Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 9).djvu/107

 Big Yellow Creek falls into the Ohio on the north side. A few miles up this creek there is a settlement of Scotch Highlanders. The soil occupied by them is said to be thin and poor.

After pulling all day against contrary winds, which, in some straight parts of the river, raised waves that beat upon my boat with considerable force, I lodged at the Black Horse Tavern, on the Virginia side of the river, 63 miles from Pittsburg. The landlord told me that his charges were, in some measure, regulated by the appearance of his guests.—Where a family seem to be poor and clever, he does not charge any thing for their sleeping on the floor. (By clever, he meant honest, or of a good disposition.)

The hills that bound the narrow valley of the river are of sandstone and clay schist, with a bed of coal four or five feet thick. People acquainted with the country, say that the hills by the river, and by the creeks, are of a poorer soil than those inland, which are less steep. The process of inundation is probably the cause of the difference.

There is a wider interval between the river hills here than in the neighbourhood of Pittsburg, and the bottoms are of course wider; the greater part of them being on the north side of the river. On the south side negroes are numerous.

On the forenoon of the 31st a heavy rain fell, accompanied with loud peals of thunder.—Reverberation {78} amongst the rocky hills and woods greatly augmented the sound.

The margin of the river is lined with masses of sandstone of enormous size. Others lie in the middle, with their rounded and scratched tops exposed above water. All these must have been detached from the river hills.

Arrived at Steubenville, on the right bank of the Ohio.