74 EXPEDITION TO THE 



among the patrons of an extensive system of internal im- 

 provement. 



After crossing Loramie's creek two or three times, 

 we reached St. Mary's river, which unites at Fort Wayne 

 with the St. Joseph to form the Maumee. The his- 

 torical recollections which connect themselves with the 

 section of country through which we travelled, compensate 

 for the little interest which it offers to the naturalist. To him 

 nothing can be more annoying than to pass over a marshy, 

 swampy country, where no rocks appear in situ, and where 

 but few boulders are met with ; where the animals arc 

 few in number, and apparently afraid to risk themselves in 

 spots in which their speed would avail them but little. It 

 is true, that the pursuits of the botanist might have been 

 carried on successfully, in a situation where an abundant 

 growth of plants would probably have offered him objects 

 worthy of his notice ; and this would have compensated 

 the rest of the party for the apparently uninteresting cha- 

 racter of the country ; for, in an expedition of the nature 

 of ours, the success of each individual in his peculiar 

 pursuit, becomes a source of gratification to all. Being, 

 however, unaccompanied by a botanist, we found in this 

 part of Ohio nothing to interest us but the recollection 

 of the busy scenes of war which had at a former time 

 been enacted in this district. As the principal field upon 

 which all the military operations of Generals St. Clair, 

 Wayne, and Harrison, were conducted, there is much 

 cause to dwell with pleasure upon the spot. A vast dif- 

 ference exists, however, between the theatre of an Indian 

 warfare and that of the military undertakings of civilized 

 nations. The descriptions of the spots, upon which the 

 latter occur, are so much more accurate that they never 

 can be mistaken ; while of the former we seldom know the 



