Volume 10 — TWO YEARS' RESIDENCE, &c. &c.

Wambro, English Prairie, Illinois State, North America.

June 5th, 1820.

As I was much pressed to write to many of my friends in England, to give them my opinion of emigrating to America, and as I promised to write to several, to give them my sentiments of America, and of my situation here; I will now endeavour to give them the best description in my power of our voyage and journey to this place, and how I am now situated, and of my future prospects.

As to the propriety of any person's leaving England, I must decline giving any advice on the subject.

{2} As I was conscious but little information could be conveyed in the short space of a letter to any particular friend, I shall, therefore, present them, (that is, all those who requested me to write to them,) with some extracts from my Journal.

Extracts of a Journal, kept from April 29th to September 25th, 1819

We left Killinghurst about noon, on April 29, and arrived at Portsmouth in the evening. Our party consisted of nine persons, including Mr. C. and a female servant.

30th. Our luggage, in a waggon, arrived at Portsmouth at noon, and we got a permit from the Custom-House, and embarked it on board a vessel for East Cowes, in the Isle of Wight, where it arrived in the evening, but too late to enter it at the Custom-House. We slept at East Cowes.

May 1st. Entered our luggage at the Custom-House, and were ourselves examined, {3} and afterwards put our luggage on board the brig Resolution, of Newcastle, Captain Clarke. From that time till the 9th, we were employed in procuring provisions and conveniencies for our voyage, and in stowing our luggage, &c. When about noon, the wind and tide being favourable, we sailed from East Cowes; but before we reached the Needles' rocks, the wind and tide both failed, and we cast anchor for a short time; but the wind again rising, we passed them, and before dark got a few miles to the westward. The pilot left us as soon as we had passed the Needles, and so did some friends of the passengers. They gave us three cheers at parting, which was returned by firing a salute with some small arms on board. The same was done at West Cowes, when we heaved our anchor.

The brig Resolution was of five hundred tons, and had seventy-one passengers on board, a small cargo of salt, the luggage of the passengers, to a considerable amount, {4} with the following live stock: a bull, two cows, a calf, three horses, with pigs, dogs, fowls, and ferrets. Mr. Pittis, who chartered the Resolution, with Mr. Edney, his son-in-law, and their families, occupied the cabin, but their young man slept in the fore part of the steerage, with the young men of the other parties. The females of my family, with myself, and some other passengers, occupied the hind part of the steerage, divided into ten separate births, with two bed-places in each birth; they were six feet square, and about five feet nine inches high.

10th. In the afternoon, part of the coast of Dorsetshire in sight.

11th. A great swell of the tide, and much sea-sickness on board; Berry-Head in Devonshire in sight in the morning, and land near Plymouth seen in the evening.

12th. Land seen in the morning, the last we saw of England; as the wind was north and north-west we stood to the southward, and it prevented our touching {5} at the Land's End, as our captain intended.

13th. We supposed ourselves opposite to the Land's End about noon.

15th. A good wind from the south-east, but the ship rolling much during the night; most of the passengers got but little rest. Weather fine, but cold.

16th. Being Sunday, two of the passengers read some chapters from the Testament, and a sermon.

22d. A good shower of rain, just as we had got our bedding on deck to air it. In the evening, I observed, for the first time, the water at the bows of the vessel to look like sparks of fire.

23d. Being nearly in the latitude of the Western Isles, many on board were on the look-out for them, in the hopes of getting some fish and fruit, and sending letters to England; but we were disappointed, as we saw nothing of them.

24th. The ship's carpenter tried a girdle {6} made of tin, and water tight, called a life-preserver; he found he could not sink, but at the same time he could not make any way in the sea with it on.

25th. Early in the morning we got sight of the island of St. Mary's; it was seen at a great distance. We had seen no land since the 12th, when we last saw the coast of Cornwall. In the afternoon, we passed the island 15 or 18 miles to the north of us, so we did not get any fruit, to the great disappointment of many on board.

27th. The sea ran high, and once cleared the fore-part of the vessel of every thing that was moveable. When the waves broke over the deck, some of the passengers generally got a wetting, which caused a hearty laugh from those who escaped.

29th. At noon, by observation, we were in latitude 33 deg. 58 min. north, which is three degrees south of Cape Henry, at the entrance of Cheasepeake Bay, to which we were bound. The weather warm, though not more so than a fine May-day in {7} England, although we were upwards of a thousand miles south of it.

30th. Some of the passengers bathed, till one of them got stung in the leg by a sea-nettle, or what the sailors called a Portuguese man of war; he was in great agony, but by rubbing it with vinegar, the pain abated.

June 6th. There were four ships in sight in the morning, and in the afternoon another was seen, and, at four o'clock, she sent a boat, with an officer and five men. They proved to be Russians, from a frigate of thirty-six guns, the Kamtschatka, from Kamtschatka, and the north-west coast of America; they had been round Cape Horn in their way out, and returned by Manilla, the Cape of Good Hope, and St. Helena, where only the captain was suffered to land. The inhabitants know but little of Bonaparte, as the governor was extremely jealous of all intercourse with his prisoner; most that they knew of him was from the English newspapers. {8} The officer eagerly enquired for news from Europe, they having been out two years. We gave him some English newspapers, and he in return took some letters for our English friends, as they intended to touch at some port in England, before they proceeded to Russia. The officer was regaled in the captain's cabin, and the men were treated with plum-pudding and strong beer, but they refused to taste it, till one of the passengers had first partaken of it; they then seemed to relish it extremely well. Some large fish and porpoises were seen round the ship, and two rifles were fired at them, without effect. A sea-snake was also seen in the evening, it appeared to be six or seven feet long.

7th. We saw some sea-weed that had much the appearance of the tops of dead juniper bushes, with many small berries on them; we took some pieces out of the sea, and found many little crabs in them, and a few small shrimps; the crabs from a quarter to two inches long. Most of the {9} passengers were now in good health. A pleasant evening, and the young people had a dance on the deck.

8th. Some dolphins taken by the sailors, with hooks and lines; they were from 18 to 30 inches long, and very beautiful fish. I bought one of the small ones, it weighed six or seven pounds, and proved very good eating.

9th. A small Swedish brig, the Dryade, sent a boat to enquire for a surgeon, their captain being ill; our surgeon went on board, and afterwards sent some medicines, for which, through a speaking trumpet, their captain thanked ours. They took some letters from us for England, as they proposed going thither, before they proceeded to Copenhagen. Our water being got very bad, it caused a little commotion on board, as there was but little water belonging to the captain. The passengers were found water by the person who chartered the Resolution; and the badness of {10} the water appeared to be occasioned by its being put into foul casks.

13th. Many flying fish seen; they flew from twenty to thirty yards at a time, some of them about the size of a herring, and others not larger than a chafer; when they rose near the vessel, the water that ran from them, had the appearance of a white string behind them; and when it ceased, they dropt into the sea again.

14th. We made 186 miles in 24 hours, being a great deal more than we had sailed, in the same space of time, since we left Cowes.

23d. We had a strong gale that blew down one of our sails.

26th. In the evening the main-sail boom broke, and spoiled a dance just began on deck. The accident was owing to the sailor at the helm being intoxicated, and letting the vessel get out of her course.

27th. All eagerly looking out for the gulf stream. In the evening we saw a sea-gull; {11} these birds are said never to fly far from land.

30th. We had a rough windy night, and it continued stormy through the day, and about six o'clock we had a tempest that split one of our sails. About noon we saw a ship that proved to be the Commodore Rogers, a pilot vessel of Baltimore, and from her we received a pilot, who informed us that Cape Henry, at the entrance of Cheasepeake Bay, was distant 25 miles. But a storm coming on, the wind changed just as we had sight of land, supposed to be Smith's Island, just at the entrance of the bay; this was the first land we saw after we lost sight of the island of St. Mary's.

July 1st. A wet night: we got upwards of 20 miles from Cape Henry. In the evening we again stood out to sea, the wind against us.

2d. In the evening, it being calm, we anchored two miles from Cape Henry light-house, and one mile and a half from the shore; which was very low land and covered {12} with trees to the water's edge, mostly pines of a barren appearance, resembling a furze hedge in the poor heaths of England. We had a good view of the shores for several miles. The weather being pleasant, there was a dance on deck; and as the night was calm and the moon shone brightly, it was kept up till a late hour.

3d. The captain and some passengers went on shore in a boat; when they returned, they brought on board a branch of wild vine, with some small grapes on it, a bough of myrtle, and some honeysuckles like the trumpet one in leaf and flower. They likewise brought some crab fish, of different sorts, unlike any I had ever seen before; one of them had a long tail, and was much larger than the rest; this the pilot called a sea-crab. They also brought a few sea-shells. The land, near the light-house, very sandy and barren, mostly covered with woods, composed chiefly of pines and a few oaks. The very little that was cultivated, was Indian corn.

