CHAPTER XXVI.

_Voyage from St Louis to Cincinnati—Mississippi—Ohio—Falls of the Ohio—Passengers—Details of the Voyage—Notices in Natural History—Vessels on the River—Louisville—Hotel—Steam-boats—Inquisitive Irishman—Tobacco-squirting American—Advantages of Shabby Attire to Travellers—Mr Hamilton’s Account of Men and Manners in the Western Steam-boats—Cincinnati—Agricultural Notices._

Having made up my mind to pay a second visit to Upper Canada before returning to Britain, and wishing to take Cincinnati in my way, I hesitated whether to proceed by stages, through Illinois and Indiana to Louisville, or by a steam-boat down the Mississippi, and up the Ohio. Having more than once experienced the deceitfulness of information obtained from stage-office people in Britain, and disliking the information got at the offices of St Louis, I determined on travelling by water, and, learning the Helen Mar was to sail in a few hours afterwards, I immediately secured a berth.

The Helen Mar was a boat of the smallest size, and on this account well suited for the voyage at this season of the year, when there is a want of water in the Ohio for vessels of the second class. She proceeded at a rapid rate down the current, and made the first stop at Jefferson Barracks, ten miles below St Louis, on the west side of the river, where we were detained until nightfall, by receiving on board some officers of the United States army, with their families and luggage. In course of the night, one of the shafts broke, and the vessel continued her voyage with one paddle.

I found the Mississippi a very different looking stream from what it was at Alton. Instead of being a placid river, gliding gently between beautiful banks, it had assumed the character of the Missouri, impetuosity, muddiness, and devastated margins. In sailing down the Mississippi below St Louis, we were said to have passed the most interesting scenery in the night, and there was little seen by me calculated to impart pleasure or relieve the eye. The dense, and at this season, gloomy vegetation on the banks and islands, reminded me of the Lake of the Thousand Isles, at the opening of the St Lawrence. The turbid torrent, boiling and whirling in a thousand directions, was washing away the banks at one place, and leaving depositions at another. Indian corn was seen falling with masses of earth, and mingling with the stream, and uprooted trees, suspended from the banks with their branches under water, as if experiencing suffocation. Everything suggested to the mind desolation, and led me to think this such a river as despairing man might choose for his last plunge. The whole day was spent on deck, and I felt my spirits sinking when we approached the mouth of the Ohio, which forms a striking contrast to the Mississippi. The Ohio at its junction with the Mississippi, called by the Indians “the Father of Waters,” is broader than the parent stream, and after the junction of three such rivers as the Missouri, Mississippi, and Ohio, their mingled streams do not appear larger to the eye than any of them singly, which arises from the depth and rapidity of the united current. The same difference of colour in the waters which I had remarked at the confluence of the Ottawa and St Lawrence, and of Missouri and Mississippi, were here perceptible. The limpid and placid Ohio, dammed up by the larger stream, and resting without motion between smooth and verdant banks, resembled the stillness of sleep. The Mississippi was like maddened intoxication. Well might the French of old, after traversing the death-like Mississippi, and becoming acquainted with the Ohio, term it _La Belle Rivière_, the beautiful river, a title it justly merits. For some time the winding course and full stream reminded me of sailing on a lake, yet the banks are monotonous, being thinly settled, with the background hid from view, and but for the lovely tints which autumn had imparted to the foliage, would have been without much interest. On advancing up the Ohio, the channel became bound by sand plains, which are covered when the water is high, and many of the banks of the numerous islands showed, by the size of the trees, the successive depositions that are made to them, and I was enabled to count six rows of the same species rising in different gradations.

We at last reached what are termed the Falls of the Ohio, a name given to a succession of rapids, caused by a stratum of rocks crossing the channel of the river, and form the only obstruction to navigation in the whole course of the Ohio. The falls are about two miles in length, and the descent in that distance twenty-four feet. When the river is high, vessels pass up and down the falls, and when low, through a canal lately opened on the south side of the river, commencing a little below Louisville, and extending nearly two miles. The Helen Mar had some difficulty in getting over a bar and rapid below the entrance to the canal; on reaching which I walked forward to Louisville, over a verdant smooth turf, which I enjoyed greatly, after so long an absence from nature’s best carpeting.

