The cattle of this country are large and handsome, very hardy, and do not differ in figure or colour from those of Germany; no food is given them in winter but the dry leaves of maize. No clover or other forage is cultivated, so that the cattle and horses are confined to straw, the bark of trees, and the green reed, miegia, which forms a thick underwood in the forests on the Wabash. Everywhere one sees the bark and twigs gnawed, and even the fruit trees are often damaged in this manner. Horses and cattle frequently starve to death in the winter. I was told that the animals gnaw, in preference, the nettle-tree (Celtis occidentalis), the hack-berry (Celtis crassifolia), and the sugar maple. It is remarkable that the swine, which otherwise refuse no species of fruit, will not touch that of the papaw tree (Asimina). All the beef in this country is of a bad quality, because, as I have said, no forage is cultivated. In Pennsylvania it is quite the reverse; there a great deal of clover is grown, and the beef is, consequently, good. In Indiana pork is said to be much better and easier of digestion than to the east of the Alleghanys. We saw but few sheep, and no goats, at Harmony. There were plenty of geese and domestic fowls, but only a few tame ducks.
The mode of tilling the ground for the different kinds of grain, has been described by 86 many travellers; I will therefore merely observe that the plough is different in its construction from that used in Germany, and that the oxen are attached to it by a very peculiar yoke, which consists of a long, thick, crooked piece of wood, which is laid horizontally over the necks of the two oxen, with two bows underneath, through which the heads of the animals are put.[97]
Neck-yoke and plow
My stay at New Harmony, which was at first intended to be only for a few days, was prolonged by serious indisposition, nearly resembling cholera, to a four months' winter residence. At any other place in this country I should have extremely regretted such a loss of time, but here I derived much instruction and entertainment from my intercourse with two highly-informed men, Mr. Thomas Say and Mr. Lesueur, who, during my two months' illness, gave me constant proofs of kindness, and endeavoured to make our time pass agreeably and usefully. I received also much kindness from other estimable families, Messrs. Owen (who were educated by Fellenberg, in Switzerland), Mr. Maclure and his sister, and Mr. Twigg. My walks and hunting excursions with the two naturalists were very instructive. Mr. Say's house was in a garden, where he cultivated many interesting plants of the interior of Western America. I there saw a large Maclura aurantiaca (Nuttall), the bow or yellow wood, or Osage orange, from the river Arkansas, of the wood of which many Indian tribes make their bows. It is a prickly tree, with very tough wood. There was one at St. Louis, in the garden of Mr. Pierre Chouteau, which did not, however, flourish.[98] Dr. Pitcher had the kindness to give me some of the seeds of this tree, 87 which, however, have not succeeded. In Mr. Say's garden I likewise saw Euphorbia marginata, from Arkansas, several beautiful phlox; and the Lonicera sempervirens was laden with its ripe fruit. The Euphorbia marginata flourishes exceedingly well at Bonn, where it was raised from seeds which I brought.
Mr. Say's zoological collection was confined to insects and shells. He was less anxious to possess a complete collection than to have a good library, which, thanks to Mr. Maclure, he really possessed, and new insects and shells were sent to him from all parts of the United States, which he immediately described. He had a very extensive correspondence, even with Europe, and received many conchylia, which he used and compared for his work on American conchology. This work was entirely got up here in Harmony, for Mrs. Say drew and coloured the figures very faithfully after nature, which were engraved by an artist, engaged by Mr. Maclure; the text also was printed there. Mr. Say's entomological collection was continually damaged by the rapacious insects, which are much more dangerous and destructive here than in Europe. The most fatal to the zoological collections, in this country, besides the common European moth (Phalæna sarcitella), are the Dermestes lardarius, Anthrinus muscorum, Dermestes vulpinus, Necrobia violetia, Acarus destructor, and several others, among which there are some brought from Europe.
Mr. Lesueur's labours were chiefly in the higher orders of the animal kingdom; he had explored the country in many directions, was acquainted with everything remarkable, collected and prepared all interesting objects, and had already sent considerable collections to France. He was a skilful draughtsman, and his portfolios of drawings, made during his voyage round the world, and in his residence in America, afforded us much gratification during the winter. He had paid great attention to the fishes of the Wabash, Ohio, and Mississippi, for which his frequent visits to New Orleans had given him the best opportunity. His friend Barrabino, who died prematurely in that city, and took much interest in the sciences, had been of great assistance to him. It would be a pity if the interesting labours of Mr. Lesueur, in natural history, were not communicated to the learned world during his lifetime.