{13} Cape Henry light-house is built of wood, and stands on the west side of the bay of Cheasepeake, and is in latitude 37 degrees north, longitude 85 degrees west. The bay, at its entrance, is upwards of 20 miles wide. On the opposite side is Cape Charles. At one o'clock we entered the bay opposite the mouth of James River.

4th. In the night there was a riot with the sailors; they quarrelled amongst themselves and with the captain; it was owing to the former having drank too freely; it was happily made up without any effusion of blood: I was in bed at the time, and heard nothing of it. We were much disappointed in not reaching Baltimore by this day, as it was the anniversary of American independence, and, as such, is always kept as a high holiday. We much wished to see their manner of celebrating it, but, for this year, we were disappointed in so doing.

5th. A little before day-break the mate discovered a comet. The bay much narrower, and both banks full in view, the land {14} much higher than before, and covered with trees. Early in the morning, the captain and some passengers went on shore, on the west side of the bay. They went four miles through the woods; but little cultivated land; wheat mostly harvested; Indian corn just come into ear; tobacco in a green state. The land poor, the woods mostly pines with a few oaks, &c. The country round was thinly peopled, no towns, villages, churches, or mills, for many miles. It is in Maryland, and the land is mostly cultivated by negro slaves, of whom they saw several, and their habitations. They shot a sea-eagle, as large as a goose, with very long wings, the quills of which were too hard for pens. They also shot a bird something like an English blackbird, except that the wings were crimson. They likewise killed a small dove, and were informed many wild ducks frequented the creeks in winter; and heard of two men killing a hundred and ten in one day. They brought on board some ripe cherries, and some apples nearly so; they saw great quantities {15} of the latter; also peaches and nectarines in a green state. They saw a few sheep, oxen, and cows, but no horses, oxen being worked instead of horses.

6th. We anchored near Kent Island, said to be good land, but we could see but little of it. At eight o'clock we again proceeded, and at ten got sight of Baltimore, eight or ten miles distant. As we approached Baltimore the bay became narrower, and the land, on both sides, so very low, the trees seemed to grow out of the water. The country more cultivated, and the people employed in getting in their harvest. We met a large steam vessel, and passed her at about twenty yards distance. There were two chimnies, from which issued a large quantity of smoke, a wheel on each side forced her forward; the forecastle was much like a common ship; the stern was covered with a canvas awning, to shelter the passengers from sun or rain; it was open on the sides: she moved along very majestically.

{16} Shortly after, a surgeon came on board, to examine the health of the passengers and crew; he expressed much satisfaction at their appearance. He was a venerable looking old man, of about 70 years of age, and a native of Britain.

At three o'clock we anchored near Fell's Point, Baltimore, and in the evening went on shore; but returned on board to sleep. The weather fine and very hot.

7th. At noon we went to the Custom-House to enter our luggage; in the afternoon some of our fellow-passengers, with ourselves, engaged a house at Fell's Point, at 10 dollars per month.

8th. We removed to our house, and hired a cart to take our luggage from the vessel, at 25 cents a load. Paid at the Custom-House, 37 dollars, 75 cents; expences, one dollar, 40 cents.

Trade at Baltimore extremely dull, and paper credit very bad, except some few banks.

Accounts are kept in dollars and cents; {17} a dollar is of the value of 4s. 6d. English; but in Maryland and Pennsylvania, it is called 7s. 6d.; in New York, 8s.; and in all the western country, 6s.; but it is of equal value in all the states; it is the shilling that differs; 100 cents make a dollar; a cent is a trifle more than an English half-penny. Dollars are divided into halves, quarters, eighths, and sixteenths, thus 100 cents make a dollar, 50 cents half a dollar, 25 cents a quarter of a dollar, 12½ cents the eighth of a dollar, and 6¼ cents the sixteenth of a dollar. The shillings are different, as follows:—

1s. is The dollar

Illinois, Virginia, Kentucky, &c. 16⅔ cents —— 6s. 0d.

Pennsylvania, Maryland, &c. 13⅓ cents —— 7s. 6d.

New York, &c. 12½ cents —— 8s. 0d.

These different denominations of the parts of a dollar are troublesome to strangers, and might be avoided, by counting in dollars and cents only; as there are no shillings in America, but only dollars, halves, quarters, eighths, and sixteenths, mostly Spanish coin, and some 10 and 20 cent {18} pieces of American and Spanish coin. Cents and half cents of copper are used in the eastern, but not in the western states; few cents being to be found west of the mountains.

The morning after we were settled at Baltimore, we opened some of our packages, and found them in good order. In the afternoon, I took a walk with a person I had known in England; he went to purchase some milch cows; we went three or four miles through the woods, to a Mr. Slater's, who had a 100 oxen and cows, of good size and shape, but of different sorts; his stock ran mostly in the woods, as he had but little cleared land. When we arrived, we found Mr. Slater with his men cutting wheat in a field of 25 or 30 acres; the wheat was of good quality, but not a large crop, not more than 14 or 16 bushels per acre. They cut it with scythes, some follow to tie it up and set it up in heaps, rather than shocks; the cutting, binding, and setting up, all done in a very slovenly manner. The wheat, {19} after Indian corn, was ploughed in ridges of about four feet wide, and sown before the Indian corn was got in, a practice very common in America; and the stalks of Indian corn cut down in the winter or spring, and left in the wheat. The land, a poor clay, very wet in winter. As Mr. Slater purposed bringing his cows to Baltimore market, the next day we returned, and passed his house, a very good brick building, pleasantly situated, having a fine view of the bay of Baltimore, a quarter of a mile distant. The out-houses and negroes' houses much out of repair. The manure was but little attended to, being scattered in all directions, although the soil stood so much in need of it. We saw one field of very poor oats and some weak Indian corn. The orchard contained much fruit, apples, peaches, and late cherries, the early ones were over. We had a fine view of the bay and part of the city; and the mouth of the Patapses River and a fort near it;75 and the {20} numerous vessels sailing up and down the bay.

We passed a fishing party of ten or twelve; they were taking some refreshment on the shore; one of the gentlemen was a native of England; but his parents left Cornwall when he was an infant: we took some whiskey and water with them. The woods we passed resembled English pleasure grounds, except there was a greater variety in the trees and shrubs. In this walk a greyhound dog that accompanied us, attracted much notice from all we met; few of whom had ever seen one before. One of the passengers in the Resolution brought over some ferrets; they also excited much attention, and a person wished to purchase one, to go into a collection of animals, and offered a great price for it; but no bargain was made when we left Baltimore. I have never seen or heard of any other ferrets in America.

There are many new buildings in Baltimore, and some now going on. Baltimore {21} street is a noble one, wide, straight, and of great length, crossed at right angles by many other good streets; Baltimore-street running east and west, the cross streets north and south. As the city was planned before the buildings had made much progress, it is very regular, and should the plan ever be completed, it will be a large and noble city. There are some good shops, (in America called stores), but not equal to those of London.

As no burial grounds, butcher's shops, or slaughter houses, are allowed in the city or at Fell's Point, many of them are on a hill, north east of Fell's Point. There are three burial grounds, all badly kept, one belonging to the catholics; I did not learn to what sects the other two belonged. The butcher's shops are on the top of the hill, in an airy situation; here they kill their meat, and carry it to the daily markets. At some distance from the burial grounds, there is a noble looking hospital, some rope walks, and brick yards.

{22} Across the top of the hill, some intrenchments were thrown up during the late war, to stop the progress of the British troops when they landed near Baltimore, but they did not advance so far as these intrenchments.

A man on the hill with porter for sale recommended it as of good age, it having been brewed three whole days. Malt liquor not much drank, except by the English.

Towards the north-west, the land better than to the north-east, but still poor and rocky. Yet there is a great variety of soils in and near Baltimore. I was informed by a person who belonged to the society of Friends, that he had lived here a great many years, and had been concerned in most of the buildings; he said he believed there was not so convenient a place for building a city in the universe, as far as regards the finding the materials on the spot. Trees of many sorts grew where the city now stands, fit for building; {23} free-stone in great plenty; also shells and lime-stone for mortar; abundance of sand and clay, that made excellent bricks. The land being uneven, it required some labour to form the streets, but as most of the little hills were composed of sand or free-stone, a great part of them came into use, and the remainder served to raise the streets against the bay.

I was informed, there were thirty thousand inhabitants or upwards, but the number did not increase as during the war.

Trade being bad, most of the new buildings at a stand, to the great disappointment of many of the emigrants from Europe. But to those who came in the Resolution, it was of no great moment, as we most of us intended going westward before we left England, and not to stop in the sea-ports; and there were but few mechanics on board. Several vessels with emigrants arrived a short time before us, and there were three a few days after us; amongst them, one small American vessel from Havre with a {24} hundred and sixty-nine English, chiefly from Portsmouth and its neighbourhood; fifty-four days from Havre to New York, where some of them landed; the remainder came on to Baltimore, which place then contained many emigrants in want of work; some without money to take them up the country; and some with no inclination to go up; and some without either. A person who comes to America is most likely to succeed by moving from the sea-ports, they being very full of people. Labourers in agriculture, and many trades, are sure of work in the western country; but some from Europe have very erroneous opinions of America, in thinking that, when they arrive, they shall find every thing without any trouble; others think they cannot ask too much for their labour. I have known men dissatisfied with 6s. per day, who in England must have worked much harder for 2s.

