"I have estimated the number of fouls on the western waters at four hundred thoufand. I fhould fuppofe from the difpofition to early marriage, which is general, and the extraordinary fecundity it is obferved every where prevails, with the addition of the emigrants who may be expected from the eastern States, that the inhabitants will double once in fifteen years for the next fixty years to come at leaft, which in the first fifteen years will be equal to peopling four or five of thefe States; and I think we may expect to fee, at the end of thirty years, the whole country I have been defcribing inhabited.

"It is impoffible that we can experience any thing like poverty, for no country, perhaps, upon the globe is fo rich in the comforts and neceffaries of life. As to wars, we can have none after a few years more are past. The Spaniards may put us to fome inconvenience for a few years to come; but in doing this, they will not only rifk the lofs of New-Orleans, but the whole of Louifiana, which they confider as the key to Mexico. Thus fecured from wars, and the inland navigation of the country, not fubjecting us to material loffes in that business; with the propenfity to early marriages, produced by the fimplicity and innocence of youth, tutored under the pure maxims of virtue and reafon; it cannot be confidered as a fanguine calculation, when we add the additional confideration of the probable number of emigrants we may receive, that our population will double once in fifteen years.

"In the western territory is found all the variety of foil and cli mate neceffary to the culture of every kind of grain, fibrous plants, cotton, fruits, vegetables, and all forts of provifions. The upper fettlements on the Ohio produce chiefly wheat, oats, barley, rye, Indian corn or maize, hemp and flax. The fruits are apples, pears, cherries, peaches, plums, ftrawberries, rafberries, currants, gooseberries, and grapes; of culinary plants and vegetables, there are turnips, potatoes, carrots, parfnips, cymbiline or fquafh, cucumbers, peafe, beans, afparagus, cabbages, brocoli, celery and fallads; befides which there are melons and herbs of every fort. The provi fion confifts of beef, pork, mutton, veal, and a variety of poultry, fuch as ducks, Mufcovy ducks, turkeys, geefe, dunghill fowls, and pigeons. The fuperfluous provifions are fold to the emigrants, who are continually paffing through thofe fettlements in their route to the different diftricts of country, which I have enumerated. Some confiderable quantities of fpirits diftilled from rye, and likewife cy

der,

der, are fent down the river to a market, in thofe infant fettlements where the inhabitants have not had time to bring orchards to any perfection, or have not a fuperfluity of grain to distil into fpirits. The beef, pork, and flour are difpofed of in the fame way. The flax and hemp are packed on horfes and fent across the mountains, to the inland towns of Pennfylvania and Maryland, and, as I hinted before, in a few years, when grazing forms the principal object of thofe fettlers, they will always find a market for their cattle at Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Alexandria.*

"Thefe fettlements might produce a confiderable quantity of fugar, but hitherto what they have made has ferved for little more than home confumption, as every part of the back country, from latitude 42° to 36 and upon the Miffiffippi, as far north as latitude 45° produces an abundance of the fugar maple tree as would be equal to furnish fugar for the inhabitants of the whole earth; and to fend it to any of the market towns on the Atlantic is too far to be profitable, until the canals of the Potomack shall have been finished. The country produces alfo all the pot herbs which are common in Europe : feveral kinds of nuts grow in the forests, such as chefnuts, hickory, and black walnuts. The mountains, hills, and uninhabited parts abound in deer, wild turkeys, and a fpecies of groufe, called by the Americans promifcuously partridge or pheafant. There is an abundance of wild fowl, as, indeed, is the cafe in every part of the western country.

"Linen and woollen cloths, leather, and hats, for home confumption, are manufactured with confiderable fuccefs. The two first articles are only made in families for their own ufe; but the latter are made by men of profeffion in that bufinefs, and are of a quality that would not difgrace the manufactures of Europe. Blackfmiths work of all forts, even to making fire arms, is done there; as is alfo cabinet work, wheel-wright, mill-wright, houfe carpentry, joinery, fhoe-making, &c. &c. in fhort, all the trades, immediately neceffary to the promotion of the comforts of new fettlements, are to be found here.

"After paffing to the fouthward of latitude 40 degrees, the climate becomes favourable to the culture of tobacco. It will, no doubt, grow farther to the north; but neither its flavour is fo aromatic, or the crop fo certain or productive. Indeed, the farther fouth tobacco grows, generally the finer its quality: hence it is, that the To which may be added WASHINGTON. A a

VOL. III.

faegars

t

1

faegars of Cuba are so much admired for their peculiar scent, and the Oroonoko for its mildness. However, this is of little confequence to any country, as it is certain no cultivation is fo pernicious to the foil, and of fo little real advantage to the cultivator. It continually impoverishes the land; and every additional feafon, inftead of producing riches to an estate, tends to beggar it: every vestige of its growth is mifery and devastation, and no foil, but one as prolific as that of the Nile, would be capable of producing it for any length of time, according to the fyftem which has been purfued in Virginia and Maryland. However, the whole of the Ohio and Miffithippi country below latitude 40 degrees, is perhaps better adapted to produce tobacco, in quantity, than any other country upon the face of the globe.

