Ixxii LIFE OF 



to see the whole sifted before his face. I endeavoured to work on 

 his avarice, by representing the probability that it might contain 

 valuable matters, and suggested to him a mode by which a passage 

 might be cut into it, level with the bottom, and by excavation and 

 arching, a most noble cellar might be formed for keeping his turnips 

 and potatoes. ' All the turnips and potatoes I shall raise this dozen 

 years,' said he, ' would not pay the expense.' This man is no 

 antiquary, or theoretical farmer, nor much of a practical one either, 

 I fear : he has about two thousand acres of the best land, and just 

 makes out to live. Near the head of what is called the Long 

 Reach, I called on a certain Michael Cressop, son to the noted 

 Colonel Cressop, mentioned in Jefferson's notes on Virginia. From 

 him I received the head of a paddle fish, the largest ever seen in the 

 Ohio, which I am keeping for Mr Peale, with various other curiosi- 

 ties. I took the liberty of asking whether Logan's accusation of 

 his father having killed all his family, had any truth in it ; but he 

 replied that it had not. Logan, he said, had been misinformed. 

 He detailed to me all the particulars, which are too long for repeti- 

 tion, and concluded by informing me that his father died early in 

 the revolutionary war, of the camp fever, near New York. 



" Marietta stands in a swampy plain, which has evidently once 

 been the ancient bed of the Muskingum, and is still occasionally 

 inundated to the depth of five or six feet. A Mr Putnam, son to 

 the old general of Bunker's Hill memory, and Mr Gillman, and Mr 

 Feering, are making great exertions here in introducing and multi- 

 plying the race of merinos. The two latter gentlemen are about 

 establishing works by steam for carding and spinning wool, and 

 intend to carry on the manufacture of broadcloth extensively. 

 Mr Gillman is a gentleman of taste and wealth, and has no doubts 

 of succeeding. Something is necessary to give animation to this 

 place, for, since the numerous building of ships has been abandoned 

 here, the place seems on the decline. 



" The current of the Muskingum is very rapid, and the ferry 

 boat is navigated across in the following manner : — A strong cable 

 is extended from bank to bank, forty or fifty feet above the surface 

 of the river, and fastened tight at each end. On this cable are two 

 loose running blocks; one rope, from the bow of the boat, is 

 fastened to the first of these blocks, and another from the after part 



