A Ramble of Six Thousand Miles through the United States of America by S. A. Ferrall

S >> S. A. Ferrall >> A Ramble of Six Thousand Miles through the United States of America

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In October, 1805, two treaties are made, by which an additional quantity
of land is ceded.

On 7th January, 1806, by another treaty, more land is ceded to the United
States.

In September, 1807, the boundary line intended in the last treaty, is
satisfactorily ascertained.

On 22d March, 1816, a treaty is concluded, by which lands in South
Carolina are ceded, for which the United States engage South Carolina
shall pay. On the same day another treaty is made, by which the Indians
agree to allow the use of the water-courses in their country, and also to
permit roads to be made through the same.

On the 14th of September, 1816, a treaty is made, by which an additional
quantity of land is ceded to the United States.

On the 8th of July, 1817, a treaty is concluded, by which an exchange of
lands is agreed on, and a plan for dividing the Cherokees settled.

On the 27th of February, 1819, another treaty is concluded, in execution
of the stipulations contained in that of 1817, in several particulars,
and in which an additional tract of country is ceded to the United
States.

[16] "The white hunter, on encamping in his journeys, cuts down green
trees, and builds a large fire of long logs, sitting at some distance
from it. The Indian hunts up a few dry limbs, cracks them into little
pieces a foot in length, builds a small fire, and sits close to it. He
gets as much warmth as the white hunter without half the labour, and does
not burn more than a fiftieth part of the wood. The Indian considers the
forest his own, and is careful in using and preserving every thing which
it affords. He never kills more than he has occasion for. The white
hunter destroys all before him, and cannot resist the opportunity of
killing game, although he neither wants the meat nor can carry the skins.
I was particularly struck with this wanton practice, which lately
occurred on White river. A hunter returning from the woods, heavily laden
with the flesh and skins of five bears, unexpectedly arrived in the midst
of a drove of buffalos, and wantonly shot down three, having no other
object than the sport of killing them. This is one of the causes
of the enmity existing between the white and red hunters of
Missouri".--_Schoolcroft's Tour in Missouri_, page 52.

[17] Does the General include among the arts of civilization, that of
systematically robbing the Indians of their farms and hunting grounds? If
so, no doubt _these arts of civilization_, must inevitably "destroy the
resources of the savage," and "doom him to weakness and decay."

[18] The Indians apply the term "Christian honesty," precisely in the
same sense that the Romans applied "_Punica fides_."

[19] There is an old Indian at present in the Missouri territory, to whom
his tribe has given the cognomen of "much-water," from the circumstance
of his having been baptized so frequently.

[20] Heriot says (page 320), "They have evinced a decided attachment to
their ancient habits, and have _gained_ less from the means that might
have smoothed the asperities of their condition, than they have _lost_ by
copying the vices of those, who exhibited to their view the arts of
civilization."

[21] This letter was dictated by Red-jacket, and interpreted by Henry
Obeal, in the presence of ten chiefs, whose names are affixed, at
Canandaigua, January 18, 1821.

[22] "The attachment which savages entertain for their mode of life
supersedes every allurement, however powerful, to change it. Many
Frenchmen have lived with them, and have imbibed such an invincible
partiality for that independent and erratic condition, that no means
could prevail on them to abandon it. On the contrary, no single instance
has yet occurred of a savage being able to reconcile himself to a state
of civilization. Infants have been taken from among the natives, and
educated with much care in France, where they could not possibly have
intercourse with their countrymen and relations. Although they had
remained several years in that country, and could not form the smallest
idea of the wilds of America, the force of blood predominated over that
of education: no sooner did they find themselves at liberty than they
tore their clothes in pieces, and went to traverse the forests in search
of their countrymen, whose mode of life appeared to them far more
agreeable than that which they had led among the French."--_-Heriot_, p.
354.

This passage of Heriot's is taken nearly verbatim from Charlevoix, v. 2,
p. 109.

CHAPTER X.

