Read Ebook: James's Account of S. H. Long's Expedition 1819-1820 part 1 by James Edwin Long Stephen H Stephen Harriman Say Thomas Thwaites Reuben Gold Editor

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"You will enter in your journal, every thing interesting in relation to soil, face of the country, water courses and productions, whether animal, vegetable, or mineral."

"You will conciliate the Indians by kindness and presents, and will ascertain, as far as practicable, the number and character of the various tribes, with the extent of country claimed by each."

"Great confidence is reposed in the acquirements and zeal of the citizens who will accompany the Expedition for scientific purposes, and a confident hope is entertained, that their duties will be performed in such a manner, as to add both to their own reputation and that of our country."

"The Instructions of Mr. Jefferson to Capt. Lewis, which are printed in his travels, will afford you many valuable suggestions, of which as far as applicable, you will avail yourself."

It will be perceived that the travels and researches of the Expedition, have been far less extensive than those contemplated in the foregoing orders:--the state of the national finances, during the year 1821, having called for retrenchments in all expenditures of a public nature,--the means necessary for the farther prosecution of the objects of the Expedition, were accordingly withheld.

EXPEDITION FROM PITTSBURGH TO THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS

Departure from Pittsburgh--North-western slope of the Alleghany Mountains--Rapids of the Ohio.

Early in April, 1819, the several persons constituting the exploring party had assembled at Pittsburgh. It had been our intention to commence the descent of the Ohio, before the middle of that month; but some unavoidable delays in the completion of the steam boat, and in the preparations necessary for a long voyage, prevented our departure until the first of May. On the 31st of March, the following instructions were issued by the commanding officer, giving an outline of the services to be performed by the party, and assigning to each individual the appropriate duties:--

"Pursuant to orders from the Hon. Secretary of War, Major Long assumes the command of the expedition about to engage in exploring the Mississippi, Missouri, and their navigable tributaries, on board the United States' steam-boat, Western Engineer.

"The commanding officer will direct the movements and operations of the expedition, both in relation to military and scientific pursuits. A strict observance of all orders, whether written or verbal, emanating from him, will be required of all connected with the expedition. The prime object of the expedition being a topographical description of the country to be explored, the commanding officer will avail himself of any assistance he may require of any persons on board to aid in taking the necessary observations. In this branch of duty, Lieutenant Graham and Cadet Swift will officiate as his immediate assistants.

"The journal of the expedition will be kept by Major Biddle, whose duty it will be to record all transactions of the party that concern the objects of the expedition, to describe the manners and customs, &c. of the inhabitants of the country through which we may pass; to trace in a compendious manner the history of the towns, villages, and tribes of Indians we may visit; to review the writings of other travellers, and compare their statements with our own observations; and in general to record whatever may be of interest to the community in a civil point of view, not interfering with the records to be kept by the naturalists attached to the expedition.

"Dr. Baldwin will act as botanist for the expedition. A description of all the products of vegetation, common or peculiar to the countries we may traverse, will be required of him, also the diseases prevailing among the inhabitants, whether civilized or savages, and their probable causes, will be subjects for his investigation; any variety in the anatomy of the human frame, or any other phenomena observable in our species, will be particularly noted by him. Dr. Baldwin will also officiate as physician and surgeon for the expedition.

"Mr. Say will examine and describe any objects in zoology, and its several branches, that may come under our observation. A classification of all land and water animals, insects, &c. and a particular description of the animal remains found in a concrete state will be required of him.

"Geology, so far as it relates to earths, minerals, and fossils, distinguishing the primitive, transition, secondary, and alluvial formations and deposits, will afford subjects of investigation for Mr. Jessup. In this science, as also in botany and zoology, facts will be required without regard to the theories or hypotheses that have been advanced on numerous occasions by men of science.

"Mr. Peale will officiate as assistant naturalist. In the several departments above enumerated, his services will be required in collecting specimens suitable to be preserved, in drafting and delineating them, in preserving the skins, &c. of animals, and in sketching the stratifications of rocks, earths, &c. as presented on the declivities of precipices.