Many hackney-coaches and one-horse carts for hire, with very fine horses in {25} them, much better than the horses for the same purposes in England. The horses have much blood in them, and would not disgrace a nobleman's carriage; those that bring provisions to market are of the same description, light and active, and would make good hunters. The hackney-coaches are open on the sides, on account of the heat of the climate, with leather curtains, to let down in wet weather; the drivers principally negroes. But the carmen mostly English, Scotch, or Irish, but most of the latter.

The person with whom I went to Mr. Slater's, purchased of him at the market two cows and calves for 71 dollars, (15l. 19s. 6d.), the cows young and very kind, and when fat, might weigh about 560 lbs. each; the calves eight or ten days old.

There is a market for horses and beasts, &c. twice a-week at Baltimore, and one every day, except Sunday, there and at Fell's Point, but there are two on Saturday, one in the morning, the other in the {26} evening, at each place, for the sale of flour, meal, meat, fish, butter, cheese, vegetables, and fruit, consisting of pine-apples and cocoa-nuts from the West Indies. Sweet and water-melons, apricots, peaches, prunes, plums, limes, lemons, oranges, cherries, currants, whortleberries, blackberries, fox-grapes, apples, pears, earth-nuts, and walnuts. The fruit in general good and reasonable; and vegetables the same, with the exception of cabbages, and they were very dear, owing to the dry season. Pine-apples 3¼d.

Fell's Point has many pumps, but few of them possess good water; there was one near us a very good one, called Jackson's pump. The badness of the water, its low situation, and the quantity of stagnant water, were, I think, the chief, if not the only causes of the fatal fever that broke out soon after we left it; nay, I rather suppose it had commenced before we quitted it, as many people were ill, and some died most days during our stay. But the city {27} standing higher, with good springs, it is much healthier.

The first Sunday after our arrival, we went to the episcopal church, the building was lofty, light, and airy, with five stoves to warm it in winter; the pews were painted a light colour, with mahogany coloured rails. The service much as in England. The psalms for the day, or a selection at the choice of the minister. Prayers for the president and general government, instead of the king, &c. There was a fine organ. The congregation was a very genteel one, and as the heat was great, all the ladies used fans, mostly made of feathers. In the afternoon there was a thunder-storm and some rain, preceded by a very high wind, for about ten minutes; and as the weather had been extremely dry, the dust was driven in such clouds, as almost to make it totally dark. Much colder in the evening; and some of us went to the Methodist meeting; it was numerously attended, the manner much the same as in {28} England; the preacher, who had a strong voice, made the most of it. Towards the close of the service, two men, each with a bag at the end of a long stick, made a collection for the minister, &c.; and while they were so employed, a man with a long beard, and a leather girdle about his loins, (as the prophet Elijah), stood up, and begged to say a few words. First, he reproved the minister for taking money, and then declared himself a preacher sent from God to warn the world of its wickedness, and to inform the people, that before the crop of the year 1818 was consumed, "Time should be no more." I sat very near him, and he stood on one of the seats, that he might be heard the better, but he spoke so rapidly, I could not hear all he said, but I heard him reprove the minister, and all present; at length he was persuaded to sit down, and the preacher again went on. It being late we went home, as did some others. This man was deranged, constantly attending the markets, preaching and {29} prophesying the end of the world. He was often surrounded by a large concourse of people, to hear him; but few, if any, gave any credit to his testimony. He often got insulted by the crowd, but the magistrates did not interfere, but left him to do or say what he pleased. Some of our party went to the African meeting. There are many different religions in Baltimore, and all appear to live together in great harmony. As there is no religion established by law, all are equal in this respect, except the poor negroes, who are not allowed to attend divine worship with the white inhabitants. And although I disapprove of slavery in every point of view, in none so much as in their not being allowed to worship the Almighty with the other inhabitants, I think the treatment of the slaves at Baltimore was mild, but still they were slaves, and at the mercy of their owners, if fellow-creatures and Christians can be called the property of others. But thank God, I never yet considered any person had that right; {30} and as that was my opinion, I could not settle in a slave state, to disgrace myself and family by the horrid practice of slave keeping.

On the 15th there was a very heavy thunder-storm, the thunder was extremely loud, attended by heavy rain, the streets near us looked like rivers; indeed, when the rain ceased, the boys waded in the one before our house for some time. I was informed by several of the inhabitants, that they had seldom heard such thunder, or seen such rain before. This evening, and two other evenings, we had a very disagreeable scene in an alley near us. It was that of an Irish howl or wake, in which the mourners made a dreadful noise, crying and howling; we could hear them enquire, "Why their dear sister died;" "whether she wanted any thing;" "whether her friends were unkind to her," &c. &c. As the mourners made pretty free with whiskey, the noise increased as the night advanced. The watch several times {31} ordered them to be quiet, and they always obeyed for a short time, but soon began again.

Many of the principal people in Baltimore are Catholics, as well as numbers of the lower order of Irish, many of whom were recently arrived from Ireland. Irishmen are numerous every where in the States, but I am informed generally of a higher description than those in Baltimore and in the sea-ports.

One of our company, going out one morning before it was light, to call some of his fellow-passengers to go for a day's shooting, was taken into custody by the city-watch, and taken to the watch-house, but finding he was a stranger, he was liberated; he staid till day-light, and then called his companions and went out, but found no game.

The Americans are not reserved in their manners, they do not scruple asking a stranger any question, nor do they appear to mind answering any that may be asked {32} them. Many of them seemed to like the English amongst them very well, others are more jealous of strangers. On the 14th, I put some letters in the post for England, for which I paid 18¾ cents., about 10d. each. I saw a beggar in Baltimore street, the first I saw in America. We did not purchase any fruit, although it was very cheap, on account of its being unwholesome for people just arrived from Europe.

As I could not settle all my business, several who came over with us, and had been residing in the same house, left us on the 17th for Pittsburg; they hired a waggon to take them and their luggage, for four dollars and a quarter per hundred pounds weight. As they purposed going to the English settlement in the state of Illinois, we expected to see them when we got there; but they stopped at Evansville in Indiana, and hearing of an English settlement ten miles distant,76 they went there; and I have seen nothing of them since, except one, who has arrived at Wanborough.

{33} In one of my walks, I saw upwards of twenty very fine red and white oxen, belonging to a butcher on the hill above Fell's Point, fine and clear in their horns, though most of the beasts I have seen in America are rather thick in their horns; they were very fat, and might weigh from 600 lbs. to 700 lbs. each, of the value of from 30 to 35 dollars each.

As we understood it was difficult for large boats to go from Pittsburg to Wheeling, the water being low, we agreed with a Mr. Merchant, for the carriage of ourselves and luggage to the latter place, a distance of 280 miles, for the sum of 350 dollars, (78l. 15s.); this was for nine people, and upwards of 6000 lbs. of luggage. We had two waggons, with six horses and one driver to each waggon; the manner of travelling in them is very different from that of England. Here they are hired to take passengers, luggage, goods, &c. to any part of the United States, by the 100 lbs. weight. The drivers look after their own horses,— {34} buying hay, Indian corn, chopped straw, ground rye, &c. at the taverns. Looking after their own horses prevents their setting out early in the morning, so they take their breakfasts before they commence their journey. They then travel till noon, when they stop for a short time, and then go on till sun-set or after; therefore they have no time in an evening to clean their horses. The waggons are lighter than English waggons, with a pole instead of shafts. The drivers ride the left-wheel horse, with reins to the other two pair; they seldom walk, and when they do, they always mount should a bad piece of road, or a difficult log-bridge come in their way, as they can see to guide their horses much better than when on foot. A trough is screwed behind the waggon, containing a small mattress, a blanket or two rolled up, and a water-pail. When stopping to bait, or for the night, the trough is placed on the pole of the waggon, and the horses are tied up to it, where they stand in all weathers. They mostly water {35} their horses out of their pails, seldom letting them go into the water to drink, if ever so convenient.

Having settled all my money transactions, and got our luggage ready, we took leave of our fellow-passengers, not expecting ever to see them again; and in the afternoon of the 22d of July we left Baltimore. The country but little cultivated, but many fruit trees; for some distance from Baltimore, the land poor and stony; we first took a turnpike road, but soon quitted it. We saw many waggons to and from Baltimore to the westward. We had our own bedding with us, which we generally made use of at the taverns, never hiring more than one or two beds. The weather very hot.

