Part 19

Although earthquakes have been frequently felt in the United States, the injury done by them has either been local, or of little consequence. On the 16th of December, 1811, a concussion at Cincinnati threw down some chimney tops, opened room doors that were shut by a falling latch, and caused the furniture to shake. During the year 1812, two considerable shocks, and many lesser vibrations were observed.[124] It appeared that the centre from which the convulsions proceeded, was in the neighbourhood of New Madrid, which lies on the bank of the Mississippi, about seventy miles below the mouth of the Ohio.[125] At that place a dreadful commotion prevailed in December, 1812. The trees beat upon one another, and were either twisted or broken. The site of the town subsided about eight feet. Many acres of land sunk, and were overflowed by the river, and the water rushed in torrents from crevices opened in the land. Boats were sunk, and, (as if the order of nature had been inverted) sunk logs of timber were raised from the bottom in such quantities that almost covered the surface of the river. Slight vibrations, at intervals of a few days, continue to the present time. Many of the people deserted their possessions, and retired to the Missouri, where lands were granted to them by Congress. The inhabitants who remained, and others who have since joined the {221} settlement, are now so accustomed to the tremor, that they talk of it with little or no concern.

Last summer (1819) was unusually dry. The Ohio was not navigable for steam-boats, subsequent to the middle of April, and there was no flood till February last. West India produce, viz. coffee and sugar, became scarce, and sold at more than twice the common price. Many of the people in this land of plenty, seemed to look forward to a privation of these articles, as to an approaching famine--_Apropos_ of coffee, as I have heard that the grocers of your country are not allowed to sell burnt beans as a substitute, it is fortunate for the revenue, that the Atlantic is always _navigable_.

Since coming here, a numerous meeting of citizens was held, to take into consideration the case of a Judge who occupied another public situation at the time of his being placed on the bench. Appointments of this kind are contrary to the constitution.

Three Indians, the chief, the counsellor, and the warrior of the Osage nation,[126] on their way for the city of Washington, halted here for a day. At the request of an hospitable gentleman in town, they dined at his house. I had there an opportunity of having some conversation with them, through the medium of their interpreter. Two of them are men of large stature, and possess an unaffected dignity of deportment, which, perhaps, might not be improved by any thing like the adulation of European courtiers. They are cleanly in their persons, and their skin is of a light copper colour. At table they acquitted themselves with much ease and propriety. After dinner they severally sat to an artist, who drew their portraits. During {222} this process, they kept themselves immovable as statues, and were highly pleased with the imitative art. The terrestrial globe was exhibited to them, and briefly explained; as was also the hypothesis of a hollow sphere, lately suggested by Captain Symmes of this place.[127] After a short deliberation, the chief replied: “We are willing to believe all that you have told us, but white men know these things best.” Their answers to questions were always direct, concise, and calculated to avoid giving offence. The principal peculiarity of their conduct was an eagerness to examine the interior of the house. In this they were even indulged without attendance. Their business at the seat of government, is to effect an arrangement for obtaining the means of improvement in the arts of civilized life; and to represent a grievance occasioned by the government of the United States, having purchased the lands of a neighbouring tribe, which now encroach on the hunting grounds of the Osage nation. The chiefs say, that they have 1800 warriors, and are able to destroy the tribes which have come into their country; but that they are unwilling to go to war.

Despotic governments, wherever they are, might stand reproved by the humanity of the aboriginal chiefs of America; and every people who are oppressed by the rapacity of privileged orders, may derive valuable instruction from the independent men of the forests, whose high spirit does not submit to be enslaved or taxed. Wars against people of this character present few allurements to the ambitious, and still fewer to avaricious men. The pacific policy of the Indians may, perhaps, be discredited, on account of the sanguinary wars that have thinned the ranks of numerous tribes, and annihilated many others. But it must be admitted, that this depopulation {223} has been accelerated, if not entirely produced, by Europeans, who took possession of the country by force, driving tribes into the territories of other nations. A migration cannot be tolerated to any great extent, where the people depend on hunting and fishing for their subsistence. Hence, the object of Indian warfare has been extirpation. The practice of leaguing with one tribe in fighting against another, has been a powerful cause of mutual destruction. The presents given by Europeans in these cases, and the promises made, could never have been inducements to wars purely Indian. Add to this, the havock introduced by the small-pox, and the use of spiritous liquors. We are almost totally unacquainted with the remote history of the American tribes. The great magnitude of their remaining works, prove that the population has once been comparatively numerous. This fact is in some measure corroborated by the great number of nations existing at the time of the first invasion of white people. It follows, that the wars that occurred during the accumulation of these people, have probably been less frequent, or less destructive than those which have latterly exterminated a large portion of the race.

