202 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH AMERICA, 



the smoke, the bad smells, reminded me of Stratford. I was 

 glad to get out of it into a purer air, so went on board the 

 Burlington, a fine boat, for Cincinnati. Oh the glorious Ohio! ! 

 For a thousand miles it rolls onward to the " Father of 

 Waters," ^ between banks, preserving throughout one uniform 

 character. High wooded bluffs are opposed to level plains ; 

 if on your right hand is a bluff, on yow left is a flat, and ticl 

 Tersd. Yet the eye tires not in beholding them. Frequently 

 the flats are cultivated, and I have no doubt that — 



" Another age will see tlie golden ear 

 Embrown the slope " 



of many of the bluffs, but others are too precipitous to admit 

 the plough. Long, long may it be ere the Ohio loses its 

 beautiful woods. 



We staid some time at Wheeling, so I had an opportunity 

 of setting foot in " Old Virginny." Wheeling is as smoky as 

 all places, where there are many iron-works, must of course be. 

 There is a pretty island opposite, on which a city is laid out, 

 not built. I crossed to the island to look at the few houses, 

 and at one of the finest elm-trees I ever saw. It was a huge 

 tree, and beautiful in form ; umbrageous. As we proceeded 

 down the river, the boat often stopped for wood : on these 

 occasions we ran on shore to see if we could find an orchard, 

 or a peach tree ; if we found none handy, we had to buy of 

 the children who brought fruit to the boat for sale. Ports- 

 mouth was the last place we touched at previously to reaching 

 Cincinnati. It is a flourishing town, at the end of the Cleve- 

 land and Ohio canal. Here I strolled away to see some 

 iron-works. The next day we reached the *' Queen of the 

 West.'"^ 



Of all places I have yet seen, no inland town stands in so 

 fine a situation as Cincinnati. It seems as if nature had 

 formed the site expressly for such a city. The hills retire as 

 if to allow space for it to acquire its destined size. The semi- 

 circle of hills afford the finest possible views of the city and 

 surrounding country. You have before you the fine city, with 

 its broad streets and beautiful churches ; the matchless river, 

 with its innumerable steam-boats ; the villages of Covington 

 and Newport, and the green wooded hills and beautiful pas- 

 tures of Kentucky. When I stood on these hills, with this 



'' Mississippi. — Ed. ' Cincinnati. — Ed. 



