Chapter V: Preface: To Volume III (4)

[162] This was George Madison, brother of Bishop Madison of
Virginia. Born about 1763, he served in the
Revolution while yet a boy, and enlisting in the
regular army was wounded at St. Clair’s defeat
(1791), and again the following year. Shortly after
this visit of Michaux, Madison was appointed state
auditor, and removed to Frankfort, where he held the
office for twenty ensuing years. In 1812 he served as
major in the army, was captured at Raisin River, and
sent as prisoner to Quebec. Upon his exchange, he was
received in Kentucky with great rejoicing, and
elected governor (1816), but died during the first
year of his term.--ED.

[163] A toise is a French linear measure equivalent to 6.395
English feet.--ED.

[164] This mill was at the site of the present town of
Hodgenville, seat of Larue County. Abraham Lincoln
was born about two miles south of this place, when
Larue was still part of Hardin County--ED.

[165] Shepherdsville, the seat of Bullitt County, was
incorporated as a town in 1793. Its site was at the
falls of Salt River, and it was an important station
in early Kentucky history.--ED.

[166] Gayoso mentions one Sarpy, a rich merchant of New
Orleans, as concerned in the plot against Louisiana
(1793). Another merchant, Beauvais, was similarly
involved. Consult American Historical Association
_Report_, 1896, p. 1049.--ED.

[167] Samuel Fulton, a native of North Carolina, who had
lived for some time among the Creek Indians, was
agent for Clark in settling his accounts with the
French government. He arrived from France late in
1795, and Michaux’s testimony was relied upon to
secure the affidavits necessary to obtain recompense
from the French republic. See _American State Papers,
Indian Affairs_, i, p. 463. Consult, also, American
Historical Association _Report_, 1896, pp.
1047-1065.--ED.

[168] Probably _Pinus inops_, Ait.--C. S. S.

[169] _Aplectrum hyemale_, Nutt.--C. S. S.

[170] Col. Robert Hays, a brother-in-law of Andrew Jackson,
was born in North Carolina, and served in the
Revolution, being captured at Charleston. He removed
to Cumberland in 1784, was first United States
marshal of Tennessee, muster-master-general for
Jackson in 1813, and died at his home near Nashville
in 1819.--ED.

[171] _Arundinaria macrosperma_, Michx.--C. S. S.

[172] Fort Blount was not a pioneer stronghold, but one
erected by the government shortly before Michaux’s
visit, for protection of the settlers against the
Cherokees. It was on the north bank of Cumberland
River, in the southwestern part of Jackson County,
about midway between the Eastern and Western
Tennessee settlements.--ED.

[173] _Cladrastis tinctoria_ Raf., discovered here by
Michaux, although not included in his _Flora_. A
letter written by Michaux to Governor Blount
suggesting the value of the wood of this tree as a
dye wood, was, according to the younger Michaux,
published in the _Knoxville Gazette_, on the
fifteenth of March, 1769. [See his journal,
_post._]--C. S. S.

[174] _Lygodium palmatum_ Swz.--C. S. S.

[175] The Looneys were a prominent family in the early
history of East Tennessee. Captain David Looney was
militia officer during the Revolution and the Indian
wars.--ED.

[176] Dr. Benjamin S. Barton was one of the best known
scientists and naturalists of his day, as well as a
skilful physician. Born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania,
he was educated in Europe and took up practice in
Philadelphia. In 1789, he was made professor of
botany and natural history in the University of
Pennsylvania; he was vice-president of the American
Philosophical Society, and member of other learned
organizations. He was designated to edit the
scientific data of Lewis and Clark’s expedition, but
died before accomplishing this (1815).--ED.

[177] William Bartram, son and co-worker of John Bartram,
one of America’s first naturalists, was born in
Pennsylvania in 1739. He devoted his life to the
study of botany, travelling extensively for the
discovery of plants. His head-quarters were at the
botanical gardens near Philadelphia.--ED.

[178] John Overton was one of the best-known jurists of
Tennessee. Born in Virginia, he early emigrated to
Kentucky, whence he removed to Nashville, about the
time Jackson began his career. He became Jackson’s
partner and warm friend. From 1804-10 he was judge of
the superior court, and of great service in adjusting
land titles; the next five years (1811-16) Judge
Overton served on the supreme bench of the state. He
was one of the early proprietors of Memphis; and died
near Nashville in 1833.--ED.

[179] John Carter was the foremost man of the early Watauga
settlement. Coming from North Carolina, he had the
prestige of family and a superior education, and was
chosen head of the new community, serving efficiently
in many capacities. He was concerned in the State of
Franklin movement, and was frequently called out at
the head of the militia, on Indian expeditions.
Carter County was named for him, and he had therein a
large estate.--ED.

[180] Michaux returned across the mountains by a different
route from the one by which he went out. The northern
or upper road over Yellow Mountain appears to have
been the more frequented; the lower road, over the
Iron Mountain range and down the Nolichucky, the more
direct. See the younger Michaux’s account (_post_) of
the difficulties of this route, when he passed over
it six years later. Limestone Cove was probably at
the mouth of Limestone Creek, a tributary of the
Nolichucky on the western or Tennessee side of the
mountain. Cane and Paper Creeks are small tributaries
of the Nolichucky, on the eastern or North Carolina
grade of the mountains.--ED.

[181] _C. rostrata_, Ait.--C. S. S.

[182] _V. hastata_, Michx.--C. S. S.

[183] _M. macrophylla_, Michx.--C. S. S.

[184] Tuckasegee Ford is between the present Gaston County and
Mechlenburg, about ten miles west of Charlotte.--ED.

[185] Note: before passing the ford, I dined with ... Alexander,
a very respectable man from whom I have received many
courtesies.--MICHAUX.