FOOTNOTES:

[121] Constantin François Chasseboeuf Volney, _View of the Climate and Soil of the United States of America_, translated from the French (London, 1804). Volney (1759-1820) was a journalist, scholar, and statesman, who wrote on a great variety of subjects. He spent four years in America (1795-1799), and intended to publish a criticism of American institutions, but was dissuaded, it is said, by his friendship for Franklin. After his return to France, he was made a member of the Academy in 1813, and a peer by Louis XVIII in 1814.--ED.

[122] Dr. Drake has shown that the mean number of cloudy days in the year, was 104.33 for a space of six years; and that the mean term of variable days for the same period, was 82.16 days. Consequently, nearly half the time must have been clear weather.--_Picture of Cincinnati_, p. 103.--FLINT.

[123] See Dr. Drake’s _Picture of Cincinnati_.--FLINT.

[124] Ibid.--FLINT.

[125] For the early history of New Madrid, see Cuming’s _Tour_, volume iv of our series, note 185.--ED.

[126] For the Osage Indians, see Bradbury’s _Travels_, volume v of our series, note 22.--ED.

[127] John Cleves Symmes (1780-1829), soldier and scientific speculator, was a nephew of the pioneer promoter of the same name. His much-ridiculed theory of the earth as a hollow sphere, was elaborated in his volume, _Theory of Concentric Spheres, demonstrating that the Earth is Hollow_ (Cincinnati, 1826).--ED.

{224} LETTER XIX

Descend the Ohio from Cincinnati to Madison--Notices of a Scotch Settlement--Excess of Male Population--Roads--Harvest--Crops--Orchards--Timber--Elections-- Methodist Camp Meeting.

_Jeffersonville, (Indiana,) August 8, 1820._

On the day succeeding the date of my last, I descended the river to Madison, a new town on the Indiana side of the river.[128]

About twelve miles north-east of Madison, and extending from thence eastward, is a new settlement, consisting chiefly of Scots, who amount to thirty-three families. The land which they have fixed on seems to be of the second rate quality. It is uneven, and intermixed with many deep ravines; in most of which the water is now dried up. The greatest natural disadvantage of this situation is, the difficulty of having roads over ground so much broken; but the industry displayed by the settlers may remedy this before the present generation passeth away. In the above enumeration of Scots, I used the term families for want of a better; but it deserves notice, that two of these establishments consist of two young men each, and one of them of three. Amongst the bachelor cultivators I recognised one of the passengers who came over with me in the ship Glenthorn. Another of them was lately a journeyman tailor in Edinburgh. He has thrown aside the tools of his former business, and taken up, in their stead, a more formidable {225} weapon. I had an opportunity of conversing with five of these people. The supposed horrors of a back-woods life, aggravated by a state of celibacy, has by no means shed a gloom over their countenances. Whatever their privations may be in the mean time, they have at least a reasonable prospect of having them speedily removed. The lands which they improve are their own. Whether they continue to cultivate or to sell them, their capital will increase: and even in the event of their taking wives, the probability of their children becoming paupers must be greatly lessened, in consequence of their emigrating to America. The excessive emigration of the men occasions a considerable paucity of females in all new settlements. While at Pittsburg, I saw a young widower with two infant children on his way for the military lands, in the State of Illinois. Some one hinted to him, that to marry again would be a prudential step on his part. He gave his assent to the truth of the remark, but expressed some doubts of his finding a wife where he was going. “I have lately been in that country,” continued he, “and I believe that the girls there are _all married up_.” During the early stages of the settlement of the colonies, the excess of male population must have been thought a great inconvenience. It is on record that the settlers of Virginia procured ladies from England in exchange for tobacco. The necessity of importations of this kind has been long ago removed, in that State; and the two sexes are now nearly equal in point of numbers, although not quite equally distributed over the country. Before dropping this digression on celibacy, I must mention my conviction that a very great proportion of Scotsmen remain bachelors in America. This is not asserted as a fact that applies to every part of the country, but in {226} so far as my observation has gone, I state it with much confidence. Whether we are less ardent in the pursuit than other people, or whether we are more under the influence of the prudential principle,--or whether our imputed loyalty, or some other national peculiarities, make the fair daughters of this land repulsive to us, I am not prepared to say. To return to the Scots settlement; J. M. lately a blacksmith in the county of Edinburgh, has settled here. He arrived with his wife, seven sons, two daughters, and a son-in-law, about ten months before I met him. He has purchased 480 acres of land, built two log-houses and a small stable; cleared and inclosed about 22 acres, which is nearly all under crop; deadened the timber of about 80 acres more; and planted an orchard. In addition to these improvements, his sons have wrought for a neighbour to the amount of a hundred days’ work. He has a horse, a cow, a few hogs, and some poultry. I inquired if he felt himself happy in a strange land; he replied, that he would not return to Scotland though the property, of which he formerly rented a part, were given to him for nothing.

