to no other than that quadruped; and when they first drew the at◄ tention of the world, philofophers feem to have fubfcribed to the fame opinion. But if fo, whence is it that the whole species has difappeared from America? An animal fo laborious and fo docile as the elephant, that the industry of the Peruvians (which reduced to fervitude and fubjected to education fpecies fo vaftly inferior in thofe qualities, as the Llama and the Paca) could never have overlooked, if he had been to be found in their country. Whence is it that these bones are found in climates where the elephant, a native of the torrid zone, cannot even fubfift in his wild state, and in a state of servitude will not propagate? Thefe are difficulties fufficient to stagger credu lity itself, and at length produced the inquiries of Dr. Hunter. That celebrated anatomist having procured fpecimens from the Ohio, examined them with that accuracy for which he was fo much diftinguished he discovered a confiderable difference between the shape and structure of the bones, and those of the elephant; he obferved from the form of the teeth, that they must have belonged to a carnivorous animal; whereas the habits of the elephant are foreign to fuch fuftenance, and his jaws totally unprovided with the teeth neceffary for its ufe; and from the whole he concluded, to the fatisfaction of naturalifts, that thefe bones belonged to a quadruped now unknown, but to which the name of Mammoth has been given, with what propriety we will not pretend to fay; the race is probably extinct, unless it may be found in the extenfive continent of NewHolland, whofe reccffes have not yet been pervaded by the curiofity or avidity of civilized man. Perhaps nothing more will ever be difcovered * * Mr. Jefferson informs us, that a late governor of Virginia, having asked fome delegates of the Delawares, what they knew or had heard refpecting this animal, the chief fpeaker immediately put himself into an oratorical attitude, and with a pomp fuited to the fuppofed elevation of his subject informed him, that it was a tradition handed Jown from their fathers, "That in ancient times a herd of them came to the Big-bone licks, and began an universal destruction of the bears, deer, elks, buffaloes, and other animals which had been created for the ufe of the Indians: that the Great Man above, looking down and feeing this, was fo enraged, that he seized his lightning, defcended to the earth, feated himself upon a neighbouring mountain, on a rock, on which his feat and the print of his feet are ftill to be feen, and hurled his bolts among them till the whole were flaughtered, except the big bull, who, prefenting his forehead to the fhafts, fhook them off as they fell; but at length miffing one, it wounded him in the fide; whereon, springing round, he bounded over the Ohio, the Wabafb, the Illinois, and, finally, over the great lakes, where he is living at this day. Colonel vered than the memorials above related. The following tradition existing among the natives, we give in the very terms of a Shawanee Indian, to fhew that the impreffion made on their minds by it must have been forcible. "Ten Col. G. Morgan, in a note to Mr. Morfe, fays, "these bones are found only at the salt licks on the Ohio; fome few scattered grinders have, indeed, been found in other places; but it has been fuppofed thefe have been brought from the above-mentioned depofit, by Indian warriors and others who have paffed it, as we know many have been spread in this manner. When I firft vifited the falt lick, fays the Colonel, in 1766, I met here a large party of the Iroquois and Wyandot Indians, who were then on a war expedition against the Chicafaw tribe. The head chief was a very old man to be engaged in war ; he told me he was eighty-four years old; he was probably as much as eighty. I fixed on this venerable chief, as a perfon from whom fome knowledge might be obtained. After making him fome fmall acceptable prefents of tobacco, paint, ammunition, &c. and complimenting him upon the wisdom of his nation, their prowefs in war and prudence in peace, intimated to him my ignorance respecting the great bones before us, which nothing but his fuperior knowledge could remove; and accordingly requested him to inform me what he knew concerning them. Agreeably to the cuftoms of his nation, he anfwered me in substance as follows: "Whilft I was yet a boy I paffed this road feveral times, to war against the Catawbas; and the wife old chiefs, among whom was my grandfather, then gave me the tradition, handed down to us, refpecting these bones, the like to which are found in no other part of the country." It is as