It is impossible to determine from this allusion,
which of the numerous Alexander family Michaux
visited. The Alexanders of Mechlenburg were noted as
patriotic, God-fearing, Scotch-Irish Presbyterians,
who had a large share in the Revolutionary War in
their country. Abraham presided at the Mechlenburg
Convention (1775), of which Adam and John McKnitt
Alexander were both members.--ED.

[186] When one does not wish to pass by Charlotte in going to
Lincoln, he must inquire twelve or fifteen miles
before reaching these, for the route to the left
which passes by Tuckasegee Ford.--MICHAUX.

[187] It has been suggested that this may refer to _F.
Caroliniana_, Walt. (_F. Walteri_, Michx.).--C. S. S.

[188] It is not at all clear what shrub Michaux refers to in
this entry. Mr. Canby, to whom several of the
doubtful points in the Journal have been referred,
and whose knowledge of the plants of the Allegheny
region is now unrivaled, suggests that Michaux may
have found _Darbya_. There is nothing in his
herbarium to indicate that he ever saw that plant,
which was found, however, by M. A. Curtis not far
from Morganton.--C. S. S.

[189] Probably _Silene Pennsylvanica_ as suggested by Mr.
Canby, or _S. Baldwinii_, as suggested by Mr. Meehan.
In both of the species the petals are sometimes rose
colored.--C. S. S.

[190] _Planera aquatica_, Gmelin.--C. S. S.

[191] Bledsoe’s Lick. A pioneer told Lyman C. Draper that this
was often called “the Bloody Ground,” because so many
whites were there killed by Indians--note in Draper
MSS., Wisconsin Historical Society, 3 XX 18.--ED.

TRAVELS TO THE WEST OF THE ALLEGHANY MOUNTAINS,
BY FRANÇOIS ANDRÉ MICHAUX

Reprint from London edition, 1805

_CARTE_

DES ETATS DU CENTRE, DE
L’OUEST ET DU SUD
_DES_
ETATS-UNIS.

_Dessinée par Dupias fils_
AN XII.__1804.
]

TRAVELS

TO THE WEST OF THE

_ALLEGHANY MOUNTAINS_,

IN THE STATES OF

Ohio,
KENTUCKY, AND TENNESSEA,

AND BACK TO CHARLESTON, BY THE UPPER
CAROLINES;

COMPRISING

_The most interesting Details on the present State of_
Agriculture,

AND

THE NATURAL PRODUCE OF THOSE COUNTRIES:

TOGETHER WITH

_Particulars relative to the Commerce that exists between the
above-mentioned States, and those situated East of the Mountains
and Low Louisiana_,

UNDERTAKEN, IN THE YEAR 1802,

UNDER THE AUSPICES OF

His Excellency M. CHAPTAL, Minister of the Interior,
BY F. A. MICHAUX,

MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY AT PARIS; CORRESPONDENT
OF THE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY IN THE DEPARTMENT
OF THE SEINE AND OISE.

LONDON:

Printed by D. N. SHURY, Berwick Street, Soho;
FOR B. CROSBY AND CO. STATIONERS’ COURT;
AND J. F. HUGHES, WIGMORE STREET, CAVENDISH SQUARE:

1805.

CONTENTS

CHAP. I

Departure from Bourdeaux.--Arrival at Charleston.--Remarks
upon the yellow fever.--A short description of the town
of Charleston.--Observations upon several trees, natives
of the old continent, reared in a botanic garden near
the city 117

CHAP. II

Departure from Charleston for New York.--A short
description of the town.--Botanic excursions in New
Jersey.--Remarks upon the _quercus tinctoria_, or black
oak, and the nut trees of that country.--Departure from
New York for Philadelphia.--Abode 125

{vi} CHAP. III

Departure from Philadelphia to the western
country.--Communications by land in the United
States.--Arrival at Lancaster.--Description of the
town and its environs.--Departure.--Columbia.--Passage
from Susquehannah, York, Dover, Carlisle.--Arrival at
Shippensburgh.--Remarks upon the state of agriculture
during the journey 132

CHAP. IV

Departure from Shippensburgh to Strasburgh.--Journey
over the Blue Ridges.--New Species of
_rhododendrum_.--Passage over the river Juniata.--Use
of the cones of the _magnolia acuminata_.--Arrival at
Bedford Court House.--Excesses to which the natives
of that part of the country are addicted.--Departure
from Bedford.--Journey over Alleghany Ridge and Laurel
Hill.--Arrival at West Liberty Town 141

CHAP. V

Departure from West Liberty Town to go among the mountains
in search of a shrub supposed to give good oil, a
new species of _azalea_.--Ligonier Valley.--Coal
Mines.--Greensburgh.--Arrival at Pittsburgh 149

{vii} CHAP. VI

Description of Pittsburgh.--Commerce of the Town and
adjacent countries with New Orleans.--Construction
of large vessels.--Description of the rivers
Monongahela and Alleghany.--Towns situated on their
banks.--Agriculture.--Maple sugar 156

CHAP. VII

Description of the Ohio.--Navigation of that river.--Mr.
S. Craft.--The object of his travels.--Remarks upon the
state of Vermont 163

CHAP. VIII

Departure from Pittsburgh for Kentucky.--Journey by land
to Wheeling.--State of agriculture on the route.--West
Liberty Town in Virginia.--Wheeling 168

CHAP. IX

Departure from Wheeling for Marietta.--Aspect of the banks
of the Ohio.--Nature of the forests.--Extraordinary size
of several kinds of trees 172

{viii} CHAP. X

Marietta.--Ship building.--Departure for
Gallipoli.--Falling in with a Kentucky boat.--Point
Pleasant.--The Great Kenhaway 177

