thousand times superior to any nation on earth.”

“Yes, sir.”

“How do you like Kentucky?”

“Very well, sir; I travelled through it four years ago.”

“G—d d—n my s—l t——e——l d——n!” roared he. “The Pennsylvanians have not a square mile of land in their state, equal to our poor lands. Bill,” turning now to his neighbour on the left, “Bill has been marked in a mighty fine style. G—d d—n, &c., he blooded like a hog.”

“Yes,” replied the neighbour, “Sam has stabbed exceedingly well, I presume. Bill has to wait four weeks before he may be on his legs again, if he will be at all. G—d d—n! but to tell Isaac, his horse, which he thinks so much of, is a poor beast compared with his—and so to give him the lie. I would have knocked him down, come what might out of it. But Dick and John!”—and now these two fellows broke out into roaring shouts of horse laughter. “How his eyes twinkled, he looked quite as squire Toms, when laying all night over the bottle; I guess he never will be able to set his eyes a-right.”

“He does not see,” said the neighbour; “the one is quite out of its socket, and Joe was obliged to carry him home.”

“Why, the seconds are wonderfully lovely fellows, I warrant you; they did not spoil the sport with interfering.”

“Yes, they bore John an old grudge.”

“Oh, certainly—it was a mighty fine sport; I would not for the world have missed it. G—d d—n! Dick is a fine gouger—the second turn—John down—and both thumbs in his eyes.—I presume you have races in Pennsylvania?” turning to me.

“Yes, sir.”

“And fightings and gougings?”

“No, sir.” With an expressive look towards his neighbour, he continued: “Yes, the Pennsylvanians are a quiet, religious sort of people; they don’t kill anything but their hogs, and prefer giving their money to their parsons.” The evening passed in these and similar conversations, of which the above are mere specimens; and it was eleven o’clock before the interesting pair separated.

Some miles below Mr. White’s farm, the road divides into two, the one leading to Newcastle, the other to the Ohio. I stopped at a farm fifteen miles from my former night’s lodging. The landlord was mounting his horse for Newcastle; his wife sat in the kitchen, surrounded by eight negro girls, all busy knitting and sewing. The girls seemed to be in excellent spirits, and were tolerably well dressed; the house rather indicated affluence, though it was far from possessing the order and cleanliness of a few of only half its value in Ohio. It was a simple brick house; but constructed without the least attention to the rules of symmetry. The fields were in a very indifferent state. Behind the dwelling, were seen some negro infants at play, while an old negro woman was preparing my breakfast. The family had thirty-five slaves, both young and old, forming a capital of at least 10,000 dollars. “Was not I a fool?” asked the open-hearted landlady, “to marry Mr. Forth, who had but twelve slaves, and a plantation, with seven children; but they are provided for;—whereas I had fourteen slaves, and a plantation too, after my first husband’s decease, and no children at all.”—“I don’t know,” was my reply, afraid of engaging the old lady in further discussion. While descanting upon this theme, and on the advantages resulting to her happy husband from a match so disparaging on her part, I was allowed to take my breakfast, when some yells and hallooing called us to the door. A troop of horsemen were passing. Two of the party had each a negro slave running before him, secured by a rope fastened to an iron collar. A tremendous horsewhip reminded them at intervals to quicken their pace. The bloody backs and necks of these wretches, bespoke a too frequent application of the lash. The third negro had, however, the hardest lot. The rope of his collar was fastened to the saddle string of the third horseman, and the miserable creature had thus no alternative left, but to keep an equal pace with the trotting horse, or to be dragged through ditches, thorns, and copsewood. His feet and legs, all covered with blood, exhibited a dreadful spectacle. The three slaves had run away two days before, dreading transportation to Mississippi or Louisiana. “Look here,” said Mrs. Forth, calling her black girls, “what is done with the bad negroes, who run away from their good masters!” With an indifference, and a laughing countenance, which clearly shewed how accustomed these poor children were to the like scenes, they expressed their sentiments at this disgusting conduct.

The road from Mr. Forth’s plantation runs a considerable distance along ridges, descending finally into the bottom lands along the Ohio. These are exceedingly fertile. The growth of timber is extremely luxuriant. I measured a sycamore of common size, and found it seventeen feet in diameter; their height is truly astonishing. The soil is of a deep brown colour, and where it is turned up, proves to be blackish. The stratum is generally limestone. I crossed the Ohio at Ghent, in Kentucky, opposite to Vevay, in Indiana.

CHAPTER III.

Vevay.—Geographical Sketch of the State of Indiana.—Madison.— Charlestown—its Court.—Jeffersonville.—Clarksville.—New Albany.—The Falls of the Ohio.

Vevay, in Indiana, became a settlement twenty years ago, by Swiss emigrants, who obtained a grant of land, equal to 200 acres for each family, under the condition of cultivating the vine; they accordingly settled here, and laid out vineyards. The original settlers may have amounted to thirty; others joined them afterwards, and in this manner was founded the county town of New Switzerland, in Indiana, which consists almost exclusively of these French and Swiss settlers. They have their vineyards below the town, on the banks of the river Ohio. The vines, however, have degenerated, and the produce is an indifferent beverage, resembling any thing but claret, as it had been represented. Two of them have attempted to cultivate the river hills, and the vineyards laid out there are rather of a better sort. The town is on the decline; it has a court-house, and two stores very ill supplied. The condition of these, and the absence of lawyers, are sure indications of the poverty of the inhabitants, if broken windows, and doors falling from their hinges, should leave any doubt on the subject; they are, however, a merry set of people, and balls are held regularly every month. In the evening arrived ten teams laden with fifty emigrants from Kentucky, going to settle in Indiana; their reasons for doing this were numerous. Although they had bought their lands in Kentucky twice over, they had to give them up a third time, their titles having proved invalid; but still they would have remained, had it not been for the insolent behaviour of their more wealthy neighbours, who, in consequence of these emigrants having no slaves, and being thus obliged to work for themselves, not only treated them as slaves, but even encouraged their own blacks to give them every kind of annoyance, and to rob them—for no other reason than their dislike to have paupers for neighbours.

My landlord assured me that at least 200 waggons had passed from the Kentucky side, through Vevay, during the present season, all full of emigrants, discouraged from continuing among these lawless people.

The state of Indiana, which I had now