70 Narrows of LicMng. 



teen miles. A little south of Websport, the canal leaves the Musk- 

 ingum alluvions, and rises with the aid of two locks into the valley 

 of the Wakatomika, a large creek, with wide and very fertile bot- 

 toms. After leaving this valley by a pretty deep cut, the canal 

 passes into the valley of Licking, in which are seated the villages 

 of Irville and Nashport. After the canal enters the Wakitomika 

 valley, it turns more westerly, and a short distance beyond Nashport 

 strikes the Licking River, which is here about fifty yards in width. 

 It is now about to emerge from the coal measures, which it has tra- 

 versed more than one hundred miles, into the tertiary deposits of 

 the Licking and Scioto valleys. A dam is thrown across the stream 

 at this point, and by the aid of a lock the boat passes into the river, 

 which now performs the office of a canal, for the distance of two 

 miles, through " the narrows of Licking," the tow-path being cut 

 out of the solid sandstone for the larger portion of the way. 



'^ Black Hand^' — Narrows of Licking. — This is a very pictur- 

 esque spot ; cliffs of sandstone rock, fifty feet in height, line the 

 sides of the canal, especially on the left bank of the stream. In 

 some places they hang over in a semi-circular form, the upper por- 

 tion projecting, and defending the lower from the rains and weather. 

 In one of these spots, the aborigines chose to display their ingenuity 

 at pictorial writing, by figuring on the smooth face of the clifl^, at an 

 elevation eight or ten feet above the water, the outlines of wild ani- 

 mals, and amongst the rest the figure of a huge, black, human hand. 

 From this circumstance, the spot is known to all the old hunters and 

 inhabitants of this vicinity, by the name of " the black hand nar- 

 rows." It is the scene of many an ancient legend, and wild hunting 

 story. At the point where the canal touches the Licking, the rock 

 strata in the banks and bed of the stream dip to the north, at an an- 

 gle of nearly fifteen degrees. As we ascend the stream, the incli- 

 nation becomes less, and finally at the western outlet of the narrows 

 assumes its usual horizontal appearance. It is a wild, romantic spot, 

 and has evidently been subjected to great disturbance, before the 

 waters of Licking commenced their cutting and disintegrating pro- 

 cess through its rocky bed. These sandstone rocks contain very 

 few fossil plants, but when fairly without the line of the coal meas- 

 ures, they abound in fossil shells, very similar to those found in the 

 lime rocks of the older secondary formations. The cliffs are lined 

 with evergreens of various species, amongst which I noticed the 

 hemlock, red cedar and yellow pine. On emerging from the ravine, 



