Part 14 (1/2)
STATE OF OHIO
On entering the state of Ohio by this route we find little to interest; a wild uncleared hilly country,[22] which with little alteration continues {59} till you approach St Clairsville: the soil then is clay; the toell placed and its buildings good and neat; land hereabouts, a good grazing soil, is worth about twenty dollars per acre We bought here, out of a waggon load, half a peck of peaches for six cents, (3d) the peach and apple orchards are literally breaking doith fruit; everywe stop at the first orchard to take in as many apples as ant for the day
Mydown one of these steep hills, which ht have proved worse in its consequence than it did; not seeing hian to feel uneasy about hi: one of the horses had broke the ha the pole on one side, had precipitated the waggon and driver into some brush-wood on the road side;--while in this situation, unable to extricate hion luckily came past, and he applied to the felloith it for aid, which the hu paid for their trouble--From such contee so highly pleasing in this part of the wilderness;see the Tulip tree for the first tireat variety of other plants and shrubs of which, {60} for want of botanical knowledge, I know not the na like Jeith long beards have passed us at different times on horseback; these, I was told, are a Christian sect of charitable pilgri themselves Dunkards[23]
30th The weather has been for so of so wares of temperature are at least as frequent on this side of the mountains as on the eastern shores, whatever may have been asserted to the contrary, and rain is alust in the earlythe thermometer of Fahrenheit was at 46, it has since been above 80, but again thishas sunk to 56
31st The road is covered with dust arising fro people frohbourhood, at which it was calculated that nearly four thousand attended; the convocation had continued for several days, during which these people had slept upon the ground in the intervals between praying and preaching
_September_ 2d At Chillicothe,[24] Ohio Watson's {61} hotel; the wit's nificant, for the beds sith bugs, and the thermometer is at 86 in the shade I called at the land office and was shewn the map of the district; most of the sections, except those south-east of the town, (a poor eneral paid for; so this considerable part of the state is in the hands of land speculators, under whose baneful influence a chief part of the country remains a wilderness, which otherould have been under cultivation, if open to real settlers at the governovern the lands only to those ill build, clear, and settle upon the tavern, nine miles east of the town of West Union, Ohio The road has lately led us through a fine fertile tract of vale, beautifully skirted by the high rocky woodland, fro and other purposes The town in this tract called Bainbridge is a new settleood houses; the value of land of the districtsufficient space for a house and garden, which are as high in best situations as two hundred dollars (forty-five {62} pounds;)--the out-field lots are frohout appears atered; the only objection I heard of to it, and that perhaps no s rowth in the e have lately noticed the _Papaw_, a bushy elegant shrub with large leaves; its fruit not yet ripe The Tulip tree becomes more common, also more Elm and Beech, Sycamore and buttonwood; all these are found here of iht Near to Chillicothe, which is in north latitude about 39 15',the first tobacco cultivation; it looked well notwithstanding the drought which now begins to be felt every where
Upon ad the other day, his owner told me he was very necessary on account of the wolves which are yet nus here are as h-bred is not to be seen Deer are plentiful, also rackoons and squirrels; the wild Turkeyyesterday, which seemed to resemble exactly our dark tame breed
[Illustration: Ferry at Maysville, on the Ohio]
5th Several parties on horseback have passed us on the road,inquiries of the way to a e from the {63} immense numbers that collect on these occasions fanaticism seems to have taken deep root here
6th Started with h the woods to visit a faraood peaches and drank the pure water of a fine spring; being warm, he directed me to let the water run upon , to prevent the effects of suddenly taking cold water while heated; these sort of cautions have probably been handed down from the native hunters We passed a kind of vine which has a poisonous quality,[26] the leaves being rubbed on the skin will raise irritating blisters The Poplar tree,roofs, if painted, than the Cedar, which is commonly used unpainted; perhaps any of the poplar tribe ht be advantageously ee party of settlers fro to that of New York, to the saive is that a fine fertile tract of land about forty miles from the river Illinois, and not far from its confluence with the Mississipi, was purchased by them, and they {64} settled upon it last suht of their party by dysentery, fever and ague, and that the remainder had determined to quit the purchase, and return with the loss of all their ti our sanguine expectations as to the western paradise; however, I am resolved to proceed and endeavour to ascertain the truth on all the points for which I undertook the journey One of the above party told me, that when ill he had paid a fee of twenty-five dollars for one visit of a Physician, the distance being about twenty miles; if this be true the eh leave of us down a rocky precipitous hill, at the foot of which we found ourselves safe on the bank of the river; and driving down to the water's edge into a _team-boat_ lately established, were, about dark landed on the other side, and coood family inn at Maysville kept by Mr