Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 3).djvu/34

30 infero; Teucrium Canadense; Scrophularia Marylandica; Dracocephalum Virginianum; Dianthera, Sophora foliis ternis stipulis lato-lanceolatis floribus coeruleis vexillo corollâ breviore; Mimulus ringens; Bignonia radicans; Cercis Canadensis; Fagus sylvatica Americana; Circaea Canadensis; Urtica inermis; Erigeron Canadense; Cornus florida; Rubus odorata, Rubus occidentalis; Penthorum sedoides; Cephalantus occidentalis; Polygonum aviculare, hydropiper, amphibium, scandens; Sanguinaria Canadensis.

On the 6th of August I saw on the bank of the Monongahela river opposite Pittsburgh a Coal mine at the entrance of which there seems to be a thickness of 15 feet of that mineral without admixture; sometimes a ferruginous tint can be distinguished between the different layers. In several spots soft rocks are to be found which seem good for use as whet-stones for large tools; they seem to me to consist of a combination of sandy, clayey and ferruginous particles with particles of mica in very rare instances.

The soil in the neighborhood of Pittsburgh is generally clayey, the calcareous rocks or stones of a brown color, consisting of much muddy clay. The soil between the two rivers on which Pittsburgh is built, is alluvial; stones rounded and worn by the rolling of torrents have even been found in the earth, dug up while sinking wells at a depth of more than 30 feet.

The 9th of August, when I was ready to start, the conductor of the Boat on which I had embarked my baggage came to tell me that he was waiting for the Boats destined to convey the troops, especially as the Boat seemed too deeply laden for that Season when the Waters are low; there was an appearance of Rain.