THE OOLOGIST. 



91 



^the mountains; the grotesque log cabins 

 that here and there opened from the 

 woods, gave a most delightful effect to 

 '•he varying landscape. The current 

 flowed about two and a half miles an 

 hour, but Wilson finding this too slow 

 stripped himself with alacrity to the 

 oar and added three miles and a half to 

 Iris speed. In the course of the first 

 day he passed a number of Kentucky 

 boats or arks, loaded with people, 

 horses and ploughs, flour, etc. The 

 arks were the principal means of com- 

 mu uieation and transportation between 

 •the scattered settlements along the 

 river. They were propelled by two 

 huge oars at each side, and steered by 

 a long one behind, and made about 

 twenty miles a clay. They approached 

 a village with much the same demon- 

 strati >n as a stage coach nowadays does 

 in the mountains, with loud and long 

 trumpet blasts to announce to the in- 

 habitants their arrival. 



Our traveler left behind him fifty-two 

 miles the first clay and an hour after 

 night fall he landed before a miserable 

 ■cabin where he obtained lodging for the 

 night. He relates that he slept on what 

 he supposed were corn stalks or some- 

 thing worse, the uncomfortableness of 

 which caused him to rise long before 

 day break and proceed on his voyage. 

 The early hour was delightful and as 

 he silently swept down the smooth 

 glassy surface of the stream the far 

 away hideous hooting of the Horned 

 Owl, and the first morning carol of the 

 Song Sparrow were in harmony with 

 the projecting headlands beautifully re- 

 flected in the placid water. In this 

 lonesome manner, with an abundance 

 of leisure for observation and reflection, 

 exposed to hardships all clay, and hard 

 berths at night, to storms, rain, hail and 

 snow he persevered twentj'-one days 

 till Sunday evening, March 17th he 

 moored his frail bark safely in Bear 

 Grass Creek at the rapids of the Ohio, 

 having made in that time a voyage of 

 seven hundred and twenty miles. 



Wilson became profoundly interested 

 in the remarkable Indian mounds in the 

 town of Marietta, Ohio. He explored 

 several of them and manifested much 

 regret that he had not the time to in- 

 vestigate their hidden treasures. About 

 ten miles below the mouth of the Great 

 Scioto he was overtaken by a heavy 

 rain storm, which soon changed to hail 

 and snow. The fury of the tempest up- 

 rooted multitudes of trees along the 

 bank blocking the passage and com- 

 pelled him to keep his boat in the mid- 

 dle of the stream which he says rolled 

 and foamed like the sea. After a des- 

 perate effort he succeeded in landing 

 near a cabin on the Kentucky shore. 

 The cabin was that of a man called a 

 "squatter" an immediate successor of 

 the Indian occupancy, who subsist by 

 trapping. The proprietor was a veter- 

 an in the art of wood craft and Wilson 

 listened with interest to his recital of 

 hunting and trapping exploits. In re- 

 spect to these squatter inhabitants he 

 says that nothing adds more to the sav- 

 age grandeur and picturesque effect of 

 the scenery along the Ohio, than these 

 miserable huts of human beings, lurk- 

 ing at the bottom of gigantic growths 

 of timber, that has its equal in no other 

 part of the United States. On nearer 

 approach however their appearance is 

 apt to break the charm, for they are lit- 

 tle better than pig sties. At these habi- 

 tations Wilson was obliged to remain at 

 night or else encamp in the forest with 

 no protection from the elements. 



Our traveler reached the Big Blue 

 Lick where the bones of extinct animals 

 have been taken in great numbers, but 

 at that early time comparatively little 

 was known of the locality, and only a 

 few bones had been found. The place 

 is a low valley, surrounded on all sides 

 by high hills. In the center is a quag- 

 mire of an acre in extent. Wilson 

 nearly lost his own life in pursuing a 

 Duck across the quagmire, into which 

 he sank, extricating himself only by a 



