UNITED STATES. 



yards high be pointed out in it, and throughout its 

 west part, from the Wabash to the Mississippi, we 

 find nothing but vast level meadows. Yet from this 

 land flow in opposite directions a number of consi- 

 derable rivers, some of which empty themselves into 

 the Gulf of Mexico by means of the Mississippi ; 

 others into the Northern Ocean through the St. 

 Lawrence, and others into the Atlantic by the Moi- 

 hawk, Hudson, and Susquehannah. Hence it fol- 

 lows, that the Alleghany mountains, from which the 

 latter derive their sources, are in some respect only 

 the breastwork of this flat, which almost equals them 

 in height. The opposite declivities of this vast space 

 are so gentle, that the rivers, dubious of their course, 

 wander in sinuosities and m'arshes ; and that, in the 

 floods of Winter, streams navigable by boats form a 

 junction between the sources of the Wabash, which 

 joins the Ohio, the Miami, which runs into lake 

 Erie, the Huron, which falls into the entrance of the 

 same lake, Grand river, which flows into lake Mi- 

 chigan, and several others. 



Contrary to those of Kentucky, the rivers of the 

 North -Western Territory run even with the sur- 

 face, not only on account of the flatness of the level 

 but in consequence of the clayey nature of the soil, 

 which prevents the water from penetrating into it. 

 This is a happy circumstance both for the agricul- 

 ture and trade of this country : accordingly, it begins 

 to be preferred to Kentucky ; and at some future pe- 

 riod I conceive it will be the Flanders of the United 

 States for corn and cattle. 



From the Wabash, whence to the Mississippi, a 

 space of eighty miles, there are nothing but savan- 