CHAP. XI

Gallipoli.--State of the French colony Scioto.--Alexandria
at the mouth of the Great Scioto.--Arrival at Limestone
in Kentucky 182

CHAP. XII

Fish and shells of the Ohio.--Inhabitants on the banks of
the river.--Agriculture.--American emigrant.--Commercial
intelligence relative to that part of the United States 188

CHAP. XIII

Limestone.--Route from Limestone to Lexinton.--Washington.--
Salt-works at Mays-Lick.--Millesburgh.--Paris 195

CHAP. XIV

Lexinton.--Manufactories established there.--Commerce.--Dr.
Samuel Brown 199

{ix} CHAP. XV

Departure from Lexinton.--Culture of the vine at Kentucky.--
Passage over the Kentucky and Dick Rivers.--Departure
for Nasheville.--Mulder Hill.--Passage over Green River 206

CHAP. XVI

Passage over the Barrens, or Meadows.--Plantations upon
the road.--The view they present.--Plants discovered
there.--Arrival at Nasheville 215

CHAP. XVII

General observations upon Kentucky.--Nature of the
soil.--First settlements in the state.--Right of
property uncertain.--Population 222

CHAP. XVIII

Distinction of Estates.--Species of Trees peculiar to each
of them.--Ginseng.--Animals in Kentucky 228

CHAP. XIX

Different kinds of culture in Kentucky.--Exportation of
colonial produce.--Peach trees.--Taxes 237

{x} CHAP. XX

Particulars relative to the manners of the inhabitants
of Kentucky.--Horses and cattle.--Necessity of giving
them salt.--Wild Horses caught in the Plains of New
Mexico.--Exportation of salt provisions 243

[CHAP.] XXI

Nasheville.--Commercial details.--Settlement of the Natches 250

CHAP. XXII

Departure for Knoxville.--Arrival at Fort Blount.--Remarks
upon the drying up of the Rivers in the
Summer.--Plantations on the road.--Fertility of the
soil.--Excursions in a canoe on the river Cumberland 255

CHAP. XXIII

Departure from Fort Blount to West Point, through the
Wilderness.--Botanical excursions upon Roaring
River.--Description of its Banks.--Saline productions
found there.--Indian Cherokees.--Arrival at Knoxville 258

{xi} CHAP. XXIV

Knoxville.--Commercial intelligence.--Trees that grow in
the environs.--Converting some parts of the Meadows into
Forests.--River Nolachuky.--Greensville.--Arrival at
Jonesborough 265

CHAP. XXV

General observations on the state of Tennessea.--Rivers
Cumberland and Tennessea.--What is meant by East
Tennessea or Holston, and West Tennessea or
Cumberland.--First settlements in West Tennessea.--Trees
natives of that country 271

CHAP. XXVI

Different kinds of produce of West Tennessea.--Domestic
manufactories for cottons encouraged by the Legislature
of this State.--Mode of letting out Estates by some of
the Emigrants 276

CHAP. XXVII

East Tennessea, or Holston.--Agriculture.--Population.--
Commerce 280

{xii} CHAP. XXVIII

Departure from Jonesborough for Morganton, in North
Carolina.--Journey over Iron Mountains.--Sojourn on the
mountains.--Journey over the Blue Ridges and Linneville
Mountains.--Arrival at Morganton 283

CHAP. XXIX

General observations upon this part of the Chain of
the Alleghanies.--Salamander which is found in the
torrents.--Bear hunting 286

CHAP. XXX

Morganton.--Departure for Charleston.--Lincolnton.--
Chester.--Winesborough.-- Columbia.--Aspect of the Country
on the Road.--Agriculture, &c. &c. 290

CHAP. XXXI

General observations on the Carolinas and Georgia.--
Agriculture and produce peculiar to the upper part of
these states 296

CHAP. XXXII

Low part of the Carolines and Georgia.--Agriculture.--
Population.--Arrival at Charleston 301

TRAVELS, &C., &C.

CHAP. I

_Departure from Bourdeaux.--Arrival at Charleston.--Remarks
upon the yellow fever.--A short description of the town of
Charleston.--Observations upon several trees, natives of the
old continent, reared in a botanic garden near the city._

Charleston, in South Carolina, being the first place of my destination, I went to Bourdeaux as one of the ports of France that trades most with the southern parts of the United States, and where there are most commonly vessels from the different points of North America. I embarked the 24th of {2} September 1801, on board the John and Francis, commanded by the same captain with whom I returned to Europe several years ago.[1] A fortnight after our departure we were overtaken by a calm, within sight of the Açorian Islands. Saint George’s and Graciosa were those nearest to us, where we clearly distinguished a few houses, which appeared built with stone and chalk; and the rapid declivity of the land divided by hedges, which most likely separated the property of different occupiers. The major part of these islands abound with stupendous mountains, in various directions, and beyond which the summit of Pico, in a pyramidical form rises majestically above the clouds, which were then illumined by the rays of the setting sun. A gentle breeze springing up, we soon lost sight of that charming prospect, and on the 9th of October following entered the Charleston roads, in company with two other vessels which had left Bourdeaux, the one eighteen days, and the other a month before us.

The pleasure that we felt on discovering the shore was very soon abated. The pilot informed us that the yellow fever had made dreadful ravages at Charleston, and was still carrying off a great number of the inhabitants. This intelligence alarmed the {3} passengers, who were fourteen in number, the most of whom had either friends or relatives in the town. Every one was fearful of learning some disastrous news or other. The anchor was no sooner weighed than those who had never been accustomed to warm countries were escorted by their friends to the Isle of Sullivan. This island is situated about seven miles from Charleston. Its dry and parched-up soil is almost bereft of vegetation; but as it is exposed to the breeze of the open sea, the air is generally cool and pleasant. Within these few years, since that bilious and inflammatory disorder, commonly known by the name of the _yellow fever_, shows itself regularly every summer at Charleston, a great number of the inhabitants and planters, who took refuge in the town to escape the intermittent fevers which attack seven-tenths of those resident in the country, have built houses in that island, where they sojourn from the early part of July till the first frost, which usually takes place about the 15th of November. A few of the inhabitants keep boarding-houses, where they receive those who have no settled residence. It has been remarked that foreigners, newly arrived from Europe or the states of North America, and {4} who go immediately to reside in this island, are exempt from the yellow fever.

