At the mouth of Big Muddy river, forty miles below Kaskaskia, we stopped to take in wood, and we went on shore to take an evening stroll. The French named this stream riviere au vase, from a vase of earthen ware discovered upon its banks. There is much good coal upon its shores. We wandered through the ‘the forest’s leafy labyrinth,’ wondering at the great size, and luxuriant foliage of the trees. The locust here grows to the height of eighty or ninety feet; the beeches, oaks, and sycamores, are enormous. The parsimon grows larger here than with us. We also observed the Chickasaw plum, the pawpaw, and cotton tree. We seated ourselves upon the bank of the river, and looked upon it with wonder as it came rushing wildly past, much like a stream which has just plunged over some high ledge of rocks. Upon its bosom it bears a forest of trees, some old and water-worn, shorn of their honors, and some torn away in all the glory and beauty of their youth. The water comes with such velocity that it tears away the earth from one side of the river carrying it to the other, thus constantly changing the shape of the shores, and varies its channel so that the navigator is often puzzled to find his course.
I am glad I have looked upon the Mississippi. To read of it and to see it are two different things. All these wondrous works of the Creator give us clearer ideas of his power and his goodness. It is indeed an extraordinary sight—a river over three thousand miles long, and from a mile to one and a half miles wide, traversing eighteen degrees of latitude through various climates, from the arctic to the equator, over ‘more degrees of latitude than any other river in the world.’ Some writers call this river the Miss Sipi, ‘father of waters,’ while others tell us its name is Namæsi Sipu, Tish river. It flows from Itasca lake, a transparent cool reservoir of water, fifteen hundred feet above the gulf of Mexico, a clear beautiful stream; plunges over the falls of St. Anthony, and then, a broad river one mile and a half wide, it sweeps in long regular bends through a wide valley adorned with varied scenery, until it enters the gulf of Mexico. Sometimes it is lined with bluffs from one hundred to four hundred feet high, or a soft green prairie, sloping banks, impenetrable marshes, large cities, and pretty villages. The clay which the Missouri brings with it is heaped upon the shores, or in a pile at the bottom of the river, upon which a snag, a long trunk of a tree is flung, which, standing upright, pierces the bottoms of vessels; or as a sawyer, rises and falls, to strike the unfortunate bark which happens to pass over it. The danger from these is, however, much diminished by the ingenuity of Captain Henry M. Shreve, who has contrived a machine worked by steam, by means of which, when the water is low, he raises the snags and sawyers from the river. We were told he this year extracted fifteen hundred, besides tearing away from the banks many thousands which were ‘topling to a fall.’ It seems a hopeless task to pull away the hanging trees from the wooded shores of a river three thousand one hundred and sixty miles long, whose banks are constantly undermined by the waters; besides the Ohio which runs twelve hundred miles; and when these are cleared the mad Missouri coming down over three thousand miles through a forest clad country, continually sends down fresh victims which it has wrenched from their homes, to consign in all the ‘pride of life’ to destruction. As if not content with the mischief, the Mississippi sometimes takes a fancy to make a cut off; instead of following the curve or bend which it has made into the country for perhaps twenty miles, it dashes with fury against the earth in front until it cuts its way through and reaches its former channel, tearing away with it houses, lands, and whatever had stood in its path. This malicious conduct the Indians impute to its enmity to the white man, and fills up its channel, plants snags and sawyers to vex and to wreck him. The earthquake in the year 1811, the year in which Fulton launched the first boat upon the western waters, they say was caused by their Manitou, to frighten the white man away from his country. The earthquake was felt in many places slightly, but at New Madrid, upon the Mississippi, it was very severe. Houses and chimneys were thrown down; land raised for some distance down the river, and in many places it cracked apart vomiting up fire and red hot sand. Lakes were formed of miles in length which still remain. The introduction of steam is fast conquering all obstacles. Before its introduction three or four months were employed in voyages where now it is done in so many weeks. The flat-boat floated upon the tide, or pushed along with