On reviewing a journey of this length, we find we have much to thank the Almighty for, in conducting us in safety to the end of it, and in preserving us in health through such changes of climate and difference {143} of diet. As we did not leave England till the 9th of May, it was late in the season for crossing the Atlantic ocean; our ship sailed badly too, and the wind, as is usual in the summer, was from the south and west; and thus it took us 58 days to reach Baltimore from Cowes. Yet, with the exception of sea-sickness, we were all in perfect health. At Baltimore, we remained 16 days; here most of us had a slight bowel-complaint, but we left it perfectly recovered; yet at Fell's Point, where we resided, a very malignant fever broke out while we were there, or, at least, very shortly after we left it. In our journey, of 16 days, from Baltimore to Wheeling, 280 miles, we met with no accident of any kind, and our health continued equally good. In 38 days, from Wheeling to Shawneetown, 906 miles, we had no accident or sickness of any kind, although, from Louisville to Shawneetown, we had two very drunken and troublesome boatmen {144} to deal with. At the latter place we staid seven days, and still continued well, though many of the inhabitants were ill. Four days more took us to the Prairies, where we had the satisfaction of arriving well, and of finding the settlement was healthy, there being only two or three people unwell with agues. In our journey, if we asked the road, we received the best information in the power of the person of whom we inquired to give us. The Custom-house officers, who did not neglect their duty, behaved with great civility. Mr. Macgan, a native of Ireland, of whom we took a house in Baltimore, behaved in a most friendly manner, as did his wife also. The men who drove our waggons I have before spoken highly of, but not more so than they deserved. The same is due to Mr. Ferris, and his employer, Mr. Pemberton. The tavern-keepers were very civil, but not so polite as in England, but I must not forget Mr. Dent and Mr. Vannosdeln; {145} in short, we met with as good treatment as we should in a tour through England; but the manners of the Americans are more rough than those of Englishmen.
For several days I looked over the surrounding land with the intention of purchasing some. I found there were several quarter-sections belonging to the Congress, (as the public land is here called,) but these quarters were not in very good situations; and I had the offer of some entered land, some on which there were a few improvements, and some in its natural state. The first I had offered was at Birks' Prairie, four miles south-west of Wanborough. It belonged to Mr. Jeremiah Birks, the first settler in that prairie, and named after him.[137] Mr. Birks was from home, and his father-in-law, Hugh Collins, Esq. showed me the land; there were upwards of twenty acres of Indian corn, the rest all wood-land, except two or three acres of prairie; the land rich, but rather wet. Mr. Collins, who lived near, also offered me his land; it was a {146} quarter-section, that is, a hundred and sixty acres. Fifteen or sixteen acres were fenced in, fifty acres prairie, the rest wood-land; this land drier than the other, but not so well timbered; that enclosed was partly wood-land and partly prairie, with some dead trees on it. He also offered me his crop and stock, and on the 30th of September I purchased it for nine hundred and forty dollars—two hundred and eleven pounds ten shillings; he received seven hundred of the dollars, and two hundred and forty were due at the land-office. My purchase included on the land two cabins, a stable, a well partly dug, nine acres of Indian corn, from which I had upwards of four hundred bushels; more than three hundred bushels of pompions; a small quantity of cotton; some shalots, and some small beans, much like French beans.[138] The live stock consisted of three cows, three calves, three sheep, upwards of thirty pigs, and a considerable deal of poultry: I afterwards bought of him a heifer for four dollars.
{147} Mr. C. and my son arrived on the first of October with our luggage, in three waggons, from the mouth of the Bonpas river, or rather creek; for in a dry time it hardly runs, but in the winter it is a tolerably large stream. By their account they had rather a rough trip up the Wabash. The day they left Shawneetown they did not reach the Wabash, but entered it the next day; the water was so low they proceeded very slowly. The crew of the keel-boat were mostly Canadian Frenchmen from Vincennes; they soon consumed their own provisions, likewise those belonging to Mr. C. and my son; and as there were but few habitations on the river banks, they were forced to land and hunt for a living; they killed a few geese and some turkeys; these they were obliged to eat without bread, but once they procured a few potatoes at a cabin. In four or five days they reached Harmonie in Indiana, and procured a fresh supply of provisions and some whiskey, of which the crew made pretty free till it was {148} gone. Two days from Harmonie took them to the Bonpas, and in two more they arrived at the prairies, in health, and the luggage in good order. They described the Frenchmen as much the same as those of Europe, merry, good-natured, and thoughtless, enjoying the present moment, with but little thought for to-morrow. They lived on their provisions till they were gone, and then, in a manner perfectly good-natured, gave part of that they procured in hunting to their companions.
On the second of October, there was a game of cricket played at Wanborough by the young men of the settlement; this they called keeping Catherine Hill fair,[139] many of the players being from the neighbourhood of Godalming and Guildford, &c.