The water in the Ohio was still low, although our captain had often been told on the voyage the river had risen eighteen inches in course of a few days. The rising of the Ohio and most of the western rivers in autumn is observed to take place annually, without a considerable fall of rain occurring in the lower part of their courses. This is generally accounted for by the diminished temperature of the atmosphere lessening evaporation on the earth’s surface. In all probability it is more owing to suspended vegetation, the falling leaves and decaying herbage ceasing to throw off moisture.

In the course of our voyage from St Louis to Louisville, a distance of six hundred and thirty miles, passengers were received and landed at many intermediate places, but the majority of them continued the whole distance. My time being spent chiefly in viewing the different objects on the rivers and their banks, I did not become intimate with any individual, except one, Mr Gemble, with whom I afterwards travelled by stage to Columbus in Ohio, and met at the Washington Hotel, on my return to New York. In course of conversation I learned he resided at St Louis, had travelled in the Rocky Mountains, and was on his way to the eastern shore to visit an aged parent. We spent a considerable part of fourteen days in close conversation, without making the slightest enquiry into each other’s birth, parentage, or past and present pursuits in life. On leaving St Louis, I observed him reading several books which he took from his portmanteau, and left exposed on his berth, as if to court others to read them. My only companion of this kind at the time was a small volume, entitled, “a View of the Valley of the Mississippi,” which I often referred to, and found useful, and which Mr Gemble asked me to allow him to look at, although travellers in American steam-boats generally seize on every book within reach, without obtaining the consent of the owner to peruse it. I had thus an opportunity of asking a return of the civility of Mr Gemble, which he readily granted, adding, “I would be happy to allow every person on board to read my volumes.” The first that I opened was one of small dimensions, entitled, “_The Times of Christ_,” which the preface stated to be from the pen of the gifted Harriet Martineau, which appeared in England as the “Traditions of Palestine,” and had been reprinted with a more suitable title, and the omission of some matter which the publisher did not consider in good taste with the rest of the work. The other volumes were of a religious nature, which might have led me to suppose Mr Gemble a spiritual teacher; but there was nothing in his conversation or deportment marking or violating this character. He was a tall, thin gentlemanly-looking person, well informed, and apparently possessing as much real philanthropy as any individual I ever met.

The other passengers consisted of both sexes, of all ages, and of different professions. The ladies were never seen but at meals, keeping their own cabin at other times. The gentlemen were well dressed, and invariably civil to each other, General A—— being the least polished in manners and appearance of any of the company. The captain was an unassuming person, whose voice was seldom heard, and never in connexion with an oath, either in the cabin or amongst the crew. There was only one cabin passenger addicted to swearing, who had formerly been captain of a steam-boat on the Mississippi, and was now engaged in trade at St Louis. The officers of the army, and one or two others, passed part of the evenings in playing cards, at a game which I did not understand, and at which they did not seem to hazard high stakes. On such occasions, I was sometimes amused at the group assembled around the table. Military men of the highest rank, when eagerly intent on the game, were joined by the steward boys without their coats, familiarly seating themselves at table, and looking on the hands of cards. The chewing and spitting of tobacco were incessant, the carpet serving as a receptacle for the moisture, when boxes were not within immediate reach; and on some cold evenings the fire in the cabin was almost overcome by squirting of tobacco juice.

