298 MACHINERY OF STEAMER. [CHAP. XXXVII. 



sea-boats only, with the exception of one on Lake 

 Erie. The inventor of this improvement is Thomas 

 K. Litch. There are two cylinders, one twice the 

 size of the other, and the steam escapes from the 

 smaller into the larger, instead of issuing into the 

 open air, so that its heat is not lost. The economy 

 of fuel arising from this contrivance is great, and the 

 vibrations and noise much less than in other boats 

 on the same high-pressure principle. In place of the 

 usual bell, signals are made by a wild and harsh 

 scream, produced by the escape of steam, as in loco 

 motive engines ; a fearful sound in the night, and 

 which, it is to be hoped, some machinist who has 

 an ear for music will find means to modulate. There 

 was a Pennsylvanian farmer on board who told me 

 that, having a large family to provide for, he had re 

 solved to settle in Indiana, and was returning from 

 that State, after making a purchase of land in &quot; the 

 rolling prairies.&quot; He had paid the usual government 

 price of 1| dollar, or about 5s. 6d. an acre; whereas 

 he could sell his own property in Pennsylvania, which 

 had a house on it, at the rate of 60 dollars an acre. 

 He had been much concerned at finding a strong war 

 party in the West, who were eager to have a brush 

 with the English. &quot; It was a short-sighted policy,&quot; 

 he remarked, &quot; in your country, to exert so little 

 energy and put forth so small a part of her strength 

 in the last war with the United States. It will one 

 day involve both you and us in serious mischief.&quot; 



At a point about twenty-four miles below Wheel 

 ing, we came to the largest of the Indian mounds 

 on the Ohio, of which I have spoken in my former 