Madison is a county town, consisting of about 100 houses. It is situated on a northerly bend of the river Ohio; and is, therefore, a place well adapted for intercourse with the interior of Indiana, and, on that account, it may soon become a considerable town. While I was there, the circuit court of the State was sitting. Two respectable personages were on the bench, and several lawyers of polite address were attending to the business on hand. The number of litigants is extremely great when the thinness of the population is considered.

The roads are merely narrow avenues through {227} the woods; felling and rolling away the timber being, in most cases, all the labour which is bestowed upon them. Withered trees, and others blown down by the wind, lie across, forming obstructions in many parts. The few bridges which we do see are made of wood. In Indiana, the roads are opened and occasionally repaired by an assessment from every man who has lived thirty days in any particular county. In the present year this statute labour has been increased from two days’ to six days’ work; and the alteration is unpopular, because the poorest men in the State are obliged to pay as much as the wealthiest landholders, and non-resident landholders are exempted. I have seen several labourers who left the State to avoid this obnoxious tax. I am not informed whether the increase mentioned has been exacted in every part of the State. An act of the legislature fixes six days’ labour, or a money commutation of the same, as a maximum, leaving the actual increase in the option of county commissioners. It does not appear probable that the road law can exist long without being modified, as popular opinion regulates every thing of the kind here.

On the 29th of June, wheat harvest was commenced on several farms to the west of Madison. Oats, at that time, were headed out and luxuriant; but the heat of the climate is uniformly unfavourable to the ripening of this kind of crop. Its weight, relative to measure, is usually about half of that of good grain in the better parts of Britain. The growth of Indian corn is this season luxuriant. The only injury it has suffered arises from squirrels that gathered a considerable quantity of the seed in many fields. Squirrels are not so excessively numerous in the uninhabited woods as in the vicinity of cultivated fields. Potatoes are small and of a bad {228} quality. At Jeffersonville, so early as the 29th of May last, new potatoes were in the market. Turnips (so far as I have observed) do not grow to a large size, nor are they raised in large quantities. Flax, in every field that I have seen, was a short crop, with strong stems, and tops too much forked. Probably thicker sowing would improve its quality. Hemp grows with great luxuriance. The orchards are abundantly productive, and yield apples of the largest size; but little care is taken in selecting or ingrafting from varieties of the best flavour. Small crab apples are the most acid, and produce the finest cider. Pears are scarcely to be seen. Peaches of the best and worst qualities are to be met with. The trees bear on the third summer after the seed is sown, and although no attention is paid to the rearing them, the fruit is excessively plentiful, and is sometimes sold at twenty-five cents (1s. 1¹⁄₂d. English) per bushel. Last year I weighed a peach, and found its weight to be eleven ounces, and I observed in a newspaper about the same time, an account of one of the extraordinary weight of fourteen ounces. A rancid sort of spirit is distilled from them, known here by the name of peach brandy. Cherries are small. The earliest this season at Cincinnati, were ripe on the 22d of May. Wild cherry trees grow to a great height in the woods; the timber is of a red colour, and is used in making tables, bureaus, &c. and forms a tolerable substitute for mahogany.

Ornamental gardening is a pursuit little attended to, and perhaps will not soon be generally exhibited. The soil of the best land being soft, the torrents of rain which almost instantaneously deluge the surface convert it into a paste of a very unsightly appearance. Where the ground has even a slight declivity, it is liable to have deep ruts washed in it. Low walks and other hollows, are {229} often filled with the soil carried down from higher parts of the ground. The severity of the winter is another obstacle; it being difficult to preserve some perennial and biennial plants, or to procure culinary vegetables in the spring. The stock of cultivated flower roots is very small, and these not well selected. Gooseberries and currants are scarce and small. Cucumbers, melons, and a variety of products that require artificial heat in Britain, grow here vigorously in the open air.

Several species of forest trees furnish excellent timber. The white oak is at once tough, dense, flexible, and easily split. The black locust is strong, heavy, not much subject to warping, and resists the effects of the weather for a long period of time. This sort of timber resembles laburnum more than any that you are acquainted with. White hickory is tough and elastic in a high degree, and is the wood in general use for handles to axes, and other tools. Black walnut grows to a great size, and is considered a mark of the excellence of the soil on which it grows. It is lighter, less curled in its texture, and probably weaker than that of England. The sugar-maple is curled in its fibre, and is used in making stocks for rifles. White or water maple is also curled, of a fine straw-colour, and is sometimes introduced in cabinet-work with much effect. White and blue ash trees are easily split, pliant, and readily smoothed, but less fit to bear exposure to the weather than the ash of Europe. Poplar grows to a great size, and is easily converted into boards or scantling. Red cedar is exceedingly durable as posts of rail-fences, and grows in great abundance by Kentucky river. White and yellow pines, similar to those of Canada, are brought from Allegany river, and are now sold here, in boards, at a cent per square foot.