poles; and when a point was to be cleared the crew landed, and fastening ropes to the trees drew their bark along; this process was called cordelling. There are now upon these waters four hundred and thirty-seven steamboats, from thirty to seven hundred and eighty-five tons, besides flat and keel boats, but no sloops or sail boats, except an occasional sail put up by the keel boats. These boats are very different from those used upon our eastern waters. Our cabins and saloon you know are upon the same deck with the machinery, and dining rooms below, while above is a fine long promenade deck. When you enter one of these boats you step upon the lowest deck, having the machinery in the centre, while the ends are covered with freight, or deck passengers who cannot pay the cabin fare. Ascending a stair-way you find yourself upon the guards, a walk extending all around the boat like a narrow piazza, from which several doors open into the rooms. The whole deck here is thrown into three apartments; the ladies cabin at the stern having state-rooms around it, opening upon the deck or into the cabin; from this folding doors lead into the dining-room surrounded with gentlemen’s berths; beyond is the bar-room, from which you pass into an open space where, around two smoke pipes, the male passengers assemble to smoke and chat. The ladies cabin is handsomely furnished with every convenience, and in some instances with a piano. Above this is yet another deck called the hurricane deck. This is the best situation for viewing the scenery, were it not for the steam-pipe which, as these are high pressure boats, sends out the steam with a loud burst, like a person short of breath.
July 16th.—I arose with the dawn, to obtain a peep at the junction of the Ohio with the Mississippi. We turned from the wide Mississippi and its turbid waters, into the glassy Ohio, around a point of land upon which is built the town of Cairo. The land is low here, and subject to inundations, but it is expected the art of man will overcome this, and Cairo, at the junction of these two great rivers, will become a large city. The central railroad is to commence here, which will cross Illinois to Galena, from thence to the Mississippi river, a distance of four hundred and fifty-seven and a half miles. There are several other towns upon, and near this point, as America, Unity, Trinity, and Fulton, where a statue to the great steamboat projector will be erected. A little farther on is another village, called Caledonia.
Our passengers consist of a party of fashionables, on a jaunt of pleasure to the Sulphur Springs, of Virginia; some travelling merchants, and several persons visiting the towns upon the river. A state room was observed to be constantly closed, and a young man about twenty, who occasionally came from it, squeezed himself in, as if afraid his companion would be seen from without. The curiosity of the young ladies was soon excited, and by means of the chambermaid they ascertained it was the young man’s wife, a young girl, apparently about fourteen, who was thus carefully secluded. A run-away match was immediately whispered about; the young people became quite in a fever to obtain a glimpse of the fair heroine. It was a long time ere their wish was gratified, as she never left her room, taking even her meals there. Our mornings on board are generally very social, the ladies sitting with the gentlemen of their party upon the guards, or gathering in groups with their work, while the male passengers are smoking, talking politics, or gambling. The negro banjo, and merry laugh, or joke, of some son of Erin, echoes up from the lower deck; but in the afternoon the siesta is the fashion, and every one turns in his berth to take a nap. I did not follow this custom, as I was unwilling to lose any of the scenery, so that I usually stole out of my state room, like a mouse from its hole, and after a long look up and down the river, stole in again, the heat being too great to allow of a long stay. Yesterday afternoon, oppressed with thirst and with heat, for the thermometer on board stood at ninety-six, I went into the ladies’ cabin in search of water, a jar of which filled with lumps of ice, was placed upon a marble table in one corner of the cabin. The ladies were all in their berths except two, who were using every ‘means and appliance,’ to keep themselves cool. They were each in a rocking chair kept in motion, their feet upon an ottoman, made a table for their books, while a large feather fan in one hand, and a lump of ice in another, were tolerable arms against the fire king. Miss Martineau expatiates upon the indifference of our females to the scenery of nature, and I dare say, she would place these two upon her list of nil admirari ladies, but travellers are very apt to look upon the surface of things; these ladies, and indeed almost all we meet in steamboats, have been so often over the scene, that they know it by heart, and need not brave heat and storms to see it, as a stranger would. Our people are a restless body, and men, women and children are always upon the move. As thirsty as I was, I hesitated to drink the thick muddy water, for while standing in our tumblers, a sediment is precipitated of half an inch. Oh how I longed for a draught of cool spring water, or a lump of Rockland lake ice! While drinking, one of the ladies advanced for the same purpose. ‘Dear me! what insipid water!’ she said, ‘it has been standing too long. I like it right thick.’ I looked at her in surprise. ‘Do you prefer it muddy, to clear?’ I asked. ‘Certainly I do,’ she replied, ‘I like the sweet clayey taste, and when it settles it is insipid. Here Juno!’ calling to the black chambermaid who was busy ironing, ‘get me some water fresh out of the river, with the true Mississippi relish.’ Every one’s back is indeed fitted to his burden. This person had lived upon the banks of the Mississippi, had drank its waters all her days, and now it required to be muddy ere it was palateable. The chambermaid descended to the lower deck, where a gallant black beau drew a bucket from the river, and after satisfying the lady, she resumed her ironing. Against this practice of ironing in the ladies cabin I must uplift my voice. I suffered from this annoyance upon the Illinois, Mississippi and Ohio. Constantly there was a woman washing upon the lower deck, where the water thrown from the wheel, falls upon the deck in a pretty cascade, and another is ironing above. All the ironing of the boat, and crew, and often of the passengers, is done in the ladies small sitting room, the steam and perfume of the wet clothes, charcoal furnace and of the ironer is extremely disagreeable. In one instance I knew this to be the case all night, the girls taking it by turns; and I never travelled one day without this addition to the heat and other discomforts of a steamboat. In such long voyages it may be necessary to wash for the captain and crew, but surely bed and table linen enough might be provided to reach Cincinnati, where they stop long enough to have them washed. If not, why may there not be a room in some other part of the deck. The captain in some instances reaps the profits, as the chambermaids are his by hire or purchase, and if they charge all as they did us, one dollar and fifty cents a dozen, the profit must be considerable. It is sometimes, as in our case, a great convenience to travellers, but another place should be provided. But to go on with my afternoon adventures. I left the cabin and walked out upon the shady side of the guards. All was still except the booming steampipe; every one was asleep or reading. I leaned over the railing and found the banjo player and his audience all in slumbering attitudes, or swinging in their hammocks, and every thing denoted silence and repose. Suddenly a terrific and astounding bang, clang and clatter, as if the boat had been cracked to atoms, the wheel house was broken in pieces, the boards flew over me, and a torrent of water flowing from it nearly washed me from the deck. In a moment every one tumbled out and rushed upon the deck exclaiming, ‘what’s the matter?’ ‘are we snagged’—‘has the boiler burst’—‘is it a sawyer.’ The old Kentucky lady who had stepped out first, took her pipe from her mouth and said quietly, ‘It’s only a log;’ ‘Oh, only a log;’ ‘nothing but a log,’ echoed from every mouth, and returning to their cabins they all stepped into their berths again. I looked around me in amazement. ‘Only a log!’ said I to myself and what is a log. The steamboat is broken and stops, all is confusion and crash, and I am told it is nothing but a log. ‘Madam,’ said I, turning to the Kentucky woman, ‘will you have the goodness to tell me what a log is.’ ‘There they are,’ she said, pointing with her pipe to the river. Floating along like so many alligators, were long branchless trunks, which had been wafted along thousands of miles from the Rocky Mountains perhaps. ‘But, pardon me madam, how are these logs able to create such a disturbance?’ ‘You seem a stranger child,’ she replied; ‘as these are floating along, and we are riding among them, what more natural than that they should get in the water wheel, break it, and stop the boat. But see, the carpenters are already at work, and I dare say they will have it repaired in the course of two or three hours.’ So saying she knocked the ashes out of her pipe, took off her cap, and passed into her state room, to sleep away the hours we were doomed to pass under a July southern sun inactive. The most remarkable event connected with this accident, was the discovery of the fair unknown of the closed state-room. When the noise was first heard, the young man rushed out, bearing a plump rosy young girl in his arms who, as soon as he put her down, began to tell the beads of a long rosary which hung from her neck. One glance sufficed to tell him the nature of the accident, and he left her to walk towards the wheel house just as the Kentucky lady disappeared. Seeing the poor thing’s agitation, I turned towards her and endeavored to sooth her. ‘I thank the Virgin Mary it is no worse,’ she said kissing her cross, ‘but something dreadful will come to punish my wickedness. Oh how could I leave my dear mother Abbess and the sisters!’ Stopping suddenly she gazed around her in affright, for she had unconsciously said more than she intended. ‘Oh dear, what am I saying!’ she exclaimed ‘where is Edward, why did he leave me!’ I soon succeeded in soothing her, and when I related my conversation with the old woman, she laughed merrily at my ignorance. Her young husband returned, and was so delighted to see her cheerful, that he immediately drew chairs, we all sat down and were soon as social as old friends. I was much amused with the surprise of my companion who had come in search of me, when he saw me upon such familiar terms with this mysterious couple. The little creature seemed delighted to escape from her confined quarters, and relished a little chat so much that she this morning came to my room, and sat some time with me. We passed this morning several islands, one of them containing ten thousand acres, which, with the rocky shores of Illinois, make the scenery very pleasing. Paducah, upon the Kentucky side at the mouth of the Tennessee, is a small town seemingly solidly built of brick, but chiefly interesting from the romantic story attached to it. It takes its name from an Indian heroine, who was here sacrificed in revenge by a party of Pawnees. Fort Massac is a few miles below it which was taken from the French by an Indian stratagem. The Indians dressed in bear skins, made their appearance in the vicinity of the fort, which enticed the Frenchmen out for a chase, when another band rushed into the fort and took it. All were massacred. From thence to the mouth of the Cumberland river the shores seem uncultivated, as the settlements are back from the river, but we were compensated by a glorious show of trees, vines and foliage of every hue. The sycamore here grows to enormous height, sixty or seventy feet, full of branches; these great branches stretch up eighty feet higher and spread out all around it. The white of its trunk and limbs has a very pretty effect among the green forests. The white maple is also a beautiful ornament to the groves, its leaves being a bright green, but every breeze stirring among them displays the brilliant white lining. Its trunk is silvery hue.
Upon the Kentucky side of the river we have the pretty yellow locust, the hackberry with its dark foliage, the mulberry, juneberry, with its red fruit, and leaves lined with silvery down, and above all the tall and graceful cotton wood tree, popular angulati, whose bright green foliage is very beautiful in contrast. The groves of this tree are very ornamental to a landscape. Among these trees upon both shores, we observed the brilliant bignonia radicans or Virginia creeper, which mounted to the tops of the highest trees, and swinging down, arranged itself in graceful festoons, adorned with its pretty scarlet, trumpet shaped flowers. The river is more placid than our last, but is not yet free from the defilement of the Mississippi, and takes a yellowish tinge. Golconda we passed about twelve o’clock, upon the Illinois side, a small town, remarkable for nothing but its fiery red brick court house, with a cupola. There is a small settlement at the mouth of the Cumberland river, before which was a row of steamboats, which were in waiting for the rise of the river, to ascend to Nashville, in Kentucky, which lies upon this river. Illinois, as if wishing to leave a good impression upon us at parting, rises in masses of limestone, presenting every variety of scene, overhanging cliffs, promontory, walls, and castellated appearances, being the foundation of the State, for at the summit the ground continues in a plain to the lakes. Sometimes our course lay so near these rocks, that we could distinguish the flowers spring from the crevices, and the chrystal rills which jumped from rock to rock. This destroyed the illusion of towers and turrets, but we were compensated by being able to examine the limestone which presented various shades from the yellow clay marl to the compact and blue limestone