follows: "After the Great Spirit first formed the world, he made the various birds and beafts which now inhabit it. He alfo made man; but having formed him white, and very imperfect, and ill-tempered, he placed him on one fide of it where he now inhabits, and from whence he has lately found a paffage across the great water, to be a plague to us. As the Great Spirit was not pleased with this his work, he took of black clay, and made what you call a negro, with a woolly head. This black man was much better than the white man, but ftill he did not anfwer the wifh of the Great Spirit, that is, he was imperfect; at last, the Great Spirit having procured a piece of pure, fine red clay, formed from it the Red Man, perfectly to his mind; and he was so well pleased with him, that he placed him on this great island, separate from the white and black men, and gave him rules for his conduct, promifing happiness in proportion as they should be obferved. He increafed exceedingly, and was perfectly happy for ages; but the foolish young people, at length forgetting his rules, became exceedingly ill-tempered and wicked. In confequence of this, the Great Spirit created the great buffalo, the bones of which you now fee before us; these made war upon the human species alone, and destroyed all but a few, who repented and promised the Great Spirit to live according to his laws, if he would reftrain the devouring enemy : whereupon he fent lightning and thunder, and destroyed the whole race, in this spot, two excepted, a male and a female, which he shut up in yonder mountain, ready to et loofe again, fhould occafion require." "Ten thousand moons ago, when nought but gloomy forests ter vered this land of the fleeping fun, long before the pale men, with thunder and fire at their command, rushed on the wings of the wind to ruin this garden of nature; when nought but the untamed wan derers of the woods, and men as unrestrained as they, were the lords of the foil; a race of animals were in being, huge as the frowning precipice, cruel as the bloody panther, swift as the defcending eagle, and terrible as the angel of night. The pines crafhed beneath their feet, and the lake fhrunk when they flaked their thirst; the forceful javelin in vain was hurled, and the barbed arrow fell harmless from their fide. Forests were laid waste at a meal; the groans of expiring animals were every where heard, and whole villages inhabited by men were destroyed in a moment. The cry of universal distress extended even to the region of peace in the weff, and the good spirit interpofed to fave the unhappy. The forked lightning gleamed all around, and loudeft thunder rocked the globe. The bolts of Heaven were hurled upon the cruel deftroyers alone, and the mountains echoed with the bellowings of death. All were killed except one male, the fiercest of the race, and him even the artillery of the skies af failed in vain. He afcended the blueft fummit which fhades the fource of the Monongahela, and roaring aloud, bid defiance to every ver geance. The red lightning fcorched the lofty firs, and rived the knotty oaks, but only glanced upon the enraged monster. At length, maddened with fury, he leaped over the waves of the weft at a bound, and this moment reigns the uncontrouled monarch of the wilderness, fi defpite of even Omnipotence itfelf." CIVIL DIVISIONS AND CHIEF TOWNS. Kentucky was originally divided into two counties, Lincoln and Jefferfon. It has fince been fubdivided into nine, viz. Jefferson, Colonel Morgan adds, "I have every material bone of the anatomy of this animal, with feveral jaw bones in which the grinders are entire; and feveral of the great tulks, one of which is fix feet long, and twenty in ircumference." Mr. Morse suppofes fome mistake in these lat words, and obierves, that probably the word inches ought to have been added to the twenty. It has been faid by Mr. Jeffcrfon, that the grinders of the mammoth are five or fix times as large as thofe of the elephant. Colonel Morgan fays not; he obfèrves, “I have feen the grinder of an elephant as large and as heavy as the largest of the mammoth; they are indeed thinner, deeper rooted, and differently shaped, denoting a gra zivorous animal, whereas the grinders of the mammoth resemble those of a wolf or g, and fhew them to have been carnivorous." Fayette, Fayette, Bourbon, Mercer, Nelfon, Madison, Lincoln, Woodford, and Mafon. As most of these counties are very large, it is probable that sub-divisions will continue to be made, as population increases. The chief towns are, LEXINGTON, Which stands on the head waters of Elkhorn river, and is reckoned the capital of Kentucky. Here the