However powerful these considerations were, they could not induce me to go and pass my time in such a dull and melancholy abode; upon which I refused the advice of my friends, and staid in the town. I had nearly been the victim of my obstinacy, having been, a few days after, attacked with the first symptoms of this dreadful malady, under which I laboured upward of a month.

The yellow fever varies every year according to the intenseness of the heat; at the same time the observation has not yet been forcible enough to point out the characteristic signs by which they can discover whether it will be more or less malignant in the summer. The natives are not so subject to it as foreigners, eight-tenths of whom died the year of my arrival; and whenever the former are attacked with it, it is always in a much less proportion.

It has been observed that during the months of July, August, September, and October, when this disorder is usually most prevalent, the persons who leave Charleston for a few days only, are, on their return to town, much more susceptible of catching it {5} than those who staid at home. The natives of Upper Carolina, two or three hundred miles distant, are as subject to it as foreigners; and those of the environs are not always exempt from it: whence it results that during one third of the year all communications are nearly cut off between the country and town, whither they go but very reluctantly, and seldom or ever sleep there. The supply of provisions at that time is only made by the negroes, who are never subject to the fever. On my return to Charleston in the month of October 1802, from my travels over the western part of the country, I did not meet, on the most populous road, for the space of three hundred miles, a single traveller that was either going to town or returning from it; and in the houses where I stopped there was not a person who conceived his business of that importance to oblige him to go there while the season lasted.

From the 1st of November till the month of May the country affords a picture widely different; every thing resumes new life; trade is re-animated; the suspended communications re-commence; the roads are covered with waggons, bringing from all quarters the produce of the exterior; an immense number of carriages and single-horse chaises roll rapidly {6} along, and keep up a continual correspondence between the city and the neighbouring plantations, where the owners spend the greatest part of the season. In short, the commercial activity renders Charleston just as lively as it is dull and melancholy in the summer.

It is generally thought at Charleston that the yellow fever which rages there, as well as at Savannah, every summer, is analogous to that which breaks out in the colonies, and that it is not contagious: but this opinion is not universally adopted in the northern cities. It is a fact, that whenever the disease is prevalent at New York and Philadelphia, the natives are as apt to contract it as foreigners, and that they remove as soon as they learn that their neighbours are attacked with it. Notwithstanding they have a very valuable advantage that is not to be found at Charleston, which is, that the country places bordering on Philadelphia and New York are pleasant and salubrious; and that at two or three miles’ distance the inhabitants are in perfect safety, though even the disorder committed the greatest ravages in the above-mentioned towns.

I took the liberty to make this slight digression, for the information of those who might have to go to the {7} southern parts of the United States that it is dangerous to arrive there in the months of July, August, September, and October. I conceived, like many others, that the using of every means necessary to prevent the effervescence of the blood was infallibly a preservative against this disorder; but every year it is proved by experience that those who have pursued that mode of living, which is certainly the best, are not all exempt from sharing the fate of those who confine themselves to any particular kind of regimen.

Charleston is situated at the conflux of the rivers Ashley and Cooper. The spot of ground that it occupies is about a mile in length. From the middle of the principal street the two rivers might be clearly seen, were it not for a public edifice built upon the banks of the Cooper, which intercepts the view. The most populous and commercial part of the town is situated along the Ashley. Several ill-constructed quays project into the river, to facilitate the trading vessels taking in their cargoes. These quays are formed with the trunks of palm trees fixed together, and laid out in squares one above the other. Experience has shown that the trunks of these trees, although of a very spungy nature, lie buried in the {8} water many years without decaying; upon which account they are generally preferred for these purposes to any other kind of wood in the country. The streets of Charleston are extremely wide, but not paved, consequently every time your foot slips from a kind of brick pavement before the doors, you are immerged nearly ancle-deep in sand. The rapid circulation of the carriages, which, proportionately speaking, are far more considerable here in number than in any other part of America, continually grinds this moving sand, and pulverizes it in such a manner, that the most gentle wind fills the shops with it, and renders it very disagreeable to foot passengers. At regular distances pumps supply the inhabitants with water of such a brackish taste, that it is truly astonishing how foreigners can grow used to it. Two-thirds of the houses are built with wood, the rest with brick. According to the last computation, made in 1803, the population, comprising foreigners, amounted to 10,690 whites and 9050 slaves.

Strangers that arrive at Charleston, or at any town in the United States, find no furnished hotels nor rooms to let for their accommodation, no coffee-houses where they can regale themselves. The whole of this is replaced by boarding-houses, where every thing necessary {9} is provided. In Carolina you pay, at these receptacles, from twelve to twenty piastres per week. This enormous sum is by no means proportionate to the price of provisions. For example, beef very seldom exceeds sixpence a pound. Vegetables are dearer there than meat. Independent of the articles of consumption that the country supplies, the port of Charleston is generally full of small vessels from Boston, Newport, New York, and Philadelphia, and from all the little intermediate ports, which are loaded with flour, salt provisions, potatoes, onions, carrots, beet-roots, apples, oats, Indian corn, and hay. Planks and building materials comprize another considerable article of importation; and although these different kinds of produce are brought from three to four hundred leagues, they are not so dear and of a better quality than those of their own growth.