I left Kentucky, and passed up the river to Wheeling, in Virginia. There
is little worthy of observation encountered in a passage up this part of
the Ohio, except the peculiar character of the stream, which has been
before alluded to. At Marietta, at the mouth of the Muskingum,
ship-building is carried on; and vessels have been constructed at
Pittsburg, full 2000 miles from the gulf of Mexico. About seventy miles up
the Kenhawa river, in Virginia, are situated the celebrated salt springs,
the most productive of any in the Union. They are at present in the
possession of a chartered company, which limits the manufacture to
800,000 bushels annually, but it is estimated that the fifty-seven wells
are capable of yielding 50,000 bushels each, per annum, which would make
an aggregate of 2,850,000 bushels. Many of these springs issue out of
rocks, and the water is so strongly impregnated with salt, that from 90 to
130 gallons yield a bushel. The whole western country bordering the Ohio
and its tributaries, is supplied with salt from these works.

Wheeling, although not large, enjoys a considerable share of commercial
intercourse, being an entrepot for eastern merchandize, which is
transported from the Atlantic cities across the mountains to this town and
Pittsburg, and from thence by water to the different towns along the
rivers.

The process of "hauling" merchandize from Baltimore and Philadelphia to
the banks of the Ohio, and _vice versa_, is rather tedious, the roads
lying across steep and rugged mountains. Large covered waggons, light and
strong, drawn by five or six horses, two and two, are employed for this
purpose. The waggoner always rides the near shaft horse, and guides the
team by means of reins, a whip, and his voice. The time generally consumed
in one of these journeys is from twenty to twenty-five days.

All the mountains or hills on the upper part of the Ohio, from Wheeling to
Pittsburg, contain immense beds of coal; this added to the mineral
productions, particularly that of iron ore, which abound in this section
of country, offers advantages for manufacturing, which are of considerable
importance, and are fully appreciated. Pittsburg is called the Birmingham
of America. Some of those coal beds are well circumstanced, the coal being
found immediately under the super-stratum, and the galleries frequently
running out on the high road. Notwithstanding the local advantages, and
the protection and encouragement at present afforded by the tariff,
England need never fear any extensive competition with her manufactures
in foreign markets from America, as the high spirit of the people of that
country will always prevent them from pursuing, extensively, the sordid
occupations of the loom or the workshop.

The upper parts of Virginia and Pennsylvania are in a high state of
improvement; the land is hilly, and the face of the country picturesque.
The farms are well cultivated, and there is a large portion of pasture
land in this and the adjoining states. I encountered several large droves
of horses and black cattle on their way to the neighbourhood of
Philadelphia and to the state of New York. The black cattle are purchased
principally in Ohio, whence they are brought into the Atlantic states, to
be fattened and consumed. The farmers and their families in Pennsylvania,
have an appearance of comfort and respectability a good deal resembling
that of the substantial English yeoman; yet farming here, as in all parts
of the country, is a laborious occupation.

I crossed the Monongahela at Williamsport, and the Youghaghany at
Robstown, and so on through Mountpleasant to the first ridge of mountains,
called "the chestnut ridge." I determined on crossing the mountains on
foot; and after having made arrangements to that effect, I commenced
sauntering along the road. Near Mountpleasant, I stopped to dine at the
house of a Dutchman by descent. After dinner, the party adjourned, as is
customary, to the bar-room, when divers political and polemical topics
were canvassed with the usual national warmth. An account of his late
Majesty's death was inserted in a Philadelphia paper, and happened to be
noticed by one of the politicians present, when the landlord asked me how
we elected our king in England. I replied that he was not elected, but
that he became king by birthright, &c. A Kentuckian observed, placing his
leg on the back of the next chair, "That's a kind of unnatural." An
Indianian said, "I don't believe in that system myself." A third--"Do you
mean to tell me, that because the last king was a smart man and knew his
duty, that his son, or his brother, should be a smart man, and fit for the
situation?" I explained that we had a premier, ministers, &c.;--when the
last gentleman replied, "Then you pay half-a-dozen men to do one man's
business. Yes--yes--that may do for Englishmen very well; but, I guess, it
would not go down here--no, no, Americans are a little more enlightened
than to stand that kind of wiggery." During this conversation, a person
had stepped into the room, and had taken his seat in silence. I was about
to reply to the last observations of my antagonist, when this gentleman
opened out, with, "yes! that may do for Englishmen very well"--he was an
Englishman, I knew at once by his accent, and I verily believe the
identical radical who set the village of Bracebridge by the ears, and
pitched the villagers to the devil, on seeing them grin through a
horse-collar, when they should have been calculating the interest of the
national debt, or conning over the list of sinecure placemen. He held in
his hand, instead of "Cobbett's Register," the "Greenville
Republican."--He had substituted for his short-sleeved coat, "a
round-about."--He seemed to have put on flesh, and looked somewhat more
contented. "Yes, yes," he says, "that may do for Englishmen very well, but
it won't do here. Here we make our own laws, and we keep them too. It may
do for Englishmen very well, to have _the liberty_ of paying taxes for the
support of the nobility. To have _the liberty_ of being incarcerated in a
gaol, for shooting the wild animals of the country. To have _the liberty_
of being seized by a press-gang, torn away from their wives and families,
and flogged at the discretion of my lord Tom, Dick, or Harry's bastard."
At this, the Kentuckian gnashed his teeth, and instinctively grasped his
hunting-knife;--an old Indian doctor, who was squatting in one corner of
the room, said, slowly and emphatically, as his eyes glared, his nostrils
dilated, and his lip curled with contempt--"The Englishman is a
dog"--while a Georgian slave, who stood behind his master's chair, grinned
and chuckled with delight, as he said--"_poor_ Englishman, him meaner man
den black nigger."--"To have," continued the Englishman, "_the liberty_ of
being transported for seven years for being caught learning the use of the
sword or the musket. To have the tenth lamb, and the tenth sheaf seized,
or the blanket torn from off his bed, to pay a bloated, a plethoric bishop
or parson,--to be kicked and cuffed about by a parcel of 'Bourbon
_gendarmerie_'--Liberty!--why hell sweat"--here I--slipped out at the side
door into the water-melon patch. As I receded, I heard the whole party
burst out into an obstreperous fit of laughter.--A few broken sentences,
from the Kentuckian and the radical, reached my ear, such as "backed
out"--"damned aristocratic." I returned in about half an hour to pay my
bill, when I could observe one or two of those doughty politicians who
remained, leering at me most significantly. However, I--"smiled, and said
nothing."

