This is proved by their early appearance at the same time in al! 

 the parts of the river and even as high as Pittsburgh. This 

 happens even with the Sturgeons and Herrings of the Ohio, 

 which are in other countries periodical fishes, travelling annu- 

 ally from the sea to the rivers in the spring, and from the rivers 

 to the sea in the fall. 



Fishes are very abundant in the Ohio, and are taken some^ 

 times by thousands with the seines: some of them are salted; 

 but not so many as in the great lakes. In Pittsburgh, Cin-' 

 cinnati, Louisville, &c. fish always meets a good market, and 

 sells often higher than meat; but at a distance from those towns 

 you may buy the best fish at the rate of one or two cents 

 the pound. It affords excellent food, and, if not equal to the 

 best sea fish, it comes very near it, being much above the com- 

 mon river fish of Europe: the most delicate fishes are the 

 Salmon-perch, the Bubbler, the Buffaloe-fish,the Sturgeons, the 

 Catfishes, Sec. It is not unusual to meet such fishes of the 

 weight of thirty to one hundred pounds, and some monstrous 

 ones are occasionally caught, ot double that weight. The most 

 "usual manners of catching fish in the Ohio are, ^with seines or 

 harpoons at night and in shallow water, with boats carrying a 

 light, or with the hooks and lines, and even with baskets. 



I am sorry to be compelled to delay the publication of my 

 figures of all the fishes now described: these delineations shall 

 appear at another period. 



To facilitate the knowledge of tlie streams mentioned, I pre- 

 fix a physical description of the Ohio and its principal branches^ 



Lexing-ton^ Kentucky -i \Sth Kovemher^ 1819.. 



RIVER OHIO. 



Head. It is formed by the junction of the rivers Alleghany 

 and Monongahcia, in Peniisylvania, at Pittsburgh, near the 4O5 

 degree of north latitude. It is diificult to say which of them is 

 the main branch or stream, the Alleghany being the longest 

 and in the most direct course, while the Monongahela appears 

 to be the largest at the junction, and to have similar waters. 