In winter the markets of Charleston are well stocked with live sea-fish, which are brought from the northern part of the United States in vessels so constructed as to keep them in a continual supply of water. The ships engaged in this kind of traffic load, in return, with rice and cottons, the greater part of which is re-exported into Europe, the freight {10} being always higher in the northern than in the southern states. The cotton wool that they keep in the north for their own consumption is more than sufficient to supply the manufacturies, being but very few: the overplus is disposed of in the country places, where the women fabricate coarse cottons for the use of their families.

Wood is extravagantly dear at Charleston; it costs from forty to fifty shillings[2] a _cord_, notwithstanding forests, which are almost boundless in extent, begin at six miles, and even at a less distance from the town, and the conveyance of it is facilitated by the two rivers at the conflux of which it is situated; on which account a great number of the inhabitants burn coals that are brought from England.

As soon as I recovered from my illness I left Charleston, and went to reside in a small plantation about ten miles from the town, where my father had formed a botanic garden. It was there he collected and cultivated, with the greatest care, the plants that he found in the long and painful travels that his ardent love for science had urged him to make, almost every year, in the different quarters of America. Ever animated with a desire of serving the country he was in, he conceived that the climate of South Carolina {11} must be favourable to the culture of several useful vegetables of the old continent, and made a memorial of them, which he read to the Agricultural Society at Charleston. A few happy essays confirmed him in his opinion, but his return to Europe did not permit him to continue his former attempts. On my arrival at Carolina I found in this garden a superb collection of trees and plants that had survived almost a total neglect for nearly the space of four years. I likewise found there a great number of trees belonging to the old continent, that my father had planted, some of which were in the most flourishing state. I principally remarked two _ginkgo bilobas_, that had not been planted above seven years, and which were then upward of thirty feet in height; several _sterculia platanifolia_, which had yielded seed upward of six years; in short, more than a hundred and fifty _mimosa illibrissin_, the first plant of which came from Europe about ten inches in diameter. I set several before my return to France, this tree being at that time very much esteemed for its magnificent flowers. The Agricultural Society at Carolina are now in possession of this garden: they intend keeping it in order, and cultivating the useful vegetables belonging to the old continent, which, {12} from the analogy of the climate, promise every success.[3] I employed the remainder of the autumn in making collections of seed, which I sent to Europe; and the winter, in visiting the different parts of Low Carolina, and in reconnoitring the places where, the year following, I might make more abundant harvests, and procure the various sorts that I had not been able to collect during the autumn.

On this account I must observe, that in North America, and perhaps more so than in Europe, there are plants that only inhabit certain places; whence it happens that a botanist, in despite of all his zeal and activity, does not meet with them for years; whilst another, led by a happy chance, finds them in his first excursion. I shall add, in favour of those who wish to travel over the southern part of the United States for botanical researches, that the epoch of the flower season begins in the early part of February; the time for gathering the seeds of herbaceous plants in the month of August; and on the 1st of October for that of forest trees.

{13} CHAP. II

_Departure from Charleston for New York.--A short description
of the town.--Botanic excursions in New Jersey.--Remark
upon the_ Quercus tinctoria _or Black Oak, and the nut
trees of that country.--Departure from New York for
Philadelphia.--Abode._

In the spring of the year 1802 I left Charleston to go to New York, where I arrived after a passage of ten days. Trade is so brisk between the northern and southern states, that there is generally an opportunity at Charleston to get into any of the ports of the northern states you wish. Several vessels have rooms, tastefully arranged and commodiously fitted up, for the reception of passengers, who every year go in crowds to reside in the northern part of the United States, during the unhealthy season, and return to Charleston in the month of November following. You pay for the passage from forty to fifty {14} piastres. Its duration varies according to the weather. It is generally about ten days, but it is sometimes prolonged by violent gusts of wind which casually spring up on doubling Cape Hatras.

New York, situated at the conflux of the rivers from the east and north, is much nearer to the sea than Philadelphia. Its harbour being safe, and of an easy access in all seasons, makes it very advantageous to the city, and adds incessantly to its extent, riches, and population. The town consists of more than 50,000 souls, among whom are reckoned but a very small number of negroes. Living is not so dear there as at Charleston; one may board for eight or ten piastres a week.

During my stay at New York I frequently had an opportunity of seeing Dr. Hosack, who was held in the highest reputation as a professor of botany. He was at that time employed in establishing a botanical garden, where he intended giving a regular course of lectures. This garden is a few miles from the town: the spot of ground is well adapted, especially for plants that require a peculiar aspect or situation. Mr. Hosack is the physician belonging to the hospital and prison, by virtue of which he permitted me to accompany him in one of his visits, and I had by that {15} means an opportunity of seeing those two establishments. The hospital is well situated, the buildings are extensive, the rooms lofty and well aired; but the beds appeared to me very indifferent; they are composed of a very low bedstead, edged with board about four inches wide, and furnished with a mattress, or rather a pallias, filled with oat straw, not very thick, coarse brown linen sheets, and a rug. The prison is remarkable for the decorum, the arrangement, the cleanliness that reigns there, and more especially for the willingness with which the prisoners seem to work at the different employments allotted for them.

Each seemed to be tasked according to his abilities or profession; some were making shoes, and others manufacturing cut-nails. These nails, made by the help of a machine, have no point, and cannot be used for the same purposes as others wrought in the usual way; notwithstanding, a great many people prefer them for nailing on roofs of houses. They pretend that these nails have not the inconvenience of starting out by reason of the weather, as it frequently happens with others; as upon the roofs of old houses a great number of nails may be seen {16} which do not appear to have been driven in more than half or one-third of their length.