{230} A few days ago I witnessed the election of a member of Congress for the State of Indiana.--Members for the State assembly and county officers, and the votes for the township of Jeffersonville, were taken by ballot in one day. No quarrels or disorder occurred. At Louisville, in Kentucky, the poll was kept open for three days. The votes were given _viva voce_. I saw three fights in the course of an hour. This method appears to be productive of as much discord here as in England. The States Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and all north of the latter, vote by ballot, and the southern proceed verbally.[129]

The sales of land in the late Indian purchase in Indiana have commenced at Jeffersonville.--They are now exposed by auction in lots of half quarter sections, (80 acres.) Only a very small part of the quantity offered has been sold. The price obtained is almost uniformly a dollar and a quarter per acre, the minimum rate now established by act of Congress. A few lots which present superior local advantages have sold higher. I know of one, with an excellent mill-seat, that gave three dollars per acre. The lands offered, but not sold at the present auction, may afterwards be privately purchased at the land-office for a dollar and a quarter per acre. No credit is given to those who buy public lands. The purchasers, whose lands were by law forfeited for non-payment, have got another year’s indulgence, but this act of lenity does not extend to those who are not actual settlers. Quarter sections are divided into half quarters, by south and north lines. A considerable number of backwoodsmen, who had previously taken possession of lands in the new purchase, attended the public sales for about a week. During the night they lodged in a joiner’s shed, which {231} is a mere temporary roof, composed of loose boards, for the purpose of sheltering workmen from the direct rays of the sun.

I lately returned from visiting the camp meeting of Wesleyan methodists, where I remained about twenty-four hours. On approaching the scene of action, the number of horses tied to fences and trees, and the travelling waggons standing in the environs, convinced me of the great magnitude of the assemblage. Immediately round the meeting a considerable number of tents were irregularly disposed. Some of them were log cabins that seemed to have served several campaigns, but most of them constructed by poles, covered over with coarse tow cloth.

These tents are for the accommodation of the people who attend the worship for several days, or for a week together. I had no sooner got a sight of the area within, than I was struck with surprise, my feet were for a moment involuntarily arrested, while I gazed on a preacher vociferating from a high rostrum, raised between two trees, and an agitated crowd immediately before him, that were making a loud noise, and the most singular gesticulations which can be imagined. On advancing a few paces, I discovered that the turmoil was chiefly confined within a small inclosure of about thirty feet square, in front of the orator, and that the ground occupied by the congregation was laid with felled trees for seats. A rail fence divided it into two parts, one for females, and the other for males. It was my misfortune to enter by the wrong side, and I was politely informed of the mistake by a Colonel P----, of my acquaintance, who, it appeared, had undertaken the duty of keeping the males apart from the females. The inclosure already mentioned was for the reception of those who undergo religious awakenings, and was {232} filled by both sexes, who were exercising violently. Shouting, screaming, clapping of hands, leaping, jerking, falling, and swooning. The preacher could not be distinctly heard, great as his exertions were; certainly had it not been for his elevated position, his voice would have been entirely blended with the clamours below. I took my stand close by the fence, for the purpose of noting down exclamations uttered by the exercised, but found myself unable to pick up any thing like a distinct paragraph.--Borrowing an idea from the Greek mythology, to have a distinct perception of sounds, poured from such a multitude of bellowing mouths, would require the ear of _Jove_.--I had to content myself with such vociferations as _glory, glory, power, Jesus Christ_,--with “groans and woes unutterable.”

In the afternoon a short cessation was allowed for dinner, and those deeply affected were removed to tents and laid on the ground. This new arrangement made a striking change in the camp, the bustle being removed from the centre and distributed along the outskirts of the preaching ground. Separate tents, in which one or more persons were laid, were surrounded by females who sung melodiously. It is truly delightful to hear these sweet singing people. Some of their tunes, it is true, did not convey, through my prejudiced ears, the solemn impressions that become religious worship, for I recognised several of the airs associated with the sentimental songs of my native land. In one instance a tent was dismantled of its tow cloth covering, which discovered a female almost motionless. After a choir of girls around her, had sung for a few minutes, two men stood over her, and simultaneously joined in prayer. One of them, {233} gifted with a loud and clear voice, drowned the other totally, and actually prayed him down.