courts are held, and business regularly conducted. In 1786, it contained about one hundred houses, and several ftores, with a good affortment of dry goods. It has greatly increafed fince. WASHINGTON. This is the fhire town of Mafon county, and is the second town in this Stato. LEES-TOWN. Lees-town is weft of Lexington, on the eastern bank of Kentucky river; it is regularly laid out, and is flourishing. The banks of Ken fucky river, as before obferved, are remarkably high, in fome places three and four hundred feet, compofed generally of ftupendous perpendicular rocks; the confequence is, there are few croffing places; the best is at Lees-town, which is a circumftance that must contri-, bute much to its increase. LOUISVILLE. Louffville is at the rapids of Ohio, in a fertile country, and promises to be a place of great trade; it has been made a port of entry. Its unhealthiness, owing to ftagnated waters at the back of the town, has confiderably retarded its growth. In addition to these, there is Beard's-town, in Nelfon county; and Harrodsburgh, in Mercer county; both on the head waters of Salt river. Danville, Boonfborough, and Granville, are alfo increafing towns. Several new townfhips are marked out; the principal of these are, Lystra, Franklin, and Ohiopiomingo. On each of these, towns are laid out, and no doubt can be entertained but that a rapid progrefs will be made in fettling them. The township of Lyftra contains fifteen thousand acres on the rolling fork of Salt river, in about 37° north latitude, and 851 longitude weft from London.* The town is laid out on the South creek * This tract is purchased by agents, and vested in the hands of trustees for the security of the fubfcribers. creek of the above fork, on a very eligible plan, combining every thing neceffary for utility and ornament. The streets, angles, circus and fhore of the creek, to be free for public use. The streets to be one hundred feet wide. The houses to be built regularly, according to the taste of the proprietor, upor the streets running north and fouth, on a line twenty-five feet diftant from the street, and upon the ftreets running east and weft, on a line with the streets. The town is divided into one hundred and eighty-eight lots, fourteen of which to be free for the gratuitants, as by a particular arrangement. Twelve lots, in eligible fituations, to be referved for fuch fubfcribers as take ten fhares, one lot to each fuch fubfcriber. One lot to be free to the first schoolmaster, and his heirs, chofen and fettled by the freeholders of the township and town. One lot free to the prefident of a college, and his fucceffors. One lot free to the first member of Congrefs belonging to Nelfon county, chofen after the year 1794, as a refidence in Lyftra, provided he builds a house thereon, in which cafe it is granted to him It is divided into one hundred and fifty shares, for each of which a certificate is fued on a ftamped parchment, containing a receipt for the confideration money, which at prefent is twenty pounds, and expreffing the title to the subscriber and his heirs. The agents are impowered to grant fourteen lots, in proper fituations, to fettlers gratis, and to fell fourteen lots on the caft fide of faid gratuitous lots in the year 1794, at twenty pounds each; and fourteen lots on their north ends in the year 1795, at thirty pounds each; and fourteen lots on their fouth ends in the year 1796, at forty pounds each; and fourteen lots on the weft fides in the year 1797, at fifty-five pounds cach; and fourteen lots on the north-weft corners in the year 1798, at feventy pounds each; and fourteen lots on the north-eaft corners in the year 1799, at ninety pounds each; and fourteen lots on the fouth-west corners in the year 1800, at one hundred and twenty pounds cach; and fourteen lots on the fouth-eaft corners in the year 1801, at one hundred and fifty pounds each; and twelve of the remaining lots in the year 1802, at two hundred pounds each; and the last twelve lots in the year 1803, at two hundred and fifty pounds each; provided in each year a larger price than is here fpecified cannot be obtained and if any lands remain unfold in the year 1804, they are to be equally divided among, and legally conveyed unte, the fubfcribers and their heirs as their private property. As faft as the money arifes by this re-fale of the lands, it is to be paid în equal dividends to the holders of the certificates. The agents receive an allowance of five pounds per cent. for their trouble. All which is more particularly fet forth in the printed plan, which may be had gratis at the American Agency Office, Threadneedle-fireet, London, and |