Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 9).djvu/118

 whereas, the end facing down the river is comparatively flat, and usually bounded by sharp edges.

{88} November 13. Passed the mouth of Kanhaway river. Here stands a small town called Point Pleasant. The name is appropriate, and descriptive of the site.

From the springs of Kanhaway river, a great supply of salt is procured for the western country.

We landed at Galliopolis in Ohio State. The town stands on a high bank above the reach of the river. The name was given by a colony of a hundred French families, which settled here twenty-five years ago. They purchased from a Company, whose original charter stipulated, that the tract should be inhabited by a certain number of settlers, within a specified period of time. The condition was not fulfilled; the land reverted to the government, and the colony was dispossessed of its new establishment.

14. The wind was violent, obliging us to remain on shore for three hours. We moved again, and stopped after dark, about a mile above the mouth of Big Guyandat river, where some ripples commence.

15. (Sunday.) A strong contrary wind blew. No boat could move downward. But we saw several keel boats carrying sail, that enabled them to stem the ripples without manual labour. It is the wind, and not the day, that is reverenced here.

On the morning of the 16th, we moved downward. We saw a man fire a shot at a flock of wild turkeys. These fowl were so far from being coy, that they flew only a little way, and alighted again, on the trees.

Passed Big Sandy river, which comes in on the left hand side, and forms part of the boundary line between Virginia and Kentucky. In the evening we stopped below Fergusson's Bar, having sailed {89} thirty-one miles in the