Part 22

Salt River is between 100 and 150 yards wide where it unites with the Ohio, and is navigable for about sixty miles. The name is derived from salt springs in its vicinity that are now wrought. Opposite to the mouth of this river, on the north {259} bank of the Ohio, stands a sycamore tree of stupendous size, which is hollow within. I measured the cavity, and found one diameter to be twenty-one feet, and the other twenty feet. In one side of it, a hole is cut sufficiently large to admit a man on horseback. It was probably a sycamore considerably less than this that is noticed in the Pittsburg Navigator, (edition printed in 1818, p. 29,) in the following words: -- “There is one of these huge trees in Sciota county, Ohio, on the land of a Mr. Abraham Miller, into whose hollow thirteen men rode on horseback, June 6, 1808; the fourteenth did not enter, his horse being skittish, and too fearful to advance into so curious an apartment, but there was room enough for two more.” [140]

There is perhaps no vegetable in this country that strikes the mind with greater surprise than the wild vine. I have seen one with a stem nine inches in diameter, and heard of others measuring eleven inches. Some detached trees have their tops closely wreathed with the vines in a manner that forms an elegant and umbrageous canopy, into which the eye cannot penetrate. In the woods they overtop the tallest trees, and from thence hang their pendulous twigs almost to the ground, or pass their ramifications from the branches of one tree to others, overshadowing a considerable space. In many instances their roots are at the distance of several feet from any tree, and their tops attached to branches at the height of sixty or eighty feet, without coming into contact with the trunks of trees, or any other intermediate support. To make the case plain, I have only to say, that the positions of some of these vines have a near resemblance to the stays, and some other ropes of a ship. The question, how they have erected themselves in this manner? is frequently put. Boats that descend the {260} Ohio are often moored without any other cable than a small vine. If a notch is cut in the stem of a vine in the spring season, clear and tasteless water runs out, not in drops, but in a continued stream. I have several times quenched my thirst from sources of this kind.

For upwards of two months, the Ohio has been low; steam-boats cannot now pass from the falls at this place to the Mississippi, nor can boats, descending with produce, get down the same rapids without unloading the greater part of their cargoes. The trade of the country is of consequence much interrupted. In spring, 1818, there were thirty-one steam-boats on the Mississippi and Ohio; at present there are sixty on these waters. This increase of craft, together with the decreasing quantity of goods imported, has lowered the freight from New Orleans to the falls of the Ohio, from six cents to two cents per pound. The rates paid by passengers, however, are not reduced in the same proportion.

The falls of the Ohio are occasioned by a bed of horizontal limestone that stretches across the river, which is upwards of a mile in breadth. At the head of the falls, the river is about a mile broad, including a small island, but in dry seasons of the year the waters are much contracted in breadth, leaving a great portion of the rocky bottom entirely dry. The interruption to the navigation is not a precipitous cascade, as the name would imply, but a rapid, which is extremely shallow at the head in dry weather, and runs over an uneven bottom, at the rate of about fourteen miles an hour. After passing the upper, or principal shoot, nearly the whole of the waters are collected into a deep but narrow channel, close by the Indiana shore, leaving some small islands toward the opposite side; {261} the second, or lower shoot, is less violent, having deeper water, and is always navigable for loaded boats passing downward. The lives of a number of strangers have lately been lost, by venturing down without pilots. The whole fall, at the lowest known stage of water, is nearly twenty-four feet; but in floods the declivity is distributed over a large portion of the river, and is imperceptible to the eye. The rocks contain vast quantities of organic remains, as madrepores, millepores, favocites, alcyonites, corals, several species of terebratulæ, trilobites, trochites, &c. &c. These remains being harder than the water-worn rocks, appear prominent, as if in relief, and many of them almost entirely detached. They are so numerous, that the surface is literally studded with them. Volney, who visited this place, has represented the rocks to be destitute of such subjects. It must have been at a time when they were covered by water.

The inhabitants in the neighbourhood of the Falls have been visited by attacks of bilious fever and ague. A considerable number of persons have been carried off by the former of these complaints, and the convalescent of both are much debilitated. A surmise lately appeared in a Louisville newspaper, that many poor people had suffered from the want of medical assistance, and hazarded the opinion, that a number had died in cases where seasonable applications might have been efficacious. Accounts from Vincennes [141] say, that about a third part of the people there are confined to bed by sickness, and that much of the Wabash country, both in Indiana and Illinois, are now subject to the same evil. Reports from the settlements on the lower parts of White river represent that sickness prevails there and along other water courses. There are many {262} people who act as if they were not sufficiently sensible of the disadvantages resulting from settling in unhealthy situations. Fertility of soil and commercial advantages are the great attractions, but men who look to these as primary considerations, obviously undervalue some of the strongest checks to population and public prosperity. The endemical distempers of this country, so far from being chiefly confined to the weak and the aged, seem to commit their greatest devastations amongst the young and the strong. Surviving sufferers are frequently rendered unfit for labour for a third or fourth part of the year, and receive an irreparable injury to their constitutions; regimen and medicine become almost as indispensable as food; productive labour is thus diminished, and an additional cost imposed on life.

