of considerable antiquity. It was probably erected over some great warrior, before the whites came into the country. I have been shown several of these graves or barrows, of a smaller size, but could never learn that any thing very remarkable had been found upon opening them; the greatest curiosities discovered being a little sunbaked pottery and a few stone axes, which sadly disappointed the searchers after western antiquities. When in Kentucky, I was informed by an old man, one of the first settlers, and who had been well acquainted with the Indians, both in peace and war, that their custom, when a great chief or warrior died, was to bury him close to the side of a warpath, and throw a heap of earth and stones over him. Whenever the nation is to pass that way, each man shoulders a large stone, and on his arrival, throws it upon the grave as a mark of respect. Of course very large mounds have sometimes been made by the performance of this funeral duty.

Eighty-three miles below Wheeling stands the little town of Marietta, at the mouth of the Muskingum, a considerable river that falls into the Ohio from the N. W. In common with most of the towns situated on the Ohio, Marietta had been terribly afflicted with an epidemical fever, a short time before I was there. The Muskingum is navigable for large boats 110 miles from its junction with the Ohio, and for small boats, forty

five miles further. From thence, by a portage of one mile, a communication is opened to Lake Erie by the Cuyahoga river, which, at its mouth, is large enough to receive vessels of a considerable size. The citizens of Ohio have it in contemplation, to join, by means of a canal, either these two abovementioned rivers, or, as seems more probable, the Big Sciota and the Sandusky; which will effect a complete course of inland navigation from the Gulph of Mexico, up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, through the great lakes, and so into the Gulph of St. Lawrence.

Just as the steam-boat arrived opposite Blennerhasset's island, one of the boilers, which had been several times out of order, began to leak so much, that it became necessary to stop, and allow it to cool, in order that it might be mended. Most of the steam-boats on the river, prefer the high pressure engines, in order to save a little in the first cost; though I am convinced, from their constantly wanting repair, that in the long run they are by no means so economical, as those of the low pressure. Of course, the chance of accidents is alarmingly increased; particularly as the captains, wishing to perform their voyage in as short a space of time as possible, are apt to compress the steam to the very utmost. Not long before I descended the Ohio, one of these boats blew up in the mouth of Cumberland river, and killed twelve passengers.

As repairing the boiler detained us a day, I

amused myself by going on shore in order to examine the surrounding country. On the Ohio side of the river was a very large and comfortable farmhouse, the owner of which received me with the greatest hospitality, and presented me with some fruit of a most excellent flavour. Belonging to the establishment was a large horse-mill. A pair of horses were fastened to a bar by the head, and turned round by their weight a large wheel beneath their feet, which was inclined to the horizon at an angle of about 25°. This is a great improvement over the common horse-mill, in which the animal is obliged to walk round.

Returning to Blennerhasset's island, to the shore of which we had fastened our boat, I went out with a gentleman squirrel shooting. I could scarcely believe my eyes, when I saw the immense number of these animals, who were busily employed in destroying a field of Indian corn, and who, on our approach, took refuge in the neighbouring thicket. We shot eleven out of one tree; from which also several others, alarmed at the noise of the rifles, jumped out and escaped. These little animals had that year done incalculable mischief to the Indian corn, throughout the States of Ohio and Indiana. They also swam the Ohio river by myriads, and ravaged the shores of Virginia and Kentucky. I found that this host of squirrels had in many places destroyed the whole crop, and that the little fellows were sometimes seen, three or four

upon a stalk, fighting for the ear. In parts of Ohio, the people attempted to destroy them by means of guns, dogs, and clubs. One party of hunters, in the course of a week, killed upwards of 19,000. In most places however, there were such multitudes of them, that the inhabitants quite despaired of being able to rid themselves of this plague. Whole legions of these animals when crossing the river were killed by boys and dogs; but their num, bers did not appear to be sensibly diminished, until they came to the open and cultivated parts of Kentucky, where, as they had no longer the trees to take shelter in, they were easily destroyed. The farmers with whom I conversed, told me that the oldest settlers had never recollected seeing so many. But about fifteen years before they were almost equally plagued; and they knew, from seeing the black or Canadian squirrel, that they were to expect vast multitudes; since the animals of this species do not make their appearance, unless in times of the failure of the mast, nuts, &c. in the North-western forests.

The people are very fond of the flesh of the squirrel, roasting it, and making it into pies, soups, &c.; and indeed, for my own part, I do not think I ever tasted more delicate or delicious meat.

The squirrels I saw were of the black and grey species, which are larger, and have much more bushy tails, than the red squirrels of England. I am astonished the people do not make any use of

their skins, as both the grey and black have a remarkably fine and glossy fur. Any one wishing to make use of them might have collected millions.*

Blennerhasset's island is celebrated as being the spot, where Burr and the other conspirators used to meet, when organizing their mad scheme, of usurping the supreme authority over their fellow citizens of the Western States.

On this island are several enormous plane-trees, which to the west of the Alleghanies attain a very considerable size, and may be termed the giants of the Ohio. They are usually, at about the height of a man's breast from the ground, from twelve to fifteen feet in circumference; though I have measured some that were thirty feet, and hunters have assured me, that in the interior of the forests there are many even larger. They often rise to the height of seventy or eighty feet, before they put out a single branch. In the autumn, when the outer bark peels off the branches, they present a most

* There is a curious fact in the natural history of the squirrel, which I do not recollect to have seen mentioned by any author. Senioribus juniores castrantur. Several of the hunters assured me that they had often seen the old males pursuing the young ones, and then most dexterously performing the operation with their long front teeth. But I myself thought the circumstance so very unlikely, that I did not believe them, until, upon examining the squirrels I shot, I found to my great surprise that many had apparently suffered the above-mentioned deprivation.

H