During my stay at New York, I took a botanical excursion into New Jersey, by the river side, towards the north. This part of New Jersey is very uneven; the soil is hard and flinty, to judge of it by the grass which I saw in places pulled up. Large rocks, of a chalky nature, as if decayed, appeared even with the ground upon almost all the hills. Notwithstanding, we observed different species of trees; among others, a variety of the red oak, the acorn of which is nearly round; the white oak, _quercus alba_; and, among the different species or varieties of nut trees, the _juglans tomentosa_, or mocker-nut, and the _juglans minima_, or pig-nut. In the low and marshy places, where it is overflowed almost all the year, we found the _juglans-hickery_, or shell-barked hickery; the _quercus prinus aquatica_, which belongs to the series of _prunus_, and is not mentioned in the “_History of Oaks_.”[4] The valleys are planted with ash trees, palms, _cornus florida’s_ poplars, and _quercus tinctoria’s_, known in the country by the name of the black oak.

The _quercus tinctoria_ is very common in all the {17} northern states; it is likewise found to the west of the Alleghany mountains, but is not so abundant in the low part of Georgia and the two Carolinas. The leaves of the lower branches assume a different form from those of the higher branches; the latter are more sharp and pointed. The plate given in the History of Oaks only represents the leaves of the lower branches, and the shape of them when quite young. Amid these numerous species and varieties of oaks, the leaves of which vary, as to form, according to their age, which generally confounds them with each other; notwithstanding, there are certain characteristic signs by which the _quercus tinctoria_ may be always known. In all the other species the stalk, fibres, and leaves themselves are of a lightish green, and towards the autumn their colour grows darker, and changes to a reddish hue; on the contrary, the stalk, fibres and leaves of the black oak are of a yellowish cast, and apparently very dry; again, the yellow grows deeper towards the approach of winter. This remark is sufficient not to mistake them; notwithstanding, there is another still more positive, by which this species may be recognised in winter, when even it has lost its leaves; that is, by the bitter taste of its bark, and the yellow colour {18} which the spittle assumes when chewed. The bark of the _quercus cinerea_ has nearly the same property; and, finding this, I made an observation of it to Dr. Bancroft, who was at Charleston in the winter of 1802. Upon the whole, it is impossible to be mistaken concerning these two kinds of oaks; for the latter grows only in the dryest parts of the southern states. It is very rarely more than four inches in diameter, and eighteen feet in height; its leaves are lanceolated: on the other hand, the _quercus tinctoria_ grows upwards of eighty feet in height, and its leaves are in several lobes, and very long.

Among the species of acorns that I sent over from the northern states of America to France, and those which I brought with me in the spring of 1803, were some of the black oak, which have come up very abundantly in the nursery at Trianon. Mr. Cels has upwards of a hundred young plants of them in his garden.

The species and variety of nut trees natural to the United States are also extremely numerous, and might be the subject of a useful and interesting monography; but that work would never be precisely accurate provided the different qualities of those trees are not studied in the country itself. I have {19} seen some of those nut trees which, by the leaves and blossom, appeared of the same species, when the shells and nuts seemed to class them differently. I have, on the contrary, seen others where the leaves and blossoms were absolutely different, and the fruit perfectly analogous. It is true there are some, where the fruit and blossom are systematically regular at the same time, but very few. This numerous species of nut trees is not confined to the United States; it is remarked in every part of North America from the northern extremity of the United States as far as Mississipi; that is to say, an extent of more than eight hundred leagues from north to south, and five hundred from east to west. I brought over with me some new nuts of six different species, which have come up exceedingly well, and which appear not to have been yet described.

I left New York the 8th of June 1802, to go to Philadelphia; the distance is about a hundred miles. The stages make this journey some in a day, others in a day and a half; the fare is five piastres each person. At the taverns where the stages stop they pay one piaster for dinner, half one for supper or breakfast, and the same for a bed. The space of ground that separates the two cities is completely {20} cleared, and the farms are contiguous to each other. About nine miles from New York is a place called Newark, a pretty little town situated in New Jersey. The fields that encompass it are planted with apple trees; the cyder that is made there is accounted the best in the United States; however, I conceived it by far inferior to that of Saint Lo, Coutance, or Bayeux. Among the other small towns by the road side, Trenton seemed worthy of attention. Its situation upon the Delaware, the beautiful tract of country that surrounds it, must render it a most delightful place of abode.

Philadelphia is situated upon the Delaware, a hundred miles distant from the sea; at this period the most extensive, the handsomest, and most populous city of the United States. In my opinion, there is not one upon the old continent built upon so regular a plan. The streets cut each other at right angles, and are from forty to fifty feet in breadth, except the middle one, which is twice as broad. The market is built in this street, and is remarkable for its extent and extreme cleanliness; it is in the centre of the town, and occupies nearly one-third of its length. The streets are paved commodiously before the houses with brick; pumps erected on both sides, about {21} fifty yards distant from each other, afford an abundant supply of water; upon the top of each is a brilliant lamp. Several streets are planted with Italian poplars of a most beautiful growth, which makes the houses appear elegantly rural.

The population of Philadelphia is always on the increase; in 1749, there were eleven thousand inhabitants; in 1785, forty thousand; and now the number is computed to be about seventy thousand. The few Negroes that are there are free, the greatest part of whom go out to service. Provisions are not quite so dear at Philadelphia as New York; on which account the boarding houses do not charge more than from six to ten piastres per week. You never meet any poor at Philadelphia, not a creature wearing the aspect of misery in his face; that distressing spectacle, so common in European cities, is unknown in America; love, industry, the want of sufficient hands, the scarcity of workmanship, an active commerce, property, are the direct causes that contend against the introduction of beggary, whether in town or country.

