36 Expedition to the 



been able to discover any confirmation of the opinion, that 

 this tree is indigenous to any part of the United States. 



It is here called petalfra, which, as well as catalpa, the re- 

 cieved appellation, may be a corruption from Catawba, the 

 name of the tribe by whom, according to the suggestion of 

 Mr. Nuttall, the tree may have been introduced. Follow- 

 ing the directions of the Pittsburgh navigator, we kept near 

 the left shore, below the Cave inn, by which means we again 

 run our boat aground, on a sandbar, where we spent consider- 

 able part of the night in the most laborious exertions. These 

 were at length crowned with success, and having the boat 

 once more afloat, we proceeded with greater caution. 



On the 30th, we arrived at a point a little above ike 

 mouth of Cash river, where a town has been laid out, called 

 America. It is on the North bank of the Ohio, about eleven 

 miles from the Mississippi, and occupies the firstheights on the 

 former, secure from the inundation of both these rivers, (if 

 we except a small area three and a half miles below, where 

 there are three Indian mounds, situated on a tract containing 

 about half an acre above high water mark.J The land 

 on both sides of the Ohio, below this place, is subject to be 

 overflowed to various depths, from six to fourteen feet 

 in time of floods ; and on the south side, the flat lands ex- 

 tend four or five miles above, separated from the high coun- 

 try by lakes and marshes. The aspect of the country, in 

 and about the town, is rolling or moderately hilly, being the 

 commencement of the high lands, between the two rivers 

 above mentioned; below it, however, the land is flat, having 

 the character of the low bottoms of the Ohio. The growth is 

 principally cottonwood, sycamore, walnut, hickory, maple, 

 oak, &c. The soil is first rate, and well suited to the 

 cultivation of all products, common to a climate of 37 Deg. 

 N. Lat. From the extensive flat, or bottom, in its neigh- 

 bourhood, and the heavy growth of timber, which here ge- 