"Mr. Seymour, as painter for the expedition, will furnish sketches of landscapes, whenever we meet with any distinguished for their beauty and grandeur. He will also paint miniature likenesses, or portraits, if required, of distinguished Indians, and exhibit groups of savages engaged in celebrating their festivals, or sitting in council, and in general illustrate any subject, that may be deemed appropriate in his art.

"Lieutenant Graham and Cadet Swift, in addition to the duties they may perform in the capacity of assistant topographers, will attend to drilling the boat's crew, in the exercise of the musket, the field-piece, and the sabre.

"Their duties will be assigned them, from time to time, by the commanding officer.

"All records kept on board the steam-boat, all subjects of natural history, geology, and botany, all drawings, as also journals of every kind relating to the expedition, will at all times be subject to the inspection of the commanding officer, and at the conclusion of each trip or voyage, will be placed at his disposal, as agent for the United States' government.

"Orders will be given, from time to time, whenever the commanding officer may deem them expedient.

On the 3d of May we left the arsenal, where the boat had been built, and after exchanging a salute of twenty-two guns, began to descend the Alleghany, towards Pittsburgh. Great numbers of spectators lined the banks of the river, and their acclamations were occasionally noticed by the discharge of ordnance on board the boat. The important duties assigned the expedition rendered its departure a subject of interest, and some peculiarities in the structure of the boat attracted attention.

We were furnished with an adequate supply of arms and ammunition, and a collection of books and instruments.

On Wednesday the 5th of May, having completed some alterations, which it appeared necessary to make in our engine, and received on board all our stores, we left Pittsburgh and proceeded on our voyage. All the gentlemen of the party, except Dr. Baldwin, were in good health, and entered upon this enterprise in good spirits and with high expectations. Fourteen miles below Pittsburgh, we passed a steam-boat lying aground; we received and returned their salute, as is customary with the merchants' boats on the Ohio and Mississippi.

At evening we heard the cry of the whip-poor-will; and among other birds saw the pelecanus carbo, several turkey vultures, and the tell-tale sand-piper. The spring was now rapidly advancing, the dense forests of the Ohio bottoms were unfolding their luxuriant foliage, and the scattered plantations assuming the cheering aspect of summer.

A few weeks' residence at and near Pittsburgh, and several journies across the Alleghany mountains, in different parts, have afforded us the opportunity of collecting a few observations relative to that important section of country, which contains the sources of the Ohio.

In the Alleghany river we found several of those little animals, which have been described as a species of Proteus, but which to us appear more properly to belong to the genus Triton.

