COMPLETION OF THt ORNITHOLOGY 95 



consisted of some biscuit and cheese, and a bottle 

 of cordial presented me by a gentleman of Pitts- 

 burg; my gun, trunk and great-coat occupied one 

 end of the boat ; I had a small tin occasionally to 

 bale her, and to take my beverage from the Ohio 

 with; and bidding adieu to the smoky confines of 

 Pittsburg, I launched into the stream, and soon 

 winded away among the hills that everywhere en- 

 close this noble river. The weather was warm and 

 serene, and the river like a mirror except where the 

 floating masses of ice spotted its surface, and which 

 required some care to steer clear of; but these to 

 my surprise, in less than a day's sailing, totally dis- 

 appeared. Far from being concerned at my new 

 situation, I felt my heart expand with joy at the 

 novelties which surrounded me; I listened with 

 pleasure to the whistling of the Red-bird on the 

 banks as I passed, and contemplated the forest scen- 

 ery as it receded, with increasing delight. The 

 smoke of the numerous sugar-camps, rising lazily 

 among the mountains, gave great effect to the vary- 

 ing landscape; and the grotesque log-cabins, that 

 here and there opened from the woods, were dimin- 

 ished into mere dog-houses by the sublimity of the 

 impending mountains. If you suppose to yourself 

 two parallel ranges of forest-covered hills, whose 

 irregular summits are seldom more than three or 

 four miles apart, winding through an immense ex- 

 tent of country, and enclosing a river half a mile 

 wide, which alternately washes the steep declivity 

 on one side, and laves a rich flat forest-clad bottom 

 on the other, of a mile or so in breadth, you will 

 have a pretty correct idea of the appearance of the 