Chambers, a sensible clever o, and {65} who has, by judgood fortune for hiht for four hundred dollars six years since, are noorth some thousands; such is the rapid increase in the value of property in this country when a h which we have travelled fro in a south-west direction to Maysville or Limestone, (Kentucky,) the impression it has h our course coh the most populous districts, if we except that around Cincinnati Instead of a garden, I found a wilderness; land speculators have got a considerable part in their baleful clutches to make their market on the wants of the poor settler; but I a to the superior attraction of the more distant western country: yet is Ohio a desirable one, as it contains within itself most articles of the first necessity and perhaps , iron and othercommodities of all kinds The face of {66} that part which I saw, is exceedingly hilly, in soeneral well adapted to grazing, and the whole strongly reseantic scale The northwest part of the State, an immense tract of country, has been lately ceded by the natives to the United States,[28]
and I believe has been surveyed, allotted, and is now offering to the public at one and a quarter dollar per acre ready money: of its fertility much is reported, and its communication with Lake Erie, and by it with the other lakes and the eastern markets, will render it perhaps more desirable than the part we have travelled over
The roads at present are altogether in a state of nature, the trees only just chopped off about a foot froot over as we can; no wonder then, that you see a blacksmith's shop every two or three miles, and tavern by the side of it to put up and spend your , Vulcan cannot form his mouth to any word less than a dollar, and his friend the tavern-keeper charges an ”_elevenpenny bit_” if you have but two cents _worth_ of whisky
As to the general want of cleanliness in the {67} taverns, of which so h the keepers of thee share of the blame, yet much may be said in their defence; the fact is, their customers are of so filthy habits that to have a house clean is als swarination, it is extremely difficult in this warm climate to keep free from them, particularly at inns, as they are constantly carried in the cloaths, luggage, &c, fro, it reat a traveller as Mr Birkbeck himself Yet do the people deserve reprehension, for while ”such things are,” and sundry other unseemly appearances are constantly, in their bed-rooardens (ill deserving the name) are over-run eeds, and cropped in the reeables are around them, these--what shall I call them?--slaves to sloth, and worshi+ppers of an idle deity of independence, will sit lounging against the ith arars; or you shall see the feness
{68} KENTUCKY MAYSVILLE, OR LIMESTONE
Here at Mr Chauests than as travellers at an inn; his conversation was aarden which is spacious and well-rapes we hadin size and ih fro hills, affording in the ihbourhood and also up the river situations for building that few places can surpass: the view fro down the river is beautiful and extensive; a considerable part of the buildings are of brick; glass works are established, and other es however will hardly co within the territories of a slave state Of the determined obstinacy and turpitude of a black boy ere here witnesses; a silver fruit-knife had been left upon the table, and he had secreted it, the knife was soon th, suspicion falling upon him, he was sent for and {69} questioned, but denied all knowledge of the knife with an air of the greatest innocency; he was offered half a dollar and to be screened froive it up, but continued to deny that he had taken it, wishi+ng, ”his flesh th exaether froue declared that the person who searched hiot, did not in the least make him prevaricate
[Illustration: Maysville, on the Ohio, Kentucky]
We took leave of our host and hostess not without so hill which rises immediately from the town, looked back frequently to view the beautiful river scenery from the different points it offered: a turn at the top suddenly presented on all sides a cleared, well cultivated, and inclosed country; the road was good, the day beautiful, and led along through plentiful crops of Indian corn, rejoicing that we had escaped the wilderness, and thinking we had really entered upon the garden of the United States After a few ood road however these pleasant ideas were shaken out by an absolute rock, upon which with but little interh a place called Blue Licks[29] At its salt springs {70} the deer and buffaloe used for place, the resort of invalids: yet let not the English reader here picture to hie Wells, but a few dispersed log huts and two taverns of the same description Many of the men here wear, instead of a coat, a short cloak, a little reselish dress, which if they kne to carry with any grace would look well
The drought is now exceedingly great, and we have reports ofto the south of this state for want of water; we therefore see the country at as unfavourable a tirass is really green, a circu natural fertility of the soil, also shewn by the spontaneous growth of the white clover a the trees of the uncleared forest land where it has been grazed Of this grazed forest the farmers assert that it will not, when cleared, broke up and sown, produce so razed, and many of them consequently shut up their forest land fros
{71} AN ODD MISTAKE
A little black boy was playing upon the ground, at the tavern-door with a dog; I pointed to them and said to the landlord, (a very civilized man,) ”Do you make christians of these?” ”Oh no”--”You naive them one name and then alter it for another:”--”And does not your church find fault with you solect?”