332 WESTERN STATES. 



The negroes constitute a considerable part of the population. They are held as slaves in 

 all the States but Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois. But few Indians yet remain within 

 the limits of the Western States. These are the Wyandotts, in Ohio, and the Chippewas and 

 Ottawias. in Michigan. Within the Territories are the Menomonees and Chippewas in Wis- 

 consin, the Winnebagoes, lowas, Sauks and Foxes, and Sioux of Iowa. There are numer 

 ous others in the unsettled regions. 



11. Dress. In a wide country, thinly settled, where a social life cannot be led as in 

 towns, comfort and convenience are more studied than fashion, in dress. Generally the agri- 

 cultural inhabitants of the West (which are a great proportion of the whole) are clothed in 

 garments of their own manufacture, which are shaped without much reference to elegance or 

 fashion. Some of the remote trappers and hunters dress partially in furs, and a hunting shirt, 

 or frock, is not an uncommon garment, in some of the Western States. 



12. Language. The English is by no means the universal language ; the French is com- 

 mon in the small French settlements of Illinois and Missouri. The peculiar circumstances 

 of a people, always communicate some peculiarity to the language or forms of speech. It is 

 remarked, that the people of the West speak rapidly, if not abruptly, and, that in some places 

 they give utterance to " strange oaths." They have also coined several words, to suit a state 

 of things not contemplated in any of the dictionaries, and their figures of speech are often 

 drawn from their great inland navigation.* The English language, however, is in safe keeping 

 in the West, where the unlawful words are infinitely less in number than in London. The 

 peculiar words, are generally cant terms, as those who utter them well know, though some 

 travelers, in the simplicity or malice of their hearts, describe them as being corruptions of the 

 English, and parts of the common language. 



1-3. Manner of Building. The manner of building is less substantial than in the Middle 

 States, though many of the towns are of brick. There is generally a want of good architecture. 

 There are few churches, or banks, and individuals are not yet rich enough to rear the costly 

 piles that are common in the Atlantic towns. There are numberless neat and well-built villa- 

 ges, and in most of them may be seen the log-houses of those who first felled the forest. 

 Remote from towns, the log-house is still the most common building. It requires little skill 

 to build one, for there are neither pillars for ornament, nor posts for support. The house is 

 made with unhewn trunks, laid one upon the other, and plastered between the crevices. The 

 chimneys are on the outside, composed of clay, and supported by wicker work. The houses 

 are seldom so spacious that the chamber, parlor, and kitchen are in difi^erent apartments, and 

 the pigs and poultry have sometimes a free range. They are, however, cheap and comforta- 

 ble. They are covered with bark, or long, split shingles. 



14. Food and Drinks. The Western States have, with the exception of fish, the same 

 kinds of food that are common in the Middle States, and several more. There is, indeed, no 

 scarcity of fish in the rivers, but they are coarse and httle esteemed. The two great articles 

 of food, are bacon and Indian corn. The latter is prepared in various ways ; — generally it 

 is, when ground coarse, boiled as hominy, or when the meal is finer, baked before a fire, into 

 what is termed a johnny cake. These two dishes will never fail a traveler, either in the South 

 or West, and one remarked, that "he had eaten so much bacon, that he was ashamed to look 

 a pig in the face." There is game in abundance, and it is much used as food. The sweet pota- 

 to is eaten, and in many parts, rice. The rice is boiled hard, and used with gravy, as potatoes 

 are in New England. Coffee and tea are as much consumed, as in any part of the country. 

 Maple and other sugars ai'e common. The hotels are well furnished with substantial food, and at 

 dinner, both whisky and milk are placed upon the table. There is much whisky consumad, — 

 yet there are perhaps fewer cases of destructive intemperance than in New England. The 

 spirit used is less deleterious than New England rum, or other spirits. Perhaps whisky is the 

 least hurtful of any of the spirits, though even this is not to be taken but by those who are careless 

 of health and morals. This spirit is too cheap for the public good ; as the gram is too bulky 



* " Accustomed to see the steamboat, with its prodigious 

 and untiring power, breasting tlie heavy current of tlie 

 Slississippi, the Kentuckian draws his ideas of power from 

 this source; and wlien the warmth of whislcy in his sto- 

 mach is added to his natural energy, he becomes in suc- 

 cession, horse, alligator, and steamboat. Much of his 

 language is figurative, and drawn from the power of a 

 steamboat. To get ardent and zealous, is to ' raise the 



steam.' To get angry, and give vent and scope to these 

 feelings, is to ' let off the steam.' To encounter any dis 

 aster, or meet with a great catastrophe, is to ' burst the 

 boiler.' The slave cheers his oxen and horses by bidding 

 them ' go ahead.' Two black women were about to fight, 

 and their beaux cheered them to the combat with, ' Go 

 ahead and buss e boiler.' " — Flint's Residence 



