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 *tulites, caryophillites, corallines, encrinites, &c. It also contains an unusual portion of pyrites, illinitions of blende ore of zinc, and a bluish green pulverulent substance, which is perhaps an ore of copper, or an oxide of nickel. Wood in a state of petrifaction has been discovered near the island which divides the cataract, and that in considerable quantity. The steam-boats, which ascend as far as Shippingsport,[41] below the Falls, are of no less than 3 to 500 tons burthen, and are handsomely fitted up for {37} the accommodation of passengers. Sometimes they descend to New Orleans in eight or ten days, affording a facility of communication heretofore unprecedented.

CHAPTER III

Departure from Shippingsport—Velocity of the current—Troy—Owensville—Indigence of the hunting emigrants—Mounds—Evansville—The Diamond island—Shawneetown—Grandeur of the river and the uncultivated state of the surrounding country—Fort Massac—Arrival at the mouth of the Ohio—Delayed by the ice of the Mississippi—A visit from the Delaware and Shawnee Indians—Observations on their mutual jealousy and improvidence.

On the 7th, towards evening, I left Shippingsport in the flat-boat which I had purchased, accompanied by an elderly gentleman and his son, who intended to proceed to New Orleans. The river had now taken a sudden and favourable rise of eight or ten feet perpendicular. We floated all night, keeping an alternate watch, and before the expiration of 24 hours, on the 8th, the current alone had carried us without labour near 80 miles! We ac-*