Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 3).djvu/198

 To the latter will succeed fresh emigrants, coming also from the Atlantic states, who will desert their possessions to go in quest of a milder climate and a more fertile soil. The money that they will get for them will suffice to pay for their new acquisitions, the peaceful delight of which is assured by a numerous population. The last comers instead of log-houses, with which the present inhabitants are contented, will build wooden ones, clear a greater quantity of the land, and be as industrious and persevering in the melioration of their new possessions as the former were indolent in every thing, being so fond of hunting. To the culture of Indian corn they will add that of other grain, hemp, and tobacco; rich pasturages will nourish innumerable flocks, and an advantageous sale of all the country's produce will be assured them through the channel of the Ohio.

The happy situation of this river entitles it to be looked upon as the centre of commercial activity between {115} the eastern and western states. By it the latter receive the manufactured goods which Europe, India, and the Caribbees supply the former; and it is the only open communication with the ocean, for the exportation of provisions from the immense and fertile part of the United States comprised between the Alleghany Mountains, the lakes, and the left banks of the Mississippi.

All these advantages, blended with the salubrity of the climate and the beauty of the landscapes, enlivened in the spring by a group of boats which the current whirls along with an astonishing rapidity, and the uncommon number of sailing vessels that from the bosom of this vast continent go directly to the Caribbees; all these advantages, I say, make me think that the banks of the Ohio, from Pittsburgh to Louisville inclusively, will, in the