Trade very dull and paper credit extremely low, the banks issue notes as low as 6¼ cents, less than 3½d.; but these notes are far from being current with strangers, nor were the large ones in good credit, being much below the value of state notes or specie. No copper money to be seen here. There are two large market houses, one in the upper, and one in the lower part of the town; there is a daily market held alternately at one of them. It was the upper market day when we were there; it was well supplied, and most articles were good and cheap, but the tradesmen perfect Jews in their dealings. Meat from 6 to 10 cents per pound; bacon from 8 to 12½ cents a pound; flour from 4 to 5 dollars per barrel, of 196 lbs., average less than 6s. a bushel; very fine peaches for 6¾d. per peck; melons in vast quantities, both sweet and {101} water, the latter of immense size, weighing from ten to twenty pounds each, for 6¾d. Poultry and eggs very reasonable.
The number of inhabitants supposed to be upwards of 12,000, from every part of the Union, and from most of the countries of Europe. Many English, Irish, and Scotch amongst them. I heard of some being there, that I knew, but I did not see any of them. There is a ferry-boat, worked by horses, between Cincinnatti and the towns of Newport and Coverly;[120] these towns, in Kentucky, lie opposite to Cincinnatti, and are separated from each other by the mouth of the Licking; a considerable stream, of Kentucky, during the winter, but very low in dry weather. The streets of these towns are laid out to correspond with those of Cincinnatti, so that at the upper part of the city you see the streets of Newport and Coverly, without perceiving the river between them, and thus the whole appears but one town.
There is a fort at Newport, with an {102} arsenal of arms, and a magazine for gun-powder; and a garrison of the states' troops are kept here in case of a war with the Indians, as the Indian territories are within 100 miles to the north. We saw some of these troops, they were good looking; their uniform blue.
Newport contains some good houses, and near it there is a large building, in the castle style, belonging to General Taylor, the proprietor of the town.
Coverly is newly laid out, the building but just begun: these two towns may contain about 100 houses.
24th. In the afternoon, having laid in a few provisions for our voyage, we prepared to go off, but found some honest person had made free with the oars belonging to our skiff, and also with a skiff belonging to some person of Cincinnatti. We saw two men go off, about 10 o'clock the night before, with a skiff, but supposed it belonged to them, nor did we know they had borrowed our oars; but this did not detain us {103} long, as we made some more with some boards we had on board. We went about eight miles, and then anchored on the Ohio side of the river. I found myself troubled with very bad boils, that continued for several days; in other respects I was in perfect health, as was the whole of our party. The gentleman, who joined us at Maysville, left us at Cincinnatti.
25th. We passed the mouth of the Big Miami, a considerable stream of Ohio, the boundary between that state and Indiana, at least at its mouth; as a meridian line runs from the middle of the mouth of this river north, to a parallel line, from the south end of Lake Michigan. This river is 200 yards wide at its mouth, and is navigable for a considerable distance up the country. We saw a waggon with four horses, also six or seven men and women fording it, the water up to their middles, and the current so strong they could hardly stand against it. We passed Petersburg,[121] a small place in Kentucky, and also a little {104} town of Indiana, its name unknown to us. We only made 20 miles. Mr. C. shot two turkey-buzzards at one shoot. These birds are of great utility in a warm climate, as they live on carrion; and should you see several of these birds hovering about, you may be certain something is dead near. I understand, that on the Mississippi river, people are liable to a fine of several dollars for killing one of them. Nor is there any temptation to destroy them, having so strong a scent as scarcely to be bearable, and any thing only just touching them retains a very strong smell for some time. The quills of their wings are larger than those of a goose, and too hard to write with.
The hills on the river lower with round tops. Some tobacco on the Kentucky side, but none on the other; it is never cultivated on an extensive scale except in the slave states. In the free states cotton and tobacco are only raised for home consumption.
{105} 26th. We passed Lories Island, and afterwards a small town of Kentucky; its name we did not learn. The river banks much lower, and the bottoms much wider, as the hills were further back. Not many houses on the banks. We saw some wild ducks, woodpeckers, and snipes. We advanced twenty-two miles; weather warm.
27th. The country less cultivated. About noon we landed at Fredericksburg, in Kentucky, a place of about forty log-houses; we purchased some butter at eighteen cents per pound. At dusk we passed the Kentucky, a river of the state of the same name, and navigable some distance up the country. After dark we passed Vevay and New Switzerland,[122] and soon after got stuck on a sand bank; some of us got into the water and turned the ark round, and then we floated off again, and about midnight anchored. This day, twenty-five miles. I regretted passing Vevay after it was dark, as I much wished to land to inspect the vineyards belonging to a Swiss colony settled {106} there, who cultivate the vine on a considerable scale, in the manner of their native country. In the twilight we had a glimpse of their vineyards, but too far off to see much of them. I have since learnt that a few Swiss emigrants settled at New Switzerland in 1805, and in 1810 they had eight acres planted with vines, and in full bearing, and from which they made two thousand four hundred gallons of wine, then said to be very good. Since that time their vineyards are considerably extended, but their wine of an inferior quality. They also cultivate wheat, Indian corn, hemp, and flax. They are represented to be a sober, industrious people, and much respected in the country. They speak the French language, most of them having come from the frontiers adjoining France.