The comfort of the passengers was little attended to in the general arrangements of the vessel. Three times a-day, at breakfast, dinner, and supper, which also includes the repast known in the Eastern States, and in Britain, by the name of tea, the table was stored with supplies of animal food and vegetables, so very ample, that on one occasion I numbered thirty-one dishes placed on the supper-table for twenty-two passengers, and, perhaps, in no instance was there ever less than one dish for each individual. The food was coarsely prepared, and all placed on the table at once, and nearly cold before the company sat down. There was always a second company, consisting of part of the boat’s establishment, and such deck passengers as chose to pay for their food; and sometimes a third company collected, independent of the people of colour, servants or slaves to the passengers, and who satisfied their hunger on the veranda. The succession of companies received no additions to the fare originally placed on the table, and such an injudicious arrangement was the means of rendering it less palatable to all. The vessel called three or four times a-day at different places, yet, on one occasion, bread could not be had for breakfast, and milk or cream were more than once awanting without any notice being taken of it at table. There was no water for drinking or washing but what the rivers supplied, and this was even the case on the turbid Mississippi, the water of which was allowed to separate from the sediment before being presented at table. The inhabitants of the Western States are considered by those of the Eastern ones as wanting in refinement, and the table being loaded with the substantialities of life, while good water and milk, two of the most desirable of liquids, and which might at all times have been obtained on shore, were awanting, appeared a strong indication of coarseness. The passengers drank in the greatest moderation in my sight, only taking a tumbler of spirits and water occasionally when playing at cards, and never tasting wine or any kind of spirits at table at other times. I did not observe a person of any description on board, during the voyage, that appeared in the least degree intoxicated. The water for washing was always fresh drawn from the river, and I thought the Mississippi more likely to stain than clean any face. Many of the gentlemen attempted to clean their teeth and mouths with such mud, which I did not pass within my lips. My dressing-case did not contain soap, which I thought an article likely to be had everywhere, but on application to the steward, I was told there was none on board. An application to the captain, or some of the passengers, would have procured me this commodity, at least for shaving with, but there was something so ungracious in the steward’s refusal, that I was unwilling to hazard another denial. From necessity I had learned to shave without a mirror, while in the northern parts of Illinois, and now attempted the operation without soap, which I found so easy, that I continued the practice until reaching New York.

The cabin being in the stern of the vessel, I spent much of my time in the forecastle, for the purpose of seeing the scenery, which brought me in contact with the crew, and many of the deck passengers. In this class of people I found a considerable change of manner from any I had formerly come in contact with. Many of them swore disgustingly, and possessed a general levity and coarseness of manner, but in no instance did I experience incivility.

I had witnessed a great many cases of fever in course of my journey, and the accounts received in Michigan, Illinois, and Missouri, represented the season as unhealthy, and the population suffering considerably from its effects. On reaching the Mississippi I learned cholera had scourged the inhabitants in a dreadful manner, in the course of summer, and had now subsided. Several cases of fever occurred amongst the deck passengers during the voyage, and a poor child sunk under its attack. A rude coffin was prepared by a person on board, and the remains of the little innocent were interred at Smithland, on the mouth of Cumberland river, Kentucky. On the third day of the voyage, one of the firemen, a man of colour, became unwell, and I observed him rolling about near the furnace, and suffering much, unheeded by those around him. At last the attention of the captain was called to him, and the services of a medical gentleman, who was a cabin passenger, were requested. He pronounced it a bad case of cholera, and the poor fellow was carried on shore soon afterwards in the agonies of death. The consternation on board was great, and many of the passengers deserted the vessel.

Towards the mouth of the Ohio, vast numbers of geese were seen sitting on the extensive sand bars. The deck passengers often fired rifles at geese and other birds without effect. Two or three bald-headed eagles were seen quite near the vessel, and on Diamond Island five or six wild turkeys were observed running from the side of the river into the forest, and was the only time this bird was seen in a live state by me.

The vessels on the waters in the valley of Mississippi burn wood, and supplies are found everywhere on the banks of the rivers, which are speedily conveyed on board, with the assistance of the deck passengers, who are bound to aid in the operation. During the time of taking in wood, I almost universally examined vegetation on the banks, and obtained many new seeds by so doing. I also had an opportunity of conversing with the inhabitants, who, in such situations, depend chiefly on this trade for the means of subsisting. I was surprised at the vessels not using coal, which is very abundant in many places on the banks, and could be easily transported to places where it is not. I am satisfied coal would be found cheaper than wood, and if depots were formed, and provided with a crane to put the coal on board, the saving of time would be considerable in course of the voyage. None of the furnaces are, however, at present constructed for burning coal, and a considerable time is likely to elapse before it gets a fair trial.

