SOLON ROBINSON, 1848 125 



Louis and the mouth of the Ohio River, there are miles of 

 rocky shore, towering in beatling cliffs high in the air, 

 and in places almost perpendicular from the shore. But 

 below the mouth of that river, no rocks nor high lands 

 are seen, except in four or five places down to the gulf. 

 Memphis, Vicksburg, and Natchez are the most promi- 

 nent of these points. It is in consequence of this liability 

 to overflow, that we see but few villages on the banks 

 of the river, and nearly all the residences are very primi- 

 tive-looking log cabins, with farms to match. Most of the 

 settlements were made for the purpose of cutting wood 

 for steamboats; the price of which is from $1.50 to $2.25 

 a cord; and is mostly cotton wood. The price of chop- 

 ping, splitting, and cording, from fifty to seventy-five 

 cents. Owing to the vast number of snags, few boats 

 venture to run nights, except in bright moonlight. 



On the 15th of November, below Memphis, the green 

 foliage began to tell that we were rapidly getting into a 

 warmer latitude. One of my travelling acquaintances of 

 this passage was an intelligent gentleman of the name of 

 Weston, who had spent two years in the Rocky Mountains 

 and New Mexico, for his health. He passed seven months 

 with a "mountain man," who took a lot of tame goats, so 

 trained as to follow the mules, into the mountains, for the 

 purpose of catching lambs of the Rocky-Mountain sheep. 

 He succeeded in catching quite a number, which he reared 

 with his goats; carrying them while small, in hampers 

 on mule's backs. His design was to bring them into the 

 United States ; but Mr. Weston subsequently learned that 

 all of them died before they came to maturity. 



These animals, though called sheep, are very unlike our 

 domestic animals of that name. They have horns which 

 give them the name of *'big horns," and they are covered 

 with long hair instead of wool. Though Mr. W. tells me, 

 that in winter, they have a thick coat of fur, something 

 like the Cashmere goat, which he thinks would be valu- 

 able. The meat is very delicious. Mr. W. speaks of the 

 New-Mexican sheep as a very inferior kind. There is, also, 