"The Chestnut ridge" is a chain of rocky, barren mountains, covered with
wood, and the ascent is steep and difficult. It is named from the quantity
of chestnut trees that compose the bulk of its timber. Being a little
fatigued in ascending, I sat down in a wood of scrub oak. When I had been
some time seated on a large stone, my ear caught the gliding of a snake.
Turning quickly, I perceived, at about a yard's distance, a reptile of
that beautiful species the rattle-snake. He ceased moving: I jumped up,
and struck at his head with a stick, but missed the blow. He instantly
coiled and rattled. I now retreated beyond the range of his spring.
Perceiving that I had no intention of giving him fair play by coming
within his reach, he suddenly uncoiled and glid across a log, thinking to
make good his retreat; but being determined on having--not his scalp, for
the head of a rattle-snake is rather a dangerous toy--but his rattle, I
pursued him across the log. He now coiled again, and rattled most
furiously, thus indicating his extreme wrath at being attacked: the bite
of this reptile is most venomous when he is most enraged. I took up a flat
stone, about six inches square, and lobbed it on his coil. He suddenly
darted out towards me; but, as I had anticipated, he was encumbered with
the stone. I now advanced, and struck him on the head with my stick. I
repeated the blow until he seemed to be deprived of sensation, when I drew
my hunting knife and decapitated him. For a full hour afterwards the body
retained all the vigour and sensitiveness which it possessed previous to
decapitation, and on touching any part of it, would twist round in the
same manner as when the animal was perfect. Sensation gradually
disappeared, departing first from the extremities--more towards the
wounded extremity than towards the other, but gradually from both, until
it was entirely gone. The length of this reptile was about four feet, and
the skin was extremely beautiful. Nothing could exceed the beauty of his
eye. A clear black lustre characterizes the eye of this animal, and is
said to produce so powerful an effect on birds and smaller animals, as to
deprive them of the power of escaping. This snake had eight rattles, so
that he must have been at least eleven years old. I understood afterwards
that there was a rattle-snakes' den in the neighbourhood. They appear to
live in society, and the large quantities that are frequently found
congregated together are astonishing. The Jacksonville (Illinois) Gazette
of the 22d April, 1830, says, "Last week, a den of rattle-snakes was
discovered near Apple Creek, by a person while engaged in digging for rock
in that part of our country. He made known the circumstance to the
neighbours, who visited the place, where they killed 193 rattle-snakes,
the largest of which (as our informant, who was on the spot, told us)
measured nearly four feet in length. Besides these, there were sixteen
black snakes destroyed, together with one copper-head. Counting the young
ones, there were upwards of 1000 killed." There are two species of
rattle-snake, which are in constant hostility with each other. The common
black snake, whose bite is perfectly innoxious, and the copper-head, have
also a deadly enmity towards the rattle-snake, which, when they meet it,
they never fail to attack.