23d. Breakfasted at the tavern, charge for nine breakfasts, a gallon of tea the evening before, beds, &c. 4 dollars 31¼ cents., nearly (19s. 6d.) We passed this day a poor, rocky, hilly country, many huckleberries in the woods, 23 miles to a {36} tavern, where we slept. Wheat and rye mostly harvested. Hay, some housed, and some cutting; it was timothy grass, and extremely ripe; it was put up in very small ricks, and not thatched. The fences were of rails, laid on each other in a zig-zag form, thus, ; having laid one row, they begin again on the first, and rise up from six to nine rails high; which make a strong fence against all sorts of cattle. The expense of a rail fence is not great where timber is plentiful. The price of cutting and splitting rails is from 3s. to 4s. 6d. a hundred. Generally a hundred, laid eight rails high, will make about six rods of fence, so that including cutting, casting, and putting up, the expense may average at 14d. a rod.

24th. We were charged for breakfasts, beds, &c. 3 dollars 31¼ cents. We passed through a country similar to that on the preceding day, till near the town of Liberty, 40 miles from Baltimore, a small neat place, of fifty or sixty houses. This was {37} the first town or village we had passed, by the road we came. From Liberty to Frederic town, a much better country; Frederic town is a large place, with many good brick buildings in it.77 It is said to be the largest town in the States, that does not lie on a navigable river. From thence to Elders town, soil pretty good. This day we travelled 22 or 23 miles. We now mostly provided our own dinners and suppers, and took our breakfasts at the taverns. These breakfasts consisted of several of the following articles: chickens, hams, veal-cutlets, beef-steaks, roast pork, and several sorts of fish; various kinds of hot bread, viz. wheat and corn bread, buck wheat cakes, and waffles, a sort of soft cake, said to be of German origin; butter, honey, jelly, pickles, apple-butter, and the following dried fruits: peaches, cherries, apples, &c. And for one of these breakfasts they generally charged us 25 cents, (1s. 1½d.) In the above, I should have included tea or coffee.

{38} 25th. We travelled, a hilly country, to Trap town, a very small place, mostly of log-houses. From near Trap town, to the Potomac river, it still continued rocky. We passed 2 or 3 miles, up the side of the river, along a very sandy road, the river to our left, and some very high rocks on our right; many of which had, at different times, rolled down into the river. On the south side of the river, was a high ridge of rocky hills, and the sun shining on them; and, as we were passing through a deep sandy road, the heat was more intense than I had ever felt it before. The Potomac river is upwards of 250 yards wide, but shallow at the time we passed it, and full of large rocks. We saw some people fishing, in canoes, but what kind of fish they were fishing for, we did not learn. Many papaw trees on the banks of the river: as we approached near to Harper's Ferry, the rocks on our right rose to an immense height; we passed close under one, much larger and higher than St. Paul's church, London. {39} We were told it was a quarter of a mile high; but this, I think, was an exaggeration. Some small pines and cedars grew on these rocks; the cedars, on the highest points of them. We crossed the Potomac at Harper's Ferry,78 in a ferry-boat; one waggon and its horses passed over at a time, the river was so full of rocks, it was difficult for the ferryman to find a passage for their boat. The river, at the ferry, was about 200 yards wide; we passed it just above its junction with the Shadanoak.79 We had now entered the State of Virginia; hitherto we had been travelling in Maryland. We saw many large birds on the river, but of what sort we did not learn, but supposed them to be fish-eagles. At Harper's Ferry, there is a manufactory of fire-arms, at which many of our countrymen were employed. I saw eight or ten of them, and they informed me there were about sixty men, women, and children; but as it was Sunday, they were most of them walking out. Four miles from this place, we stopped {40} for the night, at Brick Mill tavern; here was a mill of five stories high, but short of water in a dry season, and this was the case when we were there. We passed a mill two days before, seven stories high, with more than fifty sash windows, the water-wheels more than twenty feet high, said to be well supplied with water at all seasons of the year. This day we travelled 19 miles.

26th. We proceeded 4 miles, through a hilly country, to Charles town,80 Virginia, a long place of eighty or a hundred houses, mostly of wood, but some good brick ones. A small creek, at the end of the town, then nearly dry; the land tolerably good. Here I saw a small piece of flax; it was the first I saw; but we had passed three or four small pieces of tobacco, very well cultivated, being planted in squares, at eighteen or twenty inches apart. At noon, we stopped at Cook's tavern, during a storm of thunder and rain, and afterwards proceeded up a rocky hill, of good limestone land, {41} on which there were the best farmhouses and out-buildings, and the most manure we had hitherto seen. Dung, in this country, is but little attended to in general; indeed, they seem to try who shall get rid of it with the least trouble. At Brick Mill, the stable was placed over the mill stream, the horses standing on a plank floor; indeed, where there are stables, the horses stand on plank floors, without litter; but generally, through the country we passed, they tied them up in the open air in a road, or any other place. As this hill lies high, the corn on it was rather backward; the wheat and rye were cut, but not harvested; the former, as fine as any I ever saw. The road from Harper's Ferry is situated high, and we were now on what is called the South, or Blue Mountains.81 Leaving the hill, we passed some woods down a road more rocky, if possible, than ever, to a small clear river, about twenty yards wide, and eighteen inches deep. There were some fine springs where we passed the river; {42} then, for two miles, through a country uncommonly sterile, covered with scrubby pines, to a new tavern, where we intended to sleep. But some words arising between one of our drivers and the mistress of the tavern, we went forward half a mile to another; this tavern miserably dirty, and the accommodations uncommonly bad. On some of our party complaining, the landlord told us, he was sorry we came to his house, as he liked people to be satisfied or stay away. This was, by far, the most filthy tavern we ever met with; in fact, it was but little preferable to an English pig-sty. This day we only travelled 15 or 16 miles.

27th. We provided the greater part of our breakfast, not much wishing to partake of the landlord's accommodations. We then went forward, through a poor country, till we passed some woods, and then into some good limestone land, but much encumbered with large rocks; some of them upwards of 100 yards long, many yards wide, and {43} some feet above the surface of the earth. What with these rocks, and the stumps of trees, full one-fourth part of the land could not be cultivated. A great deal of very stout wheat and rye cut, but remaining on the ground; it was cut very high from the ground, in a very slovenly manner, and set up in large heaps, almost without form. We had seen but few oats, and no barley, since we left Baltimore; the oats not good. Indian corn in general slight, owing to the drought. The after-crop of clover short, but well set, the first cut had been mostly stout and very ripe; the meadow grass now cutting, and also very ripe. The hay ricks, we had passed, extremely small, with little or no covering. Small ricks are most convenient to the Americans, as they do not cut their hay, but begin at the top, and so continue taking off till the rick is gone, a little waste not being much regarded. We passed a little fallow land, but it is not common to make fallows for wheat, as by keeping the Indian corn {44} ploughed between, it is left in a good state for wheat or rye. A negro was ploughing for turnips, on some land, where a slight crop of flax had grown this summer; the land very kind for once ploughing. This negro said, some very elegant potatoes grew on this land last year. They plough with a light swing-plough, and use two horses, except when ploughing between their Indian corn, and then they only use one. They do not generally use harrows, but when they do, they are made with wooden teeth; nor have I any where in America seen iron tined ones, except in the English Prairie. They use a large hoe to cover in their corn: I have not seen a roller in this country.

Near this, we saw some mulberry and plum-trees. We then passed a creek, and afterwards some hilly pine woods; soil very barren till near Pew's town, a small place, mostly log houses. Here we saw some buck wheat just come up; we had seen some before equally backward, and {45} we were told, it was common to sow it after a crop of wheat or rye was taken off the ground. The gardens here better kept than most we had seen, but these were far from neat. In the afternoon, we met two droves of fat beasts, from the south branch of the Potomac river, going to Baltimore. The first, a drove of handsome fat oxen and heifers; the other, a larger one, all oxen, young and handsome, but not so fat as the first, some of which were too fat for the hot weather. These beasts only travel mornings and evenings, often stopping to graze, and going but a short distance in a day; they do not lose so much flesh as might be expected in so long a journey. Just as we had passed the last drove, we had a heavy storm of thunder and rain, so that we got wet through, but our clothes were nearly dry by the evening, when we stopped at Mr. Dent's tavern, at a place called, "the Pine Hills." Here our accommodations were excellent; our progress {46} this day was 16 miles; the weather warm in the morning, but colder after the rain.

28. Early in the morning I looked over Mr. Dent's garden. It was pretty good land, though most that lay round it was very barren. This garden was kept in tolerable good order, and had a little manure bestowed on it. There was some fine water-melons, nearly ripe, a few small horse-beans; I had not seen any before, and these were very weak; but there were some turnips, just come up, that looked well.

