{284} Near the lake the shell limestone appears. This seems to be the base on which the strata of the higher country rests. The higher country, near Pittsburg, the Muskingum, and Sciota rivers, the Silver-Creek hills, and the high land, over which I have recently come, has strata of sandstone, slate-clay, bituminous shale, and, in various places, coal.
Portland is a town situated on the shore of the indenture in the south-western extremity of Lake Erie, called Sandusky Bay.[157] It is only three years since it was founded, and contains thirty dwelling houses, four warehouses, and has four temporary wharfs. At present the trade is in salt, brought from Onondago in New York State, and in imported goods. There is a boat at one of the wharfs, which carries ten and a half tons; it was built in Connecticut, and was carried by land over several portages in the way; and I have been told that there is a vessel of fifty feet keel on the lake, that was carried over the same obstructions, which lie between Hudson River and Lake Erie. A steam-boat which sails between Detroit and Buffalo touches at this place.
Portland has had a share of the sickness of the season, a number of persons being now confined to bed, and many meagre convalescents are to be seen walking about the street. In addition to the fevers and the ague, so prevalent, some have been afflicted by an influenza, and are wearing shades over their faces on account of sore eyes.
Venice is another new town, which stands about three miles farther west the bay. It has more houses than Portland, but has now only one family in it, a mortal sickness having carried off a considerable part of the population, which caused the survivors to desert the place. The bay no doubt contributes {285} to disease, as the water is shallow, and out of the course of the principal current of the lake, and produces grasses and confervæ that are washed ashore in times of wind, and emit a disagreeable effluvia.
Although I have been in the country possessed by the Indians during the two last days of my journey, I did not happen to see any of these people by the way. Since coming to Portland, I have seen a few of them in town. One party had brought for sale a few pots of honey, which they had taken out of hollow trees, and some mats, fabricated from dyed rushes, which were beautifully divided into compartments of different colours. Most of them were clothed with a piece of blanket wrapped round them, and with leather mocasins, or shoes, on their feet, and the habiliments of others approached very near to the form of clothing worn by civilized people. Some of the men are sprightly and well formed in their persons, displaying an energy and frankness in their countenances which indicate the absence of suspicion and fear.
My journey has been, on the whole, more pleasant than I could have anticipated. The principal obstructions in the way were the stumps and roots of trees, which obliged me to drive with much caution, and often restricted my horse to a walk. At taverns I sometimes found that the landlord was from home, and that no hostler was kept, and found it necessary to feed and water my horse, and to yoke or unyoke as occasion required; but every landlord that I met with acted in an obliging manner, and of some of them I conceived the most favourable opinion.
In the last hundred and fifty miles which I travelled, I met with few travellers, but several {286} of these few were well dressed and polite men. I have also seen some elegant ladies by the way. Indeed, I have often seen among the inhabitants of the log-houses of America, females with dresses composed of the muslins of Britain, the silks of India, and the crapes of China. During the journey just detailed, I must confess that I never saw a people more exclusively devoted to agriculture, and proportionally fewer idle men lounging in taverns, than I did in the more populous parts of the country. The most disagreeable quality that I discovered, was the inquisitive dispositions of some of them.—“What are you loaded with?” was reiterated almost every day; and, “Where are you going? Where are you come from? Are you pedling? Is it goods or plunder that you have got?”[158] were also questions asked. In justice to them, I must say, that they do not seem to be sensible of the indecorum of such conduct; and I believe that when similar interrogations are put to them, they answer without hesitation.
FOOTNOTES:
[143] Dr. Drake, who is a native of the western country, after noticing the effects of a dry summer, adds, “But, fortunately, such extraordinary droughts occur too seldom, and are too limited in their extent, to be regarded as any great calamity.”—Picture of Cincinnati, p. 105.—Flint.
[144] A series of lively sketches of Edinburgh society by John Gibson Lockhart (1794-1854), published in Blackwood’s Magazine during 1819.—Ed.