and light solite. A large cave runs under these rocks, the mouth of which is surrounded by a grove of graceful cypresses, which tree we have observed occasionally upon the shore, before and after this. The mouth of the cave is an arch about thirty feet high. This cave has in the time of the flat boats been a sort of tavern, where the crew and passengers have waited sometimes for days, in a storm. It was once also a robbers’ haunt. Many persons, anxious to descend to posterity, have cut their names upon the rock, and taken from the wildness and seclusion of the scene by large black letters, but I shall not minister to their ambition by writing their names. Shawnee town, is a place of considerable importance in the southern part of Illinois. It stands upon a plain, elevated from the river, with a back ground of bluffs, and seems a considerable place. The situation is most beautiful, and it makes a pretty picture from the river. A band of Indians of the Shawnee tribe once lived upon this spot, but at the approach of the white men retired to the western plains beyond the Mississippi. At Shawnee town, commences the great saliferous formation which extends through the valley of the Ohio, to its head waters, and spreads away upon each side through Ohio and Kentucky, and along the Alleghany mountains. The strata of this formation consists of sandstone, limestone, coal, argillaceous rocks, and slate stones, but the peculiar rock from which the salt water is drawn, is a white calcareous sand rock full of cells and vacant places, once containing salt. There is also an upper layer of white sand rock, from which a small quantity is produced.[23] To procure this, the boring is sometimes carried very deep, several hundred feet, as the strata generally lie below tide water, in this valley, and some wells are sunk three hundred feet below the present surface of the ocean. Where they strike the flint rock strata it is very tedious, the workmen not being able to bore more than two or three inches in twenty-four hours. Carburetted Hydrogen gas rises in almost every place where the salt is found, and wells are often sunk from this evidence alone. Sometimes the gas comes up with such violence as to drive out the boring machine, or flows with the water, and again, rushes up in sudden explosions, at intervals of hours or days, springing up in the air to a height of a hundred feet. This gas easily takes fire. Petroleom, is also found accompanying the salt, and is used by the inhabitants for bruises, or to oil machinery. Filtered through charcoal, it is burned in lamps. In the country upon the Muskingum river are several deposites of salt rock, or Muriatiferous rock. In Hockhocking valley, salt is reached by boring to the depth of five hundred and fifty feet, and at another place eight hundred feet. Here the water is very pure and strong, averaging fifteen per cent of muriate of soda, and runs in a constant stream of twelve thousand gallons in twenty-four hours. Salt is also found in the Monongahela valley. Upon the Kiskiminitas river, five hundred thousand bushels are exported annually; it is found upon the Guyandot, and in the northeastern parts of Kentucky, but the most extensive salines are upon the Kenawa river where the strata occupy an extent of twelve or fourteen miles upon the river. Fifty gallons of water, yield fifty pounds of salt of fine quality. In some places coarse salt, and in others fine table salt is made. This necessary article was first discovered by the animals who seem to be very fond of it. The mastodon, elk, buffalo, and other animals were in the habit of resorting for it to certain places which retain the name of Lick, as Buffalo Lick, Big Bone Lick, etc. At the lick upon the Kenawha, the paths worn by these animals are still visible. For many years salt was brought to the western valley with great labor over the Alleghany mountains, upon the backs of horses, and sold for two or three dollars a pound. Now it can be procured at the salines for half a cent. Around the salines are fragments of broken pottery and other Indian articles, showing the aborigines were in the habit of digging for it. Upon Salt creek, near Shawneetown, is a very ancient salt work, which was once resorted to by the Indians. Vessels of earthen-ware bearing the impression of a basket are found there, and one which was evidently used for evaporation is large enough to contain sixteen gallons. This great deposite of salt seems to be inexhaustible; for twenty-four years it has been manufactured at Kenawha, and in these last years one million of bushels a year, and the supply has not diminished. Two hundred bushels are made a day. The process used is to convert the water by heat to brine, and afterwards evaporized.
