76 



UNITED STATES* 



from the Gulf of Mexico, I found this wind hot 

 and stormy, the moment I entered the valley of the 

 KanhawaV) the temperature of which, no doubt, it 

 increases, as it is checked there at the foot of the 

 mountains : it changes its direction according to the 

 windings of the Ohio, and sometimes it would be 

 considered as west or south ; but, always preserv- 

 ing its identity, it prevails ten portions of time out of ^ 

 twelve, leaving only two for all the other winds to- 

 gether. It is equally prevalent throughout Ken- 

 tucky, but does not there produce the sanie effects ; 

 for while the valley of Ohio, to the breadth of twelve 

 or fifteen miles, has abundant rain and moisture, 

 the rest of the country is parched with droughts, , 

 which continue, sometimes, for three months ; and 

 the farmers have the vexation of seeing, from their 

 hills, an aerial river of fogs, rains, and thunder- 

 storms, winding like that on the earth, the basin of 

 which they never quit.* 



In the western country, according to Mr. EUicott, 

 and especially in the neighbourhood of the lakes, . 

 dews are very heavy. On the Ohio and Alleghany 

 rivers, and their numerous branches, fogs are very 

 common, and of remarkable density ; they do not, 

 however, appear to contain any portion of those 

 noxious miasmata, which are so frequently com- 

 bined with the fogs on the eastern side of the moun- 

 tains ; nay, the inhabitants of Pittsburgh consider 

 them as possessed of salubrious qualities. From a 

 variety of observation he is convinced, that the at- 

 mosphere in the western country, and particularly 

 in the vicinity of the lakes, contains a greater quan-- 

 * V©lney's View, p. 150. 