In coming up the Ohio, I observed a great number of boats, or rather boxes or arks, of various sizes and shapes, floating down the river towards New Orleans, filled with farm produce, including sheep. These arks are built of strong timbers, fitted up with apartments for the navigators, and sold on reaching New Orleans, the crews returning by the steam-boats. The numerous steam-boats do not seem to have diminished this mode of conveying farm produce, and probably many of them are built on shallow streams in the interior of the country, where steam-vessels never can have access. These arks are simply kept in the current, which floats them down, and in this country, where the farmer has so much leisure time in autumn and winter, must be a cheap mode of conveying produce to market.

Louisville is situated on the south bank of the Ohio, at the mouth of a small stream called Bear Grass, in the State of Kentucky. It consists of several streets running parallel to the river, and the houses are composed of brick. There are many steam-engines employed in sawing wood, grinding wheat, and other purposes. Louisville is the most thriving place on the waters of the coast connected with the Mississippi, and contains about 14,000 inhabitants; it is 1448 miles distant from New Orleans by the river, and 590 from Washington.

On arriving at Louisville I could not obtain admittance into either of the two principal hotels, and afterwards had sufficient evidence to satisfy me the denial was entirely owing to my shabby appearance. My third application was at the American Hotel, a large and excellent establishment; and feeling somewhat annoyed at the manner of my previous refusals, I asked the bar-keeper if he would accommodate me for the night, and he answered in a smart tone of voice, “Certainly, sir; we are servants of the public, but I hope you will eat something.” The inmates of the house were assembling for supper in the Exchange room, and on ringing the bell, the rush up stairs into the banqueting apartment was excessive, there being nearly two hundred individuals assembled. The company were settled down at two large tables, and every thing passed off well, but not in the same quiet way I had observed at other large establishments.

The gentlemen were fashionably dressed, and several of them swore and stormed at the waiters in a manner I never witnessed elsewhere in America, which was perhaps owing to this being a slave state, and the individuals themselves slave owners. The waiters were chiefly people of colour; and much as I did feel disgusted at the language which in two or three instances was directed to them, yet I had often heard waiters in Britain similarly addressed.

My bed was in a small apartment, indifferently lighted, in which were two bedsteads. The Exchange-room was as well filled in the morning with expectants for breakfast as it had been in the preceding evening; and although Louisville is in a slave state, and the establishment of the hotel chiefly composed of such beings, a white person, well dressed and of good appearance, stood at the entrance of the house with the room, and brushed every gentleman’s coat and hat who required his services.

Having seen the town before nightfall, I at one time thought of visiting the theatre, for the purpose of seeing Mr Forrest, a celebrated native actor, of whom the people of the States are extremely proud. On referring to the playbill in the Exchange-room, I observed a line in small type at the bottom, intimating that people of colour were not admitted. This appeared to me so absurd, to distinguish human beings at a place of public amusement by their complexion, and so illiberal, that I altered my intention. In walking through the streets in the evening, I was surprised at seeing so few people, and so many rats. These creatures were swarming, and I saw more of them in half an hour than I had seen in the previous course of my life.

Next morning, I embarked on board the Champlain for Cincinnati, where I found Mr Gemble and another passenger from the Helen Mar. The Champlain was an excellent vessel, with the cabin in the bow, which is much more agreeable than when it is in the stern, by allowing objects to be seen when approaching, instead of receding from them. The steam-boats on the eastern waters of the United States, and the Canadas, have their cabins in the hull of the vessel like those of Britain, and a deck above where passengers sit or walk. A different arrangement is followed on the western rivers. The lower part of the vessel is allotted for stowing away heavy freight, and the boilers are placed in the bow, with a cabin for the gentlemen behind, and one immediately above, for the ladies. The fore-part of the second deck is for the deck passengers. In other cases, the place for deck passengers is in the stern of the first deck, and the second one is divided, forming the ladies’ and gentlemen’s cabins. The Helen Mar was of the first arrangement, and the Champlain of the second. The size of the steam-vessels varies from eighty to five hundred tons, the smallest size being best suited for the summer months, when the rivers are low, and the largest can only be used from November to July. They are narrow, and stand so much above the water, as to resemble a floating-house. Almost all of them use high pressure engines, and are considered worn out in five or six years, except those made of live oak which last from eight to ten years. The perishable nature of the western steam-boat property is, no doubt, in part owing to the materials of which it is composed, and the navigation, which, from currents, sand-bars, and sunken trees or snags, is the most trying and dangerous.