Ten miles below Shawneetown we pass the mouth of the Wabash, the boundary line between Illinois and Indiana, a beautiful stream running six hundred miles through Indiana. Upon the shores of the Ohio near it are groves of the Pecaun tree, carya olivæfornis. It is a beautiful straight tree, bearing a very pleasant nut. Pecaun, according to Schoolcraft, is the Chippeway word for nut. At sun down we stopped to take in wood and to procure milk. As it was rather damp I did not land, but was much amused with the antics of men and boys, who delighted to have space, frolicked and jumped about the woods. The southerners in their thin pink and purple or blue striped coats, added to the gaiety of the scene. Our steward with his tin kettle entered a small cottage, or rather log cabin, near, and procured a supply of fresh milk, which we saw a young country lass draw from their cow she had just driven home. While our husbands strolled together, my little catholic confided to me her history, after the fashion of travelling heroines you know. She was the daughter of a wealthy planter in Kentucky, who, although of the presbyterian faith, had sent his child to a catholic nunnery to be educated. She had, as is very common in such cases, become a convert to the catholic faith, and when her parents came to carry her home, declared it her intention to take the veil and never leave her convent. Her parents intreaties and despair were of no use; stay she would, and did. A convent, however, was not to be her destiny, for she fell in love with a young gentleman, brother of a friend of her’s at the same convent, who often came there to see his sister. The attachment being mutual, they had, with the assistance of the sister, contrived to elope. They were now on their way to New York, and she was so fearful of being recognized and brought back, that she would not at first leave her state-room. ‘Were you not sorry to leave your mother?’ I asked her. ‘Oh dear yes, she and the sisters were always so kind to me.’ ‘I mean your mother and your father, not the mother abbess.’ ‘Alas! my parents are such sad heretics that I ought not to love them. I shall never see them in the next world, and it is better to be separated here.’ I was shocked at her answer, but thought the parents were well punished for the culpable step they had taken in placing their child where she was likely to embrace a religion different from their own. I wish to say nothing against the catholic religion, but if parents are unwilling their children should imbibe its tenets, they certainly do wrong to place them where they are taught. It is a custom too common in the west and south, and this is not the first instance I have known of division between parents and children in consequence.
July 17th.—We are now sailing along the coast of Indiana, having bid adieu to the beautiful State of Illinois, after having travelled through it and along its coast over eight hundred miles. This State seems to be endowed by nature with every requisite for the comfort or enjoyment of life. It is three hundred and eighty miles long and two hundred and twenty broad. Upon three sides it is bounded by the Mississippi, Ohio, and Wabash, and upon the fourth by the great lakes; it is crossed by streams, canals, and roads, and thus is enabled to send its produce in any direction. The soil which covers it is of inexhaustible fertility, capable of producing the richest fruits, grains, and vegetables, covered with woodland and prairie, and abounding with coal, metals, and quarries. It presents a level plain, inclining gently to the Mississippi, consisting of thirty-seven million nine hundred and fifty-two thousand acres.[24] The prairie land occupies two thirds of the State; the rest is wooded or bottom land. These prairies were once covered with herds of buffalo, wolves, and panthers; all now, except a few wolves, are far away over the Mississippi. These grassy pastures are valuable for cattle, and the soil is easily tilled, and produces trees where the fire is kept off. All sorts of grain, neat cattle, swine, horses, tobacco, cotton, and sugar, are raised with ease. The amount of the productions of this State, according to the tabular statement drawn up by the United States Marshall, H. Wilton, Esq., is fifty-one million four hundred and eleven thousand six hundred and six dollars. Take this account, and the number of its population, four hundred and twenty-three thousand nine hundred and thirty-four, and then turn to the state of the country only twenty years since, when it was the home of Indian tribes, with a few white men scattered over it, and you will obtain some idea of the sudden increase of the west.