The north-western slope of that range of mountains, known collectively as the Alleghanies, has a moderate inclination towards the bed of the Ohio, and the St. Lawrence, which run nearly in opposite directions along its base. This mountain chain extends uninterrupted along the Atlantic coast, from the Gulf of St. Lawrence south-west to the great alluvial formation of the Mississippi. It crosses the St. Lawrence at the rapids above Quebec, and has been supposed to be connected as a spur to a group of primitive mountains occupying a large portion of the interior of the continent, north of the great Lakes. An inspection of any of the late maps of North America, will show that this range holds the second place among the mountain chains of this continent. All our rivers of the first magnitude have their sources, either in the Rocky Mountains, or in elevated spurs, projecting from the sides of that range. The largest of the rivers, flowing from the Alleghanies, is the Ohio; and even this, running almost parallel to the range, and receiving as many, and, with a few exceptions, as large rivers from the north as from the south, seems in a great measure independent of it. From the most elevated part of the continent, at the sources of the Platte, and Yellow Stone, branches of the Missouri, the descent towards the Atlantic is at least twice obstructed by ranges of hills nearly parallel, in direction, to each other. Erroneous impressions have heretofore prevailed respecting the character of that part of the country called the Mississippi Valley. If we consider attentively that extensive portion of our continent, drained by the Mississippi, we shall find it naturally divided into two nearly equal sections. This division is made by a range of hilly country, to be hereafter particularly described, running from near the north-western angle of the Gulf of Mexico north-eastwardly to Lake Superior. Eastward, from this range, to the summit of the Alleghanies, extends a country of forests, having usually a deep and fertile soil, reposing upon extensive strata of argillaceous sandstone, compact limestone, and other secondary rocks. Though these rocks extend almost to the highest summits of the Alleghanies, and retain even there the horizontal position which they have in the plains, the region they underlay is not to be considered as forming a district of table lands. On the contrary, its surface is varied by deep vallies and lofty hills; and there are extensive tracts elevated probably not less than eight hundred feet above the Atlantic ocean. The north-western slope of the Alleghany mountains, though more gradual than the south-eastern, is, like it, divided by deep vallies, parallel to the general direction of the range. In these vallies, many of the rivers, which derive their sources from the interior and most elevated hills of the group, pursue their courses for many miles, descending either towards the south-west, or the north-east, until they at length acquire sufficient force to break through the opposing ridges, whence they afterward pursue a more direct course. As instances, we may mention the Monongahela river, which runs nearly parallel, but in an opposite direction, to the Ohio; the great Kenhawa, whose course above the falls forms an acute angle with the part below; also the Cumberland, and Tennessee, which run a long distance parallel to each other, and to the Ohio. This fact seems to justify the inference, that some other agent than the rivers has been active in the production of the vallies between the subordinate ridges of the Alleghany. There appears some reason to believe that the rocky hills, along the immediate course of the Ohio and the larger western rivers, have received, at least, their present form from the operation of streams of water. They do not, like the accessory ridges of the Alleghany, form high and continuous chains, apparently influencing the direction of rivers, but present groups of conic eminences separated by water-worn vallies, and having a sort of symmetric arrangement. The structure of these hills does not so much differ from that of the Alleghany mountains, as their form and position. The long chains of hills, which form the ascent to the Alleghany, on the western side, are based either on metalliferous limestone, or some of the inclined rocks belonging to the transition formation of Werner, and have their summits capped with the more recent secondary aggregates in strata without inclination, and greatly resembling those found in the plains west of the Ohio. It is not easy to conceive how these horizontal strata, unless originally continuous, should appear so similar at equal elevations in different hills, and hills separated by vallies of several miles in width. If that convulsion which produced the inclination of the strata, of the metalliferous limestone, the clay-slate, and the gray wacke, happened before the deposition of the compact limestone, and the argillaceous sandstones, why are not these later aggregates found principally in the vallies, where their integrant particles would be supposed most readily to have accumulated? On the other hand, if the secondary rocks had been deposited previous to that supposed change, how have their stratifications retained the original horizontal position, while that of the transition strata has been changed?

Most of the rivers which descend from the western side of the Alleghany mountains are of inconsiderable magnitude, and by no means remarkable, on account of the straightness of their course, or the rapidity of their currents. The maps accompanying this work, will, in the most satisfactory manner, illustrate the great contrast in this respect, between the district now under consideration and the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains. The Tennessee, the Cumberland, the Kentucky, the Kenhawa and Alleghany rivers, though traversed in their courses by rocky dikes, sometimes compressing their beds into a narrow compass, occasioning rapids, and in other instances causing perpendicular falls, yet compared to the Platte, and the western tributaries of the Missouri generally, can be considered neither shoal nor rapid. Their immediate banks are permanent, often rocky, and the sloping beach covered with trees or shrubs, and the water, except in time of high floods, nearly transparent. The waters of the Ohio, and its tributaries, and perhaps of most other rivers, when they do not suspend such quantities of earthy matter as to destroy their transparency, reflect, from beneath their surface, a greenish colour. This colour has been thought to be, in some instances, occasioned by minute confervas, or other floating plants, or to result from the decomposition of decaying vegetable matter. That it depends on neither of these causes, however, is sufficiently manifest, for when seen by transmitted light, the green waters are usually transparent and colourless. Some rivers of Switzerland, and some of South America, which descend from lofty primitive mountains, consisting of rocks of the most flinty and indestructible composition, covered with perpetual snows, and almost destitute of organic beings, or exuviae, either animal or vegetable, and whose waters have a temperature, even in summer, raised but a few degrees above the freezing point, which circumstance, together with the rapidity of their currents, render them unfit for the abode of vegetable life, and is incompatible with the existence of putrefaction, notwithstanding the transparency of their waters, and the reddish, or yellowish colour of the rocks which pave their beds, have a tinge of green, like the Ohio and Cumberland, at times of low water. It is well known that the water of the ocean, though more transparent than any other, is usually green near the shores; and on soundings, while at main ocean, its colour is blue. Perhaps the power which transparent waters have of decomposing the solar light, and reflecting principally the green rays, may have some dependence upon the depth of the stratum. If this were the case, we might expect all rivers, equally transparent and of equal depth, to reflect similar colours, which is not always the case.

