Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 9).djvu/286

 the salt-works by Kanhaway River, perforations have been made in the lime-stone rocks to the depth of two hundred feet. There a hundred gallons of water are said to yield a bushel of salt; but there are waters evaporated in other parts of the country that do not yield more than a fourth, or even a sixth part of that quantity.

Corydon,[136] the capital of the State of Indiana, is a small village, situated in an obscure valley of Indian Creek, and is surrounded by high and broken wooded lands. The weeds which cover the clear parts of the town plot are withered to whiteness by the drought, as is most of the ground in this part of the country, swamps and lands under crop excepted. The site of a new capital for the State is determined to be on the east branch of White River, where the lands are still in the hands of the government. Future convenience, and the prospect of promoting the sale of land in the late Indian purchase, seem to have, on this occasion, triumphed {255} over private interest.—No name has yet been assigned to this inland metropolis.

Between Corydon and the river Ohio, (about twenty-five miles,) the surface is of a rolling structure, and the soil good. Grass, at all times scanty on account of the small quantity of cleared ground, is now withered. The surface, where closely shaded by large trees, scarcely exhibits any thing that is green; rotten logs, and the leaves of last autumn, are strowed over the ground, presenting the most gloomy picture of desolation. Where large trees are thin, a growth of underwood prevails. Grounds called barrens are interspersed with the woods in this part of Indiana.-These are covered over with small copse-