CHAPTER VI. - -- Cincinnati in Ohio.-Its rapid growth, compared with Columbus. The Author of "The Mississippi Valley." - Mrs. Trollope.-Falling Trees.-Marrietta.-Land at Wheeling in Virginia.-Its Coal.-Its Fabriques.-Lament for Authors.-The Big Grave.-An American Beggar.-Tale of a Chair.A Horse Ferry.- Virginian Landlord. — Fanatics. — The Golden Bible.-Rapp's Settlement on the Ohio.—Mr. Birkbeck in Indiana.-Wellsville.-A Scotch Colony.-Why was it located in the States?-Sergeant More M'Alpin.-The State of Ohio.-A Stage.-A Blacksmith's notions of England.-Good feeling on the part of Fellow Travellers.Peach Plunderers.- Hungry Wayfarers. Lake Erie. — A Walk.-Land Speculators.-Town of Erie.-Belgian Emigrants. Fredonia.-Natural Gas.-A Sermon.-Dunkirk.— Sail to Buffaloe.—The great Erie Canal.-Rail Roads.-The Niagara River.-The Great Cataract. - WE sailed by the shores of Indiana on the left, and soon arrived at Cincinnati in Ohio. Its site is extremely pleasant, with a south exposure. It rises on a slope from the clear river. Its streets, notwithstanding what Mrs. Trollope said of them, seemed to me to be clean, were bustling with active industry, and are at right angles to each other. The tall chimneys of factories were seen here and there among the neat houses, and a crowd of steam-vessels lay below the town, in 124 TOWN OF CINCINNATI. which there are now an hundred English families of respectability. In 1800 Cincinnati had only a population of seven hundred; in 1810 two thousand five hundred and forty; in 1820 nine thousand six hundred and forty-two; and at present it contains upwards of twenty-eight thousand inhabitants. The rapid growth of this town is most astonishing, and the Miami Canal to Lake Erie will, it is expected, add to its size and conséquence in an increased ratio. The location of Columbus, the capital of Ohio, not being so favourable as that of Cincinnati, it has not "improved," as the phrase is, as was to be expected; and though it is seated in the Scioto Valley, famous for its herds of cattle, and has other advantages, its population is only two thousand four hundred and thirty seven. At Cincinnati, among others to whom I had introductions, was the Reverend T. Flint, the author of a valuable and interesting work, "Ten Years' Residence in the Valley of the Mississippi." Mr. Flint is stricken in years, and is a tall and spare-made man, full of intelligence and information regarding the vast and fertile tracts near which he dwells. He gave the preference to Indiana. When I was leaving Cincinnati I remarked an odd-looking tower near the steam-boat landing, on which was inscribed in large letters, "WELCOME LAFAYETTE!" This I understood was erect TOWN OF WHEELING. 125 ed by Mrs. Trollope after the celebrated General's last visit to the States in 1826. I wonder if the tower is still in existence ! As we proceeded up the river, it was interesting to notice the parts of the bank which had fallen in. The roots of the trees were exposed at the edge of the precipice, and the foliage beginning to decay; other trees had fallen back into the arms of those behind them, and some lay with their heads in the water ready to be carried away by the next" fresh," to form snags, sawyers, and other impediments to the navigation. We passed Marrietta in Ohio, a thriving place, with interesting remains of Indian works near it; and after running aground once or twice, for the river was very low, we arrived at Wheeling in Virginia. From the coal-field in the immediate neighbourhood of this town, there are a great number of fabriques of different kinds, in which steam is the primum mobile. There were sawmills, paper-mills, woollen manufactories, &c. These I examined. After returning from my walk, I was sitting at the door of the hotel, when a little man with a bag in his hand came up to me, and asked me to purchase a volume of poems. I asked, "Who is the author?"" I'm the man," said he;" sometimes you see genius in a coarse coat." This was a romantic tailor, who warbled about the banks of Ohio, and occasionally quitted his shop-board to vend his own works. In the States there is such an inundation of reprints 126 THE BIG GRAVE. from English works, that native authors have little chance of encouragement from American publishers. Therefore was the poetical Schneider obliged to be his own bookseller to clear the expense of publication. I condoled with Thomas J. Lees, and purchased his "Musings of Carol.” Near Wheeling is a most remarkable and interesting memorial of the former possessors of Virginia; it is called the Big Grave: a mound three hundred yards in circumference, ninety in altitude, and forty-five in breadth at top (where it has sunk in, and forms a sort of crater); it contains thousands of human bones; the skeletons of men of all ages are there found, with their heads directed to the common centre; and the lowest tiers are evidently many ages older than those near the top of this venerable monument of the unknown dead. "Like the shadows on the stream; I here saw the first beggar and the last that I met in the States. Need I say more to attest the abundance of food and employment there is in this prosperous country? The beggar I speak of was a stout and well-dressed woman. She walked boldly into the room, and held out a hand which had been maimed in a cotton-mill. “You see AN AMERICAN BEGGAR. 127 that!" said she bluntly." I do."-" You 'll give me something for it, I guess ?"-" I reckon I will if you don't make a demand."-" Umph!" she replied, without thanking me for my mite, and without moving. "Well, what are you waiting for? have you not got enough?"—" No; have you got nothing in your pocket for me?" addressing another person in the room. I was so provoked by her rudeness and unusual way of asking charity, that I took her gently by the shoulder and showed her the outside of the door. People are not yet accustomed to the trade of begging in the States. I may here give another instance of Virginian bluntness and independence. An Englishman was travelling with his wife through the country in a gig. One day, after having journeyed as far as they intended, they stopped opposite to a house before which a bear swung on the sign. The gig had lost a step, and the husband jumping out, called to a young woman lounging at the door of the tavern, "Bring a chair here!" The damsel addressed did not move. "Bring a chair here, I say!". Still no indication of assistance. "D-n it, are you deaf? don't you hear me? I say, I want a chair to let my wife down, eh?" On this the landlord presents himself at the door-" Halloo, stranger, what's all this about? We allow no swearing here; go along, Sir! we take nobody in who swears or makes a noise here,”—and our distressed countryman was obliged to convey his 66 |