thirty houses, and is remarkable for having been the head quarters of the veteran, General Wayne, who, at his decease, was interred, by his own request, under the flag-staff belonging to the fort.

“The general's grave,” says Mr. Schultz, “had been once paled in, but time had rotted away the principal part. I replaced it; and should it stand a year, a month, or even for a day, I have performed a duty. At the head of the grave is a small misshapen stone, picked out of the rubbish of the fort, with A. W. the initials of the general's name, scratched with`a nail ! Not even an epitaph. The wretched little space was yet unoccupied. Could Į depart and leave it still a blank? No my friend I could not; but, with my penknife, engraved, in rude but legible characters, "shame on my country." Vol. I. p. 109.

From Presque Isle is a portage of fourteen miles to Fort Le Beauf, or Waterford, situated on Le Beauf creek, one of the head waters of the Allegany river. A shorter portage is stated to exist between Chautaughque landing, so called, and the lake of the same name, this distance being but seven miles. Mr. Schultz's route was from Le Beauf by the French Creek, and Allegany river to the Ohio, afterwards down that river to its confluence with the Mississippi. He then ascended the Mississippi as far as St. Louis, and its junction with the Missouri. The descent to New Orleans, and subsequent voyage to New York, constitute the remaining parts of the work.

Mr. Schultz has given ample accounts of the Ohio, its navigation, its tributary streams, and the settlements on its banks. The towns of Pittsburg in Pennsylvania, Wheeling in Virginia, Marietta, Chilicothe, and Cincinnati in Ohio, and Louisville in Kentucky; are among the most flourishing. A small settlement at the mouth of Cumberland river, called Smith's Town, is remarkable for supporting a billiard table, though it contains but five houses.

Mr. Schultz has given a computation of the comparative expense of transporting goods to the Ohio river from the several seaports of New Orleans, Alexandria, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. From this it appears that New York, though by no means the nearest port, is enabled through the Hudson, the Mohawk, and the lakes, to furnish a transportation less expensive by nearly one dollar the hundred weight, than either of the above-mentioned places. The increasing facilities of canals and turnpikes are rapidly diminishing the present cost.

The navigation through a succession of fine streams, and tracts of water, is practicable with ease and safety, when compared with that on the whirls and rapids of the turbulent and irresistible Mississippi.

The dangers and obstacles of navigating the last mentioned stream are so numerous and peculiar, as to have acquired from its navigators a series of specifick names.

"Sawyers are the bodies of trees, whose roots have by some means become fastened to the bottom of the river, in such a manner, that, from the continual pressure of the current, they receive a regular vibratory motion, from the resemblance of which to that of a saw-mill, they have derived their Some of these have a very quick motion; others again are slower, frequently disappearing from one to twenty minutes, and then elevating their monstrous shafts from one to ten feet above the surface of the water; and wo betide the boat whose bottom comes in contact with them at this unlucky moment."

name.

“Sleeping Sawyers are the same as those just mentioned, except that their inotion is entirely under water, and the danger proportionably greater, as it is impossible to discover them before you feel the dreadful effects of their power. When their heads approach within twelve or fifteen inches of the surface of the river, an expert boatman will discover them by the ripple of the water with which they are accompanied; but when they are three or four inches lower, it is impossible to ascertain their position.

“Planters are likewise large trees, firmly bedded by the roots in the soft muddy bottom of the river. Some of these stand perpendicular; others have an inclination down the stream, and a few upwards; which last are by far the most dangerous. These trees have at first all their branches, but the immense quantities of floating timber soon strip off the whole, and sometimes leave a perpendicular shaft of thirty or forty feet in height, and twelve in circumference.