In the southern part of Pennsylvania, the range called particularly the Alleghany ridge, is near the centre, and is most elevated of the group. Its summit divides the waters of the Susquehannah on the east from those of the Ohio on the west.

This mountain consists principally of argillite and the several varieties of grey wacke, grey wacke slate, and the other aggregates, which in transition formations usually intervene between the metalliferous limestone and the inclined sandstone. The strata have less inclination than in the Cove, Sideling, and South mountains, and other ridges east of the Alleghany. The summit is broad, and covered with heavy forests. Something of the fertility of the Mississippi valley seems to extend, in this direction, to the utmost limits of the secondary formation. The western descent of the Alleghany ridge is more gradual than the eastern, and the inclination of the strata in some measure reversed. It is proper to remark, that, throughout this group of mountains, much irregularity prevails in the direction as well as of the dip and inclination of strata. If any remark is generally applicable, it is, perhaps, that the inclination of the rocks is towards the most elevated summits in the vicinity.

Laurel ridge, the next in succession, is separated from the Alleghany by a wide valley. Its geological features are, in general, similar to those of the eastern ranges; but about its summit, the sandstones of the coal formation begin to appear alternating with narrow beds of bituminous clay-slate. Near the summit of this ridge, coal beds have been explored, and, at the time of our visit, coals were sold at the pits for ten cents per bushel. In actual elevation, the coal strata at the summit of Laurel-hill, fall but little below the summits of the Alleghany. Thus, in traversing from east to west the state of Pennsylvania, there is a constant but gradual ascent from the gneiss at Philadelphia, the several rocky strata occurring one above another, in the inverse order of their respective ages, the points most elevated being occupied by rocks of recent origin, abounding in the remains of animal and vegetable life.

Near the summit of this ridge some change is observed in the aspect of the forest. The deep umbrageous hue of the hemlock spruce, the Weymouth pine, and other trees of the family of the coniferae, is exchanged for the livelier verdure of the broad-leaved laurel, the rhododendron, and the magnolia acuminata.

Chesnut ridge, the last of those accessary to the Alleghany on the west, deserving the name of a mountain, is somewhat more abrupt and precipitous, than those before mentioned. This ridge is divided transversely by the bed of the Loyalhanna, a rapid, but beautiful stream, along which the turnpike is built. Few spots in the wild and mountainous regions of the Alleghanies, have a more grand and majestic scenery than this chasm. The sides and summits of the two overhanging mountains, were, at the time of our journey, brown, and to appearance almost naked; the few trees which inhabit them being deciduous, while the laurels and rosebays gave the deep and narrow vallies the luxuriant verdure of spring.

The Monongahela rises in Virginia, in the Laurel ridge, and running northward, receives in Pennsylvania the Yohogany, whose sources are in the Alleghany mountain, opposite those of the Potomac. This river, like most of those descending westward from the Alleghany, has falls and rapids at the points where it intersects Laurel-hill, and some of the smaller ranges. Along the fertile bottoms of the Alleghany river, we begin to discover traces of those ancient works so common in the lower parts of the Mississippi valley, the only remaining vestiges of a people once numerous and powerful, of whom time has destroyed every other record. These colossal monuments, whatever may have been the design of their erection, have long since outlived the memory of those who raised them, and will remain for ages affecting witnesses of the instability of national, as well as individual greatness; and of the futility of those efforts, by which man endeavours to attach his name and his memorial to the most permanent and indestructible forms of inorganic matter.