On the third of October, I set out to walk to Shawneetown; I lost my way in the course of the day, by taking the road to {149} Carmi,[140] this road being marked the same as the other; and went about four miles wrong before I discovered my mistake, but by inquiring I got directed right. Before sunset I reached the house of Mr. Slocum, thirty-four miles from Wanborough, where I slept. Very early in the morning I reached the Little Wabash, and forded it below the mill, the water nowhere higher than my knees. I arrived at Mr. Hobson's at two o'clock, twenty-four miles from Mr. Slocum's. On the following morning I settled with Mr. Collins, and also with the land-office, by paying up the remainder of the money due on the land. As Mr. Sloo, the register of the land-office, was from home, Mr. Collins was forced to sign the transfer of the land to me before a justice, (here called an esquire,) and also to get the county clerk's signature, and the county seal put to it, signifying the magistrate is a regular one for that county. But its being done before the register of the land-office saves all this trouble and expense. I returned {150} to Newhaven to sleep. The next morning I bought of my landlord a horse for seventy dollars; I applied to a store for a saddle and bridle, but neither was to be procured; at length the landlord found the bit of an old bridle, and we made a rein with some tow; so I mounted and set forward. Towards evening it began to rain very fast, and I stopped at the house of Mr. M., sixteen miles from Wanborough. He was one of the first settlers in this part of the country; he had lived nine or ten years in the Illinois; most part of the time where he now resides; but he had been driven off three times by the Indians. He was once shot through the thigh by a rifle-ball, as he was in a house one evening with seven or eight others. One of his companions was killed: the Indians fired through the holes between the logs; they soon put out their light, and the Indians did not enter the house, of which, he said, they were very glad, as they were not well armed to receive them; having only three rifles and as {151} many axes. The reason why so many of them were together was, they had sent off their wives and children, and they were met to shell some corn to take with them, intending to remove the next day. These back-woodsmen have a strong dislike to the Indians, and having been brought up with sentiments of antipathy towards them from their childhood, many of them declare they should not mind shooting an Indian more than a wild cat or racoon. Some of the back-woodsmen have been following the Indians from the frontiers of Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia, through the States of Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, without being much more settled than the Indians themselves. Mr. M. said, the Indians had not disturbed him for some years, and he did not think he should go again to molest them.
About a week afterwards I made a purchase of 162 acres, of Mr. Samuel Anderson, for 480 dollars, 108l. sterling. This {152} land was also at Birks' prairie, one mile north from the other; it was all prairie, except 40 or 50 acres of wood-land. It lies well to cultivate, and by some is called as good a quarter section as any on the prairie; but I prefer my first purchase, and think it was much cheaper. On the 13th I settled at the land-office at Shawneetown, but not having the transfer signed by the county clerk of Edwards county, I could not send the certificate on to Washington for the President's signature. A certificate, with the land-office receipt, being sent to Washington, a patent is made out, and signed by the President of the United States, which is a complete title. I sent the transfer from Mr. Anderson to me to Palmyra,[141] the county town of Edwards county, and got the county clerk's signature; for this I paid 75 cents, 3s. 4½d. And on the 30th I again visited Shawneetown, and lodged my two certificates at the land-office, to be sent on to Washington for the President's signature. On my return {153} I had a most disagreeable journey, owing to the fires in the woods, that filled the air so full of smoke, that the sun could scarcely be seen through it. In the autumn, (here called the fall,) the hunters always set fire to the grass and weeds, for the benefit of hunting. These fires do much damage to the woods, and sometimes to the plantations; but clear the country of weeds, and destroy much of the harbour for wild beasts.
Thus having purchased all the land I intend to buy at present, and having taken the cabin we lodged in on our arrival at Wanborough, I purpose to remain here at least for some time, and to take in a few boarders, as such a house is much wanted. But part of my family have removed to Birks' prairie.
I shall now take a short survey of the state of Illinois, and the country round the prairies; with some account of its animal and vegetable productions, agriculture, &c. &c.
The state of Illinois, where I have {154} pitched my tent, is one of the youngest of the states, as it has been a state only about two years. But some parts of it have been settled upwards of 100 years; near Vincennes, the town of Kaskaskia, and a few other places near the Mississippi river. These settlements were formed by the French, from Upper Canada.[142]
In 1783 it was settled this part of the country belonged to the United States; from that time till within a very few years, the Americans made but few settlements in Illinois, but of late many have been formed. And the inhabitants amounting to more than 60,000, it was raised into a state; and admitted into the union, as the 21st state. Three others have since been admitted, viz. Missouri, Alabama, and Main, so that the union now consists of 24 states, whereof 13 were the original ones, and two formed from them, Vermont and Main; and nine new ones, namely, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, {155} Missouri, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois; also a large tract of country equal in extent to all the 24 states, under the names of Michigan, North Western, Mississippi, and Missouri territories. These immense territories extend from the gulf of Mexico towards the Spanish territories; and north and westward to the rocky mountains and the Pacific Ocean; north eastward towards Canada and the Lakes.