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Falling Banks are so called from their being undermined by the current in such a manner, that small portions are continually falling. It very often happens, that masses of an acre in extent, disappear in an instant; and trees, which were once growing on a bank thirty or forty feet above the surface, now seem half buried in the water. This phenomenon is easily accounted for, the bank being composed entirely of that rich, loose, and friable soil, which I noticed near the mouth of the Ohio, without any thing to bind it together, or resist the force of the current, which is always strongest in these places. The consequence is, that its base is constantly wearing away, till at length the weight of the projecting bank becomes too great to maintain its adhesion, and, obedient to the laws of gravitation, falls to the bottom of the river.

"From this description you will no doubt see the propriety of always avoiding these banks, and preferring willow points or islands for encamp

ments. I do not recollect a single instance of meeting with falling banks on both sides of the river at the same time.

"Wooden Islands are generally formed at the upper end of a real one, where an enormous collection of trees and floating timber becomes entangled and matted together, sometimes to the extent of nearly a quarter of a mile, and in time makes part of the main island. These are very dangerous, as the depth of water at their head or point is frequently thirty, forty, or sixty feet, and the velocity of the current is such, that notwithstanding the exertions of a large boat's crew which we met on the river, they very narrowly escaped being dashed on the point of one of these islands." Vol. 2. p. 30-32.

The rapidity and violence of the Mississippi are constantly causing revolutions in its banks, so that while in one place it encroaches far upon the land, and shifts and widens its chan-. nel; in another it deposits new tracts of ground, and fixes new limits to its course.

"About four miles from Prairie le Roche is situated the celebrated post of Fort Chartres, which is said to have cost the Spanish government a hundred thousand crowns. It seems, that no pains or expense has been spared to render this fortress impregnable; and, as far as I can judge, without any other object than that of making it a general depository of military stores, as the situation is not superiour to many others along the banks of the river. The whole of these extensive works were laid in stone and mortar. At the time of erecting them they were upwards of a quarter of a mile from the river, but, at the present moment, half of them have fallen into the Missis sippi, and in a very few years, the site of old Fort Chartres will be sought for in vain !"

“Although nature, in most of her operations, is slow, yet when we make our remarks at periods of thirty years distant, her progress seems more rapid. Witness the site of the old fort at the Balize, which at the time of its erection was opposite to the pass of the river, but at the present moment we find it nearly two miles above it. You must not, however, understand me to mean, that this fort, like some of the islands in the Mississippi, has marched nearly two miles up the river; but that the mouth of the river, or land on each side, has advanced that distance into the sea, and not only left the fort behind, but has absolutely stolen so much from the borders of the Gulf of Mexico." Vol. 2. p. 37.

We insert, for the recency of the statement, an account of the several towns of note situated on the Mississippi above New Orleans.

"St. Louis is beautifully situated on an elevated bank on the west side of the river. It contains about two hundred houses, which, from the whiteness of a considerable number of them, as they are rough cast and whitewashed, appear to great advantage as you approach the town. This is likewise a French settlement, established in the year 1765; the inhabitants

are chiefly Roman Catholicks, and have a chapel and confessor. A small number of American families have of late years settled in this town, and have had so much influence as to give a decided American ton to the fashions of the place; but as their numbers are too few to erect a church of their own, they have, by way of amusement, made arrangements with the father confessor, to give them a little lecture in his chapel every Sunday evening.

"I observed two or three BIG houses in the town, which are said to have cost from twenty to sixty thousand dollars, but they have nothing either of beauty or taste in their appearance to recommend them, being simply big, heavy, and unsightly structures. In this country, however, where fa shion and taste differ so materially from fashion and taste with us, they are considered as something not only grand, but even elegant.

"St. Louis has for many years past been the centre of the fur trade in this country; but this branch of business, I am informed, is now rapidly declining, in consequence of the game becoming comparatively scarce.

"This town has been strongly fortified by the Spanish government, having two forts, two block-houses, four stone towers, and one half moon. These encircle the whole town on the land side, and are within gun-shot of each other. Some little care is still taken of the forts and barracks occupied by the garrison which is stationed at this place, but the towers and block-houses are entirely neglected, and, for want of repairs, already tumbling to pieces.