The next ridge of mountains is called the "laurel hills," which are
covered with an immense growth of different species of laurel. Between
these and the Alleghany ridge are situated "the glades"--beautiful fertile
plains in a high state of cultivation. This district is most healthy, and
fevers and agues are unknown to the inhabitants. Here the "Delawares of
the hills" once roamed the sole lords of this fine country; and perhaps
from the very eminence from whence I contemplated the beauty of the scene,
some warrior, returning from the "war path" or the chase, may have gazed
with pleasure on the hills of his fathers, the possessions of a long line
of Sylvan heros, and in the pride of manhood said--'The Delawares are
men--they are strong in battle, and cunning on the trail of their foes--at
the 'council fire' there is wisdom in their words. Who counts more scalps
than the Lenni Lenape warrior?--he can never be conquered--the stranger
shall never dwell in his glades.' Where now is the "Delaware of the
hills?"--gone!--his very name is unknown in his own land, and not a
vestige remains to tell that _there_ once dwelt a great and powerful
tribe. When the white man falls, his high towers and lofty battlements are
laid crumbling with the dust, yet these mighty ruins remain for ages,
monuments of his former greatness: but the Indian passes away, silent as
the noiseless tread of the moccasin--the next snow comes, and his "trail"
is blotted out for ever.

I toiled across the Alleghanies, which are completely covered with timber,
and passed on to a place within about thirty miles of Chambersburg, on a
branch of the Potomac. Here, coming in upon _civilization_, I took the
stage to Baltimore. In my pedestrian excursion the road lay for several
miles along the banks of the Juniata, which is a very fine river. The
scenery is romantic, and is much beautified by a large growth of
magnificent pines. The Alleghany ridge is composed chiefly of sand-stone,
clay-slate, and lime-stone-slate, sand-stone sometimes in large blocks.

I encountered several parties of French, Irish, Swiss, Bavarians, Dutch,
&c. going westward, with swarms of children, and considerable quantities
of household lumber:--symptoms of seeking _El dorado_.

In the neighbourhood of Baltimore there are many handsome residences, and
the farms are all well cleared, and in many cases walled in. The number of
comparatively miserable-looking cabins which are dispersed along the road
near this town, and the long lists of crimes and misdemeanours with which
the Journals of Baltimore and Philadelphia are filled, sufficiently
indicate that these cities have arrived to an advanced state of
civilization. For, wherever there are very rich people, there must be very
poor people; and wherever there are very poor people, there must
necessarily exist a proportionate quantity of crime. Men are poor, only
because they are ignorant; for if they possessed a knowledge of their own
powers and capabilities, they would then know, that however wealth may be
distributed, all real wealth is created by labour, and by labour alone.

Baltimore is seated on the north side of the Patapsco river, within a few
miles of the Chesapeak bay. It received its name in compliment to the
Irish family of the Calverts. The harbour, at Fell Point, has about
eighteen feet water, and is defended by a strong fort, called Mc Henry's
fort, on Observation Hill. Vessels of large tonnage cannot enter the
basin. In 1791 it contained 13,503 inhabitants; in 1810, 46,487; and at
present it contains 80,519. There are many fine buildings and monuments in
this city; and the streets in which business is not extensively
transacted, are planted with Lombardy poplar, locust, and pride-of-china
trees,--the last mentioned especially afford a fine shade.

A considerable schooner trade is carried on by the merchants of Baltimore
with South America. The schooners of this port are celebrated for their
beauty, and are much superior to those of any other port on the Continent.
They are sharp built, somewhat resembling the small Greek craft one sees
in the Mediterranean. A rail-road is being constructed from this place to
the Ohio river, a distance of upwards of three hundred miles, and about
fourteen miles of the road is already completed, as is also a viaduct. If
the enterprising inhabitants of Baltimore be able to finish this
undertaking, it must necessarily throw a very large amount of wealth into
their hands, to the prejudice of Philadelphia and New York. But the
expense will be enormous.