Tavern-keepers observe that travellers are not nearly so numerous as they were last year. The change is to be imputed solely to the decline in trade, and to depression in the price of lands. The fact shows that a proportion of the populace remains at home through necessity or economical motives. Happy it is for them, that the pressure of the times does not, as in certain other countries, turn out a numerous class in the condition of houseless poor. Travellers, however, are still so numerous, that a stranger, not fully aware of the rapidity with which new settlements are forming, and of the great populace of eastern States, might be apt to imagine that Americans are a singularly volatile people.

In the whole of my correspondence with the unlettered part of the people of the western country, I have observed a brevity of language, that seems to be occasioned by their not being acquainted with {263} an extensive vocabulary. Their manner of speech is grave, apparently earnest, and adapted to business more than to intellectual enjoyment. It is seldom that any thing jocular, or any play of words, or circumlocution, or repartee, is uttered by them. If a question is put, it is usually answered in the shortest manner possible. Sometimes abridgments are made that render expressions inconclusive, and give them the form of the inuendo, even where ambiguity is not intended, and by people who, if they were accosted in ironical terms, would make no other reply than an astonished gaze. Technical language is, for obvious reasons, much limited. I have had opportunities of seeing a number of Americans and Irish, who were engaged in the same sort of employment, and could not omit noticing the contrast formed. Where work was let by the piece, the Irish (although previously strangers to one another) uniformly joined in working together in large groupes, and amused themselves by conversation, occasionally introducing the song, the pun, and the bull; while Americans, under similar conditions, preferred working alone, or in parties not exceeding three, and attended to their business in silence. The conversation of those whom _you_ would call the lower orders, shows that they have a very considerable knowledge of the institutions of their country, and that they set a high value on them. Their discourse is usually intermixed with the provincialisms of England and Ireland, and a few Scotticisms. This might be expected, since America has been partly peopled by the natives of these countries. They also use some expressions the original applications of which I have not been able to discover. These I must call Americanisms, and will subjoin some examples.

{264} Movers _for People in the act of removing from one place to another._ Fresh --_Flood in a river._ Bos --_Master._ Hired Girl --_Servant Girl._ Hired Man --_Servant Man._ Reach --_A part of a river that continues for a considerable distance nearly in a straight line._ Raised --_Bred or reared, the participle passive of to breed, (frequently applied to the human species.)_ Tot --_Carry. This is said to be of negro origin._ Carry the horse to water --_To take or lead the horse to the water._ Chores --_Probably derived from chars; little, odd, detached or miscellaneous pieces of business._ Rowdy --_Blackguard._ Truck --_Culinary vegetables; sometimes applied to baggage._ A Machinery --_A Machine._ Floy --_Dirty or foul._ Clever --_Honest, or of good disposition._ Creature --_Horse._ Rooster, or he-bird --_Cock, the male of the hen._

FOOTNOTES:

[134] Charlestown, first settled in 1808, is near the centre of Clark County, twelve miles north of Jeffersonville, and has always been the county seat.--ED.

[135] This was Benjamin Parke, a leading man in Indiana under both territorial and state governments. Emigrating from his native state, New Jersey, in 1797, he came first to Lexington, where he studied law, then removed to Vincennes in 1801. He was chosen the first territorial delegate to Congress, but resigned (1808) to become a territorial judge. Upon the admission of Indiana to the Union, he was appointed by President Madison United States district judge with circuit court powers, a position held until his death in 1835. He took part in the battle of Tippecanoe, and was for several years an Indian agent.--ED.

[136] The capital of Indiana Territory was moved from Vincennes to Corydon in 1813, and remained there until 1825 (see _ante_, note 100). Corydon is near the center of Harrison County, twenty-five miles west of Louisville.--ED.

[137] Mammoth Cave, about ninety-five miles south-west of Louisville, was accidentally discovered by a hunter in 1809. At the present time two hundred and twenty-three of its avenues have been explored, making a total length of one hundred and fifty miles. During the War of 1812-15, salt was manufactured from the nitrous earth in its caverns, and transported across the mountains to Philadelphia and Baltimore. The close of the war rendering this industry unprofitable, the cave has since been used only for exhibition.--ED.

