Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 3).djvu/172

 the banks of the river Yazous was correct, and in that case to acquire for himself and a few friends several acres of land, and to go and settle there with two or three families in his neighbourhood who were rather embarrassed. The motive for his emigration to so remote a country was founded, in the first place, on the length of the winters, which in the state of Vermont are as severe as in Canada, and which shackle the activity of its inhabitants more than one third of the year; and in the next place, upon the cheapness of the country's produce: instead of which, in those parts watered by the river Yazous,[29] the temperature of the climate and the fertility of the soil are favourable to the cultivation of cotton, indigo, and tobacco, {75} the produce of which is a great deal more lucrative than that of the northern part of the United States, and the sale of which is assured by their exportation to New Orleans, where they can go and come by the river in less than a fortnight.

{76} CHAP. VIII

Departure from Pittsburgh for Kentucky.—Journey by land to Wheeling.—State of agriculture on the route.—West Liberty Town in Virginia.—Wheeling.

Mr. Craft and I agreed to go together to Kentucky by the Ohio, preferring that way, although longer by a hundred and forty miles, to that by land, which is more expensive. However, as the season of the year being that when the waters are at the lowest, to gain time, and to avoid a considerable winding which the river makes on leaving Pittsburgh, we were advised to embark at Wheeling, a small town situated upon the Ohio, eighty