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.
This day we made about twenty-six miles, according to the "Pittsburg Navigator,"[111] also by our pilot's account; but I believe the Ohio has never been surveyed or measured, except that on the Ohio side the land has been surveyed and laid out into sections, from the upper part of the State of Ohio to the mouth of the Ohio river. But the lines running north and south, and east and west, make many small fractions on the edge of the river that have never been measured very correctly, so as to know the exact length of it. We often went in a very circular direction; much more so than the banks; and as the river is full half a mile wide, we sometimes stood nearly right across it, as an ark is difficult to keep out of the current, should it get too near it when the draught is strong. Thus the measurement of the {93} banks of this river cannot be accurate, in the distance it takes to navigate it.
20th. Passed the Manchester Islands;[112] and a little below a town of the same name, a small place of about thirty houses. Two of our company landed, opposite the islands, on the Kentucky side. A woman, where they went for milk, gave them some peaches, nearly ripe; she told them they had only apples and peaches for their pigs, a hundred and forty in number. She said they did not get fat on this diet, nor did they expect them to thrive much till the beech-masts fell. Beech the prevailing timber, except on the banks of the river; there mostly sycamore, water-maple, and willows. In the afternoon we reached the town of Maysville, in Kentucky;[113] it is frequently called Limestones, from a small creek of that name that here empties itself into the Ohio. Maysville is a considerable place, and enjoys a good trade with the back country. It lies high; but part of it is subject to floods from the {94} creek. Much good building going forward. A large ferry-boat, worked by horses, plies between Maysville and a small town opposite; it takes over passengers, horses, carriages, and stock; as a road on the opposite side takes most of the land-travellers through the state of Ohio,[114] that cross so low down as this place. We sent a letter from here, that reached Godalming, in Surrey, in fifty-seven days; but letters from England are usually three months in reaching the Prairies, and sometimes much longer. This day twenty miles: the weather sultry, with much thunder, but no rain. The river falling very fast.
21st. Passed Ripley, a new town of Ohio: it seems likely to thrive.[115] A gentleman who had joined us at Maysville, and my eldest son, went on shore near this place. My son purchased two quarts of milk, for which they charged him 25 cents: he demanded his money again, and offered to return the milk; this they refused; {95} he then gave them, as he called it, a good blowing up, and came on board in a very bad humour, not being at all pleased with his bargain.
We afterwards passed a small place, on the Ohio side, of only seven or eight houses, although laid out before Ripley. In the afternoon we passed the town of Augusta in Kentucky; it appears a flourishing place.[116] It was built to rival Maysville in the back-country trade, and it is likely to come in for a full share of it, as the roads are said to be much better than in the rear of Maysville. A considerable deal of land brought into cultivation in its neighbourhood: some round hills cleared quite to their tops, and planted with Indian corn, the growth of which seemed to bespeak a good soil. These hills have a fine appearance from the river. In the evening we passed the town of Mechanicsburg (Ohio), a small place, mostly of log-houses. At dark we anchored on {96} the Kentucky side; our progress twenty-five or six miles.
22d. Much rain during the night; and as the ark was far from being weather-proof, we got very wet in our beds. At noon we anchored near the towns of Richmond[117] and Susanna (Ohio); they are rising places, containing several taverns and stores. A great deal of land round these towns laid down in grass: the soil rich. But few gardens, and these much neglected; the weeds seven or eight feet high, and completely concealed the vegetables. This day we only made thirteen or fourteen miles, and anchored on the Kentucky side. The weather much colder. After we got to bed, two men and a boy came close to us, and began fishing, by torch-light, striking the fish with a gig, or grig, like a dung-prong, with barbed points: I believe they had also some hooks and lines over the sides of their canoe. After fishing about two hours, they anchored, and hung their fish over the {97} side of their canoe, and went on shore and made a fire to dry themselves; then spreading some small boughs under a tree, they laid down till daylight.
23d. At dawn the fishers offered us some cat-fish, of between thirty and forty pounds weight each, for 25 cents a piece, but as we had a store of provisions we did not purchase any. They then started for Cincinnatti with their fish. At sun-rise we also proceeded, the wind much against us. After going four miles we passed a large steam-boat a-ground, and had been for some time, and must so remain till the water should rise three or four feet; this did not occur till after Christmas. Soon after we passed a new town, of a few houses, its name I did not learn. We then went over some sand-bars where the water was very shallow; the wind rising, we put in close to the Kentucky side, where the water was deeper, and most of us going on shore, we hauled our boat along, with a towing line, for about two miles. We passed the town {98} of Columbus, at the mouth of the Little Miami.[118] This river crosses the state of Ohio, from the north, and is sometimes upwards of 100 yards wide. Columbus is a small old place, with but few good buildings. Late in the afternoon we reached the city of Cincinnatti; and, with great difficulty, anchored close to four steam-boats that were laid up, the water being too shallow for them to go up and down the river. We had about 14,000 lbs. weight of store goods, on board the ark, to be left at this place. Cincinnatti is the capital of the state of Ohio,[119] and is situated in the richest part of the state, seven miles below the Little Miami, and twenty miles above the Great Miami. Much of the country, between these rivers, brought into culture for a considerable distance from the Ohio; and land sells very high, from five to a 100 dollars per acre. The city is extensive and the buildings are increasing. It is a noble looking town, by far the best I have seen in the western country. It is built on {99} ground rising to a great height from the river. The streets cross each other at right angles. It has several large woollen and cotton manufactories; some glass and iron-works, also a steam-mill, built on a limestone rock, close to the water; the walls of this noble mill are of stone; it contains nine stories, and is upwards of a 100 feet high. The machinery is said to be good, and will manufacture 700 barrels of flour weekly, that is, upwards of 500 sacks. It is represented to have cost 120,000 dollars, or 27,000l. sterling in erecting.
The streets of Cincinnatti are very wide; and the stores well stocked with European, East and West Indian, and American merchandize, but in general dear. Articles of dress are much dearer than at Baltimore; yet the principal inhabitants are very gay in their appearance, particularly the ladies, who are equally so with those of London. But the females of the middle and lower orders, though gaily dressed, often go without shoes and stockings; indeed, most of the {100} females in the western country go without them, at least in the summer, and some of the English women, of the lower class, follow their example.