The want of timber and water, as pine is scarce in Illinois, and upon the prairie there is but little of any kind, has prevented the settlement of the prairies. It is the opinion of all whom I heard speak upon the subject, they were the most eligible places of settlement, as water can be procured at the depth of fifteen or twenty feet, and timber easily brought over the smooth plains in wagons, while cutting down forests to clear the land is toilsome, and expensive. The centre of the prairies is always higher than the skirts, which if it renders them dry, makes them more healthy places of residence than the dank, humid ground of a forest. The tobacco, beef, and wheat of Illinois are superior to that of the neighboring States, and finds a ready sale in the market; the latter weighing sixty-eight pounds to a bushel.[25] Very good wine is made there from the sweet grapes which abound in every part of the State. Coal is found in abundance every where, and will be constantly discovered; iron and copper occur in some places, while the lead mines of this State, Wisconsin and Missouri, yield more than the whole of Europe including England. It is generally a foliated glittering sulphuret found in cubical crystals, yielding fifty per cent. in log furnaces, and sixteen more after further process. The masses occur in clay and veins in the rocks. This rich mineral was so near the surface that the Indians frequently dug it up, and men in want of money were in the habit of procuring it, sure of a ready sale at St. Louis. The people of Illinois obtained their nickname of suckers from the practice of going up the Mississippi when the spring opened for lead, which was the period of the annual voyage up the river of the Succar fish. Thirty-three million lbs., was produced in all the lead region last year. The scenery of the mineral region is very beautiful and is watered by the Mississippi, Wisconsin, and other rivers. The interests of religion and education are not neglected; the State has laid aside in lands and money, three millions for the latter object. Colleges are being erected, churches are building, and every thing for the comfort and refinement of life is here in progress. So if you have a mind to emigrate come to Illinois. We have to-day passed several villages upon each side of the river, possessing little of interest to write you, except Hoarsville upon the Kentucky shore, where we stopped a little while. There is a coal mine in its vicinity. The Indiana shore presents an elevated bank upon which we continually saw farms and cottages, but the opposite shore is low and subject to inundation, which gives it a lonely appearance. Both sides however are adorned with beautiful trees. Here beside giant beech, walnut and various oaks, were the pretty red bud, cercis canadensis, the Ulmus Americana, red maple, sassafras, cornus florida; upon the Kentucky bank, besides extensive groves of cotton wood, were the basswood, or American lime with its yellow tassels, the gum, American nettle with its red berries, June berry and an endless variety of others, beautiful and rare. Fairy isles are occasionally passed, covered with pretty shrubs and flowers and fringed with the soft bushy willow called here tow. Indiana shows many pretty villages, embowered among her trees, or scattered along her sloping banks, and we have to-day passed Troy, Evansville, Rockport, Rome, Fredonia, Manchport, while the other side, Westport is quite a conspicuous and pleasing town, situated upon a high bluff, its houses perched like eagles nests, upon the high points of the cliff, while the brick court-house stands upon the bank beneath. The river upon both sides had for many miles back, presented a succession of these bluffs, wild and rugged, but after leaving Rockport, the rocks become more like regular hills, rising gradually to a high summit, cone shaped, covered with lofty trees and a carpet of verdure. We here saw that singular feature of Ohio shore scenery, the hills upon one shore faced with a level plain upon the opposite shore. Each shore presents a succession of hill and valley, the hills on one side being opposed to the valley of the other. As if, while the river ran from east to west, the strata crossed it N. E. and S. W., a rupture in these would leave room for the river. This agrees with the theory of our Alton friend, that the location and course of this river was caused by a rupture in the coal measures. The boys upon the Ohio have imitated the Illinois ducks in their pastime, of which I wrote you; when our boat has passed, they push off the shore into the agitated water of our wake, and seem to take much pleasure in bobbing up and down. We sailed under cliffs this afternoon of rough, rugged, jagged limestone, with precipices and romantic dells, quite sufficient to satisfy a whole boarding school of romantic misses. The setting sun cast his shadows far over the river, leaving us in shade, while far above the trees which fringed the cliffs were painted with gold. A ray piercing through a vista in the rocks, fell upon the windows of the pretty town of Evansville, tipping its spires with burnished gold, lighting up the windows, as if each house kept high festival. Tint after tint of all this glory has faded, and see, the river is white with mist now rising high above the trees. After the intense heat of the day this strikes you with a chill, and they who know its fatal effects hasten within—reluctantly I follow them and bid you good night.