276 PORK MERCHANT. [CHAP. XXXV 



companion, although occasionally struck with his vio 

 lation of the rules of ordinary good manners, I was 

 trying to divine to what class in society he might be 

 long, when he began to enlarge on the number of 

 hogs killed last year in Cincinnati, which exceeded 

 all former seasons, amounting to 300,000, and to 

 describe to me how the streets, in killing time, were 

 blocked up with barrels of salt pork for exportation, 

 so that it was not easy to pass in a carriage. He 

 then asked me abruptly, &quot; How many hogs do you 

 think I killed last season ?&quot; Imagining that he might 

 be a farmer, I said, 300. He exclaimed, &quot; 18,000, 

 and all of them despatched in thirty-five days ! &quot; He 

 next began to boast that one of his men could evis 

 cerate more hogs in one day than any other hand in 

 Kentucky : and, placing himself in the attitude of his 

 favourite executioner, he gave me such a minute de 

 scription of his mode of operating, and dwelt on it 

 with so much zest, as to make me feel satisfied that, 

 as Thomas Diafoirus, in the &quot; Maladc Imaginaire,&quot; 

 proposed to treat his mistress with &quot; a dissection,&quot; so 

 this member of the &quot; pork aristocracy&quot; of the West, 

 would never doubt that such feats of professional 

 dexterity as he loved to dilate upon, must command 

 the admiration of all men who have the slightest 

 feeling for superior artistical skill. 



The distance from Evansville to Louisville was 

 205 miles, and on both sides of the river were hills of 

 limestone or sandstone, of the coal formation, 300 

 feet high, frequently presenting steep and picturesque 

 cliffs. Everywhere I observed a flat terrace of loam, 

 or loess, bordering the river, sometimes on the side 

 of Kentucky, sometimes on that of Indiana. 



