Fossil bones[75] of animals are still found in the United States, but the possessors having learnt the value of such things, ask so high a price for them that it is difficult to obtain them; they are, besides, frequently presented, out of patriotism, to the American museums.
We soon reached Louisville, a considerable town, with 12,000 inhabitants, which in 1800 had only 600.[76] It is in the state of Kentucky, and, when seen from the river, does not make nearly so good an appearance as Cincinnati. Negroes conveyed our baggage to the inn, where we found, as usual, a great number of gentlemen, for the most part travelling merchants. The merchants are, in America, the class of people among whom the most idleness is found, and they are extremely numerous. The least numerous classes are the men of learning, and the military; the latter, in particular, so very few, that they are not at all remarked. The young men who, in North America, besiege the doors of the inns, are, doubtless, most of them, traders. Foreigners are often treated with contempt by these persons, who are usually equally conceited and unpolished, and make observations, as soon as they discover a foreigner, either by his incorrect pronunciation of English, or by his dress. This American conceit is to be attributed partly to their excessive patriotism, and partly to their ignorance, and want of acquaintance with other countries.
When the dinner-hour was come, such a crowd of gentlemen had assembled before the house, that, at the ringing of the second (dinner) bell, the dining-room was in a manner carried by storm. All rushed impetuously into the room, every one making good use of his elbows, and in ten minutes all these people had dined and hastened out again. Mr. Wenzel, a German merchant, to whom I had letters, had the kindness to show me the town and neighbourhood. Louisville has the appearance of being likely soon to become an important town, and many new houses were, in fact, building. The streets are long, broad, and straight, crossing each other at right angles, and the situation on the Ohio is very favourable for trade. Handsome, showy shops are common here, as in all the towns of the United States, and elegance of dress characterizes everywhere, even in the smallest places, the inhabitants of this country, the great object of whose efforts is the acquisition of wealth. As it was Sunday, the various sects of the population were flocking to their respective places of worship; afterwards, many of them were driving out in their gigs. There were already above thirty hackney carriages, partly belonging to negroes, of whom only the far 71 smaller portion are free in the state of Kentucky. The state of oppression in which the negro slaves live in North America, makes them corrupt and knavish, which travellers often have occasion to learn by their own experience. At Louisville, the cholera had already appeared. Five persons, most of them negroes, were carried off the day before our arrival, and a general panic had seized the inhabitants.
Mr. Wenzel took us to a spot which was intended for horse-races, an institution quite new in the Western States. A society had purchased a beautiful level spot of ground, surrounded with woods, and about four miles in circumference. This place was surrounded with palisades, with several stands in the centre, and stables in the neighbourhood for the horses. The horses of Kentucky are considered to be the best in the country; the stallions which were to run, and some of which had come from a distance, seemed to be mostly of a very good breed, not large, but well built. The first races were to continue the whole of the next week. This institution will, doubtless, have a good effect in improving the breed of horses, and afford the inhabitants of the town and neighbourhood both advantage and amusement.
In the afternoon we left Louisville to embark at Portland, below the town, on account of the Falls of the Ohio, that now cannot be navigated past the town, and therefore a canal has been made, where, by the aid of five sluices, the boats are raised twenty-two feet. Those who land at Louisville embark again at Portland, where there is generally a great number of steam-boats, among which we chose the Water-witch, bound to New Orleans.[77] There were a great many passengers eager to embark, who drove in carriages into the river to reach the steam-boat, to which the baggage was conveyed in the same manner. The loading of the vessel not being completed, we did not set out till the 16th of October. At seven o'clock in the morning of that day, Reaumur's thermometer was at 5° above zero, while a thick fog covered the river. We put off at half-past ten, and had a fine view of the magnificent Ohio, with the large town of Louisville in Kentucky, and New Albany in Indiana,[78] opposite, with numerous steam-boats on both banks. It was soon discovered that our engine was out of order, and we were forced to lie to, on the Indiana side, to repair it. As this required much time, we took the opportunity of exploring the first forest in this State. The bank was fifty feet high, and steep; the upper part of the declivity was covered with Datura, the seeds of which were now ripe, but very few of the light purple flowers were to be seen. The beautiful blue flowering Eupatorium cœlestinum and the Lobelia syphilitica bore their flowers amongst the thorn-apples. On the summit of the bank there was a noble forest of tall, thick beech, maple, oak, walnut trees, &c., in which there were some plantations of maize, with their block-houses. The underwood was everywhere the papaw tree, and on the skirts of the forest the yellow flowering Cassia Marylandica, with ripe seed. Old trunks lay rotting on the ground, which was partly covered with the falling leaves.
