78 



INDIANA INDICATOR. 



341,582, of whom, at the last period, 3562 were free 

 blacks. There an-. lx-i>i<-s alxnit 4000 Indians of 

 the Miami, Kel river, 1'ottawatamie, and Chi|>|>c\\ ay 

 tribes. These Indians receive annuities from the 

 United States, by virtue of treaties for the cession of 

 lands, amounting to about 9000. The state is di- 

 vided into fifty-nine counties. The seat of government 

 <s at Indianopolis, a town situated near the centre of 

 the state, the settlement of which was begun in 1821. 

 The largest town is Vincennes, which is situated on 

 the rirer Wabash, and was originally settled by French 

 emigrants from Canada. The other chief towns are 

 Madison, Corydon, Jeffersonville, and Vevay. The 

 principal rivers are the Ohio, which forms the southern 

 boundary ; the Wabash, which, after passing through 

 tin- whole width of the state, forms part of its western 

 boundary ; the White river, the Whitewater, the 

 Maumee, and the Petohra. A canal for uniting the 

 navigable parts of the Wabash river with lake Erie, 

 is proposed, and a grant of land for effecting the ob- 

 ject lias been made by congress, but the work is not 

 begun. There are no mountains in Indiana ; the 

 country, however, is more hilly than Illinois, particu- 

 larly towards the Ohio river. A range of hills, called 

 the Knobs, extends from the falls of the Ohio to the 

 Wabash, in a south-west direction, which, in many 

 places, produces a broken and uneven surface. North 

 of these hills lie the fiat woods, seventy miles wide. 

 Bordering on all the principal streams, except the 

 Ohio, there are strips of bottom and prairie land ; 

 both together from three to six miles in width. Be- 

 tween the Wabash and lake Michigan, the country 

 is mostly charopaign,abounding alternately with wood- 

 lands, prairies, lakes, and swamps. A range of hills 

 runs parallel with the Ohio, from the mouth of the 

 Great Miami to Blue river, alternately approaching 

 to within a few rods, and receding to the distance of 

 two miles. Immediately below Blue river, the hills 

 disappear, and there is presented to view an immense 

 tract of level land, covered with a heavy growth of 

 timber. North of the Wabash, between Tippecanoe 

 and Ouitannn, the banks of the streams are high, 

 abrupt, and broken, and the land, except the prairies, 

 is well timbered. Between the Plein and Theakiki, 

 the country is flat, wet, and swampy, interspersed 

 with prairies of an inferior soil. The sources of rivers 

 are generally in swamps or lakes, and the country 

 around them is low, and too wet for cultivation. 

 There are two kinds of prairies, the river and the 

 upland prairies. The former are bottoms, destitute 

 of timber, and are said to exhibit vestiges of former 

 cultivation ; the latter are from 30 to 100 feet more 

 elevated, and are far more numerous and extensive. 

 Some of them are not larger than a common field, 

 while others extend farther than the eye can reach. 

 They are usually bounded by heavy-timbered forests, 

 and not unfrequently adorned with copses of small 

 trees. In spring and summer, they are covered with 

 a luxuriant growth of grass and fragrant flowers, from 

 six to eight feet high. The soil of these plains is 

 often as deep and fertile as the best bottoms. The 

 prairies bordering on the Wabash are particularly rich. 

 Wells have been dug in them, where the vegetable 

 soil was twenty-two feet deep, under which was a 

 stratum of fine white sand. The ordinary depth is 

 from two to five feet. The principal productions of 

 this state are wheat, Indian corn, rye, oats, barley, 

 buck-wheat, potatoes, pulse, beef, pork, butter, 

 whiskey and oeach brandy. Not far from Big Blue 

 river, there is a large cave, the entrance of which is 

 on the side of a hill, that is about 400 feet high. 

 Here are found great quantities of sulphate of mag- 

 nesia or Epsom salt, and of nitre, &c. The climate 

 is generally healthy and pleasant, resembling that of 

 Ohio. The Wabash is frozen over in the winter. 



With the exception of the French settlement at 

 Vincemus, which formed a solitary village for near 

 a century, there were no civilized inhabitants within 

 the present limits of the state, until near the com- 

 mencement of the present century. From that period, 

 the population has increased rapidly, chiefly by emi- 

 gration from the other states. A territorial govern- 

 ment was formed in 1800, and, in 181 6, the state was 

 admitted into the Union, and the present state consti- 

 tution was formed. Under this constitution, a gover- 

 nor and lieutenant-governor are chosen by the people 

 once in three years. There is a general assembly, 

 consisting of a senate, the members of which are 

 chosen for periods of three years, a third part being 

 elected annually ; and of a house of representatives, 

 the members of which are elected annually. The 

 present number of senators is twenty-three, and of 

 representatives sixty-two. The number of represen- 

 tatives may be increased to 100, and of senators to 

 half the number of representatives. The judges of 

 the supreme court are appointed by the governor, 

 with the consent of the senate ; the presidents of the 

 circuit courts by the legislature; and the associate 

 judges are elected by the people. Justices of the 

 peace are elected by the people. A thirty-sixth part 

 of the land, in each township, is reserved, by a com- 

 pact between the state and the United States, for the 

 support of education, and reservations of land have 

 been made for the support of a college, which is 

 established at Bloomington, but which is not yet in 

 operation. The national road, which commences at 

 Cumberland in Maryland, and passes through Penn- 

 sylvania, Virginia, and Ohio, will run through the 

 centre of this state, from east to west. The con- 

 struction of the road in this state is yet but little 

 advanced. 



INDIANOPOLIS ; a town in Indiana, and the 

 seat of government of the state. It is situated in 

 Marion county, on the west fork of White river. It 

 was laid out in 1821, and in the following year had 

 forty houses. It has increased rapidly from that 

 period, and became the seat of government in 1825. 



INDICATIVE ; that mode of the verb in which 

 something is said positively ; hence it has also been 

 called modus posittvus, as distinguished from the 

 subjunctive. 



INDICATOR (cuculus indicator, Linn.). This 

 bird, which is a native of Africa, in its external 

 appearance does not differ much from the common 

 sparrow, except that it is somewhat larger. It is 

 peculiar for its faculty of discovering and indicating 

 to man the nests of wild bees. Being itself extremely 

 fond both of honey and the larvae, knowing that when 

 a nest is plundered, some will fall to its share, it is 

 always willing to act as a guide in the search for 

 them. The morning and evening are its usual times 

 of taking food, at least it then appears most solicit- 

 ous to engage the aid of man in satisfying its appetite. 

 A grating cry of cherr, cherr, may then be heard, 

 which generally brings somebody to the spot where 

 it is perched, when the bird, incessantly repeating its 

 cry, flies slowly towards the quarter where the swarm 

 of bees is to be found. W hen the nest is at some 

 distance, the bird makes long flights, waiting for its 

 coadjutor between them, and calling him to advance; 

 but in proportion as it approaches, its flights are 

 shorter and its cry more earnest. When it arrives 

 at the nest, it hovers over the spot for the space of a 

 few seconds, after which it retires to some adjoining 

 bush, and patiently awaits its reward in silence. Its 

 followers, having plundered the nest, leave it a con- 

 siderable portion of that part of the comb containing 

 the young bees, this being its most favourite morseL 

 This account, which is condensed from Sparmann, 

 was severely animadverted upon by Bruce and other 