During my stay at Philadelphia, I had an opportunity of seeing the Rev. Dr. Collin, minister of the Swedish church, and president of the Philosophical {22} Society; Mr. John Vaughan, the secretary; Messrs. Piles, John and William Bartram.[5] These different gentlemen had formerly been particularly acquainted with my father, and I received from them every mark of attention and respect. Mr. Piles has a beautiful cabinet of natural history. The legislature of Pensylvania have presented him with a place to arrange it in; that is the only encouragement he has received. He is continually employed in enriching it by increasing the number of his correspondents in Europe, as well as in the remote parts of the United States; still, except a _bison_, I saw nothing in his collection but what may be found in the Museum at Paris.

The absence of Mr. W. Hamilton deprived me of the pleasure of seeing him; notwithstanding, I went into his magnificent garden, situated upon the borders of the Schuylkill, about four miles from Philadelphia. His collection of exotics is immense, and remarkable for plants from New Holland; all the trees and shrubs of the United States, at least those that could stand the winter at Philadelphia, after being once removed from their native soil; in short, it would be almost impossible to find a more agreeable situation than the residence of Mr. W. Hamilton.[6]

{23} CHAP. III

_Departure from Philadelphia to the Western Country.--Communications
by land in the United States.--Arrival at Lancaster.--
Description of the town and its environs.--Departure.--
Columbia.--Passage from Susquehannah, York, Dover, Carlisle.--
Arrival at Shippensburgh.--Remarks upon the state of
agriculture during the journey._

The states of Kentucky, Tennessea, and Ohio comprise that vast extent of country known in America by the name of the Western Country. Almost all the Europeans who have published observations upon the United States, have been pleased to say, according to common report, that this part of the country is very fertile; but they have never entered into the least particulars. It is true that, to reach these new settlements, one is obliged to travel over a considerable tract of uninhabited country, and that {24} these journies are tedious, painful, and afford nothing very interesting to travellers who wish to describe the manners of the people who reside in the town or most populous parts; but as natural history, and more especially vegetable productions, with the state of agriculture, were the chief object of my researches; my business was to avoid the parts most known, in order to visit those which had been less explored; consequently, I resolved to undertake the journey to that remote and almost isolated part of the country. I had nearly two thousand miles to travel over before my return to Charleston, where I was to be absolutely about the beginning of October. My journey had likewise every appearance of being retarded by a thousand common-place obstacles, which is either impossible to foresee, or by any means prevent. These considerations, however, did not stop me; accordingly I fixed my departure from Philadelphia on the 27th of June 1802: I had not the least motive to proceed on slowly, in order to collect observations already confirmed by travellers who had written before me on that subject; this very reason induced me to take the most expeditious means for the purpose of reaching Pittsburgh, situated at the extremity of Ohio; in consequence of which I took {25} the stage[7] at Philadelphia, that goes to Shippensburgh by Lancaster, York, and Carlisle. Shippensburgh, about one hundred and forty miles from Philadelphia, is the farthest place that the stages go to upon that road.[8]

It is reckoned sixty miles from Philadelphia to Lancaster, where I arrived the same day in the afternoon. The road is kept in good repair by the means of turnpikes, fixed at a regular distance from each other. Nearly the whole of the way the houses are almost close together; every proprietor to his enclosure. Throughout the United States all the land that is cultivated is fenced in, to keep it from the cattle and quadrupeds of every kind that the inhabitants leave the major part of the year in the woods, which in that respect are free. Near towns or villages these {26} enclosures are made with posts, fixed in the ground about twelve feet from each other, containing five mortises, at the distance of eight or nine inches, in which are fitted long spars about four or five inches in diameter, similar to the poles used by builders for making scaffolds. The reason of their enclosing thus is principally through economy, as it takes up but very little wood, which is extremely dear in the environs of the Northern cities; but in the interior of the country, and in the Southern states, the enclosures are made with pieces of wood of equal length, placed one above the other, disposed in a zig-zag form, and supported by their extremities, which cross and interlace each other; the enclosures appear to be about seven feet in height. In the lower part of the Carolines they are made of fir; in the other parts of the country, and throughout the North, they are comprised of oak and walnut-tree; they are said to last about five and twenty years when kept in good repair.

The tract of country we have to cross, before we get to Lancaster, is exceedingly fertile and productive; the fields are covered with wheat, rye, and oats, which is a proof that the soil is better than that between New York and Philadelphia. The inns are very {27} numerous on the road; in almost all of them they speak German. My fellow travellers being continually thirsty, made the stage stop at every inn to drink a glass or two of grog. This beverage, which is generally used in the United States, is a mixture of brandy and water, or rum and water, the proportion of which depends upon the person’s taste.

Lancaster is situated in a fertile and well-cultivated plain. The town is built upon a regular plan; the houses, elevated two stories, are all of brick; the two principal streets are paved as at Philadelphia. The population is from four to five thousand inhabitants, almost all of German origin, and various sects; each to his particular church; that of the Roman Catholics is the least numerous. The inhabitants are for the most part armourers, hatters, saddlers, and coopers; the armourers of Lancaster have been long esteemed for the manufacturing of rifle-barrelled guns, the only arms that are used by the inhabitants of the interior part of the country, and the Indian nations that border on the frontiers of the United States.

At Lancaster I formed acquaintance with Mr. Mulhenberg, a Lutheran minister, who, for twenty years past, had applied himself to botany. He shewed {28} me the manuscript concerning a _Flora Lancastriensis_. The number of the species described were upwards of twelve hundred. Mr. Mulhenberg is very communicative, and more than once he expressed to me the pleasure it would give him to be on terms of intimacy with the French botanists; he corresponds regularly with Messrs. Wildenow and Smith.[9] I met at Lancaster Mr. W. Hamilton, whose magnificent garden I had an opportunity of seeing near Philadelphia. This amateur was very intimate with my father; and I can never forget the marks of benevolence that I received from him and Mr. Mulhenberg, as well as the concern they both expressed for the success of the long journey I had undertaken.

