Page:A Topographical Description of the State of Ohio, Indiana Territory, and Louisiana.djvu/55

47 greater length, with Sandusky river. The portage is likewise short from the Scioto to this river, and great advantages are expected to result to the State of Ohio, in future time, by a communication between the waters which descend to the Ohio, and those which run into the lakes.

The waters of the Great Miami are not interrupted by falls,or considerable rapids for three hundred miles. Large boats can pass from Dayton to the Ohio, the greater part of the year. But being subject to a much greater decrease of water, it is less favourable to navigation than the Muskingum, nor is the river equally good for the passage of boats at any season. This river furnishes excellent fish, mostly of the same kind, but somewhat of a greater variety, than the Scioto. Considerable quantities of fine fish are taken in the Little Miami, which afford a good supply for the market, at Cincinnati, in summer and autumn.

The streams in every part of the State are well stocked with fish of various kinds. The most of them appear, at least, specifically different from those in the waters of the Atlantic States. But similar names are applied to many of them. The black and yellow cat-fish are of the largest size, and weigh from four or five to more than one hundred pounds. They nearly resemble the pout of New England. The pike differ little from those over the mountains in form, but are much larger. Some have been caught of thirty or forty pounds weight. There are fish called perch,