"The ladies of St. Louis I had heard generally celebrated through all the lower country for their beauty, modesty, and agreeable manners, as well as for their taste and the splendour of their dress. I was therefore very happy in having an opportunity of accepting an invitation to one of their balls, on the first Sunday evening after my arrival; having previously attended the chapel, for the express purpose of being able to form some kind of judgment with respect to their claims; and I must confess, that they appeared to be eminently entitled to all that I had heard in their favour.

"St. Louis is situated in lat. 38. 18. N. long. 89. 36. W. from which you would be inclined to believe the climate somewhat warmer than that of New-York, in lat. 40. 40; but I certainly do not think I ever experienced in that city colder weather, at this season of the year, than I have felt in St. Louis for these few days past. I made this remark to some gentlemen who have lived here for four or five years past, but who formerly resided in Philadelphia; and they were of opinion that the winters generally were equally severe, but did not last so long."

"St. Genevieve is an old French settlement, pleasantly situated on the higher ridge of a prairie about two miles from the Mississippi, and contains two hundred families, among which are included about thirty Ame ricans. The greater part of the inhabitants are catholicks, who have their chapel and confessor. No other society is yet numerous enough to establish any other religion, and this seems to be but little respected among the few Americans who have settled here. The prairie, which is here deno.

minated the Big Field, contains about fifteen thousand acres of natural meadow, rich and level as the planter could wish. This is surveyed out into lots of eighty and a hundred acres or more, and owned by almost every person in the town. As the prairie has no timber upon it, the trouble and expense of fencing would be very considerable: they have therefore but one fence around the whole. The manner of using and improving their respective lots is regulated by law and custom; so that any person who permits his lot to lie idle, or who gets his crops in before his neighbours, cannot derive any benefit or advantage from turning in his cattle, as this is only allowed to be done on a certain day appointed, when the gates are thrown open, and the whole praire becomes a rich and well-fod dered common for the cattle of the whole community. This custom is likewise observed at most of the French settlements in this country. They appear to have borrowed it from the Indians, who, in order to save the labour of fencing, always cultivate their maize in one common field.

“This village, when first settled, was built immediately on the banks of the river; but it being there found rather low, and subject to be overflowed by every extraordinary rise of the river, the inhabitants have removed it to its present situation.

"St. Genevieve, which lies in lat. 37. 51. N. long. 89. 28. W. is the storehouse of the Mines. All the lead prepared at those places is deposited either for sale or shipment at this place; from whence it is sent up the Ohio as far as Pittsburgh, and down the Mississippi to New-Orleans, where it is again distributed throughout the United States. Every inhabitant of the village is more or less engaged in digging mineral at the Mines, or carting of lead, wood, stone, &c. which, with a little tillage, constitutes their principal support. The French use a little kind of cart, made something like those in your city, to which they harness two horses, one before the other, and drive altogether without reins. The blacksmith, carpenter, and tailor, were the only tradesmen employed at this place; all the other necessaries and conveniences of life are procured by importation, at an enormous expense. The majority of the French in this place are almost as easily supplied as the native Indians: neither of them make any use of a hat or shoes ; a pair of mockasons and a blanket seems equally common to both, except that the former will cut his into the shape of a coat, whereas the latter always prefers his loose."

"New Madrid, which lies in lat. 36. 34. N. long. 89. 20. W. is situated on the right side of the river in Louisiana, two hundred and fifty-five miles below the Missouri. This town, which formerly, under the Spanish government, was protected by a fort and garrison, contains at present no more than thirty indifferent houses, including the chapel, which is fast tumbling to pieces."

"The city of Natchez, which has been erected a port of entry, lies in lat. 31. 32. N. long. 91. 15. W. and is situated on a most beautiful eminence on the left bank of the Mississippi. Immediately adjoining the river there is a lower bank, which appears to be upon the same level with the