204 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH AMERICA, 



Town was in great degree washed away by a flood some few 

 years since. There is not a couple of acres of corn round the 

 town, although the soil is beautifully rich ; it appears to have 

 been cleared here and there. The woods here are magnificent, 

 but, of all the trees I saw, the deciduous 0//presses please me 

 the most. We had to wait here till noon the next day to take 

 the stage to Albion. It was a little cramped-up afi^air of a 

 coach, into which we had to get with four other persons ; but, 

 fortunately, there were a few hills to walk up, which kept me 

 in good humour. There was a great deal of wood till we 

 reached Carmi, at night, where we forded the Little Wabash. 

 Here we supped, went to bed, and were called up at two 

 o'clock in the morning to continue our journey. There were 

 rather more farms than on the previous day's journey. Being 

 moonlight, we could see something of the country. We 

 breakfasted in a log hut at Graysville, near the old village of 

 Bon Pas. The owner of the hut, who came out with Morris 

 Birkbeck and his wife, was a servant in Birkbeck's family. 

 We reached Albion to dinner, calling at once on J. Clark, and 

 afterwards walked to Wanborough. D. Prichard's house does 

 not answer Stuart's description, as being like an English villa ; 

 but it stands pleasantly, and is, for that country, a very good 

 house. We were very hospitably received, and had our 

 luggage fetched from Albion. The following day we walked 

 to Birkbeck's farm. The house is two-thirds pulled down : 

 much of the land is so entirely overgrown with brambles, that 

 you could scarcely suppose it had ever been cultivated : every 

 thing about the place is going backwards. 



On the following day we visited Sydney Spring. I like his 

 farm and himself vastly; he is the most rational and enter- 

 prising man we saw there. We next visited W. Clark's ; it is 

 a fine farm on a lovely prairie, and he lives in a good hand- 

 some brick house. W. Clark was himself from home, but 

 liis family received us in a very pleasant way. After staying 

 here about a week, we started for St. Louis. Sydney Spring 

 drove us as far as Maysville, where we were to take the stage 

 for Salem. From Albion to Maysville much of the road is 

 through a very fine prairie, but by far too large. On first 

 leaving Wanborough, we passed through a good deal of wood- 

 land, of apparently poor quality. We had to cross the Little 

 Wabash at a ford, and go a long way through the swampy 