The evening before, a poor old man begged for a lodging. Mr. Dent ordered him into the house, and gave him a hot supper, and provided a bed for him; and on his going off early in the morning, Mr. Dent seemed to blame himself for not giving him a dram before he started. This was the second beggar we saw in America. After breakfast, we paid 3 dollars 31¼ cents, and left the tavern well pleased with our accommodations and our landlord; {47} and then proceeded through a sterile mountainous country. There were pines and cedars on the hills, and large oaks and chesnuts in the valleys. We afterwards went down a long rocky valley, with a small stream of water running in it, which we crossed ten or twelve times in our progress down. We then came to a more open country, and the stream was lost in a larger one, thirty or forty yards wide; very shallow at that time, and the bed of it full of rocks. In the afternoon, we met a drove of 120 oxen, from the State of Kentucky, for the Baltimore and Philadelphia markets. They were large kind beasts, mostly young, not over fat, except two or three, which were very fat indeed; one was equal to any beast I ever saw, and might weigh upwards of 1200 lbs. weight. But most of them would weigh from 600 to 800 lbs.; they were chiefly red and white, but not all of one breed.

We saw a partridge fly from a tree, the first game we saw, though we had now advanced {48} 120 miles into the country. We were told pheasants, turkeys, and deer, were plentiful in many places, but we had not seen any. We saw many huckleberries, and some fern; this was the first fern we saw, but we afterwards saw much of it on the mountains: some of this fern had stalks of a bright mahogany colour. The fern on the east of the mountains, grew like the English, on poor land; but in the State of Illinois, at least, where I have been, it generally denotes a good soil; and the same may be said of beech trees, on the banks of the Ohio, the richer spots are often covered with a heavy growth of them; and in the western country, beech land is called excellent. In the evening, we reached Mr. Vannosdeln's tavern, in a poor high country; his garden was in a much better state than any we had seen before. He gave us a fine water-melon, but none of us relished it much, as it was the first we had ever tasted, nor was it quite ripe.

29th. We paid at Mr. Vannosdeln's {49} excellent tavern, 3 dollars 33 cents.; and went on to Springfield town,82 through a barren country, called the South Branch Mountain. We passed the south branch of the Potomac river, forty yards wide, shallow when we crossed it, but sometimes it rises to a great height. After passing the river, we went up its bank close under a ridge of hills, and many fragments of the rocks had rolled down into the river, and large masses hung over our heads that threatened to bury us as we passed. Some large sycamore-trees lined the banks of the river; these trees always grow on land liable to be overflowed, and are the same that are called plane-trees in England. The red or water-maple most resembles the sycamore of England, but scarcely any tree or plant is exactly the same. Cedars and pines grow mostly on the tops of rocky hills; the latter are of several sorts, pitch, spruce, and white; the first a little like the Scotch fir; the last, much resembles the Weymouth pine; but the spruce bore but little {50} similarity to any I had ever seen. There was a large sort of berry that our drivers called gooseberries, but totally unlike the fruit of that name I had been accustomed to; but as they were not ripe, we did not taste them. Leaving the banks of the river, we passed a small mill, and followed the course of its stream up a valley till we reached Springfield town, a place of forty log-houses, and stopped at Mr. Piper's tavern. The weather being extremely hot, the country hilly, and the roads bad, we only travelled 16 or 17 miles.

30th. Early in the morning I walked round the town, and went into a tan-yard; the owner was an old man, 48 years since from Ireland. He told me he was not troubled with excisemen. He bought his bark mostly by the cord, but sometimes by the hundred pounds weight, price half a dollar. Only the body and the large limbs are barked. The bark is shaved, but not chopped, before it is sold to the tanners; it is ground in a kind of coffee-mill.

{51} At this place, I saw a few sheep of the Leicestershire breed, very poor. Mr. Piper's tavern was a neat log-house, lined with pine boards, and ceiled with the same. We left this place for Frankfort, a small place of near forty log-houses. We then passed Patterson's Creek,83 thirty yards wide, but not deep. The land near it much overrun with pennyroyal, of which we had seen much during our journey, and also a great deal of mint; in many of the small streams which we passed, it grew in a very luxuriant manner; we frequently gathered some of the latter, and put it into the water we drank, to take off its rawness, and found it far more palatable for so doing. Most of the briers we had passed were of the scented kind, and they continued from Baltimore to the Allegany Mountains, a distance of more than 150 miles; but on the mountains, and on the west side of them to Wheeling, and from thence to the Prairies, a distance of 1100 miles, I did not see one scented one, but {52} many that were not. From Patterson's Creek, a short distance, to Crisepsburg's town, a very small place of log-houses;84 and soon afterwards reached the north branch of the Potomac river, 200 yards wide, rocky, and not deep. The land, on the banks of the river, much better than any we had seen of late. Having crossed the river, we were again in the State of Maryland. The country between this place and Harper's Ferry, which we passed on the 25th, all in the State of Virginia. From the north branch of the Potomac river, we passed a very hilly country, to a new road, called the National Turnpike.85 This road is to extend from Cumberland on the Potomac, to Wheeling on the Ohio, a distance of more than 120 miles; the first 62 miles, from Cumberland to Union town, on the west side of the Allegany Mountains, was just finished, and is a good road, though hilly. The road west from Union town to Wheeling, was begun in many places, and many men were employed on {53} it when we passed along it. This grand national road is intended to connect all the western country with the seat of government, as there is water communication from Cumberland to the city of Washington, on the east by the Potomac, and from Wheeling on the Ohio, with the States of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and all the western country, by the means of the Ohio, Mississippi, Missouri, Cumberland, Tennessee, and other rivers. This national road is free, as there are no gates on it; for as it was made by the nation, so it is to be kept in repair by it. We entered this road, five miles west of Cumberland, and soon after stopped at Mr. Carter's tavern, called "the Travellers' Rest," at the foot of the Allegany Mountains.

We had lately seen fewer fruit-trees, and much less fruit on them, except on the apple-trees, these being generally well hung. Blackberries had been very plentiful all the way, and so they continued over the mountains. {54} I ate large quantities of them, liking them much better than I did the cherries, of which we often had plenty given us: these blackberries were much better than any I had before tasted.

We saw but few birds on our journey; woodpeckers of several sorts, a handsome yellow bird, something like a goldfinch, a few crows, and some small birds, much like tom-tits. As my youngest daughter was carrying some flowers in her hand, a humming bird settled on them, it made her start, thinking it was a large insect; it was not larger than a chafer, but a beautiful bird.

The country, from Harper's Ferry, mostly rocky to the mountains, generally of slate, but some limestone, free stone, and coarse marble. Most of the valleys had streams of water and good springs. The soil, chiefly poor, but well watered. But little cultivated land, and much of that only partly cleared of trees. They grub up the underwood, and most of the small {55} trees; they then either cut down the large ones, within three feet of the ground, and leave the stumps standing, or else chop them round the stems, and take off a small strip of bark, which kills them, leaving them to decay, and fall down of themselves. It is common to see eight or ten acres of land, in cultivation, with some hundreds of dead trees standing in it. They collect the small trees, underwood, and roots, into heaps, and then burn them; and thus the fire often communicates itself to the standing trees, running up to the top of the highest of them, leaving them half burnt. These trees have a very dismal appearance at first, but people get reconciled to it in time. It is much the quickest method of clearing land for corn, as it enables a man to begin with very little strength of money, men, and horses. The hogs, on the mountains, were not so handsome as those nearer Baltimore, being in general badly kept.

In our journey thus far, we had seen but {56} few gardens, and those indifferently kept; they contained a few peas, parsnips, carrots, onions, shalots, sweet, and other potatoes, lettuce, and a large flat sort of cabbage, with a few sorts of herbs. Our landlord, Mr. Carter, had a farm of 700 acres; 100 cleared, the rest in a state of nature.

31st. We proceeded, by the turnpike road, up a valley of the mountains; the road good. As we ascended, we found vegetation much later; the blackberries not ripe, a little rye not cut, oats quite green, no wheat or Indian corn to be seen. A few gooseberry-bushes, no fruit on them; some strawberry-plants; I had noticed a few raspberry-bushes, the fruit small and hard, of a dark red colour. A great variety of wild flowers, almost all new to me. Much timber in the hollows of the mountains, oak, chesnut, and pine; the pines of an immense height. I measured one that was cut in making the turnpike; it was 102 feet to the broken top, and there it was seven inches in diameter. {57} Some that were standing appeared much longer; I thought the highest, at least, 140 feet high. The oaks and chesnuts were also very high, but they grew too close together to be very large, but many of them might contain from 50 to 150 feet of solid timber. Many thousands of trees, that were cut for making the turnpike, lay rotting by the sides of it, besides the vast quantities of dead trees in the woods. This day only, we passed some thousand loads of timber, thus decaying. I believe I have seen more timber in this wasting state, than all the growing timber I ever saw in my life in England. We saw no heath on the mountains, nor have I ever seen or heard of any in America.