In passing from Louisville to Cincinnati, a distance of 132 miles, the Champlain was well-filled with passengers, who landed and embarked at many intermediate places. The table was by no means so lavishly stored as that of the Helen Mar, and could not contain all the passengers, some of whom, after dinner, filled the berths of others without ceremony, stretching themselves at full length, with their boots on, and sleeping for hours. The deck passengers, being in the stern of the lower deck, were not seen, and the cabin ones exhibited a great diversity of character. I got into conversation with an Irishman, who resided in Kentucky, which had become his adopted country. He was plainly but respectably dressed, and evidently without much education. After stating the advantages of the States in many respects, and how determinedly all the inhabitants would fight in their defence, he asked me where I came from? On answering St Louis, he rejoined, “where were you _raised_?” It was my practice, while in the Western States, to answer readily every question that was put to me, for the purpose of ingratiating myself with the people, by which alone I could obtain information from them, and ensure personal comfort; and I must do them the justice to say, they seldom, in this respect, exceeded the people of my native country. On the present occasion there was something so prying in the Irishman’s expression of countenance and tone of voice, that I resolved to tease him a little, and to his second question answered, “in the East.”

“What part of the East?”

“Europe.”

“What part of Europe?”

“Mungoswells.”

“Where is that?”

“Near Haddington.”

“In what country is that?”

“Scotland.”

Here he told me that he was a native of Ireland; and I answered his language had made me aware of that the moment he entered into conversation.

“Where do you stay?”

“I am a wanderer on the face of the earth.”

“What are you doing?”

“Following the course of the river.”

“What would you do if you were on shore?”

“Follow my nose.”

“What would you like to be employed at?”

“In moving from place to place.”

“Where do you reside?”

“He had been told I was a wanderer, and might rely on what had been stated.” During this conversation, he did not seem to feel the import of my answers, and continued in conversation sometime afterwards.

While standing on deck, near the chimney, around which many gentlemen were assembled, for the heat it afforded, a person who was chewing tobacco, sprinkled a mouthful of juice on the tails of my surtout, which happened to be waving in the wind. As soon as the accident occurred, he pulled out his handkerchief, and when wiping off the filth, apologized for his conduct. There was something so sincere in the gentleman’s manner, and in his anxiety to remove the stain, that induced me to say, he could not have spit on any thing more worthless; and notwithstanding the nature of our introduction, we continued on intimate terms for the remainder of the voyage. There was nothing in America to which I was so long of getting reconciled, as the copious spitting, and my repugnance was chiefly overcome by the accident to my surtout. The use of tobacco in every shape is, to a certain extent, an abomination, and the preference or dislike given to one mode of consumption over another, arises from habit. The smoking Dutchman, chewing American, and snuffing Scotchman, may be objects of disgust to each other, and all of them perhaps abhorred by a fastidious person who dislikes the use of tobacco in any shape.

I have already alluded to the shabbiness of my attire on leaving Montreal, and after having travelled so long and so roughly, often not unrobing for the night, my clothes had become literally threadbare. My hat was originally of white silk-web of bad quality, and now almost without wool. My appearance would have betokened mendicity in Britain, and procured pecuniary assistance from the humane; but in the countries through which I had latterly travelled, charity is never asked nor bestowed, yet my garb had its advantages: It brought me in contact with all classes of the inhabitants, without exciting suspicions of any kind, and enabled me to see them in their real character. My unpretending appearance and deportment could not call forth the democratic rudeness which assumed or presumptuous superiority seldom fails to experience, in almost every portion of the United States; and the sycophant, if such exists in the valley of the Mississippi, had nothing to attract his notice.

