that the roots of the latter plant participated in some degree with the sharp taste of the leaves of the _spilanthus {149} oleracca_. When I crossed these meadows the flower season was over with three parts of the plants, but the time for most of the seeds to ripen was still at a great distance; nevertheless I gathered about ninety different species of them which I took with me to France.

In some parts of the meadows we observed several species of the wild vine, and in particular that called by the inhabitants _summer grapes_, the bunches are as large, and the grapes of as good a quality as those in the vineyards round Paris, with this difference, that the berries are not quite so close together.

It seems to me that the attempts which have been made in Kentucky to establish the culture of the vine would have been more successful in the Barrens, the soil of which appears to me more adapted for this kind of culture than that on the banks of the Kentucky; the latter is richer it is true, at the same time the nature of the country, and the proximity of the forests render it much damper. This was also my father’s opinion; he thought that [of] the different parts of North America that he had travelled through, during a sojourn of twelve years, the States of Kentucky and Tennessea, and particularly the Barrens, were the parts in which the vine might {150} be cultivated with the greatest success. His opinion was founded in a great measure upon the certainty that the vegetable stratum in the above states lies upon a chalky mass.

The Barrens are circumscribed by a wood about three miles broad, which in some parts joins to surrounding forests. The trees are in general very straggling, and at a greater distance from each other as they approach the meadows. On the side of Tennessea this border is exclusively composed of post oaks, or _quercus oblusiloba_, the wood of which being very hard, and not liable to rot, is, in preference to any other, used for fences. This serviceable tree would be easy to naturalize in France, as it grows among the pines in the worst of soil. We observed again, here and there, in the meadow, several black oaks, or _quercus nigra_; and nut trees, or _juglans hickery_, which rise about twelve or fifteen feet. Sometimes they formed small arbours, but always far enough apart from each other so as not to intercept the surrounding view. With the exception of small willows, about two feet high, _selix longirostris_, and a few _shumacs_, there is not the least appearance of a shrub. The surface of these meadows is generally very even; towards Dripping Spring I observed {151} a lofty eminence, slightly adorned with trees, and bestrewed with enormous rocks, which hang jutting over the main road.

It appears there are a great number of subterraneous caverns in the Barrens, some of which are very near the surface. A short time before I was there, several pieces of the rocks that were decayed, fell with a tremendous crash into the road near Bears-Wallow, as a traveller was passing, who, by the greatest miracle escaped. We may easily conceive with what consequences such accidents must be attended in a country where the plantations are so distant from each other, and where, perhaps, a traveller does not pass for several days.

We remarked in these meadows several holes, widened at the top in the shape of funnels, the breadth of which varies according to their depth. In some of these holes, about five or six feet from the bottom, flows a small vein of water, which, in the same proportions as it fills, loses itself through another part. These kind of springs never fail; in consequence of which several of the inhabitants have been induced to settle in their vicinity; for, except the river Big-Barren, I did not see the smallest rivulet or creek; nor did I hear that they have ever attempted to dig {152} wells; but were they to make the essay, I have no doubt of their success. According to the observations we have just made, the want of water, and wood adapted to make fences, will be long an obstacle to the increase of settlements in this part of Kentucky. Notwithstanding, one of these two inconveniences might be obviated, by changing the present mode of enclosing land, and substituting hedges, upon which the _gleditsia triacanthos_, one of the most common trees in the country, might be used with success. The Barrens at present are very thinly populated, considering their extent; for on the road where the plantations are closest together we counted but eighteen in a space of sixty or seventy miles.

Some of the inhabitants divide land of the Barrens in Kentucky into three classes, according to its quality. That which I crossed, where the soil is yellowish and rather gravelly, appeared to me the best adapted for the culture of corn. That of Indian wheat is almost the only thing to which the inhabitants apply themselves; but as the settlements are of a fresh date, the land has not been able to acquire that degree of prosperity that is observed on this side Mulder Hill. Most of the inhabitants who go to settle in the country, incline upon the skirts, or along {153} the Little and Big Barren rivers, where they are attracted by the advantage that the meadows offer as pasture for the cattle, an advantage which, in a great measure, the inhabitants of the most fertile districts are deprived of, the country being so very woody, that there is scarcely any grass land to be seen.

