Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 9).djvu/122

 in Britain, of ships for Baltimore. I conceive that it is unimportant to the emigrant, whether he reaches the latter place in an American coasting vessel, or by sailing an equal distance to Liverpool, along the coast of Britain.

We stopped at a tavern, four miles from Portsmouth, and had breakfast. The landlord told us, that bears and wolves are still numerous in the uncleared hills; that they devour many hogs and sheep; and that he heard wolves howling within a few yards of his house, on the preceding night. His sheep had run off, and he did not know in which direction to search for them.

About nine miles from Portsmouth, the saline nature of a spring is indicated by the ground being much trodden by the feet of cattle. The water is slightly brackish, and is not worth the expense of evaporation. Salt is manufactured, in considerable quantity, a few miles to the eastward.

Salt springs are called licks, from cattle and deer resorting to them to drink of the water, or to lick the concrete salt deposited on the rocks or stones, by the evaporation of the atmosphere. Riflemen also resort to the licks, in the night, to shoot the deer, which are so numerous in this neighbourhood, that they are sold at a dollar each.

The lower and richer lands are all entered, (appropriated by individuals,) but the higher and poorer, a considerable portion of which is too steep for the plough, remains as public property in the market. The time for cultivating them is not yet come. I must remark that the hilly, or what is here called {93} broken land, has many fertile spots, and that the comparative salubrity of such parts of the country forms a very strong recommendation to them. Coal and limestone are not known within eight or nine miles of this part of Scioto river.