334 Expedition to the 



of the principal rivers, and invariably present rounded sum- 

 mits. Interspersed amongst the hills, are numerous fine tracts 

 of arable land, which may, in general, be alleged of the vallies 

 of the numerous rivers and creeks by which the country is 

 watered. The soil upon the hills is generally productive, ex- 

 cept where the surface is rocky, and the declivities abrupt, 

 which is more particularly the case in the vicinity of rivers, 

 where the high lands are divided into numerous knobs, being 

 cut by deep ravines, with abrupt and precipitous banks. 



The hilly country having been generally esteemed more 

 healthy than either of the other varieties, above mentioned, 

 has acquired a more numerous population than the latter. 

 As yet, however, no part of this section has its full comple- 

 ment of inhabitants, if we except as before, the numerous 

 towns and villages, and their immediate neighbourhoods. In 

 regard to the products of agriculture, the same remarks that 

 have been made concerning the section south of the Ohio, 

 are equally applicable to the country under consideration, 

 with the exception that cotton is cultivated only in the south- 

 westerly extreme of this section, and tobacco is raised for 

 domestic uses only. 



The most considerable rivers intersecting this section of 

 country, are the Muskingum, Scioto, Big Miami, and Wa- 

 bash, all of which in the spring season, are navigable two or 

 three hundred miles from their mouths. The vallies of these 

 rivers, give place to many extensive and fertile bottoms, 

 well adapted to cultivation, and producing the necessaries of 

 life in great abundance and variety. 



2. The Plain or Rolling country is separated from that last 

 under consideration, by the imaginary line above mentioned. 

 It is not to be inferred, however, that the junction of these 

 two regions, is distinctly marked by any characters what- 

 ever, by which the line can be traced with precision, but that 

 a gradual change of aspect is observable in travelling from 

 one variety of country to the other, and that the general di- 

 rection of the line indicated by this change, is that specified 

 above. The other boundaries of this variety are the Missis- 

 sippi on the west, and the Lakes Erie, and Michigan, and the 

 Fox and VVisconsan rivers, on the north and east. This variety 

 of country, although not entirely destitute of hills, is almost 

 throughout the whole extent, possessed of an undulating or 

 rolling surface, rising into broad and gentle swells in some 

 parts, and subsiding into extensive flats or plains in others. 

 The vallies of numberless water courses, bounded by abrupt 