At nightfall our engine was repaired, and we proceeded on our voyage, and on the morning 72 of the 17th reached the village of Brandenburg, on the Kentucky bank, which is here rocky, and marked with horizontal white stripes, or strata. The mountains were rounded and covered with wood. In Indiana the forest was cleared in some places for plantations, which afforded a view into the picturesque interior; for on these cleared spots the tall forest trees stood, as in the primeval forests in Brazil, like columns crowded together. This dense forest was interrupted for a short space by the towns of Leavenworth and Rome, in Indiana, and Stevensport in Kentucky; the two last with some indifferent buildings. From this part the country had no great variety, the forests being seldom interrupted. The islands were bordered with willow bushes, with tall trees in the middle. On the bank where the rock was exposed, on account of the low water in the river, we observed singular forms produced by the action of the stream. They consisted of round or elliptical stratified masses, which gradually decreased in breadth, so that the whole looked like a truncated pyramid rising in terraces. Before night we reached Cloverburg, in Kentucky, and lay to till the stars or the moon should appear.[79] Numerous card parties sat down in the great cabin, where the heat was intolerable. Our beds swarmed with cockroaches, which ran over our faces and hands, or fell from the ceiling. These disagreeable animals are as common here as in Brazil; they gnaw everything, and, being quite soft, are crushed by the slightest motion.
On the 18th, at half-past six o'clock in the morning, the thermometer was +16° Reaumur, with rain, and wind, and a clouded sky. We reached at an early hour the little place of Rockport,[80] in Indiana, and at half-past eight, Owenburg, or Yellow Banks, in Kentucky, where we landed many passengers. We saw the Turkey buzzard hovering over the woods—a bird which we had not observed since we left Cincinnati, and which is not found to the west of the Alleghanys. The Ohio, though the water was extremely low, was still very broad and beautiful, its wooded banks rather low. French Island, and some others, covered with bushes and lime trees, lay quite dry, surrounded with a large sand-bank. It was discovered that we had the cholera on board. A man from Kentucky had declared himself ill early in the morning, and was dead before eleven o'clock, though the Captain employed all the remedies in his power. He was quite well in the evening, had played at cards all night, and did not complain till towards morning. A coffin was made of some planks; the vessel lay to on the bank, which was steep, and the bell was rung while the body was conveyed on shore and buried. Many of our passengers landed to see the funeral; others were extremely alarmed, and, meantime, took a walk.
After the funeral was over, and a white board, with the name of the deceased, had been set up on the grave, the bell called the passengers on board; in half an hour we reached Evansville on the Indiana bank; soon afterwards Pigeon Creek; above this, on the other bank, the Green River, and subsequently the village of Henderson.[81] Here we took in fresh provisions, and, among the rest, 1000 fowls were offered for sale, of which we took a good supply at a dollar per dozen. 73 The sun was setting with great splendour as we left this place; the broad, unruffled bosom of the Ohio shone like a silver mirror, in which the beautiful wooded banks were reflected, and the magnificent purple and orange hues of the sky tinged the river with their glow.
Towards midnight we reached Mount Vernon,[82] where we landed, intending to proceed, the next morning, to New Harmony, to visit the naturalists at that place. After passing the night at an indifferent inn, I set out for New Harmony, on the 19th of October, in the morning. I had been indisposed, as well as my huntsman, since I left Louisville, and was not in a mood properly to appreciate the fine, lofty forests of Indiana, the road through which was very bad and rough; the last part of the forest was remarkably grand and wild: vines and other climbing plants hung down from the old trees. The Amorpha fruticosa frequently formed the underwood. At some of the isolated dwellings of the farmers, racoon skins were hung up to dry, and the beautiful large feathers of the wild turkey were scattered on the ground. After having passed, in the most oppressive heat, the Big Creek, which flows between the wooded hills, we soon reached the fertile valley of the Wabash, near to which New Harmony is built.