I left Baltimore for Philadelphia in one of those splendid and spacious
steam-boats peculiar to this country. We paddled up the Chesapeak bay
until we came to Elk river--the scenery at both sides is charming. A
little distance up this river commences the "Chesapeak and Delaware
canal," which passes through the old state of Delaware, and unites the
waters of the two bays. Here we were handed into a barge, or what we in
common parlance would term a large canal boat; but the Americans are the
fondest people in the universe of big names, and ransack the Dictionary
for the most pompous appellations with which to designate their works or
productions. The universal fondness for European titles that obtains here,
is also remarkable. The president, is "his excellency,"--"congressmen,"
are "honorables,"--and every petty merchant, or "dry-goods store-keeper,"
is, at least, an esquire. Their newspapers contain many specimens of this
love of monarchical distinctions--such as, "wants a situation, as
store-keeper (shopman), a gentleman, &c." "Two gentlemen were convicted
and sentenced to six months' imprisonment for horse-stealing, &c." These
two items I read myself in the papers of the western country, and the
latter was commented on by a Philadelphia journal. You may frequently see
"Miss Amanda," without shoes or stockings--certainly for convenience or
economy, not from necessity, and generally in Dutch houses--and "that
_ere_ young lady" scouring the pails! An accident lately occurred in one
of the factories in New England, and the local paper stated, that "one
young lady was seriously injured,"--this young lady was a spinner.
Observe, I by no means object to the indiscriminate use of the terms
_gentleman_ and _lady_, but merely state the fact. On the contrary, so far
am I from finding fault with the practice, that I think it quite fair;
when any portion of republicans make use of terms which properly belong to
a monarchy, that all classes should do the same, it being unquestionably
their right. It does not follow, because a man may be introduced as an
_American gentleman_, that he may not be simply a mechanic.

The Chesapeak and Delaware canal is about fourteen miles in length; and
from the nature of the soil through which it is cut, there was some
difficulty attending the permanent security of the work. On reaching the
Delaware, we were again handed into a steamer, and so conducted to
Philadelphia. The merchant shipping, and the numerous pleasure and
steam-boats, and craft of every variety, which are constantly moving on
the broad bosom of the Delaware, present a gay and animated scene.

Philadelphia is a regular well-built city, and one of the handsomest in
the states. It lies in latitude 39 deg. 56' north, and longitude, west of
London, 75 deg. 8'; distant from the sea, 120 miles. The city stands on an
elevated piece of ground between the Schuylkill and Delaware rivers, about
a mile broad from bank to bank, and six miles from their junction. The
Delaware is about a mile wide at Philadelphia, and ships of the largest
tonnage can approach the wharf. The city contains many fine buildings of
Schuylkill marble. The streets are well paved, and have broad _trottoirs_
of hard red brick. The police regulations are excellent, and cleanliness
is much attended to, the kennels being washed daily during the summer
months, with water from the reservoirs. The markets, or shambles, extend
half-a-mile in length, from the wharf up Market-street, in six divisions.
In addition to the shambles, farmers' waggons, loaded with every kind of
country produce for sale, line the street.

There are five banking establishments in the city: the Bank of North
America, the United States Bank, the Bank of Pennsylvania, the Bank of
Philadelphia, and the Farmers' Bank.

The principal institutions are, the Franklin library, which contains
upwards of 20,000 volumes. Strangers are admitted gratis, and are
permitted to peruse any of the books. The Americans should adopt this
practice in all their national exhibitions, and rather copy the liberality
of the French than the sordid churlishness of the English, who compel
foreigners to pay even for seeing the property of the nation. The other
institutions are, the University of Pennsylvania, a College, Medical
Theatre, College of Physicians, Philosophical Hall, Agricultural and
Linnean Societies, Academy of Fine Arts, and the Cincinnati Society, which
originated in an attempt to establish a sort of aristocracy. The members
were at its formation the surviving officers of the revolution; they wear
an eagle, suspended by a ribbon, which, at their death, they have
appointed to be taken by their eldest sons. There are besides, the
Academies of the Philadelphian Friends, and the German Lutherans; Sunday
and Lancasterian schools; and, of course, divers Bible and Tract
Societies, which are patronized by all the antiquated dames in the city,
and superintended by the Methodist and Presbyterian parsons. The Methodist
parsons of this country have the character of being men of gallantry; and
indeed, from the many instances I have heard of their propensity in this
way, from young Americans, I should be a very sceptic to doubt the fact.

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