On the 27th of June I set out from Lancaster for Shippensburgh. There were only four of us in the stage, which was fitted up to hold twelve passengers. Columbia, situated upon the Susquehannah, is the first town that we arrived at; it is composed of about fifty houses, scattered here and there, and almost all built with wood; at this place ends the turnpike road.

It is not useless to observe here, that in the United States they give often the name of town to a group of seven or eight houses, and that the mode of constructing them is not the same everywhere. At {29} Philadelphia the houses are built with brick. In the other towns and country places that surround them, the half, and even frequently the whole, is built with wood; but at places within seventy or eighty miles of the sea, in the central and southern states, and again more particularly in those situated to the Westward of the Alleghany Mountains, one third of the inhabitants reside in _log houses_. These dwellings are made with the trunks of trees, from twenty to thirty feet in length, about five inches diameter, placed one upon another, and kept up by notches cut at their extremities. The roof is formed with pieces of similar length to those that compose the body of the house, but not quite so thick, and gradually sloped on each side. Two doors, which often supply the place of windows, are made by sawing away a part of the trunks that form the body of the house; the chimney, always placed at one of the extremities, is likewise made with the trunks of trees of a suitable length; the back of the chimney is made of clay, about six inches thick, which separates the fire from the wooden walls. Notwithstanding this want of precaution, fires very seldom happen in the country places. The space between these trunks of trees is filled up with clay, but so very carelessly, that the {30} light may be seen through in every part; in consequence of which these huts are exceedingly cold in winter, notwithstanding the amazing quantity of wood that is burnt. The doors move upon wooden hinges, and the greater part of them have no locks. In the night time they only push them to, or fasten them with a wooden peg. Four or five days are sufficient for two men to finish one of these houses, in which not a nail is used. Two great beds receive the whole family. It frequently happens that in summer the children sleep upon the ground, in a kind of rug. The floor is raised from one to two feet above the surface of the ground, and boarded. They generally make use of feather beds, or feathers alone, and not mattresses. Sheep being very scarce, the wool is very dear; at the same time they reserve it to make stockings. The clothes belonging to the family are hung up round the room, or suspended upon a long pole.

At Columbia the Susquehannah is nearly a quarter of a mile in breadth. We crossed it in a ferry-boat. At that time it had so little water in it, that we could easily see the bottom. The banks of this river were formed by lofty and majestic hills, and the bosom of it is strewed with little islands, which {31} seem to divide it into several streams. Some of them do not extend above five or six acres at most, and still they are as lofty as the surrounding hills. Their irregularity, and the singular forms that they present, render this situation picturesque and truly remarkable, more especially at that season of the year, when the trees were in full vegetation.

About a mile from Susquehannah I observed an _annona triloba_, the fruit of which is tolerably good, although insipid. When arrived at maturity it is nearly the size of a common egg. According to the testimony of Mr. Mulhenberg this shrub grows in the environs of Philadelphia.

About twelve miles from Columbia is a little town called York, the houses of which are not so straggling as many others, and are principally built with brick. The inhabitants are computed to be upward of eighteen hundred, most of them of German origin, and none speak English. About six miles from York we passed through Dover, composed of twenty or thirty log-houses, erected here and there. The stage stopped at the house of one M’Logan, who keeps a miserable inn fifteen miles from York.[10] That day we travelled only thirty or forty miles.

Inns are very numerous in the United States, and {32} especially in the little towns; yet almost everywhere, except in the principal towns, they are very bad, notwithstanding rum, brandy, and whiskey[11] are in plenty. In fact, in houses of the above description all kinds of spirits are considered the most material, as they generally meet with great consumption. Travellers wait in common till the family go to meals. At breakfast they make use of very indifferent tea, and coffee still worse, with small slices of ham fried in the stove, to which they sometimes add eggs and a broiled chicken. At dinner they give a piece of salt beef and roasted fowls, and rum and water as a beverage. In the evening, coffee, tea, and ham. There are always several beds in the rooms where you sleep; seldom do you meet with clean sheets. Fortunate is the traveller who arrives on the day they happen to be changed; although an American would be quite indifferent about it.

Early on the 28th of June we reached Carlisle, situated about fifty-four miles from Lancaster. The town consists of about two hundred houses, a few of them built with brick, but by far the greatest part {33} with wood. Upon the whole it has a respectable appearance, from a considerable number of large shops and warehouses. These receptacles are supplied from the interior parts of the country with large quantities of jewellery, mercery, spices, &c. The persons who keep those shops purchase and also barter with the country people for the produce of their farms, which they afterwards send off to the seaport towns for exportation.

From M’Logan’s inn to Carlisle the country is barren and mountainous, in consequence of which the houses are not so numerous on the road, being at a distance of two or three miles from each other; and out of the main road they are still more straggling. The white, red, and black oaks, the chesnut, and maple trees are those most common in the forests. Upon the summit of the hills we observed the _quercus banisteri_. From Carlisle to Shippensburgh the country continues mountainous, and is not much inhabited, being also barren and uncultivated.

We found but very few huts upon the road, and those, from their miserable picture, clearly announced that their inhabitants were in but a wretched state; as from every appearance of their approaching {34} harvest it could only afford them a scanty subsistence.

The coach stopped at an inn called the General Washington, at Shippensburgh, kept by one Colonel Ripey, whose character is that of being very obliging to all travellers that may happen to stop at his house on their tour to the western countries. Shippensburgh has scarcely seventy houses in it. The chief of its trade is dealing in corn and flour. When I left this place, a barrel of flour, weighing ninety-six pounds, was worth five piastres.