MIKE FINK, THE KEEL-BOATMAN. 
OccasionaLLy, may be seen on the Ohio and Missis- 
sippi rivers singularly hearty-looking men, who would 
puzzle a stranger, as to their history and age. Their 
bodies always exhibit a powerful development of muscle 
and bone; their cheeks are prominent, and you would 
pronounce them men enjoying perfect health in middle 
life, were it not for their heads, which, if not entirely 
bald, will be but sparsely covered with steel-gray hair. 
Another peculiarity about this people is, that they 
have a singular knowledge of all the places on the river; 
every bar and bend is spoken of with precision and 
familiarity ; every town is recollected before it was half 
as large as the present, or, ‘when it was no town at all.” 
Innumerable places are marked out by them, where once 
was an Indian fight, or a rendezvous of robbers. 
The manner, the language, and the dress of these 