Every year, in the course of the months of March or April, the inhabitants set fire to the grass, which at that time is dried up, and through its extreme length, would conceal from the cattle a fortnight or three weeks longer the new grass, which then begins to spring up. This custom is nevertheless generally censured; as being set on fire too early, the new grass is stripped of the covering that ought to shelter it from the spring and frosts, and in consequence of which its vegetation is retarded. The custom of burning the meadows was formerly practised by the natives, who came in this part of the country to hunt; in fact, they do it now in the other parts of North America, where there are _savannas_ of an immense extent. Their aim in setting fire to it is to allure the stags, bisons, &c. into the parts which are burnt, where they can discern them at a greater distance. Unless a person has seen these dreadful conflagrations, it is impossible to form {154} the least idea of them. The flames that occupy generally an extent of several miles, are sometimes driven by the wind with such rapidity, that the inhabitants, even on horseback, have become a prey to them. The American sportsmen and the savages preserve themselves from this danger by a very ingenious method; they immediately set fire to the part of the meadow where they are, and then retire into the space that is burnt, where the flame that threatened them stops for the want of nourishment.

{155} CHAP. XVII

_General observations upon Kentucky.--Nature of the soil.--First settlements in the state.--Right of property uncertain.-- Population._

The state of Kentucky is situated 36 deg. 30 min. and 39 deg. 30 min. north latitude, and 28 deg. and 89 deg. west longitude; its boundaries to the northwest are the Ohio, for an extent of about seven hundred and sixty miles, to the east of Virginia, and to the south of Tennessea; it is separated from Virginia by the river Sandy and the Laurel Mountains, one of the principal links of the Alleghanies. The greatest length of this state is about four hundred miles, and its greatest breadth about two hundred. This vast extent appears to lie upon a bank of chalky stone, identic in its nature, and covered with a stratum of vegetable earth, which varies in its composition, and is from ten to fifteen feet thick. The {156} boundaries of this immense bank are not yet prescribed in any correct manner, but its thickness must be very considerable, to judge of it by the rivers in the country, the borders of which, and particularly those of the Kentucky and Dick rivers, which is one branch of it, rise, in some parts, three hundred feet perpendicular, where the chalky stone is seen quite bare.

The soil in Kentucky, although irregular, is not mountainous, if we except some parts contiguous to the Ohio and on this side Virginia. The chalky stone, and abundant coal mines which lie useless, are the only mineral substances worthy of notice. Iron mines are very scarce there, and, to the best of my remembrance, but one was worked, which is far from being sufficient for the wants of the country.

The Kentucky and Green rivers empty themselves into the Ohio, after a course of three hundred miles; they fall so low in summer time, that they are forded a hundred and fifty miles from their _embouchure_; but in the winter and spring they experience such sudden and strong increases that the waters of the Kentucky rise about forty feet in four-and-twenty hours. This variation is still more remarkable in the secondary rivers which run into it; the latter, {157} though frequently from ten to fifteen fathoms broad, preserve such little water in summer, that there is scarcely one of them which cannot be crossed without wetting the feet; and the stream of water that serpentines upon the bed of chalky rock is at that time reduced to a few inches in depth; in consequence of which we may look upon the Kentucky as an immense bason, which, independent of the natural illapse of its waters through the channel of the rivers, loses a great part of them by interior openings.

The Atlantic part of the United States in that respect affords a perfect contrast with Kentucky, as on the other side of the Alleghanies not the least vestige of chalky stone is seen. The rivers, great and small, however distant from their source, are subject to no other change in the volume of their waters but what results from a more or less rainy season; and their springs, which are very numerous, always supply water in abundance; this applies more particularly to the southern states, with which I am perfectly acquainted.

According to the succinct idea that we have just given of Kentucky, it is easy to judge that the inhabitants are exposed to a very serious inconvenience, {158} that of wanting water in the summer; still we must except those in the vicinity of great rivers and their principal channels, that always preserve water enough to supply their domestic wants; thence it results that many estates, even among the most fertile, are not cleared, and that the owners cannot get rid of them without the greatest difficulty, as the emigrants, better informed now a days, make no purchases before they have a correct statement of localities.

Kentucky is that of the three states situated west of the Alleghanies which was first populated. This country was discovered in 1770, by some Virginia sportsmen, when the favourable accounts they gave of it induced others to go there. No fixed establishment, however, was formed there before 1780. At that time this immense country was not occupied by any Indian nation; they went there to hunt, but all with one common assent made a war of extermination against those who wished to settle there. Thence this country derives the name of Kentucky, which signifies, in the language of the natives, _the Land of Blood_. When the whites made their appearance there, the natives showed still more opposition to their establishment; they carried for a long {159} time death and desolation, and dispatched, after their usual mode, their prisoners in the most cruel torments. This state of things lasted till 1783, at which time the American population having become too strong for them to penetrate to the centre of the establishment, they were reduced to the necessity of attacking the emigrants on their route; and, on the other hand, they were deserted by the English in Canada, who had abetted and supported them in the war.

