ALEXANDER WILSON. Ixxiii 



of the boat to the second block, and by lengthening this last, a 

 diagonal direction is given to the boat's head, a little up the stream, 

 and the current striking forcibly and obliquely on her aft, she is 

 hurried forward with amazing velocity, without any manual labour 

 whatever. I passed Blannerhasset's island after night, but the 

 people were burning brush, and by the light I had a distinct view 

 of the mansion-house, which is but a plain frame of no great 

 dimensions. It is now the property of a Mr Miller from Lexington, 

 who intends laying it chiefly in hemp. It is nearly three miles 

 long, and contains about three hundred acres, half of which is in 

 cultivation ; but, like all the rest of the numerous islands of the 

 Ohio, is subject to inundations. At Galliopolis, which stands upon 

 a high plain, and contains forty or fifty scattered houses, I found 

 the fields well fenced and well cultivated, peach and apple orchards 

 numerous, and a considerable appearance of industry. One half of 

 the original French settlers have removed to a tract of land opposite 

 to the mouth of Sandy River. This town has one shop and two 

 taverns : the mountains press into within a short distance of the 

 town. I found here another Indian mound planted with peach 

 trees. 



" On Monday, March 5, about ten miles below the mouth of the 

 Great Scotia, where I saw the first flock of paroquets, I encountered 

 a violent storm of wind and rain, which changed to hail and snow, 

 blowing down trees and limbs in all directions, so that, for imme- 

 diate preservation, I was obliged to steer out into the river, which 

 rolled and foamed like a sea, and filled my boat nearly half full of 

 water ; and it was with the greatest difficulty I could make the 

 least head way. It continued to snow violently until dusk, when I 

 at length made good my landing, at a place on the Kentucky shore, 

 where I had perceived a cabin ; and here I spent the evening in 

 learning the art and mystery of bear-treeing, wolf-trapping, and 

 wild-cat-hunting, from an old professor. But, notwithstanding the 

 skill of this great master, the country here is swarming with wolves 

 and wild cats, black and brown : according to this hunter's own 

 confession, he had lost sixty pigs from Christmas last, and all night 

 long the distant howling of the wolves kept the dogs in a perpetual 

 uproar of barking. This man was one of those people called 

 squatters, who neither pay rent nor own land, but keep roving on the 



VOL. I. / 