I shall always retain a most pleasing recollection of the excursions which we made in the neighbourhood of Harmony, with Mr. Say, and to greater distances, with Mr. Lesueur. One of the most agreeable was when we sailed down the Wabash, and landed on its wooded islands. Immediately on the west of the river, is Fox Island, a large thickly wooded tract, between the Wabash and Fox River.[99] We generally left Harmony by water, in bright, sunny weather. The Wabash divides into several arms, forming beautiful romantic islands, covered with tall forests, partly surrounded by quantities of drift wood. The water of the river is clear and dark green, and the bottom, which is plainly seen, is covered with large bivalve shells (Unio), as well as with several kinds of snails. High trees uniformly clothe the shore, and colossal, wide-spreading planes rise above the dense forests. In some places there are sand-banks, where shells are 88 found in abundance, and where the track of the racoon and the mink, which come here in the night to seek their food, are imprinted in all directions on the wet ground. Under the old roots of trees on the bank, which is from ten to twenty feet high, we saw the burrows of the minks, into which it had taken a quantity of shells. The common people here think that this is done by the musk-rat, which is certainly a mistake. The musk-rat lives on vegetables, and it is only the small beasts of prey that live on shell-fish. There were various species of ducks, which rose in flocks before us, and flew rapidly to the undisturbed parts of the banks. Besides the common wild duck, which was the most numerous, there were the beautiful wood duck, the blue-winged teal, and the pintail duck, or sea-pheasant. After proceeding about three quarters of an hour, we usually landed on Fox Island, on the right bank, fastened our boat to the trunk of a large fallen tree, and then went up the steep bank into a thick, lofty forest, where the high reeds were intersected with small, narrow paths, made by the horses and cattle of the neighbouring farmers. From our several landing places, we had to proceed only about 100 steps across the island to the Fox River, which runs here, for a pretty considerable distance, parallel to the Wabash, and joins it below Fox Island.[100] The stream is highly picturesque, with romantic banks, large uprooted trees, colossal planes, magnificent oaks, hickory, shellbark hickory, &c. Here grows the lofty gymnocladus, with its large, broad pods, and the beautiful catalpa. Bignonia radicans and cruciata wind round the trunks, as well as thick, clustering vines (Hedera quinquefolia) and the poison vine. Vast quantities of fallen trees lay in the water, and, when it was low, often formed a kind of bridge. The trunks of the plane are very remarkable; they are often so thick that five or six men cannot span them. When of this size they are generally hollow. These trees are suffered to grow so old, because they yield but indifferent timber. Twenty or thirty feet from the ground, the trunk usually divides into several thick branches, which rise to a very great height; they have a bark of dazzling whiteness, which forms a singular contrast with the brown forests, when leafless and bare in winter. This tree never attains such a thickness and height in Europe, and hence the white colour of the branches is wanting. The quiet, lonely Fox River is covered, during the whole day, with numerous ducks. Whenever we approached cautiously through the reeds, and over the dry leaves, scattered on the ground, we could immediately fire at them. The kingfisher (Alcedo alcyon), is constantly seen here, and many species of birds, particularly the blue-crested roller (Garrulus cristatus), came to the water to drink. Unluckily we had no European hounds, which would have been of great service to us, and thus, from want of them, we often lost the ducks we had shot. The turkey buzzards were seen hovering in the air, and, after wet weather, were often observed sitting in the sunshine, with outspread wings, on the highest trees. If we shot a bird, and did not immediately pick it up, it was sure to be devoured by these ravenous creatures. If the buzzards were driven away, the cunning crows supplied their place. The whole air was soon filled with these buzzards, hovering round and round, 89 while numbers of others sat together on the high trees. If we shot at them when flying, they immediately vomited; this I likewise observed in Brazil. We found here some heads of the paddle-fish, which lives in the stream. If we left the banks of the rivers, and advanced far into the forests, we had often to clamber over fallen trunks of trees, covered with moss, and to penetrate through matted reeds, where we heard the voice of the grey squirrel, and the hammering of the numerous woodpeckers. Among the entangled climbing plants, we often saw, throughout the whole winter, the beautiful cardinal, or red-bird; finches of various kinds; and on the decayed trees, on the ground, some kinds of Troglodytes. Towards the end of autumn, and early in warm days in February, nay, even in December and January, we often saw in Fox River, on stones, and old submersed trunks of trees, large tortoises basking in the sun, which we sometimes shot at with our fowling-pieces, but we seldom got them. They are very shy, and plunge into the water as soon as any one approaches.
Towards noon the scattered sportsmen usually re-assembled, with their booty, round a cheerful fire, under ancient plane trees, on the bank of Fox River. Our frugal repast, which we had brought with us, was seasoned by the exercise in the open air, in the fine forests of Indiana and Illinois. Tortoises, shell-fish, birds, &c., were deposited in our boat. Mr. Lesueur frequently accompanied us in these excursions. Once, on the 7th of March, he found, on Fox Island, a couple of marmots above ground, one of which ran into its burrow, while the other sought refuge on a low tree, where, however, it was shot. We then dug for the other, in hopes of finding it, but the burrow went so far and deep into the ground, that we were forced to give it up. This circumstance may serve as a proof that the animals which sleep throughout the winter make their appearance about this time.