In the deep vallies west of the Alleghany, and even west of the Laurel ridge, the metalliferous limestone, which appears to be the substratum of this whole group of mountains, is again laid bare. In this part of the range, we have not observed those frequent alternations of clay-slate with this limestone, which have been noticed by Mr. Eaton and others in New England. In its inclination, and in most particulars of external character, it is remarkably similar to the mountain limestone of Vermont, and the western counties of Massachusetts. Many portions of the interior of the state of Pennsylvania have a basis of this limestone. When not overlaid by clay-slate, and particularly when not in connexion with sandstone, the soils resting on the transition limestone are found peculiarly fertile and valuable, having usually a favourable disposition of surface for agricultural purposes, and abounding with excellent water.

The transition limestone is not, however, of frequent occurrence westward of the Alleghany ridge. It appears only in the vallies, and is succeeded by clay-slate and the old sandstone lying almost horizontally. The coal, with the accompanying strata of argillaceous sandstone and shale, are, as far as we have seen, entirely horizontal.

The country westward from the base of the Chesnut ridge has an undulating surface. The hills are broad, and terminated by a rounded outline, and the landscape, presenting a grateful variety of fields and forests, is often beautiful, particularly when, from some elevation, the view overlooks a great extent of country, and the blue summits of the distant mountains are added to the perspective.

Pittsburgh has been so often described, the advantages and disadvantages of its situation, and the gloomy repulsiveness of its appearance, have been so often and so justly portrayed, that we should not think ourselves well employed in recounting our own observations. The Alleghany and the Monongahela at Pittsburgh, where they unite to form the Ohio, are nearly equal in magnitude; the former, however, on account of the rapidity of its current, and the transparency of its waters, is a far more beautiful river than the latter. Its sources are distributed along the margin of Lake Erie, and a portage, of only fifteen miles, connects its navigation with that of the St. Lawrence.

About the sources of the Alleghany are extensive forests of pine, whence are drawn great supplies of lumber for the country below as far as New Orleans. On French Creek, and other tributary streams, are large bodies of low and rather fertile lands, closely covered with forests, where the great Weymouth pine, and the hemlock spruce, are intermixed with beech, birch, and the sugar maple. The great white or Weymouth pine, is one of the most beautiful of the North American species. Its trunk often attains the diameter of five or six feet, rising smooth and straight from sixty to eighty feet, and terminated by a dense conical top. This tree, though not exclusively confined to the northern parts of our continent, attains there its greatest magnitude and perfection. It forms a striking feature in the forest scenery of Vermont, New Hampshire, and some parts of Canada, and New York; rising by nearly half its elevation above the summits of the other trees, and resembling, like the palms of the tropics, so beautifully described by M. De Saint Pierre, and M. De Humboldt, "a forest planted upon another forest." The sighing of the wind in the tops of these trees, resembles the scarce audible murmurings of a distant waterfall, and adds greatly to the impression of solemnity produced by the gloom and silence of the pine forest. In the southern parts of the Alleghany mountains, pines are less frequent, and in the central portions of the valley of the Mississippi, they are extremely rare.

The coal formation, containing the beds which have long been wrought near Pittsburgh, appears to be of great extent; but we are unable particularly to point out its limits towards the north and east. One hundred miles above Pittsburgh, near the Alleghany river, is a spring, on the surface of whose waters are found such quantities of a bituminous oil, that a person may gather several gallons in a day. This spring is most probably connected with coal strata, as are numerous similar ones in Ohio, Kentucky, &c. Indeed, it appears reasonable to believe that the coal strata are continued along the western slope of the Alleghanies with little interruption, at least as far northward as the brine springs of Onondago. Of all the saline springs belonging to this formation, and whose waters are used for the manufacture of salt, the most important are those of the Kenhawa, a river of Virginia. Others occur in that country of ancient monuments, about Paint Creek, between the Sciota and the Muskinghum, near the Silver Creek hills in Illinois; and indeed in almost all the country contiguous to the Ohio river. Wherever we have had the opportunity of observing these brine springs, we have usually found them in connexion with an argillaceous sandstone, bearing impressions of phytolytes, culmaria, and those tessellated zoophytes, so common about many coal beds. It appeared to us worthy of remark, that in many places, where explorations have been made for salt water, and where perpendicular shafts have been carried to the depth of from two to four hundred feet, the water, when found, rises with sufficient force to elevate itself several feet above the surface of the earth. This effect appears to be produced by the pressure of an a?rial fluid, existing in connexion with the water, in those cavities beneath the strata of sandstone, where the latter is confined, or escaping from combination with it, as soon as the requisite enlargement is given, by perforating the superincumbent strata. We have had no opportunity of examining attentively the gaseous substances which escape from the brine pits, but from their sensible properties we are induced to suppose, that carbonic acid, and carburetted hydrogen, are among those of most frequent occurrence.

