Mr Audubon on the Ohio. 125 



tisfied parties of aborigines, we felt for a while extremely un- 

 comfortable. Ere long, however, our minds became more 

 calmed, and we plainly discovered that the singular uproar was 

 produced by an enthusiastic set of Methodists, who had wan- 

 dered thus far out of the common way, for the purpose of hold- 

 ing one of their annual camp-meetings, under the shade of a 

 beech forest. Without meeting with any other interruption, we 

 reached Henderson, distant from Shipping-port by water about 

 200 miles. 



When I think of these times, and call back to my mind the 

 grandeur and beauty of those almost uninhabited shores ; when 

 I picture to myself the dense and lofty summits of the forests, 

 that everywhere spread along the hills, and overhung the mar- 

 gins of the stream, unmolested by the axe of the settler ; when 

 1 know how dearly-purchased the safe navigation of that river 

 has been by the blood of many worthy Virginians ; when I see 

 that no longer any aborigines are to be found there, and that 

 the vast herds of elks, deer, and buffaloes, which once pastured 

 on these hills and in these valleys, making to themselves great 

 roads to the several salt-springs, have ceased to exist ; when I 

 reflect that all this grand portion of our Union, instead of being 

 in a state of nature, is now more or less covered with villages^ 

 farms, and towns, where the din of hammers and machinery is 

 constantly heard ; that the woods are last disappearing under 

 the axe by day, and the fire by night ; that hundreds of steam- 

 boats are gliding to and fro, over the whole length of the majes- 

 tic river^ forcing commerce to take root and to prosper at every 

 spot ; when I see the surplus population of Europe coming to 

 assist in the destruction of the forest, and transplanting civiliza- 

 tion into its darkest recesses ; — when I remember that these ex- 

 traordinary changes have all taken place in the short period of 

 twenty years, I pause, wonder, and, although I know all to be 

 fact, can scarcely believe its reality. 



Whether these changes are for the better or for the worse, I 

 shall not pretend to say ; but in whatever way my conclusions 

 may incline, I feel with regret, that there are on record no satis- 

 factory accounts of the state of that portion of the country, from 

 the time when our people first settled in it. This has not been 

 because no one in America is able to accomplish such an imderw 