In the forenoon, we passed a village of good houses, most part of them lately built: a flour and saw mill, and a noble tavern, the Globe; it equalled many English inns in outward appearance. We stopped to dinner at a poor log-tavern, but the landlord was building a new log one, on a large scale. Here we saw a poor little negro {58} boy, he was a cripple; the landlord had bought him some months before, out of a drove of negroes going westward for sale. The landlord treated him with great humanity, and the child seemed as much attached to him, as he could have been to his own relations. I was much pleased to see a poor negro child so well treated, but as to buying or selling human beings, I utterly abhor it. In the evening, we arrived at Mr. Kimberley's tavern; here we took our supper, our provisions being now exhausted. In the forenoon, it was extremely hot; in the afternoon, a little thunder and rain, and afterwards much colder: we travelled seventeen miles, mostly up hill, the road good, but rough, the stones being laid on rather large.

August 1st. Having breakfasted, and paid five dollars, we set out and crossed the little Yougany or Cressing river,86 by a new stone bridge of one arch of 76 feet span, and very high. We passed many ridges and small valleys; but little cultivated land, a small quantity of rye cut; only one piece {59} of wheat, nearly ripe. Oats here form the chief crop, some nearly ripe, others just coming out in haw. A little Indian corn, but we were told the summers on the mountains were too short for it to ripen; and, therefore, they only planted a little to cut green. Some healthy-looking apple trees in the valleys, but with little fruit on them, owing to the spring frosts being later than usual. Some new land bringing into cultivation, potatoes or fallows first. The oats and potatoes, much better on the mountains, than those seen between them and Baltimore; indeed, the land in the hollows of the mountains was much better than a great deal of that we had passed before we arrived at the foot of them, but backward, the winters being severe, and the springs late.

We called at a cabin, to get some bread, where we found a woman with six small children; she said her husband worked 40 miles off, and only came home once in two or three weeks; they lived in this place {60} before the turnpike was begun, four years since; no stores nearer than six or seven miles. They procured most of their tea, coffee, whiskey, and other necessaries from the waggons, that traded to, and from Baltimore, to the westward. She said, she had never been molested in this lonely situation. She was born in the state of Jersey, but near Philadelphia. Her great grandfather of the name of Wood, emigrated from England, being oppressed with tithes, he being a Quaker; he founded a small town in the state of Jersey, and called it Woodbury, after his own name, and the place he left in England, which was Bury. But whether it was a town, village, or farm, she did not know, only, that it was in Gloucestershire.

Sixteen miles from the Little Cressing or Yougany, we came to the Big Cressing, and the small town of Smithfield, placed in a very romantic situation.87 It had three taverns, viz. a stone house, the Globe; a frame one, the Rising Sun; and a good {61} log one, the Yougany; and about twenty other houses, mostly of logs. A noble stone bridge over the river, the centre arch ninety feet span, said to be the largest in the United States. The Yougany is one of the head streams of the Monongahela. Leaving the river, we followed the course of a small stream, to the Elephant tavern, kept by Major Paul, (late in the American service), where we slept. This town is noted as a waggon house; there were eight stopped there at the time we were there, mostly drawn by six horses each, and none less than five.

At noon this day, we passed the line between the states of Pennsylvania and Maryland,88 and found ourselves in a state where slavery is not admitted; but still negroes were treated with much contempt, as we witnessed at Major Paul's. A negro drove one of the waggons, that stopped for the night; he was not allowed to sit at table with any one, but had a table to himself: I believe he was a free negro, but of this I am not certain. We had come seventeen {62} miles, weather very hot, with much thunder at a distance, but no rain. Mr. Paul's house was surrounded by some of the best meadows we had then seen in America;89 the hills inclosed them on both sides, and the valleys were narrow.

2d. We advanced up a valley for a great distance, and passed a mine of coal; it lay twelve or fifteen feet below the surface of the earth; the veins about three feet thick; several hundred bushels lay dug; it had a strong sulphureous smell. We afterwards passed over a large flat, of thin, weak, black, wettish soil, covered with dwarf alders and large weeds; a little of this land cleared and planted with potatoes, they looked well. What little timber there was, was short and scrubby.

We now again ascended, and at length reached the top of Laurel Hill, the last ridge of the mountains. Much laurel on this eminence, resembling the Portugal laurel. Here we had the first, and a most extensive view of the west side of the mountains. {63} As the air was clear, we could see objects distinctly; much cleared land in sight, and many fine springs; indeed, they were numerous all over the mountains, but there were but few houses. This day we descended gently down the hill; the road was steep and winding. As we advanced, the timber increased in size, mostly oak, and towards the bottom it was immensely large. From the summit to the town of Monroe,90 at the foot of the hill, is full three miles, most of the way very steep. Monroe was two years old, named in honour of the president of the United States. It contains two large stone taverns, and about twenty log houses, and a saw mill on a small stream near it. Much land cleared of timber and laid down to grass, of a better sward than any I saw east of the mountains. From Monroe to Union town, two miles; here we stopped for the night.91 I passed a meadow between these towns, it was of timothy grass, and higher than any I ever saw before; it was not so thick on the ground as {64} I have seen English meadow grass, but a most productive crop. This day our waggons were separated a considerable distance, the first reached Union at sunset, the other not till two hours after. We came twenty-one miles.

3d. We had now entered the western country, but we were still in the old settled part of it, Union town having been built more than thirty years. It is a large place, mostly of brick buildings; it has a bank, twelve or fourteen taverns, a flour, a saw, and a carding mill, on a small stream near the town. On this stream there were some good meadows, but in a bad state, there being many docks and other weeds in them. The Indian corn luxuriant; a great many orchards, with a good show of apples in them. Paid charges for supper, beds, and breakfast, 4 dollars 75 cents, (1l. 1s. 4½d. sterling.)

From Union town, the turnpike was only begun at different places, but many men were employed on it. Near the town, the {65} land was of good quality. We afterwards passed a rocky ridge of hills, perhaps a spur of the mountains. Here the land was rather poor, a clay on a slate-rock; but many fine orchards well stored with good apples, and some morello-cherries still on the trees. A woman, at a small cabin, offered us some, if we would take the trouble to gather them; we took two or three pounds; they were small but palatable, being very ripe. But cherries, in general, are not so good as in England, as the Americans seldom bud or graft any fruit-trees, only planting the stone. Land better as we approached Brownsville, on the Monongahela.92 Brownsville is a thriving place, with some iron-works: at high water many people embark here for Pittsburg. As the national road crosses the Monongahela at this place, there is a bridge to be built over the river; it was about 300 yards when we forded it, but it is much wider when the water is high.

From the river we went six miles, mostly through woods, to the Golden Lion Tavern. {66} A woman milking her cow, on the side of the road, gave us some milk, and offered us some apples, of which there were large quantities in their orchard. She said they purchased their farm for 2700 dollars, 900 of which they paid down at the time, and the remainder by instalments, most of which were now paid; and when the whole were paid, she would not give a cent to call King George her uncle. A large wooden building, by the side of the road, in ruins, and a new stone-chapel, belonging to the Methodists, built to supply the place of the old one. Here the Methodists are numerous: we passed a wood on the east side of the mountains, where a camp-meeting had recently been held; these meetings often continue four or five days, during which they have prayers four times a day.

4th. I proceeded on foot to Pittsburg, having some business to transact there, the rest went on towards Wheeling; I should have left the national road at Brownsville, as I was there at an equal distance from {67} Pittsburg. I went five or six miles through a poor country, to Bentleyville;93 a place with several taverns, a large public school, a grist and a saw mill on a very large creek, then low, but much subject to floods in wet weather. I then went two miles up a valley, full of sugar-maple trees, most of them had been tapped for procuring the sweet liquor to make sugar. February, in general, is the month for making it; they catch the sap in wooden troughs, and most of them are left under the trees from one season to another. After leaving this valley, at a little distance, I entered the road from Brownsville to Pittsburg; here I first saw some water-meadows, although I had passed many pieces of land that might easily have been irrigated. The water was taken along the side of the hill for some distance; it was not done in a good manner, yet still it was a great improvement: I have seen but few water-meadows since. I slept at a tavern, five or six miles from Pittsburg. This day I travelled twenty-five miles.

{68} 5th. I reached Pittsburg at nine o'clock in the morning, after having crossed the Monongahela in a ferry-boat, for which I paid three cents. Having concluded my business at the bank, I took a walk round the town: it is a large place with upwards 7000 inhabitants. It is well situated for trade on the Ohio, at the junction of the Monongahela and Allegany rivers. A large bridge is nearly finished over the Monongahela, and another partly built over the Allegany; both these bridges have stone-piers above high water-mark, but the remainder of them is of wood. The bridge, that was nearly finished, was divided into four passages; two for carriages and horses, the other two for foot passengers. Contrary to the English practice, each takes the right-hand side; so there is no meeting on the bridge, as there are two passages for coming out, and two for going into Pittsburg. These passages are covered over, with holes in the sides to admit air and light. As the whole is covered, the bridge is kept dry in {69} all weathers, and the timber is prevented from rotting. They are longer and higher than London-bridge, at least at the ends, being quite level. The streets are laid out in straight lines, from the Monongahela to the Allegany rivers, and crossed by others mostly at right angles. There are many handsome brick-buildings, but there are also a great number of log and frame-houses. There are several places of public worship, a large market house, several banks, numerous taverns, and large stores; yards for building steam and other boats. Several steam ones were building, and others laid up, the water being too low for them or large flat-bottom boats to get down the river, when I was there. Trade of all kinds extremely dull. Owing to the quantity of iron-works, it has a black and dismal appearance; and from the account I had heard of it, I was, on the whole, rather disappointed in Pittsburg. It was a desert until about the year 1756, when the French, from Canada, built a fort near it.94 But a few {70} years after it was taken by the British, and the name of Du Quesne changed to Pittsburg. From that time till the revolutionary war it was held by them, and during that war it increased much, being made a place for the manufactory of arms. Yet as the Indians remained near it for some years, they were very troublesome; but now they are removed to a greater distance, except a few, who are settled near, and have adopted the manners of the Americans. It will always be a place of considerable consequence from its situation. It is 1100 miles from the mouth of the Ohio, and more than 2000 from New Orleans. Steam-boats, in high water, come from New Orleans to Pittsburg, in seventy or eighty days; but from the latter to the former place in much less time.