The little village of Olean, on the Alleghany river, has been for many years a point of embarkation, where great numbers of families, migrating from the northern and eastern states, have exchanged their various methods, of slow and laborious progression by land, for the more convenient one of the navigation of the Ohio. From Olean downward, the Alleghany and Ohio bear along with their currents fleets of rude arks laden with cattle, horses, household furniture, agricultural implements, and numerous families having all their possessions embarked on the same bottom, and floating onward toward that imaginary region of happiness and contentment, which, like the "town of the brave and generous spirits," the expected heaven of the aboriginal American, lies always "beyond the place where the sun goes down."

On the 6th we arrived at Wheeling, a small town of Virginia, situate on a narrow margin along the bank of the Ohio, at the base of a high cliff of sandstone. Here the great national road from Cumberland comes in conjunction with that of Zanesville, Columbus, and Cincinnati. The town of Cumberland, from which this great national work has received the appellation of the Cumberland road, lies on the north side of the Potomac, one hundred and forty miles E. by S. from Wheeling. The road between these two points was constructed by the government of the United States, at a cost of one million eight hundred thousand dollars. The bridges and other works of masonry, on the western portion of this road, are built of a compact argillaceous sandstone, of a light gray or yellowish white colour, less durable than the stone used in the middle and eastern sections, which is the blue metalliferous limestone, one of the most beautiful and imperishable among the materials for building which our country affords. A few miles from Wheeling, a small but beautiful bridge, forming a part of this road, is ornamented with a statue of that distinguished statesman, Mr. Clay; erected, as we were informed, by a gentleman who resides in that neighbourhood.

In an excursion on shore, near the little village of Charleston, in Virginia, we met with many plants common to the eastern side of the Alleghanies; beside the delicate sison bulbosum, whose fruit was now nearly ripened. In shady situations we found the rocks, and even the trunks of trees to some little distance from the ground, closely covered with the sedum ternatum, with white flowers fully unfolded. The cercis canadensis, and the cornus florida, were now expanding their flowers, and in some places occurred so frequently, as to impart their lively colouring to the landscape. In their walks on shore, the gentlemen of the party collected great numbers of the early-flowering herbaceous plants, common to various parts of the United States. An enumeration of a few of the species most commonly known, with the dates of their flowering, is given in the note.

The scenery of the banks of the Ohio, for two or three hundred miles below Pittsburgh, is eminently beautiful, but is deficient in grandeur and variety. The hills usually approach on both sides nearly to the brink of the river; they have a rounded and graceful form, and are so grouped as to produce a pleasing effect. Broad and gentle swells of two or three hundred feet, covered with the verdure of the almost unbroken forest, embosom a calm and majestic river; from whose unruffled surface, the broad outline of the hills is reflected with a distinctness equal to that with which it is imprinted upon the azure vault of the sky. In a few instances near the summits of the hills, the forest trees become so scattered, as to disclose here and there a rude mass, or a perpendicular precipice of gray sandstone, or compact limestone, the prevailing rocks in all this region. The hills are, however, usually covered with soil on all sides, except that looking towards the river, and in most instances are susceptible of cultivation to their summits. These hilly lands are found capable of yielding, by ordinary methods of culture, about fifty bushels of maize per acre. They were originally covered with dense and uninterrupted forests, in which the beech trees were those of most frequent occurrence. These forests are now disappearing before the industry of man; and the rapid increase of population and wealth, which a few years have produced, speaks loudly in favour of the healthfulness of the climate, and of the internal resources of the country. The difficulty of establishing an indisputable title to lands, has been a cause operating hitherto to retard the progress of settlement, in some of the most fertile parts of the country of the Ohio; and the inconveniences resulting from this source still continue to be felt.

