Rocky Mountains. 19 



The scenery of the banks of the Ohio, for two or three hun- 

 dred miles below Pittsburgh is eminently beautiful, but is defi- 

 cient in grandeur and variety. The hills usually approach 

 on both sides, nearly to the brink of the river ; they have a 

 rounded and graceful form, and are so grouped as to pro- 

 duce a pleasing effect. Broad and gentle swells of two or 

 .three- hundred feet, covered with the verdure of the almost 

 unbroken forest, embosom a calm and majestic river, from 

 whose unruffled surface, the broad out line of the hills is re- 

 flected with a distinctness, equal to that with which it is im- 

 printed upon the azure vault of the sky. In a few instan- 

 ces near the summits of the hills, the forest trees become so 

 scattered, as to disclose here and there a rude mass, or a 

 perpendicular precipice of gray sandstone, or compact lime- 

 stone, the prevailing rocks in all this region. The hills are 

 however usually covered with soil on all sides, except 

 that looking towards the river, and in most instances are 

 susceptible of cultivation to their summits. These hilly 

 lands are found capable of yielding, by ordinary methods of 

 culture, about fifty bushels of maize per acre. They were 

 originally covered with dense and uninterrupted forests, in 

 which the beech trees were those of most frequent occur- 

 rence. These forests are now disappearing before the in- 

 dustry of man ; and the rapid increase of population and 

 wealth, which a few years has produced, speak loudly in fa- 

 vor of the healthfulness of the climate, and of the internal re- 

 sources of the country. The difficulty of establishing an in- 

 disputable title to lands, has been a cause operating hitherto 

 to retard the progress of settlement, in some of the most fer- 

 tile parts of the country of the Ohio; and the inconveniences 

 resulting from this source, still continue to be felt. 



On the 7ch, we passed the mouth of the Kenhawa, and 

 the little village of Point Pleasant. The spot now occupied 

 by this village, is rendered memorable, on account of the 

 recollections connected with one of the most affecting inei- 