"Kentucky produces, befides tobacco, all the different kinds of grain that I have defcribed in the upper fettlement; all the fruits, with the addition of apricots and nectarines; these and peaches grow here to very great perfection, particularly when planted upon a light foil, which should always be the cafe when it can be found; but however extraordinary it may appear, it is not often the cafe in this diftrict of country.

Thofe culinary plants, vegetables, &c. I have enumerated above, are produced in the whole western country. In fome parts they grow to greater perfection than in others, as in this the cucumber, turnips, peas, and many others are much finer than I ever faw them any where befide. The cantilope melon is only to be equalled by thofe in Perfia. We are not at the trouble and expense of forcing; every thing put into the ground of the vegetable kind grows in a most wonderful manner.

"The foil is uncommonly favourable to hemp and Indian corn, I have known twelve hundred weight of the former produced from an acre of ground, and as much as one hundred bushels of the latter, This has not only been done from an uncommon fertile spot, but there are large bodies of land adjoining, which are equally prolific, I believe that were I to mention upon an average the produce of the whole country, it would be found to be nearly as follows:

Oats, ditto

50 bushels.

Clover and timothy grafs, ditto 25 cwt. "Befides hemp and flax for manufacturing, cotton is cultivated with confiderable fuccefs, particularly in the fouthern parts of the State and Cumberland; and no doubt in a few years, when our fettlements extend to the Natchez, cotton will be produced in as great perfection as in the East or Weft-Indies. No foil or climate can be more congenial to this plant than the regions on the lowermost parts of the Miffiffippi. We have in our power to promote the culture of filk alfo. The mildness of the climate, and the great quantity of mulberry trees, which are every where interspersed in our forests, render this matter extremely eafy; but how far this will be politic, when the ufe of filk is going out of fashion, is a matter that requires fome confideration. Cotton has fupplied its place, and its fuperior excellence I apprehend will always make it a more profitable manufactory.

"The growth of wool will form an important confideration with us. The plains I have defcribed extend quite to the mountains, fo that sheep here may have every advantage which the flocks of Spain enjoy. If we can form an idea from the famples of wool produced in many parts of the country, we may conclude that our most fanguine expectations will be fully anfwered.

"The buffaloe is nearly driven out of Kentucky; fome are still found upon the head waters of Licking creek, Great Sandy, and the head waters of Green river. Deer abound in the extenfive forefts; but the elk confines itself moftly to the hilly and uninhabited places.

"The rapidity of the fettlement has driven the wild turkey quite eu of the middle countries, but they are found in large flocks in all our extensive woods.

"Amidst the mountains and broken countries are great numbers of groufe; and fince the fettlement has been established, the quail, by following the trail of grain which is neceffarily fcattered through the wildernefs, has migrated from the old fettlements on the other fide the mountain, and has become a conftant refident with 3. This bird was unknown here on the first peopling of the

country. "There is a variety of wild fowl in every part of this State, parti ularly teal, and the fummer duck. The latter breeds with us: its

incubation is always in temperate climes, which is the reafon of its being called the fummer duck.

"The productions of Cumberland are nearly the fame as thofe of Kentucky. The quality of tobacco is perhaps fomething better; but the climate being confiderably warmer, it is not fo favourable to wheat and barley, nor does grafs grow there fo luxuriantly as with us.

"The country below Cumberland foon becomes warm enough for indigo and rice; and perhaps these articles in a few years will be cultivated on the Miffiffippi with as much fuccefs, if not more, than they ever were in South-Carolina or Georgia; particularly the former, as the foil on the Miffiffippi is infinitely more luxuriant than any in the Carolinas. Some effays were made in this business previ ous to the late war, but the object was abandoned on the destruction of the fettlement made below the Natchez.

"Oranges, and other tropical fruits, grow at the Natchez, and fome distance above, to confiderable perfection. There are a variety of nuts that grow both in Kentucky and Cumberland, fome of which are common to both; the most remarkable of them is the Pacane; all of which have been noticed both by Carver and Jefferfon. Grapes, plums, goofeberries, and ftrawberries, grow also spontaneously in the fouthern parts of Kentucky, and in moft parts of Cumberland.

"The produce of the weftern country will be nearly the fame in the fame parallels of latitude throughout; fo that comparing my imaginary States with the fettled country fouth-east of the Ohio, you will be able to form a juft idea of what they will be capable of producing. But to comprehend the object of the commerce of this country, it is first neceffary to contemplate it, abounding in all the com forts of life, limited in its variety of climate only by what is not defirable; with a foil fo prolific, a navigation fo extensive, and a security fo permanent, from being inland, that it feems this vaft extent of empire is only to be equalled for its fublimity, but by the object of its aggrandizement.

"Provisions, tobacco, and raw materials, will constitute the first articles of our trade. Such a quantity of beef, pork, bacon, butter, cheefe, &c. &c. may be furnished from this country as will one day, no doubt, furnish the Weft-India islands, and afford relief to the miferable Chinese, whofe fcanty portion of rice is only fufficient to keep

foul