Albion is situated on a dividing ridge, as it is called, which separates the waters of the Little, from those of the Big Wabash. On this account it is more healthy than most of the neighbouring country, though it is not at all times free from the prevalent autumnal disease-an ague, accompanied with fever. The year I was there the settlement had been remarkably healthy; which surprised me the more, as wherever else I had travelled, the people complained of illness.

Albion and Wanborough, of which Albion is by much the most thriving little village, are about a mile and a half distant from each other, and border on the fine tract of land called the English Prairie. All the Prairies in the neighbourhood of Albion are remarkably beautiful. These large natural meadows, when not too extensive, remind one of a nobleman's park in England. Surrounded by forest, which juts out into them in points, and occasionally diversified with clumps and belts of wood, they form a most agreeable prospect, espe cially after one has passed through such an interminable wilderness of trees.

Albion seems to be greatly in want of good water; for though many wells have been dug, in which this most necessary article has been found, yet the village itself is still without an ample supply during the dry season.

The settlement has been considerably benefitted by having been lately elevated to the rank of a

county seat; and it will, no doubt, some day or other, become a place of importance.

The farms in the neighbourhood are increasing in magnitude and number. The year I was there the settlers had exported produce for the first time. The way they effected this, was by loading several flat boats with corn, flour, pork, beef, sausages, &c., and floating them down the Wabash into the Ohio, and from thence down the Mississipi to New Orleans, a distance of about 1,140 miles. The mere length of this navigation proves that the settlement is capable of great efforts. But the grand objection is the general unhealthiness of the neighbouring country; for if the Illinois were as healthy as England, it would soon equal, or even surpass, all that Mr. Birkbeck has written in its favour.

One of the principal inducements to settle at Albion, in preference to any other place in the State, is, that there is a very clever English Surgeon there, who, having had a regular education under Abernethy, and walked the Hospitals in London, must be a great acquisition to families in the neighbourhood. Persons who have not visited the Western States cannot have any idea of the general ignorance of the practitioners of medicine. A young man, after an apprenticeship of a year or two in the shop of some ignorant apothecary, or at the most, after a very superficial course of study at some school or college, is entitled to cure (or

rather kill) all the unhappy Backwoodsmen who may apply to him for advice. It would be well if they were all as harmless in their practice as Dr. Elnathan Todd, a person described in the Pioneers, an American Novel, and whose character, drawn to the life, gives a good idea of one of these physicians. Indeed, to become a doctor in the Backwoods, it is only necessary to have a cabin containing 50 or 100 dollars' worth of drugs, with a board over the door, affirming that this is Dr. M. or N's" Store."

What appeared to me to be one of the great drawbacks to settling at Albion, was, that there were two parties who were in open hostility with one another, and whose eternal prosecutions enabled two lawyers, even in this small settlement, to thrive upon the dissensions of the community. Mr. Flowers was the person, against whom the greatest indignation of the opposite party was pointed; but, although I was at the time informed of their mutual grievances, yet I have since so entirely forgotten them, that I cannot take upon me to say which party was in the right. I must confess, however, I was greatly, mortified at seeing these foolish people, after having left their country, crossed the Atlantic, and travelled 1000 miles into the wilderness, quarrelling with one another, and making each other's situation as disagreeable as possible. The hostile parties do not even speak ; and thus the respectable inhabitants, who might

constitute a very pleasant little society, are entirely kept apart from one another.

The lower class of English at Albion, that is, the common labourers and manufacturers, have, I am sorry to say, very much degenerated; for they have copied all the vices of the Backwoodsmen, but none of their virtues-drinking, fighting, &c., and, when fighting, "gouging" and biting. In England, if two men quarrel, they settle their dispute by what is called "a stand-up fight." The by-standers form a ring, and even if one of the combatants wish it, he is not permitted to strike his fallen antagonist. This is a manly, honourable custom, which the people of England have good reason to be proud of. But fighting in the Backwoods is conducted upon a plan, which is only worthy of the most ferocious savages. The object of each combatant is to take his adversary by surprise; and then, as soon as he has thrown him down, either to "gouge" him, that is, to poke his eye out, or else to get his nose or ear into his mouth and bite it off. I saw an Englishman at Albion who had a large piece bitten out of his under lip. Until I went into the Backwoods, I could never credit the existence of such a savage mode of fighting. I believe something of the same kind was once customary in Lancashire; but it has, since the days of pugilisin, been totally exploded. This abominable practice of gouging is

M

the greatest defect in the character of the Back woodsmen.

bore a much higher Hence this Gentle

With regard to Mr. Birkbeck's letters, every one who has lately been at the settlement, must allow, that the description he has given of the advantages of the situation, is somewhat exaggerated. But I also believe, that every one who knows Mr. Birkbeck, must be perfectly convinced that his exaggerations were unintentional; and this I am sure would be granted, even by those who have found to their cost, that it is much more diffi cult to increase one's capital in Illinois than in England. When Mr. Birkbeck first arrived in this State, land, and particularly produce, price than it does at present. man, being rather an enthusiast, and viewing only the bright side of things, described the country in a manner, which, even at the time, was not literally correct. But the transition from warto peace, from an annual expenditure of 33,000,000 dollars to 13,000,000, combined with the opening of so much new territory, and with other fortuitous circumstances, has now reduced the western farmers to great distress. Indeed the agriculturists of all the Western State's have suffered nearly as much as the same class of people in Great Bri tain. Mr. Birkbeck has participated in the general calamity, as it is well known that he does not