22 Expedition to the 



part of the country from the shores of Lake Erie, to the 

 southern boundary of the state of Tennessee.* It appears, 

 however, to be occasionally interrupted, or over-laid by fields 

 of sandstone. It abounds in casts, and impressions of ma- 

 rine animals. An orthocerite in the museum of the col- 

 lege at Cincinnati, measures near three feet in length. Very 

 large specimens of what has been considered lignite, have 

 also been discovered, and parts of them deposited in that 

 collection. We saw here no remains of ammonites. Nu- 

 merous other species, appear to be similar to those found in 

 the limestone of the Catskill, and Hellebergh mountains. 



The soil, which overlays the limestone of Cincinnati, is a 

 deep argillaceous loam, intermixed with much animal and 

 vegetable matter. Vegetation is here luxuriant, and many 

 plants unknown eastward of the Alleghany mountains, were 

 constantly presenting themselves to our notice. Two species 

 of iEsculus are common. One of these has a nut as large 

 as that of the JEJ. Hippocastanum, of the Mediterranean, the 

 common horse-chesnut of the gardens. 



These nuts are round, and after a little exposure, become 

 black, except in that part which originally formed the point of 

 attachment to the receptacle, which is an oblong spot three 

 fourths of an inch in diameter, the whole bearing some re- 

 semblance to the eye ball of a deer, or other animal. Hence 

 the name buck-eye, which is applied to the tree. The several 

 species of sesculus are confined principally to the western 

 states and territories. In allusion to this circumstance, the 

 indigenous backwoodsman is sometimes called buck-eye, in 

 distinction from the numerous immigrants who are introduc- 

 ing themselves from the eastern states. The opprobrious 

 name of Yankee is applied to these last, who do not always 

 stand high in the estimation of the natives of the south and 



* Drake's Picture of Cincinnati, page 64. To that work, Cramer's 

 "Navigator" published at Pittsburgh in 1814, and Gilieland's "Ohio 

 and Mississippi Pilot," we refer our readers for very minute, and, in gene- 

 ral, very accurate accounts of the country along the Ohio. 