[138] A description of this cave was written by John H. Farnham, Esq., and by him transmitted to the American Antiquarian Society, instituted by the legislature of Massachusetts.--FLINT.

_Comment by Ed._ “Extract of a letter .... describing the Mammoth Cave, in Kentucky,” in American Antiquarian Society _Transactions_, i, p. 355.

[139] Since the above was written, a notice of blind fishes has appeared (if I mistake not) in the memoirs of the Wernerian Society of Edinburgh.--FLINT.

_Comment by Ed._ This was a Scottish Society composed of the followers of the German geologist, Abraham Gottlob Werner (1750-1817), who promulgated the doctrine of the aqueous origin of rocks. His followers were known also as Neptunists.

[140] It was common for early Western travellers to mention large trees as indicative of the richness of the soil. Among others, the following mention the great trees of the West: Washington, Harmar, William Brown, Cutler, Harris, Baily, Hildreth, and Birkbeck. Most of these trees were sycamores, such as that monster which Washington measured on his tour in 1770. Some very large apple-trees are also mentioned.--ED.

[141] For the early history of Vincennes, see Croghan’s _Journals_, volume i of our series, note 113.--ED.

LETTER XXII

Miscellaneous Remarks on the Manners and Habits of the People

_Jeffersonville, (Indiana,) Sep. 11, 1820._

In your letter of the 15th of May last, you mention your apprehension that I am living amongst a half civilized people. Perhaps this is partly occasioned by my having, in former letters, mentioned a considerable number of disagreeable incidents. {265} Matters of public notoriety always attract attention, while the more gratifying affairs of private life, as the most pleasant family scenes, the strictest integrity, and even acts of the most disinterested generosity, are, from their more frequent occurrence, omitted as less interesting. Hence it is, that the stories of travellers, however authentic they may be, and however amusing to their readers, are often more calculated to promote prejudices then to convey accurate information regarding society and morals. It is the energy and the tendency of public institutions that form the best index to national character.

I have at different times called your attention to the disadvantages here in respect of opportunities of education, and the influx of immoral strangers. In these respects the back-woods are mere colonies in comparison with the better state of society in the eastern country. Had I lived in Connecticut or Massachusetts, instead of Indiana, I might have met with fewer irregularities to relate. My acquaintance with many persons from the older communities of the Union, causes me to entertain the highest opinion of the attainments there, and convinces me that it would be nearly as unfair to collect the ingredients for forming the character of the British people in their foreign possessions, as it is to infer the state of American society from the habits and manners of people in new settlements. Adopting this view of the matter, it may be asked, in which of the British colonies is a thirty-sixth part of the soil set apart for the support of schools? which of them make their own laws, and appoint their own governors? or which has produced such an example of availing themselves of the lights of the age, as has the new State of Alabama, in rejecting usury laws.

{266} There is no course of conduct that would belie my feelings more than attempting to misrepresent the character of the American people. From the time of my first landing in the country till the present, I have enjoyed intercourse with people of eminence in society, and have uniformly met with the most polite receptions, and, on many occasions, with such marks of kindness that I can never have sufficient opportunities to requite. Names would be altogether uninteresting to you, but there are many here that I cannot recal to recollection without associating them with those of the personages whom I most admire, and of the friends whom I most esteem.

The American community is not, like that of Britain, divided or formed into classes by the distinctions of title and rank, neither does political party seem to form such a complete separation amongst men, and the unequal distribution of property operates much less. The effects of these conditions are, that the individuals who compose our society are less mutually repellent to one another than with you, and the distinctions formed here are of a more natural kind, such as those founded on public services and talents, and the more uninterrupted associations that proceed from the sympathies of human nature. I am almost of opinion that the more extended bonds of American society are much strengthened by universal suffrage, and the frequent recurrence of elections, for this reason, that the candidates having no boroughs to be treated with in the wholesale way, and the constituents being too numerous, and coming too often in the way, to admit of their being bought over, expectants are obliged to depend on their popularity, and do not find it their interest to repulse any one. It is only from these causes that I could attempt {267} to account for the affability of manners which are almost universal. The inhabitants of American towns are not, like some of the people of your cities, ignorant of the names of the persons who live in the nearest adjoining houses, or who perhaps enter by the same outer door, and the new settler in the woods is soon so well known, among a wide circle of neighbours, that almost any person, within ten miles of him, can direct the stranger to his residence. The civilities exchanged by people who meet on the roads, or in taverns, and the readiness amongst strangers to converse together, are matters of surprise to natives of Britain.