The safety of my person and property may have been aided by the meanness of my dress, which possessed no allurement to the robber, thief, or swindler. My position as a traveller in the Western United States, and Upper Canada, differed from that of many British travellers who have visited the countries, and I shall leave others to judge if it was calculated to promote the object of my journey.

In passing up the Ohio, the temperature of the atmosphere became so cold, that I deliberated on the propriety of adding to my clothing, which was the more necessary from having left my flannel shirt in Michigan. The matter was decided by my shoulders and elbows making holes in my coat; after leaving Louisville, and on reaching Cincinnati, I adopted winter clothing, and concealed my external infirmities with a coarse great-coat, which hath since amused my friends in Scotland, by the queerness of its shape, and passed by the name of Mrs Trollope.

The scenery of the Ohio above Louisville, possesses more interest than the lower part of the river, the hills on the banks being higher, and the country better settled. Some beautiful villas are seen on approaching Cincinnati, which we reached before noon.

When walking about Cincinnati, I observed, in several booksellers’ windows,—“Men and Manners in America, by the author of Cyril Thornton,” printed in large characters, and purchased the volume. Mr Stewart’s “Three Years’ Residence in America,” and Mrs Trollope’s “Domestic Manners of the Americans,” had been sent to New York with my trunks, but as the walking part of my journey was over, Cyril Thornton’s work was not expected to incommode me. I had heard of the publication being in the press before leaving Britain, and on opening the book, I naturally turned to the account of the country in which I was then situated. The description of the company in the steam-boats of the Ohio, was so different from what I had experienced, that I shall quote the author’s remarks in passing down from Wheeling to Cincinnati:—“These western regions are undoubtedly the chosen abode of plenty. Provisions are so cheap, that no one ever dreams of economy. Three times a-day was the table literally covered with dishes, wedged together as closely as a battalion of infantry in solid square. Though the passengers were only twenty in number, there was always dinner enough for a hundred. Joints, turkeys, hams, and chops, lay spread before us in admired confusion. Brandy bottles were located at judicious intervals, and porter was to be had on paying for it. I had asked for wine, but in vain. So, being at the luxurious city of Cincinnati, and tolerably tired of the poison called brandy, I sent for a bottle of champagne from the inn. The bottle came, but on being opened, the contents were much more like sour cider than champagne. In short, the stuff was decidedly too bad for drinking, and was accordingly pushed aside. But the appearance of this anomalous-looking flask evidently caused some commotion among the passengers. The wine was probably one which few of them had tasted, and many of them were evidently determined to seize the earliest opportunity of enlarging their experience. ‘I should like a glass of your wine, sir, if you have no objections?’ said my old enemy the Virginian doctor. I immediately pushed the bottle to him, and he filled his tumbler to the brim. Observing this, the persons about him, without ceremony of any kind, seized the bottle, and its contents incontinently disappeared.

“In regard to the passengers, truth compells me to say that any thing so disgusting in human shape I had never seen. Their morals and their manners were alike detestable. A cold and callous selfishness, a disregard of all the decencies of society, were so apparent in feature, word, and action, that I found it impossible not to wish that their catalogue of sins had been enlarged by one more—hypocrisy. Of hypocrisy, however, they were not guilty. The conversation in the cabin was interlarded with the vilest blasphemy, not uttered in a state of mental excitement, but with a coolness and deliberation truly fiendlike.

“There was a Baptist clergyman on board, but his presence did not seem to operate as a restraint. The scene of drinking and gambling had no intermission. It continued day and night. The captain of the vessel, so far from discouraging either vice, was one of the most flagrant offenders in both. He was decidedly the greatest gambler on board, and was often so drunk as to be utterly incapable of taking command of the vessel. There were few female passengers; but with their presence we were only honoured at meals. At all other times they prudently confined themselves to their own cabin.