In 1782 they began to open roads for carriages in the interior of the country; prior to this there were only paths practicable for persons on foot and horseback. Till 1788 those who emigrated from the eastern states travelled by way of Virginia. In the first place, they went to Block House, situated in Holston, westward of the mountains; and as the government of the United States did not furnish them with an escort, they waited at this place till they were sufficiently numerous to pass in safety through the Wilderness, an uninhabited space of a hundred and thirty miles, which they had to travel over before they arrived at Crab Orchard, the first post occupied by the whites.[48] The enthusiasm for emigrating to Kentucky was at that time carried to {160} such a degree in the United States, that some years upwards of twenty thousand have been known to pass, and many of them had even deserted their estates, not having been able to dispose of them quick enough. This overflow of new colonists very soon raised the price of land in Kentucky, from two-pence and two-pence halfpenny per acre, it suddenly rose to seven or eight shillings. The stock-jobbers profited by this infatuation, and, not content with a moderate share of gain, practised the most illegal measures to dispose of the land to great advantage. They went so far as to fabricate false plans, in which they traced rivers favourable for mills and other uses; in this manner many ideal lots, from five hundred to a hundred thousand acres, were sold in Europe, and even in several great towns of the United States.

Till the year 1792, Kentucky formed a part of Virginia; but the distance from Richmond, the seat of government belonging to this state, being seven hundred miles from Lexinton, occasions the most serious inconveniences to the inhabitants, and their number rising considerably above that required to form an independent state, they were admitted into the union in the month of March following. The {161} state of Virginia, on giving up its pretensions to that country, consented to it only on certain conditions; it imposed on the convention at Kentucky an obligation to follow, in part, its code of laws, and particularly to keep up the slave-trade.

Prior to the year 1782, the number of inhabitants at Kentucky did not exceed three thousand; it was about a hundred thousand in 1790, and in the general verification made in 1800, it amounted to two hundred thousand. When I was at Lexinton in the month of August 1802, its population was estimated at two hundred thousand, including twenty thousand negro slaves. Thus, in this state, where there were not ten individuals at the age of twenty-five who were born there, the number of the inhabitants is now as considerable as in seven of the old states; and there are only four where the population is twice as numerous. This increase, already so rapid, would have been much more so had it not been for a particular circumstance that prevents emigrants from going there; I mean the difficulty of proving the right of property. Of all the states in the union it is that wherein the rights of an individual are most subject to contest. I did not stop at the house of one inhabitant who was persuaded of {162} the validity of his own right but what seemed dubious of his neighbour’s.

Among the numerous causes which have produced this incredible confusion with respect to property, one of the principal may be attributed to the ignorance of the surveyors, or rather to the difficulty they experienced, in the early stage of things, in following their professions. The continual state of war in which this country was at that time obliged them frequently to suspend their business, in order to avoid being shot by the natives, who were watching for them in the woods. The danger they ran was extreme, as it is well known a native will go upwards of a hundred miles to kill a single enemy; he stays for several days in the hollow of a tree to take him by surprise, and when he has killed him, he scalps him, and returns with the same rapidity. From this state of things, the result was that the same lot has not only been measured several times by different surveyors, but more frequently it has been crossed by different lines, which distinguish particular parts of that lot from the lots adjacent, which, in return, are in the same situation with regard to those that are contiguous to them; in short, there are lots of a thousand acres where a hundred {163} of them are not reclaimed. Military rights are still looked upon as the most assured. One very remarkable thing is, that many of the inhabitants find a guarantee for their estates that are thus confused; as the law, being always on the side of agriculture, enacts that all improvements shall be reimbursed by the person who comes forward to declare himself the first possessor; and as the estimation, on account of the high price of labour, is always made in favour of the cultivators, it follows that many people dare not claim their rights through fear of considerable indemnifications being awarded against them, and of being in turn expelled by others, who might attack them at the moment when they least expected it. This incertitude in the right of property is an inexhaustible source of tedious and expensive law-suits, which serve to enrich the professional gentlemen of the country.

{164} CHAP. XVIII

_Distinction of Estates.--Species of Trees peculiar to each of them.--Ginseng.--Animals in Kentucky._

In Kentucky, as well as in Pennsylvania, Virginia and Carolina, the estates are divided into three classes, for the better assessment of the taxes. This division with respect to the fertility of the land is relative to each of these states; thus in Kentucky, for example, they would put in the second class estates, which, east of the mountains, would be ranked in the first, and in the third, those which in Georgia and Low Carolina would be the second. I do not mean, however, to say by this that there are not some possessions in the eastern states as fertile as in the western; but they are seldom found except along the rivers and in the vallies, and do not embrace so considerable a tract of country as in {165} Kentucky, and that part of Tennessea situate west of the Cumberland Mountains.