Having purchased a new rifle for 18 dollars, and taken a place in the Wheeling stage for Washington, for which I paid 2 dollars 50 cents; I supped and slept at {71} the Pittsburg Hotel; charge for supper and bed 50 cents.

August 6th. I left Pittsburg, in the stage, before day-light, and crossed the Monongahela, by the new bridge. Then up a very steep hill, the passengers all walking; we passed a very rough country, for nine or ten miles, to a tavern, kept by the driver of the stage, where we breakfasted; they charged us 2s. 3d. each, instead of the usual charge of 1s. 1½d., yet our fare was very indifferent. From this tavern to Cannonsburg,95 eight miles; the country still rough, but better as we approached this town. Here is a college, a large brick-building, where most of the principal people of Pittsburg send their sons to finish their education. This town was begun twenty years since by a Mr. Cannon. It is pleasantly situated on the side of a steep hill. From this town, seven miles, to Washington (Pennsylvania), along a rough road with many log-bridges; but some of my fellow passengers, from the state of Kentucky, called them corderoy. The {72} stage-coach was very different from an English one, it was much more like a light waggon; it was covered at the top, but open on the sides, with leather curtains to let down in case of rain or cold. The road being rough, we could not keep these curtains down, as there was no sort of fastenings to them; and as it rained very hard several times, we got wet. We were much crowded with luggage; the seats were placed across the carriage, and the luggage under them. At Washington we dined, and I drank some spruce-beer (for the first time in my life), and I found myself very unwell from it. I left the room, and went into the air; in a few minutes I was better; but as the stage still stood at the door, I did not return for about twenty minutes, when I found they had changed coaches, and were gone. I endeavoured to recover my money, but there was no bookkeeper to be found.

Wishing to rejoin my family at Wheeling, I set off on foot; the afternoon was excessively hot. The road was good for {73} the first ten miles, to Claysville, a new town.96 Then six miles of hilly country to Alexandria;97 here I took some refreshment, and again set forward: near this place I left the state of Pennsylvania, and again entered the state of Virginia. Then six miles farther to a tavern, where I intended to sleep; but the house being full, they recommended me to go two miles farther on. It was very dark, and thundered much; when I arrived at this tavern I could not make any of the family hear, but I roused two or three great dogs, and I was again forced to proceed. My road lay up a long valley, part of the national road to Wheeling. I passed over several large stone-bridges, but partly finished; at length it began to rain, and I put up at the first building I could find; it proved to be a stable. This day I travelled twenty-five miles by the stage, and about the same distance on foot.

7th. From my lodgings, in the stable, I proceeded up a valley to some houses, and enquired the way to Wheeling. I found I {74} was in the right road, and that it was only seven miles distant. I found much excellent land on the sides of a creek; the meadows were particularly so: I saw twelve small hay-ricks in one large meadow. The Indian corn was much larger than any I had before seen.

I met the two men who had driven our waggons; from them I learnt where my family were, and that they had settled with them for the carriage of our luggage. It is but justice to them to say, we had every reason to be satisfied with their conduct during our journey; Marchant, in particular, was in his manners much above his station in life. At seven o'clock I reached Wheeling.98

After breakfast we entered into an agreement with Messrs. Knox and Pemberton, of Wheeling, for the conveyance of ourselves and luggage to Louisville, in Kentucky, 600 miles, for 50 dollars, on condition we should help to navigate the boat down the river. We hired a horse and dray, for a dollar and {75} a half, to convey our luggage on board, and paid one dollar for the room where our goods were lodged. We laid in some provisions for our voyage, as we expected to sail in the afternoon, but a thunder storm coming on, we stopped till the next morning: we slept in the ark or flat boat. There were twelve tons of store-goods, for Cincinnatti and Louisville, besides our luggage of about three tons. The ark was about 36 feet long and 10 feet wide, with a fire-place in the centre; it was covered with boards, as a protection from the weather.

Wheeling is a thriving place, with some iron-works. As the national road is to terminate at this place, it bids fair to rival Pittsburg in the trade of the western country. In a dry time it has greatly the advantage of Pittsburg, being nearly a 100 miles lower down, and below the shallowest parts of the Ohio. At any rate, the great road for all the western country, crossing the Ohio at this place, will always add much to its importance. The country round {76} Wheeling is very fine, and I have seen no part of America I should like better than the valley above it. But all the land is taken up, and sells for a high price; and, what is still worse, it is situated in a slave-state, where every thing is done by the negroes, while the whites look on.

8th. At break of day we sailed, or rather floated, from Wheeling; Mr. Pemberton went part of the way with us, and a Mr. Ferris had the charge of the boat and the store-goods: these two gentlemen boarded with us. The wind being against us, we made but little progress, although we rowed the greater part of the day. We passed several islands in the river: the banks were steep and high, the country very hilly, and mostly covered with timber; the flats of the river generally cleared, and planted with Indian corn. The land would be too rich for wheat, were it not flooded in the winter and spring. We passed many small cabins, several of them were on the banks. We only advanced 20 miles this day, {77} and anchored on the Ohio side: the right, or north-west side of the river, is the state of Ohio; the state of Virginia lies on the left, or south-east side. The weather very warm.

9th. The land much as yesterday, except that the hills lay farther back. In the evening we anchored on the same side, 46 miles from Wheeling. We landed, and went to a cabin for some milk, where we purchased five chickens for fifty cents.

10th. We proceeded with caution, the morning being misty, as there are many sunk trees in the river sometimes. A man we had seen the evening before, came to us and offered to sell his skiff, as he was near his journey's end; I purchased his skiff, and an old iron shovel, for two dollars; Mr. C. bought of him a hand-saw, for thirty-seven and a half cents. As soon as we had paid him, he went off into [the] woods; from that, and other circumstances, we then concluded he had stolen them. Mr. Pemberton took the skiff and followed {78} him on shore, but could see nothing of him. Mr. Pemberton purchased five large melons for half a dollar, but as we had not been accustomed to melons, we could eat but little of them; but after a few days, most of us could eat them without sugar as well as the Americans. We passed Sistersville, a small place of Virginia.99 The wind being in our favour we made 30 miles.

11th. We passed the mouth of the Little Muskingham river, thirty or forty yards wide, but very low. About four miles lower down we anchored at the Great Muskingham, close by the town of Marietta,100 of about a hundred houses, many of them good brick-buildings. There are, also, between thirty and forty houses on the other side of the Muskingham. Marietta is well situated for trade; but being subject to floods, it does not appear to increase at all rapidly. It contains two meeting-houses, a bank, several taverns, a jail, a stream-mill, and several rope-walks. Ship-building is {79} carried on, on a small scale; some years ago, a ship of a hundred and twenty tons was built here, fit for the sea, although nearly 2000 miles from it by the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. The country, between the Great and Little Muskingham, very hilly; but the bottoms, on the Ohio and Great Muskingham, particularly rich land. The latter river runs far across the state of Ohio, from north to south; it is upwards of two hundred yards wide at its mouth. We were informed some English families were settled at the back of Marietta, but we did not see any of them; I have since heard that one of our fellow-passengers in the Resolution is residing there. Mr. Pemberton did not proceed any farther with us, he having business at Marietta. We proceeded four miles, when Mr. Ferris landed, and went to see his mother and brothers, who lived two or three miles back from the river. Whilst he was gone, I landed, with one of my sons, on the Ohio side; we walked a short distance into the {80} country; the soil excellent, but not much of it cultivated. Some apple and peach orchards, containing vast quantities of fruit; there were more peaches than I ever saw before; single trees had bushels on them. In the afternoon we passed the town of Parkersburg, in the state of Virginia, at the mouth of the Little Kenaway, fifty or sixty yards wide.101 There is a ferry established here. We made 20 miles, and after we anchored we laid in some lines, and caught a cat-fish; it weighed six or seven pounds, and was excellent eating. As they have no scales, they are stripped like eels; they are often taken of a large size; they sometimes weigh a hundred pounds; they take their name from having whiskers like a cat.