“One circumstance may be mentioned, which is tolerably illustrative of the general habits of the people. In every steam-boat there is a _public_ comb and hair-brush suspended by a string from the ceiling of the cabin. These utensils are used by the whole body of the passengers, and their condition the pen of Swift could alone adequately describe. There is no tooth-brush, simply, I believe, because the article is entirely unknown to the American toilet. A common towel, however, passes from hand to hand, and suffices for the perfunctory ablutions of the whole party on board. It was often with great difficulty that I procured the exclusive usufruct of one, and it was evident that the demand was not only unusual but disagreeable.”

There is so much discrepancy between this account and what I experienced, that it may be difficult for some people to believe the same part of the world is alluded to. The time which elapsed between Mr Hamilton’s visit and mine was a little more than three years, and in course of that time the manners and customs of the people must either have undergone an extraordinary change, or we must have viewed things through a different medium. It is far from my intention to charge that gentleman with exaggeration or intentional misrepresentation, but objects are so well known to be affected by circumstances, that it may be worth while to enquire how he was situated to enable him to see and judge impartially. With his career in life and the place he occupied in British society, I am utterly unacquainted, and unless be is something immeasurably above ordinary humanity, both would influence his opinions. But it appears to me unfortunate that a man of such powers, as he has proved himself to be possessed of, should have sought information regarding “Men and Manners,” in a part of the world, accompanied by a servant, where he was ashamed to avail himself of his services. This circumstance of itself was sufficient to sour him with all the country contained, as well as to create in others an unfavourable impression towards himself. It was surely an odd proceeding to send “for a bottle of champagne from the inn,” when he was on board a steam-boat. The reason assigned for having done so—“tolerably tired of the poison called brandy”—perhaps accounts for much he has written regarding America—a potation of this liquid, followed by “champagne,” being one of the most deceptious mediums which things can be viewed through, and I shall leave future visitants of the United States to determine whether much he has described was reality, or the fantasies of his imagination.

My situation was different from Mr Hamilton’s, not having tasted any liquid but water and tea since my departure from Montreal, with exception of half a glass of spirits amongst water at Detroit, and the glass of wine at St Charles, formerly mentioned. I do not recollect of seeing brandy on the dinner-table of any steam-boat in America; and feel quite certain that neither wine nor spirits of any kind were on the table of those of the Ohio and Mississippi. I did not see or hear of an intoxicated person on board of any steam-vessel but those of Lake Ontario. “A _public_ comb and hair-brush, suspended by a string from the ceiling of the cabin,” or placed in any other position in the vessel, was not observed by me in the steam-boats of America, and I am sure they did not exist in the vessels I sailed with. Afterwards, I observed a hair-brush suspended by a string in a passage-boat on the Erie Canal, and they are occasionally found in the bar-rooms of inferior hotels. People are not, however, compelled to use them, and they are certainly an accommodation to some individuals. A tooth-brush was used by almost every passenger in the Helen Mar, and I remarked dozens of storekeepers at Detroit washing their teeth in the mornings at the door, and in one or two instances narrowly escaped being soused with superfluous water from tumblers they had been using.

The manners of the people at St Louis, and from that place to Cincinnati, are unquestionably different from the inhabitants on the shores of the Atlantic, being rougher in all respects, but I did not witness any thing approaching to rudeness or disgusting vulgarity amongst cabin passengers. The firemen, engineers, and many of the crew of the steam-boats were habitual swearers, and so were many of the stage-drivers and passengers in travelling through Ohio. But this bad habit did not pervade the inhabitants generally with whom I came in contact.

On landing at Cincinnati, I entered an excellent hotel in a square fronting the river, the name of which I have forgotten. On applying at the bar I was requested, as usual, to enter my name; and on asking for a bedroom to wash, a bell was rung, and a man of colour, who answered it, was desired to conduct me to No. 23, and to see that I got every thing I wanted. This was before any alteration had been made in my dress, and water, towel, and soap, were supplied me. Indeed, water in my bedrooms was furnished everywhere in the United States, with the exception of that part of my tour from Detroit to Louisville.