A short time ago I went on business to the residence of a gentleman of high military rank, who has made a distinguished figure in Indian warfare, in the late war on the Canadian frontier, and by his eloquence in Congress. His hospitality and the urbanity of his manners are not less conspicuous than his other great qualities. His house, from the numbers of his visitors, has a great resemblance to a tavern. He has on his property a great number of people who rent land _on shares_, (a term formerly explained to you.) When one of these tenants, or when almost any other stranger of respectable appearance, happens to come to his house about the time of dinner, he usually invites him to table. Amongst his party at dinner I observed an old man, who joined in conversation for about half an hour after the cloth was removed. On his rising to depart the host politely accompanied him to his horse. It was not till after mounting that the stranger intimated the object of his call.--“I have,” (said he,) “for a long time wished to see General ----, and now I am satisfied.” In the afternoon he walked over his farm, and gave directions to some people making hay, {268} and to others employed in a distillery, in which he uses the corn paid to him as rents. That article now sells at twenty-five cents per bushel, but when converted into spirits, it yields him at the rate of a dollar per bushel. In the evening two itinerants, a presbyterian preacher and his wife, arrived with an introduction from an acquaintance. After some conversation, the preacher performed worship in the family. In the morning, after breakfast, the General contributed a few dollars to the support of religion, and held the horses while the two travellers mounted. It would be of little use to multiply facts showing that people of the first consequence, in the free States of this country, do not keep numerous hordes of menials, and that they know how to help themselves, as the high price of labour might alone lead you to infer this as a consequence. I shall only relate an example in point. The gentleman with whom I board keeps a tavern; he is an officer who fought for the liberties of his country, during the revolutionary war, and is now adjutant-general of the militia of this State.[142] One morning I found him engaged in cleaning his own shoes, in the absence of a boy who usually does work of this kind for him.

The laws and the usages of America in respect of foreigners, reflect the highest honour on the country. The stranger is not only protected in his person and property on his first arrival, but it is in his power to become an elector, and eligible to situations of honour and trust. He may depend on being here esteemed according to his behaviour and usefulness, without regard to his former condition or his former country. I have in various instances seen men enjoying the benefits of the free institutions of the United States, and the respect of their neighbours, who, a few years ago, invaded {269} the country with British arms in their hands. You may contrast this liberality with the Alien laws, and with the spirit of the corporations and privileged orders of your country, and ask yourself, Who are the semi-barbarians? Who are the “half-civilized people?”

The comforts that I enjoy here are perhaps somewhat greater than you suppose. I board with a respectable family, the members of which do every thing in their power to render my situation agreeable. In our small town and neighbourhood, there is a considerable number of accomplished people, amongst whom I have much of that sort of enjoyment which consists in hearing elegant conversation, and the reciprocation of those little civilities and services that give a relish to social life. The situation of this place at an important point on the river, and on the line of an extensive communication by land, renders it a very considerable thoroughfare. This of itself, has been the means of making me extensively acquainted amongst the public characters of the State, and many interesting individuals from other parts. We have abundance of newspapers, some of which are judiciously conducted, and in which many excellent original articles are to be found; and all of them devote a part of their columns to the public occurrences of Britain. I occasionally read some of the latest publications from your country, and have frequent opportunities of seeing the Reviews, and Literary and Scientific Magazines. At short intervals, I have commonly letters from Scotland, and frequently communications from friends in different parts of this country. In short, were I discontented with the society amongst which I live, I might occasion a suspicion that I am unworthy of mixing in it.

FOOTNOTES:

[142] Henry P. Coburn was adjutant-general of Indiana from December, 1819, to December, 1822. A native of Massachusetts and graduate of Harvard College (1812), he came to Indiana in 1816 and practised law in the southern part of the state until 1820. In that year he was made clerk of the supreme court, holding the position until his death in 1852.--ED.

{270} LETTER XXIII

Passage from the Falls of the Ohio to Cincinnati--Drought--Banks--Militia--Journey to Lake Erie--Reading--Shakertown--Lebanon--Little Miami--Wood Pigeons--Insects--Clarkville and Leesburg--Greenfield and Oldtown--Large quantities of Grain raised by Individuals--The Great Sciota--Pickaway Plains--Wet Prairies--New Lancaster--Lebanon--Newark--Mount Vernon--Owl Creek--Clear Fork--Roads--Mansfield--Trucksville--Summit of the Country between the Ohio and Lake Erie--Munro--Sickness--The Great Prairie--The former Beach of Lake Erie--Bloomingtown--Bank--Mineral Strata--Portland--Venice--Sickness--Indians--Tavern Keepers--People.

_Portland, (Ohio,) Oct. 13, 1820._

I left the Falls of the Ohio on the 12th ult. and took my passage in a steam-boat which plies between that place and Cincinnati.--There was no other passing on the Ohio at that time, on account of the lowness of the water.