Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 9).djvu/100

 interruption happened exactly before the door of a tavern, where I was accommodated with board, and the means of having my baggage dried.

Afternoon. While exposing my books to the wind, a respectable looking man, apparently a farmer, entered into conversation with me. His inquiries {71} respecting the scientific and literary personages of Edinburgh, and his acquaintance with the poetry and provincial dialect of Scotland, were more minute than I could have expected in this part of the world.

October 16. I have discovered that my skiff is too weak for carrying any considerable weight. It is so much strained, that many of the nails have their heads drawn half an inch out of the timber, and others much more. The misfortune of the 15th, has probably saved me from a worse one. The system of boat building at Pittsburg cannot be too strongly reprobated. Defects in caulking, in the number, and in the strength of the nails, were in the case of my boat, disgraceful[42]

October 19. A farmer, in removing Indian corn from an island to his residence, had his flat sunk, and much of the cargo lost, within a few yards of the point where I stopped short. I am resolved on procuring a better skiff, and waiting a few days in hopes of a rise of water. Floods at or before this season of the year, are considered annual occurrences. The oldest residents recollect of only one year in which there was no autumnal rise of the Ohio.

October 20. The mornings and evenings are now cool, usually about 34° of Fahrenheit's scale. To-day, at two o'clock P.M. the temperature of the sun's rays was 90°.