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 No part of the manure {124} is returned to the fields. The houses are rude log cabins, built as near the river as is consistent with security from the floods. Their children are dirty and ragged in the extreme. The comforts of these people must consist chiefly in having enough to eat and drink, and in having no fear of the exactions of the landholder, the tytheholder, or the collector of taxes.

LETTER X

Cincinnati—Situation—Manufactures—Settlement and Progress—Weather—Credulity and Want of Education—Descend the Ohio—Islands—Jeffersonville—Louisville—Falls of the Ohio—Taverns and Accommodations—Expedition for Exploring the Missouri Country and Forming a Military Post there—Miscellaneous Observations interspersed.

Jeffersonville, (Indiana,) May 19, 1819.

I concluded my last letter, dated Cincinnati, 30th December last, without taking any notice of the town; I shall therefore begin the present one with some particulars respecting that place.

Cincinnati is no sooner seen than the importance of the town is perceived. A large steam grist mill, three large steam boats on the stocks, and two more on the Kentucky side of the river, and a large ferry boat, wrought by horses, were the first objects which attracted my attention. The {125} beach is lined with keel boats, large arks for carrying produce, family boats, and rafts of timber. On shore the utmost bustle prevails, with drays carrying imported goods, salt, iron, and timber, up to the town, and in bringing down pork, flour, &c. to be put aboard of boats for New Orleans.