In the afternoon of the 8th, we encountered a tremendous thunder-storm, in which our boat, in spite of all the exertions we were able to make, was driven on shore; but we fortunately escaped with little injury, losing only our flag-staff with the lantern attached to it, and some other articles of little importance. On the following day we passed Maysville, a small town of Kentucky. On our return to Philadelphia, in 1821, we were delayed some time at this place; and taking advantage of the opportunity thus afforded, we made an excursion into that beautiful agricultural district, south-east of Maysville, about the large village of Washington. The uplands here are extremely fertile, and in an advanced state of cultivation. The disposition of the surface resembles that in the most moderately hilly parts of Pennsylvania; and to the same graceful undulation of the landscape, the same pleasing alternation of cultivated fields, with dense and umbrageous forests, is added an aspect of luxuriant fertility, surpassing any thing we have seen eastward of the Alleghanies. Having prolonged our walk many miles, we entered after sunset a tall grove of elms and hickories; towards which we were attracted by some unusual sounds. Directed by these, we at length reached an open quadrangular area of several acres, where the forest had been in part cleared away, and much grass had sprung up. Here we found several hundreds of people, part sitting in tents and booths, regularly arranged around the area, and lighted with lamps, candles, and fires; part assembled about an elevated station, listening to religious exhortations. The night had now become dark, and the heavy gloom of the forest, rendered more conspicuous by the feeble light of the encampment, together with the apparent solemnity of the great numbers of people, assembled for religious worship, made considerable impression on our feelings.

On the 9th May, we arrived at Cincinnati. Since our departure from Pittsburgh, Dr. Baldwin's illness had increased, and he had now become so unwell, that some delay appeared necessary on his account; as we wished also for an opportunity of making some repairs and alterations in the machinery of the boat, it was resolved to remain at Cincinnati some days. Dr. Baldwin was accordingly moved on shore, to the house of Mr. Glen, and Dr. Drake was requested to attend him. Cincinnati is the largest town on the Ohio. It is on the north bank of the river, and the ground on which it stands is elevated, rising gradually from the water's edge.

Compact limestone appears here, in the bed of the Ohio, and extends some distance in all directions. This limestone has been used in paving the streets, for which purpose its tabular fragments are placed on edge, as bricks are sometimes used in flagging. The formation of limestone, to which this rock belongs, is one of great extent, occupying a large part of the country from the shores of Lake Erie, to the southern boundary of the state of Tennessee. It appears, however, to be occasionally interrupted, or overlaid by fields of sandstone. It abounds in casts, and impressions of marine animals. An orthocerite, in the museum of the college at Cincinnati, measures near three feet in length. Very large specimens of what has been considered lignite, have also been discovered and parts of them deposited in that collection. We saw here no remains of ammonites. Numerous other species appear to be similar to those found in the limestone of the Catskill and Hellebergh mountains.

The soil, which overlays the limestone of Cincinnati, is a deep argillaceous loam, intermixed with much animal and vegetable matter. Vegetation is here luxuriant; and many plants unknown eastward of the Alleghany mountains, were constantly presenting themselves to our notice. Two species of aesculus are common. One of these has a nut as large as that of the AE. hippocastanum, of the Mediterranean, the common horse-chesnut of the gardens.

The site of the town was heretofore an aboriginal station, as appears from the numerous remains of ancient works still visible. We forbear to give any account of these interesting monuments, as they have already been repeatedly described.

On Tuesday, the 18th, the weather becoming clear and pleasant, Dr. Baldwin thought himself sufficiently recovered to proceed on the voyage; accordingly, having assisted him on board the boat, we left Cincinnati at ten o'clock.

During our stay at that place, we had been gratified by the hospitable attentions of the inhabitants of the town. Mr. Glen was unremitting in his exertions to promote the recovery of Dr. Baldwin's health; to him, as well as to Dr. Drake, and several other gentlemen of Cincinnati, all the members of our party were indebted for many friendly attentions.

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