12th. Passed the mouth of the Little Hockhocking, near thirty yards wide.102 The Ohio is here wider than at Wheeling. We passed several islands in the river, some of them cultivated. Generally the houses on the banks were of logs, but there were {81} some good brick and frame ones; some large orchards. We met several keel-boats going up the river, drawn by eight or ten men to one boat; sometimes they push them up the river with long poles, and at other times, when the wind is favourable, make use of a sail. At almost every house we passed on the banks of the river, there was either a skiff or a canoe. We saw some large wild ducks. About noon we passed the mouth of the great Hockhocking river, fifty or sixty yards wide; this river runs through the State of Ohio, between the Scioto and Muskinghum rivers. It is said to be navigable to Athens, forty miles up. I landed and went to a cabin to purchase provisions. The owner told me a bad fever prevailed at Cincinnatti, and cautioned me against going there: being newly settled, he had nothing to spare. In the afternoon we passed the town of Belleville, in Virginia, a very small old place. This evening we anchored on the Ohio side. Some of my {82} family crossed over to the other side, and bought six chickens for 50 cents (2s. 3d.) This day we advanced twenty-five miles; weather extremely hot.

13th. We were detained some time by anchoring on some rocks over-night, and the water had fallen a few inches in the night; we got out of the boat, and pushed it into deep water. The banks were high and rocky, some of the rocks had the appearance of an old castle. We passed several islands and sand-banks, the current always much brisker near them than where the river is wider. The country more settled at some distance back than on the banks of the river, as it is said to be more healthy. In the afternoon we passed the falls of Letart;103 these falls are only a sharp run over some rocks for near half a mile; nowise dangerous, even in low water, to those acquainted with the navigation of the river, but to strangers a little so. In high water there is only a sharp run, sometimes hardly perceptible. There is a floating {83} mill on these falls, it had then most of the grist-work; the other mills for many miles standing still for want of water. We could not procure any flour, they being fully employed in grist-work. We afterwards landed at several cabins to get some butter; but there was not any to be had, being almost all new settlers, many of them in the Spring. Seven or eight miles below the falls, we anchored for the night, after making about twenty-six miles.

14th. The moon shining brightly, we started soon after midnight; the banks high and rocky until we passed an island, when the country became more level and open. In the forenoon the country again more hilly, with many veins of pit-coal under the rocks; some of them opened, and some coal lay dug on the sides of the river. In the afternoon we passed the mouth of the Great Kenhaway; there are some salt-works on this river, and much salt is sent from thence to many towns on the Ohio.104 This river comes from the south, through {84} part of Virginia. Point Pleasant is situated near the Big Kenhaway; it is a small town, and does not appear to flourish.105 A great battle was fought here when it was first settled, between the Americans and Indians, in which neither party had much cause for triumph. About four miles below we came to the town of Galliopolis, in Ohio.106 It is pleasantly situated on a high bank that is never overflowed. This town was first settled by a colony of French, in 1790; but having bought their land of speculators, their titles were not so good as they wished, and some of them left it; but many of the inhabitants are still French and other Europeans, and some Americans. It contains two places of public-worship, a post-office, a large court-house, a printing-office, a market-house, some good stores and taverns, and about a hundred houses of brick, frame, and log. On a green of good land, near the town, a motley flock of sheep was feeding; many of them had a rotten appearance. I was told they {85} belonged to the inhabitants, who kept them in common. The green on which they were was good sound land; but as they had free access to the river-banks, they often fed on herbage that was frequently under water. I was much pleased with the situation of Galliopolis; more so than with any place I had seen west of the Allegany Mountains. We made thirty-two or three miles; the heat intense, with a little rain in the evening.

15th. Started by moon-light and got six or seven miles by day-light, and four or rather more afterwards; till the wind being against us, we anchored on the Virginia side. I landed, and went through the woods to a poor log-cabin; but could get no provisions or fruit. The inhabitants looked extremely miserable; they had a female negro-slave, that appeared to do what little was done. The soil very rich; but little of it cultivated, and that little very badly. The trees in the woods I passed through were sycamore, ash, honey-locust, {86} poplar, buck-eye, black walnut, beech, and sugar-maple, &c. Many of the trees were overrun with grape vines. The black walnut and sugar-maple trees were larger than any I had before noticed. Most of the sugar-maple trees had places chopped in them to let out the sap, instead of being tapped. Many of the troughs that were used last Spring were still remaining under the trees. After dinner the wind shifted, and we proceeded for a short time; but a thunder-storm coming on we again anchored, as do most of the flat boats or arks, for fear of being driven on shore, as the wind is generally high at the commencement of a tempest. We had but little wind or rain, and therefore again proceeded. We passed an ark sunk in the river, and also the Little Guyandot river, forty yards wide; and then went over a very rapid part of the river. After dark we anchored on the Virginia side, with a store-boat and a light ark that contained a rather numerous family of English from {87} the neighbourhood of Manchester, going, like ourselves, to look for a home in the western country. The master of the store-boat was also a fellow-countryman; he had been settled a short time at Marrietta, but now purposed going further westward. He had freighted his boat with store-goods and fruit, to pay his expenses down the Ohio. He intended settling in the neighbourhood of Cincinnatti, or of going down to the State of Indiana. He said that, in April last, near a thousand boats of different descriptions passed Marietta going westward; most of them with emigrants, and but few of them Europeans, it being too early for them to come from Europe, Spring being generally the season they leave their native countries. We almost daily saw boats with Europeans, chiefly from England or Ireland. Numerous skiffs had passed us since we left Wheeling, and we afterwards saw many more. The wind being against us, we only advanced about twenty-four miles. Weather much colder.

{88} 16th. Started two hours before sun-rise; the hills lower, and lay farther back from the river. We passed the mouth of the Great Guyandot,107 and the town of Bordenton, a small place which is situated near it. At dusk we passed Big Sandy river, 200 yards wide, it rises in the Allegany Mountains, and runs east and north-east, separating the States of Virginia and Kentucky for more than 200 miles. This day we made twenty-six miles.

17th. Towards noon we reached Greenup, in Kentucky, a small place;108 here we staid some hours to get our pump repaired. Here I conversed with a native of Kent, who had resided fourteen years in America, three or four of which he had spent at this place. He said he was doing well in his business as a cabinet-maker and carpenter. He informed me much confusion prevailed here in regard to the titles of land, owing to the lots having been entered without the boundaries of each individual being distinctly marked out; so that land was often {89} claimed by two or more individuals.109 Indeed disputes frequently occur in the old States of America, in regard to the titles of land, as the first settlers often took it without any title. Others obtained grants for a certain space from some river, or other given mark; but as the country was but little known at the time of these grants, they often clash with each other, and many boundaries yet remain to be settled. In the greater part of the new States the country is first surveyed, and then laid out in sections of a mile square; but this I shall mention hereafter. We left this place late in the afternoon, and anchored a few miles below, on the Ohio side. We ran twenty-two or three miles. Weather temperate.

18th. Passed the Little Sciota, a small stream of Ohio. At noon we reached the town of Portsmouth, in Ohio, at the mouth of the Big Sciota;110 a considerable stream, said to be navigable upwards of two hundred miles towards the north. Portsmouth {90} is an improving place, containing a court-house, a bank, several good taverns and stores, with more than one hundred houses, many of them of brick: we could get but few provisions here. Alexandria is situated opposite, on the other side of the Sciota; it is a small place. We found change at these towns very scarce; what there was, was mostly cut-money; that is, when change is wanted they often cut dollars, half-dollars, and quarter-dollars, into smaller pieces, with an axe or chisel; and some of them are so expert and honest, as to make five quarters out of a dollar. We advanced twenty-two or three miles this day.

19th. We passed a very swift riffle without any danger. About three miles farther on, we were in danger of losing our boat on Twin Riffle, by not going towards the Kentucky side soon enough; but by hard rowing, we got over with only five or six inches to spare. These riffles are occasioned by the water's running rapidly over {91} a rough hard bottom; they resemble the Falls, only they are much less. We saw many wild ducks while passing this riffle; I believe they often feed on these sharp runs, as I noticed they generally frequented them. A little below, we saw three hunters with several dogs; they had just killed a fine young deer in the river, and were skinning it on the bank. We bought a hind-quarter, it weighed fifteen or sixteen pounds, for 50 cents, (2s. 3d.) sterling. The quarter was as much as we could consume while good, the weather being so extremely hot, or we might have had the whole deer for a dollar. In the afternoon we passed a bad riffle, called Bush Riffle, opposite a creek of the same name. This riffle was full of sunk logs, that made it difficult to pass, as the river was so low; at high water these riffles are not perceptible. We passed Salt Creek, Ohio. Some saline-works here; also a small town, of which I did not learn the name. As we floated after dark, the ark got stuck on a sand-bank, {92} in the middle of the river; but some of us getting out into the water, we pushed it off, and then anchored on the Ohio side.