I had time to examine the greater part of the town before dinner, after which I walked to the top of the hills on the east side of the city, and then to the west end. The situation of Cincinnati, as seen from the height, is singularly fine, being in the midst of a circle of hills, through the centre of which the beautiful Ohio flows. The diameter of the circle is about three miles, and the river is not seen beyond the circle. The city is on the north side of the stream, and on the south, or Kentucky side, stand the thriving villages of Newport and Covington, divided by the river Licking, which joins the Ohio. Cincinnati contains about 30,000 inhabitants, the buildings are of brick, and many streets run parallel and at right angles with the river. I found the market plentifully supplied with every commodity, in stalls and waggons, and the bustle and activity of the place was much greater than I expected to find in a city so remotely situated. The streets were clean at the time of my visit, and the general appearance of the place indicated considerable advancement in luxury. Coals sell at ten cents, wheat at fifty-six, Indian corn at twenty-five, and oats at twenty-two cents per bushel. I shall quote a few particulars relating to Cincinnati, from a recent Philadelphia publication, entitled, a “View of the Valley of the Mississippi.”

“There are _ten founderies_, including a brass and bell foundery, and one for casting types.

“There are three or four _cotton factories_, about fifteen _rolling mills, and steam engine factories, and shops_.

“There are _five breweries_.

“There is a _button factory_, and a _steam coopering establishment_.

“Two _steam flour-mills_, and five or six _steam saw-mills_.

“There are probably not less than forty different manufacturing establishments driven by steam-power.

“The imports, of which dry goods are a principal item, exceed $5,000,000. The exports, consisting of various articles of produce, of which pork is the chief, and of manufactures, of which iron articles, and cabinet furniture, are the chief, probably exceed the imports in value.

“There are two banks, and a savings’ fund association; two museums, very interesting to strangers; and two hospitals.

“There is a company which supplies the city with water, which is elevated by steam power from the Ohio.

“There are several literary and scientific institutions, of which the Lyceum, Athenæum—established by the Catholics, and which is really a college, and cost about $20,000—Medical College, having seven or eight professors, Academy of Medicine and Law, and Theological Seminary are the chief.

“In 1831, there were eighteen public schools, embracing 2,700 scholars, at an expense of $6,610 for teachers’ wages. This city is imitating the noble example of Boston, in establishing free-schools for the whole population. The number of private schools and academies is great.

“There are three library companies, which have, in all, nearly 10,000 volumes of books.

“There are thirty-four charitable associations, and twenty-five religious societies.

“There are six Presbyterian churches, five Methodist, four Baptist, two Episcopal, one Lutheran, one Associate, one Catholic, one Unitarian, one Friends’ Meeting, one Swedenborgian, one Jewish Synagogue, one African, one Christian.

“There are three daily, two semi-weekly, six weekly, (four of which are religious,) two semi-monthly, two monthly, and one quarterly, (medical,) publications—sixteen in all, issued in this city.”

In four months, during 1831, there were issued from Cincinnati press, 86,000 volumes, of which 20,300 were of original works. In the same time, the periodical press issued 243,200 printed sheets.

Cincinnati is generally said to be in a declining state, but I could not discover evidence of decay. Houses were building, and bricks manufacturing in all directions. Streets and roads were undergoing extensive improvement in and around the city, while villas were being erected on the surrounding heights. The ship yards were full of bustle, and craft of various kinds were rising into existence. At the close of the year 1832, one hundred and thirty steam-boats had been built at Cincinnati.

The city is built on the site of some Indian tumuli, one of which I saw, near the western extremity, in tolerable preservation. I hope the inhabitants will protect this monument of a former race, by enclosing it with an iron railing, and adorning the foreground with flowers.

I attended the theatre in the evening. Amongst the players were Sinclair, Thorne, Mrs Knight, and Miss Clara Fisher. The audience were numerous, and somewhat noisy in their plaudits.

The agriculture, seen from the waters of the Mississippi and Ohio, is very limited, and which I cannot well describe. Cultivation becomes extended on approaching Cincinnati, and fields of wheat were seen on the sloping banks. The hills, three or four hundred feet high, which I ascended, to the east of the city, were covered with verdant pasturage of grasses and clovers, on which excellent cattle and sheep were browsing. Waggon loads of pumpkins were passing into the town, and I observed many working oxen eating this vegetable in courts.